Mizuto Irido
Our lodgings felt like a hotel in the mountains, next to the beach, which was only a part of a larger resort with various facilities. It was almost like a town. Standing in front of the lodging area were the students who’d finished their various courses. The teachers were taking roll call, and after they finished, we’d essentially have free time until dinner. Or at least, that’s how it was supposed to have gone down, but one of the groups in our class had yet to arrive. Thanks to that, we got our free time a little earlier than scheduled, or at least until roll call.
“Got a sec?” It was during this time that Yume covertly tugged on my sleeve. She didn’t say anything further and casually pulled me away from our class. I followed her to the huge pool next to the hotel.
The hotel likely wanted to emulate the vibe of a tropical country because they had palm trees around the pool. Yume stopped in the thin shadows of one of them as the sun set.
“What’s up?” I asked her.
It took some time before she found her words and was able to wade through her confusion to break through the silence. “It’s about the mysterious person from last night.”
“Do you have a lead?” I asked.
Yume nodded. “Asuhain-san... She has a cut on her thigh.”
“Her, huh?”
“You’re not surprised?”
“Despite someone catching us together red-handed, that information seemingly has yet to spread. I had a feeling it might’ve been someone who knew us.”
With that logic, it makes sense why the culprit hadn’t said anything to anyone else. It also explains why they were aiming to catch the two of us meeting by the pool. Of course, there was the possibility that they’d just happened to see the two of us, but it was equally as likely that they’d caught on to our plans to meet there from something one of us had said. To be honest, I’d been about sixty percent sure that the culprit had been Kawanami. But if the culprit really was Asuhain, then it made sense why her attitude towards me had changed. If she’d found out that Yume and I were dating, she would stop trying to ask me out and instead act even more awkward around Yume.
“So...what are you gonna do?” I asked. “If it really is her, I doubt she’ll spread rumors. There’s probably no harm in just pretending we don’t know.”
“True...”
“Doesn’t seem like you’re into the idea,” I said, looking at her face, which still seemed taut.
She wasn’t angry. Instead, it seemed like there was still something bothering her. Most likely, she was wondering why Asuhain had decided to peek in on us at all. Asuhain didn’t seem like the type to enjoy gossip. There must’ve been a reason. Something that only she knew the answer to. But now, Yume was lost as to what to do. She’d finally gotten on good terms with Asuhain, and she didn’t want to throw that away by pressing her about this.
“I bet you suck at Ultimate Werewolf.”
“Huh?”
Yume looked up as if I’d seen through her lie. “You don’t have a poker face at all. The reason you’re an honor student is because you’re honest to a fault, right? You’re not the type of person who can hide when something’s bothering you.”
“That...might be true.”
“If you need to work up the courage, you should do it sooner rather than later,” I said, putting my hand on her shoulder. “But compared to dating your stepsibling, this is nothing, right?” I smiled.
Yume looked up and forced a troubled smile. “Yeah, true.”
I was sure that Yume had already mostly made up her mind on what to do. I’d simply given her the push she needed. I hadn’t done it as an involved party, but as her boyfriend who was in the same boat.
“I’m...going to check with her. I feel like there are still a lot of things that are being left in the dark.”
“You got this.” The best I could do was send her off with her these three short, simple words of encouragement.
✦ ✦ ✦
Yume Irido
When we returned to our class, the group that’d been late to arrive had finally come back and was trying to explain themselves to our teacher. It consisted of three guys and three girls, and apparently the girls who’d been leading the group had misunderstood when they had to be back by. Currently, they were arguing over it.
There were fifteen girls in our class and fifteen guys, for a total of thirty students. Though it was an even split, the girls had more power because of Yoshino-san’s lead. Though I got the feeling that the guys tended to not care too much about that in general, it was times like this where some friction occurred.
In any case, after that, roll call was completed, and the group leaders had a meeting. Each class had five group leaders, and during this meeting, we needed to report the events of the day. Aside from one of the groups being late, there didn’t seem to be much to report.
After the meeting, it was time for dinner and our recreation time, which were both Okinawa-themed. We ate Okinawan soba while listening to musicians perform traditional Okinawan music. After all that, we finally had free time.
“Phew... Really feels like we’re at a resort,” Akatsuki-san said as she lounged in a chair on our room’s veranda while staring at the scenery.
From it, you could see the beach at night and all the trees that looked like they’d come from a tropical country.
“I like this. We can just be head empty, no thoughts. I feel so relaxed.”
“I’m surprised. I thought you were the kind of person who hates staying still, Akatsuki-san.”
“What am I, a tuna?!” For some reason, her quip back at me as I sat next to her was surprisingly gentle.
In terms of socializing with others, she spent her days involved with so many more people than I did, constantly messaging them. I imagined being away from her phone felt like a relaxing detox.
“Let’s go to the gift shop later, Yume-chan!”
“Yeah. I wanna look at gifts for the rest of the student council.” I glanced back into the room as I said this.
Inside, Higashira-san was sprawled out on one of the beds, and Asuhain-san was reading through her study materials. I need to talk to her alone. Mizuto’s right. It’s only going to get harder to bring this up the more time passes.
“Do you wanna come too, Asuhain-san?” I asked, prompting her to look up from her reading. “You probably want to buy some gifts for President Kurenai, Aso-senpai, and Haba-senpai, right?”
“I should... They’ve really helped us a lot.”
Good. For now, I’ve succeeded in getting her to leave the room with me. I’d never be able to find time to get her alone otherwise.
“What about you, Higashira-san?” I asked.
In response, she rolled over and waved her hand. “I will pass... I’ve nobody to give a gift to anyway.”
“What about your parents?” I wryly smiled.
Even so, Higashira-san showed no sign of moving an inch. She must’ve been pretty exhausted.
“All righty then, let’s get goin’!” Akatsuki-san said, getting up.
I thought you said you wanted to go later...but okay. I stood up and left the veranda with Akatsuki-san.
“Let’s go, Asuhain-san,” I said.
“Okay,” she said, putting her study materials back in her bag, grabbing her wallet, and getting off the bed.
After that, the three of us left the room, leaving Higashira-san by herself. After exiting outside, we walked along the sidewalk, which had palm trees—I think?—with thin leaves that were decorated with beautiful lights, which made it easy to see the path even when it was this dark at night.
It was bright yet quiet outside. The only sound was that of the continuously crashing waves, which sounded so gentle from this distance. Hearing the ocean like this really made me feel that we’d come a far way from home. Living in Kyoto, there was almost no opportunity to go near the ocean. (It’s easier to go to Lake Biwa.)
As we went around the winding sidewalk, we saw the gift shop. It was a one-floor building whose front had a large roof over the entrance. Upon going inside, we found ourselves in a space that was roughly as big as a supermarket. It had chinsuko, sata andagi, and all sorts of other sweets, along with handmade folk crafts of things like Shisa ornaments crammed into neat rows.
In between the shelves, we saw some familiar faces.
“Oh. Hey.” Kawanami-kun lightly waved.
Akatsuki-san waved back and moved closer to him. “Oh wow, look at you, buying gifts. You’ve become a proper young lad.”
“Yeah, you should already know that I’m serious about this kinda stuff at least.”
“So where’s my gift?”
“Why would you get one? Sheesh, how greedy are you?”
Mizuto shot me a cryptic gaze as I warmly thought about how nice the bickering between childhood friends was. His eyes flashed towards Asuhain-san, who was next to me. It was then that I understood what he was trying to get at.
“Asuhain-san, let’s look over there,” I suggested.
“Oh, yeah. Sure.”
This was my chance now that Akatsuki-san and Kawanami-kun were up to their usual childhood friend antics. Now, I could sneak off with Asuhain-san to the corner of the store. I was sure that Mizuto would buy me all the time I needed.