Inside the van, Leon leaned back, enjoying the view of the land and green trees through the car window. He closed his eyes, letting the wind from outside brush against his face while the music from the car played in the background.
"Frick, play *See You Again* by Khalifa. Your music is ancient…" he said with a smile.
Frick glanced at him through the rearview mirror. "What do you know? This is a classic!"
"It's not a classic if no one knows about it…"
"Alright, alright."
~~♪♪~~
Soon, Leon smiled as the familiar melody and voice filled the air.
"Are you happy now?"
"Yeah!"
Leon turned around and looked at Bill, who had been completely absorbed with his phone and headset.
"Hey, what are you watching?" Leon nudged Bill.
"Hmm? Oh, I'm watching a Japanese animated cartoon," Bill replied, showing his phone screen to Leon before turning back to it.
"Oh, is that the *Enzime* you keep talking about?" Curious, Leon leaned in a little to watch too.
"It's called *Anime*..." Bill sighed in exhaustion.
On the screen, an animated male character in a black cloak with red cloud patterns was fighting three people.
Leon saw the character clash with a white-haired man with red eyes, similar to the first character. Sparks flew as they fought using strange 'daggers'.
"Why do both of them have red eyes? And why does the white-haired guy only have one eye?" Leon asked.
"That's called the Sharingan. It's a special eye. That guy only has one Sharingan, so… Ah! I'm not really sure how to explain it, I'll show you later," Bill said while scratching his head.
"Hey, don't get infected by that kid's weird obsession, or you'll turn into a gloomy weirdo too," Frick muttered from the driver's seat.
Bill was irritated by Frick's comment but was too busy to respond.
Leon just laughed. "Honestly, it's pretty good. The fight scene is awesome. Hey, why did that guy get decapitated?" He looked confused.
"He was hit by an illusion!" Bill answered enthusiastically.
"Huh?"
"So, the eye can make people fall into illusions when they look into it. That's its power."
"…But the white-haired guy also has that eye. Why would he fall for it too?"
"Because… he's weaker?" Bill replied uncertainly.
"???"
Leon grew even more confused, but kept watching out of curiosity.
Frick shook his head at the two of them.
He checked the rearview mirror to make sure Alan was still following behind them.
The seven of them had agreed to go camping together. The girls rode in Alan's car because Ruby was more familiar with him—he was her cousin—while Bill and Leon rode with Frick.
The trip was quite long, passing through the mountains before reaching the destination. As one of the organizers, Frick was supposed to be there earlier, but since his friends joined, he requested permission from the teacher to be late with some excuse.
Still, the journey was delayed because they had to wait 30 minutes for the girls to finish getting ready.
"Hey, hold on to something. The road ahead is rough," Frick said.
The van rattled as it went over rocky, uneven ground, up and down slopes. The rough section was long and took ten minutes to cross.
"Wow, it feels like I'm on a roller coaster!" Bill laughed.
"Shut up, my van's going to fall apart if we go through this again..." Frick snapped.
"But we *are* going through it again on the way back." Leon laughed.
"..."
Finally, Frick let out a sigh of relief as the road returned to normal. Just as he was about to speed up, something darted across in front of the van.
"F\*CK!!"
He swerved the steering wheel and crashed into a tree.
"WTF!??"
*Crack!!*
Frick rubbed his head where it had hit and looked at Leon and Bill. "Anyone hurt?"
"I'm okay," Leon said, shaking his head, a bit dizzy.
"Me too."
They immediately got out of the van.
"Damn, were you trying to make a new road?" Bill said, slightly shaken—he had nearly had a heart attack.
"F\*CK, something shot across the road. I panicked, thought it was an animal, so I swerved." Frick cursed as he checked the bumper.
"Damn, it's dented!"
Bill checked it too. "Wow, that's pretty bad."
Leon frowned. "There's no workshop nearby. We'll have to fix it on the way back…"
Alan's car soon pulled up beside them.
"Hey, what happened?" Alan asked, running over.
"I nearly hit something, panicked, and swerved the steering wheel," Frick sighed.
The girls came over too, asking if they were okay.
"Leon, are you alright?" Ruby asked with concern.
"Mhm," Leon nodded, but his gaze was fixed on something. "I think you *did* hit it, Frick…"
Everyone turned to look at Leon as he walked toward the edge of the bushes.
They followed behind him and saw a bloodied animal lying motionless beside the bushes.
"Ahh!" The girls screamed upon seeing the blood and the animal's injuries.
"You should all step back…" Alan said gently, and the girls complied, not used to seeing so much blood.
"Is that a deer?" Bill asked.
"It's a young deer—pretty big. Looks like it got separated from its mother or herd," Alan said. He had some knowledge from being in a club.
Frick crouched down beside the young deer, which was about waist-high and had yet to grow antlers, and gently shook its body.
"…No response," Frick said.
Leon came over and felt just above the front leg where the heart was located.
He did it carefully while the others stayed quiet.
He opened the deer's mouth slightly and poured a little water inside, hoping to make it choke or respond. But nothing happened, even when he tapped it gently.
"…Looks like it's already dead." Leon sighed.
Everyone else sighed too. There was nothing they could do. Even if the deer had been alive, it likely would've died from blood loss and serious injuries—they had no knowledge of animal treatment.
The girls came closer and, upon understanding the situation, also felt heartbroken for the poor creature.
Leon wanted to say something, but then he suddenly turned and faced a tree not far from them.
The others were startled by Leon's sudden move and followed his gaze.
There, perched on a tree branch, was a large Great Horned Owl staring at them from afar.
"Ah! That owl scared the hell out of me!" Alan exclaimed.
"Hey, why is it staring at us like that…" Bill asked, goosebumps crawling up his skin.
"…Owls have poor vision during the day. It probably smells the blood from this fawn, that's why it's looking this way," Frick said calmly, though he'd been startled too.
"Still… it's creeping me out," Ruby said, turning her face away from the owl.
"We should bury the fawn. It's the least we can do for it, rather than letting it be eaten by other animals." Alan sighed.
"Hey Leon, let's find some stones. Leon?" Bill called, but when he turned and saw Leon still staring at the owl, he called again.
"…Guys, don't you feel like that owl is staring at us… like a human would?" Leon murmured.
As his words fell, a chill ran down all their spines.
"Haha, Leon, don't joke like that. You really freaked me out for a second!" Alan laughed nervously.
Frick and the others nodded.
"Leon, that's not funny!" Ruby said, trembling.
Leon could see she was still scared.
"Haha, sorry. I just… wanted to lighten the mood. Let's go, we're already late."
Frick and Alan dug a hole using sticks, while Bill and Leon, the "weaker" ones, gathered small rocks and leaves to cover the small animal's grave.
Standing by the simple but beautiful grave decorated with stones, flowers, and leaves, none of them said a word. The four of them felt a strange aura around the place that made them uneasy.
Normally, they wouldn't go to such lengths to decorate a grave. But being out in the wild, it was the only thing they could do—to ward off bad luck and as a form of psychological comfort.
Even though they didn't strongly believe in superstition, it was better to avoid it than to face it.
They all nodded and returned to the car.
"Huff… didn't that feel weird? That was seriously creepy. I was too scared to say a word!" Bill sighed after getting back in the van.
Frick, known as the bravest among them, nodded. "Thank God nothing weird happened. We're late—let's go."
Frick had a bad feeling about this trip, but he couldn't explain why.
Both cars soon drove off, leaving the place behind.
Leon looked out the window and saw that the day was turning to evening. He couldn't help but remember the strange owl that had watched them. He was sure he hadn't imagined it—the way it stared at them held an intelligence, not the gaze of a normal animal.
"Ah, I must've been hallucinating." He closed his eyes briefly before opening them again to look at the scenery outside.
Then, his gaze froze.
On a tree branch, he saw the same owl from before, perched not far from the accident site.
The van passed beneath the branch, but Leon kept staring at it.
As the van drove further away, Leon looked through the back window—
—just in time to see the owl's head rotate 180°, and their eyes met...