We stayed in the car, and after about an hour, we crossed over the mountains and came out onto flat land.
There were plenty of rice fields and farms, but the number of buildings had also increased, making it feel like we were approaching an urban area.
There were also quite a few cars on the road and people walking around.
“Alright, this should be good.”
The male soldier said that and stopped the car at a station.
“Okay, this is where we part ways. Take the train back from here.”
So trains are running too…
“Thank you very much.”
“We’re sorry for causing you trouble.”
I apologized, just in case.
“Make sure you never go east again, okay? And the south too.”
Kagoshima was on the demons’ side as well.
“Got it.”
Once we got out, the car immediately turned around and headed back the way we had come.
“We pulled it off.”
“Yeah. Still, it looks so normal…”
I looked around, and just as expected, it looked like an ordinary town.
“If we had been transported here, we probably wouldn’t have questioned anything.”
“Right… This is a train station, huh?”
“Looks like they’re still running.”
“Well, I guess it’s convenient, but… what should we do?”
Hmm…
“Let’s look for Spear Guy. For now, we’ll head toward the city center.”
“Then let’s get on.”
We entered the station and checked the timetable.
“11 o’clock.”
Apparently, the train would arrive in five minutes, so we bought tickets and headed to the platform.
As we waited, a two-car train arrived.
“That’s pretty small.”
“Isn’t that normal? Anyway…”
Ayaka looked toward the front car.
There were clearly some rough-looking people riding inside.
“Let’s go to the back car.”
“Yeah.”
I took Ayaka’s hand and boarded the rear car.
This one had old ladies and elderly people riding in it, and the atmosphere was much calmer.
When we sat down, the train began moving.
“…Ayaka, the people in the front car are carrying weapons.”
I whispered into Ayaka’s ear.
“…Yeah. Aren’t they those civilian soldiers we heard about?”
“…Let’s stop looking.”
With people like that, it was best to keep your head lowered at a 45-degree angle and mind your own business.
“…Agreed.”
We faced forward and waited until we arrived.
Gradually, the scenery became more urban, and taller buildings started appearing. About thirty minutes later, we arrived at Kumamoto Station.
The men who looked like civilian soldiers had gotten off a little earlier, so we safely left the train and exited the station.
“Whoa, this is a city.”
The buildings were tall, and the roads were wide.
It was completely different from the other world.
“It looks familiar… but isn’t it a little dirty?”
Just as Ayaka said, there was trash scattered everywhere.
“Is this the aftermath of the end-of-the-world situation?”
“Maybe? Well, whatever. Where’s the entertainment district?”
Who knows?
“I have no idea. Isn’t it probably the drinking district?”
“Let me see…”
Ayaka took out her smartphone and started searching.
“Hm? Doesn’t seem like it’s around here. It’s toward the northeast.”
“Really?”
“Look.”
I checked Ayaka’s phone, and she was right. It wasn’t here.
“It’s near the castle.”
We had come to Kumamoto Station because we didn’t know where else to go, but it seemed like we had slightly missed the mark.
Well, we were in an unfamiliar place, and we were just high school students before all this happened. There was no way we would know.
We should have researched properly from the beginning.
“It’s a 40-minute walk. Well, let’s walk. We can take a look at the town while we’re at it.”
That sounded good.
We left Kumamoto Station and started walking.
“Elvis, are you alive?”
I checked because I hadn’t heard his voice at all.
“…I’m alive. What’s the human town like?”
“Normal. There’s no feeling of conflict.”
It was just a little dirty.
“There are ordinary office workers in suits walking around, aren’t there?”
“Even in this situation, they still have to work…”
Thinking that being an adult must be tough, especially for a 26-year-old middle school graduate like me, we continued walking and eventually arrived near the castle.
“Want to go sightseeing? Isn’t it famous?”
Even I had heard of Kumamoto Castle.
“I’m not really interested in castles. I’ve already seen plenty of Western-style castles.”
I had seen castles floating on lakes and castles standing on sheer cliffs.
“Well, that’s true. Besides, this isn’t really the time for sightseeing. The entertainment district is that way, but what do you want to do?”
Ayaka pointed in the direction opposite from the castle.
“Let’s eat lunch somewhere. Even if we go to the entertainment district, nothing will be open at this time.”
“That’s true.”
We started walking toward the entertainment district.
Then, after finding a convenience store, we went inside and headed toward the bento section.
“They have normal food here.”
It wasn’t handmade boxed meals.
And, as expected, the store clerk wasn’t pale and sickly-looking either.
“Yeah. They even have bread.”
“…Elvis, what do you want?”
I lowered my voice and asked Elvis.
“Ramen.”
Ramen, huh…
“…I’ll buy you some cup noodles later. Pick something else for now.”
“Then bread is fine. Anything is okay. Also, cigarettes.”
Bread, huh.
We put boxed meals, bread, and drinks into a basket, then headed to the register.
Since I didn’t know anything about cigarettes, I picked a number at random and bought a pack. Then we left the convenience store, went to a nearby park, and ate lunch.
“Hmm… it’s peaceful.”
“Yeah.”
Since there was no one around, Elvis was eating his bread out in the open as well.
Though, he was still tiny.
“Man, this is good. They don’t have this in Beppu, so I wanted to try it.”
Seeing the tiny goblin eating bread was kind of cute.
“Glad you like it. Still, searching for him across a city as large as Kumamoto is going to be difficult.”
“Yeah… It’s different from the towns in the other world.”
I had forgotten about that.
The scale of the cities and the population were on completely different levels.
“What about social media?”
Elvis asked.
“No good. There hasn’t been any information about Spear Guy since then.”
“Well, after something like that happened, he wouldn’t exactly walk around with his spear out, would he?”
I don’t know if it was Minato or not, but he probably wasn’t stupid enough to do something like that.
“After we finish eating, let’s look around the entertainment district for a bit, then find some hotel to stay at.”
“That might be a good idea. The real thing starts tonight.”
“Yeah.”
We finished lunch, relaxed in the park for a little while, and then headed toward the entertainment district.
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