The two-night, three-day trip, which had seemed to fly by in an instant, was finally over, with only the journey home remaining.
I was exhausted from everything that had happened, from the first day right up to the last, but I'd been in good spirits the whole time. Best of all, I'd managed to make some wonderful memories with Umi, so I'd call it a resounding success.
"──Mother-in-law, thank you so much for everything these past three days. Next time I visit, I'll be sure to bring my husband to greet you."
"That's right. It's been a while since we've all been together, and it just gets suffocating with only Daichi around, so I'd be happy if you did."
"Suffocating? Oh my, are you feeling unwell? It would be terrible if something happened while you were all alone. Perhaps you should consider moving into an assisted living facility soon?"
"You've been a part of the Asanagi family for quite some time now, yet your tongue is as sharp as ever. My two grandchildren are much better behaved. As expected of my Daichi's children."
"They're my children, too, you know."
""…""
While Riku-san and Shizuku-san had managed to clear up their misunderstandings and resolve their issues over the past three days, it seemed the ice between these two would take a while longer to thaw.
Well, they don't hesitate to say what they want to each other, so in that sense, maybe they get along better than it seems.
Next to the glaring, smiling duo of daughter-in-law and mother-in-law, Riku-san and Umi sighed as if to say, 'Are they still at it?'
"More importantly, Grandma. Like I said earlier, I think I'll probably be staying here again. I'll let you know when I'm ready to move, so please get my room back to how it was in the meantime."
"I know… Seriously, to think the day would come when I'd be living with my grandson at this age. But Riku, if you make Shizuku-chan cry again, I won't forgive you. You won't find another girl as good as her these days, no matter how hard you look."
"Yeah. I'll keep that in mind."
From now on, he'd have to go through a formal interview process, but Shizuku-san had promised him he'd almost certainly be hired (or rather, she'd make sure he was), so Riku-san was planning to prepare for that.
Though he still needed to get final permission from Daichi-san, the head of the family, it was almost certain that Riku-san would be moving out of his current room, especially since Mizore-san and Sora-san were on board.
The lively Asanagi household would become a little quieter now.
"Well then, Grandma, we'll see you later. Come on, Maki, say your goodbyes."
"Yeah… Mizore-san, next time I'll come with Umi."
"Of course. You two are always welcome, so come by whenever you're free."
We received a mountain of fruits, sweets, and other souvenirs, and as the car pulled away, we stuck our heads out the window and bowed to Mizore-san one last time.
I don't know when we'll see her next, but I definitely want to visit her again while she's still healthy.
After that, the car ride home was mostly silent, with the exception of Riku-san, who was driving.
Sora-san in the passenger seat and Umi and I in the back all fell asleep within minutes of departing, as if our strings had been cut. Come to think of it, Riku-san woke me up early this morning to ask for advice, so I haven't gotten much sleep.
They say the trip isn't over until you get home, but personally, I was already completely satisfied.
Just like on the way there, we took several breaks and slowly made our way back to the familiar scenery of our everyday lives.
Starting tomorrow, school would begin as usual. My brain, which had completely switched to vacation mode over the three-day weekend, was now being suddenly faced with regular classes… It was incredibly depressing, but it wasn't like there was nothing to look forward to.
My beloved Umi is always by my side, and when I go to school, Amami-san, Nitta-san, Nozomu, and my other friends should be there to greet me.
I wanted to tell everyone about what happened on this trip. Of course, there were some things I couldn't talk about, but I was sure they'd listen with interest.
Amami-san would probably react with pure, honest surprise to everything we said. The nosy Nitta-san would likely try to pry into the 'things I can't talk about,' and I could just imagine Nozomu getting exasperated with her and making a witty comeback.
Imagining that made my gloomy mood lift a little.
I wonder how long it's been since I've felt this way.
And so, for several hours, I dozed off, lulled by the gentle vibrations of the car as if it were a cradle.
"──ki, Maki, wake up. We're in front of your house."
"Hwhai…?"
I was shaken awake by Riku-san's large hand to find that the car had already arrived in front of my apartment building.
Partly because I'd been asleep the whole time, the ride back felt much quicker than the ride there.
Although I had tried to pack as compactly as possible on the way, my luggage had now ballooned to the point where I couldn't carry it all, thanks to the souvenirs from Mizore-san and the ones for Amami-san and the others.
It's going to be a heavy haul to my front door.
"See you later, Maki-kun. Tell Masaki-san I said, 'Let's go for a drink again soon.' I have so much I want to talk to her about, so make sure it's a promise, okay?"
"Haha… I'll tell her, but please be careful not to drink too much."
Sora-san probably hasn't had much time to relax these past three days. I should subtly tell Mom about the Asanagi family's daughter-in-law and mother-in-law issues.
Mom probably struggled with that too, so she should be the perfect person for Sora-san to talk to.
"Maki, I really owe you one for this. It was pretty uncool of me to be bowing my head to someone almost a decade younger, but thanks to you, I was able to make up with Shizuku… Thank you."
"I'm glad to hear you say that… What you said to Shizuku-san at the end was really cool."
"D-don't remind me… Anyway, I'm in your debt. If you ever need anything, I'll help you out, so if you're ever in trouble with studying or anything else, just let me know. Even something as simple as your sister being annoying is totally fine."
"…Die, you damn brother."
"H-hey, Umi… Uh, I don't need anything right now, but if something comes up, I'll be sure to ask for your advice."
Being able to deepen my bond with Riku-san in particular was a huge gain for me personally.
He's a little older than me, but after Nozomu, he's a valuable person I can talk to about guy stuff. Above all, he's Umi's older brother, so I want to build a good relationship with him, and with Shizuku-san and Reiji-kun, too.
I bowed my head, thanking Riku-san and Sora-san again and again, and saw them off as they drove back to the Asanagi house.
…And finally, there was Umi, with whom I'd had such a fun time this whole trip.
"Hey, Umi."
"Hm? What?"
"Why did you get out of the car with me? Don't you have to go home?"
"I'll be home by dinner. Besides, it'll be hard for you to carry all that luggage by yourself. Grandma seems to have taken a real liking to you, Maki, giving you all these souvenirs."
As Umi said, I could barely hold it all in my arms, and it would be tough to carry it from here to my room. I was honestly very grateful that Umi had stayed behind.
"…Besides, you know."
"Umi?"
The moment we got on the elevator with our luggage, Umi snuggled up to me like a spoiled child and whispered.
"I kinda want to… be all lovey-dovey with you a little longer… Seeing my brother and Shizuku-san hugging so happily kinda flipped a switch in me, I guess."
I felt the same way.
When I saw Riku-san and Shizuku-san at that moment, when their long-held feelings were finally reciprocated, I genuinely thought it was a wonderful thing.
I want us to keep wanting each other like that forever, too.
In other words, our stupid-in-love couple mode had been fully ignited.
I'd slept soundly on the way back, but during that time, we were stuck together even more closely than on the way there. Sora-san and Riku-san didn't say anything, but we were hugging each other the whole time in the back seat.
Seeing another couple being all lovey-dovey and feeling the need to compete by showing that we were much closer… Looking back on it now, we really are a hopeless, stupid-in-love couple.
For now, I got off the elevator and returned to my apartment for the first time in three days. The familiar scent of home filled my nostrils, and I let out a sigh of relief. I had been worried that Mom might have made a mess in her usual way since I was gone, but other than a few cigarette butts in the ashtray, not much had changed.
It seemed she was able to manage on her own, at least for now. The side dishes I'd prepared in the fridge were all gone.
"Maki, should I put the fruits in the vegetable drawer?"
"Yeah. I'll eat the jellies and stuff soon, so you can just put them in the fridge wherever there's space."
"Mkay. Got it."
We organized all the souvenirs from Mizore-san that were packed into the paper bags, putting the sweets with a longer shelf life in the storage space under the cupboard and the ones with shorter expiration dates in the fridge or setting them aside for a later snack.
I tossed the clothes and towels I used on the trip into the washing machine, put my other luggage away in my room… and finally, I was able to collapse onto the sofa and relax.
"…Phew, I'm tired."
"Yeah. But it was a lot of fun. We had that huge soft-serve ice cream at the service area, and we ate so much delicious food there. At night, we ate the snacks and drank the juice we bought at the convenience store."
"It seems like all we did was eat."
"Fufu, I've probably gained weight, so I'll have to be careful from now on… And well, other things happened when we were alone, right?"
"Well, yeah…"
I wonder if I was feeling more open-minded because of the trip, but I feel like I did some things that I would normally be too chicken to do.
The incident on the mountain path on the first day, bathing together in the open-air bath… Playing in the river was supposed to be the main event, but I feel like we did things that easily surpassed that.
…And even now.
"Hey, Maki. Let me ask you again."
"…Yeah."
"Maki, do you… want to… do it… with me?"
"…Uh,"
I hesitated for a moment, but then I said it clearly.
"…I do. A lot."
To be frank, I think I'm pretty close to my limit.
Even though all of our attempts were unsuccessful, I can still clearly remember the sensations left on my body.
Umi's breasts, which I had touched properly for the first time, were so soft, and I remembered the taste of her sweat when I kissed her neck. And her flushed, naked skin as she soaked in the hot spring.
I'd recovered my strength after sleeping soundly on the way back, and I also wanted to try using that thing that hadn't gotten a turn in these three days.
"But you seem pretty calm for someone who does. Your heart is pounding, but it's not as loud as it was during our failed attempt on the first day."
"I guess I can't hide anything from you… Yeah, to be honest, I'm a little hesitant… No, it's more like I've started to hesitate."
My desire to do sexual things with Umi hasn't changed, but after this trip──no, after seeing Riku-san and Shizuku-san, I've had a change of heart.
Maybe it's okay to take things a little slower.
"I think I was probably in a hurry. We became a couple early on and have been doing some stupid-in-love things, but not much has really changed in the last two or three months."
"Is that, like, a rut… or something?"
"Maybe. We've come this far pretty quickly, except for crossing that last line, right? So, my heart and body got confused, thinking that if we're this close, it's normal to just get it over with… or something."
I have no experience, so I've been using stories from people around me and things I've heard online as a reference. I've had advice from friends and family at times, and I've tried my best with Christmas, Valentine's Day, and her birthday, but it's hard to talk about sexual things. Not just with friends and family, but even with her.
So, lately, I've been thinking about it a lot by myself. It's been half a year since we started dating… Some people do it sooner… And I felt a strange sense of obligation that I, as the boyfriend, had to be the one to think about these things.
Umi is kind and sweet to me, so she was considerate of me even in that state, but I think it would be better to talk about these things properly, including all that.
Even if it's embarrassing, if we're a couple, and if we're thinking about the future.
So that we don't take a detour like Riku-san and his group did.
It's wonderful that they've gone back to the way they used to be, but I don't want us to go through the same thing, and I don't think we should have to.
"It's probably cowardly of me not to do anything now… but I don't want to do it with this kind of momentum. I want to think about it properly. It's my 'first time' with someone I love, so I want to cherish it more."
"I see. But I've also heard that love is all about momentum, you know? In fact, that's how my parents got married so quickly. It seems like they had a hard time afterward, though."
"There's some truth to that… but that's why I want us to work it out together… Hey, haven't our positions been reversed at some point? Are you okay?"
"Mine was just an analogy… Well, as for me…"
Umi looked down shyly, but she still confessed her feelings to me.
"I'm, you know, ready whenever. I have no intention of dating anyone other than you, Maki, and besides, you know, we're going to… do it, eventually."
"I-I see… Well, that's true. My parents' 'within the bounds of common sense' probably refers to that."
She mumbled the most important part, but I basically got the message. This was probably enough for a start.
"A-anyway! I don't mind doing that kind of thing with you at all, Maki… So if you can get me in the mood like last time, I'm, you know, fine with it."
"Y-yeah. I get it. I'm inexperienced, but I'll do my best when the time comes."
The scene from that night flashed through my mind, and I felt my cheeks flush with heat.
Even though my tension was particularly weird on the first day of the trip, I can't believe I did something so bold.
…This is something I don't think I can ever tell anyone else.
It's our little secret.
"Anyway, we'll take the naughty stuff a little slower. So, I guess the other swimsuit I was going to wear for you will have to wait."
"…Uh,"
"Hey, Maki! We just talked about this. Don't waver from the very beginning!"
"Sorry… But, you know, I was really looking forward to seeing you in a swimsuit."
"Jeez. You're such a dummy, Maki, and so pervy… But, I guess I have no choice. Just for a little bit, okay? This is a special exception. Got it?"
"…Thank you very much."
We'd already returned home and settled down, but it looked like my and Umi's 'trip' would be extended just a little bit longer.