Around ten minutes later, Juri and I left the log cabin. With our feet bringing us further into this Greenwood Forest, our aim was to continue on our purpose for being in this place; scouting.

Yeah. Our closeness could still be observed with our hands not really letting go of each other. However, if someone who saw us being like a lively couple earlier showed up in front of us, they’d be able to notice how the somewhat colorful mood between us paled down to almost a bleak color.

Gone was the pleasant smile on Juri’s pretty face and in its place, a very complicated expression. She’s forcing herself to act normal when in fact, she’s still feeling heavy inside.

Well, about what happened after she recovered from having her mind overloaded because of my revelation… let’s just say, we failed to resolve anything at all.

Truthfully, revealing it after the matter was absolutely tasteless coming from me. I should’ve started with it and not waited until she broke the rule that she lived by for all these years.

I was wrong when I thought that she still had a path of retreat earlier when I was preventing her from being too drunk in our situation. Because as soon as I confessed about myself, it put Juri in a spot wherein there was only a cliff behind and two fiery paths in front of her.

The cliff would mean she’d fall into a cycle of guilt and regret. And the two paths were either accepting or rejecting me.

Uh. I would also add that she could rage at me for leading her by the nose or fooling her to this extent.

In the end, she picked none of those and instead, she sat down on the spot, not choosing to take a step forward or backward.

The words she used to stop that discussion altogether were… “I’ve fallen too deep in this, Ruki. I cannot even think of getting mad at you. I can understand why you chose to reveal it at this moment and that you have a lot to say to me regarding that but I can’t… No… I don’t want to hear any of that today… Can we continue this day and leave behind what happened in this log cabin?”

It took me a while to respond to that and obviously, I weighed my choices and observed her state to the best of my ability.

My answer was probably obvious by now… I agreed with her and didn’t push on that topic anymore.

The next moment, the two of us separated, picking up the clothes we removed.

My shirt was still wet but it didn’t matter anymore. Or it still did. Because when she handed me my jacket, she noticed that my shirt didn’t dry up considering we only spent a few minutes there. She suggested that we get a new shirt to change into at the camping center since they’re also selling one there.

And so, that’s where we’re going later. After we finish circling around this camping site.

As we went around the same boulder and hopped back to the intended path of this place, Juri broke the eerie silence between us.

“Ruki, you’re quiet.”

She walked in front of me, her eyes fixated on my face. I could tell that this was her attempt to lighten our mood but with her expression remaining the same, I doubt it would have an effect.

We spoiled our easygoing mood which made this trip feel like a date. It would be a task to bring it back when we’re still close to the log cabin where an important affair happened between us.

In any case, my mind still urged me to back her up in what she was trying to attempt.

And so, my response was delivered along with a smile.

“Am I? You forgot that I wasn’t a man of many words. I can deflect that question back to you. But let’s see… even if this will already sound insincere, I’m concerned about you so my mind was in a constant state of coming up with ideas on how we will proceed from here.”

“’Not a man of many words’ yet you just produced 53 words, to be exact. You can’t fool me.” Juri shook her head as she accurately brought up my word count.

And following that, her expression eased up as she also managed to produce a genuinely amused smile. I probably tickled her humorous side. If I have to guess, she didn’t also pay that much attention to what I just blabbered.

“Indeed. I have fooled myself there, huh? Alright. I’ll be as talkative as a broken cassette recorder for you. And while I’m at it… Allow me to escort you in this wet forest.”

Upon saying that, I lifted her hand and kissed the back of it before turning to the front and started pulling her with me, resuming our steps.

Even though this could just be us trying to fool ourselves that everything was still fine, it’s a lot better than having our footsteps sunk in the soaked and softened forest ground because of our heavy feelings.

In this way, like a pair of actors shooting a single-take film, the two of us finished our task without falling into a gloomy mood or a straight-up irredeemable situation.

In fact, it’s probably not wrong to say that we truly left behind what had transpired inside that log cabin and the way we treated each other was the same as when we stepped inside the forest.

When we got the call from Setsuna-nee who asked us about the progress of our trip, Juri also managed to give her our joint evaluation without the former not sensing anything wrong about the latter. Her acting skills were up there and perhaps, she did manage to recover after we spent the rest of our time just acting the same way; enjoying my companionship that carefully catered for her bliss.

After getting a new shirt and changing into it, Juri and I walked down the same path we came from and waited for the bus that would bring us to our next destination.

It didn’t take long for it to arrive and soon enough, we got ourselves a two-seater in the middle of the bus. This time, she asked me to sit on the window seat.

I thought she was just not in the mood to be looking out of the window but in truth, Juri just wanted to snuggle up to me, the same way she did when I scolded her in our previous bus.

When the wheels started rolling again and the scenery outside passed by the signposts which thanked us for staying at the Greenwood Forest, Juri’s head dropped on my shoulder as she released a long, exhausted sigh.

A moment later, she spoke in a rather hopeful tone, “Ruki, I won’t lie. I truthfully enjoyed the time I spent with you there… Even if I keep remembering what happened between us, seeing you smile and enjoy your time with me makes my chest lighter by the second…”

“I still owe you a date, right? Uh. Wrong… I still haven’t taken you on a date as my thanks for helping me… Let me plan it next week or after the camping trip…” She continued as she pulled my head down, locking our gazes once again, “… I may have been able to process everything by then. Or I will be certain of what I truly feel for you despite everything or how I want our relationship to go… We can’t simply undo what has been done, after all…”

Ending that with a bitter smile, Juri then lifted herself to reach my lips, initiating another kiss outside that log cabin.

It only lasted for a few seconds but when our lips separated, I finally got a clear view of her affectionate expression. That made my heart involuntarily race, which sprang me up to take her into my embrace as I replied, “Mhm. Sounds good. I thought of arguing that it should be me who plans for it but you won’t like it, right? So… I’ll look forward to that… I won’t take back any words that I said earlier and I’m prepared to accept whatever decision you make… In the meantime, I don’t think I can still stop myself from making moves on you anymore… Will that be inappropriate?”

“Yes. It will be inappropriate, young man.” Juri answered in a monotone. However, a lighthearted giggle soon followed before Juri made use of my chest as her headrest.

I don’t know if this is an ideal result but in one way or another, we somehow worked out something that pulled us away from what should’ve happened by common standards.

It makes me wonder. Have I already influenced her?