Book 3: Chapter 6: 27th of August (Thursday)
I gazed up at the clear blue sky amidst the unfamiliar scenery around me as the moving train shook me left and right. How long has it been since I’ve taken the train like this? Since I was born and raised here in Shibuya, and I live an indoor life, I rarely take the train anywhere. Since I have the mentality that ‘as long as I have manga and books, I can keep living’, Shibuya is like heaven to me. Now that the small streets have disappeared into the distance, and their even smaller bookstores, now only the towering buildings remain.
On weekends and holidays, I would always spend my time walking from bookstore to bookstore, so I never had any need to travel very far. I never thought the day would come when I would use the train to travel to a pool in order to play with others. The inside of the train wasn’t very crowded. We had around five days of summer vacation left, counting today. It’s the perfect time for most summer activities to end, and for people to start panicking because their summer break is drifting away.
I took out my phone and checked the time. It was currently 9:18am. Since we were supposed to meet up at the ticket gate in front of Shinjuku train station at 9:30am, I still had plenty of time. However, after we did so, it would be another 30 minute train ride, and then another 30 minutes by bus. This pool is unexpectedly far away. It didn’t take long for me to start having second thoughts.
No. I’ve just gotta man up. I can’t just go home after doing my best to get Ayase-san to come with us. Also, speaking of Ayase-san, we decided to go our separate ways until we reached the destination for us to group up, so she left home 15 minutes before me. Since there will be other people from our school year with us today, we can’t risk anything that would lead to them finding out.
That being said, Narasaka-san already knows. I guess it’s not that big of a deal even if people found out, so we didn’t try to tell her to keep quiet about it or anything. If people find out, we’ll just explain it then. It’s not like we’re doing anything illegal. I was gazing at the scenery outside when an announcement came over the train’s loudspeakers, stating the name of the next station.
A faint breeze washed over me as the doors opened and I got off the train. After I went past the ticket gate, I saw a group of around ten people. The number of boys and girls in this group were about equal, and all of them were wearing Suisei High’s uniform. Since they were all carrying bags as well, it almost seemed like they were on a school trip.
“Weird.” I muttered.
I was also wearing Suisei High’s uniform. That’s right, Narasaka-san mentioned in a message she sent later that I definitely had to wear my school uniform, and to bring my student bag and student ID with me. Apparently it’s for a student discount, but don’t you usually only need your student ID for that? I had some doubts, but if everyone is wearing the uniform, then it’s not that big of a deal I guess. I’m good at following directions.
When I looked at all the people gathered together, I saw some familiar faces in the crowd.