Free Web NovelChapter 30: Chapter 27 — Six Women, One Lobby, Zero Chill
Okinawa arrived the way Okinawa arrives — all at once, through the windows of the resort shuttle, the ocean appearing between buildings and then simply being there, wide and blue and entirely serious about being beautiful.
Hana pressed both hands to the glass.
"It’s real," she said. "It’s actually real."
"We knew it was real," Saki said.
"Knowing and SEEING are different," Hana said, with the conviction of someone who had just discovered this.
Nobody argued.
Even the girls who had been sitting in complicated silence for the past hour looked at the ocean and felt something loosen — the specific loosening of people who have been carrying something heavy and have walked into a place that doesn’t know about it yet.
The shuttle pulled up to the resort entrance.
White walls. Palm trees. The sound of the ocean from everywhere. The specific smell of salt and warmth and somewhere different.
They got out.
Stood in front of the entrance.
"Okay," Kaito said. He looked at Riku and Kenji. "Check-in. Come on."
The three of them went inside.
Which left six women standing in front of a resort in Okinawa.
With their bags.
And the ocean in the background.
And nothing immediately required of them.
The silence that followed had several layers.
Yoru looked at the entrance where the boys had gone. At Nana. At Tsukasa and Haruka, who she had now officially met in the van and had been assessing for two hours. At Yuki, whose silver hair was doing things in the ocean breeze that were frankly unnecessary.
Yuki looked at the ocean.
Tsukasa looked at her bag.
Haruka looked at the palm trees with the focused attention of someone who needed something to look at.
Nana looked at all of them with the warm, slightly tired expression of the oldest person in the group who had done the math and arrived at a number.
Hana looked at the pool visible around the side of the building and said nothing, which was the most restrained she had been all day.
Saki watched everyone.
The silence extended.
Extended further.
"Perhaps," Nana said, into the silence, with the gentle authority of someone deciding enough was enough, "we should introduce ourselves properly."
Everyone looked at her.
"We know of each other," she said. "We don’t actually know each other. Given—" She gestured, lightly, at the general situation. "Given everything. It seems practical."
More silence.
Yoru looked at the ground.
Tsukasa looked at her bag.
Haruka looked at the palm trees.
Yuki looked at the ocean.
Nobody moved.
Hana raised her hand.
Everyone looked at her.
"I’m Hana," she said. "I’m seven. Mama likes Kaito-onii-san very much."
The silence became a different kind of silence.
Nana pressed her hand to her face.
"Hana," Saki said.
"What," Hana said. "It’s true."
"That doesn’t mean you say it."
"Why not."
"Because—" Saki looked at the assembled group. At her mother’s face. At the various expressions around her. Made a decision. "Never mind."
Nana lowered her hand.
Looked at the group with the expression of someone whose seven-year-old had just done their work for them.
"Well," she said. "Yes. I’m Kurashima Nana. I live in Kaito-kun’s building. These are my daughters." A pause. "And yes. What Hana said."
Yoru looked up. "Murasaki Yoru. I live with him."
The words landed.
Tsukasa’s hands tightened on her bag strap.
Haruka’s palm tree lost her attention.
"Live with," Yuki said. Flat. Informational.
"His apartment," Yoru said. "My own room." A beat. "For now."
The for now landed with considerable weight.
"Shirosaki Yuki," Yuki said, moving on with the focused efficiency of someone closing a door. "I work with him at the café."
"Minami Tsukasa," Tsukasa said quietly. "I sit beside him in class." She looked at her hands. "We have history. From before."
Everyone absorbed this.
"Tachibana Haruka," Haruka said. Composed. Precise. "Arts faculty. He saved me from an alley." A pause so brief it almost wasn’t there. "He called me cute."
The group looked at her.
"By accident," she added. "He thought I was a boy."
"He thought you were—" Yoru started.
"A boy," Haruka confirmed, with the expression of someone who had processed this and arrived somewhere complicated. "Yes."
A moment.
Then Yoru made a sound that was not quite a laugh and covered her mouth.
Haruka looked at her.
"Sorry," Yoru said. Not entirely convincingly.
"It’s fine," Haruka said. With the dignity of someone for whom it was mostly fine.
The tension had cracked slightly. Just slightly. Enough.
"So," Tsukasa said, looking at the group with the quiet attention she applied to things she found genuinely interesting. "We all—"
"Yes," Nana said.
"And none of us—"
"No," Yuki said.
"And he doesn’t—"
"Apparently not," Yoru said. "He ran to his room."
Haruka looked at her. "What."
"After I told him," Yoru said. "He ran to his room and went to sleep."
The group considered this.
"Hm," Haruka said.
"Yes," Yoru agreed.
They stood in front of the resort with the ocean behind them and a conversation that had just become considerably more honest than any of them had planned.
Then—
"Good afternoon."
From behind them.
They turned.
Aoyama Satsuki stood on the resort path — wine-red hair loose, dressed perfectly for the climate, a small elegant bag over one shoulder. The smile of a woman who had arrived somewhere she had planned to arrive.
The group stared at her.
"You’re—" Yuki started. "You’re here."
"Mm," Satsuki said warmly.
"How."
"It’s a lovely resort," Satsuki said. "I’d heard good things."
Yuki looked at her.
Satsuki looked at the ocean.
"Satsuki-san," Yuki said, in the voice she used when she had identified a situation and was going to address it directly. "How did you know."
"About what."
"About this resort. These dates. This—"
"The ocean is beautiful, isn’t it," Satsuki said. To the ocean.
"Satsuki-san."
"I’ve always wanted to visit Okinawa," Satsuki said. Warmly. Pleasantly. The smile of a woman who had a comprehensive document and no intention of showing it. "What a coincidence that you’re all here."
Yuki looked at her for a long moment.
"Coincidence," she said.
"Lovely word," Satsuki said.
The others were watching this exchange with various expressions ranging from impressed to slightly frightened.
Tsukasa leaned toward Haruka. Quietly: "She knew."
Haruka: "Obviously."
Tsukasa: "How."
Haruka: "I don’t think we want to know."
The boys came back.
Riku first, keys fanned in his hand, the expression of someone who had successfully completed a task. Kenji behind him. Kaito last, checking his phone.
They stopped.
Took in the assembled group. freēwēbηovel.c૦m
Took in Satsuki.
"Satsuki-san," Kaito said. The mild, slightly puzzled tone of someone who had not expected this and was processing.
"Kaito-kun," she said warmly. "What a coincidence."
He looked at her.
She looked at the ocean.
He looked at Yuki.
Yuki looked at the ocean.
He looked at Riku.
Riku made a face that said I just work here.
"Right," Kaito said.
He distributed the keys. Each one had a room assignment. The girls took theirs with varying degrees of expression — Yoru immediately checking which room was next to his, Nana tucking hers into her bag with both hands, Tsukasa looking at hers with the settled quiet of someone filing a piece of information in a specific place, Haruka pocketing hers with composed efficiency, Yuki looking at the number once and looking away, Satsuki accepting hers with a smile that suggested she had already known the room assignments.
Hana got hers and immediately announced she wanted to see the pool.
Everyone started toward the entrance.
"Wait," Kaito said.
They stopped.
He looked at the group — all of them, the full assembled chaos of people he had somehow accumulated over the past months, standing in Okinawa in the afternoon light with bags and keys and various complicated feelings.
"This trip is from me," he said. Simply. The way he said most things. "Don’t think about anything except what you want to do. Don’t worry about cost. Don’t worry about anything. You’re here. Just — be here."
Riku and Kenji exchanged a look.
Hana said "POOL" at considerable volume.
Saki said "Inside voice."
Hana said "pool" at slightly reduced volume.
Something shifted in the group — the complicated weight that had been in the van, in the lobby, in the introductions — lightened. Not gone. Just set down for a moment.
Nana looked at him.
Yoru looked at the ocean.
Tsukasa looked at her key.
Haruka looked at the palm trees with the expression of someone who had decided to let something be simple for an afternoon.
Yuki said nothing. But the set of her shoulders changed slightly — something releasing.
"Thank you," Nana said quietly. For all of them.
"Go rest," he said. "We’ll figure out dinner."
They went inside.
Kaito stood at the entrance for a moment.
Riku appeared at his elbow. "So," he said. "Coincidence."
"Apparently," Kaito said.
"She knew," Riku said.
"Apparently," Kaito said again.
"And you’re okay with that."
Kaito looked at the ocean.
"I’m in Okinawa," he said. "The weather is good."
He went inside.
Riku stood at the entrance alone for a moment.
"The weather is good," he said, to no one. "He said the weather is good."
He went inside.
