Have you ever been put into a situation where you have to choose whether to sacrifice a loved one or the whole world? I have encountered that all the time. The only tip I can give you is to always listen to your heart. Forget all your rational thoughts. The heart always has your truest answer. Of course, there is an inception, and that is if your heart is as dark as space.

…

It’s the next day after yesterday's incident. An incident like no other. Some say that the incident was a way of saying that the end is near. It’s sad that many people had been killed and many buildings had been reduced to rubble. I heard from Yuichi Senpai that the government will handle this for now, and he asked me not to think about it too much. He said that our main duty is eliminating threats and rescuing civilians. But our main goal is to eliminate the threat, no matter the cost. Sacrifice is something that comes with every mission. It’s a deep message for Yuichi Senpai, but it’s not wrong in the slightest.

I really hope that the world can be peaceful again. No more danger, no more war, no more political debate. Just peace and sunshine. I could imagine myself in the pool with Fumiko, Yuichi Senpai, and Natsumi. We skip Kiyoshi. Heck, I don’t mind hanging out with the new students, Sayuri and Hiromi. I wonder what they will look like in a swimsuit. My mind wanders off to some unsafe thoughts that are filled with white sunscreen lotion. My thoughts were quickly interrupted by the most annoying sounds of the morning. You guessed it: my alarm clock.

Like yesterday, I was woken suddenly by my alarm clock, which caused some shock and led me to fall from my bed yet again. This time, I don’t have any blankets on me. So, I just fell to the floor with nothing. Curse you, alarm clock. I really need to buy a new alarm clock. I gather up my strength to stand up and turn off my alarm clock. Your time in this world is short. May your life be in pieces in the dumpster.

I do some stretching before tidying up my bed. It’s currently Friday, so it’s still a school day. But Yuichi Senpai said that Fumiko and I should take the day off. He also said that HQ would prepare all the necessary paperwork. Fumiko and I agreed to it. So, now we have the whole day off from class. Though Fumiko said that she wanted to go to the library once to catch up on her study. I look back at my clock, and it says that it is currently 11 a.m. It’s definitely too late for breakfast.

I walk toward my closet and grab some formal clothes. Even though it’s my day off, we’re still on school grounds. Also, there is a rule that states that when you are absent from school, you are prohibited from wearing the school uniform on school days, but you still have to wear formal clothes. I just grabbed a pink polo shirt and a red skirt. This should be fine. I grab my towel on my way toward the bathroom.

I took about 25 minutes to shower this time; since yesterday, I haven’t gotten any chance to shower after the mission. That’s partly because after I had arrived in the dorm, I went to my bed and slept like a log. After I dry myself with my towel, I put on my clothes before throwing my old clothes in the laundry basket. Wait, when is laundry day? I grab my phone from my study table and check my school calendar. Okay, it’s tomorrow. I should start tidying up my dorm a bit.

I started by picking up some trash and dirty clothes from the floor and putting them in their place. After that, I organized all my books and school supplies before cleaning the floor. As soon as I am done with that, I look back at my dorm and see that it's as clean as a baby's bottom. After I am satisfied with my work and pat myself on the shoulder, I grab a novel from my table and put on my shoes before heading out of my dorm. After I locked my dorm, I started walking toward Fumiko’s dorm. There are still some students in the dormitory wearing school uniforms. So, it’s a bit weird being the only one without it. But I’m already used to it. Fumiko’s dorm is one floor above me, so I have to take the elevator. There are stairs, but I am too lazy. The elevator is not that far from my dorm, so I reach it in just a few minutes. I press the button to call the elevator. Lucky for me, the elevator has already been stationed on my floor, so as soon as I press the button, the elevator door opens. I walk into the elevator and press the sixth-floor button. After the elevator door closed, it started to move to the sixth floor. It only took a couple minutes before I arrived on the sixth floor. After the elevator door opens, I walk out of it and head toward Fumiko’s dorm room. Her dorm is a bit far from the elevator, so it gives me time to think about what I should do today. I was thinking maybe we could get lunch first before heading toward the library to catch up with our studies. Maybe after that we could visit HQ to look for any new missions, and we could finish it off with some good dinner.

After a while, I manage to reach Fumiko’s dorm and give it a knock.

"Fumiko-chan, are you awake yet?"

"Coming, Hanako-chan." Fumiko said that from her room.

"Alright, I’ll wait."

It didn’t take long before Fumiko opened the door and let me in. Fumiko was currently wearing an indigo polo shirt and a dark purple skirt.

"Excuse me." I walk into the dorm, remove my shoes, and put them nicely beside Fumiko’s.

"When did you wake up, Hanako-chan?" She said that while doing her hair.

"Around 11, Fumiko-chan." I laid down on Fumiko’s bed.

"I guess we woke up late today." Fumiko put her comb back in its place.

"Did you also wake up at that time?"

"More or less."

"I see. So, do you want to go get some lunch first?" I quickly took a sitting position on Fumiko’s bed.

"I don’t mind that. I did miss today’s breakfast."

"Me too." Fumiko and I laugh at that.

"Should we head toward the ‘Center Pearl’?" Fumiko offered.

"Sure. I wonder what I should get for lunch." I get out of Fumiko’s’ bed and walk toward the exit.

"I think I want to get the Beef Bento." I suddenly hear a rumble coming from Fumiko’s direction.

"Are you sure?" I look toward her and give a playful smirk.

"Make that two." She blushed a bit.

"Whatever you say, Fumiko-chan." I open the door and wait for Fumiko.

"How about you, Hanako-chan?" Fumiko grabbed two books from her study table before walking toward the door.

"I think I will have a Chicken Bento and a Beef Omurice." I walk out of the door while holding it down.

"That’s a lot, Hanako-chan." Fumiko walks out of her dorm before locking it.

"Says the one who wants to order two Beef Bentos." I start walking toward the elevator.

"Touché, Hanako-chan." Fumiko walks behind me.

It took us about 20 minutes to arrive at the "Center Pearl". It’s still a bit early for lunch, so it’s not as packed as usual. We both head toward the serving counter and order our big meal, which consists of two Beef Bentos, a Chicken Bento, a Beef Omurice, a Caesar Salad, and two Iced Caramel Americanos. After paying for the meal, we walk toward an empty table since our order is a bit large. Since it’s empty, we just take the nearest one, which is about three meters from the serving counter. Conveniently enough, it's a four-seat table. After we put books on one of the chairs, we take a seat across from each other.

"Fumiko-chan, what books did you bring?"

"I think it was Physics and Basic Anatomy."

"Basic Anatomy, you say."

"Yes, our class will have a quiz next week."

"I see."

"How about you? How’s your elective course been going?"

"It’s been doing fine. Who knew Basic Programming would be fun?"

"Excuse me, is this seat empty?" I look behind me and see Hiromi, who is holding a tray of food, and Sayuri.

Both aren’t wearing school uniforms, so I take it that they both took today off from school. Hiromi was wearing a simple white t-shirt, a black leather jacket, a short black skirt, white socks, white shoes, and a black bow to finish off her look. On the other hand, Sayuri wears a blue floral-pattern dress, black leggings, and black shoes. Both still look gorgeous, even without wearing the school uniform.

"Well, it is empty, but there are still a lot of empty tables." Fumiko said that as politely as possible.

"Sorry, let me rephrase a bit. May Sayuri and I eat with both of you?"

"I mean." According to her facial expression, Fumiko is attempting to find a peaceful way to reject it.

"You don’t have to." I’m sorry if we are bothering you, Hanako-san, Fumiko-san." She quietly says that while tugging Hiromi’s shirt lightly. "Let’s search for another table, Hiromi."

"As you wish, Sayuri-chan." Hiromi turned her back on us and was about to leave.

"Wait." Fumiko stands while looking a bit desperate. "If you want to have a chat, we’re alright with that. Right, Hanako-chan."

I'm not going to lie; I do want to have a talk with Sayuri about yesterday. But I want to look cool in front of them. At least, I don’t want to look desperate for a chat.

"Sue, I don’t mind that." I grabbed our books from the chair and put them on the left side of the table.

"Thank you for your generosity." Hiromi looked at us again and said that with a sincere tone.

"No need for that; it’s our fault for not accepting your offer before."

Hiromi put her tray of food on the table and sat beside Fumiko, while Sayuri sat beside me. Hiromi grabs a bowl of beef ramen and a lemonade, while Sayuri grabs a glass of orange juice and a plate of cooked salmon, some rice, and miso soup. Not too long after a server comes with our food, he puts the tray on our table and leaves after saying "Enjoy". We take our foods from the tray before Fumiko grabs the two food trays from our table and takes them to the nearest tray return point, to clear the table a bit. While she did that, I grabbed a nearby empty chair to put our books on. After Fumiko returns, all of us do a little prayer, though Sayuri took longer than us. She must be a religious person. All of us start eating our lunch all together. Fumiko and I eat a bit faster than them since we have more foods to eat.

"So, are you two also taking today off from school?" Noticing the silence, Fumiko decided to break it with a question.

"Yes, we are still a bit tired after moving our stuff to our dorm yesterday." Hiromi stopped eating for a while to answer Fumiko’s question.

"I see. So, did you do anything yesterday?" Fumiko asked curiously.

"We didn't do much; we just did a little sightseeing in the city."

"I thought you were moving in."

"The moving truck hadn’t arrived until 11 a.m."

"Wow, that was a bit late, wasn’t it?"

"Yeah, we were up all night just moving our stuff in."

"I feel you; moving in was tough for me too. I had a lot of books and clothes to move that day." Fumiko and Hiromi laughed at that.

It seems that they get along well. The same can’t be said with Sayuri. She mostly stays quiet this entire time, eating her meal. I wonder if I should try to start a conversation with her. Although there is something that bothers me about last night.

"Hiromi, did you happen to see last night's accident?" I asked that question to Hiromi, but I could see from the corner of my eye that Sayuri moved a bit after hearing my question.

"Sorry, I don’t remember. Is it the thing with the undead?" Hiromi said that with a bit of a confused tone.

"Yes, since I remembered that you were visiting the mall last night."

"We did, but it’s not for long. We just bought some flowers from the dorm and ate some dumplings for dinner. I think it happened after we arrived in our dorms."

"I guess that makes sense."

"Thank goodness, you didn’t get caught in it. It was really a mess down there." Fumiko butted into the conversation.

"I heard from a few students about that. It must be hard for you."

"It was really crowded, to say the least."

"But you are alright, judging by the lack of bruises from any kind of cuts."

"We were lucky that we were in the food court at that time."

I take another look, and Sayuri is still eating her lunch quietly. As I am eating my lunch, I am trying to come up with an idea for having a conversation with Sayuri.

"Hey, Hiromi. Have you had the time to tour around the school?" Fumiko asked out of nowhere.

Oh yeah, I forgot that they just arrived yesterday. I don’t think they have any chance of touring the school, especially since they went outside yesterday. Maybe this could be a good chance to get to know them better. Nice one, Fumiko.

"No, we haven't. We just know our dorms, the cafeteria, our classrooms, and some other places. We haven’t gotten any chance to do a bit of touring ourselves."

"Then, how about after this we give you a bit of that?"

"Are you sure about that? We don’t want to disturb your activities."

"Don’t worry about that. We can always do that later."

"If that’s the case, I am okay with that. I don’t want to get lost in this school."

"Believe me, you should try to memorize the school’s layout. Getting lost is the last thing you want."

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Any experience?"

"I don’t have one, but Hanako-chan has one."

"Will it be alright if you tell us about it?"

"Hey, Hanako-chan. Are you alright with that?"

I was not in tune with the conversation, and somehow, even in my daydreaming state, I managed to give out a low "Yes". I have no idea how my mind works. Fumiko somehow heard that.

"Alright, Hanako-chan."

"So, it happened when Hanako-chan was waking up late. That day was our first exam day. We agreed that we would be walking separately."

"Does that mean you didn’t go to her dorm?"

"No, I went straight to the class."

"Then, how did she get lost?"

"Well, the story went that it was a different class than usual since our regular class was renovated. But, before the exam day, we did go together to the classroom to become familiar with the path."

"That doesn’t explain my question."

"We’re getting to that. As I said before, she woke up late, and that caused her to forget the path. At the end, she manages to spot the class with 30 minutes to spare."

"Wait, so that means..."

"Yes, she only had 30 minutes to do the exam."

At that moment, Hiromi was bursting out laughing, while Fumiko was giggling a bit. That caused me to break from my daydreaming. I looked to my left and right and saw Hiromi and Fumiko laughing. Okay, what is going on? How hard did I daydream? But there is one thing that caught my eye, and that is the fact that I can see Sayuri give off a light smile. I have no idea what Fumiko did, but I am happy to see that Sayuri is happy to hear that.

"Hey, Fumiko. What did you talk about?"

"What do you mean, Hanako-chan? Weren’t you listening?"

"I was daydreaming, so I haven’t heard a thing." I laugh awkwardly.

As soon as Fumiko hears that, she just blushes and looks away. That’s weird. Did Fumiko say something embarrassing?

"Fumiko-chan, did you say something embarrassing?"

"You could say that." I could see that she was sweating like a waterfall.

"Hey, Hiromi. What did Fumiko-chan say?"

Before Hiromi can say anything, she sees Fumiko shaking her head rapidly, which signifies "Please don’t tell her.". Hiromi smiles and gives a lip-sealed sign with her right hand. I was a bit bummed out that Hiromi doesn’t want to say anything, and it makes me more curious, but I am too lazy to press further into it. So, I just let it pass for now. She probably talked about her experience being lost trying to find the library. Now, that was funny.

"Um, may I make a suggestion?" Sayuri suddenly said.

I'm not going to lie; that surprised both Fumiko and me. I could even see Hiromi giving a bit of a surprised face.

"What do you want to suggest?" Hiromi asked in a more respectful tone.

"I was wondering if you want to have a tea party after touring the school."

"Tea party?" Fumiko and I said it together in confusion.

As soon as Sayuri said "Tea party", Hiromi’s face was filled with horror, as if she had forgotten something and something bad was going to happen. Though I might be imagining things.

"Isn’t that a bit random, Sayuri?"

"Not really, I just want to give you something as a thank you for giving us a tour."

"Well, if you put it that way. I guess that is alright." Fumiko answered.

"Thank you so much, Fumiko-san." Sayuri bows down a bit.

"You don’t need to use formality. We are in the same class anyway. You can just call me Fumiko."

I am glad that Fumiko said that since it will get weird quickly if this keeps us. Or maybe it’s just me who feels weird when someone from my class uses formalities.

"Alright, Fumiko."

"No problem."

"I think you should hurry up with your meal, since we are almost done." Hiromi said that lightly.

Fumiko and I look at their meal situation, which, as Hiromi said, is almost done, and then ours, where we still have one more meal to finish.

"Better get moving, you two." Hiromi said that with a chuckle before finishing her meal.

Both Fumiko and I start eating our meal in a quicker manner. Since we don’t want to make Hiromi and Sayuri wait for us. It took us about five minutes. Man, those five minutes were more stressful than they should have been. After a bit of a rest, we take our plates, bowls, glasses, etc. to a nearby tray return point.

"Alright, shall we start our tour?" Fumiko said that while standing and doing a bit of stretching to loosen up her body, as am I.

"That would be lovely." Hiromi said that while standing up.

After seeing Hiromi stand up, Sayuri also stands and puts the chair back before holding Hiromi’s left hand. I wonder what kind of relationship they have. I mean, the most reasonable explanation is that they are siblings, or at least in the same big family. I wonder if they will be fine if I ask that. There is another explanation. It’s a bit different, but they could be in a relationship, like a love relationship. I wonder if that is true and who is on top. I mean by their personalities; I could see Hiromi as the top. But out of nowhere, my mind started to think of a scenario where Hiromi and Sayuri were in a dorm bedroom on a calm and beautiful afternoon, with Hiromi lying down on her back on the bed and Sayuri somehow on top, smirking and caressing Hiromi’s hair. Time by time, my mind starts to again go into unsafe territory.

"Hey, Hanako-chan. What are you waiting for?" Fumiko said that while lightly tapping my shoulder and grabbing her books.

"Sorry, I was daydreaming again." I stood up and put the chair back before grabbing my novel.

"You should try to lessen your daydream moment." Fumiko just smiles while saying that.

Easier said than done, Fumiko. The only thing that differentiates me and you is the fact that I like to daydream more than you do. There is also academic prowess, since she is superior in every way possible, but I am more athletic than her. I guess you lose some and win some.

"So, where to go first?" Hiromi decided to lighten up the atmosphere a bit, which I appreciated. I don’t want to start comparing Fumiko’s body and mine.

"How about the swimming pool?" Fumiko suggested.

"Wait, there is a swimming pool here." Hiromi said that with a bit of a shocked face.

"Yes, there are actually two."

"Two??" Hiromi's face is getting more surprised the more she learns about the swimming pools.

"Yes, the first one is for academics, and the second one is for recreation." Fumiko explained it lightly.

What Fumiko doesn’t expect is that Hiromi releases Sayuri’s hand and closes the distance between her and Fumiko. When I say close, I mean really close. I have a feeling that Fumiko can feel Hiromi’s breath. Fumiko was a bit disturbed, so she took a couple steps backward.

"Please tell me more." Hiromi said that with multiple stars in her eyes.

"Alright, Hiromi. But." Fumiko answered while waving both hands.

"But?" Hiromi looks genuinely confused.

"Can you please step back a bit? You’re a bit too close." Hiromi asked that in a more well-mannered tone, not to upset her.

"Oops, sorry." She immediately takes about five steps backward, maybe more, before bowing a bit. "I don’t know what came over me."

"No, no, it’s fine. As long as you don’t mean any harm." Fumiko answered with a sincere smile.

But, not too long after, Sayuri gave a "come here" sign to Hiromi, and she saw it before hunching down to Sayuri’s eye level. What is she doing? But it’s kind of cute.

"What do you need, Sayuri-chan?" She said it with a smile.

Out of nowhere, Sayuri pinched both of Hiromi’s cheeks lightly before saying "Baka" in a low voice and a few more things that I couldn’t hear. After a minute, Hiromi stands back up again, rubbing her cheeks.

"I am sorry for her action." Sayuri and Hiromi bowed down a bit.

"Please, you don’t need to go that far, Sayuri. It was just a minor thing. I swear, it’s fine as long as you don’t intend any harm to be done."

"But it’s still unforgivable." Sayuri said it lightly.

Before Fumiko could say anything, I rubbed her shoulder to get her attention. She notices it and looks at me, shaking my head. She sighed before taking my hand off her shoulder.’

"How about we just forget about it and start our tour? We can start with the educational swimming pool. I could also explain on our way there."

"That would be lovely." Again, Sayuri said this with a light smile.

I wish she would also do that with courtesy like a princess, but I am getting ahead of myself. Before we start moving, Fumiko explains a bit about all the facilities in this school and gives us her plan for the tour. I am fine with Fumiko taking things over since she did have a few experiences with giving tours. Judging by the fact that she gave me a tour of her 5,000-acre mansion, which she funnily named "The Mansion of Surprises". Ironically, the mansion has like 100 rooms that are different from any other room. So each room is special in its own way. Fumiko told me that her father is a genius and a famous inventor who basically has a lot of life-changing patents, while her mother is a direct descendant of Sir Isaac Newton. Her mother is both smart, charming, and gorgeous, like a goddess. That is how Fumiko is rich, smart, and beautiful. If you asked me, she got the whole package. I am slightly jealous of her background, but I am also glad that we are friends. What I didn’t realize is that Fumiko is done with the explanation and is already walking toward the first tour spot. I shake my head and sigh. So much for being friends.

"Wait up, Fumiko-chan." I immediately tried to catch up to Fumiko, Sayuri, and Hiromi.

"Hanako-chan. I thought you were behind us." Fumiko said that with a bit of a snicker.

How dare you, Fumiko? I thought we were friends. After I catch up with them, we start our way to the first stop, which is the Educational Swimming Pool.

"Sorry, I was just recalling some past memories." I answered.

"Oh, which one?" Fumiko asked while turning herself toward me.

"It’s a secret." I said that and did a "Be quite" sign while snickering.

"Hey, no fair." Fumiko pouts a little.

I gave a little laugh, and I can see that Hiromi does too. We continue our journey to visit all the school facilities.

It took about four hours to cover the major facilities, like gyms, gardens, lounges, the library, the two swimming pools, the movie theaters, all the laboratories, and many more. Have I said that this school is big? If I have, let me remind you again. This school is huge. It’s actually in the top ten biggest buildings or structures in the country. That four hours is both tiring and fun, since we get to see some of their personalities.

For example, Hiromi likes swimming and gardening. She said that she once won a swimming competition. Oh, wait. Not once, but three times. That was a bit shocking to us, but we did explain to her about the swimming club, and her eyes just lit up like a big campfire. She also said that in her old house she had a big garden that she took part in taking care of. So, she enjoys watering the flowers in the morning breeze or the night sky. Truly, a beautiful hobby.

And there is Sayuri, who showed only one interest. Can you guess where?

Which is the therapy-pet room and the garden, just like Hiromi. She didn’t say it out loud. Let’s start with the garden situation. As soon as we reached the flower garden, she walked toward a flower patch and picked a couple hydrangea flowers before walking back to us. Fumiko and I were a bit confused by that, but we just thought that she liked picking up flowers.

Now, the therapy-pet room. First of all, yes, it’s a thing. It’s basically a room full of home pets, like dogs and cats, that are used for psychological relief or when you get a bad score on a test. I may have come here once or twice for my own reasons. Secondly, her reaction was different. When she saw the room, her face was flushed red, and I could even see some steam coming from her. The cutest thing was when I asked if Sayuri wanted to pet one, and she just dashed toward the nearest one and hugged it. Hiromi even asked us to wait outside. We just laughed for a bit before leaving them for a whole 30 minutes. When they came out, Sayuri was blushing red and started to apologize hard while bowing up and down. We had to calm her down and tell her that it was okay. Other than that, they didn’t react all that much when seeing the other facilities, but they were interested in some of the programs we have.

Fumiko said that she was interested in the swimming club and the gardening club, while Sayuri was interested in being a therapy-pet room volunteer, which is really rare. But I won’t complain. It’s nice to see her happy.

After the tour, all of us went back to our dorm for a quick shower before gathering back at the school’s gate. Fumiko and I reach it first, so we just talk about our moment with Sayuri and Hiromi. Lowkey, it was such a fun time hanging out with them. I do hope we can have more chances to hang out together. We waited for another ten minutes for Sayuri and Hiromi to arrive. All of us didn’t change, so it’s the same look for the whole day.

"Are you all ready?" Hiromi asked.

"Hai!!!" Fumiko said that while raising her right arm in a cutesy manner.

"I’m ready here, Hiromi." I said that in a more relaxed way.

Sayuri just nods quietly before grabbing Hiromi’s right hand. Why is she so cute? After a brief explanation from Hiromi about the location of our supposed "Tea Party". We start to head to a nearby bus stop since our destination is a bit far if we walk there. The bus stop was less crowded than usual. Fumiko spots an empty bench, so we head toward it and sit there to wait for the bus to arrive. The bench is big enough for four people. I sit on the farthest left while Fumiko sits right next to me. Hiromi sits next to Fumiko, and finally, Sayuri sits beside Hiromi.

"Fumiko-chan, do you have any idea why this place isn’t crowded?" I whispered to Fumiko.

"It’s probably because most people are still scared after yesterday. They probably want to take the safer option." Fumiko whispered back.

"You have a point."

"Hey, what are you talking about?" Hiromi looked toward us and asked that.

I am debating whether to let her know or not. But Fumiko beat it to it.

"Hiromi-chan was asking about why this bus stop was emptier than usual."

"Oh, is it usually crowded? I thought this was normal."

"Well, usually there are a lot of people on the street enjoying the evening, and the bus stop is usually packed in the evening."

"Doing what?"

"Oh, simple things like hanging out, eating together, going to the mall or home, and many more."

"There are also the occasional couples on a date." I answered out of the blue. I am just wondering what their thoughts on that are.

"What’s a date?"

"You don’t know what a date is?" Fumiko asked unbelievably.

‘No, is it some kind of food?"

From the look on her face, she genuinely doesn’t know what a date is. Is she born into a rich family or something? Does Sayuri also have the same problem?

Why did I think that? Well, it’s mostly because Fumiko once told me that rich people don’t want their children to do nasty things, so they create a barrier for their children from the outside world. I feel both sorry and jealous of them. I mean, if they don’t even know the basics of relationships, how will they survive in life? I wonder if Hiromi knows how to at least do a kiss and the meaning behind it.

"Well, a date is basically when a couple hangs out somewhere like a mall, a café, a zoo, and many other places." Fumiko answered in the most general way possible.

"Can a couple be of the same gender?"

Don’t tell me she likes girls. Huh. How do I know? Just a guess, I swear. There's nothing suspicious about me.

"Usually, it’s from two different genders, but I believe as long as you like your partner. It is alright if it’s from the same gender."

"I see. Thank you for the enlightenment, Fumiko."

"My pleasure." She said that while wiping away a few sweats.

I look back at Sayuri and see her looking down, but I do spot a little blush on her cheek. Before I could ask about the date situation to Sayuri, the bus just arrived. What a shame; maybe I will have the chance when we are in the café.

"Hey, the bus just arrived; we should continue our conversation there." Hiromi stood up, which was followed by Sayuri standing up too.

"What conversation?" Fumiko asked while standing up.

"The date stuffs. I want to learn more."

"Oh, yeah. The date stuffs." Fumiko said nervously.

I laughed a bit before standing up. All of us started to walk toward the bus. After Fumiko paid for the bus trip with her phone, we walked to find empty seats. Lucky for us, the back of the bus is still empty, so we decide to sit there. The seating arrangement is exactly like the one at the bus stop, so I am on the far left, followed by Fumiko, Hiromi, and Sayuri. As soon as all the people at the bus stop are seated in the bus, it starts moving toward the next stop.

Hiromi said that we will need to drop off at the third stop from our previous bus stop. So, we have about 30 minutes to burn. I wish I had brought my novel; this is really a great time to continue my novel. So, in the meantime, I just look out the window and enjoy the scenery. Meanwhile, Fumiko is desperately trying to explain the concept of dating to Hiromi. Fumiko really tries to explain it in a more humane way and not go into unsafe territory, but Hiromi just asks more and more questions in that territory. Maybe Hiromi is interested in that. Who knows?

Even though yesterday was a mess, today was not so bad. Due to yesterday’s mess, not a lot of people came out this night, so it was really peaceful. I could get used to this. I guess I was a bit tired and fell asleep not too long after.

…

Sayuri POV

I was looking out the window and saw some people walking down the road, laughing and enjoying themselves. Is this how they spend their time here? It must be nice to have many friends around you. Even though I was mostly looking out the window, I still tried to listen to Hiromi and Fumiko’s conversation. It is slightly amusing to hear that. You can say that Hiromi is slightly oblivious to the world of romance. I do too, but you can say that I know the basics of it. It did embarrass me a bit that Fumiko is oblivious enough that she doesn’t know the basic concept of date. I should try to explain that to her later. Suddenly I could hear a little snoring. I look to my left and see Hanako sleeping with her right hand on her head. That’s cute. I look back at the window and see that we have passed the second bus stop. By my estimation, we have about ten more minutes before arriving at our stop, so I use my left hand to tap on Hiromi’s shoulder. Hiromi immediately looked toward me.

"What do you need, Sayuri-chan?" Hiromi said.

I took a peek at Fumiko, and I saw that she sighed in relief before hunching back to take her breath. I laughed a bit, and Hiromi must have seen it.

"Did you see anything funny that you want to share, perhaps?" Hiromi asked.

"Not really." I said that before whispering something to Hiromi.

"Alright, Sayuri-chan." Hiromi said that before asking Fumiko to wake up Hanako.

Fumiko shook Hanako violently, and I mean violently. It looks like Fumiko is shaking some demons out of Hanako. This caused Hanako to wake up immediately, looking confused and panicky.

"Fumiko-chan!!!" Hanako said that angrily and in a slightly high tone.

"Sorry, Hanako-chan. Hiromi asked to wake you up." Fumiko said that and did a cat pose with a sly smile.

"I will get you next time. Mark my word." Hanako said that while clenching both hands tightly.

Fumiko then erupted into laughter, and Hiromi followed suit. I laugh lightly to not attract attention, but it seems that Hanako caught me lying since her rage just turned into a smile.

I sometimes don’t understand her, but I have to admit that I enjoy her hospitality. Not too long after, the bus driver announced that they would reach Kiyoura Bus Stop.

"See, I am not wrong, right?" Fumiko said so proudly.

"I am not mad about that; I am mad that you wake me up in such a way." Hanako pointed this out.

"Sorry again." Fumiko said that and did another cat pose.

"Enough with the cat pose; this won’t make me calmer or forget about what you did." Hanako said that again with a much higher tone than before.

"Calm down now. We are still in the bus." Hiromi said that in a low voice.

Hanako looked to her left and right and just realized that she was still on the bus; she blushed before hiding her face. Fumiko and Hiromi laugh a bit, and I do too.

Eventually, the bus reaches the bus stop, and we all start standing and walking out of the bus. After we walked out of the bus, we all started heading west toward the café.

"Hey, Hiromi. Where are we heading anyway?" Fumiko asked.

"Oh, we are heading toward the White Palace Café. Nice name, don’t you think?" Hiromi answered.

"It does sound fancy. I’m in." Fumiko asked excitedly.

"What is with you girls and expensive things?" Hanako said that with a sigh.

This time, I was the only one laughing a bit. It shouldn’t be a long walk; I estimate about 5 to 10 more minutes. So, we all walk there while Fumiko, Hanako, and Hiromi are having a conversation. I was in the back this time, still holding Hiromi’s right hand. It was a wholesome walk.