Tabi ni Deyou - Chapter 1 - Part 8

Nighttime. The sun had completely disappeared from the sky, and the world, the little general store in the middle of the meadows was no exception. It too was shrouded in the veil of darkness. Since naturally there was no electricity, the only light source was one of those antique lanterns. Nevertheless, its warm orange light was bright enough for their eyes that had adjusted to the darkness and lit the room. Apparently, the candle used was homemade. To the boy and girl, this softly swaying but brightly shining candle seemed very unique and characteristic for 'this place'.

Because it was such a place, there was no traffic noise and hurly-burly like in the city, which they were used to. Instead, one could hear the mighty mixed chorus performed by the insects of summer, which had to be an annoying impediment to sleep for unaccustomed people.

In the boy's case, this amount of noise was nothing special. He hadn't been traveling for three months merely for show.

However, there were situations that even the boy had trouble dealing with.

For instance when he was under immense mental pressure - like now, that the girl was sleeping on the futon right next to him.

He couldn't imagine the director doing something like this, so it probably was one of the secretary's jokes. Their two futons were placed tightly beside each other without any space between, which made it look like the scene of a wedding night.

But the secretary made a miscalculation. Surely she was expecting that he would blush like a tomato and move his futon away. Too bad, that was wrong. The boy was a healthy high schooler - such a sweet happening was rather exactly what he wished for. As long as it wouldn't make the girl scorn him.

He sat down next to their luggage and started preparing for their departure tomorrow while humming a song.

Since they wouldn't be able to take vegetables with them under this scorching sun, asking for some provisions was out of question. Thus, the problem concerning the food remained unsolved, but there was no use worrying about that now. There was nothing else they could do but stuff themselves as full as possible before departing.

But naturally there were things that had changed for the better since morning.

Namely, he had come upon a way to repair their Super Cub.

When he had gone searching the storage shed together with the director, they had found several usable parts. Even the type of the spark plug was the same, so it was easily conceivable that a Super Cub had been stored here in the past.

With those parts, it would certainly be possible to repair the bike.

"...ah."

He took their diary out of the luggage when he suddenly recalled it. Today was the girl's turn because the boy had written it yesterday. She's not going to wake up anyway, so I'll lay it next to her pillow.

"Mhh? What is that book?"

The boy raised his head when someone suddenly posed such a question.

Through the crack that was left open in the sliding door, he could see the secretary with a candle in one hand. She was also carrying a towel, so she had probably just taken a bath. Her uncouth pajama in combination with her wet hair made her look sexy.

She entered the room curiously and cowered down beside the boy. He showed her a wry smile.

"It's a diary. ...or perhaps I should call it a travelogue?"

"Is it the record of your journey?"

"Yes."

"This diary sure looks splendid, huh... is it foreign-made?"

A thick cover reinforced with brass. On top of that it even got a lock. If it weren't on a futon in a Japanese house, it would surely look exactly like a magical grimoire.

"Beats me. There was no price tag or any other label."

He cocked his head. Then he took out the key of the Super Cub, and the other key that was tied to it, and opened the seal of the book. On the page of yesterday one could see his peculiar handwriting.

"Yesterday's date... is this your writing?"

"Yes. We take turns at writing this diary, so the girl would be next today," he said with a wry smile and pointed at the soundly sleeping girl with his chin.

"Well, it seems like there is no helping it. I am sure she would get angry if we woke her up now."

"Last time I woke her up in such a situation, my punishment was a cobra twist. Next would be a roll-up I guess?"

The secretary laughed on hearing his confident answer.

"You don't have it easy either, do you?"

"But it's something I took on of my own accord. Just like you, secretary."

She evaded his nudge with a giggle.

"My, my. What an impertinent child. Rather than being pretentious, you ought to take a bath and sleep."

The secretary turned elegantly and left the room. While watching her from behind, he put his hand to his chin. Not because he was bewitched by her smooth legs . No, he was pondering over something in her words that had attracted his attention.

"...Bath......"

First he looked at the sleeping girl.

"...Bath... huh..."

Then he looked in the direction of the bath.

He didn't need to ponder very long.