“Why is Long’s relationship with you and Feng have to be so complicated?” I remarked.

“Because he’s a G,” Kuan offered an explanation.

“That doesn’t tell me anything,” I retorted.

“It means something, Yuki, you just don’t understand. Besides, it’s not Long has it easy, you know?” Kuan said.

“Right, whatever you say. Oh, hey, it’s just all trees and mountains now! I’ve never been this far east before,” I exclaimed, peering out the window.

“It’s my first time too. Kinda nice to not see any buildings or anything like that,” Zhang said.

“Yeah, it’s pretty nice to be up here for a few days,” Kuan said.

“You’ve been up here before?” I questioned.

“Yeah, with Jin. One of our friends owns a cabin that we usually stay in for a week,” Kuan replied.

Tess, I am grateful now. The switch in vans provided a plethora of new information not known to me before. Kuan always seemed like the type to stay indoors and not get out much. However, he ventured outside much more than expected and was comfortable doing it too. In fact, Kuan could be considered on the level of Lau with the wide range of activities he participated in before.

“You sure do get out a lot for someone who plays games so much,” I observed.

“You think so? Nah, there’s a whole bunch of people that do way more than me,” Kuan disagreed.

The van came to a stop, halting our conversation. There was a steep hill in front of us with a wooden arch built at the bottom. The letters on the arch were faded, but the word “park” was legible. Lush, green trees surrounded us in all directions, all at least two hundred feet tall. A few small clouds dotted the sky, but other than that, it was bright blue with the sun shining down on us.

“Grab your bag, Yuki. We’re heading up,” Kaze instructed.

I stared at her in confusion, glancing up at the hill. Wait, did Tess expect us to scale that thing with our bags full of equipment? At best, I expected a ride halfway up.

“Of course, you’re serious! Kaze, promise me that if I fall, you’ll save me,” I said.

“I’ll try, Yuki. I don’t expect that to happen though. It looks steep but it’s doable,” Kaze assured me.

I saw Tess’ group inspecting their backpacks. I grabbed mine, checking the straps and other accessories hooked onto it. Seemed stable. With Kaze’s assistance, I slung it onto my back and sighed. What an atrocious way of starting a supposed relaxing weekend.  

Kuan helped Zhang out with his backpack, adjusting loose buckles on it. I peered up at the hill once more, noticing a cable car ascending upward. Oh, that was just to mock us, wasn’t it?

“Oh hey, a cable car,” Kuan said, noticing me stare at it.

“Yeah, freakin’ cable car, and we’re stuck having to up this thing by foot!” I exclaimed.

“Relax, Yuki, it’s not that bad. I don’t think we’re even going up the whole thing,” Kuan said.

“You better not be lying to me, Kuan. I swear….,” I threatened the man, not in the mood for false promises.

“Kuan’s correct. There’s a diverging pathway that we’ll take instead of going all the way up,” Kaze backed up his claim.

Thirty minutes later, I sat down on the ground, exhausted. Kuan and Zhang were worn out as well, their breathing much heavier than everyone else’s. Kaze, Feng, and Tess were in the best shape, as if they walked along a flat surface the entire time. Everyone else either had sweat pouring down from their foreheads or clutching their leg in pain.

“We’re not even hallway up, are we?” I questioned Tess.

“No, but we’re close. I estimate another half an hour,” she replied.

“Great!” I shouted, chugging down water with sadness.

Two hours later, we finally arrived at our camp site. Zhang and Kuan collapsed to the ground. Darryl helped them remove their backpacks and poured water over their faces. Jen asked Tess for a medical kit but the Gatekeeper confirmed that the two weren’t in any danger.

“You ever camp before, Yuki?” Jacque opened up the bag containing the tent.

“A couple of times. Never this far out. You seem like you have experience,” I commented, refilling my water bottle.

"I've gone with my family before but same as you, never gone so far. Pretty excited to get out here since I'm pretty lazy to do stuff like this unless I got to," Jacque answered, digging through his backpack. 

"You guys keep on surprising me. Thought you were all a bunch of good for nothing shut-ins," I joked and searched for my sunglasses inside my bag. 

"Hey, that hurts, Yuki. Give us more credit than that," Jacque responded, wiping off his sweat. 

“She even got us a tennis court. Felicity is really spoiling us, seems kind of suspicious.” Shigetzu opened his tennis bag and pulled out a tennis racquet.

“Come on, just accept her generosity! You don’t have to be like Long and be so suspicious all the time,” Darryl admonished.

“Guess I’m kicking your ass then, Darryl. Gotta take care of Shigetzu first though.” Jin pulled out a tennis racquet from Shigetzu’s bag.

“After we’re done with training. Don’t want Tess to punish us for having too much fun. You got the thing, Jin?” Shigetzu inspected his racquet strings.

“Yeah. Tess registered it for you already. Should be able to access it normally like your other stuff,” Jin answered, placing the racquet back into his bag.

“You know what they’re talking about?” I asked Darryl.

“The people in Jin’s dimension designed a weapon for that bastard. Suppose to really bring out his powers,” Darryl revealed.

  “Uh, you guys are going to help me out with this right?” Jacque inspected the ground before placing down the tent frame.

“Shoot, I got you, Jacque. Jin, come over here!” Ichaival called his friend over.

 There was a total of six tents. I was partnered up with Jen. Kaze, Feng, and Tess were in one next to ours. Jin, Shigetzu, and Jacque were in the third tent. Darryl and Kuan were in the fourth. Zhang and Lau were in the fifth. The last tent had no occupants and was designated as a storage area.

“Yuki, how do you feel mentally?” Tess glanced at a page in her notebook.

“Pretty good. You want me to do something?” I replied, resting in a chair Felicity supplied us.

“If you’re up for It, I want you to perform a mind dive using your grimoire. More accurately, one of Mirei’s scenarios,” Tess requested.

“Sure, want me to do it right now?” I summoned my grimoire into my right hand.

“If you’re finished with everything then please do,” Tess answered.

I nodded and returned to my own tent. Which bookmark to pick? The most intriguing one was the future without Tess. And I had invested quite a bit of time into it too. Okay, let’s go with that one.