Chapter 8: Discoveries
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Sometimes the discoveries we thought would be useful only turn into additional problems.
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As she opened the door, Liu put on a very serious expression.
She took a confident step, ready to face anything.
Then… she immediately started running straight toward the forested hill without looking back.
Her bag was rather heavy. But in the current situation, she didn't have time to complain about it.
'I need to go around the residential district to reach the river.'
She didn't want to risk the Form being seen.
First, she took the harvesting path to move away from the village.
'Is the Form still following me?'
She stopped once she could no longer see the village and looked at the shadows of the surrounding trees.
"Ffou… okay." she took a deep breath upon spotting it.
'It's still there.'
The Form was in the shadow of a tree about ten steps behind Liu.
'It looks like it always keeps a certain distance between us… Should I try to get closer?'
She considered the possibility. But she pushed it aside for later.
'No, I need to get farther away from the village first.'
The path used for harvesting boro berries did not go around the village, it only went deeper into the hill.
Liu left the path to go along the edge of the village and reach the river.
'I need to be careful when I cross the main road.'
Liu kept running, but more calmly this time.
The Form wasn't attacking her, it wasn't even getting closer than ten steps.
And even though Liu was still afraid to face it, the situation no longer terrified her as much.
'What time is it?'
She slowed down briefly to check her watch.
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03.22/10.00
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'Okay, it took me ten hundredths of an hour to get here. I still have about a full hour before Yumi arrives at the chalet.'
She checked again that the Form was still behind her.
'Perfect, everything is going as planned.'
With the Form still ten steps behind her, she continued running.
'How far will I be able to go today before I have to stop?'
She thought about what would come next in her camping, preferring to plan things ahead rather than be caught off guard.
'I should be able to reach the ruins in time to set up the tent.'
'But… is it far enough so no one can find me?'
Liu was surprisingly calm compared to her state during the previous hour.
'Normally it should be fine, there isn't a single path within several thousand steps around the ruins.'
In a way, the current situation even excited her.
It was the first time she was planning something entirely by herself.
'And even though the ruins aren't unknown, it's the second day of the week. Normally no one will go there during a school day.'
The situation gave her a feeling she had forgotten. A sense of adventure, even stronger than during her first camping trip.
'However, tomorrow some of the upper-class students might go there. So I should leave as early as possible.'
However, even though Liu was particularly good at planning things,
she didn't think of everything. And above all, she was still thinking like a twelve-year-old girl.
'I'll get there in about three hours. If I set up the tent immediately and go to sleep, I should get my three hours of sleep and leave again at the first hour tomorrow.'
She had only taken into account what she knew. She didn't consider that people other than the students of Luttren's school might go to the ruins.
The ruins, although not widely known, were a horror attraction for the teenagers of Luttren who knew about them. And that was all Liu considered.
'I can see the main road.'
By the time she finished planning her day, she reached the main road.
This road led to the merchant village of Luschen, but it was also the largest road crossing the entire village of Luttren.
So the villagers of Luttren simply called it: the main road.
'It doesn't look like there's anyone.'
She stopped about ten steps away from the road, hiding behind a tree. Then she turned her head, checking that the Form was still there.
'Still ten steps behind me. And still hidden in a tree's shadow.'
'Why does it always stay in the shadow of something? And why ten steps behind me?'
As always, Liu didn't understand the Form's actions.
'Well, I'll have time to think about that later. For now, I need to cross.'
She looked as far as she could in both directions along the road.
'I can't see very far, I need to get closer… but I don't want to have to step back.'
Even though the Form seemed harmless, she still didn't want to get within ten steps of it.
'Ffou… Come on!'
"I'm going!"
She moved forward anyway. She didn't have time to hesitate over everything.
'Okay, it's fine, the village is far enough and there's nothing on that side. And… nothing on the right either. Perfect!'
There was no cart, no one walking on the road.
So she didn't waste any time and crossed directly.
Crossing only took a few seconds, but Liu couldn't help feeling stressed during that moment.
'Now, let's see what the Form does.'
As soon as she reached a tree on the other side of the road to hide, she looked behind her to see how the Form would cross.
'Huh!! Where is it?!'
The Form had disappeared…
'It's not in the tree's shadow on the other side, and it's not crossing either?? What's happening?!'
Liu's stress skyrocketed. She turned her head in every direction, trying to find the Form as quickly as possible.
"Ahh!!"
'Oh damn! That scared me!'
The Form was still ten steps away from Liu, in the shadow of a tree. But this time, it was to her left instead of behind her.
'How did it do that?'
Liu quickly moved deeper into the forest. And although there were fewer trees than on the forested hill, there were still more than enough to hide both Liu and the Form.
'I'd rather it stayed behind me all the time.'
Even though the Form already seemed almost harmless in Liu's mind, some things could neither be forgotten nor ignored.
'I don't want to see it, but at the same time I want to keep an eye on it.'
'Huh?? I'm becoming less and less logical, this is weird.'
And the internal conflict between Liu's logic and what she truly wanted had only grown since her grandparents disappeared.
'I don't even understand myself anymore, it's an unsettling feeling.'
Liu continued running at a steady pace. She didn't rush much anymore; in her view, it was unlikely anyone would find her now.
'The river isn't far. After that, I just have to follow it.'
There was no path along the river. The only reason Liu knew how to reach the ruins by following it was because her grandparents liked to go that way.
'I wonder if the Form will manage to follow me.'
The path along the river was quite steep. There were few flat areas, the number of trees often became an obstacle, and many rocks lay along the way.
'I still don't understand how Grandpa Mo and Mimie can consider this a "good jog," I already struggle to keep up with them every time.'
Liu recalled the memories this path brought back as she reached the river.
'Okay, we're here.'
She stopped for a moment to catch her breath.
"Oh right, the time."
She checked her watch while leaning her back against a tree. Her loaded bag made the position a bit awkward.
'Three hours and forty-one hundredths. That's fine.'
She raised her head to look around.
'Okay, still ten steps behind me. Everything's fine…'
She set her bag down and took out one of the flasks she had filled, drinking a few sips.
'Should I try getting closer to it now? This is my chance… right?'
She thought for a few more moments, her gaze fixed on the Form. Strangely, she could now keep her eyes on it.
Maybe to monitor it, or maybe she had already forgotten what had happened earlier in the day.
'Anyway, I have to do it at some point.'
She gathered her courage and took a hesitant, trembling step toward the Form.
'Will it step back to stay ten steps away from me?'
Even though she could now look at the Form, she was still terrified of it.
Even though it no longer disgusted her or made her want to vomit, she was still afraid of it.
'Two, three…'
But despite that, she moved forward.
Her gaze fixed on the Form.
Her breathing controlled.
Her confidence unstable.
'…four, fi—'
"Ehh!!"
She stood there, stunned.
Her breathing quickened.
"No… huh!"
The Form was no longer there.
Liu's stress rose even higher than when she crossed the road.
"Where?!"
She turned her head everywhere, searching for the Form in the shadow of another tree.
"Ah… ffouah!"
And she saw it again, in the shadow of another tree.
'Okay, it's fine… everything's fine.'
She reassured herself as best she could.
'It just moved back a little into the shadow of another tree.'
The Form had indeed moved, if it could be called that. It was once again about ten steps away from Liu.
'But how did it do that? I didn't see anything. One moment it was there, and the next it had disappeared. Is it extremely fast? Does it teleport from shadow to shadow?'
Liu returned to her bag to drink again and steady herself. She even took out a cereal bar from the camping rations to get some sugar.
'Should I try again? I have to try again.'
She thought while eating the cereal bar.
'As soon as I took the fifth step, it disappeared. That means I can't get closer than five steps? So I can't be absorbed?'
She didn't finish the bar and placed it on her bag. Then she once again moved toward the Form.
'One, two, three, four, five!'
The Form disappeared again.
'Okay, perfect! Now, where is it?'
She once again looked at the shadows of every tree about ten steps away from her.
'It went back to where it was at the beginning… okay.'
"Hhaa…"
She sighed, a sigh of relief, perhaps.
'So, it really isn't dangerous to me.'
She returned to her bag, put it back on her shoulders, and immediately resumed walking without hesitation.
'Now I need to find a way to bring back Grandpa Mo and Mimie. But if I can't get close to it, how am I supposed to… open it?'
She was no longer running as fast as before. Her pace had slowed until she was jogging along.
'Should I try talking to it? I don't think I'm ready for that yet.'
She cast a few glances at the Form behind her and saw it moving from shadow to shadow each time she got about thirty steps away.
'Should I have gone back to where the Form first appeared? I don't think I'm ready for that either.'
The path she was taking became steeper, requiring more concentration from Liu and making her thoughts more fragmented.
'Seriously… what am I supposed to do?'
The current situation made Liu forget her earlier excitement.
Since she had started making discoveries about the Form, she realized it wasn't helping her much.
'This is just giving me more problems, isn't it? The Form moves incredibly fast and I can't get closer than five steps.'
She continued along her path, occasionally looking back to check if the Form was still following her.
'This is annoying.'
———
Sometimes the discoveries we thought would be useful only turn into additional problems.
———