Hitotsu Hōkai: The Girl On The Run

Chapter 3

"Hey! It's morning!" Furawa calls, knocking on the tent. "Wake up, we need to be productive!"

"What..? I'll be out in a minute." Slowly, I stretch and get ready. I open the tent door, finding Furawa writing something down. "What's that?" I point to the scroll, yawning.

"It's a small sketch of a blueprint, I was thinking we could build a little cabin!" She beams at the thought.

"Oh, yeah, sure..." I drift off, sitting by the fire. "But, where'll we get the.. uh, stuff?" Furawa stops for a moment, thinking.

"Oh, I hadn't thought of that. Well..." Furawa takes the paper, ripping it into pieces. She throws them behind herself, and shrugs. "It was a good thought."

We sit in silence for a few moments. Furawa suggests we eat, so I get some plates. The meal is delicious. The weather's getting better, and I suggest we explore.

"Y'know, we might find a town!"

"Yeah, I think there's one a few miles North-East. We should head out there tomorrow." Furawa smiles, staring at her lunch. She picks at it and mumbles something.

The overall day is extremely boring. After we finish eating, we collect food for the next day, which takes all day, and after that, we have nothing to do but sleep.

I wake up the next day much more energized and happy than before. Immediately, I start packing up supplies, getting prepared for our mini adventure. Furawa soon joins me, packing up our tent. After there is nothing but an abandoned campfire to prove anyone was here, we have breakfast berries and check our surroundings. "I think North-East is that-a-way." I smile, pointing towards the seemingly endless expanse of forest. Furawa sighs and starts hiking into the foliage.

After a long day, we decide to camp under a low-leaved tree. "What was that..?" Furawa tenses and looks behind her, almost banging her head into a thick old tree trunk.

"What was what?" I query, inspecting the area behind her. "There's nothing here!"

"I swear I heard something. Like, a footstep." She holds her head to her knees. "Hitotsu... I'm scared. What if--What if whatever's out there wants to kill us?"

"It's nothing. It's just your imagination. Really, think about it--if it was anything, it would just be a wild animal, and wild animals don't hurt us!" I move over to comfort her. Except bears, but I won't say that.

"Thanks, Hitotsu. I'm sure you're right. But, I swear I heard a footstep, like not from an animal, but from a shoe or something." Furawa shivers. "It's getting really cold. I'm gonna get the tent up. So, you're a lost traveler, right?"

"Yeah. Not really a traveler, though. Just a lost... Person, I guess." I chuckle and focus on the berry in my hand. It's so pretty. The juice stains my hands as I pinch the fruit in them. And so fragile. I smile and lick the juice off my fingers. And ever so delicious.

"Are you... Do you want to go somewhere? Why are you out here, what do you want? Because I'm just out here. Looking for, well, nothing, really." Furawa finishes up the tent and comes over to sit down. "Just looking for friends."

"Well, no. I was looking for my house a couple days ago, but I'm really looking for my father. He's kinda bossy, but he just wants me to be perfect." It feels weird being so close to anyone away from home like this. Every friendship I've had always ends in disaster. "He can't seem to wrap his head around the fact that he's not perfect, either."

"Nobody's perfect; doesn't everyone know that? Anyway, why are you looking for him? He doesn't seem to be the most likable type." Furawa gestures for me to come to the newly-built tent, and we sit in silence for a few moments. "So, did you live with anyone else at your house?"

"Only my mother. I had an elder brother, but one day--he disappeared into the woods and never came back. He's been legally dead for over a year, maybe two now." Why am I doing this? It's all going to bite me in the ass someday--I should be more protective with someone I just met. "Also, my father. He's the reason I'm out here--he got kicked out a few days ago; I'm trying to find him. Not much luck, though."

"Oh. I'm--What happened? What made him go away?"

"My mother... After he almost shot me with an arrow. She was so mad, I just..."

"Oh. I'm sorry I asked. It seems to... Private, to ask now." Furawa shuts up and turns away, mumbling something about berries.

After an hour or so, we get back up and continue on our way. Unfortunately, it gets too dark to continue before we find anything useful. Although, I did see a stone with seemingly encoded words written on it.

Tebj qeb fkklzbkq afbp,

X Abjlk tfii xofpb.

Fp eb dlla lo yxa?

Jlylav qoriv hkltp.