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[Game] Chapter 151: Room Assignments & Hiratsuka Shizuka Arrives
🕑 Added 2025-02-25 18:11:36 +0000 UTCEveryone's rooms were on the same floor—the 8th floor of the hotel.
After taking the elevators up, Ichin displayed the room keycards in his hand to the group.
"You've already decided on your roommates, right?"
Everyone nodded in agreement and took their respective keycards from Ichin.
Hazuki was sharing a room with Haruno and the yet-to-arrive Hiratsuka Shizuka. Yukino and Eriri were rooming together, which had been decided beforehand.
Kō Yagami and Rin Toyama were sharing a room, as were Hajime and Iijima Yun, and then there was Momiji Mochizuki with Narumi. None of these pairings were particularly surprising.
However, what caught Ichin off guard was that Aoba wasn't rooming with Nene but had instead chosen to stay with Hifumi.
When he looked at Aoba questioningly, she smiled and explained, "Since Hifumi-senpai isn't too comfortable rooming with Umiko, she asked if she could stay with me instead."
Umiko chimed in, "I get it. The whole point of this trip is to have fun, and I know some of my habits can make Hifumi nervous."
A survival shooter enthusiast—fair enough.
Nene, on the other hand, had no issues rooming with Umiko. In fact, back when she was developing her small indie game, she had frequently asked Umiko for help, and the two had a much closer relationship than most people assumed.
Ichin then noticed the cat carrier in Hazuki’s hand, which held Mozuku inside. That reminded him of something, and he turned to Hifumi.
"Hifumi, what about your pet hedgehog? Is it alright?"
Blushing slightly, Hifumi shook her head and said in a small voice, "It's fine. I sent it back to my hometown two days ago. My family is taking care of it for a few days."
"Oh, so your family’s looking after it? Then there’s no problem."
Ichin nodded, then turned to the group. "It's almost 11:30 now. You guys can go to your rooms, take a break, and sort out your stuff. We'll meet up at noon for lunch. Haruno, is Hiratsuka-sensei here yet?"
"She’s close."
Haruno waved her phone. "I messaged Shizuka when we arrived. She said she’s about ten minutes away."
"Alright then, let’s head to our rooms first."
With that, Ichin took his keycard and headed to his room with Utaha.
Unlike the others, who had twin beds in their rooms, theirs was a single large bed.
The hotel had excellent lighting, and from the window, they had a clear view of the ocean. The price was steep, but at least it was within reason.
After putting down his luggage, Utaha immediately sat on the pristine white bed, looking at Ichin as he stood by the window.
"Aren't you tired, Ichin? Do you want to rest a bit?"
"I'm fine. I got plenty of sleep on the road."
After turning on the air conditioning, Ichin walked over to Utaha and gently brushed her long hair. "What about you? Want to take a nap? We still have half an hour before we meet up."
"I'm not used to sleeping in the bus, so yeah, I do feel a little tired."
Nodding, Utaha kicked off her sandals and lay down on the bed. "Stay with me for a bit?"
Ichin pulled the blanket over her and said, "You rest. I'm going downstairs to wait for Hiratsuka-sensei. Since I organized this trip, I should be there to greet her when she arrives. Even if she’s joining us late, we’ll be moving as a group from here on out."
"Then should I go with you?"
"Just get some rest."
Leaving one of the room keycards on the nightstand, Ichin picked up his own, along with his phone and wallet, and stood up. "Call me if you need anything. I'll be downstairs."
Stepping out of his room, Ichin noticed that the door to the three-person room diagonally across from him also opened. Haruno walked out alone.
"Ichin-kun, are you also heading down to meet Shizuka?"
Ichin nodded. "Yeah, I haven’t seen Hiratsuka-sensei in a while. I thought I'd go meet her. Is she here already?"
"Almost. By the time we get downstairs, she should be arriving at the hotel entrance."
Since no one else had come out, it ended up being just Ichin and Haruno heading downstairs together.
As they entered the elevator, Haruno glanced at Ichin and asked, "So, do you have any specific plans for the next three days?"
"Not really," Ichin replied after thinking for a moment. "Izu isn’t too big, but it’s not exactly small either. There are several beaches here, not just the one outside the hotel—each with completely different scenery. If everyone’s interested, we can check out a few of them. There’s also Lover’s Cape and the hot springs, both pretty famous. The hotel provides sightseeing brochures, so you can grab a couple when we get downstairs."
"Hmm~ hearing all that, it sounds like we’ll have a great time these next few days."
Haruno seemed to be in a good mood. Even as someone from a wealthy family, she didn’t often get chances to go on trips like this. As for her parents? The idea of them going on a trip with her and her sister was out of the question.
Glancing at Ichin, Haruno playfully poked his shoulder. "Going to the beach this afternoon, surrounded by a whole group of beauties… don’t you think other guys will be jealous?"
Ichin just shrugged, completely unfazed. "Utaha already warned me about this, so I’m mentally prepared. By the way, Haruno-san, you’re out with your sister today—no bodyguards?"
"Nope~~"
Haruno shook her head. "But Eriri brought one. Sayuri-san called me last night to let me know, though they didn’t tell Eriri about it. Honestly, the Sawamura family’s atmosphere is really nice… even I’m a little envious. What about your family, Ichin-kun? I heard your mom visited when summer break started?"
"Yeah, she did. My family’s atmosphere is pretty good. My parents are really supportive of my career—as long as I keep up my grades, they don’t mind what I do. That’s their only condition."
"That basically means they don’t have any conditions at all."
As they stepped out of the elevator, Haruno still seemed unwilling to let go of the topic. "Are you sure you don’t have any younger cousins?"
"I told you already—none."
"Such a shame."
They reached the hotel lobby and immediately spotted Hiratsuka Shizuka at the front desk, checking in.
"Shizukaaa~~~"
At the sound of Haruno’s voice, Hiratsuka turned around just in time to see Haruno running toward her, with Ichin following behind.
Before Haruno could tackle her, Hiratsuka calmly placed a hand on her forehead, stopping her in her tracks. "You two really timed this well."
"Nope, it was just a coincidence," Haruno said cheerfully. "I happened to see Ichin-kun on my way out, so we came down together to meet you."
Ichin approached at a leisurely pace, smiling. "Long time no see, Hiratsuka-sensei. How was your business trip to China?"
"Better than I expected."
Seeing this student of hers again, Hiratsuka’s mood noticeably brightened. "I thought it would be tedious, but I actually learned a lot. Plus, the food was great. Oh, and I ran into your parents—they were invited to the exchange event as well."
"Huh? Really?"
That was news to Ichin—his parents hadn’t mentioned anything about it to him.
...
