DANGANRONPA V2: ECLIPSE

Chapter 3: Part 2

"Aha! I spot another ship ahoy!" Yuuki cried out from behind us. His team looked to have finally copied our strategies, as they were all sitting on the edge of the raft now, catching up. Rantaro allowed us to rest from paddling for a while since the water still seemed calm and our arms were getting tired.

Yuuki's raft continued to catch up as everyone paddled at their own pace until we were side by side. "Ahoy there, friends," the hero waved excitedly.

"Yuuki, what are you doing?" Rantaro asked while rolling his eyes and chuckling quietly.

"Nothing, nothing," Yuuki laughed. "We just thought we'd..."

"NOW" Bashira shouted, suddenly dipping her paddle into the water and raising it into the air, splashing our entire boat with cold river water. Their entire raft burst into giggles as we sat there, absolutely drenched.

"Oh, you're on," Saikoro grinned, suddenly bringing his paddle into the water as well, and the splash war had begun. 

I couldn't help but laugh and giggle as we all splashed one another. I even joined in on the fun, reaching my paddle into the water and splashing Ruji, which in turn made the ghostbuster gasp and splash me back. 

The whole scene reminded me of water balloon fights from my sweet, carefree childhood. Everyone was having fun. I even saw a soft smile on Daiki's face as Kichiro splashed at us with more force than I thought possible from a guy so small.

"Alright, alright," Yuuki eventually breathed. "We actually came here to ask you guys about something."

"What is it?" Rantaro asked.

Yuuki took out his monopad and scrolled over to the map. He used his finger to swipe at it briefly, then turned the tablet so it was facing us. "There's a fork in the river. Both sides meet up at the dock eventually, but... I don't know. You're the adventure expert. Which way should we go-"

"Left," Rantaro answered almost immediately. "The river looks generally wider on the left, which likely means less intense rapids. So that's probably our safest option."

"Oh, smart, smart!" Yuuki smiled. "We should probably get going, then. It's a long way to the dock, and I don't want to be out here in the dark!"

"Sounds good," Rantaro. "Everyone, all forward."

Everyone in my raft paddled forward in sync as he left Yuuki's raft behind. They looked at us in awe, as if our speed and responsiveness impressed them somehow.

We ended up getting so far ahead of them that they were nothing more than a small dot on the horizon. When I asked Rantaro if it would be safer to wait for them, he shook his head and said we needed to focus on getting our boat to the dock. Yuuki was a good man and would be able to pull them through if anything were to go wrong. I felt a little nervous about leaving the others behind, but I didn't doubt that Yuuki could take care of them, so we continued forward until the water turned from clear to white.

"These are class two rapids," Rantaro explained. "Nothing too dangerous, but be alert."

"How many classes of rapids are there?" Ahmya nervously asked while struggling to hang onto her paddle. 

"Six," Rantaro explained while steering to keep the raft facing forward. "Class one is smooth water. Class two is moderately easy to navigate. Class three is more difficult, usually featuring larger waves and narrower passages. Class four is considered difficult and it often requires powerful and precise maneuvering. Class five is incredibly difficult and violent. And class six is... well..."

"Bad?" Sora asked, keeping his eyes forward and his paddle in the water.

"Yeah. Bad," Rantaro answered.