Chapter 60: Hagi
The alarm on my smartphone woke me.
“Morning…?”
I reached for the phone and switched it off, and Ayaka woke beside me.
“Yeah… Yaaawn. It’s eight.”
“I’m sleepy…”
We’d stayed up fairly late the night before, playing cards and having a little party.
Had Ayaka covering my eyes when the losing Sis Linda tried to take off her yukata merely been a dream?
“Want to go take a bath…?”
“Sure. Let’s wake ourselves up.”
We got up, left the room as we were, and headed for the large bath on the first floor.
I separated from Ayaka and went inside. Quite a few demons were already in the tub, and Elvis was among them, so after rinsing myself off, I sat beside him.
“Morning.”
“Hey. Sleep well?”
“Like a log. I’m still sleepy, though.”
“We might’ve gotten a little too carried away.”
Elvis chuckled.
“Who won in the end yesterday?”
“Me, by a hair. Linda kept fooling around here and there.”
Fooling around, huh?
With plenty of dirty jokes thrown in.
Elvis and I took our time enjoying the hot spring, then left together and waited outside.
A slime came bouncing out of the women’s bath.
“You were right…”
There really had been a slime in the women’s bath…
“Slimes don’t have sexes to begin with.”
“They don’t…?”
As we continued waiting, the four women came out.
“Sorry to keep you waiting. I’m wide awake now.”
“Yeah. I’m hungry.”
“Then let’s eat.”
We went straight to the restaurant on the second floor.
Breakfast was served buffet-style, so everyone chose whatever they wanted and began eating.
“The natto is good.”
“Yeah. It feels like a proper Japanese breakfast.”
Ayaka and I nodded to each other.
“I can’t agree with that.”
“I don’t like it either.”
Apparently, Takamiya-san and Kitaura-san couldn’t stand natto.
Well, people tended to either love or hate it, so that couldn’t be helped.
After breakfast, we returned to our rooms and got ready, changing clothes and so on.
I finished first and was looking outside from that little seating area when Ayaka emerged in her casual clothes.
“Sorry to keep you waiting. I tied my hair up a little. What do you think?”
Her long hair was gathered up.
“It looks great. I think you’re cute.”
“Yuu-kun, all you ever do is compliment me.”
I couldn’t help that.
“Then tell me you’re thinking of cutting it short.”
“Do you prefer short hair?”
“I think you should leave it as it is.”
“Yes, yes. Shall we go?”
Once we’d finished preparing, we left our room and knocked on the door next to ours.
“Takamiya-saaan, did you find your socks and hairpin?”
“I didn’t lose them! Give us a minute!”
After a short wait, the two of them came out.
“Sorry for the wait. Oh, Ayaka, you look cute!”
“Yeah, cute.”
“Thanks.”
We rode the elevator down to the first floor. Sis Linda was at reception talking with one of her companions, while Elvis stood outside the entrance smoking.
We went outside and joined him.
“This place was nonsmoking too.”
“Yeah. Everywhere is these days. It’s a real pain.”
“Why don’t you quit?”
Ayaka recommended that he give up smoking.
“I’ve got no reason to.”
“Then how about quitting once we reunite with Riku and Minato?”
Kitaura-san suggested.
“Reunite, huh…? Is that supposed to give me a reason to quit?”
“For good luck.”
“I don’t think that’s how good-luck rituals work… Fine, then. I’ll quit when Yuu gets married.”
Hmm…
“I’m not your girlfriend.”
Sorry.
There’s someone else I like.
“That’s not what I meant. I’ve got a feeling we’ll find Riku and Minato sooner or later, so I picked the thing that looks like it’ll take longer.”
How rude.
“You’d better actually quit.”
“Sure, sure. Heh-heh-heh.”
Why was he getting on my nerves?
“Yuu-kun, are you going to get married?”
Ayaka asked.
“I’m twenty-six, so someday…”
“Hmm…”
What was that look for?
“Sorry to keep you waiting. I’ve been wondering—what even counts as marriage? Is it filing papers at a government office? Are those records of yours still valid?”
Succubus with ears like a bat.
“We talked about that before… About how we might legally be dead.”
“Well, we’ll deal with that in time…”
“Right.”
“Now, please get in. We’re heading for Hagi.”
Sis Linda climbed into the driver’s seat, and the rest of us got in as well.
We soon set off, left the inn, and drove through town.
“Sis Linda, what are we doing after we get the information at the beach?”
I asked as she drove.
“It depends on what we learn, but we’ll probably gather information in Hagi. After that, we’ll either stay the night or head east… South is almost certainly out.”
It was hard to imagine Riku going toward Hiroshima.
“How long until we get there?”
“About thirty minutes. Once we arrive, we’ll look around town for a while, eat lunch, and then go to the beach.”
It really was close.
“Got it.”
I nodded and watched the scenery while waiting to arrive.
We drove on and on until we entered Hagi, then continued through the town while searching for Riku.
“There’s a good chance he’s changed clothes.”
If we relied on his otherworld clothing to identify him, we’d probably miss him.
“Yes. It’s a demon town, so he could buy clothes with mana.”
“I wonder where Riku is sleeping.”
“A hotel or an inn, maybe? Oh, should we ask the staff?”
That was worth trying.
As we searched carefully, the scenery shifted into that of an old castle town.
“So this is what Hagi looks like…”
“It feels like a tourist destination.”
“I’m not really in the mood for sightseeing right now.”
“Yeah…”
We kept looking from inside the car, but saw no one who resembled Riku.
At noon, we entered a set-meal restaurant for lunch.
“He’s not here…”
“No…”
Hmm…
“Don’t get discouraged. From everything you’ve told me, I can’t imagine Riku casually walking around in the open.”
“Exactly. He sounds cautious, and several days have passed since that photo appeared on social media. You couldn’t have expected to find him that easily.”
Elvis and Sis Linda tried to cheer us up.
“Should we have rushed here?”
Kitaura-san tilted her head.
“Traveling without gathering information would be dangerous. That will remain true from now on. We can’t let ourselves panic.”
Takamiya-san was right.
After lunch, we left the restaurant and headed for the beach.