It was about 3:00 when we arrived at the location she was so adamant on us taking a picture at, we were walking down a Seemingly random road about 20 minutes away from the shopping center we were at, the greenery here was extremely plentiful, the only thing separating the wild from the bounds of civilization was just a chain-link fence, and it was starting to show signs of wear and neglect, this part of this area seemed really underpopulated which meant there were few people to see besides me and Hana.
Hana stopped dead in her tracks and stopped at a sudden opening in the vegetation, peeking through the gaps of the fence you could see that it led to an overgrown trail, veering off to the right until eventually the gravel of said path disappeared into the thick lush.
"Alright, It's this way."
I lifted my brow, what did she mean? The visibility here was poor.
"What do you mean, is this the spot where we are going to get the landscape photo? we wont be able to see anything in front of us beyond 10 feet."
"Trust me, I used to live around here before, there's a specific place I want to show you."
I was even more confused now, I shook my head.
"What 'specific place' are you referring to?"
Hana put a single finger up to her lips, and shushed me.
"It's a secret, follow my lead hotshot."
Hana then suddenly without warning, threw her satchel over the fence onto the other side, and gripped the fence tightly before placing her feet in one of the small rings and pulling herself up, I quickly pulled my head down to avoid looking up her skirt, Hana noticed this and whilst sitting on the top of the fence pointed it out.
"I'm wearing tights you idiot, what do you expect to see under here?"
"Something I wouldn't want to see despite the fact that you are, come back down, let's just go to a park and take a random picture of a statue!"
Hana shrugged and jumped down from the fence, her feet hitting the ground with a loud crunch of gravel giving way to the immense pressure of her fall.
"Wouldn't this be trespassing Hana, this is fenced off for a reason."
"Quit being whiny and jump over Masaichi, it will all be worth it."
"The last time you said that about something, It was indeed not worth it."
Hana picked up her satchel and glared at me, before taking her hand and pulling down her eye lid and sticking her tongue out at me and bolting it into the woods.
"Hey, get back here you moron, your going to get lost!"
I quickly climbed the fence in the same fashion Hana did, and ran after her, I quickly caught up despite the fact of how out of shape I was, and of course Hana was the same, as she was wheezing as if she was having an asthma attack whilst sitting against a nearby tree, not even 100 feet away from where she jumped the fence.
"Jeez, I need to get into sports."
"The feeling is mutual, please don't do that again."
"Ill try not to, for both our sakes."
Hana after regaining her endurance, sat up and opened her satchel, and dug around before producing a flashlight, and a bottle of water.
"Why are you handing me this?"
"We are going to need it where we are going, It's not too far, It's a brisk 10 minute walk from here."
"For the love of god, where are you taking me?"
"Again, you will see."
Hana started walking and of course I had to follow her, into the unknown.
*****
The woods weren't scary mind you, but they were just ominous and overgrown to give me a sense of paranoia, and we had been walking for quite some time to the point where Hana had taken her flannel off and tied it around her waist, the gravel of the path was even starting to show signs of neglect, no one had been here for quite some time.
Suddenly the path ended in front of a large bush, blooming with purple and white flowers.
"Masaichi look!"
I was in fact looking at it, it was a bush.
"Oh wow a bush, amazing."
"I know right?"
Hana turned around smiling, and then saw my blank expression which turned her smile upside down.
"Oh, you were being sarcastic."
Hana quickly turned back to the bush and plucked a flower off it before putting it in her hair, the purple tint didn't really fit with her outfit but nonetheless it had its own certain charm that somewhat justified it being there, it kind of made her look cute in a way.
I looked down trying to hide the rising redness in my face, before I quickly regained my composure, this was not a good time to have stupid thoughts.
"Hey Masaichi, watch this."
"Watch what?"
Hana turned back around towards me once more, and spread her arms out with her palms facing towards me, before backing into the wall of leaves and disappearing behind it.
"Hey, didn't I tell you not to disappear on me like that again not too long ago?"
I rushed towards the leaves and braced myself with my arms, ramming myself through the wall like a linebacker, before being presented with the most perplexing sight I had today.
In front of me was a building beyond repair, vines and weeds covered the concrete brick walls that towered up to about 30 feet, glass windows that were once pristine and shining were smashed and reduced to jagged razor sharp spikes, the staircase of the building leading towards a double doorway was hidden beneath vegetation that had defied the concrete and split it before growing through the cracks, complex archways and intricate engravings suggested this building was once extremely prestigious, but was now just a living relic of the past.
Hana had one foot placed on top of the bottom step that led towards the entrance of the building, with a camera in hand and a flashlight in the other, she was grinning delightfully.
"Hana, what is this?"
"Abandoned school, it was shut down quite some time ago during the 1990's."
"And how do you know this?"
"The Internet."
"How reliable."
"Shut up and help me find the roof top to this place, it's a great vantage point."
I looked up at the building once more and was not too confident about its structural stability, but I guess we had come all this way so there was no getting around it I suppose.
*****
Walking through the dusty hallways me and Hana classed classroom after classroom with no stairs in sight, the inside was surprisingly untouched by the greenery outside, but that didn't mean it looked nice, cracked floor tiles were very apparent here, to the point where I almost tripped several times, the air in here was cold and stale but also not dusty which was surprising.
"I was 11 when I found this, I was exploring the woods by myself when I stumbled upon that trail we used. I assumed it led back to somewhere near my home but it didn't, I was lost for 3 hours before I finally found my way back, my parents nearly had a heart attack."
Hana chucked and tilted her head in my direction.
"Sometimes I really wondered what it would have been like to stay in one place, I was young so At first I didn't think moving around so much was strange, since it happened so often, but I started to realize it was around my 13th birthday, about 2 months before I met you online.
"And what led you to that realization?"
Suddenly there was a loud crash of what seemed to be glass breaking, Hana and I stopped dead in our tracks, Hana frantically looked for the source of the noise to no avail.
For some reason, I just felt like I had to be sarcastic at this moment.
"Guess the ghosts here aren't exactly fond of us?"
"Shut up, ghosts don't exist idiot."
Hana and I continued walking until eventually we found stairs that lead up towards the second and third floors, we were finally nearing the roof top.
A door was in front of us, it was made of wood but it seemed much more sturdy compared to the front door, and the classrooms below us, Hana gave it a tug and it didn't budge.
"Damn it, it's locked…"
I looked around the vacant hallways of the school out of habit, before stupidly realizing we were obviously alone.
"Hana stand back, I have an idea."
"And what would that be?"
"Watch me."
Hana obliged and moved out of the way, I moved towards the door and gave it a hard push, It didn't move, It was indeed locked.
"Told you."
I ignored her comment and placed my right foot just below the doorknob, and then reeled it back and kicked the door hard with all my strength.
Hana was extremely shocked, her mouth shot wide open and she brought both her hands to her ears to drown out the noise I had just made.
"What are you doing, you're destroying it!"
"You wanted a photo did you not? I'm not giving up when we have gotten this far."
I continued striking the door again and again, until finally the door ripped through the rotten frame and shot outwards, sunlight shot through the new opening and gave way to the rooftop.
The view was breathtaking, rows and rows of trees stretched out into the horizon, the sun was perfectly angled in a such a way to the point where a nearby large pong shimmered and basked in the sunshine, there was not a single spot of land undominated by trees except for this small spot, where a school a place of learning and memories once stood, now long forgotten.
*****
Hana had taken the photo and we were now sitting on an old bench situated just near the doorway we had just exited to get here, Hana was drinking one of the water bottles she had packed, she had set the clubs camera just to my side, I picked it up and fiddled with it.
"Try not to delete the photo we just took, I wanna show it off and brag about it to Haga."
"Alright, can you answer the question I asked you before we were so rudely interrupted by whatever decided to break a pane of glass?"
"Yes…"
Hana paused and looked out into the sea of trees, her gaze perplexed by the beautiful sight.
"I realized it wasn't normal because of my cousin, he had loads of friends while I didn't have any at the time, he had brought over so many of his friends to my party I felt overwhelmed, but it was also nice to have lots of people there, and that was one of the happiest moments in my life."
Hana yawned and stretched before scooting closer to me and bringing her lips next to my ears.
"Can I let you in on a secret?"
What was she doing, why did she feel the need to get so close to me for no apparent reason?
"Hana wh-"
Hana then pressed her body against mine and tilted her head and rested it on my shoulder, I felt the warmth of her cheek shoot through the thin fabric of my t-shirt, and that wasn't the only warmth I was feeling, my head for some reason felt fuzzy and my heart pounded out of my chest.
"You're the best friend I have ever had in my entire life, I mean that, no other friend has been there for me as much as you have, I don't know how I could ever repay you for making me feel the happiest I have ever felt since my cousin did that for me."
I couldn't speak, and for a plethora of reasons, she had just poured her heart out to me, and she was touching me.
"Cant speak huh that's fine, let me just lean on you for a while, I'm tired."
For someone who was 'tired' she certainly wasn't acting like it, but oh well, as she rested on me I looked on towards the sun. I don't know what was going on but something between me and Hana was changing.