＊
“I didn’t realize amusement parks involved so much waiting around,” Fuyuka noted as she scanned her surroundings.
The rest of the group nodded in agreement.
“Uh-huh. The place isn’t even really packed, either,” Chiaki said.
“Mhmm, you should come see the amount of people that line up at noon!” Hinami added.
Long lines, something Chiaki and Hinami were used to, were a new experience for Fuyuka. She marveled at the lengthy queues.
“Let us know if you get tired standing up in line, okay? There should be some benches around here you can rest on,” Asahi said.
“Thank you, but I think I’ll be fine for a while!” Fuyuka said confidently.
“Good to know.”
It wasn’t unusual to spend the majority of one’s time waiting to get on rides in popular theme parks. Many places offered a line-skipping pass for visitors who wished to circumvent the lines. Unfortunately for them, such a perk wasn’t offered by the place they were at.
Generally, lengthy stretches of waiting around caused any excitement for a given ride to die away. This would’ve been a valid concern for the group, if Chiaki and Hinami weren’t there.
“Guys, guys, how about we do something fun? Who’s up for a word association game?” Hinami proposed.
“Great idea, babe! Aight, Hina, you give us the first word and we’ll go clockwise.”
Asahi and Chiaki smiled, but Fuyuka appeared puzzled.
“I’m sorry, but what’s a ‘word association game’?” she asked, utterly clueless.
“You’ve never heard of it?” Hinami replied.
“I’m afraid not.”
The game was rather simple: one player started with a word, and the next was required to say the first word that sprang to mind after hearing the previous one.
The rules were straightforward, and Fuyuka grasped them effortlessly. With that, the group began.
Hinami started. “Okay, the first word is... ‘yellow’!”
The game proceeded swimmingly as Hinami, Chiaki, Fuyuka, and Asahi—in that order—sprang to answer without hesitation.
“Lemon.”
“Sour.”
“Pickled plums.”
Their vocabulary gradually became more and more complex the longer the session went on, and the words employed grew trickier to associate with another word, elevating the difficulty. This was the charm of the word association game, and the group must’ve grasped this as they played repeatedly. There were no signs of stopping.
“Last word was ‘actor,’ right? Hmm... oh, got it: ‘handsome’!” Chiaki took a second to come up with his word.
It was Fuyuka’s turn next.
“Handsome, handsome...” she repeated to herself and paused briefly. What word could she possibly have been thinking of as the time limit for her reply drew ever closer? Eventually, she clapped her hands and exclaimed eagerly, “Asahi!”
“What?!” Asahi cried, taken aback.
“Aaand Asahi’s lost!” Chiaki proclaimed with a grin.
“Now you’ve gotta face the loser’s penalty, haha!” Hinami, like her boyfriend, taunted Asahi and smirked.
“Hold on a sec, when did anyone say anything about a penalty?” Asahi protested against Hinami’s arbitrary rule change, then glanced at Fuyuka. “Besides, Fuyuka’s the loser, not me.”
“Wha—but how so?”
“What? You’re trying to tell me I’m the first thing that popped to mind when you heard ‘handsome’? I don’t see it at all.”
“Why not? I think you’re very handsome, personally!” Fuyuka stated firmly.
“Oh yeah? If that’s how you wanna play, I’m gonna answer with ‘Fuyuka’ the next time the word ‘cute’ comes round.”
“Why would you? The rules of the game say that the words need to have an explicit connection.”
“I’ll have you know there’s a very clear connection between those two words for me.”
Their back-and-forth lasted a considerable amount of time as both sides refused to concede to the other. This made for a great show for the couple who formed their audience.
“Damn, they don’t need us to give ’em a push at all, do they?”
“Hah, you said it, Chii-pie. They should totally just start dating already.”
The couple exchanged thoughts on Asahi and Fuyuka’s relationship; frustrated by the other pair’s lack of initiative. Regardless, their humorous dispute proved to be great entertainment and made the wait in line feel much shorter than it really was.
✦ ✦ ✦
＊
“Asahi, my man... You still breathing over there?” Chiaki asked.
“Worry about yourself, dude. You ain’t looking too hot either...” Asahi groaned in response.
Common sense would dictate that a schedule packed with high-octane rides—three consecutive trips on a roller coaster, a round on a free-fall ride, a quick lunch break, a round on the swing carousel, another visit to the free-fall ride, and, finally, another go at the roller coaster—would suffer from motion sickness.
Although that was very much the case for Chiaki and Asahi, it appeared that such trivial human ailments simply didn’t apply to Hinami.
The boys had successfully talked a zealous Hinami out of any more runs on the rollercoaster for the time being. They two recovered on a bench, their worn-out, defeated auras seemingly completely out of place at an amusement park. They’d anticipated something like this happening, but they’d never imagined it would be as extreme as this.
“Your girl’s just built different. She isn’t even fazed,” Asahi noted.
“And she hasn’t even run outta steam yet. Never expected that the men of the group’d be the ones to throw in the towe—blech!”
“Oh god, don’t even think about throwing up here.”
“Just let it happen. We just mainlined like 50 roller coaster rides.”
“The world doesn’t need to see whatever’s happening inside your stomach, so you’d better keep it in there.”
Hinami’s not about to let us live this down, either. She just had to rub it in and call us “pathetic.” It’s like, hey, you’re the weirdo with too much energy to spare here.
But what was perhaps most unexpected of all—given that it had been her first experience on thrill rides—was the innocent smile that had adorned Fuyuka’s face during the rides.
I remember hearing this one theory somewhere that women can handle those kinda rides better because of how they’re configured biologically, or something... Well, if it’s true, we got to witness it firsthand today.
Asahi and Chiaki, who were drained both mentally and physically, wore grave expressions as they stared down at the ground.
“Heeey! Sorry to keep you guys waiting! Got you some drinks.” Hinami approached and handed Chiaki a sports drink.
“Sweet, thanks. You’re a lifesaver.” Chiaki thanked her, then proceeded to down his drink in one go.
“Here’s yours, Asahi,” Fuyuka said, passing Asahi a bottle of mineral water.
“Thanks,” Asahi replied before chugging some water. A reinvigorating sensation flowed through his body and soul. “Ah, that was refreshing. I needed that.”
“I’m glad I could help.”
I’m not ready for another trip through hell, but I should be able to get in another ride or two. I’d prefer something less intense though...
“Okaaay! Now that you two wimps are back on your feet again, it’s time we hit the next ride!”
“Do you seriously not get bored of riding on the same stuff over and over?” Asahi asked.
“Nope! Plus, the next one’s something we haven’t tried yet!”
“Huh... You sure about that one, Hina? I think we’ve been on every big ride this park has.”
“I think Chiaki is right,” Fuyuka added.
Hinami simply smiled at her friend’s perplexed expressions. Although they weren’t sure what she was planning, they knew she was up to no good.
“You could say I saved the best to last! Just follow me, guys!” Hinami announced with unbridled enthusiasm, hardly able to contain herself.
Despite her bright smile, the rest of the group felt a dark cloud of unease brewing in their hearts. Unfortunately, she didn’t allow any time for objection. The three eventually gave in and followed along.
.