Morning came sooner than Raka expected.
Even before the alarm on his phone went off, his eyes were already open.
He stared at the bedroom ceiling for several seconds, trying to remember what had happened the night before.
Then his eyes fell on the table beside his bed.
The map was still there.
The notebook was still open.
The words he had written before going to sleep were still clearly visible.
The first journey begins tomorrow.
Raka sat up immediately.
"Damn."
He rubbed his face.
"This is real."
The night before, everything had felt like a fun, crazy idea. But this morning, as sunlight began slipping through the gap in the curtains, reality started to feel much more real.
He was really going to leave.
Not just for a day trip.
Not just to visit a tourist spot with a friend.
He was going to leave the city where he had lived for years and begin his journey to Bukit Arunika.
And what was even crazier was that he still didn't have a fully formed plan.
Raka reached for his phone.
There was one message from Naya.
Naya: 9 a.m. Same café.
Raka smiled.
Raka: Got it.
He got out of bed right away.
About an hour later, Raka was sitting at the dining table, staring at a breakfast he had barely touched.
His mother watched him from the kitchen.
"What's wrong?"
Raka looked up.
"What do you mean?"
"You've been smiling to yourself this whole time."
"I haven't."
"You obviously have."
Raka picked up his spoon.
"I'm leaving tomorrow."
His mother stopped moving.
"Leaving?"
"Yeah."
"Where?"
Raka hesitated.
"To Bukit Arunika."
The room suddenly fell quieter.
His mother looked at Raka for a long moment.
"Alone?"
"With a friend."
"Who?"
"Naya."
His mother nodded slowly.
"Have you thought everything through?"
Raka fell silent.
It was a simple question.
But answering it made him realize that he actually hadn't thought through very much at all.
"Some of it."
"What percentage is 'some'?"
Raka smiled awkwardly.
"Forty?"
His mother chuckled.
"Well, then. That means you haven't thought through everything."
Raka lowered his head.
"I just don't want to keep putting it off."
His mother didn't answer right away.
She sat in the chair across from Raka.
"You can go. You can dream, too. But don't mistake courage for doing everything without preparing."
Raka nodded.
"I know."
"If you really want to go, go prepared. Find out which way to take. Bring the right supplies. Keep emergency money with you. Let us know you're okay."
"I will."
"And one more thing."
"What?"
"If you're scared, don't be ashamed to admit it."
Raka looked at his mother.
"Why?"
"Because someone who's afraid but keeps moving is much braver than someone who pretends not to be afraid."
Her words left Raka silent.
He stored them away in his memory.
A few minutes later, Raka left for the café where he usually met Naya.
The café wasn't big.
It was just a simple building by the roadside, with a few wooden tables, small plants by the door, and a menu board whose writing had begun to fade.
Naya was already sitting in the corner.
There was a camera in front of her.
Not a modern camera.
It looked old, with a few small scratches along the edges.
Raka pulled out a chair.
"You got here first?"
Naya didn't look up.
"Because I don't like waiting for people."
"It's only been five minutes."
"Five minutes is still five minutes."
Raka laughed.
He sat down.
His eyes fixed on the camera on the table.
"You still use that thing?"
Naya finally looked at him.
"Why?"
"I thought you were going to buy a new camera."
"This one is enough."
"Even though it's old?"
Naya picked up the camera.
"That's exactly why."
Raka frowned.
"That's pretty philosophical."
"Shut up."
Naya opened the lens cover.
"This camera belonged to my father."
Raka immediately fell silent.
He knew Naya's father had been absent from her life for a long time, but he had never asked too many questions.
Naya looked at the camera.
"He used to bring it with him whenever he traveled."
"And then?"
"After he stopped traveling, he put the camera away."
Naya gave a small smile.
"Until I finally took it."
Raka looked at the camera again.
"Why?"
"Because I thought... maybe if I used it, I could see the world the way he used to."
Raka didn't know what to say.
For a while, the sound of traffic on the main road was the only thing they could hear.
Then Naya pulled out a sheet of paper.
"I looked into it."
Raka took it.
Transportation schedules.
Routes.
Ticket prices.
Lodging information.
A few small notes.
Raka stared at everything, his eyes widening.
"You did all this last night?"
"Yeah."
"What time did you finish?"
"Two."
"You didn't sleep?"
"You think I'm like you?"
Raka chuckled.
Naya pointed to the map.
"We can take a bus to the next town. From there, there's transportation to the nearest village to Bukit Arunika."
"How long?"
"If everything goes smoothly, about eight hours."
"Eight?"
"Yeah."
Raka swallowed.
"Eight hours..."
"That's just the trip there."
Raka ran a hand through his hair.
Naya laughed.
"What? Scared?"
"No."
"You look scared."
"I'm calculating the risks."
"That's another way of saying scared."
Raka picked up the paper.
"So we just leave?"
Naya shook her head.
"Not yet."
"Why not?"
"Because we've got a problem."
"What?"
Naya pulled out a wallet.
She opened it.
There wasn't much money inside.
Raka took out his own wallet.
He had almost the same amount.
They looked at each other.
Then at their respective piles of money.
Then at each other again.
Naya sighed.
"If we spend recklessly, we'll be broke in three days."
Raka laughed.
"Then we shouldn't spend recklessly."
"The problem is, we don't know what things are like over there."
"Then we'll figure something out."
"Like what?"
Raka thought.
"Cook for ourselves."
"We don't have cooking equipment."
"We'll buy some."
"With what money?"
Raka fell silent.
Naya smiled victoriously.
"Exactly."
They began putting together a plan.
Cheap food.
Simple places to stay.
Bringing their own water.
Cutting down on expenses.
Writing down every cost.
And most importantly, not buying something just because it looked interesting.
After nearly two hours of discussion, they finally had a simple plan.
It wasn't perfect.
But it was enough to get started.
Naya put the camera in her bag.
"Tomorrow morning."
Raka nodded.
"Tomorrow morning."
"We're leaving at six."
"Six?"
"Yeah."
"Why so early?"
"Because if we sleep in, we could miss our ride."
Raka sighed.
"All right."
Naya stood up.
But before she left, she stopped.
"Rak."
"Hmm?"
"What if this journey turns out to be nothing like we imagined..."
Raka looked at her.
"Then what?"
"What if we get tired?"
"We rest."
"What if we're scared?"
"We stop for a while."
"What if we fail?"
Raka fell silent.
That last question felt different.
He remembered what his mother had said that morning.
Then he smiled.
"If we fail, we find another way."
Naya looked at him.
"It's that simple?"
"No."
Raka slipped both hands into his pockets.
"But if we give up right away every time we fail, we'll never know how far we can really go."
Naya smiled faintly.
"Not a bad answer."
"Not a bad answer?"
"Don't let it go to your head."
They walked out of the café.
But before they parted, Naya suddenly raised her camera.
Click.
Raka turned around.
"You took a picture of me?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
Naya looked at the camera's screen.
"Because this is day one."
"Day one of what?"
"Day one of our journey."
Raka smiled.
He stood beneath the sunlight, which was beginning to climb higher.
Behind him, the main road was busy.
People were heading to work.
Vendors were opening their shops.
Children were walking to school.
Everything looked ordinary.
But to Raka, that morning felt different.
He knew that tomorrow morning, when the sun rose again, he wouldn't be in the same place.
For the first time, he would truly leave his routine behind.
Naya put the camera in her bag.
"Don't forget."
"What?"
"Bring the map tomorrow."
"Of course."
"A power bank."
"Got it."
"Emergency money."
"Got it."
"Medicine."
"Got it."
"A jacket."
"Got it."
"Drinking water."
"Got it."
Naya narrowed her eyes.
"Enthusiasm?"
Raka fell silent.
Then he smiled.
"That doesn't need to be packed."
"Why not?"
"Because if we run out, we'll find more."
Naya laughed.
Then they went their separate ways.
Raka walked home with a lighter step.
But he didn't know that Naya was still standing a few yards behind him.
The girl took out her camera again.
She watched Raka from a distance.
Click.
One more picture.
Naya looked at the result.
Raka was walking with a bag over his shoulder, while sunlight fell directly along the road ahead of him.
Naya smiled.
"I hope we don't take a wrong turn."
She put her camera away again.
Then she walked home.
Meanwhile, Raka had already arrived home.
He went straight to his room.
He took out the map.
He placed his bag on the bed.
Then he began putting his belongings inside one by one.
Clothes.
The notebook.
A flashlight.
A water bottle.
The camera.
A power bank.
A first-aid kit.
And the old map that had started it all.
Raka paused for a moment.
He gazed at the map.
There was a strange feeling in his chest.
A mixture of happiness and fear.
But this time, he didn't try to get rid of the fear.
He let it remain.
Because maybe his mother had been right.
Courage didn't mean being unafraid.
Courage meant continuing to take a step even when the fear was still there.
Raka closed his bag.
He stood in front of the mirror.
"Tomorrow."
He smiled at his own reflection.
"Tomorrow, we begin."
His mother's voice came from outside the room.
"Raka! Don't stay up too late!"
"Okay!"
Raka turned off the light.
Night fell once more.
But this time, he didn't fall asleep merely imagining the journey.
He fell asleep with a destination.
And somewhere else, Naya was also inspecting her father's old camera.
Before going to sleep, she took out an old photograph stored in her bag.
It showed a young man standing in front of a mountain.
On the back of the photograph was a handwritten message:
"If you ever get the chance to see the world, don't be afraid to go. The world is too vast to see from a single window."
Naya read the words again and again.
Then she put the photograph back in her bag.
The next morning, two young people with dreams that were still unclear would leave their city.
They didn't know what was waiting for them.
They didn't know whom they would meet.
They didn't know how many times they would fail.
But they already knew one thing.
They no longer wanted to be mere spectators in their own lives.
And the journey to Bukit Arunika was finally only a morning away.