There was a bit of an ulterior motive for this, but she readily agreed to it.
If things went well, it would be the first time in a while that Iād be going somewhere far away with someone. The last time I did this was back when I used to visit my grandparents, so I was unusually excited.
āThe problem is, where should we go?ā
While lying on the bed, I fiddled around on my smartphone to look for a good place.
For couples like us, the recommended locations were either theme parks or big cities like Tokyo or Osaka. Looking at the images, I tried to imagine myself walking through those places with Umi.
We wouldnāt be out of place at theme parks since we were a couple. And we could go to Kansai or Hokkaido to taste their specialties since we were pretty big foodies.
I was anxious about going somewhere unknown by ourselves, but at the sameĀ time, I felt excited because Umi would be with me.
As for our travel funds, I had enough saved from all the New Yearās money that I had been saving for years. It would be worth it to use all that money for Umi. I only needed to start saving again if we spent everything.
āStill, thereās the transportation cost, lodging, mealsā¦ If weāre sticking to our original plan of staying for two nights, we couldnāt go too far with this budgetā¦ I should look somewhere nearbyā¦ā
I looked for more places nearby and found a few hot spring resorts that fit our criteria. They were smaller in scale than the more famous ones, but since it was only a short trip anyway, it should be enough.
We could get there by bus. Yes, we could fly or take the train, but buses were cheaper and we could allocate the remaining budget for other things.
Some of the spots were well known, but personally I still felt conflicted.
āHot springā¦ Hot spring, huh?ā
Going to a hot spring resort with Umi would be nice. It might seem like a modest trip, but it would give us plenty of time alone. There wouldnāt be too many people around and it would be easier for us to relax as well.
I started to imagine what would happen on our trip.
Umi would probably wear aĀ yukataĀ or something. She was already a pretty girl, if she were to wear aĀ yukata, she would definitely look even prettier.
Anyway, I should give her a call.
I grabbed my phone and called her. Almost immediately, Umi answered my call.
{Yo, whatās up? Have you decided where to go?}
āAh, mhm. I found something. Thereās no problem with the budget either.ā
{Oho, great~ So, where is it?}
āUhā¦ā
I hesitated a little before continuing.
āA hot spring resortā¦ā
{Ah~}
There was silence after that. Then, in a teasing voice, Umi said.
{Pervert~}
āUghā¦ā
When it came to staying in places like that together, it was inevitable that the talk would stray inĀ thatĀ direction.
Like I said, I had ulterior motives, so the location ultimately didnāt matter, but it did make it obvious. Which was why I hesitated earlier.
I could make excuses like how the place was a good tourism spot, but it would be uncool if I were to do that.
{Say, Makiā¦}
āHm?ā
{Do you want to do it with me?}
āā¦Mmā¦ā
Who knew what would happen in the future, but if both of us shared the same feelings, it would be okay for us to do it.
I wanted to know more about her and I wanted her to know more about me.
She might reject me, but that didnāt matter much. If we wanted to stay together in the future, we would have to deepen our understanding of each other.
Of course I wasnāt only talking about s*xā¦
{Got it, Iāll ask my mom about it.}
āUmā¦ Are you sure?ā
{I mean, weāre lovers, weāll do it eventually, so doing it sooner wonāt hurt. Besides, you are the one asking, Maki. If I, your lover, refuse your earnest plea, I donāt think you can live with it for the rest of your life, no?}
āI mean, I can just look up other places we could stay inā¦ā
{Donāt lie~ I know youāve been eyeing me with lecherous eyes lately~}
āLook, it happens, okay?ā
So she found out, huh? I tried to hide it, but as expected, she was sharp. In my defense, it was inevitable that I would touch some questionable places and since I was a healthy boy in my teens, I would naturally feel that way toward her.
{Heheā¦ Well, Iāve been letting you get away with it, so I guess I should also take some responsibility for it~}
āThank you for the consideration, but anyway, are we really going with my plan?ā
{Yeah, sure. We have to discuss everything thoroughly though. Like, where and how long we should stayā¦ Thereās also the matter of telling everyone about this. I mean, I donāt think we can keep anything hidden from Yuu.}
Since our break would be three days long, Amami-san would want to hang out with Umi for sure. I wanted to monopolize Umi for myself this time, so it would be better to tell her everything rather than doing things behind her back again.
She might ask to tag along, so I had to plan out how to dissuade her from that as well.
Thus we started planning the details of our travel plans
But we still had to face the greatest obstacle in our way.
[Q: We want to go on a trip togetherā¦ (Inquirer: Maehara Maki and Asanagi Umi)]
[A: Huh? Of course you canāt. (Respondent: Maehara Masaki)]