Chapter Text
Prologue: Almost Every…
Outside dark shadows were passing by. Sometimes it was possible to discern a tree, a river or a power transmission line. But the landscape seemed similar to the one in the camp. Maybe the world is a circle, and we are just moving in it.
Anyway, the surroundings were the least of my concerns now – I just stared at the floor and thought about tomorrow.
What will happen? City, planet, time – all are strange to me… And a further talk with Alisa, who was totally disappointed in me.
The process of waiting happens to be more tiresome than its result. And finally, things bound to happen didn’t look so important or fearful. When all your strength is exhausted, there is just tiredness and emptiness in your soul. The bus was driving into obscurity. I couldn’t withstand and fell asleep.
Confusion.
I awoke with an immediate feeling of confusion, as if I were somewhere I shouldn’t be. Not really surprising, seeing as I just spent a week somewhere I probably shouldn’t have been. And where am I now?
A quick survey of my surrounding revealed seats. Bus seats to be precise. And bus windows. Alone in a bus with no driver; this scenario was strangely familiar. But wait…
Alisa had left me on the bus! I understand that she’s upset, but this is too much. Did she want to get rid of me that badly? She hadn’t left a note, so it was doubtful that this was just one of her pranks. So now I was on a bus headed who knows where. Buses travel along routes though, so no matter where I am now, I should end up at the district centre eventually.
And then what? I had no idea what this ‘district centre’ looked like, so how would I know when I arrived? Moreover, everyone from the camp had probably already departed for their homes. I, on the other hand, had no home to go back to. There was no one I could even contact.
The more I thought about my situation, the worse it seemed to be. I needed to find something to feel positive about before I lost my mind. Assuming I hadn’t already lost my mind. Maybe this was all a dream, and in reality I am in my bed in my apartment.
Unlikely. Ok, something positive…
I got nothing. Looking out the window as I tried to gather my thoughts, I felt my heart skip a beat. A brick wall and its gates crowned with a ‘Sovyonok’ sign, statues of pioneers standing on either side, and a road sign nearby showing the bus route number: 410.
This was definitely familiar, only I was outside the bus last time. But just like one week ago, I had awoken in front of the Sovyonok Pioneer camp.
Why would the bus have come here? Strangely, the only answer I could come up with is that I had gone back in time. Eight days ago that thought would have seemed outlandish. However, seven days ago I became a time traveler, so the thought seemed relaxing now. Sovyonok was something I knew. The world around it was wholly unfamiliar. No matter how strange my arrival had been, I would gladly choose this pioneer camp over fending for myself in this unknown world.
As I exited the bus I started to second-guess my conclusion. I had gone back in time to my first day as a pioneer; was this really the most likely outcome, or is it the one I was most hoping for? Obviously there was comfort in the idea of going to a familiar place. Even more so when it meant escaping a situation where nothing was familiar. But did I have any reason to believe this to be the case? It doesn’t matter; my theory will be either confirmed or denied soon.
I stopped short of the half-opened gate, almost praying for Slavya to come out to greet me. If I can’t go back to Sovyonok, I have nowhere to go. No friends, no family. No Alisa…
If I was back at Sovyonok, then that meant Alisa hadn’t abandoned me. It is strange to worry about such things at a time like this. What did I care about being strange though? It’s not like anything that happened to me was normal. I simply decided to blend in with my environment.
"Hi, you must have just arrived here.” I was once again face-to-face with the classical Russian Beauty.
“Slavya…” I wanted to hug her, but that would freak her out. This is supposed to be our first meeting after all. Come to think of it, I shouldn’t know her name either. “I was told to look for a blonde girl named Slavya. Is that you by any chance?”
My cover seemed to go over well enough, as the girl gave me a bright smile. “Yes. My name is Slavyana, but everyone calls me Slavya. You can do that too.”
“Right. Well um…”
“You should go to our camp leader, she’ll tell you everything! Look. You go straight ahead to the square, then turn left at the cabins.” No thanks. I may be glad to be back, but I could do without seeing Olga Dmitrievna at the moment. We weren’t exactly two peas in a pod, and that was before she forgot me in this camp. Then again it seems that hasn’t happened yet, so should I say she will forget me?
Whatever.
It seems I had gotten lost in thought. When I came to my senses, Slavya was walking away from me. This time I had no reason to hesitate. I hurried after her into the once strange pioneer camp.
Chapter 1: And then things got weird…
50 meters into the camp I saw a small one-story house. If my memory was correct (and it would be pretty strange if it wasn’t, seeing as I hadn’t even been gone a full day) then this was the clubs building. I contemplated going inside and greeting Electronik and Shurik, but stopped when I remembered that they wouldn’t remember me. And if they did, they would try to convince me to join their cybernetics club. On second thought, I think I’ll put off that reunion for a while longer.
I stopped a little ways away from the clubs building, thinking about what I should do. There’s no need to rush in meeting the other pioneers, seeing as we’re all here for at least another week (and maybe much longer). I probably should go see Olga Dmitrievna, but the whole ‘abandonment’ issue was still a sore spot for me.
Logically speaking I shouldn’t be mad at Olga Dmitrievna seeing as her abandoning me in this camp technically hasn’t happened. But even so, I still remember it happening and it’s hard not to be a little upset about it.
In the end, the deciding factor was the heat. I hadn’t realized until now, but I was wearing my winter clothing again. Under this summer sun it was amazing that I ignored this fact for this long. Guess I had other things on my mind.
I was broken from my thoughts when I felt someone pass by me. “It’s about time you got here.” I froze. Did I just hear that correctly? I whipped around to find Ulyana grinning cheekily at me.
I tried to ask her what she meant by that, but all I was capable of saying was “What?”
“Alisa told me about you.”
Oh. That explains it. I turned to continue on my way. Wait…
No it doesn’t! How does Alisa know who I am? Is it possible that she remembers the other time in the camp as well? And what was she saying about me? This last question wasn’t as important as the first two, but I was still curious.
I turned back to ask Ulyana but she was already gone, as if by teleportation. Guess I would have to ask Alisa then. If I remember correctly, she should run into me (literally) on my way to Olga Dmitrievna’s cabin.
If Alisa does remember our time at the camp, then that means what? It doesn’t get me any closer to leaving this camp or understanding what’s going on. In fact, it would make things even more complicated.
I’m sick of this. For the past week I’ve been stumbling around in the dark looking for answers, and now the universe is dropping even more questions in my lap. I never even answered the first ones! Hopefully I do better at solving this mystery…
It would seem that I zoned out once again. At this rate I will accomplish very little and only think about doing something productive. Then again, I never did much problem solving the first time around either. I really needed to work on that. With this in mind, I headed down a path towards the cabins.
I didn’t go very far before I saw the person I was looking for. Orange hair, orange eyes, provocative attire. Heya Dva-cheh!
Those orange eyes gave me a look of surprise that quickly turned to her usual arrogance. I briefly wondered if she somehow heard my mental greeting.
“About time you got here.” She definitely knew I was coming, but that greeting wasn’t as hostile as I expected. Did she not remember our argument?
Well I’m in no hurry to remind her, so I’ll play along for now. “It’s good to see you too Alisa.”
“Is it? Didn’t you come here to see your other girlfriend?”
And there goes the hostility. But what she said was strange. Other girlfriend? “I wasn’t aware I even had one.” I realized too late that I had given voice to my thoughts.
Alisa’s face flared up in anger. “Have I ever told you that your jokes aren’t funny?”
“That’s not true,” I said. “Maybe they aren’t all funny, but some of them are pretty good.” Seems I should shut up now. Right now, this girl in front of me is like a nuclear reactor and my words are sabotaging the safety controls. A few more bad jokes and I’m going to have a meltdown on my hands.
“Semyon.” Her voice had taken on a deathly calm. “Get serious. Now.”
What can I really say in this situation? I understand the basics of the situation: apparently Alisa thinks I’m her boyfriend. Her boyfriend who’s cheating on her, or at least she thinks I am. While the general situation is easy to grasp, I don’t have any of the details. Like how did this come about? Last time I saw Alisa she was 100% sure that we weren’t a couple. Apparently that had been resolved, but a worse situation had taken its place. It’s official; whoever sent me to this camp has a deep hatred for me.
I pushed those thoughts away. Worrying about this now wouldn’t help me at all. right now I had to deal with girl troubles. Damn. What do guys usually do when their girlfriend is angry and they don’t know why?
I glance around for some flowers, but it seems I’m out of look on that front. A box of chocolates won’t just fall from the sky either. Seems I have nothing to rely on but my words. So it seems that I have nothing to rely on.
Here goes nothing. “I missed you,” I told her.
Alisa snorted. “I’m sure you did.”
“I mean it. I really am happy to see you.” And not just because I thought you’d left me on a bus headed God-knows-where.
She averted her eyes. “How can I believe that, Semyon? When you…”
Oh come on! Don’t cut off there. Tell me what’s going on. “What? Tell me what’s wrong.”
“You know what you did!” She yelled. Actually, no I don’t. If you would just tell me, that would be really helpful.
I took a second to try to push down my annoyance. My happiness from returning to Sovyonok was already mostly gone. I had wanted so much to see her, but of course it just leads to an argument. I can’t do this. If I just had some time to think, maybe I could…
Then again, there’s no reason why I can’t take some time to think. I have seven days; I don’t need to resolve this right now. “Maybe we should talk about this later,” I said, feeling relieved at my revelation. I then started walking towards Olga Dmitrievna’s cabin.
“Running off to your other woman?” There was something in her voice, but I didn’t notice it at the time.
“Dammit Alisa, Stop being stupid!” I was feeling more than anger at the moment. It hurt for her to keep accusing me like she was, and I wanted to hurt her back. “I don’t have another girlfriend, but maybe I’ll go get one that isn’t crazy!”
I thought it would be satisfying to say that, but when I saw the tears in Alisa’s eyes, it just made me feel worse. She opened her mouth a few times, but no words came out. Seems my words had left us both speechless.
“Semyon…you…” Alisa finally broke the silence. “I missed you. I really did.” She ran off before I could respond.
I tried to think about everything that had happened today, but my mind had gone totally blank. I suddenly felt very tired, like I could just abandon all these worries plaguing my mind and go to sleep. And maybe when I woke up everything wouldn’t be so confusing.
Unlikely.
Without even realizing I had been moving, I found myself in front of the camp leader’s cabin.
“…And stop teasing Lena already…”
Sounds like there’s someone inside. Indeed, a moment later the door swung open, and Ulyana came running out.
She paused for a second before continuing on her way. That’s weird; I swear she was giving me a look of concern. Is my bad mood that obvious?
A quiet voice called out to me. “Semyon?” I turned back to the doorway to see Lena staring at me. Does she know me as well?
“So you decided to come after all,” she remarked, giving me a warm smile. At least she doesn’t hate me as well.
“Why wouldn’t I?” I asked, not that I expected an answer. Not a helpful one anyway.
“You said you were going traveling with your family this summer. I thought you’d spend the entire summer with them.” So I finally get a straight answer from someone in this camp. I shall remember this moment, because it will never happen again… and Lena’s staring at me. Must have zoned out again.
“I got bored, so I asked if I could come here,” I replied.
Lena smiled. “There’s plenty to do here, so I hope you enjoy it.”
I smiled back. “Thanks. I need to go see the camp leader now, so if you’ll excuse me.”
“Ok. I’ll see you around.” She gave me another warm smile before walking off.
So Lena knows me as well. Could she be the ‘other woman’ that Alisa was talking about? She did seem rather happy to see me. Then again, my ‘actual girlfriend’ wasn’t at all happy to see me, so that alone means nothing.
I shrugged. My spirits had been raised by that brief conversation with Lena, no reason to drag them back down with confusing thoughts. I knocked on the door to Olga Dmitrievna’s cabin. I wonder what other surprises this camp has in store for me.
My meeting with Olga D. had been uneventful. She simply welcomed me to the camp, and then went off to find a couple pioneer uniforms for me. It was nice to know that some things hadn’t changed about this camp. Then again, it was odd that she went to get more than one uniform for me, seeing as last time I only got one. For some reason that seemed ominous to me, but I shrugged it off.
Afterwards, I had gone to the stage where I had seen Alisa playing guitar. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted her to be there or not, but I came to avoid everyone else.
Seeing no one else around, I took a seat on the stage. An hour ago, I was determined to find out what was going on but that determination was already wavering. I don’t think I can handle any more surprises today. I could barely handle the ones I’d already discovered.
I shook my head to clear my thoughts. I’d been thinking all day, and I was just as confused (if not more so) as when I started. So I was just going to relax until dinner. I laid back and closed my eyes.
I don’t know how long I was there, but eventually the loudspeakers blared out the dinner call. I got up and headed towards the canteen. Maybe dinner can reignite my desire to find answers.
Olga Dmitrievna was waiting for me on the front porch. I thought back to my first time in Sovyonok. I believe I stopped and stared at her back then. This time I continued towards her, and we walked into the canteen.
“Wait a moment,” Olga Dmitrievna said. “We’ll find you a place to sit…” She looked around the place. “Go over there, next to Ulyana!”
Great. The day I’m having wouldn’t be complete without someone pulling a stupid prank on me. I didn’t bother to argue though, already knowing it would be pointless.
“Hey there Casanova!” Ulyana greeted me. Oh right. She’s Dva-Cheh’s roommate. If anyone would know about my lady troubles, it would be her. This situation keeps getting better and better. I growled at her as I took my seat.
“Don’t be mad,” she said. “I was just joking.”
“Well I’m not in the mood for jokes,” I said as I reached for my food. Surprisingly, nothing had been taken from my plate.
“What happened between you and Alisa?” From bad jokes to topics I’d rather avoid. This girl is out to make life difficult for me.
“I don’t wanna talk about it.” I turned my attention back to my food, but of course she wouldn’t give up that easily.
“That’s the same thing she said! One of you should tell me what happened.” I don’t really see how it’s any of her business. Then again, she is the closest person to Alisa at this camp. It makes sense that she would be worried.
“We just had a little disagreement,” I lied. “Nothing to be concerned about.”
“It might’ve been little to you, but Alisa was really hurt.”
I felt a wave of guilt wash over me. I started looking around the canteen.
“Alisa’s still in the cabin.” Ulyana gave a dramatic sigh. “Said she wasn’t hungry. At least she finally stopped crying…”
“Ok I get it,” I cut her off. “I’ll go apologize. Can you stop with the guilt trip now?”
She smiled. "I'll think about it. So, are you really a no-good, two-timing playboy?"
I almost choked on my cutlet. “What kind of question is that?”
The red-haired devil started laughing at me. I shot a glare at her, but this just made her laugh harder. Thinking back to my first day in this camp (not this time, the other first day), I remembered the prank this little imp pulled on me. In her laughing fit, she had left her plate completely defenseless. Time for a little payback.
I was going to just take her cutlet, but as I thought back to the thing wriggling on my plate, I found myself taking her entire plate.
“Hey! That’s mine,” she said when she saw me taking a bite out of ‘my’ cutlet.
“Not anymore it isn’t,” I taunted. “But since I’m such a nice guy, I’ll let you have a bite.” I offered the remains of the cutlet to her, making sure that the side that I’d bitten out of was pointing directly at her. To my surprise, she bit into it with no hesitation.
“Gotta do better than that Romeo.” Ulyana then brought her hands up to her cheeks. “Oh, are you making a move on me? You really are a little playboy.”
I was taken aback by her words. “Wait, no. That isn’t what I…” Another bout of laughter interrupted me. How is it that this girl always manages to get the last laugh on me?
“You are such a dork!” Although she was insulting me, there was no malice in Ulyana’s words.
I couldn’t help but smile at her. It was nice that at least one person in this camp hadn’t changed.
After dinner Ulyana gave me a tour of the camp. Well, we walked around the camp and she pointed out places that may be useful: the bushes near the canteen where you could hide stolen candy, the bushes near the square where you could eavesdrop on people, and the bushes near the showers where you could peep. It seems this girl really likes bushes. And spying on people.
Before I knew it the sun had set, and Ulyana and I had gone our separate ways. As I walked to Olga Dmitrievna’s cabin, my mind filled with thoughts of my second ‘First day in Sovyonok’.
I thought back to my conversations with the girls: Slavya, Alisa, Lena and Ulyana. I hadn’t seen Slavya very much at all today. No surprise really, she is always busy. I made a mental note to talk to her more tomorrow. I should make sure she hasn’t changed like some of the others.
My talk with Alisa was… typical. Although her memories had changed, she didn’t seem much different from the girl I’d gotten to know over the last week. Assuming she hasn’t changed too drastically, I feel pretty confident that I can fix even this situation. After all, all of our fights have somehow gotten smoothed over up until now. Except for our last one, obviously, and this one could be seen as a twisted continuation of that one rather than a whole new problem.
Oh yeah, I was supposed to go apologize. That could wait for tomorrow as well. On one hand, maybe she’ll be less angry after a good night’s sleep. On the other hand, letting her simmer in her anger could lead to her hating me even more. On the other hand… no wait, I’m all out of hands. Wait until tomorrow it is then. With that decided, I continued along my previous train of thought.
Lena was the most different from her previous iteration. Our conversation, albeit brief, had flowed naturally, with no sign of her usual shyness. Although maybe she and I are just close to each other, so she could feel calm while speaking to me. She does know me, that much is certain. I just wish I knew how well.
It seems I needed to speak with Lena tomorrow as well. If I could find out what our relationship is like, maybe that would help me with Alisa as well. It’s too bad I can’t just ask her directly; after all, it would be strange for me to ask questions I should already know the answer to. Getting answers without asking questions, this may be my most difficult objective.
And last but not least, Ulyana. She doesn’t seem to have changed at all from last time. She was the same mischievous, energetic girl I’d met a week ago. Maybe a bit too energetic actually. From her perspective, I’m her best friend’s cheating boyfriend. Shouldn’t she be a bit mistrustful of me? But she treated me as if I was just another person. I shrugged. I’m not going to let the fact that someone doesn’t hate me ruin my mood.
Olga Dmitrievna greeted me almost as soon as I opened the door. Looks like she had been waiting for me.
“Hello Semyon! You’re quite late!”
“Yeah… Ulyana was showing me around the camp.”
“She didn’t cause you any trouble, did she?”
“No. She was actually pretty helpful.”
“I see. You will be sleeping here.” She pointed at one of the beds.
Great. I had been hoping to get a new roommate this time. Or maybe even a cabin to myself if I was lucky. Then again, the fact that I’m here proves that I am not lucky. “I see,” I replied to Olga Dmitrievna.
“Now it is time to sleep!” the camp leader declared.
My tiredness hit me full force when I lay onto the bed, forcing all my thoughts from earlier out of my head. It’s just as well. I'd gotten as far as contemplating my situation could get me. Tomorrow, I would take action to figure out what was going on, but tonight, I deserved a good night’s rest. My eyelids closed, and I was asleep before I knew it.