● Prologue – Asamura Yuuta

The clock on the wall read 7:30 in the morning.

Ayase-san and I had just sent my old man off in a hurry, and with my stepmother, Akiko-san, still at work, the two of us finally sat down to a quiet breakfast. As Ayase-san neatly picked up a slice of ham with her chopsticks and laid it on her toast, our first topic of the day came up: our friends successful exam results. It was genuinely great news. Both of them had gotten into one of the most difficult national universities, straight out of high school.

“That’s amazing, isn’t it?” Ayase-san murmured, her voice laced with warmth.

It really was. They were both powerhouses who consistently ranked in the single digits at our prep school, Suisei High. I’d figured their chances were good, but seeing it become a reality was still wonderful. In any case, it meant all four of us were officially set to become university students in April.

Passing the first round also meant they could forget about later exams and get back to their part-time jobs. Ayase-san and I had told our manager we’d be back in April just to be safe, but I was sure they’d squeeze us into the schedule if we asked. We might even get a call to come in this afternoon──

But that was all just small talk.

“Alright, about the main topic…” I began.

Ayase-san nodded, nibbling on a piece of pickled radish. After a satisfying crunch, she swallowed and said…

“The graduation trip, right?”

“Now that everyone’s passed, we really need to get on it.”

“I figured,” she said. “I did a quick search for ‘graduation trips’ last night.”

“Sorry, I haven’t looked into it at all yet.”

Ayase-san just shook her head and started sharing what she’d found online. Apparently, for anything elaborate, people start booking hotels and flights a month in advance, in February, which was surprisingly early.

But for students like us at a prep school where exam results came in at the last possible second, planning that far ahead was impossible.

“Which means flights are already out. We won’t be able to get reservations,” she concluded.

“So long-distance travel is off the table, huh.”

With that, Okinawa and Hokkaido were out. Hawaii was obviously a no-go, too. Not that I was heartbroken about it; I wasn’t looking to spend a ton of money anyway.

As we talked, a thought occurred to me.

We couldn’t just decide this ourselves, could we?

It was a trip for the four of us, after all. Narasaka-san and Maru must have their own ideas about where they wanted to go.

And so, we decided: I would ask Maru, and Ayase-san would ask Narasaka-san. We’d regroup once we knew what they wanted to do.

“So, that’s the deal. Anywhere you’d like to go?”

“Oarai, I guess.”

I’d called Maru after lunch, asking him to come up with some ideas while keeping our budget and tight schedule in mind. After a thoughtful groan, that was the answer he’d squeezed out.

Oarai. A town on the Pacific coast of Ibaraki Prefecture, famous as a beach resort. I knew that much, but I had my doubts about trekking out to a seaside town during March, when it was still chilly, just for a walk.

Why there?

In response to my question, Maru brought up the name of a certain anime.

“Ah, I see.”

A so-called ‘anime pilgrimage,’ huh.

[Note: Anime he is referring to is likely Girls und Panzer if bases on real life.]

These days, even anime set in daily life demands a certain level of reality. It’s pretty common for them to be modeled on real locations, with scenes like the daily school commute drawn just as they are in real life. This has led to fans visiting these places to soak in the same atmosphere as the characters from their favorite fictional worlds. An anime pilgrimage.

“I’m fine with that,” I said, “but I doubt Ayase-san and Narasaka-san would be into it.”

“Narasaka enjoyed watching it, though.”

“Oh, really? That’s kind of surprising.”

“Ah, well, I think I might’ve kinda heard something like that, maybe,” he backtracked. “More importantly, the problem is Ayase, right? Yeah?”

“Ayase-san? Hmmm, yeah, I guess so.”

Even if Narasaka-san was on board, it was safe to say Ayase-san had never seen the anime. And if that was the case, Oarai in early spring wasn’t exactly a destination everyone could enjoy.

Now, what to do. As I was lost in thought, a knock came at my door. “Hold on a sec,” I told Maru, then called out, “Come in.”

The door opened, and Ayase-san peeked her head in.

“Ah, I knew it. We just started on our end, too,” she said, smartphone in hand. I could hear Narasaka-san’s voice coming from it. “Want to do a four-way call?”

“We should totally make it a video call!” Narasaka-san’s voice chirped from the phone. “I wanna see your faces, it’s been a while!”

Ayase-san seemed to like that idea. It was true we hadn’t seen them since graduation. Maru agreed as well, so we hung up our current calls and switched to a four-person video call. The only problem was, with me and Ayase-san in the same room, it didn’t quite work. My voice was being picked up by both my phone and hers, creating an echo. The same was happening with her voice.

“We’re hearing you guys in double,” Maru said.

“I can’t understand what you’re saying~” Narasaka-san whined.

It was a total bust. I figured it would work if we went to our separate rooms, but what was the point of two people under the same roof holing up in different rooms just to talk on the phone?

After a bit of trial and error, we decided to just use my smartphone. We sat side-by-side on my bed, making sure we were both in the frame. Onscreen, it became a three-way call between ‘me and Ayase-san,’ ‘Maru,’ and ‘Narasaka-san.’

After another round of greetings, we got down to business.

“Personally, I think it’d be best to go somewhere we can all enjoy,” I started. “Like a zoo, an art museum, a history museum, an aquarium, or an amusement park. There are plenty of places like that around the Kanto region.”

The moment I finished, Narasaka-san’s eyes lit up, and she excitedly named a giant theme park in Chiba—you know, the one that has “Tokyo” in its name for some reason. The video call made her expression perfectly clear; the sparkle in her eyes was on another level. She looked like she was about to slap on a pair of mouse ears and break into a dance.

In stark contrast, Maru’s eyes went dim and lifeless.

“A place like that will just wear you out.”

“That’s not true at all!” she shot back. “Besides, the whole point is to have fun until you’re exhausted!”

“What are you even saying…” he muttered.

“And this is coming from the captain of the baseball team.”

“Former captain,” he corrected her. “I’m retired now.”

“Such an old man.”

“Besides,” Maru continued, “if you live in Tokyo, going out to neighboring Chiba hardly feels like a trip. If we’re calling this a graduation trip, I want to feel like I’m actually traveling. I’m not saying we have to go overseas, but still.”

“Huh? But Oarai is in Ibaraki. That’s nearby, too,” Narasaka-san retorted. “See, see, see! If Ibaraki is okay, then so is Chiba. If Chiba’s too close, then so is Ibaraki!”

“Gh…” Maru fell silent, his mouth forming a thin line, uncharacteristically bested in an argument.

We’d started this call to hear everyone’s opinions, but… hmm. This was a problem. Had we made any progress at all?

“Narasaka-san, does it have to be the theme park in Chiba?” I asked.

She gave me a puzzled look. “Why?”

“Well, there are lots of other theme parks out there. Right, Ayase-san?”

“Eh? Ah, right, maybe,” she stammered, glancing down at her phone. “Um… Universal, Huis Ten Bosch, Puroland, Shima Spain Village… Yeah, it looks like there are a lot.” She was clearly reading off a list she’d just searched.

“Right, right. Would any of those be okay?”

“Of course,” she said with a look that seemed to say, isn’t it obvious? For someone like me, who hadn’t known her long enough to know what her ‘obvious’ was, it was a bit much to take in.

“It’s not about where we hang out, it’s about who we hang out with. As long as it’s the four of us, I’d even be happy with Ueno Zoo.” Narasaka-san stated it plainly.

At the edge of the screen, Maru sulked. “In that case, Oarai should be fine, too,” he grumbled.

That’s true.

“What are you saying, Tomo-kun? We’re talking about our graduation trip, y’know?”

“That’s what I want to say! Why in the world would we go on a trip to an amusement park that’s thirty-four minutes from Shibuya Station? Oarai takes two hours. That’s three and a half times longer!”

“Either way, they’re both close enough for a day trip, right~”

That’s also true. And Maru sure knew his travel times.

As I watched them bicker, I noticed Ayase-san beside me, lost in thought. I decided to ask for her opinion.

“Where would you like to go, Ayase-san?”

“…Let’s see,” she began softly. “I’d like to visit a place with historical buildings, like a castle, or ruins, or a shrine. Also, if we’re going to travel, it might be fun to go somewhere with good food, or the culture is interestingly different, so we can discover new things.”

I see. A very Ayase-san-like answer, given her love of history. I was on board with visiting a place with a different daily culture, too. Living with Ayase-san, I’d been surprised by how different our habits were, even though we’d both grown up in the same Shibuya cultural sphere. A place where the culture of daily life itself felt different. Not just the food, but the values of the people living there. It would be nice to experience that, even if just for a couple of nights.

Alright, we’d pretty much gotten everyone’s opinions.

Summarizing the conversation, Maru wanted an anime pilgrimage. Narasaka-san wanted an amusement park where we could all have fun together. And Ayase-san was interested in historical sites and places with a different daily culture.

Was there a destination that was moderately far and could satisfy everyone?

“The Kansai region… maybe?” I suggested. “Maru, are there any anime pilgrimage sites in Kansai that would work for you?”

Maru closed his eyes for a moment, thinking. “Hmm… There is one place. Around Kandai-mae to Senriyama.”

Where was that?

“Isn’t that in Osaka?” Ayase-san chimed in. “‘Kandai’ is probably Kansai University.”

“Yeah,” Maru confirmed. “The setting of a series I consider a masterpiece that speaks to my soul is around there.”

A series he called a masterpiece that speaks to his soul. That’s some high praise. And it seemed Narasaka-san was pretty sharp with geography.

“Universal is in Osaka,” Ayase-san added. At that, Narasaka-san’s eyes began to sparkle again.

“Awesome!”

“Wait, wait,” Maru cut in. “We might be fine with that, but Asamura, what about you? If you don’t state your opinion soon, this whole trip is going to be you getting dragged around a theme park.”

“I don’t really have any place I’m dying to go. If it’s Osaka, the culture will be different, so it seems like it’d be a fresh experience.”

“That’s not good, Asamura-kun,” Ayase-san said, her tone serious. “Maaya and Maru-kun have both clearly stated their wishes, and if we go to Osaka, I’ll be satisfied because it’s surrounded by historical buildings. But that means we wouldn’t be going anywhere you want to go.”

“Even if you say that…”

She was looking at me with worried eyes, but I honestly couldn’t think of anywhere I particularly wanted to visit.

“Isn’t there anything?” she pressed. “An art museum, zoo, history museum, or aquarium would be fine. There should be plenty of those around Osaka. Asamura-kun, you were looking so intently when we went to the local history museum. I think you actually quite like looking at that kind of stuff.”

“I… did?” I wasn’t aware of it myself, but according to her, I’d been more focused on the exhibits than she was. Is that so?

“Hmm. Out of those… maybe an aquarium.”

“Oh? So Asamura likes aquariums,” Maru noted.

“My old man used to keep tropical fish when I was a kid.”

“Taichi-otousan had a hobby like that?” Ayase-san asked, surprised.

I nodded. It was when I was really little, around the time I was just becoming self-aware. I remembered loving to watch the tropical fish my dad kept. After a couple of years, they reached the end of their lifespan, and apparently, I cried so much that we never talked about getting new ones. That fish tank should still be tucked away in the back of our storage room.

The fish swimming leisurely in the water, the swaying aquatic plants, the air bubbling to the surface. A little plastic car submerged in the tank spun around, pushed by the rising bubbles. Sunlight filtering through the glass scattered into a rainbow on the table. I could stare at it for hours and never get bored.

“Well, it doesn’t have to be an aquarium,” I clarified. “I just have memories of enjoying it when my dad dragged me around to various places. A museum or a zoo would be fine, too.”

There was a time, after I’d failed my exams and rebelled against my mother’s expectations, that I hated studying. My dad, worried, had taken me to all sorts of places to try and spark my curiosity again.

“There’s one called ‘Kaiyukan’ near Universal,” Narasaka-san announced, looking up from her phone. “‘Recreating the seas of the Pacific Rim in a giant tank!’ it says. It also says they have huge fish.”

“Ah, I think they have a whale shark there, don’t they?” I recalled.

“You know your stuff, Asamura-kun!” she praised.

Unfortunately, I’d just happened to see it on the news. I wasn’t particularly knowledgeable, but now it seemed everyone thought I was a fish enthusiast.

“Hmm. It’s settled then,” Maru said. “How about a trip to Kansai that includes Kaiyukan?”

Everyone else agreed.

“Got it. Then, just a minute.”

For about ten minutes, I left Ayase-san to entertain the other two and moved out of the camera’s view. I grabbed a page from the notebook on my desk and quickly sketched out a rough schedule with a marker.

“I’m back,” I said, returning to the screen and turning the notebook around for everyone to see.

The memo I’d put together looked like this.

“How about a schedule like this?” I proposed. “An Osaka sightseeing trip, with a hotel near Shin-Osaka Station. It should cover everyone’s wishes.”

“Day one is for history and experiencing a different culture. Day two is theme park day. And day three, I’ve grouped the anime pilgrimage and the aquarium together.”

With this, everyone’s requests should be fulfilled, and everyone should have a good time. Right?

They all peered at the memo, voicing their thoughts and checking locations on their phones. Ayase-san nodded in understanding, but then her expression turned worried.

“Isn’t the schedule a bit tight for your and Maru-kun’s part?”

On the other side of the screen, Narasaka-san was nodding in agreement. “You don’t have to give us special treatment, you know?”

“No, that’s not what this is.” This wasn’t about favoring anyone; it was just the optimal solution I’d come up with after considering the time needed for each activity.

“Well, that’s true,” Maru conceded. “The pilgrimage doesn’t take that much time. I’m not planning on making a scene at the holy site or anything. As an anime fan, that’s just bad manners. I only wanna walk around quietly and soak in the nostalgia of a place filled with memories. Deeply.”

“Those memories aren’t actually real, though~” Narasaka-san teased.

“What are you saying? A simulated experience is still an experience. A variety of experiences is what makes life colorful.”

“You make it sound good, Tomo-kun, but you sometimes sound just like my little brothers~”

“Now, now,” I interjected. “Anyway, we won’t be pushing ourselves. If we book the last shinkansen back at night, we’ll have plenty of time, so it’s fine.”

My basic premise was to not suggest anything that would leave someone bored.

“For Ayase-san, even if the area around Kandai-mae Station isn’t a historical site, I think just walking through a normal Kansai town would be a cross-cultural experience in itself.”

“A walk through a normal town sounds nice, too,” she agreed. “Even if it’s not a historical landmark.”

“And Maru, it’s not like you’re not interested in Universal, right?”

“Well, yeah,” he admitted. “They’ve been doing a lot of collaborations with manga and anime lately, not just movies. I’ve been wanting to go at least once.”

“I wanna see the whale shark, too~!” Narasaka-san sang.

Exactly. No one was suggesting a place that someone else would hate. We were all proposing things with the assumption that everyone would find them enjoyable.

“So, I think this allocation works,” I concluded.

When I said that, the three of them seemed convinced.

“You’re good at organizing things, Asamura-kun,” Ayase-san said, her eyes on the schedule I’d written. “This is really well put together. To whip this up in just ten minutes is amazing.”

“Being praised for something like this feels a little awkward, you know.”

“That’s not true. Nice work!”

“Ah… yeah, thanks,” I replied, genuinely embarrassed despite my honest gratitude.

“Okay, then let’s use this as a base, and the two of us will hash out the details,” I said.

“Right.”

“Yeah. This makes planning so much easier. Thanks, Asamura-kun,” Narasaka-san added.

“No, no. It was nothing.”

“Honestly, if it were just me, I don’t think I could’ve done it this fast… what?” Ayase-san trailed off, her gaze fixed on Narasaka-san’s face on the screen. I looked over, too.

Narasaka-san was grinning like a Cheshire cat, a smirk that reminded me of a certain Yomiuri-senpai.

“Well… looking at you two through the screen is such a feast for the eyes.”

“Huh?” Ayase-san and I said in unison.

“You two get along so well, is what I mean~”

“Mhm,” Maru chimed in. “I’m going to save this exchange, clip it, and post it. Might even go viral.”

“Let’s title it ‘Married Couple Comedy Routine’ and do it~” Narasaka-san giggled.

“Wha—! Wh-what are you saying?!” Ayase-san sputtered, getting flustered and angry—a rare sight. “The graduation trip meeting ends here!”

She unilaterally declared the end of the meeting and stabbed the end call button. She was panting slightly.

“Hah… hah. Geez, Maaya!”

“There, there. Calm down. They’re just teasing you.”

“I-I know, but…”

“More importantly, because you shouted, look—” I put a hand to my ear. A voice was drifting from the living room. It was my stepmother, Akiko-san.

“Are you two there~?” she was calling. Looking at the clock, it was already past 2 PM.

“Looks like she’s woken up,” I said.

Well, it wasn’t like we were doing anything shady (we’d already told our parents about the graduation trip), so there was no need to panic. Still, Ayase-san rushed out of my room and headed for the living room.

Left alone, I looked at the schedule outline once more.

Now then… Considering everyone’s availability, we probably only had about ten days until the trip.

First things first, we needed to decide on the dates and book a hotel. Solidify the foundation before hammering out the details.

I was the type who preferred to stay home with a book, so I wouldn’t call myself an avid traveler. But once things started moving, I found myself getting excited with anticipation.