Chapter Text
With a resolution reached that allowed for the Kikyo girls and the Chidori boys to hang out as they pleased, there became a debate amongst them. Do they go on the trips that each school would be doing, or should they just do their own thing as a group. Eventually it was landed on them doing their own trip. However it was known that Chisa and Suzuka would be doing a trip with their families at this time. The group decided on Okinawa as their destination for their trip. For lodging they went the simplest route. There was 1 room for the boys and 1 room for the girls. As the trip approached, everyone got more and more excited. Saku was a slight exception to this.
While he was certainly excited to be going away and to have a break from University prep and to hang out with everyone, he was also going to have to try and be normal with Subaru around. In his mind, he may not have told anyone how he felt about her, but he thought many knew and just weren’t asking him about it. He felt obvious to himself. But Subaru didn’t know, or seem to know. So he kept his secret to himself. The restraint of doing so in surprise encounters with her was hard. The restraint of doing it for a day when she would occasionally say things that should have destroyed his restraint altogether was damn near impossible. The restraint needed for a 5 day 4 night trip that included her birthday, he felt that was going to be an impossible ask of himself. He was beginning to think that maybe he say something on the trip, away from prying eyes, or get her something for her birthday that would make it really clear how he felt about her. Regardless of his worries over his confession or lack of, he was still happy to have her around on a nice vacation.
Each of the boys felt a particular way about one of the girls though only Rintaro had said anything about it to that point. And while none had said anything about who they were developing feelings for, this seemed like the time to have a chat with each other about it. The girls were in much the same boat as well. While they saw all of the boys as friends, each of the girls going on the trip had an inclination of some kind towards each of the boys. Neither group before setting out had set out to have the trip be anything other than a good time and to see what would come of it.
To maximize the trip, they decided to get on the earliest flight they could, which meant waking up and heading for the airport long before dawn. Most of them were simply going to back to sleep during the flight. Rintaro and Kaoruko were seated next to each other in a pair of edge seats. Ayato, Madoka and Ayu were in the middle row seated together. Saku was sitting in between Subaru and Shohei in a row behind Ayato.
Rintaro and Kaoruko took almost no time falling asleep on each other’s shoulders. Madoka and Ayu had end up napping on each other while Ayato was able to stay upright but asleep. Saku was quite a bit less fortunate. With Subaru being next to him, sleep felt like a foreign object. Shohei had already passed out on his left shoulder much to Saku’s chagrin. He was on his phone, killing time when his right shoulder felt heavier. He gazed over to see the silver haired girl fully asleep using him as a pillow. “Great.” He thought. He wasn’t sure what possessed him but with his phone being out, he decided to take a picture of her sleeping. She looked so relaxed and peaceful. She was different like this. He knew it. He knew she had come so far. And here he was, being a pillow for her. She really was at ease with him. The pangs that hit his heart at this realization were nothing short of breathtaking.
The girl afraid of men, asleep on the shoulder of a boy she didn’t know was in love with her. The boy who loved her, afraid to hurt her for his own selfish reasons sat there like a statue watching her sleep as if he had forgot anything else existed. Seeing this different side to her, one new to him, reinforced a reason why he had fallen in love with her. Even in sleep, some part of her seemed willing to face her fears and to have courage. Her unconsciousness speaking to him what her conscious mind hadn’t quite pieced together yet. He was special enough to her, that she was mimicking her best friend and her boyfriend.
And so Saku sat there, in his long moment of silence, stuck between the girl he loved and his friend who adored calling him Saku-chan just to get a rise out of him. On one hand, it felt wrong having her be like that. He wasn’t sure why but he felt almost undeserving of being her pillow, but she seemed to trust him enough to be exactly that. On the other hand, this was the kind of moment he’d waited months for. It felt so right having her be this close. He wasn’t sure if he was remembering to breathe or not. Her soft breath on his neck was enough to remind his body that he needed to do the same. Her being like this was also pushing his restraint to its limit. However wrong some part of him may have felt telling her how he felt, his reality was currently a place of his past’s dreams. He felt his heart’s call to tell her more earnestly than ever. Hiding how he felt from her was beginning to feel like the wrong thing.
The smile that was on his face, when none of his friends could see it, was something only he would know about. He didn’t think a moment on a flight at 6 am would become something he would treasure, that it would be a breakthrough in his mind. That what he had considered wrong, would become right. He felt convinced to tell her at some point on this trip and for the first time, he resolved that her smile would bring him to say I love you. He also felt it was time to tell the guys. Even if he felt they knew, he was going to tell them as well. As he resolved to this, he slowly shut his eyes and felt sleep coming on. His head drifted to the right and found its own pillow. While still in this spot an hour later, an onlooker from another row seen the two of them asleep on each other and snapped a quick picture as well. A smile crept across her face as she witnessed both of them smiling in their sleep.