Childhood Part XXI – Decision – Start
Makoto let out a content sigh.
The fresh air of the hot springs on the outskirts of town was like no other.
It was weird that their parents decided to not go with them on this trip, but truth be told, Makoto was strangely content with it.
Maybe it was because of his growing hormones, but the thought of being alone in a trip with his friend, which are all girls, kind of made the boy very content.
Still, he was truly glad to have this short time away from their parents.
"Have you ever been to a hot spring Chiaki-chan?" Komaru asks as the group jumps out of Tsumugi's limo.
The mauve-haired girl shakes her head. "Not really… I think?" She looks towards the hotel in front of them and smiles softly. "I only saw those in my games."
"Same here with me!" The otaku yells excitedly. "Oh! I'm so excited! I've only seem onsen trips in my animes!" She puts her hands over her own cheeks and blushes, while giggling.
Makoto smiles seeing his friends happy. "Well, why don't we go in?" The girls look at him and nod, before starting to walk towards the hotel. The brunette however, turned to the butler that drove them here and asks. "You won't come with us Kubo-san?"
The older man shakes his head. "No Naegi-kun, I'm only here to watch over you kids." Before the boy can say anything, the butler lifts his hand and stops him. "Don't worry about me, go ahead, the girls are waiting for you."
Makoto sighs, knowing that was no convincing the older man.
With a smile on his face, the brunette walked towards the hotel, the girl are indeed waiting for him at the entrance, all three of them with a beautiful smile on their faces.
Makoto blushed slightly, before looking up towards the sky.
This was going to be a good day.
After having a snack and showing Chiaki and Tsumugi around, the group finally decides to hit the hot springs.
Obviously because of now being older, the girls and Makoto had to go into different springs.
Luckily for everyone, according to the managers, most of their guest are tourist that had gone into town and would only be back by the afternoon, so they had their respective springs to themselves mostly.
Makoto let out a relaxed breath while lowering himself in the hot water beneath him. "That's good!" The brunette comments, but the only thing he hears is the echo of his voice. "Although-" He now lets out a sigh. "-It kind of defeats the point, being alone in a onsen."
Closing his eyes, the boy let's the hot spring water wash all of his worries away, leaving him in a very relaxed state.
But, as said before, Makoto was a growing boy with hormones starting to act up.
His mind drifted to very specific thoughts, mainly involving his friends on the other side of the wooden wall.
Makoto opens his eyes and springs forth. "T-That's-" The thought of his sister, Tsumugi and Chiaki bathing naked just on the other side of wall, was a very vivid thought in his pubescent mind. "-Gah! Stop thinking about that Makoto!" He yells while giving a soft slap on his own cheek. "Geez! What are you? Some kind of pervert?" The boy comments to himself, before sitting back on the water.
Still, who could blame him?
The three most beautiful girls he knows are just on the other side of the wooden wall and he was here on this side alone, it made kind of hard for the brunette to not think about his friends and sister.
While Makoto fights with his own thoughts, Komaru and the other girls excitedly chat on the other side of the wall.
Well, Komaru and Chiaki are chatting, Tsumugi is still wrapped in her towel and sneakily grabbing some stools while her friends are already in the water talking happily between themselves.
"So you had came here before Komaru-chan?" Chiaki asks as Tsumugi puts a stool down.
"Yeah, me and my family came here some years ago." The younger Naegi happily replies, before her face turns sad. "But I can't say it was all happy moments." Chiaki worriedly looks towards the brunette, but she is quick to take her hands out of the water and dismissively swings them, slightly splashing the hot water around her. "It wasn't anything that bad, I just got lost on the forest around here."
Without any of the two girls noticing, Tsumugi grabbed another stool and put it above the first one, making a little stair.
"I see." The mauve-haired girl nods. "Must have been scary… I think?"
Tsumugi grabs a third stool. "Yep, it sure was." Komaru looks to the open sky on the baths and smiles softly. "Good thing Onii-chan found me really quick back then."
The otaku finally finishes her improvised stair and starts climbing it, that's when Chiaki finally notices what she was doing.
"Tsumugi-chan?" The sleepy girl calls, scaring the otaku who clumsily falls back on her butt.
"Ouch!" Tsumugi groans in pain.
"What are you trying to do?" Komaru turns around and asks with s confused expression.
The otaku jumps back on her feet and blushes heavily before coughing on her hand. "Well- I mean- you know-" She adjusts her glasses and coughs again. "W-We're in a hot spring right? So I thought we could make like my animes and-" Her blush deepens. "S-Spy on the other side of the wall?"
Chiaki and Komaru exchange a knowing glance. "Isn't normally the boys that do that?" The brunette questions and Tsumugi nods.
"Y-Yeah, b-but I mean-" She looks to the side. "O-Onii-sama is too much of a gentleman to spy on us-"
"So you wanted to spy on him?" Komaru watches her friend struggle to find her words, all with a disappointed expression on her face.
"Uh- huh- sorry." Tsumugi eventually gives up on trying to find a argument and simply takes her towel off, before joining her friends on the water with a look of shame on her face.
The rest of the day went without any problems, the friends enjoyed their time together and took on a stroll to see a more natural environment, different from the one they are normally accustomed to.
But soon, the day comes to an end and they go to their respective rooms to sleep.
Except for two of them.
Chiaki wasn't able to sleep, so she silently got up and walked out of her room.
She didn't really had any place to go, so she just wandered around the hotel for a while, until someone called for her.
"Chiaki-chan?" The girl turns around to see Makoto looking straight at her.
"Oh, hey Makoto-kun." She smiles softly and the boy nods.
"What are you doing so late at night?" He asks and the girl shakes her head.
"I-" Chiaki gazes away from him. "-Don't really know myself."
"I see." The brunette boy looks towards her face and a idea pops into his head. "Actually, I have something to show you, Chiaki-chan." The mauve-haired girl looks at him and he smiles. "Can you wait for me at the hotel's entrance? I just need to grab something on my room."
Chiaki was still slightly confused at his request, buy decided to just accept it.
The brunette boy smiles and turns around. "I'll be quick!" He says, before running towards his room.
Not seeing much to do now, Chiaki makes her way to the hotel's entrance.
It doesn't take long for Makoto to run back to her, now with a flashlight on his hands.
Grabbing the girl's hand and turning his flashlight on, the two start walking towards the forest.
Chiaki is quick to grab onto Makoto's arm, holding tightly onto him. "Where are we going?" She asks, feeling her cheeks starting to burn as the boy smile gently at her.
"A very special place." Makoto replies.
A comfortable silence falls as the two walk towards this 'special place' of his.
The gentle night breeze, combined with the moonlight phasing through the trees is breathtaking, that together with Makoto's warmth and his gentle smile made Chiaki's heart skip a beat.
"We're here." The boy announces as he flashes his flashlight against a small shrine surrounded by nature, although, after some seconds, he turn it off.
The scene in front of them was way more beautiful when there's was no artificial light, just the moonlight basking the shrine in all of its glory, making the place fill itself with a inexplicable vibe.
"That's beautiful." The mauve-haired girl comments, she then feels Makoto's fingers wrapping around hers. "Makoto-kun?" She turns to look at him, her face red like a tomato.
"This is the place where Okaa-san and Otou-san met for the first time." The brunette explains and Chiaki let's out a small 'oh'. "Here is also where Komaru got lost back when we were younger." He closes his eyes and smiles softly. "So you can say this place is very special to my family, both for good and bad reasons."
A comfortable silence falls between the two as they watch the moonlit shrine.
"Makoto-kun… I-"
"I think you should accept."
"Huh?" Chiaki turns to face the boy with a confused expression on her face.
"I think you should accept to invitation to Hope's Peak." He says, not taking his eyes off the shrine.
"I don't know." The girl replies, insecurity in her voice. "I don't think I'm good enough to be a Ultimate."
"I do." Makoto finally looks towards the girl. "You're amazing Chiaki-chan and I'm proud to be your friend."
This time is the girl who is looking away. "You're just saying that."
"No, I'm not." The brunette replies, making the girl look towards him, finally making their gazes meet. "You're one of the most amazing people I have ever meet Chiaki-chan. Your skill, your kindness and your charm are incomparable." The boy pulls the girl into a embrace, making both of them blush deeply, still, he continues without any hitch to his voice. "I'm sure you're gonna make a lot of friends at Hope's Peak and even if you don't-" He hugs her tighter. "-Komaru Tsumugi and me will always be by your side, even if we are not there physically."
A silence installs itself around the two, the only thing that Chiaki can really do is hug the boy back, all while burying her face on his chest and sniffing.
Truth be told, she was afraid.
Afraid of not fitting in at Hope's Peak.
Afraid of not having a worthy talent.
Afraid of leaving her friends behind.
Afraid of leaving him, behind.
And Chiaki knew that those fears aren't going to disappear, but Makoto's words gave her the courage, the hope within herself to take that next step.
"Thank you." Chiaki whispers, still with her face buried in his chest.
"No need to take me. I didn't-" The boy is interrupted when something soft touches his lips.
When he finally understands what it is, his eyes widen.
Chiaki had just locked their lips in a simple, childish kiss.
It was nothing in the grand scheme of things, but to those two, it was incredibly special.
Pulling herself away, Chiaki is quick to hug Makoto's arm and pull him closer. "S-Shall we g-get back t-to the h-hotel?" Her face was completely red and her eyes are closed.
"S-Sure." He replies, before grabbing something inside of his hoodie's pocket. "H-Here!"
Chiaki looks at his hand and sees a hair clip of her favorite shoot-em-up game. "T-That's-!"
"F-For you." Makoto blushes even more. "I bought that a week ago, just didn't knew when to give you."
The mauve-haired girl grabs the present and brings it closer to her chest, closing her eyes and whispering a soft 'Thank you'.
Makoto blushes, before grabbing her hand and turning his flashlight on again. "W-Well, let's go back to the hotel."
The two walk back to the hotel, hand grasped together and although none of them talked about the kiss, they both knew the other enjoyed it.
On the next morning, Chiaki was already wearing her brand-new hairclip and in Makoto's opinion, it just made her feel right.
There was a lot of awkward moments between the best friends, which Tsumugi and Komaru noticed, but decided to not say anything.
Still, they eventually had to leave the hot springs, and while going to Tsumugi's limo, Makoto stops for a second and looks back towards the hotel.
That place held a lot of memories to him, good, bad and amazing like that last night.
But still, looking back at the hotel's entrance, Makoto couldn't help but feel a certain uneasiness and even without noticing, his mind went to a single thought.
I wander where Ryoko-chan is?
Childhood Part XXI – Decision – End
Oh yeah baby, I'm back.
sorry for the wait, some personal stuff came up and I just wasn't on a good enough state of mind to write anything.
With that being said, the next chapter may or may not come out a lot earlier than usual, so watch out for that I guess.
Anyways, I might have gone a little too ham on this chapter, but I couldn't resist, Chiaki and Makoto are just too cute together.
Well, with that, all of the childhood plots have been ended, some more well done than others, but at last we're finally here.
Now, only three more chapters until Hope's Peak actually begins.
I hope you all enjoyed reading this chapter and see you around!