078.1 – School Trip Noob

I actually woke up at 5, and I'm feeling weirdly fine. You all know how much I hate waking up this early especially when I have to travel so early in the morning. The only thing I'm wondering about is if my motion sickness will also kick in while I am in a train, and a bullet train at that. I have, needless to say, never ridden in that advanced way of transportation so I don't know about its stability; although I am quite trusting about the technology it has. But cowardly as I am, I actually spent ten minutes on bed searching on Noogle about "how to wake up with energy".

"…

Screw it…"

I got up while forgetting the inquiry I made.

Usually, I will follow my usual routine of making breakfast everyday, but of course I had to roll with an empty stomach while only taking a shot of espresso instead of a mug-full. I know, I know. I'm stupid for consuming this much acid so early in the morning.

I would have woken up thirty minutes before the time of departure if I wanted to as I have pretty much packed every single thing in all my bags. But if I don't, I will just feel woozy if not nauseous while we're moving. Nonetheless, I feel lightheaded regardless of the time I wake up when it's before 6.

And I just realized as I haven't usually woken up this early, but it is so cold right this time.

I heard a clatter while double-checking my bags. I then saw Rin sliding up his window with a still sleeping face while covered in her thick blanket. There is… one, two… eight strands of hair sticking out.

"Deja vu…"

"Oh… you're already up, Potato…"

"Do you have a granola bar? I need something to shove in my stomach."

"That's the first thing you ask me so early in the morning…? Let's see…" She looked around her room with her still sleeping face and said, "There's none, sorry."

"At least open your eyes."

And she did while she let out a somewhat dumb reaction and got extremely shocked.

Uncle Shuu, Aunt Sumi… I am ultimately sorry that your daughter has been infected by my stupidity and loose screws.

"Ah… do you want two?"

"Yes please."

She then handed out two protein bars while the word lively has not been constituted to her vocabulary.

"Check the consumption date first… Good night…"

"Oi, don't go back to sleep."

I actually wasn't expecting her to have them.

…

A light knock landed on her head as she was walking out of her room to get something to eat. I was a little upset that she hasn't even finished her packing and her change of clothes is all around her room. Living alone had made me become quite organized on my household things, and that is why I can't just stand how messy her room has become. With that in mind, I picked up all of the lying clothes and folded them on her bed; and of course I would definitely notice her carelessness even if I don't want to notice it.

Thinking about it, Anna, Rin and Sis have lived in my house for a bit of time, but I seem to have brushed off that thought as my recollection came to a not so distant memory.

I actually did the laundry for the family sometimes, huh.

"What're you looking at?" Rin came back with a bowl of rice and sunny side-up on her hand. She is already awake, but her eyes still wants to sleep with her strong squint. But finally, her eyes opened wide and saw that my hair is black. I them showed her the temporary dye I used on my hair which will only last for a few days at most and will be taken off with a wash.

Then I started nagging.

"At least store them properly. Think about what's going to happen if other people see your room."

"Can you not say that with your usual tone…? It's making me feel embarrassed," well at least, she is actually conscious of it, thankfully.

"You do realize that you were always hanging your and Sis's laundry when you lived there, right?"

"Ahhhhh…! Can we just get to the packing?! I'm sorry!"

"I'm pretty sure I've heard you say, 'That potato really can't be left alone,' at least once or twice."

"Oi, you're not running out of teases, huh," she glared and spoke with a rather low voice.

Anyway, to the station.

~ ~ ~

Ginga, being the south of Cotona surprisingly has a station of the bullet trains while the location is just a few kilometers to the boundary between it and the Capital. Really, it was quite convenient, but I just don't like how the town I live in is becoming urban. Psst. At least fix the flood and I will be happy in my technologically outdated house for the rest of my life.

Seeing that the sun hasn't completely risen, the station was still somewhat bare while most of the people that I see are students wearing the same uniform. There are also teachers, but it wasn't yet the time to organize the students. We realized, we might not actually be running late. I was glad I reconsidered deliberately dragging Anna with us on our way here. Speaking of siblings, I made a call to my brother who has not been given much exposure.

"Hello, Kei? You awake already?"

"Yeah… I know what I'm up to."

"Glad to hear, then. I guess I'll trust you on making Haku eat and holding the fort. My bedroom is open so you can just sleep there."

"Did you change your sheets?"

"Yeah, yeah. Since I don't have anything good to say, imma head out."

*beep*

Finally, the train's doors opened while there is still no command for us to enter. Tenth then came out from the inside of the station and stood by the yellow line with a megaphone at hand.

"Good morning. Thanks for the students that came this early. With the temperature as cold as it is now, we were allowed to enter the cart. First come, first serve."

Thus, we let the small crowd get inside while Rin and I waited for the right timing to also get in. While just a few people have sat down, I tightly grasped on Rin's shoulder and did a Step while momentarily carrying her midway. The next moment we opened our eyes, we're inside the train just by the spot we chose when we were still looking through the window from a distance. The seats are needless to say, comfortable and well-spaced out with two columns on both sides. They are front to front and there is a retractable table in between. With that, we picked our seat and placed our bags on the holder above. Being one of the first students to enter, it was quite a treat to sit just by the window.

"Huh? Why is the table raised already when there's no one here?" two first year female students approached our seat.

"Oh, well. Let's put our bags in and get settled… Eh? Why are there bags in here already?"

"Uhm, you can go ahead and take those seats," Rin finally spoke and pointed to the two vacant seats beside us.

But hearing her made them utterly surprised as such a vigorous flinch made them step back a few steps.

"S-Sorry…!" they said and run away.

"You phantom," Rin let out.

"At least don't scare the underclassmen," Nagi and Naru suddenly appeared before us and flicked my ear.

"Yo. Those seats are open."

"Gee, thanks. How did your hair turn black, anyway?"

"This is just a dye. Can't have all the attention on my head."

"Oh, I guess."

"You're not with Shiro today, Nagi?"

"His yakuza dad will send her here."

"If he heard that, you may not see another tomorrow."

"Okay, stop that, Gin. Who knows what dark jokes can I throw at you since you started."

"Ah, sorry about that, Naru."

The little sister was nonetheless confused.

~ ~ ~

I think I may have regretted rushing in with Rin in the station a little. We may or may not be among the students that are the earliest to come. I immediately got somewhat bored with a stagnant train while waiting for the students to complete the roll call. And again, I'm starting to think that this trip is not going to be fun. I guess this boredom is part of my inexperience in traveling as I don't have some kind of a time-waster. Rin is happily ogling on her small paperback while giggling under her scarf, Nagi is as usual reading shoujo manga, and Naru is watching a Bob Ross video on her phone. How about me? I just don't feel like wasting my data for a couple of minutes, my phone doesn't have any games, and drawing will just make me feel dizzy as my head shouldn't concentrate with a weak brain and esophagus. I guess that my only option is to put on my sleeping mask.

Oh, please, happy accidents, fall upon mine self.

"You're seriously going to sleep, Potato?"

"If I can," I then peeked behind me to check if there is someone sitting there. "Excuse me, is it fine if I recline my chair a bit?" There was a second year that I then asked.

"Ah, that's okay."

I discovered that there is actually a lot of space in between the chairs as I adjusted my chair for some 15° degrees or so and it didn't even make contact with the other seat. With that, I leaned back and rested my eyes.

But I have a confession to make. It is not something detrimental but something that I have neglected to mention for more than a year, and not even Rin knew about it but only the Exiles. The truth is, my body is actually feeling really light right now since I am not wearing my weighted clothes. Yes, weighted clothes. It actually disrupts my employment of minimalistic principles, but I have duplicates of some of my clothes, and I even have a brace for both my wrists and ankles that I use for jogging. And all the things that I mentioned weigh 50 kilograms each. Thus, I usually go to school with at least 300 kilos of additional weight on me, but not today and for the next three days as I may actually break the train and this reclined seat. With that said, I am actually worried if I can still step on my brakes properly now that I don't have my shackles with me.

But hey, that may be a time-waster and a half. While I was rambling on, I felt that the train is about to start. I was then woken up by Rin from my nap and I adjusted my seat back.

"We're departing, Potato."

Thankfully, it was a rather clear day today but the snow isn't about to melt with just that. It was only 6:30, but the vehicle slowly gained velocity on the sunrise. And so, we're off with three hundred kilometers per hour.

Indeed, I have never ridden a type of transportation this fast. Perhaps in just several minutes, we may have been out of Ginga and are now en route to the next province. This beginning of this trip simply makes Orio big despite of it being smaller than Japan and Philippines, but bigger than Taiwan. There are actually times when I was left alone in the house while the rest of the family are on some kind of a trip apart from Anna who was in a relative's place back then. Yes, I was alone, but my emptiness prevented me from feeling lonely thus, I didn't even know how I felt being left to check on the house. But nevertheless, I was fine with it as I was never a person that likes a lot of traveling. I may have been holed up here in Cotona and the Capital for the inception of my memory.

This trip might be a change of pace, a place outside my comfort zone, or a trip that I might forget once this has passed. I have heard so many things about this kind of trip from friends and friends of friends, but I still have my doubts with it. G, who may not even have a single care on this trip as I speak, showed me pictures of when his friends were in the school trip. I saw many faces, smiling ones at that, and it did not sit well with me. Those smiles were the exact same smiles that I saw from my classmates in Class 4A (Normal in Parenthesis, chapter 21). Still, I am more anxious than excited.

The only thing that is keeping me figuratively alive is the fleeting scenery and the speed of the train. I had unconsciously leaned my arm in front of the window while I am watching a blur of trees passing by as if being pushed by a gust, a river that is surprisingly very clear, a rice field that is not yielding anything in this season, and the flowers that are roughly ten meters away from the transportation. I asked myself how I managed to look at it so clearly, and it was actually just me being the plain dumb Gin. I was extremely focused on the bright contrast of flowers to the greens that I sped up and thus making the surroundings slow down once again in my perspective.

I got out of my trance and leaned back from being slouched.

"Hahh…

I can seriously overtake this if I tried…"

Suddenly, Rin closed her book as the bookmark's strings playfully moved.

"Was that a slip, Potato?"

"Eh…? Did I say something?"

"I know that you're more than capable but that's kinda dangerous, you know?" said Nagi while his younger sister is once again confused.

"Not really, Nacchi. He can get away with it if he's a hundred meters apart from the cart."

"Oh, I didn't think of that. But don't do that for the sake of the trip, Gin."

"Yeah… I just want to lie down on the hotel bed once we arrive."

"Alright, I think you're more suited to go to work than to actually go in this trip. How in the world was he made to come, anyway?" Nagi thought.

▪ ▪ ▪

Welcome to Goci, Presto—the fourth coldest city in the whole country despite being beside the province of Payns. I have seen those two mentioned places in the TV at most, and I have to honestly say that this province feels somewhat out of place with the snow. At best, Presto might be a spring season spot with the trees abundantly yielding green leaves while breathing in the spring scent and walking by the cold wind.

It was however strictly just in my imagination. The sky carries clouds that cover most of the atmosphere but scattered in spots, yet the blue sky still has managed to reflect its… blueness to the earth. The time was already past eight, but the sun's light hasn't yet shone its true light, making us think that we might have arrived early at past 7.

And I just said that things are rather out of place with the snow and the currently light snowfall, but Presto is simply just a very nice place that an average observant will not really notice it.

It was a good call to bring another layer of cloth upon exiting the train. I still find it surreal that this country that was supposed to have an impossible chance of winter just up and rained down snow for its third year now. However, I may have gotten over with the world naturally changing.

Leaving that thought aside, my winter soles has not yet failed me on the slippery ground as I walk with my three companions on the train earlier. Right after getting out of the station, I immediately saw a tall building approximately a kilometer away. It was as if there was an emphasis on that lone tall building as it was the only infrastructure with that great height. Still, Goci has maintained its rurality even after getting so much more tourists than Cotona every year.

"That's the hotel we're staying at," said Rin while pointing at the building I was looking at.

"Ohhh," I then directed my eyes to the pamphlet and looked for any information that I can get regarding the hotel.

"Wait, seriously…?"

And looking carefully at it made me realize that I missed such a huge bombshell. We, the students of Blue Ink, are apparently going to stay in the three-floor Japanese-styled lounge of the hotel between the normal floors.

Mato apparently overheard and approached us, "Well, our school can't afford to have so many rooms booked even if there are so many vacancies right now. But since the Japanese lounge literally has no one in there as we speak, guess what."

"There will be futons and a room that can fit so many people so there will be a lot of snoring."

"I don't know a lot about that snoring, though."

"Ah, also pillow droolers to top everything off."

I was punched on my face again.

"But things won't go according to your plans, Gin," Mato teased. "Once you've dropped off your things, the first leg of this trip will begin, alright?"

"Yeah, yeah…" I shrugged. "I've already accepted that I won't be on floof land in an instant. Anything you can tell, Mato-sen?"

"I guess stuff will be a little easy for today since we've had the morning for traveling. We'll only be checking some of the spots of Goci today. But things will be busy tomorrow since we'll be visiting a facility for a few hours. Oh, and a museum too."

"I see. Then I'll look forward to sleeping on a futon and the museum. Maybe I can also sleep on the museum."

"You seriously didn't hear about the facility, huh…"

Well, I don't really have much interest on that facility anyway. But apparently, the name of it is Gola Labs. The facility, or laboratory, specializes on production of breakthrough technology and of course normal ones. The laboratory has been known for development of many innovative pieces of technology like how a smartphone's fingerprint sensors became established under the display, or at least, they were a part of those that produced its patent. But while Gola has become famous on the behind the scenes of certain tech, it was also known for getting several threats coming perhaps from the dark side of manufacturing companies of the same league. Let me reiterate, this world is not as kind.

"You really dare to space out right now, Potato?"

"Eh, ah. Wha. Hmm? Where are we?"

"Were already at the front of the hotel, see? You would have walked past here if I didn't snap you out of your spacey mind."

"Ah, sorry 'bout that."

Who would have thought that the Japanese levels would actually be going to look so different from this really modern lobby we're currently at. There was not much crowd at the ground level as my assumption of how I described Presto might well be true for the most part. However, it was not something like a five-star hotel or anything so premium that our fee to this trip will burn to ashes right before our eyes. But what I am most amazed at is their organization. I was only watching while we were walking but I can feel that almost everything is under control by the staff. Every one of the personnel is also wearing an appropriate uniform for male and female, and even maintenance personnel is properly dressed. A hotel connoisseur will surely be ecstatic to review this kind of hotel, however, I am just a student who may or may not critique the hotel's food.

…

I can't remember if I have actually got into an elevator this fast in the past. No, I can't see what is outside as the lift is not windowed but I can feel how much gravity is being countered and the opposite force is way more felt than ordinary ones. Nonetheless, it was not something that will throw us off.

And so came the tenth floor.

There was a very dense feeling of anticipation while the elevator's door slowly opened up to the view of an out of place hallway. We heard a lot of noise of amazement coming from behind after seeing the difference between the main lobby and this floor. However, I know that this is not as authentic as I would think it would be. Kyohei-san's inn was built entirely out of materials that came from Japan. If ever I have said that it felt like I was transported back to the North upon entering the inn, I was not exaggerating. The Chikami Inn's everything originates from Japan down to the smallest detail. In equivalent, I have lived in a traditional residence in Kyoto, and the rain of cherry blossoms makes the experience so real. And so as much replication that has been done in this hotel, it does not feel very homely in a hyperbolic person's perspective.

But what would perhaps satisfy my craving for something truly authentic is the hot springs that naturally appeared. Goci is indeed just beside the mountains of Payns and such, instances of springs that came out from the ground is not something surprising.

"We'll go choose what room we're going in, Rin. You go and secure your own peaceful place."

"Yup! Don't get lost and start leaping."

"I'll try not to."

~ ~ ~

The guys of Art Club have successfully secured a room along with others from the VA Class. Before even closing the sliding door, we already saw so many students playing rock paper scissors. It was an unwritten rule for this trip that micro arguments like who's going to take a room will have to settle it with rock paper scissors to avoid bells and whistles. And so far it has been effective.

We then placed our bags down inside the room and momentarily took a feel on what we should expect from our futons that are still in the cabinets. Yes, they are all nice and fluffy upon further and thorough inspection.

"Alright, it's free roam time," Nagi announced with his hands on the back of his head while making his way out of the room.

"…"

It was hard to silence myself since I swear that I definitely heard Mato saying that this day is for checking out some of the prominent spots of the city. What he did not tell me is that it was actually done on our own. But I guess that someone as old as me wouldn't really need much of a guidance on this kind of things. Anyway, our silver pins are pretty much on our blazers under our jackets.

"Where should we go then?" I asked as I have degraded myself to be a mere tag-along in this trip.

"But still, I will dominate the time of night by showing what a real sleeper's abilities are."

"Anywhere that is in the guide.

Ah, sorry. Do you have plans with Ringo?"

"Nah, nah. We'll spend our time separately for the most of the trip."

"I see. Let's take off, then."

~ ~ ~

I don't know if I wasn't totally listening in my history classes, or I just forgot that Presto was once brimming with creatives. We are literally walking down a wide path between two arrays of statues and sculptures, and it wasn't even apparent that those models are actually sculpted some hundred years ago. They are incredibly diverse, ranging from detailed stone works of people to a dog looking at us with its tongue out. This was apparently a place where olden sculptors from around the country banded together to make this line of sculptures with the intention of making this the first most known wonder of Orio and thus, simply called as "Array" in this time.

And would you look at that now—no wonder why this mere excursion was part of the trip. I actually learned something.

The next place that we came to was amazingly, a sector literally full of heritage homes. Most of the houses are elevated quite far from the ground and that the signs of elevation show a protrusion of stones from a volcano that then extends up to the very walls of the residences.

What we didn't know is that there are actually a few of the houses that are open to the public. We decided to enter just for one time. There was a very audible creaking of the wooden floors upon entering that made the experience very true to the little history that I know about my home country. The interior was like a time machine itself. It was so different to the very modernized interior of the contemporary houses throughout the country including mine. But I thought to myself, coming in at least one of the open houses was worth it just after entering. It was as though this is my preliminary visit to the museum that we weren't allowed to enter for today.

There was a heap of artistic pieces inside, and there are even those items that are now considered an antique art by today's standard, when they were merely utilities a century or decades ago. Apples, there was even a few paintings done by a famous artist that was born in Cotona. One showed a portrait of maybe the original owner of the house, and another is a pencil sketch with roughness and at the same time realism. I have ran out of words to describe that sketch that the only thing that I can say is that it was done in a "painterly" way if only the medium used was paint. Still, with how the whole house looked like, it was very well preserved even if its main purpose is for display. If I was actually very much aware of the history, dare I say that I can see how the old life was from the archaic objects that have the aim of showing how it once existed.

Contrary to my negative beliefs, I feel quite satisfied at this current point.

Seeing that the clock has hit 12, we decided not to come back in the hotel as we wouldn't make it for lunch with how far we have traveled by foot. With that, Jean directed us to a nearby restaurant from our current location, as based on the research he did before coming here. I was somewhat surprised, and so he explained that his purpose of coming to this trip is surveying the cuisine of Presto. Thus, we found ourselves inside a rather steamy restaurant full of people with bowls of soup in front of them.

There was a large wooden round table topped with a pane of glass in which we comfortably took our seats on a rather high chair and waited for the order that Jean arbitrarily decided without telling us, yet no one argued. I know to myself that our order was readied prior to even our entrance to this place because that's just how restaurants are—they have to be thoroughly prepared for the day before even opening up shop. That said, a waiter placed some kind of a heater that is not quite a stove in the center of the table while bringing out a pot of beef and vegetable soup on top. I have to say, our starvation may not be sated with only one fill of the pot. I don't care anymore if I will defecate later this night.

This restaurant immediately earned my respect right after a requisite sip of the broth. Oh my choice grade, I haven't even gotten to the meat itself. Really, this restaurant is like the embodiment of Southeast Asian stew and soup cuisine. The dishes are so diverse that they range from mellow to strong and spicy flavors suited for the kind of weather. But the pot is hot enough to not make our mouths feel like tallow is building up.

And you see, Orions have less opportunity to eat rice while it is winter which made me feel depressed to see the fields earlier on the way. But because of this soup, my inner monster has once again awakened.

~ ~ ~

"Haaaahhhhh… That's what I would call a lunch and a half…"

"You say that again, Gin."

My stomach is finally full, and the only gratitude that we can give the waiter of keeping up with our wildness is a large tip and setting aside all of our dishes in one place as we wait for him.

"Thank you for coming to Hosa, your bill will be 550 Laxes."

"Wheeewww. That was worth the lunch, I'd say!" Yuuga celebrated.

"Alright, 110 each," I collected our shares and faced the waiter before handing out our payment.

"Say, waiter. Does Hosa have a branch in Cotona or Capital?"

"As far as I know, there isn't, but there are talks of opening a new branch somewhere."

"Ahahahaha. I would really look forward if a branch will be established somewhere in Cotona. Well, I'm saying that with a customer's point of view.

Also, here's our payment and my card. Is your boss the head chef? If so, can you give this to them?"

"Ah, thank you very much."

"We've had enough rest already, Gin. Let's head out now," announced Jean.

"Alright. I wouldn't want to cause a ruckus any second later, so let's go."

After stepping out of the restaurant, I prompted Mori not to close the door shut as there might be something that I will hear from the inside, and we actually did.

"Cheeeef…!!! We're visited by Giotto's sous chef!!"

~ ~ ~

Finally after coming back by past 2pm, we took a short rest and then blew off some steam in a batting center where I obviously did not send six balls flying to oblivion. But afterwards, we rested again as we felt that some of the beef were actually climbing up, and so we spent our leisure time in our room watching the backlog anime I didn't get to watch while I was busy with WT while munching on some potato chips. I am only realizing that this day has become a cheat day. But heck, I have a solution for that tomorrow.

Nine various anime episodes later, I caught up with all of the shows I follow and went out of the room for dinner as the sun had completely sunk in the horizon. We had long changed from our uniforms, but we still looked so indifferent to the others that are still wearing theirs. The main lounge had become bright as arrays of short tables have been prepared along with cushions for us to sit at.

The structure may not be as authentic, but the service is nigh spot on.

I met up with Rin on the lounge and sat beside her while she is still being joined by Rena on her other side. Our nearly identical dishes were then served in front of us. With the bubbling excitement inside me as I sharply stared on my own table, I immediately grabbed my polished chopsticks and prepared my grip.

"Itadakimasu."

This may have been the most silent I have ever been while eating my food. I breathed out a very long sigh and spoke with a stern and low voice.

"…

We have a true-blood Japanese chef in the house."

~ ~ ~

Indeed, in this hotel, I can be found in several places. And one of those is the hot spring with only the people that knows about my scar, including Mato, Akira, and Tenth.

"That hits the spot…"

"You sure are getting old, Gin."

"Yeah… In no time, I'll be at your age, Tenth."

"Oh right, Gin," Jean called. "Did Hosa get in contact with you?"

"Immediately, yes. Now it's their head chef that is talking to Hiro. Don't know what it is for, but I sure hope that it will be an up-and-coming place for dates."

"How optimistic for a restaurant that might butt heads with you and Hiroomi," Tenth sighed.

"I'm pretty sure that I will also see Hiro and Sis in there if ever they actually open up a branch back home, Tenth."

"You men are really carefree. Well, we shouldn't dip for too long. Other students are also waiting."

…

One more plus point against my unnecessary beef with this hotel: We are actually wearing a yukata and haori as our loungewear after a dip in the hot spring. I could have sworn that I heard a first year shouting "banzai" on the changing area while I desperately hide my scar from others. So far, my experience in this hotel is really great, and I am saying that while I am still pessimistic about this trip, although I've had the most fun from the least trip-related things. The beef on the soup really was insane.

"So this is where you are."

Rin found me sitting in front of a large window in the public lounge, looking at the trees around the hotel illuminating the remaining leaves with lights on their branches.

"The design is different from the Chikami's, huh?"

"Yeah. I kinda like it.

The trees are lighting up? I didn't know that."

"I was just passing by when I saw them. It seems the snow had stopped."

"The day is kind of gloomy here, I guess?"

"Way different from the clear skies in Cotona earlier. How's your first day, by the way?"

"I was a little tired. Rena and Shiro kept pulling me to many places. Well, I have a lot of pictures, though. How about you?"

"No pictures, but we went to the heritage sector earlier."

"You also did? We didn't see you there."

"You might have gone in a different time. Ah, if you really went there, you passed by Hosa Restaurant, then?"

"Yep. It was past lunch when we saw it though."

"I see. I've got in contact with the owner earlier since I had a good time there. It seems that they are opening a new branch although the location is still undecided."

"Ohhh. How was their food?"

"I'll take you there in the third day."

"I will clear a bit of my plans then!"

"Ringo-chan~!" from afar, we heard Mitsumi-san's voice calling out to Rin.

"Ichika-san's calling me, so later, Potato."

"Goodnight."

…

9pm.

It was nowhere near a surprise attack, but there was already a lens pointing at me after sliding open the door of our room.

"Picture, Gin!"

"Sure."

The shutter sounded from the camera as I joined the men of Art Club and along with our roommates. I really shouldn't say again that I am not a camera person nor am I camera shy, but the captured image still came out a bit weird, at least for me.

"Why are you so blurry in the picture, Gin?" asked Mori.

"Dunno. I was just standing still here. But well if you don't mind me…

Heave-ho."

"You're already setting up your resting place (bed), Gin?!"

"Don't word it like that, Nagi. I'm not five, not fifteen, and also not seventeen. I'm just twenty so I will still wake up early tomorrow."

"I'll burn today's calories."

"You're seriously a force to be reckoned with…" they then facepalmed.

"Hey, it was rare for me to wear a yukata when we were in Chikami Inn so I will definitely sleep comfortably tonight.

Yawn~ Anyway… goodnight, peeps."

"Wow… He really doesn't care about us, huh."

Gin slept extremely soundly, although might be too much.

Chapter Message:

My internship has urged me to put a fitness tracker app on my phone and it dawned on me that my average steps daily ranges from 2000-5000. :bruh:

Thank you for reading!

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079: Don't even think about considering giving a beast the slightest of a touch.