Our Dating Story: The Experienced You and The Inexperienced Me - Volume 5 - Chapter 4.2

“Good night, Kashima-kun,” came Kurose-san’s voice from behind me.

“Y-Yeah, good night...” I replied, facing mostly the ceiling before I turned toward Runa again.

I could concede that it was okay for Tanikita-san to be the one who slept on the extra bed here. But, of all things...why was I the one sleeping in the middle of this so-called triple bed? I set off on a long quest in search of the truth inside my mind...but I realized this wasn’t the time for escapism.

“I’ll sleep closest to the door. It’s easy to see who’s in that spot, so they’d find out right away if you were there.”

“You should sleep in the middle, Kashima-kun. The way human psychology works is that they’ll check the first and the last beds carefully, but for the middle one, it should be good enough if there’s just someone lying there.”

“Yeah! You’re so smart, Mia!”

That was how it had been decided.

Runa gazed at me without a word and then giggled. “We’re kinda close...” she said. She then blushed with a mix of awkwardness and happiness on her face.

That’s right—we were all close to each other on this “triple bed.” There was barely enough space for a person to stand between each mattress, so you could turn to your side and find someone’s face right next to yours.

Runa was just that close to me. We lay side by side, our eyes at the same level. We’d been like this at that ryokan in Enoshima too, but she was so much cuter now... Okay, she’d been adorable from the start, but, like, the looks on her face? The way she carried herself and her reactions to what I did...? Everything about her had become cuter.

If we’d been alone here, my self-control would surely have been defeated long ago.

Also, the fact I was so close to Runa also meant that Kurose-san was right there on my other side... The thought of it made my back itch a bit.

“Is everyone good? Can I turn off the light?” asked Kurose-san.

“Yeah, thanks!” replied Runa.

Kurose-san seemed to flip a switch next to her bed and the light went out. Darkness settled in, and the only thing I could hear was the rustling of clothes...

The fragrance of the three girls’ shampoo, some kind of cream they’d put on their skin before going to bed, and the lingering scent of Yamana-san—they all mixed together and made me feel like I was in a girls’ changing room. I’d never been in one, but this was probably what it was like.

My heart wouldn’t stop pounding and I couldn’t calm down. There was no way I could fall asleep quickly in a place like this.

Judging by their breathing, the first one to fall asleep was Tanikita-san, near my feet. Next, I watched Runa fall asleep in front of my eyes. From behind me, I could hear the rustling of clothes every now and then as Kurose-san turned over in her bed. Since she wasn’t asleep, I couldn’t possibly turn around.

And so I kept my breathing quiet as I lay facing Runa. Eventually, the fatigue from having walked around all day came over me, and before I knew it, it became difficult to keep my eyes open.

***

When I woke up, it was still dark in the room. At some point, I’d turned onto my back. I looked at the curtains and saw that there was no light coming through the gaps yet.

Kurose-san was wrapped up in her blanket, her back toward me. The only part of her that I could see was her long black hair. She seemed to be asleep by now—I could hear regular, deep breaths coming from her.

My phone was charging next to my pillow, and I checked it to see the time. It was 2 a.m., which was a weird time to wake up. I was about to close my eyes once more when...

“Huh?” I let out, unintentionally loudly.

Runa’s bed was empty.

At first, I thought she’d gone to the bathroom, but the lights weren’t on in there.

The teachers had the keys to this room, so there was no way she could’ve simply left while her roommates were asleep. That must’ve meant...

Pulling away the curtains, I found Runa on the balcony, as I’d expected.

This hotel was on the water, and every guest room had a balcony. Being able to enjoy a gorgeous night view was its selling point.

Runa had her arms on the handrail and was leaning on it as she looked absentmindedly at the port and the high-rises. The light from them illuminated the night.

I opened the door and called out to her. “Runa?”

She turned toward me. “Ryuto. Did I wake you up?”

“No... I don’t know why I woke up.”

“Me neither.”

Putting on slippers made for wearing on the balcony, I stepped outside. I didn’t want to wake Kurose-san up with our conversation, so I closed the door behind me. It wasn’t as cold as I’d expected, but the late-night air was chilly nonetheless.

“I wonder if Nicole and Sekiya-san are asleep already,” said Runa all of a sudden, her eyes pointed upward.

We were on the twelfth floor. Sekiya-san had told me his room was on the thirteenth. Incidentally, the boys’ rooms were on the eleventh.

“Probably,” I replied.

Or maybe they’re still up... My imagination ventured into horny territory, making me embarrassed and envious.

“Nicole finally got to fulfill her love...”

The look in Runa’s eyes was that of someone celebrating her best friend’s happiness. However—and it might have been merely my imagination—there seemed to be something akin to envy in them too.

“It must be nice...”

I hadn’t imagined it, as it turned out. It felt like those words had slipped out of her lips from deep inside. To me, it sounded like she was saying that she wanted to have sex too, which made my heart race.

I scratched my head, trying to calm down, when...

“Ah...”

I’d forgotten I had a wig on, and perhaps it had slipped off a bit while I’d slept. When I scratched my head, it got caught on my fingers and fell off.

“I need to put this back on... Actually, did it work?” I asked. “I wonder if the teacher on patrol found out... Did you notice them come by?”

“Nope, not tonight. Maybe nobody’s come yet?”

“I see.”

“Who knows, maybe the teachers are fast asleep ’cause it’s the last night of the trip and they’re tired,” Runa suggested.

“That, or maybe they’re having a dinner party.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

I tried to put my wig back on while we talked.

“Tanikita-san put this on me earlier... I’m not sure I can figure it out myself...”

“I’ll do it for you. Gimme.”

Taking the wig from me, Runa put it on my head. She was close, and I could smell that floral-or-fruity scent of hers. Her sudden approach made my pulse shoot up.

“Huh? It’s not staying on... Oh, your wig cap’s gone,” she said.

“Oh? I guess it fell off. I wonder where it is...”

Apparently, the wig cap to keep my own hair down had slipped off at some point. That was why the wig had fallen off.

“I wonder if it’s possible without one... What do you say I pin your hair down?” Runa asked.

Runa was doing her best to put the wig back on me. Her face was close enough that her breath reached me when she talked. Her arms were raised up and she was touching my head.

She was wearing her usual pajamas that I’d grown used to seeing over our video calls—that thick and fluffy hoodie. As always, the zipper was open, and her trademark cleavage was peeking through. I normally only saw her like this on my phone’s screen, but now, all of this was within reach.

Gulping, I looked down from the balcony. Naturally, there weren’t as many lights on now compared to before I’d gone to bed, but the coast dazzled like a jewel nonetheless. The black sea flickered with reflections of the shoreside lights.

It was a quiet night. There weren’t any traces of twilight in the sky nor any signs of it coming. A night free of impurities.

The room’s windows were fully covered by curtains, so one couldn’t see us from inside. Being this close to Runa, in a place like this...I couldn’t help but think dirty things.

As my mind began to run wild, Runa spoke up.

“I gotta say... Now that I look closely, you have beautiful eyes, Ryuto,” she said. She’d already stopped trying to put the wig back on me. Her eyes gazed at mine and wavered like the night sea. “Your skin is so nice too...”

Then, I did something that surprised even me—I grabbed her slender arms.

She made a small sound. “Ah...”

The wig fell from my head. We stared at each other without a word. I’d seen her without makeup on back in Enoshima too—without it, she looked more childlike than usual... However, her glistening eyes and her parted lips were those of a captivating, grown-up woman who was using her charms on a man.

“Runa...”

I brought my face toward hers on an impulse and we kissed. Then, we slowly pulled our faces away and gazed at each other once more.

“Ryuto...”

Her slightly open eyes sparkled, and her cheeks were rosy enough that I could tell even in the dark. Constant, shallow breaths escaped her lips, like those of someone feeling feverish.

The moment I saw that expression on her face, I could almost hear my sense of reason shatter inside my head. Before I knew it, I was kissing her again. This time—deeply, like a man starved. Her parted lips were like an invitation, and I pushed my tongue between them. At first, her tongue twined with mine, but it immediately pulled away—I gave chase, seeking it.

A small groan came from the back of Runa’s throat. “Ngh...” Her tongue then started to move more rapidly, as if incited by the sound.

My body was heated up and a fire burned in my chest. At some point in this, we’d started clinging tightly to each other, pressing our hips together. I felt something soft and pliant against my chest—I glanced down and saw her fair cleavage bouncing in front of me.

As I pulled my face away to draw a breath, Runa watched me with a bewitching expression. Her eyes looked intoxicated, and her lips were moist with saliva—which could’ve been hers or mine. They were slightly parted as if still craving me.

“Runa...”

I couldn’t stop myself anymore. As I went for another deep kiss, my mouth and my head became filled with Runa. Wanting to feel her more, I reached out and felt her soft mounds through her hoodie.

Runa moaned and twisted about. “Ahh...”

The fire in my chest burned hotter, driving me to touch her chest even more. With thoughts no longer entering my head, I pulled down the zipper of her hoodie with the intent to slip my fingers closer to her fair skin.

Runa’s lips parted from mine. “W-Wait!” she said hastily.

She pulled away and looked at me, flustered. “Let’s not...take this further...”

That brought me back to my senses too. “Y-Yeah, you’re right... Sorry.”

What am I doing...?

After standing there in a daze for a while, I regained my sanity. I went pale.

“I’m really sorry...” I said. “Let’s go back inside... Those patrols might come too...”

“Yeah...”

I picked up the wig that was lying at my feet and then went back into the room with Runa. Giving up on putting the wig back on, I got into the bed and covered my head with the blanket instead.

As I thought back on what had just taken place, my heart wouldn’t stop pounding. But at the same time...

“W-Wait!”

“Let’s not...take this further...”

Recalling the troubled look on Runa’s face made me depressed. Had she not wanted to...?

I figured it was only natural, though. After all, I’d asked her to tell me if she wanted to have sex. She’d yet to say anything, so that kind of preliminary encounter must’ve been undesirable for her.

What the hell is wrong with me?

I’d told her I’d wait until she wanted to do it with me, and yet here I was, losing to my lust. I had gotten complacent and had almost done something rash. If Runa hadn’t stopped me, I didn’t know how far I would’ve gone.

Either way, I had to say that instincts were crazy. Even a total virgin like me could kiss someone deeply just like that.

Her face was so sexy and cute... Ah, but wait, maybe she was actually against it even at that moment...

The endless spiral of arousal and self-loathing inside me made sure that I couldn’t get any sleep after that.

Before I knew it, light began to trickle into the room through the gaps between the curtains and around the edges.

As I freed my face from under my blanket, my eyes stopped on a bed next to mine.

“Mmh...” At some point, Kurose-san had rolled over in my direction. “...kun...”

Her mouth was moving and she was saying something—maybe she was in a lighter stage of sleep.

“Kashima...ku...n...”

My heart skipped a beat as she said my name.

Her eyes were closed. She was obviously talking in her sleep, but it was enough to shake me up.

“I don’t have feelings that I could have my fortune told on.”

She’d acted like she’d put it all behind her...but maybe it wasn’t so easy to change how one felt. It pained me to think about it and made me feel guilty.

There was a light knock on the door. I checked my phone—it was thirty minutes before we were supposed to get up. I couldn’t imagine a teacher coming by at such a time, so there was only one person that I could think was on the other side of the door.

“Yamana-san...?”

Since everyone else was asleep, I went to open the door and, indeed, found Yamana-san in the doorway.

“Thanks.”

She entered the room with an awkward and bashful look on her face.

“Nicole...?”

At the same time, Runa got up from her bed. I’d kept things quiet, but perhaps she hadn’t been sleeping very deeply either.

“Wow, it’s already this late?! Crap!” Runa said. “I need to do my makeup and hair... But first—Nicole, congratulations!”

“Oh, uh, yeah... Thanks...”

Meanwhile, Tanikita-san had woken up too from all the chatter. “Welcome back, Nikki! So, how does it feel to be an adult, hmm?!”

She sure had a lot of energy for someone who had just woken up. It was quite the topic too.

However, Yamana-san scratched her head with an indescribable look on her face. “Well... There was no penetration...”

“What?! Why?!” Runa and Tanikita-san cried out simultaneously.

Yamana-san sat down on the middle bed—the same one I’d been using. Runa and Tanikita-san surrounded her on either side. Naturally, Kurose-san had woken up a while ago as well, given all the noise.

Yamana-san hunched her shoulders and had an awkward and bashful look on her face. “Well... It was bigger than I thought...”

“What, it was that big?”

“I heard from girls who’ve already done it that it’s usually proportional to the guy’s height...”

“Seriously?!” yelled Tanikita-san. “Just think about how crazy Ijichi-kun’s might be! Wow... This is really making my imagination run wild!”

“Akari-chan, we’re talking about Nicole-chan right now,” Kurose-san said, chiding her.

“Go on, Nicole,” said Runa.

“Well, it probably would’ve been fine if it wasn’t my first time...” Yamana-san began, scratching her cheek. “I tried pretty hard, but it just wouldn’t go in... I clenched my teeth and tried to bear it, but he told me not to force myself and patted my head. So...we fell asleep holding each other. Not that I managed to get much sleep.”

“I see...”

“What?! That’s pretty awful of you, you know!” Tanikita-san became even more frantic. “So his thing was up all night?!”

“Nah, I’d feel bad about that, of course...” Yamana-san brought her hand to her face and whispered something to Tanikita-san and Runa.

“No way! You’re so bold, Nikki!” said Tanikita-san.

“It’s hard to believe it was your first time!” added Runa.

Whatever Yamana-san had told them had gotten them both really excited. Kurose-san seemed to have heard it too—her cheeks were red and she was blinking repeatedly.

Do girls tell their friends things that are that private?! And actually, why can’t she tell me while she’s at it?! I’m dying of curiosity over here!

A feeling of alienation tore at me as I still stood by the door.

Also, I realized I needed to get back to my own room soon or people would find out that I’d spent the night elsewhere. I was worried if I’d manage to wake up Icchi, but either way, I had to leave.

“Um, so, I should be going now...” I said, feeling bad about putting a damper on their merry chat.

They all glanced at me briefly.

“Ah, you’re still here, Kashima-kun. Go already.”

Don’t be like that, Tanikita-san!

Runa wasn’t looking my way much either. “Oh, right. See you later, Ryuto...”

I couldn’t tell if she was absorbed in her friend’s story or feeling awkward about what had happened earlier.

But unlike the two of them...

“Thanks.”

Looking over to where that third voice came from, I found Yamana-san looking right at me from the bed.

“It’s thanks to you that I’ll have good memories of this trip. You have my gratitude.”

I’d never really seen such a kind look on her face before.

Suddenly, I once again recalled the day when we’d talked for the first time. She’d been like a whole different person back then. Those sharp glares she’d given me had felt antagonistic like she’d been sizing me up.

The seasons had changed several times since then, and now here we were. It felt like she approved of me—not just me being Runa’s boyfriend, but also as her own friend. It was strangely moving.

“Oh, uh, it’s no big deal...”

Stuttering that out, I left the room as if making an escape.

This is completely incidental, but I ended up spending more than five minutes knocking on the door of my own room after that. I could hear loud snoring before Icchi eventually woke up. As a result, the extroverts from nearby rooms started calling me the “Crazy Knocker,” which made me sound like some sort of a mighty warrior the likes of which the world had never seen before.

***

Today, we would be exploring Nunobiki Herb Garden near Shin-Kobe Station. Then, we’d board a shinkansen and be back in Tokyo before evening. All of the students would be moving together for the entire day, so since the teachers would have their eyes on us, we said goodbye to Sekiya-san in front of the hotel in the morning.

Nisshi probably didn’t know that Yamana-san had spent the previous night with Sekiya-san. I couldn’t imagine the girls telling him, and when I’d told Icchi why I was leaving, I’d asked him to keep quiet about it. There probably wasn’t anyone else that could clue him in.

“Man, I miss senpai so bad...”

“Still, you got to be together, so at least there’s that, right?”

“Well, I guess so... Heh heh heh. ♡♡♡”

Then again, with Yamana-san acting like this, it was probably only a matter of time before Nisshi caught on.

“Hey, so, have you seen KEN in person yet?” asked Nisshi.

“I hear there will be an offline meetup eventually,” Icchi said.

“That’s nice... Take pics of his face without sunglasses for me, would you?”

“No way. I don’t want to get banned for life right after actually getting to play with him.”

The Nunobiki Herb Garden was located on a high elevation—you had to ride a gondola lift to get there. The hill was adorned with all kinds of flowers, and the view from up there was even more amazing than from the Uroko House.

“No matter what we end up like as adults... I hope we can always be together when looking at something so wonderful.”

Recalling what Runa had said, I looked at her. Today, she’d had girls around her all day. She had stuck especially close to Yamana-san and would occasionally talk to Kurose-san and Tanikita-san.

“We’re looking at something wonderful now...”

“Did you say something, Kasshi?” asked Icchi, turning my way.

It appeared I’d let my inner thoughts slip out.

“Nah... It’s nothing,” I replied.

I’d barely spoken to Runa at all since our conversation on the balcony last night.

“Let’s not...take this further...”

What had she meant by that? Had she actually been against it?

I wanted to know how she truly felt, but it was kind of scary to ask her about it.

Thus, with things between me and Runa feeling rather strained, our school trip came to an end.