Cold winter air blew through the city of Sapporo, as exactly 97 students unloaded their belongings off chartered buses. Watery sunlight filtered through the clouds, reflecting off the freshly fallen snow, much too bright for the sleepy students. Many of them yawned even though it was 1 in the afternoon, as they had just got off a 3 and a half hour plane ride and then another hour bus ride to a mountain resort. However, there was still a buzz of excitement, since for many of them, this was their first school trip.

Luhan hopped off the bus and stretched. “Ah, finally we’re here.” He rubbed his eyes sleepily and dragged himself towards the many suitcases that were piled outside their resort. Yixing followed and laughed. “You’re definitely not a morning person.”

The taller boy tiptoed to look for his suitcase. “You’ve known me for 15 years. That much should be obvious.” He spotted his shiny black suitcase and began attempting to step around the other students without knocking anything, or anyone, over. Yixing found his hot pink suitcase near the edge, so he had no problem retrieving his belongings.

The pair, along with a half asleep Kris in tow, headed up to their hotel room after grabbing their keys from the front desk. It was a nice place, not too fancy, but not too shabby either. The walls were a cozy off white, and the dark wooden floors gleamed as if they just been waxed. There was a fridge and kitchen area, though all the meals would be provided by the school. Two hallways lead to the left and right, two bedrooms on one side, and a master bedroom on the other. Luhan ran towards the left where the separate rooms were and jumped onto the bed, face first into the pillows. “This is so much better than the bus.”

Yixing laughed. “Don’t fall asleep, we have lunch soon.” He walked to the next room and began unpacking his things and placing them in neat piles in the drawers. He could hear Luhan shuffling his things from next door, and assumed Kris would be doing the same. Yixing was glad they were able to stay in a three person room, rather than being assigned a random extra person who didn’t have a room. However, he was sad that Tao was unable to come on the trip. Once Tao’s father set his mind on something, it was rather difficult for the man to change his mind, especially when that something concerned his son. I guess this is what it’s like to grow up with families like ours, Yixing thought sadly to himself.

The dark haired boy shook the thoughts from his mind. He was here to relax and have a good time. Away from parents, away from stress, away from all the things that were happening around him. He changed into warmer clothing and walked back into the living room, where his friends were waiting for him. Kris still looked tired but his hair was neatly stuffed under a toque and had a fashionable bomber jacket zipped to the neck. Luhan was dressed in a brand name ski jacket and scarf, similar to Yixing. “Ready to go?” Luhan beamed at his best friend.

Yixing smiled back. “Yeah.”

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The trio was sitting in large dining hall, a buffet style lunch laid out on either side. Students were serving themselves and mingling amongst one another, or just stuffing themselves with dessert. The coordinators and chaperones sat at their own table at the front, close to the stage area. One of the teachers stood on the stage and waited before everyone was seated before he began to speak.

“Hello senior students of Seoul Academy, and welcome to Sapporo. There are planned activities for you as well as free time. It is required you go to the planned activities, but do not fret, there is plenty of time for you to explore as well.” He continued with general rules such as lights out, boundaries, and itinerary. When the teacher mentioned no alcohol and drugs, quiet snickers and scoffs could be heard through the dining hall, as they students were well aware the teachers in fact did not care about any of those.

The teacher ignored the laughter. “There is also a photo scavenger hunt that will go on throughout the trip. You have the full 5 days to complete the list which has been emailed to all of you this morning. The first place prize is a $500 gift card to Times Square Mall, second place is a $250 gift card, and third place is a $100 gift card. Partner with whoever you like, but this activity must be done in pairs. You may work with a maximum of one other pair.”

Luhan turned to Yixing. “Let’s do it!” He shook Yixing’s arm excitedly. Yixing nodded and gently pushed Luhan’s hand away. “We have an awkward number of people though,” he said. “How are we going to pair up?”

Kris leaned back and linked his hands behind his head. “It’s okay guys, I don’t really want to participate. Too much of a hassle.” Luhan and Yixing looked at him in surprise, but he just looked tired. His friends didn’t push him for details, but they all exchanged a look saying, we’ll talk about this later.

Luhan’s phone buzzed. It was a Facebook message from Sehun saying, “Do you want to be partners for the scavenger hunt?” Luhan smiled and replied yes with an overly complicated smiley. He thought for a second, and realized what a wonderful opportunity this would be to set Kai and Yixing up. He turned to Yixing and even before he could speak, Yixing cut him off. “You’re partnering with Sehun aren’t you?”

The taller boy face reddened in embarrassment, but there was no point lying to Yixing. “Y-Yeah…” he said. “B-But I’m sure you can pair with Kai, and we can still work together, and then we can go shopping together if we win, and---”

“Okay, I get it,” Yixing cut him off again. Secretly, this is what he hoped for, but he was scared. He never really talked to Kai, so in truth, Yixing didn’t really know anything about him. Thinking back now, how did he even come to fall in love with Kai?

Luhan patted his friend on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, everything will be fine,” he grinned. “Besides, I know you’ve been waiting for this moment for your entire life.” He winked and his friend, who sighed with a smile.

Nothing could be kept secret between best friends.

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“Let’s see,” Luhan pulled out his phone. “The first photo we need to take is a “Snipe eating winter berries.” All of them were dressed in skiing gear, standing on one of the ski routes. Kai looked extremely uncomfortable, and fiddled with his pockets. He wasn’t used to hanging out with people other than Sehun or Chanyeol, much less the most popular boys in the school. He only agreed to Sehun’s request because there was nothing else to do by himself.

Kris furrowed his brow. “A snipe? What the hell is a Snipe?”

Sehun thought for a moment before answering, “Isn’t that the bird from Up?”

They all thought for a moment before nodding and murmuring in agreement. “Where can we find that though?” Luhan looked around. “There aren’t any berries here, and I haven’t seen any birds anywhere either.”

Yixing looked around and pointed at a tree. “There’s a bird up there.”

Yixing was right. An owl was perched on a branch high in the trees, so its silhouette was just visible through the branches. He took out his phone and shuffled towards the tree. “I can’t get a good picture of it…”

Suddenly, his foot caught onto a fallen branch. He tumbled forward, but his hands did not grab anything. He heard Luhan shout, and a shadow flash past him. Someone grabbed his arm, but the force of the fall and the awkward positioning cause whoever grabbed him to lose his footing.

They fell.

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A/N: Hello my lovely subscribers :D I updated quickly this time I'm so proud of myself hahaha Its finally the holidays so I've had some relaxtion time, and I can finally indulge in my hobbies because as a uni student literally the only thing I do is study eat and sleep, very rarely do I have time to do anything else T_T And I bought so many new games too T_T

Anyways thank you so much for all your lovley comments from the previous chapter they were all wonderful and I'm glad you guys like the personalities that I've given exo. Thank you so much for all your support and I will try to have the next chapter up soon!! :D

Thanks for reading and see you next time :D