Ch.212Epilogue. Training Camp (6)

The planned schedule was for 2 nights and 3 days.

It wasn’t too far from Tokyo, taking about 3 hours by boat. Since Tokyo itself is a port city, most of our travel time was spent on the boat.

We arrived just after noon, so our 2-night, 3-day trip wasn’t particularly short.

After lunch, we could head straight to the beach and play for about five hours, and with this schedule, we’d probably stay up late. It was plenty of time to enjoy ourselves.

The island… I’m not sure if such an island exists near Tokyo in the world I used to live in. But it was quite a bit larger than I expected.

It was quite different from those “privately owned small islands with nothing but a mansion” that often appear in mystery novels. There were many houses visible. Though not enough to call it a city, the facilities were neat and well-maintained, suggesting it was quite a famous tourist destination.

“Wow…!”

And the most impressive thing was that the water quality along the coast was amazingly good.

The sea shone with clarity. “Transparent” was a much more fitting description than “blue.”

After arriving at our lodging and having lunch, we rushed outside and headed straight for the sea.

“Woah—!”

Koko shouted like that and jumped right into the sea with a splash.

For a moment, bubbles rose from where Koko had sunk, and then she emerged with a “puha” sound.

“It’s cold!”

She looked very happy, raising both arms and shouting.

“Alright, let’s go too!”

Kaoru shouted as if not wanting to be outdone and jumped into the sea.

Once again, there was a refreshing splash sound.

The faces of Kaoru and Izumi, whom I hadn’t seen in a while, looked like they could float away with liberation. They must have been studying at home all summer break. The two of them probably studied together.

And truthfully, neither of them were particularly fond of studying.

Kaoru seemed to be a good swimmer, perhaps because she was in the track and field club. There’s no evidence that being good at running means you’re good at swimming, but somehow there’s this unfounded belief that if someone is good at one sport, they’ll be good at others. Plus, both are aerobic exercises.

And she actually was swimming well.

On the other hand, Izumi didn’t seem to know how to swim. She was floating around with a tube around her waist, letting the waves carry her.

The Mako trio all knew how to swim. I knew this from swimming class.

But none of the three seemed interested in exerting themselves by swimming here—they were all just floating around holding onto something.

Harumi was sitting in a donut-shaped tube as if lying down. Her nice tan skin, blonde hair, and the sunglasses on her head made her look incredibly stylish. Especially that languid atmosphere—it was just like a photo from a magazine.

I’m always a bit amazed whenever I see Harumi in her swimsuit. It’s not simply because she has a large chest, but literally because her body proportions are incredibly good. Good enough that I’d believe it if she said she worked as a model.

And Yuu, who still boasted an excellent figure even next to Harumi.

She was on a long, person-sized float rather than a donut-shaped tube. She also had a somewhat languid expression. We had just started playing, but we had been on a boat for over 3 hours and had lunch too.

Mako was hanging onto a different type of tube that you could grab with your arms.

“Want to join us, Kotone?”

Mako kindly asked me.

“Sure.”

I went over and grabbed an empty spot to hang on. Fortunately, the tube didn’t sink.

There was a squeaking sound as the wet rubber rubbed against skin.

I know how to swim too. Given my previous life’s profession, it wouldn’t make sense if I didn’t know how to swim.

But it would be a bit tiring to just swim continuously. Plus, with the waves in the sea, if I started swimming, I’d probably be exhausted in less than 10 minutes.

Looking around, I spotted Tsuneda and Shii.

They were also on tubes. Tsuneda had a slightly awkward expression but was floating side by side with Shii, having a conversation.

Judging by how earnestly they were talking, it seemed he already recognized her as his junior.

There are no new club members this year yet. I’d like a few more people to join, but I’m also worried the club room might get too crowded.

I’ll have to hope that Shii brings a few friends next year.

After watching the two of them contentedly with Mako for a moment, I turned my gaze.

Then my eyes met with Izumi’s.

I stared at her intently, and—

“Eek.”

Perhaps feeling something eerie from my gaze, Izumi quickly paddled away from me.

But the real danger wasn’t me, but what was behind her.

It was Kaoru and Koko.

Koko, who had approached alongside Kaoru as she neared Izumi from behind, tilted her head when Kaoru put her index finger to her lips.

Then, seeing Kaoru put her hands under Izumi’s tube, Koko followed suit.

“Huh? Ah, wait, just a second…!”

Realizing too late that hands had slipped under her tube, Izumi quickly shouted, but Koko and Kaoru were already lifting one side of the tube.

“Eeek!”

In the end, Izumi sank into the sea with just that death cry.

“You guys!”

Then she got up and chased after the two.

“Hahaha!”

Kaoru laughed excitedly as she ran away.

“Woah!”

Koko also ran away excitedly. Actually, she didn’t seem to know why she was running away, but I guess it didn’t matter.

As I was watching the three of them with a smile—

“Ah!?”

I was startled when I suddenly felt something under my stomach.

Before I could resist, I was already being lifted up.

With a squeaking sound, my hands slipped off the tube.

“Kotone!?”

Mako shouted in surprise—

Splash.

My face sank straight into the water.

No, not just my face. My entire body sank into the water. For a moment, my vision was obscured by bubbles, and the sounds in my ears became muffled.

I got up quickly and chased after Yuka, who had already escaped a few steps away.

Yuka was also running away laughing, just like Koko and Kaoru.

At first, I chased after her with a huff, but before I knew it, I was chuckling too.

*

“…What are you looking at?”

When I stared at Yuu as she came out after changing clothes, she frowned slightly and asked.

“Nothing, just.”

I answered.

“I was thinking it would be easy to knock someone off a float like that.”

“…”

At my words, Yuu narrowed her eyes and glared at me.

“You know, your personality seems to have changed a lot from when we first met.”

Is that so?

I thought about it for a moment at Yuu’s words.

Certainly, that was true. Honestly, looking back now, I was too cautious back then. I was even careful when saying a single word.

I guess you could say I overused ellipses.

But like getting soaked in water, I gradually changed to become like this.

I preferred who I am now. Since I’m living this life, wouldn’t it be a waste not to enjoy it?

Besides, we only have about a year and a half left of high school. Perhaps because I have memories of living as an adult, that remaining time feels even more precious.

“Do you dislike it?”

That’s all I asked.

Yuu stared at me for a while, then turned her gaze away and said,

“…I don’t dislike it.”

“Then that’s fine.”

Saying that, I got up from my seat.

Our lodging wasn’t like a hotel. If I had to describe it, it was more like a guesthouse. However, it was much closer to a professional accommodation than the typical house that owners rent out during their rest time, or houses where only a part of the residential area is rented.

It gave the impression of a large house converted into a multi-person accommodation.

On the second floor, there were two rooms, each with two double beds.

Downstairs, there were no beds, but instead a room where futons could be laid out. In my opinion, it seemed spacious enough for five people to lie down. It felt like they had maximized the space to accommodate as many people as possible at once. Well, that worked out well for us.

Although it was called a house, it was much larger than the typical Japanese home one might imagine, and inside there was a bathroom with quite a large bathtub.

The living room was also quite spacious, so there was plenty of room for all of us to gather. They said the accommodation fee was a bit expensive, but it was fortunate that it had everything we needed.

The others were already gathered in the living room, waiting.

“Alright, I’ll tell you the schedule for tomorrow.”

Kaoru cleared her throat with an “ahem.”

“If it’s about that, it would have been better to tell us on the boat first.”

Izumi grumbled at Kaoru.

“W-what? You were just as excited as me on the boat. As the club president, you should speak like one.”

Kaoru, unusually embarrassed, said, and Izumi’s face also turned red.

That was true.

The two of them had been so excited on the boat that they spent almost the entire 3 hours looking at the sea and having fun.

Feeding seagulls, taking lots of photos—they were so happy to escape their positions as exam students that they forgot to inform us of any announcements and were completely absorbed in having fun.

It was the same after arriving here. They just threw their luggage down at the lodging, ate, and then immediately ran out to play.

By the way, the reason I was in the room until just now was to organize my luggage. It wasn’t much, but I thought it would be good to take out the things I needed.

“A-anyway!”

Kaoru said.

“Today’s schedule—”

At those words, we looked out the window.

The sun was setting.

“Should we grill some meat first?”

It seems like she skipped the entire top portion of the schedule.

Well, it doesn’t matter. It probably just said “play at the beach” anyway.

“After dinner, we’ll take a short walk, then gather to decide on the theme for our magazine. We plan to do the actual writing at school, but on a day like today, more ideas might come to mind. It wouldn’t hurt to jot some things down in advance.”

Izumi added, as if supplementing Kaoru’s words.

Is she talking about essays? Well, travel journals are writings too. A well-written travel journal can be more enjoyable to read than many novels.

“And after that, it’s free time again. You can do whatever you want inside the lodging, but if you’re going outside, be careful. Always tell someone before you go out, and never go out alone.”

We all nodded at those words.

And in fact, there was no need to worry about it.

If Mako goes out, Harumi or Yuu will surely follow, and vice versa.

If I go out, Koko will definitely stick with me, and Koko probably wouldn’t think of going outside alone anyway.

The same goes for Izumi and Kaoru.

As for Tsuneda and Shii… these two look a bit concerning. They’re only one and two years younger than us respectively, but at this age, even a one-year difference can seem enormous.

Both have conscientious personalities, so they probably wouldn’t ignore Kaoru’s words.

“Tomorrow, actually, there’s no other schedule in the morning and afternoon except playing like today. In the evening, we’ll make hot pot together. Everyone brought ingredients, right? Good.”

Kaoru looked around at us and nodded.

“And… yes. Tomorrow is that thing.”

With a mischievous “kekeke” laugh, Kaoru said,

“Courage test. It’s scheduled for tomorrow night, so everyone be prepared. There’s surprisingly an abandoned house on this island. And it’s quite a proper abandoned house.”

I thought that if an abandoned house was “proper,” wouldn’t it just be a normal house? But I decided not to nitpick.

“You’re already scaring the kids.”

Izumi nudged Kaoru as she spoke.

Then she looked at us.

“We went to check it out earlier. We also got permission from the owner. They said there wouldn’t be any major problems as long as we don’t take anything out from inside.”

“Izumi, it’s not good to spoil things like that.”

But Kaoru didn’t seem to mind much.

“Excuse me…”

Tsuneda slightly raised his hand.

“Oh, the enthusiastic junior there. Do you have a question?”

“Ah, yes.”

When Kaoru asked with a cheerful expression, Tsuneda opened his mouth a bit timidly.

“What does it mean that we can’t take anything out from inside?”

“Ah, that’s because the place is cursed— gack.”

Kaoru, who was confidently saying something occult-like, cut off her words when Izumi jabbed her in the back of the head.

She didn’t look particularly hurt. Both sides were probably joking to some extent.

“It’s just private property. The things inside… well, they belong to that person.”

It’s a common story.

An abandoned building becomes a “haunted house” because of people entering without permission, and ironically, it becomes more popular because of that, making it even more abandoned and deteriorated.

And the people who went inside take various things as souvenirs, but of course, since it’s private property, the items inside actually have an owner. No matter how neglected and damaged, that’s legally the case.

“I’ll say it again, there’s no need to worry too much. The house owner, an older lady, will also be there.”

…So she lives nearby.

Could she be someone who makes a living from this kind of thing? I’m not sure if that’s legal.

“I-I see.”

Tsuneda lowered his hand, seeming relieved.

“Don’t worry!”

Koko shouted to Tsuneda.

Everyone burst into laughter at that. Even Yuu smiled slightly.

Well, even if there were ghosts, I wonder if they could penetrate Koko’s overflowing energy to bother us.

And after bothering us, they’d face a former exorcist.

Hmm.

If there really were ghosts in that abandoned house, I’d like to express my condolences in advance.