Chapter 168 – Hiding from Everyone

Days passed after our shopping trip, and the day of the trip finally arrived. 

Since there were no holidays in June, the days passed by at a snail’s pace. Though the fact that I was anticipating the trip probably had an effect on my perception of time.

Today was Saturday. We planned to leave early in the morning so we wouldn’t arrive too late at our destination.

It was currently 6 am. After making breakfast and leaving a note for my mom, who was still asleep because she got back really late last night, I went to Umi’s house.

I would be having my breakfast at Umi’s place. After that, we would be leaving at 7:30 am in Sora-san’s car. Our destination would be Daichi-san’s mother, Asanagi Mizore’s house. Of course, Sora-san had notified her that I would be coming too.

The drive would take about three hours by highway. We planned to stop by a rest area along the way, so we should arrive at noon. 

Suppressing my excitement, I quickened my footsteps.

When I arrived at Umi’s doorstep, I saw a huge bag by the side. It seemed like everyone was ready to go.

“Good morning, Maki. Did you sleep well last night? You didn’t stay up late, right?”

“Mhm. It took me a while to fall asleep, but I managed to get seven hours… By the way, you’re going to wear that straw hat?”

“Of course. This really sets the mood, and besides, it’s getting really hot lately… So, how do I look?”

“It looks good on you. You look cute.”

“Hehe. Thank you. You too, Maki, you look cool today.”

We had actually tried these clothes on when we shopped the other day and she gave me the same compliment as back then. Nevertheless, I still felt happy that she complimented me. I’m a sucker for this girl, seriously.

“By the way, where’s Sora-san and Riku-san?”

“Mom is still preparing breakfast and brother is… Still sleeping, I think. Well, I’ll wake him up later.”

“I shoulda known… Anyway, I want to greet Sora-san first.”

“Sure, but first…”

Just as I was about to go inside, Umi grabbed my wrist.

“What’s up, Umi?”

“There’s something I want to show you… Follow me.”

“Sure?”

She pulled me into the garage where the car was located.

“Alright, no one can see us here. Maki, get over here and squat down please.”

“Like this?”

“Mhm. Thank you.”

After that, she squatted down just like I did and unhesitatingly brought her face closer to mine and stole my lips.

That surprised me, but I was used to her antics by now, so I didn’t pull away like I used to.

“Mm…”

“Nhh…”

While hiding behind the car, we thoroughly explored each other’s lips for a while. Who knows how many times we had done this since we started dating, but my heart still skipped a beat whenever we did it.

Hers was too, I could feel her heartbeat since our bodies were close.

“Haah… Maki…”

“Yes?”

“For the next three days, We’re going to have a lot of fun, okay?”

“Yeah…”

That was it, our switches were turned on. After that brief exchange, we brought our bodies closer. Just as we were about to continue…

“What the hell are you guys doing so early in the morning?”

““?!””

A disgusted voice could be heard out of nowhere and brought us back to reality.

“B-Brother…”

“Um… H-Hello, Riku-san…”

“Yo, Maki. I’m going to start the car now, move over, you two.”

“O-okay…”

We had no choice but to obey, so after a brief look at each other, we bailed out of the garage. I snuck a peek at the car we were going to use before going out though.

It was a black SUV. Normally, Daichi-san would be using it, but since we would be going on a trip today, we would be using it instead. Meanwhile, Daichi-san was using Sora-san’s car.

“You’re up already, Brother? You don’t need your cute little sister to wake you up anymore?”

“Don’t need it. I’ve been waking up around this time for a while now. You just never knew about it because you left for school early.”

He normally slept in the morning and woke up in the evening, so this was a major improvement.

He cut his hair and his complexion looked way better than when we first met.

It had been a month since I’d seen him and it looked like he put in a lot of effort into self-care.

“Alright… Mom’s already waiting, you two, hurry up and eat your breakfast. Stop doing dumb things in the corner and go.”

““R-right.””

Normally, Riku-san looked unreliable, but this time, he had this brotherly aura around him.