Summer's Promise
Chapter 11: "It's the past, after all."
The next day, Luka and her friends decided to do some more touring. Since they had already explored downtown yesterday, they chose to go to the shrine near the top of the mountain.
"No," Meiko replied, drinking her morning tea.
"What?Why?" the girls, except for Luka and Gumi, whined after begging their advisor.
"You need to have an adult with you."
"But yesterday, we weren't with anybody!" Ia protested.
"You were just in town. The hike to the top of the mountain is dangerous," Meiko continued to sip her tea.
"Why don't we go with them then, Sakine-sensei?"
Meiko spitted the tea she just sipped, the droplets fanning over the table to hear the statement from someone she didn't want to hear in such an early morning. The girls that surrounded her all jumped back in shock to see the mist of tea that sprinkled all over the table. Meiko, whose eyes had gone irritated, roughly turned her head, like a gear that needs lubrication. Her eyes were blinded to see the glowing Kiyoteru Hiyama standing by the door.
"H-Hiyama-sensei? You do know that we can't leave the kids unsupervised here in the onsen, too, right?" Meiko painfully smiled a bogus grin.
"I already talked to the staff and they're fine with supervising them," the charming teacher beamed at Meiko.
"Damn you, Kiyoteru. You planned this all along, didn't you?" Meiko thought, looking to the side to hide her suspicious eyes.
After she finished wiping the mess she made on the table, Meiko stood up and sighed to reveal that she and the other teacher will accompany them. All the girls, especially Luka, were all grateful to Kiyoteru, while Gakupo and Kaito smiled to see that the girls were all happy.
In less than an hour, all ten of them got ready and left the hot spring resort. Before they began their hike to the top, they visited the small convenient store by the resort to buy food and drinks, and get a map of the trail to the shrine. When they looked at the simple, yet artistic map that the villagers there had prepared, they realized that the walk wouldn't be too long or too hard. They were, however, reminded to be careful because anything can happen, especially during the winter.
The hike to the shrine was easy and a little difficult at the same time. Due to the winter season, the trees were a bunch of sticks that just jutted out of the ground. This made it easier for them to see the path to the shrine, and not have to struggle to look at the scenery from where they were. The view from the top was somewhat beautiful, though the whole mountain looked bald. The soil was a little wet and there were a few large and small patches of snow, glistening under the faint light from the sun hiding behind the dark clouds.
On their hike, they all formed smaller groups instead of clumping in a big one. Also, the people in their groups matched their strides and steps, so it was easier for them to keep up with each other. Luka, Miku, and Miki walked together; Ia, Lily, and Gumi walked together, talking about their years together in elementary school; Gakupo and Kaito looked out for the two groups of girls; Meiko and Kiyoteru were together.
"Isn't it nice out here, Meiko-chan?" Kiyoteru smiled as he looked at the view from the top.
"Don't call me that, Hiyama!" Meiko complained, clenching her fist as she kept walking to leave Kiyoteru.
"Why not?" he asked as he ran to follow Meiko.
"You planned this, didn't you?"
"No, not at all. The kids are adventurous, let's just say that. You didn't answer me, yet, though?"
"I don't have to answer you, moron!You already know the answer!" Meiko turned around after getting annoyed of Kiyoteru's jolly tone of voice.
"Are you still mad at me from that time?"
"N-no! That was in the past! I'm not immature like you!" Meiko's face blushed when she was reminded of her past with Kiyoteru.
"Hehh…" the girls commented, their faces showing suspicion and mischief, when they heard Meiko and Kiyoteru's argument.
"You two have a 'past' together?" Ia smiled as if she was planning something evil to the two teachers.
"N-no!" Meiko immediately replied.
Kiyoteru, who stood behind Meiko, tried to say something but was interrupted when he felt Meiko's fury.
"L-let's just keep walking, children," Kiyoteru awkwardly smiled as he continued to hike up.
They finally reached the shrine as the afternoon came. They spent a few minutes praying at the main hall, and made their way to get their fortunes afterwards.
"I wonder why Luka-chan got a bad fortune," Miki worried when she took a glance at Luka's fortune.
"Woah! I got a great fortune!" Gakupo exclaimed as he pulled his fortune out.
"Shouldn't Luka-chan have that?" Miki pouted with both hands on her hips.
"I-it's okay, Miki-chan. It's not a big deal," Luka awkwardly smiled.
After learning more about the shrine's history, the group made their way back to the resort to relax.
When they arrived back at the resort, it was almost sunset. They made it back in time before it got dark, though they took longer to come down because they had to look for safer paths that didn't have slippery snow or soil. The boys and girls separated to their rooms and got ready to take a dip in the bath.
"Why aren't there anybody here, Meiko-sensei?" Lily asked as they entered the warm water after her sigh of relief.
"Everyone in both classes are over at the game lounge, playing a table tennis tournament," Meiko said, placing the towel on top of her head.
"We have the baths to ourselves again, huh," Miki smiled.
Luka just finished scrubbing her body, and on her way to get in the water, Meiko opened her eyes and saw Luka's gorgeous body.
"Luka-chan, you're so sexy!" Meiko teased, even whistling.
The other girls pitched in and began to tease the pink-haired girl, making her blush and get shy.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the bamboo wall that was dividing the outside bath from the girls to the boys, were Gakupo, Kaito, and Kiyoteru. Gakupo's and Kaito's faces were also as red as Luka's cheeks, both because of embarrassment and thoughts that a normal teenager would have.
"Don't even think about it. Meiko will know, especially if it's about one of her students," Kiyoteru gave both the two boys a pat on their shoulders, the meanings apology and good luck.
"Did you just call Meiko-sensei by her first name?" the two boys stopped, pointing out the unusual.
"Didn't you two just do the same?" Kiyoteru tried to return their doubt back to them by asking them the same question, but unfortunately, the boys were a little smarter.
"That's because we're close to her, like how the girls on the other side call her 'Meiko-sensei' because they're close to her," Gakupo pointed out.
"Yeah, like we call you 'Kiyoteru-sensei.' Plus, there was '-sensei' in the end," Kaito added.
The two boys were intrigued and curious as soon as Kiyoteru began to move away from the boys. As he placed his towel on top of his head, Gakupo and Kaito began to question their teacher.
"Just tell us the truth," Gakupo and Kaito pried.
"I've known him since we were ten, that's all," Meiko, who was also interviewed by the girls due to their curiosity of what happened earlier on their way to the shrine, replied groggily.
The two teachers had to talk about their past with each other to their students. They weren't too comfortable, but they knew what and what not to release. Meiko and Kiyoteru, too, were glad that they were going to share it with the students they were closest to.
"She wasn't always the type of woman that she is right now," Kiyoteru described Meiko when they were still in 5th grade.
"Meiko-sensei was a cry baby and a girly girl?!" the girls exclaimed to hear from Meiko.
"Hey! What are you girls trying to say?" Meiko roared while holding up a fist, making the girls laugh.
"But Kiyoteru was always there for me…he was my best friend," Meiko described Kiyoteru with a look that suggested to the girls that she thought of him more.
Unknown to both of the groups that they were talking about their teachers' past, Kiyoteru and Meiko held the same looks on their faces. They were both distant, as if returning back to the past. Though they looked nostalgic, the two adults looked pained to try and remember what happened before.
"Well, let's go, boys," Kiyoteru said, getting up after a sigh to get out of the water.
"What do you mean, Meiko-sensei?" the girls all whined to hear that Meiko wasn't going to continue.
"Are you not going to tell us everything?" the boys asked Kiyoteru.
"Of course not!" Meiko roared again.
"It's adult business," Kiyoteru added to Meiko's statement, though he didn't know what she said.
Meiko and Kiyoteru turned around to the entrance of the bath at the same time, hiding their true expressions from their students. They looked down on the ground, clenching their fists and walking away from their students. The emotions they held in their hearts were something they didn't want to tell their students just yet, even to the ones that are close to them.
"It's the past, after all," they both thought as they went back in to get dressed.
That same night, Luka and Gakupo met at the lounge once again at the same time they encountered each other the other night. They began their meeting with buying the cold, canned green tea, which was what they did the night before. Gakupo started off with jokes that set off the mood into a good beginning, especially since Luka was starting to let her frown spill again.
"I'm glad you're smiling again," Gakupo smiled in relief, looking at the rim of his drink.
"Thanks again, Kamui-kun," Luka also smiled back, but it was unknown to her that her cheeks were flushed.
"A smile really suits you, Megurine-san," the purple-haired boy turned to Luka.
Luka felt something in her heart that she had never felt before. She could feel her cheeks getting warmer and her heart beating faster. The girl, who had no clue what she was feeling, felt as if she was drowning in Gakupo's eyes and smile, making her feel a little nervous.
"Th-thank you, Kamui-kun!" Luka exclaimed, drinking her tea down after making the conclusion from the feelings she had that it was hot.
The lounge was quiet for a while as they thought of something to talk about, looking at their drinks or around the room. After a few minutes of silence, which felt like hours to the two of them, Luka grabbed all her courage to speak up and break the quiet.
"By the way, Kamui-kun, did you know that Meiko-sensei had a past with Kiyoteru-sensei?" Luka nervously said, holding onto her drink a little tighter as the water on the can trickled down to her fingers.
"Oh, he talked about that earlier, too!"
"She told us that she had known Kiyoteru-sensei since they were ten years old."
The two continued talking about what their teachers revealed to them, but since Meiko and Kiyoteru didn't really disclose a lot of information, their conversation about their teachers' past was short. This didn't stop the two of them, though, to think of things that might've happened to the two of them. Luka told Gakupo that whenever Meiko would hear Kiyoteru's name or see him in the halls, she would always roll her eyes and would get annoyed, taking a whole period to return back to the cheerful teacher that Meiko was. Gakupo revealed to Luka that Kiyoteru didn't really talk about Meiko a lot, but when he does, he'd always look a little happy and hurt at the same time.
"Their past is so intriguing," Gakupo commented, finishing his drink.
He got up to throw his trash away, coming back to a gloomy-looking Luka, who dozed off while staring at the floor.
"Megurine-san," Gakupo thought, worried.
"Cheer up, you," the purple-haired boy said.
All of a sudden, Luka felt her cheeks getting pulled apart. Though it didn't really hurt, Luka was shocked when she looked up to see Gakupo. In just a brief second, she noticed that Gakupo looked hurt, though he was the one hurting her with his pinching her cheeks.
"I'm sorry,Kamui-san," Luka apologized after Gakupo let go.
She rubbed her cheeks with her hands, still looking depressed. Gakupo noticed this even if she quickly showed her awkward smile. He raised his hand and placed it on top of Luka's head, patting it.
"Great job, Megurine-san," Gakupo softly smiled with a hint of worry and care.
"Huh?"
"I'm glad you're getting closer to everyone. You're less shy than the first time I met you, too," Gakupo sat back down beside Luka.
"How did you know?"
"Well, I've just noticed that you started calling our teachers by their first names, which is something that only the students that are close to them do."
"Now, that you mentioned it, everyone but us are calling them by their first names, huh," Luka just noticed.
To Gakupo's amusement, he began to laugh even though he was trying to hold it in. Luka's face was blushing at first, but she laughed with him and they were just laughing together.
"You two are still awake?"
Luka and Gakupo stopped laughing right away to see Gumi.
"Oh, Gumi. You're still awake?" Gakupo commented.
"Aren't you supposed to be asleep? If Sakine-sensei and Kiyoteru-sensei find out you two are here, we'll all get in trouble, you know," the green-haired girl warned as she dropped coins into the vending machine to get her a can of cold green tea.
"You're here, too, aren't you?" Gakupo got up to lightly flick Gumi's forehead to tease her.
"Ouch! Jeez, Gakupo."
Gumi, who had been with her friends with her class the whole trip, began to chase Gakupo around the ping-pong table, both laughing joyfully. Luka was happy to see a cute sight, but she felt something in her heart that was similar to what she had felt before. It was new, but familiar. It was the same as what she felt when her friends from her hometown didn't want to talk to her on the web, but the feeling she was having was still a little different.
"Stop it,Gumi!" Gakupo laughed non-stop while Gumi tickled him on the waist.
"Their relationship is so nice," Luka thought, quietly smiling.
"They're close enough to call them by their first names."
Luka didn't even realize that she was dozing off again, remembering her past with her friends in her hometown. When she looked up after hearing her name getting called, Luka found Gumi standing by her.
"Megurine-san, let's go. I already shooed Gakupo away, so we should head to back to our rooms," Gumi friendly smiled.
"Aren't you going to finish your drink first, Nakajima-san?" Luka said, pointing at the opened can.
"Oh, right!"
Gumi sat down with Luka and they both continued drinking their green tea. Luka and Gumi weren't really close to each other, since Gumi rarely came into their classroom, unlike Gakupo and Kaito. Luka felt awkward being with the lime-haired girl because of many things.
"She's so pretty," Luka observed, taking a peek through the corner of her eye.
"Let me guess. Gakupo was drinking this, wasn't he?" Gumi asked out of nowhere, surprising Luka.
"Oh! Uh, yes! He was," immediately, Luka answered.
Gumi began to laugh, unknown to Luka as to why. The pink-haired girl was amazed at Gumi's gorgeousness, even her laugh was cute to Luka. Outside, Luka didn't show it, but she definitely felt as if her confidence lowered. She remembered just how popular Gumi was at her school, even all the upperclassmen knew who Gumi Nakajima was. Most of Gumi's friends were also upperclassmen, always getting confessions from them, too. The girls didn't really hate Gumi, though a few of them were jealous of her popularity.
"I'm surprised he still drinks this. He used to hate it when we were in junior high, but I'm glad he's learned to like it," Gumi revealed the reason behind her laughter.
"I guess you could say that I introduced this to Gakupo."
Gumi got up to throw away her trash, while Luka felt more mysterious pangs of hurt in her heart. Before Gumi could notice it, Luka got up and masked her pained expression away.
"Let's go," Gumi said after Luka threw her trash away.
"It must be nice," Luka thought, thinking about everything that had happened that day, from Meiko and Kiyoteru's history to Gakupo and Gumi's small snippet of their junior year.
"To have such great pasts."
Author's note:
onsen- hot springs