Chapter 37: Meeting
“Your goal is to reunite with the remaining two and head to your families in Tokyo. Is that correct?”
Linda onee-san asked.
“Yeah. That’s right. Kumamoto was a miss, but we’ll continue gathering information and set out on a journey toward Tokyo.”
“Yes.”
“That’s right.”
“As our leader says.”
I have zero leader presence, though.
“Understood. I shall accompany you as well.”
Well, I had heard that.
“Is that okay?”
“I received mana from the two of them, so I’ll do work commensurate with that.”
Same as Elvis.
“Elvis is the same, right?”
Just to confirm.
“Yeah. Same. Plus, I’m quite interested.”
In ramen and such.
“Then let’s go with these six. Is that okay?”
When I looked at everyone, they nodded in unison.
“Linda-san, we can get to Shimonoseki without any problems, right?”
Ayaka asked.
“Yes. It’s heavily guarded there, but I’ve made arrangements. We can cross the bridge in the morning tomorrow.”
“That’s also a demon town, right? So why is it heavily guarded?”
“A considerable number of human ships pass through that strait. The demon side basically ignores them, but it’s bad if military ships come, so they maintain security.”
They simply ignored them…
“Is it okay to ignore them?”
“It’s not that they deal with each one individually, more like they’re not interested… Well, demons are like that.”
They live long, so maybe that’s just how it is.
“That’s how they are…”
“That’s how they are. At worst, harpies swoop down, snatch some fish, and fly home looking smug.”
They really were just like birds.
The humans probably found it more amusing than threatening too.
“It doesn’t seem like there will be any problems.”
“I think so.”
It seemed we would be able to cross to Honshu without trouble.
“The problem is what to do from there.”
“Ah, Ayaka’s grandparents are in Shikoku, right?”
Takamiya-san looks at Ayaka.
“Yes. That’s part of it, but there’s also the Hiroshima incident…”
The massacre.
“We can assume it was a classmate’s doing, right?”
“There’s no one else.”
“The timing fits too.”
Yeah…
“If we avoid Hiroshima…”
“Here.”
Elvis took out a tablet and opened a map app, and we all looked at it.
“If we avoid Hiroshima, we’d take the Sea of Japan side route, right?”
“After Yamaguchi, we would go through Shimane and Tottori. If we’re heading to Shikoku, we would turn south toward Okayama instead of continuing to Hyogo, right?”
“Right. Ayaka, what do you want to do? Go to Shikoku?”
Kitaura-san asked Ayaka.
“I want to go. But making the two of you come along…”
“…I already said I was fine with it.”
“…Well, Yuu will go anyway.”
Don’t whisper.
“I want to discuss that part—what about Takamiya-san and Kitaura-san’s families and relatives? I heard Kitaura-san’s cousin is in Kyoto.”
“Ah, my parents’ home is in Shizuoka.”
“I have a cousin in Kyoto, and otherwise Chiba.”
Shikoku, Shizuoka, Kyoto, Chiba.
And then there’s Minato and Riku…
“I feel like Minato said something about going back to Nagano for New Year’s once.”
I vaguely remembered him mentioning it before winter break in our first year.
“Well, not everyone is going to Tokyo, right? We’re all in the same boat, so shouldn’t we at least check on each other’s safety?”
“More importantly, we need to let them know we’re alive. We’re the ones who have been making them worry.”
It’s been 10 years since we disappeared.
I don’t know how that’s being treated.
No, maybe it’s on social media?
“Ayaka, let’s go to Shikoku after all. As Takamiya-san says, we’re all in the same boat.”
“Yeah… thank you.”
Ayaka nodded.
“Then the route is decided. Avoiding Hiroshima, once we cross over we’ll go through Shimane and Tottori, head south to Okayama, and from there to Shikoku.”
Linda onee-san summarized.
“Yeah. Let’s go with that.”
“We’ll be traveling by car. What shall we do?”
Linda onee-san looked at Elvis.
“Whether to go with one car or two… your car was pretty big, but how many can it fit?”
“It can fit eight people. Even with the six of us plus the remaining two, there’s plenty of room. However, that means everyone would be traveling together.”
Hmm… That would eliminate the option of splitting up later.
“Linda onee-san, from here on, I think we’ll be going to human towns too. Elvis was able to shrink down, but can you enter human towns?”
Those goat horns stand out…
“I’m in human form, so it’s fine. I can hide these horns too, which are my erogenous zones. See.”
Linda onee-san’s horns disappeared.
And I don’t need information I don’t care about.
“Seems like you can go.”
“We had made assumptions about ogres, succubi, and incubi too.”
We had simply assumed they would look more monstrous.
From now on, we should be able to enter both human and demon towns.
“Then one car should be fine. I’ll leave my car here. If I ever need to return to Beppu, I can just come back here.”
“Got it. Linda onee-san, we’re counting on you for the car.”
“Yes, yes. Leave it to me. However, I won’t participate in combat. I hate it.”
I heard there are demons who don’t like fighting too.
“Yeah. We’ll try to avoid it as much as possible, but if we have to fight, we’ll handle it.”
“Leave it to us.”
“The time to show the Sword Master’s skills has come.”
“Is it finally time to cast off the assassin’s veil?”
Takamiya-san and Kitaura-san were trying to look cool.
Well, whatever.