Illustrations

Prologue

Prologue: Asamura Yuuta

The solid snow filling the world slowly vanished on the 12th
day in February, bringing us to Friday morning. I opened my
shoe box with my hands numb from the cold and a voice
called out to me right as I changed into my indoor slippers.

“Morning, Asamura.”

When I turned around, I saw my good friend Maru greeting

me with a mysterious smile.

“Morning, Maru. No morning practice today?”

“The snow’s forced us indoors, so we stopped early. But

you’ve got zero hesitation, eh?”

“Huh?” I didn’t understand what Maru was talking about, so

I let out a dumbfounded voice. “What do you mean?”

“I was just admiring how you opened your shoe box without
even a moment’s pause.”

“Is that… bad?”

“Normally it wouldn’t be. However… look.” Maru’s gaze

wandered towards a boy from the class next to ours.
He seemed hesitant to open his shoe box for a moment. But
once he did, he faintly sighed, but still loudly enough for me
to hear.

“February 14th falls on a Sunday this year, right?”

“Ah, I see.”

I was well aware that February 14th was known as

Valentine’s Day. In the Christian religion, it’s seen as a day
when you present the people you care about with
something that comes from the heart, and this has been
passed down even to Japan. Except it somehow changed
into a day where women would give men chocolate. Lately,
it’s been getting a bit loose in that regard (or rather has
returned to its roots), where boys and girls both give
chocolate to the people they care about. And since this day
fell on a weekend this year, it means that chocolate is being
handed out either today, Friday, or on the day itself.

“There might be chocolate waiting in your shoe box, so

you’d normally hesitate for a moment before opening it. But
I just swung it open without a care in the world, huh?”

“Exactly.”

“But does that really happen? Finding chocolate in your shoe

box, I mean.”

I don’t recall having ever received chocolate that way, nor

have I heard of it happening to anyone around me. And in
this day and age where we care so much about hygiene,
putting food into a shoe locker of all places seems very
unsanitary and meaningless. Not to mention that a high
school boy’s shoe box isn’t exactly a prime example of a
clean environment. A letter is probably the only thing you’d
want to risk putting in there.
“That’s a valid argument to be sure, but… Asamura,
thinking about hygiene on Valentine’s and trying to make it
realistic… is not how most boys think.”

“You… think not?”

“Your brain might understand the logic behind it, but you
can’t shake that small glimmer of hope. It’s perfectly normal
to assume that there might be… No, that there must be at
least one girl who likes you.”

“That’s not normal at all.”

“But all of us boys are somewhat crazy. Thus, it is normal.”

“What flawed logic.”

We reached our classroom during our discussion, and I

subconsciously glanced around to see if the atmosphere felt
different or not. In short, the air in the classroom was
somewhat calm, and not too many people were talking
about Valentine’s. That’s probably because Suisei High is
more of an advanced school than average. However,
throughout the day, I’d see girls giving each other
chocolate, or boys receiving chocolate if they had a lot of
female friends. However, the couples we knew of didn’t
actually give each other chocolate in the classroom. I
wonder why not? Eventually, the final bell of the day rang,
and Maru turned around.

“What’s gotten into you, Asamura? You’ve been looking

around with a weird look on your face all day.”

“Weird look…? It must have been pretty obvious if even the

person sitting in front of me noticed.”

“You had the face of a philosopher.”

Now hold on. I’m not Socrates, Platon, Nietzsche, or Satre,
you know? Also, I wasn’t wracking my brain that much.

“I wasn’t trying to solve world hunger or anything. I was just

thinking that even the couples who are openly dating don’t
give each other chocolate in front of everyone.”

After hearing that, Maru gave me a dubious look.

“Asamura… That statement basically reveals your

underlying assumption that all couples are perfectly fine
with openly flirting with each other in front of others, you
know?”

“That’s…”

Not true—I wanted to say, but then the faces of my old man
and Akiko-san came to mind. That is true, I guess. Any kind
of romance I’ve seen lately has just been those two.

“…a possibility, I guess?”

“Hey now… Do the couples you know just brazenly hug and
kiss each other even in public?”

“I haven’t seen anything like that… But if they did, it

wouldn’t surprise me.”

I don’t know if my old man and Akiko-san kissed each other

while going on a date through town, but I wouldn’t be
surprised if they at least locked arms while walking…
Though, as the son, I’d rather not be having fantasies about
my parents’ love life.

“You’ve probably watched too many American movies. In

fact, couples like that will get teased if they simply walk
next to each other. Showing any kind of skinship is way too
embarrassing.”

“Embarrassing… Yeah, that makes sense.”

The reason Ayase-san and I don’t do these things must be

that we’re embarrassed… right? It feels like that’s the case,
but also not really. I faintly remembered what happened
when we visited my father’s family over New Year’s. After I
made my point clear to my grandfather, I went back to my
room and went to bed, only for Ayase-san to touch my back
and say “Thank you, Yuuta-kun.”

I’ve never had any complaints about Ayase-san becoming

my little sister. Realizing that she heard my discussion with
my grandfather made me feel flustered, but I was happy
that my genuine feelings reached her. There was still a risk
of our relatives finding out about us, and our parents could
have come back any time, and despite this danger, Ayase-
san moved closer to me and sought out physical contact.
Along with what she said, how could I not feel anything at
that?

Ayase-san didn’t say anything else afterwards, and she

quickly returned to her own futon, but my heart was racing
so fast that I had trouble sleeping. Despite the danger of
possibly being seen we indulged in physical contact. It made
me wonder why Ayase-san had done something so risky. It’s
not very like her to do such a thing, but I felt happy that we
could bond in that way.

The argument Maru made about my subconscious

assumption played back in my head. Deep inside my
heart… Could I possibly want to be that open with our
skinship in front of others? And am I just feeling
embarrassed, which is why I won’t?
“Asamura, someone’s calling for you,” Maru’s words caused
me to raise my head.

I spotted a girl peeking inside our classroom at the door. It

turned out to be Ayase-san’s good friend from her class,
Narasaka Maaya-san. She waved her hand at me, beckoning
me to come over, so I said goodbye to Maru, and he went on
his way to his club.

“Narasaka-san? How can I help you?”

“Come with me.”

She took me to the lower stairs near a storage shed in the

corner of the floor. To my surprise, Ayase-san was already
waiting there.

“Maaya wouldn’t shut up about giving this to you…”

“Giving… what to me?”

Narasaka-san turned toward me with a smile.

“I’d rather not have your adorable little sister get all jealous
at me because I gave you chocolate in secret. So here you
go!” She handed me a wrapped package she hid behind her
back and held it out towards me while explaining herself.

“This is your Valentine’s present!”

“And this is from me. Though it’s nothing special.” Ayase-

san also handed me a wrapped package.

She’s not giving it to me at home… but at school? I mean,

it’s not that big of a shock, since she probably couldn’t
argue against Narasaka-san.

“Um… Thanks.”
I always wonder if I should open presents like this right on
the spot, but there are times when seeing my reaction will
make them happy, so I at least checked first.

“Can I open them?”

“Of course! There’s no love letter in there or anything.”

Narasaka-san said with a smile, so she’s probably telling the
truth.

“Then I’ll start with yours,” I ripped the wrapping off of

Narasaka-san’s Valentine’s present, revealing store-bought
chocolate.

And to completely kill off any potential sweetness, she even

wrote “Obligatory” on the cover.

“It’s the perfect example of obligatory chocolate that won’t

cause any possible misunderstandings!”

“Thanks. That makes accepting this obligatory chocolate

much easier.”

“Right? I’m amazing!”

With that done, I moved on to Ayase-san’s gift. I could

immediately tell that it wasn’t store-bought and that she put
a lot of effort into her chocolate. In fact, it looks more like
chocolate truffles, so I’m unsure if I could call this simple
chocolate by any stretch of the imagination. She even
scattered what looked like flakes on the outside of them.

“You made these just for me?”

“Wooow! Saki, that must have taken forever! Did you make
the feuillantine yourself, too?”
“Of course not. I bought it and sprinkled it on the truffle.”

“Feu… What now?”

“Feuillantine. It’s what’s on the round chocolate. There’s a

lot of names in the business, but it’s what you get by lightly
toasting a raw crepe and then delicately grinding it.”

“I see. So like baked rice crackers but ground into powder?”

“Y-Yeah… Something like that. Though explaining it that way

will only ruin the magic of Valentine’s and turn it into the
nice neighbor lady’s candy, so stop it. But it looks great,
right?” Narasaka-san asked.

“Wait… Is that why the kitchen lights were on late last

night?”

“W-Well, yeah. This much is normal for siblings, right?”

So Ayase-san said, but I couldn’t tell if that was true in the

slightest. To be honest, this is the first time I’ve ever even
gotten homemade chocolate, so I don’t know what kind of
emotion to have right now. And judging from Narasaka-san’s
reaction, it must have taken ages to make this.

“It’s nothing much, really,” Ayase-san said and averted her

face, clearly flustered.

Narasaka-san watched this from the sidelines and then

whispered to me.

“Not bad, Asamura-kun. Maybe you’re a lot more of a player

than I took you for?”

“I haven’t the foggiest idea what you’re talking about.”

Why would receiving chocolate as a present make me some
kind of playboy? I can’t follow her thought process at all.

“What are you talking about?”

“I was just saying how much of a hardworking person you

are, Saki. Well, with an older brother like him, I guess you’d
wanna try hard!”

“I didn’t do it because it’s Asamura-kun…”

“Reaaally now? Well, that’s fine. Anyway, that’s the mission

accomplished. You’re free to go home now, Big Brother~”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“See you later, Asamura-kun,” Ayase-san said and turned

her back toward me, walking away.

Left behind, Narasaka-san jogged back to me.

“The field trip is soon, right?”

I nodded slightly, although I didn’t know what exactly she

was going to say.

“I’ll do my best so you two can walk around together.”

“Huh? Together?”

“You’ll be lonely if you can’t be with Saki, right?”

“N-Not at all, don’t mind me.”

“There’s no need to be modest! It’s your first trip with your

adorable little sister, right?”
Actually, we had already gone through that when we visited
my old man’s hometown, but if I said that, I might hint at
anything that happened between Ayase-san and I. Though
when I see Narasaka-san grinning at me like that, it makes
me worried that she might have possibly realized that
there’s been some form of change in our relationship
already. I somehow managed to play along and satisfy
Narasaka-san, but after she finally left, I could feel myself
dripping with sweat, realizing how much I was panicking
deep inside. At the same time, though, I didn’t feel too
bothered by Narasaka-san’s teasing. Instead, it made me
happy… and fuzzy inside. So… if this really is happiness,
why am I feeling the need to keep the amount of skinship
with Ayase-san to a minimum?

I grabbed a piece of the chocolate truffle and stuffed it into

my mouth. The feuillantine gave it a crusty sensation when
chewing on it, and the chocolate melted and filled my
mouth with sweetness.
 Chapter 1

February 14th (Sunday) –

Asamura Yuuta

Morning arrived. Specifically, 8:07 am. Since it was Sunday,

I could allow myself to sleep in a bit longer than usual. The
sun shining inside from the window illuminated the faucet in
the bathroom. I bit down on my yawn as I turned the lever
towards ‘warm’ to counteract the coldness against my bare
feet and warmed up my face with the water. After that, I
opened the door to the living room with a “Good morning.”

“Morning, Yuuta.”

“Good… yawn… morning, Yuuta-kun.”

My old man and Akiko-san were already present. As for

Akiko-san, she seemed fairly sleepy. It looked like they had
finished their breakfast already and when I looked over at
the dinner table, I saw two plates of breakfast wrapped up in
plastic. As was typical for our weekend menu, there was
ham and eggs with salad and miso soup. Normally you’d
have toast with such a meal, but my old man has
completely fallen victim to Akiko-san’s miso soup, which is
what created this odd combination. Then again, once you
get used to it it’s just as good.
“…Hm? Where’s Ayase-san?”

“She’s still sleeping.”

“Maybe she was up late studying again…”

I guess I should wait for her. Eating alone won’t make it any
more delicious, at least.

“I don’t know when she’ll get up, so just eat without her.”

“Well… Okay, I’ll do that.”

“I’ll heat up the miso soup for you.”

“Thank you,” I answered as I slid the slices of bread into the

toaster.

After that, I placed the ham and egg inside the microwave
to warm it up and removed the wrapping, picked the toast
out of the toaster, and sat down at the table. Shortly after,
Akiko-san brought me the miso soup.

“She was sleeping in the living room. With her earphones in,
too. She didn’t even hear me come home.”

I munched on the toast as Akiko-san told me about last

night. Even if she got home early from her bartending job,
we’re talking 3 am the earliest. Was she up studying that
late? According to Akiko-san, she had her earphones in with
English texts in front of her. I understand that we have the
field trip coming up, which will mean she won’t be able to
get as much studying in, but that’s still pretty amazing.

Though it’s rare for Ayase-san to sleep in the living room like
that. She’s usually careful to not lower her guard when she’s
at home, but I guess that maybe this means she’s showing
more trust in us? My old man and Akiko-san got married and
they moved in with us back in August. If she really is
starting to feel like we’re her family, then I’m happy. Well,
she’ll get up soon enough, I bet.

“Time to dig in.”

I poured some soy sauce onto the ham and eggs, placing it
on my toast with my chopsticks. The most important thing
here is to keep the egg yolk all clean and in the center of
the toast. That makes for the perfect setup. I bit into it. The
closer to the center I got, the more egg yolk I obtained with
each bite, and the soup-like consistency mixed with the
crunchy texture, filling my mouth with the taste of egg.
Eating it like this without losing any egg yolk is actually the
real pleasure and—

“You really do eat like Taichi-san, Yuuta-kun.”

“Pffft! Cough! Cough!”

“Oh my. Here, have some water.” She handed me a cup

filled with water.

“Th-Thank you…”

“You’re welcome. Make sure to slowly eat and take your

time,” Akiko-san smiled as she sat down across the table,
resting her cheek on her palm. “But really, you two look
identical.”

“R-Really?”

I was never that aware of it, but it would make sense. Plus, I
never really take a good look at my old man when he’s
eating, either. And with that timing, Akiko-san clapped her
hands together.
“Today is Valentine’s Day, right?”

“Um… yes?”

“Then… Here you go!”

She handed me a wrapped box. I had been wondering what

that one was about when I saw it on her seat on the dining
table when I was getting my breakfast. Upon a closer look, I
could see a ribbon wrapped around it, signaling that it was a
present. I hesitated for a moment but thanked her. I guess
this is the final line of obligatory chocolate—Mother
chocolate. To think such a minor thing could make me
realize that I actually have a mother now. And as I was
getting emotional, I heard my old man’s voice from the sofa.

“What about me…?”

It seemed like he hadn’t gotten his present yet. But… that’s

all the presents I saw on the table. Meanwhile, Akiko-san
looked at my father’s empty seat, then looked at him, and
just let out a baffled “Huh?” in response.

“No waaay…” My old man sighed in disbelief, and Akiko-san

stuck out her tongue.

“Hee hee. Just kidding, I have something for you,” she said
and opened the refrigerator.

She then took out a white rectangular box and offered it to

him. My old man placed this box on his lap and opened it,
revealing a chocolate-colored cake.

“It’s chocolate chiffon cake.”

“You made that just for me?”

“It’s a special event, so we need to make it memorable,
right? I made sure to keep the sugar levels to a minimum so
you don’t have to worry about your stomach when eating
it.”

“H-Haha… Oh, man. You didn’t have to say that,” my old

man grumbled as he scratched his nose in a bashful way.

Really, she’s the exact opposite from my birth mother. My

mother was what you could call a ‘good-for-nothing,’ always
changing how she acted simply based on the person she
was dealing with. To me, my biological mother is a failure,
whereas Akiko-san is an understanding woman. Then again,
I don’t think Akiko-san is purposefully buttering us up,
either. I think that just shows how human relationships don’t
work based on that.

Though she did go out of her way to make a cake especially

to please my old man. And that’s something Ayase-san
would regularly do, too. I guess they really are mother and
child.

“I’ll make some more coffee. And I’ll grab a knife, fork, and a
plate.”

“I’ll handle that, don’t worry.”

“Thank you, Taichi-san.”

“That’s my line. Happy Valentine’s, Akiko-san.”

“Yes. Happy Valentine’s.”

The two looked at each other, as their gazes looked like they
melted away as if they were chocolate. This caused me to
remember when Maru told me that I’m assuming it’s normal
for couples to flirt around in front of people… and I have to
say, my thoughts about it were correct. At least in front of
their family, these two do not hold back. And while trying
my best to not look over toward the kitchen, I calmly
munched on the rest of my toast.

Morning classes at my prep school ended, bringing us to

lunch break. I left the prep school building and made my
way to the nearest convenience store to buy lunch. Upon
entering the automatic door, I was assaulted by a wave of
red. Left and right, top and bottom, everything was
Valentine’s chocolate. At the top was a collaboration from a
super famous store, which girls my age were admiring.
Next, someone who seemed like a salaryman bought the
cheapest packs that had like 50 pieces of chocolate in each,
probably to hand out at work. I passed by the shelves and
headed deeper inside the store, wondering what I should
eat. Since I’d like to save up some of my allowance for the
field trip next week, I probably shouldn’t go all out. That
means… This. I grabbed a package with one salted onigiri
and headed for the self-service register, standing behind a
tall woman.

“Ah, I just finished, so please go ahead… Oh, what a

coincidence.”

The person who turned around was actually a fellow student

at my cram school who I knew quite well.

“Ah, Fujinami-san.”

“Imagine this. Also, sorry, I’ll get out of your way.”

“It’s fine.”

I scanned the barcode and finished the payment with my

smartphone, only to hesitate as I was about to put it into my
bag. Fujinami-san saw this and spoke up.
“If you’d like to eat it at the prep school, I can carry it for
you,” she opened her plastic bag from the convenience
store.

Inside were several sandwiches, some bread, as well as cafe

au lait.

“Erm… Thanks. I can carry the bag if you want.”

“One single onigiri isn’t that heavy. Well, if it makes you feel
better, then I’ll take you up on that offer.”

I dropped my onigiri inside the bag and accepted it from

Fujinami-san. We then left the convenience store and
headed to the food court in the prep school. It was actually
fairly crowded because a lot of other students were using it,
too. We spotted two open seats and sat down next to each
other, and after I pulled my onigiri out, I handed the plastic
bag back to Fujinami-san.

“Thanks.”

“Don’t mind it. Thanks for carrying the bag.” Fujinami-san

took everything out of the shopping bag and folded it, using
it as a lunch mat as she placed her food and cafe au lait on
it.

She must have realized that I was staring as she looked at

me.

“This is just my personal custom. I plan to use it as a trash

bag after I’m done.”

“It’s okay. Sorry for staring.”

“It’s fine. Also, while we’re on the subject of curiosity, I have

a question. But it’s totally okay if you can’t give me an
answer. The reason you didn’t want to put your rice onigiri
inside your own bag… did you refrain from doing so because
you didn’t want it to get in contact with everything else?”

“Ahh… Um, not really. It might be a bit hard to understand,

but I’ve got my part-time job at a bookstore after this.”

“Okay?”

Her face was basically asking ‘What does that have to do

with anything?’

“And it can get pretty stressful during work.”

“When a customer is just venting their stress out on you?”

“That too. But to me, it’s the shoplifters. No matter how

careful you are, no matter what you do to try to stop them,
there are always people who have to just steal stuff.”

“Wouldn’t setting up surveillance cameras inside the store

solve that problem?”

“The fact that I distrust customers is what causes the stress

to build up. Normally, they would be crucial for our business.
But when you work part-time in places like these, you learn
to doubt other people.”

“I had no idea that could happen.”

“I’ve only been told by my senior at work, so I don’t know if

this would be common or not. However, she told me not to
look away from customers who enter with a large bag,
especially if it’s already opened.”

“Like a sports bag?” Fujinami-san looked at the bag at my

feet.
“Exactly. If you had a plastic bag like you’d get after a
purchase, you can tell what’s inside there, and it changes
shape.”

Compared to that, something like a Boston bag is a lot more

solid, allowing you to slide in a book or two and nobody
would be able to tell from the outside. And once they zip up
the bag, it’s totally impossible to notice. That’s why
customers like that should be the absolute focus when they
happen to enter. But the idea of being doubtful of others like
this can weigh down heavily on you, chipping away at your
mental health.

“Ah, I see. So even if you’ve paid for it, the employees won’t
know if you actually paid for it or not. And even if you aren’t
doing anything evil, you can’t help but be conscious of the
way other people are looking at you.”

I nodded.

“I just built up a natural resistance towards putting items in

my bag. But I don’t feel right taking a single onigiri to the
cash register either.”

But I didn’t think she’d just see through my momentary

hesitation that easily. If not for her offer, I probably would
have held the receipt with the onigiri in hand while leaving
the store.

“That makes sense. But on that note, I’m surprised that’s

enough for your lunch. I assume you don’t eat much?”

“Actually, our school’s got a field trip next week, so I want to

save money.”

“A field trip… during this cold season?”

“Well, I don’t know. My school does it every year, at least.”

Once again, I didn’t know if this was common or not. But I

think there’s usually a field trip in your first summer when
you’re in your third year of middle school. Since Suisei High
is supposed to be a preparatory school, they most likely
didn’t want to have it in the students’ third year so they
could focus on their exams.

“Where are you going? Kyoto or somewhere around there?”

“Singapore.”

“Overseas? That’s a surprise,” she muttered with an

impressed voice, but I don’t think it was that weird for a
school like ours to choose an overseas location. “I’m… a bit
jealous.”

It seems like her school didn’t have a field trip like that.

“Well, even if we had that, I wouldn’t have been too sure

about participating or not. Plus, that’s money better saved
for tuition fees.”

I wasn’t dense enough to tell her a few words of sympathy. I

would bet that she wouldn’t be happy even if I tried to say
something about it. In that way, she’s probably a lot like
Ayase-san.

“For that reason, once I can afford it financially in university,

I’ll travel overseas a lot. Go here, go there, meet all sorts of
people.”

“I bet it’d be fun if you can communicate with them.”

“I’m fairly good when it comes to English, so I should be

able to get by. Are you good with foreign languages,
Asamura-kun?”

“I don’t think I’d handle myself too well with English

conversations.”

“Really? That’s a surprise. Your grades are fairly good, no?”

Just because I’ve been practicing communicative English for

my exams doesn’t immediately transfer to actual speaking
skills. I don’t do listening practices on the regular, either.
Speaking of which, I suddenly remembered that Ayase-san
fell asleep late because she was studying English last night.

“Are you able to speak English well, Fujinami-san?”

“Somewhat, yeah.”

“That’s amazing.”

“Comes with my environment, so it’s not all sunshine and

rainbows.”

According to what she had told me before, she’s living with

her foster parent she calls Auntie. And from the sounds of it,
one of the people she looks after is from South Asia,
someone who speaks English quite well and often, and this
person owns a restaurant which Fujinami-san regularly
visits.

“At first, I had no idea what they were even saying. But
while trying to talk with them, I acquired that skill naturally.”

“You learn from what is around you without realizing it,

huh?”

“I think it’s just getting used to it, rather than just learning.
When taking a trip overseas, there are things you can’t
experience without speaking the language. Though that’s
just how I see things. Well, even if you manage to hold a
conversation, being able to get your thoughts and feelings
across is an entirely different question, and some things are
easily lost if you get too fixated on conversation alone.”

“For example?”

“That you lose track of time, for example,” Fujinami-san

said. She put her trash inside the plastic bag and tied it
closed.

Only then did I realize that hardly anybody was left in the
rest area. When I checked the time, I started panicking. I
barely had two minutes left until afternoon classes started.

“Fair enough.”

“W-We should hurry. I’d rather not waste tuition fees by

missing classes.”

We rushed down the hallway as I thought to myself that

there were still a lot of things to be learned from
conversations like these.

Prep school classes ended for the day, and the sun had
already set by the time I left the building. I put on the neck
warmer I had received from Ayase-san and rode my bike to
the bookstore near the Shibuya train station. The wind
hitting my cheeks was awfully cold to the point that just
blinking brought me close to tears. I didn’t even want to
imagine how cold it would be after my shift. Maybe I should
stop taking the bike to work at least during these cold days.

I stored my bike at the usual parking area and entered the

building with its blessed interior heating, which made a sigh
escape my lips. After that, I headed inside the bookstore’s
employee area. After I was done changing into my uniform, I
stepped out into the sales area to take a walk around and
see how the shelves and tables were looking.

“Oh, Junior-kun!”

My senior at work, Yomiuri Shiori—Yomiuri-senpai called out

to me. Since she hasn’t changed yet, she probably just got
here.

“Good eve—No, good morning, is it?”

“Why are you wishing me a good morning this late?”

“Haven’t you told me before that the industry asks for such
a greeting?”

“…Yes, I did say that. Aren’t you a diligent one, Phelps-kun.”

“…And who would that be?”

Knowing Yomiuri-senpai, it’s probably some character from a

novel, but I really wish she wouldn’t make random
references without even checking if I knew what she was
1
referencing .

“Who might it be? Those memories have been deleted

automatically.”

“I don’t think you should do that.”

In other words, she isn’t even bothering to remember.

“Heh heh heh… Oh? Where’s your little sis?”

“Her shift has just ended.”

Ayase-san worked from 10 am to 6 pm today, and I’m here
for the shift after hers. I think she’s gonna be done changing
any minute now. Since she’s gonna use some of the money
she’s been saving on the field trip, she’s been taking pretty
long shifts on the weekends for the latter half of January. For
that reason, she’s also done working earlier than usual. And
that led to us working fewer days on the same shift. I
explained all of this to Yomiuri-senpai as we walked toward
the office.

“Oho, the field trip? Sounds nice. I’m jelly.”

“That’s why Ayase-san and I don’t have any shifts next

week.”

“That’s a painful lack of workforce we’ve gotta compensate

with. Then again, February’s usually pretty relaxed. But that
sounds nice. I’m out here worrying about employment as
you are just fooling around. No fair!”

“It’s not like I can help it. Still, even you worry about work in
your future, huh?”

“What are you implying?”

“You seem like the type of person who can separate work
and hobbies, so I figured you’d be fine with wherever.”

“Well, duh. I can read no matter my job.”

Bingo.

“Even so, I need a job that pays well enough to fund my

book addiction. That much I know, so… Junior-kun, what
kind of job do you think would be good for me?” She said
this while pointing to her nose.
“Knowing you, I think you’d succeed at whatever you do.”

“You’re not getting anything from me with empty praise, you

know?”

“Do you have any preferences, then?”

“Hm… Either working at a bookstore, moving on to a

publisher, maybe becoming a streamer or celebrity. Just
anything for a quick buck, really.”

It sounded so serious in the beginning…

“I think you could pull off all of that,” I said honestly.

She’s pretty enough to get confessions on the regular, and

she’s a talented student who’ll graduate from Tsukinomiya
Women’s University. Even the part about becoming a
celebrity sounds doable when talking about her.

“Pull off all of that… huh?” She sighed with a somewhat

profound tone. “Oh, well. I’ll leave the worrying for later.
Still, without your little sis, it’ll just be me and you hitting
the cash register today. Then again…” Yomiuri-senpai looked
around inside the store. “At the moment, it looks like we’ll
probably be bored for most of that.”

“Yup.”

Despite the fact that it was Sunday, the bookstore wasn’t

too crowded. February in Japan is the period when the
season and its environmental changes are the harshest.
With the climate freezing, so do the demands, as there are
regularly fewer goods being sold. Books are no exception to
that, and most books experience a severe drop in sales
other than manga magazines and super popular works, as
well as an author’s newest releases. The same goes for
bookworms, because other than those crazy ones who read
on exam days, you usually hold off on reading much.

“Anyway, let’s get today over with, Junior-kun,” Yomiuri-

senpai waved her hand at me as she disappeared into the
changing room.

As for me, I went to the office and greeted the manager. If

there’s anything he needs done right now, he’d usually ask
me. And as expected, he wanted me to help carry the
returns when I found time while taking care of the cash
register. All deliveries and pick-ups from the wholesaler stop
during the weekend. Returns and deliveries usually happen
together, and we’re full of cardboard boxes with returns.

Put simply, lots of physical labor awaits me. I agreed to his

request and then made my way out into the store area. Not
even an hour later, the store was almost completely empty
and devoid of students and salarymen, leaving us bored.
The mountain of returns was taken care of, too, and even if
we stood at the cash register, we were waiting for
customers to arrive. Looking at the time, I still had another
hour left. In the end, both Yomiuri-senpai and I were just
standing around.

“I’m so bored!”

“It is a slow day, yeah.”

“Hey, Junior-kun? Where’s your field trip gonna be,

anyway?”

I told her pretty much the same thing I had explained to

Fujinami-san earlier. That we’re heading to Singapore, and
I’m saving up allowance for that. Despite the fact that
speaking with the locals will probably be fun, I’m not
confident in my conversation skills. Needless to say, we
spoke in a quiet voice and helped out any customers as
needed. That being said, this kind of conversation was to be
expected since we had nothing else to do.

“The field trip and Valentine’s… Smells like youth, eh?”

“Where did the topic of Valentine’s come from?”

“Shibuya’s full of couples, so I figured that was enough of a

segway.”

“So many prejudices…”

“Did you get any chocolate, Junior-kun?”

“Huh? Ah, no, well. Just from family, that’s about it.”

Ayase-san and Akiko-san are family, so they don’t really

count, and Narasaka-san emphasized the fact that hers was
obligatory chocolate. Now that I think about it, Fujinami-san
didn’t even bring up the conversation of Valentine’s, but
that’s probably her way of keeping a comfortable distance.
Either way, I didn’t want Yomiuri-senpai teasing me as
always, so I kept things vague.

Eventually, my shift ended and I returned to the office.

Yomiuri-senpai had her break around the same time, as she
came from the changing room with a small bag. She took
out a small red box and handed it to the manager.

“Manger, here’s some duty chocolate.”

“Oh, thanks a lot, Yomiuri-kun.”

Duty? Not obligatory? I tilted my head in confusion, and

Yomiuri-senpai approached me, giving me a small red box,
too.
“Here, obligatory chocolate.”

It was the same chocolate she gave the manager, leaving

me a bit bewildered.
“What’s the difference between duty and obligatory
chocolate?”
“The feelings packed into it?”

“Why does that sound like a question?”

“I’m saying that the type of feelings packed into the

chocolate is different!”

How does that even make any sense? What’s there to pack
into?

“Affection?”

“Yet again, another question…”

“You write it with the kanji for ‘Obligatory’ but read it

‘Love’.”

“I don’t think there’s any correlation between the two.”

“I’m just trying to cope with stress at work by being a good

senior and supporting my junior.”

“That’s just the early stages of power harassment, you

know? Also, don’t use your junior for stress relief.”

“But I wanna go overseas, too! Sob, sob. Hey, Junior-kun…

Won’t you hire me as a guide for your field trip?”

“If you’re that confident about your language skills, you

should probably apply to an official company for that sort of
thing.”

“I’m not good enough to call myself proficient, at least. And

my department doesn’t have too many people who are able
to speak English well, either. Though they can at least work
their way through a text.”

“Really?”
“Most modern dissertations and essays are written in
English, yep. So we have to make abstracts—basically short
summaries of the papers. Put simply, when looking for
papers and so on, we go through all the abstracts to look for
one that could be useful for our argument.”

“I… see?”

“And those abstracts are usually in English, too. You’ll end

up reading a lot of English abstracts and then reading
through the longer papers, also in English. That’s why—”

All this abstract and abstract talk is making my head spin,

quite frankly.

“We have a lot of students who can read normal papers and
longer texts just fine. Also, those who go to graduate
schools can usually hold proper daily conversations. But the
average student usually doesn’t reach that level. Kudou-
sensei could talk all day in English, at least. She knows we
all can’t stand it and is trying to make the seminars English-
only. Last time, she was grinning to herself as she talked
about making the regulated exams full of reading and
questions that are completely in English…”

University sounds rough. Or maybe that professor just has a

screw loose. I can’t tell. I felt sympathy for her as I asked
her for some tricks when it comes to English conversation.

“That’s a question, all right. Well, practice makes perfect in

the end, I guess.”

She was basically saying the same thing as Fujinami-san.

“A foreign-owned top-class enterprise usually has their

written exams entirely in English. Both reading and
answering, that is!”
“For real?”

“That’s why I think it’d be best for you to get some

language work in. And if you can read a foreign language,
you can work through the various books and texts you’d like
to read before they get translated. You can read all the cool
science-fiction novels before Hollywood turns them into
movies!”

“Ohh!”

“And if you can have decent conversations…”

“If I can do that…?”

“You can enjoy the movie in real-time with all the other
views across the world!”

“Oooh!”

“And it’ll even help you in your job! Well… probably?”

“O-Ohh…?”

That last part wasn’t as convincing as it probably should

have been. But either way, I gratefully accepted her advice
and listened until she went back to work. I then left the
bookstore and headed home.

I stowed my bike and then went inside the flat. Since it was
a Sunday night, there was no particular reason for me to do
so, but out of habit, I went to check if we’d gotten any mail.
Seeing that it was empty, I didn’t waste much time and took
the elevator up to my apartment. Announcing my return
with a quiet voice, I opened the door.

“Welcome back.”
“Huh? Ayase-san, you were studying here?”

I was greeted by Ayase-san, who was sitting in the living

room working through some English texts.

“You mentioned that a change of location could be a good

change of pace, right? I was feeling a bit out of it, so I
decided to study here.”

“I’m glad I could give you some advice. But first I’m home.”

“Yeah.” Ayase-san took off her earphones. “Would you like

to eat dinner?”

I finally nodded and thanked her. As always, my old man

was asleep, and Akiko-san was at work. When I placed my
sports bag in my room, I remembered something. I took out
the obligatory chocolate I had received from Yomiuri-senpai
and placed it inside the fridge. It might still be the cold
season, but leaving it inside a heated room for too long will
cause it to melt.

“That…” Ayase-san muttered while looking at my hands.

“Ah, yeah. I got this from Yomiuri-senpai. It’s obligatory

chocolate,” I responded and showed her the box.

“Ah.”

“Hm?”

“No, it’s nothing. I was just impressed that a university

student like her could afford to buy branded chocolate…
This is obligatory chocolate, right?”

“At the very least, it’s not duty.”

“Come again?”
“It’s probably another Yomiuri Joke if you ask me.”

Ayase-san seemed just as confused as I was, but I don’t

have the confidence of explaining just what exactly Yomiuri-
senpai is thinking on the regular. However, when it comes to
her, she apparently mixes the answer to a complicated
puzzle with an equally difficult joke, so it’s a bit hopeless.
Either way, I placed the sports bag in my room and went
back to the dinner table.

“It’s almost done. I just have to warm it up a bit.”

“No worries.” Ayase-san was busy warming up the white

stew leftovers from the afternoon. I prepared the tableware,
as well as the rice in a small bowl.

With perfect timing, Ayase-san placed today’s main course

down as I sat down with my rice bowl in hand.

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Just give me a moment, there’s one more

thing.”

“Hm?” I looked at the food in front of me.

There were the vegetables and chicken from today’s white

stew, with rice and boiled seaweed. Honestly, that was more
than enough for a late dinner like this. But to my surprise, a
small bottle was placed in front of me.
2
“…Shichimi ?”

“Yep. This is everything.”

“…Huh?”
Now I was even more confused. I’m part of the soy sauce
faction, so all I need is soy sauce to give my seaweed that
extra flavor.

“The dessert’s gonna be sweet, so I figured a bit of spice

would mix in better.”

“I think… it’s plenty good as is?”

“You can just use it as you see fit. Anyway, I’ll go back to
studying,” she said and turned her back towards me,
grabbed her stuff, and went back to her room.

This made me start thinking. Maybe shichimi just goes with

white stew really well? I tried a bite with that anticipation,
but it didn’t make it any more delicious. In the end, the day
came to a close without me understanding what that was all
about.

1 Not too sure, either, but my guess is the character Phelps

from one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s short stories called The
Adventure of the Naval Treaty.

2 A common Japanese spice mixture containing seven

ingredients.
 Chapter 2

February 14th (Sunday) – Ayase

Saki

A faint metallic sound remained in my ears, but it took me a

few seconds to realize this was the sound of the door
closing. I slowly opened my eyes and checked the clock next
to my pillow… 8:54 am. Almost nine, huh? Well, it’s Sunday,
so I can just take my… Wait, I can’t take my time! I’ve got a
shift starting at 10 am. I completely overslept! The instant
that realization hit, I threw the blanket off me, which caused
cold air to hit my body, sending a shiver down my back. I
wanted to reach for the AC remote, but even those few
seconds I desperately needed.

“Huuup!” I gathered energy from my outburst and took off

my clothes.

Normally, I’d wait for my room to warm up a bit before

changing, but if I do that today, I’ll end up running late for
sure. If everything goes according to my calculations, I
should get there 15 minutes before my shift starts.
Assuming I run all the way, of course. In my head, I drew my
course of action to make it in time, matching the time
reflected on my digital clock in the corner of my eyes,
moving my arms and hands in unison. I didn’t even have
time to think of a proper outfit for the day, and I just went
with a matching set of clothes to save myself time.

I stuffed my accessories into my sports bag—because I

could still put them on at work—and ran to the bathroom. I
brushed my teeth at the speed of light and checked my hair.
Yep, no bed hair in sight. But seriously, this just makes me
want to have a large mirror in my room! Anyway, I washed
my face and checked the scent of my skin. If I don’t like it, I
usually add some deodorant alongside my perfume, but I
don’t have time right now. I’m looking fresh, too. Probably
because I slept so soundly… Too soundly, you could say. I
think Yomiuri-san said she needed moisturizer when she
began attending university.

I went back to my room to check if I had my phone, wallet,

and everything else I needed and put on my coat. To
guarantee higher speed, I stuffed my scarf and gloves into
my bag and dashed out of my room.

“Saki-chan.”

A voice called out to me so I turned around. My stepdad

jingled his car keys around his fingers and stood up from the
sofa.

“I’ll drive you there.”

I wanted to decline with the reason that my blunder of

oversleeping shouldn’t trouble other people, but I swallowed
those words.

“Um… Thanks, that’d be a huge help.”

“No problem,” he gave me a happy smile, which made my

chest hurt.
While rushing to the flat’s parking lot with him, I started
thinking to myself. It’s not like my blood-related father is the
only person who could ever be my father, but looking at the
categories inside my head, Asamura Taichi had only been
‘Mom’s husband’ until a short while ago. And it was the
same for Asamura Yuuta. We were simply living together,
nothing more. However, when we went to visit the Asamura
Family over New Year’s, both stepdad and Asamura-kun
worked their hardest so that Mom and I could fit in with our
relatives. They acted as pillars for that.

And because that happened, I wanted to do the same for

both of them in case they went through something similar.
Basically, I wanted us to be a family. He’s a stranger no
longer. Taichi-san is my stepdad. And while thinking about
this, I slid into his car.

“Did you put on your seatbelt?

Oh, yeah. He asked the same thing during New Year’s. I

panicked and tried to put it on but it got stuck.

“I-I did.”

“Good, then let’s roll. I can just drop you off in front of the
bookstore, right?”

“Yes.”

The car accelerated, and I was pressed into the seat. When
walking this way, it’d usually take me more than ten
minutes, but thanks to this, we’ll be there in no more than
five. This should be easy.

“Thanks again.”
“I’m going to pick up Akiko-san after this, so I might as
well.”

“Ah, is Mom out shopping?”

“Yeah. That’s why I figured I could use this as a chance to

show off how good of a father I am.”

He’s going out of his way to say that so that I don’t need to
feel bad about this. He’s such a kind person. Mom really
managed to land a good catch with him.

“Even so… Thank you, this is a huge help.”

He’s someone that Mom can rely on. And if I had to guess,
the same goes for him. That doesn’t mean you’re
completely in your family’s care, and more that they trust
each other. I think Asamura-kun said something about this
before… about properly relying on others. Until now, I’ve
always actively tried to avoid doing so… but it’s been half a
year since then.

We were quickly moving away from the flat we live in. That’s
where Mom and I moved to. And the advice came from his
senior at work, all for me. It all began with Yomiuri-san.

“It’s fine, we’ll make it in time.”

“Ah… Yes.” I gently rubbed my cheeks.

I’m about to start my shift, which is a job that involves me

having to deal with customer requests. I can’t look stiff in
front of them. And if I had to guess, I was looking tense right
about now.

“I was just… remembering some bad memories.”

Stepdad looked at me and tilted his head. I’m sorry for
giving such a weird response.

“Well… you seem very passionate about your studies. You’re

staying up late every day, right?”

He wanted to clear the awkwardness in the air and had

changed the topic, I guess.

“Um, well… I was getting a bit engrossed with English

conversations.”

“Conversations? Are you struggling with them?”

“Not exactly…” I gave him a bitter smile. “I wouldn’t call

myself proficient, but I think I’m doing all right. It’s just…
we’re heading to Singapore next week, so…”

“Ah, your field trip is right around the corner, isn’t it?”

I nodded.

“And… It’s also for my entrance exams. However, the reason

I want to focus on it right now is that I’d like to be able to
speak it as well as possible when I’m over there. I’ve been
practicing my listening skills for some time now, it’s just…”

Stepdad listened to the end and nodded.

“Actual talking skills aren’t something you can just acquire
by studying day in and out, after all.”
“Yes, that’s true.”

“But… isn’t that good enough? You’re not just studying for
your entrance exams, after all. The vocabulary and
language are used to communicate, so the motive of
wanting to converse with the locals is admirable if you ask
me.”

I’m not used to being praised upfront like this, so it made

me feel rather bashful.

“I would have preferred to improve a bit more, though.”

“I mean, the field trip isn’t as big of a deadline as the

entrance exams will be, so it’s fine if you use this as a test
run.”

“That’s true.”

“Just don’t overdo it. Akiko-san will worry too much if you
don’t get proper sleep.” He told me with a worried tone, so I
nodded along resolutely.

And at the same time, the car stopped. We had reached the
building with the bookstore.

“Have a good shift.”

“Thank you… Oh, yeah. I put chocolate in the fridge. It’s

addressed to you, so you should be able to tell which one it
is.”

Seeing Stepdad’s happy smile when I closed the door once

again gave me the resolution to treasure this family of mine.

Work passed surprisingly quickly, and it was time for me to

head home. I went to the office and informed the manager
that I was leaving, and he praised me with “Good work. You
did a great job today.” It’s probably because I worked extra
hard since I almost arrived late. But since I didn’t expect
these words, I was a bit surprised.

I replayed his words in my head while changing in the

changing room, making me realize that I’d been getting a
lot of praise today, especially from my elders. And to think
that it was all for areas that I wasn’t even consciously
working towards. That reminds me, someone during my
shift was handing out obligatory chocolate, and yet I didn’t
have any interest in that stuff and never saw it as
necessary. But thinking back on it, the manager never saw
me as just Asamura-kun’s little sister, and had called me
“Ayase.”

I regretted not giving him some chocolate as a token of my

gratitude. And at the same time, I was baffled to find myself
thinking about this stuff. I’ve always assumed I would never
be concerned about my gratitude and feelings towards
other people, and yet—I was about to leave the changing
room, but right when I was gonna open the door, Yomiuri-
san walked in.

“Oh! You actually were here already. We almost missed each

other by a second.”

“Good mor… No, good evening, Yomiuri-senpai.”

“My apologies, dear Phelps-chan.”

“Huh?”

“I won’t force you to head out for mission impossible, so can

we just go back to our regular ‘Good evening’?”
I had no clue what all that was about, but since she clapped
her hands together in prayer, I had trouble declining.

“Ah, sure. Good evening.”

“Are you on your way home right now?”

She stepped past me to enter the changing room, only to

beckon me inside once again. She had a large department
store bag hanging down her shoulder, and she took out two
small bags.

“Here, I’m sharing the goods. I’ve got some candy. Got any
preferences?”

“How are they different?”

“These ones are sweet. And these are spicy.”

…Spicy candy?

“They’re red pepper candy. I got them from a friend who

came back from a trip.”

Ahh. That’s why she said ‘Sharing the goods’ earlier. Still, I
understand the idea behind salty candy (which is actually
sweet), but red pepper candy is just… spicy, no?

“Don’t sweat the small stuff. It’s an interesting bunch, so go

get ‘em! One time I got durian candy, you know?”

The one with the pungent smell?

“Exactly. And it wasn’t even that fruity sweetness you’d

expect. It was more like the scent was packed inside the
candy itself. Just eating one made my tongue go numb from
the bitterness!”
“…I’ll take the red pepper candy, thanks.”

I’ll let someone else take the sweet candy. And I’m a bit
interested in the idea of spicy candy, myself.

“Here you go. All right, that’s all done. Now I won’t be on the
receiving end of your jealousy for giving your older brother
chocolate.”

“I wouldn’t act that way.”

Who would get jealous over that? Also… I see. She’s gonna
give Asamura-kun some chocolate later? I guess that makes
sense, since they’re colleagues. Yup, nothing wrong with
that.

“Anyway… I’ll be heading out, then.”

“Oh, one more thing! You’re away on your field trip next
week, right? I’m so jelly! Have lots of fun for me, too, okay?”

“Thank you very much. I’ll do that.”

I stepped out of the room, only to then realize something.

Did I… ever mention that we had a field trip next week?
While walking through the front store, I snuck a glance at
Asamura-kun. I imagine she must have heard it from him.
And he’s gonna be on a shift with her right after this…

Today is February 14th, which means I got to see lots of

couples walking around Shibuya and its vicinity. They must
be all out on Valentine’s dates, I’d imagine. Well, Maaya
would probably say something like ‘If you wanna go on
dates, do that on Saturday!’ but I guess that’s not
necessarily the case. I see lots of couples, in fact. Upon
arriving home, Stepdad and Mom were eating dinner
together. I hadn’t seen that in a while.
“Thanks for the chocolate. It was delicious,” Stepdad said
and thanked me as he spotted me entering.

That comment earned him an exasperated sigh from Mom,

probably because he ate all of her chocolate cake, too.
Maybe I should have given him something else with fewer
calories. And while eating the white stew from this afternoon
that Mom heated up for me, my thoughts once again drifted
towards Asamura-kun and Yomiuri-san, wondering what they
were doing right now. And then I realized that I… didn’t like
the fact that the two of them were together right now. Was I
always this greedy and selfish of a person?

This emotion continued to stay somewhere deep within my

heart, even after I moved to my room to study, so I couldn’t
focus at all. I shook my head left and right. I can’t keep
going like this.

“I should study somewhere else,” I said out loud, grabbing

my study items and leaving my room.

After moving to the living room, I restarted. I put my

earphones in, trying to clear my head from any unnecessary
thoughts, and instead focused on English. I placed a few
English texts in front of me while listening to a recording of
them at the same time. I wanted to try to understand what I
heard without relying on the transcript. In other words, I
wasn’t going with a direct translation but instead attempted
to understand the English I heard with my own English. After
all, people who speak English don’t take the extra step of
translation inside their heads.

However, saying is easy; doing is hard… Wait, no. That was

too Japanese again. Let’s see… Easier said than done, was
it? I have to rephrase what I hear in English… But I don’t feel
like I’m doing that at all. English conversations are so
complicated…

‘I mean, the field trip isn’t as big of a deadline as the

entrance exams will be, so it’s fine if you use this as a test
run.’

I remembered what Stepdad said, replaying his words in my

mind. Language and words are there to be used for
communication. To understand the thoughts and feelings of
someone else, as well as to express those things to
someone else. It’ll become an important part of my future,
not just for exams. Just doing what I can isn’t good enough.
And finally, I started to think more and more in English, as
the Japanese vocabulary disappeared from my mind. And
yet, my heart was in such disarray that I didn’t even notice
that the door to the living room had opened.

I raised my head and uttered the first thing that came to

mind. The fact that it turned out to be Japanese is probably
an indication that your mother tongue will always be
stronger than any secondary language acquired.

“Welcome back.”

Standing in front of me was Asamura-kun with a sports bag

hanging down his shoulder. He must have just gotten home
from work. I took out my earphones and stood up. While
doing so, I glanced at the time on my phone… Oh, it’s pretty
early. If I had to guess, Asamura-kun probably came home
right after his shift ended.

“Would you like to eat dinner?”

He nodded in response, so I began preparing everything.

Thankfully, Stepdad didn’t eat much of the white stew, so
there was plenty left for Asamura-kun. He went to his room,
only to turn around and return to the kitchen. Without a
word, he opened the fridge and was about to place
something from his bag inside it. I happened to catch a
glance of it and called out to him.

“That…” My gaze was glued to his hands.

Needless to say, he was holding chocolate. It must be from

Yomiuri-san. She made it obvious that she would give him
some. Meanwhile, Asamura-kun wasn’t too flustered. He just
stated what I expected, showing me the chocolate he
received. However, the package looked oddly familiar.

“Ah.”

It was a popular brand of chocolate where even one small

piece was expensive enough to buy a whole sweet bread
slice. As a high school student, it’s not something I could
afford to buy just to hand over as obligatory chocolate.
Without really meaning to, I asked “This is obligatory
chocolate, right?” only to immediately feel embarrassed at
myself. It’s not just that I wanted to make sure, but even
more so that I was doubtful if I could even forgive any other
answer than that. I had no idea I could be this narrow-
minded. And to finish it off, Yomiuri-san’s face popped up in
the back of my head.

‘With this, I won’t be on the receiving end of your jealousy

for giving your older brother chocolate.’

This is just as she predicted it. I opted to cut our

conversation there and focus on preparing his food for him.
Other than the main white stew, we had seaweed, as well as
other boiled vegetables from the fridge. It’s pretty late, so
anything lighter that’s easier on his stomach should be
better here. Stepdad didn’t eat much because he had
Mom’s cake and my chocolate, so there’s even some
dessert left over for him. And… there’s the red box inside
the fridge. The chocolate. After I put all the food on the table
and Asamura-kun thanked me, I ran my mouth again.

“Just give me a moment, there’s one more thing.”

He tilted his head in confusion as I placed a red bottle in

front of him.

“The dessert’s gonna be sweet, so I figured a bit of spice

would mix in better,” I added as a miserable excuse. “You
can just use it as you see fit. Anyway, I’ll go back to
studying,” I said, almost sounding like I wanted to escape,
and returned to my room with all my studying items.

Sitting down at my desk, I held my head in despair.

“God… I’m so pathetic.”

In front of me was the small wrapped candy Yomiuri-san had

given me. I took it out of the plastic and stuffed it into my
mouth.

“Mgh, spicy!”

Really… just what am I doing?

 Chapter 3

February 16th (Tuesday) –

Asamura Yuuta

The sounds of balls slamming against the wooden gym hall

floor reverberated inside my head. Each time, I could hear
the ear-splitting screeches of the students’ shoes as they
slid along the ground. And despite this being the 5th period
of the day, a voice energetic enough to shatter all the
tension set itself apart from these sounds.

“Give it to me!”

A single boy ran towards the basket. At first glance, his body
may have seemed dull in movement because he wasn’t
slim-built. Still, as if to betray this first impression, the boy
wearing glasses dashed as fast as the wind, wearing armor
made of muscle as impressive as you’d expect from the
catcher of the baseball club despite only being in his second
year.

“Maru, carry it home!”

With my shout, Maru accepted the orange ball I threw

towards him, swiftly making it past the opponent’s defense,
bending his knees to crouch down. However, like a spring
that was finally free after being pushed down, his legs
stretched out and he jumped high into the air. The ball he
held in both hands quickly moved to only his right, as he
went for a layup, the ball leaving his hand—

“Like hell I’ll let you do that!”

Right before the ball departed from Maru’s hand, another

hand appeared and slammed down against his. Immediately
after, a sharp whistling sound filled the air.

“Foul!”

Landing on the ground, Maru made a devilish grin, and the

boy who caused the foul could only grit his teeth in anger.
With the free throw given to him, Maru secured the victory
for us and walked to the outside of the court as he gasped
for air.

“Great work out there.”

“Thanks. Though I can still keep going.”

As the exact opposite of Maru, many other boys had sunk to

the ground, completely out of steam. They groaned in pain
and exhaustion, and the teacher complained about how
they simply didn’t get enough exercise. Meanwhile, the
other half of the gym hall was being used by the girls, who
were busy playing volleyball, filling the air with their own
screams and cheers. The one who was the loudest was, to
nobody’s surprise, Ayase-san’s friend Narasaka-san.

I’m pretty sure I just heard her scream about her finger
being broken or whatever. She probably got hit the wrong
way by the ball (since if it was really broken, it’d cause a
major uproar), but volleyball can still be a pretty tough
sport.
Maru also glanced over at the girls. “We’re gonna be off for
our field trip starting tomorrow, eh?”

Hearing that, I sighed. That also means it’s flight time, too.

“What’s that sigh for, my friend?”

“I’m scared.”

“What?”

“Do you know why planes can fly in the sky, Maru?”

“Bernoulli’s law, right? Through the upwards and downwards

movement of wings, the air flowing on the surface of the
wing is sped up—or rather, changed—which can allow you
to create a difference in pressure. This atmospheric pressure
becomes lower when it’s up, and higher when it’s low,
generating a force that pushes the object upward. This is
what’s known as Bernoulli’s theorem, and it explains how
dynamic lift is created. In short, by changing the conditions,
you can change the flow of the air by moving your wing
flaps up and down. I do understand the framework of how
you change the flow of air, but explaining that takes a long
time and is a pain. Wanna hear it anyway?”

“We’re having PE right now, so I’ll pass.”

I’d rather get a lecture about that right before a physics

exam, to be honest.

“Well, it’s perfectly normal to be scared of drowning even if

we float in the water, and although we know that there are
involuntary muscles that keep our heart moving, we’re still
afraid that our heart might just stop one day. That fear isn’t
logical, which it doesn’t have to be,” he said and laughed,
forcing another sigh out of me.
That’s absolutely right. I accept how it all works, but I can’t
just accept it and simply not be scared.

“I keep thinking about the worst-case scenarios. What if we

actually fall from the sky?”

“The odds aren’t zero, but in return, it’s also a possibility

that the sky’s gonna fall onto earth tomorrow, ending all life
here. Granted, it’s not the best comparison.”

“I get where you’re coming from, but…”

Now hold on. How’s the sky gonna fall on us?

“If you’re worried about an elevator you’re about to take

crashing into the ground, you’ll just be exhausted whenever
you leave the house.”

“I mean, I’m used to elevators. But this is my first time

traveling by plane.”

“You’ve just gotta get rid yourself of your fears by imagining

how fun it’ll be once we’ve landed. Imagine how great you’ll
feel once you’re finally off the plane again.”

“Seeing the fun… huh? Do you have something like that?”

“Naturally. There are lots of casinos in Singapore, right? I’d

love to check one out myself.”

“I highly doubt that’ll work out for you.”

Granted, casinos in Singapore aren’t illegal… But you have

to be of age to see one from the inside. And if you’re not 21,
then you’ll have to pay a criminal fine.

“How do you know that? The laws might just change

tomorrow and change the age of adulthood from 21 years to
17.”

“Yeaaah… I wouldn’t bet on those odds.”

And if such a major change were about to happen in

Singapore, we’d probably be seeing that in the news.

“However, my dear Asamura, things like gambling are illegal

in Japan, even if you are of age, right?”

“That’s also true.”

“Why is it that some places allow and some places prohibit

these things, even though they entail the exact same
action?”

…Ah, crap. I shouldn’t have brought up that whole “Why do

planes fly” nonsense. As usual, a switch in Maru’s head was
flipped and now he’s trying to argue about anything and
everything. Despite us being on break during PE class, he
was now warming up to talk about laws and all that.

“Um, well… Isn’t it because of the intricate history and

origin of the countries in question?”

I think I read something like this in a science-fiction novel

before. Because of a certain disease, the male population
has been drastically reduced, pretty much eradicated, which
forced the women to rebuild the country, and the female
shogun was given a male harem, as a polygamous system
was established in that world. I think the existence of these
circumstances is what led to the creation of a law like that.
That’s why certain laws get passed, while others get
rejected.

“So basically, the rules of society aren’t absolute, and if the

circumstances change, so may the rules?”
“I… guess?”

“Then it’s perfectly possible for casinos to open up to people

above the age of 17.”

“That… is a leap, I think.”

In fact, your leap just brought us five seasons past where we

currently were.

“There’s nothing vaguer than regulations and laws related

to age, Asamura. Even in our beloved Japan, you were
regarded as an adult at 20 years not too long ago. We’ve
gone down two whole years now.”

“That’s true… But we’re talking about a leap of four years in

your case.”

“What I’m trying to say…” Maru said and stood up to grab a

ball that came rolling his way.

He slammed it on the ground a few times, switching

between his left and right hand to skillfully control the ball’s
movement. Can I just point out how unfair it is that he’s
skilled at baseball and even pulls off this at least when
playing basketball? I stood up after Maru, trying to steal the
ball from him as he dribbled left and right. He, however,
stepped backward and easily evaded me.

“I’m over here. I’m not gonna let you take it this easily.”

“I wonder how long that confident smirk of yours will last…

though!”

“Close, but no cigar.”

Maru pulled another faint to evade my approaching hand,
turning his back toward me and blocking me from reaching
the ball, using his body as a shield.

“This ain’t fair. I request a handicap.”

“What are you blabbering about? On the court, we’re all

equal.”

“If it’s a 1-on-1 between someone skilled at sports and

someone who isn’t, then I stand no chance.”

“Basketball is outside my range of expertise. We’ve got the

same level of experience.”

“But not when it comes to the general amount of exercise…

Ugh!”

I tried to slip behind him, but even as we exchanged these

lines, Maru carefully avoided my approaching hand. Talking
like this while playing basketball is just too much. I stopped
in my tracks and gasped for air as Maru continued to
dribble.

“Anyway, Asamura.”

“Hm?”

“What I’m trying to say is that… prohibiting something

because I’m too young is a regulation I can’t accept.”

And what a Maru-like reason it was.

“I get where you’re coming from.”

“Sure, there’s bound to be people who ruin their lives by

gambling. However, if that is so bad, then you should
prohibit it as a whole for all ages. However, it’s just four
years. What difference do these four years make in the
end?”

Was he that desperate to check out the casinos?

“Isn’t it because young minds can be influenced much more

easily by alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs?”

“I would agree if we limit this to younger children and

elementary school kids. However, we’re 17 now,” he said as
he started dribbling toward the inner ring of the field.

I see how it is. Maru wants to be treated like an adult. While

switching the ball between his left and right hand, he
continued dribbling. He’s only five meters away from the
basket, so I had to quickly chase after him—But that turned
out to be impossible. I managed to graze his back only a bit,
but that was all I could do. He stepped forward once, twice,
and then… He stretched out his legs and arms, throwing the
ball towards the basket. It drew a beautiful arc mid-air, and
it landed inside the metal ring and down the net. Landing on
the ground again, the ball bounced a few times until it
ended up at the wall.

“Anyway, all I’m saying is that, at 17, I think it’d be fine to

let us take responsibility for what we want to do.”

“I get what you’re trying to tell me, but even if you line up
flawed argument after argument like that, we still won’t get
inside Singapore’s casinos. And also—” I continued while
gasping for air and recounting how many steps he had just
taken during that layup. “Traveling is against the rules.”

“Saw right through me, eh?” Maru laughed. “I know, I know.

I was just joking… about the casinos.”
6th period was our last homeroom. We sat together
discussing the last few details about our upcoming field trip
—Or put simply, we just blabbered about whatever we
wanted. We did have to sit together in our trip groups, but
there really wasn’t much to discuss. Not the day before the
trip, at least. We had already decided on our rough plans for
our free time, and the school had their own schedule for the
rest of the time, so this was just our last check, so to speak.
Our groups for our free time were made up of six people.
Usually, you’d have three boys and three girls.

“So… Our general highlights are the Mandai Zoo and the
night safari on the second day. On the third day, as long as
we don’t stray from Sentosa Island, we’ll probably be given
a lot of freedom. We can buy souvenirs and just enjoy the
scenery.”

“Nice work, Leader Maru! I’m glad our group’s plan is so

relaxed.”

“I gathered all of you like this because I knew you’d say

that,” Group leader Maru grinned, earning him a round of
applause from the other group members.

I preferred a more chill schedule like that, so I didn’t mind. I

can’t say I’m too good at forming a concrete schedule and
keeping it tight and on time.

“Is there anything else we have to check?”

“Oh, right. Make sure you set up your phones correctly. You
really don’t want to rack up a crazy bill because of this.
Other than that, make sure to keep in contact and be on
time when we have to gather up.”

Once more, all group members, including me, nodded. With

that done, our group meeting ended, and we simply waited
until the final bell rang. Other than the people on cleaning
duty, the rest of us were now free to go, so I grabbed my
bag and made my way to the front entrance. Granted, I
didn’t have to rush anywhere since I had taken the week off
from work, but I wanted to make sure I had everything
packed for tomorrow. When I stepeed out into the hallway, I
realized that nobody was there. Nobody had left their
respective classrooms, and yet I could hear their voices
reaching me. I imagined they were still discussing things for
the field trip. I could feel how excited everyone was. Which
is fine, of course, but I was worried they’d all end up
exhausted before the real trip even began.

Upon arriving home, I took out everything I had already

packed in my suitcase I bought just for this trip to make sure
I wasn’t missing anything. Along with the general list of
items we needed, Maru had also shared a personal list he
made for our group. With my phone in one hand, I went
through everything on the general list, as well as the
documents Maru made as I packed them into my suitcase.
Usually, Maru’s pretty relaxed, but the checklist had all of
the important things on it. Especially cash, passport, and
phone were highlighted as very important items.

If it’s just a sightseeing trip, you don’t need a visa to enter

Singapore. All you need is a passport. However, that won’t
count if the passport’s about to expire. You need to have at
least half a year of leeway for it to be valid. Our homeroom
teacher warned us about that a while back, with a lot of
folks nodding along, so I’m guessing they regularly travel
overseas.

And surprisingly, there were a lot of them. This is my first

trip overseas, as well as my first time flying on a plane, so
I’m simply riddled with fear and terror or what would
happen if we crashed. And the fact that I’m far more
inexperienced than the people around me only adds to my
feeling of restlessness. Since I was getting close to breaking
point, I once again remembered Maru’s words earlier.

‘You’ve just gotta get rid of your fears by imagining how fun
it’ll be once we land.’

I grabbed my phone and searched for some more

information about Singapore, just so that I had something to
look forward to. Since I’d finished packing all my luggage,
this was about all I could think of to relax until we actually
take off. After that, I was reading some of the digital book
releases I had bought when I heard Ayase-san calling my
name. When I checked the time on my phone, I realized it
was probably about dinnertime. I responded through the
door and left my room. Looking inside the room, I saw
Ayase-san placing the food on the dining table.

“Sorry. I was so engrossed in my book that I didn’t realize

what time it was.” I hurriedly sat down on my chair as a
bowl of steaming hot rice was placed in front of me.

“Let’s eat!” Ayase-san said in English with a teasing smile.

I was a bit bewildered, but since that line was fairly simple, I
had no problem understanding what she meant.

“Um…” I asked with hesitation. “Let’s eat?”

Ayase-san smiled once again. It seems like I nailed the

translation. Granted, we say itadakimasu when starting our
meal and gochisousama when we’re done, but these two
generally don’t have a direct equivalent when it comes to
English, so Let’s eat is probably the closest thing. Satisfied
with my response, Ayase-san switched to regular Japanese.
“I’ve been working hard on my listening and hearing this
past month, so I felt the urge to test myself.”

“Um…?”

“How about we try to talk only in English for a while?”

Ah, that’s what this is about.

“I’m not too sure if I can pull that off…”

“Let’s try!”

Hm… Well, it might be a bit embarrassing, but only Ayase-

san and I are here right now.

“G-Got it… Wait, no. OK,” I nodded. In response, Ayase-san

smiled again and then suddenly switched to English.

“Are you ready for your school trip?”

I was hesitant for a moment, but I was able to analyze each

word in my head and grasp the meaning. Following that, I
responded.

“Of course, I am ready.”

“Where are you going in your free-activity time with your

friends?”

“Ah… We are going to Singapore Zoo in Mandai on the

second day and Sentosa Island on the third day.”

I somehow managed to respond, but I heavily relied on easy

vocabulary, probably butchering the grammar as I did so.
Since Ayase-san was speaking slowly, I could figure out what
she was saying, but when it was my turn to talk, I couldn’t
speak as calmly and naturally as she did. And while saying it
out loud, I realized that I only remembered the local names
and places with my Japanese accent. I wonder how it’d
sound locally? If I said it as I would to my friends here, would
they understand Mandai or Sentosa? I might have to adjust
that if I end up taking a taxi somewhere, for example.

We continued to discuss our field trip for a while longer

when Ayase-san changed the topic to the food in front of us.
I tried my hardest to keep up with her, frantically translating
the words she said into Japanese inside my head, finding the
English equivalent when speaking.

“Is dinner good?”

“So good! Especially this… uh… AJI-OPEN is excellent!”

The moment I finished my sentence, Ayase-san burst out

laughing.

“I’m sorry… But translating aji no hiraki to AJI-OPEN is

hilarious.”

“I mean, I didn’t know how to phrase it on the spot.”

“Aji here is horse mackerel,” Ayase-san explained with

beautiful pronunciation.

“Horse mackerel? Like, a horse carriage horse? H-O-R-S-E?”

“Exactly. That’s how you spell it. And the mackerel part is
the fish mackerel.”

“How confusing.”

“I mean, I’m pretty sure foreigners would be even more

confused to see the kanji 鯖 for mackerel and 鯵for horse
mackerel. We’re more used to it with the kanji, after all.”
“That’s true… If I called it a horse-ish mackerel, would
English speakers think of horse mackerel?”

I mean, what even is horse-ish mackerel in the first place?

“There’s a lot of possibilities. At least according to what I

looked up, you can add the horse to the beginning which
then creates the -ish automatically, or it can also mean that
the origin of the word is Dutch, but I don’t know which is
which.”

“So there’s no guarantee that calling it mackerel from the

horse will get across, either.”

Words sure are complicated… But there’s also some fun in

that.

“And continuing from there, aji no hiraki would be horse

mackerel, cut open and dried.”

“Cut open? Like, sliced open, huh? And then dried.”

“Exactly.”

“I’m surprised you knew that.”

“Actually, I was looking it up just now while making the miso

soup,” she grinned like a little child, showing how
resourceful she could be. “Either way, I wanted to learn
some more vocabulary related to food and cooking.
Especially when it comes to ingredients or when you’re out
shopping. It’ll be useful if I end up cooking outside of Japan.”

Even so, I don’t think you’d look up the origin of a word just
for that. I can’t tell if she’s too diligent for her own good or
just thirsty for knowledge.
“Are you thinking of studying overseas?”

“If it becomes necessary. Right now, I have no such plans.”

Since we returned to Japanese, we just continued like that.

Of course, that makes it a lot easier for me.

“Your English pronunciation sounds so clean, Ayase-san.”

“Really?”

“I still think I just sound like a Japanese person speaking

English, so I’m not sure if the locals will even understand
me.”

And she had a much easier time responding to what I said.

Oh man, now I’m even more worried about our trip. I told
this to Ayase-san, and she had a pensive look on her face.

“Responding… Well, I’m just trying to think in English as

much as possible when I listen to it. Though I don’t think
you need to be so pessimistic about it.”

“Really?”

“English is used by people across the whole world, so it

makes sense that accents vary. It’s definitely not on the
level of something you have to worry about,” Ayase-san said
and finished up the conversation by saying “I hope we
manage to properly talk with the locals on our trip,” and she
finished drinking the after-meal tea.

Granted, I was worried about my pronunciation, but I guess I

can leave that aside for now. Just as Maru said, I’ll look
forward to all the joys starting tomorrow. While we were
busy cleaning up the table, my old man came home. He said
he’d take his bath tomorrow morning, so he urged us to take
our baths now and head to bed.

And since we had to get up at 4 am, we didn’t have enough

time to take long baths either. I myself got out relatively
quickly, put in new water, and finished changing. Then I
knocked on Ayase-san’s room to tell her that the bath was
free. Once I received a response, I returned to my room. Oh
yeah, the hair conditioner my old man and I were using is
almost completely empty. If I’d known that, I would have
bought a new bottle while shopping for the necessities for
the field trip. And since my old man’s sound asleep right
about now, there was no point telling him. Akiko-san was
still working, too. And I doubt I’ll have time to let her know
tomorrow.

…I guess I should just write a note to them about it. I wrote

a brief message on a piece of paper and placed it on the
dining table. After that, I went back to my room and made a
last-minute struggle to look up local names and their
pronunciation, but I eventually just gave up and started
reading some more of the books I owned. By the time I was
done with that, it was already past 9 pm. I figured I might as
well head to bed now, but then someone knocked on my
door.

“Are you awake?” It was Ayase-san, whispering.

I was a bit bewildered and I wondered what she wanted as I

opened the door.

“Could you come to my room?”

“Your room?” I nodded and looked around outside my room.

“Hurry.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me out of my

room.
The door to our parents’ bedroom was closed, and only a
faint light illuminated the living room. We headed further
than that, past the living room. Right now, my old man
should be sound asleep. We had one room and two doors
between us. This far away, he shouldn’t be able to hear us
as long as we don’t talk too loudly. And that’s fine, but we
decided to act as particularly close siblings when our
parents were around… Actually, that’s not correct. We
decided to act as close siblings in front of them… which is
why it should be fine as long as they don’t find us.

Maru had asked me if I assumed that all couples were fine

flirting around in front of others. And for us, who had
confirmed our feelings for each other, even I felt like we
weren’t doing too many things that lovers would do.

In the end, I was dragged inside my step-sister’s room. The

light was turned on, and it was as clean as I remembered it.
What first stood out to me was a red suitcase standing near
the left wall, which presumably held Ayase-san’s luggage for
tomorrow. Right after I entered, Ayase-san turned the key to
her room horizontally and locked the door. While I was
standing there confused, her arm reached for the light
switch next to the door. With a clicking noise, the bright light
inside the room vanished, only leaving a dimming ceiling
light to illuminate the darkness. In this state where I could
only barely make out her silhouette, I mentally prepared
myself with my back toward the door. Shortly after, I heard a
voice close enough I could pick up her faint breathing.

“Asamura-kun.”

“Yes.”

I could somewhat guess what she wanted to say. Thinking

back on it, ever since we went on that first shrine visit, we
hadn’t even held hands or anything of that sort. Even so, we
could see each other practically daily, and there were lots of
times we could eat dinner with just the two of us. However,
with the upcoming field trip, as well as being in different
groups, we probably won’t even get to see each other too
much for the next four days… probably.

“We might not be able to see each other for the next four
days, right? So, well…” She spoke hesitatantly, and the
words slowly left her lips.

“Wait. Can I say what I want to say first?”

“Then let me, too.”

“Erm… How about we say it at the same time, then?”

“Okay.”

We paused for a moment and then spoke up as our voices

overlapped.

“I want to kiss you.”

“I’d like to…kiss you.”

We both laughed at the same time and then whispered to
each other. Saying ‘We can’t do this for a while, huh?’ and
‘That’s true’ as we moved our faces closer to each other.
The scent of soap drifted up from Ayase-san’s body, tickling
my nose. Inside this darkness, Ayase-san’s fingertips
touched my chest. She moved close to me so that I could
smell her hair a few centimeters away from me.
Subconsciously, I placed my hands on her shoulders. This
action was to reaffirm her existence, and at the same time,
it symbolized my restraint to go any further than this.

At the same time, Ayase-san placed her hand on my

shoulder, too. While only relying on her faint silhouette, I
pressed my lips on hers. Once a few seconds passed. I could
feel her put more strength into her hand on my shoulder as
she pressed on it with her fingertips. This ended up being
the signal to separate our lips. Ayase-san let out a faint
breath that made my brain freeze completely. Her body
moved away from my hands, and I returned to my senses.

“Good night.”

“Good night… Ayase-san.”

After returning to my room, I pressed my eyes shut inside

my bed. I was worried that I might not be able to sleep after
that.
 Chapter 4

February 16th (Tue) – Ayase

Saki

Ten minutes before the bell rang, I was already seated in my

seat. It was my morning routine, so to speak. Assuming
nothing else got between me and my ritual, I would open
my textbooks, open my notes, and read through everything
once more to help me mentally relax. I’ve been doing this
ever since middle school. However, in my second year in
high school, there was always something that got in the
way.

“Sakiii!”

And that something’s name was Maaya. She’s been at it for

a while now, but it seems like the more seasons pass, the
greater the level of energy she keeps up every morning to
talk to me. I wonder why. I can’t fathom it. Oh well…

“Class is gonna start, you know?”

“What are you talking about?!”

“…Huh?”

“The bell hasn’t rung yet, right?”

I mean… it will ring in five minutes max. And isn’t that the
point at which you should prepare for the next class?

“Seriously, what? Our field trip starts tomorrow, right?!”

…Wait, am I the weird one?

“It’s the one and only field trip in high school, remember?”

“That is true.”

“How could I not be excited about that? I can’t just sit still. I
wanna jump up and dance! That’s how crazy excited I am!”

“I think that’s just crazy, yeah.”

“Not at all! Gaze at it, Saki! Let me show you the world!”

So she said as she wrapped her right arm around me. I

followed her movement and looked at the other students.
They were all sitting in circles, talking about this and that. I
swear, class is about to start… And looking over, I even
found a group of six, boys and girls alike, totally excited.
The person in the center must be Shinjou-kun. Our eyes
happened to meet and he waved his hand at me. But… why
did he remind me of a puppy who looked up at me all happy
when we were on a walk?

“Shinjou-kun’s really nailing it as the group leader.”

“Ah, right. Also, I’m impressed. You know who’s in all the
other groups?”

“I remember every single group and member of this class.”

That is impressive. I don’t really have any friends, so I didn’t

even know what to do when we had to get into groups, but
she’s completely different from me. I just spaced out until
she got invited by Maaya herself. Still, I don’t really see any
reason to get this excited. But when I told Maaya that, she
just sighed at me in disbelief.

“Whaaaaaat?!”

“…You’re exaggerating again.”

“Saki, do you really get it? We’re going overseas! It’s so out
of the norm for us! And you’re basically living with your
classmates for a few days! There might even be a love or
two blooming amid these special circumstances and
environment.”

“We’re not living inside a novel.”

“You just don’t get it! Just like heroes of justice have their
goodwill pre-installed, we youthful 17-year-old girls have a
healthy interest in love hankered deep inside of us! And
what awaits us in a foreign country is a blossoming love…
as well as a farewell!”

So a breakup is still gonna happen?

“That’s what transient love is all about. Ever seen ‘Roman

Holiday’?”

“Sure.”

I know the basic gist. I’ve studied all the famous works, after
all. And on that note, a blooming love, huh? It’s just a single
trip, so I’m not sure if such a thing will really be born only to
disappear immediately after. Asamura-kun and I started
living together eight months ago, and it took us about five
months from becoming interested in each other to confess
our feelings. From then on, the other three months passed
without any major change. In fact, with this field trip coming
up… won’t we end up more distanced than we’ve been
before?

We’ll be apart from each other. And we might not even get
to see each other for the next four days. Upon realizing this,
I became aware that I was feeling a lot more anxious about
this than I would have liked to admit. Every time I think
about him having fun with his classmates in his group, a
gloomy feeling fills my chest. But feeling like this isn’t
healthy. It’s not good for me. I should think about something
else.

Since this is just a regular field trip, I should find a simpler

way to enjoy it. And the original goal of a field trip is to
learn. I should find an academic drive for this field trip. Any
wicked thoughts should be expelled. My maiden-in-love train
of thought switch flipped off. A student’s main motivation
should be to study. There’s nothing to be anxious over.
Nothing at all.

“Hey, Saki! How do I say ‘Hey lady, wanna grab some tea
with me?’ in English?”

Huh? That sure came out of nowhere. But either way, I

booted up my English mode and thought about it.

“…Young lady, why don’t you drink tea with me? Maybe?”

“I see, I see.”

“Who are you going to invite with that?”

“I’m not inviting anybody. I just needed to know in case I get

invited! And, what about I’m sorry, I’m actually waiting for
someone, then? Wooo!”
What’s she getting so excited for? But alas, her fantasies
continued until the homeroom teacher entered the
classroom and reprimanded her. Recently, this is what my
before-class routine has become.

Classes ended for the day. Since I didn’t have any work, I
just had to make my way home.

“Hmm…”

After passing through the school gate, I looked up at the

white and cloudy winter sky. There was still plenty of
daylight left, and quite some time until evening would
arrive. Which makes sense, since we were halfway through
February. From here on out, afternoon time would stretch
out more and more. And the long nights I dreaded during
the winter days would grow shorter and shorter. Finally, the
plums will grow, cherry blossom petals will fill the trees, and
we all will become third-year students—and examinees.

Once the field trip ends, I’ll probably have to put even more
attention and focus into my studies. Maybe I won’t even get
much time to go to the pool. Or watch a movie. Or do some
window shopping… Will all my time be stolen away by my
studies?

“Well, that’s to be expected from an examinee,” I blurted

out.

And as I caught myself feeling like that, I shook my head to

get rid of these thoughts, sighing along. Wanting to hang
out with others… I never would have imagined myself to
one day wish for these things. It must be Maaya’s influence.
Or possibly even—No, I shook my head again. All this
thinking is just pulling me down. I can’t be feeling down with
the field trip right around the corner.
While making sure I walked on the corner of the road,
ensuring I didn’t get in anybody’s way, I took out my phone,
opened my map, and checked where I currently was. Hm…
Tomorrow, we’ll be overseas… Overseas, huh? I typed
“Embassy” into the search window. Immediately after, I was
shown various embassies here in Japan.

“Ah, there’s one near here.”

It’s called the ‘Denmark Embassy.’ I clicked on it and

checked the details. Going from the school near Shibuya
station, you have to cross Hachiman Street, and then walk
for about ten minutes. The distance says it’s around 1 km
away. It’s not too far of a walk there, and it’s also not too far
from our flat, either.

Well, it’ll at least clear my head, I guess. I made my way to

the embassy in an attempt to get excited about the field
trip, but that didn’t really work out too well. It’s more like
practice. Granted, Maaya would say something like ‘Why not
go to the ‘Embassy of the Republic of Singapore,’ but that’s
an hour away on foot. It’s not close enough for me to just
nonchalantly walk to. That’s why I went with the Danish
Embassy. It took me on a different route than I would usually
walk to our flat, so I first made my way to Hachiman street
to the south.

After passing the Shuto expressway Shibuya station, I made

my way farther. I know I live here near Shibuya, but I don’t
know all the street names by heart, so I periodically stopped
and checked the map again. Once I came across Hachiman
street, I made my way south until it met up with the old
Yamate street. From there, I returned to the Shibuya side
and eventually reached the embassy. It was an old building
made of brick. Judging from the number of windows I could
count, it seemed to be three floors tall. The side facing the
road was slightly curved, creating a space for cars to park.

The sign at the front read ‘Denmark Embassy’ in Japanese,

with large English text on the top, reading Royal Danish
Embassy. Since I encountered unfamiliar words in that, I
first looked them up. A direct translation would be ‘Denmark
Kingdom Embassy’, huh? Oh, right, Denmark’s a kingdom,
isn’t it? I could see the coat of arms on top of the logo. A red
ellipse framed the portrait, and there was a crown and a
shield inside… A crown, even! It really set in then that
Denmark was a kingdom.

The world is a vast place and there are countless things I

don’t know of. I was just fine indulging in this feeling of
experiencing something foreign when I realized that a lot of
the people passing by were giving me dubious glances. I
guess I must have stood out a bit since I was just staring at
the building for a while. I stopped looking up at the building
and turned around. I instead glanced down at the opposite
side of the street, spotting a cafe directly adjacent to a
national bookstore chain. They even had benches there. I
might as well take a break there, I figured. I looked for the
pedestrian crossing to then make my way back to that cafe.

I imagine it must have been because I was near the

embassy, but I could clearly pick out a lot more foreigners
passing by. And I saw a lot of couples consisting of a
Japanese person and a foreigner in these groups. It’s a
familiar scene I’d often see when walking down the
entertainment district in Shibuya, but the frequency is a bit
higher here. I wonder what it feels like to go out with
someone who speaks a different language and has different
traditions than you. But then I realized that people from the
Kanto and Kansai region are also quite similar in that regard.
It’s probably a byproduct of places where there’s lots of
traffic.

And in fact, all people are different. Asamura-kun and I

might have a lot in common, but we differ from each other
in a lot of ways, too. How we eat our fried eggs, for
example.

“Excuse me.”

I heard a voice calling out to me, which was immediately

followed by my realization that it was English. Turning
around, I saw a blond man who should be around Stepdad’s
age. He was even wearing faintly-brown sunglasses. I
returned his gaze, and he started asking me something in
English. Since he spoke a bit too fast for me to follow, I was
lost in thought for a moment. Thankfully, he repeated
himself but at a slower pace, which allowed me to directly
translate what he was asking me.

‘I’m looking for the embassy. Could you help me?’

Since the word Embassy popped up, I figured he was

probably about the only one around here.

‘Do you mean the Danish Embassy?’

‘Yes! That’s right! Do you know it?’

‘Let me show you the way,’ I said as I walked back the same
way I came.

I guided him to the embassy, and he thanked me several

times. Honestly, I didn’t do anything that major. In fact, I
was worried if he understood my English.
‘I’m sorry if my pronunciation was a bit hard to understand,’
I said with an apologetic tone as we were about to separate
again.

‘Hm? It wasn’t an issue. At all.’

‘Really?’

‘You spoke very clearly, which made it easy to understand.

And even if English is used globally, there are a lot of
different accents and dialects. Once you get used to that,
it’s easy to understand most of it.’

Even the stiff pronunciation I felt I had could be regarded as

just another type of accent, and he said there was nothing I
should be apologizing for. Considering he even tried to
cheer me up, he was really a polite person. On my way back
home, I once again realized that some things can only be
understood by interacting with others. And firsthand
experience is the best teacher. This might be the reason we
have field trips in the first place. And this realization allowed
me to look forward to the field trip a bit more.

Once I made it back to our flat, I saw that Asamura-kun was

busy preparing for tomorrow. I had to follow his example
and get everything checked. Then again, I had already
packed most of my belongings, so I just had to do one final
look over everything. And once that’s done, we should
probably eat dinner. Since this was our first trip overseas,
Mom said she’d make dinner today and breakfast tomorrow
for us. After checking everything over, I called out to
Asamura-kun through his room door. Immediately after, I got
a response, saying he’d be right there. I finished preparing
everything on the dining room table. I scooped up some rice
from the cooker and put it inside a bowl, placing it in front of
Asamura-kun. And then I decided to test him a bit.
“Let’s eat!”

Asamura-kun hesitated, his eyes blinking at me in

confusion.

“Um… Let’s eat?”

I’m glad he understood me. Actually, I was probably feeling

a bit excited at the fact that I had managed to properly talk
with that blond-haired gentleman from before.

“I’ve been working hard on my listening and hearing this

past month, so I felt the urge to test myself,” I said and
suggested we try to talk in English for the rest of our dinner.

Asamura-kun agreed, so we switched to English. However,

that didn’t mean I was suddenly super confident in my
English skills, and I wasn’t too confident in my
pronunciation, either. That’s why I chose to keep the topic
limited to our field trip. Where are you going? What are your
plans? Are you looking forward to something in particular?
After listening to all his answers, I realized I had pretty much
just questioned him about his group’s plans for the trip.
Surprisingly enough, some of the places they planned to
visit were on our list as well, so we might actually run into
each other.

And at the same time, a certain thought crossed my mind. I

realized how fun it may have been if we got to enjoy this
trip together… and that it might be a bit boring. After all, I
won’t get to eat dinner with Asamura-kun like this for the
next few days. Not to mention that we won’t have any shifts
at work together, either. We’ll walk to Narita together, which
is where all the classes are going to meet up for departure,
but once we get to the airport, we’ll have to say goodbye,
since we’re in different classes and groups. I won’t even be
able to see his face for the next four days.
After a while, I switched the topic from the field trip to
dinner today. Asamura-kun made me burst out laughing
because he tried to awkwardly translate a word he didn’t
know the English equivalent of. And with that as a signal, we
returned to speaking regular Japanese. I think I may have
laughed a bit too much because Asamura-kun seemed really
concerned with his “Japanese person’s pronunciation.” In my
mind, I gasped. It’s exactly what I’d been worried about
when I spoke to that gentleman. He’s worried about the
same thing as me.

That’s why I told him exactly what that man said to me

earlier. The English speakers in this world all have their own
accents and dialects, so it’s fine if your pronunciation is a bit
off from the “norm.” Even Japan has dialects that are
incredibly difficult to understand, so to repeat what that
man said, it’s most important to speak slowly and clearly. In
that regard, Asamura-kun should be fine. He should just do
as he did with me during dinner, and he’ll be fine for the
field trip. That’s how I tried to cheer him up, and I’ll be going
in with the same mindset.

We finished cleaning up the dishes when Stepdad came

home.

“Would you like me to warm up your dinner?” I asked him.

“You’ve got your field trip starting early tomorrow, right?

Just get ready and head to bed. Don’t worry about little old
me,” he said and smiled.

“Okay… Thanks a lot. We’ll do just that.”

“Yeah. Also, I’ve gotta wake you both up at 4 am tomorrow,

right?”
Both Asamura-kun and I nodded. Of course, we planned on
being up by then, ourselves. And since Mom was coming
home around that time, I don’t think there was any chance
of us oversleeping. However, Stepdad asked about our
schedule a while back and promised to wake us up in time,
and said that he’d even drive us to the train station if it
looked like we’d be late. And since he offered to take his
bath in the morning, Asamura-kun and I went to take ours
now, with him taking his first.

I headed back to my room to do one final check. I got my

passport, and I even packed the ‘Trip Guidebook — Doujin
Version’…although I’m still lost about what this doujin
version is about. It’s probably another of her weird jokes.
But that should be all. I’m pretty sure I haven’t forgotten
anything.

At around the same time, Asamura-kun finished his bath, so

I took mine. Once that was done, I immediately headed to
bed and closed my eyes. And yet, the only thing on my
mind was the ridiculous exchange Asamura-kun and I had
during dinner. I mean, come on. Translating aji no hiraki as
AJI-OPEN! How could I not laugh at that? A snicker escaped
my lips, passing through the quiet room and eventually
disappearing into the night. These exchanges weren’t
anything special. Just clumps of words. And yet, they made
my chest feel so warm and puffy.

And yet, I was once again reminded that we won’t be able to

see each other for a while once tomorrow came. Recently,
Asamura-kun and I haven’t exchanged that much skinship…
like hugging… or kissing… But we can only really be
together at home, where we live with our parents. And in
front of them, we have to act like we’re just close siblings.
And when we made that promise, that was exactly how I
felt.
However, this field trip will last four days and three nights.
Finding any chances to even engage in any physical contact
will be pretty hard. And for this field trip, the groups are
generally split up into three boys and three girls. Asamura-
kun is going to walk around Singapore with other girls from
his class… and I won’t be anywhere near him.

I kicked the blanket off of me and got up, putting on a thin

jacket over my pajamas. I’m scared of catching a cold like
this right after my bath. After that, I quietly opened the door
to my room and looked outside. I headed to Asamura-kun’s
room, knocked on his door, and took him back to my room
again. I closed the door and then turned off the lights. We
both voiced our desire… that we wanted to kiss, and we
agreed. The moment I called out to him myself, I started to
feel guilty that I was just using him to satisfy myself, but
when he stood in front of me, I couldn’t turn back anymore.

He placed his hands on my shoulders, allowing me to feel

his warmth passing through my body, enveloping me in a
sense of relief. I also placed my hand on his shoulder. Since
he’s a good bit taller than me, I had to stand on my tiptoes
to reach his face. And through our lips pressing against each
other’s, I could feel his burning heat. I subconsciously put
more strength into my fingertips, and his face moved away
from mine. The sensation of his lips on mine slowly began to
fade, and as I was riddled with a sense of longing, I
muttered a few words.

“Good night.”

“Good night… Ayase-san.”

After this brief exchange, Asamura-kun returned to his room.

Inside my bed, I touched my lips and realized that this hazy
and gloomy feeling inside my chest had yet to subside
completely. What’s going on with me? Will I be able to be
apart from him for the next four days and three nights?
 Chapter 5

February 17th (Wednesday) –

Field Trip Day 1 – Asamura
Yuuta

I heard a sound that pulled me out of my dream and back to

reality in my dark room. The alarm I had set earlier was
ringing. I hurriedly stopped it and turned on the lights inside
my room. The legs I stretched out beyond my blanket
immediately felt cold. It was currently 4 am during the mid-
winter season. It was still two more hours until the sun
would start to rise. However, we had to meet up at Narita
Airport at 7 am. In other words, we had to leave the house
at 5, or we wouldn’t make it in time.

That being said… Man, it’s cold. Since I set the alarm early
enough to give myself a reasonable buffer, I can just take
my time and—My thoughts were interrupted as someone
hammered on my door. It was my old man asking “You
awake in there?” which made me gasp. That was close. I
almost fell asleep again.

“I’m awake!” I responded.

I jumped up from my bed and started changing. I barged

inside the bathroom to wash my face, only to almost bump
into Ayase-san. She had already finished her makeup and
everything, as you’d expect of her. We exchanged quick
greetings and passed each other. I finished washing my face
and brushing my teeth in about five minutes. We seated
ourselves at the dining table at around half past 4 am,
perfectly on schedule. Akiko-san, who had come home not
too long ago, was still wearing her work clothes as she
prepared breakfast for us.

“Shouldn’t you be getting some sleep, Mom?” Ayase-san

asked, but Akiko-san just returned a smile.

“It’s no problem. I can get enough sleep after I see you two
off. I actually left work earlier than usual because I wanted
to see you one last time before I don’t get to see you again
the next three days,” she said and pushed a large plate our
way.

On top of it were ten rice balls, all wrapped with seaweed.

“Here you go. I figured something simple to eat would be

best, so I went with rice balls. They’re packed full of
delicious goodness. I’ll get out the miso soup, too.”

“Thanks a lot.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

Ayase-san and I both thanked her in unison as we started

eating. Meanwhile, my old man sat down across the table,
swallowing a yawn.

“Do you think you can make it in time?”

Ayase-san and I nodded. We stuffed our cheeks with rice

balls and drank the miso soup. Our goal was to take the
Yamate line that passed through Shibuya station at roughly
half past 5 am. Once we finished our breakfast, we checked
our belongings one last time and then left the apartment.

“Don’t rush too much!”

“Be careful, okay?”

My old man and Akiko-san saw us off with cheerful voices as

we stepped inside the elevator. I took out my phone and
checked the time. It was 5 am flat. If nothing bad happens,
we should make it in time. As the elevator slowly
descended, both Ayase-san and I sighed in unison. We
dragged our heavy suitcases to Shibuya station and then
checked ourselves one more time as we sat inside the train.

“Think we’ll make it?”

“Should… be fine,” I responded to Ayase-san’s question.

We have to change trains once in Nippori, but as long as

nothing causes a delay, we’ll arrive at the 2nd building of
the Narita Airport at 6:40. That should bring us to our
gathering point in time.

Since the sun hadn’t even begun to rise, the inside of the
train was completely empty. The seats were still cold as
Ayase-san and I sat down next to each other. Normally, we’d
pretend to be strangers during a situation like this, but with
our first trip overseas about to happen, neither of us could
afford this much leisure. At the same time, it was probably
because we were fine if people found out that we were
siblings… as long as we’re careful to not reveal that our
relationship goes beyond that.

…Or so we made excuses as we moved together like this as

we sat together until the train reached Narita Airport. We
pulled our suitcases along as we hurried to the gathering
point. From the long elevator ride, we walked down the
sparkly-clean floor that lit up from the ceiling lights,
onwards to the meeting room. From afar, we could see our
school’s familiar uniforms, so we split our paths here. Sure,
we didn’t mind if people found out, but we weren’t exactly
trying to help them find out, either.

Ayase-san’s back was starting to grow more distant with

each step, as I stood still to create a slight distance between
us. The students of Suisei High split up into their classes and
formed lines, and I spotted a large boy in the line for my
own class—It’s Maru. He saw me approaching and raised his
hand to wave at me.

“Morning, Maru,” I greeted him and stopped right after him

in line.

“Yo! Sure took your time, eh?”

“I still think I’ve got plenty of leeway, though.”

When I answered his remark, he pointed at the outside of

the meeting room.

“What are you saying? Do you even know how many plane
take-offs you missed so far?”

It seemed like Maru’s heart was tickled by the romance of

the airport.

“The sun’s only slowly starting to rise. Just what were you
looking at, anyway?”

“Asamura… You don’t understand the beauty and

graciousness of an airport at night, do you? The two lines of
guiding lights blink like Christmas lights, as the plane’s nose
slowly pushes upward into the sky, with the wing and tail
lights of the planes gradually growing smaller until they
vanish completely. And such beautiful scenery has been on
repeat here.”

“What a poet. That’s what you were watching this whole

time?”

“I was keeping the line in check so I couldn’t watch.”

Then what was the whole point of that comment?

“By the way, do you know the movie ‘Airport ‘75’?”

“Haven’t heard of it. Is it set at an airport or something?”

“It’s a movie where the pilot can’t control the steering of the
plane any longer and they have to perform an emergency
landing.”

“Could you not?”

I’d rather not hear about any air disaster films right before
boarding a plane. After this quick banter, the head teacher
of the student year repeated the same usual safety
warnings to us endlessly, and we finally started to board the
plane. We moved through the small testing area that had
been recently built to check for any illnesses and then
spread out inside the airport. The bigger luggage was
checked by personnel and placed on the corresponding
lane, which would now be loaded onto the plane. It’s
farewell to all that until we safely land again. I just hope it
doesn’t end up as lost luggage—basically belongings or
other objects that didn’t get loaded on the plane for various
reasons.

And thinking about that, I realized how nervous I had really

been about this whole trip. Then again, this’ll be my first
time going overseas, as well as my first time taking a plane
somewhere. By the time we finished checking in, it was
already 8 am. We had roughly one hour left until departure.
After our carry-on luggage went through the x-ray check, we
then had to go through the metal detector. Taking off our
shoes for this was honestly pretty annoying. What about the
people who like to wear those super difficult-to-tie big boots
on their trip? And why am I worried about those people in
the first place?

With all that cleared, all of Suisei High’s second years

started walking toward the boarding gate. Then again, with
this many people, we only moved along at a snail’s pace.
But we were slowly making our way towards the plane.
Ayase-san should be somewhere inside this crowd, but since
our classes are different, I couldn’t see her.

“Sure is huge, though.”

One of the boys walking next to me—Yoshida, who’ll also be

a part of my group on this field trip—commented, which
made me turn to my side and look outside the window.
Sunrise today was at around half past 6 am, which was a
good 90 minutes ago, so we could clearly see what was
going on outside. Spreading endlessly outside the window
was the runway. Seeing the planes that you’d normally
witness soaring through the sky moving like cars on the
ground sure felt weird. Even the one closest to us looked
exactly as I’d imagined, but it was much larger than I had
imagined. It’s just as Maru said. These things are huge. The
employees walking alongside the planes simply looked like
ants gathering around a cake. But when I said that aloud,
Yoshida gave me a dubious look.

“Cake? Are you hungry or something?”

“It’s just what I thought of. That’s the kind of scale I
pictured.”

“Asamura, you say the funniest stuff sometimes.”

“Really? I think it’s perfectly normal.”

After talking with Yoshida and the people from my group

some more, I realized that using comparative speech and
metaphorical expressions isn’t exactly what most people do.
The few friends I have like Maru or Yomiuri-senpai are all a
lot smarter than me, and our conversations always end up
this way. And even Ayase-san, who might have struggled
with Japanese a bit here and there, is the kind of person to
hold psychological and ethical thoughts, so our way of
speaking and what we talk about really resemble each
other.

To me, Yoshida, who struggles to keep up with metaphorical

expressions, is the exception… But that’s probably true for
both of us. Either way, we might not talk to each other
much normally, but I wanted to take this chance to get to
know people I rarely speak with. And when I think of having
to talk with the foreigners I’m about to meet, then this isn’t
a big problem at all.

“It seems like our luggage goes up there.”

Maru’s comment made me look up, and I saw a luggage

space above us. It wasn’t a line of pipes like you’d see in a
train, but more like a locker with a separate door for it. And I
could tell that taking it out later would be a pain. But I’m
guessing that this is to keep the luggage tight and secure in
case the plane shakes. But how much would it have to
shake for that to happen?—is a thought that crossed my
mind, but I quickly shook my head. I wonder if they’ll let us
open these lockers mid-flight? I kinda doubt it. I’d like to
keep at least my phone and nausea medicine close to me…
Oh, right. I have my knapsack. It said in a guidebook that
keeping both hands free as a tourist is a lot more
convenient. While I was thinking this, Maru bumped his
shoulder against mine.

“Hey, give me your luggage, I’ll put it in there.”

“Sorry, give me a second.”

I handed him my larger bag after taking out all the things I’d
need, placing them in my smaller carry-on. Now I shouldn’t
have to go through any of my other luggage mid-flight. And
with a glance around me, I could tell that other passengers
were preparing themselves the same way. After we switched
places, Maru placed my suitcase inside the luggage locker.
After that, I sat down on my seat and placed my bag on me.

I sigh escaped my lips as I sunk deeper into my seat,

glancing outside and listening to the sounds I could hear
around me. The small grumbling sound I could pick up
between my classmates’ chattering must be the engine. It
really feels like the plane’s been vibrating this whole time.
And if it can make a lump of metal like this constantly
shake, then the power it packs must be amazing—A lump of
metal, huh? Can it really fly?

Yet again, I found my nerves on edge. Maybe I should just

close my eyes and sleep right away. I checked the time
shown inside the plane, which told me there were still 15
minutes left until takeoff. That much time plus my severe
lack of sleep means I might really be able to doze off. I took
my phone out of my bag to check something and just then
Maru spoke up.

“That’s a waste, Asamura. You’re going to see this for the

first time, so make sure you don’t regret missing out on it
later.”

“But I might regret seeing it, too.”

“The fact that it’s your first time is more important. It’s the
same with anime and novels, right?”

I guess that’s true. Even if you read a novel with a shocking

revelation or plot twist at the end, the impact is only really
significant the first time you read it.

“Once you get used to it, taking off in a plane just becomes

mundane. And the scenery outside will just look like either
Narita or Haneda.”

“Really?”

“I think so, at least.”

Hey now, that’s awfully vague. And his broad statement that
everything will eventually look the same and thus lower
your admiration for it is probably just a rephrased
explanation of what it means to get used to something.
That’s sort of boring, actually. Normally, it should be
different every single time. Like a takeoff in the morning
should have its perks compared to landing in the evening,
and so on. Even just departing with clear weather like we
had right now should be fundamentally different from taking
off during bad weather.

Similarly, even as the days change and time moves forward,

the gaze I have when looking at things around me changes.
As such, every scene I see should be a tiny bit different. And
even so, at one point, you start feeling dull towards that
change, and start saying that everything feels the same, so
treasuring this ‘first time’ is probably more important than I
gave it credit for.
Finally, an announcement came over the plane’s
loudspeakers, stating that we were about to take off. Making
excuses once again, I fought against the fear creeping up
within me and looked outside the window. Since we were
seated a bit behind the wing, I couldn’t see too far ahead of
me, but plane windows are relatively small to begin with, so
there wasn’t much to gaze at. At the start it was just like a
car speeding up. I could just see much farther outside the
window. The distance to the small forest and tiny buildings
in the distance didn’t feel real.

I heard that a plane speeds up to 3000km/h when it’s about

to take off, which means we’re reaching the same speed as
the bullet train with such a giant object… But it still felt
pretty crazy. Man, I’m even being pushed inside the seat…
Oh? Are we speeding up even more? I looked outside the
window again and saw that the ground was flying past even
faster. This is… a bit too fast, right? The ground looked like it
had just melted into a grey paste.

While I was pressed further into the seat, the scenery

outside the window changed. The head of the plane had
gone up into the air, the view outside turning into pretty
much only just sky. With my back still pressed into my seat, I
realized this pressure must be even crazier if I was on a
rocket. I tasted the sensation of being a part of a science-
fiction novel as the plane completely took off the ground.

“The view down low’s amazing.”

“Down low?”

Hearing Yoshida’s comment, who was seated behind me, I

looked out the window on the right side, which offered us a
view of the ground. Overwhelmed, I let out a voice of
admiration. All the buildings and roads had shrunk to the
point where it was impossible to distinguish them apart. The
forest reminded me of broccoli, and it turned more into a
lump of green, the trees inside the streets like small dots of
green on a large map. My feeling of solidity had vanished
completely, too. I swallowed my breath as we slowly moved
further away from solid ground. Even the smaller roads
began to vanish as only the bullet train’s railroad stood out
like a blood vessel.

And right after, the entire view turned white, making me

realize that we had just passed through a cloud. The sights
in the far distance vanished inside this grey-ish world, and
the wing next to the window periodically vanished and
reappeared. This continued for a while, and we finally made
it out of this white mush and into a world like we had just
dove straight into the water. The entire view outside turned
blue. The plane had become a lot more stable compared to
before, but we were still going up. As the plane moved
through the blue sky, a gaze downward revealed the Pacific
Ocean adjacent to the coastline. This was normally
something you’d only get to see on a map: The contour of
the archipelago reaching from Ibaraki to Chiba, with
Inubousaki as its summit.

“It really is… like on the maps.”

This really is something I’ve only seen for the first time. I’m
glad I got to see it for myself.

“What are you blabbering about now, Asamura?”

“I mean, I was just impressed that it has the same shape as

all the maps I’ve seen.”

“If a map didn’t reflect the accurate geographical state,

then what else would we believe in…?”
“I’m saying that it only set in just now.”

“Great experience, eh?”

“Yeah, that’s right. I would have missed out if I didn’t see

this.”

Maru grinned like he had been proven right, but I glanced

outside the window once more. I’m thankful I got to
experience this, but… I really wish the plane wasn’t shaking
quite as much during the liftoff.

Soon enough, I fell asleep, only to be woken by Maru

shaking me gently. When I opened my eyes, I realized that
the plane had landed and was already taxiing down the end
of the runway.

“You kept your seat belt on that entire time. Wasn’t that
uncomfortable?” He asked with a bewildered sigh.

“Well, I fall asleep a lot in my dad’s car. Though he gets

angry at me sometimes because when the copilot falls
asleep, it makes the driver just as sleepy.”

Now that I think about it, Akiko-san was talking with my old
man the whole drive back during New Year’s. I guess that
was her way of looking after him.

“You slept for seven whole hours, though.”

“I slept that long?”

“Like a rock.”

That means I must have pretty much slept the whole flight.
And if memory serves me right, that’s how long the flight
was supposed to be. I don’t remember eating anything,
either. What a shame. Still, I took out my smartphone and
checked the time—3 pm. Hm? We departed at 9 am, so…
only six hours have passed? But then I remembered that it
was because my phone matched the local time here in
Singapore, and there’s a one-hour difference between Japan
and here. In Japan, it should be 4 pm right about now, and
evening. But since we traveled west, we still had plenty of
sunlight left.

I heard that the highest temperature recorded in February

could be above 30°C. Since we were still inside the thick
airplane, I didn’t feel much of the sunlight from outside, but
I did feel a faint warmth. Probably because we came from
Japan, where it’s mid-winter right about now. We were told
we could remove our seatbelts again after the safe landing,
so I did just that, got up, and looked around. Everyone was
preparing to get off the plane. The classmates sitting next to
the aisle in the center of the plane were grabbing their
belongings already.

“Maru, Asamura, here you go.”

Maru and I accepted our sports bags from the person sitting
near the corridor.

“Aye.”

“Thanks.”

And once we gathered all our belongings, we thanked the

flight attendant standing next to the gate who saw us off
and entered the airport ahead of us.

Singapore Changi Airport—What was the difference between

this airport that greeted us at 3 pm local, and the Narita
Airport that saw us off a few hours ago? To be honest, I
couldn’t tell any difference, to the point that it made me
wonder if we had really gone overseas. The only difference
was the strong sunlight entering through the windows.

“This really is Singapore, right?”

“Are you still half-asleep, Asamura?”

“But…”

“Do you see any Japanese around you?”

…Ah. That is true. Back at Narita Airport, there were signs

translated into countless languages to really show off that it
was an international airport, but unlike there, I couldn’t find
any Japanese signs or kanji anywhere. In fact, the majority
of signs I spotted were in English, followed by Chinese.
Seeing these two as the majority was also probably why this
was regarded as an international airport, but here in
Singapore, the official languages are English, Malay,
Chinese, and Tamil, so that’s probably all it is. Then again,
other than the alphabet and kanji, I don’t know any other
foreign writing systems, so I probably just don’t consciously
notice them.

“It really feels like we made it overseas,” I voiced my

genuine feelings, but Maru just gave me a dubious look
along the lines of ‘Only now?’.

We took the same procedures as during our boarding

process but just in reverse, as we lined up at the Changi
Airport waiting area. After a moment, the head teacher
guided us to the hotel where we would be staying (and
thankfully all students got their correct luggage). We took a
bus leaving from the airport, which took us along the coast
for the next twenty minutes.
The hotel where we were to stay was about two floors tall,
split into buildings separated between boys and girls. And
one room fit three people, which meant that Maru, Yoshida,
and I would be staying together. That was the main reason
we were told to form groups of six consisting of three boys
and three girls. And while we traveled to the hotel in our
bus, I was finally allowed to take in all the scenery around
us. More than anything, each country has its own unique
smell. For example, staying overseas for a long time only to
return to Japan makes the scent of soy sauce and miso even
stronger.

However, if it’s your first time visiting a country, you’ll

probably struggle to figure out where this distinct smell is
coming from. You’ll only realize that something is different
from your home country. And since your sense of smell is
the sense that adjusts the quickest, this discrepancy
vanishes as quickly as it came. Finally, we reached the hotel
room. We placed our belongings and moved everything we
needed into our smaller personal bags.

“Make sure to register for the free Wifi here,” Maru said, as
Yoshida panicked and asked how that worked. “Didn’t I write
it down for you in the guidebook?” He grumbled, but Yoshida
just played it off with a clumsy smile.

I had already finished setting that up when we arrived at the

airport. In Singapore, the government offers a free wifi
service, actually. It’s mostly used for public institutions, but
traveling students like us should probably set it up right
away.

“Anyway, let’s head out, Yoshida, Asamura.”

Led by our esteemed group leader Maru, we went back

down to the lobby, spotting the gathering of Suisei High’s
2nd-years, then joined our own class, and finally split up
into groups. The teachers then told us when dinnertime was
and told us when we had to be back at the latest, all the
typical stuff. Granted, I doubt these warnings reached most
of the students who were already beyond themselves with
excitement, but the guidebook had all the detailed
information marked down anyway, so it shouldn’t cause any
problems… probably.

Plus, the first day consisted of the whole student year

visiting three tourist spots that the school offered as
options, so we won’t be moving around independently,
either. And to reach these places, we had to take the shuttle
buses here. Basically, we’d head somewhere, then we had
some amount of free time to check out the area, and then
we’d gather up to take the bus out again.

We met up with the three girls from our group and then
hopped on the bus. The first stop for today was the National
1
Museum of Singapore . It was a western-themed building
consisting of two floors with a large round dome on top of
the center building. That could be a planetarium or an
observatory, but I’m not too sure. Or is it just shaped like
that as an architectural choice?

By the time we reached the front of the building, it was

already 5 pm. In Japan, this was around when the sun would
set. But in Singapore, that only happened at roughly 7:20
pm, so we had plenty of sunlight left.

“The history gallery closes at 6, so we should start with that

first,” Maru suggested, so we followed suit and made our
way to the history section.

At the entrance, we ran into another group and stayed with

them. The guide who just sent off a group of tourists then
turned towards us with a smile. I figured they’d be showing
us around while speaking English, but…

“Good evening, everyone. You must be the students from

Japan, correct? My name is Wan, and I will be showing you
around now. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

To my surprise, the young man greeted us in fluent Japanese

as he began the tour.

“His Japanese is a lot more fluent than what I could manage

with my English…”

I had to agree with Maru’s comment, but that wasn’t the

end of the surprises. After the guide finished showing us
around, he then greeted another group of students with
flawless Chinese, beginning his explanation with what I
thought for sure was a native accent. Upon witnessing this,
even Maru was surprised. Just how many languages does
this legend speak? After thoroughly enjoying the gallery
until closing time, we had 15 minutes until the next shuttle
bus would arrive. We figured we might as well check out the
museum’s inner garden, so we took a stroll there.

Around the same time, the sky began turning orange from
behind the eastern bloc. The sharp sunrays had gotten
weaker compared to earlier this day, but the temperature of
the air showed no signs of cooling down, and I could feel a
bit of sweat building on my body by just walking. The
humidity was also fairly high. Though it’s not as bad as
Japan’s summer season, at least. The girls in our group were
busy discussing which sunscreen to use. As we made it
through the grassy path and returned to the museum’s front
entrance, we spotted a crowd of people. Wondering what
that was about, we approached them, and we heard
someone singing from the center.
“A street performance, eh?” Maru said, and the girls said
they wanted to check it out. “Well, we don’t have too much
time left, so it’s better than heading off elsewhere.”

Receiving permission from the group leader, we entered the

ring of people. Inside the crowd was a woman with a guitar
on her lap, sitting on a plastic chair. A cord was connected
from the guitar to a nearby speaker. At her feet, she had a
small box for money, filled with coins and bills.

“What a soothing voice…”

“And she’s so pretty!”

I heard the girls whispering nearby, and I had to agree. She

had long, blonde hair and almond-shaped, black eyes. Her
facial features were very good-looking, probably of south-
Asian origin. Her body possessed a healthy and natural tan,
which earned her admiration from men and women alike.
And it seemed like she was singing in English… In fact, I felt
like I had heard this song before.

“With recent SG acoustic guitars, it’s either about getting in

the masses or going your own way. And with this familiarity,
it’s why she’s getting viewers like this,” Maru commented.

“Do you know the song?”

“It’s pretty famous, y’know? Pretty sure you must have

heard it before. It’s ‘El Cóndor Pasa,’ made known worldwide
by Simon & Garfunkel. It was originally a south-American
song of the people, but you sometimes hear it played at
schools in Japan when classes end.”

I swear, Maru’s otaku knowledge reaches into the weirdest

specific areas at times. Well, I could tell that it was folk
music from South America, at least. As for the woman, she
had a great vocal range, and even an amateur like me could
tell how good she was. After that first song ended, she
switched to one with a sharper rhythm.

“You know this one, too?”

“No clue. It’s probably music from around here, no?”

Around here… means Singapore, huh? But instead of

sounding like a popular song that could make it overseas, it
felt more like folk music again. The volume of her voice
almost felt like it was pressing against me, as it filled me
with vigor. The way she played her guitar was also more
radical than before.

“I see how it is. Drawing people in by playing a familiar song

only to then reveal the real deal,” Maru spoke like he was
analyzing a military move.

A round of applause came from everyone, as several people

put some money in the box in front of the woman. Since
you’d rather see people doing something similar online to
receive donations, it felt a bit old-school to witness such a
street performance. But I’m glad this tradition hasn’t died
out.

“Melissa… huh?” Maru narrowed his eyes as he muttered

something to himself.

That sounds like a foreign name.

“The singer?”

“Yeah. Though I’m not entirely sure.”

Tracing Maru’s gaze, he was looking at a sign standing next

to the woman, which had a bit of information about her
written on it. I’m shocked he could read something that
small.

“You mean that small text up there?

“No, that’s too small. I’m guessing it’s some kind of permit
to perform here. If you don’t display that at places like
these, you get taken in by the police. But the one below it
has her name, see?”

“Yeah.”

So he was talking about the sign. I would have loved to

listen some more, but since our bus would be arriving soon,
we had to return to the parking lot. And by the time the
entire sky had turned orange, we made it back to the hotel.

Today’s dinner happened in the restaurant located in the

lobby area on the 4th floor. Since you could get there from
both hotels, this is where the boys and girls grouped up
again. It was a buffet, which also had Japanese food, but I
wanted to take this chance to try out some foreign dishes.
What was especially good were the southern fruit dishes.
They had a lot of fruits that hadn’t quite made their way to
Japan yet. Though I guess mangos have become more
common over the past few years. I used the wifi inside the
hotel to look up the ingredients while filling my plate. Flat
peaches, rambutan, mangosteen, and sugar-apples… I
wonder if they’ll ever find their way to Japan.

“Everyone, please lend me an ear while you enjoy your

dinner. I’d like to once again repeat the safety orders—” The
head teacher’s voice interrupted all private conversation.

Unlike today, tomorrow we won’t be going to places the

school suggests. Instead, we’ll be dividing into smaller
groups to check the places we as a group had decided upon,
which was why the teachers were especially pushy with
their warnings. After we finished dinner, we were free to
return to our rooms and take our baths, as well as head to
bed after. Until it was lights-out time, Maru and Yoshida went
adventuring inside the hotel. Those sporty folks really have
endless endurance, I swear. I, for one, was tired, so I stayed
in my room. I let the indoor AC cool my body as I gazed at
the scenery outside the window.

I’m guessing it’s because the day started late, but the lights
in the town were still on for the most part. Looking down at
it like this, the scenery wasn’t all too different from Japan’s
major cities, and yet I was currently in a completely foreign
country. It honestly didn’t feel real. I think my old man
mentioned something like this before. Something like he
never would have expected me, his own son, to be heading
overseas for his field trip. Back in their generation, the
schools in the Kanto region generally went to Kyoto or Nara,
I think. I was told that transportation and communication
were a lot more limited back then, but I guess to him, he
never would have imagined that we’d travel this far for a
simple field trip.

“Then that means…”

The generation after us—our children—will travel even

further. Even beyond just overseas… In the distant sky, I
could see the moon slowly beginning to rise. But even so, I
don’t think we’ll be traveling there anytime soon. Though it
is the closest place in space from our perspective. Or maybe
humanity will surpass all my expectations, and I’ll be sitting
down with my children to tell them how “simple” things
were back in our days… Also, why am I just blindly
assuming that I’ll be having kids? There are a lot of other
things to take care of before I can even think of that. I shook
my head to rid myself of these thoughts and thought back
on the day.

It was a stressful day, that’s for sure. Together with my very

first plane flight, I encountered so many odd things that
made me stop and think, and not just once. But even so, we
just went from point A to point B and wandered between
buildings and vehicles, so I can’t really say I’ve got to know
Singapore already. If there was any difference compared to
Japan that I felt, then it must be the plants and vegetation
growing here. The shape and color of flowers, the growth of
green around me, and the way the trees were formed all
had slight differences compared to what I was used to in
Japan.

And this was the overall biggest difference I picked up

throughout the day. Probably because it’s a lot farther south
than where I was used to. Other than that, I think the scent
of air is different. And the sounds of my environment when
walking down the street, as well as the music playing in
public. And the letters on the billboards all around me. The
cars driving down the street, the modern buildings, and the
interior design of the houses aren’t too big of a difference.

What about smartphones? Tourists weren’t the only ones

who came to the museum, and I bet a lot of people from
Singapore came to visit there, too, but they all used their
phones as cameras or dictionaries, which made me realize
that some things never change no matter where you go.
Nowadays, electronic devices like phones are a necessity no
matter where you live.

And during that train of thought, my gaze dropped down to

my phone. The LINE icon entered my view. Ever since we
split up this morning, Ayase-san and I haven’t seen each
other. We may be staying at the same place, but our classes
are different, and so are our activities. Since I get to see her
face daily, I’m now beginning to feel like something is
missing.

I tapped my finger on the LINE icon and booted up the app. I

clicked on Ayase-san’s profile picture inside the row of
chats, reading the last message we sent each other. I
wonder what she’s doing right now? Since we had free wifi
here, I played with the idea of sending her a message. But I
stopped myself, figuring that she might be having fun
talking with Narasaka-san and the others in their room.
Getting a message during that time might make the others
suspicious… or maybe I’m just thinking too much? It could
just be from her parents or a friend, right? And on top of
that, I remembered what we did just yesterday.

‘We might not be able to see each other for the next four
days, right? So, well…’

We used the fact that our parents wouldn’t be able to see us

as an excuse, riddled with guilt, but we still couldn’t hold
back our desires. If so, then maybe Ayase-san might be
feeling lonely because I didn’t send her a single message
throughout the day… And more than that, I just want to
hear her voice. If I can’t even get that, then I’d at least like
to talk a bit. When we were all walking around together this
afternoon, I didn’t really have much time to think about all
that, but now that I’m sitting here alone like this, this desire
came dwelling up inside of me.

But she’s with Narasaka-san. And considering how sharp she

can be, she might just go full detective mode, saying stuff
like ‘Hey, who was that? Is it your older brother? It must be,
right! Man, you sure are loved, you damn little sister!’ by
simply hearing the notification from Ayase-san’s phone. And
then she’d go into full teasing mode.
“That’s… entirely possible.”

I could easily see her say that. Then again, not sending her
a message for that reason is a bit strange. I can’t be hung
up on Narasaka-san if it means making Ayase-san feel
lonely. So for that reason, I should really take the initiative
here. Right as I went to start typing a message, the door
swung open, with Maru and Yoshida barging into the room
together with a loud ‘We’re back!’.

“I-I’m back…”

Maru gave me a dubious look as he saw me acting flustered.

“That’s our line, right?”

“Sorry, I misspoke. Welcome back.”

“Aye, that we are.”

“You should have come with us, Asamura. The convenience

stores here are hella interesting!” Yoshida said, swinging a
plastic bag around.

It seems like they visited the convenience store on the hotel

premises. A bit ridiculous that their final destination to
adventure this new world would be a regular convenience
store. They then went to the table in the room and spread
out the contents of the bag, which turned out to be sweets.

“…Don’t we have most of these back in Japan?”

“They’re actually a bit different.”

From then on, Maru and Yoshida told me about all the
exciting discoveries they had made in this foreign hotel,
giving me no opportunity to return to typing my message.
Eventually, it was time for lights out, and the first day of the
field trip came to an end.

1While looking this up, I spotted a Museum of Ice Cream.

Boys, we’re going to Singapore.
https://www.museumoficecream.com/singapore
 Chapter 6

February 17th (Wed) – Field Trip

Day 1 – Ayase Saki

I was actually a bit worried if I’d get enough sleep the day
before we departed. However, the moment I closed my
eyes, my consciousness immediately drifted into the deep
abyss. I felt bliss and comfort inside my fluffy and warm
bed, drifting right between experiencing a dream and
sleeping. In retrospect, I don’t know if I even had a dream or
not. But eventually, my eyes opened to the darkness of my
room, not to mention before my alarm even rang.

Instead, I could hear the faint rumbling of the air

conditioner. It seemed like the timer worked exactly as I had
planned, and I didn’t feel cold even when poking my arms
and legs out from beneath my blanket. This should be good
enough, so I pushed myself up from the bed. Immediately
after, I remembered the events of the previous night and
faintly touched my lips as a snicker left my mouth. I must
have been grinning there.

But this isn’t the time to be dwelling in memories. I have to

get changed right away. When I finished my makeup, I
happened to run into Asamura-kun just as he entered the
bath. It seems like he finally woke up. His face still looked a
bit drowsy, making me worried that we might actually be
cutting it fairly close. We then ate the rice balls and miso
soup Mom made. It was as delicious as ever, but I was
worried the seaweed from the rice balls might have gotten
stuck to my teeth. I decided to not open my mouth too
much in front of Asamura-kun before I got to check in the
mirror.

With lots of time to spare, we left the house behind us. We

took the Yamate line from Shibuya station, changing trains
at Nippari station as we headed to Narita. Once there, we
just had to wait until our stop, so we should make it on time.
Sitting inside the train, I took a glance at Asamura-kun’s
face next to mine. He was yawning constantly, so he must
be really sleepy. I can tell he’s trying hard not to doze off.
Our shoulders happened to bump into each other’s, and he
quickly sat straight up again. Each time that happened, he
apologized to me, but I wouldn’t have minded if he just
leaned against me and slept a bit. This early in the day, the
train we were in was mostly empty, and I didn’t spot any
familiar uniforms either.

Eventually, our train reached the second building of Narita

Airport, just as planned. And with that, we rushed to the
meeting area. Spotting a group of students with our
uniforms, Asamura-kun stopped and said ‘Okay, let’s split
up here.’

“Be careful during the trip, yeah?”

“Same to you,” I nodded.

I left Asamura-kun behind me and headed for my class.

Shockingly enough, the faster I distanced myself from him,
the slower my strider became. Because if I meet up with my
class, we’ll have to stay separated this whole trip. The…
entire time.
“Hurry up, Saki! Over here!” Maaya was waving at me at
such velocity I could almost hear her arm cutting through
the air.

A smile escaped my lips. We can already see each other, so

I don’t get why she’s in such a rush. The third girl in our
group is Satou Ryouko-san, and we have three somewhat
noisy boys as well. Right before I joined their group, I turned
around one last time to look for Asamura-kun, but I couldn’t
find him any longer.

A bit off-topic, but my good friend Narasaka Maaya’s

communication skills are tremendously strong. She’s like the
queen of communicating. I don’t think there are too many
girls in the world who actually manage to attain 100 friends
without much effort. Not to mention that it’s not limited to
boys and girls. She can get along with just about anybody.
And yet, surprisingly enough, she was currently busy
shooing away the boys approaching us.

“Hey, you guys! Don’t try to get into our girls’ group! Go
have fun with your other rowdies!”

She waved her hands to scare away the three boys that
were part of our group, standing in front of me and Satou-
san as if to protect us. And then, she turned towards all the
other girls, warning them.

“Be careful of those guys who are getting excited just

because it’s a field trip!”

The girls laughed amongst each other, and the boys could
only give wry smiles in response. After that, she turned
toward us.

“Listen up, Satou-san. If those boys get too close, then you
just have to tell me. I’ll give them a good scolding!”
“Okay. Thanks… Narasaka-san,” Satou-san narrowed her
eyebrows and gave a warm smile.

“Same goes for you, Saki!”

“I think I’ll be fine.”

I know how other people see me. Granted, I’ve been making
good progress at fitting into the class, but it still seems like
they’re a bit scared of me. You can’t blame them with how I
look.

“Don’t let your guard down.”

“Urgh, yes.”

She suddenly gave me a stern expression, which left me a

bit baffled.

“You’re going to be a wife someday, so take good care of

your body. Unless I can be the lucky guy. I bet you’d look
great in a hakama.”

“That’s not happening, okay?”

Why does she have to always take her jokes one step
further than the necessary level to make her feel satisfied?
See, even Satou-san is laughing at us. But at the very least,
that joke seemed to have helped her relax a bit, because
she stopped looking like a scared cat. I’m guessing this was
Maaya’s intention in the first place. Our group of six had two
problem children who weren’t too skilled at dealing with
boys (namely Satou-san and I), as well as two boys who’ll be
held under control by the third boy in our group. She then
warned those two troublemakers to give Satou-san and me
a bit of relief. Really, I can’t beat Maaya.
“Sorry about these two, Narasaka-san. Come on you guys,
the boys’ line is over here, remember?”

He grabbed the boys and took them back to the line. With
him, they should be fine, too. At the same time, the
teachers stepped in front of the rows and began guiding us.
Some students were cheering in excitement from time to
time, but most of us were following along in a docile
manner. A lot of the people here had never even been
overseas, meaning they were more worried than excited.
And they listened to the vice-principal’s words cautiously.
After all, it’d be bad if they weren’t allowed on the plane.
The same went for me, too.

I was actually fairly nervous during the time we waited to

board the plane. But once boarded, it wouldn’t be any
different than taking the local bus somewhere. The
announcer inside explained the regulations in English,
Chinese, and Japanese, which was a fresh feeling, but then I
remembered that the bullet train did the same with just
English and Japanese. And after that, it was the same as
heading for Kyoto or Nara. Talking, eating snacks, and
laughing while sometimes getting scolded by the teacher.
Well, I’m not really good when it comes to pointless chatter.

Satou-san seemed to be the same in that regard, which

made me appreciate the existence of Maaya even more. If
not for her, we’d have spent the next 7 hours in absolute
silence. And I was grateful that I got to sit next to the
window. If the conversation gets too much for me, I can just
look outside the window. Seeing the scenery below us
change into what you’d see on a satellite picture, it finally
set in that we were heading overseas. And it was my first
time, too. I could feel my heart beating a bit faster than
usual.
I set up my phone to match the timezone and started
reading through the guidebook when Maaya suddenly
started talking about wanting to watch a movie. I guess if
one person starts watching a movie, the others can’t just
continue talking. And Satou-san and I were quiet, anyway.
But, I guess this was just Maaya trying to be considerate
again. Telling us that we didn’t have to force ourselves to
talk.

In the end, we watched a popular mystery anime’s newest

installment. A young boy in elementary school was wrapped
up in a murder incident and even managed to resolve it
himself. Granted, it seemed a bit ridiculous, but other than
that, it was an enjoyable watch. And around noon, people
started eating the food they packed. The flight attendant
even walked down the corridor with a trolley, repeating the
old and well-trained phrase that I always wanted to hear
once.

“Beef or chicken?”

It was a simple English exchange that couldn’t even fully

qualify as a conversation, but it helped me realize that we
really were heading overseas. Needless to say, I answered
chicken. It has lower calories, after all.

Eventually, we reached Changi Airport in Singapore. After

arriving at the hotel, we finished our check-in, and then our
group headed to the museum. Granted, that was only the
case for the start and end. We walked through the museum
in groups of 3 without the boys. Satou-san must have a lot
more trouble with boys than I do, because she was visibly
relieved at that. And I personally just wanted to leisurely
walk around myself, so I was more than happy with the
arrangement. Though I feel bad for our homeroom teacher,
who wanted us all to have fun in a bigger group, boys and
girls alike. I told Maaya about that and she responded—

“Kindness begets kindness, Saki-chan,” she said and stuck

out her tongue.

“…You just wanted to say that once, right?”

No evil is to be found in our dear group leader. Though to be

pedantic, that saying means you adjust your attitude
towards someone else depending on their actions. In this
case, it would mean that we could walk around as a big
group, assuming the other party was willing to do that, but
the boys with ulterior motives would have hell to pay
instead. So it’s not exactly how she probably meant it, but
that’s also very much like Maaya.

Sadly, the guide for the museum spoke fluent Japanese. It

feels like I wasted all this time learning English terms and
names just for this tour. This isn’t how our entire trip is
going to be, right? What if my answering ‘chicken’ on the
plane will be the highlight of my English conversation
usage?

We headed back to the hotel, finished eating dinner, and

took baths. The room assignments were split up by groups,
meaning I’d be sharing a room with Maaya and Satou
Ryouko-san. We’ve been in the same class for almost a year,
but I never heard Satou-san speak this much.

“I’m really sorry, I thought you were a bit of a scary person,

Ayase-san.”

“Don’t worry about it! She might look that way, but she’s
actually an adorable little sister who keeps bewitching all
older brothers in the world! Amazing, right?”
“Why are you saying this, Maaya?”

“Ayase-san, you have an older brother?”

My heart skipped a beat. Maaya, what are you doing?!

“Ah, well…”

“Nope! But she sure loves acting like a younger sister! It’s
her younger sister attribute!”

“…Okay?” Satou-san seemed confused.

Sorry about Maaya, her explanations don’t make any sense,

right? In fact, I don’t get it either. What’s that even
supposed to mean?

“All girls in the world can be split into two categories. If they
are little sisters or if they’re not!”

“Well, duh?”

It’s either A or B. With that thought process, you can split

every group or idea in two.

“Well, having siblings can be pretty stressful. They’re so

loud all of the time,” Maaya said.

Her argument makes sense. She’s got a few younger

brothers.

“But you won’t be lonely, right?”

“Well… that is true. But usually, it’s a battle to even take a

bath in peace. That’s why today has been so peaceful!”
Maaya said and Satou-san smiled in response.
I listened to their conversation while getting up and making
my way to the window to check out the view. Today has
been fun, and I can confidently say I learned a lot of new
things. But once things calm down like this, I keep thinking
how fun it would have been to experience all of this with
Asamura-kun. Ever since we said goodbye this morning, we
haven’t seen each other once.

Maybe… I could go meet him. I could just contact him via

LINE since we have free wifi here. I want to meet him. I want
to see his voice. Or at least, hear his voice. And once that
desire started to burn up inside of me, I had trouble
containing it… Why can’t he just text me first? I opened up
our chat and glared at my screen, about to move my own
finger.

“Sakiii! Stop standing around there and come join us! You
should only enjoy such beautiful scenery with a charming
young man at a bar with a glass of wine in hand!”

“Maaya… When did you turn into such a middle-aged man?”

Maaya pressed her hands against her chest like she had
been shot and fell backward onto her bed.

“N-Narasaka-san, are you okay?”

“I’m done for… I was killed by Saki… I have to use the pocky
sticks here to write my final message…”

“Huh? Huh?”

“Stop troubling Satou-san,” I flashed a bitter smile and

returned to the two of them.

Maybe Asamura-kun is currently enjoying time with his

friends, so I wouldn’t want to ruin his fun simply because I
was feeling lonely… yeah. And with that out of the way, the
first day of the field trip came to an end.
 Chapter 7

February 18th (Thu) – Field Trip

Day 2 – Asamura Yuuta

When I woke up, I was first bewildered by the color of the

ceiling above me. It wasn’t the same as the one I knew from
back home, but rather faintly green which threw me off-
guard, but I then remembered I was still on the field trip.

“It’s breakfast time.”

I heard Maru’s voice so I turned around. Both he and Yoshida

had already finished changing, which made me frightened
for a moment. I checked my phone to make sure—6 am.
Huh? Our planned departure today was 9 am, and breakfast
starts at 7. Why are they all packed and ready?

“On days with morning practice, I’d be done eating

breakfast around this time.”

“Exactly.”

…You goddamn muscle brains.

“Asamura, we’re going adventuring. You join us.”

“…I’ll pass. You two have fun without me.”

Maru and Yoshida set out for stage two of their adventure,
and I took my time to change and finish my trip to the bath.
I returned to the bedroom and took my phone off the
charger, placing it into my pocket. In doing so, I spotted the
shape of the outlet—realizing that it was a BF type with
three holes. Weirdly enough, this was the final nail in the
coffin that made me realize we were outside of Japan. That
reminds me, this happened last night, but some of the boys
happened to forget their adapter, which created a bit of
short-lived panic. We had a few people like that in our class,
too. That’s when Maru came to the rescue and lent out
some of the extra ones he had brought with him.

He was treated as a hero just for that. And I was yet again
impressed by how well-prepared he was, even for the
smallest of dilemmas. Or did he anticipate this and buy
several in advance? There’s no way, right? The place we ate
breakfast was the same as last night’s dinner, so I easily
found my way. Once again, we had another buffet to freely
choose from.

Though I decided to keep it light in the morning, so I built

my meal around a good and reliable piece of toast.
Especially since I mostly ate meat last night, I opted to go
with a small salad for today. Maybe I’m thinking like this
because I’m so used to the regular Ayase-san cuisine at
home. I looked around with my tray in hand, and I spotted
the tall-as-always Maru, with Yoshida next to him. Sitting
across the table from us were the three girls from our group,
so we said our good mornings. That’s the most important
thing, after all.

“Listen up, my friends.”

While we were eating, Maru suddenly raised one hand and

asked for our attention. Huh?
“What happened to you, Maru?” Yoshida gave him a dubious
look.

Understandably so, since I don’t think Maru had ever spoken

in such a fashion before.

“Just listen to me, you guys.”

“I mean… we are?”

The three girls were just as confused.

“For the second day, we’ll be walking around various places

as a group.”

“Yep,” Yoshida said and I nodded.

“We know that, but what about it, Maru-kun?” The leader of
the girls’ group asked Maru.

“Basically, it’s possible that we might run into a different

group that made similar plans to us. That’s why I want to
ask you all this.”

“Well, there aren’t many places we could choose from, after

all.”

“Exactly. It wouldn’t be a surprise if we ran into someone

else. And I said to Ryou-chan that we might end up meeting.
I hope we do!”

The girl mentioned that a friend of hers in a different class

happened to almost have the exact same plans as we do.
Our schedule for today was to visit the zoo this afternoon,
followed by the night safari later tonight, which was located
right next to the zoo. They’re both supposedly pretty
popular spots.
“Indeed, they are popular. That’s why it wouldn’t be weird
for us to run into another group, right?”

Everybody else nodded. Right, he’s got a point there. But

why would he bring up that with such a dramatic tone?

“You get that, Asamura?” Maru grinned at me.

“Yeah…?”

“Good, good.”

Either way, after our group gathered at 9 am like planned,

we took the shuttle bus and headed to the zoo located in
the Mandai district. It was located north of the hotel, and it
should take us around 20 minutes. In the meantime, we had
a guide on the ride to tell us a bit about the area. More
specifically, about the history of Singapore, its development,
as well as social problems like water supply and whatnot—
all of that in perfect Japanese. Just like on the first day, I
wasn’t sure if this was a good or bad thing, since we
technically came here to learn English. Well, I don’t think I’d
understand too much if the whole tour was just in English.

At first, he fed us some general information about

Singapore. The total surface of Singapore was a bit bigger
than the 23 districts of Tokyo. The hotel where we stayed
was located to the south, and the Mandai area was to the
north. They were about 20km apart, which was comparable
to the distance between Shinagawa station and Akabane
station. I don’t know if he’s just familiar with Japan itself or if
he looked it up because he knew about us beforehand, but I
was thankful for it.

And then eventually, we spotted our destination in the

distance: The Singapore Zoo in Mandai. We got off at the
parking lot and went directly to the entrance. Everything
was growing green, making me feel like I had just waltzed
inside a jungle. I could even hear birds chirping inside, too.
And all this time, Maru seemed to be panicking about
something. Muttering like it was about time and whatever.

“I don’t think we’re on such a tight schedule here,

though…?” I muttered, wondering what he was talking
about since the only thing that had set closing times was
the shop.

“Oh! If it isn’t Asamura-kun from the class next to ours!

What a total coincidence!”

I heard a familiar voice, which caused my mouth to open

wide like a fish waiting to be fed. Is that… Narasaka-san’s
group? I was thinking that the group near the entrance
looked familiar, but I didn’t think we’d run into them here.
Ayase-san even turned around and gazed at me in disbelief.

Singapore Zoo. That’s what is said on the sign, written with

alphabet letters… or rather, that was what the letters
placed on the front entrance said, but I didn’t have time to
think about that right now. Looking at Ayase-san, and how
she stared at me, I’m assuming that she didn’t expect us to
run into each other here. And that’s when I remembered
that I never even asked about her group’s plans over the
course of this field trip. I guess I didn’t see any reason to
ask in the first place, since I didn’t think we’d be able to
spend time together. However, Maru—and probably
Narasaka-san, too—knew about it.

“This feels like a set-up,” I whispered to Maru.

“I didn’t force anything here, so don’t you worry,” he

responded by saying something that only made me worry
more.
Maru then walked towards Narasaka-san’s group with
another step, speaking up.

“My, oh, my. If it isn’t the famous Narasaka-san!”

“Oh! It’s Maru Tomokazu-kun! What a coincidence!”

“That it is!”
They suck at acting, god help me. But even so, Maru turned
around towards us, as Narasaka-san turned to face her own
group.
“It seems that we happened to run into another group by
sheer coincidence. I assume this must be fate, so we
shouldn’t fight it and instead, walk around the zoo together.
How does that sound?”

“I don’t mind. And that’ll make it more lively, too!” Yoshida

happily agreed.

The girls from our group nodded along, too.

“I’m okay with that. And I’m pretty sure there’s gonna be
other groups walking around anyway.” She raised her hand
above her face to block off the strong sunlight shining down
on us as she looked around.

Just as she said, I could see several other students from

Suisei High.

“I don’t mind. Let’s all walk around as a big group!”

“Ryou-chan! I’m glad we could meet up!” said one girl as

she landed a high-five with one girl from Narasaka-san’s
group.

The docile-looking girl called Ryou-chan smiled, too, saying

‘I’m really happy.’ That means her friend’s group turned out
to be Ayase-san’s group. Who could have imagined? Well, if
a few groups from the same school choose the same
location to visit, then it’s not too odd for something like this
to happen. I guess I can just write this off as a coincidence…
No, it’s too convenient.

“Maru, are you friends with Narasaka-san?”

“She’s friends with everyone, remember?”

That… is a valid argument, but that’s not what I meant. It
just feels like we’ve been played. We lined up to buy tickets,
and I continued to question Maru about this so-called
coincidence, but he just explained himself along the lines of
“We checked the places the other group wanted to visit, so
we figured we might as well meet up here.” Thinking back
on it, he was oddly pushy when it came to the zoo. I didn’t
think too much about it since it was a pretty popular spot to
visit. And since Ayase-san wouldn’t be with us, I figured I
might as well go with a more relaxed place to visit like the
tourists we were.

“I’ll go buy the tickets,” Maru said and moved up to the

ticket window.

He offered the money he received from us and bought

tickets for six people. On the opposite side, Narasaka-san
did the same for her group. They were acting like genuine
group leaders, huh? Compared to myself and how much I’d
struggle just getting all that together, I had to respect them
once more. After that, we all received our tickets and
entered the zoo. And with our large group of twelve people,
we didn’t have much time for idle talk, so we walked
through the front gate.

The zoo located here in the Mandai district was quite large.
According to the pamphlet we received, it covered a solid 28
hectares—which is a bit hard to grasp, but it’s basically six
times the size of the Tokyo Dome. The only zoo I remember
visiting was the one in Ueno. And that’s three times the size
of the Tokyo Dome. In other words, this one here is double
the size of the zoo I was used to… Man, what a behemoth.
And inside all this space, there was a large area that was as
naturally subtropic as possible, filled with animals living as
they would in the wild, which we watched from afar.
They also set up fences and canals to keep the animals
contained but they were mostly located in hidden areas so
that they could be perceived as naturally as possible. It
eliminated the feeling of being caged in for the animals, and
they seemed to be living pretty leisurely lives here.
Unrelated to that, despite our relatively large group size, we
immediately got along pretty well. Probably thanks to
Communication Queen Narasaka-san and Caretaker
Overlord Maru. As for the meaning of caretaker… he was
basically just looking out for others. And these two were
doing the heavy lifting.

“Everyone! I’ll make a group!”

Under Narasaka-san’s order, we all got together and joined

the LINE group she made.

“All right, then check this out first,” Maru continued, as he

sent a picture of the zoo map to the group.

While looking at it, we checked where we were currently

located.

“This map is in Japanese, too?” Yoshida pointed out,

positively surprised.

Other than English, it also had text in Chinese and Japanese.

I’m guessing they must get a lot of tourists from Japan here
since they went through all this effort. And on that note, we
could also use the wifi here. The range of the free wifi and
digital progression here in Singapore was not half-baked,
that’s for sure. Maru continued to explain today’s course of
action and shared our schedule.

“I don’t think it’s enough for you to get lost, but this place
here is pretty big. If you get separated from the others,
make sure to let us know via LINE immediately.”
“Okaaay.”

Everybody responded in unison.

“Then let’s check out the white tigers first!” Narasaka-san

declared as she took the front spot.

The rest of us followed after her. Most of us had already

forgotten about being in different classes as we engaged in
conversations left and right. Since everyone seemed to be
having fun, I guess this would be a job well done for
Narasaka-san and Maru. Everyone’s having fun, huh?
Considering my own personality, this whole idea of forming
a group to have some fun together feels so alien to me. I
don’t think I’d ever come up with that idea myself. I know
how much of a self-centered person I am. But after we all
went to the pool together last summer break, I realized how
important it can be to interact with others.

Of course, I wouldn’t be struggling this much if I could

immediately put that realization into action. But this also led
me to appreciate Maru and Narasaka-san more. They
brought up whatever topic card they had on hand, allowing
both our groups to immediately mix well. In fact, it was the
exact opposite of what Ayase-san and I loved to do, namely
act independently, which allowed us to just be swept along
without sinking too much. However, there is one pitfall I
can’t fill in.

Whenever I ended up talking to Ayase-san, and whenever

she happened to talk to me, one of us would then be blunt
for a bit and cut off the conversation. I think it’s really weird
that we could talk for hours on end when we met on the
daily, but as soon as we were thrown into this irregular
situation, we immediately ended up making things
awkward. But at the same time, we also felt that we might
just not stop talking at all if we got the ball rolling once. And
if that happened, we’d basically single-handedly ruin Maru
and Narasaka-san’s effort to ensure that everybody could
talk with everybody in our large group of twelve people.

And yet… I want to talk to her. I want to hear her voice.

These feelings were so strong that I might not be able to
stop if it finally happened, and then it wouldn’t take long for
the others to find out just what kind of relationship we were
in. For example, if we were talking about this or that and
someone joined in by saying ‘You two are pretty close,
huh?’, then I’d already be at a loss for words, making it
pretty obvious. That’s why I’m trying not to talk to Ayase-
san too much, and she seemed to be doing the exact same
thing. As a result, we’ve been doing just fine talking to our
other classmates, but only when it came to a conversation
between the two of us, things got awkward and cut off
immediately.

“You two sure have gotten close!”

Ashida’s voice caused my heart to skip a beat.

“Maru… When have you and Narasaka-san even spoken

before this?”

Oh, it wasn’t about us.

“I mean, we’re group leaders.”

“Yup! And as group leaders, we should get along with the

other leaders, too!”

“…Is that how that works?”

“Yeah.”
“Yup!”

“Well, if you guys say so,” Yoshida was convinced fairly

quickly.

To me, it was confusing more than anything. I don’t know

what led to them being on such friendly terms, but if it was
all because they were group leaders, then Maru should have
been in contact with the other groups, too. Now that I think
about it, both Maru and Narasaka-san know that Ayase-san
and I are stepsiblings. That’s the connection they have.
They know our secret. Though I highly doubt Maru knows
about my romantic relationship with Ayase-san, and the
same should be the case for Narasaka-san… Should, yeah.
But even so, what if they were discussing us amongst
themselves at one point? And then they set up this whole
situation on purpose?

While pondering that, I looked at Maru and Narasaka-san

again. Maru was looking down at his phone, checking the
exact way we were going and sharing info in our LINE group.
At the same time, Narasaka-san used all her conversation
skills to bring all twelve group members together under a
single topic—Maybe I’m reading too much into this?

Even if they were worried about us getting along as siblings,

they don’t seem the type of people to go out of their way to
such an extent to make sure everything was proceeding
smoothly. I don’t think they’d force two people together to
ensure they were doing all right. If they were, Maru probably
wouldn’t be able to carry the team with him, and Narasaka-
san wouldn’t be the Communication Queen that she is. In
fact, it looks more like Narasaka-san views everyone
equally, and Ayase-san and I are just members of the group.
Even now, she threw a new topic at both of us.
“What animals do you two like?”

“Sloths.”

“Tigers, I guess.”

“That’s unexpected. You seem like a devoted person to me,

Asamura-kun. I figure you’d readily help make food if the
need arose. Don’t you agree, Saki?”

“…I think he’s like a sloth,” Ayase-san mumbled.

“Oh?! Really now?! Asamura-kun, how’s it feel to be

compared to a sloth?”

“I don’t really know what you want me to say to that.”

“I’m not calling you lazy or anything,” Ayase-san said to me.

“I know that.”

“Okay, good.”

We said to each other, only to gasp and go silent again. With

that, another conversation died off. Meanwhile, Maru and
Narasaka-san sighed at the same time.

“I… really like crocodiles! Graaah!”

“I don’t think crocodiles growl like that.”

“Well, I understand why you like tigers, Ayase.”

“Right? She’s so cool!”

“Y-You think so?”

She seemed to not expect that compliment, and her
reaction was rather flustered. Narasaka-san’s comment
made everyone laugh, too. And it’s thanks to these follow-
ups that Ayase-san and I won’t ruin the mood the group has.
We walked around a lot inside the zoo until evening arrived
when we moved to the night safari next to it.

The night safari opened at 7:15. Since this was also the time
that the sun would set during this season, the sky outside
had begun to turn orange. The far sky to the east had even
turned dark. This night safari existed so that visitors could
observe the animals in their natural habitat at night. And
because it starts pretty late, it closes at midnight. Needless
to say, we students won’t be staying that long.

“We’ll be eating dinner here, but lights out is at 10, so we

don’t have too much time,” Maru said.

And with that, we headed to the ‘Creatures of the Night’

show, which was a popular live show at the night safari. The
idea was basically to introduce the animals that the visitors
will be able to see during the safari. We could even hear the
growls and sounds of animals from all sides. I couldn’t tell if
they were wild beasts or just birds. But the sounds
surrounding me made me realize that even the wilderness
at night could be fairly noisy. The show ended after around
thirty minutes, and since we’d all gotten hungry, we decided
to eat something at the restaurant.

It was designed like a regular buffet store, as we could enjoy

a bit of relaxing music from the stage in the back. In the
corner of my view, I saw a woman playing the guitar and
singing. However, I wasn’t too bothered by that since I was
busy grabbing food. I took my tray to our table where
everybody else was already busy eating.
“What a beautiful voice,” Maru muttered.

“Hm?”

“Must be local music.”

I followed Maru’s gaze, looking at the woman playing on

stage. And then I realized it. Her appearance and voice felt
familiar to me.

“Isn’t that the lady from yesterday?”

Only our group reacted to Maru’s words, as Narasaka and

her group were asking what was going on. I believe they
were at the museum yesterday, too, but they must have
missed her.

“She was singing yesterday in front of the museum,” I said,

but right as I did, the woman finished her act, and another
person took her place.

She then moved towards the counter and spoke to the

bartender. Immediately after, she received a cocktail glass
filled with an amber-colored fluid. She then sat down on the
chair and looked around… only for her to get up and walk
towards us. Huh? It took me a second to realize that she
was standing in front of us already, speaking perfect
English. Narasaka-san listened and then nodded.

“What did she say?” Maru asked Narasaka-san.

“No clue.”

“Hey…”

“Um… Lady, you want something?” She said with broken,

Japanese-sounding English, as she flapped her arms up and
about.

Or rather, it was pretty much just Japanese.

“Narasaka, you might want to try English pronunciation, but

that’s not enough if you only rely on body language. Weren’t
you good at English?” Maru asked, but Narasaka-san just
awkwardly laughed.

“On paper, yeah. And didn’t you have a higher grade than
me?”

“Because I hate losing. But we both can’t speak it in the

end.”

“Learning it and applying it are two different things, after

all.”

“How frustrating… She came out of her way to talk to us, so

we should at least—”

“Hold on, Maru. She’s pointing at us while saying

something,” Yoshida commented.

She pointed at us and kept talking in English. Since we

weren’t able to respond, she must have realized that we
came from overseas. If so…

“Maybe she’s saying stuff like ‘Who are you?’ or ‘Where are
you from?’ and so on?” I said, when I heard someone
speaking English from our side.

In response, the woman’s face shot toward the source of

that voice. She continued speaking English at a rapid speed.
I was already struggling to keep up, but if she speeds up
faster than that… I grew worried, but there was someone in
our group speaking English at break-neck speed, too. The
moment I realized who this familiar voice belonged to,
Narasaka-san was already cheering while saying ‘You’re
amazing, Saki!’ …Wait, that was Ayase-san after all? I turned
around and saw Ayase-san speaking with the woman in very
decent English.

…She didn’t speak this fast when we practiced before, right?

Maybe she was just holding back for my sake? I don’t think
she improved her English that much in a single day, at least.
All members of both groups stared at her talking with the
woman.

“Ayase-san, you can speak English?” One of the boys from

their group asked.

“I used relatively simple vocabulary. Asamura-kun’s

assumption was fairly spot-on, too. She’s asking where we
came from.”

“Weee aaare earthliings.” Narasaka-san held one hand on

her throat and tapped it while speaking, creating a
legendary otaku joke in real time.

…Which was funny and all, but I’m pretty sure she’s from
earth, too.

“Narasaka, don’t go causing problems that will have

intergalactic consequences down the line.”

I highly doubt this will escalate that far, either way. And
everybody here is from earth, no?

“Maru-kun! I was just trying to ease everybody into the

conversation using a bit of humor!”

“There’s a time and place for everything, and here we’ve

got neither condition cleared. More importantly, what did
you tell her, Ayase?” Maru asked, to which Ayase-san gave
Narasaka-san a dull smile.

“That we’re from Japan and currently on a field trip. Don’t

worry.”

“Boooring!”

“Maaya, I swear… What if she gets the wrong idea? And on

that note, her name is Melissa Woo-san.”

Hearing Ayase-san’s comment, Maru grinned to himself,

saying “I guess I was right!” He was probably referring to
the name he read yesterday.

“Merry-san?”

“No, Maaya. Melissa. Melissa Woo-san. She was curious how

we young visitors felt about her singing and wanted to hear
our impressions.”

Someone from our group sighed in admiration. The woman

called Melissa, who seemed to be a bit older than twenty,
continued to smile as she sat down at an open seat at our
table.

“She’s really curious about our impressions now.”

“Could you translate it for us, Ayase?” Maru asked and

Ayase-san nodded.

“I don’t mind. I’ll do as best as I can.”

“Hm. Well, life works in mysterious ways, and this is a

chance to experience a bit of intercultural exchange. How
about it, everyone? Do you have anything to say to Melissa-
san?”
“It was bootiful and wandaful!” Yoshida said.

Hearing that, Melissa-san grinned. I guess she managed to

understand that.

“It worked!”

“Can you really call that a success?” Maru made a wry smile
as he looked at me.

“What about you, Asamura?”

“Um… Well. I heard her sing yesterday. I think that was folk
music. I thought that her singing voice was a treat to listen
to. Does that work, Ayase-san?”

“Let me try.”

I tried to keep it short and simple to allow for easy

translation, but was that good enough? But my worries
seemed unnecessary, as Ayase-san swiftly translated my
statement into English. Melissa listened to Ayase-san to the
very end and then showed a radiating smile. She then
looked at me and fired off a barrage of quick-fire English. I’m
guessing she was happy, at least. After that, the other group
members voiced their impressions, which were translated
into English by Ayase-san. Granted, she couldn’t pull off any
complicated expressions or phrases, but she tried her best
while glancing up at the ceiling once or twice while forming
the English text in her head. Even so, Melissa happily
listened to every word Ayase-san said.

“Done!” Narasaka-san suddenly shouted.

Wondering what had happened, I looked over at her. She

was holding her phone out towards Melissa-san, tapping on
the screen. When she did so, a robotic female voice spoke
English. It was a pretty long English text in comparison to
what we said, but Melissa just happily smiled.

“Was that a machine translation, Narasaka?”

“Yup! I just wrote everything I thought in there and it read

the English translation.”

“I didn’t even think about trying that.”

What a convenient day and age we live in.

“I guess we should have just asked Maaya from the start,”

Ayase-san said.

“That’s not true at all, Saki! This bad boy might seem
convenient, but all nuance is lost in the process.
Communication doesn’t only rely on words, but also
intonation and expression, right?”

Bad boy… Is she referring to her phone? Or more

accurately, the app she used? But that does make sense.
Whenever Ayase-san told Melissa about our impressions,
she not only conveyed the words, but her expressions also
changed accordingly. When she said how impressive
Melissa’s voice was, she spoke with an exaggerated tone,
and when she mentioned my folk music comment, she had
a somewhat distant gaze. If there’s no “avatar” to convey
emotions alongside those words, then machine translation
like this is heavily limited.

“You think so?”

“Exactly! And she seems thankful, too.”

Melissa stood up and walked up to Ayase-san’s seat, putting

her hands on her shoulders as she whispered something to
her. She did seem happy as she slapped Ayase-san on the
shoulder. It seemed to hurt a bit, and Ayase-san flashed a
wry smile. And then, Melissa raised her head as a tall man
called her name. Her face lit up further as she clung to him.
Immediately after, all of us gasped in shock, as the girls
cheered and we boys were at a loss for words. Melissa and
the man, presumably her lover, shared a passionate kiss
without a warning.

“In a public space like this…!”

“Calm down, Yoshida. It’s a kiss. It’s a greeting,” Maru tried

to relax him.

“But…”

“You boys! Stop staring!” Narasaka-san immediately

reprimanded the other boys.

“I’m shocked you can stay this calm, Asamura-kun.”

“I’m surprised myself, really.”

Yeah, that really happened out of nowhere. I was wondering

how they could do that in front of others without feeling
embarrassed. But at the same time, I realized that this
scene felt oddly familiar. Familiar because there is a certain
newlywed couple openly flirting around in front of their
adolescent daughter and son. No doubt, they’re a couple
completely head over heels for each other. Granted, they
weren’t hugging or kissing in public like the couple in front
of me. Remembering our parents, this kind of scene right
now wasn’t anything unbearable, either.

Granted, that didn’t just magically erase the

embarrassment. However, Melissa’s kiss felt even more…
natural. Like it was part of the daily life of the animals we
watched all day. Once Melissa and her boyfriend separated,
she turned towards us one more time and said something.
According to Ayase-san, she asked where we were staying.
We mentioned the name of the nearest bus stop, to which
she mentioned that the place she stayed was fairly close.
And as a result, we even took the same bus home. As for
the man she kissed, he didn’t come with us. They
apparently lived in different directions. And until we reached
the bus stop in question, we were on the same ride.

During that entire time, Ayase-san and Melissa were

discussing something in English. Reaching the hotel we split
up with Narasaka-san’s group and the other girls in the
lobby, but all the way back to our room, Yoshida would keep
going on and on about how crazy that kiss was. I’m honestly
worried that all his experiences and impressions today were
just overwritten by that final scene. Then again, some of the
girls were blushing even all the way back to the hotel.

Personally, rather than feeling flustered from witnessing the

scene, I actually realized something self-explanatory. This is
what it means to be lovers. And with that thought in mind, I
was reminded that our visit to Sentosa Island tomorrow was
mostly free time. And I think that Ayase-san’s group was
also going there. And I remembered having fun spending a
bit of fun with her group today. Right as I snuggled into my
bed, my phone vibrated. When I saw the message that
popped up on my screen, I felt my heart jump. It was from
Ayase-san.

‘I’d like to walk around Sentosa Island tomorrow with just

the two of us. Do you think that’s possible?’

That question caused me to gasp. Immediately after that

came another message, saying that it should be fine since
we don’t have to walk around as a group and that it’s
mostly free time anyway. So they had similar plans to our
group? I remembered what Maru said during the last
homeroom a few days ago.

‘On the third day, as long as we don’t stray from Sentosa

Island, we’ll probably be given a lot of freedom. We can buy
souvenirs and just enjoy the scenery.’

And the other group members appreciated the relaxed

schedule, too. I just assumed I’d be walking around with
Maru. How could I have known that Ayase-san’s group was
similar in that way? Maybe Maru and Narasaka-san set this
up so that people could spend time with others from
different groups. No, I’m reading too much into it again. I
read through Ayase-san’s question and pondered it.

I do want to see her, but if I wanted to slip out from the

group, I should at least let Maru know. I don’t think I need to
give him the exact reason, but there’s a good chance he’ll
ask me to buy souvenirs and whatnot. Then again, he knows
that Ayase-san and I are siblings, so if I said I wanted to walk
around with her for a bit, he probably won’t mind. When I
looked over to my side, both he and Yoshida were sound
asleep. I then proceeded to type up a response.

‘Got it. I’ll tell the people in my group, so I’ll let you know if
we can meet up and everything else tomorrow.’

Immediately after I sent that message, I got a read

notification and a simple ‘OK’ came back. I decided to tell
Maru once he was awake. And then I’ll tell Ayase-san where
we can meet up before we get to Sentosa Island. For some
reason, I felt relieved, and sleepiness assaulted me. Even
so, I felt like I had forgotten something and couldn’t quite
drift off into sleep. After a bit of thinking, I realized the
difference between my message and Ayase-san’s.
She told me her genuine feelings. That she wanted to walk
around with me. And yet all I cared about was the schedule
and everything around it. I didn’t tell her how I actually felt.
I glared at the time reflected on my phone… 10:30 pm.
Maybe she was asleep already. And I might wake her up with
my response. But even so…

‘I also want to walk around with you, Ayase-san.’

I took a deep breath to prepare myself and pressed the

‘Send’ button. I quickly got a read mark to my message, as
well as an emote of a sneaky cat grinning at me. Honestly, I
felt like this was the first time she had ever used an emote.
But at the same time, I was relieved and finally succumbed
to my sleepiness.

That night, I had a dream. I was looking at the same kiss

scene I had witnessed a few hours prior. But the faces of the
two people kissing had turned into mine and Ayase-san’s
instead.
 Chapter 8

February 18th (Thu) – Field Trip

Day 2 – Ayase Saki

Today was the second day of the field trip, and chaos
ensued right after I woke up. My eyes opened to Maaya
sitting on the bed next to me brushing her hair, and she
suddenly said “Let’s walk around with Asamura-kun and the
others today,” leaving me completely baffled. What’s she on
about? I thought to myself.

“What are you on about?” I asked without much hesitation.

“Exactly what I said. Are you okay with that, Ryou-chan?”

Maaya asked towards the bed on the opposite side of hers.

“Hmmm?” Satou Ryouko-san blinked at Maaya with a

drowsy gaze. “Who… is Asamura-kun?”

“The boy in another class’ group. There’s Maru-kun,

Asamura-kun, and… Remember what I said? That group’s
also the one with your friend in it, right?”

“Ah… Yeah. Okay, sounds good.” She still seemed half

asleep when agreeing here. Is this really okay?

Also, it sounds like they discussed this beforehand.

“Maaya, I didn’t hear about any of this!”

“Because I didn’t tell you!”

“Why not?!”

“A surprise is no surprise if you don’t keep it a surprise,

right?”

Why do we need surprises on an already stressful field trip?

And I thought we were supposed to stick together as a
group today.

“We have to stay in our groups again today, right?”

“Yup,” Maaya nodded and flashed a truly innocent smile—in

other words, one that you definitely could not trust. “And
today, our group is heading to the zoo and night safari.”

“I know that.”

“It just so happens that Maru-kun’s group is also going to

the zoo and night safari today! What a wonderful
coincidence!”

“Hey.”

“And thus… We students from Suisei High might as well

move together in a large group to foster the relationships
between students and give yet another crucial meaning to
this field trip… is what happened.”

“That didn’t just happen, did it?”

“Hm? Did I say something weird? Ryou-chan, what do you

think?”
“Nope, not at all. Being able to spend time with people I’m
friends with makes me happy, too.”

Oh, right. A friend of hers is in Asamura-kun’s class. But…

really? Asamura-kun’s group and ours are going to walk
around together today. But what about my feelings? What
about my loneliness of not being able to see him for this
entire trip? …And is this really okay?

“Can you really just decide that?”

“I mean, you were there when our group decided on our

schedule, right?”

“Ah.”

I focused my brain to try and remember. Our group

consisted of Maaya as the leader, paired with me and Satou
Ryouko-san, as well as two rowdy boys and one more boy
who’d keep them in control. When we turned in our group’s
schedule, our homeroom teacher was happy to have Maaya
with us, so I’m guessing they just put all the problem
children together. I’m well aware that I’m not very good
when it comes to adjusting to others. That’s why I’m
genuinely thankful to Maaya. And at the same time, I
remember her working out information and details about
every possible place we could visit, asking all the group
members where they wanted to go. All we did was simply
pick where we wanted to go. In that sense, we should really
be thankful to Maaya. But even so…

“I’m glad he’s got enough charisma to push for the popular
spots. Though I did say we should meet up if our spots
overlapped.”

“To whom?”
“It’s amazing to think all the places we wanted to visit
matched up so beautifully!”

Ah, she didn’t want to tell me. I wonder who it is? Asamura-
kun? No, he would have told me something.

“By the way, we’re also heading to Sentosa Island together

tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow as well?”

“Yup. Isn’t that right, Ryou-chan?”

“Yeah. Makes me happy.”

“As for the boys… Well, they don’t know each other too well,
but Maru-kun should be able to handle them.”

“…Maru-kun is Asamura-kun’s friend, right? I didn’t know

you were friends with him.”

“We’re both group leaders, after all.”

Is that really as convincing of a reason as she made it out to

be?

“Anyway, I’d like to get to know the boys in their group. And
I need to warn our boys to not bother the girls in their group
too much.”

…I see. So she had it all planned out from the start. After
she finished her hair, she leaned towards me and
whispered.

“Now you’ll always be together with your brother, right?”

She put one hand on her mouth and snickered like a witch.
“Maaya! Geez, I can’t believe you!” I burst out in anger, and
Satou-san twitched in shock.

I swear, look what you caused, Maaya.

“S-Sorry about that.”

“It’s okay…”

“And with that out of the way, let’s have some fun at the zoo
today! It’s time to eat breakfast first though, but after that,
it’s ‘let’s go Singapore!’” She finished it off with yet another
clunky English pronunciation at the end as she jumped off
the bed. “All those cutesy animals are waiting for us!” She
said while raising her fist into the air.

I just shook my head and shrugged. When she’s like this,

nobody can stop her. Still… Asamura-kun and I are going to
get to walk around the zoo together today. …Huh.

When we arrived at the zoo entrance, Asamura-kun’s group

had just made it there, too. Even though I hadn’t seen his
face for barely a day, I felt a wave of relief when I saw him
from a distance. Since both of our groups will be sticking
together today, it’ll be 12 people at once checking out the
zoo and the night safari next to it. Now that I think about it,
it’s been since last summer and the day at the pool that
we’ve been in as a group as big as this. Asamura-kun’s
friends Maru-kun and Maaya took the leading role today as
they looked after the two groups. And not only that, Maaya
would even throw conversation starters our way from time
to time.

“Hey, Asamura-kun, Saki, what animals do you two like?”

We were walking around inside the zoo when Maaya asked

us that question. Asamura-kun went first and responded
with “Sloths.” Um… sloths?

“That’s unexpected. You seem like a devoted person to me,

Asamura-kun. I figure you’d readily help make food if the
need arose. Don’t you agree, Saki?”

“…I think he’s like a sloth.”

Wait, no. She asked us what animals we like, not which

animals represent us as a person. Won’t he think I’m
insulting him? But it’s true that I can relax when I’m with
him. It’s like time passes much slower. In that way, it does
suit him, but it’s not like…

“I’m not calling you lazy or anything.”

“I know that.”

“Okay, good.”

Phew, that made me panic. I don’t know why, but talking

with Asamura-kun in front of everyone makes me so
restless. Even though I can relax perfectly fine when we’re
at home. And I don’t think I was alone in that feeling. It
seemed like Asamura-kun was also holding himself back
when we were talking. Because of that, we felt so distant,
even though we were right next to each other. And once the
sun began to set, we headed over to the night safari.

After watching the various animals and their life at night, we

moved to a restaurant and eat dinner there. The menu was
set up like a buffet, so after we grabbed all the food we
wanted, we headed to a table. After all that walking, I was
feeling especially hungry.

“What a beautiful voice,” Maru-kun said.

He must be talking about the woman playing the guitar up
on that stage. Once her performance was over, she grabbed
all her belongings, headed to the nearby bar, and started
talking to the bartender. She ordered something and
received a cocktail glass, only to suddenly come our
direction. Our eyes met and she smiled at me. She looked
like she was either Japanese or from South Asia. If I had to
guess, she was around twenty, maybe a bit older. Her tied-
up blonde hair reached down to the shoulders, which were
open and uncovered by her red dress. Since the dress had
deep cuts on both sides, you could sneak glances at her
legs. Even as a girl, I found myself staring for a moment.
She then looked at all our faces once and started speaking
English.

“My name is Melissa Woo. Where did you boys and girls
come from? Japan?”

It wasn’t anything too difficult, but because she was

speaking so fast, everyone else in the group started staring
at her in confusion.

“You were watching me, right? How was I? I don’t want to

interrupt your trip, but I’d love to hear your impressions of
my performance.” She said and smiled.

However, nobody from our group said anything. I guess it

must be how fast she was speaking. She waited for a
moment, but then seemed disappointed. Maybe she thought
that we had just ignored her. I don’t think she’s aware of the
fact that our English might not be very good. Even I barely
managed to catch what she said. While everybody else
hesitated, Asamura-kun spoke up.

“Maybe she’s saying stuff like ‘Who are you?’ or ‘Where are
you from?’ and so on?”
Yeah, exactly.

“Um, Melissa-san? We’re students who came from Japan for

a field trip.” I responded, and Melissa turned toward me.

“A field trip! Then you must be in middle school? Six boys

and six girls, I can tell you’re good friends! And judging from
your age, you probably haven’t heard that type of music
before, no? What did you think? Maybe something more
popular would have been better? Like anime music?”

M-Middle school…? Do we look that young to her?

“We’re in high school. Our second year, actually. And we

came from Tokyo, Japan.”

I just replied with that for now.

“You’re amazing, Saki!”

“Ayase-san, you can speak English?”

I mean, all of you would have been able to understand it if

she just spoke a bit more slowly. And Asamura-kun seems to
have grasped the meaning, too. I just waved my hands left
and right as I played down their praise.

“I used relatively simple vocabulary. Asamura-kun’s

assumption was fairly spot-on, too. She’s asking where we
came from.”

That’s all I told them, but Maaya made some weird joke that
made Maru-kun angry at her. I swear… Look, Melissa-san’s
looking at us in utter confusion. And Asamura-kun seems
worried that she may have gotten the wrong idea.
“I said that we’re from Japan and currently on a field trip.
Don’t worry.”

“Boooring!”

“Maaya, I swear… What if she gets the wrong idea? And on

that note, her name is Melissa Woo-san.”

And then she asked us about our impressions of her

performance, so I translated it for her. It seems like I’m
playing the role of interpreter now.

“What about you, Asamura?”

My heart skipped a beat. I didn’t think I’d have to even

translate what Asamura-kun said. And actually, I feel like he
should be proficient enough to say it in English himself as
long as he keeps it simple enough… But more importantly, I
need to listen properly. I took what he said and reformed it
in my head into English words. I think because I’ve been
listening and thinking English a lot these days, my thoughts
immediately changed to English without much of a
hindrance. This made me realize that keeping a balance
between two languages in my head at the same time was a
lot harder than just translating something.

“Melissa-san, he mentioned that he listened to your

performance yesterday, too. He was asking if that was folk
music. And he said that he enjoyed listening to your voice.”

Asamura-kun tried to keep his impressions short and

concise, which made it easier for me.

“Let’s see… Was he at the museum yesterday?”

“I think so.”
“Ah, I see. That means this must have been his second time
hearing me play. And yes, the song I played is fairly popular
around here. And I’m happy that he appreciates my voice
that much.”

I repeated what Melissa told me in Japanese. And even

before I could do that, some people in our group had begun
nodding to themselves. I’m guessing they were slowly
catching on to what she was saying. The other people at
least understood that Melissa was thankful, and then they
started saying so many things that Maru-kun couldn’t keep
them under control. I once again tried my best to convey it
in English as accurately and correctly as possible. Though
sometimes it took me a while to find the right English
expression or idiom.

Once everyone was done, Maaya suddenly raised her head,

held her phone towards Melissa, and tapped on the screen.
When she did so, an electronic female voice started
speaking in English. It was a fairly long text, too. She
probably typed it all into a translator and played it out loud.
Melissa was surprised at first, but she listened earnestly.

As for the content, it was pretty much what you’d expect

from Maaya. How she perceived the performance, what she
thought of Melissa’s voice, and all that. Listening to that,
Melissa started grinning about midway through. Granted, I
don’t know how well it conveyed everything from the
original text since I couldn’t read it, but there wasn’t
anything weird about what I heard, which made me realize
that we really lived in a convenient day and age. Then
again, it would take quite a while to type in everything just
like that.

“I guess we should have just asked Maaya from the start.”

I had a moment of weakness and grumbled to myself, but
Maaya immediately denied that. She argued that it may be
quick and easy, but it lost all nuance and human emotion in
the process. That makes sense.

“Exactly! And she seems thankful, too,” Maaya said, as

Melissa stood up from her chair to walk behind me,
embracing my shoulders.

“What’s your name? Is it Saki?”

“Ah, yes. I’m Saki.”

Oh, she picked up my name through all that?

“Mmm! What a cute name. Thanks to you, I got to hear

what all you cuties thought about my performance, so I’m
really thankful!”

She slapped me on the shoulder with a bright smile, which

honestly hurt a bit. But when I saw her smile happily, I
realized that this was just typical physical contact for her.

“Hey, Saki. I haven’t heard your impressions yet.”

Ah, right.

“I thought it was wonderful.”

“I see, I see! Thank you. What’s your impression of

Singapore? A great place, right? Are you having fun?”

“Yes, I didn’t think it’d be such a beautiful city. Though it’s a

bit too hot for my taste.”

“Haha! That’s right, it’s still mid-winter over in Japan, right?

Say, Saki, you seem to be going along with everyone here…
but do you have a special someone in this group? A lover,
maybe?”

“Huh?!”

L-Lover?!

“You must have one, right? You’re so pretty. There’s no way

people would leave you alone. So tell me, who and who are
the lucky person?”

Huh? What? Who and who? Did I just mishear things right
now?

“That reaction… There’s someone, right?”

I happened to glance over at Asamura-kun, only to quickly

avert my eyes. Why is she just bluntly asking such
embarrassing things? Or am I just misunderstanding her?
Granted, her English was a bit on the harder side of things.
Maybe it’s because this is a genuine conversation, or maybe
it’s her accent. I don’t know what the secret ingredient is,
but I never really struggled to understand her up to this
point. But she’s speaking a lot more frankly right now, so
maybe I’m just mistranslating what she’s telling me…
“I-I don’t have somebody like that!”

“Really?” She narrowed her eyes with a smirk.

It’s almost like she saw right through me and is just telling
me to confess. And I realized that with just her words alone,
that wouldn’t have come across… Maaya was right! But
that’s not the problem right now. I broke out in a bit of a
panic as Melissa let go of my shoulders. A man approached
us, calling Melissa’s name. She then jumped into his arms
and they exchanged a passionate kiss right in front of us.
Honestly, I thought my heart was gonna leap out of my
chest. My instinct told me to turn my back towards it, which
caused me to see everyone’s faces. They all were just as
shocked as me, but they kept on looking.

“You boys! Stop staring!” Maaya leaned forward.

I slowly turned around again to look… But they were still at

it. Melissa and the man were tightly embracing each other,
as if trying to suck up each other’s warmth. Eventually, they
moved their heads away from each other and Melissa
turned to me again.

“Where are you people staying?”

I was spacing out and didn’t listen properly. Only after a

brief moment of silence did I realize she asked me where we
were staying during our field trip. I discussed this with
Maaya and told Melissa about the nearest bus stop we had
to take. That shouldn’t be a problem, at least. Upon hearing
that, Melissa mentioned that her home was in the same
direction, asking if we should head home together. And
since we had to get going soon, we decided to agree. While
we sat on the bus ride, Melissa and I talked almost the
entire time.

I didn’t think I’d have to rely on my practice in such an odd

circumstance, but I’m happy that my efforts paid off, at
least. Granted, Melissa used some slang and other terms I
didn’t know, so I couldn’t pick up every little thing she said,
but what she tried to convey definitely came across. As for
our topics, it was honestly a bit of everything. What’s
popular right now in Japan, our favorite songs, and since
Melissa was a huge fan of anime and manga, we talked
about some series here and there, but as I wasn’t so much
of an avid reader, so I couldn’t contribute much.

Maybe I should have asked Maaya for help. But she was
busy talking with everyone else, as she usually did.
Melissa’s boyfriend (?) didn’t come with us. They separated
at the restaurant. Apparently, they live in different areas.
We then got off the bus near the hotel and Melissa went her
way, saying she hoped we’d meet again if the chance arose.

The rest of us entered the hotel, and I talked a bit with the
girls from Maru-kun’s group in the lobby. Since I
remembered their names and faces after just meeting
today, I guess I’ve made some progress myself. But at the
same time, I realize that this usually happens when Maaya
is around.

As we headed deeper inside and back to our rooms, my

phone started being flooded with new messages. It was
from the group chatroom, with people saying ‘Today was
fun’ or ‘Good night everyone.’ It wasn’t anything out of the
ordinary, but looking at it made me feel fluffy inside. That’s
probably why I responded with ‘It was fun,’ myself. Then
things moved to the girls’ only group, where I sent a sticker
of a smiling cat. It’s the one that Maaya loves to send. In
response came a flood of stickers. They each were themed
around smiles, but everybody used different characters or
motifs. I think this really shows the differences between
people. Maaya, for example, sent some kind of weird sticker
of a robot laughing. What even is that?
After arriving at our room, we changed into something more
comfortable. I wanted to make sure that my uniform didn’t
end up with any wrinkles, only to realize that my skirt had
been tattered a tad bit. Luckily, there weren’t any holes that
needed fixing. Nothing more than a frayed spot. It must
have happened when we were walking through the zoo or
the night safari. There were a lot of bushes or branches that
it could have gotten stuck on. It wasn’t significant enough
that it stood out but I couldn’t just leave it alone, either. But
to get it fixed completely, I’d have to take it to a tailor back
home in Japan.

I looked through my suitcase, only to realize my blunder. I

didn’t bring a sewing kit with me. What do I do… I should
ask if I can borrow it from someone else. I feel like Maaya or
Satou-san should have one.

“Um…”

I raised my head and tried to speak up, but I realized that

Satou-san was busy with a phone call. It must be that girl
‘Mio-chan’ from Asamura-kun’s group. They were probably
discussing what happened today. Normally, she was always
very docile and introverted, but when talking with her
friend, she seemed so happy and energetic. I didn’t want to
bother her for my own reasons. As for Maaya… she was
doing something on her phone. Yeah, I’d rather not get in
their way.

I checked the time on my phone. I could still head outside if

I needed to. And by ‘outside,’ I was referring to the
convenience store here on the hotel grounds. They might
have a sewing kit there. I put my wallet into my purse and
told Maaya I’d be heading to the convenience store real
quick. On the way, I explained the circumstances to the
vice-principal and headed to the first floor of the hotel.
Although it was located on the hotel premises, this
convenience store was big enough to have two entrances.
One for the front outside the premises, and one for the hotel
visitors. I immediately went to look for the sewing kit when
a familiar voice called out my name. When I turned around, I
spotted a woman smiling at me with a plastic bottle in hand
—It’s Melissa. She had a basket hanging from her arm, filled
with drinks and potato chips.

“Oh, wow! This is the hotel where you’re staying? What a

coincidence. Do you have some time to talk?”

“Um…”

I hesitated for a moment but saw it as a chance to practice

my English further, and I had no reason to decline in the
first place. So I agreed for a bit longer. Melissa finished
paying for her goods, handing them to the man standing
next to her. Looking at him, I was confused, as he wasn’t the
man we met at the restaurant. The man she kissed had an
Asian look with straight black hair, but this one here has red
hair, is a bit smaller, and gives off friendly vibes. I don’t
think he’s family, either, they look too different. The man
accepted the plastic bag, kissed Melissa on the cheek, and
left the convenience store.

“Are you sure?”

“About what?”

“Making your friend wait, I mean.”

“It’s okay. We’ll spend the rest of the evening together,

anyway. Also, he’s not my friend, he’s my boyfriend.”

…Come again? Maybe I misheard her? Did she just call him
her boyfriend? I was confused, but still somehow managed
to buy the sewing kit, as well as a can of coffee while I was
at it. After that, I moved to the rest area in the lobby with
Melissa. I think it should be fine if we talk here for another
ten minutes or so. We weren’t alone either, so no problems
there. But right as I sat down, my phone vibrated. Taking it
out, I saw that I had gotten a message from Maaya.

“Did I interrupt you?”

Melissa asked me with a worried expression, but I reassured

her I was fine. She just had invited me to play cards with
them, so joining in later shouldn’t be a huge issue. Though I
did respond with a quick message. In the meantime, Melissa
opened a can of beverage she had at her feet. Bubbles
came gushing out, and she put her lips to it, drinking a good
sip. It must be beer, or something else with carbohydrates.
It does smell of alcohol, at least.

“Want a sip, Saki?”

“No thanks. I’m still a minor.”

“Oh? I thought Japanese people were regarded as adults at

18?”

I’m surprised she knows about that. But that’s also not quite
right.

“Not when it comes to drinking or smoking. Also, I’m still 17

anyway.”

“Oh, really? I’m sorry. I guess I can’t even invite you out for
a drink then.”

“And I’ve got a curfew, too. Though I’m happy for the
invitation.”
“A curfew! Wow, I had no idea… Then that means you only
get to see your lover during the day.”

For some reason, she showed sympathy and regret. And

then she said that we won’t get any time to indulge in
sexual activities during the day… Wait, what?

“Hm? Did you not understand me? Maybe my pronunciation

was off.”

No, that wasn’t the problem. I just thought… I heard some

unorthodox vocabulary mixed within her statement. Melissa
narrowed her eyes, assuming I didn’t understand her.

“Hm, I think you’d be just fine, Saki.”

“…For that?”

I asked in English, but…

“Like, intercourse. Jumping into the box. Deepening your

bonds. That kind of thing?”

Out of the blue, she started speaking in Japanese.

“Wh-What are you saying?! Keep it down!”

Melissa saw my reaction and covered her mouth with both

her hands.

“But you’re a lot louder than me.”

I gasped and looked around me. Luckily, only a few people

were around, and none of them were paying us any
attention. Phew… that made me panic for a second.

“Melissa-san, you’re speaking Japanese…?”

“Ah, yeah. I do understand a bit. I’m half-Japanese, after all.”

“…What?”

When she told me that, I once again looked closely at her. I

always felt like she had Asian looks, but with blonde hair
and tan skin, it was really hard to be sure.

“Specifically, my mother is from Taiwan and my father from

Kyushu. They got to know each other when she was
studying overseas.”

“I had no idea.”

We then switched to Japanese, and she told me about her

life. She said that her mother, born in Taiwan, came to Japan
to study, where she met her father. After she graduated,
they went to get married, and Melissa was born in Japan.
That’s why she had a Japanese birth certificate. She spent a
few years in Japan, so she can at least speak the language.

“My real name is Woo Meishen. That’s what he called me

just now, remember? Melissa is just my English name.”

She must be talking about the man who was with her in the
convenience store. Though I didn’t remember what he
called her.

“Then should I call you Meishen instead?”

“I’ll leave it up to you. Though I would prefer Melissa,” she

said as a faint shadow appeared on her face.

…Maybe there’s something going on behind the scenes? I

can’t help feeling curious. And I’m guessing Melissa saw
this, as she asked me another question.
“How many lovers would you like to have, Saki?”

Did she just ask… How many?

“Isn’t it normal to just have one?” I answered, and Melissa

sighed.

“So that’s gonna be your answer…”

I mean, I was the one who was surprised.

“Could you elaborate?”

“I want more than two, at least.”

“Excuse me?”

“Is that really so shocking to hear?”

“To me it is, yes.”

“But… there’s not just one singular reason why you would
fall in love with people, right?”

Her words made me think. Reason to fall in love with

someone… Because they’re kind. Because they’re cool.
Because they’re handsome… Those sorts of things, right?

“Exactly. Because your hobbies align. Because your

personalities match.”

“Ah, because you’re a good match with that person—”

“Because your bodies are a perfect fit.”

…Guess not.
“And there’s no guarantee that one person fulfills all those
various requests you may have.”

“That… is true, but…”

I’d love to meet a person like that.

“And going with that, it’s not normal to only love one
person, right?”

“Erm…”

I think that’s a bit of a leap.

“For example, my taste in alcohol is similar to that man you

just saw.”

“So… he’s your drinking buddy?”

“Our bodies are a great fit, too. In bed, of course. He does

everything I love having done to me.”

You really don’t need to go into so much detail… I could feel

my cheeks growing hot.

“So that person at the restaurant…”

“He’s also in the music scene. And our taste in music

matches. I want more people to listen to his music. But no
matter how much love he may whisper to me, he’s not
interested in my body.”

That… happens, I guess?

“If there’s only one reason to like, then you can just pick
who feels better. But with many various reasons to love
someone, you can’t just keep yourself limited to just one
person.”
“I get where you’re coming from, but…”

“You also think it’s weird, right?”

“Well…”

Denying something just because I can’t grasp the logic

would speak against my ethics. I don’t want to force my
views and principles onto other people. Especially when it
comes to skinship and how other people love.

“…I won’t deny how you feel, but I’m curious. Going with
that logic, it means that the other person can choose as
many other lovers as they want, right?”

“That’s true,” Melissa responded bluntly.

She looked at me like I asked something weird.

“Um, so… Are all those men you’re dating actually…”

“I know. It wouldn’t be fair otherwise. Though, both parties

have to agree to this, of course,” she said with a smile,
which left me speechless.

It was a set of values I hadn’t encountered before, which

made this even more baffling. Compared to Melissa’s
argument, Professor Kudou’s endless barrage of logic and
reason was much easier to grasp.

“Saki, I’m happy you didn’t call it weird.”

I gasped. Melissa dropped her gaze.

“When I was living in Japan, nobody understood what I was

talking about. Nobody would even listen to me. That’s why I
came here. But when people heard that I came from Japan,
a lot of people expected chastity and virtue from me.
Despite my hair and skin color.”

“That’s why you chose an English name?”

Melissa nodded. She dyed her hair, put on makeup, and

chose an English name, which allowed her to finally find
people who agreed with her logic. A place where she could
communicate as she wanted. According to her, she learned
English, Chinese, and Japanese. However, she usually keeps
everything in English. Upon hearing that, it felt like I
understood her at least a bit. The reason I dye my hair and
pay close attention to my clothes is that my own body is
slightly different from who I wanted to be. Everyone said
that it fit with who I was. If I was as strong as Yomiuri Shiori-
san, I may have been able to do what she does. Being true
to herself while also retaining her typically Japanese beauty.
But I knew I wasn’t as strong as her. And so that I don’t get
dragged in a direction I don’t prefer, I chose to build up my
armament.

“When I saw you, Saki, I had a hunch.”

“Huh…?”

“That we resemble each other.”

I remembered earlier when she smiled at me in the

restaurant.

“That’s why I decided to talk to you. I think I was half

correct, and half off the mark. You tend to hold back when it
comes to a lot of things, right?”

“Does it… look that way?”

“At least to me, it does.”

It’s easy to deny that. But what good would that do?

“Saki, you’re extremely bothered when it comes to the

gazes of others and the pressure from society, right?”

“That… is true.”

During this entire trip, I hadn’t mustered up the courage to

talk to Asamura-kun even once. No matter what I say, that
fact can’t be denied.

“It’s so constraining, right?”

When she said that, I felt the urge to fire back.

“But limiting yourself to the choice of not speaking Japanese

isn’t?”

“I’m saying that you need to find a place where you can be
as selfish and free as you want, or you’ll break apart.”

Despite my outburst, Melissa continued to speak with kind

words, making me realize how she just hit the nail where it
hurt. And that made me feel embarrassed.

“You must find a community that lets you live freely without
trying to block off and restrain every single thing you do.”

It wasn’t about living carelessly and as I wanted, but more

about finding a safe space where I was allowed to do that…
is probably what she’s saying. And that was all she told me.
She left and returned to where her boyfriend was waiting.
They planned to have some drinks and snacks and watch
anime all night. I also gulped down the rest of the canned
coffee I bought. A faint sweetness danced on top of my
tongue and remained there. If I’d known that would happen,
I would have chosen black coffee.
When I got back to the room, Maaya was still getting
absolutely beat up by Satou-san in the card game they were
playing.

“That’s why I wanted you to join us, Saki!”

So she wanted me to join simply so that she wouldn’t end

up with only losses under her belt?

“I mean, you’re bad at this game, too! You’re always about

to win, only to forget you gotta call it.”

I mean… that’s not wrong. But that just happens from time
to time.

“Um, should we play one more game, then? I promise I’ll

hold back.”

“Winning such an easy game won’t make me happy at all!”

“Ah… I’m sorry…” Satou-san made a saddened expression,

which made Maaya panic.

What a rare sight.

“N-No, you don’t have to apologize, Ryou-chan. You’re not at

fault! It’s all because of this boring lady over here!”

“Who’s a boring lady?”

“You?”

“Don’t phrase it as a question.”

“If you had been here, I would have won a few rounds
without Ryou-chan having to hold back!”

That might be true logic-wise, at least…

“You can’t know that for sure.”

“Oh, now you said it. Let’s have one final match!”

“If we don’t take a bath soon, it’ll be lights out before we get
to, you know?”

“Just one more round! Please!”

I swear… Maaya began distributing the cards before I could

even say yes or no. But in the end, we played one more
round, and Satou-san won. In the final round, I managed to
barely win against Maaya, who ended up in last place again.

“Oh…Hm? This is weird…” I smirked.

“You two, it’s bath time,” Maaya said, trying to escape

reality.

“I already took a bath,” Satou-san said.

How admirable.

“Then let’s go take a bath together, Saki.”

“Why together…?”

“We won’t make it in time otherwise, right?”

I glanced at the time, and just as she said, we couldn’t

afford to take turns.

“C’mon, c’mon.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Luckily, the bath here in this room was relatively spacious,

allowing us both to use it at the same time. It felt like it was
designed for Japanese traditions, which I was grateful for.
Once I finished my shower, I continued washing my body.
Meanwhile, Maaya hopped in the bath.

“Took you some time to get back, huh? What happened?”

“Ah, about that…”

I told her what happened while I washed myself off. That I

met Melissa in the convenience store, and that we had been
talking in the lobby until now.

“Oh, I see. So she’s got two hot buds, eh? Well, I get where
she’s coming from. If there are various reasons to come to
like someone, and if these reasons don’t co-exist in two
people at the same time, then you would have to rely on
having several lovers.”

“That’s pretty much it, but why’d you phrase it that way?”

“I mean, it’s fair if permission is involved. The real problem

is the matching.” Maaya said as she stood up from the
bathtub.

Her towel fell off into the water, allowing me to see her

navel and the area around that. I swear, use your towel
properly… After I finished my shower, I switched places with
her and stepped into the bathtub. Allowing yourself to sink
as deep as possible into the water really is what makes this
feel like a Japanese bath. It’s like all the exhaustion of the
day was being washed away. As my head started feeling
fuzzy from the heat, I asked one more question.

“What do you mean by matching?”

“I mean, one side might like it, but the other doesn’t. And
that goes both ways. If both sides agree and there’s no
actual harm, then just let them do as they please, really.”

“Harm…”

What a violent choice of words.

“Think about it in extreme ways. What about a world where

there’s only one man left but many women, or vice versa?
The idea of having only one partner would lead to the ruin of
humanity.”

That… is an extreme example, yeah. But I get where she’s

coming from.

“In other words, if you try to abide by the morals and ideas
of having only one partner as it’s common in Japan, then
there may be a problem.”

Morals change as does the world. As expected, you could

say. And if Professor Kudou was here, she’d move on with
exactly that rebuttal.

“Exactly. Of course, the opposite can be the case, too.

However, the sign of a grown world and society would be
that, as long as your morals aren’t injuring or hurting
anybody else, you should try to keep them.”

“Right…”

“A character in a science-fiction anime I watched before said

that, actually.”

“Does all your wisdom come from anime, Maaya?”

“I’ve got sound effects, too.”

“How trivial.”
“It’s not. Want me to tell you?”

“I’ll pass.”

I’d never get a wink of sleep if she started on that.

“Anyway, if the people involved are happy, what’s it matter?

As long as they accept it. But, Saki, in your case—”

I was indulging in the hot and pleasant bath so much that

my brain was lagging behind.

“—You wouldn’t want Asamura-kun to be stolen from you,

right?”

“Of course I wouldn’t,” I blurted out without hesitation but

realized it too late.

I looked over at Maaya in shock, who grinned at me. It’s not

like it matters much, but the way the shampoo on her head
formed bubbles made her smile look even more devious.

“Now you’ve said it.”

“Agh… Um…”

“Hee hee hee! You don’t need to hide it anymore, for real!”

“B-But… We’re supposed to be siblings… It’s weird, right?”

I was worried about what she’d think about it.

“I mean, you’re basically strangers who became non-blood-

related step-siblings. Of course, that doesn’t mean that all
step-siblings in the world will necessarily end up the same
as you two.”

“Y-Yeah…”
“But in the beginning, you didn’t look at him the way you do
right now, did you? You planned to remain in a plain and dry
position as his younger sister, I bet.”

Absolutely. How does she understand me so well?

“You’re just like an open book.”

“R-Really?”

“To me at least.”

I had no idea.
“I had a feeling like you two might have ended up in a
relationship like that.”
“Ugh… Was it that obvious?”

Honestly, I was so worried about what she’d think if she

found out, but now that the cat’s out of the bag, I just feel
exhausted more than anything.

“So?”

“So… what?”

“If you don’t want him running around cheating, you should
probably keep him tied down. Are you doing it?”

“D-Do what?”

“Like, going on dates.”

“Ah, that’s what you meant.”

Wait, what did I think she was asking me? Gosh…

“That’s fine, too. But I’ll have you tell me all about that later
during some pillow talk.”

“Nothing of that sort has happened, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. Anyway, you’re on a trip, remember? You’ve

gotta use that to your advantage.”

“But it’s not just us two. We’re on a school field trip.”

“Then how about you two youngbloods go on a date

tomorrow? Luckily, Asamura-kun’s group is also touring
Sentosa Island. And we can move freely tomorrow.”

“Is that…”

…really something we can do?

“If you leave him to himself, he might walk around with the
girls from his group.”

Hmph.

“And lately, he’s been a lot more conscious about his outfits.
People have been more interested in talking to him, too.”

Mhmph…

“Really?”

“Well, that’s what I say.”

“Just you…”

Stop scaring me like that.

“Anyway, it’s my job to ensure that my group gets to have

fun and returns to Japan with a bunch of great memories.
And you’re part of my group, Saki. So tell me… What do you
want to do?”

Maaya rinsed the shampoo off her hair and then looked at

me. She was grinning, too. No fair. If she asks me like that…

“I want to walk around with Asamura-kun…Just the two of

us.”

Maaya let out a snort.

“Good girl. Well said.”

“Ugh, this is so embarrassing.”

But when I look at Maaya, and how she allows me to easily

talk about what’s on my mind… Then maybe she is one of
those communities that’ll accept me fully… just like Melissa
told me about. Though I’d be happy if I could be someone
like that for Maaya, too.

“Then you have to tell Asamura-kun that, okay?”

“Will do.”

I almost died from the embarrassment, so I dove deeper

into the bathtub so that only my eyes and upper head were
visible. ‘Thanks, Maaya…’ My mumbling turned into bubbles
and dispersed as they reached the surface of the water.

We finished our bath, and after I was finished drying my

hair, I immediately slipped into my bed. Before the
drowsiness got the better of me, I quickly thought about my
plans for tomorrow. We’ll be spending the whole day at
Sentosa Island, and although we were supposed to stay in
our groups, Maaya said it was fine to explore independently.
And I think the same was true for Asamura-kun’s group.

Since this sounded like another lucky coincidence, I bet

Maaya set this up with Maru-kun. And since Satou-san is
friends with a girl from their group, she won’t mind. In fact,
she might want to walk around with her. I wonder what
Maaya will do. I grabbed my phone which was currently
charging. I’ll just send Asamura-kun a message. I think all
this heat and passion from today is making me go crazy.
And because Maaya pushed me like this. She even found
out, too. I have to tell him about that, too.

‘I’d like to walk around alone with you on Sentosa Island

tomorrow. Do you think that’s possible?’

I even added the excuse that we didn’t have to walk around

as a big group as long as we didn’t leave the island. There
are going to be so many 2nd-year students from Suisei High
on the island. However, as long as we stay away from
crowded places and pay attention, we shouldn’t run into
anybody that knows us. That should allow us to meet up.

I got a read notification attached to my message but the

time spent waiting for his response felt like an eternity. I
grew worried that maybe I was putting too much pressure
on him. When the message notification came in, I felt my
chest tightening.

‘Got it. I’ll tell the people in my group, so I’ll let you know if
we can meet up and everything else tomorrow.’

A sigh escaped my lips. It wasn’t an OK or a no, but it could

be worse. Honestly, there’s no guarantee we can always be
alone. At least he didn’t decline so… the rest depends on
tomorrow. I was so relieved that I started feeling sleepy
immediately. But as my consciousness started drifting away,
another message came in. I rubbed my eyes and checked
my phone.

‘I also want to walk around with you, Ayase-san.’

…Huh? Oh, that makes me really happy. How should I

respond? After a lot of worrying, I just went with a sticker. I
didn’t want to be too happy in case something comes up
and it makes it harder for him to decline. All I could do was
pray that we could walk around the island together as I
closed my eyelids.
 Chapter 9

February 19th (Fri) – Field Trip

Day 3 – Ayase Saki

In order to read a letter written on paper, you need light.

However, a message on the phone can be read in darkness
without any issue. Even a message from Asamura-kun could
stay hidden from anybody else as long as I cover my head
with my blanket. It doesn’t attract another person’s
curiosity. As for how I look at other people from the outside
—I wasn’t thinking about that at all.

The very first thing I did after waking up was grab my

smartphone and pull my blanket over my face, checking my
LINE app… However, there was no reply. Well, it’s still 6 am.
Breakfast is at 7, so he might still be asleep. Maybe he’s
telling his group that he wants to walk around alone today.
The answer might come any second. There’s no need to
rush.

“Puwah!”

I pushed the blanket off my head and sighed. Next to my

bed, Maaya was busy combing her hair, as our eyes met.

“Oh, Saki. Were you doing some blanket diving

championship?”
I don’t think a championship like that exists.

“It’s pretty hot, huh?”

“…I wonder why,” Maaya gave me a cold stare.

I was aware that I must have looked like an idiot. That’s why
I shrugged it off completely. I put on my clothes, ate
breakfast at the cafeteria, and checked my phone again, but
there was still no response. I started growing worried,
thinking that maybe I shouldn’t have asked him. Maybe I
should send him another message? But I don’t want him to
think that I’m being clingy. And while I hesitated, we
prepared to head off. Then again, we’re going to the same
place, so while we’re together as a group, we should be able
to see each other once or twice, right? There’s no need to
panic… or so I made excuse after excuse as we departed.

Sentosa Island is a small island located to the south of

Singapore itself. It was well-known as a leisure resort that
had a lot of popular tourist spots, such as Universal Studios
Singapore, Mega Adventure Park, and Palawan Beach. We
can’t enter them, but there are casinos, too. It was
connected to the main island of Singapore by a large bridge,
which could be traversed by car, bus, taxi, foot, monorail,
cable car, and so on. However, you had to pay an entrance
fee for entering. Our group chose the bus. There were four
lines on the bridge just for one side, as we were focused
entirely on the wide blue ocean to the left and right of us.
Just looking at the bridge connecting the islands, it wasn’t
much different from the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line—Actually,
that’s not true. There are four car lanes for just one side
here, and the color of the ocean felt more… southern?
Everyone was excited as they stared out of the window, but
as for me, I was staring at my phone. I sent Asamura-kun a
message.
‘Let me know when you can make some time.’

Of course, after we made it to the island. Right now, all of us

students should be traveling to the island. Maybe… I looked
up and gazed out of the window. There were several cars
lined up next to ours, but I didn’t see another bus. Maybe he
already made it onto the island, or maybe he’s only just now
making his way there. I sighed yet another time as my
phone vibrated, bringing me back to reality. I hurriedly
stared down at my phone.

‘Sorry for the late reply! I’ll make sure to slip out this
afternoon, so we can meet then!’

It was a relatively brief response, but it made me feel

relieved. Thank goodness. He’s trying to make it so that we
can be together, at least. But he still hasn’t told his group?
Well, Maaya already knows about my relationship with
Asamura-kun, so I’ve got her full support as the group
leader. However, the same can’t be said for Asamura-kun.
Even if he told them that he wanted to walk around the
island alone, they might just get angry at him for being a
lone wolf. Since he said he wanted to make it out this
afternoon, I should just trust him.

He probably wants to stay with his group at least for the

morning. I don’t want to get in the way of his friendships,
and if we get to see each other this afternoon, then I have
to be happy with that. I can’t be greedy. And I realized that
this exchange sounded oddly familiar to me. It felt like a
heavy stone landed deep inside my stomach. I was
reminded of the regular exchanges between my father and
Mom. She works at a certain bar in Shibuya as a bartender,
coming home late every day.
This was all job-related, so it couldn’t really be helped, and
my father should have known that. Yet when he was robbed
of his company and lost his trust in other people, he only
viewed others with doubt and distrust. Each and every
single day, he would complain. “Late again?” he’d ask Mom.
His angry voice made me curl up in fear, and I felt genuine
terror as a child. Wondering how he could say these things
and be mad at Mom. Back then, he was the unreasonable
one. The root of all evil. I wanted him to stop blaming Mom
for everything. And Mom just took it all in silence. She
probably realized that talking back at him wouldn’t get us
anywhere. Because it wasn’t based on logic. It was all
centered around his feelings.

I looked at my phone again. Asamura-kun hadn’t responded.

But he had his own friendships and relationships, and we
were still on a school field trip, so he didn’t have unlimited
free time. I’m just being selfish for expecting an immediate
response. I understand I shouldn’t feel this way. It’s not fair
to be annoyed that he couldn’t make time for me yet. I don’t
want to be like my father who just blurted out whatever
nasty thought crossed his mind. I ran my fingers along my
phone screen, typing a new message.

‘You don’t have to force yourself to make time. Just let me

know when it’s best for you.’

After sending that message, I raised my head.

“Hey, Maaya.”

“What’s up, my darling? Need to go to the toilet?”

“W-Will you shut up?”

We’re surrounded by people. What potty mouth is saying

these rude things, huh?
“Fwaf fwurfs!”

“I hope it hurts! No more joking around, okay?”

Ofay ofay, fwof fwuwing!”

I stopped pulling on her cheeks and cleared my throat to get

back on track.

“I was just wondering if your tummy hurt because you had

such a stern expression. Ah, are you congested?”

“…I will pull your cheeks again.”

“I’m sorry!”

“Enough with the jokes. I was just wondering what our plan
of action is once we get to the island.”

“Ah, right. As long as we meet up at the right place at the

right time, they’ll let us do pretty much whatever we want.
But that leaves us with too many options to choose from, so
I looked up a few recommended spots and added them to
the notes on LINE.”

“Oooh!” The other members of our group let out a groan of

admiration.

Satou-san even joined in. “That’s a huge help! Wow,” she

muttered. And she’s right. Since we were given this much
freedom, she could have very well just slacked off. And yet
she considered every possibility. This is the sort of thing that
makes her such a reliable person.

“The Universal Studios is right after we get off the bridge.

And a bit further west, there’s the Mega Adventure Park.”
“Hm. Which do you think would be better?” I asked, and
Maaya crossed her arms and started thinking.

“No matter which we go with, there’s way too much to see

in just the one day we have. Unless you guys have a specific
attraction you’d like to check out.”

“I see.”

“And we’ll be taking the same bus home later, so we’ll be on

a relatively tight schedule. If anything happens, be sure to
stay in contact. Everywhere around here has free wifi, at
least as far as I know.”

All of us group members said ‘Okaaay!’ in unison, like little

children after having listened to a safety instruction. It was
clear we all had great trust in our group leader. Then again, I
was the same.

“But in theory, we should start with the one furthest away.

Walking around with souvenirs after buying them too early
would be a drag.”

Everyone nodded. Soon after, we got off the bus, and after

careful consideration, the boys decided to head to the Mega
Adventure Park, whereas we three girls would meet up with
Satou-san’s friend Mio-chan midway, and then we’d all head
to Universal Studios Singapore together. I guess the boys
couldn’t win against the charm of ‘Adventure’ as the name
said.

“Not to mention that it isn’t just any regular adventure! It’s

mega!” or so they said, but I didn’t know what was so great
about that or why they’d even make such a big deal out of
it. Maaya said that boys like terms such as ‘mega’ or ‘giga.’
And considering she had multiple younger brothers, that
argument sounded even more convincing. We girls started
walking to the ticket gate for the Universal Studios building.
It was relatively easy to see, as the front was decorated with
a large blue globe that had ‘Universal’ written in
alphabetical letters on it. But when we got closer to it,
Maaya gently whispered into my ear.

“Are you sure about coming with us? I don’t think you’ll be
able to leave quickly after entering.”

She probably was asking me about my rendezvous with

Asamura-kun. However, I haven’t gotten a response since
we got off the bus, either. Just standing around doing
nothing would only make me restless.

“It’s fine. Let’s just have fun.”

That’s what I needed the most right now. I can just think
about the rest once Asamura-kun actually messages me. He
should be walking around somewhere himself. It’s fine. He
said he’ll let me know. We bought the tickets and then
entered through the front entrance.

The sun had reached its zenith. The sunlight felt even
stronger than yesterday, and the temperature had risen
accordingly. It made me forget that we were still only
halfway through February. We were told that it could rain
practically any day because Singapore was currently going
through its rainy season, but there was no cloud in sight. I
just hoped that my sunscreen worked as we walked around
inside the theme park. Until now, we had just been having
fun. I think I could relax a bit more since it was just us girls.
What surprised me the most was the fact that Satou-san of
all people had the most fun on the rollercoaster. She wanted
to ride it several times, so I took shelter under a roof and
sent off the girls who wanted to enjoy the rides some more.
My semicircular canals aren’t going to survive at this rate. I
get dizzy even when playing 3D games on a big screen.
And… I’m really scared, too.

I welcomed back the girls and we decided to eat something

at the park’s restaurant. I figured we’d then check out some
more attractions in the afternoon, but Maaya said she
wanted to do some more sightseeing. With that decided, we
headed to Palawan Beach. At around 3 pm, after the sun
had begun moving west, the sunlight grew a bit weaker. I
pretended to check the time on my phone but instead
looked at my messages. I think I’ve been doing that a lot
more frequently as soon as noon passed. And yet no
message came in.

Granted, we could rely on the free wifi sponsored by the

government, but I didn’t know when it’d just randomly cut
off, so I booted up LINE and sent Asamura-kun another
message.

‘We’re heading to Palawan Beach right now.’

Time-wise, the best we can do is probably shop for

souvenirs later. And if we wanted to make some memories
together, the beach is the best place, too. I was scared that
maybe we’d pass by each other without noticing. It wasn’t
that huge of an issue, but it’s one I wanted to avoid. I waited
a minute, but he didn’t even read my message. I grew a bit
concerned, wondering if something may have happened.

‘I’ll be waiting there, and I’ll let you know if we move.’

I really hope my messages reach him…

“All right, let’s move!”

When Maaya said that, I stood up. And then we started

moving toward our last spot of the day.
Sentosa Island was shaped like an inverted triangle, with the
southern area sticking out, although that could be hard to
see on the map. And the Palawan Beach in question was
located in the southwestern area (stretching from top left to
bottom right). On a map, it looks like a shore in the shape of
a 3. And from Universal Studios, the beach was a distance of
2km away, which was roughly a 30-minute walk. We saw
that it was a distance we could travel by foot, so we
immediately started our journey. We might as well enjoy the
scenery on the way.

“If we get lost, we can just have Saki ask someone for
directions.”

“Me?!”

“You’re the most proficient English speaker out of all of us,

after all,” Maaya said and Satou-san nodded.

I-I’m not that good… or so I wanted to say, but thinking back

on it, I was the only one who actually talked with Melissa
yesterday. We made our way towards the beach walking
behind the Universal Studios we had just come out from.
The exit we used was like a shopping mall with lots of
restaurants. Though since we had already eaten lunch, we
didn’t have any intentions of checking that out, but we
could still hear cheers coming from the attractions.

We left the area and walked down the path that was
probably the main road. We could once again see the clear
blue sky above us. The sunlight was definitely less intense
than before, but it was still plenty strong, which made my
eyes hurt when I looked up, and sweat started building up
on my skin. The temperature’s gone up, too.

“With weather like this, I’d love to have an umbrella,” Maaya

said and Satou-san nodded once more.
Yeah, this weather definitely brought the risk of heatstroke.
Especially since we were just walking alongside the road like
this. To our left and right were forests, and it felt like we
were walking through a jungle, with no stores or other
resting areas in sight.

“I heard there’s a giant hotel across the forest here,” Maaya

said.

She must be talking about the five-star hotel that we could

see on the map itself. Though the trees are blocking the
view right now. And amongst the rows of trees were palm
trees growing as if they had always been there since the
start, just mixing in.

“Ah, the sea…”

When I heard Satou-san’s voice, I quickly turned my head to

look straight ahead. In the distance, I could see a different
color of blue, and waves crashing against a beach
periodically.

“Wow!” Maaya gasped.

“It’s the sea! Should we start running towards it and then

jump at the same time?”

“Please don’t. You’ll just hurt yourself.”

The scary part about Maaya is that she’ll actually do things

like that if you don’t tell her off quickly enough.

“It’d feel very youth-like, though.”

“And what would all the residents and tourists think if they
saw a young girl screaming something in a foreign language
as she ran down the street?”
“How peaceful it is, probably?”

“I won’t deny that, but still…”

“Narasaka-san, you shouldn’t—”

“C’mon now, Ryou-chan, you can call me Maaya already.”

“…Maaya-san. That’s something you do when setting foot

on the sandy beach, right?”

“Oh, right! Ryou-chan, you’re a genius!”

Maaya created a peace sign with her fingers and held it out
toward Satou-san. Satou-san’s friend mentioned that she’d
never seen her open up this quickly and that she was
almost a bit jealous.

“Let’s start a cheerleading dance on the sandy beach with

our shoulders together!” Maaya suddenly came up with
another of her weird ideas.

“Not gonna happen.”

“If you stretch your leg up and snap a pic, I bet your brother
will be quite happy, too.”

“No way!”

…Ah, I didn’t mean to scream like that.

“So you do have an older brother, Ayase-san? Or is this…

more talk about having the little-sister attribute?” Satou-san
said.

“Well, um… I do have one.”

“How nice. I’m an only child, so I’ve always wanted
siblings.”

“And she reaaally likes her brother.”

“I’m a bit jealous.”

“This has nothing to do with anything!” I protested and tried

to end the conversation, but Maaya grinned at me.

“…He hasn’t contacted you yet, eh?”

“Ugh…” I faintly nodded.

She really sees through everything. The more we walked,

the bigger the sea began to look. The scent began drifting
over toward us, too, and it tickled my nose. Whenever
you’re in a southern country, you always get this rocky
scent. Then again, that makes sense. It’s connected to the
sea, after all. Finally, the beach spread out to our left and
right.

“Wow! It’s pure white!” Satou-san said with admiration.

Beyond the beach were the blue sea and the blue sky. And
diagonally to the right, we spotted a small island.

“That’s Palawan Island. You can even see the famous

suspension bridge.”

There was a small and narrow bridge connecting our side to

the island. It looked to be… around 50 meters long. It also
was barely hanging above the water’s surface.

“Is it famous?”

“Well, there’s always pictures of it, no matter if you check

the guidebook, pamphlet, or the Palawan Beach website.”
“That bridge… doesn’t look too reliable.”

“It’s no problem, Ryou-chan. It’s barely one meter deep

there, and there are ropes on both sides to make sure you
don’t fall, either.”

Just as Maaya said, there were rope-like nets on both sides

that looked like a guide rail.

“I… see?”

I guess she’s got a point.

“Anyway, let’s go! Since Palawan Island is so small, we

should be able to take a quick tour and then walk back!”

“O-Okay.”

But are we really going to walk across that bridge? After we

walked the path along the sandy beach, we reached a
billboard with rules and listened to the guide there. The tall
gate in front of us then opened, as we walked along the
green pathway, reaching the beginning of the bridge. This
sudden reveal made my heart skip a beat. Was it built like
this on purpose?

“Running down here could be dangerous, so let’s take our

time, okay?”

Should you really be saying that, Maaya? You’re the person

who keeps running ahead. But she’s not wrong. Each time a
person made a step on the bridge, it gently shook left and
right. To me, this entire ordeal was a lot more terrifying than
any rollercoaster I had ridden today. When passing someone
who came back from the island one had to either lean to the
left or right to avoid them, which made the bridge shake
even more. And you’d even bump into them from time to
time. I could feel my heart racing painfully fast, and even
though I knew I couldn’t fall, I really didn’t like this sort of
thrill. Eventually, we finally reached the shore, and having
solid ground beneath my feet caused me to sigh in relief. As
we walked along that shore, we could already see the sea
on the opposite side.

“This sure is a small island!”

Maaya was right. It was honestly pretty underwhelming. Just

walking around the whole island shouldn’t take too long, at
least. We went on our way, grabbing some sand from the
sandy beach, and we spent some time gazing at the waves
with the breeze blowing against us. The heat had receded a
bit, but I was exhausted so I sat down on a random chair
that happened to be sitting around.

“We’re already going home tomorrow, huh…?” Maaya said.

“It almost feels surreal. But we’re definitely traveling

outside of Japan,” Satou-san said as she took a picture of a
large boat traveling down the open sea.

She seemed a bit disappointed that the light from the sun
wasn’t quite enough to reflect everything properly.

“We didn’t even get to see very many places either, right?
I’d love to come again!”

“Would we really be able to?”

“If the traveling costs weren’t that big of a problem, we

could come every week. But it’s a great place. It’s beautiful
and safe, but it really hurts when you suck at English.”

“Which you don’t, right? You just can’t hold a proper

conversation,” I retorted to Maaya.
“I’ll just have to employ the services of a guide.”

“You’re not referring to me, are you?”

“Say, Saki, do you want to have your honeymoon here in

Singapore?”

“You’d better not be using someone else’s honeymoon as a

reason to come with them for a trip.”

What even are these ideas she’s brewing? After a quick

break, we decided to head back to the main island. After
reaching the beach, I turned around one more time. The sun
had begun sinking beneath the horizon, but the sky was still
blue. In Japan, it’d be slowly turning dusk right about now.

“Still bright out, huh?”

“Even after 7 pm, the sun’s still high up.”

“I heard that sunset in Singapore happens at around

7:20pm,” Satou-san told us.

“Hm? Ryou-chan, did you look that up online?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, you’re right! We’ve got wifi here… Ah!” Maaya

suddenly looked like she remembered something and turned
toward me. “You wanna stay here?”

“Huh?”

What’s she talking about?

“There’s one bus stop from here to the meeting point, so

can we go on ahead? We’ll wait at the souvenir shop.”
Maaya’s words made me remember the messages I had
sent to Asamura-kun.

‘We’re heading to Palawan Beach right now.’

‘I’ll be waiting there, and I’ll let you know if we move.’

I said I’d let him know if we move again. But on Palawan

Island, we were out of reach of the free wifi. If I don’t let him
know now, I’d have to wait here the entire time.

“I think this is probably the last place we’ll get to see with
such great scenery.”

“Ah, are you planning on meeting someone?” Satou-san’s

words caused my heart to skip a beat.

“How did you…””

“Well, you’ve been restless this whole time.”

Maaya burst out laughing when she heard that.

“I guess it’s time to drop your ‘Dry girl’ act, Saki!”

Dry… What kind of nickname is that? I never saw myself as

a dry or distant person. I just tried to live my life the way I
wanted without being shaken left and right.

“There’s still some sunlight left. You’ll be able to spot them

easily if you stay here. But be sure to be back in time for the
meet-up.”

“And I’d like to buy some souvenirs, too,” said Satou-san.

“We can do that, no biggie! Anyway… we’ll catch you later,

Saki.”
“Have fun.”

“…Huh? Are you sure?”

Before I could even say a thing, the two walked away, with
Maaya giving me a thumbs-up and moving her mouth
saying: “Good luck.” I swear, she couldn’t be any more
forceful… Watching the two walk towards the main road, I
sighed and took out my phone. She was right, I still had a
wifi connection. But I didn’t get any calls or messages. I
looked around me and then went back to the suspension
bridge again. Upon reaching the center, I stopped.

The sun was moving down the sky and towards the horizon.
It began to look smaller and smaller. And as I stood in the
center of the bridge, surrounded by nothing but water, it felt
like I had entered a world of my own. I could hear the
sounds of the birds flying way above my head, the waves
crashing against each other, and the wind hissing through
the bridge’s net. From time to time, I could hear a whistle
from a boat in the distance.

Time-wise, it seemed like most tourists had made their way

home for the day, and no one else came to walk across the
bridge, allowing me to focus solely on the sounds around
me. When I looked over at the beach, I saw that there were
still groups of people loitering about. And then I heard
voices approaching. A man and woman came from Palawan
Island, so I hurriedly made some space for them. It must be
a newlywed couple. They were holding hands as they smiled
at each other, passing me by with a quick “Excuse me.”
When they passed me, I caught a quick glance at them
again, as they looked at the setting sun in admiration.

With the sea on both sides, seeing the sunset at the horizon
definitely was a rare sight. I’m sure that’ll be a great
memory for them. And after they walked a few steps, they
looked to the west like I had before. The man moved over to
tightly embrace the woman’s shoulders, as they looked at
each other, and—I realized I was staring too much and
frantically averted my gaze.

It’s not very polite to stare like that. Eventually, the two of
them separated and walked further down the bridge,
causing me to sigh in relief. They didn’t even seem to care
that I was there. It made me realize that I had come a long
way from Japan. Is this because we’re overseas? Or because
the two of them were so absorbed with each other? Maybe
my sense of values is just old-fashioned?

“How nice.”

I realized what I’d just said and quickly covered my mouth in

shock. And I looked around frantically to see if anybody
heard me. A balance between desires and reason—no
matter the time and period, it almost always ended up as
two parallel lines.

Shirakawa no kiyoki ni gyo mo sumikanete

1
Moto no nigori no Tanuma koishiki

I remembered a bit of superficial knowledge I had picked up

during Japanese history class. When I think of people like
that doing as they please in front of others, I’m also
reminded that humans are animals too and that it’s their
instinct. Compared to that, I’m still hesitant when it comes
to Asamura-kun. I’m afraid that I’m too forward with my
desires… No, that’s not it. I’m scared of simply revealing
what my own desires really are. Even though we said how
important it was to adjust to each other.
And for that to be possible, I need to openly reveal my hand
from the very start. It’s okay if other people start to dislike
me. I have to reveal my own desires. What comes after… I’ll
worry about that later. I’m getting ahead of myself. I
clenched my phone and walked down the bridge. Upon
reaching the beach, I made sure I still had a wifi connection.

‘I’m waiting on the suspension bridge at Palawan Beach.

Please come.’

I made our meeting spot as obvious as possible. But instead

of simply saying ‘I’ll wait here,’ I decided to be more
assertive and asked him to come. Right afterward, I got a
read notification on my message.

‘Sorry for making you wait. I’m on my way right now.’

…What? I quickly raised my head, but I couldn’t see him in

the distance. Right now… When will that be? Worried, I
rushed back to the suspension bridge. I could see my
shadow from the sun as it slowly disappeared behind the
horizon. It felt like the darkness of night was slowly creeping
up on me. Agitation and narrow-mindedness were part of it.

Then, the suspension bridge shook slightly. Footsteps were

approaching. I looked away from the setting sun and turned
around. I spotted a boy running towards me, gasping for air,
and my chest tightened. I could tell who it was just by his
silhouette alone. Breathing heavily, drenched in sweat,
Asamura-kun ran towards me and spoke up.

“Sorry… It took me so long…”

Seeing him filled me with relief, and all the anxiety and
worries filling me were blown away. What happened that
caused him to take this long? Why did he end up getting
here this late? There were countless questions filling my
head even though I knew Asamura-kun must have had a
valid reason for it to be this way. Logic dictated this thought.
However, I realized that just holding back all the time will
leave things not conveyed. I can’t just erase the agitation
and narrow-mindedness that just filled me. And all these
feelings… my father just blamed Mom for. He clashed with
her, threw tantrums at her, and put her down. And that’s
how everything ended.

“I waited a long time,” I said, and Asamura-kun’s expression

grew stiff in regret.

I could see my mother’s facial expression from all those

years ago in his. That’s why I continued.

“You came for me, so…” I told him and remembered that
there was something even more important that I needed to
say.

I walked up to him and embraced him with both my arms.

“I’m happy that we get to see each other.”

And just as the setting sun’s color melted into the sky above
us, our silhouettes turned into one.

1A comical tanka from the Edo period, and after thorough

analysis (through Google) and a bit of help, it basically boils
down to “Rather than the current Matsudaira, I prefer the
former Tanuma.” They were both rulers, and whereas
Tanuma was a bit looser in terms of political decisions, the
people preferred that over the strict Matsudaira who came
after.
 Chapter 10

February 19th (Fri) – Field Trip

Day 3 – Asamura Yuuta

I knew Maru and Yoshida were quick to get up after what

had happened yesterday. And the fact that they’d
immediately embark on their adventure, too. Though that
only involved going to the convenience store here on the
hotel grounds. I knew I’d be left alone in the room, which
was why I set an alarm—And yet it didn’t ring. When my
eyes opened, I glanced at the clock on the table… and
realized it was 7 am. But when I realized that it was time for
breakfast, I panicked.

Already 7 am?! My head still felt a bit drowsy as I frantically

looked for my phone. And because the curtains were closed,
probably something the other two did to not wake me up,
the room was dark, and even as I ran my hand along the
table where I thought I placed my phone, I couldn’t find it.
Weird. I turned on the lights in the room and eventually
found my phone on the ground together with my charger.

Maybe I happened to push it off in my sleep, or maybe an

earthquake moved it while I was… No, there shouldn’t be
many earthquakes in Singapore. That means it must have
been an accident. I tried to turn on the screen, but it
remained black. I’m guessing I didn’t charge it and I now
had a solid 0% battery. I started panicking even more. That
means that, even if I get a message or something like that, I
won’t see it. And if Ayase-san responded, then I had no idea
either—Okay, calm down. I connected my phone to the
charger and waited for it to boot. A familiar logo appeared
on the screen, and my heart skipped a beat when I saw that
I had a message.

“…Just Maru, huh.”

He let me know that it was time for breakfast, but that was
the only message I got. Just to make sure, I checked if LINE
had updated since yesterday and then left the room. Since
my phone was out of juice, I had to leave it on the charger
for now.

“Yo, Asamura. Late bird today, aren’t we?”

“My phone ran outta battery,” I responded as I began

working my way through the buffet.

While eating my breakfast, I started thinking. I don’t think

it’ll finish charging during this small timeframe. That being
said, I can’t wait in my room until it’s fully charged. Granted,
we were given pretty much free rein within our groups, but
if I just stay in my room the entire time, people will think I’m
sick.

“Maru, do you think we’ve got time to stop at the

convenience store after this?”

“We’re not too stressed on time today, so should be fine.

What’s wrong? Is your stomach acting up?”

Even if it was, I really wish he wouldn’t just blurt that out.

“I’ve got some bitter pills if you need any.”

“No, I’m fine. I need a portable charger. I was wondering if
they sold one there.”

“Time won’t be an issue. There’s plenty of ways to and from

Sentosa Island, so as long as we’re not late to the meeting
point, it’ll be fine.”

“Got it.”

“I have some batteries on reserve. Wanna use them?” Maru

offered, but I declined.

He’ll probably need them in an emergency.

“By the way, where are the girls?”

Yesterday, the six of us definitely ate breakfast together.

Maru motioned with his chin and told me to look to my side.
When I did, I spotted a large gathering of girls sitting at
three tables joined together, holding some sort of meeting.
They were from various classes, too. Not just ours alone.

“They’re gonna walk around together?”

“Seems like it.”

“That’s nice.”

It’s always great to have plans.

“Well, Shinjou’s as popular as always, too.”

“Shinjou?”

Maru’s comment made me look at the group once more,

and then I spotted several boys mixed in, too. In the midst
of them was Shinjou from the class next to ours. When he
raised his head, his gaze met mine, and he waved at me. I
did the polite thing and waved back.

“Hold on… You two know each other?” Yoshida stared at me

in shock.

“Well, somewhat.”

“Seriously, I wonder how he can just fit into a group of girls

so easily. I’m jealous.”

“Really?”

Isn’t it because they’re on good terms? Well, being part of

such a large group would just be more exhausting for me.

“Don’t give me that. Why the heck are you so relaxed?

You’re acting like you have a girlfriend or something!”

“Huh? I can’t?”

“It’s not that you can’t. That’d leave me with fewer rivals.
But Asamura… Why are you keeping such a calm viewpoint?
Or… do you actually have a girlfriend, you bastard?!”

I panicked and shook my head several times. What’s he

being so angsty about? We’re still having breakfast right
now.

“I swear… All I wanted was to hang out and have fun with a
girl myself… But my youth is ashen-grey. I wanna run
around in the world of dreams and chase after a mouse
while holding hands.”

Don’t chase that poor mouse around. She did nothing

wrong.
“Hey, Maru. Can’t you draw upon your vast knowledge to
tell me a good curse or two? Something that’ll make him go
bald in twenty years, or that he’ll get fat. Anything goes.”

Those are very specific curses.

“I don’t know about any curses… But maybe something like

1 2
Eko Eko Azarak , Elohim Essaim , or “I shall exact and
3
accomplish my resentment!” maybe? Anyway, I think you
should quit it while you can.”

“Why?”

“Think about it. You never know what could happen. What if
we run into another group like yesterday? Are you just
gonna curse them?”

“That… is true!”

Yoshida’s expression lit up instantly like he felt much more

at peace. I guess that worked.

“Asamura, he’s just grumbling normie nonsense. Ignore

him.”

“Really?”

He sure seemed to resent them, though.

“Remember: Those who freely speak their mind and desires

are what you call normies. Those who live in the darkness
like us don’t have the courage to speak our minds.”

Right. Somehow that makes sense, but also not really.

“…The same goes for you then, Maru?”

“No comment.”

After we finished eating our breakfast, Maru and Yoshida

returned to the room and I headed to the convenience store
and bought a portable charger. It works just fine and takes
batteries, too. And since I bought a few of those, it should
keep me steady for the rest of the day. I went back to my
room and checked my phone, which had just made it past
20% charge. As I thought, I don’t see this finishing by the
time we leave. And I hadn’t gotten any messages from
Ayase-san, either. I imagine she’s busy this morning, too.

Our bus was heading for Sentosa Island right now. On the
way there, I got another message from Ayase-san.

‘Let me know when you can make some time.’

She probably wants me to contact her when I find a chance

to slip out of the group. If I had to guess, they’re probably
also crossing the bridge to head to Sentosa Island right
about now. She might even be in one of the buses ahead of
or behind us. Public transport like this has the free wifi, after
all. She should get a response right away, right? And will she
be in a state where she can look at it?

“Asamura,” Maru, who was seated next to me on the bus,

suddenly called out to me, which startled me enough to
make me almost drop my phone.

“What?”

“I did say we were free to move around today, but what are
your plans?”

“Huh? Didn’t we already decide?”

“Oh, right. Hm, hmmm,” Maru mumbled as he looked down
at his phone, swiping on his screen.

“Did you already buy your souvenirs?”

“Huh? I was thinking of doing that tomorrow.”

Our schedule for tomorrow was pretty loose, since we just

had to go home. However, we were given some extra time
at the airport so we could buy souvenirs. I was thinking of
buying something for my parents, but since I don’t really
see any of my relatives too much, I won’t have to buy too
many. Though I’ll have to buy something for my work
colleagues. Such as my senior who carefully (?) looks after
me.

“Not that,” Maru lowered his voice as he continued. “I mean

for your sister.”

…Huh? To be perfectly honest, that thought hadn’t even

crossed my mind. At first, he only knew about me having a
new little sister, who I thought was a lot younger. But by
now he should know that this sister in question is Ayase-san.

“Why would you buy souvenirs from the place you both end
up visiting…?”

Souvenirs are to grant the other person a fragment of an

experience for something they haven’t experienced. I don’t
see the reason for buying any souvenirs for Ayase-san,
who’s on the exact same trip to Singapore as me.

“I guess I didn’t make myself clear enough. I’m asking if

you’re gonna buy anything for her. I’m sure it’ll turn be a
great memory.”

“Ah.”
That’s what he meant. I get where he’s coming from. Back
in middle school, you’d buy each other wooden swords or
pennants or something. Thinking back on it now, I probably
bought those in the heat of the moment. However, each
time I look at the pennant in my room, it reminds me of my
classmates back then. And it makes me smile about how
stupid we were. Memories of this trip, huh? I think that’s
something we should both buy together. Or I could give it to
her as a present. It sounded fun, at least.

“Do you have any recommendations?” I asked Maru.

“Good question. Yoshida and I are gonna head to the USS

now and there’s a lot of stores inside and outside of that.”

USS referred to ‘Universal Studios Singapore.’ It probably

tops the list of things to see on Sentosa Island. There are
going to be a lot of students who’ll head there immediately.
In fact, the girls in our group said they would be, too. Maybe
Ayase-san will be there, too. If so, slipping out and meeting
her should prove easy.

Based on our current rate of travel, we should get to the

island around noon. I don’t know where she’ll be eating
lunch, but it’s probably a good idea for me to finish mine
before we meet. And getting a present for her would
probably be best if it’s a surprise, so I won’t tell her
anything until then. With all of that decided, I sent Ayase-
san a message.

‘Sorry for the late reply! I’ll make sure to slip out this
afternoon, so we can meet then!’

She immediately read my message and responded.

‘You don’t have to force yourself to make time. Just let me

know when it’s best for you.’
After reading that, I turned towards Maru and said I’d join
them on their trip to USS.

At the entrance, I split up from Maru and Yoshida. I went to

the shopping mall to grab a bite and then walked around the
inside to look for a present. I wonder what Ayase-san would
be happy to get. A plush toy? Some jewelry? Maybe some
stylish perfume? No, that’s not it. The keyword for this time
should be ‘Memory.’ Namely, something that will remind her
of the time we came to Singapore together (technically)
when we were 17. If I bought her anything too directly
related to USS, she might just mistake it for some kind of
Osaka merch. Meaning that it should also be something
unique to this country…
4
I looked around and spotted a keychain of the Merlion . It
really feels like the perfect souvenir to bring from Singapore,
but… it also feels no different from the pennant I got in
middle school. In the end, I decided to buy two of them
anyway. Better have something in case I walk around and
come back empty-handed. I finished the payment and
decided to make my way out to do some genuine present-
hunting when my phone vibrated. When I took it out, I saw
that I had a message from Maru. Not to mention a phone
call. I figured it must be something urgent.

“Yes, this is—”

Before I could even finish my sentence, Maru spoke up.

‘Can you come back to the entrance?’

“—I can.”

I immediately stormed out of the store and rushed back

through the mall.
‘Then please do. Someone collapsed from anemia.’

“Who?”

‘I don’t know their name. Hm?’

Someone must be speaking to Maru.

‘—Makihara. A girl from a neighboring class’ group. I saw a

group of people and asked what happened when—’

“Got it. I don’t need the details right now. Is she okay?”

‘Yeah. It’s nothing majo—’

Maru’s words were cut off. I looked at the phone and saw
that the call had dropped. Either because Maru walked
somewhere or because I ran out of range. I got the gist and
that was enough. I looked up at the translucent ceiling
above us. Supposedly, Singapore should be in the rainy
season. However, the sky couldn’t be any bluer. And the
temperature was dangerously high. It was even making my
throat hurt a bit. Definitely a case of heatstroke. I looked at
my phone, but no follow-up message came from Maru. After
around ten minutes, I reached the place we initially split up.
I could see Maru’s large body across the gate, with the girls
having worried expressions and Yoshida carrying someone
on his back. That must be the girl that collapsed. I went for
a final jog for the last few meters, as Maru spotted me and
spoke up.

“Sorry about this, Asamura.”

“No worries. So, what’s happening?”

“We got her to rest in a cooled room for a while. An

employee came to check up on her, but she’s back with us,
and she’s feeling a lot better. They just called the
homeroom teacher.”

The girls nodded to that.

“The same thing happened elsewhere, so Tsuji-sensei went

there first…”

According to what I was told, Makihara-san has never been

too good with hot weather. She seemed to have recovered a
lot, but they decided to bring her back to the hotel.

“I’m sorry…” The girl apologized with a weak voice.

I figured out why Maru called me over here and nodded.

“So you want me to make sure she gets back to the hotel
safely?”

One of the girls spoke up. “…No, we should be the ones

doing that. Yuka’s part of our group, and we can’t bother
you with this.”

So the problem is about who’s going with them, huh? Going

back to the hotel now means that you probably won’t make
it outside again. That being said, the teachers are busy
elsewhere, and we can’t just make her go home by herself
in her weakened state.

“I knew you had other plans so I wanted to avoid asking you

for help, but…”

“I get it. You’re the group leader.”

Today, our group is at USS. Maru should stay back in case

anything else happens. And it’d be a waste to force
someone to leave after they paid for the tickets. Luckily, I’d
only checked out the shopping mall next to the studio, so I
didn’t have to pay the entrance fee. And there’s also the
concern of paying for a hefty taxi fare. I understand why he
called me for this.

“Yeah… Can I ask you for help here? I’ll repay you later.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“I’ll carry her the rest of the way back. Asamura, you grab
her belongings.”

“Huh? Ah, Yoshida!”

Before I could even say anything, Yoshida walked through

the ticket gate without hesitation. The one who was
flustered the most was the girl he was carrying.

“Um! I can walk, so…”

“No worries, no worries. I’m well-trained for this stuff. And I

left already, too. Sorry to leave you behind, Maru.”

“I don’t mind… Oh, well. Asamura, here’s Yoshida’s

belongings. And what stuff belongs to her?”

One of the girls handed me the backpack which presumably

belonged to her. Inside were a few bottles of water and
regular household medicine. The group leader for the girls
said she’d tag along, too.

“I can carry her if it gets too tough, you know?”

“I can handle this no problem. You should focus on getting

us back home.”

“Ahhh.”
Right, English. Yoshida wasn’t too good at speaking English.
Compared to him, I should at least be able to communicate
well enough. And the girls’ group leader didn’t seem too
confident in her English skills, either. For starters, we
searched for the taxi area, which wasn’t too far from the
front ticket gate. As you’d expect from a popular tourist
spot. I remembered that the taxi doors here in Singapore
don’t open automatically, so I opened the door in the back
first and then sat inside with the other three. As the cold air
from the AC blew against my skin, I found myself sighing in
relief. I heard a faint apologetic voice, followed by Yoshida
trying to cheer the girl up.

I spoke to the taxi driver and gave him directions to our

hotel, and we quickly set out down the same road we
initially came from. Throughout the entire taxi ride, the girl
who had collapsed apologized again and again, but Yoshida
just said that we have to help each other in times of need.
After a while, we reached the hotel. Thanks to Maru
contacting the hotel beforehand, a teacher was already
waiting for us and accepted the girl. Understandably so, as
the floor the girls stayed on was off-limits for us boys. When
we separated, the girl called Makihara Yuka-san, whose face
was still a bit pale, and the group leader of the girls
apologized once more and thanked us. The teacher and the
group leader then took the girl to her room.

“It should’ve been fine for me to carry her to the room, at

least.”

“I can smell the disappointment and ulterior motive from

over here.”

“Well, I’m not gonna lie.”

“How obvious.”
“Anyway, I’m just glad we got her back safely,” Yoshida
smiled and I nodded. “What are you gonna do now,
Asamura?”

Yoshida said that he was tired, so he wanted to take a nap.

After all, he had been carrying the girl the whole time
except for our taxi ride. He did a great job. But as for me… I
realized I’d forgotten something and took out my
smartphone. I had two new messages. They were both from
Ayase-san.

‘We’re heading to Palawan Beach right now.’

‘I’ll be waiting there, and I’ll let you know if we move.’

Oh, crap. How many minutes has it been since then?

“I’ve gotta go.”

“Huh?”

“I’m going back to the island. I’ll contact you later, so let
Maru know!”

“…What? Hey, Asamura?!”

I heard Yoshida call after me, but I just sprinted out of the
hotel.

I opened my map app and checked to find the shortest route

to Palawan Beach. Walking the whole way would take me
two hours and ten minutes—That’s out of the question.
Using the underground railroad and monorail… Would also
be an hour.

“Getting a taxi would be fastest, no?”

I looked it up, and it said it would take me around thirty
minutes. So when I left the hotel, I hailed the next taxi I saw,
asking them to bring me to Palawan Beach on Sentosa
Island. I don’t know where exactly she was waiting, but this
was probably my best shot. Thankfully, I hadn’t bought a
present for Ayase-san yet, so I had enough money leftover
for—Ah. I’d only bought the keychain! I grit my teeth in
regret and gave up on the present.

What’s more important right now is that Ayase-san was

waiting for me. While glaring down at my phone, I
periodically glanced out of the window. No wifi, after all…
Ever since Ayase-san sent me the message that she’s at
Palawan Beach, I haven’t gotten any update. Maybe she’s
still there, or maybe she’s moved already? I don’t know, but
I had to hurry.

Time felt like it was passing much quicker than usual, but
the car felt so slow. Was the bridge to Sentosa Island this
long before? Finally, we got on the island, and I could see
the USS to my right as the taxi kept driving. Then, the driver
suddenly asked me something. I tried to translate his words
directly, just as Ayase-san would. I didn’t think that our
practice would pay off here. If I had to guess, he wanted to
ask where to drop me off at the beach…probably.

‘Drive until you can see the beach.’

‘We already can.’

Huh? I looked where the driver pointed. To the left and right,
I could see the blue sky a bit ahead of us, and the color of
where it hit the ground slowly started to grow thicker. It’s
the sea.

‘Then right down this road. Until you can see it.’
The driver nodded. Slowly but steadily, the sea in sight grew
bigger. We reached the terminal and I was let off the taxi.
After paying the fee, I stood on the pedestrian walkway. Not
knowing where to go, I checked my phone and saw that I
had wifi. Which was good, but no more messages had come
in since.

For starters, I opted to explain to Maru where I was heading.

He probably didn’t know that I came back to the island. And
since he didn’t know I was off to meet Ayase-san, he might
start worrying about me. While I fought my desire to just
start running around randomly, I finished telling him and
then checked Ayase-san’s messages. If she had moved
already, then I had to catch up to her once more. But at that
moment, a new message popped up.

‘I’m waiting on the suspension bridge at Palawan Beach.

Please come.’

I panicked and responded.

‘Sorry to make you wait. I’m on my way right now.’

And then I started running. A single Japanese high school

boy was frantically running along the street towards the sea,
wanting to meet a fellow classmate; If people saw this, I
wonder what thoughts would fill their minds? I just felt bad
that this might negatively impact the good name of Suisei
High. The phone in my pocket vibrated and I took it out
while I kept running. It was from Maru. Yoshida probably let
him know. He just wrote me a single line.

‘All people in relationships do this, so don’t worry. In fact,

sorry for asking you for help.’

He mentioned a relationship, which caused me to gasp for a

moment, but I didn’t have time to ask Maru for an
explanation. I just stuffed the phone back into my pocket
and kept running. I remembered Ayase-san’s message. She
directly asked me to come. I’ve never seen her be this direct
about a request before. When I thought of how she must
have felt when sending this message, I couldn’t stop
running.

All couples do this—I don’t know if that’s true. But at the

very least, I can’t make Ayase-san feel this lonely and sad
just to try to look cool. I kept running towards Palawan
Beach, and the closer I got, the more people I could see.
Each time I passed the locals, other tourists, or even
couples, they turned around to look at me. I could feel their
gazes as I passed them by. But all of that didn’t matter.
Maybe some of the people I passed could have been my
classmates… But so what? Let them have their doubts. I
don’t care if our relationship gets found out. What matters
the most—is that I made a promise to Saki.

Since the temperature had cooled down a bit, I managed to

run all the way there. When I reached the beach, the sun
had already started setting beneath the western horizon. So
where is the suspension bridge? I looked left and right and
spotted a narrow line that connected the main island to a
smaller one in the distance, barely hanging above the water.
As I made my way closer, I could tell that it was less of a line
and actually a suspension bridge, and I saw a familiar girl’s
silhouette standing in the dead center of it.

The vicinity of the bridge was covered by trees, which

covered up the bridge for a brief moment. Some tourists
had gathered in front of these, but none of them tried to
cross the bridge. Only the employee standing next to a
billboard marking the starting point of the bridge remained.
They greeted me and asked me to be careful… I think. I
gave them my thanks and continued further. Finally, I stood
at the start of the bridge.

The girl who stood in the center, watching the setting sun,
now turned towards me. Her short but bright-colored hair
shone brightly against the green of the small island behind
her. She was looking at me, and our gazes met. I wanted to
run to her side, but when I stepped on the bridge, I could
feel the shock and vibration. I didn’t want to scare her off,
but I also couldn’t take it slow, either. With each rhythmic
step, I could feel the faint vibration beneath my soles as the
bridge shook. Saki’s facial expression changed from surprise
to joy in a moment, only for her to look away. And then I
reached her.

“Sorry… It took me so long…” I said between breaths.

She raised her head and looked at me.

“I waited a long time,” she said as she looked at me with

her eyes flashing.

She’s angry. I get it. The eyes speak more than the mouth
does, as they say. No translation software in the world could
have conveyed her emotions more accurately than what I
could perceive right now. Narasaka-san was right, after all.
Even back then, her expressions spoke for themselves.
Much more than any words could. However, her angered
gaze immediately disappeared as she averted her gaze
once again.

“It’s not fair of me to just force all my feelings on you, huh?”

“No, I’m happy you’re being honest with me,” I said and
approached her.
I could see her small shoulders quivering slightly, allowing
me to directly feel how lonely she must have been.

“Sorry,” I whispered as I placed my hands on her shoulders,

and she shook her head.

“You came for me, so…” She said as she also walked a step
toward me—wrapping her arms around my back. “I’m happy
that we get to see each other.”

She buried her face in my chest, making it impossible for

me to know what expression she was making. I also
embraced her and pulled her closer. She raised her head,
looking up at me from only a small distance apart. We
nodded, and then stopped thinking. Other than her earring
glowing a faint red from the setting sun, I don’t remember a
thing. I simply focused on our lips overlapping as we shared
a long kiss.
1 A manga
2 https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/14760/what-
does-elohim-essaim-elohim-essaim-i-implore-you-mean

3 Catchphrase from the manga “Matarou ga Kuru”.

4 The official mascot of Singapore

 Chapter 11

February 20th (Sat) – Field Trip

Day 4 (Final Day) – Asamura
Yuuta

Rain was pouring endlessly at Changi Airport today, like it

was some kind of payback for the clear weather we had
over the past few days. The sky was now filled with grey
clouds, and silver droplets of water fell to the ground. That
being said, this won’t have any influence on our flight, so we
simply underwent the same procedures when we first
departed in Japan and started making our way from the
waiting area. After passing through the gate, we then
boarded the plane.

I’m sure it’s a coincidence that I had the same seat as on

the way here, but when I gazed out of the window, the view
was entirely different. Or rather, I couldn’t even see the sky.
The raindrops just hammered against the window, and
everything beyond the window looked blurry. I was counting
the drops I could see and leaning against the seat when a
voice spoke up from next to me.

“You seem pretty chill today, eh?”

“I feel like I could pass on smoothly even if we fell to our
deaths.”

“Stop lying.”

“Too obvious, huh?”

“I would rather bet on the fact that the devil himself would
tell you to go home.”

“So you’ve already decided that I’ll end up in hell?”

“If Yoshida knew about this, he’d definitely say that,” Maru
said and glanced to his side.

Just as when we arrived on our first day of the field trip, we

sat in rows of four, starting with me next to the window,
followed by Maru and Yoshida. The latter was currently busy
talking to his female neighbor—

“So you say, but he seems pretty fulfilled if you ask me?” I
whispered back to Maru.

The reason for that was pretty simple.

“They even exchanged LINE IDs,” Maru said.

He did work hard, so I think the reward is more than

deserved.

“But then why are you lashing out at me like this?”

“Now listen here. Should I tell you the line of the owner of
the inn from the world’s most famous game?”

“And what would that be?”

1
“Thou hadst a good night’s sleep I —”
“I didn’t come back that late, okay?!”

I think I must have said that a bit louder than I thought

because even Yoshida and the people around us turned to
look at me. What a regrettable picture he painted for me. I
wish he didn’t poison my mind like that. All we did after that
was watch the sunset together in silence and then head
back to the hotel together. And with the way he phrased
that, he must have realized what kind of relationship Ayase-
san and I have. He even used the word ‘relationship’ in his
message to me earlier. And he wasn’t done yet. He
narrowed his eyes as I cleared my throat.

“So, what happened?”

…I figured things would go down this path. Then again, with

so many people around us, it’s not anything I could declare
loudly and with confidence. That’s why I kept it as vague as
possible.

“Well… everything worked out.”

“I know that.”

Maru’s comment caused me to nod in resignation, but it

started me thinking about how he even knew that. I never
once had mentioned that I went to see Ayase-san. How does
he know? It can’t be from Ayase-san herself.

“Can I ask how you found out?”

“I sadly cannot tell you any personal information about my

client.”

“What kind of detective bureau are you working at?”

“Anyway, I’m just happy everything worked out. Are you
finally willing to admit that much?”

“Well…”

On the way home, Ayase-san and I discussed a few things.

She apologized for making the blunder of letting Narasaka-
san find out about our relationship, but I just mentioned that
Maru was probably not in the dark anymore, so we were
both equally clumsy. And then we decided that we’d stop
trying to force things to stay hidden. Our relationship may
not be something we can flaunt in public, but it’s not
something we should have to sacrifice our desires for to
hide.

Our relationship as siblings and lovers might be met with a

gaze of contempt by the other couples in this world. Even
so, we’ve both walked this path to the point that we don’t
want to turn around anymore. The warmth we felt while
embracing each other on that bridge is something we both
came to cherish.

“I’ve gotta step in where it’s necessary, right?”

“You’re not some kind of prophet… I didn’t think things

would end up this way.”

“Really? Well… everything you’ve warmed up will probably

cool down a bit when entrance exams roll around the
corner.”

He made it sound like that’s why he gave me a push. It feels

like I was just a pawn in a play directed by Suisei High’s top
catcher in the baseball club. Though I hadn’t been aware of
that in the slightest.
“I’m sure you’re aware, but try not to overdo it. You’ll be
examinees starting next April.”

And now he’s telling me not to overdo it… Just what does he
think Ayase-san and I are up to?

“You’re not my mother.”

“My good friend, you might seem rational now, but that’s
because your past experiences have caused you to pump
the brakes when necessary. Don’t speed up too much now.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Hey, what were you guys talking about?” Yoshida turned

towards us.

“That I helped Asamura with his entrance exam studies.”

“Ack, you’re worried about that already?!”

“Yoshida… You’re aware that all of us will be examinees in a

bit more than a month, yeah?” Maru said, and Yoshida
groaned.

“I don’t wanna think about that!”

“Time doesn’t stop for anybody.”

And now he went for a job change from prophet to sage. The
machine we were in rattled briefly, accelerating down the
runway. The lines of water became more and more
horizontal. By the time I felt myself getting pressed against
the seat, we had already leaned backward, and we stormed
upwards through a black cloud. The plane shook a lot more
than it did on our trip here, and the signs for the seatbelts
didn’t turn off.
“I really wanted to remember the final moments before we
left this place behind us…” Maru said with a regrettable
tone, and Yoshida answered without a worry in the world.

“You can just come again, right?”

Upon hearing that, I agreed. We can always come again.

Ayase-san and I… together. And once the plane made it
through the black cloud, we were greeted with an endless
blue sky. The sign for the seat belts was turned off, too.
Right below us, you could still barely see the shoreline of
Singapore. And during the entire flight back, I didn’t even
sleep a minute. I was finally able to enjoy the famous plane
food I had heard so much about.

By the time we reached Japan, the sun had already begun to

set. After the whole school year split up at the airport,
Ayase-san and I waited for our train and boarded it.
Compared to when we headed off a few days ago, it was a
lot more crowded, but since this was the first stop, we easily
found a place to sit. With a strong shaking sensation, the
train began moving. As you’d expect, we were both
exhausted. We were mostly just yawning, and no proper
conversation came up.

After a brief silence, I realized that a bit of weight was on my

shoulder. When I looked to my side, I saw Ayase-san
breathing gently as she slept. I’ve seen her doze off a few
times from a distance, but I think this might be the first time
I’ve gotten to see her sleeping face from up close. The scent
of her hair drifted up to my nose. And her eyelashes are so
long… All these little things caught my attention.

Along with her faint breathing, her chest slowly moved up

and down. I could almost feel her pulse being transmitted
toward me, which made my own heart rate spike. When I
became aware of this, I grew worried that Ayase-san might
be able to feel it, too. Oh yeah, when we visited my family,
we slept in the same room, but even then, I didn’t get to see
her sleeping face. Right now, it looks so defenseless. And
realizing how much closer we’d gotten made me feel warm
and happy inside.

—But that’s because your past experiences have caused

you to pump the brakes when necessary.

Maru’s words came back to mind. Brakes, huh? Did I open

up my heart to her just as much as she did to me? Maybe I
should try to bring us to an equal level? After all, relying on
others in times like these is very important. Each rattle of
the train fused together to create a pleasant rhythm as my
body was gently shaken left and right. Though I bet it’d be a
lot more pleasant if it remained calm altogether.
1A reference to an inn owner in Dragon Quest 1, as well as
the title of a manga which references that
 Chapter 12

NOTE: Yes, there’s no epilogue or afterword. Next volume

comes out Spring 2023. Merry xmas

February 20th (Sat) – Field Day

Day 4 (Final Day) – Ayase Saki

All that was left on the agenda was to head back. I finished
buying my last souvenirs at the airport, and while waiting to
get all the checks done, I opened up my YouTube app. When
I typed in ‘Melissa Woo,’ I immediately found a channel, and
I could see her in the thumbnail. She has 837 subscribers—
or 838 now thanks to me. But I had no idea if that was a lot
or not, honestly. I usually don’t go out of my way to
subscribe to channels. All I know is that there are 800+
people in the world listening to her songs.

That’s more than the 3rd-year students we have at Suisei

High. Compared to that, I get nervous just singing in front of
a few people at karaoke. And she didn’t have any problems
even singing on that huge stage at that restaurant. I
decided to watch one of her videos. Looking at the upload
dates, she usually puts out a new song every three months.
I listened to a few, but each one was sung with such
passion. Contrary to her personality and demeanor, she
seemed extremely diligent when it came to music. The
newest song of hers was uploaded just two days ago,
probably right after she had parted ways with me. Even
though she’d said she was leaving to watch some late-night
anime.

Through meeting her, I learned how important it was to find

a place that gave me absolute peace and relief. Where I
could open up about everything. And for that, I added a
comment on the video, saying “I could listen to this forever.
Thank you for giving me courage,” in English. Keeping it
vague about the things I left behind and the things I took
with me. I wonder if she’ll realize it’s me. My username is
‘saki,’ but it’s fine if she doesn’t.

“Sakiii! We’re gonna move!”

Maaya’s voice made me raise my head. She was seated in a

row of other classmates, jumping up and down as she
waved her hand at me. I showed a wry smile, but, oddly
enough, didn’t feel too embarrassed—Okay, maybe a bit.
She didn’t have to go that far. I was still gonna be careful of
my surroundings.

At Narita Airport, everybody went their separate ways

home. I contacted Asamura-kun and decided on a place to
meet up. We got on the train and sat down next to each
other. We then told each other about our trip. What was fun,
what was stressful… and how beautiful the setting sun was
that we watched together at the suspension bridge. As that
sun set, it illuminated the horizon to create a beautiful white
shine, coloring the blue sea a deep violet. And as the color
of the sea changed, we gazed at it, warm in each other’s
arms.
But since we were both tired from our trip, we began talking
less, and I couldn’t tell what he even said anymore at some
point. With the air conditioner creating a cozy temperature
inside the train, I began spacing out and became drowsier
and drowsier. My left shoulder leaned against his right
shoulder, allowing me to feel his warmth. And all this felt so
comforting that I couldn’t fight my sleepiness—until I was
gently shaken and woken up.

“We’re here.”

“Ah, sorry.”

I panicked a bit and grabbed my suitcase, only to almost fall

over. If Asamura-kun hadn’t supported me, I may have
landed face-first in front of the door. My face was beet red
as I pulled my suitcase after me. What a blunder. And I even
slept while leaning against his shoulder the entire time.

By the time we stepped out of the ticket gate at Shibuya

station, the sky had turned dark. On this ordinary Saturday,
the train station and vicinity were filled with people
everywhere. A lot of people must be heading out to have
fun right now. And while we tried our best to avoid them,
Asamura-kun and I walked our familiar path home.

During that time, I remembered once again that I slept next

to him without a care in the world, and I felt the blood rush
to my head. I felt awfully sweaty all of a sudden. When we
had to switch trains and he woke me up, he must have seen
my sleeping face. And I think I even had some drool stuck to
the side of my mouth then. I don’t think he’d stare at me,
but I also didn’t think I would be this careless… I can’t even
look at him anymore. Then again, we were heading back to
the same home, so that much is probably impossible.

“We’re home, huh?”

“Sure are. I’m tired, but it was fun.”

“You’re right.”

We looked at each other and smiled. We really came home…

to the place we spend our days. Together, we stepped
through the entrance. Stepdad should be off work today,
and Mom’s work hasn’t started yet, so they’ll both welcome
us home. They’ll greet us and welcome us back as we
return. Over the past few days we were gone, Asamura-kun
and I have gotten a lot closer. We were close enough to
stand next to each other, but even that small gap has
vanished. Because we’ve decided that we’ll be as we want
to be.

“We’re home, Mom, Dad.”

We spoke up at the same time, and the Merlion keychains

dangling down from our suitcases shook in unison as we did
so.