Chapter 65: Ayaka-san Also Remembers a Certain Word

When I woke in the morning, my eyes met Ayaka’s.

“Hmm…?”

“Huh? Yuu-kun, why are you in my bed?”

Let’s see…

“No, this is my bed…”

“Hmm? Wait. Yesterday… I don’t remember?”

Yesterday, I hadn’t been able to sleep, so I’d drunk with Ayaka… Huh? I really couldn’t remember anything after that.

“Um…”

I sat up and looked at the round table.

Empty glasses and the bottle sat on it.

“Oh, the alcohol… Wait, did we drink all of that?”

Ayaka sat up too and stared at the empty bottle in mild surprise.

“Looks like it. I remember it tasting good.”

“Right… Oh, we must have fallen asleep just like this.”

I had no memory of it, but we were both fully dressed, and there were no signs that anything else had happened.

We really must have simply passed out.

“Sorry. I dragged you into drinking with me.”

“It’s fine. Still, even though we drank that much, my head feels perfectly clear. The last time, I felt a little sluggish.”

It was true. The morning after we’d drunk in the other world, my head had hurt a little.

“Maybe alcohol here is higher quality… We should drink potions just in case.”

I handed one to Ayaka.

“Good idea. Thanks.”

After drinking them, we got out of bed and opened the curtains.

It was a little after five. The sky was still dim, but bright enough to see.

“Did we really drink this much…?”

I picked up the empty bottle.

“It tasted good. Hmm… Takanashi… Takanashi… Ayaka Takanashi? What was that again?”

That was my surname with Ayaka’s given name.

“The social-media post, remember?”

“Oh… Hmm? Was it? I vaguely remember something about Tokyo… Never mind. Let’s get ready. What do you want to eat?”

Ayaka took out some cup noodles.

“Udon, I guess.”

“Then I’ll have the same as you, Yuu-kun… Hmm? That sounded strange.”

Ayaka suddenly spoke in a sweet voice and tilted her head.

Cute.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Let’s eat.”

We poured hot water into our cups of udon and ate.

“We’ll enter Izumo today, so let’s stock up on cup noodles and snacks again.”

“Good idea. Okayama comes after that, so we should buy plenty.”

Ayaka returned to her usual cool-and-cute mode. We finished our udon and prepared to leave.

Then we stepped into the corridor and knocked on the door next to ours.

“Takamiya-saaan, do you have your socks and hairpin?”

“I told you I do! Stop turning me into the clumsy character!”

Takamiya-san was the last person who fit that role.

After a short wait, the door opened and Takamiya-san and Kitaura-san emerged.

“Sorry for the wait.”

“Morning. Were you two awake late last night?”

Kitaura-san asked.

“I couldn’t sleep, so we had a little drink.”

“Oh… We could hear Ayaka laughing.”

Ayaka’s laughter?

“Mine? Hmm… My memory is a little fuzzy.”

Mine was completely blank.

“Neither of you can hold your alcohol very well, so take it easy.”

“Yeah. Let’s go downstairs.”

We rode the elevator to the first floor.

Elvis and Sis Linda were already there, waiting for us.

“There you are. Shall we be on our way?”

We left the hotel and climbed into the car parked outside.

Without either of us initiating it, Ayaka and I took each other’s hands.

““Hmm?””

We both looked down at our joined hands, then at each other.

“Yuu-san, Ayaka-san, I can smell alcohol on you. That’s liquor made by demons. From now on, if you want to drink, tell Elvis-san or me. We’ll bring you something safe for you to consume.”

What?

“Was it dangerous?”

I’d thought it was ordinary alcohol…

“It doesn’t seem harmful, but… well, you’d better avoid it. Alcohol to be avoided—get it?”

Sis Linda cackled at her own terrible pun and started the car.

“Yuu, Ayaka, how do you feel?”

Kitaura-san leaned forward to ask.

“Normal.”

“Yeah. If anything, my head feels clearer.”

I felt refreshed.

“Hmm… You might want to be careful with that alcohol.”

“Probably. We don’t usually drink much, but the bottle was empty when we woke up. I don’t remember a thing.”

Seriously, nothing.

I’d been so sure I couldn’t sleep, too.

Alcohol was frightening.

“A few isolated words keep coming back to me. Heart pounding? Heart pounding…”

“That would be Takanashi-kun.”

“Yeah, that’s Yuu.”

It was probably me.

No, who else could it be?

“There’ll be times when you want to drink. Why don’t you buy some suitable alcohol when we reach Izumo? Yuu can keep it chilled in storage.”

Elvis turned around with a laugh.

“Maybe we will.”

“Once Minato joins us, should we have a three-on-three mixer?”

“Would that really count as a mixer?”

“That’s just a reunion party.”

I wouldn’t even need to hold a strategy meeting in the bathroom. I’d be aiming for Ayaka.

I always had been.

As we talked, we left Hamada and once again traveled through coastal towns.

“Sis Linda, what do we do when we get close to Izumo?”

“We can’t enter Izumo by following this road, so we’ll turn onto a mountain road along the way.”

“Riku seems to have understood that too. Apparently, he asked the goblin who picked him up to take that route. First, we’ll go to the place where Riku was dropped off.”

I see.

That was exactly the sort of caution I’d expect from Riku.

“Understood. I’ll leave the route to you.”

I settled in to wait, hoping we’d find him today.