2.4
After our time at the ski resort, we arrived at the ryokan shortly before 5 p.m.
We headed to the lobby in order, starting with the first group, to get to our assigned rooms.
Soon it was the sixth group's turn, and we followed suit.
Although the exterior of the hotel had a historical aesthetic, the interior of the lobby and the other areas were well-maintained and clean.
We changed into the ryokan's slippers, placed our luggage, containing clothes and other items, at our feet and waited to receive our keys.
“I knew it. I'm sleeping with these people.”
Watanabe let out a slightly melancholic sigh after receiving the keys in the lobby.
This was the room shared between our group, which would be cooperating starting today, and this couldn't be changed.
It was up to us to make it a comfortable space.
“Hey Watanabe!”
Watanabe turned around when his name was called, and a Boston bag loomed in front of him.
“Whoa!”
Watanabe, who caught the bag with both arms, was still surprised, unable to comprehend what just happened.
“Take it to the room. I'm going to the bathroom.”
Ryūen had thrown his own luggage, and he seemed to be planning on having Watanabe carry it.
While Watanabe, who didn't have the guts to refuse, was smiling bitterly, Ryūen disappeared towards the back of the building, probably to the large baths.
“I don't think I can do it.”
“I'll take it.”
“No, it's fine. I was asked to do it.”
I offered, or rather, I insisted on taking the issue off his hands.
“Give it to me. I'll send it back to him, or rather to hell.”
Kitō, seeing Ryūen's arrogant behavior, tried to snatch the Boston bag from his arms.
I put my arm between Kitō and Watanabe to stop him.
“It's better not to do anything troublesome. The one who’ll suffer the most later on will be Watanabe, who he entrusted it to.”
“Then are you going to let that man do what he wants? If you back off now, something similar will happen next time. I don't care if he treats his own classmates as slaves, but Watanabe is a student from Ichinose’s class.”
What he said was correct.
But even so, that didn’t mean he should mess with the baggage.
“You should separate the matter from the Boston bag issue and tell him directly.”
“What if I don't say anything or he doesn’t listen. Are you going to make Watanabe suffer through the trip?”
“Oh no, I'm not that much of a slave driver...”
If Ryūen imposes his selfishness onto Watanabe again, I’ll stop him.
“You will?”
“If he doesn’t listen to me, I'll take responsibility for everything.”
“That's a radical solution.”
“Not really. If the person entrusted with the work doesn’t want to do it, only then is it force and coercion. In this case however, the problem has disappeared, don't you agree?”
Kitō believed that everything should be done by themselves.
He may not agree with my point, but he understood.
“...Do as you please.”
He glared at me for a while, but finally gave in and backed off.
“I'm sorry, Ayanokōji, it's my fault.”
“It's not your fault. It's only natural that we should join hands to solve the problems we have in this group.”
Just as I saw an expression of relief spread on Watanabe's face, the ryokan provided him with two keys to our room.
At about the same time, Kushida and the other three girls also received their keys and came over.
“You know what? I think we should talk about our group activities for tomorrow. This Hokkaido trip is very special, and I'm sure everyone has a lot of places they want to go.”
It was important to make plans in advance, but since we had been the only members of our group present, we hadn't been able to discuss our free activities until now.
“So, I was thinking that at night, the girls can visit the boys' room...”
“Oh, that would be great, wouldn't it?”
Watanabe lowered his eyes happily at the suggestion of the girls coming to visit.
Kitō, who was listening on his own, didn’t respond with anything in particular, maintaining his silence.
“...Errr... Ah, you’re fine with it too, right Ayanokōji-kun?”
“That's fine.”
Kushida smiled and clasped her hands together, not wanting to ignore the troubled Watanabe.
“Then it’s settled. See you later. I'll call Amikura and the others and I'll let you both know when we settle on a time.”
The girls would now enjoy the ryokan, soaking in the hot springs and eating dinner.
“Shall we go to our room too?”
“Right.”
It seems that the boys will be using rooms in the ryokan's East Wing area.
The girls, on the other hand, will be in the main building. Since they’re connected by a lobby, coming and going won’t be particularly difficult, but I guess they had to keep the genders separate.
“Isn't Kushida-chan too nice? She's cute and adorable.”
I had experienced firsthand that Kushida had a certain charm that attracted boys.
It was no wonder they were attracted to her based on their surface-level relationship.
If a student like Watanabe were to discover Kushida's true nature, who knows what would happen?
“I had considered it, but I still shudder to think what it would be like if it weren't for Kushida-chan.”
Indeed, Kushida has been invaluable in guiding the group. Even a meeting to decide on a free activity would be troublesome if there was no one to take the initiative in leading it.
I could only thank her for working to avoid that.
But I don't know if that will solve all the problems.
I still think the more pressing problems will be Ryūen and Kitō.
Ever since they started traveling together as group six, they’ve been constantly at each other’s throats.
They’ve been gauging and probing each other, so they were always in a state of constant confrontation.
We arrived at room 203, clacking our slippers as we proceeded down the corridor.
Inserting the key, I opened the door leading into the room.
The inside was reasonably spacious; it was a traditional, Japanese-style room about 12 tatami mats in size and it had a table with four chairs.
In addition, there was a mini table and two single-person sofas by the window.
I had seen a similar scene many times on TV, depicting a ryokan on the high street.
After putting my luggage in the Japanese-style room, I immediately opened the refrigerator.
It contained a small supply of soft drinks as well as free water.
However, the price per bottle was higher than the market price, and I saw no reason to touch them.
There seemed to be a vending machine in the lobby, so we could go buy some if needed.
After entering the room, Kitō sat in the corner in silence and closed his eyes.
Moreover, he was sitting in a zazen-like posture for some reason.
I left him alone and opened a thick file containing a guide.
The file had a map of the hotel, the name and password for the Wi-Fi provided by the inn, an explanation of the day-trip bathing service, and a list of nearby tourist attractions.
Maybe I'll have a chance to use it in discussions with Kushida and the other girls.
After a quick look around, I decided to take a final look at the restrooms and other facilities.
We also learned that the rooms don’t seem to have individual baths and that bathing must be done in the main bathhouse. I guess there won’t be any issues with this.
I would rather continue enjoying the large bath than soak in a small bathtub.
“Let's see...”
Dinner was served at 7:00 p.m., but there was still time to spare.
I should probably go to the public baths. There must be a lot of people there already.
“I'm going to the baths.”
“Oh, wait a minute. I'm coming with you!”
Watanabe, who was sitting on a chair, stood up as though he was about to fall down.
“What about you, Kitō?”
“I'm not ready.”
“I see. Then I'll leave you a key. I'll let Ryūen know when I see him.”
If he came back to the room when nobody was there, Ryūen wouldn’t be able to enter.
That would be troublesome, so we'd have to avoid that.
As soon as we entered the hallway and closed the door, Watanabe muttered, his voice a whisper.
“I'm in trouble. You're going to sleep with Kitō and Ryūen too, right? Will you live until morning?”
“That's an exaggeration.”
“No, but it's four nights. It's not unreasonable to expect accidents to occur during that time.”
If that were the case, it would certainly be disastrous.
Aside from Ryūen and the others, sleeping with strangers is something I'm not used to.
I wonder if one day I’ll be able to feel comfortable about the fact that I’m increasingly sharing my bedtime with others, both at last year's camp and in my relationship with Kei.
Since sleeping alone has been the norm for me since I was a child, my discomfort from the change in environment hasn't disappeared.
“You know something? You’re easy to talk to,” Watanabe said.
“Really?... I don't know myself, but...”
I was happy to hear that, but I couldn't help but feel like I was just being compared to the other two.
“Well, now I can understand why Ichinose likes you so much...”
“Eh?”
“Oh, no! ...Forget about that!”
He realized his obvious blunder and corrected himself, but I clearly heard him. Well, hearing it won't change anything, but...
“You look like… You know?”
Watanabe looked a little relieved at my lack of response.
“I heard... The girls talking about that stuff. I think most of the boys are still oblivious, and they like Ichinose. But you're dating Karuizawa, who's in the same class as you, right?”
That was a fact, so I answered with a nod.
“It must be complicated for boys who like Ichinose. No, I think there are probably more guys who are rather happy about it.”
“What about you, Watanabe?”
“Me? I'm... Well, it's a secret.”
The calmness of his demeanor suggested that he didn't have any special feelings for Ichinose.
I didn't know who, but he seemed to have feelings for another girl.
“This school trip is a big event, right? Maybe there won’t be only one or two guys who confess their feelings to a girl they like.”
“Is that so?”
This was definitely true for Sudō; he was determined to confess his feelings to Horikita on the school trip.
Was that not an unusual thing to do, or was it an important event for students?
“Me too~ ...If I had a little more courage, I'd think about it.”
He shook his head from side to side in frustration, though he seemed to only be imagining things.
“Anyway, I don't know too much about girls right now. I'm going to start by practicing how to make myself more likable so that the girls in my group will like me. If I can be the kind of guy who leaves a lasting impression, I can build on my experience for the real thing.”
I've only been in contact with Watanabe for less than half a day, but I didn't get any bad impressions from him.
Basically, there’s no doubt that he’s a good guy. His academic and physical abilities on the OAA are both C+, slightly above average. He also scored a C or higher in other areas. In other words, he didn't have any flaws that seemed to be issues. Depending on the partner, it seems reasonable to believe that there’ll be enough potential.
There were many factors intertwined with love, and appearance and ability alone didn't determine the success or failure of a confession.
It depended on the relationship built between the two parties.
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