Vol 2 Chapter 3 (1/2)

Chapter 3

Tokyo International Airport, popularly known as Haneda Airport. Departure lobby.

“Yay! Airplane, yay! Haneda, yay!”

“In-flight meal, yay! Alt.i.tude of forty-thousand feet, yay!”

Having gathered at the meeting place beneath the lobby’s clock, Homura and Ameno shared a high-five with br.i.m.m.i.n.g smiles on their faces.

Homura had left her house early this morning and dozed off while taking the train, nearly forgetting to take her carry-on luggage as she got off, but she’d grown excited the moment she arrived at the airport.

Meanwhile, Touya was watching the two high-spirited girls in exasperation when he heard someone approach.

“Yo. Good work on leading the sleepyhead Homura here.”

“Good, morning.”

Fujimori-sensei and club president Misasagi had arrived to join up with them, making all of Seiran High’s Exploration Club members present and accounted for.

“Good morning, Fujimori-sensei, Misasagi-senpai.”

Touya greeted them in a raised voice so as to be clearly heard in the noisy lobby, filled with so many people going on trips for summer vacation.

Fujimori-sensei, who had just called Homura a sleepyhead, let out a big yawn herself.

“…It looks like you guys had to work late on the presentation materials, senpai, sensei.”

“Pretty much~”

As Fujimori lightly sat down on her British travel bag, Misasagi bowed her head at her.

“Thank you, for all your, hard work.”

“No, no, I’m the one who should be saying that. You even helped me finish my work in addition to the rest of your workload.”

“It, concerns us, after all.”

“True. But maybe I should have gotten the first-years to help too.”

“I offered to help from the start, you know,” Touya pointed out.

“But that’s, you know…” said Fujimori as she averted her gaze, looking as if she was holding back from saying something.

In the direction she turned towards, Homura and Ameno were encamped in front of a wide lookout window and were letting out excited shouts at the landing and taking-off jet planes.

“What’s with those two? Do they think we’re going to Okinawa1 or something?”

“We ARE going to Okinawa.”

Touya spoke empathically in an exasperated tone, while Misasagi giggled.

Homura’s outfit consisted of a Hawaiian s.h.i.+rt and denim hot pants with lace design, the stereotypical clothing of an enthusiastic vacationer. And Ameno wasn’t wearing her usual boyish clothes, but instead had on a sailor dress with a refres.h.i.+ng-looking wide collar and ribbon as accents.

Ameno’s dress in particular was the result of Fujimori saying “I don’t really care what kind of street clothes you wear” because she found it a ha.s.sle and giving Ameno her wallet, after which Ameno and Homura had gone shopping around boutiques in Honmachi before the club trip.

Ameno was acting embarra.s.sed since she wasn’t used to these clothes yet, while Homura was acting lively and ready to go beside her. Their outfits, though a complete contrast to each other, looked good on both of them.

Fujimori looked at Touya with a suggestive sidelong glance.

“…What?”

“Just trying to guess what you’re secretly thinking. Probably something like ‘I’m so disappointed that Misasagi-senpai is wearing her school uniform as usual!’, right?”

“Eh, hah?”

“‘What a waste, even though it’s summer vacation’… something along those lines?&r

dquo;

“I’m, sorry…”

“Wait, senpai! There’s nothing for you to apologize for. You have the important job of doing the presentation, so you have to dress like a proper student. Sensei, please don’t tease us like that.”

“Yes, I’m very sorry. Ah, you all have carry-on luggage, huh? Then I’ll go take care of our check-in. You guys wait over there.”

Fujimori headed toward the reception desk while pulling her suitcase in tow.

After she left, Touya turned to ask Misasagi a question.

“You’ve already been to Okinawa, right, senpai?”

“Yes. I’ve been there several times, for training.”

“Ah, and this is the third time the Exploration Club meeting is being held there too, right?”

Misasagi nodded, but then suddenly looked down at her bag. It was a leather carry-on bag that appeared to have been used a lot.

“…I also, brought a dress, you know? For the friendly, get-together, just in case.”

Misasagi whispered as if revealing a secret, startling Touya.

“Eh… but it’s a gathering of high school students, right? I brought my uniform like I was told, but no formal wear like that…”

“People from, the UN HQ, will also, be coming, and besides… I can’t afford, to lose to, the others, either.”

Senpai whispered in an enthusiastic tone, apparently just as excited as Homura and the others.

On the other hand, Homura and Ameno were still chatting happily by the window.

“I couldn’t sleep yesterday after I finished helping the club president and Chiayu-san~”

“Me too! This is my first time visiting Okinawa. I’m really looking forward to it.”

Ameno’s words were an obvious fib—at least the part about lacking sleep.

“I couldn’t wait and ended up putting on my swimsuit before coming here,” boasted Ameno. “Fufufu, it’s brand new! Akado-san from the research lab chose it for me—”

“Ah, even I have to admit that’s a bit too hasty. We haven’t even arrived there yet. Wait, wait, don’t show it to me here!”

Homura frantically stopped Ameno as she casually lifted the hem of her skirt. It was at that moment—

“I also put it on. Just wait a sec.”

A long-haired boy suddenly showed up and walked over to them.

“Wha, Akiho-kun? You pervert, stop! Geez~, don’t do that without warning right off the bat in the morning.”

The boy who had suddenly showed up beside them and started to undo his belt was Saho Akiho.

He was a first year member of the Hiyos.h.i.+zaka High Exploration Club, whose name had just come up the other day at the zoo.

“Good morning, Akiho-san. If I remember correctly, the members from Hiyos.h.i.+zaka High are taking the same flight as us, right?”

“Really? Nice. But man, Seiran High is really loose and lenient.”

“Loose? How so?” asked Homura curiously.

“Our club is making us all come wearing our uniforms, and just when we finally get to go on a vacation trip to the south. It’s way too plain—Ah, morning, Tak.u.mi-kun.”

“Yeah, morning… Wait, why is your belt undone, Saho.”

“No, you see, I’m showing off my new swimsuit…”

After Touya came over to greet him, Saho began to resume undressing.

“Like I said, think of the time and place!”

Homura shouted with a strained smile.

Behind her, the other Hiyos.h.i.+zaka Exploration Club members appeared together as a group and approached them.

The most noticeable one was the giant vice-president, Taga Taichi-senpai.

In front of him was the president, Kamikoma Sora, carrying an instrument case on her shoulder and wearing a wide brimmed hat and sungla.s.ses in a strange combination. She lifted off her hat and threw it casually at Misasagi in place of a greeting. The hat spun threw the air and landed perfectly on Misasagi’s head.

Behind the front two followed three other Exploration Club members, each of them in a different year. With the club advisor included, the Hiyos.h.i.+zaka High Exploration Club consisted of a total of seven people.

Fujimori-sensei, having returned from checking in at the counter, went to join up with her fellow teacher Tanakura Hirosuke from Hiyos.h.i.+zaka.

“So everyone’s here now!”

“…Yeah.”

Ameno commented excitedly, while Touya merely nodded in agreement.

He was quietly gazing over the circle of Exploration Club members gathered, with the two club presidents at the center.

……Touya-kun?

But Homura had seen his expression stiffen a little when the group from Hiyos.h.i.+zaka arrived. He seemed to have been looking at Kamikoma-senpai, or perhaps Taga.

His expression, which looked sad and lonely somehow, was surely the result of thinking about the person who should have been here—Inari-senpai, who should have been standing by Misasagi-senpai’s side.

When both Homura and Touya became a bit quiet after that, Saho gave them a push to the back and hurried them on impatiently.

“Come on, it’s time to depart! I’m really looking forward to it, the Exploration Club Summer a.s.sembly!”

Inside the plane bound from Haneda, Tokyo, to Naha, Okinawa.

A short while after the plane took off, the seat belt sign turned off.

When it was permitted to use electronic devices, Homura secretly took out her terminal.

She wanted to recheck the pamphlet she’d downloaded to her terminal earlier.

“Are you, looking at, the SA2 program, schedule?”

Sitting next to her, Misasagi asked that, guessing the purpose of Homura’s actions.

“Ah… Sorry. Like I thought, is it bad to look at it here…?”

“It’s, fine. As long as, you do it, stealthily.”

Misasagi put a finger to her lips conspiratorially.

Relieved by those words, Homura began to pretend to read an inflight magazine while actually looking at the screen of the terminal wedged inside.

The Exploration Club’s customary summer event, the “Summer a.s.sembly”, was a huge meeting where all the clubs throughout the country gathered together.

Meetings were frequently held on the district level or between club presidents, but the Summer a.s.sembly was the only time when all Nutellan investigators of every rank gathered together.

State lodging facilities were located next to the huge training field on Iriomote Island.

The a.s.sembly was held at those facilities over the course of four days and three nights.

During the course of the a.s.sembly, various programs were held, starting with a meeting with all club members in attendance to introduce the new members this year, followed by individual presentations, discussion panels, performances to demonstrate one’s skill as an investigator, hands-on workshops, and other such events.

And of course, there would be a party known as the friendly get-together!

Additionally, volunteer members could borrow small conferences rooms during their free time and work in independent subcommittees. Therefore, the online program schedule had continuously changed and updated at a dizzying pace right up until their departure.

At first, Homura had been nervous about being thrust into such an academic atmosphere that she’d never experienced before, but when she discovered attention-grabbing phrases such as [Eat delicious food native to Nutella!] and [Showcase of 33 fas.h.i.+onable female Exploration Club uniform sets], she found herself getting interested in it.

“It’s just like a festival…”

Homura concluded thus while reading through the pamphlet.

Meanwhile, at the seats across the aisle from Homura and Misasagi.

Next to Touya who was sitting on the aisle seat, Ameno was still full of excitement since takeoff.

“By the way, did you not go through the security gate, Ameno?”

“That’s right. I used a slightly underhanded trick.”

“Underhanded trick?”

During the pre-boarding security check, Ameno had temporarily separated from Touya and the others and headed to the priority lane used for special cases like people in wheelchairs while accompanied by Fujimori-sensei.

“Fufufufu, look at this. It’s a special permit signed by the National Transport Minister!”

Ameno took out a pa.s.sport from her breast pocket.

Touya nodded in understanding. Meanwhile, Fujimori, sitting on the other seat next to Ameno, sighed.

“…It would have been cheaper to just bring her as checked baggage instead of buying her ticket, though…”

Ameno thrust the permit right in front of Fujimori’s face with a pout.

“There you go saying that kind of discriminatory remark, Chiayu-san~. That would make me cry, you know? I’d be hugging my knees with tears in my eyes as I came out on the bag claim conveyer belt, you know?”

“Hahaha, that would be a heartrending sight. Actually, it’d probably shock the other travelers.”

Showing no interest in Touya’s remark there, Fujimori let out another yawn.

“Just don’t cause any strange disturbances, okay? Fortunately, that idiot Saho is sitting in the seat way over there, but still…”

With those final words, she put on an eye mask and went to sleep.

Just as Fujimori had pointed out, the Hiyos.h.i.+zaka club members were seated further ahead, far enough away that Touya and the others here couldn’t see them. Touya himself was a bit disappointed by that, though.

“Chiayu-san really fell asleep fast. Even though we’re flying through the stratosphere at nine hundred kilometers per hour. Ah, flying through the air at fifty degrees below the freezing point, in a swimsuit!”

Ameno was acting restless again.

“By the way… Is the inflight meal not being served yet?”

“Huh? There’s no inflight meal, don’t you know?”

“Eh!?” Ameno stiffened with her mouth open in shock.

“It’s only going to take around three hours to get to our destination—wait, you don’t need to eat in the first place, right?”

“That’s true, but I can still taste to a degree, you know? …Besides, I was looking forward to watching everyone hungrily eating a meal in the sky…”

“You have some pretty weird interests.”

After tiring of reading through the program schedule, Homura shut off her terminal and took out a book. It was a guidebook of Iriomote Island she’d bought at a book store. The front cover featured the cartoonish image of an Iriomote wildcat with glittering eyes.

It turned out that the Exploration Club’s lodging facilities were on the complete opposite side of the island from the main harbor and tourist attractions, and as far as she could tell from the map, there wasn’t even a proper road near the facilities. But Homura was still making plans to visit the local sights on the off chance that she got the opportunity to go there.

“Seisa Beach… Maryudou Waterfall… Mangroves… Sea turtles… Ooh, Is.h.i.+gaki beef… sus.h.i.+… The piglets are so cute… but they look delicious too. What to do…? My souvenir budget alone won’t be enough…”

As Homura turned the page, a tall silhouette stopped beside her along the aisle.

“Fish or beef? —Or perhaps me instead?”

The one who asked that wasn’t a flight attendant, but an older teenage boy.

He wore a high school uniform, with a loose necktie hanging around the collar of his dress s.h.i.+rt. He had firm and solid shoulders, as well as slightly natural permed hair.

He peered down at Misasagi-senpai with a snicker.

“—Fish.”

Senpai replied with a serious expression, which made the boy groan as if struck in the heart.

“Geez, yer retorts to mah jokes are blunt as usual. I’m at mah wit’s here, seriously3.”

What he held in his uncouth hands were two plates carrying neither fish nor beef, but rather transparent containers of dessert. One was Peach Compote Jelly and the other was Pa.s.sionfruit Panna Cotta, both of which were apparently part of the in-flight menu. They both looked juicy and delicious.

But even with these desserts suspended in front of her, Misasagi showed no sign of accepting them.

Looking resigned as if he had expected this, the boy offered the plates to Homura who was sitting at the window seat.

“Hey, newbie, wanna eat this? Here’s a spoon. They’re quite tasty.”

“Ah… well… err, thank you very much.”

Homura quietly took the desserts that were forced on her with both hands.

This was her first time meeting this boy, but his face seemed familiar to Homura.

But right now, she was more concerned with the desserts in her hands.

“These are… from first cla.s.s…!”

In other words, fruit from the heavens. Despite her hesitance to do so in front of senpai, Homura couldn’t help being awed.

Meanwhile, the boy leaned on Misasagi-senpai’s seat with his arms around her headrest as he remained standing in the aisle. Homura was shocked, having never seen any boy approach Misasagi-senpai so carelessly even at Seiran High.

“Hey, Mayo. During the stiff gathering coming up, switch over to our club. We still have a spot open for ya.”

Even in the face of such a forceful invitation, senpai shook her head with a composed expression.

“My current, club is, better.”

“I thought ya’d say that. Well, whatever. Speaking of stiff, Taga got himself jammed in the toilet door, gave me a real laugh when I saw it. Who knows what’d happen if he got any bigger than he already is.”

He cackled with a broad smile. His smiling face jogged something in Homura’s memory.

He commented as he glanced over at Touya and Ameno in the seats across the aisle.

“What, is she still in rehab? She really is hopeless, that girl.”

“…She isn’t, hopeless… She’s already, left the club.”

“You still saying that? Stupid. Just hurry up and make her come back. For your sake.”

After letting out a huge sigh in an exasperated tone, the boy struck Misasagi with a poke to the forehead.

It hit with a snap loud enough for even Homura to hear.

“……”

Even so, Misasagi didn’t budge an inch and merely kept staring at the back of the seat in front of her. But Homura caught a glimpse of senpai’s pursed lips and angry expression at that moment.

“Wha…”

Touya, who had witnessed that scene, scowled and was about to stand up from his seat.

However, before he could do so, a low voice spoke up.

“—Tenryuu, go back to your own seat already.”

At some point without Homura noticing, Fujimori-sensei had lifted up her eye mask a bit and was glaring at the boy with a sharp gaze.

Having been chided, the boy jokily shrugged in disappointment and dutifully obeyed Fujimori’s order.

“Well, sorry for b.u.t.ting in. See ya later. —Fish, huh? Kuku.”

“…!”

Inwardly, Homura gasped.

After all, the boy had placed his hand on Misasagi’s head as he left, like a parting gift. She instinctively half-rose from her seat and watched his back as he walked away.

“That’s Tenryuu Kazuma…”

Touya murmured that as he sat back down in his seat, clearly anxious.

Hearing that name, Homura finally remembered him clearly.

—He was the outstanding talent who was widely known as the face of the j.a.panese branch of the Exploration Club.