School Trip Day 2

“Hey! Wake up, Aoi! If you don’t get up…” I heard as I slowly regained consciousness.

Suddenly, I saw a nauseating kissy face coming closer to me.

“Whoa! Gross!” I jumped up in alarm.

“Hey, hey, that’s rude! If we’re best friends, a kiss should be no problem, right?”

“…No way.”

We laughed together and left the room. At the same time, Marin-chan came out of her room, and our eyes met.

“And you know, the other day, Ogata was saying that I must have a small d*ck,” Kiyohito said, laughing as he talked. Marin-chan looked relieved seeing us like that.

“Ah, angel!” Kiyohito ran over to Marin-chan and deeply bowed his head. “I caused you a lot of worry and trouble!”

“No, no! It’s fine, it’s fine!”

“We’ve made up now!” He grabbed my shoulder.

“I see! …That’s great!” Marin-chan said, her eyes tearing up a little.

And so, the three of us had breakfast together, happily returning to our usual routine.

◇

“Ah, so that’s what it was. You’ve been involved with Marin-chan since back then.”

“…I didn’t remember any of it.”

“Well, there was a lot going on at the time, so it’s understandable.”

“Yeah… but still, how could I forget such a cute girl?”

“…True. You must have been pretty overwhelmed.”

We chatted about this while swaying on the bullet train.

And then, that guy appeared again.

“Hey there! What a coincidence, angel and her husband!” It was the troublesome guy from yesterday, Sawatari.

“Oh, if it isn’t Souichi.”

“Who would have thought it was you, Kiyohito.”

“Do you know this guy?” I whispered to Kiyohito.

“Yeah, we’ve hung out a few times.”

“I didn’t expect you to be friends with Kiyohito too. It feels like fate! I’d love to be friends with you too!” He extended his hand to me.

“…No thanks. I don’t think we’d get along.”

“Oh dear! For a guy who’s never been rejected by a girl, to be turned down by a guy is quite the shock!”

“…You’re annoying.”

“Well, I’ll see you around! Bye for now,” he said, leaving.

“…What’s with that guy?”

“Souichi Sawatori. He’s one of those handsome, rich kids. Apparently, he’s pretty dumb too.”

“…A weird one.”

And so, the bullet train arrived in Sapporo.

“Oh! So this is Sapporo! It’s packed with people! Hmm, looks like there’s some construction going on.”

“Isn’t that for the Shinkansen that’s supposed to connect Hakodate to Sapporo by 2030?”

“Wow, you know a lot.”

“It’s just common knowledge.”

“Oh, that’s actually information I told him!” Marin-chan interjected.

“…”

“Wow, Aoi. Taking other people’s info and acting like it’s yours is so lame.”

“…Shut up.”

“Today is group activity day! Everyone, follow me!”

“Let’s goooo!” “…let’s go”

The plan for the second day was to leave our luggage at the hotel and then walk along a predetermined route in our groups. Each group would have lunch separately.

“Sapporo means the Clock Tower, right… But it’s so shabby! No matter how many times I see it, it’s still shabby!”

“…Marin-chan, there are a lot of people around, so let’s keep it down.”

“Shabby! So Shabby!”

“…shut up Kiyohito.”

“Sha…bby!!”

“Umi-chan… you don’t have to force yourself to join in.”

As Marin-chan and Kiyohito caused a commotion and Umi-chan tried to imitate them, I did my best to keep them in check.

“Whoa, who’s that beautiful girl?” “She’s so cute…”

“Go ask for her number.” “You go, dude!”

We can’t go anywhere without drawing attention…

Marin-chan seemed to notice the stares and promptly clung to me, saying, “Darling!”

“What? Say ‘My Honey’!”

“…What? My Honey.”

“Oh my! Darling, I love you so much!” Marin-chan exclaimed, hugging my right arm. Meanwhile, Umi-chan, not to be outdone, clung to my left arm, “N-no, no… Darling…”

“Why’s a guy like him have two beautiful girls hanging on him?” “Gross.”

Please stop doing things that provoke unnecessary attention.

“You’re so lucky to be so popular…”

“Actually, it kind of hurts since they’re pulling pretty hard.”

“Idiot! You deserve at least that much.”

“…Sorry.”

After that, we went to a ramen shop I had researched beforehand. We stood in line for about 30 minutes before finally getting to eat.

“This is delicious! Miso ramen is so good!”

“This is really tasty.”

“So this is Hokkaido’s ramen! The seafood is great too, but… this is amazing! When I get a job, I’m moving to Hokkaido!”

“…Delicious.”

Following that, we heard a kind speech from the mayor and had a blast at North Safari Sapporo, getting up close and personal with the animals and even venturing into the dangerously named Piranha Sea. It was a fun-filled school trip experience.

“Man, I’m so tired!”

“Yeah, I’m totally beat.”

“Do you think it’s okay that we haven’t studied at all since we got here?”

“It’ll be fine. We’ll manage somehow. Have you been studying every day?”

“Whenever I can. I want to go to the same university as Marin-chan.”

“The University of Tokyo, huh? That’s a tough one. What’s your current estimated acceptance rate?”

“If I’m being optimistic, maybe 20%. I’m aiming for the easiest department, though.”

“20%, huh? That’s rough.”

“Yeah, even with a generous estimate, that’s about it. I basically think it’s not gonna happen.”

“What if you don’t get in? Will you take a gap year?”

“No, I’ll probably just go to a different university. I’m okay with it if it doesn’t work out.”

“I see. Well, I hope you get in.”

“Thanks. Tomorrow we’re heading to Hakodate, right?”

“Yeah.”

With that, we turned off the lights and drifted off to sleep.