Omake / Recollections And Memories 6 / Inn Stay at Kyoto


Kyoto was formerly the capital of Japan, but nowadays, it is widely known for its many temples, gardens, shrines and other classical buildings that one may think of. Needless to say, its unique culture and historical sites were successfully brought into the modern days as a popular tourist destination for visitors far and wide. It was always lively within the region and its bustling center was no exception.

This wasn't the first time Naofumi had been to Kyoto. An annual senior trip in highschool brought him over to the location with classmates. He remembered enjoying it to a good extent, but its memories were rather vague these days, despite only being a few years ago. He could certainly give himself some better memories upon seeing the familiar sites, but he wasn't trying too hard to remember any of it. He was actually here to make new memories with people he considered more as friends, than the acquaintances and classmates he had since then lost touch with since high school.

"And we're here! God, that was a long drive!"

"If you needed some rest, I could have taken over at the pit-spot, Motoyasu."

"Hey, I wasn't complaining. I was just pointing it out. It does feel like a long time when you're at the wheel, but we ended up getting here earlier than usual. I think that's pretty good."

"I guess we should clean up the back then, huh? Get up already and give me a hand here, Ren."

"Yeah… I-I know, I know. W-We can't leave the van this dirty with snacks and stuff. Just… give me a minute, Itsuki. I… I think I need some fresh air off the vehicle for a bit..."

Once Motoyasu found a parking spot, everyone opened up their doors to step out. Ren staggered a bit to the ground, but hadn't fallen completely over thanks to Itsuki catching him in time. Not without a smug chuckle, seeing how dead his childhood friend had been. Motion sickness was not playing well with Ren, but they probably should have counted themselves lucky that he hadn't thrown up inside the van.

Just at the washroom while they were stopping for a break.

What bravado that Ren had thrown up while they were still talking about the trip in their apartment. Naofumi was entirely thrown off guard when not even an hour into the road trip, his facade was starting to crumble. Naofumi did recall that Ren was a person that favoured bicycles and motor scooters, so perhaps that motion sickness was one of the supporting reasons.

Nevertheless, as Itsuki went to help Ren calm his nerves by waving a fan at his face, Motoyasu and Naofumi went into the inn to check themselves in. The interior was decorated in an old-fashioned style, built with wooden walls and welcome mats that might have had their designed origins be from another time period. It still managed to capture a cozy feeling to it, especially with some bonsai trees in pots and lightning, perfect on the eyes.

"I still can't believe you managed to luck out on that contest, Motoyasu."

"I couldn't believe it either when I received it. I entered that contest on a whim, and look what that got us. Sure, we might have needed to make the drive over, but considering we're here for three days, I'd say it's well worth it."

"It's no small name inn within Kyoto either. From what I've heard, this place has one of the bigger hot springs areas out in the back. And it's right next to the main road where it can lead to a lot of temples and attractions. They really pulled out no breaks for this grand prize."

"Well, the university must have pulled some strings for their charity event. It is pretty high-ranking in Japan's educational level and influence, so they probably had a good amount of favours or something like that. Don't know what goes on behind the scenes, but if this is what we got, I ain't complaining!"

"But are you sure this was a good idea?"

Motoyasu furrowed his brows, tilting his head at Naofumi. "A good idea? What do you mean by that? The prize was for a group of four people, especially since they were trying to advertise it as a perfect family getaway. To be honest, I was actually trying to grab the third place prize, but this kinda worked out too, so whatever."

"Wait, what was the third place prize?"

"A VR console. Ren banned me from trying to take his ever since he opened up that VR game I got him, I wanted to find one for myself. Think he actually threw it out though." Motoyasu sheepishly laughed while scratching the back of his head. "I mean, I could always buy one, but like, I think it's too expensive for its own good, right? I wouldn't be playing as much as Ren to make good use out of it."

"N-No, wait," Naofumi, shaking his head. "That's not what I wanted to say. Digressing aside, the prize was for a family of four, right? Shouldn't you have taken your family members instead of us?"

"Eh." Motoyasu gave a half-hearted shrug. "My mother and my father were never the ones to stick around for long for me to meet them properly. Of course, they would always call me from time to time, checking up if everything was alright, but they're never around because of their business trips."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear."

"Nah, it's fine. It doesn't really bother me these days."

"Though, this would have been a great opportunity to ask them to come along."

"I'd say it'll go by in waste. They can't survive a few days without trying to do something about their work, but they do rake in a lot of money to send to me for an allowance. They're the ones paying for my portion of the rent too, so it's not like I don't appreciate them. It's just that..."

Naofumi listened as Motoyasu trailed off a bit.

"Ah, never mind. Hey, we should go get our room now."

With a cheerful attitude turned over, they finally noticed that the reception desk was free from guests and Motoyasu walked up with Naofumi to sign themselves in. They were handed the key to their room and without wasting another moment, they headed back out to check on their friends.

Unfortunately, Ren was still looking pale. If there had been too much of a problem before, Motoyasu could have driven slower, but for some reason, he was guessing that having Motoyasu finish their car ride as quickly as possible was the best thing to do here. With Ren basically hanging off Itsuki's neck, Naofumi's concern merely grew.

"Are you feeling alright, Ren?"

Ren kept to himself with a mere grumble, mostly trying to keep it together, but Itsuki was more than enough to translate for his friend. "He needs a place to rest properly. A-Also, me as well. I can barely feel my leg after Ren was lying on it as he was dying during the ride over here."

"Well, we just signed in with the reception. Luckily, our room isn't too far away," Motoyasu responded. He patted Naofumi on the shoulder while pointing back to the lobby. "Why don't you go ahead with Ren and Itsuki? I'll clean up the vehicle from our trash and bring in the bags when I'm done with that."

"I'll just grab mine while I'm already here."

"Go ahead. Nothing off my quarter."

Naofumi came over to the trunk, popping it open and quickly grabbing his duffel bag. It was important that he brought it over while he could, considering the situation Ren had been experiencing. It might be helpful. With a heave over his shoulder, he walked up to Itsuki.

"Need any help in bringing Ren over?"

"I should be fine. He's taller than me, but I'm still older. I got some strength in my body to hold him up. Besides, it's a bit amusing to have Ren physically relying on me like this."

Ren seemed to have muttered something under his breath in a snag, but it went mostly unheard. Naofumi didn't hear it, at the very least, but from how Itsuki jabbed the ill Ren in the stomach without changing his expression, that was probably for the best. The pale colour suddenly turned into red for a brief moment.

"Let's just get Ren over to our room already," Naofumi sighed.

With Itsuki practically dragging Ren along, Naofumi couldn't help but look back every few seconds. For both of their sakes. If it was up to him, he would already be giving Ren another neck to hang off from, but Itsuki was persistent in doing it his way. It did somewhat relieve the possible weight, given his own bag and everything.

Since it was a prize meant for a family, they were only given a single room for its inclusion. There weren't many issues with such a thing, for that would be how the Kyoto high school trips would be played out. He remembered those days of his own senior trip where the guys were all shacking up underneath the same ceiling, sleeping right by each other as the night fell over to the morning.

And it was no different when Naofumi opened up their room for the next few days. They had to climb up a flight of stairs, but it was immediately to the left side once they got to the second floor. Ren made it up with no problems being voiced out and once Itsuki brought him into the room, his eyes softened up seeing a place where he could properly lie down.

The aesthetics of the room were kept as traditional while modern furnishings were present for comfortability. In no way did it subtract from the cozy ambience that the inn was well known for. Naofumi quickly found where the futon mats were being held and pulled one of them out for Ren to collapse on. With a big breath of air, he sprawled himself out without even thinking about changing his clothes.

"Not even going to wash yourself up?" Itsuki asked. "You're going to be all sweaty in that."

"Shut up. Just give me a moment…" Ren growled, closing his eyes to relax.

"Before you doze off, you should probably take some medicine."

"Medicine? Are there any pharmacies around here?" Itsuki raised an eyebrow. "I guess we can ask the receptionist, but I doubt there's any nearby in a comfortable walking distance."

"No need for that. I came prepared and brought some medicine from home. I didn't think I would have to take it out so soon, but it's the reason I brought my bag with me immediately." Naofumi set down his bag and hunched himself over it. "Now, where did I put it?"

He opened the zipper and started pulling things out to find the medicine he put in a plastic container. Once in hand, he started reading off the labels, looking for something that could help with Ren's case. If he had motion sickness, it would have been great to have some antihistamines, but since that was so specific, he never bothered to bring it.

The closest thing he had was some syrup for nausea. If it won't help him, it will at least assist in keeping Ren from vomiting any further than what he's already shown to the public. Though it was pretty bitter, there weren't any better options here.

He poured out the small serving into the included cup while Itsuki went over to grab some water for Ren to easily drink it all down. With some help from his childhood friend, Ren sat forwards and was fed the medicine and the water before he was set back down. A lengthy wince was the most Ren came to a complaint to its taste, downing the water as much as possible to regulate its strength.

"That should do the trick. Hopefully."

"If it's the proper medicine, then Ren definitely will be back on his feet before night falls. Plenty of time to see what the inn has to offer, but unfortunately, we aren't going to see anything outside of that today. I'm thinking you don't want to go sightseeing without Ren."

"Yeah, that would defeat the purpose of coming here together."

"Then go see what Motoyasu is up to now. I'll take care of Ren until he's feeling good again."

If there was anyone to put confidence in for Ren, it was certainly Itsuki. Even though he seemingly treats his friend so lightly with jokes and such, Naofumi knew from their time together that Itsuki really did care for his friends in a precious way, especially if Ren was involved.

"Alright," Naofumi nodded. "I'll leave him in your hands."

With a wave from Itsuki, Naofumi left the room and headed back down to find Motoyasu. The car hadn't been too messy, so he was already finished with cleaning it out. It was mainly some fast food stuff and wrappers that he had to throw out. He was even finishing one of the sodas he brought on their pitstop, but the moment Motoyasu tasted it to be flat already, he poured out the remains to the side and tossed that as well.

Motoyasu thought he would take longer to deal with Ren's problem, but a quick explanation was all that he needed to understand. He offered to help Motoyasu carry the remaining bags up to their room and after the doors were locked, they made their way up. Though Motoyasu was holding two bags, one of his own and one of Itsuki's, Naofumi felt like Ren's bag was a bit heavier than expected.

It must have been his imagination, but his curiosity was truly deepening. He always took Ren for a minimalist type of person, considering how his room looked all the time. What could he have packed that warranted this weight though? It would be rude to open it up, so he reserved those questions for tonight when Ren was likely to be feeling better.


The warm waters of the inn's hot springs were a wonderful embrace to his body the moment he stepped right in. Naofumi felt himself sinking to the bottom, almost wanting to slouch in order for his chest to be covered in the relaxing touch. He immediately made it a mission to come here every night for the rest of their stay here, trying to indulge himself in this pleasantry.

It was a shame that Ren and Itsuki weren't able to come on down. Ren chose to play it safe, even as the night began to settle in. From a rational perspective, it was certainly the best thing to do for someone who just got finished dealing with his motion sickness. And since Ren was out, Itsuki decided to stay by his side, ensuring that he isn't the only one let out of all the fun. There was always tomorrow, but as Motoyasu wanted to crash in the hot springs to loosen up his body from driving, Naofumi was pushed on by the younger friends to go along with him.

Not because they were afraid of Motoyasu being lonely.

It was because they were being alert about Motoyasu trying to do something that might get him into trouble. Naofumi didn't think Motoyasu was someone who would break any rules here, but he went along with their fun. The most Motoyasu would do was ask some girls out as they left their side of the hot spring. In truth, it seemed like it was the ladies who were approaching Motoyasu more often than not, but considering how he was on a trip with his friends, he kept politely declining their advances.

"Not even here, could I escape the ladies."

"Sounds like you treating it as a boon, not a bane..."

Motoyasu loudly sank right into the water next to Naofumi, causing a bit of a ripple through his entry. There weren't many people as of the moment, but even if there were, he suspected that Motoyasu would have acted the same way.

"Ah, but that hits the spot…"

He already started to slouch, having his bones be turned to jelly.

"I'm still a bit surprised you turned them down, Motoyasu. We obviously won't be spending all of our time together, so I thought you might have accepted one of their invites to dinner."

"As beautiful as those ladies were, I've already made plans with you guys. Surely, we'll be having dinner everyday with each other, right? If that was the case, there's no way I could overwrite my inclusion in that. At the very least, now we know there's a pretty good buffet around these parts!"

Naofumi chuckled wryly. "That's rather cruel of you to use them like that."

"It wasn't intentional, man. There's no way I would go ahead and purposely use beautiful ladies like that to my own gain, not to mention anyone else in general. Unless they did something wrong, I'd feel bad about it at the end of the day."

"I guess we would have found out about it, sooner or later. You think Ren would be fine for a buffet later tonight? I'm thinking we'll play it safe and have that buffet be reserved for tomorrow."

"Yeah, there's no point in going if Ren has that chance of dropping out. Not sure if that stomach of his could take the overdose of food, after all. He could barely eat much normally!"

"Really? He's been eating all the portions I've been cooking for him since he moved in."

"Well, maybe the chef placed in a little kick that frees up a little more space!"

Naofumi and Motoyasu laughed with each other.

There hadn't been a time outside of this that he could remember where they were by themselves. Before Ren and Itsuki moved in, they weren't exactly the closest of roommates, keeping more to themselves if anything. They still talked with each other beforehand and they could have considered each other as friends, but nothing to this regard. With the apartment filling up, it was only a matter of time when they would become closer like this.

Just soaking in the same hot springs would have been unimaginable when he first moved in with Motoyasu. His first impressions weren't too terribly great of the guy, but he obviously came around to know better about him. He previously thought Motoyasu was simply another playboy, just as Ren probably thought of him right now, but upon closer inspection, Motoyasu truly cares about the people around him. He never really tries to put those feelings on center stage, but he wasn't the type to shy away from it if it gets brought up.

At the university and possibly even in highschool, he was known to be a popular guy and Naofumi could definitely understand why. It'll probably take Ren and Itsuki some more time to see what he was seeing. If anything, Itsuki felt more reserved to talk like that about their older friend compared to Ren, only joining in if Ren initiated it. It did feel like he was holding it back lately though, which he was happy about.

Though, that was just his digressing thoughts. Right now, he could just melt right into the water without any regrets. There was still one thing that was scratching at his mind that he couldn't shake off and that was from earlier when they were waiting for the reception desk to be freed.

"Motoyasu? What were you going on about before?"

"What are you talking about?"

"About your parents. It's not really my place to speak, but if you don't want to talk about it, then that's cool. I'll just drop the subject here, but I was curious about what you were about to say."

His friend held his tongue for a moment. Minutes must have passed from their last word, but it ended up with a heavy sigh. His arms lifted up and hung along the edge of the springs.

"I didn't tell them about the prize because I didn't think they would have done anything about it. They would probably say some words of congratulations, but ultimately dismiss it for me to take my friends on the trip. If they really wanted to come to Kyoto with me, there wouldn't be a need to win the first place prize at the university. They have enough money to decide to go on any whims they choose."

"So you would have taken us in the end regardless."

Something the way that Motoyasu spoke felt a bit distant, but it wasn't towards him. It was like the topic was foreign to Motoyasu and he was treading lightly in caution. He took more time to get to the next thought than usual, that much was for sure.

"They weren't really around when I was a kid. They kinda just left me the moment I was able to take care of myself with little supervision. Not many memories of them were left from my childhood anyways since they were trying to scramble in doing their work remotely. Even then, they still had to hire a caretaker every so often for meetings outside the home."

"That must have been tough, but it's not like they didn't love you, right?"

"Oh, they definitely still do. It was pretty difficult to know that when I was a kid, but looking back on it, they always made sure that I was being provided by the best caretaker around and if there was anything that they did poorly, they would immediately be fired for a new one. Nothing except the best of the best, apparently."

"I'm guessing it didn't change throughout middle school and highschool?"

"Middle school, huh…?"

Motoyasu's gaze drifted off as he mumbled underneath in his mouth. He glanced up to the dark skies above, seeing some of the stars beginning to show up within its blank canvas. Was there something about his middle school experiences that made Motoyasu feel more barren?

"H-Hey, Motoyasu?"

"O-Oh, sorry about that. I just… got caught up in some memories." The latter end of his sentence got cut off by a descending volume. Naofumi didn't hear it, but he didn't feel like he needed to. "Anyways, it was basically the same deal during that time. The difference was that I was fending for myself, but that was of my own accord."

"Oh, so you started handling all the household chores and cooking for yourself?"

"Yep. It was pretty difficult, getting the energy to start it out after people have been doing it for me for the past years, but I quickly got the hang of it. I needed to know how to take care of myself, after all. It definitely helps in taking your mind off other things."

"Yeah, I can agree there. When I'm cooking, all I can think about is trying to finish up the recipe without making a mistake."

"My parents kept me on a steady flow of money, so that I didn't have to worry about any jobs. Though, I never told them I took up a part time gig during my time at university. It just didn't feel right to get a free stroll like that."

"Well, you have parents that care about you. You've got more than what I could say about mine, and they live in the same city as us," Naofumi sheepishly laughed. It wasn't a matter of humor, but the mood unintentionally led him to do so. "I'm pretty sure my parents thought of me as a live-in chef more than a son the majority of the time."

"Seriously? I mean, I could see how that could happen. Your cooking is on another plane of existence. Kinda sucks if your parents took it in another direction. It couldn't have been that bad, right?"

"They took me to restaurants for the sole purpose of figuring out how to cook the meals they ordered and for me to recreate it back home. What's your take on that?"

Motoyasu bit down on his lips."... I rescind my previous comment."

"I'm just thankful they're giving me some respect now."

"Oh, right. That situation with your little brother."

"Yeah. When Souji fell into delinquency, I helped him out of it. Out of pure gratitude, they decided to let me do anything I wanted." Naofumi groaned a bit. "W-Which wasn't different from before, should I mention."

"Ouch."

"But they started providing me with an allowance. That was something new and it certainly put the burden off expenses by a good amount. It was actually because of that allowance that I could look for a better place to live and some time later, I ended up moving in with you."

"All's well that ends well, I guess!" Motoyasu grinned.

They spent a bit more time in the hot springs before they called it a day. They didn't want their skin to get all wrinkled up when they got out and after washing themselves off at the showers, they got on their complimentary yukatas. It had a classical floral design, fit for unisex appearances.

Some milk was always welcomed after soaking in the hot springs. While Naofumi stuck with the common flavour, Motoyasu grabbed a strawberry one and they drank it down at the same time. They even let out a breath of leisure in unison when their bottles were empty.

Naofumi could get used to this, but it was a bad idea to be complacent. It could only be enjoyed so much because he experienced it very rarely in his life. When he looked over to Motoyasu, he was already being approached by some more girls.

He supposed some things were stuff he already got used to.


Ren and Itsuki weren't in their room when they returned from the hot springs. Motoyasu thought about searching the area for them, but Naofumi was confident they knew what they were doing. If anything, he already had a feeling as to where they could be. Without a text message to let them know that they were out, Naofumi decided to just check up on his guess.

Without a doubt in his mind, he ended up being correct.

"Hah!"

"Hyah!"

The recreational room was open to the public, but it was more split up into different areas. There was the karaoke bar that was on one end of the place, but because it was so popular, one would need to reserve a booth ahead of time before entering. The arcade was right next to it, which is where he assumed Ren and Itsuki would have been. They loved their video games and they wouldn't miss coming here if they had the opportunity, but he was surprised to have those expectations subverted.

Instead, there was a ping-pong table off to the side where Ren and Itsuki were in the middle of rallying a match. They were already dressed up in their yukatas, despite never entering the hot springs, but he supposed it was to get into the atmosphere. Many of the other visitors of the recreational area were wearing the same thing and they probably didn't want to stand out too much.

The rhythm of the ball bouncing against the table kept echoing until Ren winded back his paddle.

"Hyah!"

A slam that targeted the far side where Itsuki had been, but his childhood friend was quick on his toes. Rather, it felt like Itsuki was already moving before the ball hit Ren's paddle, predicting what Ren was going to do.

"Not today!"

Itsuki miraculously returned the ball at such a specific angle, it collided with the edge of Ren's side of the table and went flying off the playing field. Ren's quick reactions couldn't keep up with his physical movements as he tried to lunge for the ball, but failed when it hit the ground first.

"Damn it, Itsuki! Stop doing that!"

"What? It's part of the game and we agreed that edge bounces count." Itsuki spun his paddle with a smug grin to his name, all while a mischievous laughter surrounded him. "Feeling a bit frustrated, Ren?"

"Okay, when we agreed that edge bounces would count, I didn't expect you to keep constantly doing that! You've scored all your points by doing that. If it weren't for that rule, I would have been in the lead."

"Ah, you're just being a sore loser."

"S-Shut up!"

"Oh, some ping pong? Or do you guys call it table tennis?" Motoyasu approached the friends after watching their display of the small sport. "Mind if I join up here?"

"Depends," Ren groaned. "How good are you at getting edge bounces?"

"I've never actually played ping pong before. It was available during my senior highschool trip, but I never actually got a round on the table. How about you, Naofumi?"

"I played a few matches with some classmates, but I also remember losing the majority of it. I guess the eye-hand coordination needed for table tennis is too much for me during highschool. Wonder if I got better at it?"

"Alright, then how about some doubles?" Ren suggested.

Itsuki glanced over at his friend, tilting his head. "D-Does ping pong have a doubles category? Wouldn't the table be too small to house four people at once?"

Ren took a look at the table, thought for a moment and looked over to another empty one. "Oh, I guess you're right. How about I just play against Motoyasu instead and you can take Itsuki, Naofumi?"

"You just want to win against someone." Ren glared back at Itsuki, muttering something under his breath again, but he let go of that tension. It didn't stop Itsuki from getting another low blow to his mentality. "I'm going to laugh if Motoyasu is better than we could imagine."

"Speaking of which, you two were pretty good," Naofumi mentioned. "You guys played table tennis before?"

"Not really."

"I played it once or twice."

Both Itsuki and Ren were apparently new to the game, but they picked up the motions and strategies quicker than anyone Naofumi remembered from his own highschool trip. The people who were experienced usually hogged the tables, while those who didn't play much were actually fine with that since they couldn't really get the ball rolling - or in this case, to get it bouncing. Maybe it was because they were both beginners, they were able to learn together in sync.

They said they had some background knowledge of table tennis, so perhaps that was the reason why they started playing like someone who was in a competition.

"It won't hurt to try. Go easy on me, Itsuki."

"Got it. You don't have the competitive spirit like Ren does, so I won't get carried away easily. Though I'm thinking that this competitive spirit is just him refusing to lose."

"I think it's better to think of it as his ability to not give up easily."

"Oh, definitely," Itsuki chuckled.

The game was easier than he remembered, but it was still a challenge to keep a rally going with Itsuki. His friend was sure to send back easy bounces to him, making the goal of the game to see how long they can keep going compared to the actual rounds he was taking with Ren. The problem still presented itself in watching how the ball would bounce and timing it just right to control its direction against the paddle, but he was doing pretty well for himself.

Meanwhile, Motoyasu seemed to have been having a difficult time with Ren.

"Naofumi! Switch with me! Ren's going too hard on me!"

"You said you wanted to play the game properly, right?"

"I accidentally get a point on you once, then your switch gets flipped over to another difficulty!?"

After some time, Motoyasu looked tucked out, sitting on the side. Itsuki caught the rallying ball once he noticed their friend's departure, calling it enough for now. Naofumi was glad to have counted up to a rally of thirty something, especially when his memories said he couldn't even get over five without missing the ball.

"No more… I just went into the hot springs and showered there… I don't want to end up all sweaty again…"

"It's not like they limit you on how many times you can go in."

"But the human body will!" Motoyasu exclaimed to Ren. "Going in too many times in a day is going to have some type of effect on your skin, surely! I-I mean, I don't know for sure, but it sounds about right."

"Then just take a shower for like a minute. It doesn't sound like rocket science to me."

"Maybe Motoyasu is tired out from playing," Naofumi said, trying to cover for his friend. It was clear that Ren still had energy to spare for more rounds. "How about we head off to do something else? I'm surprised you didn't head off to the arcade area first."

"All the games there are stuff I could get running on my computer without a problem," Ren sighed, crossing his arms like that feat had been nothing to him. Though, he wasn't exactly bragging about it, sounding more like it was a pain in the ass. "Besides, I already did play on a few cabinets with Itsuki, but I couldn't get used to the giant joystick they provide. Analog sticks are my style, if I had to choose a controller."

"Yeah, something feels weird about moving characters with an entire hand grip, rather than a single thumb," Itsuki added in, sitting down right next to Motoyasu. "And I'm sure all the arcade cabinets were something we could find back home downtown. No hidden gems here, as far as Ren's concerned."

Ren nodded his head in agreement with that truth.

"Then we'll just head back to our rooms," Naofumi suggested. "I want to check out the library and see what they have, but I'm thinking it's not going to have much to offer. It's pretty small and definitely looks like an after-thought to the building's design."

"Wait, you guys already ate?" Itsuki asked.

"Oh, well. No, we haven't. That kinda slipped my mind."

"I would suggest that buffet from down the street, but Ren's stomach is feeling weak now. I heard some girls talking about it when we were down at the lobby, along with comments on this cute blonde guy that rejected their advancements. Huh, I wonder who that could be?"

Motoyasu sheepishly laughed it off.

"A playboy as usual," Ren sighed. "At least he had the gall to refuse them during our trip."

"Never mind that for now," Itsuki smirked. "How about we just find something to eat at the inn's restaurant? That prize reward Motoyasu got said that it came with free dinners for the duration of our stay, right? We might as well use it."

"Now that you mention it, I almost forgot," Motoyasu gasped. "That entire topic of the buffet made me miss the fact that we can eat here for free."

"I guess I am feeling hungry," Naofumi added. "C'mon, let's head over. A stomach could only go off chips and fast food for so long in a day."

"Says you. I can probably survive on that for a week."

"Yeah, but your body won't be saying the same thing," Itsuki said, slapping Ren on the back. "Now, c'mon. Let's go eat. We say we would be wasting time here until Naofumi and Motoyasu came by? That was supposed to be the original idea, but I guess we got carried away in playing and forgot."

Ren's stomach began to growl on cue, causing him to avert his eyes from his friends. As much as he wanted to look cool before them, there was no way he could recover from that one. Sometimes, the cool thing to do was to accept it and move onwards.


After their meal, the moon was already on route to climbing up the high skies. It was for the best that they got some rest for tomorrow. There were many places that Naofumi and Motoyasu mapped out together to visit with Ren and Itsuki as the relative veterans of Kyoto Trips. Though, it slightly baffled Naofumi how much trust the younger friends were putting into their choices.

Itsuki knew one or two landmarks from past conversations while Ren barely knew what Kyoto had in store for them. If it ended up that Ren didn't like any of the places they visited, there was no real room for complaints on his part. He expected Ren to not have voiced any of it out loud for them to hear though, so perhaps Ren will forever hold his peace already.

They came back to their rooms, getting dressed up in their sleeping clothes. Motoyasu decided to sleep in the yukata and while it was comfortable, Naofumi was at ease in his own selected clothing. Itsuki decided to try it from Motoyasu's relentless suggestion, but Ren was harder to budge.

"You know, we never actually slept in the same room before, just underneath the same roof," Motoyasu pointed out. "Though, it probably isn't all that weird since we really don't have many reasons to get together like this."

"I passed out in Ren's room once."

Naofumi raised his eyebrow at Itsuki in disbelief, all while Ren slapped his forehead.

"What? We were just gaming over the holidays. It went for a bit longer than I expected and I got too lazy to get up and move over to my room."

"Yeah, not exactly a genius way to bring it up, isn't it?" Ren sighed.

"Don't do that again," Naofumi groaned as everyone started moving over to their futons. "I'm not a parent or anything, but I do want my friends to be healthy in the most basic regard."

"Then you should probably tell Ren that."

"Huh? Why?"

"Itsuki, I'm going to break your save file on Dimension Wave."

"N-Night, Naofumi!"

Without another word, Ren rolled over and closed his eyes. Naofumi wasn't convinced that Ren was asleep, but it wasn't as if he could rudely kick him over. A glare over Itsuki was pulled out, but it seemed like Itsuki was scared of his beloved save files rather than revealing the truth. He immediately ducked in next to Ren's futon and covered himself up to avoid any more confrontation.

"Man, you really do act like a parent, Naofumi," Motoyasu smirked as he kicked back on his own futon. "Just let them chill. They still have some good years left in them before life can hit them with a truck. Some things can only be done when you're their age."

Naofumi already knew what Motoyasu was talking about and what apparent sins to his health might have been done. Given Ren's personality surrounding his VR console, it wasn't difficult to imagine for him to pull all-nighters and such to play his games.

"Well, I suppose we should follow suit. Night, Motoyasu."

"Night."

Naofumi reached out to turn off the lights before heading over to his futon on the edge. He was careful not to accidentally step on his friends, but the moonlight gazing through their windows helped out quite a bit. It felt like a shame to let such a beautiful scenery out their window to go unenjoyed, but sleep was important and Naofumi quickly hit his head against the pillow not before long.

However, an hour must have passed before he started hearing footsteps.

His eyes groggily opened as he noticed a figure walking over to the window and upon immediately recognizing their hair, he stumbled his consciousness back to a functionable state. He was really comfortable, but his body decided to sit up to make sure Itsuki noticed him.

"Itsuki? What are you doing?"

"Oh, I just… wanted to see the sky. I didn't think you would wake up from that." Itsuki nervously scratched the back of his head. "Sorry about that."

"You just wanted to see the sky?"

"Well, I am sleeping in a new environment, so I think that's the thing that's causing me to have a difficult time sleeping. Looking at the night sky and its bright stars usually help in relaxing me. Sometimes, I just do it instinctively, but whatever helps, right?"

A small chuckle escaped from Itsuki's bittersweet smile. It caused Naofumi to wonder whether looking at a night sky really did help someone calm themselves down and since he was already awake, he thought to give his friend some company. He stood up from his futon, surprising Itsuki a bit, and walked over to the windowsill.

"Room for one more?"

"Y-Yeah, of course."

Itsuki stepped a bit to the side, letting Naofumi get a clear shot of what his friend wanted to see. Needless to say, Naofumi was right. It certainly would have been a waste to let this scenery go unappreciated. He could even feel a slight breeze, cold to the touch, yet pleasant in its brushing. Cracking a thin smile was inevitable.

"I'm kinda lucky that the moon rises in the direction of the window in my room," Itsuki said, looking back to the outside. "I could always sit up and look over whenever I'm having a hard time sleeping."

"Is there a reason why, or did you just randomly discover it one day?"

"I guess you can say it's a bit of both. I don't want to bore you with the details, but…"

"Oh, bore me away." Naofumi smirked. "At the very least, I can't hold you accountable because I asked for it, right?"

Itsuki silently laughed at Naofumi's light humor before gazing back up to the sky. His hand held itself careful against the window's frame and after closing his eyes for a bit, he took a deep breath and started talking. If it was something too heavy, Naofumi would have liked to stop Itsuki immediately, but he started before Naofumi could say anything about it.

"Simply put, I was bullied a lot when I was a kid. I honestly thought the entire world was against me for some reason. There wasn't a real safe haven for me, since my parents were also part of the problem. Although they admitted their mistakes and are striving to be better parents to me right now, it didn't really change their unintentional neglect towards me. It's actually their current support that's allowing me to rent out the apartment."

"They neglect you?" Naofumi's heart struck a chord with that one with sympathy. His own parents dismissed him after they determined him to be a failure, giving up on him early on. It's what made them focus on his little brother more and ultimately what caused Souji to snap. "How so?"

"They didn't do anything about the bullying. They kept brushing it off like it was nothing, thinking it was kids just being kids. Most of my elementary school memories were filled with hell because of their severe misunderstandings. Teachers tried to stop it to some degree, but since it kept happening, they just decided to abandon that ship before it could get worse."

"Itsuki… If you don't want to talk about this—"

"No, it's fine," Itsuki said, shaking his head. "It's not as if I've been trying to hide this from you and since you're one of the few people that cared about me from the moment we met, you probably deserve to know."

Itsuki didn't show any type of uncomfortability on his face. Either he was hiding it pretty well or the more reasonable assumption where he already came to terms as to what happened in his past. Though for as much reason that held, something about Itsuki's expression prevented him from making that guess. In the end, Naofumi simply took his words at face value, hoping there hadn't been anything underneath.

Though, if Naofumi had to put a word on what he was feeling from Itsuki, it would have to be…

Rather than a resolution, it felt more like a conviction.

"That's why I ran away one day. I tried to get away from it all and before I knew it, I ended up in the middle of a forest. I was really scared because I didn't know where I was, but that was until I met Ren."

"Wait, what? You met Ren in the middle of a forest for the first time? Seriously?"

"Yeah, could you believe that? Never would I have thought I would be meeting my best friend in a barren place like that."

"You're not pulling my leg here, right?"

"No, I'm being serious! I honestly met Ren there! He was actually the one, looking up at the stars before I came over. I got really nervous, seeing someone around my age in these parts. Because of what happened in those experiences, I thought Ren was going to hate me as much as those other kids were, but..."

"He was different," Naofumi answered, completing Itsuki's trailing thoughts. "Perhaps it was a fateful meeting between the two of you."

"I keep thinking back to that, believing it might be so. It was actually Ren who gave me the bravery and strength that I needed to break out of the vicious cycle of my childhood. If it weren't for him, I'd probably be stuck as a bully's main victim or something like that."

"Maybe I'll have to thank Ren one day for bringing you along to our apartment. It's been fun having you two around and I couldn't imagine my life with Motoyasu being the same without you two guys now."

"Naofumi, the way you say that seems a little suspicious."

"Suspicious?" Naofumi furrowed his eyebrows. "How? I'm just expressing my gratitude."

Itsuki chuckled.

"Never mind. Anyways, I started meeting up with Ren there more frequently and we would just watch the night skies together. It was one of the moments in my childhood where I could actually be at peace, so that's the reason why I'm so used to looking up whenever I'm troubled with something like insomnia."

"That's really nice, Itsuki. I'll probably avert on asking why Ren was there to begin with, but if my curiosity ever strikes me, I'll be sure to ask him."

"Good luck on that. Ren could be a bit secretive about his past. I really only know because I was there for it and I bet if I wasn't, he would never tell me, not even underneath a blue moon."

With a smile shared between the two friends, Itsuki wanted to stay up for a little longer. The snoring from Motoyasu made it a little difficult to enjoy the background, but Itsuki didn't look like it bothered him too much. Naofumi wasn't really bothered by it either, but he really did wish that Motoyasu would work on that habit on his.

It wouldn't be too long until someone would get annoyed and stuff a pillow into his mouth to muffle him. If anything, it sounded like a thing Ren would do. The thought quickly amused him, but he disregarded it just as quickly.

"C'mon. We got a fun day ahead of us, so we should really get some sleep now."

Itsuki nodded. "Yeah, I hear you."

As Naofumi turned around, he could have sworn that Ren's blanket shuffled around a little bit. Was it possibly his imagination? There hadn't been much benefits to thinning too much about it, so he decided to leave it at that and tuck himself in while Itsuki came over to his own futon.

Naofumi didn't have many doubts that starting tomorrow, they were going to enjoy themselves together as close friends. However, that would only start once they got enough sleep.