Adachi to Shimamura - Volume 8 - Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – Our First Journey I

The first person I came across as I returned home was Yashiro, tottering down the hallway. 
She had with her an entire bunch of bananas. I have to say, their bright and cheerful colour scheme matched quite well with the girl's own characteristic glow. 
Yesterday, it'd been black beans, and today, it was bananas. She always was eating something, wasn't she? 
"Eek!" 
Right as our eyes met, the girl turned around and ran off. Why was that? Feeling a bit curious, I took my shoes off and chased after her. A few moments later, I'd already caught her by the back of her neck; apparently, she hadn't been trying to get away from me in any serious capacity. 
"Hyaah!" 
"Why are you running?" 
"No reason." 
"Figures..." 
Had it been someone else, they might have been avoiding me, but as far as Yashiro was concerned, that didn't seem to be a concept that existed in her world. 
Her feet dangling in the air, she then began peeling one of the bananas. There was something about seeing her tiny hands move that really reminded me of my sister back when she'd been small. She'd been so much more willing to accept things back then compared to how she was now. So had I. Would she too eventually grow up to be like I was now? That was very much possible. 
"Are those what, your snacks?" 
"They are my lunch", the girl mumbled back, her cheeks now bulging with fruit. While it was definitely far too late for lunch, she didn't seem to mind that at all. No, she just looked happy in the most innocent way possible. I could see her cheeks swell ever further with every bite she took. They were jiggling back and forth, and so were her lips. I kinda felt like if I were to leave her on her own, she'd end up eating even the skins. 
"Bananas are delicious." 
"I am aware." 
"Well, in that case, here. Have fun." 
Having said that, the girl plucked off a single piece of fruit and handed it to me. I took it and turned it around, and immediately, I noticed that it still had the price tag on. It was the same type they used at the local supermarket. All-in-all, there was nothing that told these apart from the ones we had lying around. Thinking about that some more, I quickly realised that earlier while Yashiro had been running, she'd been heading towards the kitchen. 
"......" 
Well, whatever. I went ahead and peeled the banana she'd given me. 
"Is Shou not coming home?" 
"I thought she already was here." 
"The group of elementary schoolers I'd spotted on my way home had led me to believe that she'd come with them." 
Taking Yashiro with me, I headed to the living room. There, I sat down with her by my side. We both then proceeded to eat our bananas. The sweetness of the fruit—only amplified by the fact that I'd eaten nothing since lunch—quickly filled my mouth, causing both my cheeks and throat alike to tingle. 
As for Yashiro, she'd already finished hers and was currently on banana number two. Her mannerisms really were like those of a young child. She held no true connection to either me nor my family, and yet, here she was. It was kinda strange thinking about it that way. 
I went ahead and touched her feet—the soles of them, to be specific. They were soft like those of a baby. Her sides, her cheeks, those too felt the same when poked. She was so soft, so sleek, almost as if time itself had no effect on her. 
In addition to that, she was also very cold. Touching her was like touching a manifestation of morning dew. 
"Hmm?" 
"Say, what sort of stuff do you usually think about?" 
Her curious appearance really did make me wonder what went on in her head. 
"Food. I think how nice it would be if I had lots of food to eat." 
"Hahaha." 
I wish I could be as happy as you are, I added as I rustled her hair. This caused glowy particles to scatter everywhere around us. 
"Also, I do sometimes wonder if my brethren are doing okay." 
"Your brethren? Oh, yeah. You did mention something like that once. I think. Maybe." 
I definitely felt like I'd heard her talk about them when we'd first met, but if I'm being completely honest, I'd long since forgotten most of the details. I guess they were like her family or something. That seemed to make the most sense. I remembered her saying that she'd come here to look for them, although as she was right now, she definitely wasn't doing any looking. 
"I just hope that they've found something to eat", the girl stated while going through her second banana. She didn't sound particularly concerned. 
The one thing I managed to gather from all of this was that she didn't appear to live with her family. Where did she live then? I had no idea. I mean, yes, she did spend most of her time at our house, but that wasn't what I was asking. Rather, I was more interested in where she came from. Despite her apparent lack of common sense, she did have mastery over the language itself, so that didn't offer me any clues. Furthermore, I couldn't think of any place where people naturally had hair like hers. 
There were a lot of aspects to her that I mostly pretended not to notice, but when you actually stopped to think about them, it instantly became clear that Yashiro was her own unique type of creature. No matter where you looked, you could not find another one like her. She was the sort of being where examining her and publishing your findings would certainly earn you a page in the book that was human history. And here I was, making contact with her. We were eating bananas together. It kinda made me feel weird thinking about it that way. 
That said, even if on a logical level I knew that I should find it weird having her around, I really didn't; for one, all she ever did was eat and sleep. 
A few moments passed, after which I heard some sounds coming from the entrance hall. I could tell right away that it was my sister who'd come home. 
"I think that's her." 
"Ooh!" Yashiro exclaimed excitedly, all the while flapping her feet up and down. Those two sure did get along. Were they as close as me and Adachi? Wait, no, but if they were, then they too would end up becoming girlfriends. It was my opinion as her older sister that she was not old enough for that yet. Was that to say that it would be fine if they were older? I'm just not gonna try to answer that. 
"Ah, Sis. And Yachii." 
Weighed down by her backpack, my sister entered the living room with us. This prompted Yashiro to immediately leap up, and with a half-eaten banana in her hand, she ran up to to the girl. The two then smashed together. It appeared that was how they chose to greet one another. 
"Here you go, Shou. Have a banana." 
"Wow! Thanks." 
A look of glee could be seen on the girl's face as she took a bite out of the banana handed to her. 
"Another monkey, huh?" 
I'd actually heard it said somewhere that bananas weren't good for monkeys, but I digress. 
Watching the two get along as I lay there collapsed over the desk, I found myself letting out a deep sigh. 
I wasn't really tired. Not in particular. Rather, what I experienced was a sensation similar to an ashen curtain being drawn over my eyes. You know that sinking feeling you get when you're faced with loads of unsorted luggage you have to go through and organize? It was kinda like that. 
"......" 
That was just a random example I'd come up with, but thinking about it some more, it was honestly pretty accurate. 
Our second year in high school. October. After school. Monday. Adachi. 
Things really were piling up. 

Apparently, October was peak school trip season for second year high school students. Loads of schools organized theirs to be exactly this time of the year. That was something I'd once heard somewhere. Where? I couldn't tell you. Whatever the case, it didn't seem that our school was an exception. 
Our destination was the same as it had been last year, that being the city of Kitakyushu. In addition to that, it was also possible to travel overseas at a different date, albeit in that case, you had to pay the extra expenses out of your own pocket. There were lots of countries with schools co-operating with ours to choose from—like Thailand, Australia, and America to name a few—but if I'm being honest with you, I didn't really feel like going to any of them. Adachi and Shimamura USA was not something that would be happening anytime soon. My English grades already made sure of that. 
I could feel the warm, humid air carrying with it the remnants of summer flow past me as I sat there in the classroom surrounded by other students, all of us waiting for the day to come to an end. While not my favourite time of the year by any stretch, I still very much preferred it to what was about to come—that being winter. Simply thinking about the months of unpleasant chilliness I'd have to suffer through kinda made me feel melancholic. 
Truly, winter was the worst. My body got stiff, I became even more tired than I was usually, and to make it even more unbearable, simply lying about for just a few moments would dry my skin and make me feel like it was about to peel off. Had I not had a certain someone to hold my hand and keep me warm that way, I might actually have just ended up freezing. 
My mind wondered to Gon as I thought about the coming winter. He was still alive. He still existed in the same world as I did. 
That knowledge alone allowed me to keep my heart open, to avoid falling into the bleak pit that was loneliness. 
I closed my eyes and let the wave of emotion that came pass over me. 
Meanwhile, on the other side of my eyelids, it had come time for the groups that'd be used during the school trip to be decided. Apparently, we'd be forming groups of five. I opened my eyes, only to catch sight of Adachi leaping out of her seat. Practically running, she then made her way over to me. This definitely caused her to stand out a little; while somewhat expected, it was still shocking for me to see her be the first one to move. 
"Aren't you walking fast, Adachi." 
I decided to tease her a little, even if I did obviously know what it was that she wanted to say. Apparently realising this herself, Adachi went ahead and tugged my arm. The tip of her nose grew redder by the second as she slowly and nervously opened her mouth. 
"L-Let's join the same group." 
"Yeah, of course."  

It went without saying that we were going to do that. The only problem was, you needed five people to form one. Sure, they might let you form a group with six people in it if there were students left over—or four if there weren't—but even so, I seriously doubted that a group of two would get approved. 
If only Hino and Nagafuji were on our class. That was what I thought to myself as I scanned the room around me. It really did feel like that would've worked out perfectly, and not least because Adachi too was somewhat accepting of those two. Well, I guess not so much as of late, but I digress. Speaking of Adachi, she appeared to be paying little mind to the problem at hand, choosing instead to focus all of her attention on me. Was she perhaps that relieved knowing that we'd be in the same group? I could only assume so. It wasn't difficult to imagine her having stressed about this the entire day. That was just the sort of person she was. 
Should I perhaps let her know that left her mouth slightly open? 
"Hey, Shimamura. Have you two found a group yet?" 
That voice belonged to... Tonchinkan? Wait, no, it was something else. It was... err... right. Sancho, De Los, and Pancho. Well, I guess those weren't their real names, just the ones I'd come up with. Whatever the case, there were three of them, and they appeared to be asking us to join their group. Were they doing so because they wanted to, or because they felt like they had to? If I had to guess, I would pick the latter. 
Though we'd talked quite at the beginning of our second year, at some point, we'd kinda just stopped. Mostly because of Adachi. 
"Is it okay if we join yours?" 
"Yeah. That's actually what I was going to ask." 
Sancho was the one to reply. Like Nagafuji, she too wore glasses, but unlike her, she actually looked like she had her stuff together. I mean, sure, I guess that Nagafuji looked like that too on the surface. I just happened to know from experience that underneath it all, she was a much different—and much slower—person. 
There were three of them, and there were two of us. Add it together, and it made just the right number. I personally saw no reason to refuse. 
The key word there being "personally". 
"You're fine with that too, right, Adachi?" 
Adachi had yet to let go of my arm after gripping it earlier. After quickly glancing at the three girls, she then shifted her attention back to me. Her eyes were full of worry, her lips pouted with disappointment. It seemed that the only way she'd ever be satisfied was if it was just the two of us. 
I knew her well enough to have known to expect that. Even so, it would not do. 
I got up, patted her head, and once more asked for a reply. 
"Are you fine with it?" 
"Sure..." 
All those times of me calling her a good girl had eventually resulted in her becoming one. The cause and the effect were a bit mixed there, yes, but whatever. 
Her face somewhat red, Adachi slowly began un-pouting her lips. While I did certainly get the impression that there was something else I could've done to get her face to fully return to normal, school wasn't really the place for it. That was to say, we might have gotten in trouble if I were to continue. That was how it felt like to me at least. And so I didn't do it. 
The three were still standing there next to us, silently witnessing the scene unfolding before them. I quickly turned my head into their direction and gave them the widest smile I could muster. 
"I hope we'll have a fun time." 
"R-Right." 
It was Pancho who replied this time, sounding just a slight bit awkward. 
If nothing else, they weren't completely repulsed. I chose to interpret that fact as a good thing. 
"Haha..." 
The way I was dealing with Adachi really didn't make it seem like I was her girlfriend. Even calling me her older sister was a bit off. No, the most apt way to describe it was to say that I was her mother. 
With the groups decided, we then dispersed. Our teacher did talk a little about getting ready for the trip, but to be completely honest with you, I wasn't planning on sweating it. I mean, we were only going to be there for two nights. Not only that, I could simply wear my school uniform the whole time. 
How things went, that didn't really matter to me. I'd simply leave it all to chance and let the flow carry me with it. 
Adachi and I exited the classroom with the other students, but instead of leaving school right away, we found ourselves having a chat under the roof of the bicycle area. 
It was clear from the look in her eyes that she had something she wanted to say—and very badly at that. 
Standing there outside, I really got a sense of how both the light of the sun and its warmth were starting to grow milder with every day that passed. No longer did it feel like my hair has being clued onto my forehead. Rather, it was actually comfortable for once. Through my skin, I experienced the change of seasons and days alike. 
Both tomorrow and winter grew close at the same time. 
"Say, Shimamura. Have you ever been overseas?" 
"Can't say that I have", I replied, all the while pressing my fingers against the bell of my bike. Our family was not like Hino's. "I would like to go one day, though." 
Out there, far away, there existed countless places I knew nothing about. Every night while I slept, things were happening all around. People laughed, people cried, some were born, others died. 
Though I couldn't perceive it, the world most certainly existed. 
I quickly found myself somewhat intrigued thinking about it that way. 
As for Adachi, it appeared that she'd managed to get over what had taken place in the classroom. No longer was her head hung and her eyes stuck on the floor. 
"Is there anywhere you'd like to go in particular?" 
"Hmm... I guess San Francisco would be cool?" 
That was the first place that came to mind. I kinda wanted to see that famous crab sign in person. There was also Croatia, which I heard had its fair share of beautiful towns. I certainly wouldn't mind visiting there either. Really, any place where the sky was blue and the clouds white would probably be nice. 
"W-Well then, let's go there!" 
What a bold suggestion. Not only was Adachi leaning slightly forward, she'd also ended up grabbing my hand at some point. 
"Go where?" 
"To Frisco!" 
"Hmph. First time I've heard it be abbreviated like that." 
Putting her choice of abbreviation aside, was San Francisco really that close to us? Could we just go there if we wanted to? 
Of course not. It was at the very least farther away than either Shikoku or Hokkaido. 
"Like, right now?" 
"I-If that's what you want, then yes." 
I got the impression that Adachi was seriously attached to the idea of us going on our own private trip. I couldn't help but smile a little. 
"No, let's not." 
For one, we had school tomorrow. Not only that, I didn't have a passport ready. Money was a big problem as well. 
We were just a couple high school students. We didn't have the freedom necessary to be able to travel somewhere on a whim. 
Whether we wanted to go visit San Francisco after school or during the weekend, it was nigh impossible all the same. 
However, what about in ten years from now? Would it be possible then? Perhaps. 
"Hmm..." 
Then years from now, huh? Would we still be together, Adachi and I? 
Adachi probably wouldn't be against it, but what about me? 
I wasn't quite sure, and it was that lack of knowledge that brought me worry. 
How philosophical of me. I guess that things that didn't up were mostly that, philosophy. 
"Shimamura?" 
Adachi's voice brought me back to my senses. It seemed that I'd been spacing out. 
I waved my hand at her and told her that it was nothing, only for her to start squirming in place. This lasted for a little while till she slowly opened her mouth. 
"Y-You shouldn't space out like that when we're talking. It's not, err, polite..." 
The way she spoke there was extremely strange. It was as if her voice had started losing its vigour halfway through, culminating in it just kinda fizzling out by the end. 
Looking at her more closely, I noticed that her face had begun to get red. She almost looked like one of those paper lamps. Little by little, that redness spread across her entire face, until soon, it had gotten to a point where it seriously felt like if I were to pinch her cheeks, some of the colour might rub off. 
"Ahaha. I do like that part of you, Adachi. It's always so funny to see." 
"Huh? What part? What do you mean?" 
"The part where you're desperately trying to make a joke. You look totally adorable." 
Even there in the slight dimness of the indoors, I could see her cheeks growing ever more red as I pointed this out to her. She truly was easily read. Every part of her was. So straight-forward and to the point, not bent or curved in the slightest. 
"I'm not being desperate about it, though..." 
"Oh? You aren't? Well then, let's hear it." 
I'm waiting, I laughed. This was met by Adachi letting out a groan. It was as if she'd gone too far and now realised that she had nowhere to retreat. 
The way she did that, it too was quite adorable. 
"Say, Adachi. Your English scores are better than mine, correct?" 
Then again, it was true that she had me beat in the majority of subjects. Good going, Adachi. 
Or maybe I should say, bad going, me. 
"Maybe, but I still think you're the smarter one", she mumbled, all the while moving her eyes around in a very restless manner. 
"No, no. That's not true." 
Grinning, I gave her shoulder a tap. Doing so caused me to first-hand experience the difference in height between us. 
"I'll leave all the English talking up to you." 
"S-Sure. I'll do my best." 
Whereas I'd been joking, it seemed that Adachi was taking this all very much seriously. 
"Hmm? You're not going to suggest that we study together?" 
"Oh, right. Yeah. That sounds better." 
Having said that, Adachi gave my hand—which she was still holding—a pull. It was as if she was saying that we should go study right now. 
"Hmm... Well, whatever. I guess I don't mind." 
Gaining knowledge was always a good thing, I felt. And since it was a good thing, I wanted to do it. 
Dare I say, this conversation between us had been a constructive one. 
"Now then, I think it's about time I head home." 
"Right." 
"...Right." 
I lifted my hand—still being held by her. She was like an anchor. Anchor which stopped me from sailing home. 
"Will you let me go?" 
"Oh, err..." 
Right there, Adachi stiffened up. It was as if she had something stuck in her throat. Maybe I'm just imagining things, but it really did sound like her arm was creaking. 
"Umm..." 
Her forehead grew wrinkly and her hands shivered. What on earth was going on? Puzzled, I tilted my head slightly to the side, only for her to start one by one bending her fingers using her other—free—hand. I quickly grew a bit flustered; it didn't seem that she was joking. 
"Are your fingers stuck or something?" 
"Seems so..." 
The tone of her reply didn't exactly make it sound like she was apologizing. Rather, it was as if she was merely stating her observations out loud. You could even see a hint of a smile on her face if you looked closely enough. All in all, there was nothing about her appearance which gave me the impression that she was bothered by the situation in the slightest. There were people around us—naturally, as school had just come to an end—and yet, Adachi didn't seem to be any mind to them. 
In some way, I too felt like I was used to this. 
Anyway, after a few moments, she was finally able to free her hand. 
"Well then." 
Now able to do so, I waved her goodbye and began walking away. Adachi waved at me back, followed by something I'd not been expecting: 
"Gu... Gu bai!" 
"Oh?" 
This sudden English greeting caught me completely off-guard. Adachi appeared to share at least some my shock as she quickly turned around and started running away with her bike. 
I couldn't help put let out a short giggle. 
"Err... Habu a naisu dei... I think? Something like that?" 
I too decided to spout some English at her, although realistically, she probably couldn't hear me. 
A high-speed English conversation. That's what we'd had. 
Truly, how ambitious. 

Nothing worth mentioning really happened after that as I made my way home. 
I found myself having gotten just a bit worn out after the whole thing with deciding the groups. If this really was what we were going to be doing for the trip, then it wasn't difficult for me to imagine Adachi grabbing my hand and pulling me somewhere with her, causing us both to get lost. Would it be necessary for me to make sure that one of the other three was constantly standing between us as we walked around town? Perhaps. 
Adachi had more or less made me her messenger boy, so there was also that. 
"Hmm..." 
I didn't want to think that this was a giant bother. I really didn't. And yet, it was true that just like her, I also wasn't the greatest at paying attention to the needs of those around me. While I did understand that it was difficult to get along with everyone, I still couldn't help but wish that Adachi would've been even just a little bit more co-operative. Then again, I suppose the fact that she wasn't was part of her charm. What made her interesting. Her true nature. 
Anyhow. 
I got along with Adachi, and that was what mattered. That was all that mattered. 
Also, I wasn't her messenger boy; I was her messenger girl. A trivial detail, sure, but I thought I might as well correct it. 
I could feel the world around me waver as I lay there collapsed over the table. 
If I had nothing to do, then I might as well go to sleep. That was what I thought. For me, being asleep was my natural state. 
As for getting up and running around all excitedly, I felt that to be much more unnatural. Not everyone was like that, were they? 
Little by little, both my eyes and my mind began closing. 
Hmm... What about Adachi? Was she like me in that regard? Before long, I once again found my mind having wondered to her. 
The more I thought about it, about her, the clearer it became to me that she truly did love me. 
Let's say that there existed a switch that would make Adachi and I the only two people on the planet, and would also provide us with food and all other necessities we needed to live. Anyway, if given the choice, I got the feeling that Adachi would likely press it. While she couldn't live by herself, as long as I was there with her, she'd probably be able to overcome any hurdle. That in itself was a sign of great strength. It really was. 
As for me, I didn't think that I'd have much trouble living all alone. On the contrary, there only being the two of us, that for some reason felt very difficult to me. I'd survive, sure, but would it feel like I was really living? Probably not. 
That was all to say, I needed people. And not just three or four or five, but a whole lot of them. 
If a switch really did exist to make humankind go extinct, then I doubt I'd be able to press it. 
Those thoughts were what passed through my mind as I idly stared at my sister and Yashiro munching bananas. 

A shadow of blue was coming my way from the darkness. 
Who was it, I wondered. I didn't feel afraid. There was no sense of hostility to the shadow. 
It simply continued squirming about. 
I was just about to focus my eyes to see who it was when all of a sudden, the shadow vanished. 
The orderly yet slightly sharp noise that appeared in its place caused me to lift my shoulders and my eyebrows. 
My body felt both warm and heavy all at the same time, almost as if I'd just finished drinking a glass of tepid water. The sensation was similar to waking up after a short nap, when you were unable to tell whether what you were seeing was dream or reality. Similarly, my throat too felt like a great amount of warmth had just passed through it. While "tired" wasn't necessarily the word I'd use to describe myself, I definitely did feel a bit lacking in energy. 
It appeared that I'd fallen asleep while collapsed over the living room table. The sound that had pulled me awake had been that of my phone ringing in my bag. Who could it be? I stretched out my body and reached for the bag. After a few failed attempts—and a lot of pain to my abdominal muscles—I finally managed to grab the thing. 
Turning the bag around, I then pulled it open. The image that came to my mind was that of an otter plushy holding a seashell. Though I distinctly remembered my parents buying me one of those at an aquarium we'd visited once, it was nowhere to be found in my room. Where could it have gone? I kinda wanted to look for it now. Oh, but before that, I should check my phone. 
Much to my surprise, the person calling me was not Adachi. 
"Oh, Taru." 
I hadn't actually answered the call yet. It took me about five seconds to do as my legs kept shaking about, almost like those of a bug that had been turned upside down. It was as if a part of me was trying to run away. 
When I actually did do it, I could hear Tarumi's voice right away. 
"Yo." 
"Hello." 
She started with a "yo" pretty often, didn't she? I suppose that fit her personality better than the common "hello" or "how are you" did. Well, not that I knew anyone who'd actually say "how are you" on the phone. 
Hino was the closest one, what with her being a proper young lady and all, but even she usually went with stuff like "sup" or whatever. 
"Been doing well?" 
"I was just taking a nap, but yeah." 
I could hear Tarumi let out a short laugh. 
"You do like sleeping, don't you, Shima?" 
"Maybe. Well, actually, I think it's more that I just happen to randomly fall asleep all the time." 
How mysterious, I added as a joke, only for Tarumi to state the following: 
"Ain't there nothing wrong with that." 
"Oh, err... You think so?" 
Somehow, I couldn't shake the feeling that she—and everyone else—was being way to sweet to me. 
"The fact that it happens naturally is what I think... think is important? Great? Something like that. Maybe." 
What a surprisingly earnest opinion coming from her. While she did waver a little expressing herself, there was certainly truth to her sentiment. 
Part of me also felt like she was referring to something else entirely. 
"Sorry. My vocabulary isn't wide enough." 
"No, no. I don't mind." 
I'd gotten the gist of it, and that was what mattered. Had she made an effort to be considerably clearer than she had been, there was a real chance she would've ended up simply exaggerating matters. 
I was personally of the opinion that emotions ought to be shaped like circles, not like rectangles. 
"Speaking of which, my class is about to go on a school trip in a few days." 
"Oh, really? Mine's too." 
"You too, Shima? Huh." 
"Yep. Where are you guys going?" 
"Tokyo." 
"Oh, really? Are you now?" I asked back, putting on my best Tokyo accent. 
"Yeah, but not where they speak like that", Tarumi replied, her too attempting a similar accent. I couldn't help but feel like we were both a little off. "What about you, Shima?" 
"Kitakyushu." 
"That's in, Fukuoka, right?" 
"Yep. We'll also be visiting Nagasaki and I think... Kumamoto? Yeah, that sounds about right." 
I had to think back to the schedule guidebook we'd been given at school. According to it, one of our nights would also be spent at an onsen. 
Would the air there smell like sulphur? Probably. 
"Will you be taking an airplane there?" 
"Seems so." 
"I'll pray that you don't crash." 
"Thanks." 
Having stated a quick prayer, Tarumi fell silent. This silence lasted for a few moments till it was broken—by her. 
"Err..." 
"Yes?" 
"Once we're both back from our trips, could we like... see each other again?" 
It appeared that this was the reason why she'd called me. Thinking about it, I quickly realised that it really had been a while since we'd last met. 
I was about to say something. Tell her that I couldn't. Cheating wasn't a good thing to do, after all. 
However, right as that thought passed through my mind, I felt someone pull on my sleeve. 
It was as if I was tied to the bottom of a lake, unable to reach the surface. 
Was it not a good thing to do? No, it probably wasn't. 
And yet, it also wasn't the case that I could simply throw everything away, to severe all of my ties. 
That was the reason why I gave her the answer I did. 
"Sure." 
No more "yeah, it has been". No more "I'll think about it". 
Those had been such cowardly, such non-committal answers. 
A few more moments of awkward silence later, I ended the call. Judging by the display that showed up after the fact, it appeared that I couldn't have been asleep for more than a few minutes. 
I placed the device on the table and had a look around me. 
The first person I came across was Yashiro, currently watching TV on her stomach, the majority of her tiny body buried under the yellow cushions. The show that was playing was a local bakery program, and each time they showed a pastry on the screen, the girl could be seen flopping her legs up and down with delight. Looking at her more closely, I saw that the banana she'd been going through earlier had now been reduced to a pile of skin which lay on the table. As for my sister, she was busy checking how the fish in the aquarium were doing. She really did like looking after others, didn't she? Even with Yashiro, she always acted as if she was the older of the two. Staring at the two, I found myself once more resting my cheek against the table. 
"Ahh..." 
It was as if bubbles were coming from my mouth. 
Would Adachi be willing to tolerate me meeting Tarumi? Somehow, I got the feeling that she might not; there was a chance that she could simply blow up were I to tell her about it. That said, it did make me feel a little guilty thinking about us seeing each other behind her back. While I personally didn't think I was doing anything especially mean or bad, as far as Adachi was concerned, she might see it differently. She only needed one friend—one lover. 
Perhaps she loved me too much. 
Not that I really minded. 
"Love sure is heavy..." 
Adachi's love truly was an anchor—an anchor that bound me into the sea that was her. 
Between requesting people to give you what you did not possess and demanding them too to have what you already did, which one was the right thing to do? 
Which one was more sincere, more pure, more normal? 
Were Tarumi and I going to end up having another falling out? Perhaps. While we had managed to climb over one massive hurdle, more of them just kept popping up. Soon enough, the waves would once again pull back and draw us apart. 
Human lives truly were packed full of all sorts of difficulties. Though I'd overcome many of them to get to where I was, I had to say, I really hadn't made much progress, had I? Even now, I was constantly worried as to what I was supposed to be doing. 
While the answers were more or less clear to me, how to actually get there, which steps I needed to take and in what order, that I wasn't quite sure of. 
For someone like me who could not see ten seconds in front of herself, the thought of actually going to San Francisco in ten years time was something I couldn't even begin to imagine. 
"Hmm yes..." 
I needed a lot more practice myself before I could begin speaking of Adachi. 

That night, I found myself rummaging through my room as I looked for the otter plushy. 
Ignoring my sister's complaints, I went through every drawer, all of them. 
I was never able to find the plushy. 

I had almost no recollection of the previous school trips I'd gone on. So little of them remained within me that it was barely right to call them memories. The same was mostly true for the majority of my other trips as well; I could barely remember any of them. The only two things I carried with me were the weight of my own body as well as the glimmer of today. 
My head had been filled with blooming flowers for almost a whole day now. Their aroma was so intense that each time I breathed it in, I could feel myself choke a little. Some of the flowers were red, some yellow. There were a few other colours mixed in with them as well, all of which fell on the warm side of things. I could feel time flow a lot quicker than it did normally. It was almost as if this assortment of different aromas and colours had charmed my mind and caused it to go on overdrive. 
It was not at all the season for it, and yet, there were flowers everywhere. 
I remained bewildered for a pretty long time. It was as though I'd not known beforehand how pretty flowers were, how strong of an aroma they emitted. Only when I stopped for a moment to admire them had I noticed their beauty, the soothing effect they had on my heart and my soul. 
Little by little, it'd begun dawning on me: This was happiness. 
I was going somewhere with Shimamura. Simply the thought of it caused my mind to melt. Though I had no idea what it was going to be like, what this all was going to lead to, I already found myself itching with excitement; were I to look in the mirror right now, no doubt would there be an absolutely atrocious grin on my face. 
And yet, there were also parts that I didn't find quite so nice. 
Had it been at all possible, I really would have preferred it being just the two of us. Even more so since this was our first trip together. 
I continued heading towards work while anguishing over such matters. I passed by a super market, and right there, I noticed sitting a person who I was sure I'd seen somewhere before. She had chair prepared, a table on which stood a crystal ball, and... Ah. It was the fortune teller lady. She had set up shop just in front of the parking area. While I seriously doubted that she had obtained the necessary license to operate here, there was nothing about her appearance that made her seem particularly bashful. It was as if she just didn't care. 
Our eyes ended up meeting in my moment of shock, prompting the woman to stand up and wave at me. 
"Hey, my friend! My friend!" 
Incorrect: I was not her friend. I quickly averted my eyes and began pedalling away, only for her to somehow circle around me and block my path. 
How was she faster than a bike? Pretty impressive, I had to say. 
"What?" 
Only now that she was standing in front of me did I notice that the lady was considerably shorter than I was. 
"You've come again, my friend." 
"No, I've not. Also, I'm not your friend." 
"This way, this way." 
Completely ignoring what I was trying to tell her, she dragged me by the arm and made me sit in front of the desk she'd set up. I briefly considered using the fact that I had to go to work as an excuse to get away—even if in reality I still had plenty of time left. However, the woman just kept babbling on, and I kinda got the feeling that if I were to force her to stop, she'd demand that I pay her or something. That was all to say, I had no choice but to sit through it. 
Though the location was different from before, she still had all the ornaments she'd had previously, including the same old crystal ball. 
Would operating a food stall or something not be a more enjoyable way of making money? I suppose not. 
"Now then." 
Having now sat back down, the woman began running her hands against the crystal ball's surface. 
"Have things been going well with your girlfriend?" 
Straight to the point, just like the previous time. Girlfriend. She'd just said it like it was nothing. My legs were left wiggling about nervously underneath the chair. 
While certainly a bit embarrassing, there was something about her using that term that also made me feel very much satisfied. That's what Shimamura was—my girlfriend. 
The soft autumn wind continued tickling my cheeks. 
"It's... going fine." 
"I see, I see. Smooth sailing, huh?" 
"Y-Yeah." 
"Any problems you're facing?" 
"None." 
I followed this statement up with a reserved fist pump. 
"Any dissatisfactions then? Anything at all?" 
The woman just wouldn't give up. It was as if she was attempting to dig below the surface. 
"I'm going to end up more worried if you keep asking." 
"Hooray. People being worried is what gets me customers." 
Now that was a form of business I wasn't a fan of. Then again, I guess that was just her in general. 
Or maybe not; I wouldn't go as far as to say that I disliked her. For how cheerful her voice and mannerisms were, the expression she had on her face remained mostly the same. 
"Are you absolutely certain that there is nothing on your mind that is giving you trouble? Nothing at all?" 
It seemed that she wasn't going to be taking no for an answer. If I wanted to leave, I'd have to say yes. That was the impression I got. 
Truly, what a bothersome person had I made myself familiar to. 
I ended up telling her the first thing that sort of resembled a problem that came in my mind. 
"Hmm... Well, I guess we are leaving on a school trip pretty soon." 
"Oh? Really now? I do like the sound of that." 
The lady proceeded to roll up her sleeves. It was as if she was saying finally. 
"Can you use your abilities or whatever and tell me how I should prepare?" 
"Of course. Just leave it to me." 
Having said that, the woman then placed her hand on her crystal ball—the object which, strangely enough, had not yet gotten much time in the spotlight. 
The slightest bit of annoyance could be seen on her face. 
"Enmya-hora~." 
That wasn't a mistake. I'd not written down random letters because I'd had difficulty hearing her. No, that was actually, genuinely the thing she chanted. It was almost as if she was throat-singing or whatever. First she'd been a takoyaki cook, and now this. She was quite the versatile person, this fortune teller. 
"It's coming. I can feel it coming." 
"What is?" 
"Be careful not to lose anything. Your lucky colour is blue." 
I couldn't help but feel like I'd heard this exact thing before. 
"Alright. That will be 3000 yen", the woman stated, all the while holding out her hand towards me. 
"That's expensive." 
"Comes with quality service." 
"I meant, it's more expensive than before." 
"That'd be because I gave you a first-time discount." 
"I don't have my wallet with me." 
"Well, in that case, I'll start calling you Sazae-san from now on." 
"Err... Sure? I don't really care." 
If it meant that I didn't have to give her any money, then honestly, that was a pretty cheap price to pay. 
"At any rate, I hope you enjoy yourself out there." 
"Right. Oh, but since it's a school trip, it won't be just the two of us. There's going to be a lot more people. I really wish there weren't..." 
It was far too late to be worrying about that, and yet, I couldn't help but to. 
"Hmm... Can't you simply go somewhere alone at a later date?" 
"Well, yes, but this is our first trip together. I wanted it to be with her alone..." 
That definitely would have been preferable to there being other people around. And not just any people, but those from our school. 
It just seemed like the sort of environment where it would be totally impossible for me to concentrate on anything. 
Why was this a bad thing? Because I knew it'd totally mess up my memories with her, my recollections of our time spent together. You always tended to remember things most clearly when they happened for the first time. The impression left by the initial experience would forever be burned into your mind, again and again bearing its influence on you. Overwriting it with something else was no simple task; you needed both a lot of time as well as experience to do so. 
This was all to say, the first time mattered. 
For me, that ought to be Shimamura. 
That was the way I saw it. 
"I see, I see", the woman nodded her head. She then turned away to mumble something to herself: "What a troublesome girl you are..." 
While I couldn't hear exactly she said, I somehow got the feeling that she was bad-mouthing me. 
"Well then, how about you go somewhere with her before the school trip? Wouldn't that work?" 
The way she said this almost made it sound like she was getting annoyed at me. 
"Oh..." 
Though a very simple suggestion at its core, it still managed to have a profound impact on me. This did not last for long, however, as soon, my mind was taken over by feelings of dejection. 
"Earlier, I tried suggesting her that. I said we should go somewhere. But, she turned me down..." 
"Hmm. And how did you make this suggestion?" 
"I said 'let's go there right now'..." 
"And she turned you down, did she? Hmm..." 
The woman proceeded to close her eyes. A deep sigh left her mouth, followed by a smile forming on her face. 
"Of course that's going to happen if you ask someone out on a weekday. I suggest you try again on Saturday. It's important to stay attentive to the needs of others, you see." 
"Ah..." 
She was completely right; I'd been so busy that I had forgotten we had school. Being the good student she was, Shimamura could never have agreed to come with me. Getting all flustered and acting without thinking really was a bad habit I had. 
"There's no need to rush as long as you plan out your moves beforehand. Humans are fantastic like that. For example, it only takes ten hours to get from Tokyo to San Francisco." 
Why did she bring up San Francisco specifically? I had no idea. It was almost as if the woman had read my mind. 
"Go, girl!" she then shouted with her fist in the air. This was followed by her lowering her hand and holding it out towards me—palm-side up. "That'll be 3000 yen." 
"Again, I don't have my wallet." 
Can't give you what I don't have, I added as I got up. This prompted the woman to wave me goodbye: 
"Bye bye, Sazae-san." 
Don't call me that. Paying no attention to her, I turned around and left. 

Despite her overall shady appearance, the piece of advice the fortune teller had given me was certainly worth taking into consideration. 
Right. 
That was exactly what I ought to do. 
Afterwards, I'd be able to calm down and enjoy the school trip for all that it was worth. 
I proceeded to give this plan a few satisfied nods as I sat there on top of my bed. Now then, should I ask her right this instant? Or perhaps a bit later? With my hand hovering over my phone, I considered my options. Shimamura wasn't going to think that it was a bother, was she? 
Well, I ask that, but considering the sheer amount of time it would take me to fully explain the situation and why I wanted to—needed to—go with somewhere with her this weekend, I got the feeling that she definitely would. 
I had to keep it short. But, in that case, what would I tell her if she asked why? What sort of an excuse would I give her? I could feel my mind growing increasingly scrambled. 
First things first, I needed to calm down and collect my thoughts. 
That said, thinking about it, I never was able to stay calm around her, was I? There'd been a particular moment in time—a boundary, so to say—after which that had simply become my life. A good way to symbolize it, I thought, was to say that flowers had begun to bloom in my heart. 
In the end, I found myself having sent her a mindless text. 
"Can we talk on the phone?" 
Maybe I should have asked her over text. Maybe that would have been easier. Sadly, I only thought about that after the fact. 
At the same time, I did want to hear Shimamura's voice, and so I suppose it wasn't the worst thing in the world. 
A few moments passed, after which I received a reply—not in the form of a text, but by Shimamura calling me. I wasted no time picking up. 
"Yes? What is it?" 
She greeted me the same way she always did. Instantly, I could feel myself relaxing. 
It was as if I'd climbed over a massive wall, a wall behind which I was met by a scenery which reminded me of home. 
Truly, Shimamura was where I belonged—my place to return to. 
The sweet fragrance of flowers took over my nose. 
"Err, I was thinking..." 
"Go ahead." 
"Would you like to go somewhere this Saturday?" 

"Souvenirs. I want the best souvenir." 
"Only if you're a good girl, okay?" 
It was currently the morning of the school trip. I was in the process of putting on my shoes as my sister—still wearing her pyjamas—saw me off. 
She'd yet to tie her hair up, and despite that, it was already pointing upwards near the tips. Just went to show what a restless sleeper she was. Always turning and twisting. 
"I know you might get lonely without me here, but do try to not cry." 
"Yes, as if. Take that!" 
"Eek!" 
Before I could react, the girl kicked me in the butt. 
"Hey!" 
I grabbed her by the temple and had her flap her legs around for a little while before finally letting her go. 
If nothing else, I guess that did properly wake me up. 
"Oh, speaking of. Yachii disappeared somewhere", the girl stated over her shoulder, all the while rubbing the area just beside her eye. 
"I think I saw her in the kitchen a moment ago. Try looking there?" 
"Yeah. She can be found there pretty often..." 
That's what happens when you feed someone so carelessly. Wait... Wasn't it me who started that? Never mind then. 
Waving my sister good bye, I went ahead and exited the house. There, I was welcomed by a gush of warm air carrying with it the afterglow of summer softly brushing against my face. 
The early mornings of October always began indigo. The clouds in the sky appeared layered, almost as if they were thin pieces torn off a bigger cloud, and it was that combined with the scenery around me that let me know that autumn had come, not so much the temperature itself. At first, the houses on the other side of the street had been enveloped in shadow, but as the sun rose, their windows began to glimmer. 
Feeling the light with my eyes—and the air with my nose—I could feel a gush of warmth pass through deep inside me. 
You'd think this would be the perfect day for Adachi to come pick me up, but no; it was all me today. 
I was only accompanied by the scenery of stars. 
I threw my bag over my shoulder. 
"Alright. Let's get going", I proclaimed, almost as if there was someone else here who I was speaking to. I then began heading towards school. 
There, my girlfriend—my oh-so-troublesome girlfriend—would be waiting for me. 

A bus had already been parked in front of the school by the time I got there. It'd take us to the station, and there, we'd get on a train to the airport—after a quick transfer, that was; no trains went directly to the airport from where we lived. 
Quickly meeting eyes with the cheerful local mascot that had been painted on the side of the bus, I made my way towards the sounds of chatter that could be heard nearby. A number of other students had already gathered there and were currently talking amongst themselves. Two of them were Hino and Nagafuji. 
"Yo, Machi", Hino greeted me. We'd got to a point where the nicknames barely had anything to do with my real name. 
"Good morning, Shima." 
Nagafuji's greeting on the other hand sounded surprisingly ordinary for her. Following it, she let out a massive yawn before taking off her glasses. 
"Pay no mind to her. She's just tired because she avoided packing her luggage till the last moment, and as a result, had no time to sleep." 
"Hahaha..." 
I laugh, but really, I was in no position to talk. 
"The only reason I wasn't late is because I was sleeping over at your house. Hahaha." 
It was Nagafuji who laughed this time, sounding oddly proud of herself. Hino proceeded to stare at her with her eyes narrow: 
"Yeah. Without asking me first. You just showed up." 
"And? Is there a problem?" 
"Many", she stated bluntly, skipping explaining herself in favour of simply waving her hand in the air. A questioning look remained on Nagafuji's face. 
I had to say, I did kinda understood where Hino was coming from; there was a certain way my mom acted whenever Adachi came over, an I had to assume it was the same with her. 
"Switching topics, you sure have a lot of luggage with you, Shima-Shima. Did you get particularly fired up while packing?" 
This time, she added an extra "Shima" there. 
"Not really. I was just going through stuff to see what I needed, and before I knew it, I'd—" 
"Ah! Adacchi's here", Hino swiftly cut in. I turned around to look in the direction she was pointing, and sure enough, Adachi's backpack could be seen there. 
It went without saying, but she was alone. There was no one else near her. 
"Thanks." 
"Talk to you later, Shima-Shima-Shima." 
That's enough of them already, seriously. 
Thanking Hino one more time, I left the two and began heading towards Adachi. Behind me, I could hear Nagafuji still continuing to question Hino as to what she'd meant. 
I drew close to her. Though she'd clearly noticed me, she did not come rushing to me with a smile on her face. 
You see, we'd had some—how to put it—friction of sort happen between us. 
Just a few days ago, Adachi had called me and suggested that we go somewhere with just the two of us before the school trip. Why had she done that? What was going through her mind? I couldn't tell. Regardless, I'd of course said no, and as you could tell by the way she was now pouting, she'd not taken well to it. Her train of thought was often impossible for anyone but her to make sense of, and this time was no exception. 
"Morning." 
Pretending like none of that had ever happened, I went ahead and greeted her. 
"Hmm..." 
Adachi responded by tensing up her shoulders slightly. It appeared that she was still very much in a bad mood. 
I couldn't help but smile a little: Truly, what a troublesome child she was. She reminded me of my sister whenever she got in a bad mood, although if she was anything like that girl, then the matter would simply take care of itself given some time. 
A few moments later, the teacher called to us and we got on the bus. We were clumped with the rest of our group but other than that were more or less free to sit wherever we wanted, and as such, Adachi and I naturally ended up side by side. Our seats just so happened to be positioned such that we were sitting right above one of the tires. 
The bus got moving, and quickly, I took a glance at the people sitting on the opposite side of the middle corridor. They weren't paying attention to us, were they? No, not really. 
Still facing forward, I went ahead and wrapped my hand around Adachi's. 
I assure you, it was not my intention to brush her thigh the way I did. It just happened. A total accident. 
I could feel Adachi's palm clench a little. Enjoying the sensation, I stated the following to her with a smile on my face: 
"Let's enjoy this, okay? It's not every day that we get to travel somewhere." 
We were still high school students, after all. Not only that, this was going to be our final school trip. There would not be another one. Among the endless days of nothing happening, this experience could very well prove to be something unforgettable. 
Despite looking like she was holding her breath, Adachi did eventually grasp my hand back. 
"Look. We don't have to pretend like nothing happened. All I'm asking in that we put it on the shelf for now. Once the trip is over, you can pout and mope and be mad at me all you want. Will you be able to do that?" 
I said that, but at the same time, I'd spent enough time with Adachi to know that she was not the greatest at moving on and putting things behind her. Neither of us was. 
"If not, then... I'll keep smiling at you till you brighten up. Yeah, that's what I'll do." 
That seemed to me like the line of attack that would work best on Adachi. She appeared very confused, and yet, paying little mind to her, I simply kept on grinning. Soon enough, her cheeks grew red and her eyes began jumping about restlessly—just as I had expected to happen. Staring at her, I couldn't help but smile a little myself; she really was cute. Then, a few moments later... 
"Err... Sorry." 
...Adachi ended up apologizing with her head hung. It appeared that she'd at last seen how childish she'd been acting. 
"Hahaha. It's fine, it's fine. The trip has only begun." 
Made it in time, I laughed. 
My response prompted Adachi to lower her gaze one more time. 
And so, the school trip had its start. Destination: Kitakyushu. 
There, in early autumn, during my second year in high school, I would for the first time in my life touch the sky. 

To tell you the truth, I'd never actually been to an airport before. 
I must have looked like a total country bumpkin the way I glanced around me restlessly as we made our way to our gate. 
I was so incredibly nervous and only got more so as we boarded the plane. 
A few moments passed as I sat there in my seat. However, soon enough, the sound of roaring filled my ears. What was happening? The plane wasn't about to blow up, was it? I found myself being run over by anxiety. The sound was very sharp, sharp enough to bring the image of air being sliced up with an extremely sharp blade to my mind. That lasted for some time before the plane began moving. 
Its frame bobbed from side to side, and so did my head. 
The light coming in through the windows flickered as we turned to put the runway in front of us. My silent screams were completely drowned out by the thunderous roars growing ever louder around me. The plane started picking up speed, and in the next instant, I found myself being pressed hard against the back of my seat. I couldn't move. It was as if someone was holding me still. A few moments of acceleration later, the world around me leaned backwards, and so did my body. 
We'd left the ground. 
I was sitting still in a comfortable seat, but at the same time, I was also soaring through space. The situation was such that I couldn't help but clench my teeth together. 
The scenery outside appeared slanted. It was almost as if the plane was going up an invisible ramp. 
My legs flopped back and forth below my seat. 
The plane was flying. It really was. Somehow, it had overcome gravity and broken itself free from its chains. 
Right as my hands were about to start getting sweaty, an announcement played telling us that everything was going smoothly. Was that really so? Could I trust this voice? I once again found myself glancing around me. The constant, loud sound wouldn't give me peace. There was barely enough room for me to breathe, much less so move around. And those were just the start; I could have easily listed a dozen more examples of things that made this situation an extremely uncomfortable one. I continued wiggling about as all of a sudden, Adachi grasped my hand. It was the exact same situation as in the bus except this time, our positions were reversed. That, and whereas I'd done it slowly and stealthily, she showed no such hesitation. Was this something where the differences in the way we thought about things could be seen? I suppose so. If I'm being honest, it felt kinda strange, although not necessarily in a bad way. I was more impressed than anything. Furthermore, I also had to wonder, just what could she tell by the sweat covering my hands? A lot of stuff, probably. 
I wanted to say something. I was going to. And yet, looking at Adachi, seeing how innocently she was enjoying us holding hands, I was left with the impression that this was everything that she wanted. Though her eyes were pointed away from me, I could tell that she was smiling. I went ahead and closed my mouth before any words could come out. 
I corrected my posture and shifted my gaze forward. 
This time, what filled my ears were not the sounds of the airplane, but that of my heart pounding. 
There in the sky far away, we'd held hands. 
The sensation that rushed through me as I thought about that was a truly wonderful one, almost ticklish. 

As we approached our planned time of arrival, so did the streets and mountains of Kitakyushu grow visible. I once again found myself feeling a bit anxious, though thankfully, the plane did manage to land without any issues. The first thing I noticed as we got off and entered the airport was that everything sounded super loud for some reason. Feeling gravity pull me down also caused me to experience slight nausea. Truly, flying was not an easy thing to do on our planet. 
I couldn't help but admire birds. How did they do it? 
We began making our way through the airport alongside the rest of our group. As we were walking, my ears unclogged themselves. This gave room for yet more noise to rush to fill them. The students directly in front of us were especially loud. It seriously made me dizzy listening to them chatter. 
"It felt way more fluffy and floaty when I was flying in my dream..." 
"Hmm?" 
"No, nothing." 
I'd been quite careless letting my guard down like that; knowing Adachi, she was the type of person who could and very much would pick up on even the faintest mutter. Wait... I'd been careless? So, in other words, I shouldn't relax and feel at ease when I was talking with my girlfriend? That certainly didn't sound right. At the same time, there was a part of me that wanted to appear cool in front of her. I wanted her to give me her affection. To achieve that goal, I had no choice but to stay alert. Hmm... I could feel my shoulders grow stiffer the more I thought about it. 
Truly, love was not easy. 
It took us some time to get to the lobby downstairs. There, we were once again divided into groups and told to wait for further instructions. A few students who needed to go use the bathroom left their stuff with their friends and ran off. 
Our class appeared not to be the only one heading to Kitakyushu; off in the distance, I could see a different group of students from another school, their uniforms green. There was actually an agricultural high school in our area where the students wore green uniforms, although from what I could remember, those were a bit darker in their tone. 
I once again found myself restlessly glancing around. Everything here more or less looked and smelled like what I was used to, which was kinda strange when you considered just how far from my usual milieu we'd come geographically speaking. The only language I could hear be spoken was Japanese. I did feel a bit warm, sure, but that was only because there were so many people around; looking outside, the weather actually appeared quite pleasant. 
I'd thought that travelling would mean things being at least somewhat different, but no, everything appeared the same for most part. I couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. 
"Are you okay, Adachi? Do you need to go use the bathroom?" 
"I'm good", she nodded. Soon after, a frown appeared on her face: "Why are you treating me like a kid?" 
"Oh? Sorry. I didn't mean to", I replied, all the while readjusting my bag. 
Squish. 
...What? 
That sound came from inside the bag. 
In an instant, my back was covered in a layer of cold sweat. 
"Shimamura?" 
I went and ahead and jumped in place a few times. 
I'd had my doubts, but this proved it: The muffled scream that followed—filled with more excitement than sense of danger—was definitely coming from inside the bag. 
By that point, even my cheeks were starting to get sweaty. 
"Sorry. Could you give me a second?" 
I broke off from the rest of the group to get somewhere they couldn't see me. However, doing so, I quickly noticed that I was being followed. 
I turned around, only to see Adachi standing right behind me with her head hung. The way she did it almost made her look like a baby chicken. 
"You're the one who I was talking to, Adachi. Can you wait here? I'll be right back." 
"But... why?" 
"Please. It won't take long." 
I gave her a quick pat, to which she responded by pushing her head forward. It was as if she was saying "more". 
Pat, pat. 
You could tell by the way her lower lip was trembling that she greatly enjoyed this. 
"Pat..." 
I found my hand starting to get warm. 
This was bad; knowing her, she'd never stop asking for more. 
Me pulling away my hand was followed by Adachi slowly raising her shoulders. She then grabbed onto it, almost reflexively, like she was catching a bug or something. Staring her in the eyes, I grew acutely aware of the difference in height between us. 
Hmm... It was almost as if this gap had only grown wider over the past year. 
"Hey, Adachi. I'm always listening to your wishes and doing as you want. I'd appreciate if you could do the same for me every now and then." 
I made sure to sound as gentle as possible as I said that. Then again, I suppose it was obvious what I was doing, that being pointing out her selfish behaviour. 
No longer was Adachi smiling. Her face grew stiff and her complexion pale. 
"Sorry. I, err, I didn't mean to be selfish. It's just, parting ways, it feels kinda... You know..." 
From speaking in a rush to muttering incoherently. The way she switched between different types of reactions sure was intense. 
"No, no. I think you're misunderstanding. It's not going to be anything that serious. Not even close." 
For real. I lifted my hand to free myself, turned around, and walked away. This time, Adachi did not follow after me, but instead, stayed where she was and silently watched me go. I didn't particularly mind that, being watched by her. Hmm... That said, it wasn't difficult to imagine things getting really annoying really fast. 
"Now then." 
Having made it behind the escalator, I slowly placed my bag on the floor, all the while making sure that no one was looking my way. I then pulled the thing open. What appeared from inside was a ball of blue hair. 
"......" 
It was as if I was staring at an animal that had popped its head out from its den. 
"Good morning." 
Whereas a part of me couldn't believe that this was real, another had almost been expecting it. I could feel my mind being torn into two directions by these contradictory thoughts blowing through me like grains of sand dancing in the wind. While I was busy trying to collect myself, Yashiro lifted her head and had a look around her. 
"Where are we?" 
A sigh left my mouth: She was the one asking questions here? I had about a million of those I would have liked to ask her first. 
"We're at the airport. Another airport, that is. Not the one where we live." 
"I see, I see." 
No she didn't; it was obvious from the way she was nodding her head that she had no idea what I was talking about. 
"Anyway, first things first. What were you doing inside my bag?" 
Was that really the right thing to start off with? Whatever the case, it was what I decided to go for. 
"So, you see", Yashiro began explaining, all the while still inside the bag: "When I came over to play this morning, I saw the bag just sitting there." 
"Yes, and?" 
"And then, I happened to get in." 
"What do you mean, you happened to get in?" 
"Once I was inside, I fell asleep." 
"Did that just happen as well?" 
"Next thing I knew, I woke up here. Wahoo!" 
For what ever reason, she decided to conclude her explanation by raising both of her hands high up in the air above her head. 
I found it kinda curious that she'd not been caught when our bags were scanned. Moreover, how was she even able to fit inside the bag in the first place? Not only was it relatively small, it was filled with my other luggage. This crossed over from being just little strange to straight up mysterious territory. 
I was too scared of the implications to think about it any further, which was why I decided to pretend like I hadn't seen anything. 
"I can't really fly back and take you home. I also can't have you walk next to me. Hmm... I guess you're going back inside the bag then." 
"Oh? Sure thing." 
It was kinda weird how calmly Yashiro accepted my suggestion, although I guess so was I for making it in the first place. 
"Just don't pop your head out unless I tell you it's okay. Got it?" 
"Ah, yes. There is no need to worry. I'll be sleeping, you see. Hohoho." 
The way she laughed made it clear that Yashiro wasn't least bit concerned by the situation at hand. 
So incredibly carefree, this girl. I'd be lying if I said that there wasn't a part of me that felt slightly jealous of her. 
"Just think of me as Nezuko." 
"Can I put a gag in your mouth then?" 
I really hadn't noticed any extra weight when I'd been carrying the bag around earlier. Going by that logic, I probably wasn't going to be having any issues continuing to do so. Physically speaking, that was; I'd of course be extremely conscious of the fact that there was a person inside there. 
"What about food and stuff? Are you okay in that department?" 
I had to ask to make sure. Were she to shrivel up and waste away while I wasn't looking, that'd be really bad. 
"I'll be fiiine." 
"That's good." 
"Although, I would appreciate it if you could get me some fruit." 
"Yeah, yeah. I'll keep that in mind." 
Were someone to find her, would they think I was a child kidnapper of some sort? Probably. Worse than that, I seriously doubted that I'd know how to talk myself out of that situation. 
"Sorry about that. Didn't think it'd take that long." 
My return was met by Adachi immediately running up to me. It was as if I was a magnet that only affected her. Following her were the other members of our group. Well, I call us a "group", but we were really three people and then two more. It was mostly Adachi's doing that such a barrier had formed between us. 
While I did feel a bit guilty thinking about how they'd gone out of their way to invite us, given the relationships at the play here, the outcome was mostly expected. Truly, things could not have gone any less smoothly. Then again, looking at it from Adachi's point of view, I suppose this was exactly what she'd wanted. I couldn't help but let out a long sigh. 
I know I already mentioned this before, but looking around the airport, it kinda didn't feel like I'd ever left home. Just like it had back there, the slightly thick air carrying with it just a hint of warmth continued drying up my nose. I wonder, were we currently overseas, would the townscape combined with the temperature cause me to feel like I was somewhere new, somewhere fresh, or would it simply be more of the same? 
Hino had already experienced that sensation, hadn't she? Yes, she had. 
We'd lived the same number of years, spent the same amount of time in this world, and yet, the gap in our experiences was massive. 
Well, I say that, but the few things I had experienced were quite precious to me and not something I'd ever be willing to exchange away. 
I continued chewing through those thoughts as we exited the airport. The sun was shining down at me at a faint angle, and I have to say, by no means did I dislike the sensation. For whatever reason, sunlight always brought with it the feelings that something was about to begin. 
Anyway, we eventually got on the bus and drove quite a distance away from the airport. I ended up dozing off more than a handful of times while viewing the scenery through the window, and as a result, what I remember of the drive are only bits and pieces. If there was one thing where buses beat airplanes hand over fist, it was that sleeping on them was considerably easier. Having woken up, I slowly turned my head around, only to see Adachi staring at her phone with her back hunched. 
Curious as to what had her so enthralled, I went ahead and quickly sneaked a peak at the device, only to see myself being displayed on the screen. 
There I was, resting against the window of the bus, my eyes closed shut. 
Adachi had taken a picture of my face while I was asleep and selected it as her phone's standby image. 
My immediate reaction was to smile: Truly, how utterly defenceless I looked. It was my own face, yes, but while I was awake, there was no way I could ever act with this little regard to the world around me. Also, I have to say, I was quite glad to find that no drool had been dripping down my cheek. 
Apparently, I had a tendency to do that. That was what Mom always said, at least. 
"Funny. It's not often you get to see what you look like asleep." 
This statement of mine caught Adachi completely by surprise and prompted her to jump up in her seat. Flustered, she proceeded to shift her attention towards me, causing her hair to wave as she rotated her head with great speed. 
Her behaviour combined with the drops of sweat that had already formed on her forehead made it trivial to tell just how shaken she was. 
"Taking pictures of me without my permission, are you, Sakura?" 
When did I say that it was okay for you to use my likeness? I decided to add as a joke, still a bit confused as to what exactly was going on. 
Adachi quickly turned her head to the side, away from me. This caused her dishevelled hair to slam against her nose and her cheeks, and if I had to guess, it probably hurt more than just a little. 
It was kinda fun staring at her panic. I continued doing it for a while, until at last, Adachi gave up and hung her head. 
"Sorry." 
"No, no. It's fine. I don't really care." 
I was more curious than anything. Was my face as I slept really adorable enough to be used as a standby image? Hmm... I guess it was for her. 
"Say. When you took the photo, what were you thinking about?" 
She must have thought something of it to want to preserve it. As to what that something was, that's what I wanted to know. It was also the impression I got based off her reaction to my question. Really, considering how reluctant she appeared to give me an answer, I couldn't help but wonder if she had perhaps been thinking of something embarrassing, something she'd prefer me not to hear. This only made me more curious. 
I turned around and had a glance outside the window. I'd really like her to answer before the bus got to its destination. 
There, with her fists clenched above her knees, Adachi whispered the following: 
"I... I thought you were really pretty." 
It wasn't only her lips that trembled as she spoke; the tips of her ears did as well. She was quite dexterous to be able to do that. 
"Pretty? Me?" 
Adachi replied by rapidly nodding her head up and down. 
"That's not something I hear often." 
Cute, on the other hand, that I'd been called plenty of times by Tarumi. Tarumi... I found myself thinking about her. 
She'd gone out of her way to come back to my life, and yet, our relationship was quickly crumbling away like it had once before. 
The whole matter put my heart in such disarray that all I wanted to do was close my eyes and not think about it. 
"I think that's... a good thing", Adachi muttered quietly. I found myself extremely confused at first: What exactly did she base that opinion on? 
While I obviously couldn't see into her mind, thinking about it some more, I did quickly figure out what she probably had meant. 
"What part of it?" 
She was happy that people weren't complimenting me? Never had I known that there was such a devilish side to her. 
"I thought people might have been approaching you all the time..." she continued, her head hung and her eyes blurry. 
Right. That was exactly what I'd thought. Wait, but... Didn't it mean that I wasn't pretty after all? How horrible. 
"Oh, but you are pretty! I really mean it! I think people not saying it to you is, how to put it... Inconsiderate? Or something? Not in a bad way, but..." 
"Yes, yes. It's fine. You don't need to shower me in compliments." 
Personally, I was of the opinion that Adachi was the pretty one out of us two. At the same time, were someone to say that to her—someone who wasn't me—I kinda doubted it'd make her the least bit happy. What if that someone was me? Well, in that case, she'd probably blush super hard. Hmm, yes. She really was in love with me. Speaking of blushing, I could feel my own cheeks getting just a bit warm as I thought about that. 
She was in love with me, and it was that love which had led to her taking a picture of me. 
Hmm... A picture, huh? 
"I want to take a picture of you too. Could you go to sleep for a second?" 
"Wha—?" 
Despite appearing incredibly taken aback by my wholly unreasonable request, Adachi quickly closed her eyes. I hadn't even been fully serious, and yet, she'd done it anyway. What an obedient girl she was. A few wrinkles soon appeared in her brow, implying that she was pressing her eyes close as tightly as she possibly could. I wonder, in her mind, was she yelling at herself to fall asleep? Probably. If that actually worked, it'd honestly be pretty impressive. I decided to keep staring at her with my phone in hand. 
If she was able to do it, then her nickname should definitely be Miss Carefree. 
A few moments passed, after which Adachi lifted her head and opened her eyes. 
"Sorry, I can't. It's impossible." 
"No kidding", I stated back, giving her shoulder a quick tap. "I'll take one of you smiling then." 
"Wha—?" 
Her reaction here was the exact same as before. Was that to be taken to mean that smiling was as impossible for her as falling asleep on command? Perhaps. 
I held up my phone. 
"Smile, please." 
"Err... Right." 
What I guess could be described as a smile of sorts slowly formed on her face. 
Her eyes were super narrow, almost as if they'd been flattened. As for her mouth, that was a bit closer, although even there, some hesitation could be seen. Other than that, her nose was moving from left to right like it didn't know where to go. Had she also used her hands to form peace signs, then that would've made for a seriously frightening image. The way she smiled, it was simply way too high level for me. 
Was this really the best she was capable of? That question apparently ended up showing on my face, as soon, droplets of sweat begun forming on her forehead. 
"It kinda feels like you're being forced to smile", I stated. Well, I guess that was technically what was happening, but I digress. "You're not really great at it, are you?" 
Not when I was looking, at least; there were plenty of other times when I'd catch her off-guard with a big grin on her face. Ah, she always looked so cute when that happened. Anyway, soon after, Adachi's lower lip began to tremble. It seemed that she'd taken my criticism to heart and was trying her hardest to adjust her expression. This was followed by her closing her eyes, causing her to lose what little coherence she'd had. While the resulting expression wasn't exactly what I'd call a smile, I still thought it was quite interesting regardless. What I liked in particular was the sense of positivity it had to it; both her mouth and her chin were pointed upwards, almost as if they were facing the future. I went ahead and took a photo. The sound of the shutter closing prompted Adachi to nervously open her eyes. 
"Was I... smiling?" 
"No, not really." 
Me on the other hand, I definitely was. Her face tinged red, Adachi proceeded to tilt her head to the side. 
"How did it come out?" 
"Hmm, let's see." 
I clicked on the picture and opened it. What appeared on the screen of the device was Adachi exactly how I'd seen her. Seriously, cameras these days were so good. It was kinda incredible. Were I to make this my standby picture later on, that'd mean that we would both have a photo of the other person on our screens. 
Like girlfriends. 
"Err, Shimamura." 
"Yes?" 
I put my phone away, and yet, Adachi was still there. Her face was also just as red. 
"I know I'm not good at smiling. But, when I'm with you, I really am happy. That's true even if sometimes, my heart starts pounding super fast and I get all flustered. I, err... I hope that one day, I'll be able to properly convey those feelings to you." 
Both her eyes and mouth trembled as she said that. Not only was she stumbling over her own words, this statement of hers basically had nothing to do with what had come before. She really was laying her heart bare here—it was her very soul she was exposing to me. 
It felt like the temperature inside the bus had gone up a few degrees, and I had to imagine that what Adachi had said had something to do with it. I decided to accept her words head-on without fighting back. 
What would happen if someone else had heard her? What would they think of us? Whereas for me, that was one of the first places where my mind went, for Adachi, it probably hadn't even crossed hers. 
"Umm... Thanks." 
I could feel a faint blush appearing on my face. In the same way, Adachi's cheeks too were still bright red and showed no signs of returning to normal. 
It'd probably be a lot of easier and more enjoyable were I to follow her example and close my eyes to certain things—a lot of things. 

Had I ever before stood on top of the ocean? Not as far as I could remember. 
The sensation of my body being shook around as I closed my eyes while resting against the ferry's handrail was a very intense one. It really did feel like I was moving alongside the waves. Meanwhile, the wind continued brushing against my ears, which in itself added some amount of both coldness and firmness to the whole thing. While being tossed about in total darkness might have sounded like it would be a frightening experience, to be completely honest, I didn't find it to be that way at all. 
"Are you tired?" I heard a person ask next to me, pulling me back to reality. Slowly, I opened my eyes and rotated my head. 
Big surprise, that person turned out to be Adachi. She stood there staring at me with her eyes wide, all the while pressing her hair down to keep it from blowing in the wind. While she did give a very mature impression when viewing her in her entirety, focusing on particular aspects of her behaviour, there were absolutely times when she resembled a total child. 
Take the way she was currently staring at me for example: I could definitely feel a bit of my little sister in it. 
"You don't find this view stunning, Adachi?" 
Like this, I added while spreading my arms wide. What was I trying to convey to her? I didn't really know myself. I was more just saying stuff at random. 
After a few quick detours, we'd gotten onboard a ferry to our next destination. Standing there on the deck of the massive ship (although in reality, it probably wasn't all that large), I stared at the wide ocean spreading before me, all the while the gleeful sounds of my fellow students passed by my ears. I was surrounded by both blue and white. 
I'd entrusted my body to the flow, becoming just a tiny part of the world around me, and what sort of a comment had that earned me? Are you tired. How horrible of her. I mean, yes, the waves softly tossing me about were reawakening the sleepiness I'd felt earlier in the morning due to having to get up so early, but even so. Just horrible. 
Speaking the truth was not always—or even often—the ideal thing to do. 
"Err... You were looking a bit down?" Adachi said, having at last found the words she was looking for. It was neither a question nor a statement, but rather, something from in between. 
"Yep. I decided to try doing that while the sun is still up." 
The fact that I could just went to show the might of holidays. 
Shifting my eyes down from the handrail, I saw the bow of the ship pushing aside the water in front of it, its surface painted white in sharp contrast with that of the ocean. Occasionally, a few droplets would fly high enough to splash against my cheeks. The sharp, salty fragrance they brought to my nose, was that what the ocean smelled like? Yes, it was. 
"It finally feels like we're actually somewhere else, away from home." 
It seemed that for me, the concept of going on a trip was strongly linked to that of boats. 
There was also something else I felt in the back of my mind: A sense of return. I had no idea where those feelings had come from, and yet, they were undeniably there. 
Some members of the ship's crew had given our other classmates snacks to feed to the seagulls, and by the looks of it, they were still busy doing just that. The gulls did not hesitate even a little bit as they swooped in to catch the snacks being thrown at them from mid-air, leaving me to speculate if they had perhaps been trained for this specific purpose. Staring at them, I found myself wondering, could Yashiro do that as well? Probably. Not that I'd ever give something like that to her; the sailors had made it clear that these snacks were past their expiration dates, and should not be eaten. 
A few moments passed, after which a flock of birds suddenly took off just a couple of meters behind us. I found my body growing stiff as a plank. Equally startled by my reaction, the flying nuisances too scrambled away. 
"Do you like boats?" 
"It's my first time on one." 
That said, I did feel like I was on the same wavelength with them. Ships... Ocean... Wavelength... Wait, that actually worked pretty well, didn't it? 
Proud of this clever wordplay, I went ahead and made a mental note of it. 
"I do hope that one of these days, I'll get another chance to be on a boat", I stated randomly, letting my hopes expand like air balloon. 
"Let's make it happen. Together." 
This time, it was Adachi who grabbed the balloon and held it high. 
Her words left no room for anything else to fit in, and it was for that reason precisely that they came across so stiff. 
"Right", I replied before once again resting the upper half of my body against the handrail and shifting my gaze towards where the boat was heading. 
Thinking about it as a whole, the scenery that spread before me was quite the narrow slice of the ocean. Even so, for me personally, it appeared extremely vast. 
Everything was in view, and yet, nothing could be seen. 
My body shivered as yet another gust of cold wind blew against me. 

Where we headed next after getting off the boat was a pretty famous park, so famous that even I knew its name. I was also aware that it wasn't formally called a park. Regardless, while the place was known for its gorgeous views and old shrines very much worth seeing, that wasn't the reason why we'd come here. No, we were merely dropping by for lunch. On the first floor of the building we'd entered, they sold souvenirs, and on the second, food. We climbed up the stairs, only to find that each group had their own table prepared for them. I sat down at the end of ours, and as if it was the natural thing for her to do, Adachi sat down next to me. Next, she brushed a loose strand of hair off her face before turning my way. A strange, almost mysterious look could be seen in her eyes as she stared at me. 
"Nothing." 
"Sure..." 
I chose to keep the fact that my first impression of her had been that of a trusty, medium-sized dog to myself. 
With Yashiro still inside my bag, I placed the thing on the floor next to my chair. I did it as slowly as possible just in case. 
This time, there was neither a scream nor a shriek to be heard. 
Our lunch consisted of noodles accompanied by thin slices of horse meat boiled with vegetables. I'd never had horse before. That was hardly my first new experience for the day, and as far as trips went, I chose to view that a great success. I picked up one of the slices using my chopsticks, only to find myself taken aback by its sheer thinness. I had to imagine that it wasn't customary to cut them these thin. 
Me holding the piece of meat in the air while observing it earned the following comment from Adachi: 
"Do you like horse meat?" 
"I don't know. I've never had it." 
"Oh, me neither." 
A smile appeared on Adachi's face. It seemed that she was greatly delighted by my answer. But why? Was that really something to be happy about? I came close to tilting my head to the side. 
The way I made sense of it, she was happy to share anything at all in common with me, regardless of what it may have been. 
Did that mean that Adachi liked people who were similar to herself? Hmm... No, probably not. That didn't sound right. 
If anything, it seemed like the opposite to me. I very much got the impression that she didn't like herself. 
In other words, we were not the same. We did not resemble one another. 
What Adachi was after were similar opinions to her own held by someone who thought about the world differently. Thinking about it that way, I couldn't help but feel a contradiction there somewhere. 
With difficult thoughts such as those running through my mind, I continued slurping up my noodles. They had a very floury texture to them, almost as if they hadn't been cooked fully, and I have to say, I hated the way it felt as they passed down my throat. As for the boiled horse meat, its problem was that it lacked of any sort of real flavour. It took me a few bites to realise where the issue lay: the meat had not been given any sauce. 
Like me, Adachi too was going through her noodles very dispassionately. Did there exist a dish out there that could fill her with enough joy to cause her to exclaim how delicious it was out loud? It was difficult for me to imagine that. I continued staring at her, and a few moments later, Adachi returned my gaze with her own. 
Clearly flustered and with her pupils trembling, she waited for me to react. 
How cute she was. 
"Nothing." 
"I'm starting to get suspicious..." 
For dessert, we had two apples cut into slices. Hmm... Would this do for Yashiro? I picked up a slice using my chopsticks and brought it near my bag, and right away, before I could even open it myself, what resembled a pale hand shot out. Just like that, the piece of apple was taken from me. Whoa! Focusing my ears, I could hear the muffled sound of the fruit being chewed, followed by a faint "delicious". It was kinda scary still. The same thing happened again when I picked up another piece and brought it to her. 
I found my heart racing: No one had seen that, right? 
As much as I tried pretending to be calm, there was no denying the fact that my cheeks had grown stiff. 
After a few looks around, my eyes met with those of Nagafuji, sitting at their group's table. 
"Ah." 
She'd taken her glasses off for whatever reason, but now quickly put them back on. Doing so made her appear at least three times as smart as before—if not more. With some noodles pinched between her chopsticks, she got up from her seat and made her way over to me. Why did she choose to bring the noodles with her? That was beyond me. Whether she had her glasses on or not, there was simply no making sense out of the girl. 
Nagafuji circled behind me in a large, exaggerated arc. I was left staring up at both the bowl of noodles as well as her breasts now looming over me. Staring at them this close really made me appreciate just how large they truly were. It was as if I was witnessing a pair of meteorites about to fall down any second now and crush me under them. 
... 
Were the bulges on her chest really that poetic? 
"Hmm..." 
She was staring at my bag from above. It seemed that she had witnessed the entire thing. 
"Say, Shima-Shima. Did you see something curious pop out from your bag just now?" 
Huh? What are you talking about? 
Must have been just your imagination. 
You're the only curious thing around. 
Right away, three possible answers appeared in my mind. 
Of course, when choosing which one of them to go with, the thing that was most important to keep in mind was the fact that the person I was speaking to was Nagafuji. 
"No? Did something pop out?" 
"I hope so." 
I didn't. 
"I'm not sure if I've asked you before, but how good is your eyesight without glasses on?" 
"0.1 for both." 
She followed this statement up by lazy forming peace signs with her fingers. She didn't really seem into it. 
"And that's something you can trust?" 
"Nope, not at all." 
Now she was agreeing with me for some reason? There really was no making sense of her. 
With a quick farewell, Nagafuji then walked off. Thankfully, she remembered to take her noodles with her. 
"Where the heck did you go?" I could hear Hino starting to question her as the girl returned to their table. 
"What was that about?" 
I too was put under heavy questioning, except in my case, it was Adachi interrogating me. 
"Who knows", I answered her back with my head tilted lightly to the side. "Making no sense is kinda one of Nagafuji's personality traits." 
I decided to simply leave it at that. Really, I could only thank the heavens that it had been her who'd seen Yashiro and not someone who could, well, actually see. 
I had a quick glance at my bag. No head could be seen sticking out, allowing me to sigh in relief. 
I could also hear no munching. 
"Shima-Shima..." Adachi mumbled to herself, her chopsticks having ceased moving. "Shima... Shima." 
The second repeat of the name came aimed at me. There was quite the stiff expression on her face as she spoke. 
"It does kinda sound like the name of an animal when you say it like that. Like a horse. Or even a zebra." 
"Yeah..." 
As far as Adachi was concerned, the nickname didn't exactly seem to flow out from her mouth. 
What was the thing to do now that I'd been turned into a zebra? Should I neigh? Wait... Did zebras neigh? I honestly had no clue. 
Had I ever seen a real zebra in my life? Before I knew it, I had ended up walking down the memory lane. 
There had been a time we'd gone visit a zoo with my family. That I remembered for certain. My sister had only been two, maybe three years old. In other words, she couldn't remember it, huh? Probably not. Personally, I'd been totally fascinated by the bird section. There was just something about their song that felt so good in my ears. 
Back then, my sister had only just begun to talk. There was a distinct image in my mind of her repeating the names of the various animals after our mother. 
I could recall so much, and yet, in the middle of those memories, there was a big zebra-sized hole. 
Truly, what mysterious creatures they were. 
Putting all that aside, I decided to go ahead and ask Adachi the following: 
"Could I have one of your apples, if you don't mind?" 
"Huh. Oh, sure. Of course." 
I'd made sure to specify one apple, and yet, she ended up giving me both of them regardless—including the plate. Well, whatever. I accepted the treats kindly. I then brought my hand near my bag while Adachi wasn't looking, and just like before, the slices I'd been holding were swiftly swooped away. There was a part of me that couldn't help but feel like I was faced with something truly incredible. 
"Thanks", I stated while handing the empty plate back to Adachi, earning myself a very puzzled look. 
"Huh? You finished already?" 
"Yep. They were yummy", I laughed while licking my lips. As I did so, I could hear the muffled sound of munching coming from just nearby. 
After lunch was done, we immediately got back on the bus and drove to our destination, Jigoku Meguri—Hell's Tour. Yeah. That's seriously what the place was called. There, we were taken through a variety of famous places. Not once did we stop to pay closer attention to what was around us. Rather, it felt more like we were being pushed forward on a conveyor track. Out of all the things we saw, I found the crocodiles to be the most fascinating. 
"Shimamura, do you like animals?" Adachi asked me. Had she noticed me staring at the crocodiles? Perhaps. 
"Hmm. Yeah, I guess you could say that", I nodded, all the while the memories of both the zoo and Gon rushed to fill my mind. 
"..." 
"Shimamura?" 
A part of me wanted to add "I like you too, Adachi", but seeing how that could be seen as kinda rude, I ultimately decided against doing so. 
With the sightseeing tour now done, we then headed to the guest house where we were staying for our first night. We'd not made it through the door yet, and already, I could feel the unfamiliar smell of sulphur burning my nose. This smell remained even after we entered the building and were guided to our room with the rest of our group. Was it always like this near hot springs? Probably. 
The room we had been prepared was naturally Japanese-styled. Both the walls and the tatami mats on the floor had started turning yellowed with age. I was left to imagine that this place got its fair share of sunshine. This assumption was further reinforced by how dim the lights were; you could barely make out the corners where the ceiling met the walls. All in all, the room was like something straight out of an history book. The only even slightly modern thing in sight was the television. 
Sancho and the other two put down their bags and stretched out their legs, appearing tired after all the walking around. As for me, I made sure to place my bag far away from theirs. What was I going to do when I needed to open it to take something out? Should I just stick my hand in as if nothing was out of the usual and hope that it'd all work out? Hmm... That, or I guess I could always have Yashiro give me what I needed. Making sure that Adachi wasn't looking, I went ahead and spoke to my bag: 
"Could you give me a change of clothes?" 
In the next instant, what seemed like a pale hand shot out from inside. With it came all the clothes I'd packed, and not only that, but also my school trip guidebook. What on earth was this related to? What part of it seemed like clothes to her? 
"Put this away, please." 
No sooner had the words left my lips than the guidebook was sucked back in. 
Hmm... This was honestly quite convenient. If nothing else, it seemed that the majority of my worries had been unfounded. 
I decided that I would hide away a few pieces of fruit and some sweets while we were having supper later that evening and sneak them to her. 
"Shimamura?" Adachi approached me, having caught me having a conversation with my bag. There was a clear look of confusion on her face. "Why did you unpack all your clothes? Are you about to change?" 
"Oh, no. I just figured I'd put them in order." 
Swiftly, I placed all of the different articles in a neat pile. I then lifted my head, glanced at Adachi, and gave her a quick laugh. 
"Huh? What?" 
"Nothing. I was just thinking that you sure have gotten in a better mood." 
Whereas before the trip, she had been sulking, now, she was more or less back to her usual self. 
Adachi's feet grew restless as I pointed this out to her. Similarly, the shadow she cast on me too begun dancing. 
"But... That's because you're..." 
She seemed to be having difficulty choosing her the words. It appeared that those feelings from earlier had yet to vanish completely. That said, while I was able to glean a lot from her reaction, the one thing I wasn't was what part of this all did she find worth fussing over. I also couldn't help but feel like even if I were to get her to explain her thought process to me, I wouldn't be able to understand even half of it. 
There were certainly times when it was utterly impossible for me to make any sense of Adachi's value systems. Then again, in some ways, that might actually have been a good thing. 
"Not right now, but one day, I promise we'll go somewhere with just the two of us." 
"One day? When is that?" 
She was like a child suspicious of a promise made by an adult. Naturally, I had no answer to give that'd satisfy her. 
"Hmm... After we've graduated?" I stated just to put something out there, earning myself a protesting look. "Well, honestly, I really don't have enough money to be going anywhere. I'll have to save up some first, and since I can't do that while studying..." 
Adachi had a reaction ready for my follow-up statement as well. It was almost as if she'd been waiting for it. She placed her hand on her chest before proclaiming the following: 
"I'll pay!" 
Fun Adachi trivia: Despite her personality being what could be politely described as less than sociable, she actually had a part-time job. 
"Well, you see. That's kinda, err... How to put it..." 
It was as if I was some scoundrel taking advantage of my rich girlfriend and benefiting off her. 
What would I be able to get Adachi to buy me were I to beg her for it? Probably a whole lot, to be completely honest. 
She was lucky that I didn't have quite that much nerve—nor was I a scoundrel. 
"I don't have anything else to spend my salary on." 
Well, in that case, you ought to save it. That was what I thought. Who knows, you might need it some day. Then again, if I were to ask Adachi, she'd likely tell me that day was today. 
"Hmm... Maybe I'll get a part-time job myself." 
"Really? You will?" 
Yep, I responded in the form of a short giggle. 
"Then, after I've earned some money, we can go somewhere and split the cost. It'll be a lot more fun if we do it that way, I'm sure." 
There were few things in life that were better lopsided. 
A second passed, after which Adachi's eyes began to sparkle. It seemed that she agreed with my suggestion. 
Then again, knowing her, it was likely the part about us to being the only ones there that she found the most exciting. 
In the darkness of the room, Adachi alone shone with light. 
What next? Were we going to do a pinky promise or something? It was in that moment that thought crossed my mind that I at last grew aware of the three sets of eyes pointed our way. 
Oh, right. 
I'd completely forgotten that they were here. 
I had not paid much attention to the volume of my voice, and as a result, had ended up speaking quite loudly. Should I apologize to them? For being too loud? Hmm, no. That probably wasn't the issue here. Rather, based on the look in their eyes, I got the impression that they found the situation which had come to be more confusing than anything. 
Sancho quickly took on the role of the group's representative and gave us the following comment: 
"Wow. You two really are close, huh?" 
The smile which appeared on my face was not a sincere one. No, I was forcing myself to smile. The same leg I'd thought for sure had been extended out now pressed tightly against my body. 
Sancho's valuation of us came packed with a whole lot of meaning. 
"Err... Yeah. I guess so." 
"We are." 
While I was lost trying to find the words to dodge the statement, Adachi went ahead and took my hand. Before I knew it, she'd already gripped me tight, leaving me unable to free myself. She went as far as to raise our hands in the air, almost as if showing them off to our spectators, causing the three to fall completely silent. 
Little by little, I could feel my cheeks starting to grow warm. 
My ears were ringing. It felt like there was something pounding inside my head. 
Truly, there was no talking my way out from this one. 
"Right... Right. Exactly." 
That's wrong. It wasn't. 
That's not how it is. It was. 
Adachi's my friend. She was my girlfriend. 
I was forced to accept the fact of the matter: No longer could I hide it. 
Reflecting on myself, coming to term with others, none of that was related to Adachi. 
I'd grown aware of that neither being the direction where I was heading, nor the direction where I wanted to head. 
That fact that we were going out was the reason why it had become like this. 
Human relations truly were fragile. At the same time, they could also be both fierce and strong. 
This time, another emotion filled my mind, that being guilt. The three had gone out of their way to invite us to the group, and here we were, souring the mood. I got up, and with Adachi by my side, exited the room. Where were we going? Nowhere in particular. Anywhere that wasn't the room would be fine. I did leave Yashiro behind, but whatever. She'd be fine. Probably. If the worst came to worst and she too got discovered, well, in that case, I'd need to start actually fighting back. 
My heart was not cooling down one bit as we walked down the hallway. 
Similarly, my mind too wasn't working properly. It was as if the insides of my head were boiling. 
I could feel my eyes jumping all around. I felt so restless, impatient. 
"We are... close", Adachi whispered while staring at me. It was as if she wanted me to confirm Sancho's earlier remark. 
Why exactly did she need a confirmation? What part of our hands clenched tight around the other's gave her the opposite impression? Though I wasn't quite sure, I decided to give it to her anyway. 
"Yep." 
Had I yielded too easily? Was what I'd done considered yielding in the first place? Ignoring such questions, I instead chose to reach straight ahead. 
That was the way Sakura Adachi lived her life. Sure, her excuse was that she was too clumsy to do it any other way, but that hardly mattered. 
Perhaps I should follow suite. Perhaps I should live life like she did. Thinking that, I grasped her hand once more. 

I scooped some of it up, and just like that, the palms of my hands became covered in glimmering sand. 
The good, the bad, they both shone alike. 
Picking out only the things I liked from midst the sand proved to be a very difficult task. I was left staring down at my palms, lost in thought. My memories so far had all blurred together forming an entangled mess, but to attempt to summarize and cut to the chase, I really was glad that I had met Adachi. 
Right. 
"Right." 
I could feel an invisible wall separating me from the other three members of our group as I sat there, slurping up my miso soup. 
It was currently supper time, and we'd come to the dining hall to have some. The very first dish I'd decided to try out were koi dumplings swimming in miso. Though I'd eaten quite a bit of fish in my life, I'd never actually had koi before, which was why I was so curious to see what it tasted like and went for it first. To give you my honest assessment, it was... fishy. 
But seriously though. While a part of it might have been due to my lack of experience, there was no denying the fact that the carp had a very unique taste to it—one so intense even the miso couldn't conceal it. 
I wonder, was it because the dish was intended for large groups such as ours that this flavour was what had been settled on for it? Perhaps. Was the same true for all such dishes? Again, it was possible. 
I'd go as far as to say that if you went somewhere and ordered food, the chances were that more often than not, it'd be delicious. 
Not that either of us would get to experience that anytime soon in the future. 
I picked up the bowl, and as if using it to hide my mouth, had a glance around the hall. The walls—almost vermilion—appeared much brighter than what they actually were thanks to the excessive lighting, leaving my eyes unable to relax no matter where I looked. Above me, I noticed vines running across the ceiling. 
I stared at them for a few moments before lowering my head. As I did so, the sound came back. There were students all around, all packed together inside the dining hall. Describing the atmosphere as slightly noisy didn't paint the full picture—it was straight up chaotic here. Like steam, I could feel the sound passing by my back and my sides. 
While it might have been difficult to place our table any closer to the centre of the hall physically speaking, in my mind, I didn't really feel like that's where I was. It was almost as if I'd somehow distanced myself from the commotion and placed myself somewhere near the corner. That really was the best description of my current mindset; while all the other students were sitting separated into groups, ours was special in that we were split one level further—three to two. We were like crayfish, rattling about on the bottom of an irrigation ditch. Wait, no... That analogy didn't really make any sense, did it? 
In any case, it really did feel like both Adachi and I were dining inside a box made of see-through glass. 
I was well aware of the fact that for the most part, that box only existed because we thought it to exist. 
That was how it tended to go with distance between people; in the vast majority of cases, it was something you yourself had created, made to be. 
Would we be able to get along with the other girls of our group going forward? Somehow, that didn't feel possible to me. Even in this miniature world, I found myself acting as a source of friction between me and others. That was most definitely not something worthy of praise. Moreover, it was bound to make things tougher in the future—to up the difficulty level of my life, so to say. In some sense, I kinda lamented that. 
Adachi on the other hand continued eating in silence. All the things that brought me worry didn't seem to as much as register in her mind. 
Wow. She sure was strong. 
She had no support, nothing to rely on, and yet, she didn't let that keep her down. That must have been true strength. 
There was also someone else I felt to be strong for another reason, that being Nagafuji; she'd come to dinner wearing the yukata we'd each been provided by the guest house, and was currently being yelled at for it by a teacher. She did apologize in a comically polite fashion, promising to go change into her regular clothes, only for her to sit back down as if nothing had happened the instant the teacher turned his back. 
"Seriously? What's wrong with you..." 
"It's how I play games. I never follow the instructions during the tutorial and instead try out all sorts of stuff to see what happens." 
"You're still in a tutorial mood?" 
That was a snippet of the conversation she had with Hino, sitting next to her. Thinking about it some more, Nagafuji might honestly have been a bigger delinquent than either of us two were. 
"Hmm..." 
The salad we'd been served came with a handful of thin orange slices kinda just tossed on top of it. Rather than eat them, should I instead pick them out and take them back to our room to give Yashiro? She had said that she didn't really need to eat anything, that she'd be fine either way, but in that case, why did she consume as much on the regular as she did? 
Was it a hobby of hers, perhaps? A thing she did to pass the time? It became evident when interacting with her, but there really was a thin line between something being adorable and not. 
I was just about to grab a slice using my chopsticks when Adachi bumped against me. 
"Oh, sorry." 
This wasn't anything new; because I held my chopsticks in my right hand whereas Adachi used her left, our elbows had been occasionally colliding from the moment we sat down. 
While I didn't usually think about it all that much, it was in moments like these that I was reminded of the fact that Adachi was, in fact, left-handed. 
"We really should be sitting the other way around, I think." 
"Yeah", she nodded, all the while disinterestedly poking at the cut of fish on her plate using her chopsticks. It really didn't seem like she had any appetite at all. Had there ever been a food Adachi had said that she liked? I tried looking back, yet nothing came to mind. 
To that point, what did Adachi like? What sort of things interested her? Hmm... Me, I guess? That was the only thing I could think of. The faintest blush appeared on my face. 
I suppose it was fair to say that she was pure—untainted. No one had so much as attempted to touch her. 
Based on everything I knew about her, that included even her own two parents. 
I alone was able to lay my marks on her. There was certainly a part to me that felt that to be quite the waste. 
If something was too precious for others to touch, then I wasn't sure if I wanted to do that myself in favour of simply observing it from a distance. 
"Shimamura?" 
Had I ended up staring at her while lost in thought? The puzzled look she had on her face seemed to imply such. 
"How are you liking the food?" 
"Hmm... It's okay." 
The reply she gave me while munching down a few grains of rice—a bit on the hard side due to the way they had been cooked—was exactly what I had been expecting. 
"Say, Adachi. Do you have any favourite foods? Oh, wait... I think I asked you that before, didn't I?" 
That was a softer way of saying that I just couldn't remember. 
As much as I hated to admit it, my memory was definitely the first on the long list of my weak points. 
"No, not really", Adachi stated bluntly. Her mouth had barely had time to close when she proceeded to ask me with her eyes where this question had come from. 
"I was just thinking, there are so many of these little things I don't know about you. I'd like to change that." 
Was that a wise thing to say in public? Would the presence of others prove to be too high of a hurdle for us to climb over? 
Then again, I suppose being surrounded by high hurdles could be a good thing too depending on your point of view; it meant that no one else would be able to knock them down and get to us. 
In any case, my answer had apparently been to Adachi's liking, and soon enough, the expression on her face relaxed. A few moments of mumbling to herself later, she was ready to give me a real response. 
"Water's good, I think." 
"Water, huh? Are you a plant or something?", I questioned laughingly, leaving Adachi to avert her eyes as if embarrassed. Nevertheless, it didn't take her long to turn back around. 
"What about you, Shimamura? What do you like?" 
"Hmm... I guess it's gotta be okonomiyaki." 
"Yeah, I know you like that. Is there anything else?" 
"Anything else... Omelettes? I do like a good omelette." 
Like this one, I added while pointing at the half-eaten one on my plate. I was especially a fan of the slightly sweet seasoning they'd gone with. 
Adachi had a similar omelette on her own plate, except in her case, she'd yet to as much as touch it. She stared at it, then mine, before taking hers and giving it to me. 
"Err, I wasn't demanding that you hand it over or anything, you know?" 
Not that I was going to say no to a free omelette. Of course not. 
That was how supper went. 
"What will you use those for?" Adachi asked me. She was referring to the orange slices I'd brought with me to our room. I could hardly blame her for being confused. 
Just like I'd done after lunch earlier that day, I once again asked Adachi to let me have her fruits so that I could give Yashiro something to eat. She was more than eager to comply. She even went as far as to hand me the entire plate—salad included. That I could have done without. 
"Hmm, you know. Stuff." 
What should I tell her? That these were an offering of some kind? I wonder... Would that actually work on her? 
Sancho and the others had yet to return, making us the only ones currently in the room. Even so, Adachi appeared quite restless. She was walking back and forth near the door, almost as if unsure where to sit down. As for me, I had my eyes fixed on the bag lying in the corner of the room to make sure that it didn't move. 
"What do you think, does the TV actually work?" 
The building itself appeared quite old, and yet, there was a TV here. The contrast was quite striking to say the least. Next to it lay a remote. Prompted by my comment to do so, Adachi quickly fetched the device and brought it to me. 
It really did make her seem like a kid when she did stuff like that. At the same time, I did also find it quite adorable. 
"Let's turn it on and see what happens, shall we?" 
"Yeah." 
I went ahead and pushed the power button. As I did so, I could see Adachi very slowly turning her eyes into the direction of the screen. 
Even just staring at her from the side like this, it instantly became clear just how little interest she actually held towards the world. 
A few moments later, the room grew filled with the glow of the TV. 
"Looks like it does work. Well, not that I know the channels. Or what's on." 
"Right." 
Leaving Adachi to fiddle with the remote, I swiftly made my way towards the corner of the room. There, I brought the thin slices of orange I'd brought with me near my bag, and just like before, they immediately got swooped up. How was Yashiro able to tell what was going on outside the bag without opening it? That was just one of the many questions that continued bothering me intensely. Whatever the case, there was also something else I needed to make sure of. 
"Don't get the bag dirty, okay?" I whispered to her. 
"No need to worry." 
This comment of hers was followed by her casually poking her head out. Wait, no. Don't come out! She was like one of those, what were they called, that I'd seen on TV once. Wooper looper? No, I don't think that was it. Hmm... Oh, right. Prairie dog. She was like a prairie dog poking its head out from its nest. 
"You see, I first wrap my body around these before eating them. That way, I don't make any mess." 
"Err, okay? You do you." 
As trying to wrap my head around it didn't seem like it'd lead to anything, I decided to simply let the matter go. If it worked for her, then it'd have to work for me as well. A few moments passed, after which Yashiro began pulling her head back in. It was there that I remembered something important I'd been meaning to tell her. 
"Oh, right. I was thinking that sometime later, you could go take a bath. As long as you're careful to not do anything that makes you stand out, I think it should be fine." 
Knowing Yashiro, things would probably work themselves out. Probably. 
"Baths are nice." 
"Yeah. You must be super tired after spending the whole day inside a bag. And sweaty..." 
What on earth was I talking about? I wasn't quite sure myself. 
"Err, hey. Shimamura?" 
"Ah!" 
Adachi's voice brought me back to reality. Flustered, I turned my head, only to see that she'd gotten up and was now standing right behind me. 
"I notice you've been talking to yourself quite a lot." 
Based on her tone, it appeared that she was genuinely worried for me. Making sure that she hadn't seen Yashiro, I quickly put on a fake smile. 
"No, no. It's fine. I quite like talking to myself. Or something..." 
Again, what was I even trying to say? It was becoming an increasingly common occurrence that my head refused to work properly, I'd noticed. 
Well, whatever; given my natural disposition towards finding most things bothersome, I suppose this was something to be expected. 
"Y-You can talk to me as well." 
With those words, Adachi sat down next to me. The way she did so was quite courteous. She was overall larger than I was, which made having her so close feel the slightest bit intimidating. And yet, it was she who was acting timid. I found a lot of humour in that gap. 
"Bring... Bring it on!" 
I could see this same thing—her trying her hardest to make a joke with a deep blush on her face—a million times, and I would never grow tired of it. She simply looked so adorable doing it. 
"Well, alright then. What should we talk about?" I asked casually, all the while extending my hand towards Adachi's face. The way she was leaning towards me caused her hair to fall on her cheeks, and as I proceeded to run my fingers through it, she jolted backwards. Then, a moment later, she placed her hand on top of mine. Like playing a stringed instrument of some sort, her thin fingers scratched the back of my palm. 
"That tickles." 
A smile formed on Adachi's face. It was a pretty weird smile though. Her eyes remained fully open, almost as if she was smiling using her mouth alone. 
It was there that the door opened. Sancho walked in, followed by the other two. They'd barely taken a step past the entrance when all three froze in place. Where they confused as to what was going on here? Why Adachi had her hand placed on top of mine? I had to assume so. Truly, how careless I'd been. And yet, even so, I didn't pull my hand away. Adachi ended up having to be the one to do so. 
Why did I choose to do nothing? Had I somehow convinced myself that pulling my hand away would be too much? That there was no need? Perhaps. 
The one thing that really didn't fit the situation was the TV. It was so loud. 
I wonder, had Sancho and the others interpreted the situation the wrong way? Had they misunderstood things? Not that there was anything to misunderstand. 
Offering them no explanation, we ended up sitting there like we were while the three settled down by the TV. They clearly had questions, loads of them, and yet, they too remained silent. Some news program was playing. Something about tomorrow's weather. If I'm being completely honest, not even half of what was said registered in my mind. 
"......" 
Somewhere, I could hear a clock ticking. Each tock was so loud it felt like someone was slapping my neck. 
There was still some time left till the baths would be opening. In the case of a normal group, this time would likely have been spent engaging in light conversation or what have you, yet with ours, that didn't seem like it was even a possibility. A distinct rift could be sensed in the air—a rift brought about by us two. While wondering how a rift could exist in the air did sound like something I might do right after waking up, this was hardly the time for such questions. 
Like me, Adachi too had a glance around the room, although in her case, she didn't really react in any way. Rather, her gaze for the most part remained fixed on me. It wasn't difficult to imagine her blurting out something extremely bold if this were to keep up. At the same time, she might also just stay quiet. I always had a lot of difficulty trying to predict what she was going to do next. 
With everyone silent, the air in the room quickly grew stagnant. 
I suppose I needed to be the one to make the first move here. 
"What do you say we have a look around the place?" I went ahead and asked Adachi. Exploring the guest house was just a random excuse I had come up with for us to leave the room. I knew she wasn't actually interested in the slightest. 
"Sure, okay. Is there anything worth seeing here though?" 
Once you got used to the smell of sulphur lingering all around, there wasn't really anything interesting to the place. It just looked old. Really old. 
"I guess we'll find out." 
Let's go, I added, urging her to follow after me. While I was at it, I made sure to take my bag with me. I might have acted careless earlier, but I wasn't so careless that I was going to leave Yashiro in the same room with other people. Who knows when she might pop her head out next. 
"We'll be back soon." 
With those words, we exited the room. 
"Have fun", Sancho mumbles after us. It was clear that just like me, she too was having trouble deciding how to best approach the situation. Were they going to start gossiping about us once we were gone? Imagining what sort of things they might say, I found myself feeling just a little melancholic. I really didn't like that, people forming their opinions on you based on all sorts of half-truths and rumours. 
Then again, given that something being based only on truths meant that—by definition—it was impossible to rebuke, I wasn't sure if I liked that any better. 
"So then, where should we go?" 
Seeing how we didn't know the layout of the building, wandering about without a destination was bound to end with us getting lost. 
"You brought your bag. Why?" Adachi asked, her eyes pointed at the thing on my back. 
"Oh? Well... I thought I might buy something. Yeah." 
Let's just leave it at that. 
We took the stairs down and made our way to the lobby. I'd figured that we might run across a few of our schoolmates loitering about, but no; all the students there were wearing the uniforms of a different school, and by the looks of it, had just arrived. Busy season for school trips, huh? Observing them, we sat down on the reddish-brown bench next to the souvenir shop. 
There were four benches in total, and between each one, you could find a flower vase housing large, yellow flowers. The layout of the benches very much brought to mind the reception hall of a hospital, although I guess since this was a lobby, that was more or less to be expected. 
A green light indicating an emergency exit shone above my head. Occasionally, it'd flicker before turning back on an instant later. 
Staring up at it, I let out a deep sigh. 
I'd not felt relaxed in the room, and yet, I did now. 
The way we were hanging out with just the two of us, removed from the group, it really brought to mind all those times we'd spent at the sports hall. Why was it that I found that to be so calming? Was it because it was how we had first met? Perhaps. 
"Weren't we supposed to be looking around?" Adachi asked, sitting next to me. She sounded genuinely confused. 
"Yep. But, I figured that we could change plans." 
"Huh? Okay..." 
My fickle nature earned me a faint smile. It was clear that Adachi didn't mind. 
If I had to guess, I'd say that was likely because it was just the two of us here. 
Of course, I know better, I thought to myself while sneaking a peak at my bag. 
"Hey, Adachi." 
What was I about to say here? I waited a moment, but nothing came to mind. 
Sometimes, my mouth just didn't want to take responsibility. 
"Yes?" 
"I wonder." 
Adachi was left quite puzzled by my non-answer. Made sense, I suppose. 
It kinda shocked me how few things there actually were for us to talk about. 
We spent a large portion of our days together, and because of that, most of the topics that I could bring up just seemed boring. 
"Wanna just chill out for while?" I at last suggested. 
Light, air, and Adachi by my side. 
It seemed workable enough. 
Adachi gave my idea a small nod, leaving us both to stare idly into space. 
Extended silences like these tended to be really awkward most of the time. That was how it usually went when dealing with people. And yet, not here. 
You knew you'd found yourself someone truly pleasant when you were able to simply sit down with them without either of you having to talk. 
Or something like that. I didn't really know. It was just a random thought that had passed my mind. 
Whether or not there was truth to that statement, it did sound like it might convince someone--and myself. 
We spent the next few moments like that, completely free from the notion that we'd come here on a school trip. 
I checked my watch—which I had not put on but instead had stuffed into my pocket—only to see that it was now just the right time. 
Lifting myself up from the bench, I suggested to Adachi that we get going. A slightly stiff expression formed on her face. It was as if she was anxious about something. 
But what? What was there to worry about? I chose to ignore those questions for now. 
I happened to glance at the souvenir shop as we passed by it. There were a handful of different types of pastries on sale, accompanied by a few buns. 
All things that I could easily find at the local supermarket. 
These counted as souvenirs? Really? 
"A jam bun, please", a muffled voice spoke out from inside my back. 
I gave the thing a quick smack. 

When was the last time I'd been to a public bath? I honestly couldn't remember. Our family didn't really ever visit hot springs. 
The changing room I found myself in was packed full of girls. Each class had been given its own timeslot to bathe, and it had now come time for ours. A few students yet to take off their makeup could be seen doing so in front of the washroom. 
Near the door, I could hear the voice of our teacher telling a different group of girls to stop messing around. 
The lockers, the walls, they all smelled old. If I had to describe the smell, I guess "worn-out" was a pretty good way to put it. 
"......" 
Standing there, I felt someone staring at me. It didn't take me long to figure out who that someone was. 
"Adachi?" 
"Nothing..." 
With a towel in hand, Adachi proceeded to shake her head from side to side. She looked really stiff doing so. 
Similarly, her voice too had a certain hardness to it. It was like eating potatoes without enough stew. 
Something was lacking about the way she was conducting herself, and it had been like this for a while now. Specifically, she had first started acting this way when the topic of the bath was initially brought up. Was there something about bathing with others that she disliked? I guess so. To put it politely, group situations were most certainly not her speciality. That said, as I lacked the strength necessary to push her over this hurdle, I was going to need her to pass it herself. 
She kinda reminded me of those girls during our school trip in middle school who'd faked having a cold in order to avoid getting in. 
I started by removing my jacket. After that, I took off my jersey. It was there that I once again felt Adachi's gaze. 
"Hmm?" 
I turned around to check, and sure enough, she'd been staring at me. She was already naked herself. 
Naked Adachi, huh? I had to say, her legs really were slender looking at them this close. Barely had that thought passed my mind when Adachi panicked and fled. 
"Ada—" 
"It's nothing!" she quickly yelled, cutting me short. She then ran away. There was something about the way in which she did so that really stuck out to me: For whatever reason, she was swinging the arm on the same side as the leg going forward. Normally, you did that the opposite way. Weird. 
"Hmm..." 
I could only hope that she didn't slip. 
Taking off the rest of my clothes, I followed after her to the bath side. I'd barely made it through the door when both my neck and my eyebrows grew wet with the steam floating in the air. 
The bath was wider horizontally than it was long, and it had been built in a way where the majority of it lie underground. It was quite dark here, although at the same time, the people who designed this place seemed to have been aware of that as well: Both the walls and the ceilings were built of light-toned wood as if to compensate. There were three windows in total, all pretty small, made from the type of glass that made it impossible to see out from the inside—or in from the outside. While likely a source of light during the day, at this hour, they too were painted black. 
I found Adachi sitting in front of the showers alongside some other girls. Her limbs weren't bruised anywhere, letting me know that she hadn't had a fall. That was a good thing, I felt. At the same time, there was definitely something strange about the way she was behaving here. It was as if her joints weren't able to bend properly, like she'd woken up with a strained neck—or in her case, strained everywhere. Each time she moved the shower head, she had to twist her entire body to do so. The same happened whenever she moved her arm back. If I'm being honest, it seemed really laborious. 
Then again, I'd be lying if I said that I hadn't seen her acting like this plenty of times in the past. 
"May I?" I asked as a joke while approaching her, prompting Adachi's shoulders to jolt. 
"Sure", she muttered back, followed by a random gesture. Her eyes then shot wide, almost as if someone had slapped her across the face. 
"Hmm?" 
I tilted my head to the side, puzzled. Why was she pointing the shower head into her face? Well, whatever. Leaving her be, I picked mine up and began adjusting the temperature of the water. Then, as if imitating Adachi, I let the liquid flow against my face. 
Soon enough, the entirety of my head had grown wet—and warm. 
There was something about the steam, the warmth, the way it spread across my scalp, that made it impossible for me to not yawn. 
I could feel all the thoughts and emotions that had piled up inside me washing out. 
This feeling, this feeling that proclaimed the end of the day, I just loved it. 
Running my fingers through my hair, I had a look around the room. Ah, there she was. I was of course talking about Yashiro, currently washing her head near the corner of the room. I'd figured that this was as good of an opportunity as any to let her roam free. A bubbly afro had formed around her head, leaving me to question just how much shampoo she'd used. There was a group of girls washing themselves next to her, and while they did appear quite suspicious, it didn't seem that they were going to be approaching her and asking her who she was. Not that it really mattered; even if they did, she'd probably just greet them with a smile, rendering them speechless. Anyway, it ended up being Yashiro who made the first move. "Good evening", I heard her state politely. Yeah, looked like there was nothing to worry about there. 
"Hmm?" 
I'd just picked up the bottle of shampoo when I noticed that someone was staring at me. I turned my head, and there next to me, I found Adachi frozen still. 
"Yes?" 

I tried approaching her as softly as I possibly could. The level of tolerance as I was showing here was to the point where some might even consider it suspicious. And yet, despite my attempts, I was once again met by the same "it's nothing" as I had so many times before. Following this, Adachi swiftly turned her eyes away. She then gave her head a hard smack, almost as if telling herself not to do that again. 
"Hmm..." 
How many times did this make in total? I went ahead and thought about it while washing my head. 
She was acting so suspicious around me, and had been for a while now. Though she always made sure to say that it was nothing, there was definitely something going on. 
A few moments later, I was done washing myself. I turned the shower off and began heading towards the baths, only for Adachi to quickly follow after me. 
"Were you waiting for me? Thanks, but you really didn't have to. You could've gotten in first." 
"It's fine..." 
As I'd kinda been expecting, my casual remark failed to create any sort of conversation between us. While I obviously couldn't say for sure, if I had to take a guess, I'd say that it was more than likely that the only part she'd actually managed to wrap her head around was the fact that it was me talking. As for my actual words, the contents of them, none of that had as much as registered in her ears. She was here in body, but not in spirit. That was how it felt to me. It also led to an interesting question: Where was she in spirit then? 
As if weaving around the other girls, we made our way near the wall where there was no one else before lowering our bodies beneath the surface. While the sensation itself was pretty similar to being in a bathtub—albeit in a very large one—looking around, the image that more to came to my mind was that of a cavern. 
It was honestly pretty fun. I went ahead and allowed myself to enjoy the feeling. 
"Large baths sure are nice." 
What I found especially enjoyable was the way I was able to stretch out my feet as far as I pleased. I'd been able to do that back at home too when I'd been younger, but these days, it was sadly no longer possible. 
As it turned out, growing older—and therefore bigger—was not necessarily always a good thing. 
There was a constant stream of steam flowing upwards, and following it with my eyes, I wound up staring at the wooden ceiling painted black. 
Something about the lack of colour felt really relaxing to me. I spent the next few moments like that. 
"Alright then." 
Moving only my eyes and with the rest of my head remaining perfectly still, I went ahead and sneaked a peek at Adachi sitting next to me. 
I was caught a little off guard by just how red her eyes were. It was as if they were inflamed. 
"It's nothing", she stated bluntly, all the while shaking her head from side to side, her hair wet with the water waving with it. Everything was nothing to her. Had she secretly been born on Planet Nothing? 
"I haven't even said anything yet." 
In response to my rebuke, Adachi held up all of her fingers and pushed them against her eyeball. What was this gesture meant to communicate? I honestly had no clue. 
"Say, Adachi." 
"Blub, blub, blub." 
This time, she went and turned into a crab. I would have much preferred her not blowing bubbles with so little care. 
"Hmm..." 
I kinda felt like I knew what was going on here, but at the same time, I didn't really. 
Well, anyway. Putting all that aside for a moment, I shifted my gaze away and turned to face in front of me. That said, though my eyes were physically pointed forward, that was hardly where I was actually looking. 
My attention still remained fixed on Adachi, now sitting outside of my field of vision. It was as if the very nerves in my eyes were angled her way. 
Ah, there it was. 
A few moments of waiting later, I felt it. I felt warmth. Not warmth belonging to the steam, but to a stare. 
Though it sometimes disappeared, it always came back. It was like a signal, continuing on forever. 
"Hmph." 
It was about there that I reached my limit. No longer could I pretend like I wasn't seeing it. 
The time had come to think about what was going on. 
I was being stared at. Namely, by Adachi. 
Why was that so? Obviously, I knew the answer already. It was because I was naked. Probably. Most likely. 
I suppose it made a certain bit of sense. She was my girlfriend, after all. She also loved me. A lot. It was only natural for this to be one of the implications of such a relationship. At the same time, I'd never really thought about it that way, which was why the realization almost turned me into a crab as well. How were crabs able to live normally when they were naked all the time? What a bad joke. It also didn't matter; the situation I found myself in had nothing to do with crabs. No, what was important here was that Adachi and I were both naked. 
"Hmm... Hmmmm...." 
Should I ask her? Was it okay? While I wasn't able to come up with a good answer, curiosity ultimately ended up getting the best of me. 
"Do you want to see it?" 
My naked body. 
Why had I asked her that? What if she said yes? What would I do then? 
Despite the majority of her body being submerged underwater, the shade of red on her face still somehow managed to grow even deeper than it already was in response to my words. You could practically see the sentiment gushing through her. Her cheeks, her ears, even her forehead, they were all bright red. That last part especially was something I was pretty sure I'd never seen before. 
No way could this be good for her body. It was as if she was bleeding under her skin. No way. 
"I'm fine..." 
She said that so fast it almost sounded like a person's name. 
Adachi kept repeating those same words over and over again, although since she did so with her head hung—and therefore underwater—mostly bubbles ended up coming out from her mouth. 
She was going so fast at this point it genuinely felt like I was sitting next to a real crab. Droplets of steamy water continued splashing against her face. It was clear that she wasn't going to survive being a crab for much longer. If nothing else, she'd run out of oxygen soon. 
For a reason or another, I felt like it was my duty to turn her back into her human self. 
What were we even doing? Like, seriously. 
"Listen, Adachi. I want to talk with you. Would you talk with me?" 
I went ahead and threw her own suggestion from a while ago back at her. This caused Crab-Adachi to stretch out her back just slightly, transforming her into the usual Red-Faced Adachi. She looked almost fully cooked. 
Adachi's eyes began moving downwards as she stared my way. Or at least, that's what they would have done had she not once again pushed her fingers against them as if to keep herself under control. How suspicious. How truly suspicious. 
"I'm not angry. Nor am I put off by it. So, I'm asking again. Do you want to see?" 
I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't feeling a bit warm myself. 
Why on earth were we talking about stuff like this in public? It was hardly just the two of us here. Quite the opposite. 
Adachi closed her eyes shut. Her mind was clearly in shambles, which appeared to be what was stopping her from giving me yet another "it's fine". This also left her guard wide open, allowing me to eye her body as I pleased. Hmm, yes. 
It wasn't only the front side where she'd gained curves. Not at all. 
While I was busy drawing comparisons between us, Adachi went ahead and slowly lifted her eyelids. It was as if she'd been sleeping and had just woken up. 
Her eyes and lips alike were shaking so bad it almost looked like something might soon spill over. 
Like uttering a whimper, her voice slowly leaked out, clinging onto me. 
"......Yes. I want to see." 
Those shivering words revealed her true intentions. At last, she'd returned home from Planet Nothing. 
"You do, huh?" 
Damn. This outcome was exactly what I'd been afraid of. So then, what now? What was I going to do? I could feel myself becoming a bit flustered too as my eyes grew unfocused. 
There was no denying it now; what lay in the centre of Adachi's thoughts was my naked body. 
"I-It's not what it sounds like. I just... You're so pretty, and... Wait, no. That's not it. Err, it just... happened? On its own? No, no. What I'm trying to say is..." 
"Yes, yes. I get it. Just please, calm down." 
I needed to put a stop to her. Were I to let Adachi pour out her entire heart, that would no doubt attract some unwanted attention to us. 
"We can ignore the details. Yes, let's do that." 
I had no intention of doing anything that might amp up the temperature of her head further than the bath already had, which was exactly what asking a question akin to "Why do you want to see my body?" would lead to. Who knew, her eyes might start spinning, and she might fall face-first into the water. Then again, I guess she was pretty close to that already. Looking like she could burst into tears any second now, Adachi continued panicking. It was clear that leaving her be even for a moment would result in her once again turning into a crab. 
Hmm... What would happen were I to say no to her? Would that be bad? Would Adachi's feelings be hurt? Would she be scarred? The answer to all of those questions was probably yes. Well, in that case, what about turning it into a joke? What if I said something like "Eek! Sakura, you perv!"? Would that be any better? I seriously had no clue what the right direction was to take here. While the scenario of entering a bath with a girl you liked was certainly something I'd seen before in manga, as to how I was supposed to react, nothing really came to mind. 
A part of me wanted to go on the offensive: What would happen if I just showed it all to her, let her have a good look? 
Though there was obviously some embarrassment attached to it, that I could easily deal with. 
Really, thinking about it some more, it seemed like the only outcome this might have was lowering the mental walls Adachi had propped up around herself. 
In other words, there was no reason not to do it. 
Was that really so? 
If you couldn't find a problem, then that must have meant that one didn't exist. Right? 
"Err... Hey, Adachi." 
I'd been enjoying stretching out my legs just moments earlier, yet now, I found myself sitting on my knees all tensed up. Where had that version of me disappeared? 
Adachi on the other hand responded by drawing her head in. She was like a shellfish clamping shut. 
"C—" she attempted to start, only for her voice to crack before the first word could even leave her mouth. 
In the end, my request alone was the one stated out loud. 
"I don't mind you staring at me. Just... do it in a way that I don't notice, okay?" 
That was the best compromise I could bring myself to propose. 
"Huh?" 
Leaving Adachi utterly bewildered, I turned away as if the conversation was over. I then removed my hands from my chest and lowered them into the water, planting my hands firmly against the floor of the bath. I was doing what I could to make this seem like no big deal at all. 
Now back to facing in front of me, I could see my classmates everywhere I looked—all of them naked. Of course they were. It wouldn't have made sense otherwise. Amongst them, there was a certain small creature who stood out to me. I wasn't sure how exactly it had happened, but somehow, she'd managed to get one of the girls to wash her hair for her. Wherever she went, there was always someone there to take care of her, to treat her like their own daughter—or a sister. I suppose that was just one of her natural qualities. 
Alright then, enough of that. Let's return to the topic at hand. 
What I was trying to say is that I was hardly the only naked person around. In no way was this an uncommon sight. Far from it. And yet, despite that, Adachi still wanted to keep staring at me. She wanted to see me alone. 
I'd attempted to play innocent, but thinking about it more closely, this honestly might have been a pretty good look at who Adachi was a person. A part of me that felt like I'd just missed the perfect opportunity to really shape out our relationship. 
That said, this really, really was not the place to be confronting such issues. 
Speaking of which, was she staring at me? Hmm... 
She definitely was. No doubt about that. No matter how hard I tried to look away and focus on the future, it was simply impossible for me to ignore her. 
I could practically feel the touch of her gaze against my body. 
Though I'd asked her to do it in a way that I couldn't notice, it appeared that Adachi was far too clumsy for such a feat. 
No longer could I take it. I turned around, and immediately, my eyes met with hers. 
"Y-You could tell?" 
The look on Adachi's face was one of astonishment. Her eyes were wide open, almost as if she couldn't believe what was happening. 
This wasn't good. Far from it. 
"Err... No. Not at all. Nuh-uh." 
What an obvious lie. Was she actually going to buy that? Those worries surprisingly enough turned out to be unfounded, and mere moments later, a relieved sigh left Adachi's mouth. 
I suppose this went to show that she simply wasn't capable of thinking straight right now. She was being completely earnest here. 
Speaking of being earnest, that was also a good description for the way she was gazing at me. 
I wonder, why? For what reason? 
I suppose she just couldn't help herself. 
Maybe we should've thought about this before walking into a bath together. Perhaps. 
I could feel droplets staring to drip down my forehead as I sat there motionless, most of my body still submerged. They were not water droplets, but those of sweat. 
My naked body was being stared at by my same-gender lover. 
I was showing it to her. 
All this in a public bath surrounded by our classmates. 
"Yeah. This might be kinda bad..." 
When you lined them up like that, the things I was doing here really were inexcusable. 
I kinda wanted to follow Adachi's example and simply stop thinking about it. 
This wasn't how a school trip was meant to go. Quite the opposite. 
While it had been my intention to only stay for a little bit, I ultimately ended up waiting till the time limit nearly ran out to get up. 
Adachi followed in suite, and even after we put our clothes back on, her eyes still continued drawing circles. Was it because of the heat? Or because of something else? 
Though I knew exactly what was going on here, for whatever reason, I felt like I had to pretend like I didn't. 

The first thing I felt as I returned to the room while drying my head was the stinging sensation of cold droplets below my soles. I shifted my gaze towards the floor, and there, I saw a line of water almost like a fuse extending out from inside my bag. Seriously, why couldn't she dry herself before getting inside? My clothes and the guidebook hadn't gotten wet, had they? It was hard to resist the temptation to drag her out and give her a good scolding. 
That said, as I really couldn't afford letting anyone see her, I was left with little choice but to nonchalantly wipe away the droplets using my feet. 
Just like what had happened with the pieces of fruit earlier, my dirty clothes were instantly sucked in as I brought them close to the bag. 
"......" 
I could only pray that she wasn't going to eat those as well. 
Soon enough, the other three arrived, and like before, we were once again divided into two distinct groups. They'd talk, even laugh at times, yet we didn't. We were completely silent. There was just something so difficult about approaching Adachi sitting there with her face still red and a towel wrapped around her head. 
So, what did you think of my body? Yeah. It was not an easy thing to talk about. 
I wonder, would we be able to do it one day? 
Would our relationship eventually get to a point where we were able to have those sorts of conversations? 
Instead of continuing with that line of thought, I ended up simply spacing out. 
My cheeks had begun turning red, and it took a lot of effort trying to cool them down. 
A few moments passed. We let our hair dry, after which we began unfolding the futons. 
"Hmm..." 
Looking at them, I couldn't help but feel like there was a gap between our futons and theirs. Was I overthinking it? Possibly. 
"I'm pretty exhausted. Should we head to bed already?" someone asked from their side. It did seem like the mood in the room was right for that. 
I wonder, what was it like over in the other rooms? Were they having fun together? 
Had it been Hino and Nagafuji in ours, perhaps we too could've done that. 
"Looks like we should", De Los stated in agreement. What exactly did she mean by it "looking" like that? I wasn't really sure. 
"Agreed." 
My body did feel pretty heavy too. Mainly because of the bath. 
As for Adachi, well, she appeared to still be spacing out with her face all red. A part of me wanted to ask her what was going through her mind, although at the same time, another part wanted to simply ignore her. Our eyes ended up meeting as I stared at her, prompting Adachi's lower lip to tremble. 
She shook her head from side to side, although what exactly was she saying no to, I honestly had no clue. 
Well, whatever. I went ahead and crawled inside my futon. It felt a bit different compared to the one I was used to at home. The pillow was considerably harder, too. All in all, these factors combined to give me a good sense of being somewhere else. 
Though a part of the blanket did feel a bit damp, almost mouldy, for whatever reason, I found it oddly relaxing pressing the tips of my feet against it. 
Spending a night at my grandparents' house always made me feel nostalgic, and this was kinda similar to that, although not quite. 
"I'm turning the lights off now", Sancho (or Pancho?) stated. In the next moment, all light disappeared from the room. It was as if someone had pulled down a curtain. 
All around me, there was darkness. Whether I closed my eyes or had them open, that made no difference. It was to the point where a few moments later, I genuinely could no longer tell if I was staring at the ceiling or my own eyelids. That only lasted for a brief span of time, however, and as I grew accustomed to the darkness, I could notice Adachi's eyes moving. 
Looking relatively calm as if she'd managed to cool down, she stared at me. 
Her eyes were those of a child who wanted to say something. 
In response to her, I went ahead and placed my finger in front of my lips. For one, there were other people in the room besides us. It was also currently the middle of the night. This caused Adachi to start blinking rapidly, and a few moments later, she pushed her left hand outside of her futon. Where was it heading? Towards me, naturally. 
Her hand was left hanging in the air between our futons. 
It took me a moment to get what she was doing, but once I did, I too stretched out my hand—my right hand. 
There, in the silence of the darkness, my hand touched hers. Her skin felt a little warm. Was that because of the bath, or due to something else? Whatever the case, a smile soon appeared on Adachi's face, leaving me to wonder if she'd perhaps experienced something similar. 
This wasn't good. Our futons were too far apart to successfully hide our hands. 
Based on the lack of faint snores in the air, it was clear that the others were still awake. Were we to fall asleep like this, they'd definitely catch us. 
"......" 
Something about Adachi's warmth was making me feel really tired. 
It was only our palms that were touching, and yet, that sensation reached my very core. 
All worries, all doubts soon left my mind. It was as if they were carried away by the waves. 
Who really cared. 
Even if the five of us weren't able to get along, I always had Adachi. Now, the question was, was that enough? Was she all I needed? The current me simply didn't have an answer ready. 
What the right way forward was, that was something for the future me to figure out. 
And so, the first day of our school trip came to an end. 
My mind remained full of questions. Was I really okay with things going the way they had? 
That question had no right answer. Neither did it have a wrong one. 
This was my journey, and I'd have to decide.