The three of us looked up at the sky simultaneously, as though we did it on cue. In the end, each one of us had our own unique experience from the class trip: I with Nanami, Teshikaga-kun with Shirishizu-san, and Hitoshi, too, with the island of Hawaii.
In those final moments, a question bubbled up within me and escaped my lips.
“Is this what a class trip is like?”
I felt the two others freeze as they remained with their faces lifted toward the ceiling. Yeah, I don’t know—is this what class trips are really supposed to be like?
This sounded weird, but...weren’t we a little too preoccupied with romance? Or was this normal? Maybe they knew what I was trying to say, though, because the two of them both looked awkwardly away from me.
“We’re supposed to turn in a report about our trip once we get back, aren’t we?” I asked.
“What are we gonna do?” Hitoshi muttered.
“We can’t write it like it actually happened, can we?” I said.
“You should write about how you exchanged rings at a church. They’re gonna think it’s a riot,” Hitoshi suggested.
“Not everything should be written down,” I sighed. “But maybe Teshikaga-kun can write about how this trip helped him make up with a childhood friend.”
“I can’t. I’ll probably get suspended,” Teshikaga-kun said flatly.
“What the hell did you do?!” Hitoshi exclaimed.
“Then can you write about what you did?” I demanded of Hitoshi. “I don’t know exactly where she’s from, but can you talk about how you got chummy with a girl you met here?”
“Nooo way, I can’t write all of it,” Hitoshi said.
“What in the world did you do?!” I blurted out.
The three of us looked at each other, our expressions stern...and then burst out laughing.
Even when we weren’t together, we all seemed to have gotten into shenanigans anyway.
♢♢♢
“It’s really over, huh?” Nanami muttered.
“Yeah,” I murmured in response.
We were sitting on the plane, Nanami looking out the window like she still had unfinished business. Thanks to our classmates, she and I were able to sit next to each other on our return flight as well.
Lots of things happened on this class trip, but in the end, I felt like I’d been able to strengthen my feelings for Nanami even more. Though Hitoshi did end up telling me that I was being a bit much.
Though this trip had been deemed a prehoneymoon of sorts, to me it didn’t really end up feeling that way. But since I didn’t know what a normal honeymoon was like, I could only base my judgment on my own imagination.
“Where do you wanna go next time?”
It couldn’t have been because of the lack of prehoneymoon-like elements, but that was the question that naturally popped out of my mouth. It wasn’t a conscious move; it really happened naturally.
Nanami stared at me blankly, then smiled with a bit of unease.
“You really think we’ll come back here?” she asked hesitantly.
Her question probably came from thinking about the future, the practical hurdles, our relationship, and all kinds of other vague anxieties. I couldn’t deny that I felt them as well.
And so while I understood how she felt...I extended my left arm and looked at the ring on my finger.
“I know that words like ‘definitely’ and ‘someday’ actually sound really uncertain. But let’s promise each other anyway—promise that we’ll come back here,” I said.
Nanami then looked at my ring too, and then reached out her own left hand and placed it on top of mine. Our matching rings, right next to each other, gleamed brightly.
It’ll be okay.
Nanami closed her eyes once and then opened them again slowly, before smiling at me with now-sparkling eyes.
“Next time we come, I wanna go to the city and go shopping. There are a bunch of places we didn’t get to visit this time, like jam shops and poke bowl stops,” she said.
“If that’s the case, it’ll be good to be able to drive, huh? We can rent a car to drive around and tour Hawaii that way,” I replied.
“Oh, how nice!” Nanami said excitedly. “Would a Japanese license work here?”
“Probably? Does our school even let us get our driver’s license?” I wondered.
“I thought I heard that you can once you’re a senior, but...I wonder, huh?”
“Shall I drive us around the Island of Hawaii then?” I suggested.
“I wanna be able to switch with you when you get tired, so maybe I should get my license too.”
“Then how about we look into it, and then go to a driving school together?” I said.
“That’s a good idea, learning together. Plus it’ll be fun to try going to Oahu and the other islands too, don’t you think? I heard that there are lots of places to visit in Oahu!”
Nanami and I continued talking about our next trip to Hawaii on our return flight home.
We were only high schoolers, and we had no guarantees about our promises for the future. Still, the fact that we were talking like this was real. This was an absolute promise.
As we walked into the future, the experiences each of us had on this trip would serve to strengthen us. Each one of us had made irreplaceable memories that could never be taken from us.
There was no greater happiness than to be able to share those memories with someone I loved. As long as we had these memories, I felt like we would be able to continue moving forward.
In the here and now, we had promised a next time. And promises were important; they allowed me, at least, to be able to make even more precious memories with Nanami.
As Nanami and I continued sharing and thinking and wondering about our boundless future, our unforgettable class trip came to an end.