Naoto felt himself stumbling slightly, as he took a hesitant step off the plane and back onto solid ground. He managed to keep upright this time. Though, considering the mad turbulence during that final hour in the air, he wasn't entirely sure how his stomach still remained in his body.
Regardless, he was not looking forward to the return flight.
Behind him, Tadano lurched forward with a strangled yelp, nearly face-planting on the polished floor. He would have, if Komi and Hisao hadn't each grabbed one of his arms at the last second. The man seemed to have not agreed with the final stretch of their journey either and was pale as a bed sheet.
The rest of the group quickly made way for other passengers, with Komi furiously apologizing to all those they had 'inconvenienced' by saving their friend from an impact with the ground. While Tony made a face of disdain toward the crowd, Maki merely rolled her eyes and casually wrapped an arm around Naoto, placing her hand on his waist.
Naoto was still not used to showing affection in public, even if it was such a minor thing. He could feel himself get a little flustered, but he didn't want to let it show, ere Maki decided to adjust for him. He enjoyed this feeling, the sensation. It felt like he was kept safe, as if he was protected.
What in the world am I on about?
Naoto shook his head, which got Maki's attention.
"You alright?" she asked casually, trying to not to draw any attention.
"Yeah," he responded in kind. "Just lost in silly thoughts."
"Nothing bad, I hope?"
Naoto smiled at her. "No, comforting thoughts."
Maki returned his smile and gently squeezed his side.
An hour later, after the crew had wrestled their stuff off the luggage line, they were wandering out the sliding doors of the airport to spot the foreign land ahead of them. Naoto was struck by the vast openness. Horns honked, buses rumbled, and half the ground was littered with paper cups, gum wrappers, and what looked like the remains of a half chewed up lunch that he didn't feel like lingering on.
A five lane system was stretching out ahead of them, with vehicles carrying people onto and off the premises. Yet, beyond the lanes, there seemed to be not much but cold concrete.
"Feels like… a total waste of space," Naoto muttered, eyeing the distant parking lots. In Japan, everything was compact, built upward or squeezed into every inch. Here, entire chunks of land sat empty. He wasn't sure how to process it.
Tadano parked his luggage on the side of the road, where a bunch of other cars had been stopped and motioned for the others to do the same. As the group gathered around him, Naoto took further note of the ground, littered with trash. It was a little off putting, but the people around them went about their lives unbothered.
"Everything is figured out for us," Tadano proudly declared. "We got a bus coming to pick us up here any moment. That'll get us to our hotel and we stay there until our flight back home."
Tony leaned forward, putting his face into Tadano's. "How much of this is coming out of our pockets?"
"Don't worry about that," Tadano said, sounding a little unconvincing.
Naoto was sure that Tadano had to invest quite a lot of their budget into this. They were a small, niche band after all, that just happened to strike it lucky with this opportunity. No large brand would take such a giant risk on them and pay for an all inclusive round trip, including leisure days as they had planned.
No, this trip could definitely have a risk of fully bankrupting them if their performance wasn't up to par and the impact they made wasn't strong enough. And he was sure Tadano was fully aware of this. This was an all or nothing gamble, with all their chips on the table.
The question was why they opted for this in the first place, instead of working on their own pace, as they have had done up to this point, to slowly accrue the presence they required to make it.
Naoto wondered if there was indeed something that Tadano was hiding from them, but he wasn't going to press for it now of all times.
Tony sighed and sat on his luggage, besides Tadano and stared out into the giant open parking lot beyond the car lanes.
"You really think we'll be able to pull this off?" he asked, although it sounded more like a thought that escaped his mind.
"I have the utmost faith in us," Tadano replied confidently.
Naoto watched his friends with a strange sense of detachment. Komi had walked up to stand by Tadano's side, her hand tenderly placed on his shoulder. Rin and Hisao were on the other side, next to Tony, with Rin leaning her frame against her boyfriend, as if she was worried she'd lose balance and fall over.
Naoto realized that at times he felt different. Not in a pretentious way. It simply felt as if he had spent so much time locked away in his own past, seeking the comfort of isolation, that he at times failed to connect with those around him. After all, the last time he had truly tried to connect with someone, Nagatoro had-
What was she up to right now?
Naoto let the thought drift away. That was not his concern at this moment.
"So, what do we wanna do first, once we got time to breathe?" Naoto asked the group, who turned their attention to him.
Tony tilted his head in thought. "I'd like to just sleep honestly. Not much a fan of flying. Didn't get any shuteye."
"And that was more than half a day," Hisao added, appearing rather tired himself.
"Sleepy…" Rin mumbled, her face pressed into Hisao's side.
Naoto chuckled to himself. It would seem that he might have been the only one to get any sleep during the flight. "Alright, I get it. First we rest."
Maki gently bumped her elbow into Naoto's side. "I'm down to do whatever honestly."
"You're not tired?" he asked her. "Got some sleep yourself?"
Maki awkwardly scratched the side of her face, seemingly trying to avoid making eye contact. "Y-yeah."
Naoto was perplexed by her behavior, until Tony piped up with laughter. "She was snoring away when I passed your guys' row on the way to the restroom. Held onto you like her life depended on it."
"Zip it!" Maki growled toward Tony, a heavy blush on her cheeks.
Tony smirked, but had the sense to keep any further comments to himself. Maki was still an absolutely unit of an intimidating woman, even if one didn't count her achievements within the ring.
Plus, there was the fact that she was still sort of a 'delinquent', even if those sort of activities and behaviors of hers had been brought down to a minimum since the end of high school. While she had matured and changed drastically in the years since Naoto first met her, one could still tell from the way she carried herself, the way she spoke and the way she didn't think much of the social standards the rest of them tried to abide by, that she had never and would never fully rid herself of that status.
But that was fine by Naoto. Something about it was even tantalizing to him, even though he would never admit it to her.
"But yeah, I slept fine," she huffed, stuffing her hands in her pockets.
"It is really comforting to be close to the person you love, isn't it?" Komi asked, her soft voice barely reaching their ears over the sounds of the surrounding environment. Her gentle eyes, resting on Maki, were radiating nothing but the most sincere support.
The redhead felt her tension melting beneath her gaze and kindness. Komi had some uncanny qualities to her, that much was for sure.
"Y-yeah, it is," Maki agreed sheepishly.
"Maybe Tony will know that joy one day," Hisao added, a grin on his face.
Tony just glared at Hisao for a moment before adjusting his gaze toward the ground.
"Man, don't be like that," Hisao protested, now feeling guilty. "You can't just dish out and not take any."
"Nah," Tony replied, taking a deep breath. "You're right. I am just doubtful I'll ever be that lucky myself."
Naoto narrowed his brows. That was odd. Tony was a very boisterous sort of guy, even if most of it was a joke or facade. Having this man cast himself in a negative light was so out of the ordinary, it almost felt frightening.
"Don't be like that," Tadano said, just as surprised as Naoto. "You definitely will!"
Tony just chuckled quietly. "When I am dead."
Naoto was about to try and speak up, to do anything to assist his friend in what seemed like a rare, open admission of self doubt, when Tony jumped off of his luggage.
"Bus is here," he said quickly.
Before anyone could speak up, the man had already grabbed his belongings and was walking toward the vehicle slowly coming to a stop ahead of them.
Naoto exchanged bewildered glances with Tadano, before the group eventually just collectively shrugged their shoulders and decided to follow Tony.
Once everyone had settled into the bus and Tadano managed to have a light, professional conversation in pretty decent English with the bus driver, the vehicle began rumbling loudly beneath them. The seats were surprisingly cozy. Almost felt like Naoto was sinking into the plush material. Beside him, Maki stashed her personal bag in the space above, similar to the plane before.
As the bus began rolling away from the airport terminal, Naoto felt himself getting truly excited for the first time since they left the morning prior. With all of the anxiety and stress falling away, Naoto felt the possibility of being carefree, if just for a short while. Staring out the window, Naoto took in the sights, hoping to spot anything particularly 'American', that he could be excited about.
For quite some time, there was absolutely nothing extraordinary. Just a handful of buildings, all with their own purposes, none of which related to them in any way. Most of what he saw at first was just open land, that kind of seemed like it had fallen to the wayside, as if it had been deemed unusable by humanity.
All of that changed once they reached an impressively long bridge, connecting the land they had just been on to another island, across a vast stretch of ocean beneath. The sun above, which had began rising almost the moment they stepped out of the airport, was now reflecting in the water below, causing a gorgeous vista to spread across the horizon.
As they reached the end of the bridge, leading inland onto the island, Naoto attempted to read the signs passing by them with his, what he assumed to have been, adequate English comprehension. Unfortunately, his assumption seemed incorrect, as he had a hard time making any sort of sense of the characters he was reading. After the third sign and third failure, he sighed and reached over to the seat ahead of him, and poked Tadano's shoulder.
"What's up?" Tadano asked, looking at his friend over his shoulder.
"Turns out," Naoto said in defeat. "I can't read english all that well."
Beside him, Maki gently pat him on the back, as if to say 'no duh'.
"Where are we at right now?" Naoto asked his friend, gesturing toward the signs passing them by above.
Tadano tilted his head to get a better look at the signs above. It was difficult for him as well, especially at the speed at which they went by, but he still got a general idea.
"Something about a state park. And like- I don't know. A jersey?"
Naoto raised a brow. "Like sports wear?"
"It's a state," Tony chuckled.
"But I thought we were in New York?" Naoto asked, confused by the situation.
"Almost," Tony replied, pointing out the window toward another landmass. "It's right over there."
"That's odd," Maki added, a little befuddled.
Rin peeked out from the top of her seat ahead of Tony. "I don't think so."
"Of course not," Maki sighed.
"Guess we're passing through here," Tadano said, steering the conversation back. "And then make our way south toward New York."
Naoto settled back in his seat, intrigued by this odd interplay of smaller island making up their own little regions. Perhaps this wasn't quite as different from Japan as he first imagined it being.
The bus lurched unexpectedly, hitting a pothole or something similar, and everyone jolted in their seats. Komi yelped softly. Tony swore under his breath. Naoto gripped the seat in front of him.
"Sorry!" the driver called back in thickly accented English.
No one said anything else, but the tension in the air spoke of their combined exhaustion. Sleep was seemingly a luxury they had all taken for granted and it was starting to take a toll on their nerves.
Naoto tried to lighten the mood. "So… if we get to the hotel in one piece, who's down for the mythical New York style Pizza?"
Tony snorted. "If it's in the budget."
"You can just pay for us all," Maki teased, rolling her eyes.
"Pizza…" Rin mused, half asleep on Hisao's shoulder. "Could eat a pizza. Pizza with duck. Duck Pizza. Wait…" Her eyes fluttered open, confusion crossing her face. "Never mind."
Hisao sighed with a loving smirk and patted her head. "Yup. Mhm. Duck Pizza. Got you."
The bus pulled to the curb with a groan, and everyone was once more thrown forward in their seat. Something to get used to with American transportation it seemed. Naoto rubbed his neck, wincing. He would definitely feel that in the morning. He shot a glance at Maki, who gave him a wry smile in return, as if to say we survived.
"Here's our stop," Tadano said, relief coloring his voice.
One by one, they dragged their suitcases onto the sidewalk in front of a tall, brick faced building with an oversized neon sign reading "Bayside Hotel". From the outside, it looked reasonably nice, if a bit dated. A wide lobby window showed a comfortable lounge area and a front desk beyond.
Naoto took a deep breath of the city air, which was a disorienting mix of saltwater, exhaust fumes, and a terrible lingering hint of ancient garbage.
Tadano said something in English to the bus drive, who gave him a quick nod, before closing the bus doors and driving off.
"Aw, look, you scared him off," Tony joked, a yawn escaping him as well. "Now we're stuck here for good."
Tadano playfully smacked his arm. "Told him to when to pick us up again for our gig. For now, we check in and pray we survive the day."
"How inspiring," Naoto sighed and lead the charge into the building.
The inside of the hotel was blessedly cool. An air conditioner thrummed somewhere overhead, offsetting the early morning heat. The lobby had scuffed floors, but potted plants and bright lamps gave the space a welcoming feel. There was an odd painting of a boat, drifting on the ocean, with a rubber duck at the helm. It instantly drew Rin's attention and she all but hopped over to admire it.
A bespectacled woman stood behind the front desk, glancing up with a polite smile as the group approached. Tadano began speaking to her. His accent had to have thrown the woman off immediately, judging by the way her features were straining, as if it took every ounce of her being to decipher what Tadano was saying.
Finally, Naoto could see understanding forming on the receptionists face. She nodded quickly and began typing away at her computer. Tadano turned toward the party and gave them a half hearted thumbs up. Komi reciprocated with one of her own, while the others ignored Tadano to varying degrees.
Eventually, the woman returned her attention to Tadano, checking once more on his name. The only thing Naoto could understand was the humorous way she attempted to pronounce his name as "Taahadanooo?"
A few moments later, as Ran was dragged back toward the group by Hisao, way too enthralled by the duck captain, Tadano seemed to politely thank the receptionist, as she produced a handful of keys from the board hung up behind her.
Tadano turned to the crew, keys in hand. "Alright. Three rooms, double beds in each."
"So, you suck at math," Tony immediately chimed in. "There's seven of us. Where am I going to go?"
Tadano scratched his chin, caught in an awkward situation. "I mean, that's honestly the only arrangement I could make. You'll just have to, uh, sleep in our room?"
Tadano glanced helplessly toward Komi. Even she was surprised by the idea that Tadano hadn't sorted this out better, but she still nodded in encouragement, to ensure her boyfriend he had her approval.
Tony let out a subdued sigh and shook his head. "So be it. Where are those rooms?"
"Sixth floor," Tadano said. "Elevators are over there. Let's go!"
As they started to move, Maki gently elbowed Naoto into his side. "Guess I got you all to myself then."
Naoto stared up at her knowing smirk, causing him to feel heat rise beneath his collar.
About fifteen minutes later, they had found their rooms and each retreated to their own quarters for some rest. Naoto and Maki shared room 612.
The moment they stepped inside, the lights flickered on, revealing a relatively modest setup: a double bed with mismatched bedspreads, a small desk, and a window overlooking the city skyline. Naoto dropped his suitcase by the closet, exhaling deeply.
"Wow," Maki said, pushing the curtains aside to peer out. "Look at that. You can see all the way to the harbor from here."
Naoto came to join her. She was right—the ocean glinted in the distance, dotted with tiny ships and ferries. The early sunlight painted the sky in shades of orange and pink.
"All those fancy pants people out there on their boats," Maki chuckled as she let the curtain fall back into place. "Can you imagine? All day, spent out there, at the mercy of the sun beating down on you?"
"You make it sound like it's bad," Naoto countered, despite the fact he did honestly dislike the sound of that.
"Well," Maki teased as she walked toward her luggage. "I guess you'd get to see me in a bikini all day."
Naoto rolled his eyes at her, slowly but surely getting used to her teasing. "Of course. That would be the only reason why I would ever want to go to the ocean."
He let out a soft chuckle. "Gosh, you almost sound like when Nagatoro would-"
Naoto cut himself off before he could finish the thought. Ahead of him, Maki froze in her attempt to open the case full of clothing.
A lump began forming in Naoto's throat as the mood immediately shifted by the stupid misstep he had made. The last thing he had wanted to do was bring up Nagatoro at the beginning of this oversea stay. But on top of that, comparing Maki's action with hers, considering the past between them all, was most likely the worst thing he could have done.
"Hey-" Naoto started, rubbing his neck uncomfortably. "I didn't mean to-"
"It's okay," Maki interjected, swiftly and aggressively unzipping the luggage. "You're right. She would always tease you like that, as if that's all that you were about."
The redhead pulled a handful of clothes out of the carrier, her hand visibly trembling with overwhelming emotion. "I am sorry if I made you feel like I was doing the same thing."
"No!" Naoto assured her. "T-That's not at all- I am sorry. Really. That was stupid of me, to bring that up. It just-"
"Came so naturally to you?" Maki asked, without turning to him. "To think of her?"
Naoto felt a sting in his chest.
She doubted him, didn't she?
Doubted the bond that the two of them had formed. Did she still think of him as the timid artist pining for Nagatoro's attention?
Yet, before he could even respond, Maki spun on her heel, looking at him with eyes threatening to burst into tears. The regret was plainly written on her face.
"I am sorry," she whispered. "I didn't mean to."
"No," Naoto replied. "It's- It's not your fault."
The two remained motionless for a moment, complete silence permeating the room, outside of the faint hum of the air conditioner. Naoto took a deep breath and quietly ventured forward, placing a tentative hand on Maki's arm. "She's just been a huge part of both of our lives. There is not much that can be done about that, right? It's to be expected that those memories will stay with us, whether we'd like them to or not.
Maki's lips pressed into a thin line. Her gaze flicked down to where Naoto's fingers brushed her sleeve, then back to his eyes. "I get that. I am not stupid- I- Well, I guess I am. A little. Just still pretty protective and.. jealous."
For a moment, Naoto's tongue felt glued to the roof of his mouth. He swallowed hard. "There is no love for her left there Maki, I promise. Nagatoro is an important part of our lives, the way a single stroke of a brush is crucial to the entire foundation of a painting. The paint doesn't just wash off the canvas overnight. You can paint over it, but the original strokes are always underneath, shaping the new image. She shaped us, but she doesn't own us."
Maki exhaled shakily, setting down the clothes she'd been clutching. She ran both hands through her red hair, as though the motion might keep her anchored in the moment. "I wish I could paint over that whole arc in your life. Erase all the traces of her your life. But I can't, because that's the version of you I fell in love with. That, in itself, feels horrible and pathetic to say. You managed to overcome so much and grow so strong and capable. Your strength is so… admirable."
They stood there a moment longer, neither sure how to push past the heavy cloud of Nagatoro's memory. Eventually, Maki set the clothes aside and stepped closer, sliding her arms around Naoto's waist in a gentle, uncertain hug.
"Thanks," Maki whispered, voice muffled by his shirt. "For not- for being honest with me. And not running away the second I got weird."
Naoto let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. "Of course."
They stayed that way, in complete silence outside for the thrumming of the AC, until Maki finally withdrew from the embrace. The redhead awkwardly cleared her throat to cover up the heavy emotions still lingering and then carefully picked up the clothing she was planning to wear for the day. She gathered her resolved and gave Naoto a crooked smirk before heading toward the bathroom.
Naoto stole a glance at the slightly ruffled bedding, thinking of how one unintended mention of Nagatoro had almost blown up their morning. He exhaled slowly, reminding himself that these things weren't going to vanish instantly. Still, as long as he believed in Maki and managed to find the right words to convey his feelings and thoughts, there would be nothing in their way.
That was at least what he hoped in the deepest part of his heart.
He checked his phone for a moment; no messages, no missed calls. Old habits had him half expecting something from Nagatoro. But that was then; this was now. Maki was here, and he wanted to be present for her.
And so, trying to shake off the unpleasant dread that had whirled up inside of him, Naoto moved toward his own luggage and began unpacking.