Chapter 76: I Just Wanted to Go on a Trip (4)
After changing into our yukata, we began eating the carefully arranged dishes one by one. However, I couldn't focus on the food at all.
Thanks to the alcohol, I was sensing an emotion from Ai that felt far stronger than usual. I was so preoccupied with every little thing she did that I didn't even know if the food was going down my throat or up my nose.
“Hide! Try this!”
For some reason, Ai was acting differently than usual. She picked up a slice of sashimi with her chopsticks and brought it to my lips. I kept my mouth tightly shut, but she forced it in with sheer willpower.
“I can’t even eat if you do it like that...”
It was genuinely exhausting. Couldn’t she see it on my face? I couldn't let her ruin the mood of a trip like this.
“I was only savoring it because you fed me.”
As we continued to feed each other, an awkward yet tender atmosphere began to drift between us. On top of that, now that the alcohol was truly hitting me, I found myself grinning foolishly while accepting whatever she offered.
Alcohol always makes food taste better.
Especially when it’s given to you by a beauty...? A beauty? Did I just call Ai a beauty? I really wasn't in my right mind.
After that thought, I couldn't regain my focus until dessert arrived—mochi rolls and fruit sherbet.
“Waaah~ I’m so full! ★”
I watched Ai as she patted her stomach, melting into a limp little puddle, and thought she was absolutely adorable. It was a completely different feeling from the old sensation of being "full just by looking at her."
In the past, I probably would have scolded her for lying down immediately after eating and worrying about body fat. But now, I couldn't even bring myself to say it without my voice catching.
“Now that we've eaten, we have to go to the hot spring! Hide, want to come with me?”
Lord, why are You putting me through this trial...
Today, Ai was far more forward than usual. And I, drunk as I was, was being dragged along by her pace.
——————
“So, you want us to go together?”
“Yep! It’d be lonely if I went by myself... (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧”
Come to think of it, Ai had a point. We came on this trip together, so if we spent the time separately, what was the point? We came here to make memories, not just to eat meals side by side.
“I think that’s fine.”
“Really??”
“Yeah.”
I didn’t know why she looked so flustered, but I thought it was a good idea. If I thought of it as a water park instead of an open-air bath, it wasn't a big deal. People go to water parks with friends all the time, don't they?
So we decided to bathe. As before, I changed in the bathroom while Ai changed in the shower room. It felt like we were changing clothes constantly, but that was just how the night was going.
You’re not supposed to swim after drinking, though.
With that thought in mind, I changed into something light and headed to the open-air bath, where I could faintly see Ai already dressed and enjoying the water.
“I’m here firs...?”
The outfit Ai was wearing was nothing like what I had imagined. Her top was tied high to keep it from slipping, and she wore very short denim shorts.
Her pale neck and signature violet hair swayed softly, throwing my vision into disarray. The loose strands of hair, the way her face had flushed from the heat of the bath, and the shy expression on her face made my breathing quicken.
Where had that usual wild, unpredictable energy gone? Ai had her head lowered, looking genuinely embarrassed.
“Because it’s embarrassing...”
Seeing her like that, I found myself stepping into the open-air bath as if under a spell.
Even if I tried to exercise superhuman restraint, this body was still that of a drunk teenage boy. I didn't possess the kind of self-control that could overcome all of that.
“Ah, it’ll be hot!”
Just as Ai warned, the water was hot, but I still moved forward as if possessed. A single thought had swallowed my mind whole: I had something I absolutely had to say, and I had to say it now.
“Ai, I have something to tell you.”
It was a feeling I had tried so hard to deny. A feeling I had barely managed to suppress whenever it threatened to burst out, a feeling I had turned away from every time it rose in my mind.
I had kept denying it with excuses about arrhythmia and whatever else, but the truth was, I had already realized it the moment I saw her at the Grammy Awards.
During the world tour, I had suddenly found myself asking a question: If Ai were to be with someone other than me, would I be able to endure it?
Of course I would endure it—along with a pain so sharp it would feel as if my chest were being torn apart. But the fact that such agony would accompany the thought meant that my feelings for Ai were not mere affection. The feelings I held for Ai were romantic love.
With alcohol in my system and my body submerged in hot water, my reason had long since ceased to function. Before I knew it, I was holding Ai’s hand and meeting her violet eyes—the ones I had avoided for fear that my suppressed emotions would spill over.
This was the first time I had ever taken Ai’s hand first.
“Ever since the world tour started, I’ve been thinking about it. What exactly are these feelings I have for you, Ai?”
“Ai already knew.”
Ai, looking back into my eyes, wore an expression that seemed on the verge of tears.
“I also knew that Hide had been having a hard time lately. So I regretted it, thinking I’d put an unnecessary burden on you. Hide always tries to carry everything by himself.”
I gently pressed my forehead against hers. We stayed there for a moment, foreheads touching, sharing each other’s warmth.
“I’ve never carried it alone. You were always by my side.”
I paused. What I was about to say was something I definitely couldn't have uttered if I were fully sober.
Once these words left my mouth, our relationship would fundamentally change. But now, I could say it with certainty.
“Hoshino Ai, please go out with me.”
I could now say with certainty that I loved this girl. A life without her was no longer something I could even imagine, so I spoke my heart proudly.
Because I love you, I can do anything for you.
As I finished speaking, I felt Ai’s strength pulling me toward her. The sweet scent of vanilla, now so close, made my body freeze.
But I had to move. Ai had been the one to kiss me first once before, so this time, it was my turn to meet her with my own sincerity.
I closed my eyes at the soft, unfamiliar sensation on my lips. Under the beautiful light of the midsummer moon, the girl and the boy became a single thread, tied together.
.
.
.
.
“Ai’s first kiss... was stolen by Hide... ★”
“You were the one who pulled me in, Ai...”
Under the bright moonlight, the hands of the boy and girl bickering with each other remained naturally entwined.
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