When My Younger Brother Stole My Girlfriend, I Began Living Together with My Beautiful Childhood Friend Almost As If We Were Married

Episode 43: Starting Our Trip Today

I woke up early to catch the first train.

Reina is already up, checking her carry-on bag for any forgotten items. Since we hastily prepared for the trip after returning from the sushi restaurant last night, it doesn’t hurt to double-check for anything forgotten.

Fuyuka-san is waiting in the living room, ready to go as soon as I change.

Apologizing for making her wait, I quickly change and grab my carry-on bag.

“Alright! Let’s go!”

With Fuyuka-san’s command, we all leave the house together.

Yesterday, Reina seemed confused by the sudden decision, but now she’s fully in the mood for the trip. She pulls her carry-on bag with an excited pace.

Double-checking the locked door and making sure we have everything, we step out into the dim blue sky, taking the first step towards Hokuriku.

By the way, Fuyuka-san is covering all the expenses for this trip except for souvenirs and transportation covered by our IC cards. Much obliged!

In the quiet residential area of the morning, the sound of rolling wheels echoes.

As we enter the station, we encounter several salarymen who must be heading to work since it’s early in the morning. They all look at us with envy. Indeed, being able to play like this is a privilege of university students.

After waiting for a while, the train arrives at the platform, and we board it to move on.

Transferring between local trains and express trains, our first destination is Tokyo Station. From there, we’ll transfer to the Hokuriku Shinkansen and head to Kanazawa.

After about thirty minutes of travel, we finally arrived at Tokyo Station, our first destination.

We walked through the station towards the Shinkansen platform.

And there, I spotted a shop.

“The shop’s already open, lucky us. How about getting some bento boxes to eat on the Shinkansen?”
“That sounds good. Bento boxes are a great idea.”

“I want one too!”

We make our way through the morning crowd and enter the open bento shop.

We take advantage of the offer to choose what we want to eat.

“Oh, let’s get two for each. One for breakfast and one for lunch.”

“Big sister… for lunch, we might as well eat in Kanazawa.”

“…Right.”

…Whoa, I was about to pick two bento boxes for breakfast and lunch until Reina mentioned it. Since our arrival in Kanazawa would be slightly after lunchtime, it would have been obvious that I was giving in to my appetite and planning to eat on the train. I discreetly return the second box I picked up to the display shelf and hand over the payment to Fuyuka-san.

“Hayato is getting gyudon, huh? That looks delicious.”

“Since you’ll be eating seafood non-stop over there, I decided to go for meat here.”

“I see. I should have gone for meat too.”

“Reina’s tempura bowl looks great too! How about we share a bit?”

“Is that okay? Yay!”

“You two seem to be getting along well from the morning.”

“A ‘gyutan(grilled beef tongue)’ overflowing bento box!?”

Fuyuka-san’s eating something incredible for breakfast… I’m surprised.

After Fuyuka-san pays for everything, we move to the Shinkansen platform with our bento boxes.

Since our reserved train isn’t departing anytime soon, we chat and pass the time in the waiting room on the platform.

After almost an hour passes, our Shinkansen finally arrives at the platform.

“Which car was it again?”

“Car number eleven.”

“Ah, of course it’s a Green Car.”

I’m scared at how predictable it has become.

I’ve always traveled by unreserved seats until now, so I’m a little nervous about riding in a Green Car for the first time, let alone a reserved seat. It seems that Reina has always had unreserved seats too, so it’s her first time in a Green Car as well.

We step into the luxurious car where people without tickets can’t even pass through.

“Wow!”

The carpet is so fluffy. And the seats are spacious.

Unlike the regular cars, there are no three-seat rows here. That’s why it feels so spacious.

Now, what to do about the seating arrangement. I thought we would sit three in a row, so this is unexpected.

“May I ask a favor of you, Hayato…?”

“Yes?”

“Sorry! Can I please have you let Reina sit next to me just for this trip?”

So that’s how it is. It’s a bit of a dilemma.

However, Reina protests against it.

“No way! I want to sit next to Hayato!”

“Please! I just want to spend time with Reina for now!”