A Literal School Trip

The morning of the day of the school trip. Four buses in total gathered, and all the Second Year students in their personal clothes lined up.

The temperature was below 5 degrees this morning, and the cold wind was almost prickling my skin from time to time.

However, in Hokkaido, where we're headed now, the temperature will drop further.

Because of that, the school made sure that the students did not forget things such as gloves or coats.

The final checks of the luggage including clothing, and necessary items such as cell phones are finished.

"First of all, I'm relieved that everyone made it to the school trip in good health."

Mashima-sensei, the teacher in charge of Second Year Class A spoke out thusly before we got onto the buses.

The homeroom class teachers in charge of the Second Year students boarded each of the four buses, with Mashima-sensei in number 1 and Chabashira-sensei in number 2. Sakagami-sensei with number 3, and Hoshinomiya-sensei with number 4.

Basically, it was in order from A Class to D Class.

In the meantime, I checked the schedule on my phone.

The bus will head for Haneda Airport, and we'll disembark from a plane in Shinchitose Airport.

From then on, we'll get on the buses on location, and head for the ski place for the first day.

I quietly browsed the listing page of the groups.

I can see the names of the eight people in my group, with group no. six written there.

Kitou Hayato and Yamamura Miki from Class A.

Me and Kushida Kikyou from Class B.

Ryuen Kakeru and Nishino Takeko from Class C.

Then, Watanabe Norihito and Amikura Mako from Class D.

I don't have any complaints about the groups divided by the school, but to think that I would be grouped with Ryuen, a presence of great trouble for many students.

I don't know a lot of details about Kito, Yamamura, Watanabe, Nishino, and Amikura because I almost have no interactions with them, but I'm sure I'll learn more about them soon.

The members who will be with me for 4 nights and 5 days during the school trip are decided. It's a peculiar group that is difficult to judge if the relationships are strong or not.

By the way, the numbers I've given to each student is 6 for Kushida, 18 for Watanabe, 14 for Amikura, 6 for Ryuen, and 18 for Nishino, 9 for Kitou, and 14 for Yamamura.

I gave them their rankings by only taking the OAA shown by the school as a basis, without considering my closeness to them.

Of these, I gave Kushida and Ryuen the highest rankings.

However, this doesn't have to mean that the other 7 have given each other the same ratings too.

When it comes to Ryuen in particular, many students hate him and it wouldn't surprise me if extremely low numbers were written for him.

Kitou in particular, who stands by Sakayanagi might have given Ryuen a good number.

No, that may just be my imagination after all.

Since Ryuen has the qualities and the characteristics of a leader, there is no contradiction for him to be given a high enough ranking to be fitting of that.

I know from the other day's numbering that it isn't completely random, but I may not be able to find the answers with my delusions from now on.

"I don't even know 5 out of these 7 people..."

Further, is it really okay to consider the one person I know, Ryuen, in that category?

I think I've been able to extend my circle of friends in my own way for the past year and a half, but it's a different matter when it comes to the other classes.

Well then, it seems that the time for the bus ride is approaching.

The students started gathering with the other students they're close with.

On the bus we are about to ride, there is no fixture for who will sit where. If it was me from a long time ago, then I personally would have been glad if the seatings were decided.

Now that I have Kei as my girlfriend, it is easy to know who will inevitably sit next to me.

As if this was her cue, Kei waved her hand and stood next to me.

However, at around the same time as Kei, Yousuke showed up.

"Kiyotaka-kun, got a moment?"

"Hm?"

"It's about the bus seats, but can I sit next to you if it's okay?"

"Next to me? But Why?"

Next to Yousuke, a special seat.

Me taking that away would provoke antipathy.

I wouldn't think Mii-chan has the courage to invite Yousuke openly after it became known that she likes him because of Kushida's revelation, but she's not the only one waiting for an opportunity.

Backing this up, I can see the enthusiastic gazes of several girls.

Yousuke looked into my eyes and pleaded.

After worrying about the sparks coming from the struggle for the seat, I suppose this is his best course of action.

"It's a lot of work to be popular, huh?"

"I don't wanna be popular, you know."

Without pride, he simply answered so calmly.

His ability to infer the unwritten rules of the class is outstanding.

He worries about his own affairs as much as he does other people's, and most people think he tries to avoid conflict.

"So, is it okay if I have Yousuke sit next to me, Kei?"

"I wanna say "Ehh~?", but I guess it can't be helped. Okay."

Kei seems broad-minded towards Yousuke who she is indebted to, so she agreed.

"In exchange, Kiyotaka has to sit on the aisle seat, okay? Because I'll sit on the other side of the aisle, so."

Well, I suppose that's a simple response. As a result, with the four seats in one row a little behind the center of the bus, it was Yousuke, me, then Kei and Satou sat on the other side of the aisle from left to right.

A few minutes later, we finished boarding the buses and left for the airport.

We are not allowed to leave our seats while the bus is moving, but we are free to chat, and we are allowed to consume the food and the drinks we brought in.

As a result, some students immediately started taking out snacks.

"Now it feels like a trip, huh?"

Yousuke happily muttered so after looking around him.

For this man, whose happiness is the happiness of others, I am sure he is comfortable with the feelings he is sensing from the other students.

"Ah, ah~. It would have been great if I was grouped with Kiyotaka."

The boy that Kei was together with in class was Akito, someone with whom I can say she has no contact with at all.

"That's why it's a good opportunity, isn't it? We don't have many opportunities to interact with the other classes."

"I'm not really asking for something like that, but... Tsch."

Perhaps thinking she is going to be lonely here, she pouted her lips with some dissatisfaction.

But I'm sure she still remembers what I said the other day.

Kei's eyes are also very important for learning the situation in the other classes.

By the way, Yousuke is in the same group as Matsushita, and Satou is together with Okiya.

"Hey, hey, Ayanokoji-kun, how is it going with Kei-chan recently? Is it going well?"

"Of course it is, right~? There's no need to even ask that."

"Maybe he just feels bad for you, or..."

"Don't be silly. We're super lovey-dovey, so. Right~"

Until we reached the airport, this innocent exchange continued.