How We Met Again

Chapter 23: Arrival!

I quickly grabbed my towel and fled the room. Returning to the bath, as I stepped outside I was treated to a stunning vista to which I'd managed to grab only a hint via the bedroom window. Slipping into water, I could feel my spontaneously-accumulated stress slip away.

The cold November breeze, still cooled by the snow coating the ground, whisked over my upper body, strongly contrasted by the warm water in which I soaked. The feeling was surprisingly pleasant, though I felt the need to lower myself further in to shield my shoulders after a while. The view was almost enough that I didn't want to leave the ryokan... but we had plans for the day, and I didn't want to be a source of delay.

Regretfully getting out of the bath and wrapping myself in a towel, I paused for a moment, drinking in the sights one last time with thirsty eyes. As I stood in the entryway, I suddenly heard a voice drifting over from the other side of the partition.

It belonged to one of the quintuplets -- but as to which one, I had no clue.

I guess there's no need to rush after all... if they're only getting in now, we can't be leaving any time soon.

I lingered in the doorway a while longer, breathing in the cool fresh air. While I could hear some kind of conversation, I couldn't really make out the words -- after all, I wasn't about to go stand next to the partition just to eavesdrop. I had more class than that.

Taking a final glance over the mountains, I returned inside to get dressed. As I did so, my ears perked up at a stray word -- "Fuutarou". It narrowed the speaker down to either Miku or Ichika, but given I was devoid of further information, there wasn't really much else to be gleaned. I got dressed in the clothes my father had bought me, and glanced in a mirror as I got ready to head back to the viper's nest that was the hotel room.

It was a pair of black jeans, and an army-green t-shirt with some writing in French on it in yellow letters. I didn't read French, but I'd mentioned it to Yotsuba shortly after it had been forced upon me, and she'd used an app on her phone to figure out what it said -- naturally, she didn't speak French either.

Non, it read at the top. In the middle was a fleur-des-lis, and underneath, je ne regrette rien.

"No, I don't regret anything," I murmured, staring at the shirt. It felt almost like an aspiration, a mantra to repeat to oneself in the depths of the night.

That would be nice, wouldn't it? To be someone who regrets nothing.

Shaking myself from my reverie, I left the mirror behind, and pushed aside the blue cloth covering the entrance to the men's side of the bath. Quickly returning to the room, I found that Maeda and Second Place-san were (thankfully) both gone, though a few of the other boys, whose names I had already forgotten, remained as they packed their bags. I quickly rolled my futon up and stowed it away, then finished closing up my suitcase.

"Oh, uh... hey, you," one of the boys called awkwardly after me as I began to leave the room. "Sorry, I don't know your name."

"All good. What is it?" I asked, glancing back. I think that's the one that threatened to commit homicide last night...?

"A teacher came by while you were out, and said we're supposed to meet in the lobby. Apparently breakfast is free, but we've got to all go together."

Upon hearing the magical, mystical word of wonder ("free"), my face split into a wide grin -- one that I was sure Yotsuba would have called creepy.

"Perfect. Thanks for letting me know," I said.

"Yeah, sure..." the boy trailed off as I left the room, staring at me as I went.