Vol 1 Chapter 2.2 (1/2)

Eight o’clock on the appointed night. Waiting with his bike near the bus station “Torimochi City 5th Street” Yata could see the bus’ arrival. Bunny ears were bouncing in the window and moving forward and then Oogai Aya appeared on top of the stairs. Although the backpack with the bunny ears was the same, she wasn’t wearing her school uniform, but casual clothes. With a denim jumper skirt that had a big pocket made out of different cloth attached in the middle, socks with frills and high cut sneakers she looked less and less like a middle school student.

When Aya jumped down to the bus station she held onto the straps of her backpack and looked around a bit nervously, but as soon as she noticed Yata’s bicycle she beamed with happiness.

“Thanks for waiting, Michakibyu~n!”

When Yata saw Aya rush up to him he couldn’t help but think that Aya was glad he had really come because it had only been a promise to meet and he could have also decided to not come.

“Stop calling me that weird name. If you don’t I won’t guide you. Also that outfit is kinda….”

“Eh, is it, like, weird?”

“N- no, it’s not weird. Really not. I- It’s just that we’re out during nighttime and it stands out.”

Because the bunny ears on her back dropped as if upset, Yata got fl.u.s.tered and while thinking „Fus.h.i.+mi should come already—“ he cast about his surroundings nervously. Talking with normal girls was already difficult, but being with this kind of strange girl was fairly tense.

“Michaki-chan, you, like, know about this neighborhood very well, right?”

“Yata-kun.”

“Misaki-kun, you, like, know about this neighborhood very well, right?”

“……”

Compared to the stomach-twisting “Michakibyu~n”, this was much better, so whatever….. if he would have noticed that the atmosphere just got less tense for him he would’ve wondered how.

“Yeah, well. That’s because s.h.i.+zume City used to be my old town, y’know.”

Proud, Yata hit the saddle of his bike. Another bus came this time from the other direction and they could see how it came to a stop on the other side of the street. When the bus drove away the thin shadow of a person stood next to the bus stop.

“Fus.h.i.+mi-!”

Yata was sincerely relieved and waved his hand energetically. From here Fus.h.i.+mi’s expression didn’t seem to s.h.i.+ft and he waited for the traffic light to change before crossing the street. His thin pants, polo s.h.i.+rt and cardigan gave him a slender shape that made him look like an honor student on the way home from private school on a holiday. Yata on the other hand wore a jacket with camouflage pattern and baggy pants, somehow just like an adventurer’s outfit. He also had a helmet with a headlight but that had been too eager so he had not taken it along. Looking at the three all together their looks didn’t fit each other at all.

“Was it okay for you to go out at night? Since your parents seem kinda strict.”

Fus.h.i.+mi had seemed annoyed at them insisting they’d go pick him up if he wouldn’t come so he had made a promise to “come with them for now”, but Yata had thought that the possibility of Fus.h.i.+mi actually coming was fifty-fifty.

He’s surprisingly sociable, huh……

Though Fus.h.i.+mi might be fickle, Yata was excited nonetheless.

“Strict? My parents?” muttered Fus.h.i.+mi without meeting his eyes and the short sneer that escaped him made Yata worry a bit.

At the west side of this bus road was s.h.i.+zume City. Based on what Aya had said the blimp should pa.s.s through the sky over s.h.i.+zume City tonight.

“It’s gotten cloudy. Won’t we be unable to see the blimps like this?”

Ash-colored clouds hung in the night sky in which the city’s neon lights were dimly reflected. Clouds thinned out like worn out pants were also there and only there was faint white light. The moon was hiding on the other side.

“It’s planned that the blimp’s alt.i.tude will be, like, reduced so it’s no problem. It’ll descend to under the clouds.”

“What exactly do you mean with ‘planned’?”

“Okay then, let me now, like, present the plan for today.“

Aya seized the initiative and pulled out her PDA with the usual big bunny dangling on it from the side of her backpack. When the screen switched on blue light looking like plates appeared in the twilight.

”Uh? Isn’t that the same like Fus.h.i.+mi’s?”

When Yata looked to Fus.h.i.+mi, the latter was clicking his tongue in unpleasantness.

“The blimp will pa.s.s though s.h.i.+zume City’s sky on this route tonight. The highest it will be is 300 meters, the lowest 60 meter and less. We’ll stand by right under the route and if we light ”candle” the blimp should, like, certainly pick us up.“

On the holographic display were many maps showing. It looked like a map of the whole Kanto area, including s.h.i.+zume City. A line that seemed to display the blimp’s route was drawn above the map in a fluorescent yellow.

Right now was the time when the traffic volume was the loudest. The noise of the cars pa.s.sing by on the other side of the guardrail was very loud and the three huddled together and peered into the display. The light of the display floating in the twilight lit up the faces of those three.