As the ship took off, I could feel my excitement growing. After all the planning Axel and I did, it was finally time for me to put my plans to get closer to Riko into action.
I could feel myself already growing more nervous.
While the scenery slowly flew by, I searched around the ship to find him. Finally, I spotted Riko standing at the front of the ship with a smile on his face.
Feeling my body tense up, I made my way over to him as casually as I could. All while my heart was pounding in my chest.
Apparently sensing my presence, Riko turned around and looked at me.
“Hey, there Miss Riosha. How are you?”
“Oh…erm…I…Uh…”
Not sure what to say, I found my words getting stuck in my throat. Come on Dianne. You can do this!
“I’m…doing quite well. How about you?”
Riko chuckled awkwardly.
“I’d like to say I’m fine, but so much has happened recently that I honestly don’t know what to think anymore.”
Moving up next to him, I looked out at the sights in front of the ship.
We stood there quietly for a few minutes before he spoke up again.
“Hey…I took your advice.”
“Hm?”
“About confessing to Xara.”
I immediately tensed up. But wait, didn’t she get together with Axel?
“That so? When did you do it?”
“A little over a week ago.”
Once again, wasn’t that the same time Xara and Axel got together?
“I see. Guessing with how things are now, it didn’t go well. Correct?”
Trying to hold back a few tears, Riko nodded.
“From how it looks, right after I confessed to her, she got confessed to by that commoner guy. Honestly, hearing she would rather be with him hurts way more than I thought it would. And despite wanting to congratulate her, I’ve been avoiding her instead. It just hurts too much to see Xara right now.”
If that’s how he sees it, it’s no wonder Miss Xara was unable to get Riko and me a chance to meet up before this point.
“I’m sorry to hear that. It’s probably my fault for egging you on in the first place.”
Riko shook his head.
“Nah. It was my fault for not confessing earlier.”
Turning around to leave, Riko gave me a rather strained smile.
“Thanks for listening to that. I’m gonna get going now.”
“Um…Sure. Bye.”
With that, he left me behind standing on the front of the ship.
Clenching my hand, I tried to hold back the tears forming in my eyes.
I know I shouldn’t be mad that Xara rejected him, but seeing the pain on his face made it all too clear to me that he still hadn’t gotten over her rejecting him for Axel.
Feeling a pain in my chest, I went to my room to lie down for a bit. Unsure what to do next.
After about six hours of travel, we apparently were taking a stop of some kind.
I got out of bed and went onto the deck of the ship.
Walking for a bit, I noticed some students muttering among each other and I made my over to see what everyone was talking about.
I tapped on one of the student's shoulders and they turned to face me.
“Excuse me for asking, but what’s going on?”
The student rubbed his eyes.
“Apparently, a few kids didn’t learn that you can’t use magic while on the ship. Because of that, they’re trying to rally the rest of the students to fight for their right to use magic.”
“Really? But isn’t the whole reason we can’t use magic because it could cause the core of the ship to explode?”
“That’s what we're trying to explain to them. However, they don’t want to hear it.”
I remembered reading about this when I was preparing my plans for this trip. Apparently, the ships used some kind of core that we couldn’t risk exposing to any magic. I wasn’t sure why a ship would use such a dangerous item if that was all it took to make it explode, but my guess was that people were still learning to use magic safely. After all, before thirty years ago, things like magic were a strange mystery we had yet to grasp in the slightest.
Looking around at the crowd, I spotted a familiar face that made my heart jump.
“Riko.”
Hearing me call his name, Riko turned towards me.
“Oh. Hey there Miss Riosha.”
“What are you doing out here?”
“I heard a ruckus and decided to check it out. Turns out it’s a bunch of people who don’t like taking no for an answer.”
Turning my gaze towards a few people shouting out to the gathering crowd, they demanded things like rights and privileges to use magic on the ship. Honestly, all they were doing was being noisy. If Axel were here, he probably would’ve said some comeback and used that to quiet down the people causing problems.
Sighing, I let my heart relax as I stood next to Riko before speaking again.
“This is an unrelated matter, but apparently we’ll be stopping for some kind of festival on our route. Would you be interested in joining me in some festivities when we get there?”
I tried my best to make that sound as casual as possible. This was a big part of my plan. I’d forgotten to say it earlier, but I was hoping to use this as an excuse to go on a date with Riko. And even if he didn’t see it as a date, it could still be considered an outing between the two of us.
Riko seemed to think about it for a moment before nodding.
“Sure. That sounds like fun.”
I internally gave myself a cheer of joy. Step one of my plan was complete.
Trying to hide my blushing cheeks, I smiled.
“I- I look forward to our time together.”
With that, I gave him a bow before returning to my room and squealing into my pillow. The excitement was too much. Everything was going exactly as planned. Now all I needed to do was make sure the two of us had a great time while out at the festival.
Opening my bag, I pulled out something my mother called a yukata which she said was a key part of enjoying the festival experience. I’d spent almost every night since this trip was announced learning how to put it on. Apparently, the ship offered yukata's for people who forgot to bring one, but for me, I was bringing the yukata that had been passed down from my grandmother to my mother all the way to me. Seeing it for myself, I found myself fond of the way it was designed. It was a deep purple with a bunch of flower textures sprouting up from different spots coated in a lightly tinted pink and green. To me, it looked quite cute.
If I was correct, we’d be arriving at the festival within the next two hours. Upon reaching that point, the next part of my plan would begin. That part being Riko and I having a good time while out at the festival.
I already had everything set in my head. First: we’d go around trying out all the different party games the festival has to offer. Second: We visit the shrine my mother mentioned they have there and pray for what we wish for most. Finally, third: we sit down next to each other and watch the fireworks show my dad said they always had every year that he and my mom watched together during their school years.
With my plan in place, I should have gained enough of his interest to the point he actually sees me as a potential partner. That’ll give me the opening I need to get even closer. And once we're close enough, I’ll confess to him and the two of us will become a couple. The perfect plan.
Giggling to myself in excitement, I spent some time to make sure I remembered how to wear a yukata correctly as we slowly made our way towards the festival site.
Around two hours later, we arrived. I was one of the first people to get off as I took a quick glance at my yukata to make sure it was all set. After doing so, I continued walking toward the festival site.
Riko had agreed to meet me at the entrance. According to what Axel told me, that was the easiest spot for people to meet up.
Seeing the entrance draw near, I spotted Riko among the group of students standing around that area.
I waved my hand out to him.
“Hey! Thanks for waiting!”
Hearing me, Riko turned toward my direction and smiled. My heart instantly jumped as I continued walking forward.
Once I was a few steps in front of him, he looked me up and down.
“Wow. That yukata looks great on you Miss Riosha.”
I giggled.
“Thanks. The same goes for you.”
Riko was wearing what looked the yukata’s they offered on the ship. It was a simple mix of red and yellow stripes that blended together surprisingly well.
“Thank you. Well then, shall we go?”
Riko said this while holding out a hand for me. Nervously, I reached out and grabbed it and he guided me into the festival.
Executing the second part of my plan, I brought Riko over to one of the games and tried to beat it on the first try. However-
“Haaah. Looks like I failed again.”
-things weren’t going very well.
I slumped my arms. Axel told me the ring toss was one of the easier games at a festival like this. However, I found myself struggling to get even one ring hooked onto the bottles lined up in front of me. As he watched from behind, I could hear Riko chuckling to himself. Clearly finding my struggles humorous.
After failing the fourth time, I began to trudge away from the stand when Riko grabbed my hand. I gave him a look of confusion. He grinned and stepped up to the stand and took a few of the rings.
“Here. Allow me.”
Then, to my surprise, he managed to get each ring onto a bottle. His reward for winning the game was a small little plush dog.
He must’ve seen me staring because he offered the dog to me and I nervously took it from his hands.
The two of us continued to wander the festival grounds as several of the same instances happened again and again. Finally, when we played a game where we were supposed to catch fish, I managed to win and received the fish as my prize.
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Seeing I’d won, I couldn’t help but jump for joy and kept shouting about how I did it. Seeing me so excited, Riko let out a small laugh before we decided to move on to the next thing. But before doing so, I handed the fish to a festival official who’d make sure it was brought back to my home safely.
The two of us tried out a few more games and by the end, we managed to amass quite a few prizes. Thankfully, we were able to ship them back to our dorms so we weren’t forced to carry them around everywhere.
Now, I was just wandering the festival grounds and eating a delicious treat called cotton candy next to Riko. Thanks to the festivities, I was able to ignore my pounding heart and the two of us continued exploring before finally deciding to make our way over to the shrine.
So far so good. With us enjoying the festival being completed, it was time to pray at the shrine. From what I read, the shrine was apparently dedicated to an ancient being known as “Kupid” who brought eternal love everywhere she went. She apparently even managed to bring two gods back together after they looked like they’d be apart forever. As thanks, the gods constructed a piece of land for Kupid to reside and the center of said land was where this shrine was constructed.
As wonderful as that sounded, I did find myself wondering why the center was on a hill that required a set of stairs to reach.
Still, it was too late to give up so Riko and I slowly ascended the stairs and arrived at the top around two minutes later.
At the top, there resided what you could describe as a marvelous piece of art. It was a building around eight meters in height and four meters wide. It had wood that was painted a bright pink with the roof being a more dark red. Despite how much you’d think the colors didn’t fit, they felt oddly right as I looked at the shrine. Its design wasn’t anything to laugh at either. According to what I read, the design was similar to that of a shine you’d see in a land known as Japan. I’d never heard of that place, I also couldn’t find it anywhere on any map I’ve looked at. But if this was the design they used, I understood why they used it. This was beautiful.
Trying to focus back on the present, I walked up to the shrine to find a girl who appeared to be around the age of fourteen standing there. She explained to us that we were meant to ring the bell hanging from the front of the shrine and then clap our hands three times before making a wish. I decided to ask if we could wish for anything. The girl who called herself the shrine maiden told me I could. However, since Kupid is who this shrine is dedicated to, wishes involving love worked the best.
Having learned that information, I moved up to the bell at the front of the shrine and shook it. After that, I clapped three times and gave my prayer once I took a deep breath.
“I wish the one I long for will return my feelings,” I muttered quietly to the point it was almost impossible to hear me.
I would’ve been more specific, but I felt that if I tried that, it would just be forcing my own feelings onto another. Even if I wanted Riko to return my feelings, I knew forcing him to through a wish would be terrible.
Finally done, I took a step back and let Riko move up to the shrine and make his wish.
I couldn’t hear what he said, but he seemed pretty serious when he made his wish.
Once he was done, he let out a relaxed sigh before returning to me and the two of us left right as a few other people arrived to make wishes to the shrine.
Now that I think about it, Axel was pretty curious about this shrine when I told him about it. Maybe I should bring him here sometime.
But moving past that thought for now, Riko and I walked around the festival grounds for a little while longer before finally stopping at a spot that would give us a good look at the fireworks that were meant to go off in not too long.
There weren’t any chairs or seats, so the two of us ended up sitting on the ground and staring out at the darkening sky.
“Hey. Thanks for inviting me. To hang out at the festival, I mean.”
Hearing Riko say that, I gave him a smile.
“It was no issue. I had a great time today.”
As I continued to smile, Riko turned his head away.
“Hm? Is something wrong?”
“Er…No. It’s just that…you’re cute when you smile like that.”
Hearing that, I immediately went bright red.
“Oh…I…um…Really?”
“Uh…Yeah.”
Riko scratched the back of his neck awkwardly before sighing.
“Y’know, when Xara rejected me, I must admit I was pretty heartbroken.”
Hearing that immediately caused my smile to fade. His face had the strained look from before. If he was that upset to talk about it, why did he do so?
“But…after today, I think I might be starting to feel better.”
Once he said that, my smile slowly returned
“I’m glad to hear it.”
The two of us, who without realizing it had turned to face toward each other, looked into the other's eyes. We stared for what felt like ages. It was like I wasn’t able to say anything. All I could do was stare at him.
A moment later, a loud explosion snapped both of us out of whatever the heck we were doing and we turned our heads to see sparks of light go off in the air.
“So this is fireworks…” I found myself mumbling. I couldn’t help but stare in awe as the beautiful colors showered the sky. It was truly an amazing site. With all the lights covering the sky, it made me wish Axel could’ve been here to see this...
...Wait. Why was I thinking that?
As Riko continued to watch the fireworks, I turned my head the other way and pondered what I’d just thought.
“Why? Why did I just think that?”
While I continued to watch the fireworks, my mind kept wandering to Axel. Thinking about how much he’d love seeing these.
Come to think of it, I’ve been thinking a lot about Axel throughout this trip. What was going on?
Suddenly, when thoughts of Axel’s face entered my mind, my cheeks warmed up slightly. The same feeling I got while looking at Riko.
“Wait…Could this be-?”
As that thought entered my mind, a giant firework went off in front of us that filled the sky with dozens of different colors.
Trying my best to ignore the realization I’d just reached, I shook my head and did my best to focus on the fireworks. All the while, Riko kept glancing at me time and time again. Strangely enough though, having him look at me didn’t make me as happy as it did before. How strange.
Once the fireworks were over, the two of us began making our way back to the ship.
We walked side by side without a word.
Taking a moment to glance at Riko, I noticed his cheeks were a light pink. Did that mean my plan to get closer to him was working? If so, that should make me happy. But weirdly enough, I didn’t feel anything when that thought crossed my mind. What was wrong with me?
Less than a minute away from the ship, I was planning to make my way straight to my room in order to get some sleep. I was sure whatever was going on with me was just thanks to sleep fatigue. However, my plans were instantly shattered when an explosion rocked the ground around us.
Riko and I looked around confused for several moments before running towards where the explosion appeared to have come from. When we arrived, there was a giant crater in the ground with parts of what appeared to be the ship we came here on lying all over the ground. Several students, as well as boat staff, seemed to be trapped under the rubble and people were going around trying to rescue them.
Trying to figure out the situation, I went over to the man who appeared to be leading the efforts.
“Excuse me, could you explain what happened here?”
The man rubbed his eyes.
“Some students were demanding their right to use magic on the boat and ended up sneaking in and shutting down the machine being used to emit the magic-blocking barrier. Because they did that, the magic they produced caused the ship's core to explode.”
So those people who were demanding the right to use magic were behind this.
The man scratched the back of his head.
“Geez. I know I shouldn’t say stuff like this, but I feel like the quality of royalty has declined quite a bit. I could never see anyone before this generation doing something so stupid.”
Hearing that, I wanted to shout out our generation wasn’t that bad. However, I found myself remembering all the dumb things I’ve seen the students at our school do. So as much as I hated to admit it, he was right. We really were awful.
Even so, now wasn’t the time to reflect on the actions of my generation.
“Please allow us to help!”
Surprised by how loud I was, the man took a step back before shrugging.
“Be my guest.”
With that, Riko and I went around and saved everyone we could. Thankfully, no one was killed. But several crew members as well as a few students were still quite injured. Some were just knocked unconscious, while others were awake and had several broken bones.
And after almost two hours of work, everyone seemed to be accounted for and I found myself collapsing on the ground in exhaustion. I had done all that while still in my yukata so I was sweating quite a bit.
Riko came over with some cups of cold water and handed one to me.
I accepted it and drank slowly so that I could savor the cold liquid falling down my throat.
“I heard from one of the teachers that we're apparently gonna have to sleep here tonight since a rescue ship can’t arrive till tomorrow night.”
“Is that so? And how do they plan to shelter this many students?”
“I asked about that. I believe they said they’d see if there are any locals willing to lend their houses over in exchange for money.”
“I see.”
Asking for help from the locals made the most sense. However-
“You expect us to sleep in a commoner’s home!?”
“How dare you assume we’d be willing to sleep in such rubbish! You should be ashamed for calling yourselves teachers!”
“As if I’d stoop low enough to sleep in the home of a commoner!”
-it appeared a majority of the students weren’t exactly ecstatic about the idea.
Sighing, I got up and tried my best to lead by example by accepting what the teachers were requesting and making my way over to a house one of the common folk offered.
Before I knew it, the middle of the night had arrived. I was already pretty tired, so the idea I was still up was rather vexing.
It wasn’t that the bed was uncomfortable, I just found myself reflecting on the day's events.
From inviting out Riko, to the fireworks. And as I did so, one thing stuck out in my head. And that was that I kept thinking about how much fun this would’ve been had Axel come along. Honestly, it was quite frustrating that the theory I created could potentially be true. And it was like everything I’d previously thought about was being overridden by thoughts about Axel.
As I tried to figure out why that was, my mind flashed back to several instances in the past when Axel was the most relevant. There was the first time he picked me up and carried me in a rather strange but comfortable carry, to when he helped our team win during the Hunter Games, as well as protected me when Richie nearly turned me into a monster. The more I thought about it, the more I realized how cool he looked. And, come to think of it, he’s really not that bad looking…
“What am I thinking!?”
I rustled my hair in frustration. Up to this point, my mind had been completely focused on Riko. But out of nowhere, all I can think about is Axel. It didn’t make any sense. What was going on?
Still unsure, I decided to sleep on it and got under the bed covers before I closed my eyes.
The next morning, I woke up with a start as my face was flushed red.
“What the heck was that dream about Axel!? And why was it so detailed and steamy!?”
For some reason, I had a dream about going on a rather interesting outing with Axel. By the end, we were in bed together and it was getting way too hot for me and I was forced to wake up.
Getting onto my feet, I heard a knock at my door. I was about to go over and answer when I looked down to find I was in nothing but my underwear and bra. Of course I was. Since my clothes had been burned up in the explosion, I didn’t have anything but my yukata on me. And there was no way I was sleeping in that. I’d have gotten heatstroke.
Trying to slip on my yukata as fast as possible, I opened the door to find a teacher there holding a set of clothes.
“This is for you. It’s some clothes so that you don’t have to walk around in that hot yukata all day.”
“Oh. Thank you.”
I took the clothes out of the teacher's hands.
“Before I go, I should tell you we’ll be holding a meeting to discuss the plans for today in about half an hour at the site where the festival took place. If you have the time, then please be there.”
I nodded in understanding before closing the door and trying on the clothes I’d been given. They clearly weren’t clothes royalty would normally wear. The outfit came with a loose purple t-shirt, dark blue pants commoners called jeans, and a set of shoes that looked a little worn down.
I was certain that if a majority of the students here saw this kind of stuff was all they could wear right now, most would either just stick in the yukata or not leave their rooms.
As I wanted to leave, I quickly slipped on the clothes I was given and left the house.
Once I was out, I went towards the spot the teacher told me about and saw a few other students there. The majority of them still wore their yukata’s with only a few others begrudgingly wearing the clothes provided to them.
After the teachers were sure those who wanted to be there had arrived, they began going over the day's events.
Since the festival was already over, they didn’t really have anything else planned so they permitted us to just walk around and do whatever we wanted. However, if any of us wished to help, they’d let us assist in cleaning up whatever was left over from the festival.
I ended up spending the rest of the day doing that and Riko joined in to help me out.
And before I knew it, the day had flown by and the rescue ship had arrived.
The students slowly got on board one by one and around an hour later, we set out back towards the school.
Flopping down onto one of the beds the rescue ship offered, I let out an exhausted sigh. The trip that was supposed to get Riko and me together ended up being a lot more taxing than I’d previously anticipated.
I ended up feeling completely worn down to the point that when we got back to the school, I immediately went back to my room.
Not that such a move didn’t make sense. It was nearly midnight when we finally returned.
Sliding under the covers of my bed, I closed my eyes and fell asleep almost instantly.
Before I knew it, the next morning had arrived and I got up for the day. Apparently, despite only having just returned from the trip, classes were already back in session. Showing how short and simple this trip was meant to be.
Slipping on a new school uniform I’d received last night to replace the one that got blown up, I walked out the door and made my way to class. All the while, I wondered how Axel’s trip went. He seemed pretty excited when I saw him before, so I hope he had a fun time worthy of that excitement.
Deciding I’d ask him about that when I got to the classroom, I walked through the halls with a spring in my step.
I arrived at my destination a few minutes later and opened the door. Upon entry, a few other students started approaching me. I was planning to ignore them and turn my attention to asking Axel about his time on the trip, but when I looked at the spot where he would normally sit, there was no one there.
"Um… Excuse me. Could someone tell me where Axel is?”
While he normally makes it here after me. There are rare occasions he gets here before. Does this mean he hasn’t gotten here yet?
As I asked my question, the classroom immediately went silent. However, a few seconds later, snickers started echoing throughout the room. What was so funny? Did I ask something amusing? I was completely lost.
Apparently annoyed by the snickers, Mister Roy got up from his seat with a loud creak which caused all the other students to hush.
After doing that, he walked over to me with a grim look on his face. Something about it caused goosebumps to form on my skin.
“Miss Riosha…Axel has…gone missing.”
“...Huh?”
Hearing those words, my body froze. And all I could do was stand there in disbelief.