The Succubus's Plaything

Chapter 37: The Hotel

The time has come, my class trip to Fukuoka has now officially begun. Pole after pole, building after building whizz by as I watch from the train window.

The idea of what might happen to me once I return is a bit terrifying. I glance at my classmates who are sowing obvious excitement, and I decide to make the most of this trip. Regardless of what might be waiting for me back home, I'm going to live in the moment.

"Wanna play a game of shogi?" Gabriel asks from beside me.

"Shogi? Like on the train?"

"Yea, I have a travel version." He pulls out a mini board that is folded in half. When he unfolds it the pieces are held in place by magnets.

"Sure.." I do enjoy some shogi, and I do believe myself to be a pretty decent player.

"Great! You play sente."

I choose to play swinging rook, and he plays static rook.

Despite me coming off strong in the beginning, I end up getting overwhelmed and loose the game.

After that point we play multiple games, and by the end of the train trip our scores are two-to-five in Gabriel's favor.

...

We all quickly step out of the train, and both classes split to take attendance with their respective teachers.

This trip is a combination of just fun, and also history. Despite Hon High's reputation of being prestigious and hard, we have these trips once a year to reward students for doing a good job. Those who don't do so well in exams have to stay behind and have private lessons.

Tough luck Koji.

Today's schedule is pretty chill. Going to the hotel we'll be staying at, getting rooms assigned, and having a mini verbal tour of our immediate surroundings as well as a little free time before bed.

...

I'm assigned to the same room as Minoru, which I'm happy with.

"Think we'll have time for bath's tonight?" Minoru asks.

"We should. Don't see a reason why not." The allotted free-time is two hours long.

...

Having gone through tomorrow's schedule and been informed of the hotel layout, everyone disperses to hang out with their friends.

"You two down to explore a bit?" Gabriel walks up to Minoru and I.

"Sure! We were thinking of heading over to the baths later, that sounds fun." Minoru replies.

"Sounds fun. We'll be spending a lot of time around here this week, might as well find out what we've got to work with." I agree.

"Work with? What kind of plans do you have for this trip?" Gabriel grins, adding a meaning to my words that don't exist.

I grin, might as well play along. "Well I don't know.. Gotta scout the area to find that out."

"Fair enough." Minoru states.

First off, we get a good look at both the gym and the baths, which we all agree on are quite nice.

We also bump into Hina and other girls from her class. It seems they have about the same idea as us and are checking out the various facilities.

"Like what you see?" Hina throws out the question in our general direction.

"I suppose. I guess it depends on how crowded it'll be later." Gabriel answers immediately.

We don't stop walking however, and our two groups pass and continue. Just past however, I feel as if someone is staring at me, but when I spin around I don't see anything except the girls chatting.

...

The day passes pretty uneventfully, although comfortably.

I sigh content, sitting on a couch outside the baths and with a mango-milk in hand.

"What's up?" A voice next to me suddenly asks. My head is still in a slight haze from staying in the warm water for just a little bit too long, so I didn't really pay attention to who I sat down next to.

"Not much. Just enjoying my time away from home I guess. Waiting for the others to finish up." Looking to the side I see that the person beside me is Hina, who also appears to have recently left the baths.

"How come you didn't come to talk to me like you said?" She asks in a tone that suggests annoyance. Pleasantries over already apparently.

I nearly choke on my drink at the unexpected question. Right.. That completely slipped my mind.. After the karaoke mixer, Hina asked me to come down to the lobby, and I ended up getting completely distracted and ditched her with Inesa.

"I.. Uhm.. Yea, sorry about that.. I had a little too much to drink?" I sweat drop and put my left hand to my neck.

"No hard feelings honestly. I did see you leave with Inesa though, in quite a hurry mind you. At least explain to a girl why she got stood up."

Right.. I remember that we did briefly get eye contact before leaving the place..

"I.. Uhm.. I don't, really have a good explanation.. Things happened I guess?.." If I want to avert suspicion, this is definitely not the way to go, but there is no way I can come up with something in this short amount of time.

Meanwhile I'm having an internal breakdown, Hina just leans back and takes a sip from her plastic bottle.

"Don't worry. I understand things, at least a little. Was just a little disappointed is all." She doesn't press the subject, and instead justs act chill.

Hmm, she's actually kinda cool.

"You two a thing?" She asks another question after a few moments of silence.

"I.." What even are we? I mean, Valorie gave us a story to go by, and things have been going pretty well lately, but I know that I should avoid saying things that could potentially come back to bite me. "I don't really know.." I choose to admit. You can't really go wring with that answer.

"Figures."

"Yup."