𝟶𝟶𝟺: 𝙵𝚒𝚎𝚕𝚍 𝚃𝚛𝚒𝚙!

"Alright class, today we will be preparing for a field trip!" Ms. Hatsune said, and I froze. A WHAT?

"But for today you will just be pairing up with your groups. Only 4 people per group, chop chop!" She clapped her hands, and everyone started picking their friends.

"It'd be best if I stuck with you, right?" Akito smiled, and I nodded immediately. But his smile quickly faded when An pulled a chair at my table.

"All the offers I got from people! Unbelievable!" She sighed, putting her head down.

"Then go with them. I don't want you here."

"Stop hogging Toya all the time! I want to spend time with him, too!" She wrapped her hands around my arm, and Akito got even more irritated.

"You don't mind me being in your group, do you, Toya?" She cried, and I shook my head out of pity. "Yippee! In your face, sucker!" An cheered, and Akito rolled his eyes.

"Sorry."

"Don't apologize. You're too much of an angel for this world." Akito ruffles my hair, and as I blush, we wait for someone else to join our group. For some apparent reason, nobody asked. I saw people staring at me like they wanted to, but once they saw Akito they looked away.

"Does everybody have a group? Please raise your hand if you don't, I want everyone to participate!"

I looked around, and we were the only group of 3. Maybe everyone just had 4 people to be with. Until someone raised their hand, who had grayish-green hair. We all stared at her, and she looked embarrassed. Why does this scene feel familiar to me..?

"Does anyone have a group of 3? Or take Nene in..? Mr. and Ms. Kagamine are fighting again, I have to go stop them.." The teacher asked, and everyone looked away. An sprung up from her seat, raising her hand.

"Join our group! Us!! We have a group of 3!!" She waved her hands around, even if we were two tables away from her.

"Shut up, we're the only group of 3, dumbass." Akito shushed her.

"Thank you, An! Guys, this is Nene Kusanagi, Nene, this is An Shiraishi," The teacher walked her to us. "Akito Shinonome, and Toya Aoyagi! You all will do great!"

"Good job scoring those brownie points." A girl whispered, and her group giggled. An stuck her tongue out, and Akito glared at them, making them quickly look away.

"Forget them! You'll be a great member for us, welcome to the team, Nene!" An slapped her back, and Akito smacked her head. So much violence..

"Where.. will we even be going?" Kusanagi said, in a quiet voice. When we looked at her again, she blushed and apologized.

"Oh, are you shy? That's fine! Miss, Nene wants to know where we're going!" An shouted, hurting my ears.

"Kyoto and Nara!"

The whole class gasped, and An gasped the loudest. Akito didn't give any reaction. Kusanagi gave a big sigh, but it was so quiet nobody heard. Kyoto? Well, time to break my leg so I go on a trip to the hospital instead. Akito glanced at me, and noticed I was nervous.

"Did you like Kyoto? You've gone on a trip there before, right?" He asked. My actual answer would be embarrassing, so I just nodded.

"Toya's been to Kyoto?! Was it fun there? Was your group okay, did they treat you well??" An burst with excitement. I slowly nod, and she gets confused.

"Which one-?"

"If you're going to ask 'which one', then don't ask so many questions at once." Akito gave her a death stare, and I could tell Kusanagi felt the tension in the air as well.

They continued to argue, and I put my head on the desk. They got alarmed for some reason.

"U-Um, anyways, Toya, do you like visiting Nara, too? I heard we get 4 hours to explore the area by ourselves, that'll be fun!" An quickly says, like she's trying to cheer me up.

"Yeah, you can pick where we go first! The hotels are being separated by gender, too."

"Oh, is it? Dang, someone said there's a sauna, I wanted to sell pictures of Toya." An pouted, and I trembled.

"Even if you were allowed to see him, I'd break that camera before you're able to take anything." Akito glares, and she whistles, hiding behind Kusanagi.

"Well hush, if you threaten me and my camera again, I won't print out these photos I took of him sleepi-" He runs up to her, and covers her mouth. I'm sorry, what?-

"SHE SAID NOTHING!" Akito awkwardly laughs, suffocating An. Kusanagi scoots away. Good choice.

"You've got one weird friend group..." Kusanagi says, and I smile.

-*-*-

It's the day before the field trip, so basically Friday. An is her usual self, Akito is trying to control her, and Kusanagi is playing on her phone. What should I do, though? Should I help Akito while preventing him from making her unconscious? Or watch Nene do her thing? I like games, so I think we would get along for that.

But I don't know.. how to approach her. People normally just point out what they're playing and say they share an interest, right? Um..

I stare at her, hesitate, and look away. I can't do it. Akito drags An back, and throws her on a chair.

"Are you excited, Toya?" He asks. I nod, but I'm not sure how to tell him I don't know anything about Kyoto.

After school, An left us to go pick up Kohane. Kusanagi followed, because she said someone named Emu Otori is her friend that needs watching. Leaving me and Akito alone. The whole walk is silent, and we arrive to my house.

"Bye, Toya. See you tomorrow!" He waves while walking away, and I wave back. I should probably tell him. I drop my bag, run to catch up to him, and tug on his shirt.

"Huh?"

"Akito..!" I say, trying to seem confident, but I'm shaking so badly that he is too. Also on the verge of tears. He notices, and chuckles.

"Calm down. You'll be fine with me. But I understand, it's your first time speaking to me. I'm glad you've grown comfortable around me." He says, and I blush, not helping my trembling. I take a deep breath, and stop a little.

"I.. I lied. I'm sorry." I mumble while looking down, and I can tell he got confused. Even if I can't see his face, because he's turned around. Did he know that would make me more braver to speak?

"About what?"

"I never actually went to Kyoto. The only time I got a chance was in middle school, when my father let me try going to school again.." I tighten my grip on his shirt. "But nobody wanted me to be in their group. They thought I was odd since I never talked, and they didn't know who I was. I entered school late.. so when I needed to get into one, the leaders of each one had to pull a stick. The people who got me didn't say anything. I couldn't tell if they wanted me gone, or were fine with me being with them.."

"No matter how much I tried, I couldn't see their faces. Everything was blurry. So I didn't go on the trip. I went back to homeschooling."

Akito finally turns around, and brings me into his arms. My eyes widen, and he holds me close.

"It's not your fault. You said it yourself, no matter how hard you try, you can't bring yourself to. I saw it when you tried approaching Nene, so don't worry about it."

For it being cold outside, my face is getting hot.

"If you don't go to this one, I won't either." He says, and I get out of his arms.

"You don't have to just because of me..!"

"It's fine. We can have our own trip there, just the two of us."

Does he even know what he's saying?! I run back to my house, pick up my bag, and slam the door.

"I was joking!!" He shouts, and laughs.

I cover my face with my scarf, and silently scream into it.

"Wow-" My mother says, peeking out the window, and I feel my face light up again. This is so humiliating!

-*-*-

I barely got any sleep last night, because of how I spilled almost an entire part of my past to him, and he.. I'd rather not talk about it. I feel my face heat up again, and I kick my feet on my bed. I acted stupid in front of my mother!

"Toya~! Time to wake up, my baby!" My mother says, picking me up with my blanket. How is she so strong? I'm way taller than her, and I can't even pick up a chair. This is embarrassing to be me.

"Do you have everything?" She asks, and I nod. I check my bag for the 3rd time, and get a feeling of relief.

"I wish I remembered to buy you a phone sooner! Please, be safe, okay? Spend all the money you need!" She hugs me, kisses my forehead, and I hug her back. Then I imagine how Akito hugged me, doing exactly what she did. I grow red, and pull myself away. She laughs, and I say goodbye.

"Toya! Over here!" An waves her hands, and I walk up to them. Me and Akito stare at each other, and look away, blushing. "Did you guys fight?" She asks.

I shake my head rapidly, bright red.

"N-No, it's- Nothing!" Akito stutters, and Kusanagi grows suspicious.

"You two act like a flustered couple that just got together." She plugs her earphones in again, and An nods. I heat up even more, at least something is keeping me warm I guess.

The rest of the class came, we were just early to the train. When we board with our bags, Akito offers to take mine.

"Ooo, mine, too!" An throws her bag on Akito, who sighs, putting the whole group's away. "Nene, let's sit across from them!"

"Okay." She brings all her electronics and chargers, and An nervously laughs.

As its time for the train to take off, Akito sits next to me. I'm actually really curious on how An knows a ton of people that go to a private school only for girls while she goes here. So in conclusion, I don't know anyone in my class.

"Hello everyone, I am Megurine Luka, your tour guide! No further questions about myself. If you heard of me, no you haven't, shut up." The lady with pink hair smiles intimidatingly.

"Uh.. so, how do you normally spend your weekends..?" Akito asks, and I grab the notebook and pencil I took from my bag.

"Oh, you still have that?" He points to it, because it's the one he gave me. I nod, and smile. Why would I not keep something my first friend in a long time gave me? Akito blushes, putting my hood up and pulling it over my face.

"You're really something, you know that?" He chuckles.

-*-*-

An hour passes by, and Akito is asleep. An is wide awake, while Kusanagi has her chair back, with a blanket and pillow.

She glances at us, and smirks. An carefully gets out of her seat, and approaches us.

"Hey, Toya!" She whispers, not waking Akito up. I know she's plotting something. "So, are you feeling tired?"

I shake my head. I'm used to being woken up this early, I used to when my father forced me to have time for piano lessons before. Her grin gets eviler, and she leans on Akito's seat. His is near the aisle.

"In that case, you wouldn't mind if someone slept on your shoulder, would you?" She flutters her eyelashes, and I slowly shake my head. "Good! Down you go, Akito." She slightly pushes his head, onto my shoulder. My face flushes, and I stare at her, trying to get her to pick his head back up. She yawns, going back to her seat, putting her eye mask on.

"Wake me up when we get there, Toya!" She says, and snores. Now I'm even more awake now. Wait, I shouldn't be nervous. This is what friends do.. isn't it?

-*-*-

We arrive at our destination, and An springs up. Was she even asleep?

"Guys, we're here!! Wake up sleepyhead!" She pokes Akito a lot, until he grabs her hand. "Ow!"

"Do that one more time." He glares, almost cracking her finger.

"Toya, help me! He's always cranky when he wakes up!" She shrieks, struggling to break free. I pull his arm away, and he gives up. An gasps for air, and goes to Kusanagi. "Nene~!! Wakey-wakey!"

"Five more minutes.." She whines, and An yanks the blanket off of her. "Are you insane?! It's so cold!" Kusanagi tries her best to take it back, until An throws her jacket on her.

"I'll grab our bags to take to the hotel!" She cheerfully leaves, and Akito springs up.

"Did you sleep well?"

"Forget that, does your shoulder hurt?! How long has it been since I was asleep? I didn't drool, did I..?"

I shake my head, and laugh a little.

"This is embarrassing." He slumps in his seat, covering his face with his palm.

"Welcome to Kyoto, Japan! Please exit the train so we can get this party started!" Megurine cheers, and we all finally go out as a group.

"Be on your best behaviors with Luka, okay? I'm going to go check in at our hotel!" Ms. Hatsune says, and a porter ended up taking the bags.

"This way, everyone!" The tour guide walks, and we follow.

"Okay, everyone! Let's begin with the fushimi-inari taishu shrine! It is famous for its thousands of vermilion torii gates, which straddle a network of trails behind its main buildings." Megurine continues to talk, but I admire the place instead. It's very beautiful.

"Here is the Kiyomizu-dera temple, otherwise known as the 'Temple of the Pure Water Spring', a Buddhist temple in Kyoto. The site is famous for its impressive viewing platform, three-storey Koyasu pagoda and the medicinal pure waters of the Otowa Spring. The popular expression "to jump off the stage at Kiyomizu", English translation is "to take the plunge". This refers to an Edo-period tradition that held that if one were to survive a 13-meter 43-foot jump from the stage, one's wish would be granted. During the Edo period, 234 jumps were recorded. I suggest you don't jump, A, because I'd be held responsible B, only 85.4% survived!"

"Woohoo! I'm going to jump! Ow!!" An climbed the railing, and Akito grabbed her hair. Kusanagi pulled her by her arm.

"Not so fast."

Would I really be able to make more friends and beat my anxiety by one jump? What if I-

"Toya. Don't." Akito laughed, and I stepped away. Yeah on second thought I don't want to be the other 14.6%.

We visited the places Megurine said are the main tourist attractions, I'm so glad I came on this trip. Kyoto is very beautiful. It's time to go to the hotel, and Megurine says goodbye.

"I'm going to hit the sauna!! Ahahaha!! Nene, let's go!" An is already in her towel, and I look away.

"Ew. Go away naked rat." Akito says, judging her. She rolls her eyes, pulling Kusanagi by her arm.

"I'm going to admire this girl's body!! You could be a model~!" An says, and she tries holding onto the wall to not go.

"Save me!!"

They finally leave, and Akito sighs.

"Are you going to come, too?" He says, going to the male's changing room.

I nod, and follow him.

We see the men taking pictures of each other's muscles, making weird poses. I try my best not to laugh, and Akito is just straight up confused. We both get awkward when we have to change. The silence is very loud.

"Um.. Do you want to change first?" Akito asks, looking away. I began to remove my clothes, embarrassingly. If someone were to open that door I would sob my eyes out. It's literally in front of Akito, after all.

I finish quickly, and look away for him to begin. We're both men, so why is this so awkward for us?

"Okay, I'm done." He says, and I stand up. "We should probably go back to the room a few minutes before the teacher gathers everyone, so-- OOF--" The door slams open, knocking Akito down, with me.

"Woah, did I just hit someone?! I'm so-- oh."

I open my eyes, and see Akito on top of me on the floor. I get flushed, and Akito's face is red.

"I-It's not what it-!"

"Sorry." The person closes the door, and Akito quickly gets up.

"It's not what it looks like!!" He says, banging his head on the door. He lets out a huge groan, and helps me up. "Sorry for.. embarrassing you. Are you okay?"

I blush, and nod a million times.

"You'll break your neck. But I'm glad. Let's just.. go." He laughs, and I follow.

We go into the sauna, and walk past the group still taking pictures. I slowly go in, and sit. I feel like I could die right here.

"You really enjoy this, huh?" Akito smiles, and I sit up straight. "Is this your first time?"

We stay silent, and he gets red again. Maybe they should lower the temperature if it's too hot for him.

"Th-the sauna, I mean!" He says, flustered.

I nod. I actually never went anywhere like this before, that's probably why I'm very excited.

"Really? I should ask you about your past in the future."

Please don't.

And now, there's way more people from our class here. I'm proud of myself for learning by their faces, but.. why are they so close to me?

"Don't stop me! I need to sell photos of him for a million dollars!"

Is that.. An?

"Toya!! Let me take one picture, or take my camera!" She says, and Kusanagi has to be the one to keep her towel from falling off. The boys here shriek like girls, and cover themselves. And their eyes. Akito just frowns in disappointment.

"An, no!!" Ms. Hatsune tries grabbing her arm, not pulling her too hard.

I get up, and walk to them.

"Toya, wha-" Akito says, and all the people there glare at him. He stares back.

I raise an eyebrow and cross my arms, pointing outside.

"Okay.." She slumps, dragging her feet.

"Thanks, Toya!" The teacher says, giving a thumbs up while looking the other way.

"Don't cause a scene like that again!" Kusanagi mumbles, and An wraps her arm around her.

"It's okay, I'm satisfied with your pictures at least."

"My WHAT??"

I sigh, wait for them to leave, and start trembling. Does she hate me now? Akito puts his hand on my shoulder, and I jolt.

"Good job. You did well standing up for yourself for once. Come on, let's go back to the room and call it a day." He smiles, and my face flushes in an instant. His hands are warm. Wait, is that creepy to think about? Whatever, might as well get ready for bed.

We change into our clothes, avoiding the door, and walk to the room. After getting attacked by An again, Kusanagi dragged her away, Akito kicked her out, and I can finally sleep. Or so, I thought. I ignored the people in a circle because it wasn't my business, and put my mat next to Akito's.

"All right, we'll settle this like men. The last one standing gets the spot next to him!" One of them stands up, grabbing a pillow. He throws it at the other's face, knocking them down. Why are they fighting?

"One down! Who's next?!"

Akito gives a look in disapproval, and I just watch. They're making too much noise for me to sleep. He suggests I move to the wall, so I only have him on one side. They continue throwing pillows and laughing, so this might not end for a while. Just as I yawn, a pillow hits me in the face. Hard.

"The fuck did you do that for?!" He says, trying to hit their face with it.

"S-Sorry, Aoyagi! I didn't mean t--" Before he finishes, another person throws one at Akito's face as well.

"Oh, you're so dead." Akito says, irritated. This is going to end up as a war if nothing is done. More people get out, and watch with me. The last people are up against each other, which is Akito and one of the people who were taking pictures earlier.

"If you lose, you give up your spot!"

"Fine by me. If you lose, I'll make you wish you were never born." He said as his eye twitched.

"B-Bring it!"

Before anyone throws a pillow, footsteps are outside the room. They all quickly place their own mats on the floor, and act like they're asleep.

"Are you all sleeping? Good." Ms. Hatsune says, as I'm clearly shaking. She closes the door, and everyone laughs quietly.

"Aha!" She slams open the door, and they shriek.

-*-*-

We're eating breakfast now, all tired. Ms. Hatsune let me sit out for the lecture, but she was still too noisy and I couldn't complain.

"It was unnecessary to give us a scolding like that before bed." One of the boys complains, and Akito looks drained. I try to find something that will cheer him up, and look around. Whenever I feel down, he always ruffles my hair. I touch his head, and he sits up straight.

"Huh?" He blushes.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

"I-It's fine, just- give me a warning next time.." Akito faces the other way, and I nod. At least he looks happier.

"Toya, can you give me some of your food, please~?" An says, already taking my food. Akito glares at her, and gives some of his food to me instead. Wait, then what will he eat-?

After we got that sorted out (me and Akito shared instead), we got a 4 hour break to go around kyoto. Then, we go to Nara and back to the hotel. Tomorrow is sunday, so we go back home after another 5 hours of exploring if everyone is already done sooner, we can go earlier.

"Come on, I can't explore on an empty stomach! Let's go get some food first!" An whines, holding Akito's leg as he tries walking.

"You just ate breakfast!" He says, trying to kick her off.

"Do you want to go anywhere?" Kusanagi reads my paper, and blushes. She shakes her head, and the others look at her.

"Are you sure?" An asks, getting off of Akito.

"It's embarrassing.." She mutters, hiding her face.

"Come on, it's fine. This fatass wants to get food already." Akito points to An, and she takes a lot of offense. I nod, agreeing.

"Toya-?!"

Wait, I didn't mean that part-

"I.. I want to go to the nara deer park.. I read it online before we got here.." She looks down, speaking in a quiet whisper. We glance at each other, and An jumps on her.

"Of course we can go there! I want to see a deer, too!! Let's go!" She grabs Kusanagi's and my hand, running to the train station.

It's not the same one we kind of seating here, and we all sit next to each other.

"I'm happy you guys chose me for a group. Not a lot of people really want to speak to me, and I get too uncomfortable with people that I start acting cold to them. I've always been an outcast.." Kusanagi mumbles, with a weary smile. They both comfort her, and I think. I've been like that, too. I know what that must feel like for her. I want to give her the best time possible on this trip.

After half an hour, we only have 3 hours and 30 minutes left.

"Come on, guys! Look at how cute they are!" An rushes out, trips, then immediately gets back up.

"Do you guys want to feed them? I can go buy the food for the deer. I also researched and it's just 200Â¥." Akito says, pulling out his wallet.

I shake my head, offering to give him money for myself.

"No, it's fine, really. You can pay me back by taking me out for pancakes when we get back home." He declines, probably saying that in a joking way. I will pay him back.

"Get me some, too!" An shouts, scaring the deer.

"No, you're paying for yourself."

"Come on!"

Once Akito comes back with the stack of cookies, Kusanagi rushes to feed them. They don't come at first, and then a small one does. She smiles widely, and.. already crying?

"Are you going to feed one?" An asks me, drowning in them already.

"Nah, I'm just observing this cranky one." Akito says, as the deer is pushing everyone away. I walk trying to approach one, but they all go away. Why me-?

I droop, and I see a deer in front of me. It's the aggressive one. It hesitates at first, but approaches me. I hold out the cookie for it to eat, and the deer takes it. Oh my god.

"I want to take a picture of this! Toya, say cheese!" An holds out her camera, and I nod, excited. I'm too scared to move, so I'm going to stay still.

"Me too." Kusanagi says, holding out her phone.

"Send us that." An and Akito say. Who wouldn't want a picture of a cute deer?

"You know, Akito, that deer reminds me of you." An looks up at Akito, and Kusanagi nods.

"Huh?" He raises an eyebrow.

"Well, it's mean to the other ones, especially its own family, but it really warmed up to Toya in an instant when none of the other ones did." An snickers, and Kusanagi smiles. Akito's face goes red, and he pushes her away. I look at it, and I really do see the resemblance. I'm glad we stayed after that day.

We stayed for 20 minutes. Now we have 3 hours and 10 minutes left. An suggested we pick places to go in order from smallest to tallest (getting a smack from Kusanagi), and after her turn we'd go for lunch.

"Okay, I say we go to Gion District! Let's go!" An marches to the station, and we go to the train again.

"What do you want to do there?" Akito asks An, who's looking out the window. She turns to him, and grins.

"I want to see Nene in a Geisha dress." She said, and Kusanagi immediately turned to her.

"H-Huh?!" She shouts, blushing.

"Nothing~!"

It took 35 minutes to arrive. We now have 2 hours and 55 minutes. An grabbed Kusanagi's hand, dragging her to change at the speed of light. We waited outside, patiently. Akito suggested we listen to music in the meanwhile, but I don't have a phone. He pulled out wired earphones, and gave one side to me.

Is this the kind of music Akito likes? Interesting. They return, and I hand back his earphone.

"We're back~! How does she look?!" An said, with her hair in a messy bun, make-up on her hands, wiping sweat away, eyes full of excitement.

An had put Kusanagi in a kimono, her hair all nice, a hairpin, and given her an umbrella. The make-up was done very well, it's hard to believe she did all this.

"Wow, you did this?"

"Yup! Pretty impressive, huh? With the training of Ena and Mizuki, I'm a pro!" An smiles, and Akito sighs.

Kusanagi grows even more shy, hiding her face with the umbrella.

"Cool." Akito coldly says, walking away.

"Not so fast! We're going to admire this beauty until it's time for lunch! I spent my time and money on this, and it was so worth it!!" An grabs him, struggling to drag him.

"It looks very nice on you, Kusanagi." I smile.

She's bright red, and puts the umbrella in my face.

"Sh-Shut up! But.. thanks.." Her voice fades. An glances at Akito, who looks away, and comes to us again.

"So, uh- let's go walk around, guys! I'll take Nene with me to show her off to the world! Remember, the rules of geisha are to be married to art, not a man!" She awkwardly laughs, taking her away. I blink, standing awkwardly.

"Wh-What man?!" Kusanagi shrieks, flustered.

"Have fun, you two!" They wave, and I wave back. Kusanagi looks like she doesn't want to see me, though. Did I upset her?

"Want to get something before lunch? I still have money." Akito offers, and I shake my head. He stares at me, and I look to the side, nervously. Just then, my stomach growls. Why.

"Knew it. I'll have you know, if I ever pay for anyone, it's only gonna be for you and me." He laughs, and walks to the subway. What?! My face flushes, and I try to act cool about it.

"I'll text An where we're going. It's not far from here on the train." He sends the message, and I nod.

The next second when we're seated, there's a lot of notification sounds.

"Yup, she's mad." He laughs, putting his phone away.

"Let's just have some alone time, me and you, okay?"

My face heats up, and I nod. Is he aware of the words coming out of his mouth?!

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟺: '𝙵𝚒𝚎𝚕𝚍 𝚃𝚛𝚒𝚙?!', 𝚎𝚗𝚍.

-*-*-