Sleepovers Don't Exist

The classroom shuffles in, students making their way to their seats, some yawning, but none are prepared.

DING

The bell rings, and the lingering students take their seats, followed by the teacher entering the room…immediately followed by Ryu entering the room.

Akito is prepared to learn today, while Kenji is already asleep at his desk. Takuma stares out the window, admiring the clouds for…being clouds, and Ryu makes his way to his seat.

“I hope you guys had a lovely weekend, and are all well rested for today’s classes! But before we begin, the student council members have a few words regarding the school camp. Nishikawa, Hoshino, if you would”

Satou Hoshino and Umi Nishikawa make their way up to the front of the class, Satou taking center stage, like he’s used to the attention, and he clears his throat before speaking.

“This year’s school camp was supposed to be in Kyoto to uphold tradition…but…” Satou pauses for dramatic effect, and fluttering whispers fill the room.

“What does he mean supposed to?”
“Where could it be?”
“For real?! Where else would we go?”

Satou looks over to Umi, gesturing with his head to finish the sentence, and she reluctantly does.

“...this year we decided to, uh, go to a nature reserve to go camping” Umi finishes the sentence.

The classroom is stunned to silence, unable to register what the sentence is actually saying for a moment

The students finally understand what this means, then all erupt in excited cheers.

Satou revels in this cheer, basking in the attention he deserves to receive. He glances over to Umi, seeing if she’d look at him the same way.

She didn’t see the cheering in the room, didn’t see the people happy for the change…to her they weren’t important, and in this moment…they didn’t exist to her.

Is…this okay? For me to do something like this?

Her eyes remain fixated on one person, the only person who hadn’t reacted yet.

Akito Azuma.

Akito’s mind was in another place, thinking back to the times he’d gone camping with his family when he was younger. His expression remains blank externally, but fleeting thoughts of the past blink in and out of focus.

“We’re going camping!!!! I love camping!” Takuma exclaims, wrapping his shoulder around Akito and bringing him back to the present moment.

“Have you ever gone camping before?” Ryu skeptically asks Takuma

“Nope! But I've seen TV shows about it…so how hard can it really be?” Takuma cheerfully replies

Akito and Ryu exchange looks, realizing they shared the same thought.

They both laugh, making Takuma confused but he shakes off the train of thought.

Meanwhile, Fumiko and Rei are gathered at Miki’s desk, and Umi heads there to meet them, and they begin talking about the school camp change.

“If we’re going off the past few years, the groups would be 3-4 people” Miki mentions, implying that they could be a group

“We already have 4 of us here. Makes complete sense that we would make a group.” Fumiko adds, Miki nodding along, Umi remaining silent.

Umi glances at the group of boys at Akito’s desk, thinking about maybe asking him to be in a group with her…but quickly banishes the thought.

“Right? What do you think, Umi?” Miki directs a question to her

“Yeah sure! What’s going on?” Umi replies, pretending that she was paying attention.

“You’d go in a group with them? I don’t think I could ever” Miki retorts back, not knowing Umi is confused.

Umi looks back at the girls in front of her, noticing that someone’s missing.

Rei had already taken the liberty of walking over to Akito’s desk, where all the boys were gathered, to make a group of her own.

Miki and Umi are left speechless at this action, thinking they’d already made a group together.

Rei reaches the boys, her calling out shyly to Takuma in an attempt to get his attention

“....Takuma”

He doesn’t notice due to the racket in the room, and so takes a bigger step by reaching out and grabbing his sleeve.

Takuma notices this, and turns around to greet her, making her face red in nervousness. She points her head toward the ground, then clears her throat. Ryu and Akito notice this, while Kenji is still sleeping at his desk.

“Do you…uhhh….have a group for school camp yet?”

Takuma fully faces his body to hers, but when he’s about to speak, Ryu covers Takuma’s mouth with his hand, and Kenji’s head pops out from behind Takuma’s back.

“Nope! We haven;t made any plans like that whatsoever!” Kenji speaks for Takuma, Ryu nodding in agreement.

“I see! In that case…would you maybe…want to…group with me?” Rei shyly asks.

Takuma starts to chuckle after a brief pause, muffled by Ryu’s hand in the way. He tries to speak, but it comes out completely incomprehensive due to the hand.

“...sorry?” Rei questions, unable to make out a single syllable, let alone a word he just said.

Takuma moves Ryu’s hand, then repeats what he said.

“If you’ll have me, I’d love to!” Takuma follows this with a beaming smile, causing Rei to smile too. Kenji and Ryu are just shocked at what he said, and Akito knew he had it in him.

Rei bows, thanking Takuma, then heads off back to the girls. Akito’s focus lingers on Takuma, happy his friend took a step.

I knew you could do something like that. You’re never afraid of what people might think, or how you act in front of other people. Someday I could maybe do that too, but until then…keep being the person you are now.

“Don’t you guys need at least 1 more person to actually make a group?” Kenji interrupts, spoiling the mood

Takuma thinks for a moment, then gets an idea. He reaches and grabs Akito by the collar, yanking him away and walking over to Rei. He taps her shoulder, to her surprise.

“For us to make a group, we’d need 1 or 2 more people. Would you be okay if he came with us?” Takuma asks Rei politely, setting Aki down.

“If you want him to join I wouldn’t mind…but..c-c-can I bring one of my friends too?” Rei asks shyly, trying not to impose

“For Sure! It’s your group!” Takuma replies, his beaming innocent smile piercing the heart of Rei as she turns to get one of her friends.

Rei makes it back to the girls, but the sound of her heartbeat overrides any external sounds. Aki and Takuma make their way over too, which is followed by Kenji and Ryu.

“What’re you all doing here? Don’t you have better places to be?” Miki sarcastically asks the boys, but it really was meant for just one of them.

“Same as you guys, just trying to figure out groups” Akito replies, which isn’t who Miki expected to reply.

The groups begin bickering about who’s with who, the Miki insisting on being together with the girls, which is beginning to cause a scene.

Kenji takes the centre stage of their attention, clearing his throat and standing in the middle. He then imagines a curtain rising, the spotlight being on him, striking a flamboyant pose to garner the attention further.

“Attention ladies and gentlemen of this procession, It is I. The great Kenji Hitonoka! Now you may be asking yourselves ‘why are you standing like that?’”

Everyone looks on in confusion and befuddlement, unsure on how to react. Kenji reaches into his back pocket to pull out 8 sticks, then steals a sharpie from Umi’s desk, coloring the tops of 4 of them.

“Behold! The magic sticks of sorting! I shall now mix them whilst hiding the colored tips!” Kenji exclaims, speaking in a showman-esq voice

“Does he do this often?” Rei whispers to Takuma.

Takuma doesn’t reply, and continues watching in amazement.

There’s that answer.

He holds the sticks out, and makes everyone take one to determine groups. After the theatrics of a hysterical man, the groups are finally decided.

Rei, Takuma, Aki and Fumiko are in a group, while Ryu, Kenji Miki and Umi are in the other. Rei looks happy, while Takuma’s just happy there’s a solution, meanwhile Aki is still a bit shaken from being straight-up delivered over by Takuma. Fumiko remains unbothered, Kenji seems a bit dozy, Miki and Ryu refuse to face each other in a ‘tsundere’ style, and Umi’s expression remains blank.

Umi looks at the stick in her hands, then glances at the one Akito got. She sighs in disappointment, then sits at her desk.

…I guess fate only works for those willing to accept it, or maybe those who accept each other? Who knows if this whole fate thing even exists in the first place.

The teacher calls everyone to their seats, then begins explaining the itinerary for the days of school camp.

“Day 1 will be dedicated to finding a place to set up camp, meaning a tent itself, and preparing dinner. Materials will be provided for each group alongside a plant guide. The second day will have group activities, then a scavenger hunt, with the second half of the day being allotted free time, to do whatever you desire. Day 3 will be cleaning the campsite, and a test of courage in the evening to wrap things up, but make sure to leave the tent up as you’re to sleep in it that night, and bring it back to the main desk in the morning before departure. If you have any questions, feel free to ask your student council members, or a teacher.”

The class is ecstatic about this trip, the teacher then begins to try and teach with most of the class not paying attention…with the exception being Akito.

He tries to write down what the teacher is saying, listening and copying to distract himself from the future which is to come. When he takes a full look at his page, he’s shocked to see incoherent scribbling on his page, overlapping words causing the once blank page to clutter up, and become a void.

And this void he created only stared into his soul.

…

The day quickly passes, Akito unsuccessfully distracting himself from something he didn’t want to confront.

Ryu shakes him back, asking him if he’s alright.

“What? Yeah, I’m fine!” Akit replies, Ryu not really believing him.

Ryu gets an idea, then walks to the girls, bringing all of them together then asking.

“Would you guys want to stay the night at my place? It’s closer, plus we need to be here super early tomorrow”
“Sure” Kenji replies

“Wouldn’t miss it!” Takuma gleefully replies

“I gotta get some things from my place first, but sure” Akito agrees.

The girls pause for a moment, then huddle out of earshot of the boys, which confuses Ryu.

The whisper for a few moments, then agree to it.

“Then it’s settled. Meet at my place around 8 tonight, or as soon as you can after that” Ryu tells everyone, with them all heading home and preparing for the night, and the weekend ahead of them.

Akito enters his house, and heads upstairs as he begins to pack for school camp, and the sleepover. He rummages through his drawers, not being able to find swim trunks that fit him.

“SHOYAAAA?”
“YEAAH?”
“DO YOU HAVE ANY SWIM TRUNKS I CAN BORROWWWW?”
“CHECK MY ROOM!”

They exchange from different floors of their home. Akito heads into Shoya’s room, looking through his drawers for a pair that’d fit. He pulls out a blue pair, eyeing the pattern, then setting it back in the drawer.

He finally finds what he was looking for; a purple pair of swim trunks, with yellow palm trees scattered about. He shuts the drawer, then looks above the dresser to spot a framed photo of Aoi and Shoya, dressed for the holidays.

Don’t you worry, Shoya. I won’t let you be in the lead for too long.

Akito laughs about this to himself, then exits the room, heading to his own to grab his bag.

He heads downstairs, making his way to the door when Shoya starts to talk to him as he puts his shoes on.

“Just don’t do anything too reckless, okay?” Shoya jokingly pleads with Akito, the both of them knowing Akito wouldn’t do anything like that.

“No promises!” Akito replies, with a beaming smile back. They exchange a fist bump, then Akito exits his house. Shoya laughs at his younger brother, then heads into the living room and turns the TV on.

…

Akito makes it to Ryu’s place, around 20:21, and heads to knock on the door. Ryu heads to open the door, seeing Akito arrive, a little late, but still close enough.

“Thanks for letting me spend the night!” Akito bows in respect to Ryu’s mom, her laughing at the sentiment.

“It’s not a bother! Seeing Ryu-chan’s friends is always fun!” She replies, tending to the stove.

Kenji waves from the couch, Akito waving back as a greeting. To Akito’s surprise, Miki had also arrived before him.

Kenji stands up to actually greet his friend, cheering that he can “Finally get this party started!”

Akito softly greets Miki, Kenji playing around with her by saying “She was even here before I got here!”

“I-I-I just didn’t w-w-w-want to be late! That’s all!” Miki tries to defend, her face flustered.

Kenji laughs at this, Akito elbowing him to stop this to try and stop Miki’s horrible defence.

Akito sets his back in the corner with Kenji and Miki’s, then sits on the couch and starts to watch the movie they’d been watching, Ryu joining them.

“So when do you think everyone else’s gonna be here?” Akito asks Ryu

“No clue. Hopefully soon, though”

A bit of time passes, the clock reading 20:35, when the next person arrives at the door.

Ryu’s mom opens the door, seeing Fumiko standing there, and she lets her in. Ryu greets her with the standard “Welcome! Make yourself at home, food should be ready soon!”

“That would not be difficult. Your house is almost identical to mine in layout” Fumiko monotonically replies.

Ryu’s face fills with surprise, he didn’t actually think she’d take it so literally.

“...um…alright…just set your bag with the rest”

Fumiko sets her bag down, taking a seat next to Miki as the movie resumes.

“What is this movie about?” Fumiko asks Miki, turning to face her.

Miki’s eyes aren’t on the screen. Her face is bright red, as she finally comes to a realization.

THIS IS…A HOME DATE!!?!? RIGHT!?!?!

Fumiko taps Miki on the shoulder to get an answer to her question, but when she does Miki lets out a loud gasp as the movie hits a quiet point, to the confusion of everyone present.

“Y-Yes?”
“What is the plot of this movie?”

“The movie? Um…”

Miki doesn’t know how to escape this, and so, she says the first thing that comes to her head

“I’m going to get a drink of water”

Miki heads upstairs, everyone else still watching the movie.

She makes it upstairs, and grabs a glass from a cabinet, filling it up with tap water and taking a sip. Ryu’s mom is still busy with cooking, but when the door knocks she nods her head for Miki to answer it.

She opens the door to let in the last batch of people, being Umi, Rei and Takuma. They all head downstairs, Takuma greeting Ryu with a hug, fist bumping Kenji and hugging Akito as well.

They all set their bags with the others, Takuma unzipping his bag to pull out a few things.

He sets a bag of chips and a deck of cards on the table, suggesting that the group play cards, but just before they start Ryu’s mom calls down to say that the food’s ready.

Everyone heads upstairs, and sits down at the table for the Iwatani household special; Oyakodon.

They all begin to dig in, appreciating every bite of the delicious cooking.

“WOW! I had no idea Ryu’s sister could cook this well!” Kenji wholeheartedly exclaims, Ryu’s mom laughing.

“I’m his mom, but that you though!” She replies, happy about Kenji’s comment.

Ryu notices what Kenji just did, and kicks him under the table, and they make eye contact, Ryu dead-staring into Kenji’s soul, sending shivers down his spine.

“This is…really good…thank you” Umi shyly compliments, Akito nodding in agreement with a mouth full.

“I’m really glad you all like it!”

Everyone quickly clears their plates, then all head back downstairs…except for Miki. She stayed to help clean the dishes.

Miki and Ryu’s mom begin to clean up, and some small talk ensues.

“Thank you for cooking today. I always enjoy your cooking”
“No need to thank me, it was a pleasure just watching you all enjoy what I made!”

They scrub the dishes in silence for a bit, before Ryu’s mom breaks the silence.

“How’s Kairi doing?”

Miki thinks for a moment, then lets a light laugh out.

“She’s doing better recently, thanks for asking” she replies with a warm smile

“That’s good to hear, I always knew that kid had some fight in her!” Ryu’s mom jokingly replies, the 2 of them letting a chuckle out.

“How’s your mom doing?” Miki asks, continuing the conversation

“Doing better too! She’s always in high spirits after Kenji visits, you know how he is!”

They both laugh, knowing what kind of person Kenji is

“Yeah, I know how he is.” Miki agrees

She shuts the sink off, and turns to go back downstairs when Ryu’s mom stops her in her tracks with a last-minute comment.

“Miki-chan…thank you. For looking after Ryu.”

They exchange smiles, then Miki heads downstairs to rejoin the card game.

The night progresses, the group bonding over heated games of cards, stupid trivia…then the night quickly ramps down as people wind out for bed.

Umi turns around in her sleeping bag, unable to sleep in the black of night, turning to see 2:43 on the clock downstairs, and stumbles to the bathroom.

On the way, she spots Akito through a glass door, standing on the poarch, staring at the city nearby. The light pollution being vibrant over the trees, like a separation of worlds between where they are and where that is.

Umi opens the door, and walks up on Akito without him noticing. When he finally notices her, she’d already made her way next to him.

“What’re you doing out so late?” Akito asks

“Could ask you the same thing” Umi replies

They both chuckle, which is followed by awkward silence.

Their focus then shifts back to the city nearby, Umi looking at Akito’s face and getting a sense of anxiety and nervousness.

“Is something on your mind? You’ve seemed a bit quiet.” Umi asks Akito in a soft tone

Akito glances at Umi, then back at the city, replying with “Does it seem that way? Sorry for that…it’s nothing”

Umi examines Akito’s face more, prodding further

“If it was nothing, then you wouldn’t be like this.”

Akito clutches his fist, forcefully closing his eyes, saying back in a reserved tone “I’m just…It’s nothing, just trust me”

Akito’s gaze drops to the lawn, Umi closing the minimal distance between the 2.

“If you say it’s nothing, then I’ll believe you”

Umi turns to leave, but hears Akito reply in a shaky and disappointed tone

“I just…don’t want to let you guys down”

Umi looks back at Akito, with conflicted feelings of being happy and concerned at the same time.

“I..need someone to tell me that everything’s gonna be okay. That I’m gonna be okay” Akito continues, with his head dropping into his arms.

Umi pauses for a moment, unsure of whether to trust her own feelings or intuition on the matter, then takes the first step toward Akito.

“It’s…all going to be okay, trust me. I’ll be there with you…every step of the way” Umi reassures Akito, him raising his head to meet Umi's eye line.

“Promise?”

Umi extends her pinkie, and locks it with Akito’s

“I promise.”

They stand there for a moment, before Umi pulls away and heads back inside, while Akito remains outside. She pauses at the door, going to say something, but the words wouldn’t come out.

“It’s getting late, you should get some sleep. I’ll be there soon” Akito assures Umi, with her nodding and heading back inside.

Akito looks back at the line of lights above the trees, stuck in his thoughts.

…hopefully I can do this. Not for me, but for them.

Akito rubs his eyes, then heads back inside, rolling into his sleeping bag and falling asleep, transporting him back into the gym of his dreams.

The chairs are back to where they used to be, scattered about and separated by the audience and the people on the stage. Or at least they would be if they were here, right now it’s just where they should be.

Akito goes to check the equipment room to look for a mop, but when he opens the door a cascade of sand runs back, covering the room.

“Looks like I got even more to clean now” Akito jokes to himself, and continues his search for a mop.

He walks into the boy’s changeroom, finding only the bucket. He checks his watch to see how long he’s got left on his shift, when he realizes the time on it stopped ticking, being frozen at 17:39.

Upon further examination, all the clocks around were frozen at that time, and when going back into the gym to check the large clock knocks over the mop bucket, with an absurd amount of water flowing out.

The water quickly fills the entire room up, Akito unable to outswim it. He tries to swim to what looks like a beam of light, but he can’t move fast enough.

He looks down to try and see the floor, but notices his legs look smaller, and so do his arms. He looks at his watch, seeing it’s actually moving but just before 17:39 now.

He watches the seconds tick slowly, and when 17:39 arrives, he shoots awake.

Kenji’s alarm starts to ring, waking everyone up, and they all begin to stretch and yawn. Kenji has massive bags under his eyes, while Takuma seems completely unaffected.

Rei crawls over to Umi, and flicks her forehead to completely wake her up.

They take turns using the washroom and brush their teeth before leaving, then head upstairs to leave.

On the way out the door, Ryu’s mom hands them each a container of leftovers from last night, which they happily accept.

They make it to the school on time, and the teachers begin loading up the bus for the trip there, with Takuma sitting next to Ryu, Kenji next to Aki, Fumiko next to Umi and Rei next to Miki.

The bus starts, with almost everyone being asleep, Akito staring out the window at the rising sun.

I can’t let my own personal downfalls get in the way of everyone’s fun.

Akito flashes back momentarily to a younger time, where he’s camping with his family, then shakes himself back to the present before remembering too much.

I’ve got people relying on me this time, so I’ll try…no. I WILL make sure everything’s fine.

At the same time, Shoya’s sitting alone at the breakfast table, sipping his coffee, and remembering the camping days with their family.

Shoya always wanted to learn, but Akito never paid any real attention, their father pulling him back by saying “Aki, you better pay attention here!”

“I’m listening!” Akito sarcastically replies, then their father shows them how to make a tent, and tells the both of them some life advice.

“Someday, you’ll use what I've taught you to teach others, or even survive yourself. You’ve got to learn how to do this on your own!”

“Does that mean you’re leaving?” Shoya asks

“Of course not!” their father replies, hugging the both of them.

“If there’s any time you need help, any time, anywhere, I’ll be sure to make it!” he smiles, which satisfies the younger Akito and Shoya.

Shoya stops this memory, sipping his coffee in an empty house, a single thought in his mind as he finishes.

…liar.