Chapter 6: That Was Fun

The day after they returned home.
As usual, Yuka had come over to Misaki’s room.

“Hey, Yuka.”
While drinking sake, Misaki spoke up casually.
“You said you managed to get the tickets, but… that was out of your own pocket, right?”

“…Huh? What’s with that all of a sudden…?”
Yuka’s eyes darted about.

“You were paying at the front desk like anyone else. I saw it.”

“…I see…”
She lowered her eyes for just a moment—
“I wanted to go on a trip with you, Misaki-san, so… I tried a little harder than I should have.”
She smiled, looking a little bashful.

“If you wanted to go, you should’ve just said so.”
Misaki let out a sigh and brought the glass to her lips.

“Because when I asked you before, you turned me down.
So I made the reservation first, so it’d be harder for you to say no.”
Yuka puffed out her cheeks.

“…That… might have happened, I suppose.”
Misaki gently averted her gaze.

“Anyway— I got a surprise souvenir!”
Yuka rummaged through a cooler bag and took out a small bottle.
“And I made sure to bring the ochoko you gave me, too. Let’s drink together, using the same ones!”

“Sounds good.”
Misaki also went to get the ochoko she had bought for the trip and sat down across from her.

“Okay, here we go—”
Yuka took off the cap of the bottle and poured the sake, glug glug.

Misaki stared at the filled glass and let out a voice without thinking.

“…Wait— it’s blue!”

“Hahaha, this is the hotel’s original,”
Yuka laughed, wearing a look of got you.
“Come on, come on— let’s drink. Cheers!”

The ochoko chimed lightly.

Misaki downed it in one breath and let out a small sigh.
“…It really is delicious. As expected.”

The two set their ochoko down and naturally began talking about memories from the trip.

And for a while after that, whenever she looked up at a blue sky—
Misaki found herself remembering that trip.