Chapter 154: Chapter 154 – A Slow Day Together
After we dealt with the Arae-san drama, Umi and I were finally able to return to our daily routines.
The following day after Arae-san apologized to us, I went to Umi's house. Sora-san told me that she missed me and that I should visit her once in a while, so I did. The last time I visited her was during the spring break, and ever since that, I got too busy to even think about visiting.
Aside from that, I obviously had another reason to visit.
"Phew, I'm full… Sorry, Maki, mom overdid it since it's been a while. Is your stomach okay?"
"I want to say that I'm fine but… Ugh, that was too much even for me. It was tasty though."
After devouring everything that was prepared by Sora-san, I went to Umi's room to relax.
When Umi visited my house, I always made sure that she would arrive home safely by 10 pm, but when the reverse happened, I usually wouldn't be back until midnight. Sora-san told me to just stay over if I wanted to, but I felt that I would be a bother if I were to do that.
"Maki."
"Mm."
"Finally, we can relax together again."
"Mm."
For the class match, we had to spend most of our weekends training with Nitori-san and Houjou-san, while in the days that we didn't have to train, we hung out with Amami-san instead. It had been quite a while since we got to spend our time together like this.
Since we were at Umi's house, we couldn't make too much noise because both Sora-san and Riku-san were here, but that was fine. As long as I could spend more time with this girl.
"Maki…"
"Umi…"
Sitting on Umi's bed, we huddled together, hand in hand while listening to the quiet ticking of Umi's clock.
Hanging out with my friends and being rowdy was pretty fun, but as expected, I enjoyed this kind of atmosphere more. Smelling the scent of the person I love, hearing her voice in my ear, feeling the soft touch of her body, nothing could ever beat this.
"First things first, good job getting through all that, Umi."
"Mm! You too, Maki. You've been helping me with my special training, the matter with Yuu and everything else…"
Naturally, I leaned my face closer to hers and gave her a kiss.
We were lovers, but we had to sneakily do this since we weren't alone in this house. Sora-san told me that it was fine as long as we kept it in moderation, but I don't think kissing Umi boldly in front of Sora-san would count as 'moderate'.
Also, neither Sora-san nor Daichi-san set a boundary for us. I knew it was because they had faith in me, so I wouldn't try to betray that trust.
The time when our feelings would grow stronger and we would be unable to hold back anymore would come, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.
After around ten seconds or so, we separated. I wanted to stay like that a little longer and I knew that Umi felt the same, but I felt it would be dangerous if we were to continue. It wasn't time for us to cross that line, so this was enough for now..
We did the usual after that. Reading manga, borrowing Riku-san's games, messing around with each other until it was time for me to go home.
I realized that our time together was over and we had to wait another week before we could do this again. Hopefully this was enough to keep me going through the week.
But still, I wanted to stay with her for a little longer, so I held her hand while mindlessly chatting in front of the gate to her house.
"Later, Maki, I'll see you on Monday."
"Mm… We'll be even busier soon, huh?"
"What do we have next week? Ah, right, mock exam… And after that, the mid-term, huh? But at least we'll have summer break after the exams."
"Well, as they say, 'a student's duty is to study.' So we gotta do what we gotta do."
"Mm. It would be a disaster if we can't hang out together because one of us has to take remedials."
I had to do my best to study for the exams if I wanted to be in the same class as Umi next year.
If my grades were similar to Umi's, I could get into the same college as her. Living a relaxing college-life with Umi was my goal for now.
But first, there was something that I wanted to do.
I gulped before squeezing her hand tightly.
"Uh, Umi… Can you… Um… Can I ask something?"
"Hm? Yeah, sure… But, are you okay? You look a little off."
"Yeah, I'm fine, anyway, um…"
"Yes? What is it?'
"Next month… Um, well, you know how we have a three day holiday next month, right? Our school's anniversary overlaps with the weekend, so we got Saturday, Sunday and Monday off."
"Yeah, I noticed. I talked about it with everyone in class. We're lucky, huh? There's no holiday in June, so getting a longer holiday like that is a blessing~"
Our school, Joutou High, would be celebrating its twentieth anniversary this year. They would normally ignore it, but there was a high chance that they would give us the day off this year since they did the same during the tenth anniversary.
"You know… Wouldn't it be nice if we were to take a trip somewhere during that time? …It doesn't have to be somewhere far away."
"Eh? A trip? …You aren't talking about a one day trip, right? Will it be a three days and two nights trip? Just the two of us?"
"Yeah… I haven't talked about it with anyone yet, though, so I don't know if I'll get permission or not. Oh, I'll be the one who'll talk to Sora-san about it, of course…"
It had only been half a year since we became lovers. This kind of activity might be too soon for us, but this was the only chance that we had. There was a high chance that we would be too busy during summer break because our school somehow had a tight schedule during that period.
From the beginning of the summer break until the end of July, we had to take the mandatory summer classes.
We had to prepare for the Athletic Festival in August.
The actual Athletic Festival will be held in September.
That would be our schedule for the summer as far as I knew.
We still had winter break, but I assumed that we would be busy studying during that period.
There were surprisingly few opportunities for us to go on a trip like this. If possible, I wanted to go somewhere alone with Umi so we could relax together.
…Well, I also had another goal in mind, but let's not talk about that for now.
"There aren't many places for two high school students to go together, but if I could get mom's and Sora-san's permission, I could just–"
"Yes! Let's go on a trip together!"
I thought she would be more hesitant, but I guess I was worried for nothing.
She squeezed my hand tighter as her voice got more lively.
"I actually had the same idea! I have been looking up places for a while now, actually. I haven't set on the date though, that's why I haven't told you about it. I didn't expect that you would invite me for next month…"
"Ah, I see… Well, I don't think it's fun to hold off on my plans, that's why I decided to invite you as early as possible."
"Nice attitude, Maki. But, make sure to only show that decisiveness in front of me, okay? I don't want anyone to steal you away from me."
"Roger that, m'lady."
"Hehe… That sure lifted my mood~'
"I'm glad that you're happy, Umi."
"Why are you grinning like that?~ It's creepy."
She said that, but she also had a creepy grin on her face. Regardless, I felt glad that she reacted to my invitation positively.
I still had to convince mom, Sora-san and possibly Daichi-san about this, so I still had a lot of work to do. If our grades were high enough, would they give us their permission? I should try that.
"I'll talk to my mom about it first, then I'll talk to Sora-san."
"Mm! I'll talk to my mom too."
I left her house with her seeing me off from behind.
I said I wanted to spend my time slowly with Umi, but unknowingly I made myself busier.
But I could keep going. After all, this was to make our trip possible.
"Ah, Maki, wait! I just remembered something!"
"What is it?"
"Give me your ear."
Suddenly Umi ran up to me. After saying that, she snuggled closer to me and whispered.
"You're thinking about the same thing, right, Maki?"
Her words startled me. I realized that she was trying to tease me.
"Um… What do you mean?"
"Who knows~ Hehe~"
She sent me a mischievous gaze before turning back and running toward her house.
She noticed, huh?
She's becoming more attractive lately.
"…I want to make more unforgettable memories with her."
I made up my mind and hurried home.
The summer was just around the corner.
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