Our investigation proved difficult. Really difficult.
Scratch that, I’m lying. In itself, looking for Mashiro was simple. It seemed like she was riding all the nearby attractions in order, so we spotted her right away. The hard part was chasing her down when she was using her LVIP pass to skip every line. I tried using mine, but they never put us anywhere near her.
When Iroha and I learned our lesson and started waiting at the rides’ exits instead, we’d get flagged down by a desperate attendant thinking we wanted to get on the ride and that they were neglecting a LVIP. And then they’d usher us right to the LVIP entrance anyway, so forcefully it was hard to argue with them.
In the end, Iroha and I ended up riding a ton of the attractions together. Around halfway through, I realized it was sort of like we were on a date—but I was careful not to say anything or even really acknowledge the thought. It would be too difficult to face Mashiro afterwards.
Our troubles aside, I had to appreciate the high quality of each ride, and I was pleased to see Iroha seemed to be enjoying herself the entire time. If we were riding them anyway, we might as well have fun with it. And just seeing Iroha have fun was enough to put a smile on my face.
After a few rides, we ended up on a water ball attraction, based on an RPG where you catch monsters.
“Let’s gooooooooo!”
“Wait, Iroha! Slow down! We’re gonna go off course— Gah!”
“Eek! Senpai’s clinging to me!”
“Not on purpose!”
We were messing around on the water inside a giant inflatable ball. It was harder to control when you had two people in one ball and I’d ended up falling, which was how Iroha and I found ourselves a tangle of limbs. It wasn’t until we’d tumbled out of the ball at the end that we could finally put some distance between us.
Which was also when this happened:
“What the heck are you doing with Iroha-chan?!”
Our wish to reunite with Mashiro was granted.
Which was fine and all, but did it have to be now?
✦ ✦ ✦
“That’s quite the wild story. But at least I know what Iroha-chan’s doing here now.”
“Yup...”
“And then even more wild stuff happened and you two ran into each other?”
“Yup...”
“And then even more wild stuff happened, and you ended up having a fun date at the park.”
“Yup... No, wait, we weren’t having fun. We were on the brink of death several times. A ‘fun date’ makes it sound like there was no suffering involved whatsoever.”
“If you’re going to talk back to me, at least say something that makes sense!”
“Sorry, ma’am...”
We were sitting on a backless bench a short distance away from the water balls. Mashiro was standing over us angrily with her arms folded, while Iroha and I kneeled subserviently on the bench as we explained everything.
Almost everything, at least. We couldn’t tell Mashiro that Iroha was the voice actress for Koyagi, so we skipped over that part, and instead said Mizuki-san had asked Iroha to do some work for her on set. It took a pretty bald-faced lie to explain why Iroha was chosen, when she wasn’t supposed to have any ambition for acting.
“I still don’t get why Iroha-chan’s in Kyoto. That part was really convoluted...”
“Yeah, I know,” I said.
“Same!” Iroha waved her hand in the air. “I totally agree!”
“You shut up.” I delivered her a light flick.
Mashiro sighed at our familiar antics. “But I’m gonna drop it. It’s my fault for going crazy in the haunted house too. All that horror stuff got me so excited, I sorta forgot where I was...”
“It’s not your fault, Mashiro. It’s mine for freaking out.”
“That too. You deserved to die back there.”
“Ouch...” As usual, Mashiro’s sharp tongue pierced me to the core. I didn’t argue with her, if only because she was completely right about my shameful cowardice.
“What’s mom thinking, anyway?” Mashiro continued. “If you need someone to help with filming, you’re not gonna pick your daughter’s friend, are you? And on a weekday, when she’s got school...”
“Weird as heck,” I agreed.
“I know you, Iroha-chan. I bet you’re just here ’cause you wanted to come to Kyoto, aren’t you?”
“Ughah! You got me there...”
Another victim of Mashiro’s forked tongue. She must have sharpened it lately, because it was especially painful today.
Dissatisfied, Mashiro exhaled loudly through her nose. “I guess I don’t really have a right to be mad.”
“Huh?” Iroha blinked.
Mashiro hesitated before speaking again. “We broke up. We’re not fake dating anymore.”
“Wh...” Iroha froze.
“We broke up,” Mashiro said again.
“Wh... Wh... What?!” Iroha blinked again. And again. And again.
“We broke up.”
“Wh... What?! You broke up?!” Iroha yelled, loud enough to vaporize my eardrums. After three times, she finally got it. “Senpai, Senpai, Senpai! Is Mashiro-senpai telling the truth right now?!”
“Sounds about right to me. She broke up with me this morning.” I tried to keep things concise as Iroha bombarded me with a flurry of words. I could see why she was surprised—it was pretty sudden. I’d been blindsided by it myself.
“I still like Aki,” Mashiro explained. “And we’re gonna end up dating anyway, so there’s no point in having a fake relationship.”
“I’m only half with you. If you like him, isn’t being his fake girlfriend better than just being a friend?”
“Sometimes you have to lose a battle so you can win the war,” Mashiro said calmly.
“Okay...?” Iroha’s brow furrowed. She was clearly still confused.
It was nice when girls bonded by talking about relationships. It was less nice when they did it right in front of me and I was one of the parties involved. Especially since both of them were attractive, popular girls in their own right. The whole thing was putting me even more on edge thanks to the realization I had last night about where my true feelings lay.
“My point is, I don’t have a right to be jealous. Anyway, Iroha-chan, haven’t you got somewhere to be? My mom asked you for something, right?”
“Huh? Oh, right!” Iroha leaped skillfully from a kneeling position to her feet.
I’d totally forgotten too—she was supposed to be buying a drink for Mizuki-san when we ran into each other.
Iroha hopped down from the bench. “I’m gonna get going, then.”
“You should,” Mashiro said. “Mom’s terrifying when she gets mad.”
“Like you,” I said.
“Excuse me?” Mashiro gave me a withering look.
“N-Nothing...”
Oops.
“Aha ha ha! Serves you right, Senpai!”
“What’s it got to do with y— How the heck did you get all the way over there?!” I turned around to scold Iroha for laughing at my plight, only to find she was already several meters away, waving.
“Catch ya later, Senpais! Hope you enjoy the rest of your trip! Bye-bye!” Iroha kept facing us and waving until she was totally out of sight. Honestly, I was surprised she didn’t crash into anything.
“Interesting that she was able to smile. I guess she didn’t look reluctant to leave because of her acting ability...”
“Hm? You say something, Mashiro?”
“No. And we should get going too. There are still a ton of things I wanna see.”
“Sure...”
We started walking again, Mashiro pulling me by the hand. I was endlessly curious about what Iroha was getting up to on the film set, but right now I had the class trip to worry about. I needed to focus on enjoying it while it lasted—particularly the time I got to spend with Mashiro.
✦ ✦ ✦
“That scene with Aki and Iroha-chan’s date was so blessed! Don’tcha think, Ozuma-kun?”
“I sure do! It’s the best ship, hands down!”
“But did you see how Mashiro-chan was all jealous? Now that was adorable! Don’tcha think, Ozuma-kun?”
“Y’know, Tsukinomori-san and Aki make a pretty good couple too...”
“Nnngh, I can’t pick between them! D’you think we could get a harem ending maybe?”
“Sure, if this were a video game. Unfortunately we live in the real world.”
“Aaargh! Bummer!”