11/17
Images dashed by the window escaping the eyes before you can take a glance at something the peaked your interest. The constant rattle of the room timed with the clacking from below signified the train still moved onward to its destination. The students of Gekkoukan high were finally on their to their long waited Kyoto trip. However at the moment Yukari was unable to focus on any of those things.
She wore a sour look on her face. To her left was her friend and dormmate, Junpei Iori. In front her was that flirtatious, Ryoji Mochizuki and to Ryoji's right sat the teacher lover Kenji. Everyone one of them had in their hands several cards, as did she. However unlike her they all wore a smirk on their face. Her intentions told her they were planning for a gang up. The game, was old maid, with a substitution of the joker for the queen
Junpei breathed in deeply, his cap casting a dark shadow over his face. "The loser has to strip an article of clothing." He said calmly.
"What?!" Yukari shrieked turning her gaze toward Junpei. "Hey! When did we decide that?"
"Quiet now!" He motioned his head across the isle to the sleeping pair of Minato and Aigis.
She scowled at the two of them. 'I wouldn't mind I were playing with him...' Yukari's face momentarily flashed red. 'Did I just think that? I mean just a normal game of old maid not the stripping part!' Yukari turned back to the game trying to clear the thoughts of Minato that danced in her head. She could see the boys eyes darting from one another, they're plotting something.
Junpei looked at the two boys across from him. 'Everyone knows their jobs, right?' He thought as if trying to send the message telepathically.
'Yeah…' Kenji thought as if hearing Junpei's thoughts. 'Let's go for an all-out-attack!'
'Alright…' Ryoji thought turning his gaze onto Yukari. "Target: Yukari Takeba, right?' And so began the heated swapping and discarding of paired cards. When all the cards that could be discarded were gone only one card would remain, the unpaired joker.
The one who held that card in their hands was Junpei Iori. His own plan had turned against him. "It's okay if you don't wanna." Yukari said sympathetic but in truth she was glad it wasn't her.
With sweat dripping from his brow Junpei raised his hands in surrender. "N…No…No. No. No. No. No." He said the word over and over again as if in disbelief but it was his idea, he couldn't back out now. "We guys don't do take-backs. Behold my glorious stripping!"
He tugged at the brim of his cap and slowly lifted from his brim and began to raise it from his head as Ryoji and Kenji looked on in awe while Yukari's expression screamed 'oh please it's just a hat!'
"Yeah! Next round! Just one more!" Junpei shouted at the top of his lungs, he wasn't going to be the only one who would strip.
"Hey! Keep it down back their!" Miss Toriumi shouted from several rows ahead.
Several hands later the train began to slow to a stop. All the boys were down to their boxers while Yukari was only missing her choker and boots. "Well that was a great game guys" she said with a satisfied smirk.
"Beat at our own game"
"She's a witch"
"We suck dude" the three of them hung their heads in shame.
"We're heeeeere!" Rang the joint shouts of many students as the train halted and the doors swung open. A horde of students began to make their way off the train as their chatter began to fill the air.
As Yukari stepped off the train her gaze scanned the crowd for a certain someone. She was looking for Minato. Instead she spotted Aigis, surrounded by fellow students. It's good that she's making friends she thought. Yukari felt a tap on her shoulder; she turned to see hair of blue curtaining drowsy eyes, it was him. "Geez I can't believe you slept the entire way here." She pouted.
Minato scratched the back of his head. "Sorry, it was just so easy to relax on the train. Did I miss anything?" He said following it with a yawn.
Yukari sighed, "Just talking, jokes, come card games and stripping you know the usual."
"So it really wasn't much huh…wait stripping?" Minato's pitch rose as he caught the last part. "Does that mean that you?"
"You should have stayed awake" She winked at him as she stuck her tongue out in a cute fashion.
Yukari couldn't explain it but for some reason she could be more free around Minato. They had been through a lot together though. He had seen her laugh, mad, hurt, distraught, in pain, scared and so much more. He had been her emotional rock when she found out about her father, he was their when she had that little 'talk' with her mother over the phone. Not to mention he has saved her a lot.
"Yukari!" Minato flicked her on the forehead calling her back. "You're more out of it then I was." He laughed.
"I was just thinking about something okay?" She said defensively.
He smirked at her. "Is it about my little promise?" He was referring to the promise they made to go on a date. "How about after we drop off our bags at the hotel we go out then?"
Yukari's cheeks turned a little red at the mention of their date. The matter certainly wasn't small to her. "Sure" she said following with a smirk.
"Minato," Ms. Toriumi shouted over deafening roar. "I need your assistance for a moment."
"Sorry, duty calls" He made his way over to his awaiting teacher.
They boarded a tour bus and began to make their way to the hotel. Yukari took advantage of the situation and sat next to Minato. She pointed out a few land marks and points of interest here and there making sure to leave out anywhere even remotely related to geishas to keep Junpei under control. When they finally reached the hotel the sun was already setting. The Junior S.E.E.S member plus Ryoji leisurely strolled into the hotel.
"We're finally here! Whoa, nice place!" Junpei said giving the lobby a once over.
"It IS an expensive area, after all." Yukari put emphasis on the word is as she was the personal Kyoto expert of the group.
"Hey…" Ryoji announced as he pointed to several tables settled under colorful umbrellas. "what's the umbrella for?"
"It's for decoration" Minato declared. What else could it be for, roof leaks? Impossible they were on the first floor and the building wasn't even that old.
"…I see" Ryoji nodded his head in admiration. "So, that's the style here in Kyoto, huh? So, which way to the geishas?" He said quickly shrugging of the previous subject.
"That's right, I forgot about that!" Junpei shouted suddenly remembering what his self created purpose for this trip. "Count me in!"
"Keep dreamin', Junpei." Yukari sighed and he had nearly gone through the entire day without thinking about that.
They made their way across the lobby and gazed out the window. "The stone area outside is filled with water..." Aigis said as she noticed steam coming from small pool of water. "Is this one of the open-air hot springs I've heard about?"
"No, it's just the courtyard" Fuuka said shaking her head. "It's not meant for bathing."
"So, where were you guys gonna go at your old school, Ryoji?" Junpei lightly nudged his friend. "Somewhere interesting, I bet. Kyoto's so typical, don't ya think?"
"Hmm…" The boy tried to recall with a frustrated expression. "I don't really remember." He scratched his head.
"…Are you serious?" Yukari stood in disbelief. "That's the highlight of the year!" How could a student not know about their school trip? It's the most important event, even more important than the cultural festival.
"Come on, you can talk later. Yo're blocking the hallway." Ms. Toriumi said approaching the group. "Girls, your rooms are that way. Why don't you get unpacked."
"You heard here" Junpei said with a snicker."
"Well see you later, then" Fuuka waved before her and Yukari moved toward their rooms as Junpei followed in tow.
"Hey, knock it off Junpei. Back over there" Yukari pointed in the direction of the other boys as a defeated Junpei sulked away. She then looked at Minato and winked. "Aigis, get with the program." Aigis responded and followed after the two.
"Hey, what Yukari did just now…" Ryoji nudged Minato, a hint of suspicion in his voice. "Did she just wink at you?"
"Wink at me?" Minato feigned ignorance. "I think you're seeing things. We should unpack too." He made his way to stairs.
"You're right" Ryoji said agreeing with him. "She was probably winking at me. I mean we were standing right next to each other."
"Yeah that's what it was." Sarcasm laced Minato's voice.
After spending a few minutes unpacking Minato, still in his uniform, made his way out of the room. "Hey, where are you going?!" Junpei shouted after him as he struggled to put on his yukata.
"Bathroom" he came up with the most believable lie he could think of.
"Dude you're always going to the bathroom! You need to lay off the cielo mist!" Junpei shouted taking at Minato's favorite drink.
Buy twenty cielo mist at once and suddenly people think you're addicted. Well he had begun to drink more it of it since them. Back on the matter of why he was leaving the room he was actually planning to go see Yukari who had been waiting patiently for him by the stairs. "Ready to go?"
"I should be asking you. You're following me around, remember." She smiled at the fact that even though he offered to take her out on the date she would be the one taking the lead.
"So where are we going." he asked as they made their way down the stairs.
"Well we don't have much time so we can only go to a few places." She sounded a bit disappointed. "There should be a few places with a nice view and a couple shops I like to visit."
"Where do you think you're going?" Ms. Toriumi called from behind them.
"Oh I'm originally from Kyoto so I offered to show him around a little bit." Yukari told her the truth. What was the worst that could happen?
Ms. Toriumi face took a stern expression. "I see. What you were planning to do was sneak out and spend some alone time without an adults supervision."
"We weren't trying to sneak out!" Yukari shouted at her home room teacher.
"Honestly what would your mother think about you trying to sneak off with a boy. Yukari there's a time for things like that later on in life." Ms. Toriumi wagged a knowing finger.
Yukari's face was plastered with a shocked expression before it darkened as she shook with rage. "First of all if we were planning to sneak off we wouldn't have told you in the first place! And don't you think we would have waited until most of the students were asleep before trying something like that?!"
Ms. Toriumi was taken aback that her student had raised her voice to her. "Ms. Takeba all I'm saying is that you have plenty of time to worry about a boyfriend later."
"Later? Like when? When I'm my mothers age?! Let me tell you about my mother…" Yukari was about to say something extremely personal. Something that only three people knew about. Herself, her mother and Minato. "Ever since my father died my mother-umph."
"That's enough Yukari." Minato had silenced Yukari by placing his hand over her mouth. Yukari had just about to tell Ms. Toriumi and anyone else within earshot of her mother's relationship preference. About how her mother had been trying to, so called, fill the void Yukari's father had left by dating various men. It was a secret he had come across by chance but he knew that Yukari would be upset with him if he had let her blurt it out.
Yukari took a deep breath before removing his hand from her lips. "Thank you Minato. I'll be going back to my room now." She left without saying another word.
"What was that all about" Ms. Toriumi asked confused.
"It's nothing Ms. Maya" Minato said using her name from a certain game. (Yes Ms. Toriumi is Maya from the One Sin, not to be confused with .hack/'s one sin)
The older women sighed. "Sometimes I just don't get stu…WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"
"I said it's nothing." Minato feigned ignorance again.
"No, after that what did you say?!" Her voice was frantic.
"You're name, Ms. Toriumi. I thought I was proper to address you by your name." He pretended to sound confused.
"Yes…yes you're right." She said trying to calm down. "Well you should be getting back to your room now."
Minato followed her orders leaving her to with her thoughts about someone knowing who she was in an online game, more so the conversations she's had with Tatsuya. Minato would always have this leverage over her. He smirked to himself.
Minato slid the door to his room open only to find Junpei, Ryoji and Kenji missing articles of clothing and cards on the floor. "…I'm sorry I must have the wrong room."
"Get back here you son of a-" Junpei shouted as the three of them jumped on Minato. "You missed the last game but you're not missing this one! You must help us prepare for one of our greatest targets, Yukari Takeba!"
TBC
Originally this wasn't my original stopping for this point for this chapter. It was meant to end at the end of the trip. But as I wrote I got new ideas and realized. It would have been way to long. But don't worry as you read this (if you read this) I should be in the middle of the next chapter or done. We'll just have to see. Narrator go!
Narrator: So the trip seems to have gotten off to a rocky start but surely Yukari and Minato can squeeze in some time together, right? Or will they be unable to? With shrines abound certain charms are everywhere for the lady in love and we know that Yukari isn't the only girl with eyes for Minato. We'll see in the next chapter, after all midnights just around the corner.