Chapter Text
“You really are such a safe driver, Haa-san. I feel so comfortable with you at the wheel~”
“I absolutely agree with your sentiment, Gure-san! And I think that the reason I feel even safer than usual… is because you, too, are here with me…!”
These playful comments from the two grown men in question, Shigure and Ayame, were met with nothing but silence. Everyone else in the car–the six-seater Western Shigure had selected for this very journey–was either choosing to ignore the two men, or rethinking their life choices. Except for Mine, of course. She rather adored Ayame’s little antics.
Akito was wondering what had possessed her to agree to inviting Ayame on the trip.
Mayuko was wondering why she had agreed to go on a trip with Shigure of all people.
And Hatori, the man forced to ferry the group of adults to the Sohma’s lakeside vacation house, was imagining all the more productive things he could be doing with his time.
So I suppose only three out of six of them were unhappy about the current situation. Half of them. But even so, the dull auras emanating from the three filled the car, threatening to seep into even the boundless cheer of the white-haired Ayame.
Yes, Shigure had somehow tricked them into going on a triple date–or triple vacation–for Golden Week.
And it had all begun just that morning, when Shigure had shown up, unannounced, at Hatori’s doorstep.
“We should all take off this afternoon!”
Hatori, who was standing in the doorway with the door open to identify the unwelcome visitor, stared at Shigure; and, coldly, said, “...huh?”
Shigure was not at all put off by his cold response. In fact, he was quite used to it. In fact, he rather enjoyed it. “Golden Week starts today, right? We need to take the opportunity to go on a little trip together! With Aya and Mine too!”
“This sounds familiar, and I’m not sure I like it. In fact, I’m quite sure I don’t.”
“Aw, don’t be like that, Haa-san! It’ll be fun! Now that we’re all dating, we can go on a triple vacay. And I invited Mayu too!”
The image of poor Mayuko stuck with Shigure in the lake house all by herself–or even worse, surrounded by Shigure, Ayame and Mine, entered his mind and he looked at Shigure gravely.
In the end, even without tricks from the sly Shigure, Hatori would have agreed. That was just the kind of person he was; and as the image of poor Akito being in the same kind of unfortunate position as Mayuko came into his mind, he realized that he really needed to step in.
Shigure had told him that Mayuko had been invited, and while he hadn’t given away her response to his invitation, his words implied her agreement. However, Hatori needed to be sure.
“...what did Mayu say?”
As if he had been waiting for him to ask, Shigure pounced. “She said yes, of course. She’ll most definitely be coming. So, are you coming along too, Haa-san?”
And now, they were pulling up into the lakeside cottage, too far entrenched in Shigure’s plans to back out. It was late afternoon by the time they arrived, this arrival marking the start of their four day stay. Hatori and Mayuko in the front seats lingered on for a moment while the others got out of the car. Mayuko gave Hatori a small smile of grave understanding, which he returned. She knew this was about to be exhausting for him.
“We’re here…! We have, at last, arrived at the destination of long ago, yet in a strangely new and exciting way…! What a glorious occasion it is, truly… that all of us may be able to share this wonderful memory of friendship, effort and victory with each other. Wouldn’t you agree, Mine?!”
“Indeed, Aya-kun. I’m so glad we brought new outfits for very occasion!”
Of course, that couple had decked out the most out of the three present. Ayame was wearing a long Chinese style dress similar to his usual fashion, but of a new shade of orange accented with pearly white buttons. His hair was tied back in a flowy ponytail that was just a tad more practical for travel. And Mine was wearing a new red and white sun dress paired with a large pale pink ribbon around the waist that was tied into a rose at the front, the loose ends hanging down the side of the dress.
In comparison, Akito, Mayuko and Hatori’s outfits were straight up boring. None of them had gone out of the way to dress up for the little trip they were half forced to come on. And Shigure was in a category of his own. He was wearing one of his old kimonos in his usual sloppy way, reminiscent of earlier times. These days, he usually wore a suit as part of his new role as assistant to the Sohma Family Head.
Bringing out the set of keys from his pocket, Shigure unlocked the cottage door. There were no maids or cleaners inside, which was a small mercy. It would be far more embarrassing to be with these people if there were other people here. At least the six of them could be alone in the cottage.
Hatori’s relief lasted only a second, coming to an abrupt end when he noticed a large number of the bedrooms were cordoned off with the classic white barrier, connoting construction works were ongoing.
“Ah, I forgot to mention that many of the rooms are under renovation~ there are still definitely enough rooms for us six, though.”
Hatori pinched his nose bridge.
“Oh, don’t worry about the noise, Haa-san. I’m having them pause construction throughout our stay. It’s no problem at all!”
Mayuko slapped her forehead.
“I see! How amazingly considerate of you, Gure-san! I am truly moved by your foresight!”
“There are three rooms left, and each room can very comfortably house two or three people. You have the first pick, Aya.” Shigure directed the group towards the open hallway, the only one left untouched by the said construction works.
Akito shrunk back a little, as if bracing for the impact of Ayame’s imminent shouts.
“This one, I suppose!” He slid over to stake claim on the room nearest to the edge of the hallway. “Shall we take this one, Mine?” She slid over to join him in front of the door. “Of course, Aya-kun!” And in a flash, they had disappeared inside to unpack their luggage.
“Then I guess Akito and I will take the next one over,” Shigure said smoothly, sliding over to stand before the next door before Hatori and Mayuko could say anything. “And that leaves you two that one. You’re fine with that, right?”
He pointed them towards the room at the end of the hallway, deepest in. And almost as quickly as Ayame and Mine had done, Shigure and Akito disappeared into their room to unpack, leaving Hatori and Mayuko out in the hallway. They looked at each other.
“I’m sorry about this, Mayu.”
“No, I understand. It’s not your fault at all… shall we?”
Left with no choice, and the slowly growing feeling within that maybe this arrangement wouldn’t be too bad after all, they picked up their bags and headed towards the room. Arriving at the door, they pushed it open and brought their luggage inside.
The room was decently sized, as would be expected of a Sohma vacation house. There were two small couches facing each other partitioned by a coffee table in between, a wooden wardrobe with crisp white bathgowns and hangers inside, and a large king-sized bed. Wait, a large king-sized bed?
A moment of silence passed between them.
“...”
“I’m really sorry about this, Mayu.”
“No, I understand. It’s really not your fault at all. It’s Shigure’s.” She had no idea just how much of everything up till this point had been his fault.
“Yes, let’s blame everything on Shigure.” As with most things in this family.
Another moment of silence later, they decided not to worry about that for the moment, and turned their attention to unpacking what little luggage they had. Considering what short notice this whole little trip had been, they had barely brought anything. And anyhow, they weren’t the type of people to bring much on trips, being quite minimalistic in nature.
Once the bare necessities had been put in convenient places, like their clothes by the wardrobe and the bits of work they had brought along to try to complete on one side of the coffee table, they sat down on the couches to take a breather.
“Um, Hatori-kun? I know that everything has been kind of hectic, but it’s kind of fun being on vacation together. We’re planning to go to Japan’s southern islands in the near future, right? Looks like this trip will just be the first of many.”
This made Hatori smile. “I guess you’re right. Hopefully it won’t be too tiring keeping the rest in line though. They’re full grown adults, for goodness’ sake…”
“Yeah, about that–I was surprised to hear you agreed to come along. I was planning to say no when Shigure first invited me, but I thought I should try to keep your sanity intact.”
This caught Hatori’s attention. “Wait, what did Shigure tell you?”
“Huh…? He told me that you said you would come.”
“Funny, because he told me that you said just that.”
The silence returned as the two stared at each other with a mix of dumbfoundedness and surprise. Though, the matching expressions quickly morphed into looks of comic betrayal as they realized they had both been played.
Then, just as quickly as everything else had happened that day, they began to laugh. Not uproariously boisterous laughter; that wasn’t that style. Quiet chuckles that were real and genuine. A kind of sincere amusement at what had happened to them, as well as their own apparent foolishness despite the situation it had led them to.
They had a good laugh, and when they had finished, they both knew it was going to be a moment in time they would look back on over the years and laugh about… together. When the chuckles had dissolved into small titters and heaved breaths, Hatori spoke.
“Well then, shall we join the others for dinner?”
Leaving behind the burdens of regret and frustration, they smiled and stood up, heading towards the door. There was no point in being annoyed at the way they had been tricked, the way they were sharing a room, the fact that they would have to sort out the sleeping arrangements later at night, or any of the other little things amidst the whole situation they were in.
There was no point in being mad at the things they couldn’t control. As they emerged from the room to join up with the others in the hallway, they left behind all of that.
Making the most of what they had was what life was about, wasn’t it?
Though, with their guards down and their frustrations at Shigure put aside, they didn’t realize that there was more in store for them, and this was only the beginning.