Chapter 3: Never Take A Challenge Lightly
The hot springs were closed.
Damian stood in shock, looking at the sign in front of the spring that read 'closed' in dread.
'Great,' he thought, 'Something like this can only happen to me,'
He sighed and turned around, only for him to run into someone behind him.
"Hoho. Hello there, my boy."
"Madam Saya?"
Madam Saya smiled at Damian. With her narrowed eyes and wrinkled face, Damian thought it made her look like a snake.
"You're quite late to the baths. Did you sleep in?"
Damian frowned slightly, "Something like that. I'll just use the showers. Sorry to disturb you"
Damian made to leave, but Madam Saya held out her hand, "Oh, no no I can't let you do that. You came to the hot springs to enjoy the hot springs, didn't you? I know it may be unconventional, but what if I say I can let you go in?"
Damian rose a brow at her and looked back towards the bath, "Really?"
"Of course, Damian," Madam Saya said, "It is called the Saya hot springs, isn't it? But there's something I need you to do for me first"
"Okay. What do I have to do?"
Madam Saya reached behind her and brought out a bar of chocolate, "Have one" she said.
Damian was confused, "What?"
"Have one," Madam Saya repeated, "I seemed to have bought too many and I want you to have one"
Damian looked from the woman back to the bar of chocolate cautiously. He reached his hand out and broke out a piece of the chocolate.
"Don't be shy now. Just a bite"
Damian brought the chocolate to his mouth slowly. He then took a bite out of it. To his surprise, it wasn't as bad as he thou -
"Argh!"
Damian held onto his chest in pain and fell to his hands and knees. His chest was burning. It felt like fire was traveling through his entire body. He coughed and scratched a finger across his throat.
Madam Saya looked on impassively and she stepped back when he fell to the ground. How disappointing, she thought.
She had hoped he was the one, but it seemed she was wrong again.
Damian coughed and Madam Saya's eyes widened as he began getting to his feet. Her heartbeat increased drastically and her excitement grew to the point where her hands were shaking uncontrollably.
"What was that?" Damian asked as he held onto his throat, "It tasted like sandpaper"
Madam Saya didn't answer him, her breaths were now erratic. Damian looked back at her and he blinked in shock at the look on her face. Her eyes were so wide that they were now visible and the smile on her face could only be described as disgusting.
"M-Madam…"
"Damian. That was your name, wasn't it?"
"Y-Yes"
Madam Saya took a deep breath and finally managed to calm herself down. Her eyes narrowed back into normal slits and she placed the chocolate back into her gown.
"Please," she said to him, "You may use the baths for as long as you want"
"O-Okay. Thank you" Damian quickly made his way away from her and entered into the baths.
Madam Saya put her hands to her ears and looked up, "Vasilis," she said in glee, "I found him. I actually found him!!"
[What do you wish for us to do now, Zina?] a voice came back from the other side of the comm.
Madam Saya turned to the bath with a smile, "Isn't it obvious, Vasilis. Send in the calvary."
[Right away, Zina]
The comm in Madam Saya's ear died down and she immediately schooled her features back into the harmless one she always wore. She put her hands together under her yukata and began making her way back to the house.
-----
That night, all the students found themselves outside the dorms. They were gathered at the edge of a large cluster of trees leading into the forest.
Hella walked to their front with a torch in hand, "Okay, listen up everyone. Today's going to be the first activity of our little field trip"
A student raised his hand, "Uhm, Miss Hella. Why are we outside? It's cold"
Hella chuckled darkly and turned towards him slowly, "Well, Giron…" She placed the torch under her chin and got right into his face, "We're doing TESTS OF COURAGE!!!"
Giron stumbled back in fright and hit Jang. Jang glared down at him and he quickly jumped away.
"Well come on then. Let's do this. It's just a stupid test of courage" Jang said
Hella chuckled and turned off her torch, "Good, Jang. I like your enthusiasm. Now the girls are going to move in groups of three while the boys are going in groups of two. And on that note," Hella brought out another bag and held it out, "Come and pick a piece of paper"
The students all picked papers one after the other and Hellae picked one herself.
Damian opened his paper and saw an omega symbol on it. The last.
Hella clapped her hands together, "Alright then, pair up with the person who has the same symbol on their paper. We're going according to the Greek alphabet. So alpha and beta, line up"
Six girls lined up in front of the cluster of trees and huddled together in fright. Hella walked up from behind them and tapped one of them on the shoulder. She jumped up with a scream.
"Ah! Nee-San!!!"
Hella laughed, "Sorry, Mina. You're just so cute when you're like that." she grabbed some torches from behind her and gave one to each group, "Group alpha will go in first and then group beta will follow after ten minutes. Good luck girls"
Hella moved away from them and allowed them to face the dark forest once again. Mina turned on her torch and pointed it at the forest. The light only shone for about two meters before the darkness swallowed it up again. All the girls gulped.
"Well go on then!" Jang said in annoyance.
His voice snapped the girls out of their shock and the first group began moving into the forest.
Damian looked at his symbol once more and then looked around for anyone who was standing alone. He was an omega, so he didn't need to rush, but he still wanted to find his partner before they were called out.
"Damian,"
Damian turned around to see who had called him, he came face to face with Hugo. Hugo rose a card up with the omega symbol, "Looks like we're partners," he said.
Damian looked down at his card and then back at Hugo. He nodded, "Yeah"
"EEIIYYAAHHH!!"
A scream echoed through the night and most of the boys laughed as they watched some birds fly out of the forest.
The two turned towards the forest and saw a girl running out in fright. She pushed past everyone in the crowd and ran straight for the dorms.
"Well that's one down," Hella said with a smug smile. Damian thought she was enjoying this way too much.
This went on for the next few minutes. A new group of either boys or girls would be called on and they would make their way into the forest with only a torch at their disposal. Every now and then, there would be someone who would scream in fright and this made some of them too scared to even try going in at all.
When it was Jang's turn, he sent a look towards Damian as he passed him by. He then grabbed his torch from Hella and dragged his frightened partner into the forest with him.
"You two have a lot of bad blood between you, don't you?" Hugo said while watching Jang force his partner into the dark forest. Damian sent him a curious look and Hugo continued, "I think you should stay away from him from now on. Jang isn't the sort to take challenges lying down."
"I never challenged him," Damian said, "I just want to be left alone"
"Well," Hugo said, "How's that working out for you so far?"
"..."
"Team omega," Hella called. Hugo left Damian behind and began walking up to the forest. He took the torch Hella gave him and then entered the forest. Damian rushed to catch up with Hugo and matched his stride. The forest was extremely dark and there wasn't a single ray of moonlight to illuminate it. The trees were so thick.
"We just have to spend a few minutes before we can go," Hugo said with the same bored expression on his face, "Just don't go screaming when you see a raccoon or something"
Damian frowned at Hugo but the frown melted when he saw the small smile on Hugo's face. He was messing with him, Damian blushed and faced forward with a small scowl on his face; of course, he wouldn't run away from a raccoon.
-----
Jang dragged his partner forward until they got far enough from the edge of the forest. Eh then turned him around and thrust the torch into his hands. His partner struggled to grab onto it properly.
"W-What are you doing?" he asked. Jang turned away from him and began walking back in the direction they had just come from.
"H-Hey, don't go in there alone. It's too dark and you could get lost"
Jang rose his hand up, "Wait here for ten minutes then go back. I already memorized the path back, so you don't need to bother about me. Do you understand?"
"B-But why?"
Jang smiled roguishly, "It seems I've been challenged," he faced the boy and the boy flinched, "And I don't take challenges lightly. Do you understand?"
The boy nodded quickly and watched as Jang disappeared into the darkness of the forest.
-----
Hugo and Damian walked in silence, only the sounds of their shoes crunching on the forest floor created any sound. There was a rustle from somewhere to their left and Hugo pointed the torch in that direction. A raccoon ran out from behind a tree and stopped to look at them for a second before it raced up another tree. The two boys looked at each other for a moment before they burst out in laughter.
"Hahahah!"
"I didn't think there were actual raccoons here," Hugo said as he cleaned his eyes with his finger and stood straight, "Come on, let's finish this and go take a bath"
Damian nodded with a smile and followed behind Hugo.
There was another rustle from somewhere behind them, but this time, only Hugo turned around to see what it was. Hugo's eyes widened and he immediately jumped towards Damian.
"Watch out!"
SLAM!!!
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
D_RegalInsomniac
D_RegalInsomniac You guys ain't gonna believe it, but Madam Saya's actually my image of my grandma in my head. She isn't with us anymore, but I think things would've been great between us if she were!
P.S. Please don't chase me down with pitchforks. I didn't do shit to Hugo, Jang did.
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