Goodnight and Return to Sapporo

Our eyes still connected, Ringomori held her hands to her chest and issued her closing statement, "It's somewhat ironic how so much happiness could bloom out of depression. It only makes sense since the seeds of despair are sewed into the ground, and the only way to go from there was up. It's as if I was walking in an orchard and saw the fruit of that seed. You're that fruit, the ripe apple that catches my eye."

While I understood her analogy, I was certain the roles were reversed, but I didn't tell her that or else she would argue her point all night even if we were both tired – maybe another time.

Once the room was quiet, we noticed the thunderous roars had faded into the distance. I left the bed to turn the TV back on. The news said that the storm over the strait was predicted to pass over during the night, which meant that travel back to Hokkaido was increasingly possible. Still, the storm's influence on the city would continue to ravage for a bit longer.

It was near midnight when the lights of the hotel began to flicker. We started to feel the effects of the tiresome day, and used the amenities to prepare ourselves for bed. I was brushing my teeth when I heard her from the outside the bathroom say,
"Oh my…"

Peering my head through the door, I said, "Is somethin' wrong?"

"N-No, I thought I lost my camera for a moment, but I found it. We're okay."

Once we were done, she laid on the left side of the bed – against the wall. I sat on the desk chair and looked at the items we obtained at the apple park.

I led the conversation, "I wonder where my classmates are for the school trip, they're probably not havin' to deal with a storm."

"Oh really…" she yawned with every pause, "...so do I…"

"Daishi-kun's probably low on money since we're not there to run up CLARIS's sales."

"…I can't wait…to go back..."

She soon started muttering incoherent words for responses.

I commented, "The natural disaster cleanup in this country is quick and fast-paced, so I believe we'll still be able to leave by the time we have to check out of the hotel."

"..."

"So maybe we could…"

I paused at the absent sound of her voice and turned around towards the bed. The cause of her silence was because she fell asleep, she was on her side.

It was only the second time I had seen her sleeping, because surprisingly I had never seen that during my first life. There was no other place for me to sleep besides next to her, unless I wanted to sleep on the floor or chair or bathroom.

The bathroom was tempting, but I I opted for the logical reason for the sake of my fatigued body. I attempted to put some things away as quietly as I could, but ended up doing the exact opposite by dropping my candle gift for Daishi on the floor. There was a loud thud on the carpet but luckily there was no damage to the candle, nor reaction from Ringomori. I discovered that she was a heavy sleeper.

I stared at the bed as a whole and took a moment before getting in. She had fallen asleep without a blanket, so I took the blanket from the foot of the bed and laid it over her as she shifted positions to sleep on her back. I let her have it, since I typically sleep without a blanket anyways.

Using the light on my phone, I ungracefully laid onto the right side of the bed. I stared at the ceiling with my hands over my abdomen and heard her change positions every few minutes. On the same bed inside a hotel with many unique parties laid two people with many similar qualities and distinct differences.

As the weight of my eyelids became heavier, I realized there was still an unsolved dilemma:
I needed to tell her that I had fallen in love with her, with feelings that were always inside me since elementary.

The trip was like a weigh station on the road to a brighter and better future. I needed a brief checkpoint to ensure my life wasn't overweighing itself before reentering. I'd follow the rest of the path with an entirely new perspective.

I turned my head to face her and saw that was already facing me, soundly sleeping with only faint whispers of air leaving her nose. She was finally getting the sleep she deserved after many sleepless nights.

I had softly whispered, "Happy birthday and goodnight, Yoru-chan," yet those words echoed throughout the room.

My eyes returned to the ceiling and closed as the clock struck midnight. The roaring thunder that ruptured the skies had long faded before the sun reclaimed its spot. The trip was meant to be a birthday present for her, but I felt like I had been given the best one yet.

➼ ➼ ➼

The next morning saw the city recovering from the storm. The damages it sustained were normal and minor compared to other parts of the Aomori prefecture. Debris was quickly cleaned up from the main streets and local tracks before the standard work time began; way to go Japan.

The sunlight that burned the night away peered through a gap in the curtains and shone a ray onto my eyes. Upon waking up, I caught sight of the still sleeping face of Ringomori, much closer to me than I remembered. Her arm was over my collarbone as if she had been hugging me, and I felt a sense of warmth that suggested something similar might have happened.

Remembering she was a heavy sleeper, I removed her arm and sat up in bed without disturbing her. I reassessed my surroundings and recalled the events of the night before. The chirping birds told me the egregious part of the trip was truly over.

I took a glance at her resting face and detected a strand of hair across her lips. Ever so gently, as if she was a fine china, I stroked the strand back and tucked it behind her ear. A flutter in my heart caused an inadvertent shiver across my arm, but I didn't wake her.

I whispered, "Good mornin', Yoru-chan," and proceeded to get out of bed.

Until she woke up, I changed back into my dry clothes and cleaned up the room with the TV on with low volume to get updates on the news. I used my phone to check the ferries, and it seemed like everything would be according to plan. It was around nine in the morning when she rubbed her eyes awake.

She looked around the room in panic, but then calmed down when she met eyes with me sitting on the desk chair.

"Ah, there we [You] are. Good morning, Chamaru-kun."

"Good mornin' to us [You] too, Yoru-chan."

There was a bit of a delay in her reaction, perhaps not enough sleep, but soon enough her face expectedly turned red. While she burrowed back into the pillow, I gave her an update on the ferries.

"The service is up and our tickets are still valid to depart Aomori at eleven."

Lifting her head only slightly, she said, "Understood, thank us [You]. Allow us [Me] to get ready and we can check-out together."

She spent the next several minutes cleaning herself up. We gathered all our belongings and ensured that nothing was left behind as we left to the lobby of the hotel. After resigning the room key back to the hotel, we were both hungred for breakfast, but also shared the desire to eat on the ferry. As a compromise, we agreed to have something light for the time being.

"We can get something at the bakery, we [I] promised to return the flask to Watanabe-san today."

We entered the bakery and it was quite packed since many people were also craving a light breakfast first thing after a massive storm. There were more workers at the counter along with the girl from yesterday.

"Oi, it's ye'two lovebirds again!" she shouted from the counter. "Come 'round back."

We followed her instructions and ended up in her kitchen. Ringomori returned the steel container and the female worker went into a cabinet and pulled out a small box from the bakery.

"Here's a few special snacks I made for ye'two today. Tell your people in Hokkaido to come visit our place if they're ever in Aomori!"

"Th-Thank you, Watanabe-san."
Ringomori took the box since my hands were carrying the other bags.

She left the kitchen and I was going to follow, but the female worker stopped me for a brief moment.

"Oi, I was wrong about her, ye'know. She can hella bake, and she also cares a lot about you. She’s a whole different person when she gets on camera."

I said, "You’re finally a lucky one," then left the bakery.

Ringomori and I were able to eat on a bench at a nearby park.

"We survived a night together from a dangerous storm in another prefecture that we snuck away to, the caregivers are going to be livid."

"Well, whatever punishments they give us, we'll [I'll] be able to get through them with us [You]."

Once we finished the pastries, we strolled to Hirosaki station to take the train back to Aomori city. From there, we strolled to the ferry terminal and departed from Honshu island on the "Blue Luminous." We ate on the ferry, stood on the open deck, and sat in the "View Seats" until we reached Hakodate. The four hour train journey back to Sapporo saw our return to the orphanage at 5:48:17pm.

When we entered, we were greeted by several cheerful children and confused caregivers. They asked us why we had returned earlier than expected, and I said,
"That's somethin' we'd like to talk to you guys about."

Ringomori and I didn't see each other for the rest of the day, because after our meeting with the head caregivers, we were given a few punishments that matched the severity of our crime.