Transition and Restart, book two: The Billion Dollar Empress

Chapter three, 2016, field trip revised, part three

When Ryu came down to the lobby in the morning he heard agitated voices from outside the hotel entrance. A night's sleep left him hungry and he was torn between what his stomach wanted and his curiosity. In the end curiosity won.

He moved to the doors and tried to hear what was going on. Some kind of heated debate, that much was clear, but he could only hear fragments of it.

"...breaking them! I don't care..." The wind carried away what he recognised as James' voice.

Then an older responded. "...maybe I went too far... can't be helped now..." Principal Nakagawa. Ryu was rather certain he recognized that voice, but it wasn't one he had heard all that often. He risked peeping outside. Yes, that was James and Nakagawa-sensei talking. They stood in front of a bench, and Ryu had a vision of how both men had started their conversation sitting down, and how they both rose with increasing agitation.

I can't really walk out and listen in on them. Pity. He sauntered across the lobby and went in hunt for his waiting breakfast. In the doorway to the dining hall he met Kuri dressed in a nondescript T-shirt and baggy shorts. He waved at her when the sound of a running engine reached him from the outside. "Who comes here at this hour?" he wondered aloud.

"Not coming. Going. That's Nakagawa," Kuri said and grimaced.

"Huh?"

She moved aside to give room for a few students who for various reasons hadn't camped overnight, and then she gave him a pat on his head. "The old geezer is out shopping for swimming trunks." She had a glimmer in her eyes that made Ryu wonder.

"Kuri, what did you do?" he chanced.

She resumed her walk and waved over he shoulder. "I told the business suits they had to be on the beach by nine, in bathing clothes.

"You didn't!" Ryu stared after her, but she was already outside. Nine o'clock. Plenty of time, but I have to get the others on-board.

He was just about to enter the dining-hall when he realised he ought to have been surprised by the sounds of people talking. Most of the club was camping atop the nearby mountain, so the hotel should have been all but empty. Well inside he got one reason, but most definitely not the reason.

What on earth? The people inside were mostly adults, but only a few of them belonged to his future problem later this morning. Ruy saw a few young men who were all taller than Urufu by a wide margin. They moved with the self assurance of those who know they're more than merely handsome. A bit like me, Ryu admitted ruefully, but I don't flaunt it that way.

They looked like models, and if Ryu's guess was correct, they probably were. A larger crew of people with the looks of technicians and executives only strengthened his assumption.

Back in a corner he saw Yukio chatting with Kyoko, and his sister waved him over. Even Urufu sat there looking morose.

After stacking two plates and a glass Ryu headed for their table. "Morn," he greeted them as he placed his bounty on the table. The he went back for more. It became a habit getting your hotel breakfast together, but he'd never seen anything like the perfection displayed by Urufu and Kuri the morning before. Another tell-tale difference between already having lived as an adult once and slowly becoming one for the first time.

As he sat down he heard Yukio switching his attention from Kyoko to Urufu.

"Man, feeling better?"

Ryu wanted to say something. It was his nature to be the active party in any social situation, but for once he sensed it was better if Yukio led this conversation on.