School Trip Day 4 (part 1)

“You! Where have you been? Were you out creeping at night or something? Did you get some disease that ‘ll kill you if you don’t sleep next to the angel?” Kiyohito yelled.

“Keep it down! …I couldn’t sleep last night, so I went out for a bit…”

“No way! What do you mean, ‘went out for a bit’ from 1:00 AM to 6:30 AM in an unfamiliar place?”

“Uh, sorry. Your  snoring was unbearable, so I ended up sleeping in Marin-chan’s room…”

“A threesome?!”

“I said keep it down damn it!”

“What’s a threesome?” Umi-chan asked.

“A-a threesome is… uh, it’s about cheese! Yeah, cheese!”

“Oh, I see! Cheese is delicious,” she said, with innocent eyes that made me feel guilty.

So, on the fourth day, we were set to head back to Sapporo for some free time. Basically, we had no scheduled activities and could do whatever we wanted from noon until evening.

On the train to Sapporo, I was seated next to Umi-chan.

“Do you have any places you want to visit in Sapporo?”

“Um… um… I want to eat ramen… from a different shop than last time… and, um, I want to see the zoo too… and also Odori Park… and then…”

“Sounds great. Let’s go to as many places as we can within the time we have.”

“Okay!” she said with a beaming smile.

We arrived in Sapporo and immediately headed out into the city… but then Marin-chan chimed in.

“Don’t do anything weird just because you’re alone together, okay?”

“O-of course not.”

“Alright? Keep your GPS on at all times. If you enter any shady hotels… I’ll know.”

“I-I won’t go to such places.”

“And don’t look at b**bs. Got it?”

“…”

“Got it?”

“Ro-ger.”

“Bra? Seriously? Cut it out,” Marin-chan said, switching to her dark, sarcastic side.

“No, I said ‘roger’! It means ‘understood’!”

“Fine. But if you break the promise… you know what happens, right?”

“…Do whatever you say?”

“No. If you break the promise, you’ll have to tear my leggings. If the promise breaks, then the leggings should too, right?”

I’ve never heard of this ‘leggings promise’ logic before.

“Alright, alright. I’ll tear them.”

“You said it, so you better keep it.”

“…Yeah.”

And so, I set off with Umi-chan…

“Follow me! I’ll be your guide!” Umi-chan declared excitedly, leading the way. Our first stop was a ramen shop for lunch.

“…So, um, this is the place with the delicious ramen,” she said, pointing to a love hotel.

“…Umi-chan?”

Did I mishear? Did she mean a ero shop? No, that can’t be right.

“Uh… actually… the ramen shop is in the basement of this place…” she explained, blushing.

“Oh, I see…”

Why would they put a ramen shop there?

“It used to be a regular hotel, but it went out of business and turned into a love hotel. The ramen shop is innocent!” Umi-chan defended, understanding my confusion.

We enjoyed some delicious miso ramen in the basement and then headed to our next destination.

“I’m so full…” Umi-chan sighed.

“Me too.”

“So, let’s rest a bit at Odori Park,” she suggested.

Odori Park, located in the heart of Sapporo, transforms with the seasons: cherry blossoms in spring, beer gardens in summer, the Autumn Fest in fall, and the Snow Festival in winter.

We sat on a bench, gazing at the beautiful sky. The weather was perfect, around 20 degrees Celsius.

After a 15-minute break, we took a bus to the zoo.

“Do you go to the zoo often, Umi-chan?”

“Yes, quite often… I usually go alone…”

“Really?”

“Yeah… I can stay for five hours easily, so it’s hard to go with friends,” she said with a wry smile.

“Got it. When we get back to Tokyo, take me with you.”

“R-really!?”

“Of course. I like zoos too. We can bring Marin-chan and Kiyohito along.”

“O-okay…! I’m looking forward to it!”

At the zoo, Umi-chan provided detailed explanations about the animals.

“An elephant’s trunk is all muscle. They even hold funerals for their dead. Giraffes have the same number of neck bones as humans. And hippos… I don’t really care about them, so I don’t know much…”

Poor hippos.

After our enjoyable visit, it was already past 4 PM, and we had about an hour left.

“…I want to visit the TV tower last.”

So, we headed to the Sapporo TV Tower. (Looks cool actually)