Short-Lived Summer Memories I

The clock is ticking.

No sound can be heard from the classroom.

Everyone is dead silent.

Chasing down time.

3...2...1....

"Times up! Pass your papers."

A sign of relief from everyone in the classroom, as they pass their exam papers to Sensei.

I stretched and sighed, "Finally it's over."

I looked at Uchida next to me also stretching. Then Sensei announced, "Tomorrow is summer vacation, make sure to do your homework before the break ends." He leaves the classroom afterward.

Everyone celebrated in the classroom, I mean, who wouldn't be happy, right?

I see Nise, Chiba, Itsuki, and Kyouko-san going here.

Chiba ranted, "Finally, it's over." 

Uchida cheered, "Good work on the exam everyone."

Nise also ranted, "I hate exams."

Kyouko-san followed, "History was hard."

I guess no one likes exams.

Uchida asked everyone, "Do you guys want to go somewhere during the break?"

I replied, "That would be cool."

Itsuki followed, "Where do we go then?"

Uchida replied, "I'm fine with anywhere, as long as I'm with you guys."

I asked, "Are you guys free during the break?"

Nise replied, "Only this week, the soccer team is preparing for the upcoming tournaments this summer."

Chiba answered, "I'm gonna be busy after this week."

Kyouko-san followed, "I can only do tomorrow and the day after."

It looks like not everyone is free this summer vacation.

Itsuki asked, "How about we go somewhere tomorrow and the day after?"

Chiba agreed, "I'm in."

Nise followed, "Count me in."

Kyouko-san acknowledges, "I'm also in."

I replied, "I'm free on those days."

Uchida followed, "Same with everyone."

Itsuki asked, "Where do you guys want to go?"

Nise suggested, "The beach?"

Kyouko-san requested, "How about somewhere near?"

Chiba replied, "Yeah, the beach is far."

Uchida asked, "How about the festival?"

I followed, "But that's on the day after tomorrow."

Chiba suggested, "How about we go to the amusement park tomorrow? It's just near."

Nise excited, "The new one?! I'm in!"

I replied, "I'm fine with it."

Itsuki responded, "I'm in."

Kyouko-san followed, "I'm also in."

I looked at Uchida, "How about you Uchida?"

Uchida responded, "Uhmmm...I'm fine with it."

Chiba announced, "Tomorrow amusement park, the day after is the festival, everyone good?"

Everyone agreed and Chiba announced, "Let's all meet up in the station, around nine in the morning."

—

It's already the first day of summer vacation

"Is someone here already?"

I'm at the station looking for them. It seems I'm a bit early than I thought.

"Your early, Tanahashi-Kun."

I turned around and saw Uchida in her casual clothes, wearing a sleeveless blouse and a skirt. 

I'm just in awe of how beautiful and cute she is.

"Is something wrong?"

Wow, you look pretty and cute in your clothes

"Wow, you look pretty and cute in your clothes."

She blushed...wait, what happened?

Wait...did I say that?

...

I did!

I'm embarrassed, "Uhmm...forget that I said that Uchida."

She replied, "Thanks." while holding her handbag to hide her face of embarrassment.

"Oh, you guys are already here? I thought I was the first one!"

A loudmouth Chiba suddenly appeared, while our red faces hasn't recovered from what happened.

"What happened to you guys? It's awkward and you guys are blushing."

Crap, she found out.

Chiba smirked, "Don't tell me..."

Uchida exclaimed, "It's nothing like that, Miu!"

"Stop teasing them, Miu." as a hand suddenly karate chopped Chiba's head.

Chiba yelled, "Ouch! What was that for, Sakura?!"

Kyouko-san was behind her and replied, "Wait, that actually hurt you?"

Chiba responded, "It did!"

Kyouko-san chuckled, "Well, my bad, Miu."

Itsuki just arrived, "Wow, you guys are early, it's still 8:45 in the morning."

I followed, "Now, we wait for Nise."

Five minutes have passed...

Fifteen minutes have passed...

Thirty-five minutes have passed...

Chiba snapped, "Where the hell is Nise?!"

Then you hear a voice from a distance, "Guys! I'm sorry I'm late."

We turned around, it was Nise.

Chiba fumed, "You are so late?!"

Kyouko-san spoke, "Calm down, Miu, it's just been twenty minutes past nine."

Itsuki added, "Don't worry, it's literally two stations away from here."

I followed, "Since we're all here, let's get going now, shall we?"

We all hopped on the train and went to the amusement park and in a span of minutes, we reached our destination.

Chiba shouted out of excitement, "We're here!"

I'm just amazed at how big the amusement park is.

An excited Nise yelled, "Guys, guys! We should go there! That fast and big one." as he points at a rollercoaster with big hoops. tall hills, and a fast cart.

Man, that's terrifying to ride.

Itsuki replied, "Let's all ride it."

Chiba added, "Let's go!"

We all queued for the rollercoaster until we got into the ride. I'm sitting next to Uchida who whispered something to me.

"Tanahashi-Kun."

"What's that, Uchida?"

"Uhmmm...can you hold out your hand?"

"Why, are you scared riding this kind of stuff?"

"..."

She didn't give me an answer.

The seatbelts have been put over us.

Then we heard an announcement from the speakers, "Thank you for riding this ride. The seatbelts have been put on for the safety of the riders, and please stay put and do not remove the seatbelts. Have fun, riders."

...

No way she's actually scared.

"Wait, for real?"

The ride starts, it's going up a tall hill.

Out of panic, she held out her hand and said, "Your hand, your hand!"

I let out my hand and she holds on to it as if her life depends on it.

The palm of her hand is sweaty, trembling in fear.

I asked, "Are you fine now?"

She replied, "Kind of."

Then the ride slowly approaches the top of the hill.

She even trembled more and yelled at me, "Never let go of my hand, no matter what!"

I replied, "I promise, I won't."

Then the ride goes down the hill, and all I hear is shouting from everyone on the ride while holding her hand. The adrenaline is too much, I feel the gaze of the wind, and my ears are about to pop at this point.

I looked at Uchida, she was completely silent and terrified.

A bit later, we got off the ride.

Chiba expressed, "That was fun!"

Nise suggested, "We should go for one more."

Uchida begged, "Please...no more."

Itsuki commented, "Looks like the rollercoaster isn't your strong suit."

Kyouko-san added, "Yeah, she's been holding Tanahashi's hand throughout the whole ri—"

Uchida shuts her up by covering the mouth of Kyouko-san, "That's not true, right Tanahashi-Kun?"

I just nodded, didn't know how to react at all.

Chiba saw something and demanded, "Guys, guys! That one looks cool, how about we go there?!"

She's pointing at the dark gloomy haunted house that's at the far end.

Nise replied, "I'm in."

Kyouko-san followed, "Let's go."

Itsuki responded, "Count me in."

Before I could answer, Chiba excitingly went there and said, "C'mon, let's all go now!"

From the distance, the haunted house doesn't look that big at all. I'm standing in front of it, and it's actually huge than I thought.

The facilitator of the haunted house told everyone in the line to be in pairs of two.

Chiba said, "I'll pair with Sakura."

Nise followed, "Then, I'll pair with Itsuki."

Itsuki replied, "What, no way!"

Nise insisted, "What, you scared or something?"

Itsuki answered, "No dude! Your voice is loud, my ears are gonna break when you scream."

I followed, "Then, I'll be with Uchida."

Up first was Chiba and Kyouko-san, followed by Itsuki and Nise.

You can hear the screams of the voices of the victims of this haunted house.

Then our turn came next and I looked at Uchida who seems to be frightened from the screams that she hears inside of it.

"Uchida, it's already our turn."

I poke her in the shoulders then she got scared from it and said, "What...was that Tanahashi-Kun?"

I replied back, "It's our turn."

I could sense that she is scared to do it. I offered my hand out and asked, "Need my hand?"

She was surprised and said, "Yes, please, Tanahashi." as she holds my hand.

We went inside the haunted house and all you can see is darkness and a flashlight that has given to us before going inside.

"You ready, Uchida?"

She just nods at me.

"Let's go."

To match her pace, I'm walking slowly, then all of a sudden, there was a loud scream.

Uchida immediately grabs my whole arm. I could feel her chest and warmth as she repeats, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry it's scary, it's scary."

I immediately calmed her down and asked, "Are you okay?"

She nods at me then we heard Nise and said, "FREAKING, RUN!!"

Uchida and I laughed at it and continued our journey with the haunted house that was supposed to be scary, it became a journey full of laughter because we kept hearing Nise panicking and yelling ahead of us.

We got out of the haunted house, and it is so bright. Maybe, we got used to the plain darkness that the haunted house has. Outside of it was the rest of the group, waiting for our arrival.

Chiba smirked, "I thought you guys aren't holding hands."

We just realize that we are still holding each other's hands. We both let go of it out of embarrassment. Uchida tries to cover me, "I was scared, that's why I was asking for Tanahashi's hand."

Then she looks at me and said, "Forgive me, Tanahashi-Kun. I'm just too scared to ride the rollercoaster and go to the haunted house. I'm sorry."

I replied, "Don't worry about it."

Nise wondered, "I just realized but we have been calling you by your last name, Tanahashi."

Itsuki followed, "I mean, we've been with him for a couple of months now."

I replied, "You can just call me by my first name."

Chiba complained, "Isn't Shinsuke a bit long?!"

Kyouko-san suggested, "How about Shin?"

I replied, "That sounds fine to me."

Nise announced, "Then we call you Shin."

Chiba suggested, "You should call me, Sakura, and Yuuki by our first names too, so it would be fair right?"

I asked, "Would it be fine with you guys?"

Kyouko-san replied, "I don't mind."

Chiba followed, "Me too."

Uchida just nodded at me.

"Then, I'll call you guys that from now on too."

We had a lot of fun with the food that we ate, took pictures at the photo booth, and endless rides again, and went for our final ride in the park.

Miu noticed, "Oh, the sun is about to set down."

Itsuki followed, "We should go for a final ride."

Sakura asked, "What should we ride then?"

Miu replied, "The Ferris wheel! We haven't been there yet."

We went to the Ferris wheel and the operator of the ride said, "Only two people in one pod, please form a pair or you can go solo."

Nise suggested, "We should go for the pairs a while ago in the haunted house."

We all agreed to it and Sakura teased Yuuki a bit, "Don't cling too much on Shin, Yuuki."

A blushing Yuuki replied, "Stop it, Sakura."

We all giggled about it.

Miu and Sakura went first, next were Itsuki and Nise, then me and Yuuki.

Before we went inside the pod, I asked, "Do you need my hand?"

She shook her head and replied, "I'm fine with this one."

We went inside the pod and we're on the very top of it. The scene is beautiful.

Sunlight goes down, what a sight to see. The lights from the buildings are starting to turn on and you can see everything from this view.

Yuuki in awe, "It's beautiful."

I suggested, "Why don't you take a picture of it, Uchida?"

I wondered, "Did I do something wrong?"

She pouted at me, "Didn't we agree that you are going to call everyone by their first names, Shin?"

I replied, "Oh, my bad...Yuuki."

It was a bit embarrassing to say it since I'm a bit anxious about whether I'm closed enough to call them on a first-name basis.

Yuuki suggested, "We should take a picture together."

I agreed to her suggestion and she hold her phone out.

She says, "Cheese!"

"Cheese!"

She snaps a picture of it.

After a while, we hop out of the ride, while the group waited for our arrival.

The speakers of the park suddenly announced, "Thank you for coming to our theme park. Before we close for the day, we have a little surprise for everyone in attendance. Please, enjoy."

Nise looked at us and wondered, "What's the surprise?"

Then we heard a big bang in the distance.

We looked at it and it was fireworks. A ton of them. Colorful and mesmerizing to look at.

Yuuki reacted, "Wow, it's pretty."

Nise replied, "Yeah, it is."

Miu suggested, "We should take a picture, with the fireworks behind us."

We set up the phone and the tripod. 

Miu yelled, "Nise c'mon, the fireworks are about to end soon!"

Nise replied, "I'm going."

He ran at us and told, "There's a timer on it, just keep your smiles."

Then we saw the flash from the phone and hear a snap it.

We all take a look at the picture.

Itsuki reacted, "That's a cool picture."

Miu replied, "I know right?!"

Then the fireworks ended shortly after it.

The park shortly announced, "Thank you for coming and have a safe exit. Please come back again."

We all walk together to the stations and split there.

Miu waved at us, "See you guys tomorrow at the festival!"

Yuuki replied back, "See you guys as well!"

I left with Yuuki since our stations are near to each other.

We hop on the train and it was spacious that we could actually sit.

She speaks, "Thanks for today, Shin."

I asked, "For what?"

She replied, "For guiding me throughout the whole ride."

I replied, "Oh, it's nothing."

Then, a silence between us began. I need to say something or it will just be awkward until the end.

I asked, "Do you have the picture?"

She replied, "Which one?"

I answered, "The one on the Ferris wheel."

She responded, "I have it. Do you want it?"

I replied, "Yeah, that would be cool."

She's finding the picture in the gallery and found it, "I'll send you this one."

She sent it to me and whispered into my ears, "This our little secret, okay?"

I was surprised that I just nodded at her silently. She is so close to me right now.

The train stops at the next station. 

Yuuki stands up, "This is my stop. See you tomorrow, Shin."

I returned the greeting, "See you tomorrow too, Yuuki."

After a while, I finally got back home, exhausted from everything that transpired. Once I saw my own bed, I hit the sack, just too tired from everything but it was all worth it.

Because it was fun 'till the end.

I hope this day would last forever.