Part 5

  New Road Ahead

  Walking along the crowded path doesn’t feel tiring when you have friends in front of you and behind you. With the theme song of this wondrous park filling the air. Looping again, and again… And agai—

  “Jeez, they do love this music, huh?” Dean complained with a singular laugh as he felt Jason’s hands holding onto both of his shoulders.

  “Yeah! I like the music too!” Jason chimed in.

  “Me three!.. I guess.” Thomas added, holding onto Jason as they all walked together. Passing by many souvenir shops, the wide blue-patterned path they are walking on splits into two directions. A huge sign is also visible outside the glass fences in between the split directions.

  Mr. Arlon already knew the way from the map, so he automatically led the group down the left path. But when the students saw the sign, a wistful feeling washed over them—they really wanted to explore the right path. Still, both paths were crowded with visitors.

  In front of Dean was Gio who was looking behind him while holding onto Ray’s shoulders. He kept looking behind him, creating an annoyance for Ray himself because his shoulders were getting pulled by Gio.

  “Stop doing that, Gio..!” Ray complained in such annoyance that he naturally faced Gio behind him.

  “Huh? What you mean?”

  “What ‘you mean?’ is stop pulling me.”

  “Ohhh~.. you mean this?”

  Gio then proceeds to shake Ray’s body by his shoulders. He giggles with a follow-up of his iconic laughter.

  “I swear, when we’re over with this village thing, I’ll chase and hunt you down across the water park, Gio.”

  “I bet you couldn’t. Hehehahaha!”

  While Gio and Ray dealt with their own things, Thomas analyzes what Gio is doing and decides to mimic his ways of playing. He shook Jason’s shoulder with a playful giggle.

  “W-Woah! Thomas! Wuh-..what are you doing?” Laughter was the first thing that came out of Jason’s mouth. Thomas’ playful glee wasn’t even annoying for Jason, it was just a playful act. And because of this, Thomas shifted his focus from Jason to his friend behind him. Whilst still walking by, Thomas faces his friend behind him and shakes his entire body by his shoulder with a naughty smile.

  “Gah! Oh Thomas you little—..!” His friend was actually Al. He lets out an adorable smile as he suddenly tries to hold and grab Thomas’ shoulders. But Al wasn’t quick enough to restrain Thomas’ naughty act as he quickly ducked, dodging Al’s move. This made quite a jam behind Thomas’ line as he did not maintain his movement with the line while he ducked.

  “H-Hey watch it!” Al’s adorable face turns into annoyance when Thomas blocks Al’s path and others behind him.

  “No. I must not let my guard down! Al is trying to trick me by thinking that he is being serious!”

  And so Thomas suddenly dashes his way out to escape from Al’s grasp. Him being stared at by many people wasn’t the hardest part for Thomas. After all, crawling his way out to escape from his beloved friend isn’t weird at all, isn’t it? The hardest part for Thomas is to slip his body and his bag between Alex and Raoul. In which they both gladly move aside for a bit to let Thomas in.

  “Phew… Hellow Alex. Hellow Raoul. Ehehe…” Thomas innocently greeted them as they all continued their walk down the path with many visitors around them.

  “What are you doing, Thomas?” Raoul asked with a playful teasing tone at Thomas’ back.

  “Yeah~. What are you doin, Thomas?” Alex chimes in. Mimicking Raoul’s tone. And not after five seconds, Thomas asked both of his friends into quirky question.

  “Guys, would you rather have a water-powered motorcycle or a uranium-powered motorcycle?”

  “What’s uranium?” Alex asked as he flicked his gaze between Thomas and the front path.“Oh, I don’t know actually. I just found it in our school books. I think it’s some sort of radiation thingy.”

  “Like.. in those superhero movies?”

  “Yeah-yeah! Like those.”

  “Well.. I’m choosing the water motorcycle then!”

  “Me too.” Raoul joins in the conversation as he puts his hand over Thomas’ shoulder. “I mean, who would’ve wanted that radiation motorcycle anyway?”

  Thomas couldn’t help but smirk at their poor choices as if they had picked the wrong choice for life.

  “Well, there are also bad things that are going to happen when you pick that.” His smile grew wider. “First! Every 10 minutes, you have to refill the motorcycle with hundreds of water! And then—here comes the hard part—... You all are being chased by gas station mafias!”

  “Wh-Why mafias?!” Alex replied in confusion. As if those mafias are unnecessary for the question at hand.

  “Think about it! If you have a water motorcycle, you don’t need to buy gas! It’s obvious that you’re going to be chased.”

  “Then how do you escape from them?” Raoul asked. In which Thomas replied,

  “Well… Hmmm… I have no idea actually.”

  “Oh c’mon, Thomas. Where’s the juice?!”

  “Hahaha! There’s no juice. I’m sorry!”

  “There’s juice!” Alex suddenly exclaimed the ‘juice’.

  “What’s your answer, Alex?” Raoul asked back.

  “No, I meant there’s actual juice stores. Right there!” Alex then points out a lined-up shophouse of many foods and drinks on the left side of the path. They all stopped in their tracks all of a sudden after hearing Mr. Arlon’s whistle. The teacher who led the group of line then turned to face his students.

  “Alright, guys. We’ll wait here for a couple of minutes until the shuttle arrives.” He informed them. Taking a small glance at the shophouses on the side. “And while we’re waiting—if you guys bring some extra money—you can buy some snacks until the bus arrives.”

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  “Yes! Some refreshments!”

  The students quickly broke formation and ran toward the beautifully decorated shophouses. Not a single one looked bland or simple. Each had its own unique style—some adorned with flowers, others with brown leaves to highlight the richness of their tea beverages. A modest café stood among them, built from the finest wood to complement its cozy interior, the inviting aroma of strong coffee filling the air. And then… chicken wings! And it’s not surprising when all of these shophouses are quite busy. Each of their own front doors has seen so many people come and go nonstop. Not to mention the amount of people that are hanging out with their friends and families outside of each shophouse.

  As Thomas scans the shophouses one by one, with every bit of detail he philosophizes, he comes to a conclusion,

  “I’m so confused…”

  “No, we’re not! We just need to bring along our friends!”

  He then scans his surroundings again as he walks past the shophouses one by one to search for his friends. Two of his friends were spotted, Gio and Jason. Each of them enters a separate shophouse. Gio went to visit the tea beverage shop, while Jason entered a convenience store.

  “Jason and Gio are entering the store alone. I guess I’ll follow Jason because he has no one to follo—”

  His mid-chattering mind stops as he sees Raoul playfully push Jason to scare him. Laughing gladly with a follow-up chat while they entered the store until their voices became inaudible to Thomas’ ears.

  “Oh, I guess we’ll follow Gio.”

  Thomas quickly walked his way to the tea shop by the customer’s door, passing by many people along the way. He opened the door and way immediately greeted by the warm lovely scent of dried brewed tea. A perfect combination to accompany the cozy brown wooden interior and the soft bossa nova music to soothe the ears from the outside hubbub. The place is small but isn’t compact. Small enough as Thomas immediately saw Gio buying a beverage at the counter with his friends.

  “Wait… My friends are all here? That means Jason and Raoul are alone.”

  His head was fidgeting back and forth between the door behind him and his friends.

  “Should I?...”

  He thinks hard, trying to decide whether he should go back to be with Jason and Raoul, or stay with Gio and the rest of his friends. Unaware that he is currently blocking the entrance, he stands still as customers pass him by on both sides.

  “I really want to be with them here… Jason and Raoul are fine! Let’s meet up with Gio and our friends!”

  Not wasting any time further, he immediately run towards them with a big smile. He then purposely bumps into Basil’s backpack. A large backpack, that is as if Basil is carrying the preparations of a camper in the woods. His backpack was so large that the water bottle in its holder seemed to be crying for help.

  “Thomas.” Basil spoke as he turned around to see him.

  “I just realized, why are you carrying so much stuff?” Thomas curiously asks. In Basil’s response, he walks closer to Thomas as he suspiciously scans the area around him before he returns to look at Thomas in the eye with a smirk forming on his lips.

  “Wanna see something cool?” Basil returned the question to Thomas.

  “Sure!”

  “But you gotta keep it a secret until we reach the water park, got it?”

  “Oh. Okay!”

  “And don’t tell Mr. Arlon too…!”

  “Yeah yeah..~”

  Finally, Basil turned his backpack around to his chest, he wasn’t affected by the sheer weight of his backpack due to his size. Then, he unzips the bag little by little to give Thomas a nice sneak peek.

  “Woah. Water gun!?” Thomas excitedly squeaks.

  “Shhh!... Keep it down, will ya? I don’t want to ruin the surprise for the others.”

  His bag was filled to the brim with various water guns—ranging from the biggest to the smallest, from the cheapest to the most expensive. He had them all packed inside his trusty backpack, which he then zipped up and slung over his shoulder.

  “Can I borrow one? Pleaseee~...” Thomas pleads with his adorable sparkling eyes.

  “Knock yourself with it. As long as you keep it a secret until the end, though.”

  “I promise!” Thomas answered by running his fingers across his lips in a zipping gesture.

  “Thanks, Thomas. Anyway, we should get going soon. We don’t wanna miss the shuttle when it arrives.”

  “Then stop hanging out in this place, dummy!”

  “I’m not, obviously. I mean.. look at the counter.”

  Thomas slightly peeked his head out from behind Basil to get a view of the counter. He saw Gio and his friends still standing there, deciding on their order ever since he had stepped into the place.

  “C’mon, Gio. We don’t have all day.” Al complained behind Gio’s back.

  “I know, but.. There's a lot of options for… Tea.” Gio answered with an uncertain tone of confusion. “Back in my home, tea is just tea. But here, there’s oolong, white tea? T-There’s even a mint tea—okay, I’ll pick the mint tea.”

  “Finally!” Al was relieved to hear that Gio has finally decided on his order.

  “Ahahaha. How long did it take?” Dean laughed as he took a sip from his cold tea beverage. “Did you count the seconds?” He looks at Alex, who was counting the seconds of Gio’s long order on his stopwatch.

  “A minute and.. thirty-four seconds.” Alex answered as he looked at his watch around his right wrist.

  “You stopwatched me? Oh, for god's sake.” Gio was quite embarrassed by the inconvenient choice that he picked for his order. At least he picked something rather than nothing.

  After waiting for a few minutes, Gio finally received his fresh cold tea and paid for it. They all left the store together and were immediately greeted back by the lively hubbub of the park. Not long after, they all saw the shuttle arriving just in time. Raoul, Jason, and Mr. Arlon were already waiting in front of the shuttle stop. The seats were mostly empty, so they all fit comfortably without leaving anyone behind. And unsurprisingly, the few remaining seats were soon filled by other people. They were thankful that they were quick enough to enter the shuttle before others swooped in to steal the seats.

  “Next stop, ‘Passing Trees.’” The shuttle driver informed the passengers through the speaker before they set off.

  Riding by the shuttle to venture into the Secret Village, the road that was once dominated by ocean-blue paving blocks is slowly being replaced by yellow ones as they cruise past many souvenir and clothing-branded shops.

  “Jason..!” Thomas pushed and tapped Jason’s shoulder from his side to get his attention, his eyes locked on the distant horizon.

  “H-Hey! Stop touching my face, Thom—... Wow…” Jason protested as he stopped Thomas’ hands from touching his face and not his shoulder. But, the beautiful view of the bluest tall water slides from afar made Jason forget his words. And before their eyes landed on the towering blue water slides in the distance, they first took in the sight of the shimmering lake before them.

  “That’s where we’re heading!” Ray excitedly points out while gripping the shuttle’s guardrail to steady himself as he leans out for a better view of the distant horizon. “Once.. we’re done with this ‘Secret Village’ thing, though…”

  “Ray! Sit down!” Mr. Arlon scolded Ray immediately from the front seat. “You’re gonna get yourself hurt!”

  “Alright alright...” Ray groans in annoyance, yet he still complies with Mr. Arlon’s chiding.

  “Hey, Gio. You haven’t taken a sip from the tea you bought.” Raoul reminded him from his side.

  “Oh yeah!” Gio’s eyes flickered between the view ahead, Raoul, and finally his cold drink, which he held in his left hand. The fancy plastic cup began to gather condensation from the cold tea inside, chilling his whole palm around it. He then finally took his first sip from the straw. Tasting this new tea variation that he wasn’t familiar with, and then swallowing it afterwards with his Adam’s apple moving with the motion.

  “... What even is this flavor??”