"30150, 30650, and… 31150," Hiratsuka-sensei said as she finished flicking through the stack of bills in her hand. "Not too shabby. Not too shabby at all."
Hiratsuka-sensei looked at the money with satisfaction clearly etched across her features. Having reached the rough goal that had been set for us was sort of a relief. At least now we could say that we hadn't been completely wasting our time and that we'd actually done our jobs satisfactorily. We didn't wildly surpass our goal or anything, but we also didn't horribly undershoot it either. And that was all they could really ask for: an averagely decent success for an averagely decent booth.
"So does this mean we're finally done?" I asked, turning to look in her direction.
"Hmm, I think so. Give me a second." Hiratsuka-sensei suddenly walked behind the register and grabbed a long, white envelope before stuffing the money inside. She then grabbed the walkie-talkie that was lying on the counter's surface before speaking into it. "Can I get a volunteer over here? We reached our goal and we're going to need some help with the cleanup."
After receiving a staticky answer, she nodded and then set the walkie-talkie down before walking back over to me. I looked at her expectantly.
"They said they'd send someone over, so it looks like that's that. We can officially wash our hands of this business once and for all," she said as she clasped me on the back lightly. I tried not to let my face show it, but I suddenly felt very relieved. Work had gotten to be pretty boring for the last hour, if not before that. Fewer and fewer people had been coming as time passed, and not only that, but our book supplies had diminished significantly as well. Given that fact and also the fact that I was freezing (alcohol and all), I was more than ready to call it a night.
"About time," I mumbled, rubbing my hands together to try to generate some body heat. "The sooner I can get into warm clothing and my sheets, the better," I said.
"Come again?" She asked in an amused tone.
I rephrased and repeated myself as per her request. "I'm just looking forward to passing out on my bed as soon as possible." I mumbled over the sounds of my clattering teeth. I felt somewhat lightheaded.
"See, that's what I thought I heard, but I figured my ears were tricking me," she responded, her voice once again brandishing an odd tone of amusement. I looked up at her eyes questioningly and she laughed. "You're not going anywhere. Not until we check out what this place has to offer first."
"What, you were serious about that?" I asked with slight surprise. Was this woman a superhuman or something? After working for hours on end, I was starting to feel pretty drained. I was a little bit shocked that a woman of Hiratsuka-sensei's age could still manage to be so energetic after doing the same.
"Psh, of course I was. You really think I'd slave away all night and not at least use my time off to live it up some?" she asked rhetorically.
"All work and no play makes Shizuka a dull girl. All work and no play makes Shizuka a dull girl." She suddenly began speaking in a creepy, scratchy voice and began trying to imitate what I think was a zombie staggering around.
"Are you drunk?" I asked seriously.
She slapped me over the head. "You wish." She looked at me then, and slightly raised an eyebrow before adding, "But it looks like you could use a little more to drink. You're shivering and your cheeks don't look flushed anymore."
I suddenly lifted my fingers to my face to feel if some of the scalding heat from earlier had persisted, but Hiratsuka-sensei was right. My cheeks felt completely normal, and the fact that I was shivering again was proof enough that the effects of the alcohol had mostly subsided at that point.
"Maybe you're less of a lightweight than you look." She reached into her pocket to once again pull out her flask. "Here. Drink up."
I was kind of tempted to argue just for propriety's sake, but I decided to drink first and ask questions later. I grabbed the flask from her hand and took two sips that were slightly smaller than the one I had downed earlier, before removing the flask from my mouth and blinking my eyes shut. Once again the taste was overwhelming, but it was a little bit more manageable this time. "This still seems like a bad idea," I said after the liquid had completely slid down my throat.
"Usually when someone complains about drinking, they do it before they down the shot," she said wryly before taking the flask to her own lips and taking a sip herself.
I shrugged. A few minutes after that, a couple of festival volunteers made it over to our booth like had been arranged, and began to pack up what remaining books there were into cardboard boxes, and began to generally arrange and clean up what was left of the stall. Hiratsuka-sensei handed over the booth earnings to one of the volunteers and laughed a little bit when he asked if it was rum that he smelled on her breath. He didn't seem to mind though, and with the help of his coworker, had everything finished and ready-to-go in a little over fifteen minutes.
"Alright Hikigaya! You ready to paint the town red?" Hiratsuka-sensei suddenly exclaimed loudly, one of her arms shooting up into the air like a missile.
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Et's just try not… to stick around too long," I responded. With a slight stutter. Suddenly, I noticed that my cheeks were once again scalding hot and my vision was precariously unfocused.
I wasn't going to deny that I was feeling slightly off-kilter, and the reason for why was pretty obvious. I'd never been drunk before or anything, so I couldn't completely and accurately deny if I actually were, but I didn't think I was that bad off. Aside from the occasional stutter and an overall feeling of weightlessness, I felt more or less like my normal self. I was probably just enjoying a pleasant buzz, nothing too serious.
"We'll see about that. We can call it a night once we get through all the fun stuff and not a second before." Hiratsuka-sensei didn't mumble or stutter over any of her words, but just from her slightly loose tone and the pleasant smile that was stretched out across her face, I could tell that she was buzzed too. Probably only very slightly, but she wasn't completely sober either. I didn't doubt that she had a much higher alcohol tolerance than I did, but to be fair, she'd been drinking a lot more than I had too, so I suppose it balanced out in the end.
"Let's go!" She grabbed my arm and dragged me off into the depths of the festival, leaving our booth, and the two volunteers assigned to packing up that booth, behind in the dust. The only thing I could do was mumble a half-hearted complaint to myself as I was pulled along.
The festival at night actually looked really cool. Having been trapped inside our own booth for the majority of the night, we hadn't gotten a good chance to take a look around at all, discounting the occasional glimpses we could see of the other stalls around us from where we were stationed.
So when we finally did, we were pretty impressed, and a little bit amazed even. The lights were brilliant, the food smelled delicious, and the rides looked incredibly fun, if not a little nauseating to my alcohol-addled brain.
The first thing we stopped by of course was a food stand. Hiratsuka-sensei had said earlier that she'd wanted to get some Ikayaki-on-a-stick, and I wasn't in any mood to complain about what in particular we ate. Fried squid sounded about as good as anything else to my empty stomach.
"My god. I don't think I've ever had Ikayaki this crispy," Hiratsuka-sensei said happily as she took gratuitous bites from her portion. I was currently enjoying my own portion and as a result, didn't answer her until I had sated my hunger to an acceptable degree.
"Yeah, seriously. This is probably the best I've had." I responded quickly and continued to scarf down my food, not paying attention to much other than the squid chunks in front of me and Hiratsuka-sensei who was sitting to my left on the bench. We quickly devoured our sriracha-dipped skewers and finally both sighed out in satisfaction when we finished.
"Where to next?" I asked, being in a considerably better mood now that I had satisfied my hunger.
We headed to some other drink and food booths after that, both gorging on whatever food smelled, and or looked good to our weary eyes. Which, given that it was Hiratsuka-sensei who was deciding, was most of them. Obviously yakisoba was one of the first things we grabbed after that, and we also ended up trying Kaarage, the festival staple that was taiyaki, and finished off our eating spree with dango and karumeyaki. Needless to say, it was all very, very delicious and surprisingly good quality for it being a school festival.
After that, we decided to try our hands at some drinks, and ended up buying some fruit slushies with jello chunks at the bottom, and then purchasing two orders of some type of thick creamy dessert drink that I had no idea what was called. The slushies hit the spot, but the dessert honestly tasted pretty lousy. The consistency was awkward and it was overall just a little bit too sweet for my tastes.
I tossed my portion away into one of the trash bins before turning to face Hiratsuka-sensei who was polishing off her dessert with a plastic spoon.
After finally finishing, Hiratsuka-sensei threw the container in the trash as well and sighed out in satisfaction. "Ahh, there really is nothing quite like Matsuri specialties," she said. She turned to look at me before asking, "Want to get something else or are you full?"
"I don't think I could eat another bite if somebody paid me," I answered. That was a half-truth. I really was full, but if somebody really was offering, I probably would have agreed to scarf down another ten balls of dango on the spot.
"Thought so. Me too," she agreed, wiping her hands together to get whatever residual food crumbs remained there to fall to the floor. "So, shall we hit some of the game booths next? Or are you feeling tired already?" she asked with a smirk. She still seemed to be completely filled with energy; the absurd amounts of food we just consumed seemed to do little to slow her down. I was the same way.
"Not at all. Let's do it," I said as I stood. That earned me a smirk and a slight tug on my arm.
The first thing we saw that caught our interest was the batting cages. Two metal cages with chain-linked fences were set up somewhere near the far end of the field, complete with automated machines and all. After looking at each other for a second, and Hiratsuka-sensei all but calling me out, we decided to try our luck after purchasing a ticket from a booth employee. Hiratsuka-sensei went first and for what it was worth, I thought she was pretty damn good. Helmet on her head and bat in her hands, she actually had pretty impressive form, and it showed when she hit nearly every ball that came her way.
I went after and didn't do so badly if I did say so myself, though the alcohol did little to help my hand-eye coordination or my concentration. I ended up batting just a few points below her, but she didn't pass up the opportunity to declare her superiority over me and call me out for losing to a woman afterwards. For my part, I obviously argued back, but after a while I shrugged it off. She did beat me fair and square after all.
'No need to be sexist about it.' I added, to which she scoffed.
The time after that passed by in what was kind of a pleasant blur. We played a bunch of the usual carnival games: games that were very obviously rigged to the dealer's favor and would only net a player a win after nine or so "random" tries. Hiratsuka-sensei became increasingly frustrated at her losses, lamenting that she just wanted to win one prize, and that that would be enough to satisfy her. But alas, her dreams never came to fruition and we were left empty handed after all was said and done.
"I'll show you 'better luck next time' pal. Your damn machine is rigged!" She yelled out at the booth operator as I all but dragged her away from the stall. I could see him roll his eyes, and I chuckled.
The rest of the night passed by something like that, and on more than one occasion, I thought to myself that I was glad I had agreed to tag along with Hiratsuka-sensei to the Autumn Festival in the first place. The night had been filled with pretty good food, entertaining games, and an intense and energetic atmosphere. I was genuinely enjoying myself, not in little part due to Hiratsuka-sensei's antics and just overall company in general. I looked at Hiratsuka-sensei's content looking and slightly flushed face, and I couldn't help but smile a little bit myself.
We ended up playing a few more games, and grabbing some more Ikayaki after getting hungry yet again. We were enjoying ourselves and laughing at something when I suddenly noticed that the crowds that had been practically swarming the festival's booths before, seemed to have thinned out greatly.
I turned my watch to check the time. My eyes widened ever so slightly at what I saw. It was 11:15.
The festival officially ended at midnight, so some of the patrons had seen it fit to head home while the traffic hadn't yet hit its worst point. Considering that, and the fact that most of them had probably been out and about far longer than we had given our obligations to our own booth, it made sense that the crowds would start to disappear around this time.
"It's 11:15. The booths and everything are probably going to wrap up soon," I said. I turned to face Hiratsuka-sensei, who was downing the very last of the liquor in her flask. I eyed her with an amused smile and she laughed.
"That late already huh?" She asked more to herself than anything. She put the now-empty flask back into her coat pocket before addressing me. "Well, how do you want to spend the last chunk of our time here?"
I initially wanted to shrug, but then I remembered that we hadn't even wandered towards the eastern quadrant yet, oddly enough. There were still plenty of things to check out there—the least not being the bigger rides I had seen when first walking in.
"The rides, obviously," I said. I tried keeping my tone even, but I was excited and I'm sure it showed.
"Of course! How could I forget about the rides?" she said in a sudden, loud voice. "Lead the way."
It wasn't long before we'd threaded through the ever-diminishing crowds and made it over to where the big rides were kept. Overall, the east side of the field wasn't all that big of an area, but nevertheless all of the larger and more fun rides seemed to be set up somewhere in the general vicinity.
"So this is where everyone went…" Hiratsuka-sensei muttered as our legs finally came to a stop.
Where the crowds before had seemed to be waning, the one we saw now was anything but.
If anything, it seemed to be multiplying by the second, doubling in mass every time we blinked in surprise at just how many people were still left at the event. Teenagers and adults alike were swarming around the rides' entrances and lines, while those that sauntered off those rides looking sickly and nauseated simply ran right back to line up again after they'd regained their bearings. The whole thing looked like something straight out of one of my nightmares. Just looking at the crowd made me sick; the only thing that I could think of that would make this worse would be if we were to voluntarily enter that pit of hopelessness and despair. I motioned to say as much before I was interrupted by a feminine voice.
"Well, we'd better get lined up if we want to ride even one of these before the fair's over," Hiratsuka-sensei said with a slight frown on her face.
I looked at her with surprise. "Are you serious? I figure we might as well cut our losses while we can and get out of here before traffic gets bad."
She scoffed at me. "That would be the coward's way out. With the amount of time we have left, we should be able to get on at least one before final call," she said with a sense of calculation that didn't seem to befit her previously over-the-top and inebriated behavior. "That being said, since we only get one shot, we should pick which ride we want to line up for wisely."
Seeing no point in arguing, I decided to take a closer look at the rides that were available to us. I had taken a haphazard glance at them when I'd first entered the fair, so I had a general idea of which ones seemed fun, but nonetheless I used the moment to more closely inspect and analyze our options.
Slightly far off in the distance, I could see the line for the Ferris wheel. Being one of the major attractions, there was quite a considerable amount of people lined up for it, but in reality, it wasn't all that much more crowded than any of the other packed lines even with its celebrity status. Still, I decided that the Ferris wheel probably wouldn't have been a good option for our final activity of the night. I had nothing against slower attractions, but given that we would only be able to try one ride (if any at all), I felt that wasting it on what was basically an observation tower with a slight incline would be sort of an anticlimactic end to our festival experience.
From what I saw, the other rides sort of fell into the same pitfalls that the Ferris wheel did. They seemed well and good enough, but they were undeniably slower rides. Because the festival was also meant to accommodate both younger children and older guests in addition to the Sobu High students, it wasn't surprising that the rides that had been approved by the committee were more or less family-friendly. But I wasn't in the mood for that. For reasons I didn't care to dwell on, I was in the mood for something fast and thrilling, something that would act as an appropriate send-off for a surprisingly fun night.
And then I saw it. Its lights and metal body were spinning so fast, I probably wouldn't even be able to count the revolutions if I were living in slow motion. It was the ride I'd seen earlier, the one that I'd mused would 'make me puke my dinner out' if I dared to step foot anywhere near it. But in that moment, all I could think about was stepping my foot near it, around it, on top of it, and then feeling the adrenaline pump through my veins as I rode it.
"How about that one?" I asked as I pointed a finger towards the metal attraction. According to the sign that hung above the entrance to the line, it was called the 'Hurricane Hydra'.
Hiratsuka-sensei looked at me with a slight air of disbelief and laughed. "After all that talk about wanting to head home, that's the one you're picking? It hardly looks safe, let alone a good choice after eating so much food tonight," She said with a slight shake of her head. Despite that, her voice was airy and light. She eyed the distant ride with a smirk. "Let's do it."
I smiled dumbly, and we began to walk towards our destination, the only things on our buzzed minds the anticipation of the oncoming adrenaline rush. After finding our place behind a group of rowdy teenagers, we situated ourselves between the crude metal dividers that formed the waiting area, and well… waited.
After a few minutes of standing in line, Hiratsuka-sensei was the one to break the silence and the first to say something. "The nerve of some people, I swear," she said quietly to herself with her arms crossed.
Not quite knowing what she was talking about, I first looked at Hiratsuka-sensei's annoyed face before turning my head to try and see what she was looking at. I couldn't see her eyes' line of sight perfectly given that she was slightly turned away from me, but out of all the objects that were in front of us, it wasn't hard to guess which had caused her petulance.
Standing a few paces in front of us was a pair of teenagers with their arms wrapped around one another, practically slobbering over each other as they sloppily locked lips and grabbed messily at each others' bodies. If I were alone, I probably would've just ignored it and chalked it up to the old 'stupid teens doing stupid things, yep' excuse, but with Hiratsuka-sensei very clearly fuming at their flamboyant display of affection, it was impossible to avoid the subject entirely.
"Just ignore them. I'll sure they'll eventually stop once they realize nobody's paying attention to them," I said.
She rolled her eyes at that. "They shouldn't be doing it in the first place. Damn kids, this is a festival, not a nightclub," she said irately. I lifted an eyebrow at her oddly impassioned tone, but she ignored it and continued. "Stupid couples strutting around like they've got everything figured out. As if all it takes to be happy is to have someone dangling off your arm." She stuck her tongue out in what was an incredibly immature gesture for a woman her age. "Could be all the squid I had, but I feel nauseous."
I shook my head. So that's where this conversation was heading. Hiratsuka-sensei sometimes got into these moods - these moments where she'd get irrationally upset at some small thing and vent about it for hours at a time. They could be about anything really, but more often than not, these tirades usually had to do with how stupid she thought couples were, and about her relationship problems in general. I'm sure I would have been annoyed at her attitude if I hadn't gotten used to it over the time I'd known her and moreover, if I didn't find it so amusing in the first place.
I forced a shrug. "They're not wrong to do it or anything. I mean, if you've got it, why not show it off you know?" I smiled wryly and turned my eyes away from her in a playful gesture. "If for no other reason, you get to see the reactions of lonely bachelorettes around you, and that's always fun."
She frowned at me, her eyes narrowing and her teeth grinding against one other. "What was that about a lonely bachelorette?" I could feel the mix of rum and her own smooth breath on my face as she moved her head closer to mine and glared daggers at me.
I smiled innocently. "Oh you know, just those women who start passing their prime dating age and end up blaming the world for their troubles. Those kinds of women are the worst."
"Hikigaya…" She addressed me with a look and a growl that just reeked of sheer and unbridled animosity, but hidden somewhere in there was also the barest sliver of pain.
I'd been completely joking, but teasing or not, it was still a sensitive issue for her so I decided not to push her too far. "Yeah, don't you just hate them? I mean, as a beautiful woman who's still in her prime, what do you think of women like that?" I asked.
She opened her mouth to probably say something biting and sarcastic, but after a sudden look of realization dawned on her face, she just blinked once, and then closed her mouth. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, she smiled and shook her head before letting out a bright laugh.
"Wow, you're a regular Casanova aren't you?" she asked amusedly. "I'm surprised you have trouble getting girls with a tongue like that." She laughed. Whether she meant it sincerely or if she was calling me out for my volatile methods, I couldn't say I knew for sure.
"There just aren't any girls worth getting really," I offered half-sarcastically. It was true that I thought that most of the girls at Sobu were immature and at their worst, just plain uninteresting, but that definitely wasn't the reason I didn't have a girlfriend. That had much more to do with them rejecting me than it did with me rejecting them.
"If you know where to look, sure there are," she said simply. I looked at her but she was already slightly moving away when I did. "Come on, line's moving."
I blinked as I noticed that the line, and the people ahead of us in that line, had already moved on pretty far ahead without us even being aware. I nodded once before trailing behind Hiratsuka-sensei.
It took a while after that, but eventually, we'd made our ways up to the very front of the line, only to be stopped by the attendant who closed the small gate in front of us. "You've got to be kidding me…" Hiratsuka-sensei whispered under her breath.
"You guys'll be up next. Relax," The attendant responded before walking over to the ride's control panel and speaking into the little bent microphone. "Alright everybody, welcome to the Hurricane Hydra. Remember, if you're pregnant, have a heart condition, or are otherwise generally a big chicken, it goes without saying that you've come to the wrong place." The doors to the ride suddenly closed with a hiss. "That being said, it's too late to turn back now. Enjoy the ride."
The machine suddenly whirred to life and started to spin at mind-numbingly fast speeds. The only sounds that could be heard over the whirring noises of the machine's motor were the screams that came from the patrons currently positioned in the eye of the storm, at the center of the 'hurricane'. It looked a lot more intense up close than it had from afar, and I couldn't help but feel a little bit nervous as I looked at it. Hiratsuka-sensei who was standing next to me, however, wore a completely different expression. Her wide eyes looked positively entranced by what she was seeing and her open mouth made her excitement plenty obvious. She was like a big, dumb kid. My mind couldn't help but flit to an earlier event in the week for whatever reason. Yeah, a big, dumb kid with an amazing ass.
I shook my head at the strange thought.
Before we knew it, the ride stopped, and it was finally our turn to board. We were the first to get on given our positions in the line, so naturally we had first pick of seats. I was more than a little bit surprised when we made our way into the ride's interior to find that in fact, there were no seats.
Instead of the arrangement I had envisioned in my head that had consisted of properly reinforced bucket seats, complete with belt straps and all, the inside of the ride looked more like something out of a bounce-house. The walls were lined with thick, cushiony pads, there were no seatbelts, and the only barriers that really prevented you from flying all over the place were some padded metal railings to your front and centrifugal force itself.
"Is this really safe?" I asked nervously as I looked at my soon-to-be resting place.
"Come on, don't be a baby. Nobody's died yet," she said with no hesitation. She continued further into the ride and chose a spot quickly, leaning her back against the padding in a casual manner. I followed and rested my own back against the padding in the spot directly to her right.
"Stars are pretty tonight aren't they?" she asked as she looked up at the sky with her arms dangling loosely to her side. For my part, I was feeling slightly nervous in anticipation of the start-up of the metal death trap, so I could only offer a short response.
"Yeah. They're nice."
We were interrupted by a loud voice that blared over the speakers directly above our heads. "Welcome to the Hurricane Hydra, riders. If you're pregnant, have heart problems, or are just otherwise wimpy…"
Hiratsuka-sensei suddenly nudged my rib with her elbow. "They're onto you Hikigaya." She laughed. All I could do was glare at her and scowl as I gripped the pad behind me even tighter with my fingers.
"—to the wrong place. That being said, you're in it for the long haul. Enjoy the ride," the voice through the speaker overhead finished. The door a few seats to my right came to a sudden hiss and with it, any fleeting chance I'd had for self-preservation. I could vaguely hear the noise of the motors churning as we were lifted slightly into the air.
"If it gets too rough, you can always hold me for comfort," Hiratsuka-sensei said snidely.
I scoffed. "Yeah, that's if I don't end up fl—" I started to speak, but was suddenly stopped with what felt like a punch to my gut. Suddenly, my head was spinning and my vision became a blur, and I all but held back a gasp as suddenly, we were propelled circularly at an insane speed.
My back slammed against the wall, hard, and I could feel the very force that was holding me so tight against the pad pushing into my body with immense power. As we were revolved around and around again, I could feel my eyes water and the flaps of my cheeks wiggle back and forth slightly as they were jostled by the centrifugal force and the wind that that force generated.
It was a struggle for me to even keep my eyes open with how intense and just outright crazy the ride was, but Hiratsuka-sensei who was pressed up against the wall to my left was laughing and screaming wildly, a pure look of unbidden joy on her face. I thought for a fleeting second that the youthful enthusiasm that she still held was something entirely welcome, especially in contrast to the dead-eyed looks and the battered mentalities of other adults I'd come into contact with. Heck, the childlike ecstasy that was clearly displayed across her features even made me look like a grumpy old stooge in comparison. Which, all things considered, wasn't that much of a stretch to begin with.
The machine continued to whirl around at breakneck speeds, earning screams of terror from the other guests to my right and screams of excitement from the woman to my left. However, as quickly as it had begun, the ride seemed to stop, doing little to slow down in a gradual manner, and instead jolting to a rather abrupt and unceremonious halt.
I felt my neck jerk a little bit as it did, and I let out a surprised gasp, but what caught me by greater surprise was the body that suddenly slammed into me with a startling amount of force. I was winded for a second, and had to take a moment to regain even a basic awareness for my surroundings, but when I did, I noticed that my arms were wrapped around something. No, someone. Hiratsuka-sensei to be specific.
Her arms were grabbing my shoulders, and I noticed then that my hands were holding her waist firmly. It must've been the slight height difference between us that forced my hands into such an uncomfortably intimate position, because grabbing her midsection instead would've definitely been the most efficient place for my hands to be. It was definitely the height difference.
It was only when I shifted my gaze upwards from my hands that I noticed Hiratsuka-sensei's strange expression. Her mouth was open, her cheeks slightly pink, and she was staring directly at me. I could feel my own cheeks color as I stared back at her, my own mouth opening, yet still not managing to eke out even a word. As we stared at each other for a few moments, the ride then finally came to a full and complete stop and began to lower on its mechanism.
"Alright folks, I hope you enjoyed your time on the Hydraaa," the speaker above us sounded out. "Come back again if one day you feel the sudden urge to tame the beast! After all, this particular monster has more than one head if you know what I mean."
I blinked. "Um, sensei? You're kind of crushing me." She wasn't really.
"Oh, I'm sorry Hikigaya," she said quietly. She lifted her body from my own before slightly lurching to the side, her sense of balance seemingly having been affected by the ride. I stood up myself and almost immediately fell over onto the floor. My head was spinning and just keeping my eyes open made me dizzy.
I suddenly felt an arm on my own, and looked up to see Hiratsuka-sensei(s) looking at me with a faint smile and pulling me to my feet. "Here, I'll help. Let's get out of here."
I nodded and stumbled to the entrance with her guidance, and eventually off the ride. I was dizzy for a little bit, but to my credit, I didn't vomit, or even feel any express desire to vomit. After I had finally regained my bearings, Hiratsuka-sensei let out a pleased laugh.
"That was pretty crazy huh? I wasn't expecting it to go so fast," she said with a smile as we began to thread through the crowd.
"Yeah… Neither was I. That was definitely one of the more nauseating things I've done in my life," I responded as my vision gradually began to become singular again.
"You'll be okay." She chuckled lightly. "What time is it now?"
Her words prompted me to take a quick look around, and while there were still people lined up for the attractions behind us, those lines had gotten significantly shorter in comparison to earlier. I took a quick look at my watch before answering her. "11:55. I guess that means the festival's over."
She hummed. "Hmm, not yet. We still have five minutes."
I gave her as funny a look as I could muster without falling over. "What can we do in five minutes?" I asked.
"Plenty. Let's head back to the main area and see what's left."
We continued to walk for a little while until we finally made it back to the main area where the majority of the good stalls were located. But unlike before, there weren't many stalls there at all. In fact, the place was hardly recognizable with so many of the lively booths from earlier either gone, or deserted. Only a few remained: one or two food stalls, and what I think was a game booth. It was hard to make out from the distance we were standing away. As we walked closer, however, I noted with a sense of familiarity that it was the booth I had seen much, much earlier. The one with the baseballs and the milk bottles.
"Just what the doctor ordered!" Hiratsuka-sensei suddenly tugged on my arm and started walking at a faster pace as she dragged me towards the game booth.
She suddenly slammed down a 500 yen note on the wooden surface. "3 balls if you'd be so kind." She looked at the booth attendant with a large grin, her slight dizziness from earlier clearly having faded completely and having been replaced with her usual energy instead.
"Sorry, I'm just about to close up," the attendant responded as he began to pack away some of the empty glass bottles into a cardboard box.
Hiratsuka-sensei's brow suddenly creased and she looked slightly angry. "Huh? The festival's not over yet, bub. Look!" She grabbed my wrist roughly and turned it towards the attendant with a flourish. "See? 2 minutes to go before midnight," she said as she presented my watch-equipped wrist like it were her own.
He eyed it for a second before shrugging. "I gotta pack up some time. I'm beat."
She glared at him, fuming. "Yeah, that some time can be when your job's done. Don't you know the value of hard work? That means doing your duty even when your lazy ass is calling for you to take it easy," she exclaimed with some interesting hand-gestures. "You can pack up when the very last minute's up. Now bring out those baseballs!" She stared at him through narrowed eyes.
I smirked at the irony that had presented itself in Hiratsuka-sensei's speech. Wasn't she the one who closed down her own booth earlier because she wanted to "take it easy?" What a character…
The attendant, to his credit, looked more exasperated than intimidated. He sighed once before speaking. "Fine. Whatever. Just don't take your sweet time." He grabbed the note from the counter and then walked slightly further back into the booth to grab three baseballs. After presenting them to her, he continued. "The objective of the game is to knock over those three stacked bottles with the balls." He said, pointing a few yards behind him. "You get three tries, but you have to knock them all over to get the prize. Anything less gets you nothing."
"Yeah, yeah. I got it." Hiratsuka-sensei waved a hand in front of her face, and grabbed one of the balls. The attendant rolled his eyes and crossed his arms as he watched her.
Her first attempt missed. Terribly. This was one of the bigger booths as far as I could tell, and the milk bottles that served as the targets were placed significantly far back - a few yards away at the very least. She ended up throwing a little bit too low and fast, and as a result, didn't manage to hit her mark. "Of all the…" she muttered under her breath.
Her second try was slightly better, almost managing to touch the bottles, but not quite. She threw it a little bit softer that time and with a slight arc, but the result was the same. She'd missed. I could hear her growl next to me.
Her third try was by far the closest. She threw it even softer this time but with just enough force for it to fly completely straight forward. The ball hit the bottle. The bottle. One bottle. With the sound of hardened rubber against glass, one of the bottles clattered to the floor with a clinking noise. However, far from proud of her accomplishment, Hiratsuka-sensei seemed to be even angrier than before if anything.
"Is that a joke? I threw it perfectly that time! This is rigged, completely rigged I tell you." She began saying heatedly.
Going off her antics alone, it was apparent that Hiratsuka-sensei was a sore loser. A really, really big one at that. I wanted to laugh but I held it in.
"Sorry. Better luck next time," the attendant drawled on uninterestedly. Hiratsuka-sensei merely glared at him for a second, before opening her mouth to clearly let out a string of expletives or something else entirely inappropriate, but she was interrupted by another voice.
"Would you mind if I gave it a try?" I asked the attendant.
He blinked at me for a second before shrugging. "Sure, why not. Might as well at this point," he answered. I took out my wallet and handed him a 500-yen note.
Hiratsuka-sensei looked at me, her mouth still open, before guffawing. "You really think you can do better than I did? You're practically losing your footing just standing still." She said in a jab clearly aimed towards my slightly swaying form. So sue me, I was still a tiny bit dizzy.
"I do actually. Just sit back and watch," I answered.
She let a snort escape from her nostrils. "Really… You sure do talk big for someone who got creamed over at the batting cages earlier."
"Pitching and batting. Two completely separate things. Yutaku Enatsu could vouch for me on that one," I said as I picked up one of the baseballs from the counter.
"Fine. Show me what you can do then." Hiratsuka-sensei crossed her arms and looked at me with an amused smirk.
I took a deep breath before eyeing the glass bottles with a look of concentration. I can do this. I breathed. I was a decent pitcher… maybe not the best batter, but if playing little league for two years had taught me anything, it was that I had a decent toss. With one last squint of concentration and squeeze of my hand, I loosed the ball. …And missed.
A sharp laugh erupted to my side. "Yu… Yutaku. Ha, Enat… su…. Ah," she struggled to speak through her laughs, wiping a tear from her eye in the process. I noticed that the attendant was struggling to stifle a chortle as well, so I took turns glaring at them both. When Hiratsuka-sensei finally calmed down a bit, she said through cupped hands, "Come on Hikigaya, you can do better than that!" She then started laughing again.
"Whatever… I've got two more tries," I mumbled to myself before picking up the next ball.
She was one to talk. She'd missed all three times, and pretty horribly I might add. I should've given her more shit when I'd had the chance.
I gripped the ball, breathed out slightly again, and kept my target in the center of my field of vision. I threw with a sense of purpose this time and… it hit. All the bottles came crashing to the floor with clinks and clanks.
Hiratsuka-sensei stopped laughing suddenly and stared. The attendant shrugged, and I smirked.
"I can't believe…" she whispered, her eyes slightly wide. I was enjoying her shocked expression, but even with how proud I was of my achievement, I was taken aback by how surprised she seemed. Winning one of these games was hard, but it wasn't like I'd just parted the red sea or something…
"It's really not all that big a d—" I started.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW RIGGED THIS GAME IS!" Hiratsuka-sensei suddenly bellowed out with an accusing finger pointed in my direction. I blinked out of what was probably shock. "You paid this guy to set all of this up didn't you? No wonder I couldn't knock em' over even when I know I hit those bottles dead on!" She said. "And you," she pointed to the attendant who was holding a decently-sized stuffed lion in his hands. His expression didn't change at all. "Taking a bribe from a damn kid? Don't you have any shame?" she fumed. "What, nothing to say for yourself?"
The attendant stared back and blinked once. "Yeah, if neither of you wants this, I'm gonna go ahead and keep it."
I grabbed the plush from his hands and dragged Hiratsuka-sensei by the arm away from the booth. "Thanks. Have a good one," I said to the attendant who shrugged and resumed his earlier activity of packing away the booth's contents.
When we were finally out of earshot, I couldn't help but break out into a full and complete fit of laughter. I could count all of the times I'd laughed that hard in the past few years on one hand, and all of the times I'd actually cried from laughing with just one finger. Two now. When I finally regained my sanity, I shook my head slightly.
"What was that back there?" I asked.
She shrugged and smiled. "I dunno, I'm drunk."
I laughed. "Are you really?"
"…Buzzed at least."
She smiled, and suddenly her face split out into a grin, and then she started laughing wildly. I couldn't help but once again lose my composure and break into a fit myself, our laughs echoing in the night and across the now nearly deserted Sobu fields.
"Here," I said, pushing the plush lion into her hands.
She grabbed it but looked taken aback. "Huh? What are you doing? This is yours."
"That game was 'rigged' remember?" I said with air quotations. "I guess that means this rightfully belongs to you." I eyed her out of the corner of my vision and smiled.
"Ha, very funny. You know I was joking." She pushed the fuzzy little toy back at me, but I threw my hands up in a surrendering gesture, refusing to offer any substantial grip.
"Nah, take it," I insisted. "You said that you just wanted one prize by the end of the night and you'd be happy. Looks like you can be happy now."
She scoffed. "I said I wanted to win one prize. Getting it handed to me on a silver platter is hardly the same thing."
I shrugged. "It's better than nothing."
"Take it back already." She tried pushing it towards me again, but I moved slightly out of the way.
"I'm serious. I have absolutely zero use for it." I countered. "Besides, I want you to have it." I said.
She was silent for a little bit, but eventually rolled her eyes. "You're ridiculously stubborn, you know that?" Rather than at me, her face was looking down at the plush in her hands, her eyes looking oddly distant.
"I've had a good teacher."
The festival at this point was now all but officially over. Aside from some of the maintenance men and janitors who were tasked with taking the tents apart and sweeping up the trash-laden fields, there was hardly anyone left wandering around.
Hiratsuka-sensei and I walked together for a little bit before we finally reached the edge of the field, and the cusp of the street. As we approached the sidewalk, our steps began to slow.
"Well, it looks like I should get going," I said with my hands in my pockets. Despite the chilled breeze, my cheeks still felt a tiny bit warm from the alcohol. Hiratsuka-sensei stood still and didn't motion to say anything as I eyed her almost expectantly.
"I…" I started before catching myself. "I'll see you on Monday sensei." I added before turning away from her and beginning to walk.
I made it a few steps before she called out. "Wait." I stopped and turned around to face her. "It's still ice cold out here. After all the help you've given me tonight, the least I could do is offer you a ride."
I looked at her, standing still not because I was contemplating her offer per se, but for another reason. My silence prompted her to add, "If you want, of course."
I stood still for a little before answering, "Sure." I turned around and began walking in her direction.
"…Okay. I think I parked somewhere over there," she motioned to some place that wasn't quite visible from where we were standing, but I got the general idea anyway.
We walked in silence for a while, neither of us saying much until we finally made it over to a narrow residential street a few blocks west of the campus. As we approached the street, a faint glimmer caught my eye. Upon closer inspection and a slight squint on my part, I noticed that the glimmer was coming from a shiny, sleek-black car that was parked along the curb of the nearly empty street.
With the click of a button, the headlights of the car flashed, and a faint clicking sound signified the unlocking of the doors. "Hop in."
I did as I was told and jumped into the passenger side seat while Hiratsuka-sensei took the driver's. She plopped the plush into the back and breathed out slightly after she had taken a hold of the wheel. "So," she started. "That wasn't too bad a night, was it?"
She looked at me with a small smile and though her hands were placed on the wheel, she made no motion to start the engine. I looked back at her for a second, noticing her almost imperceptibly flushed face before I answered. "I guess. It could've been worse."
She hummed for a second as she turned her eyes way from me and placed them idly on the empty street in front of us. "Well, I had a great time." Her voice was soft.
Her voice was quiet, but honest. I could tell. "Oh. Yeah," I started awkwardly. How stupid. If stubborn Hiratsuka-sensei could say how she really felt, then so could I. "I guess that was the most fun I've had in a long time."
I bristled. So I'd said a little bit more than I was planning to. No big deal.
Hiratsuka-sensei turned her eyes towards me for a brief second before diverting them back to the road and smiling again. "Are you drunk?" She chuckled.
I rolled my eyes, and I wanted to say no, but if I did, that wouldn't have been entirely correct. I wasn't drunk, but I was definitely still under the influence. "A little," I answered truthfully.
She giggled before her features tightened almost unnoticeably. "I think I am too."
I looked at her curiously. "What about before? I thought you said you were just buzzed."
In the pale moonlight, she looked rather odd. Not at all in a bad way, but different from how I usually saw her at school. Her delicate features looked much more pronounced under the contrast of light and dark, and her flushed pale skin looked almost… tantalizing.
She looked pensive for a second. "I suppose the alcohol took a while to sink in," she said softly.
"Oh." I replied with a nod. We sat in a slightly uncomfortable silence for a few moments before Hiratsuka-sensei spoke again.
"You know, I'm glad you agreed to come along with me tonight. God knows I would've been miserable if you hadn't been there to keep me company." I heard the slight sound of shifting fabric before Hiratsuka-sensei's face suddenly grew closer to mine. My eyes must've grown twice their size in that instant as Hiratsuka-sensei was drawing closer to me. She couldn't possibly be… I felt a slight wetness on my cheek before I once again found myself looking into Hiratsuka-sensei's grey eyes. "Thanks."
Stunned, I looked back at her, fighting off the urge to put my hand to my cheek and touch the wetness and warmth that had suddenly accumulated there. "Y-Yeah. Like I said, it wasn't a problem. I had a good time," I muttered back.
We looked at each other then, a small smile on Hiratsuka-sensei's face, and what I was sure was a slightly shocked, but nevertheless content one, on mine.
I don't think anybody could say without lying that looking straight into the eyes of another person for an extended period of time was not at the very least, a little awkward. So as we looked at one another for a while, I found the situation slightly awkward, but oddly enough, it was also a comfortable stare if that made sense.
"Oh. There's a little…" The silence was interrupted by Hiratsuka-sensei's quiet voice. I furrowed my brow a bit, not understanding what she was referring to. Her face seemed oddly meditative, and not as relaxed as her soft voice might have otherwise led one to believe it would be. Regardless, an errant thought slipped into my brain at that moment.
Hiratsuka-sensei was... beautiful.
"Let me get it," she whispered before leaning towards me.
Almost as if it had a mind of its own, my heart started beating faster. At this point, I wasn't sure what I was thinking, or even if I was thinking anything at all. All I knew was that Hiratsuka-sensei was leaning towards me for reasons unknown, and that her face looked radiant in the moonlit car. She licked her lips once.
If asked today, I still couldn't say which of us had taken that initial leap and started this whole thing, but the one thing I did know was that we'd both very clearly and very obviously wanted to do it. Before I knew it, my lips were dancing and massaging Hiratsuka-sensei's unbelievably soft ones. I felt a slight pressure around my neck suddenly and the aroma of leather and lavender shampoo filled my nostrils. We stayed there for I can't say how long, kissing, among other things.
That was my first kiss, and I couldn't tell you if I was any good or not, but what I did know was that I was pouring my passion and every stray desire I'd ever had for Hiratsuka-sensei into that one moment. I was enjoying myself beyond belief, content to let the feeling of sheer ecstasy and pleasure roll over me as I surrendered to a gorgeous woman.
…Suddenly, I was standing on the sidewalk as Hiratsuka-sensei shook her head and started the engine.
"I'm sorry Hikigaya," she muttered. I could barely hear her through the closed windows of her car. And in what passed like a blur, Hiratsuka-sensei had soared down the street, leaving nothing but the roaring sound of the engine and the smell of exhaust behind her. Oh yeah, and me as well.
I stood there for a second, my face still flushed from…that, and alcohol, and whatever else. I blinked a few times before realizing exactly what had happened.
I had to walk home that night.