Chapter 74: The Long Trek Back
The men agreed that the obvious first course of action was to find out where they were.
So they re-bagged Tama who was happy to curl up in her wicker bag space to sleep. And assumed the arduous trek through the forest.
They traversed deeper into the damp, shadowy quiet of the woods. Their shoes making soft crunches on the uneven terrain, which gave rhythm to their train of thoughts.
Eiji frowned with a concern when their upward hiking along a fire trail seemed to take them further away from civilization. Where were they going?
Everyone had agreed to follow Kei's lead given his experience of the region. His constant checking of the sun's position did give the other men reassurance. That was until his expression of self-assurance betrayed a fluster. He looked lost.
"Kei. You do know where your going?" Eiji huffed.
He stopped to catch his breath, feeling slightly dizzy from the thin air and bruises to his stomach from the kenpeitai's kicks.
"F'cker." Kei grumbled. He also stopped to catch his breath and take stock of their surroundings.
Tyne saw it an opportunity to have a proper rest and re-assess their plans.
The four men sat on a mossy rock crop underneath a tall gathering of uninspiring maple, ash and sakura trees. Brooding in their spots beneath thick rays of sunlight.
Eiji was impressed that the war couldn't spoil the forest's stolid presence. Man-made cities and towns were being levelled, yet forests and mountains (steeped with the spirit of ages) stood firm against the onslaughts of war. He took some comfort in seeing that. A hope that traditions of old were not all lost.
"You guys have no faith. I know what I'm doing." Kei defended his leadership through the forest.
"Really? Then where are we?" Tyne questioned Kei with one brow raised.
"How the hell should I know?" Kei answered back. He ducked to avoid the Sean's swipe to his head.
"Look you f'ckers! I'm right, this region still be around Kure. I'm sure of it. Meaning, we could be somewhere near Nikoucho." Kei snapped, contradictory to his last statement.
He dropped his defensive attitude with a sigh and a scratch of his head. "I think."
"It's beautiful." Eiji expelled his awe at the soulful wonder of nature surrounding them.
Tyne pulled out the map and carefully laid it out across a set of dry rocks before them.
"So, where's that on the map Kei?"
Kei sighed and studied the map's surface for sometime before picking up a dry pebble and plonking it in the middle between the Eiji's family village and the dot that marked Kure.
Their unexpected train stop had taken them further away from their intended drop point just outside of Kure City. They had inadvertently back-tracked. It made sense to Eiji, given the proximity from the train they had fled.
"Maybe you do know your stuff." Eiji blurted to Kei and laughed at the man's pouting.
After a some serious discussion, they traced a path back to Eiji's family village and Kei's car. They needed to be on the road and reach their drop off point. It was obvious to all they were nowhere near that point. To make it to the drop-off, at the time they were allocated for the hand-off, they needed the car. Once on the road, they could keep track of their bearings and reclaim the distance and time they had lost.
"By my watch and sun's position, I'd say we have forty two hundred hours to make the hand-off." Tyne reminded his team. "We have to get to that car and have it on the road by at least sun down."
"What happens if kempei are still guarding it?" Eiji threw in his piece of reality.
"Then we handle them. Quickly and quietly. Painlessly if possible." Sean answered.
Eiji sighed. He was seriously sick of death and destruction. "I'd rather we'd sneak the car away from them, somehow."
"I share your sentiment." Tyne reassured Eiji. "Let's try to avoid a repeat of the train saga okay?"
"If they shoot first?" Sean frowned.
"We dodge and run as a first option." Tyne faced his corporal. "No heroics. Remember where we are."
"On enemy grounds as spies for our country." Sean reminded his superior.
"Pricks." Kei grumbled his curses.
"That too." Tyne sighed. "I haven't forgotten."
He faced Kei and Eiji. "You both shouldn't either. You aren't civilians of this country, but US informants."
"That's uncalled for. Have I've shown signs of dishonoring our agreement?!" Eiji snapped at Tyne.
"Not yet." Tyne smoothly answered back.
"Why'd you save me?" Eiji changed the topic with his question directed to both Sean and Tyne. "You could've left me to die. I wasn't more important than Kei for this job."
Neither answered. Sean lowered his eyes to his feet.
"No answer?"
"Do I honestly need to tell you?" Tyne averted his gaze.
"Friends don't leave friends behind to gunfire." Sean released the truth of his feelings for Eiji.
Eiji felt embarrassed and relieved.
"We have a plan. Let's get going." Tyne closed matters and gathered everyone up for the long trek back to Kei's blended beauty.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Veronica8
Veronica8 Not sure if Nikoucho was around 1945 or established afterwards. There's not a lot about it on online library sites or google. I figured they'd end near this region considering where their proximity from the train line. I also gathered this area would be dense forest at that time, running up to the coastline. Since a lot of the settlement from my view of G.Earth seems modern age.
Gifts
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received Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
-- Power
stone