A Date

"Ayanokoji, did you come to see the play by yourself?" At the theater entrance, Sawahara spotted someone he knew.

"Yeah, as you can see, I don't have any friends I can go see a play with." Hearing Sawahara's question, Ayanokoji sighed helplessly.

"In fact, I don't even have any friends I can hang out with."

"Is that so? That's pretty pitiful." Sawahara looked Ayanokoji over. "I won't keep you. The plays on this ship are pretty good."

"Mm."

"Shiina."

"Hmm?"

"We only made one promise last night, right?"

"Nope, we made two. You drank too much, Sawahara-kun, so you forgot."

"But still..." Sawahara looked helplessly at the massage parlor, whose decor was tinged with pink.

"If you want to get a spa treatment, it's more convenient to come with a girl, right?"

"I don't have any friends I can come with..." Shiina lowered her head, looking especially pitiful.

The technician beside them could hardly bear to watch. So he was complaining about coming to get a spa treatment with his girlfriend?

Seeing Shiina like this, Sawahara couldn't refuse again.

Since the school had rented the ship, and it was mostly filled with students, there weren't any improper or special services.

Because they'd come together, the technician only arranged one room for them. Even when Sawahara offered to pay extra, she refused, explaining that all the services on the ship were free.

Although they were in the same room, that didn't mean they could see anything steamy. A curtain separated them, but there were some things it couldn't hide.

"Mm... Huh... Ah... Mm."

The occasional soft moans from behind the curtain made it hard to keep calm.

The technician massaging Sawahara wore a strange expression. Just then, she'd seen a certain part of Sawahara's body move, only to settle down again almost immediately.

Could this guy be...

Sawahara had no idea what the technician was thinking. When he noticed his body reacting just now, he quickly used a few mental tricks to stop it.

After Sawahara and the others left the parlor, the technician who'd massaged him cleaned the massage table again and sprayed something around the room.

"Shiina, we don't have a third promise, right?" Sawahara asked. His memories of the night before were a little hazy, but surely he wouldn't have casually agreed to three promises in a row?

"No." Shiina shook her head, then reminded Sawahara, "But it's almost one o'clock now. What are you planning to do next?"

What could he do at this hour? Of course, go eat at the restaurant. Shiina would definitely need to eat there, too.

After a brief silence, Sawahara bowed politely and asked Shiina, "Then tell me, beautiful Miss Shiina, what would you like for lunch today?"

"Dear Mr. Sawahara, I'd like steak for lunch today. Is that all right?" Shiina held out her hand to him.

"Of course, beautiful Miss Shiina. This way, please." He took Shiina's hand, kissed it, and the two of them headed to the Western restaurant.

"That must be Sawahara, the one Honami can't stop thinking about, right? And he's acting like that with another girl." Hoshinomiya had just come out of the spa when she tugged Ichinose along and said this.

"Please don't put it that way, Hoshinomiya-sensei. People might get the wrong idea." Ichinose blushed and hurried to stop Hoshinomiya from saying anything else. There was no way she couldn't stop thinking about him.

"Sawahara-kun and I don't have any special relationship."

"Is that so? Is that so?" Hoshinomiya blinked, looking as if she didn't believe a word of it. "But speaking of which, Sawahara-kun was awful during the last exam. He even had a girl from Class D spy on Class B."

At the mention of that, Hoshinomiya puffed out her cheeks in annoyance. If their leader hadn't been exposed, their class would already be Class A.

"Don't say that." Ichinose shook her head. "Sawahara-kun was just doing everything he could for his class during the Special Exam."

"But you two..." Hoshinomiya wanted to say that they were so close, he could've gone easy on them.

"Because we're friends, we should work hard together." Ichinose smiled. "We promised each other."

Looking at her class's leader, Hoshinomiya could only shake her head inwardly at such childish thinking.

"Now then, Shiina, we've kept our promise. Can I go back now?"

After lunch, Sawahara asked Shiina.

"Don't you like spending time with me, Sawahara-kun?" Shiina looked disappointed.

"..." How was he supposed to answer that? Sawahara thought for a moment. "Of course I do. It's just that Ryuen is still in the dorm and hasn't had lunch. He just messaged me and asked me to bring some food back for him. I can't leave him hungry in the dorm."

"Mm, wait a moment." Hearing Sawahara's explanation, Shiina said nothing. Instead, she bent down and picked up a bag. She'd been carrying it since they met that morning, without ever opening it. Sawahara had been wondering what was inside.

"All the buttons came off your shirt before, Sawahara-kun, but I've sewn them back on."

Shiina handed Sawahara the bag. Inside was the very shirt he'd worn on the Uninhabited Island. When his classmates left at the time, he'd asked them to take it back and throw it away, since he didn't want to pollute the island. He hadn't expected Shiina to repair it.

"Thank you so much, Shiina." Sawahara thanked her in surprise.

"No, it was nothing."

After saying goodbye to Shiina, he opened the dorm room door. Ryuen was still there.

"Didn't you go out this morning?" Sawahara asked, surprised.

"I did, but I heard someone was bringing me lunch, so I came back." Ryuen leaned against the headboard and raised an eyebrow.

"...Did Shiina tell you?"

"Heh. You sure focus on your meals with girls, bastard. I had lunch at the same restaurant as you." Ryuen snickered. He'd been sitting right behind Sawahara. After hearing Sawahara use such a flimsy excuse to get away, he'd decided to go back to the dorm and tease him.

"...Sorry." What else could Sawahara say?

"Did Shiina see you there, too?" Sawahara asked again, clinging to a sliver of hope.

"She did. She even said hello." Ryuen narrowed his eyes. It wasn't often he got to see Sawahara so thoroughly humbled.

"..."

"So, where's my lunch?"