Girl Next Door

Chapter Thirty-Three

The train stopped at Miyajima Station in just two and a half hours. Some of the students fell asleep on the way, but awoke once the train stopped running. The faculty in charge of the students instructed them to stay in their seats until everyone was allowed to unboard the train.

Kyosuke looked outside and saw, to his wonder, the Itsukushima Shrine standing there in the middle of the sea. He only once saw this famous sight in postcards. Takeru and Ichiro, who sat behind him, looked outside as well.

"Damn," said Takeru, quite amazed. "That's something else, bro."

"I know," said Ichiro with a small smile. "Itsukushima Shrine."

"It really looks like it does in the postcards," said Kyosuke.

A few minutes later, all the students unboarded the train and assembled themselves at the platform with their respective class advisers. The second year batch had only two sections, so the two classes stood side by side as they waited for their advisers' instructions.

Kyosuke was on the edge of the group that formed his class. He looked around for Risa and saw that she was at the front of her group, eagerly taking pictures with her cell phone camera.

"Risa..." he thought. "Now that she and I aren't in the same class anymore, we're becoming more distant to one another. We should find a little time to ourselves sometime later." He thought long and hard on what he could do to catch up.

Then Megumi, the class adviser for 2-B, gave the students instructions before departing and pushing through with the tour. The class adviser for 2-A did the same for his class. Then did the excursion really begin.

Megumi led her students through a woody park, where many tourists had their own excursions. Kyosuke looked around and feasted his senses on the sights and sounds of Miyajima. Takeru meanwhile looked around, perhaps for attractive female tourists to lay eyes on. Ichiro, however, was a keen observer and followed Kyosuke's example. Kyosuke smelled the sweet fragrance of maple trees throughout the tour, as maple trees were the pride of Miyajima.

"Wow," he said as he walked with Takeru and Ichiro. "This place is beautiful."

"Miyajima is famous for its maple trees," put in Ichiro, adjusting his glasses. "Many people come here to buy the exotic maple-flavored chocolates and cheese this island has to offer."

"You got all that information from reading a postcard, right?" quipped Takeru with a smirk, resting the back of his head on his joined hands.

"Actually, I've been here before," replied Ichiro calmly.

"Really?" asked Kyosuke.

"My family and I come here often for vacation," said Ichiro. "So I know an awful lot about this place."

"There any chicks around here, Ichiro?" asked Takeru casually.

"N-Not that I know of," replied Ichiro.

"Gee, I wonder how Risa is doing right now," said Kyosuke, looking at the sky between the maple leaves.

"Yeah, I noticed," said Takeru, "you two haven't been seeing each other at school lately."

Kyosuke gave a sigh. Takeru patted his shoulder.

"Dude, don't let this 'separate class' thing get in the way of you two being together," said Takeru with a smile. "You two can still catch up."

Kyosuke looked at him. "How?"

"Just do the same thing you did when she got back from America," replied Takeru with a slight smirk.