Chapter 22

In a somewhat orderly manner, all the students boarded the train and started looking around the compartment to find a place to sit. The school had booked several full compartments, so there were no chosen seats and everyone was eager to find a place to sit with a good view, together with their closets friends.

“Alright everyone, please take a seat,” said Fuyoko and clapped her hands. “The train will leave soon.” 

Iyori, who was still sleepy from staying up so late the night before, kept walking forward, like a ghost without a destination. She didn’t even notice how far she had gotten until she felt a hand on her wrist.

“Where are you going?” asked Shuya and Iyori turned her head, looking at him in a questioning manner. Shuya let out a sigh and dragged her back, closer to him. “You’re about to leave the compartment. You need to find a seat.” Iyori looked ahead and saw the door right in front of her.

“Oh,” muttered Iyori, too tired to find anything even slightly more intelligent to say.

“Come on, there are two seats right here, let’s just sit,” said Shuya and before Iyori had time to even think about it, Shuya had sat down on the seat next to the window and had pulled Iyori down next to him.

“Wow, you look dead,” said Yusuke who appeared in front of them, sitting down on the seat just across from theirs.

“Thank you..” said Iyori sarcastically while rolling her eyes.

“We were up late,” said Hanako, who was sitting in the opposite row, just beside them. “I’m tired too.”

“What did you guys do last night?” said Mei as she sat down next to Yusuke.

“We just went for a walk around Kyoto,” said Shuya. “It ended up getting pretty late before we were back.”

“That sounds like fun,” said Mei and sent both Iyori and Shuya a smile, but only Shuya returned it.

“You guys can just talk, I’m gonna close my eyes for a second,” said Iyori and took out her phone. She put in her headphones and turned up the sound to drown out the talking. Shuya looked at her as she turned her head slightly to the side and closed her eyes, whereafter he looked over at Mei and Yusuke again, continuing their conversation. Hanako, on the other hand, did the same as Iyori and put in her headphones, looking as unapproachable as possible. She didn’t close her eyes though, she just stared out of the window and watched the scenery move past them.

The other three talked for a while, going over the several events that happened during their trips. They looked at pictures and discussed what souvenirs they had bought and who they were for. But eventually, their conversation died out as well and all of them turned their attention to something else. A book, their phone or just looking out of the window. Even if they hadn’t felt it before, the fatigue was slowly taking over and they started looking forward to going home more and more, longing for a good night’s sleep in their own bed.

Shuya scrolled down on his social media page once more, letting out a yawn as he read another post. Most of the posts were by his classmates, sharing pictures from the last couple of days. He wondered if he should post something too, but he quickly remembered that he hadn’t taken a single photo on their trip. He was just about to ask the others if they had taken any photos when he felt something heavy landing on his shoulder. Startled, he looked to his left and saw Iyori’s head resting there comfortably. Her breathing was slow and one of her earphones had fallen out of her ear, but it didn’t seem like she noticed. 

A second went by where Shuya debated whether to slowly move her or simply let her be, also looking around to see if anyone had noticed. Mei was out cold and Yusuke was too occupied with his book to notice anything. 

Maybe I should just let her stay like this, thought Shuya to himself, until he looked a bit more to his left and felt Hanako’s cold gaze on him.

“What are you doing?” mouthed Hanako without using her voice, but Shuya easily understood what she was trying to say. He just lifted both his hands in a questioning gesture, telling her he didn’t do anything. Hanako shook her head in response, but didn’t say anything further and just turned her attention back to her phone.

As time went by, Shuya felt more and more tired, the weight on his shoulder adding on to it, and he decided to close his eyes as well, just for a moment. It didn’t take long before he was far away, off to dreamland. 

A sudden flash of light made Shuya wake up immediately and he looked around to see what was going on, when he noticed Masashi standing in front of him.

“What are you doing?” said Shuya; firm but quiet, afraid that he would wake up Iyori.

“Nothing...” said Masashi and hid his arms behind his back.

“You took a picture, didn’t you?” said Shuya and let out a sigh. Masashi firmly shook his head but Shuya just held out his hand and sent him a cold stare. Masashi stared at his hand for a minute, before he let out a sigh and handed him the phone. On the screen was a picture of him and Iyori, both sound asleep, resting their heads up against each other, both of them looking peaceful and calm.

“I’m sorry, I’ll delete, so just give it back,” said Masashi and bowed slightly.

“No way, I don’t trust you. I’ll delete it myself,” said Shuya and Masashi held up his hands in defeat.

“Do as you please.” Shuya looked at Masashi and lifted the phone a bit so Masashi couldn’t see the screen anymore. A few quick clicks and Shuya had sent the photo to himself, whereafter he deleted both the photo and the text message from Masashi’s phone before giving it back to him.

“Thank you,” said Masashi. “It’s too bad though, you both looked cute in that picture. Like a real couple.”

“Very funny, now go back to your seat and leave me alone,” said Shuya and waved Masashi away. But only a second after he left, Shuya took out his phone and looked at it with a smile on his face and warm feeling in his stomach.

***

When Iyori first opened her eyes, her vision was blurry and her mind felt foggy. At first she didn’t know where she was or how long she was asleep, but after a little while it all started coming back to her. She was on her way home from the trip, she was tired from the day before and had fallen asleep. Her body felt a little sore, probably after sleeping in a weird position, and she decided to stretch out her body, hoping it would help her wake up a little more.

“Good morning,” said Shuya and scared the living soul out of Iyori when she heard his voice loud and clear, as if he was only a few centimeters away from her. When she looked down and noticed how close she was sitting to Shuya’s seat, she quickly moved away.

“Sorry, it seemed I moved a little closer to you while I was asleep, I didn’t mean to take up all the space,” said Iyori and looked a bit embarrassed.

“No no, that’s okay,” said Shuya and let out chuckle. “You have good timing though, we’re almost home.”

“Really? Was I asleep for that long?” asked Iyori.

“Yep, but don’t feel bad, I was out of a little while too, and look over there,” said Shuya and gestured towards Mei and Yusuke who was still fast asleep across from them.

“Looks like everyone is dead tired,” said Iyori.

“Yeah, we had fun though, didn’t we?” asked Shuya and looked at Iyori in anticipation. She nodded her head, a little hesitant but quickly followed up. 

“I... had fun... I’m not much for admitting it, but I did have fun,” said Iyori and sent Shuya a faint smile. “Thank you, for making me come.”

“You’re welcome,” said Shuya. “So... are you looking forward to going to back to school and studies?”

“Ugh don’t remind me,” said Iyori and threw her head back. “No, I’m definitely not looking forward to that. And I’m not looking forward to going back to work either.”

“Really? How come?” asked Shuya.

“I’ve been away for so long, I’m sure half my clients have found someone else by now,” said Iyori dejected. “Maybe I’ll just get fired.”

“I doubt that,” said Shuya. “But really, don’t you think they’ll be understanding about you taking some time off? Didn’t you write on your profile that you went on a vacation?”

“I did,” said Iyori. “But I still doubt that they’ll be as understanding as you think.”

“Don’t worry so much,” said Shuya. “Just relax and wait and see, I’m sure it’ll be just like it used to be.” Iyori looked at Shuya and tried to believe in his words, to help herself calm down.

Not long after, they arrived at Otaru station and everyone scattered like leaves in the wind. Hanako and Iyori walked home together, not many words spoken for most of the journey. Iyori wasn’t in the mood for talking, while Hanako was finding it hard to start the conversation she wanted to have.

“Seemed like you were fast asleep on the whole journey home,” said Hanako and looked at Iyori who still looked ahead.

“I was tired,” said Iyori.

“Of course, I think most of us were,” said Hanako. “When... when you woke up... did you notice anything?”

“Notice anything?” asked Iyori.

“Yes... with... with Shuya...” stuttered Hanako.

“Ah, yes, that was embarrassing,” said Iyori and laughed.

“Oh, so you know,” said Hanako relieved.

“Yeah, looks like I took up quite some space while I was asleep. Shuya must’ve had a hard time relaxing.”
“What?” said Hanako. “But that’s not–” Hanako stopped mid sentence, unsure whether to continue or stop completely.

“That’s not what?” said Iyori and stopped walking. “Did I do something strange while I was asleep?” Iyori looked at Hanako with concern and Hanako held her breath.

“N.. No, you didn’t do anything,” said Hanako. “Come on, let’s hurry, I’m cold.” Iyori looked at her sister in suspicion, but Hanako had already started walking again and Iyori decided to let it be for now and just continue walking.

When they arrived at home, Hina and Aiko were both eager to hear about their trip, but Iyori quickly told them she was too tired to talk about it and passed the ball to Hanako, slipping away unnoticed to get ready for bed. She threw her bags in a corner and plumbed down on her bed. She had to wash up and brush her teeth, but she just wanted to lie down, just for a moment to feel the comfort of her own bed after several days away.

While lying on bed she opened her phone and looked through her social media. A lot of her classmates had shared photos of the trip, she had taken a few photos, but she didn’t feel like sharing them with anyone. The most important moments were already saved in her heart. Although she did wish she had a picture of Shuya lying flat on the ground on the top of Tokyo Tower. She sure wanted to relive that moment again and couldn’t help but laugh when she thought about it.

No, I shouldn’t laugh, thought Iyori to herself, he was actually scared. And he didn’t laugh at me when I was scared of the dark.

About to close her phone and walk to the bathroom to get ready for bed, Iyori suddenly felt her phone vibrate, indicating that a message ticked in. A banner appeared at the top of her screen and without reading anything, she clicked on it. She was quickly redirected to her messaging app, but when she read the text, her eyes widened.

“WHY ARE YOU NEVER AVAILABLE ANYMORE?” 

After reading the message written in all caps another one ticked in. 

“YOU SHOULD COME BACK FROM YOUR VACATION AND CHECK IN AGAIN, YUKI.”

Hello everyone!

It seems like people aren't as understanding about Iyori taking some time off as Shuya thought they'd be. How will all this pan out? What do you think?

Also, I hope you're all doing well and had a good start of 2022. I'm pretty busy these days because of work, but I guess we're all busy from time to time. We just have to pull through and things will eventually calm down and get better.

Take good care of yourself and stay safe!

Love, Annalise~