I never really noticed how quickly time goes by when you are having a good time.

The only time I notice time is when I am very bored.

When I am very happy and enjoy what I am doing, time flies by like nothing.

That’s were thought of Kuor thinking the trip is truly over .

Kuro stepped outside to his hotel balcony. He looked out over the ocean. The beach appeared to be so calm.

You could see the waves rolling up onto the shores.

The sky was clear. It is so hard to believe that we had a festival yesterday.

For the first time on this trip there were no emergencies that Kuro had to deal with.

There were no missing people.

No competitions.

No volleyball incidents.

Rika was not missing for "research" purposes.

Just a peaceful morning.

Unfortunately, peace never lasts very long.

Kuro heard Akari yell his name from down the hallway, "Kuro!"

There goes the peace.

Thirty minutes later, everyone gathered in the hotel lobby.

All of our bags were packed and we had checked out of our hotel.

We had completed our preparations for leaving.

The mood was a lot different from what it had been on the first day.

At this point in time, nobody wanted to go home.

Akari was unusually quiet. This is a little scary to Kuro.

"Are you okay?" Kuro asked.

Akari crossed her arms in front of her as she said, "No."

"Why?" Kuro asked.

"Because this trip is coming to an end."

Kuro said, "That’s how a trip works."

She agreed but said she was going to miss it.

Kuro couldn’t argue with her.

Mina got an idea right before they were going to the train station.

"We should definitely be taking pictures!"

All agreed on that immediately!

Even Minami, to everyone’s surprise!

Especially Minami, whom everyone found surprising.

The next thirty minutes saw the group take a variety of photographs on the beach...

Regular photos

Group photos

Funny photos

Embarrassing photos

Akari was attempting to strike dramatic poses.

Aoi was effortlessly photogenic.

Mina had a huge smile in every photo.

Rika somehow converted every photo into a manga reference.

For the first five minutes, Minami was attempting to avoid the camera.

Following that, Akari would drag her into every group shot.

With little consideration for her.

Only one specific photo took nearly ten takes!

"Everyone smile!"

Akari blinked at the very moment the photo was taken!

"Again!"

Mina looked away from the lens the moment the photo was being taken!

"Again!"

Rika was currently taking a note in her smartphone at the time of this photo.

"Again!"

Minami had just given Akari an annoyed look!

"Why is this so difficult?"

"Because we’re idiots!" Kuro’s response was no different than anyone else’s response to this question!

Nobody disagreed!

Eventually the group got the one perfect image!

The one image that everyone will keep for many years!

The only photograph that they can all look back on!

The only image to turn into a fond memory!

While walking towards the train station, the atmosphere became quieter.

The popular excitement and thrill are still there, it has only changed!

The trip is less than it should have been.

Almost too little of a trip!

When they first arrived on this trip, it felt like the trip began just a few hours ago.

They were departing armed with a multitude of recollections.

The homeward-bound rail journey started out uneventfully.

Until around seven minutes in.

When Akari fell asleep

Straight out.

Akari had just been speaking to ’what’s-his-name’

And, in Instantly.

Had ceased to speak to.

For the record, she was in conversation with ’what’s-his-name’ before and after

As she fell asleep.

Her head tilted to one side.

Slowly.

Then she disappeared.

"World record."

Kuro said.

"She wore herself out."

Aoi answered.

"Again."

"You put her to sleep again."

Within just moments, Mina did the same.

She battled it.

Failing right from the beginning.

Mina was also asleep in a matter of minutes.

As calm and relaxed as ever.

And didn’t appear to have become ’accidentally’ famous twice on this trip

When suddenly, wham — Rika, stayed awake —

As expected.

With sketch book in hand, she sat across from the girls drawing at the window.

"What are you working on?"

"What do you think I’m working on?"

"What do you think I’m working on?"

Kuro continued to be perplexed by Aoi’s unusual way of answering.

Self-preservation usually takes precedence.

Kuro being Kuro, chose not to ask Aoi why she was taking pictures and what she was going to do with them.

Across the aisle from where Kuro sat, Aoi was quietly viewing each photo that she had just taken.

Several times after looking at the photos Aoi would smile.

The smiles were subtle.

But were definitely authentic.

Kuro recognised this too.

"You really enjoyed this trip?"

When Aoi finally lifted her eyes.

"Yes."

"Even with Akari?"

"Actually, I especially liked being with Akari."

Kuro found it odd.Both girls went back to looking at pictures on their phones.

There are pictures of the beach.

There are pictures of us at the summer festival.

About five happy photo pictures of all their friends being silly.

One photo Minami was horrified while Akari was celebrating something.

Aoi took care of that for future use.

A few seats away was Minami.

Unlike everyone else she wasn’t asleep.

Instead she was staring out the window.

Watching everything pass.

Thinking.

Eventually, Kuro sat down next to her.

How’s the headache?

Manageable.

Wow.

High praise.

I guess.

She chuckled again.

Then she looked back at the sleep packed together.

Akari

Mina

Rika

Aoi

A strange mix of people.

Had she really survived all of these people?

Barely.

"You know..."

"What?"

I’m glad I showed up.

Neither of the two were surprised to hear this.

Because it was true.

Minami looked again at the sleeping students.

When your parents called, I did think it was going to be horrible.

It was horrible.

I know.

They both chuckled.

But...

She paused.

It was fun.

What a plain statement.

And how great that.

Rika is still creating.

Aoi is flipping through old photographs of memories.

Minami stares blankly into space as she sees different things.

And Kuro looks at everything around him and thinks about how much things have changed over the past year.

Last summer vacation would have been much different than what it is like now.

No trip to the beach.

No festivals to go to.

No friends to spend time with.

No family to come home to after being out all day.

Just a regular day

Just like another day.

Right now—it’s not the same

Daichi

Shizuka

Aoi

Akari

They are all his friends who are a lot of trouble for him.

But they are also his teacher who is worried about him.

Friends that actually care.

People that want to stay.

And this realization has something totally different about it than what it would have had a year ago.

As the train is getting close to where it has to stop, Kuro gets a text message.

A message from someone he doesn’t know.

His face changes as the message comes in.

He opens the text.

All it says is "Long time no see, Kuro."

And there is also a photo attached to the same message.

An old photo.

Kuro is shocked to see a picture of two kids standing under an old tree.

One of the kids is Kuro at a young age.

The other was a girl.

A young woman appeared on the screen, having not been seen by Kuro for many years...

For many seconds, Kuro was silent, watching the screen, not speaking...

But before long, the screen suddenly lit up again...

"I finally found you."

Just as the city continued to move outside the train...

Inside the train, no one seemed to care about the change in Kuro’s expression...

Except for Minami.

Before Minami could ask Kuro what was wrong...

One more message arrived on the screen, lighting it up...

"Let’s meet again."

While riding back home on the train, all of the girls started to fall asleep at once from the day’s excitement.

The first girl to fall asleep was no surprise; it was Akari. She had fought against sleeping for about five minutes before laying her head sideways across Kuro’s shoulder and falling asleep.

Minami sitting across the aisle from where Akari was, saw Akari falling asleep and shook her head.

"I can’t believe this."

From where she sat, Aoi saw Akari sleeping on Kuro’s shoulder and smiled slightly.

Mina was the next girl to fall asleep, about ten minutes after Akari. She and the other girls had been having a long drawn-out conversation about the beach before the conversation slowly started to die down. After her voice had become completely quiet, she fell asleep against Kuro’s side, just like Akari.

Now Kuro was surrounded by two sleeping girls.

Kuro had been so exhausted himself too, that it really didn’t bother him.

Even Rika was too tired to continue coming up with ideas for manga and finally gave up and let her sketchbook fall from her hands.

Aoi caught the sketchbook before it fell.

"Looks like Rika is sleeping now too."

"About time," Minami muttered under her breath.

At this point in time, the entire atmosphere inside the train had changed to one that was cool and relaxing with the sound of the wheels on the tracks, the rocking of the train on the tracks, and the warm sunlight in the afternoon.

Kuro’s eyes were starting to become heavy from a long day of fun too.

He had spent three days in search of disasters until he was too tired to continue.

With his head lowered, he slowly began to fall asleep.

For a few minutes, they all sat together in peace.

There were no arguments, no chaos, and no emergencies, just a group of friends overwhelmed with fatigue who would carry the memories created during this time with them for a long time.