My Father's Secret

Chapter 48

Kimiko swerved around upon hearing her best friend's name being said.

"How much of that did you hear?"

"Enough to make me feel guilty"

"I think I should leave you girls to discuss this alone"

Haruna-San quietly left, leaving just the two girls. They stood in stagnant silence for a while. The awkwardness hovering in the air between them.

"You should have told me"

Kimiko had nothing to say and deemed it strategical to remain quiet.

"I'm sorry" Aoi said as she walked over to pull Kimiko into an embrace.

"I promise we'll figure this out together" she said before she left.

A big sigh of relief escaped from Kimiko's mouth once she heard the door of her room close as Aoi went back inside.

Kimiko sat in silent darkness. The glittering stars looked like scattered moon dust in the clear night sky. A male voice broke the silence causing Kimiko to jump slightly.

"Looks like our naughty little rebel here isn't being the good girl she should be. It's passed lights out, shouldn't you be in bed by now?"

She isn't mad at you. Just confused. Haruna-san's voice rang in his head.

"Says the person who's totally not breaking the rules right now either" Kimiko argues back.

"You can be so stubborn sometimes"

"You aren't very different from me now are you?"

"Seriously, you should head to bed before a teacher sees you here"

"Same goes to you" Kimiko continues.

"Sleeping late is unhealthy for you. You have no reason to be up at this hour"

"I know that very well. I'm very capable of taking care of myself" Kimiko protests.

"That's great. Now shall I escort you to you room, my lady" he stood up and held a hand out.

"That would be unnecessary, but thanks for the offer anyways" Kimiko smiled and got up from the seat.

As she walked back to her accommodation, the voice called after her.

"Good night Kimiko"

"Good night Tsurugi-kun" she said before turning around again and continuing her walk back to hide the blush on her face.

***

"Someone's looking exceptionally happy tonight"

Arata-kun was sitting cross-legged on his bed when his roommate walked in grinning from ear to ear.

"You like Kimiko-chan don't you" Arata-kun suddenly blurted out, taking Tsurugi aback for a moment.

Seeing that his roommate remained silent he continued.

"Thought so. I must say you have quiet the taste for girls" he smirked before slipping under the covers, leaving a dumbfounded Tsurugi standing at the doorway.

***

DAY 2

Everyone assembled in the hall once again after breakfast.

"For this year's camp, we have added a special activity. Students and teachers will have the chance to write letters of appreciation to one another or just say anything you'd like to your fellow classmates. Each person will have an envelope with their name on it placed at the table at the back for anyone to place their letters inside" the teacher said as he pointed to the other end of the hall.

"You have all of today to finish writing the letters during your free time or whenever you would like to manage. The envelopes will be given back before we board the bus tomorrow afternoon. If you have any other questions you can approach me or any of the other teachers"

Some of the teachers walked down the rows of students and distributed pieces of squared paper for the letters. Whispers began to emerge from the group of students, mostly the girls who were definitely thinking of writing letters to their crushes. It was a cliched girl thing that Kimiko never thought of doing.

***

The first activity that day was an obstacle course race where all the team members had to make it through the obstacle course - the first team to make it to the finish line would be receiving the most points for the activity.

Tsurugi's leg was already getting a lot better so they didnt have any problems.

One of the obstacles involved shooting a soccer ball into a goal which wasnt a problem for Tsurugi and Kimiko but a whole different story for the other members in the group. Arata-kun and the other boy managed after a few tries but the girls kept shooting ball after ball but each shot missed the goal by a mile. That was until Kimiko came up with the idea to have them picture the person they hated standing in front of the goal and kick as hard as possible.

After that, the girls got it in goal after goal, allowing their group to finally move on. Their team was currently in the lead after the soccer station because a lot of the girls on the other team were still struggling to shoot the goal. Because they were in the lead, they had a big advantage in the next station because only one team could play at a time.

Once she saw the station, Kimiko no longer questioned why the teacher had told them to wear clothes they didnt mind getting wet in.

There were two relatively thin tree trunks connecting the two sides, that allowed a walkway over the large pond in the middle. Since the pond was quite deep, there was no avoiding getting soaked if you fell in.

There was no way you would be able to cross the plank on your own because the plank was about the length of three tall adults laid down vertically. The only way to cross was to hold hands with the person across and help each other balance until they made it to the other side. Additional points would be given accordingly to the number of students who made it across without falling in then multiplied by two; the maximum amount of points they could earn was 20.

The members of their group quickly paired up. Arata-kun paired up with the other boy in the group (intentionally), while the other six girls paired up among themselves; that left Kimiko and Tsurugi to be paired together.

By the time the next team caught up to them, three of their team's pairs were already safe and dry on the other side. As Saki and her pair made their way onto the plank Kimiko could see their legs trembled slightly as they were crossing. They slowly stepped one step at a time until they made it across, letting out a big sigh of relief when they made it across. No one would wanted to get wet at this time because there were still many stations to pass.

Arata-kun and his fellow companion made it across with some struggles but completed the challenge dry nevertheless. Now all that was left was Kimiko and Tsurugi.

Will they make it?