Toward the Anticipated Field Trip - 2
After that, the recreation ended quickly. Or rather, it felt like it had passed in a blur.
I'd been out of it ever since the treasure hunt, after all.
Until recreation time was over, I could barely focus on anything else. I was just going through the motions, filling out the numbers.
I couldn't even manage that properly, and ended up taking a hit from Hoyeon for it.
It'll be fine, right?
What exactly was supposed to be fine? I didn't really know myself.
Was it when I'd said that my most precious thing was Riya?
I didn't regret saying it. The words weren't particularly wrong, either — both she and I already knew that.
That we were each other's most precious person.
Whether it was romantic… I wasn't sure. But in more ways than one, we were inevitable to each other.
I'd only spoken it out loud, and yet my heart had started pounding like an earthquake had hit.
"Hah…"
Either way, recreation was over, and it was time to head back to the lodging.
My group members and I returned to our respective rooms. And until the moment we parted, I never properly looked at Riya's face.
Day two of the field trip.
From today on, we would be heading out to more distant destinations in earnest.
And of course, no matter how large a venue was, it couldn't accommodate an entire grade at once — so each class's schedule differed slightly.
Today, our group's destination was a park. A massive park, fairly large, with plenty to see.
Naturally it wasn't a small-scale place; built as a tourist destination, the facilities were solid.
There were quite a few useful amenities inside the park as well — a souvenir shop, a café, that sort of thing.
Honestly, this kind of outing suited me better. Preferable to being packed with other activities and worn out from constant movement.
Boredom wasn't really a problem. Back in the day, I'd once sat beside Riya for five hours straight without saying a word or doing a thing.
Once we boarded the bus to the park, we were there in no time.
Barely thirty minutes had passed before we arrived.
"Come back to this spot by gathering time."
With the teacher's words, the groups that had come here all scattered and began walking through the park.
Perhaps because the destinations had been split up, there didn't seem to be as many of us as I'd expected.
Our group was the same.
Without a word, we turned along the walking path that ran beside the large lake at the center of the park.
It was boring.
"I should've brought my sword."
"Like that would've been allowed."
I'd been completely serious.
Honestly, swinging a sword right now would have felt better. It would have been the more efficient use of time.
"Sihyun, do you hate this? Right now."
That was when Riya tilted her head toward me and asked.
My heart wasn't racing wildly the way it had yesterday. Just the usual loose sense of contentment filling me up, same as always.
That familiar feeling of calm and steadiness.
It felt good.
"…No. I don't hate it."
I truly didn't, so when I answered that way, Riya gave a faint nod and looked ahead again without another word.
When I glanced at her from the side, I caught a smile so faint it was almost impossible to notice.
Riya didn't seem to mind this situation either.
"…"
And so the silence settled in.
Then, roughly twenty minutes later, I thought to myself:
There really was nothing to do.
Not that I couldn't endure it — that was just an observation. More precisely, it was worry.
Worry directed at Hoyeon.
"Say something already. Are you all communication-impaired?"
"Everyone's fine except you, so why."
Being together in silence was something Riya and I had been doing since way back.
Yuwon was jotting things down about his novel in a notebook and didn't look particularly bored.
The most bored person here was Hoyeon, who liked talking. He was the type who enjoyed conversation with people.
Put another way, he hated sitting still alone.
He muttered as if the unbroken quiet was wearing on him.
"Want to write a novel with me?"
"I'm not you."
"What's that supposed to mean."
Asking Hoyeon — who'd read maybe a handful of novels in his life — to write one was like telling a science student to draft a humanities thesis.
"Hah…"
After that sigh, Hoyeon kept looking around as if trying to stave off the boredom.
Whether he'd given up or not, he stopped trying to start conversations. He just kept scanning the surroundings.
Naturally, with so many students visiting, students were the most common sight, though other people caught the eye now and then as well.
And up ahead on the path we were walking, a building of modest size.
Looking at the sign hanging out front, I could tell what it was for.
"A souvenir shop?"
It was a souvenir store, nothing more.
Even if it was just a small shop inside a park, it was a welcome bit of rain in a dry stretch of nothing. Just browsing the souvenirs inside would kill a decent amount of time.
"Let's go there!"
"Got money?"
"Brought my card, just in case."
With that, we headed straight for the souvenir shop ahead.
The building wasn't particularly large — about the size of a modest two-story house.
When we opened the door and stepped inside, the interior was quite stylishly put together.
There were students who'd arrived before us, but not so many that it felt crowded; it was comfortably open.
"Yuwon, come upstairs with me first."
"All of a sudden?"
The moment we entered the building, Hoyeon — who'd been glancing our way — promptly dragged Yuwon up to the second floor.
I was happy enough to end up alone with Riya, but… why so sudden?
"Nice. The atmosphere."
She was right — the atmosphere was good.
Cozy, clean, a space that carried the feel of Jeju Island itself.
While I was taking it in, Riya pointed at one of the souvenirs nearby and asked,
"How about this?"
"A Dol Hareubang?"
What she'd pointed to was a small keychain shaped like a Dol Hareubang.
Naturally, a cute character version of the stone grandfather statue set into a little keychain form. The design was pretty adorable.
"Cute."
"I like it."
Saying so, Riya picked up the keychain right away.
I should mention this now — one of Riya's unexpected hobbies was collecting keychains and plushies.
Keychains especially: if one was a bit special, she'd buy it on the spot. She even had a separate box at home just for storing them.
"Sihyun, this."
And not long after, Riya came over holding a bottle.
One she'd apparently pulled from a fridge in the corner.
It was basically shaped like a Vita 300, except the bottle itself was molded like a Dol Hareubang, which made it look pretty ridiculous.
"I'll buy it for you."
"This?"
"Anything's fine."
She meant she'd buy whatever I brought over — this Vita 300 or anything else.
At that, I smiled faintly and pointed at the keychain in her hand.
"Then I'll buy that."
"Hmm… ah, no."
"Why? You said you'd buy something for me too."
"I'm buying it."
The firm way she said it was so cute that I let out a short laugh and snatched the Vita 300 from her hand.
"Ah…"
"I'll buy it."
"…I'm buying it in secret, then."
Did a gift really need to be bought in secret?
Smiling at her as she refused to give up, Riya and I headed upstairs just like that.
The register was probably on the second floor too, and Yuwon and Hoyeon were up there as well.
"Hey! How's this look?"
"Ugly. Always was, though."
"Harsh."
When we came up, Yuwon and Hoyeon were messing around like that. On Hoyeon's head sat a headband with a tangerine dangling from it.
Why on earth was that guy wearing something like that?
"Sihyun, finished picking what you want?"
"More or less."
Hoyeon took off the headband as he said it, then looked at the Vita 300 in my hand with an odd expression.
What was with the food.
"This is all I'm buying."
What Hoyeon was holding was a horse-shaped plush.
A stubby character horse doll about the size of a human head.
"For yourself?"
"No, for Haryeong."
Figures. A guy who didn't particularly care for plushies suddenly buying one had seemed off for a reason.
For reference, Yuwon had chosen a simple notebook with an orange cover. The notebook he'd been using lately was nearly full, so he'd apparently needed a new one.
After watching the two of them for a moment, I spotted a bracelet in the nearby accessories section.
A small bracelet with charms shaped like a snowflake and a tangerine.
Maybe I'll get this.
The snowflake reminded me of Riya, and more than anything, I'd wanted to buy her something but hadn't found anything suitable — this one was pretty good.
Carrying the drink and the bracelet to the register, I swiped my card right away.
The price… even for a souvenir shop, it was just a drink and a bracelet, so it wasn't too expensive.
"Sihyun, take this."
Once I'd bought those two things, Riya — who'd already finished paying beside me — held something out.
A bracelet, no less.
It was the same as the one I'd bought, except the white snowflake charm had been swapped for a black one.
"Then me too."
Taking that bracelet, I immediately handed her the one I'd been holding as well.
How did we end up thinking so alike?
When I smiled faintly, Riya seemed to have the same thought — she smiled lightly too and fastened the bracelet around her wrist.
Her wrist was so slender there was plenty of empty space, but luckily it didn't seem like it would slip off.
"I miss Haryeong…"
Hoyeon's voice drifted from behind us, but Riya and I lightly ignored it and left the souvenir shop, heading back to the gathering point.
There was a little time left, but not much, so it should have been fine.
"Still time left, so go walk around some more."
It wasn't.
In the end, only after we'd made one more full lap of the park were we finally able to climb back onto the bus.