Chapter 90: Chapter 6 - February 17th (Wed) – Field Trip Day 1 – Ayase Saki
I was actually a bit worried if I'd get enough sleep the day before we departed. However, the moment I closed my eyes, my consciousness immediately drifted into the deep abyss. I felt bliss and comfort inside my fluffy and warm bed, drifting right between experiencing a dream and sleeping. In retrospect, I don't know if I even had a dream or not. But eventually, my eyes opened to the darkness of my room, not to mention before my alarm even rang.
Instead, I could hear the faint rumbling of the air conditioner. It seemed like the timer worked exactly as I had planned, and I didn't feel cold even when poking my arms and legs out from beneath my blanket. This should be good enough, so I pushed myself up from the bed. Immediately after, I remembered the events of the previous night and faintly touched my lips as a snicker left my mouth. I must have been grinning there.
But this isn't the time to be dwelling in memories. I have to get changed right away. When I finished my makeup, I happened to run into Asamura-kun just as he entered the bath. It seems like he finally woke up. His face still looked a bit drowsy, making me worried that we might actually be cutting it fairly close. We then ate the rice balls and miso soup Mom made. It was as delicious as ever, but I was worried the seaweed from the rice balls might have gotten stuck to my teeth. I decided to not open my mouth too much in front of Asamura-kun before I got to check in the mirror.
With lots of time to spare, we left the house behind us. We took the Yamate line from Shibuya station, changing trains at Nippari station as we headed to Narita. Once there, we just had to wait until our stop, so we should make it on time. Sitting inside the train, I took a glance at Asamura-kun's face next to mine. He was yawning constantly, so he must be really sleepy. I can tell he's trying hard not to doze off. Our shoulders happened to bump into each other's, and he quickly sat straight up again. Each time that happened, he apologized to me, but I wouldn't have minded if he just leaned against me and slept a bit. This early in the day, the train we were in was mostly empty, and I didn't spot any familiar uniforms either.
Eventually, our train reached the second building of Narita Airport, just as planned. And with that, we rushed to the meeting area. Spotting a group of students with our uniforms, Asamura-kun stopped and said 'Okay, let's split up here.'
"Be careful during the trip, yeah?"
"Same to you," I nodded.
I left Asamura-kun behind me and headed for my class. Shockingly enough, the faster I distanced myself from him, the slower my strider became. Because if I meet up with my class, we'll have to stay separated this whole trip. The… entire time.
"Hurry up, Saki! Over here!" Maaya was waving at me at such velocity I could almost hear her arm cutting through the air.
A smile escaped my lips. We can already see each other, so I don't get why she's in such a rush. The third girl in our group is Satou Ryouko-san, and we have three somewhat noisy boys as well. Right before I joined their group, I turned around one last time to look for Asamura-kun, but I couldn't find him any longer.
A bit off-topic, but my good friend Narasaka Maaya's communication skills are tremendously strong. She's like the queen of communicating. I don't think there are too many girls in the world who actually manage to attain 100 friends without much effort. Not to mention that it's not limited to boys and girls. She can get along with just about anybody. And yet, surprisingly enough, she was currently busy shooing away the boys approaching us.
"Hey, you guys! Don't try to get into our girls' group! Go have fun with your other rowdies!"
She waved her hands to scare away the three boys that were part of our group, standing in front of me and Satou-san as if to protect us. And then, she turned towards all the other girls, warning them.
"Be careful of those guys who are getting excited just because it's a field trip!"
The girls laughed amongst each other, and the boys could only give wry smiles in response. After that, she turned toward us.
"Listen up, Satou-san. If those boys get too close, then you just have to tell me. I'll give them a good scolding!"
"Okay. Thanks… Narasaka-san," Satou-san narrowed her eyebrows and gave a warm smile.
"Same goes for you, Saki!"
"I think I'll be fine."
I know how other people see me. Granted, I've been making good progress at fitting into the class, but it still seems like they're a bit scared of me. You can't blame them with how I look.
"Don't let your guard down."
"Urgh, yes."
She suddenly gave me a stern expression, which left me a bit baffled.
"You're going to be a wife someday, so take good care of your body. Unless I can be the lucky guy. I bet you'd look great in a hakama."
"That's not happening, okay?"
Why does she have to always take her jokes one step further than the necessary level to make her feel satisfied? See, even Satou-san is laughing at us. But at the very least, that joke seemed to have helped her relax a bit, because she stopped looking like a scared cat. I'm guessing this was Maaya's intention in the first place. Our group of six had two problem children who weren't too skilled at dealing with boys (namely Satou-san and I), as well as two boys who'll be held under control by the third boy in our group. She then warned those two troublemakers to give Satou-san and me a bit of relief. Really, I can't beat Maaya.
"Sorry about these two, Narasaka-san. Come on you guys, the boys' line is over here, remember?"
He grabbed the boys and took them back to the line. With him, they should be fine, too. At the same time, the teachers stepped in front of the rows and began guiding us. Some students were cheering in excitement from time to time, but most of us were following along in a docile manner. A lot of the people here had never even been overseas, meaning they were more worried than excited. And they listened to the vice-principal's words cautiously. After all, it'd be bad if they weren't allowed on the plane. The same went for me, too.
I was actually fairly nervous during the time we waited to board the plane. But once boarded, it wouldn't be any different than taking the local bus somewhere. The announcer inside explained the regulations in English, Chinese, and Japanese, which was a fresh feeling, but then I remembered that the bullet train did the same with just English and Japanese. And after that, it was the same as heading for Kyoto or Nara. Talking, eating snacks, and laughing while sometimes getting scolded by the teacher. Well, I'm not really good when it comes to pointless chatter.
Satou-san seemed to be the same in that regard, which made me appreciate the existence of Maaya even more. If not for her, we'd have spent the next 7 hours in absolute silence. And I was grateful that I got to sit next to the window. If the conversation gets too much for me, I can just look outside the window. Seeing the scenery below us change into what you'd see on a satellite picture, it finally set in that we were heading overseas. And it was my first time, too. I could feel my heart beating a bit faster than usual.
I set up my phone to match the timezone and started reading through the guidebook when Maaya suddenly started talking about wanting to watch a movie. I guess if one person starts watching a movie, the others can't just continue talking. And Satou-san and I were quiet, anyway. But, I guess this was just Maaya trying to be considerate again. Telling us that we didn't have to force ourselves to talk.
In the end, we watched a popular mystery anime's newest installment. A young boy in elementary school was wrapped up in a murder incident and even managed to resolve it himself. Granted, it seemed a bit ridiculous, but other than that, it was an enjoyable watch. And around noon, people started eating the food they packed. The flight attendant even walked down the corridor with a trolley, repeating the old and well-trained phrase that I always wanted to hear once.
"Beef or chicken?"
It was a simple English exchange that couldn't even fully qualify as a conversation, but it helped me realize that we really were heading overseas. Needless to say, I answered chicken. It has lower calories, after all.
Eventually, we reached Changi Airport in Singapore. After arriving at the hotel, we finished our check-in, and then our group headed to the museum. Granted, that was only the case for the start and end. We walked through the museum in groups of 3 without the boys. Satou-san must have a lot more trouble with boys than I do, because she was visibly relieved at that. And I personally just wanted to leisurely walk around myself, so I was more than happy with the arrangement. Though I feel bad for our homeroom teacher, who wanted us all to have fun in a bigger group, boys and girls alike. I told Maaya about that and she responded—
"Kindness begets kindness, Saki-chan," she said and stuck out her tongue.
"…You just wanted to say that once, right?"
No evil is to be found in our dear group leader. Though to be pedantic, that saying means you adjust your attitude towards someone else depending on their actions. In this case, it would mean that we could walk around as a big group, assuming the other party was willing to do that, but the boys with ulterior motives would have hell to pay instead. So it's not exactly how she probably meant it, but that's also very much like Maaya.
Sadly, the guide for the museum spoke fluent Japanese. It feels like I wasted all this time learning English terms and names just for this tour. This isn't how our entire trip is going to be, right? What if my answering 'chicken' on the plane will be the highlight of my English conversation usage?
We headed back to the hotel, finished eating dinner, and took baths. The room assignments were split up by groups, meaning I'd be sharing a room with Maaya and Satou Ryouko-san. We've been in the same class for almost a year, but I never heard Satou-san speak this much.
"I'm really sorry, I thought you were a bit of a scary person, Ayase-san."
"Don't worry about it! She might look that way, but she's actually an adorable little sister who keeps bewitching all older brothers in the world! Amazing, right?"
"Why are you saying this, Maaya?"
"Ayase-san, you have an older brother?"
My heart skipped a beat. Maaya, what are you doing?!
"Ah, well…"
"Nope! But she sure loves acting like a younger sister! It's her younger sister attribute!"
"…Okay?" Satou-san seemed confused.
Sorry about Maaya, her explanations don't make any sense, right? In fact, I don't get it either. What's that even supposed to mean?
"All girls in the world can be split into two categories. If they are little sisters or if they're not!"
"Well, duh?"
It's either A or B. With that thought process, you can split every group or idea in two.
"Well, having siblings can be pretty stressful. They're so loud all of the time," Maaya said.
Her argument makes sense. She's got a few younger brothers.
"But you won't be lonely, right?"
"Well… that is true. But usually, it's a battle to even take a bath in peace. That's why today has been so peaceful!" Maaya said and Satou-san smiled in response.
I listened to their conversation while getting up and making my way to the window to check out the view. Today has been fun, and I can confidently say I learned a lot of new things. But once things calm down like this, I keep thinking how fun it would have been to experience all of this with Asamura-kun. Ever since we said goodbye this morning, we haven't seen each other once.
Maybe… I could go meet him. I could just contact him via LINE since we have free wifi here. I want to meet him. I want to see his voice. Or at least, hear his voice. And once that desire started to burn up inside of me, I had trouble containing it… Why can't he just text me first? I opened up our chat and glared at my screen, about to move my own finger.
"Sakiii! Stop standing around there and come join us! You should only enjoy such beautiful scenery with a charming young man at a bar with a glass of wine in hand!"
"Maaya… When did you turn into such a middle-aged man?"
Maaya pressed her hands against her chest like she had been shot and fell backward onto her bed.
"N-Narasaka-san, are you okay?"
"I'm done for… I was killed by Saki… I have to use the pocky sticks here to write my final message…"
"Huh? Huh?"
"Stop troubling Satou-san," I flashed a bitter smile and returned to the two of them.
Maybe Asamura-kun is currently enjoying time with his friends, so I wouldn't want to ruin his fun simply because I was feeling lonely… yeah. And with that out of the way, the first day of the field trip came to an end.
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