Hot Spring Trip (1)
"Hot spring?"
"Yeah, all of us are going and we were hoping you and Kagami could join us," Haruka said over the phone.
Yui was sorting out her printed pictures with her cellphone situated between her head and her shoulder. She bundled up a couple of prints and tapped them on her desk before placing them neatly in her file.
"Sure, I'd love to go but I think Kagami won't be able to. He and his basketball team are going tomorrow and he'll be swamped with training from then on," replied Yui. She knew very well what was going to happen at the hot spring tomorrow.
"Damn that's right. I keep forgetting Kagami's the ace of his team," Haruka clicked her tongue. "Well, is there anyone else you'd like to invite? Our van has room for more."
Yui paused, "When you say 'our van'..."
Haruka coughed and said, "Rio's cousin's cousin apparently owns this rad-"
"Okay! I think I got it. As long as it doesn't break down on the way there," Yui cut her off with a sigh.
Honestly, this guy has way too many family members.
"Great! I'll tell the guys. See you on Saturday,"
The call ended and Yui pursed her lips. To be honest, she was quite proud of herself for making it this far in an anime world and she was pleased her presence seemed to have no effect on the plot.
Surely it will continue until the end so she'll just hang around doing her own thing until then.
Speaking of her own thing...
Yui opened her computer and started editing some of her novel drafts. She had actually long completed her story but was touching up the details.
'Maybe I should hire an editor. All this editing is such a chore' she thought with a small grumble.
She had more than enough funds to hire someone but maybe she could get a student who'd do it for cheap.
"Eh, I'll think about it later,"
-----
[That Night]
Yui was lying on her bed chatting with her red-haired basketball baka boyfriend.
"You're going to the hot springs?" Kagami's voice sounded edgy. "With those idiots?!"
"Taiga-kun, you're the last person to call anyone an idiot with your test scores," Yui bit back mercilessly.
"Wha- You-!"
She was about 90% sure he was turning red on the other side of the phone. Yui burst out laughing and said, "Sorry sorry. It was a joke, but really, you should study more. Idiots don't win."
"You sound like my coach," he muttered. "Fine, I'll study if YOU promise to stay out of trouble with those doofuses."
"When you say trouble..."
Kagami growled, "I mean any type of trouble! Because I swear, one of these days, you and those idiots are going to land yourselves in jail."
"Hey now, you think so little of us?" Yui pouted.
"Yes," a blunt and straightforward answer.
Bastard.
"Fine, I promise to do my best not to get into trouble," she smirked.
"That's not the--"
"BYE!!" Yui tapped the red button and hung up on him. Kagami's such a mother sometimes.
-----
Saturday.
The cool wind brushed Yui's bare cheek making her shiver. With the cold weather now in season, a soak in the hot spring sounded like a wonderful and heavenly idea.
Her brother, Sora, seemed to think the same thing. After all, he was the first one to volunteer to accompany her when she posed the question to her siblings.
Clutching her jacket closer, Yui looked at the time on her watch and frowned.
Those guys were late.
"So what are your friends like? From what you told us...actually, you didn't really tell us anything," Sora muttered.
"They're...a cool bunch of guys, I guess," Yui chuckled nervously. Well, at least three of them were. Rio...yeah no.
"What kind of vehicle did they say we were going in?" Sora suddenly asked.
"A van. Why?"
Sora blanched and replied, "Surely not that van, right?"
He pointed ahead on the street and Yui followed his finger only to smack her palm into her face.
There, in all its glory, drove in the shiniest and most sparkly colorful van they had ever seen. And there was Rio in the driver's seat waving his hand at them.
"Oh Lord,"
Yui should've known. She should have known that there would never be anything normal with Rio in charge. But this?! This was by the far the worst thing ever.
"HEY HIME!! How do like her? She's a beauty right?" Rio wound down the window and showed his signature grin.
Yui eyed the van with pain in her eyes, "She's...bright."
"Damn right she is!" he exclaimed.
The back door opened and it showed the van's other passengers - all wearing looks of embarrassment and weariness.
"Hi Yui-chan," Haruka greeted. "We had no choice but to leave the transport issue to Rio because none of us have any other options. Now I wish we tried harder."
From the back seat, Akito popped out his head and said, "One of these days, I might strangle that moron."
"HEY!!" the moron yelled.
"So, who is this?" Haruka asked noticing the tall boy next to Yui.
"Ah, I almost forgot. Guys, this is my brother - Muraskibara Sora. Sora-nii, this is Rio, Haruka, Akito, and Hiro,"
"Nice to meet you, Yui's friends," Sora greeted.
"Likewise," Haruka smiled. "Why don't you two get in? Our booking is scheduled in half an hour so we shouldn't be late."
As the two siblings piled into the back, Rio adjusted the rearview mirror and frowned.
"Wait a minute, why doesn't anyone want to sit in front?"
"The back has tinted glass. None of us want to be seen in this monstrosity," Hiro answered bluntly.
Rio gasped dramatically, "How dare you! She is no monstrosity! She is a beautiful work of-"
"Yeah yeah, can we go already?" Akito cut him off.
Rio huffed and started the engine, "You're all bastards."
Meanwhile, Sora sat there wondering if he made the right decision to come.
-----
The group arrived at the hot spring inn just in time for their booking. They would have made it a lot sooner if Rio's driving wasn't the speed of an old lady crossing the road.
At one point in their trip, Haruka almost lost it and would've pushed the boy out of the driver's seat had Hiro and Yui not held her back.
The group, sans Rio, tried their best not to blush under the many stares of people in the parking lot because of their bright vehicle.
And for the hundredth time, they sent a silent curse to the cause of their embarrassing predicament.
The cause in question was busy admiring the view of a group of college girls a few parking slots away from them. Haruka slapped the back of his head.
"Stop staring like a perv," she snapped. Her tone showed how high her stress bar was.
"Ouch. So mean," he muttered.
Akito adjusted his bag of things and said, "Before Haruka's blood pressure increases any further, I think we better get inside."
The girl sent a glare to him but followed silently as the group entered the inn.
Sora looked around and smirked, "You'll be fine with your friends right? I'll be back shortly."
Before Yui could ask what he meant, the boy disappeared in front of her and reappeared in front of the very same college girls that Rio was staring at.
Yui felt her eye twitch. Once a player, always a player.
Snorting to herself, she went in with the others.
Standing at the reception, Yui scrolled through the basketball forum on her phone to see if there were any new updates.
So far, the only new thing was that more people were paying attention to Seirin after they took out Kirisaki Daiichi. They were gaining more supporters and the fan page Yui created was getting more members.
She smiled to herself and switched off her phone before looking around.
Now that she thought about it, this had to be one of the most normal trips she had taken with this group. Surely things would stay normal...right?
-----
Long story short; it didn't.
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