After Reaching the Happy Ending, I Was Locked up by the Extremely Possessive Heroines I Had Conquered - Chapter 50: The Mysterious Woman Following Us

Chapter 50: The Mysterious Woman Following Us

After a while of being jostled around, the bus finally arrived at its destination.

–Tosa-Saga Station.

As soon as the bus stopped, the doors opened, and we got out.

Right across from the bus stop stood a small station building all by itself.

It was a simple structure like a prefab, and in front of the entrance sat a sign that read “Katsuo Town” along with a monument of a bonito fish.

Along the wall, there was a faded tourist information map posted, which let us check the layout of the surrounding area.

“Is this the station?”

Toa Watarase said, her mouth hanging open in surprise.

“Yeah, it seems like it. It’s smaller than I imagined, though.”

As someone born and raised in Tokyo, I was shocked by how different it was, but I figured this was typical for a rural station.

“There’s a map!”

Toa Watarase leaned in to look at it.

“It looks like this is on the western side of Kochi Prefecture.”

“It’s quite a ways to Kochi Station.”

We had to go all the way to the edge of the map, so it was questionable if we’d make it by the end of the day.

Anyway, first things first, let’s talk to the station attendant.

With that in mind, I stepped into the station building… but…

“Huh? No one’s here?”

There was no one inside. Just an old timetable posted on the wall, no passengers, not even a station attendant.

It seemed this was an unmanned station.

“What do we do?”

“From the map, if we head east, we should get toward Kochi. So let’s take the train to Kubokawa.”

Trains came once an hour. The next one was exactly five minutes from now.

The connection was perfect.

The problem was that we’d have to transfer somewhere to reach Kochi Station.

But for now, we could figure that out once we got to the end of the line.

We passed through the gate and headed to the platform.

There was no one on the platform either, just the sound of wind whistling through.

“It’s so quiet. I thought outside the island would be way more lively.”

“Well, it’ll probably be like this for a while. Kochi Station should be more developed, right?”

It wouldn’t be like Tokyo, but there had to be way more people than on the island.

As I imagined that scene and waited for the train to arrive,

“…………………………Huh?”

From far away–near the bus stop–came the faint sound of footsteps.

I instinctively turned my gaze that way.

There was a striking figure there. A woman with a hat pulled low over her face, wrapped in a large parka.

She was the one who’d been looking down the whole time on the bus, and now she was approaching us with quiet steps.

“…Big brother?”

She was too far away to see her face.

But her gaze seemed clearly fixed on us,

“!”

A chill ran down my spine. My throat tightened up, and my heart started pounding hard.

No way that could be…

From the distance came the creaking of the rails.

The train would arrive any moment.

Even so, the faint sound of her footsteps echoed in my ears–,

And step by step, steadily, the distance between us shrank.

*

–After that, two and a half hours on the train.

We finally arrived at Kochi Station.

After the long trip, we’d made it to the heart of Kochi. The streets there, with the prefectural office, were a whole different world from the island.

Paved roads. Concrete buildings standing side by side. Cars and people constantly coming and going.

Everything felt fresh, and yet nostalgic too.

As soon as we stepped onto the platform, there were people, people, people.

Just so many people.

If I stopped walking, I’d bump into someone right away, and if I didn’t raise my voice, the murmur of the passengers would drown it out.

“Wow… so many people.”

Toa Watarase murmured softly. She seemed overwhelmed by the sheer number.

“Huh-huh-fuu… huh-huh-fuu…”

As for Mahiru Akiyoshi, she had her hand on her chest, taking deep breaths over and over.

Maybe she was relieved to be free from the vehicle she hated?

With a wry smile at our three very different reactions, I scanned the entire platform.

“…She’s not here.”

In the end, the woman in the hat hadn’t made any contact.

Had she gotten off midway, or stayed on the same train? Or maybe she’d gotten off with us.

I didn’t know for sure, but the last time I’d glanced sideways at her, she was still seated, leaning forward to gaze out the window.

She seemed somehow excited, but that was probably just my imagination.

“Let’s stay overnight here today.”

The sun had already set, and night had fully arrived.

Searching for a place to stay now would be tough, and moving any further would be risky.

If we missed the last train at a station without lodging, we’d end up sleeping outside. I could handle that alone, but I couldn’t drag them into it.

“Guess we’ll just check every place one by one.”

If I had a smartphone right now, I could book something with an app in no time, but with my old flip phone, all I could do was call.

Not that it mattered, since I didn’t know any phone numbers…

As we went down the stairs from the gate, the lights of the night city welcomed us all at once.

In the center of the rotary was a streetcar stop, and beyond that must be the entertainment district. Even from afar, you could feel the buzz.

“…………Huh?”

The moment I stepped out toward the station exit, I heard some kind of commotion behind me.

When I turned around, there was the woman in the hat, apparently being stopped by the station attendant at the gate.

She was visibly flustered as she explained something, and the attendant listened with a slightly troubled look.

Had she ridden without paying? Or maybe she didn’t know how to ride the train.

Mahiru Akiyoshi and Toa Watarase hadn’t known about tickets or IC cards either.

If I hadn’t explained, they’d have gotten stopped at the gate just like her for sure.

“Maybe she’s never ridden a train before either…”

There shouldn’t be many people like that. Even in the countryside, it’s not normal to live without ever taking a train.

The only explanation would be an environment without trains–like life on an island.

“No way…”

At first, I thought it was a joke.

But gradually, the idea that the person in the hat might be Satori Jindaiji started to feel more real–,

“……………………………”

It was a complicated feeling, happy and scary at the same time.