After finishing gumi's orange juice to the very last drop, Kotomi wiped her mouth with a napkin, feeling thoroughly satisfied. However, gumi was still slowly savoring her sundae, taking her ti with each little spoonful. A sundae that Kotomi could easily finish in minutes took gumi a full twenty minutes.
But Kotomi was used to this quirk of gumi's. Unlike her usual eating pace, which wasn't especially slow, gumi had a habit of eating ice cream with almost exaggerated deliberateness. To Kotomi, this had just beco one of her friend's little quirks, so she always waited patiently while gumi finished her ice cream.
"Phew... An ice cream after dinner is definitely refreshing. Thanks for waiting, Kotomi," gumi said sheepishly as she set down her spoon.
"After eating with you so many tis, I'm already used to it," Kotomi replied casually, then picked up her phone to check the ti, her mouth falling open in surprise. "Oh, I was so focused on eating that I didn't notice—it's already this late?!"
The clock on her phone showed 8:00 p.m.
"No way! How did ti pass so fast? It was still dusk when we got here," gumi said with feigned surprise, secretly pleased to have stalled until eight. She wore a face of mock astonishnt, knowingly playing along.
"Maybe... it took a while to make all twelve of those 12-layer burgers, and then we needed ti to eat them too," Kotomi replied, looking outside at the now pitch-black sky, a nervous expression creeping onto her face.
Eight o'clock wasn't too late to make the last train from Shinagawa, so if they left now, she could still catch the Tokyo Monorail and, with a bit of running, probably make it onto the Rinkai Line in ti. The real problem was catching the Keiyō Line.
The last train on the Keiyō Line left earlier than the other two, and if she missed it, she'd be stranded. The area between the two stations was lacking in hotels and taxis, and it wasn't exactly bustling.
Kotomi's worry was written all over her face, a hint that didn't go unnoticed by gumi, who suppressed a sly smile before pulling out her phone and dramatically pointing out a text she had "just now" noticed.
"Uh-oh! Kotomi, look at this ssage! Tonight, the Keiyō Line's last train is leaving thirty minutes early due to maintenance—it departs at 8:40!"
"What?!" Kotomi was already anxious about the timing, and this news nearly made her choke on her own breath.
Sure enough, the text confird gumi's words. The Keiyō Line's last train was now scheduled to leave at 8:40.
With the departure ti moved up, there was no longer any hope of making it. Even if they left imdiately and the station was just outside the door, they wouldn't make it in ti.
Kotomi's face fell. She had tried so hard to plan for this trip to avoid missing the last train, even working with gumi to carefully study the titable and pick the best departure ti. And yet, despite all her precautions, here she was, just like the last ti in Roppongi, stuck with no way ho.
"K-Kotomi, does this an... we missed the last train again?" gumi asked, feigning disappointnt but inwardly pleased.
"Yeah... we missed it again. Sorry, it's my fault. I got so caught up eating all those burgers I lost track of ti," Kotomi apologized sheepishly.
"No, no, it's not your fault! It's the Keiyō Line's fault! Who made it leave so early?" gumi declared in mock indignation.
With those words, realization struck Kotomi. "Right! It's not my fault—it's the Keiyō Line's fault!"
"Exactly!" gumi agreed wholeheartedly, glancing away just in ti to hide her victorious grin.
Originally, she had worried about whether simply eating the sundae slowly would buy them enough ti to miss the last train. She hadn't counted on the schedule change doing the work for her. Keiyō Line, thanks for moving your departure ti so early—MVP of the month!
After they left Burger King, the sky outside was completely dark. By now, it was past eight, and so early risers might even already be in bed.
"Looks like we'll have to find a hotel tonight. But it's my first ti in Shinagawa, so I have no idea where the hotels are around here... and since it's a weekend, do you think we'll even find any rooms left?" Kotomi asked, glancing around with a trace of unease.
"It's my first ti here too, but I'm sure we'll find soplace to stay," gumi replied. "Since we're in no rush to get ho, it's not so late yet—how about we stroll around and look for a hotel?"
In truth, gumi had never planned to let Kotomi go ho tonight. She'd already mapped out all the hotels in Shinagawa and even marked out the routes to a few that looked promising.
Kotomi nodded, agreeing to gumi's proposal. As they strolled, they passed a small street vendor, and gumi bought a cotton candy and held it up to Kotomi's mouth.
"gumi, I'm not hungry," Kotomi protested, flustered. Is she starting to think I'm a bottomless pit who's hungry every three minutes?
"I read this once," gumi said with a knowing smile. "Candy can make a girl's lips sweeter in every sense of the word. I wanted to see if it's true."
Kotomi's cheeks flushed at the implication as she took the cotton candy from gumi. She let gumi take her hand, following her bashfully, face glowing pink as she nibbled on the cotton candy.
The sweetness of the cotton candy filled her mouth, lting into a warmth that spread into her heart.
Shinagawa District, 9 p.m.
After trying two hotels and being told by the front desk at both that there were no vacancies, both Kotomi and gumi were starting to feel the pressure. Even though gumi had marked all the hotels in Shinagawa on her maps app beforehand, they hadn't had the chance to check for room availability after leaving Burger King.
Knowing it was the weekend hadn't prepared them for this many booked hotels; even a single room hadn't been available in the last two they'd tried. The streets were starting to feel colder, and the autumn air had begun to cool noticeably as the evening set in.
"We'll try one more," Kotomi suggested. "If they don't have any rooms left, let's just head to an internet cafe for the night. It's getting late, and the streets aren't exactly safe at this hour."
In truth, under circumstances like this, an internet cafe would be more practical than a hotel. Internet cafes had private rooms, which could be single, double, or for multiple people. They often had pillows and blankets, essentially turning them into makeshift private rooms—just like a mini hotel room once the door was locked.
After thinking it over, gumi nodded. "Alright. I saw a 24-hour internet cafe while we were walking earlier, so if the next hotel doesn't have any rooms, we'll head back there."
Finally, on their third try, they found a hotel with a few vacancies. The front desk receptionist inford them, "Unfortunately, all single and queen rooms are booked, but we still have a few double rooms left."
Hearing that, Kotomi couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
"Great, we'll take a double room," she said. "Let's just set the checkout ti to tomorrow morn—"
Before she could finish, gumi interrupted, "Let's check out tomorrow at noon, thank you." She then pulled out her wallet, paid for the room, and took the room key and two breakfast vouchers.
Checking in went smoothly, likely due to the late hour. No ID was needed, and all they had to do was pay to get their room key—very different from dayti check-ins, which took far longer.
"Shall we?" gumi gestured to Kotomi, who followed her into the elevator to the fifteenth floor.
"Our room is 1509," gumi said, twirling the room key card between her fingers as they ascended. "Phew... After three hotels, we finally found a room. Let's call our parents when we get in. They'll worry if they don't hear from us since we're out so late."
Kotomi nodded. After a mont's thought, though, she asked, "By the way, why did you change the checkout ti to noon instead of morning?"
She'd originally planned to check out after breakfast and head ho. Noon wasn't an issue, but she was curious about gumi's change of plan.
gumi smiled softly. "Once you're worn out, it's so easy to sleep in~ I want to sleep in and wake up naturally tomorrow. Don't you? It's the weekend, after all. We can't go two days without a proper sleep-in, right?"
Now that she thought about it, Kotomi realized gumi had a point. She'd had to get up early for school every morning at 7:30, and today she'd woken up early to go to the aquarium, even dozing off on the train. If they checked out in the morning, there'd be no chance to sleep in.
If you can't sleep in even one day on the weekend, is it even a weekend?
"That's true," Kotomi said. "If I didn't get to sleep in even one day this weekend, I'd be pretty miserable. You're right, gumi—setting check-out to noon was definitely the best idea."
"Overpraise, overpraise," gumi chuckled, keeping her real thoughts hidden under a growing smile.
After all, they'd need a late checkout if Kotomi ended up too tired to wake up early the next day~
And why might Kotomi be exhausted? Naturally, because…
Bzzz—bzzz!
Kotomi's phone suddenly buzzed in her hand, interrupting her thoughts. She glanced down.
"It's Aimi. I guess she must be worried since I'm not back yet," Kotomi remarked.
The elevator dinged as it arrived on the fifteenth floor. Stepping out, Kotomi tapped the answer button.
"Hello, Aimi, I'm actua—"
Before she could finish, Aimi's agitated voice burst through the phone, "Onee-chan, where are you right now? It's so late, and you're still not ho! Are you so caught up hanging out with gumi that you forgot all about us?!"
Kotomi imdiately felt a slight chill and instinctively ducked her head. It was easy to tell that Aimi was not too pleased.
"Sorry, Aimi! gumi and I... well, we missed the last train again, so it looks like I won't be ho tonight. But don't worry—we found a hotel and booked a room already." Kotomi chuckled awkwardly, trying to ease the tension.
Aimi, however, couldn't believe what she was hearing. Missed the last train again?!
And gumi's staying with her again?!!
How does this happen every ti Kotomi goes out with gumi? Every ti they go sowhere far, they sohow miss the last train and end up having to stay in a hotel together. This ti, it's Shinagawa; last ti, it was Roppongi.
gumi must be doing this on purpose!
Not only that, but Kotomi slept so deeply she was impossible to wake once she was out. What if gumi tried to make a move while Kotomi was asleep... like she did the other night?
Aimi bit down on her lip, the thought of her sister and gumi sharing a hotel room tonight souring her mood as if a heavy weight had been placed on her head—a weight in the shape of a hundred hats, all thanks to gumi!
Just as she was about to give gumi a stern warning not to get handsy with her sister, her mother took the phone from her.
"Kotomi, so you won't be able to make it back ho tonight?"
Hearing her mother's voice, Kotomi sighed and replied, "That's right. We had plenty of ti, but then the Keiyō Line pushed up its last departure to 8:40. Even if I had run all the way with the Tokyo Monorail and Rinkai Line, I wouldn't have made it in ti. So, Mom, we'll just be staying at a hotel. We've already booked the room, so you and Dad don't need to worry."
Akina looked over at a fuming Aimi, nearly steaming with frustration, and half-jokingly teased, "Honestly, Aimi's the one who's most worried about you tonight~ It's funny, though, because it seems like every ti you go out with gumi, you miss the last train and have to spend the night in a hotel."
Then she added, "Actually, why don't you pass the phone to gumi? I'd like to have a little chat with her."
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