Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ Enjoy The Silence ❯ Enjoy The Silence: 3 ( Chapter 3 )

Cramming is such a time consuming process. You do it in layers. You study, you organize, you memorize things you may never use again… but I’m a writer. Writers use EVERYTHING they know and stuff they observe, and stuff we research to know more about. The internet makes being a writer a lot easier. I don’t have to go to a public library and dig for some facts I can find in a minute or two online. That doesn’t grant me characters to work with. And it doesn’t change how angry finishing my Oregairu series WRONG makes me feel. It’s wrong, and it doesn’t fit, and it’s what my publisher insists I must do to receive my payment. So I’m doing this for money. I feel like a whore. I’m disgusted with myself as I send it in, and I’m disgusted with the check I deposit in my bank account, and I’m so tired of the noise from my neighbors TVs and the snow plow and the stupid girls in my class.

I finally get a nice clear weekend and visit a sporting goods I take the train to reach. Its really big, really fancy, and has everything. Thanks to the books I’ve been reading I get all the stuff I need including waterproofing sprays for the tent, and one of those fire stands, and a folding table. Japan doesn’t let you cut the turf and put a fire on the ground at every site. I get my tent sprayed and dried after a couple days, and my winter rated mummy bag and double thick insulated inflatable sleeping pad and a ground sheet, I was ready. I got a reservation at a huge site popular three seasons of the year for a weekend there would be good weather.

I took the train to the nearest road, and biked miles up there with my camping stuff tied on. It was slow going, but it was very scenic and pretty, with Mount Fuji looming over. I descended down the road to the Fumoto campground, passing a small SUV with a pretty girl looking bored behind the wheel, and some pinkette running everywhere taking pictures of the barns and some chained up dogs, one of which rammed her over but wasn’t biting so I guess she’s okay? She looks familiar, actually.

The 2000 yen (expensive) reservation put me in a site pretty far over on the yellowed grass, one site out of probably a thousand at this place, so I wheeled out my gear and setup the ground sheet, the tent, and my insulated recliner chair, coat, insulated ski pants to stay warm, insulated boots, and looked around. Awesome. That view is amazing. I am already forgetting about the annoying stuff that was bothering me before. This is great.

I took my big floppy water bag thing and carried it empty back to the barns, where there were working spigots. I also used this chance to buy some firewood and a kindling starter box. One heavy bag with 3 gallons of water around 40 kilos, and 15 kilos of firewood to balance it out. I used the bathroom here, and then carried stuff to my site, passing a tiny girl with a white knit cap who looked like my preferred school librarian. I waved to her. She just stared at me and eventually waved, but I saw no recognition. Maybe it’s the outfit? She went back to reading her book.

I started my small campfire on the virgin firestand thingy, and enjoyed the heat radiating from it. I also setup my dinner, which was premade stew I need to heat up over my little whisperlite propane stove. Dinky light aluminum and titanium construction. It did the job, but you have to be careful with it. The heat from the fire was nice as I worked. I noticed in the distance the sound of happy girl. It looks like the pinky is talking to the librarian and they’re making dinner together. This goes on for a while. The other campers enjoying the winter are more like me. Totally silent, or whispering to each other with low voices. Some had lanterns while they worked. I wanted to just enjoy this.

I finished eating my stew and felt pretty full. I heated water to wash my pot clean and decided I wanted to rinse and dump that back over at the faucet, so I headed that way. I waved to the girls as I went by but they paid me no attention. I guess I don’t mind. After those first two love letters, and the polite rejections to hang out, I’d been left alone at school. Maybe country people are more polite than I thought?

I dumped the dirty water and rinsed out my cookpot and its lid and cleaned up my spoon and fork. The air was cold, and so was the water. I used the bathroom again, noting the driver of the SUV was coming out of one herself.

“Hello. Is the pink haired girl with you?” I asked, making a guess.

“Yes. Is she being troublesome again?” she responded.

“She looks like she’s having fun with my librarian,” I answered.

“Librarian?” she asked.

“The little girl with the tent is my school librarian. Or the student librarian anyway. She’s often there,” I explained. “She probably has classes too, but she’s there at lunch and after school.”

“So you’re going to school with Nadesico?” she asked.

“Shouldn’t she be named Sakura? For the hair, I mean,” I asked.

“That’s my name. I’m Sakura,” she said shyly.

“Really? You strike me more a proper Yamato Nadesico,” I answered. She blushed now. “So that’s your SUV?” I asked, changing the subject.

“Yes. I like to go for drives in the country. It helps me relax.”

“Sounds nice. I came out here to relax too. I just finished my last book. Now I can focus on cramming for entrance exams.”

“So you’re a second year?” she asked.

“Yeah, for another couple months. Home was too noisy to study.”

“Wait, you said last book? What’s that mean?” she asked me.

“I’m a novelist. My series got published. I was trying to finish it,” I explained.

“Well, that’s good,” she said, and didn’t ask about the title or the anime or gush at me. Thank goodness.

“It was nice to meet you, Sakura-san. Perhaps we can talk again sometime.”

I waved to her and went back to my campsite chilly. The fire was burning low and I added some wood to it, and filled my pot with water to make tea. This helped keep me warm.

I noticed when Nadesico said goodbye to my librarian. It got a lot quieter in the campground. I saw the headlights appear as the distant SUV and the pretty co-ed drove them away.

The fire burned down and I let it cool before I put it out with some of the cooling water. Mount Fuji was magnificent under the stars, and it was barely above freezing so I crawled into my tent, undressed enough to get inside the mummy bag and shivered hard until I could take off the rest to pile beside me and shivered some more before I could finally warm up. This bag is good. Very toasty. My hanging thermometer said it was -1 C inside the tent. I lay down and drifted off into silence. It was really quiet. Really really quiet. Wow.

The next morning I woke with frost on my sleeping bag, my clothes were literally covered in frost from my exhaling breath. I warmed them up inside the bag first before putting them on. This was a struggle, but eventually I was dressed and ready to brave the minus 12 C morning. Everything smelled wet. I put on fresh socks and my insulated boots and mittens to keep my hands warm, packing up my sleeping bag and deflating the insulated pad. Good one that. It has cross chambers so your body doesn’t touch the ground, and its wide enough you can turn over.

It was getting brighter. I opened the tent door and looked at the mountain in the morning sun. I took a picture of it with my phone and sent it to Dad. I was heading back from the toilets when he replied.

You camped? He wrote.

Yeah. Needed a new hobby. My apartment is noisy. I finished writing my book series. I’m not happy with it, but the publisher was. Cramming for entrance exams takes a lot of time but getting away helps.

Your old teacher Hina is having some troubles. Rui is pushing her to deal with some kind of romantic problem. Think you can help? He asked me.

No way. Just be yourself and give good advice. Maybe their mother can help. This sounds like something a mother might understand. I wrote.

Probably. Enjoy your breakfast. He said and signed off.

I started my stove and lit another campfire with the wood I had. This helped a lot because of how absolutely freezing it is here this morning. I heated water, drinking tea, then making some instant oatmeal. This is very traditional food for backpackers and campers. Newbies go for eggs and bacon, which are hard to clean up, but experts do oatmeal because it cleans easy and is made with the same boiling water as your tea. The hot oatmeal, brown sugar and raisin, was sweet and warm and I drank another cup of green tea before starting my cleanup with the last of the water. Once again, I headed for the toilets to finish washing my dishes and empty my bladder again. And that other thing, which is no fun at this temperature. Less said about that, the better. I miss the pinky’s older sister chat this morning. The sun rising over the campground dried things off and temps rose very quickly to merely chilly. Some of the more experienced campers were emerging now. I looked around, noting my little librarian cooking her own breakfast and tea combo. She was letting stuff dry before she packed it up. We were supposed to be out by 10 AM. That was a couple hours away. I finished packing up my stuff, promising myself to air it out back at home. I shook a fair amount of dew off the rain fly and took it down, packed it up wet. I got everything down and the fire out, with probably 10 sticks of firewood leftover. I took that back to the campground office and sold it back to the guy in trade for some granola bars for the road. I think I’d like to camp here again. A nice place.

I returned to my bike and packed up everything on it, with cord and such until it was heavy with my camping gear. Looked around. All here. I wheeled it back to the path and stopped by the librarian. She waved this time.

I walked myself and my bike over to say hi.

“Good morning. It’s nice and quiet here. I’m Fujii Natsuo,” I said, introducing myself.

“I am Shima Rin. I remember your name from the library. I see you have new gear. Did those magazines and books help you?” she asked. She is very short.

“Yes. I wanted a hobby where I could find quiet places. My apartment is noisy,” I admit. 

“Come visit me at school again, I’ll loan you a guide to campgrounds and I’ve got notes on which ones are good this time of year,” Rin offered.  

“Thank you. That would be helpful. This place was nice. I didn’t realize you’d be here. Or Sakura would be escorting Nadesico.”

“She’s noisy, but nice,” admitted Rin. “I was going to be stuck eating curry ramen, but she showed up with fresh vegetables and broth and two packets of dumplings. I was stuffed, but Nadesico ate all the rest of it. I don’t know how she can eat so much.” This was quite possibly the longest I’d heard Rin speak. Maybe she needs to get out here to relax enough to be social? It bares consideration.

“I liked talking to her sister,” I said. “She’s quiet, seems to be taking it all in.”

“She’s probably a good person to camp with, then. If she doesn’t mind the discomforts,” suggested Rin.

“I don’t know. She drove them both home. Said she likes country drives, so if you end up camping with Nadesico, you could get a ride that way.”

“I’m saving up for a scooter. I nearly have all the money for it. And I got my license.”

“I am considering a 400cc UJM once I pass my permit and tests. Any tips?” I asked her.

“Study the entire guide. They ask all sorts of questions, even stuff about the brake reservoir and the petcock and manual kick start relief valve.”

“Thank you. I’ll look into that. It makes a nice tradeoff from just studying all the time.”

“I will see you at school. I’m going to pedal around some of these roads here before I head back to Minobu.”

I made my goodbyes and pushed the bike back to the path. I rode from there to the campground and said goodbye to the manager, who wasn’t much older than me. I used the perimeter road to get more views of Fuji, and took some pictures, and of the campground itself. Eventually it was noon and I ate a granola bar and headed back home. It was mostly descent and took a couple hours to reach home. I unloaded my bike and got the gear into my apartment, turning on the heat. I laid out the tent to dry properly, and opened my mummy bag fully, and changed into some lighter clothing because the day was relatively warm. I then rode my bike to the grocery store and got some dumplings for dinner, and some veggies. I made dumpling stew for dinner, and it was very warm and filling. I slept pretty well that night.

Lines beeped at me a lot but I just ignored it.