After transferring at Shinjuku and boarding the Romance Car limited express, about an hour and a half flew by, and we arrived at our destination — Hakone-Yumoto Station.
“Finally here.”
“It’s gotten pretty dim out. So what’s next?”
“Dinner first. I already picked the place.”
She showed me her phone screen and I was a little surprised.
“Oh — did you think I hadn’t planned anything?”
“How did you know?!”
“It was written all over your face. Has Yuito forgotten that his big sister has always been the planning type?”
“You dragged me to Hakone on a whim with no notice — I’d say that argues against you having a plan.”
“Hey, don’t poke at that. You promised.”
We headed to the place she’d picked. It turned out to be a soba shop. Dinnertime crowd — pretty packed.
“We ate pizza and fries at karaoke, so something refreshing like soba sounds perfect.”
“Yeah. And soba is supposed to be a Hakone specialty.”
“It is?”
I’d had no idea — I knew Hakone for the hot springs but never associated it with soba.
“They don’t grow the buckwheat here like Nagano. The water’s really good, so soba shops migrated here for the famous Hakone spring water and it became a local specialty.”
“Huh, didn’t know there was that kind of history.”
“Online reviews say this place is delicious — I have high hopes.”
“Now I’m hungry.”
We dithered over the menu and both settled on cold zaru-soba. It looked the best. When the soba came it was so good we both inhaled it.
“That was excellent.”
“Yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever had soba that good.”
I was actually moved by how good it was. I started thinking soba might be the right souvenir, when Kano spoke up.
“All right, let’s head to tonight’s lodging.”
“No sightseeing?”
“Sightseeing’s tomorrow. I want to relax tonight.”
“Fair — we’ve been going since lunchtime.”
I’d had Saturday morning classes before karaoke, bowling, and the train, so I was honestly tired.
“Tonight’s lodging is a hotel.”
“When did you book that?”
“Right after bowling, actually. Booking sites let you reserve on the fly now.”
“Hotels accept same-day bookings, huh.”
I’d assumed every hotel anywhere would be booked solid on a Saturday night — must have been seriously lucky.
“Oh, it’s a hotel with love in the name, so same-day booking is no problem.”
“WHAT?!”
That cannot be okay. If anyone found out a high school student stayed at a love hotel with her, Kano could be arrested under the Youth Protection Ordinance. As I was internally flailing, Kano’s face split into a smile.
“Kidding.”
”…You really pranked me there.”
“Thanks for the great reaction.”
She’d been playing me again. Relieved, I noted — secretly — that part of me felt a little disappointed. (Definitely keeping that to myself.)
“We are staying at a hotel, though, that part is true. Normal one, obviously.”
“For real, then.”
The screen she pulled up on her phone showed a totally normal hotel. Stylish, even high-end-looking.
“This place looks expensive — is the money okay?”
“That’s no issue, don’t worry.”
“It is very much an issue — my allowance alone wouldn’t cover even half this on short notice.”
I don’t have a part-time job, my only income is allowance — there is no way I’d pay her back any time soon. Could realistically take a year.
“I’m paying for the hotel too. Don’t worry about it.”
“But that’s —”
“By the way, if we went with a hotel that has love in the name it’d be more than half off — wanna do that?”
”…Yes, let’s stick with the normal hotel.”
After a long silence, I capitulated. I didn’t have the guts to pick the love hotel. The moment I said it, Kano made a disappointed face.
“You’re as cowardly as ever, Yuito.”
“I just didn’t want you to socially die, so I picked the normal hotel.”
I tried to defend myself under her flat stare, but it didn’t help. What exactly did I do wrong?
If anything, I should be considered the savior who rescued her from social ruin. Her stare-of-disapproval continued all the way to the hotel.