“Given when we need to leave, the next one is probably the last attraction of the day.”
“Already that time, huh. Genuinely flew by.”
“Then per the plan — let’s hit the Ferris wheel.”
We’d locked in the Ferris wheel as the closer before we even got here. Walking up to it, we noted a decent line.
“More people than I expected.”
“Fifteen-minute wait, tops. Compared to the coaster, instant.”
“Fifteen will fly.”
The Ferris wheel’s throughput is so much higher than the coaster’s that the line moves faster. Soon enough we boarded a gondola at the attendant’s signal. The gondola slowly started rising.
“Ryouya-kun, Riona — look, that’s the Viking ship we did first.”
“Oh yeah. Roller coaster, teacups, panda cars — I can see everything from here.”
“Different angle.”
The view kept showing us attractions we’d ridden, and we were enjoying ourselves. Then Reona and Riona, sitting across from me, suddenly went bright red and shut up.
I turned to see what they’d been looking at — and the adjacent gondola contained a couple in the middle of an enthusiastic, hugging-and-kissing moment.
”…Hey, those two — they can clearly be seen from over here, do they not realize?”
”…Ryouya, why are you so calm?”
“Yeah, your composure is suspicious.”
“It’s a kiss, that’s all.”
The two of them were looking at me suspiciously, but in a world where any boy can pull up explicit images and videos on his phone, the average male reaction to seeing two people kiss is approximately zero.
If the gondola couple had been actually fully connected I might’ve lost composure, but kissing — that’s nothing. As I was thinking that, the two of them started saying something concerning.
“Wait — Ryouya-kun, you haven’t… kissed someone before, have you…?”
”…Ryouya, really? If you’re lying or hiding something, it ends badly.”
“Hey, hey — how are we at that conclusion.”
“Oh — your childhood-friend first love — that wasn’t who…?”
“That I cannot let slide.”
Reona and Riona, faces taut, leaned forward and started closing in on my seat — when a gust of wind hit and the gondola lurched.
The lurch sent both of them tumbling toward me. On instinct I shut my eyes — and felt softness against my mouth and against my lower body.
I opened my eyes. Reona’s face was directly in front of mine, lips touching. As for Riona — her face was buried in my lap.
We held that pose for a beat, frozen — then I scrambled to disentangle. If anyone saw this combination, “misunderstanding” would not even cover it.
”…Ryouya — pervert.”
“I did not expect you to make a move on us here, Ryouya-kun.”
“No, no — I am the one being assaulted in this scenario.”
Granted, no version of that defense was going to land. Reona and Riona were both visibly flushed for the rest of the descent, and the air in the gondola stayed awkward all the way down.
◇
“That was fun.”
“Yeah. But I’m wiped.”
“Genuinely dead.”
After buying souvenirs we left Okayama Milano Park and were on the train back to Tokyo. We were currently inside the Shinkansen, eating station bentos and flipping through the photos from yesterday and today on our phones. Sunset was unrolling outside the window — a different flavor than the morning.
“Ryouya, you actually making progress on the summer homework?”
”…Not really.”
“Yeah, neither am I.”
I’d always been the type to dump all the summer homework into the final week and learn nothing from it, and apparently Reona was the same. Riona was, predictably, on schedule.
“Ryouya and Nee-chan will leave it until the wire, which is not good. I’ll help you both until it’s all done.”
“Thanks, Riona, you’re a lifesaver.”
“Wait, really?”
“Mm. Don’t want to watch you and Nee-chan suffer.”
The offer was an absolute godsend. Every year I lose massive amounts of time fighting through problems I can’t solve. With Riona explaining, I’d finish faster than ever.
“So we’re starting tomorrow.”
“Aw, day after instead? These two days wrecked us.”
“Yeah, let me rest.”
“No. Tomorrow.”
Reona joined the negotiation but Riona was unmoved — and on top of that, declared we’d be doing this every day until the homework was done. The trip had been fun, but starting tomorrow it was going to be a grind.