Since it would be tough to make a day trip all the way to Tohoku, this off-campus study trip is a two-day, one-night affair. Of course, boys and girls aren’t in the same room, and I ended up sharing a room with Itou Hiromasa, the boy who sits in front of me in the classroom.
There are no other boys. It’s a two-person room.
「Hey, Adashino.」
「Nnn」
「Who’s your main girl?」
He spoke to me without even drying his dripping hair after the bath.
As I wondered what the intention behind Hiromasa’s question was, “I mean, between Nanaka-san, Yuna-san, and that Miho-san you seem to have recently hooked up with”, he added.
From the context, he means who I’d choose as a girlfriend. Personally, I don’t want to choose any of them. But since it’s a response guaranteed to earn disapproval, I can’t speak my true feelings, yet I don’t want to lie either, so I’ve found myself cornered into a dead end.
「I’m not a good match for any of them.」
「Yeah, that’s true, but…」
「So that’s the end of the conversation. I’m going to take a bath.」
「Wait.」
Thus, I forcefully cut off the conversation.
It’s not just that humans and monsters aren’t a good match, but they can’t even be placed on the same scale to build a relationship, so the discussion can’t even start.
Leaving Hiromasa looking dissatisfied, I walk towards the bath. The school had booked a reasonably nice hotel for a public high school, and the bathroom was luxuriously lined with jet-black stones.
Although there was a bathtub, it was too much trouble to fill it with water──he had said earlier, “I always just shower, so if you want to soak, you’ll have to fill it”──so I settled for just a shower.
After getting out of the bath, the topic didn’t come up again. He probably restrained himself from continuing after seeing my reaction.
We have to get up early tomorrow. It’s still only 11 PM, but perhaps due to the fatigue from walking around, as soon as I lay down on the bed, sleepiness quickly overtook me.
Hearing Hiromasa say, “Wake me up at 6:30”, I fell asleep in the unfamiliar bed.
◇
「It was fun, wasn’t it?」
「Definitely more than the first day.」
Swaying on the return bus, I talk with Nanaka, who ended up sitting next to me again.
Yesterday was spent touring the university, but today was different. We went to a futuristic museum and visited a stylish shopping mall.
Although we couldn’t completely let loose because it was a school event, the activities were reasonably enjoyable. The students were all smiles.
Nanaka, who seemed to have come from the countryside, was more red than usual, perhaps excited by the stylish shopping mall. It must be due to more oxygen being supplied. The work of hemoglobin.
「Want to play Monsters and Spirits From All Times and Places?」
「No.」
「Eh…」
「We exhausted all the options yesterday, didn’t we?」
「Well, that’s true.」
As we move away from the city, the landscape becomes more mountainous. She had mentioned coming from a mountain village, so she’s probably used to this kind of scenery. She turned the conversation towards me without showing much interest in the view.
But she didn’t tire of “Monsters and Spirits From All Times and Places”.
I thought I’d have the advantage since I regularly interact with monsters, but surprisingly, Nanaka had an extensive knowledge about monsters and spirits.
After about fifty rounds, I ran out of knowledge and had to admit defeat. Frustrating.
「Ah, right.」
「What’s up?」
「I got a message from Yuna.」
「Hee.」
──Light Novels──
──Read Here──
Saying that, she shows me her smartphone screen. Since we’re technically still in a school lesson, she was careful not to let the homeroom teacher see.
『Which university are Onee-chan and the others at?』
『Tohoku! What about Yuna?』
『Ibaraki.』
『Then you must have eaten natto.』
『If you think Ibaraki = natto, you’d probably get killed by an Ibaraki resident.』
『Sorry, sorry.』
What kind of conversation is this?
As you can tell from their appearance, the Kusakabe sisters are indeed strange.
『By the way, Yuna.』
『What?』
『What do you mean by “Onee-chan and the others”?』
『babbetalk jkaoaa kara』
『Calm down.』
『Are you stupid? It doesn’t mean anything.』
『You’ve calmed down quite a bit. If it hadn’t taken fifteen minutes for your reply to come, I might have been fooled.』
I don’t understand what Nanaka intended with this question or why Yuna is clearly agitated. Using “Onee-chan and the others” seems natural to me.
But judging from their exchange, there must be some meaning behind it. High school girls are mysterious creatures.
「…So, what do you want to achieve by showing me this?」
「Don’t you notice anything?」
「What?」
「There’s something strange about this email, right?」
「Looks normal to me.」
Maybe she’s been influenced by a movie or something. Nanaka’s voice carries a tone of pride.
But I cut her down. “Please think about it a bit more”, she says, wiggling her tentacles, but I ignore her,
「I’m a bit sleepy.」
「Eh?」
「Good night.」
「…Good night.」
And closed my eyes.
Next to me is a lump of meat. But the voice is nice.
It’s like a sleep aid with disastrously bad packaging sense.
As I let my body be swayed by the bus for a while, my eyelids grew heavier, and I crossed my arms as if sinking into sheets.
「……」
It took about ten minutes to emerge from my doze.
I felt a slight weight on my shoulder, which gave me a sense of discomfort.
When I turned my blurred vision in that direction, I saw that Nanaka had also fallen asleep, letting out small breaths.
However, I didn’t feel uncomfortable enough to wake her, and I didn’t want to disturb her as she seemed to be sleeping comfortably. Looking around, it seemed that most of my classmates had fallen asleep.
Acknowledging belatedly that even lumps of meat need sleep, I spent a while feeling Nanaka’s weight in the bus, where only faint voices could be heard.