April, a month that had given my body and mind absolutely no rest with its class tournament and the trouble involving Arae-san, was finally drawing to a close.
It felt like I'd lived through a period so intense that it was hard to believe only a month had passed. In return, however, I should be able to enjoy some peaceful days for a while. As long as you're not in a club or the student council, there are virtually no school-wide activities or events from now until summer vacation. This meant I could also focus on my usual routine of studying and my part-time job.
And, of course, on spending time with my precious girlfriend.
"Maki, there are a ton of new releases. What should we rent? The classic disaster movies are good, but I personally find it hard to pass up on the ones with tons of stuff to poke fun at~ Oh, and you can't talk about this 'Four Seasons Shark' series without tearing up, right? Like, a shark is a shark whether it's spring or winter."
"From laughing too hard, you mean. The fact that it's a series is already hilarious."
On the after-school evening before Golden Week, which starts with the public holiday at the end of April, Umi and I were at our usual rental shop for the first time in a while, picking out titles to watch over the long weekend.
Aside from my part-time job, I'm planning to spend all my entire holiday with Umi. It's gotten warmer, so I'm thinking we'll go out somewhere at some point, but the basic plan is to relax at my place.
In another month and a half, it'll be half a year since we started dating──and we're still a couple of hopelessly in love, with no time to calm down.
The two of us, snuggled up on the sofa watching movies, lazing around on the carpet reading games and manga, and when we get sleepy, we take a nap together on the sofa or in my bed.
I don't know what Umi thinks about it, but personally, my body has gotten to the point where I feel lonely—or rather, always feel like something is missing when she's not by my side.
I was steadily being dyed in the colors of the girl named Asanagi Umi.
After renting a handpicked selection of movies with the goal of watching one per day, we wandered aimlessly around the store.
Perhaps it's a characteristic of an independently owned shop, but besides rental DVDs and Blu-rays, the store also sold used games and anime merchandise, and there were even a few retro machines like what appeared to be very old pachinko and slot machines.
"Huh? Could this be…"
"? What's wrong, Maki? We're still high school students, so no naughty games, okay?"
"No, they don't have that kind of stuff in this shop besides DVDs… That's not it. Look, over there, next to the claw machine."
"! Is that, by any chance, a photo booth…"
"Looks like it."
It seemed to be a much older model compared to the one we used just the other day, but peeking inside, it was a genuine photo booth. I wonder when they put this here; I hadn't noticed it at all until now.
"Hey, Maki."
"…You want to take some, don't you?"
"Hehe, you get me. Last time we were with Yuu and the others, but we never got to take any with just the two of us. I kinda want some~"
"…"
"Makii, you do remember the promise you made me the other day, right?"
"…Yes, of course, I do."
I'm not keen on it since I'm not good at having my picture taken, but when Umi puts it that way, I can't exactly say 'NO'.
I'll grant Umi's wishes as much as possible until Golden Week is over… A promise once made must be kept.
Well, even without a promise, something like this is an easy favor.
I work hard enough at my part-time job to be able to splurge on arcade games.
"It might not be able to touch up our faces like the one at the game center, but it looks like we can write all sorts of text on them. It's boring to just take a picture, so let's write something couple-like."
"Something couple-like… You mean like 'I love you' or 'Together forever'?"
"Yup, yup, something like that. It's just for the two of us, so let's do a more lovey-dovey pose. C'mon, get your face closer."
"I don't mind, but I have a bad feeling about this…"
I don't know what Umi plans to do with these photo booth pictures, but I can already see a future where Amami-san or Nitta-san finds out and I get teased about it all day.
Normally she's careful, but when it comes to me, Umi's guard suddenly drops.
"C'mooon, Maki, smile a little more. Your expression is so stiff."
"U-um, okay, how about this… Heheh."
"Hmm, that's a bit awkward… Well, I guess that's very you, so it's fine."
"…My apologies."
It was the same when we took photo booth pictures with Amami-san, Nitori-san, and the others, the five of us. When I'm the one being photographed, I get nervous and my face tenses up.
The only time I was able to smile naturally was probably in the family photo we took last Christmas.
My memories with Umi will continue to grow, and as long as I'm friends with Amami-san and the others, there will probably be more opportunities like this in the future. I need to get used to being more natural in front of a camera, little by little, for photos and videos.
Let's just consider today the first step.
"Maki, here we go. Ready, pose."
At Umi's signal, we pressed our cheeks together.
The touch of Umi's cheek was incredibly smooth and felt nice.
Warm, and yet so soft──the moment I thought that, a certain impulse welled up inside me.
Maybe I want to do something a little more, just a tiny bit more, obviously couple-like than this──.
3, 2, 1──
Just before the camera's flash went off,
"…Umi, excuse me for a second."
"Huh?"
──Chu.
Almost at the same time as the shutter sound echoed, I shifted my face slightly and planted a hesitant kiss on Umi's cheek.
What appeared on the screen was me, giving my girlfriend a surprise kiss on the cheek, and her cute, stunned face from being caught off guard.
"Um… M-Maki?"
"Ah, uh, sorry. Your cheek was softer and felt better than I expected, so, I just kind of felt like doing that… We both ended up with weird expressions, should we take it again?"
"Y-yeah… Ah, no, let's retake it, but since we have this one, let's save a proper record of it too. We're the only ones who are gonna see it, and this is a good memory in its own way."
"You think so? Well, if you say so, I don't really mind…"
"Yup. So, with that said, if you could pay for it."
The next shot, we posed as originally planned, and we ended up with two different kinds of photos.
…I'm the one who did it, but this is something I can't possibly keep in a place where other people could easily see it.
Especially the kissing photo, absolutely not. Let's keep this a complete secret between the two of us──but just as I thought that, Umi started sticking the two freshly-printed photos onto the back of her phone.
"Um, Umi-san? What exactly are you doing…"
"Eh? Well, see, we went to the trouble of paying for them, so we have to use them as proper stickers."
"I get that, but… you know, other people might see them."
"…Please, my selfishness, until Golden Week."
"Yes, ma'am."
She's pulled out her limited-time trump card, so I can no longer defy her.
I can envision a future after Golden Week where I'll be teased by Amami-san, Nitta-san, and the girls from Class 11 I've recently gotten to know, like Nakamura-san, but I brought this upon myself, so I'll just have to be prepared.
"So, since we're at it, you should put one on your phone too, Maki. I'll let you off the hook for the kissing one. Nobody but me looks at your phone anyway, so it's fine, right?"
"Mmm… I guess so."
On the photo booth picture that Umi stuck on my phone, there were messages written in each of our handwriting.
'Together forever.'
'Let's be together forever.'
Looking at it again after leaving the rental shop, a wave of embarrassment washed over me.
I'm sure this is one of those pages in the book of youth, but to think I'll have to blush every time I look back on it.
I wonder if being young secretly requires a lot of mental fortitude.
"…Ehehe."
"You look happy, Umi."
"Yeah. Because there's so much to look forward to from now on. Golden Week, for one, and most of all, the trip with just the two of us."
"It's not set in stone yet… but I hope we can go sometime soon."
"Let's go. It'll definitely be more fun that way."
"…Yeah. So, where do you want to go, Umi?"
"Abroad! Somewhere with a beautiful ocean."
"Isn't that a bit impossible?"
"Haha, you're right. Well then, what's your pick, Maki?"
"Hmm… Theme parks are too crowded… so maybe, a hot spring or something."
"…Lewd."
"I didn't mean it like I want to bathe together or see you naked or anything like that."
"…You don't want to see me?"
"…I didn't go that far."
"See?"
"Ugh."
We'll need to hash out the details about the location later, but it'll probably be around summer vacation.
It seems like I'll also need to use Golden Week to make plans for that, including getting permission from our moms.
Budget, destination, transportation, accommodation, and so on.
It's not decided whether we can go on a trip just the two of us, but there's no harm in just planning it.
Just talking about things like that is enough for Umi and me to have a good time.
I hope that our days ahead will continue just like this—always bright, fun, and sometimes embarrassing.
I thought this as I felt the warmth of my lover's hand, our fingers tightly intertwined so we wouldn't be separated.