"Ready to go?" I asked sitting on the sofa browsing through my phone.
Rio came out wearing tight black leggings which just molded her curves even further. Accompanied by a Jacket underneath it a white T-shirt. Her ponytail tied with the green scrunchy I got her recently.
"I think so..." She replied.
"You realize how many heads you're gonna turn because of your butt?" I joked.
"You think you're gonna impress anyone with that half muscle you got there?" She joked back.
We both burst out laughing at each other's silly remark that we made.
"Alright, let's go," I said picking up my bag and her bag on another one.
"Zuzu, give my bag back!" Rio smiled.
"I'll carry it don't worry. I'm pretty sure you'll get tired even before we get there" I chuckled.
"Technically, it's not heavy so your point is invalid, taking that guitar that you're carrying into consideration, it just adds to overall weight" she started.
"No worries-" I began saying before her aura changed into a more menacing one.
"Zuzu, give me the bag. It will be VERY HEAVY FOR YOU TO CARRY ALL THOSE ALONE" she spoke in a cold tone.
"S-sure Mam..." I handed her bag to her quietly. I'm scared for my life here dude.
We both wore our boots as I closed the door behind us. Carrying our bags we headed down the stairs and began marching towards the railway station.
Heading out at 5 am in winter was rather cold but there was this comfortable warmth on one of my hands which was intervened with that of Rio's.
These foggy and chilled early mornings are something that I always have treasured. I remember jogging early morning back home all alone with earphones to compensate for loneliness, with songs.
I looked towards my cutie pie of a girlfriend walking effortlessly looking at the surroundings.
She probably realized that I was looking at her soon enough though, "Zuzu?" She asked with a smile.
I leaned towards her as I pecked her on the lip while we were still walking.
"W-what was th-that for?" She asked getting flustered.
"You were looking so cute, I couldn't resist" I chuckled.
"We shouldn't do this out in public" she sighed.
"You didn't like it?" I teased.
"I-i did"
[TimeSkip]
We made it to the train station and found Sakuta and Sakurajima-san already present on the platform.
"Did you guys bring all the furniture from your house or something?" Sakuta asked looking at my guitar.
"Oh, you wish" I sighed.
"It's just some necessary things that we needed" Rio replied.
"That looks like a guitar in Yuzu's bag there" Sakurajima San added.
"It is! I thought it will be a good source of entertainment since there will be no signal on our mobiles" I replied.
"The trains gonna arrive in 30 mins and Kunimi is yet-" Sakuta began saying before he stopped.
"Yo!" Kunimi gestured coming along with Kamisato-san.
"Guess they're here on time aswell"
[Time Skip]
"I have like 10 Packets of instant ramen with me, don't worry" Kunimi added.
"And what about water?" Sakuta.
"Since we're going on a mountain up high, the water there will probably be clean and safe to drink. We do have enough water but if we need more, it shouldn't be a problem" Rio added.
"It's good that we have someone intelligent with us, unlike you Sakuta" Sakurajima San added.
"I'm really intelligent Mai-san!" Sakuta replied.
"You sure?" she asked.
"Yeah" Sakuta added.
"The other day you were asking me how to use our work's washroom" Kunimi added.
I looked towards my right as I saw Rio looking out the window curiously. "It's pretty scenery isn't it?" I asked leaning towards her ear.
"Yeah, I haven't ever been out of the city with friends before. I really hope It becomes an enjoyable memory-" she replied looking out the window, I could feel an ever so faint smile in her voice before her conscious brain booted up as she turned her head towards me which was centimeters away from hers.
Blushing madly she exclaimed, " WAIT, ZUZU HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU TO NOT DO THIS IN PUBLIC!?"
"I'm gonna be honest, you two sometimes make us jealous here," Kunimi said.
Yeah, I get jealous of my own writing too. The fictional character that I created is getting a cute girl and getting laid while I'm out here just trying to barely manage to get through a day with my ugly face.
[Time Skip]
"This is the entrace?" I asked.
"It looks like a shrine entrance if you aske me" Kunimi added.
"It's supposed to be a tourist destination, so It's normal that it's a bit developed at least on the start" Sakurajima san added.
"Makes sense, alright! let's go!" Kunimi said as we started marching towards the gate and then one the stairs.
And off we go, going up the stairs chatting and chuckling on our silly jokes. Even though Rio was shy of being affectionate in public, holding hands was something she really loved and that showed as she had my hand tightly clenched and not letting it go.
"I just hope we don't get lost" Kamisato-san said.
"Let's hope for the best" Kunimi chuckled.
Soon enough, we reached a big green gate which was interfering with Trekking trails for us. There was a notice paper taped on the gate.
"Temporarily closed until further notice"
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" Sakuta exclaimed.
"That's...unfortunate" Rio sighed.
"But the advertisement said it was supposed to be open!" I added.
"Yeah" Kamisato Agreed.
There was another trail towards our left as our eyes fell on it, "Should be go that way and check it out?" Kunimi asked.
"Since we've come this far now, why not let's check it out!" I added.
With a nod from the group, we began heading into this unknown trail, soon enough after walking and dodging some weak stones on the path we reached near what looked like a house.
"Should we ask them about the hike?" Sakurajima san suggested.
"We don't really have any other option other than going back home anyways" I said as we walked towards the main door of the house.
One approval from the group, I knocked on the door.
"Coming!" came a feminine voice from the house.
We looked at each other with a nervous smile as the footsteps kept getting nearer and louder every passing second. Soon enough the door slid open.
"Can I help you guys?" came a girl around our age?
"Hey, can you tell us why is the hike entrance closed?" I asked returning the smile.
"As far as I know, It's closed because of some festival coming up. People use that area for religious purposes and they don't want Booze and other explicit stuff lying around there" she replied.
"Explicit items?" Sakuta asked with a lewd thought.
"You know, sometimes people love doing it in the mountains you know" she replied looking at me instead of him? with a blush on her face. If you're embarrassed, you shouldn't have answered it!
I felt a tug on my Jacket from the side Rio was standing on as I felt her scooting closer to me.
"Is there a way to hike up, we just wanna spend a night here camping normally. We don't do any of that stuff you mentioned, we just wanna enjoy a day of our vacation here" I asked.
"There is one from over there, but it's not monitored. You're up at your own risk" she said pointing towards a trail going upwards adjacent to her house. It looked like a legit hiking trail as we looked towards it.
"Thanks a lot" Sakurajima San replied.
"In return, maybe you guys can come to wash up tomorrow at our bathhouse tomorrow" she replied.
"We sure will!" Kunimi said as we began walking towards the trail!
[Time Skip]
After almost an hour or two of trekking and breaks, we managed to reach an open enough area with mountains surrounding us along with a small river flowing up.
"Do you gu-guys wanna go ev-even further?" I asked panting and catching my breath.
"I-I don't think so..." Kunimi replied rapidly breathing.
The whole group was tired at this point judging from their heavy breathing and sweaty faces.
"How about we set up our camp here?" Sakurajima-san proposed.
"I ag-agree" Sakuta replied.
We unloaded our heavy bags, It finally being off our backs was a huge relief. I started setting up My and Rio's tent. Since I've already camped before, I knew the basics of how to setup the camp, but the remaining...I'll have to read the manual.
"Zuzu, You're putting the cloth wrong," Rio said reading the manual, guess she beat me to it.
"How am I supposed to do it then?" I asked.
"It's supposed to cover the frame, start from the bottom there" Rio pointed towards the left side of the tent.
I did as she instructed, "Now over the top" she said as I successfully bound it to the bottom.
Again, I wrapped the cloth over the frame and now only the right bottom side remained, I dragged the cloth over to the right side as It was a rather tight fit but it successfully bounded with the rod.
"I guess, the exterior is done," I said wiping the sweat off my face.
"Here's the padding," she said handing me her bag that had all the padding. She handed that bag to me with a pout though.
Oh god...what did I do now?
"Are you mad at me?" I smiled.
"No-not really," she said looking the other way.
She's definitely upset about something. I layed the base padding and hence our tent was ready but there was another problem on my hand to solve.
"Let's go get some wood for campfire" I suggested.
"Hmm" she nodded still pouting.
"Hey Sakuta, we're going to get some wood for campfire" I announced as I intervened my fingers with Rio.
"Make sure your stick isn't soft," he said in a teasing way.
This fucking pervert...
We both walked for a couple of minutes as we reached a bit of a dense area in the forest nearby.
"Rio tell me what's wrong," I asked.
"No-nothing-" she again began to spoke.
"Cut it, I know you're upset about something" I added as I walked near her while she backed off slowly before she hit a tree and now was now pinned on the trunk of the tree.
"It's just...I felt a bit jealous back at the bathhouse that we found..." she sighed.
Ah, that's why she tugged me on my jacket.
I just chuckled hearing her reasoning for being upset.
"Oh my god Rio...you're upset about me smiling at that girl?" I asked still chuckling.
"I just felt a little insecure...that's all," she said in a low tone looking down.
I put my hand on her chin as I lifted it up gently making our eyes meet, "Haven't I said this before? You're the one that I love, I'm not going anywhere" I spoke softly as I inched my face near hers.
Our lips met and then our tongues, the exchange of warmth with our mouths was always addicting. These kisses just have such warm and cozy feelings to them, I just...can't help but meltdown.
[Time Skip]
"That's quite a view," Kamisato san said.
"Sure is" Kunimi replied.
There was this aroma of noodles as we each had one bowl and chopsticks in our hand as we ate the noodles.
"Shouldn't we fish in this river?" I asked.
"The wild fishes here might be poisonous and not fit to eat, I'd say we shouldn't do that" Rio spoke.
"Well, it would a great place to die to be honest, in this beautiful scenery" Sakuta added.
"I know another good way to die Sakuta, how about you eat a whole packet of Pocky through your nose," Sakurajima san said pinching him on his stomach.
"AWH AWH, that would be awful" he replied in pain.
We placed 3 large wooden logs around the campfire to sit on. I and Rio occupied the log closest to our tent and so did the others.
"Are you guys in a mood for some guitar?" I asked.
"Since you've already brought it, just play it. It would be a sham if you went back not playing it" Kamisato san replied.
"Sure" I chuckled as I stood up and went into my tent where the guitar was placed in it's carry bag. I unzipped the bag and took the guitar and a pick out and headed back outside sitting next to Rio.
I started up with some new chilled out newage rock and slowly advanced to old gold romantic songs.
As I was in middle of playing romantic songs, I looked over at Rio who was scooting closer and closer to me as the songs progressed. I always wished to serenade to someone and finally being able to do it, it really feels so good.
As more and more songs progressed, she rested her head against my shoulder with a faint smile on her face and her eyes shut.
After a while, my "concert" stopped, earning a set of claps from everyone present there.
"You really should pursue music Yuzu, I have contacts in agency that can help set you up" Sakurajima san offered.
"It's fine, I just play it for my fun. Haven't really given it a serious thought for a career in it" I smiled as I set my guitar aside.
It was already very dark now, the stars now clearly visible and shining bright. There were more stars visible at this clear and high altitude than you'd be able to see in city.
"Hey Kunimi" I said.
"Yeah?" he asked.
"Can you take a picture?" I asked.
"Of what?" he asked taking out his camera.
"Taking photo of us from the back" I said pointing towards a tired Rio resting on my shoulder.
"What type of photo are you thinking zuzu?" Rio asked
"Sure!" he said standing up.
"Make sure you catch the stars in that photo along with us" I said.
"That looks like a rather romantic photo Idea, we should try it out aswell Sakuta" Sakurajima san added.
"Alright, look up towards the sky" Kunimi said to me.
"It should basically be an astrophotography photo and include us aswell. If done right, it's gonna look good" I said looking up towards the sky.
"The idea seems good" Rio uttered softly.
"Alright done"
[Time Skip]
"It was a good Idea to come here..." Rio said looking into my eyes as we both laid down in the tent.
"I know right? Mountains are such a refreshing place to visit" I said.
"Mhm" she nodded as she scooted near me.
"Zuzu" she spoke.
"Yeah?" I asked.
"You a big big baka!" she chuckled.
"I know I know..." I said placing a hand over her and making her cuddle closer to me.
"But you're my baka"