Chapter 40: Good News
“There are all sorts of rumors flying around. Kidnapping, going somewhere as a group…”
“There’s some nasty stuff too. Sold overseas, erased by some organization… awful.”
“Well, some theories are partly right. There’s an other-world transfer theory, and even a theory that we slipped back to the Sengoku period.”
Setting aside why it’s limited to the Sengoku period, the other world transfer theory is indeed correct.
“I found some nasty stuff too. The culprit was the teacher.”
“That exists…”
“The teacher had a family too…”
“And he was the first one to die…”
It gets pretty dark.
There’s a lot of slander, and things written that may or may not be true.
But the information only goes so far.
Because after that, it becomes about demons.
“There’s nothing written about families. You’d think the media and gawkers would have gathered at their homes.”
“Normally it would have been a big fuss for a while, but demons attacked two months later. We transferred on April 28th. The first demons appeared in Tokyo on June 18th.”
That was more than enough to push our disappearance out of the public eye.
“The worst one was [Hinooka High School Students Sacrificed to Summon Demons!].”
“That was probably one of the last articles. After that, nobody talked about us anymore.”
Is that about it…
“What did you think?”
I raised my head and asked the three of them.
“It made me feel bad.”
“It made me feel guilty.”
“Something like that.”
Me too.
“Earlier I showed my student ID to the Self-Defense Forces as identification, but from now on, it’s better to hide that we were victims of the [Hinooka High School Students Mass Disappearance Incident].”
“Right. Even if someone sees the student ID, they’ll probably assume we’re ordinary graduates, not the missing students themselves.”
“That’s right.”
Ayaka and I nodded to each other.
“Hey hey, did you find your families’ social media?”
Kitaura-san asked.
“I checked that first, but there were no accounts. My parents didn’t have them, but my cousin did…”
“Same for me. My cousin had one…”
Did they delete them?
“My older sister had one, but the account was gone. And when I tried to contact family, it said [Currently unavailable]. Email didn’t work either.”
“Same for me.”
Hmm… I think they said that.
It was the same for me, and apparently for Kitaura-san too.
“Well, it can’t be helped.”
We would have to put that issue on hold.
We were good at that.
“Yeah. If there’s hope, it’s that my grandparents in Shikoku might know. And if we can contact my family in Tokyo, we might be able to let your families know too.”
I see.
“So first is Shikoku.”
“Yeah. For that, we need the route through Yamaguchi, Shimane, Tottori, and Okayama.”
That’s right.
That’s the only route.
“Then let’s do our best from tomorrow.”
“Yeah.”
“Then shall we do something youthful?”
Takamiya-san took out some playing cards.
“The ones bought at the shopping mall. It’s too early to sleep, and we’re bored, so let’s play.”
Playing cards in a girls’ room… Minato, Riku, sorry.
I had already joined the normie club.
“Let’s do it… hmm?”
My smartphone rang, so I checked it.
Elvis’s name was displayed on the screen.
“Elvis?”
Ayaka asked.
“Yeah. Maybe he wants to play cards too?”
I said jokingly and pressed the call button.
‘Yuu? Where the hell are you? I went to your room and you’re not there. Don’t tell me you’re at the succubus’s place?’
How rude.
“I’m in Takamiya-san and Kitaura-san’s room. We were looking into the transfer incident from 10 years ago.”
‘Ah, I see. I have something to talk about, so this is good timing. Which room were the two of them in?’
“Room 307.”
‘Got it. Be right there.’
Elvis said that and hung up.
“What did he want?”
“Who knows?”
While we were tilting our heads, I heard a knock, so I stood up and went to the door.
Then, when I opened the door, Elvis was standing there.
“Yo. Got a minute?”
“Yeah. Did something happen?”
I asked while inviting him into the room.
“Elvis, an incident?”
When I returned to the bed, Ayaka asked Elvis.
“Not an incident. I want you to look at this. Is this guy your companion, Riku?”
Elvis showed me his smartphone.
There was a photo of a sunset at some coastline, and in it was a man with his back to us, facing the sea, holding a staff.
Moreover, his clothing was a bluish robe.
“It’s Riku!”
“Yes. This outfit is definitely Riku’s.”
“His hairstyle looks like Riku’s from behind too.”
“It’s definitely Riku.”
There’s no mistake.
“I see. Seems like there’s no doubt.”
“Elvis, what’s this?”
“I found it when I searched for cosplay. He’s getting a bit laughed at.”
Looking at it, it says [Found a cosplay tryhard lol].
“Where’s this?”
“Hagi.”
Hagi?
“Where’s that?”
I looked at Ayaka, the honor student.
“Hagi City, Yamaguchi Prefecture. It’s quite far within the prefecture, closer to Shimane, but it’s in Yamaguchi Prefecture.”
That’s close.
And it’s on our way to Shimane.
“Let’s go.”
This lead felt far more reliable than the information from Kumamoto.
“Yeah. But this is the only information. There’s no information about Minato, though.”
Are they not together, or did they just happen to be on separate actions…
“Whatever the case, we needed to reunite with Riku quickly. He’s the weakest in combat among us.”
As Kitaura-san says, Riku was a healer.
By personality too, he doesn’t like fighting.
“Calm down. Anyway, it’s tomorrow. And sorry, but we don’t know much about the area ahead either. We’ll move carefully and not rush.”
That’s… no, that’s what we should do.
“Got it.”
“Yeah. Well then, tomorrow. You guys get to bed early too.”
Elvis said that and left the room.
“We got some good information.”
“Yeah. For now, Riku is safe. Let’s be happy about that first.”
“That’s right. And Hagi is close.”
“Yeah. It’s a town we’re going to anyway.”
Alright.
“I’m relieved, so shall we play cards?”
“Huh? We’re doing it?”
“Nasshi, you wanted to play after all…”
“Alright, the loser treats everyone to cup noodles and chocolate.”
Riku, when we meet in Hagi, I’m going to brag to you about this.