Chapter 61

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Second chapter of the trip arc!

Translated: Butter

Edited: Butter

Title: Our School Trip Revenge (2)

One Saturday in the latter half of August, we left early in the morning for a trip. I bought a ticket from the ticket vending machine on the day. I got on a regular train, which is not an express train or anything special. The destination is a port town about six stops away by train, much closer than school overnight trip, to tell the truth. But it’ s the kind of place you rarely go to if not for the opportunity, and it can be more novel than a famous tourist attraction. Since it’s just the two of us traveling, I didn’t want to take time to transfer and connect and so on. There’s the ocean, which is natural in a port town, and there seemed to be some good restaurants there, and my guidebook listed a few temples and shrines, so I decided to go around them when we ran out of things to see. Satou-san agreed to my original proposal with a resounding yes. I didn’t think she would oppose my proposal, but I was happy that it was decided so easily.

We sat side by side in a seat for two. As soon as the train started to move, Satou-san took out some snacks from her backpack. This is the only time she’ s really nimble.

“Yamaguchi-kun, which one do you want?”(S)

It was like that before, but Satou-san was a girl who didn’t really care if she was carrying more stuff or getting heavier. Most girls nowadays carry around a bag so small you wonder what’s in it, but she brought a backpack that looked like she was going to climb a mountain. In another way, I wonder what’s in it. It’s not the first time that Satou-san’s clothes are subtle, and that’s fine, but I’m not sure she’s tired of it. She took out snacks like a street vendor and showed me some of them.

“Cookies, rice crackers, potato chips and…oh, and chocolate will melt if we go outside, so let’s eat it early.”(S)

“You’ve bought a lot of stuff…”(Y)

The sheer variety of the lineup is overwhelming. I think they’re going to seriously climb the mountain. I think it will last for three days. I’ve only bought a small amount of chewing gum other than the usual snacks, so I was honestly surprised by Satou-san’s enthusiasm.

“I thought, if I’m going to eat this with Yamaguchi-kun, I’d better have a lot of it.”(Y)

She smiles shyly and takes out yet another bag.

“Also, this one’s important. Crunchy ume.”(S)

“Oh, you mean the sickness medication?”(Y)

“Yeah, yeah. I don’t want to get motion sickness on a trip.”(S)

Satou-san doesn’t even seem to have time to get sick judging by her current frenzy, but the fact that she buys the plums there makes me feel like she’s not a modern girl. It certainly seems to be effective, but……..I’m already starting to get bitter just hearing the name.

“And also………”(S)

Is there anything more to come out of it? Satou-san peered into the backpack, oblivious to my dismay.

“Yamaguchi-kun, you like mandarin oranges, right?”(S)

She asked a wild question.

“What? Yeah, well, let’s just say I like it.”(Y)

I nodded, uncomprehendingly, and she immediately looked happy.

“That’s why I came prepared. Frozen mandarin oranges.”(S)

To say it’s not girly nowadays seems to be too much of an understatement. Not many girls bring frozen mandarin oranges on a date, no matter how much it’s a trip. At least I hadn’t imagined her doing so. Come to think of it, one of my Christmas presents last year was a mandarin orange. I’m not sure if that’s why Satou-san took the trouble to bring them to me, because she thought I liked mandarin oranges.

“Is this frozen and packaged by you?”(Y)

The surface of the mandarin oranges that were handed to me were cool, and there was a thin layer of ice on the surface in places. Mr. Sato seemed to have taken the trouble to put them in a cooler bag. I’m not sure if I can call it thoughtful.

“Yeah. It’s nicely iced, right?”(S)

Satou-san laughs at me in her own way, and I can’t help but laugh as well. Her homemade frozen mandarin oranges were far tastier than any of the ready-made sweets. They’re perfect for an August trip. But I may have praised her a little too much. Satou-san is very aware of my reaction.

“I’ll go make more!”(S)

And so on. It looks like I’ll have to carefully examine where I’m going on my next date. With her, it’s hard to know where she’ll bring it. At any rate, the revenge school trip is off to a good start. We both didn’t even look out the bus window, though, and all we did was eat and talk.

“This makes me feel like I’m on a trip.”(S)

Satou-san says cheerfully as she shares her sweets with me. Her hair is tied in a knot and she has an innocent expression on her face. I can’t get tired of looking at her the same way I did on the school trip. Maybe it’s me who has changed, watching her calmly.

There was nobody like Sato-san in college. I knew there wouldn’t be many of them, but there really wasn’t. Maybe there might be a girl like her somewhere, maybe there are college students like Satou-san, hiding behind the ‘modern’ girls who often catch my attention. But even if I could find such a girl, it would be impossible to replace her, and the search itself would be completely pointless And yet, my eyes were always looking for her. Even if it wasn’t next to her, I had a feeling that she was out there somewhere. At least that’s how it was until now. Somewhere in that noisy Class C classroom, Satou-san was there, too plain and unrefined to be noticed before any of the girls, and if she happened to be looking at me, she’d give me a childish smile or a small wave. I was looking for Sato-san before I knew it, on the campus I’d finally become accustomed to, in lecture rooms with no fixed seating order, in cafeterias with surprisingly large crowds, or even when I was having stupid conversations with my new friends at once. It was like an unbreakable habit, a feeling in my skin. I felt like she was always right next to me, but she never caught my eye. Of course, Satou-san wasn’t my classmate anymore, and she wasn’t a college student. We didn’t go down the same path together, so there’s no way she’ll always be next to me. –I’m not going to be able to get rid of you. Since then, I’ve always wanted to see you in person, Satou-san. Today, I don’t have that feeling. It’s just a small day trip, but I can stay with you until it’s over. I hope it will be a fun, enjoyable trip that will easily blow away old memories and new loneliness. This is the only thing I can honestly say.

The journey took less than two hours, and we arrived at our destination. The station in the port town is not so big, there are only a couple of shops and restaurants lined up. The number of customers was not so good, but we didn’t have anything to do there either, so we quickly left the station after passing through the ticket gate. The sunshine was strong outside. I could easily smell the tide.

“It’s hot.”(S)

It was so hot that even Satou-san could not help but groan. The sea breeze is not refreshing, it’s just an oppressive hot breeze. The brick-colored cobblestone pavement in front of the station is dry and the digital thermometer on the street is beating up a disgusting number, and I miss the frozen oranges I ate on the train. If we stop here, we will dry up in no time.

“Where shall we go?”(Y)

I opened my guidebook and

“It’s nice and cool.”(S)

Satou-san looks into it and smiles a little pathetically. It must be very hot. I’m worried about the backpack she’ s carrying.

“Well, let’s aim for the ocean, since it’s summer?”(Y)

“Great. Perhaps I need to get a bit more of a cool breeze.”(S)

“Go somewhere cool and shady. And take a break along the way.”(Y)

“Wow. That’s great. Let’s take it slow, we still have plenty of time.”(S)

As usual, Satou-san replied with two replies. I was glad to hear that my suggestion was accepted, and started to derive a route from my guidebook to the ocean. I had already marked several routes in advance, so I found a good one right away. There was a bike path along the river near the station, and the path followed the river’s flow and eventually led to the coastline. There are bicycle rental offices near the station, and it’s not so cheap as it seems to be for tourists, but it seems to be quite pleasant to ride a bicycle in an unfamiliar town. Besides, if you’re on a bicycle, your backpack won’t get in the way.

“Let’s rent a bicycle, Satou-san.”(Y)

Then Satou-san asks back dubiously,

“Can you do that?”(S)

“I know it’s possible. It’s in the guidebook.”(Y)

“Yamaguchi-kun, that was amazing. How did you find it!?”(S)

I couldn’t finally say the words ‘I’ve been reading up on it thoroughly until yesterday’ because I was so thoroughly touched by something that impressed me. It’s not something that I wanted to confide in you, so it’s okay. However, if it’s a school trip, it’s important to prepare for it beforehand, isn’t it?

We went to borrow bicycles and then set out on the bike path along the river. I was wondering what I would do if Satou-san couldn’t ride her bike, but it wasn’t that bad, no matter how bad she was. She just wasn’t very good at it, so I decided to take it slow and easy.

We took a few breaks along the way. There was a small park surrounded by greenery in between the cycling road, and we stopped to take a break under the shade of a tree. In one of the parks, there was a soft-serve ice cream stand, and we fell for it.

“It’s beginning to feel like a trip to the food stalls, isn’t it?”(Y)

I blurt out, and Satou-san smiles with a rather welcoming look on her face. I find a piece of soft-serve ice cream on her cheekbone, and I wonder why it’s there, I think. It’s so typical of Satou-san. But this trip was very, very peaceful.

Notes:

Ume is kind of a fruit that is mix of an apricot and plum. It is supposed to have medicinal properties to help motion sickness and a few other things. Image

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