Our year together

Amagiya-dyne

The Festival was coming to a close, Souji and the rest of the group were enjoying what little of the festival they could together before the remaining food stalls and rooms would be forced to close. All was actually normal, if you could call it that, until one of the most sweet and recognizable voices called out to Souji.

"Oh, Big Bro!" It was Nanako who ran up to Souji and gave him a hug despite her small stature.

"Ah, good thing we found you." Dojima sighed in relief as he approached the gang. Dojima explained about his trip that would leave him gone for the rest of Sunday and Monday. "Sorry to dump this on you, but can you show Nanako around?"

Souji gave a clear nod, while Yukiko grabbed Nanako's hand and asked, "Would you like to walk around with us, Nanako-chan?"

"Can I?" Nanako asked with everyone nodding in affirmation.

"Thanks. Well, I'm gonna get going." Dojima nodded as he turned around to leave.

"Have a safe trip!"

"Yeah. You have a fun time, Nanako." Dojima walked off as everyone waved him goodbye.

"Hey Nanako-chan, how about you and your big brother stay at my place tonight?" Yukiko offered as she nudged towards her.

"Wait, hold on? Did I hear that right Yuki-chan?" Teddie interrupted as one would expect.

"Um, about me asking them about-"

"Party at the Inn!" Rise exclaimed.

"You cool with that?" Kanji added with his polite question.

"Uh, I was asking Souji and Nanako on-"

She was cut off by her friends celebrating, all high-fiving and planning what to do in the inn; Yukiko, try as she might, would not reach them. Her eyes would then glance towards Souji: "Souji-kun, think you can help?"

Souji smiled as he sighed, "Well Yukiko; even as leader, this is one of those times where they wouldn't even listen to me. We'll just have to go along and deal with it I suppose."

Nanako seemed to not mind, with thinking of it as a slumber party, her eyes only lit up more. It made her full of glee to just have more people accompanying her on this what looked to be already wonderful.

"Will it be a slumber party!?"

"Well, I guess it will be now. Are you up for it?" Yukiko asked as Nanako nodded in affirmation almost immediately after she heard the question.

The arrival at the Amagi Inn couldn't have come sooner than Souji had hoped. It promised to be an "interesting" night, but not entirely how he wanted. But it wasn't entirely bad. The festivities were tolerable; the food was great; and the night looked to be somewhat promising. Souji even got to see his friend Masato who helped prepare the meals for them and enjoyed a small conversation while the gang was returning to their rooms for a bit.

However, the sun had already set by then. The guys were in a spacious room, where things seemed quiet; just how Souji enjoyed it to be.

"Hey Yosuke! I wanna know about you and Chie-chan! Sensei said it was a beartiful and heart-wrenching story!"

"Hey Souji, why the hell did you tell him about that!? Yosuke agitatedly responded quickly.

"He wanted to know ever since it was made clear at the pageant, so I told him to get the info straight out of the horse's mouth." Souji responded with the old witty voice he enjoyed using on occasion.

Yosuke groaned in irritation and embarrassment. With a shaky sigh, he spoke, "Fine, alright I'll say it only once. So Chie and I were going to..."

In the changing room, the girls were sitting on the benches talking before they were to go in the hot springs. Chie was addressing the group and Nanako about her side of the story.