As the light returned to the clearing the next morning, we gathered together to discuss our next steps. However, there was one small hiccup we had to deal with:

“What are you doing?” A necklace—Aikawa Reiji—asked. He was the one who invited me to speak with the others at the end of the night. Currently, he was speaking to another necklace—that being Yabuki Asahi—who was the one who caused that rock to fall into the earth last night.

“What do you think I’m doing?” Yabuki snapped back. “I’m leaving!”

“Do you even know where you are going?” Aikawa asked.

“Outta here, that’s where!” Yabuki retorted as he began to leave.

But it quickly became clear that Yabuki didn’t know where he was going, and he was soon wandering aimlessly around the clearing.

“Hey!” He eventually shouted, heading back at us. “Do any of you numbskulls know a way out of here?”

From what I could recall, the path from the town to this point was mostly linear, and I did not recall there being any curves or bends, not much swaying or swinging of any kind. And all it took to get back to the path was climbing up the ledge. Not easy, but certainly doable. And if that didn’t work, just going through the woods until wherever it ended was also a possibility. However, it seemed that Yabuki hadn’t considered either of those options.

“Hey!” Yabuki shouted. “Why aren’t any of you talking to me?”

“We know as much as you do.” Sobue replied.

He grumbled a bit before turning to me.

“Hey, you!” He shouted at me. “What's the way outta here?”

“Why should I tell you?”

“Because this is why!” He shouted as he rammed—or rather lightly tapped—me, causing me to move back about a millimeter or so. I could hear stifled laughter from the others.

“Hey! What are you all laughing for?” Yabuki shouted. “Rotten little moth—” He fell out of earshot before he finished his sentence, heading off to a different part of the clearing.

“So what do we do now?” One of the necklaces—among the few I did not learn the name of—asked.

I thought to myself.

“Does anyone see anything else on the ground?”
There was a pause as the others, from what I could tell, were looking around.

“I don’t think so.” I heard someone respond.

It seemed like there was nothing on the ground in the clearing, but maybe there was elsewhere.

“What about in the woods?” I suggested. “Is there anything there?”

“Like what?” A necklace asked.

I thought about what could be in the woods. There were trees, of course, but those were too large for us to move on our own. And though many smaller plants didn’t have this issue, they did have roots, and I didn’t know how to bring any over without decapitating them.

And what about debris that came from the trees, such as berries, leaves, or seeds? I hadn't seen the girl touch any of those with her hand, and during my time on the lake, I hadn’t seen any abnormal behavior from them either. Then again, they could be in the same situation that me and the others were, and there wasn’t really any harm in trying.

“Can you bring over a leaf, or something like that?” I asked. “I want to try something out.”

“Sure, I guess,” the necklace said as she crawled towards the woods, using her chain to push herself forward.

“Wait, what about her?” The rock who had fallen into the earth last night—Mashita Syouma—asked after she left, pointing himself in the direction of the sleeping girl.

Judging by how she reacted to me, she would probably react poorly at the sight of everyone else. This wasn’t something I was really considering last night, as I was busy trying to rescue this group. But as morning came, it became clear that I needed to cover my tracks, though I wasn’t sure exactly how.

“Just leave her for now.” I eventually said.

“Why? Let’s just wake her up.” He responded.

“Look, it's still early.” I said. “It would be safer for us to wait until she wakes up on her own.”

“Why?”

“Do you really want someone of her size to be in a bad mood?”

“Hmm… I see your point.”

“I got it!” The necklace exclaimed as she was making her way back to us.

“What did you get?” I asked her when she arrived.

“Well, I found this leaf,” the necklace responded.

“Great. Now can you place it up to the arm?”

“Sure.”

We all stood back as the necklace dropped the leaf. It landed right next to the girl’s arm, but nothing happened.

“Should we try again?” The necklace asked.
“I don’t think so. It looks like that leaf was just a leaf.”

“Oh, ok…”

“Did you bring anything else?”

“Well, I did bring a berry.” The necklace toppled her pendant over, the berry rolling up to the girl’s arm, closely enough for there to be some sort of contact. However, the berry remained silent and motionless. It seemed that this debris was just that, which was useful to know.

“Did you see anything else on the ground?” I asked.

“Well, there’s the trees, but I don’t think we could carry those.”

It became clear that, for the time being, there wasn’t much else we could do. I looked toward the sleeping girl. Should I just wake her up and hope for the best? No, far too risky. I looked at everyone else. Perhaps some sort of diversion was needed, but what?

“Hey!” The bag—Yamuguchi Haruki—shouted from a small distance. “Does anyone know what that is?”

Yamaguchi was standing near a narrow gap in the woods. From what I recall, it was at the same location where that tree ran through, though by now the branches it left behind were surprisingly absent.

“Well, I did see a tree run through there,” I said. “But otherwise, I’m not sure.”

“Do you think one tree could do that?” Yamaguchi asked.

“Do what?”

“Take a look!” Yamaguchi replied.

We all gathered in front of Yamaguchi. And surely enough, there was a path carving through the woods into the distance. Alongside this path were the protruding trunks of toppled trees scattered throughout the understory. Additionally, there were deep grooves and markings on the ground, probably from the tree walking onto it, or perhaps not just from one.

I looked back at the clearing, and given its size, it seemed that at least a dozen trees had already traversed this path. But why would they have all gone in the same direction? Was there some place that they were all trying to reach? And this brought up another question: If that girl had touched each of those now-missing trees, why was she refusing to do so now?

“Well, thanks for the info; I’m out!” Yabuki shouted as he cut past everyone else, interrupting my thoughts in the process. We watched for a bit as he began to go down the path.

“Does anyone else want to see where it goes?” Yamaguchi eventually asked after a moment.
Something like this was what I was hoping would happen, and to my relief, all of them seemed to be interested in the suggestion. Well, maybe all of them. It looked like everyone was present, though I wasn't completely sure.

“What about you, Ishikawa-san?” Sobue asked me, shaking me out of my thoughts.
“What about me?”

“Don’t you want to join us?” Sobue asked.

“Maybe later,” I responded. “I have something I need to do first.”

“What is it?”

I took a moment to gather my thoughts. Should I make something up? No, I already had one mess to sort out; I didn’t want to have to deal with another.

Okay, here goes nothing.

“You see that girl over there?”

I gestured over to the girl.

“Yeah.” Sobue answered. “What about her?”

“I need to cover my tracks.”
“Why?” Sobue asked.

“It's complicated,” I said. “But for now, could you please keep everyone away from here, at least for a little while?”

“Sure, I guess.” Sobue responded. “When should we come back?”

“I’ll come over to you when I’m done.”

“Okay, see you soon then.” Sobue said, bidding me farewell as he and the others departed.

After everyone left, I went in front of the girl to wake her up. But as I was about to do so, I heard a familiar voice in the distance.

“Good morning!” The ‘child’—who simply went by the name Kouji—shouted to me.

“Sorry, this little one wandered off for a bit.” The ‘old woman’—who went by Oyakawa Rei—followed shortly behind.

What were those two doing here? I could’ve sworn that they went with everyone else, but apparently they didn’t. They probably weren't going to be too much of an issue, but I felt it was better to err on the side of caution, at least for the time being.

“Did we miss anything important?” Oyakawa asked.

I paused, glancing in the direction where the others had gone.

“Not really; the others just left to check on something. If you want to catch up with them, I'm sure they haven’t gone too far by now.”

“What about you?” she asked.
“There’s something I need to do first.” I answered after a moment.

“What would that be?”

“You don’t need to know.”

“Does it have to do with her?” Oyakawa asked, facing toward the sleeping girl.

“Yeah,” I answered after a moment. “I need to clear something up with her. Could you please keep your distance for the time being?”

“I suppose I could do that.” Oyakawa responded. “By the way, do you happen to know where Kouji-kun is?”

“I thought he was right here.”

“I’m the king of the world!” Kouji’s voice echoed.

We turned and spotted Kouji sitting atop the girl’s back.

“Kouji-kun, Get down from there!” Oyakawa shouted.
“But I don’t wanna!” Kouji shouted back.
“Just do it!”

“Fine.” Kouji whined as he began to head down the sleeping girl’s back, towards the way he came. However, he slipped, falling to his side and landing on the ground with a soft clank. I froze, praying that this wouldn’t wake the girl up. But thankfully, she remained asleep, letting out a little groan, but not much more.

“I’m sorry…” Kouji said to me as he returned to us.

I paused for a moment.

“Ok… Just try to be more careful next time. Understand.”

“Yes…” Kouji replied.

I looked at the location of the path.

“That path over there should take you two to the others. Please be safe.”

“Where?” Oyakawa asked.

I pointed myself toward the path. “Over there.”

“I see.” Oyakawa said. “May good fortune await you, Ishikawa-kun.”

“And you as well, Oyakawa-sama.”

After Oyakawa and Kouji left, only me and the girl remained. It was time to wake her up and hope for the best.

I rolled up to the girl and gently tapped on her face. She made a noise, but then went silent again. However, I could tell I was making progress, so I continued tapping on her face until her eyes began to open. And when they did, I backed away until I could fully see her face before me.

“Ugh, what is it?” The girl groggily asked.

“Good morning.”
“Oh, good morning, Rock.”

“How was your sleep?” I asked.
“It was good, I think.” She responded.

“Did you hear anything last night?”

“No, I don’t think so,” she answered.

That part was a relief. With this in mind, I decided to ask for her help again. If she agreed, maybe I wouldn’t even have to tell her about last night.

“Have you changed your mind? Are you willing to help me?”
“Um, I don’t think so, no.” She answered.

“Hmm…”

That wasn’t going to make things any easier. But still, there was no reason to give up now. I decided to try again and maybe explain myself a little more, hoping that could make a difference.

“Do you remember who I told you I was before?”
“Umm… I’m not sure. Could you remind me?”

From what just happened with Kouji to this, I began to wonder if the girl had problems with her hearing.

“Ok, but this time, listen. Could you please do that?”

She paused for a second before nodding.

I began to speak:

“I… I was not always a rock. I used to be human, like you.”

“Really?” The girl asked.
“Yes, really.” I responded. “And I lived in a place called Japan.”

The girl’s eyes widened.

“You’re from Ja—I mean… What’s Japan?” She asked, clearly attempting to cover her tracks. I didn’t know why she was doing so, but that was something I could deal with later.

I continued:

“Japan was my home, back on Earth. It was where I lived my life.”

“And how was that?”

“Well, looking back, my life was good. It was good. I had a well-paying job, and I lived in a nice little house, just outside the city.”

“Sounds nice,” the girl said.

“It was. But sometimes… you don’t appreciate what you have in life… until you lose all of it.” I chuckled, my voice beginning to shake.

“Are you okay?” The girl asked.

“Don’t worry, I’m fine.” I responded, my voice quivering. “I’m fine.”

“Ok…”

I regained my composure as I continued to speak.

“Anyways, one day, for reasons I still don’t understand, my life was taken from me, and I ended up trapped as a rock in this world, unable to move, unable to speak, unable to feel, unable to do anything. I could see the world around me change, and yet I was unable to change it myself in any way. And for an entire year, it was like this. Until a couple days ago, when I impacted your arm, and somehow, I was able to move again.”

She looked at her arm.

“Then what do you still want my help with?”

I grumbled to myself before continuing.

“Well,” I began to answer. “I’m not alone.”

“What do you mean?” She asked.

It seemed like I had more explaining to do.

“Look around you,” I said. “Can you tell me what you see?”
“Umm… I see… Trees. I see trees,” the girl answered.
“Yes. Could you please touch one for me?”

“But I don’t—”

“Ok, fine.” I grumbled. “How about this: Remember that tree you touched right after we met a couple days ago?”
“I think I do.”
“How did it know how to run?”

“What?”

I asked again. “That tree. How did it know how to run?”
The girl looked at her hand, her eyes narrowing.

“I… I…” she began to stutter.

I spoke again:

“When I said that every tree, every rock, and every blade of grass contained people desperate to be free, I meant it. There are countless men, women, and even children crying out for help, and that arm of yours is the only thing I am aware of that can free any of them! So please, I ask you again, could you help me free them?”

I waited for her response.

“I… I…”

She froze. It was better than being rejected outright, but still…

“I’ll give you some time to think about it.” I said as I began to head toward the path.

“Oh… Ok…” The girl responded.

I still hadn’t told the girl about last night, but I hoped that I had at least lessened the impact for when I eventually would.

Once I reached the path, I took a look at what was in front of me. I couldn’t see anyone ahead, so I assumed that the others must have arrived at their destination, wherever it was.

“Where are you going?” The girl asked from behind. I looked toward her.

“Wherever this path takes me,” I responded.
“Aren’t you scared?” she asked.

I paused for a moment. It was clear that fear was consuming her, both figuratively and literally. If I was going to get her help, I needed to get her to overcome that.

“Not really,” I responded. “But even if I was, why would I let that hold me back?”

And with that, I shifted my gaze towards the path and took my first steps into the woods and towards whatever lay ahead.