After Reaching the Happy Ending, I Was Locked up by the Extremely Possessive Heroines I Had Conquered - Chapter 53-54.1

Chapter 53: Landing on Honshu

“Senpai, it seems like we’re about to enter Honshu from Shikoku!”

“Really?”

“Really!”

After that, as the train rocked us for about two hours――,

Toa, who had been sitting in the seat in front of us, suddenly peeked out just her face and said that with her eyes sparkling.

“The Seto Ohashi Bridge soon?”

“Yes! They say we can see an amazing view. I’m looking forward to it!”

Holding the pamphlet she had gotten at the station, she couldn’t hide her excitement, her cheeks blooming into a smile.

Compared to her usual sly self, she seemed a bit more childlike, and her age-appropriate reaction warmed my chest.

“…………A bridge? A bridge is impossible. There’s no way I can endure it.”

In contrast, Mahiru seemed unable to stop her abdominal breathing, and even over the seat, I could hear her breathing sounds.

If I peeked at Mahiru’s expression right now, she was surely twisting her face in despair.

She still seemed bad with vehicles, as always.

Tokyo is full of vehicles, though. Will she be okay?

What would happen if she rode a crowded train…… Just imagining it is tough.

“A crowded train, huh……”

“Crowded?”

“You know, it’s about after we arrive in Tokyo. If it overlaps with the rush hour after work, it’ll be rough.”

The plans after arriving in Tokyo seem decided but not really decided.

For now, it seems like someone from the Shiomine family will be dispatched, and if we contact them, they’ll come to Tokyo Station.

That’s the purpose of the flip phone, but for now, the arrival time is undecided, and it’s questionable whether we can even reach there, so we haven’t made any contact.

After all, the person sitting next to me is suspiciously unsettling.

I glance over at her.

“…………………………..”

But she showed no reaction at all, just staring down blankly.

It felt like she was drinking from the plastic bottle of water more often, but it was probably just my imagination.

She gave an impression of being calm, expressionless, and yet quiet. She really is a person full of mysteries.

If possible, I’d really like to talk to her, but somehow, there was a part of me that couldn’t take that step.

“Senpai! It’s almost time!”

And while I was thinking such things, the train had reached the entrance to the bridge.

The train, which had been clacking along in a regular rhythm with its gatan-goton, gatan-goton, suddenly made a big noise.

That noise gradually grew louder……,

At the moment it entered the bridge, the car body shook slightly, and a feeling of floating assaulted us.

“――⁉︎”

And then the view opened up all at once.

What spread around us was the Seto Inland Sea, shimmering blue in the reflection of the sun.

Countless islands dotted there, and white waves relentlessly lapped against them.

“Amazing……”

It was a view that made me groan involuntarily.

Inside the car, most of the passengers were captivated by that view too; some were taking photos, while others pressed their hands against the window and stared at it as if glued.

In this moment alone, everyone was probably sharing the same emotion.

“……Amazing.”

A small mutter came from beside me.

The person in the hat, who hadn’t said a word until now, was leaning forward as if to gaze out the window.

She was glued to the view spreading before her eyes, coming closer and closer to the window as if she had forgotten I was there.

In that instant, a sweet fragrance drifted over, and I noticed that silver hair was slightly spilling out from under the hat.

“⁉︎”

Even so, she didn’t move a bit, keeping her eyes on the outside of the window. She was probably shining her pupils under the brim of the hat, as if returned to her childhood innocence.

“……It’s pretty, Akira.”

Blending into the sound of the train running, I suddenly heard that.

“Yeah. It’s beautiful.”

So I answered on the spur of the moment.

“…………Hm?”

But after a while, I noticed something off.

Did she just say Akira now? But why would she know my name?

When I glanced over, her profile was shimmering in the reflection of the sun coming in through the window.

“……!”

Amid the intense gatan-goton shaking of the train, the sea’s surface spread around us, dotted with islands, the scenery of the Seto Inland Sea unfolding.

That view was so beautiful that it stole everyone’s eyes, surely a magnificent sight representing Japan.

Even so, I couldn’t take in such an amazing view at all; the sight of her with her silver hair swaying was so beautiful……,

My gaze, my consciousness, was fixed on her.

“Yeah. It’s really beautiful.”

I muttered that while unwittingly letting a smile overflow.

Of course, there were lots of things that concerned me. Lots of things I wanted to ask.

But right now, I wanted to share this view with her for even a little longer.

So I said nothing and just continued gazing out the window.

—

Chapter 54.1: Apparently We Have to Hold Hands So We Don’t Get Lost In the Big City

The train crossed from Shikoku to Honshu and finally arrived at its final stop, Okayama Station.

The passengers all stood up at once and began picking up their luggage.

“Senpai, we’ve arrived. We’ve finally made it to Honshu!”

Toa turned around from the seat in front and was bouncing around happily.

“About time.”

I stood up right there and stretched my back with a big pull.

“…Y-yeah, finally.”

In contrast to the energetic Toa, Mahiru leaned limply against the seat with an expression like she had been released.

“…I can’t do anything anymore.”

It seemed she had overdone the abdominal breathing and used up all her oxygen.

Will she be okay riding the Shinkansen from here?

I gave a wry smile and then casually turned my gaze back to the seat beside me.

“……………………”

But no one was there.

The seat where the person in the hat had been sitting until just now was neatly empty.

The timing when she had left her seat was right after crossing the Seto Ohashi Bridge.

At first I thought it was to go to the bathroom, but she never came back until the end.

I didn’t think she had gotten off midway, but where on earth had she gone?

“Senpai, Mahiru-chan is in bad shape, so let’s get out of the station for now!”

I was concerned, but I couldn’t keep getting distracted just by the person in the hat.

“Yeah. How about a walk in front of the station to change our mood?”

Having sat for so long, my butt hurt, and my body felt stiff all over.

From Okayama to Tokyo, it would be a long trip of more than three hours on the Shinkansen, so I should enjoy some outside air before that.

As I thought that and sorted my luggage, my eyes fell on the bento still in the plastic bag.

“Oh yeah, I forgot to eat the bento.”

“Actually, me too. The scenery was so good that I ended up forgetting.”

“I haven’t eaten either. There’s no way I could endure eating in that kind of environment.”

Apparently the two of them were the same.

“Then let’s find a park nearby and eat there.”

“That sounds good! Let’s do that!”