Chapter 39: A Night for Four
After eating the yakisoba, we relaxed and talked for a bit, but around 8 PM we left the apartment and were dropped off at the hotel nearby where Takamiya-san and Kitaura-san were staying.
“Well then, I’ll pick you up at 8 AM tomorrow. Please don’t oversleep.”
When we got out of the car, Linda onee-san gave us a warning.
“You too, onee-san.”
“No staying up late.”
“I know. Well then, good night.”
Linda onee-san said that, started the car, and went home.
“This is it. A business hotel.”
It didn’t look much different from the hotel we had stayed at in Kumamoto.
“Well, it’s just for sleeping.”
“Don’t be surprised by the staff.”
Takamiya-san and Kitaura-san said that and went into the hotel, so we followed.
Then, there was a reception desk, and a large werewolf was there.
A werewolf.
“Oh, you’re back. Seems like you’ve picked up some people?”
The werewolf asked the two of them in a friendly manner.
“Friends. They escaped from Beppu.”
Takamiya-san answered.
“Ah, Beppu. There’s quite a conflict there, and there was an attack last night.”
“Right, right. So they evacuated and we joined up. So that’s three more people.”
“Three singles okay?”
“Ah, I’m smoking.”
Elvis said something important.
“Yes, yes. Then 5,000 mana per person.”
The werewolf said that and held out his hand, so we shook hands in turn and paid.
I still couldn’t tell whether any mana had actually left me.
“So, we’re heading to Honshu from tomorrow.”
“Honshu, huh… Then today’s the last day.”
“Yeah.”
“Got it. Here, your keys. This is for the smoking goblin.”
The werewolf gave Elvis his key, then gave me and Ayaka ours too.
“Where?”
Ayaka peeked at my key.
“302.”
“Ah, next door.”
Looking at Ayaka’s hand, it said Room 303.
“We’re in 307.”
“A twin room, huh.”
Same floor.
“Elvis?”
“502. 5th floor.”
It seems the smoking rooms are on a different floor.
“Tomorrow at 8 AM here, right?”
“Yeah. Give me cup noodles for breakfast.”
“Ramen?”
“Ramen.”
Thinking “he really likes it,” I handed him cup ramen and got in the elevator.
Then, pressing the buttons for the 3rd and 5th floors, the elevator started moving and quickly arrived at the 3rd floor.
“See you tomorrow.”
“Good night. Please sleep in a bed today.”
“Don’t smoke in bed, smoking goblin.”
“Or just quit?”
“Shut up. See ya.”
Elvis laughed, and the doors closed.
“Um, is it there?”
Wondering where the room was, the room right in front of me was Room 302.
“My room is next door.”
Ayaka’s room was to the left.
“Well then, downstairs at 8 AM tomorrow. Good night.”
“Yeah. Good night.”
“Don’t go if onee-san calls you out.”
“And don’t call her out.”
Shut up.
“I won’t.”
I said firmly and entered the room.
The room had a slightly large bed and a small workspace, and that was about it.
“Is this it?”
I lay down on the bed for a while and looked at my smartphone, but soon got in the bath.
The bath was a unit bath, quite cramped, but it still felt good.
After getting out of the bath, I changed into casual room clothes and sat on the bed.
“Nothing to do…”
Thinking I was bored, I picked up my smartphone and found a message from Ayaka.
It was the first message Ayaka had ever sent me, and a surprisingly casual one at that.
I opened it with a slightly pounding heart.
Ayaka: Come to my room…
Huh…
Yuu: Isn’t it Kitaura-san?
Ayaka: Wrong. It’s Ayaka
Ayaka wouldn’t say “Ayaka” like that.
Yuu: No, stop with those kinds of pranks
Ayaka: Mumu. What a sharp leader. Ayaka is here too, so come to our room
It was Kitaura-san after all.
It was so un-Ayaka-like that I figured it out immediately.
Thinking “good grief,” I stood up, left the room, and went to Room 307.
Then, when I knocked, the door opened and Ayaka in her room clothes poked her face out.
“Sorry about this.”
“It’s fine, it’s the usual.”
When I entered, Takamiya-san and Kitaura-san were lying on their respective beds.
It was a little roomier and more comfortable than my single room.
“Twin rooms are better, huh?”
“Right? Maybe we should have gone with that.”
Kitaura-san, stop grinning.
“So what is it? Playing cards?”
Playing cards in a girls’ room—an event I had never experienced before.
“That kind of youth is for another time. Takanashi-kun, take a look at this.”
Takamiya-san sat up and beckoned me, so I went to the bed and sat beside her.
Then, I looked at the smartphone she was holding.
[Hinooka High School Students Mass Disappearance Incident]
“So this is it…”
The high school we attended was Hinooka High School.
“I thought we should check. It’s been 10 years, but when I searched the high school’s name, it came up.”
“I know. I was thinking of looking it up tonight too.”
“Let’s all look together. Alone is a bit…”
Since Takamiya-san said that, I looked at Ayaka and Kitaura-san, and both nodded.
“Got it. Let’s look it up a bit.”
We decided to look up the incident on each of our smartphones.