As I made my case, I slowly began to realize how childishly arbitrary my reasons for choosing it as our destination were, and I felt a little embarrassed. I’d been dead set on it from the moment the idea occurred to me, but perhaps I should have considered a few other options too.
“I see,” said Ushio. “Well, that does sound like a very ‘Sakuma’ adventure, I suppose.”
It sounded like she was judging me a little bit, but the corners of her lips curled up in amusement all the same. While I didn’t get the impression that she was as enthused about the idea as I was, it didn’t seem like she thought it was a complete dud either. Once again, I let out a sigh of relief. So far, so good.
Assuming everything went according to plan, we’d make it to Wakkanai sometime in the early afternoon. Once we did a little exploring around town and had a chance to check out Cape Soya, we’d catch a flight from Wakkanai Airport down to New Chitose, then fly from there back to Narita. We should even theoretically be able to make it back home to Tsubakioka before the day was done. It was a rock-solid itinerary—though it was going to cost us quite the pretty penny. Thankfully, I had enough set aside in savings to cover it.
Or at least, I hoped I did.
We made it to Sapporo Station at around 7:30 a.m.
Our fellow classmates should’ve been up and out of bed by now, so Hasumi was probably wondering where the hell I’d gone. While I’d considered sharing my plans with him, I ultimately hadn’t told a single person where Ushio and I were headed.
On our way to the bus terminal, I stopped at an ATM to withdraw all my savings, and then we bought ourselves a light breakfast at a nearby convenience store, as well as a few snacks for the road. It was going to be a long drive, so we needed to stock up on food and drinks while we could.
“Hey, look,” said Ushio, lifting her head. “It’s snowing.”
I looked up to see snow fluttering like powder down from the sky. The snowflakes were big too, even if there weren’t very many of them at the moment. There was already a decent layer of snow on the ground here in Sapporo, but it seemed it would grow even thicker today. Hopefully the snowy weather won’t impact our bus ride at all, I thought to myself as we arrived at the terminal. There were several reception counters side by side inside the building, with fairly long lines in front of each one already.
“I called last night to reserve our seats,” I said. “All we have to do now is pay and pick up our tickets.”
“Wow, I’m impressed,” said Ushio. “You really planned ahead.”
“Well, yeah! I told you I was committed, didn’t I?”
We got in line. There were still fifteen minutes left before our bus was scheduled to leave, so we had plenty of time to spare.
“All right, Ushio. If you wanna turn back, now’s our last chance… Are you sure you’re okay to do this with me?”
“Yeah. I mean, we’ve come this far, right? Plus, I’ve gotta admit—you’ve got me a little excited to see this ‘northernmost point in Japan’ now.”
“Cool… Okay then. Glad to hear it.”
At the very least, she wasn’t begrudgingly coming along with me, and that knowledge was enough for me. Anticipation zipped through me; it was almost our turn in line.
“I’ll pay for our tickets,” I said.
“What? No, that’s okay,” said Ushio. “I can pay my own bus fare.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m the one who dragged you out here, so let me foot the bill. I’ll feel bad otherwise.”
“It’s fine, really. I know you can’t have that much money to spare.”
“Nah, I’ve got more than enough—just withdrew all my savings. Let me cover it.”
“I said it’s fine, Sakuma. Stop acting like you’re my boyfriend.”
As soon as Ushio realized what she’d just said, she gasped and covered her mouth. I had to admit, that one stung a little bit.
“…Sorry,” she said.
“Nah, it’s cool. I shouldn’t have been so pushy. If you wanna pay for your own ticket, then yeah, that’d definitely help out. Appreciate you chipping in.”
“Sure, don’t mention it…”
It’s no big deal. Don’t let it get to you, Sakuma, I told myself as our turn finally came. Ushio and I paid for our tickets: two seats side by side at the very back of the bus. And just like that, two months’ allowance went right down the drain.
Our departure time was fast approaching.
“I’m gonna go use the restroom real quick,” I said. “You need to go too?”
“Oh, no,” replied Ushio. “I’m good.”
I headed into the men’s restroom and stepped up to the urinal. As I did my business, a thought occurred to me: Which gendered bathroom did Ushio use in public places like this? I knew she used the girls’ bathroom at school nowadays, but I couldn’t recall her having to use the restroom a single time on any of our dates, for instance. Did she typically try to hold it until she got home? If so, then I’d feel really bad for her… And it would also be mildly concerning from a health standpoint too.
Once I was finished in the restroom, I asked again, just to be safe. “You sure you don’t have to go? It’s gonna be a long trip.”
“…Okay. I guess I’ll go too.”
So she had been holding it in, then.
Ushio headed toward the restrooms, stopped to cast a quick glance back at me, then walked into the women’s room. Welp. Guess that answers that. A minute or two later, she emerged, looking somewhat uncomfortable.
“Were you wondering which bathroom I would go into?” she asked.
Urk… Was I that obvious? Lying wasn’t going to get me anywhere, so I figured I should come clean.
“I mean, I was a little curious, I’ll admit. But yeah, I figured you’d probably use the women’s bathroom. If for no other reason than that you’d probably get some weird looks if you were to go into the men’s room looking like that.”
“I actually did keep using the men’s room at first,” said Ushio. “But you’re right—people did give me weird looks, or tell me I was in the wrong bathroom, or whatever… So after a while, I switched over to using the ladies’ room.”
She said this almost apologetically, as if she was making an excuse for something despite doing nothing wrong. I could only assume she still felt some amount of shame using the women’s restroom—though personally, I didn’t see why it was such a big deal.
“To be honest,” she said, “I don’t feel comfortable using either, actually… Which is really annoying. Like, at least let me use the bathroom in peace, you know?”
“Yeah, that’s rough,” I said. “Can’t even imagine…”
I had it so easy compared to her; it felt like I was taking the escalator to the top of a fifty-story building, while she was forced to take the stairs, huffing and puffing with every step. So many of the privileges and comforts I took for granted in my everyday life were a struggle for her to even attain. The thought made my heart ache.
We headed out to the boarding area and got on our bus bound for Wakkanai. After shuffling down the aisle to the very last row, we sat down, with Ushio taking the window seat.