[F-01] [SP] Punching Rocks, Testing Katana Arts and Hiking with Friends «Breaking the Unbreakable»

[Tsurei 0]

“Oh! That’s by Nagoya, right? I’m going to Aichi University, so we’ll actually be kinda close by,” Takumi realised with a start,

“Oh really?” she relaxed, giving him a small, delighted smile, “That’s good…”

“Y-yeah…”

“Hehe…” Yui giggled, hiding her mouth with her hand politely,

“If you ever run into any trouble there, let me know, I used to live there,” Takumi reassured,

“Yeah, I will,” she nodded, “I’m glad I won’t be alone,”

“Same goes for me,”

“…h-hey…” Yui held her hands behind her back, turning around to hide her blushing face,

"Y-y-yeah…?”

“Hehe… we’re both so nervous around each other,” she noticed and giggled at the pair of them gently,

“I-I guess so,”

“Even if we can see each other at university, I…” she trailed off, unable to finish her words,

“Hm?”

Rei was gesturing wildly behind her, but this time, Takumi couldn’t quite get his meaning, he was pointing to the sky for some reason or another, he also then noticed Airi pop out from the hiding spot and shoving Rei back under the rock, just in time since Yui felt something was off and whipped around to look over,

[Tsurei 0]

“Is someone there?” Yui asked out loud, slowly approaching, at the same time, Rei had his mouth covered up by Airi, half shoving him against the rock, hearts pounding in fear of being noticed, but Rei had other plans, he pulled out his phone and quickly sent a text to Takumi, if his gestures wouldn’t work, then this had to,

Beep

Takumi’s phone sounded out an alert, causing him to instinctively pull out his phone, Yui had stopped in her tracks and turned back to face him just in time too,

“Do you need to go?” she asked, a hint of loneliness in her voice,

“N-no, it’s just a friend,” he replied with a small frown at the message’s contents,

“I see…” she replied, hiding her relief,

“a-anyway, were you saying something earlier?” he couldn’t help but feel it was something important,

“N-no, never mind,” she shook her head in response, eager to just move on,

[Tsurei 0]

“I swear you said-“

“W-what do you think of the ocean? It’s beautiful at night, right?”

“… yeah… the stars are lovely as well,”

“Hm, we’re lucky it’s not cloudy tonight as well,”

“… … The moon is beautiful, isn’t it?” Takumi looked up at the sky and realised where this was going, taking a deep breath, he spoke those words,

“Eh?” Yui looked over at him surprised, her imagination going wild with the meaning of those words,

“…”

“Y-yeah… it is…”

The pair were struggling looking at the sky or the ocean, or even the moon now that it was mentioned, both were glancing over at the other trying to hide their blushes and glances but they would meet eye contact and end up turning away more awkward than before,

 

“`The moon is beautiful,` since when were you so tactful?” Airi looked at Rei dubiously as if she wasn’t sure he was the real one, the one she knew was crude, lazy and clumsy with actions and words,

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rei gave her a mockingly hurtful look,

[Tsurei 0]

“Nothing… jeez…” Airi sighed, looking over at the ocean sparkling in the night,

“Well, it looks like mission accomplished, the seeds have been sown and all that’s left is to water them till they bloom,” Rei let out a sigh of accomplished relief, sliding down to sit against the rock and glance over at the ocean, the peaceful waves soothing his ears, he couldn’t help but close his eyes to let the serenity wash over him,

Listening to him, Airi stared at his expression, clear and without restraint, she couldn’t help but feel frustrated and envious,

“If only a certain someone could show the same amount of tact in his own love life,”

“Impossible, impossible,” Rei brushed with quiet laughter, “Sounds like trouble to me,”

“Why? Doesn’t everyone want to find love?”

“Not everyone, it seems more trouble than it’s worth,”

“Are you serious? Then why are you helping your friend?”

“Well, the others seem rather hung up on getting a girlfriend at some point in their lives, it just so happens I can actually help out with this one,”

[Tsurei 0]

“Oh,” Rei halted in his story telling at the colossal noise of the boulder breaking, everyone looked over in surprise as well since there was no real indication of the boulder’s health bar and it never visually changed either, leading him to think there was still several hours to go,

“Wait, seriously?” Yuta cried out, “You’re done?”

“Seems so,” Rei nodded in answer, a faint grin of relief spreading on his  face, “Phew, I’m going to go take a breather then, and watch you guys punch rocks,”

“Hey!”

“What happened next at the beach?” Kenji asked hopefully, listening to Takumi and Rei retell the story using their different perspectives to piece things together was amusing and at least, a good way to pass the time,

“Well, that little moment is how Takumi here got his girlfriend and later on we got stuck in a cave for a good while, that’s the basics,” Rei shrugged in response, all too happy to just lie down,

Edited February 2, 2020 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

“You’re so irresponsible,” Airi scowled at him,

“Lay off,” Rei shrugged, continuing to listen in on what was going on above, but there seemed to only be silence, confused, he began to lean over the edge and take a look only to find Takumi and Yui standing close together, staring in each other’s eyes longingly,

Not willing to become some kind of voyeur, he quickly ducked back down, puzzled as to why he was so quick to return, Airi also peeked up, only whilst she visibly froze up, she didn’t come back down,

“Hey, what are you doing? Get back down,” Rei hissed, grabbing her lightly not wanting to be shouted at later, he didn’t put much force into it,

“B-but they’re-“

“Yeah, give them some space, don’t go staring off at them from the shadows,” Rei made it sound worse than it was, since Airi was really just entranced and secretly cheering for her friend,

[Tsurei 0]

“it’s not like that!” she hurriedly defended herself,

“Shhh! They’re hear you!” Rei hissed, pressing a finger to his lips desperately, Airi for her part covered her mouth with her hand and nodded in understanding, they waited for a bit more time, tensions rising, half eager to listen in and half desperate to escape and give them some room, however, if they went now, they would be spotted so they had no choice but to wait.

 

Takumi and Yui spent a long time above in a uncomfortable, awkward silence after the kiss, unable to look at each other, even in the dim light of the stars and moon, you could see that both their faces were completely red, fidgeting and looking at anything else,

Takumi hoped that Rei wasn’t watching and at least for the moment, he could see him anywhere, letting him be somewhat relieved, then he realised, if he wanted some moment of privacy without being listened in on, they could just change location,

[Tsurei 0]

“Looks like they’re leaving,” Rei breathed out a sigh of relief, quickly readjusting his location just in cased either of them happened to look back at them, at this point, they could safely retreat to the hotel without being seen, affording the pair some privacy, “Alright, let’s head back, the two need some time alone to do the rest themselves,”

“B-but…” Airi clung to the rocks, staring after the pair, some part of her was filled with curiosity and excitement, the idea of spying on her friend’s love life and assisting in secret made her heart race, after all, her best friend’s crush was finally reciprocating her feelings and they were in new territory, she just couldn’t find it in her to leave them alone,

“Oi…” Rei sighed, moving over to drag her away if he had to, he was fine helping out, but this was ultimately up to Takumi and Yui to figure out,

“You head back, I’ll keep an eye on them,” Airi shooed him away dismissively,

[Tsurei 0]

“Come along now,” Rei muttered, grabbing her arm and dragging her off across the sand, leaving a deep mark,

“Let go of me!” she began to flail and strike out at him making him wince whenever she decided to pinch his arm, but he persevered,

“Stop moving around!” Rei growled over, when he looked back at her he suddenly froze up as he squinted into the far distance, spotting Takumi and Yui wandering into a cave by the far end of the beach,

“Eh?” noticing his gaze over her shoulder, Airi also looked over as well,

 

“I can’t believe there’s a natural cave here…” Yui breathed in wonder, two classes worth of students had played around on the beach and she hadn’t heard anything about a cave this close by,

“Yeah…” Takumi nodded, he peered into the endless darkness of the cave, feeling a shiver run down his spine, he distinctively felt that his averseness to enter such a place, if they got lost or trapped it would be a total nightmare.

[Tsurei 0]

“… L-let’s go exploring!” Yui cheerfully suggested, turning over to plead with Takumi with a small sparkle in her eyes, her tone was uncertain since she didn’t want to force him, but she was incredibly curious and in her eyes, Takumi felt like he could see the childish desire to explore.

Feeling a little worried, he had a feeling that Yui would go in anyway, he didn’t want to lose the mood or appear scared so he forced himself to nod,

“Alright..." pulling out his phone, he turned on the light and the pair began to walk in,

It was really just a cave, nothing spectacular about it, but being young, they had a desire for adventure inside them despite any amount of unease they had about, the featureless, cragged rock all around them, twisting and turning, the size of the tunnels were probably 3 meters in height and 5 in width, it was a rather large tunnel that they could explore and walk around without feeling overly claustrophobic,

[Tsurei 0]

“Hehe, my heart’s pounding,” Yui giggled uncontrollably, her emotions and excitement leaking somewhat, she looked over at Takumi bashfully, excited at exploring the unknown with her crush,

“Y-yeah,” Takumi nodded with some hesitation as his heart skipped a beat at her expression, in truth, his heart was pounding for an entirely different reason, being stuck in a dark damp cave that was probably crawling with who knows what was certainly not in his list of favourite things to do,

“When I was a kid, I always loved wandering off an exploring the neighbourhood,” she sighed nostalgically, “My papa always got so worried when I would be gone for hours,”

“That must have been terrifying for them,” Takumi inwardly felt for her father sympathetically, if your child simply wandered off and disappeared, only to come back covered in mud and sticks with a wide toothy grin from exploring, it brought all sorts of complicated emotions, when he imagined a younger Yui doing things like that, he couldn’t help but feel overly conscious of how close they were walking,

[Tsurei 0]

“He always got overprotective after the first time, he tried to keep me in the house sometimes but I would always escape,”

“That’s… er… somewhat mischievous of you…”

“Hehe… my mom was fully supportive though! After a point they just gave up and stopped blocking me in, though I had to make promises to them to be careful,”

“Was it all that fun?” Takumi asked confused, he always preferred to stay still reading books and such, he went on peaceful walks but he never really wandered from the path, he was vaguely reminded of how when Rei was bored, he would sometimes drag them off on paths they would never go through for a change of pace,

“Hmhm!” Yui smiled widely, “It was amazing! When you’re young, everything looks so big! Hehe, I got lost in the neighbourhood thinking I was in some kind of maze when really I was just a street or two away,”

[Tsurei 0]

“Haha…” Takumi gave a small dry chuckle at the idea,

“I became really good friends with everyone though thanks to that, I remember I used to be terrified of the pitbull before the uncle taught me how to befriend it, after that, the dog was just so cute and playful… The other time, I even got free watermelon! And the one time I ended up wandering into the market, a lot of the neighbours gave me sweets,”

“You must have been in really good neighbourhood,” Takumi smiled as he listened,

“Yep, everyone was so kind and nice… Ah… s-sorry for rambling,” she caught herself and meekly looked away, embarrassed that she spoke about how mischievous she was when she was younger, especially since she was a growing young lady, she wanted to be a bit more elegant,

“Ah, no, I liked hearing about it,” Takumi spoke kindly, “I don’t think I have any interesting stories from my childhood,”

[Tsurei 0]

“That can’t be true, you must have something!” Yui looked over with a tender smile, feeling that he was just deprecating himself,

“Well, they were certainly not adventures like yours, but I was always interested in science books,”

“Hm, you’re really smart after all! I’m not too surprised that you were into them,”

“When I read about all the experiments they do in the books, I always went around scrounging in the house for things I could use, I caused a lot of trouble doing that… haha…” Takumi laughed awkwardly in embarrassment but also fondness as he thought back to his clueless younger self, throwing open cupboards and tearing the place apart to look for the ingredients to make a volcano or something similar,

“That’s cute,” Yui giggled good-heartedly at their exchange of childhood stories.

 

It was at that moment the earthquake came, it was a slow start, it was barely noticeable at first, glasses of water would begin to shake and wobble, then came the rumbling and bouts of dizziness, then came the near uncontrollable forces of physics that caused various things to shake and fall over.

[Tsurei 0]

“Eh?” Yui looked around surprised, fear seizing her body and heart as she was too stunned to fully process what was happening, Takumi was the only one with the phone and thus the source of light, Yui had neglected to bring it with her so her only vision was from Takumi’s flashlight going wildly around,

“An earthquake! Stay down!” Takumi cried out, pulling Yui to the ground gently before she simply fell over which would increase the likelihood of injury than if they were to simply brace on their own,

The shaking did not stop and instead got worse, the stone ceiling began to crack, rumble and crumble, bits of dust and small stones began to fall and the torrential surge of rocks could be heard down the tunnel, all sense of direction lost they weren’t sure if it was deeper in or back towards the entrance, but the cave was crumbling and falling around them,

[Tsurei 0]

Takumi instinctively covered Yui under his body, fearing for the worst, they both clenched their eyes as the sounds of a cave in and rumbling crashing rock surrounded them. It took several minutes after the shaking trailed off before they opened their eyes again,

Takumi took his phone and began to use it’s light to look around, but apart from chunks of rocks and boulders scattered around, making the large wide tunnel a bit more narrow and claustrophobic, there didn’t seem to be much of a difference,

“Are you alright, Yui? Takumi glanced over at her worriedly under him,

“Y-yes…” she bashfully replied, being this close to him made her embarrassed even though her mind should be more worried about other things right now,

They both knew the drill when it came to earthquakes, it was common sense and in a country were such things were common, they knew what they had to do; get back to the hotel and find the others, definitely not hang out in a cave at least.

[Tsurei 0]

“We have to get back to the hotel,” Takumi stated, helping Yui to her feet and glancing around,

“Y-yeah,”

“I think the entrance was this way, let’s go,” Takumi led her onward, using the light to carefully illuminate the ground, “be careful you don’t trip, there’s rubble everywhere,”

“H-hm!”

 

“That’s not good,” Rei groaned, standing up after having fallen to the sand on top of Airi, he shook his head to get the sand out of his hair and looked around, no buildings seemed to be toppling over just yet, but he was worried about Takumi and Yui, they had just gone into a cave, probably one of the worst places to be in right now,

“G-get off me!” Airi feebly shoved him off her body but due to his weight it had little effect,

“Right, right, stop flailing around! It’s making it harder to get off!” Rei complained back, wincing as she punched him a few times,

[Tsurei 0]

“Oh no… what should we do?” Airi gasped in horror, even from here they could see that the cave had completely collapsed, meaning that the pair were stuck in there,

“Should we call the emergency number? No, they probably have other things to deal with,” Rei muttered, “Let’s go take a look!”

“R-Rei?”

“Come on!”

Rei took off running, waving her to hurry as well, the pair sprinted down the sands of the beach and then the rocky coast, stopping at the cave entrance. He half hoped that the obstruction wouldn’t be so bad and that he could try to remove the rubble, but looking at the size and how crunched in everything was, he seriously doubted he could have much headway with it,

“Y-Yui!?” Airi cupped her hands together and screamed into the entrance of the cave as Rei tried to remove some of the rubble, giving it a try even though he knew it was pointless,

[Tsurei 0]

From within the cave, Takumi and Yui had paled when they saw that the entrance was caved in, leaving them with no exit and no other choice than to wander the cave deeper in which was not a pleasant idea, they were coming to the conclusion that they should just wait and hope that someone would come help, Takumi knew that Rei and Airi had set them up, but he wasn’t sure if they were still around or if they even noticed what happened to them,

But then they heard the scream,

“A-Airi!?” Yui replied in shock,

“Hey, buddy, you alright?” Rei’s voice came over, hearing the reply,

“Yeah! You’re outside as well?” Takumi felt a small measure of relief flood through him, hearing his friend,

“Yeah, this rubble is stuck, we can’t get you out like this,” Rei replied, grunting as he heaved with all his strength to get some rocks loose,

[Tsurei 0]

“C-call 119!” Yui cried out,

“The line won’t connect!” Airi replied, her voice tinged with fear,

“What?” Rei’s muffled reply of shock came through, “Seriously?”

“Did a tower fall or something?” Takumi muttered gravely,

“No way…” Yui collapsed to her knees in hopelessness,

“… Don’t worry, we’ll make a run for it and call for someone, even without our phones, we’ll get you some help, so just stay put!” Rei made a decision and tried to reassure them,

“Wait… this cave… I know it…” Airi muttered,

“What?” Rei looked over, unsure of how this was useful information,

“if I remember, there’s another entrance nearby!” Airi nearly jumped in joy when she searched her memories and came to that conclusion,

“So we can meet up with them?” Rei raised a brow dubiously,

“Yeah, I'm sure of it!” Airi nodded eagerly, hoping to convince him,

“… If it’s caved in at some point through the network, that’s not going to help and it’d even worsen our situation,” Rei shook his head calmly, “We seriously can’t take that risk,"