Chapter 60: Just Say It!!!
“Something feels… strange.”
The one who suddenly voiced that concern was Sumire-san.
Still sitting behind the wheel, she glanced at the navigation screen before speaking, her tone thoughtful rather than alarmed.
The casual atmosphere inside the van immediately tightened.
“What do you mean, strange?”
Taketsuru asked.
“Well, it’s more of a feeling than anything definite.”
Sumire-san lightly tapped the steering wheel with her fingers as she searched for the right words.
“I thought we were heading toward the coast, right?”
“Yeah?”
“But somehow… I feel like we’ve been drifting deeper into the mountains instead.”
“Ehhhh?”
Kuwajima’s voice cracked in alarm.
“And another thing,” Sumire-san continued.
“You said the trip would take around five hours. We’ve been driving for almost four already, but I haven’t seen even the slightest sign of the ocean.”
“Ooooh…”
The uncomfortable realization settled over the van.
The thing was, Sumire-san had never deviated from the route shown by the navigation system.
Everyone knew that.
Not once had she ignored an instruction or made a wrong turn.
Yet despite that, she was now saying the route itself felt wrong.
For some reason, after hearing that, Taketsuru immediately turned toward me.
“WHAT DID YOU DO, KIRISHIRO?!”
“I didn’t do anything.”
I frowned.
“You’ve been watching me the whole time.”
“Guh…!”
Why was he making the exact noise of a detective who knew who the culprit was but lacked the evidence to make an arrest?
Meanwhile, the other person sitting beside me—Meiko—had already shifted into crisis-management mode.
“Tae-chan! Check the destination settings immediately!”
“R-right!”
Kuwajima hurriedly reached for the navigation panel.
A moment later—
“I couldn’t! It won’t let me operate it while the car is moving!”
“Sumire-san! Pull over!”
“Huh? Uh… okay.”
Meiko didn’t hesitate for even a second after hearing Kuwajima’s answer.
Sumire-san obediently guided the van toward the shoulder and brought it to a stop.
And the instant the vehicle came to rest—
A mechanical voice emerged from the navigation system.
“You have arrived near your destination. Voice guidance will now end.”
Ding.
The cheerful electronic tone that accompanied the announcement felt strangely cold.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Silence filled the van.
Slowly, everyone looked outside the windows.
There was no vacation home.
There was no beach.
There wasn’t even a glimpse of the ocean.
Nothing but a lonely mountain road stretched ahead and behind us.
The narrow road looked barely wide enough for two vehicles to pass each other.
Wild grass flourished along both sides, basking shamelessly beneath the blazing summer sunlight.
The landscape was rural.
Remote.
And disturbingly empty.
There wasn’t even much sign of human habitation.
Finally, Taketsuru broke the silence.
“Just to be sure, Kirishiro.”
His voice was painfully calm.
“This isn’t anywhere near the vacation home, right?”
“Use your eyes.”
I gestured outside.
“Obviously not.”
“Damn it!”
Taketsuru rounded on Kuwajima.
“Kuwajima-san! Check the destination right now!”
Before he even finished speaking, Kuwajima was already operating the navigation system.
Several tense moments passed.
Then the answer appeared.
The address I had originally entered was completely different from the one currently displayed.
Not only that—
To reach our intended destination from here, we’d need to drive another two hours.
And the route required us to backtrack.
A lot.
The atmosphere inside the van instantly became much heavier.
“Sumire-neesan!”
Taketsuru turned urgently toward the driver’s seat.
“Let’s get back on the original route immediately!”
“That’s the thing.”
Sumire-san smiled awkwardly.
“It looks like the engine won’t start anymore.”
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE ENGINE WON’T START?!”
Only then did everyone realize it.
The engine had died.
I had noticed it immediately, but nobody else seemed to have.
The exact moment the navigation system had announced:
“You have arrived near your destination.”
The engine had shut off unnaturally.
Which meant—
We were stranded.
In the middle of nowhere.
Without transportation.
“KIRISHIROOOOOOO!!”
Taketsuru roared.
“WHAT DID YOU DOOOOOOO?!”
“I told you already.”
I sighed.
“I didn’t do anything.”
“LIARRRRRRRRR!”
Being accused of lying was rather unfair.
After all, everyone had specifically told me not to interfere.
So I had obediently done exactly that.
Nothing.
“Wait.”
Meiko suddenly narrowed her eyes.
“If I remember correctly… Gouto-kun said something strange back at the roadside station, didn’t he?”
As expected of Meiko.
Her absurdly sharp instincts had already begun reconstructing the chain of events.
Truly, she deserved her position as my childhood friend.
She sifted through her memories, examining my words one by one.
Looking for intent.
Looking for clues.
Then she turned toward me.
“Gouto-kun.”
Her voice was careful.
“You already knew the destination settings remain saved even if the vehicle stops, right?”
“Of course I knew.”
“Fweh?”
Kuwajima made a confused noise.
But honestly, wasn’t that obvious?
Even Kuwajima knew something that basic.
Why would anyone assume I didn’t?
That was less a question of being an ordinary college student and more a question of basic competence.
Apparently my answer completed the puzzle inside Meiko’s head.
The line connected.
If I already knew the answer…
Then why had I asked the question?
Slowly, Meiko’s expression darkened.
“…Then why did you ask if the destination settings were okay?”
“Because my hallucinations indicated we’d end up somewhere else if we didn’t fix it.”
The moment I answered honestly—
Three voices exploded simultaneously.
“““THEN SAY THAT!!!”””
A perfect three-way synchronized retort.
Honestly impressive.
“No.”
I crossed my arms.
“I was specifically instructed not to do anything.”
“That isn’t the problem!”
Taketsuru practically climbed over the seat.
“Why couldn’t you just say the destination had changed?!”
“And then what?”
I shrugged.
“You would’ve suspected me anyway.”
“…I hate that I can’t deny that.”
Taketsuru immediately deflated.
Exactly.
Which was why, at that moment, only one person had actually possessed the ability to notice something was wrong.
Kuwajima.
Besides, even I hadn’t understood what was happening back then.
To be honest, I still didn’t understand where we’d ended up.
“But if you’d just shared the appraisal information properly…”
Meiko looked exhausted.
“Don’t you think altering your actions because of hallucinations is a betrayal of human freedom?”
“In this specific situation?”
Meiko pointed at me.
“I absolutely don’t think that!”
As always, Meiko remained firmly on Team Hallucination.
Then, finally, the true culprit spoke.
The real war criminal of the situation.
Kuwajima.
“Wait.”
She blinked.
“So what exactly were you thinking when you asked me that question earlier?”
“I was thinking…”
I answered honestly.
“What a happy-looking Kuwajima.”
“I FEEL INSULTED SOMEHOW!”
Naturally.
After all, she’d immediately used my attempt to help as an opportunity to act smug.
If she weren’t my female best friend, I might’ve been forced to implement perfectly ordinary countermeasures.
“Yuu-kun.”
Sumire-san giggled from the driver’s seat.
“You’ve gotten really good at talking with your friends while I wasn’t looking.”
“Sumire-neesan…”
Taketsuru sighed.
“You’re currently witnessing the reaffirmation of friendship.”
The entire exchange was being observed by Sumire-san with remarkable calmness.
I had wondered how much Taketsuru had told her about us.
Apparently the answer was:
Quite a lot.
At minimum, she already knew about my hallucinations.
Or rather—
She knew about them but simply didn’t care very much.
Then again, anyone dating a hero who had returned from another world probably possessed unusually strong nerves.
Even after her own vehicle had become trapped in a bizarre supernatural incident, she showed remarkably little panic.
Instead, she simply said:
“Well, since the engine won’t start, we should focus on calling for help.”
She picked up her phone.
“Roadside assistance, maybe?”
A pause.
“Oh my. No signal.”
Taketsuru frowned.
“Wait, doesn’t that seem weird?”
“The navigation system was working perfectly.”
“Right?”
Sumire-san nodded.
“But look.”
She showed us her screen.
“It’s definitely out of range.”
Then she looked around.
“What about everyone else’s phones?”
We checked.
One after another.
Every phone displayed the same thing.
No Signal.
That made no sense.
The area felt remote, certainly, but not remote enough to completely lose service.
I stared at the screen.
Then slowly nodded.
I understood now.
This was an abnormal situation.
No—
I corrected myself.
“It’s finally starting to feel like a perfectly ordinary college student’s summer vacation.”
“THAT ISN’T NORMAL, YOU DUMBASS!”
“Farewell, my normal summer vacation…”
“So this is what we’re calling the usual summer vacation now…”
Taketsuru, Meiko, and Kuwajima responded immediately.
Well.
The situation had certainly become more interesting.
Unfortunately, standing around on the roadside wasn’t going to solve anything.
We needed information.
The cause of the vehicle’s failure.
The reason we’d ended up here.
The identity of our current location.
Just as I was beginning to consider our next move—
A familiar notification popped into existence.
──────
“Niwashita Sumire’s Vehicle”
Status: Curse of Fushijishi Village
Comment: If you hit it with the Holy Sword at full power, it’ll start moving again.
──────
I see.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
I turned toward Sumire-san.
“Sumire-san.”
“Yes?”
“I have a question.”
“What is it?”
“If this vehicle were dented… would that make you sad?”
“Huh?”
She blinked.
“Of course I’d rather it not get dented.”
Then her expression grew increasingly confused.
“Why?”
“What kind of dent?”
“For example.”
I thought carefully.
“If someone hit it with a large metal object.”
“…Why would someone do that?”
“I understand.”
I nodded gravely.
In that case, it couldn’t be helped.
Apparently the problem would be solved instantly if Taketsuru summoned the Holy Sword and smashed the van.
However.
Taketsuru would never willingly damage something precious to his girlfriend.
Therefore, I quietly buried that information deep within my heart.
And at that exact moment—
A voice whispered into my ear.
“Ufufufu…”
“Guests…”
“Guests have arrived…”
“Five young people…”
“Come…”
“Come now…”
“Come to Fushijishi Village…”
“You’re most welcome…”
The voice was shrill.
Childlike.
A high-pitched giggle that seemed to tickle the inside of my ears.
I instinctively pressed a hand against one ear.
The voice vanished.
Silence returned.
For a moment, I simply stood there.
Then—
“Oy, Kirishiro.”
Taketsuru narrowed his eyes.
“You definitely saw something, didn’t you?”
“At least share the information.”
“Right now, your hallucinations are our only lead.”
“More importantly, Taketsuru.”
I interrupted him.
“Did you just hear a child’s voice?”
“Huh?”
His face twisted.
“Don’t change the subject.”
“No. Seriously.”
I stared at him.
“Did you hear it?”
“…No?”
Then I asked the others.
Meiko.
Kuwajima.
Sumire-san.
All of them shook their heads.
None of them had heard anything.
Not a single voice.
Not a single word.
I see.
That explained it.
I nodded solemnly.
Then announced my conclusion.
“Sorry.”
“It was an auditory hallucination.”
“Eh?”
──────
“Me @ Apparently an Appraisal Skill ★”
Comment: Ehhhh…?
──────
First visual hallucinations.
Now auditory hallucinations.
Being a perfectly ordinary college student truly came with endless trials and tribulations.