Page 36 of Choose Us
“Sorry to interrupt,” said a woman with a yellow beanie and a checkedgrey shirt.
“I overheard you in the store. Me and my friends over there.” She turned and pointed towards a group of thirty-somethings; they waved back emphatically. “We feel bad for you, and we have a spare tent if you need a place to stay?”
“Seriously?” Brooke beamed.
“Sure.” The woman’s smile was warm.
“That’s extremely kind of you. Thank you so much,” I said.
Brooke grabbed my hand and squeezedit tightly.
“My name is Hana. You guys are?”
“I’m Brooke. This is Holly.”
“Nice to meet you. Do you want me to walk you through the campamenities?”
We both nodded enthusiastically.
Hana showed us to the bathing facilities. I’d never been so happy to see clean water and soap. The cooking facilities were a little further down, although it seemed nobody at the camp needed those. She pointed out that the shop had Wi-Fi and charging ports. Brooke put her phone on charge for long enough to let her dad know she was impromptu camping this evening with her friend Takara. I didn’t ask who that was, and it technically wasn’t any of my business, but I knew she wasn’t a lesbian lawyer from the UK, or her dad would be driving up to Nikkoimmediately.
I took the opportunity to send Beth a message and let her know I was still alive—unless the bears came for me in the night—She didn’t appreciate that part. Her response was,I am not telling your parents you’ve been mauled by a bear, so you better get home in one piece.
Hana and her friends were very hospitable. Their group included four tents. There were three couples and two single women who’d become friends after finding out their boyfriend had been seeing them both at the same time for almost a year. I likedthe dynamic.
They allowed us to eat with them, freshly made yakisoba and Yaki Onigiri, which was essentially balls of rice grilled on the BBQ with seasoning. They were unbelievable.
They offered us two spare camping chairs, and we cozied up next to the roaring fire. The panic from the day’s events had completely disappeared. The group were fairly local, but thankfully spoke fluent English. They asked questions about the UK and what it was like to live in London. They found it just as fascinating as I found Japan, which was strange to me, but it goes to show England does havesome appeal.
One of the women was a lawyer, so we spoke about our respective careers, and the whole time I could feel Brooke watching me. She made me nervous. What was she thinking? Did she revel in the excitement of us sharing a tent in the same way I did? It was polite to partake in conversation with the people who had so graciously provided us with a place to stay, but all I could think about was being alonewith Brooke.
The night drew to a close. Hana pulled supplies from everyone’s tents for ours, and once she was finished it looked like one of those cosy forts you make as a child using all the sofa cushions and your bed linens. I used the bathroom to freshen up and climbed into our fort for the night.
The distant chatter of other tents could be heard, but the birds singing in the trees overpowered any other sound. The double sleeping bag wasn’t a necessity, it was still roughly nineteen degrees outside, so we weren’t going to freeze to death.
“This sure beats sleeping outside,”I whispered.
Brooke turned to face me. The glow of the lights outside brought her face into focus. God, she was beautiful.
“Did you put the padlock on the tent?” She buried herself deeper into the sleeping bag.
“Yes.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, why?”
“The bears, you heard the stories those guys were telling.”
“Do you think a bear is going to care if the tent is locked? If it wants to eat us, it’s getting in regardless. I’m sure one swipe of its claws would cut straight through this material.” I bashed against the nylon waterproof fabric. I wasn’t making myself feelany better.
“Thanks for that.”Brooke said.
The tent was relatively small, in an outdoorsy type shop it would probably be described as a two-man tent. It was big enough to fit a double inflatable bed and not much more, but I was okay with that.
I stared unwaveringly into Brooke’s eyes. She smirked. In that moment I wished I could trade my “hunch” superpower Paula claimed I possessed for a mind reading one. It would be invasive, but I wouldn’t be opposed to it. I analysed and gathered evidence for a living. It was my job to find out the truth, to expose the truth even, but in my personal life I found that somuch harder.
“Can I ask you something?” Brooke asked.
