Sharing the news

Later that day, at the club, all that anyone talked about was the trip. Not everyone was extremely excited about it, but the few that were wouldn't give the rest a break. I didn't want to be the center of attention, and maybe that was never something I had to worry about, considering that I hadn't made friends there yet, but in either case, I tried to keep low and not sound too into it. After everyone started making their way home, prancing away from the court, I stopped trying to maintain the facade and immediately reached for my phone. Struggling with the idea of calling Sakurai out of the blue (again), I first messaged her asking if she could talk, and went to grab my belongings before I left school. I had almost reached the front gate when she called me, and I picked up right away.

"We're going!" She didn't wait for me to say hello and jumped right into the conversation.

"Ah, yeah. I would never have guessed it, this is so crazy. But also amazing, I'm looking forward to it."

I knew that if I made it about begin together I would stutter, so I focused my thoughts on the trip itself.

"I hope that both schools end up staying at the same hotel, wouldn't that be great?" Her excitement reminded me of when she told me about her visual novels. "I know that both schools won't be exactly together, but if we can hang out it would be like a holiday, except with teachers around."

"Hah, you sound so excited." And it was the cutest thing in the world. Me too, Sakurai.

"I wish I had good friends like you have in Yuina and that other guy, I keep forgetting his name..."

"Souma?"

"Yes! Souma!" I moved the phone away after her voice pierced my ears. "But I wonder if it's gonna be awkward for them."

I assumed she was talking about them going on a date or whatever Aoki told her cousin. I felt like I had to navigate this conversation carefully not to end up in a weird dating conversation considering my position with Sakurai.

"I'm... sure that they'll be fine."

She went quiet for a few seconds before she continued zig-zagging the topic.

"Good on him for the initiative."

I laughed nervously, "yeah, totally", I thought. Come on, don't downplay my own, I'm trying here.

"Right? He's a good guy, always helping his mom. I'm sure he'll be good to Aoki." I cut myself off, reluctant to keep this topic alive.

"I hope so, I want to see her happy."

After a couple of seconds in silence, I figured we could at least move on from this.

"Are you doing something on Saturday? I figured we could go fishing before either of us forgets about it."

I was walking in the sidewalk alongside the train tracks, and in the old, yellow-ish concrete building was getting closer.

"You really took that seriously." She sounded surprised, but I was just as surprised to hear that it wasn't all that big of a deal. "Sure, we can go. I'll go scavenging for some old gear we might still have at home..." Sakurai's voice sounded muffled. Apparently, she had the habit of covering her mouth when thinking.

"It... Wasn't for real?" I could never ignore her sharing a bit of her childhood with me.

"Don't worry, I'm looking forward to it, ok?" Her mood changed completely, she sounded genuinely happy now. And of course, that made me feel good too.

"Hey, dad." He was just coming downstairs while drying his hair with a towel. "Do we have any fishing gear?"

He tilted his head and chuckled.

"We don't, and I never thought I'd be asked this question either. New club?" Dad knew I wouldn't leave mine, and that the chances of a school in the middle of the city having a fishing club was exactly zero.

"I wanna go with a friend, just for fun. Hm... There's no way I'm buying new just for one or two days, I doubt I'll keep doing it in the long run."

I was tapping my phone, thinking really hard about the situation.

"Maybe my old man still has his in good condition, let me check."

Dad stopped behind the chair I was sitting on and I heard the digital sound of him dialing on his phone.

"Hey, dad, it's me. Yeah, just got home from work a while ago. Yes. I'll let you know, don't worry. So, I wanted to ask if you still have your fishing stuff. Haruto wants to go with a friend and I was thinking if maybe we could borrow it for the weekend. Really? That's awesome. I'll go get it tomorrow on my way home. Bye bye."

I was happy it was working out, but before I could sigh in relief, my dad put his hand on my shoulder.

"So, who is it that you're going with? What type of person managed to convince you to fish of all things?"

"..."

"Oh, it's a secret!" He whispered, and it just sounded like I was being made fun of. Makes sense, who hides the name of a friend unless they're guilty of something?

"Kaede Sakurai, I think I've mentioned her before."

"Are you two already hungry again?" The voice echoed from the living room and into the kitchen, where dad and I were. "It's barely been an hour!" Mom was seriously judging us, but that wasn't the case, surprisingly.

"I'm not eating anything, already saving up for this weekend when Haruto brings us lots of fish home."

"Wait, what?" Mom laughed at the seemingly nonsensical answer, looking at us with raised eyebrows.

"Yep. He's going fishing with that Kaede girl he's friends with."

"Oh?" One word was more than enough to tell me everything I needed to know, especially after the other conversations we'd had. Mom was way too invested in my love interests. And thinking about it... That's not something I thought I could say earlier this year. I guess that in some way hearing her be so nosy and talk about it is a good thing for my ego. Yeah, I spend a lot of my time with that girl, but it's not a big deal or anything, you know...

Back to reality.

"Yep, true. And by the way, next Tuesday my school is going to Nagoya, we'll be back the next day."

They were both surprised. Probably just as much as I was when I heard the second-hand news because I slept my way through the announcement.

"We haven't been there in years, right? We probably should visit sometime, what a waste. Here." He pushed some money in my face. "Some for you, some for gifts, and a little emergency fund that I hope you don't actually use." He tapped on my shoulder and I nodded. "But it doesn't harm to have it on you just in case."

Mom winked and then went away.