In the meantime, they were instructed to stand by, so they stopped at a nearby clearing to rehydrate.
Yuu found a restroom with a roof like a saucer at the end of the road.
「I'm thinking about going to the restroom, but what about you, Rei?」
「Ah, I'll go with you.」
「Then we'll stand guard for you. After that, we'll go in.」
These outdoor public restrooms were unisex.
However, as there was only one urinal for men, Yuu and Rei did their business in turn.
Yuu, who did his business first amidst a peculiar odor even though it was often cleaned, went out behind the restroom and looked around as he waited for Rei.
The mountain slope loomed immediately behind the restroom, and a rich smell of trees wafted through the air.
Yuu took a deep breath and stretched himself.
「Nghh~~! I guess it's not so bad to walk in nature from time to time.」
Amidst the days of shuttling back and forth between school and his condominium, it was a rare opportunity for him to go out with his classmates outside the school like this.
On top of that, it was also delightful that he could deepen his friendships with many of his classmates and seniors.
A smile naturally emerged on Yuu's face.
◇ ◇ ◇
「Oh? Oooooooooooh~~~!! Holy cow! A super good-looking boy spotted. Gufufu. I don't think I can hold myself back~. Haa, haa.」
There was a woman climbing a cedar tree on a slope about 50 meters away from where Yuu was standing.
She was supporting her body with a rope tied to the trunk.
As for her age, she was in her late teens. Her long hair, tied in one bun, was dull blonde, but darkened near the roots.
She was wearing a purple jersey on both top and bottom, so at a glance she looked like a student of Sairyou Academy, but not only was the color of the lines different, there was no school emblem or school name embroidered on the chest part either.
She, who had been checking out the mountain path with binoculars in hand, spotted Yuu coming out of the bathroom in a timely manner.
Moreover, he was far away from the security team, which was abominable for girls of her kind, and she could see only five or six girls around him at most.
「This is, a chance! It was worth keeping watch here since the morning. Should we give it a go? Of course, we've got to give it a go, don't we?!」
After nodding her head with a wide smile on her face, she briefly sounded the whistle hanging on her neck.
As she did so, similar sounds of whistles were also returned from the surrounding trees in rapid succession.
Then, climbing down from the tree with a deft movement, she disappeared somewhere without making any sounds of footsteps.
***
Done with their business in the restroom, Yuu and Rei, as well as the six girls from class 1-5 who were walking while surrounding the two, were about to return to the clearing where everyone was waiting for them.
It was Risa and Miyoko who immediately reacted to the numerous footsteps and malicious intent directed at them.
Both of them had been members of the volleyball club since middle school, and were outstanding spikers and blockers.
However, when it came to the physical education department, where enrollments were basically done through recommendations, it depended mainly on their performance in official games in their second and third years of middle school.
If you were a representative of the prefecture or had made it to the finals of the prefectural tournament a number of times, there would be no question about your qualification. At the very least, the baseline was the top four.
In this respect, the middle school from which the two girls came was cursed with a small number of members, and except for their advancement to the quarterfinal in the summer of their third year, their tournaments had always come to an end at the second or third round.
Even so, as they passed the regular course at Sairyou Academy through a general examination and joined the volleyball club, they showed physical abilities that were by no means inferior to those of students in the physical education department.
For this reason, they were expected to be regular candidates after the retirement of the third years.
A good athlete was excellent not only in their physical and audiovisual abilities, but also in their animal instinct. The so-called good intuition.
Without exchanging any words, the two signaled to each other with their eyes alone.
「「Watch out!」」
The group had just started walking along the forest path from the restrooms to the clearing. To the left was a mountain slope, and beyond the guardrail on the right was a cliff.
Risa, who was diagonally behind Rei on the left in position, hugged Rei's petite body and took a great step backward.
Miyoko, who was on the right side, pushed forward strongly not only Yuu but also Kazumi by his side.
The girls were not so incompetent that they would simply stand stock still upon hearing the words of the left-right duo.
Sensing that an abnormal situation was brewing from the two's tense state, they quickly moved to Yuu or Rei's side.
*Thud, thud* Pebbles rained down on the now vacant space, but no one was unlucky enough to be hit by it.
*Thump, thump, thump* Groups of about five or six girls in purple jerseys rushed down from the slope of the mountain and trapped Yuu and the others from the front and rear.
Some others also came down from the side of the slope to besiege their flank.
「Tch, they avoided it, huh. Well, whatever. You two boys over there, come over to us. Worry not, since we won't hurt you as long as you are obedient.」
「I guess the quota will be ten shots per person.」
「What stunners we've got here! I'd like to eat both of them.」
「Me, too!」
「「「Gyahahahaha!」」」
Them wearing purple jerseys was probably for camouflage.
If you moved closer to them, you would be able to tell that they were not from the same school.
Above all else, based on their vulgar manner of speech and delinquent appearances, they were probably Ichimatsu students, who boasted a never-ending string of bad rumors.
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