A Ski Trip

As the former capital of the country, Kyoto boasts numerous cultural sites and, more importantly, a great many temples. There is a marriage shrine that she has always wanted to visit with Shiraishi.

"This is a matter that requires a vote by the entire grade, but you must fill out a questionnaire before voting."

"Now open the questionnaire you received on your tablet."

In a calm response to Nishikawa, Mashima projected his tablet onto the whiteboard.

Name -- Gender -- Number.

Upon opening the questionnaire, Aoyama found it to be very simple. There were three columns, two of which were already filled in, with only the page for numbers remaining blank.

"Next, you will need to rank all students in the grade. The school will use this list for some purpose."

"Talking and peeping are both prohibited. Even the class advisor cannot see the rankings set by the students, so you can rest assured to rank them according to your own ideas."

"The time limit is one hour. If the ranking is not completed, it will be extended until the ranking is finished before proceeding to the next step."

After briefly explaining, Mashima shut his mouth.

The students, still confused and somewhat puzzled, could only vaguely begin to think about how to rank their classmates.

One Miki, two Masumi, three Arisu, and four is Aoi.

After a moment's thought, I realized that Aoyama's ranking among the students in this grade was probably related to the upcoming school trip group.

The school might group high-ranking students with low-ranking students, but it's more likely that high-ranking students will be grouped with each other, because the school currently gives preferential treatment to high-achieving students.

Without exception, all students with high rankings are popular, and these students must have strong teamwork skills.

Honami, two Mako, three thousand seekers, four Himeno.

Hiyori, Ibuki, three Manabe, and four Yamashita.

Airi, 2. Kikyo, 3. Haruka, 5. Suzune.

Based on the preferred team members from each class, Aoyama completed the questionnaire ranking in just a few minutes.

Just as he was leisurely looking around, Sakayanagi seemed to turn his head slightly and meet his gaze.

Then, a smile appeared on Sakayanagi's cute little face.

Sorry, you weren't the first one I filled in, so I guess you won't be in my group.

A faint sense of apology welled up in Aoyama's heart for a moment, but it was highly likely that Sakayanagi would not be in a group with him. The most likely candidates to be in an Ichinose with him were either Kushida or Kushida, and Amikura was also a strong possibility.

Time flew by, and soon an hour had passed, and all the students had submitted their answers.

Nodding in satisfaction, Mashima continued to fulfill his lecturing duties, and soon voting options appeared on each student's tablet.

[Hokkaido][Kyoto][Okinawa]

One of the three options will become their school trip destination.

"Kyoto Kiyomizu-dera."

"I want to go skiing in Hokkaido."

"Okinawa Ocean Viewing!"

A lively discussion erupted in the classroom, with students who had already chosen their favorites starting to persuade their undecided friends to support them.

"Hokkaido, I guess."

When asked by the Yamamura, Aoyama smiled and answered.

He had never skied before, so of the three school trip destinations, Hokkaido was the one he was most interested in.

"The entire grade's vote resulted in Hokkaido."

About ten minutes later, Mashima announced the results and changed the slides.

The first day's itinerary involved starting from school, traveling by public transport to the ski resort, practicing skiing, and finally checking into the hotel.

The second day is a full day of free time, the third day is for sightseeing, the fourth day is free time with conditions, and the fifth day is the final return trip.

The only puzzling thing is the arrangement for the fourth day.

"What do you mean by 'free time with conditions,' Mr. Mashima?" Katsuragi raised his hand to ask.

"We'll let you know during the school trip."

Seemingly instructed not to speak, Mashima did not answer Katsuragi's question, but instead began to talk about the group assignments.

As Aoyama had predicted, the groups were formed based on the student rankings they filled out. Each group would have eight students, consisting of one boy and one girl from each of the four classes.

That means there's only one girl in Class A who's in the same group as Aoyama.

Seemingly sensing that she wouldn't be chosen, Sakayanagi's cute little face showed regret.

You're also aware that you won't be selected.

Although he felt somewhat apologetic towards Sakayanagi, Aoyama couldn't help but find it amusing.

"It's so cold."

The next day, after changing buses once from the school to continue their journey, the student sitting next to Aoyama changed from Sakayanagi to his classmate in the same group, Shiraishi Asuka, who was wearing a scarf around her neck.

Once on the bus, she took off her gloves to play on her phone, placing it on her thigh, which was covered by black thermal stockings, and rubbed her palms together.

"I didn't expect you to be in my group, Shiraishi. You're really popular. No wonder you're such a mysterious beauty."

Watching the gentle beauty breathe on her palms and rub them, Aoyama couldn't help but laugh and tease her.

Kamuro and the others are just as cute as Shiraishi, but compared to the gentle and mature-looking Shiraishi, Kamuro and the others still have a touch of youthful and adorable innocence.

Because she doesn't interact much with students from other classes, and because of her own beauty, Shiraishi has the nickname of a mysterious beauty.

"Don't call me that, it's embarrassing." Shiraishi smiled a little awkwardly, then put his left hand, which had temporarily warmed up, into the pocket of Aoyama's coat.

"This is the price Aoyama -kun pays for making fun of me."

Looking at her phone only required one hand. After putting her left hand back on her glove and placing it in Aoyama's pocket, Shiraishi chose to put her hand in the pocket of the boy she liked.

Anyway, Aoyama gave her the excuse.

"It's so cold." Aoyama shrank his neck, pretending to be cold.

"How about you share half of my scarf, Aoyama- kun? If we get closer, we can share it."

Unexpectedly, Aoyama thought Shiraishi Aoyama genuinely cold, so he reached out and loosened his beige scarf a little, revealing a glimpse of his very fair neck.

I was just kidding.

"Then I thank Shiraishi for his kindness."

Faced with Shiraishi's sudden look of concern, Aoyama felt he couldn't bring himself to lie to her.

Soon, as a fragrant breeze approached, a soft, warm scarf, half-cool and half-warm, was wrapped around his neck.

"Alright."

Shiraishi sat back down in her chair, lowered the armrest between them, moved closer together, and smiled gently.

Just seeing that beautiful smile made Aoyama feel a sense of comfort.

Chapter 383 Skiing Trip

The bus traveled smoothly for about twenty minutes.

After running out of things to talk about with Shiraishi, Aoyama closed his eyes and pretended to sleep.

It seems that quite a few people gave him low marks; this time, his group number was five, which wasn't even enough to get into the top three groups.

Among the eight students in the group, Ibuki and Ryuen were from Second-Year Class B, while Himeno and Watanabe were from Class 2-C. All of them were students with whom he had had considerable interaction.

As for Mori Nene and Miyake from Second-Year Class D, they basically never interacted at all.

"We've arrived, Aoyama -kun."

As Aoyama wandered aimlessly for an unknown amount of time, he felt a finger poking his cheek.

Opening his eyes, he saw Shiraishi's delicate face with a slight smile, and not far away, a girl who had turned around and was kneeling on a chair, her eyes wide with surprise and anger.

Nishikawa, you're not really going to end up like Chihiro used to be, are you?

With a hint of helplessness in his eyes, Aoyama parted Shiraishi's slender fingers and began to unbuckle the seatbelt.

"Thank you, it's very heartwarming."

Aoyama untied the half-scarf from his neck and handed it back to Shiraishi.

As soon as he got off the bus, Nishikawa disregarded his own group members and ran to Shiraishi, pulling Shiraishi aside.

"You got glared at? Does Nishikawa dislike you?" Himeno asked Aoyama.

Watanabe, who was in her group, was a talkative and outgoing person, and she had a hard time keeping up with him.

After seeing her speak to Aoyama, Watanabe, as she wished, did not approach her and instead chatted with the students of Second-Year Class D.

"The hatred of having one's wife stolen."

"Huh!!?? What do you mean?" Himeno stared in disbelief.

"Just kidding, but it's probably true that you hate me."

With a slight smile, Aoyama withdrew his gaze from Himeno's shocked face.

Under the guidance of their instructor, Hoshinomiya, they quickly went to the ski resort's large cafeteria for lunch, and after lunch, they immediately started their ski lessons.

After much trouble, they finally arrived at the ski resort and received their own ski equipment.

"Aoyama, you don't need to accommodate me. The teacher didn't require the group to act together."

During the free time after the instruction session, Shiraishi, struggling to walk while wearing her gear, hoped that Aoyama wouldn't worry about her.

Ski slopes are generally divided into three levels: beginner, intermediate, and advanced.

Having never skated before and Shiraishi only average physical abilities, I naturally chose the beginner level, which is gentle and has little slope.

From her perspective, Aoyama, who mastered the skill in just a few minutes, should have been better suited for advanced toboggan runs.

"I prefer skiing with pretty girls to skiing alone."

"Besides, there's still plenty of time."

Holding his skis, Aoyama followed behind Shiraishi.

In early December, Hokkaido already had a considerable number of tourists who had come to visit. More than a hundred students were scattered throughout the vast ski resort, making it difficult to find a specific student.

Fearing that Student Council lose the school's special cell phones, teachers collected the phones before students entered the ski resort.

"If you don't skate well, don't blame me." With a slightly pleased smile, Shiraishi didn't say anything more about telling Aoyama to leave.

"Am I that kind of person in Shiraishi's eyes?"

Chatting casually, the two arrived at the bustling starting point of the beginner's path. Aoyama, with his sharp eyes, scanned the area several times before spotting the Yamamura that was in the same group as Sakura.

Seeing that there was some distance and many people around, he didn't immediately go over to disturb them.

"Take good care of me, okay, Aoyama -kun?" After checking that her equipment was on, Shiraishi prepared to slide down.

Aoyama chuckled, "Aren't the little turtle and the little rabbit enough?"

Wearing an adorable pink bunny helmet and a thick turtle-shaped hip pad around her waist, Shiraishi, fully armed, exudes a touch of cuteness.

Her entire body was covered only by her delicate and beautiful face.

"Not enough."

With a faint smile, Shiraishi pushed off with his ski poles and started moving.

Seeing this, Aoyama put down his skis, sat down, and began to fix his ski boots.

He was steady in a few seconds, and when he stood up again, he saw Shiraishi plop down on the snow, looking a little shy when they met his gaze.

"It collapsed way too quickly."

With a high jump acceleration, Aoyama stopped in front of Shiraishi with a dragon's tail swing, then grabbed her hand and pulled her up.

"As expected, Aoyama can ski very well now." Brushing the snow off his clothes, Shiraishi turned his head away embarrassedly and picked up his ski poles again.

This time, she didn't dare to start too hard, moving forward slowly without using her ski poles to accelerate.

Aoyama also used an S-shaped gliding route to protect her.