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There wasn't much Shinji Mimura didn't like about Yutaka Seto. In fact, he would struggle to name even a top three list of annoyances. He was his best friend, after all, and Shinji admired a lot of the qualities Yutaka had which he himself lacked. Not that he would switch anything with him, because Shinji was awesome and didn't need to change a single thing about himself, but that was besides the point...
The point was that there is one obvious thing he knows he is not a big fan of when it comes to Yutaka. And that is how absolutely obsessed the boy was with aliens and outer space. More specifically, he was growing more and more convinced that an alien invasing was drawing near. At first, Shinji had assumed Yutaka was joking around, which wasn't such a crazy assumption; it is what he did most of the time, after all. So Shinji had laughed at any mention of potential UFO sightings and little, green Marsians visiting Earth. Now, he was no longer so sure.
Part of Shinji blamed himself for all of this. Usually he wouldn't be so quick to accept blame for something, but this was an exception. He had been stupid enough to break through into some originally blocked international web-pages focusing on this alien nonsense, which he then let Yutaka roam around on for hours at times when he would visit him. It had been a very simple hacking process and it made Yutaka happy, so he had figured, why not? Well, he realized now, this was why.
Last night when Yutaka had come over to hang out, Shinji had given him his backup computer to mess around with while he himself worked on more important things on his own laptop. Apparently, Yutaka had somehow stumbled upon a crazy conspiracy theorist and binge watched most of their alien-themed videos in a couple of hours. And today, it was all he would talk about.
"It's crazy, because, apparently, it's estimated that an UFO might actually be incoming here, in Japan! If we go up one some hill top in Takamatsu or something, we're gonna have such a good view. Unless it's foggy..." Yutaka rambled at their lunch table.
"You're right. It is crazy," Shinji agreed dryly, thinking the truly crazy part was how excited Yutaka seemed to be about this whole ridiculous thing. Then something else registered too. "Wait. We?"
Yutaka paused his rambling, now looking at Shinji with his big puppy dog eyes. Shinji wasn't sure he liked where this was going. He would hate to admit it, but Yutaka did have him under his thumb, and he wasn't sure he could deny any request from him, no matter how insane.
"Well, yeah. I mean, to get to the peak, I have to walk through the woods. It's probably gonna be dark and dangerous? Maybe? And what would I do to defend myself, tell a joke and hope the bears laugh themselves to death?"
It was true, Yutaka probably didn't have the best survival skills in a Man Versus Nature kind of scenario.
"Sure, you'd be screwed without me," Shinji agreed with a smirk. "You forget something though: I don't care about seeing an UFO. And either way, it's not real, so it will be a waste of time."
"They are real!" Yutaka protested, unintentionally raising his voice and drawing some attention from those sitting nearby.
"Sure, there might be life on other planets in other galaxies and all that. But there obviously won't be an UFO flying over Japan on Thursday. You know that, right? Tell me you know that, Yutaka."
Shinji could hear himself sound almost pleading. Please, don't tell me my best friend has completely lost his mind.
"We won't know unless we try to see it, right? Come on, Shinji. Please!"
"Fine, fine. If you're so desperate to get me alone in the woods, you'll even make up this crazy plan, I guess I can't say no. Odds are you're either planning to kill me or fuck me, and I guess I'll take my chances," Shinji joked, giving in.
Yutaka laughed at this, shaking his head.
"You wish! Even if you're not a believer yet, this totally is for the sake of the aliens. And you'll see the light after we go up there. I know it!"
Shinji had his doubts about that. But as ridiculous as Yutaka's plan was, he still found himself somewhat excited to make a trip out of this with him.
"Okay. We got everything? Let's get going," Shinji said, shaking his head. They had decided to spend the night out there in the woods, since it would probably be too late to make the last train home by the time they UFO was supposed to show itself. So Shinji was currently carrying the camping equipment needed for the stay. As much as he still thought this was a waste of time, at least he got to spend some time with Yutaka. Which was actually his favourite way to spend his time anyway. He always preferred Yutaka's company over anyone else's, even when he was on a date with some hot girl. Which was maybe a little weird but -
Shinji's thoughts were interrupted by a high-pitched voice.
"Heeeey, guys!"
Oh no. He would recognize that voice anywhere. Why was Keita Iijima here? Shinji did his best to keep a neutral expression, not wanting to reveal being caught off-guard by this unexpected presence in any way, but his stiff smile didn't reach his eyes. Maybe they could quickly dismiss this pest. If Keita was at the train station, he probably had somewhere to go anyway. At worst, they would share a train ride into Takamatsu, and then they could get rid of him.
Or so he thought.
"Hey, Keita!" Yutaka greeted the boy, not looking surprised at all. When he noticed Shinji's expression had changed, he smacked his forehead quickly. "Duuh! Shinji, I think I forgot to tell you, but Keita overheard me telling Nobu about this at school yesterday. And he asked to come too. The more the merrier, right? And the odds increasing that we won't be the ones to get probed," he joked.
Shinji stared at Yutaka. Oh, you forgot? You forgot?! If I had been told about this little plot twist, I would have suddenly gotten busy with something else. Or broken a leg.
He also couldn't help but think he'd rather get probed than spend an overnight hiking trip with Keita anyway. Besides, if the aliens did arrive to probe them, Keita would probably run away as soon as he realized what was going on, leaving Yutaka and Shinji to be violated by themselves.
Could Shinji really do an overnight trip with him and resist the urge to murder? He wasn't sure.
"Guess you did forget," he said simply instead, stepping onto the train. If his annoyed tone was obvious, the others did a good job of pretending it wasn't. Both of them immediately engaged in a conversation about how exciting this would be, and how they hoped they would see something. Shinji couldn't remember Keita mentioning this alien fascination before, but he couldn't say it surprised him to find out he was a nutter too.
He wasn't sure if he was mostly annoyed that Keita, out of all of their friends (well, Yutaka's friends anyway - Shinji sure didn't consider him a friend anymore), had been the one to crash their hike; or if his annoyance was mainly due to losing alone-time with Yutaka in general. Even if someone he did like, like Shuya or Hiroki, had joined them, he thought maybe it would have been unwelcomed right now. Any excitement he had felt about the excursion was gone, anyway.
"... - What do you think, Shinji?!" Yutaka addressed him. Shinji blinked, realizing both of the other boys were now staring at him with excited expressions. He ignored Keita, instead looking back at Yutaka, who seemed to be eagerly waiting for his answer.
"Huh?" he asked, having not caught the question at all.
"Looks like he... spaced out!" Keita commented, before laughing loudly at his own dumb pun. Yutaka laughed too, shaking his head.
"Man! I was gonna say that!" he said, smacking Keita's shoulder lightly. Shinji thought it would have been much funnier of Yutaka had been the one to say it. Anything Keita said fell totally flat to him.
Not laughing at the joke, he instead waited for someone to repeat the question to him. Yutaka was the one to do so:
"Do you think the UFO will be a classic round shape, or more like a modern spaceship?" he asked eagerly.
Apparently Neither, because there will be no UFO was not an option right now. Shinji sighed; Yutaka had gone off the deep end.
"I guess the classic shape. That's what I'm here to see," he replied dryly, with little interest. It seemed to be enough for Yutaka, who lit up even more
"Right! That's what I keep saying, Keita, it's not gonna be like a new video game or something..."
The two continued to bicker about this, as well as whether or not the aliens would really be green, as the train pulled up to the Takamatsu train station. Shinji's contribution had been that of head nods and short replies to please Yutaka, while at the same time doing a great job at hiding his contempt for Keita by scowling at him every time he spoke.
Yutaka had set his eyes on a small mountain in the city, which would be about an hours walk to get to the top of. It didn't make much sense to Shinji; would the UFO really be more visible to higher up they got? As long as the view wasn't blocked by trees or buildings, they would surely have a good enough view in a field somewhere. Unless Yutaka expected the UFO to be so tiny you needed to get closer to see it. Still, this adventure didn't see to be the one begging for any logical approach, so he kept the thoughts to himself as they started their hike up the mountain.
"I wish there was a lift or something," Keita complained, panting after the first ten minutes. Yutaka laughed, but he sounded like he was breathing quite heavily already too. Sure, it was quite steep, but Shinji worried just how out of shape they were. Well, it would be a stretch to say he worried about Keita, but he judged him, that much was for sure.
"Just consider it a trial to prove to the aliens you are worthy," Shinji told them sarcastically from up ahead. Being way more athletic, he had taken the natural lead.
"I'm already getting a reward with my view from down here!" Yutaka called out jokingly in response, making Shinji smirk. Yes, watching his butt go up a mountain would be a desired reward from anyone, of course. Even if it was a joke, he welcomed the compliment. His ego was never done developing.
"Not to ruin your dreams, Yutaka, but it will probably be the best thing you see all night," Shinji retorted cockily.
"Hey, that's a given. UFO or not," Yutaka laughed. "That ass is already... out of this world."
No one could see the satisfied smile on Shinjis face, but it didn't stop it from being there He obviously knew his butt looked impeccable, but hearing Yutaka say it felt good for reasons he couldn't quite put his finger on.
"Aw, maan. Are you guys gonna be flirting all night? I'm not gonna be third wheeling, am I?" Keita whined, to which Shinji's immediate thought was Yes.
Actually, he was almost impressed Keita was gaining more and more self-awareness, seemingly understanding just how much he was imposing and... Wait. Flirting? They weren't flirting. Were they?
When the comment eventually did register, Shinji was so thrown off, he didn't notice at first that Yutaka didn't seem to say anything either. Usually the boy might have had a joke for situations right this, but now there was nothing. Shinji looked over his shoulder, seeing that Keita was nudging Yutaka for some attention, whilst Yutaka was looking down on the ground with an expression difficult to read. Though considering he seemed red and sweaty, the expression might be one of concentration on the walk, Shinji assumed.
"Maybe you two should use all your energy on walking. It looks like you might need it," Shinji commented to Keita, hoping this would be a way to shut him up.
"Or we could sing some classic hiking songs! What's your favourite? Mine's the Crazy Frog one. The one that goes like this..."
Maybe shutting him up would be the true miracle tonight, Shinji thought, as Keita started singing his song in the most annoying way he possibly could.
If Shinji thought the train ride had been painful, it was still nothing compared to the rest of the hike. He had hoped Keita would wear himself out eventually and be too tired to keep singing, but sure enough he managed to keep it up for the entire way up to the top of the mountain. Why were his only "talents" so insufferable?
When they finally reached the top, Keita was in the middle of The Fox but luckily stopped to admire the open area and the great view they now had of the sunset.
"Wow! It's just like a movie. A real romantic one!" he commented, throwing his backpack onto the ground and throwing himself down on the flat rock that covered most of the area. "Ow! That's hard."
"It's a rock," Shinji pointed out, with a frown. You know, the thing that's smarter than you.
"Shinji," Yutaka said, drawing his attention. "Look. Is that like, from a fire or something?"
Shinji followed Yutaka's gaze to a spot to their left, where several rocks were put down in a circle, with the remains of burnt sticks and leaves laid down in the middle. Shinji approached it, cautiously putting a hand down on top of the burnt material. It still felt kind of hot.
"Yeah. Weird. Maybe someone else is up here," he observed, looking around. It seemed a little weird that someone else would be up here in the evening on just a normal Thursday, but of course, it wasn't impossible.
"Either way, it looks like they've left now. You won't have to fight for the alien's attention with anyone other than Iijima," Shinji told Yutaka, who put on a relieved expression in response.
"It'd be typical if the aliens just see you and forget about the two of us anyway," he said, sighing. "Especially if they're female."
Shinji nodded with his trademark arrogant smirk.
"True. But don't worry. I'll step down and let you have them... Unless they're hot."
"Let's hope they're not, then," Yutaka responded quickly, chuckling.
"Yeah, we wouldn't want any jealousy," Shinji winked to him.
"Uhmmm, guys?" Keita spoke up from where he had set up camp on the ground. For once, he called out to them in an almost hushed voice, which seemed so strange that Shinji actually bothered looking over.
"I think... I think there's something here. Like... In the bushes," Keita continued, his eyes glancing from the area of trees surrounding them, to Shinji. Clearly he didn't have much hope that Yutaka could save them from whatever, or whomever, was out there, because he hardly looked at him. Which made sense.
"Yeah?" Shinji asked nonchalantly as he stepped closer to Keita. Yutaka followed him closely, looking a little nervous as he tried to spot whatever it was Keita had noticed.
"Maybe it's the people who made the fire..." He noted in a quiet voice.
"You don't think it's a bear, do you?!" Keita asked, jumping to his feet and running over to them. He placed himself behind Shinji, almost pushing Yutaka to the side, and grasped dramatically onto his shoulders.
"No, I doubt a bear built the fire," Shinji replied dryly, shaking Keita off. "It's probably just other hikers. Don't worry."
His reassurance was aimed at Yutaka, who gave him a small smile.
"Yeah...!"
All of them listened intently in silence for a moment, and Shinji focused hard on spotting anything in between the trees. It was getting darker, making it pretty challenging, but he couldn't really see anything. Had Keita made it up? Or maybe he was just going crazy? It wasn't too much of a stretch to think his cowardice was getting the better of him already.
"I don't think there's anyone th-" Shinji began, before a loud noise coming from behind them alerted them all.
"FREEZE, INTRUDERS!"
The voice was female and vaguely recognisable, but Shinji still couldn't place it before he spun around. Yutaka turned around too, after having jumped quite a bit by how sudden the voice had called out to them. Keita on the other hand, had simply let out a loud yelp and thrown himself back onto the ground, covering his head with his arms. Clearly ready to give up and face death.
Useless.
When facing the unknown person, Shinji immediately recognised his classmate, Mizuho Inada. She never really made much of a spectacle or anything; she was one of those girls who were just there. She wasn't particularly cute or had a great body, so Shinji hadn't thought much about her. He had the impression she was a little nerdy and weird, in a different way than someone like Motobuchi or Noda, but that was his only idea of her. And now, she was standing there pointing a long stick at them, clearly trying to look as threatening as possible. Shinji noticed the t-shirt she was wearing, which was bright purple and had a green, glittery alien on the center of it.
Nice. Maybe Yutaka can make a friend, he thought, and snickered.
Mizuho wasn't alone either. Behind her, Megumi Eto was doing her best to appear invisible, but her bright red face lit up the whole forest.
"I-I told you, Mizuho! It's clearly... M-Mimura-kun and Seto-kun and... the other one..." she said, her voice shaking with embarrassment. "Please, put the stick down!"
"Never! Can't you see, Star Princess? They are here to interfere with our first contact!"
Shinji had to hold back another snicker. He glanced down at Yutaka, whose expression also looked like a mix of amused and completely stunned.
"Are these the aliens?" Shinji asked him in a whisper, which made Yutaka laugh too.
"Wearing the skin of our classmates? Pretty wild move. I've seen it happen in lots of movies though..." Yutaka agreed quietly.
Mizuho squinted at them, waving her stick threateningly.
"Speak up! What's your reason for coming here tonight?" she asked in a tone sounding oddly formal for this whole situation.
Yutaka, who had put his hands up in the air out of reflex as if asking please don't hit me with your stick, cleared his throat.
"Eh... We wanted to see the UFO..." he explained, before adding more information. "I saw this thing online that... There's a theory one will be flying over tonight..."
Shinji hoped Yutaka could hear himself how dumb it sounded when he tried to explain it to someone else, but as he had also expected, Mizuho was far from judgmental. Instead, she lowered her stick, a smile now appearing on her face.
"Yamada-sensei's channel, right? Us too! He's been right about so much in the past, and his arguments about the planets aligning just made so much sense!" she said eagerly, looking to Megumi as if asking her to agree too. Megumi gave a weak smile.
"Sure..." she mumbled. Shinji could relate. He wondered what dirt Mizuho had on Megumi to get her to come with her, or maybe Megumi was just as whipped as he was.
Yutaka's eyes lit up.
"Yeah! Yeah, him! Man, I kinda figured when I saw your shirt, Inada... It seemed like too much of a coincidence!" he laughed, letting his arms fall back down to his side.
Shinji briefly wondered how Mizuho had even found that video channel he had introduced Yutaka to; as far as he was aware, it was blocked by their government. But where there's a will, there's a way, he guessed. And Mizuho certainly seemed to have plenty of will to indulge in this weird stuff.
Mizuho and Yutaka began rambling about the excitement of probably hopefully definitely getting to see this UFO.
"And if it lands, I prepared a little selection of human items for them to bring back with them!"
"Human items...? Like teeth...?"
"No! Come on. Like strawberry kit-kats!"
"Brilliant! I should've thought of that... Shinji, we should have thought of that!"
Shinji and Megumi were both just nodding along with their friends, and he wondered if he had the same expression she did. Which was a big Help, get me out of here.
A little whimper behind him reminded him that Keita was a thing that did in fact exist. He looked down, and noticed Keita still had his eyes closed and ears covered, refusing to look up at the scene. Sighing, Shinji gave him a nudge with his foot. This only resulted in a slightly louder whimper.
"Iijima!" Shinji said, pulling on his arm to expose his ears. Hearing his voice, Keita finally looked up.
"Shinji...? You're alive! Did you fight them off?" he asked, a trace of hope present in his terrified expression.
"Yep, sure did. And now there's two girls here instead," Shinji said simply.
This word "girls" seemed to peak Keita's interest, because he finally dared to look behind Shinji's body and towards the two girls.
"Huh? Inada and Eto!" he exclaimed, clearly as surprised as if they were the aliens. "What are they doing here?!"
"Duuh, the UFO, of course! Same as you guys!" Mizuho responded without a trace of shame. Megumi on the other hand, looked very ashamed.
"K-Kaori was supposed to come too but she had to do something with her family instead..." she nervously told them, despite no one asked about Kaori at all. To be honest, Shinji had totally forgotten they had a third friend.
"A family thing? I should have thought of that," he mumbled, just loud enough for Yutaka to hear it.
"Shut it, man. You love to be here. And when we single-handedly safe humanity from this invasion, you're gonna want all the credit!" Yutaka laughed in response.
Shinji frowned. He was getting very mixed messages here.
"Are we making friendly first contact and joining them on their ship, or are we fighting them? You're not clear."
"It depends on them, really..."
Mizuho nodded intently as she listened to this.
"For sure! I've come prepared! I got an arsenal of weapons packed in my backpack," she told them with a big smile, pointing to her bag. Shinji found this more worrying than anything.
"I-It's just a hammer and a pair of scissors..." Megumi whispered, but after a glare from Mizuho, she added. "But with the help of Ahura Mazda, the aliens can never beat us!"
"The who-wha?" Yutaka blinked, looking to Shinji as if he hoped he had an explanation. Shinji simply shook his head.
"I think it's better if we don't ask," he warned his friend. The last thing he wanted was an extra crazy rant from Mizuho. Things were already too ridiculous for him. Although initially finding their appearance pretty amusing, Shinji was beginning to question what this would mean for him and his time with Yutaka. He had thought getting rid of Keita would be hard enough; now there were two more crazies to deal with.
It hit him this might work in his favour. Maybe he could find a way to get Keita and the girls to occupy each other, while he spent some time with the only person there he actually gave a damn about. Tapping his chin as if in deep thought, Shinji nodded to himself.
"I wonder... If that might be the case..." he said out loud, hoping to peak some interest with his vague phrasing. "Yes, that seems right."
He began looking upwards, studying the trees.
"Ehm, Shinji? What are you talking about?" Yutaka asked, puzzled. The others looked at him with slight confusion, before Mizuho's eyes widened.
"Mimura! Speak! Do you see any of the galactic visitors?" she demanded to know, joining him in looking up, though her gaze was focused on the sky.
"No. That's just it," Shinji said with a sigh. "I'm wondering if the view might be better from the trees."
"The trees?" Yutaka asked unconvinced. Before he could question it further, Shinji hurried to continue.
"Yes. Not our view, but theirs. Think about it. When the UFO flies above us," Man, did it pain him to say those words with a straight face, "and they see all of us here on the ground, they might not bat however many eyelids they have. But, if they see a person sitting on top of a tree, clearly trying to signal them... They won't be able to resist their curiosity and investigate, right?"
Mizuho nodded along, clearly clinging to everything he was saying.
"The person they see... Might be the chosen one..." she agreed, her eyes sparkling. Megumi had turned a little paler, seeing exactly where this was going.
"Mizuho! Please, you can't cli-"
"Silence! My time has come. You must come along on this new quest, Space Warrior. Even if I will be the one to climb the highest tree and signal to the visitors, I will need your strength and friendship to encourage my mission!" Mizuho exclaimed, taking Megumi's hand, ready to pull her back into the forest.
"Wait!" Shinji called out, raising his hand to signal them to stop. "Even for... Space Warriors, it's dangerous to go alone. I want to offer you my brave, loyal... companion, for your... quest."
He wasn't sure if what he was saying resonated with them, but it seemed to be working, because Mizuho was looking at him curiously.
"Him?" she asked, nodding to Yutaka.
"No, no. No, Yutaka would be useless on such a dangerous mission," Shinji said quickly, earning a little scoff from Yutaka. "For this you need someone like Iijima. He is the only one... capable."
Keita was looking at him with an expression of pure adoration. Shinji thought he could even see him tear up.
"Maan... You mean that?" he asked, taking Shinji's hands in his. "You really think I'm capable and brave and stuff?!"
Considering he had just cowered in fear on the ground five minutes ago, it was difficult to believe Keita would buy this, but hey; clearly he was just that stupid.
For once, Shinji squeezed his hands back, nodding dramatically.
"I wouldn't trust anyone else with this," he said seriously. "Make sure they are safe."
Keita nodded repeatedly, before suddenly freezing. He looked at the forest, then back at Shinji.
"But... Dude... It's all dark and scary," he mumbled, as if just remembering himself that he was in fact a coward. "What if some animal finds us and wants to eat me? I look so delicious! They'd totally take me first. Or... Or if the aliens actually come and we gotta fight. I can't fight them! I even lose my pretend Lightsaber fights when I'm fighting against my imaginary friend..."
Shinji squeezed his hands again, getting Keita's attention before he could continue rambling.
"Hey. i have faith in you," he said, his eyes meeting Keita's. "And once you succeed this mission... Let's celebrate with a best friend night together."
Yeah, he would definitely regret that one. But he was desperate to be left alone
It seemed like this was the push Keita needed. He pulled his hands from Shinji's and used one to wipe away a couple of tears that had started rolling down his cheeks.
"Yeah!" he agreed, putting on his brave face. It wasn't working that well, as he was trembling a little at the prospect of this mission. "Yeah, I can do it!"
Turning to the girls, he smiled as brightly as he managed right now.
"Girls, you can count on me! I'll totally defend you!"
Neither of the two girls looked convinced as they exchanged a glance.
"L-Let's hope nothing happens...!" Megumi commented quietly, and Shinji snickered. Yeah, they definitely screwed if they ran into as much as a rabbit.
"We're wasting time!" Mizuho declared, starting to pull Megumi into the forest again. "Iijima, I will grant you the title of knight for this mission, and this mission only. Do not let us down! Let's go!"
With determined steps, she disappeared into the forest, dragging Megumi with her and with a reluctant Keita following them with a flashlight he pulled out from his pocket.
He turned to Shinji before disappearing from view.
"I'll see you at our best friend night!" he said as a final goodbye. Shinji waved lazily. Maybe if he was lucky, Keita would really get abducted and he'd never have to actually go through with it.
Shinji and Yutaka listened to the sound of their footsteps until they turned so faint they could hardly hear them anymore. It was quiet for a moment, before Yutaka spoke up.
"Shinji... What was that?" he asked, stunned. Shinji realized Yutaka hadn't spoken throughout that whole exchange, probably too confused to say much.
"What? I'm being a good classmate, and helping increase Inada's chances of meeting her alien soulmate or whatever," he replied with a shrug.
"That is so not what you're doing! Why did you make that stuff up to get rid of them?" Yutaka asked, not buying his excuse. "It's getting pretty dark..."
"They'll be fine," Shinji quickly dismissed his concerns. "They got their flashlight and... Iijima's courage."
Yutaka let out a short laugh. "Guess I really have nothing to worry about," he replied, though throwing one last look into the woods.
"You sure don't. Let's set up here, it'd be embarrassing if the aliens arrive before we even get our tent up," Shinji said, looking for a good, flat spot on the rocks to put it down.
"I'm sure there's a boner joke in there somewhere," Yutaka chuckled, finally putting down his backpack, which was filled with mainly snacks.
Yutaka watched Shinji begin the process of setting the tent up, not really sure what to do.
"I'd offer to help, but you'd say it's quicker if you just do it on your own, right?" he hummed, as that would be a pretty typical Shinji thing to think. And it would be true.
"That's right. You can just stand there and look pretty," Shinji chuckled, pretending not to struggle with the instructions at all. He had gone camping a few times with his uncle, but that was years ago, and Shinji was not exactly the outdoorsy type. He still managed to put everything together so that it at least looked correct.
"There, all done," he said proudly, hoping Yutaka would praise his talents. And Yutaka did.
"Wow, dude! Who knew you were such a survivalist? Is this where you tell me you were a Boys' Scout all your life? Because I've never seen such a perfect tent before in my life," Yutaka told him, going heavy on the compliments as he knew Shinji liked.
Shinji beamed. "Nah, just born talented in every way," he said.
He looked at the tent, which was probably in reality intended for one person.
"See, this is another reason Iijima had to go," he said seriously. "He'd never fit in there with us."
Yutaka seemed to just then notice the size of the tent too:
"Eh, Shinji, are you sure the two of us will even fit? It looks kinda small," he observed, unzipping the front of it to peek inside. He looked back at Shinji. "Like, can even I fit?"
"It'll be fine," Shinji replied, appearing unbothered by the cramped space. "We'll make it work."
He winked at Yutaka, wondering if his friend would get the flirtatious undertone or just laugh it off.
Unsurprisingly, he did the latter.
"Okay, playboy. I guess you can show me the magic trick to that later tonight. But can we grab some snacks and sit down now? I don't want the aliens to miss us!"
"Okay, okay," Shinji agreed, as he turned to look up at the sky. It had gotten dark enough that the stars were out now, and the moon cast a soft light over the open ground they were staying at.
"At least it's not foggy," Yutaka remarked with a smile. "We have a chance."
Shinji somehow managed to refrain from replying sarcastically to this, even if he thought the only chance they had was a chance of getting Yutaka committed after this.
It had been a couple of hours and most of the snacks was already eaten. The most action so far had been when a bird startled them as it flew out of it's nest, and when they had heard Keita's loud scream from somewhere in the woods. Shinji hoped maybe a bear had gotten him, but he figured he had just freaked out at his own shadow or something equally pathetic. He wasn't the least bit concerned about it.
"Maybe they're really not coming," Yutaka had to admit, as he gazed up on the sky. Shinji noticed him perk up at any sign of activity up there, which had now been at least three times when a plane had flown by. Shinji found it kind of cute, but also, a little concerning how convinced he had been they would actually see something.
"Maybe not," Shinji agreed. He had gradually moved closer to Yutaka as time passed, not sure if the other boy noticed or not. Now, they were so close their upper arms were touching. "Sorry about that. I know you were excited. Crazy, but excited."
Yutaka chuckled quietly, as he finally looked away from the sky, and instead focused his eyes on Shinji.
"I know you don't believe in this kinda stuff, so thanks for coming anyway," he told him. "Sitting around and doing nothing in the woods sure would have been boring if you weren't here."
"I thought it'd be pretty boring anyway," Shinji joked. "But it didn't turn out so bad. I think I even prefer that the aliens didn't show up."
It'd be typical if they had. Even more people to crash this. If aliens counted as people.
Shinji felt the weight on his arm becoming heavier, and looked down only to see Yutaka was now resting his head against his shoulder. Instinctively he put an arm around the smaller boy, pulling him even closer.
"Are you tired?" Shinji asked him, wondering if it was time to retreat to the tent. Yutaka shook his head, looking back up at the sky.
"Nah, not yet. I want to give it a little bit longer. Maybe there's traffic up there," he reasoned playfully. "It's just... more comfortable sitting like this. That's okay?"
Shinji could tell he was trying to keep his voice cool and casual, but it had a bit of a nervous edge to it.
More than okay, Shinji thought. Still, he wanted to keep his cool, too. He was good at that.
"It's okay," he replied simply. "What, you think they're waiting for a green light?"
"Something like that," Yutaka smiled.
Shinji figured that no matter what the reasoning was, he didn't mind sitting like this with Yutaka for a while longer. This was more like the hike he had hoped for. They couldn't even hear Keita's occasional shrieks from inside the forest anymore, which helped the mood a lot.
They sat in silence for a while, with Yutaka looking up at the sky, although looking more at peace with the fact that they would probably not see any UFO today either. So just like any other day. Shinji was instead looking at Yutaka, taking in just how cute and content he looked this close. He wouldn't mind being this close more often.
Shinji thought about what his uncle had told him before he died; about finding the right girl (well, whoops) and fall in love. He thought maybe he was getting closer to understanding what he meant, even if he was not quite there yet. But the idea of being so close to it, he could almost grasp it...
To Shinji, that was more extraordinary than any possible alien invasion would have been.
"Shinji, look! Is that i- Oh, another plane. Screw it, let's go to sleep," Yutaka sighed, having gotten his hopes up and being let down one time too many. Shinji laughed quietly.
"I thought you'd never say that," he said, though making no effort to move. Instead, he tightened his grip around Yutaka's shoulder slightly.
They remained like that for a little while longer, for no reason other than the fact that they both wanted to. Shinji wondered if he would have to talk about these odd feelings at one point, but at least for tonight, this was more than enough.