Under The Veil of Night

"Yup," Mike nodded his head. He looked towards the ribbon that was tied quite high up the tree. It must be Kevin who tied it up. Kanae wouldn’t be able to reach this height.

"How long is the journey?"

Mike thought about the time Kanae and Kevin took last night. They disappeared for around three hours, so that should be the time needed to finish this trail course and return back to the inn. Of course, that was only if they maintained the same pace as the two of them.

He smiled wryly. Considering these two’s stamina, he doubted that the other students would be able to finish the journey as fast as them. It would take them much longer compared with those two.

Hopefully, the students were not too tired during the long journey. He sighed silently as he thought that he should have brought some snacks. The long journey would become harder to tread with an empty stomach. He had eaten not long ago, but within three hours, he was pretty sure that he would need more energy.

Mike smiled to Misae. "I’m not sure."

"You’re not the one who set up the route?"

"No, it’s not me."

Alice stayed silent as they walked. Misae and Mike talked a lot, and she felt like a third wheel here. In her heart, she wished that she didn’t have to participate in this event if she had to be the third wheel.

"Why are you looking gloomy? Is it not fun?"

"It’s not that," Alice abruptly raised her head. She stopped for a moment as she realized that the one speaking to her was not her teammate. She quickly turned her head to the side and saw Tommy staring at her with a confused expression.

"Tommy, what are you doing here?"

"I’m watching the first checkpoint to ensure that all students pass this area. Your group is among the last ones, so I will follow along," Tommy explained.

"The last ones?" Alice was stunned. She barely paid any attention to the other students because she was focused on searching for the red ribbon. Come to think about it, their pace has been pretty slow since Mike didn’t urge Misae to move faster. That girl’s movement was very similar to that of a snail.

"Yes." Tommy peered at Alice’s face. "Are you sure that you’re fine? Your expression is rather gloomy."

"I’m perfectly fine," Alice immediately answered. She stared hesitantly. "Can I follow along with you?"

"Sure, if you don’t mind not getting the prize."

"We’re almost last, there’s no way we’re going to win the prize. Besides, I doubt that I have the physical ability needed to complete the course that quickly," Alice smiled.

Tommy stared at this girl’s smile as he felt the urge to caress her face. He silently moved his gaze away from her. Why did he feel rather different today?

"Okay, stay near me."

"Yes," Alice answered cheerfully.

Seeing her smile, he wondered if he saw wrongly just now. He was pretty sure that she looked rather gloomy earlier, but now she was smiling from ear to ear. Erasing those thoughts, he spent his time talking with her while watching the other students and ensuring that there was no incident.

On the other hand, Mike and Misae already traveled far ahead when they noticed that Alice was no longer behind them.

"Did we leave her behind?" Misae looked around anxiously.

Mike thought for a moment before shaking his head. "I think she chose to stay with Tommy. He’s at the end of the trail because he has to watch all of us."

"Oh," Misae understood immediately. Her lips curled up slightly as she guessed that they must be having fun on their own too.

The two of them continued to walk before they bumped into Jason and his group. Apparently, one of his teammates fell down and he was being carried by his other friends.

"You should just have her retire," Mike remarked when he saw the poor girl.

Jason shrugged. "Her boyfriend doesn’t want to leave her. Well, whatever. I don’t plan to win this game either."

"Why?"

"It’s just a small game, and I prefer to enjoy the peaceful atmosphere here," Jason shrugged. He rarely had breaks because of his position as the young master of the Wells Family. If anything, he only had a break when he needed to spend time with the others from Fiore Group, which happened rarely.

Since that was the case, he would be better off walking around relaxedly and enjoy the surroundings as much as he could. Rushing to the checkpoint will only send him back to the inn. There was nothing much he could do there either, so it was more fun this way.

Mike nodded his head. "The purpose of this trip is to ensure you have fun."

"I’m having fun," Jason answered. "The bustling city is too much for me to cope with occasionally."

"I see."

Jason peered at Mike. "How’s the work in the Student Council? In the past, you were constantly getting overwhelmed, right?"

"Please forget about that," Mike said in a troubled tone.

"I want to hear more," Misae immediately cut in.

"Sure, there is a lot that I can share with you."

"Jason...."

"I want to hear about how Mike used to be like."

"Misae...."

In the end, Mike had to cope with Jason revealing a lot of his past to Misae. During the time he was in the Student Council as a first-year, and Jason was the president, he did a lot of embarrassing things. Even now he didn’t wish to remember them at all.

Unfortunately, Jason didn’t pay any attention to his feelings as he revealed one embarrassing event after another to Misae. Right now, he wished for nothing more than burying his head in the ground in embarrassment.

...

Time passed swiftly and the students arrived back at the inn again. Neo made sure to give them a lecture about littering and their punishment for doing so. Many of the students complained, but they chose to shut up when Kanae berated them too.

"Have all the students returned back?" Kanae asked Neo who held the name list.

"Not yet, a few of them haven’t returned yet," Neo answered.

"If they haven’t returned in a few more minutes, we’ll go inside first. It’s almost time for dinner."

Not long after that, the last students came out of the forest. Tommy was accompanying the last student. Apparently, he fell down and couldn’t walk properly, so Tommy helped him to walk.

"He twisted his ankle," Tommy explained.

"I’ll take care of him," Neo approached the student. "You can return back with Alice. It’s time for dinner."

"Alright, take care of yourself."

The late students have just started eating when it started to rain. They quickly finished their food before running towards the inn. Because the hall was located quite far from the rooms, they didn’t want to walk across the hallway in the rain. There was a roof over the outside pathway connecting the hall and the rooms, but there were no windows, so the rain coming in at an angle from the sides of the hallway could make them wet.

"Kanae, you’re late again," Misae remarked when Kanae returned to their room.

"I have to look after the last students who eat late," Kanae answered.

Alice looked towards Kanae. "What about that student who injured himself?"

"He’s resting in his room."

The three of them talked for a while when they suddenly heard the sound of thunder and the lights went out. Instantly, several girls were screaming loudly in their rooms as they were afraid of darkness.