Chapter Text
Kanade looks out the windshield to the road diverging into two; the right path is jammed with cars. She sits in the front seat of this black Cadillac with a Tsukasa casually in the driver’s seat. Birds chirp every few seconds. The road is towered over by green lush trees.
“Which way was the gas station?” Kanade asks, “It splits here.”
“It’s--” Tsukasa answers, “well…”
“Difficult, right?” Kanade softly smiles, “I too have been mixing up the English words for right and left .” She looks back down on her phone, the awkwardness fills her cheek.
“I’m,” Ichika interrupts then hesitates, “afraid that’s probably just you.” She sits in the back with Minori, as if she’s at a job interview.
“I know the terms,” Tsukasa adds, “I just didn’t hear which one the GPS said.”
While Tsukasa tries to remember which way to go, the cars behind are beeping their horns. Kohane, Minori, and Ichika continue chatting. Kanade sighs.
“I remember now, left!” Tsukasa yelps.
“Ah,” Kohane lays in the very back with stressed brows, “The GPS meant right. Like right. ”
‘“You guys still don’t believe me? I know a little English.”
“I know more English, so I think I’m right.”
Tsukasa groans, but doesn’t respond. The tension fills up the tiny car space.
“Hehe, you should be in the front seat then,” Kanade interjects, “You’d be having an easier time reading the signs than me.”
As the car approaches the end, Tsukasa breaks into a nervous sweat. Screech— Tsukasa jerks the van to the left, making everyone stumble off their seats. This way is a sharp turn. Kanade wonders if this will just lead to the opposite direction. The trees have gotten closer and are taller. No one’s on the road. Except their van.
“Where are you going?” Kohane asks, “Tsukasa, I told you,” her voice is frantic, “this is the wrong way!”
“And the trees are blocking my cell signal.” Ichika exclaims.
This webpage won’t load. Kanade looks at the signal bars, because surely there’s at least one bar. 0 are led up. She starts turning airplane mode on and off.
“Now?” Minori exclaims.
“No need to fret,” Tsukasa confidently says, “We can just look at the map here, instead of just practicing English with it.”
“What map?”
“IT REFRESHED!?” Tsukasa frantically refreshes the GPS over and over, “No no no no no.”
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They drive around for a few more minutes, hoping to drive past a cell tower that will give them cell service for even a moment. Tsukasa keeps refreshing the map every few seconds. No one has even seen a single car in miles, so the mood has shifted. “We’re driving in the middle of nowhere with trees for miles,” Kohane reminds everyone, “We're going to waste gas if we keep driving aimlessly.”
“You think so?” Kanade asks, “I think we could find a signal faster by staying on the highway.”
“But we have no gas,” Kohane almost groans.
Tsukasa puts a hand up, “Let’s not argue the whole time. Lemme think.”
“Let’s do a vote on how we want to look for signal.” Minori suggests. That’s a good idea.
“That works.”
“I guess.”
“Sure.” Tsukasa shrugs, stiff with a frown.
“All for looking in the car.” Kanade and Ichika raise their hands. “All for looking on foot.” Everyone else raises their hands, including a now smiling Minori. “Tsukasa, we’re looking on foot.”
“It’s settled,” Tsukasa says, “Finally.”
Screech— He drifts off on the exit that happened to be nearby. He parks right at the halfway point. The teens get out of the car. The concrete is rough to the touch with glass and debris from a recent car crash. Once they step on the grass at the bottom, it’s filled with litter and is awfully wet on the shoes. The five of them scatter, phones in the air hoping someone gets pinged. Naturally, they spread out more.
“Since we don’t have a map,” Kohane says, “Let’s stick together and only go straight so that we don’t get more lost.”
“Wouldn’t that reduce the chances of us finding a signal?” Tsukasa reminds her. “This was your idea!”
“I didn’t think ya’ll would wander off. I’ll mark check--Hey!“
They enter the wilderness up ahead at different spots. Sorry, Kohane, but we need to find cell service. Kohane takes a loud breath in and out, reluctantly going into the woods by herself. The sharp branches rub against Kanade’s bare legs. Still not showering tonight. The fallen ones crack under her sneakers. Kanade spots blue at the corner of her eye, rushing towards her from the left.
“Kanade,” it’s Ichika, “do you know where the car is? I don’t see it to the left of me anymore.”
“Huh,” Kanade’s confused. We were supposed to be spread out. What is she doing so close if she really did went left while I went straight? Kanade looks behind her, and sure enough, it’s only tree stems for miles as if they haven't been walking for only a few minutes. Her heart races. No, this can’t be— “I don’t know!”
“We’re lost!” Kohane shouts, she’s facing the same way as Kanade. Minori and Tsukasa appear from the right.
“Thank goodness” Minori runs up and hugs Kohane, “We found you guys!”
“Yeah, we’re all here.” Tsukasa proclaims.
“Yup.” Ichika sighs.
“That is good.”
“Okay, but why go over there for a signal?” Kohane asks, “That’s under the highway, where there’s more blockage.” The group giggles, even the two now embarrassed knuckleheads get a chuckle out. Minori softly lets go of Kohane.
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They walk around for several more minutes, together. Kanade’s arm is starting to hurt from holding her phone up. She lets her arm fall down, careful to not drop her phone. Tsukasa still keeps refreshing the map every few seconds. The comedic atmosphere changes. An abandoned house shows itself. Its windows are covered with vines, and its walls crumble onto the ground. They all gravitate towards it. After all, there are less trees. The teens sit on the fallen tree logs surrounding it.
“We need a better plan.” Tsukasa begins, “We haven’t even made it to our first stop, we already might have to call it off.”
“That wouldn’t be good,” Minori asks, “Could we brainstorm?”
“Let’s check if we have a signal,” Tsukasa checks his phone, ”Nope.”
“I could try waving my jacket around.” Minori points at the denim jacket she’s wearing.
“No one will see us. The leaves are too thick.”
“And, they won’t even pay no mind,” Kohane interrupts, “and that’s how we got lost so fast.”
Kohane climbs onto a nearby tree and hops on a branch. Kanade notices the 20% charge on her phone. She and Ichika turn off their phones. Kanade waits while others are discussing ideas. What can I do?
“Phone died?” Kohane calls out to her.
“Um..almost.” Kanade answers, she awkwardly smiles as an urge to hide comes over her.
“Great.” Kohane pouts.
“But, I have an idea. I think we should focus on finding our way back.” Kanade stands up.
“Since your phone’s almost dead?”
“No, we can find higher ground. We definitely won’t find signal, but we’ll have a vantage point to see our car.”
“That…makes sense. Is that good with everyone?”
Everyone gives approving exclamations. The group stands up, some stretching, as they prepare to embark. They all walk past the tiny house further into the wilderness.
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“Is this a hill?” Ichika asks, “Feels like I’m climbing.” She kicks the ground that seems to curve up.
“This is the higher ground we need!” Tsukasa confidently points out.
“Then let’s go!” Minori shouts.
They all run up the steep hill, not caring for stepping on mysterious bags, clothes, nor the trash. Kanade lags behind; every step is like walking against the wind. Except there is none. Everyone is already at the top, chatting away. Her legs tremble. This ‘hill’ mind as well be at an 85 degree angle. Kanade starts to feel lighthearted. She kneels down to breathe.
“Sorry,” Kanade shouts, “a bit winded!”
“It’s alright!” Tsukasa yells, causing her to stumble from the volume.
“Don’t apologize!” Minori adds.
“We’ll wait!” Ichika adds.
“You can do it!" Kohane shouts, "And when you do, come help us!”
“Okay.”
Kanade more slowly makes her way up the hill. Minori holds her close once she makes it. The sun blinds Kanade. She used her hands as a shade. What’s that thing on that road? Kanade steps closer, tunnel-visioning on the blob on that road…that looks awfully like the exit they were just on—
“That’s the car!” Kanade yelps.
“The Cadillac?” Kohane says, “That’s great!”
The rest of the group follows Kanade’s gaze to the car, letting out a collective sigh of relief. Kanade watches phones being taken out and waved in the air again. Minori’s expression sours. Kohane looks on with concern. Even, Ichika has turned her phone back on. Who knows where Tsukasa went?
“But how will we get there?” Ichika asks, refreshing her page over and over, “There’s no signal around here. We’ll just lose our place again because it’s so dense in there—“
“Everyone!” Tsukasa shouts, “Your trip leader has signal! To celebrate,” he flamboyantly taps on his phone. BANG — Orchestral music plays from their car. “We’ll follow this victory song all the way back!”
“Will it disconnect on the way back?”
“Let me change the settings so that won’t happen.”
Minori cheers. They make their way back down the hill, facing the car North. We went in a giant circle and never knew. The violins from the song resound through the woods. Who knew a loud guy also had a loud car.
“That was genius.” Kohane says.
“Haha, I appreciate your praise.” Tsukasa responds.
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They are back near the car, out of the greenery. Kohane gets in first so that she can lay in the back again. Tsukasa gets into the driver's seat, while Kanade climbs into the passenger’s side. They close the door behind them. Kanade hears Minori and Ichika hop in, getting ready to put on seat belts. Those two then close their car doors too. Tsukasa’s stares at his mirror, his hands gripping tightly on the steering wheel.
“Kanade,” Tsukasa says in an unusually serious voice, “you were right about not looking for a signal outside. I barely found it out there.” He stops the music. “Kohane, you too. We should’ve stuck together. Our decisions wouldn’t have been so rash, if I had stayed calm. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Kanade says, quickly plugging her phone in Tsukasa’s car charger, “anyone would’ve panicked.”
“I second that,” Kohane adds, "That time me and my team got lost camping, we were worried too.”
“You too are so kind.”
“Ah.”
“Yeah, I can see some people doing a whole dance about it being like ‘I told you so~ ‘I told you so~.’ That helps no one.”
“Thanks, you two,” Tsukasa starts the engine,“I’ll drive around for a bit until I get a signal. We’ll worry about gas later.” He places his phone on the holder and drives off with the crew.
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After only a few yards, the map loads again. Tsukasa has to pull over just to put his head down in shame. Kanade rubs his back. His face is flushed pink.
“Oh my god!” Kohane exclaims, “You had a gas can back here the whole time?!”
“WHAATTT?!?!?” Tsukasa cries, not even looking at her.
“I went into the trunk for a snack,” Kohane gently waves a chocolate bar, “and there it was. Looks full and everything.”
“All that for nothing,” Tsukasa raises his head, “I suppose there’s nothing we can do about it now.” He sighs, “I’ll fill the gas tank since it’s been flashing red.”
Aha, he forgot it was in there, huh? Tsukasa hops out of the car, leaving the door wide open. Kanade smells a sense of annoyance in the air. No one acts on it.
“I’ll put the directions back up when I’m done,” Tsukasa is heard outside the car, “so sorry.”