Chapter 71: Can’t Handle the Heat

A part of Ishi felt that he really didn’t want to be running around to check on everyone. Especially not with those he was going to checking on. However, he knew that lazing about was not the right thing to do, so he thought about where would make for a good starting point for the day. Of all the girls here, he was most worried for Youna.

That girl believed herself to be incompetent. In his eyes, she was a fairly capable person, but lacked the confidence to see that. So she would most likely be hesitant to try and start any fires, even if they were simply just campfires.

So that was where the boy headed off to first. There was a sectioned off area of concrete ground with pits for students to learn how to start their own fires should they find themselves in the wilderness. When he arrived, it seemed that the teaching instructor had finished explaining how to start one as he lit the wood in front of him. After that was demonstrated, the other students went off in groups to try it out themselves.

Meanwhile, Ishi scanned the area for the girl he was searching for. There he saw her, standing all alone, looking around as if trying to find something to do.

“Hey Youna.” He greeted her, which gave the girl a slight jolt as she was not expecting him to be here so early. “Looks like they’re expecting us to also find our own firewood.”

“Y-yeah.” She responded, appearing very nervous. This time around, it wasn’t because of his presence. What Youna was most concerned with was actually starting a fire for the first time in her life. She really didn’t want to get burned. “I wanted to set a good example for the younger students, but it’s hard to start a fire all by myself.”

“Good thing I’m here then.” He said, taking the girl’s hand without a moments hesitation. She immediately felt weak in her legs as he lead her towards the woods to find some proper branches and chips to get them started.

“Th-thank you.” She had to fight hard to get her mind back into reality. “I’m sorry that I can’t just do this on my own.”

“Don’t worry about it.” He replied, his eyes peered across the ground to find good resources. “I’m sure you’ll get there eventually, just need to keep working on it.” This was what he expected out of her, which is why he came here first. Chances were, Youna would give him the most work to do, so things should become more smooth as his day progressed.

There were a lot of other people in the forest along with them. As chaperons, they also had to make sure no one was doing anything stupid that could get them hurt. Such as climbing the tall trees. At the same time, they also wanted to make sure no one took a wood log that was too large. Those could cause a potential fire hazard for everyone around them.

“I think this should be enough.” Said Youna. She had a fair bit of branches in her arms now, which combined with his set, would be enough for them to start a fire. Ishi also found a longer stick which would allow the pair to safely move around the wood in order for it to improve on its burning.

They returned to the campgrounds along with everyone else, most of them had already begun placing down their resources. There were multiple ways that the students could do to get their campfires lit. The first was the basic tool-less method which involved drilling a branch on top of another to create friction for heat. The second used what was known as a magnesium fire starter. That methods meant one stripped off some magnesium from a special tool using a knife, then one would flip the tool over to scrape the knife along it for sparks, therefore lighting a fire.

Finally, they were also allowed to use matches, but that was viewed as boring for most. So a lot of students opted to try the old fashion branch method as a means of showing off that they were skilled enough.

Ishi didn’t care about looking cool, but he also didn’t want to take the easy way out of using a match. So he recommended they do the second method. It also seemed like something that might impress the other students to encourage them to try something different. Youna agreed with him, even though she really just wanted to use the match and get this over with as quickly as possible.

“There’s something that’s been bothering me.” He said as the boy laid about the branches in the most optimal manner. “I thought you said the aquarium field trip was the first time you had an overnight trip?” Now that he remembered it, they all had to do this field trip as first years too.

“That was my first time.” She answered. Back then, she was unable to participate because she got sick during that weekend when everyone went. Secretly, the girl was really happy back then that she didn’t have to go. She was still at the stage of being to scared about such a milestone that she saw it was a fortunate thing to get sick. “So, I don’t really know what I’m doing today.”

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“That’s fine.” He said as he scraped on some magnesium. Maybe he was being too soft on her, but that was only because he had gotten to know everything about how she tackled situations. Surely she was able to step up when needed. “Just take the time to pay attention to me and learn.”

“Actually.” She stopped him right as he was about to attempt to light the fire. “Can I try making some sparks?” Youna knew that he couldn’t stay here forever and that she’d be continuing to man the station after he left. So if he did all the work, then she wouldn’t have really learned anything and would be unable to aid other students.

“If you want to.” He handed her the knife. There wasn’t any reason for him not to allow her to do this. It was only fair that she provided some of the work since they were a team. Plus, while this was a fire they were working with, he found it unlikely that any serious harm would come their way.

“Okay…” She took one deep breath to calm her nerves and get started. “Here we go.” Slowly, Youna ran the knife along the metal edge. Doing so meant that nothing happened since it requires a lot of force to create some sparks.

“Don’t worry, just put more into it.” He encouraged her as Ishi watched over her shoulder. She felt even more nervous now that he was paying such close attention to her. Now there was no way she could give up, and she certainly didn’t want to keep failing and make him wait longer on her.

So Youna went with a bit more force. This time, she was able to produce some sparks, but it wasn’t enough to cause any flames. Again, she went and things were going a bit better now. It was only a matter of time before something caught on.

Unfortunately, the thing that got caught wasn’t what she was hoping for. When Youna went for another strike, her hand slipped from the knife, causing the blade to cut into her fingers.

“Ow!” She screamed out in pain, dropping the blade to the ground. Blood began to drip from the wound as she quickly grasped it.

“Uh oh.” Ishi spoke with concern. “Can we get some first aid?” He called out then squatted down to help her out. The boy turned her towards him so that he could get a better look at the injury, then he clasped both hands around hers. “This should help slow the bleeding.”

“Th-th…” She was too stunned to reply. Not only did he just get so close to her, but he also grabbed tightly onto her hands and lifted them above their heads to reduce the bloodflow. All of this combined, not only had him grabbing her so tightly, but led to the pair with their faces just mere centimeters apart. It was too much for her heart to handle, so Youna ended up averting her gaze out of instinct.

“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.” He assured her, assuming that her embarrassed look was a result of not wanting to look at blood. Considering the way she acted about everything, this girl was probably queasy about seeing blood.

Shortly after calling for aid, they were joined by some adults with a first aid kit to cover her wound. Ishi was able to let go of her hand. When he checked on his own hands, they were covered with her blood, so he was required to get himself cleaned before moving on to the others. “Sorry I have to leave you.” He told her. It was a shame to have to end things like this, but the boy was on the clock and getting cleaned up was going to cut into that. “I’ll check on you later tonight to make sure you’re all right.”

“Right…” She didn’t turn her head up to see him as they talked. She was too ashamed to have messed up like this in front of him. “I’ll… See you later.” He could tell that she wasn’t feeling well, but couldn’t stick around to support the girl.

“I’m off then.” He told the adults who were now tending Youna. First stop was going to be the restrooms to wash up his hands. Then after that, it was time to see how Ryugi was handling the so-called food gathering activities.

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