Trips, while the concept remains the same, it can have different intentions. Some trips serve the purpose of gaining and reinforcing business ties, some of them are meant for newlyweds to spend time together without worrying about their responsibilities.

“Huh, the place is quite far from here. I’ve never been to that city before.” Yasu said as he listened to his classmates talking with the teacher about the trip.

“You don’t even get out of your house, so no wonder.” Hajime answered, making an unnecessary remark as always.

The trip itself went from a span of three days, the departing date was set for March 29th and the returning date March 31st…

“Hold on…” Yasu thought as he took a quick recap of the dates.

“The returning date overlaps with my birthday…” He muttered.

“Oh wait, it does…”

As far as trips were considered, Yasu never went on a trip on his birthday. Most of them were either spent at home or with his other relatives… the only one he spent with other people was his tenth birthday back in fifth grade.

Back on topic, this trip’s purpose was simply for the students to have a little more knowledge of historical places as well as deepening bonds between people of different classes.

“A little over a month from now, huh?”

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“They’re unavailable…”

“So it seems.”

As the three went to their usual spot, they saw that there were no benches on sight, they were removed. All that awaited them was merely a concrete floor.

“As far as I remember, there seems to be some renovation in this place, so maybe the benches were stored away for the time being?”

“Seems plausible enough. Well, where are we going to eat?” Souta asked.

“How about the benches by the main of—”

“We’ll get suspended if they were to hear our conversations, though. It’s best if we stray away from places where authorities will inevitably hang around.” Souta reasoned against Hajime’s interrupted suggestion.

“And that’s why we’re here!” Yasu said as he smiled to the two girls, who looked somehow annoyed. Souta in one hand, was sitting in the chair against the wall completely silent and eating his food obediently.

“Souta~ Why are you quiet all of a sudden~!” Yasu said as he shook Souta with a mischievous smirk, the latter simply ate with an annoying look as he tried to resist the shaking. “Leave me alone.”

The cafeteria was bustling with students, while most of the tables remained empty, the noises came from those who bought their lunch and made a line. While there were two lines, both were equally long, reaching all the way to the outside of the cafeteria into the hallway.

“Alright, so as far as I understood, we’ll be in groups of four per room and we’ll move altogether—” As a way to break the ice, Hatsue turned to Yasu and recapped everything that was told to them about their upcoming trip, while Souta remained silent under the presence of the other two, soon enough Miyuki joined in the conversation followed by Hajime (although hesitant at first).

After a while the bell rang and they all went to their respective classes. With Souta not having said a word during the whole meal. The day passed and as always Yasu returned home where he just worked a little on a personal project of his and called it a day, playing some games and talking with Souta via game chat.

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I’m not good at dealing with people. Yasu and Hajime both are exceptions since I’ve known them for long. With the exception of another classmate, they’re naturally the only people whom I speak to. That’s why it is kind of hard to get used to sitting with Miyuki and… Hatsue… was it?

Well… I’m still surprised that Yasu went to them on his own accord…

Is it… like that? Should I ask? But he denied it, didn’t he?

While I know that there’s no deep meaning to his actions, I can’t help but feel that there’s something more to him than meets the eyes.

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The next day during physical education, everybody went ahead and played after the warm-ups were done. Some of them also stayed in the benches talking amongst themselves. In one of the benches by the corner of the field, Hatsue sat staring at the one’s that were playing, immersing herself in their football game, seemingly betrayed by Hisui who was talking with the more “cheerful” group.

“You’re here again?” Hatsue said as she took her gaze away from the field and turned to Yasu, who was climbing the lower benches onto the one where she sat.

“I mean, Hajime’s playing… I don’t like sports… and I don’t get along with the other group so I can’t really speak with them. So I saw you here alone and thought that I should sit here, we’re friends… aren’t we?”

Hatsue said and simply giggled, “Go ahead, make yourself comfortable,” she said as she nodded in approval. Yasu smiled and simply sat beside her with a book in his hands.

“Yasu.”

“Hm?” Yasu hummed, not tearing his gaze away from the brown pages. “What’s your objective in all of this?” Her voice sounded serious, with a hint of dominance in her eyes. She wanted an answer, a good one at that.

Yasu blinked, confused, and a simple statement escaped from his lips. “I’m sorry… come again?”