A Lengthy Trip (Part 2)

It's been only five minutes on this train, yet I want to fucking kill myself.

After boarding on the train, we sat in our groups and settled in for the ride. As the teacher has stated, getting to Kyoto requires 2.5 hours even though we're taking the Shinkansen. With everyone bringing some form of entertainment onto the train, our group's having trouble deciding what to do while we await our journey.

"Oi! Yoshimitsu! Tell Mayu to stop bothering me with her UNO cards!" Satsuki said, as she yelled into my ear.

"But I wanna play with everyone! Do something, Yuta!" Mayu said, throwing a baby tantrum.

"Alright guys, how about we all play UNO with Mayu? It'd be a nice way to kill time, wouldn't it?" Yuta responded.

"All of you should be quieter and not disturb the passengers on the train!" Carol said, maintaining discipline as always.

"guys we should play UNO." Darpan added.

Everyone was being loud on the train. I get the hype and thrill of going on a trip, but it's really disturbing me. I was trying to get some rest but despite my obvious fatigue, I guess no one really did pay any mind to it. Then again, if they did, that would mean they're paying too much attention to me, and that would make me seem selfish.

I don't need the world to revolve around me. As much as I'd like it to, that desire is one that is too full of greed and selfishness. Yes, I do have morals, unlike most people.

"Alright fine, let's play UNO." I said, trying to unite my group.

UNO, the card game consisting of 108 cards, with each type of card excluding 0 having 2 copies. It's all luck based since not all cards are drawn before the game starts, and the only thing you can really try to do to help you win is to count the cards placed down. It's a card game that can either break your friendship or deepen it, and my guess is that it would leave us all completely shattered.

Going into the game, we were all on guard; looking out for blocks and draw 4s, as well as ensuring that no one makes a foul play (such as not yelling UNO). Stacking on 1s and the yellow color, the game soon neared its end. People started playing all of their wild cards, and soon enough, we were dealing with a +12.

"Haha! Checkmate!"

Satsuki pulled out a +4 card on me, hoping to add cards to my deck. Seeing that the deck is now on +16, it would be total demise for me.

But luckily, being the cautious person I am, I still had another +4 card on me.

"No you."

Being handed with a +20, Darpan was made to draw 20 cards, and soon enough, the game ended, with Mayu being the winner.

"NOOOOOOOO HE CODED IT FOR MAYU TO WIN LIAM YOU SIMP" Darpan said.

"Uttering nonsense again, are we?" Yuta said, chuckling from his seemingly aggravating attitude.

"You know, I can't ever seem to figure out what you're trying to convey, Darpan. Is it alright if you give a bit of context?" Satsuki asked curiously.

Personally I was also curious about this. It's odd that he calls me "Liam", and addresses me as the "moderator" of this world, believing that I "coded" everything to work towards my favor, whether it was for or against me.

"Nah bro, you'll know what I mean when you see the truth."

Again, no one knows what that's supposed to represent. Oh well.

With the game ended, we spent most of the remaining time chattering away at how fun that UNO round was, and brought up different topics to discuss. It felt kind of like a podcast discussion; with that thought nagging at me, I couldn't help but think about whether or not these people really are close to me. There's no faith without doubt after all, and as a skeptic individual, I can't help but think about doubting the trust and support people place in me. It's weird after all, for someone like me to suddenly have a group of friends to hang out with. It makes my whole life before now seem like a farce, one that I simply wouldn't be able to accept.

But that's just how it seems like sometimes, right?

"Attention students! We're almost there!" Mr. Tanaka yelled, from the back of the train.

"It's hard to believe that time passes by so quickly, huh."

"That's just cause you always get lost in your head, you dummy!" Satsuki said to me, slapping me in the head.

"In any case, let's all enjoy the trip once we get there, okay?" Yuta said, encouraging everyone.

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Arriving late afternoon, we all first dropped our luggage at the hotel we were staying at. The school really went out of their way this time to rent the entire hotel for 4 days; must've been a big chunk out of the school funds. In a sense, I feel kind of relieved and panicked at the same time, as it's been a long time since I stayed anywhere outside of my home.

Upon getting our room keys and being given a pamphlet introducing the hotel, we went to our respective floors with our belongings. According to the pamphlet, the hotel had basically everything; a cafeteria, a bathhouse, a swimming pool and an arcade center, for some apparent reason. I bet there'd be a lot of people going to the arcade center; it's got rhythm games and fighting games after all. Not like I'd care, since—

"Suzuki... If you're thinking about cooping up in your room, you'd better think twice. Mayu is really looking forward to enjoy this school trip with everyone, after all." 

Wow, Carol really can be scary sometimes!

"Alright, alright, I'll go play with everyone after I put down my stuff, so would you stop gripping my shoulder tightly?"

"You'd better go enjoy the school trip..." Carol said, slowly walking to her room with Mayu and Satsuki.

"I guess we should move as well," I said, directing Darpan and Yuta to our room.

Entering our room, we were greeted with a sight of luxury; there was enough room for more than 3 futons on the floor, and a table was also arranged nicely with complimentary tea-flavored chocolates, along with a nice view of the outside. The bathroom and wardrobe was also easily accessible, making it overall a spacey room in my eyes.

"Damn moderator you really overdid yourself this time huh," Darpan said.

"Well I guess it's larger than my room at home..." Yuta said.

"We should unpack the essential needs from our luggage first." I suggested, as it was the most logical thing a person could do in a newly entered hotel room.

"That seems like a good idea! Darpan, you get unpacking as well."

"nah bro I need Liam to code it—"

"No you don't need Liam to code it, go do it yourself."

Darpan then went to get his needs.

"What now?"

"We have around 3 hours of free time until dinner at 7 pm, so we're free to explore around Kyoto. According to Mayu, she said she'd be waiting with the others downstairs, so I guess we can go meet up with them and further discuss things."

"Sounds solid! Let's go."

We then arrived downstairs. It's a shame they don't have an elevator.

"Took you guys long enough!"

"You're really unnecessarily loud sometimes, you know."

"Oh shut up will you, Yoshimitsu? I'm excited for the trip you know, so don't go ruining my fun!"

"Alright, so what's the plan then, Satsuki? Yuta and Darpan are dying of boredom already."

"According to Mayu, we're going to head to the nearby shrine to offer our prayers. It would take only around 2 hours, so I think it should be fine.

"what the fuck is that, man i dont even know what that thing is, but shout out to my man lgbtq" Darpan said, cutting in the conversation.

"Darpan, a shrine is a place of sacredness, it's where you offer prayers and money for fortune and blessings and shit." I explained to him, begrudgingly.

"You make it sound like the shrine's not worth our time, Yoshu." Mayu said, frowning.

"My apologies for being rude then. In any case, here's a photo of what a shrine looks like."

I grabbed my phone and proceeded to show Darpan a stock image of a Shinto shrine.

"ahh bro that looks like the slayer corps exam from Demon Slayer—"

"Do you really just assume everything to be some sort of reference?" Yuta said, disappointingly.

"In any case, let's just all head out now. It's not very far, so let's start walking."

"Make sure to uphold your discipline, alright?" Carol said.

With that, we headed off to the shrine.

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"Oh! Mr. Tanaka!"

It was fairly surprising to see Mr. Tanaka at a Shinto shrine. He's never really showed much devotion in terms of religious figures. Neither do I, but I guess it's fine to offer some prayers every now and then at a shrine.

"Are you all having fun so far?" Mr. Tanaka prompted.

"It's been a pretty decent trip thus far. Well, it's only been an hour since our arrival, but things are going smoothly so far."

"I'm glad to see that you're enjoying yourself, Suzuki. Looks like you've also made some fair friends; it's good to have someone you can depend on, you know."

"Sir, I'd like to thank you for further encouraging me to go. I'm sure it will be a rich and fun learning experience, as well as a memory that won't be forgotten for a long time."

"I'm glad you have the spirit. Anyways, tell your friends to huddle up here; I'll give some backstory about the Shinto belief itself."

We all stared at the shrine and silently praised its architecture. It was a building radiating pure devotion. The calm environment and landscape around it was also mesmerizing. We didn't start noticing that until Mr. Tanaka explained it to us, so I'm kind of grateful as well.

"You know, my mother's very devoted to Shintoism. She always told me about how god would position themselves as part of the Earth, the very life stationed here." Mayu said, giving us more context. "It's quite intriguing to think of, isn't it?"

"I'm not the type who really has any connection with religion, so this has been an enlightening experience for me!" Satsuki said.

"I guess you're right about that. Let's go donate our offerings and make our prayers now."

Directing the group towards the central of the shrine, we all donated some yen and offered our different prayers. I wished that I would find meaning in life, to continue existing. I bet the others probably didn't have any thought like that though.

We all then looked around different spots within the sacred grounds, and before we knew it, time had passed.

"Ah, it's almost time for dinner. Let's head back now that we've all offered our prayers." I said, pointing towards the time on my smartphone.

"Damn you're right. Let's head back then." Yuta said, proceeding to notify everyone to head back.

"Wonder what's next in store for us."

"It should be just a normal fancy dinner Yoshimitsu, don't overthink it."

"I guess you're right about that."

With that, we went back to the hotel.