【026】Rendezvous

【Tamura Misaki】

There’s a lodge deep in the mountains of X City.

Akigaoka Academy uses it every year for a two-night, three-day study camp.

The lodge is called Akigaoka Lodge. Straightforward name.

Two stories. The first floor is mainly public spaces with a kitchen and common area. The second floor has room divisions where students rest. Two people per room is standard. Since there’s an odd number of boys, I got a single room… Well, that’s a reasonable decision.

The lodge is surrounded by forest.

At night it becomes pitch black, and the lodge almost looks like a ghost house.

Because of that, hardly anyone goes outside at night.

“Studying is such a drag…”

“What should we do after this? I brought games.”

“Was there a TV? Think we can hook it up?”

“More importantly, come to the girls’ rooms, Taniyama-kun.”

“Oh, I’ll come too—”

“Nakatou doesn’t need to come.”

“That’s harsh!?”

Currently, studying is taking place in the first-floor common area of the lodge. We’re working through problem sets distributed at school beforehand. I seriously doubt whether this actually counts as studying, but I continued silently.

Countless tables are arranged in the common area.

Only the table I’m using has empty space around it.

I can only think that it makes studying easier.

It was pretty much the same last year too.

The study camp is divided into morning and afternoon sessions with the purpose of providing concentrated study time. All other time is basically free time. That said, you can’t go outside the lodge at night.

As long as you follow those rules, it’s no different from lunch break at school.

The afternoon study session ended, and we ate dinner.

After that is free time.

I was planning to hole up in my room until tomorrow morning, but when I finished eating and returned to my room, there was a letter placed under the door.

“…?”

There’s a gap under the door. Someone must have slipped it through.

Looking at the letter, I immediately recognized it.

This is from Nanaka-san.

“Come to the garden at 20:30 – Nanaka”

8:30 PM. Still over an hour away.

I took a shower in my room, killed time, then headed to the garden. I was careful to avoid meeting anyone on the way.

Going outside at night is technically prohibited.

Part of me was excited about breaking the rules a little.

The garden was spacious.

It was laid out like a maze. It was dark, so hard to see clearly.

“—Misa-kun.”

A voice came from behind.

I spun around to see Nanaka-san standing there.

She was wearing loungewear. Her slightly wet hair hung down her back. She must have just gotten out of the bath—she looked somewhat alluring.

“Let’s move a bit.”

“Y-yeah.”

I was mesmerized by Nanaka-san, so my response was delayed.

We entered the maze-like garden.

It was hard to see in the dark, but flowers were blooming everywhere. It must be a beautiful garden normally.

“Hehe, this is a bit surreal, isn’t it?”

Nanaka-san said that and looked at me.

“Being able to talk with Misa-kun at a school event.”

“…Sorry. We have to date in secret.”

“No, don’t worry about it. I like our current relationship too. Besides, nothing changes the fact that we’re lovers, right?”

Nanaka-san smiled mischievously.

“Yeah, that’s right…”

Then we found a fountain plaza in the garden.

Moonlight shone down only on that spot, like a scene from a movie.

“Beautiful…”

Nanaka-san ran over to the fountain plaza.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it, Misa-kun?”

“Yeah… you too.”

“!? …Hehe, that’s embarrassing.”

Nanaka-san said that and stood in front of me.

I looked down at her slightly.

“Hey, Misa-kun.”

“Mm?”

“How long are you going to keep calling me with ‘-san’?”

“Huh?”

“I’d like you to just call me Nanaka soon.”

The reason I’d been using “-san” was simply because I’d been seeing Nanaka-san as above me somehow.

Does Nanaka-san realize that?

That’s right, we’re lovers.

We’re equals.

“Na… Nanaka.”

“…Yeah.”

And so, we shared a light kiss under the moon.

【Takahashi Mika】

“Oh, Mika. Going somewhere?”

My roommate Riko asked me.

“Yeah, just for a bit.”

I deflected like that and left the room.

What Hayama-san told me. I’m the only one in this class who knows the situation. So I can become a spy who infiltrates the class’s inner workings.

Hayama-san told me something.

“You should tell everything to someone you truly trust and make them an ally. Going solo is dangerous.”

Someone I truly trust.

Does such a person exist?

My roommate Riko and I get along well.

But that’s only within female society.

We just pretend to get along, and I can’t rule out the possibility of betrayal. Riko was close with Mebuki-san. Mebuki-san and I don’t get along for certain reasons.

…There’s no one I can trust.

Then I’ll think differently.

Who is worthy of trust?

No boys. They mostly enjoyed bullying Tamura in the first place.

Even if I asked for cooperation, it would only bring disadvantages.

Which means only one person comes to mind.

I knocked on that person’s door.

“Coming—”

A voice responded.

Pattering footsteps.

The door opened.

“—”