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

Chapter 55: It Seems I Might Have Underestimated Satori Too Much

I bought tickets from Okayama to Tokyo and immediately boarded the Shinkansen.

“This is the Shinkansen, huh!”

Toa gazed with sparkling eyes while searching for the seat number printed on her ticket.

“Three hundred kilometers? There’s no way a human could endure that.”

In contrast, Mahiru gripped her ticket tightly, her face twisting in despair.

The three of us sat side by side in a row of three seats.

From the left, it was me, Toa, and Mahiru.

“It’s a reserved seat, but there are still quite a few people, huh.”

Toa murmured as she tested the seat recline and glanced back.

“The Nozomi is super popular, you know. We got seats at Okayama Station somehow, but if it had been Shin-Osaka, we probably wouldn’t have gotten anything without the Green Car.”

“Green Car?”

“It’s a seat one level up. It costs more, but it’s relatively empty because of that.”

“There’s a seat like that, huh. This one’s plenty good enough for me, though.”

Toa said that while placing a plastic bottle of tea in the drink holder. She seemed to be enjoying the Shinkansen’s features, which was a relief.

“That said, there sure are a lot of people.”

Around us sat businessmen and tourists; some had their laptops out and were working, while others were having a little evening drink.

The car buzzed with energy. That was the Shinkansen atmosphere.

By the way, there was no sign of the person in the hat.

Right after the Shinkansen departed, I checked the seats around us, but I didn’t spot anyone who looked like that figure.

I felt relieved, yet strangely unsatisfied, like part of me had been hoping she was on board.

My emotions were too swayed by the person in the hat.

“Amazing! This is amazing, Senpai!”

The scenery flowing past the window changed at an astonishing speed. It was nothing like the limited express train we’d ridden earlier.

You could miss it if you looked away for even a second.

“This is the Shinkansen’s speed, huh!”

Toa shouted in excitement.

“It’s fast, but surprisingly quiet, right?”

“Yes. It’s really mysterious!”

“Hic… hic… huff… hic… hic… huff…”

“But Mahiru seems to be the same as always.”

I turned my gaze to my sister, who was hanging her head beside me.

“Mahiru-chan doesn’t seem to mind the shaking much.”

“She’s probably just bad with vehicles in general.”

It probably wasn’t something you could reason with. Sorry about this, but she just had to tough it out for another three hours.

“Fwaaaaa…”

About an hour after leaving Okayama, I stretched lightly and called out to Toa.

“I’m going to the bathroom for a bit.”

“Okay. Don’t get lost, okay?”

“No way that’d happen. We’re on a train.”

“But, but, Senpai is kind of unreliable, so I’m worried.”

“The unreliable one is Mahiru.”

“Mahiru-chan is dangerous in a different way.”

When I glanced over, Mahiru was pressing her hand to her mouth. She looked like she might throw up any second.

Good thing I’d prepared etiquette bags at Okayama Station just in case. The situation wasn’t great, but…

“Anyway, I’m heading out.”

I said that and made my way down the narrow aisle to the deck area.

There were restrooms and a sink set up there. Some people who hadn’t gotten reserved seats and others who were probably getting off at the next station stood around.

I entered the men’s stall, took care of business, and washed my hands.

And the moment I stepped out to head back to my seat.

“………………………………….Ah.”

A familiar figure appeared from the next car over.

Wearing a parka and a hat, it was the person who’d been swinging on the swing in the park earlier.

–The person in the hat.

My heart pounded hard. The suddenness of it all kept my mind from catching up.

If there was one thing I could say, it was that I should get back to my seat right away.

The moment I thought that and tried to pass by her side,

“Wait.”

She grabbed my wrist in a flash.

“Eh?!”

Her grip was stronger than I’d expected; I couldn’t shake it off even if I tried.

It wasn’t like she’d put handcuffs on me, but I couldn’t break free from her hold.

“Next stop, Nagoya, Nagoya. Exit on the left side.”

Before I could resist, the in-car announcement echoed.

The Shinkansen slowed down, and the brake vibration shook underfoot.

“Gh…!”

When I tried to pull away again, she slowly opened her mouth.

“Akira.”

Hearing my name called like that stopped my thoughts dead.

That way of saying it, that tone of voice–there was no doubt it was her.

“Satori…”

The moment I said that, she slowly lifted her face–and

then abruptly took off her hat.

Her silver hair came into view, instantly drawing every gaze around us.

It was as if Satori was the only one in this world.

She was so beautiful it tricked you into that illusion, with an atmosphere that could even be called mystical.

“Come on, Akira.”

Her emerald eyes pierced right through me,

“…Eh?”

And before I could even understand the words, she pulled my arm.

Just then, the Shinkansen came to a stop, and the doors opened.

“Let’s go.”

As the car announcement rang out, she took a step forward.

“Wait, that’s…”

Before I could resist, she dragged me straight out onto the platform.

“Wait, Satori!”

“I can’t wait anymore.”

In my ears echoed the surrounding clamor, the sound of pulling carry-on cases, the announcements, the train’s running noise–all sorts of sounds bouncing around.

They reverberated in my head, spinning round and round, until I couldn’t tell what was what anymore.

“Wait!”

I shouted again, but my voice got swallowed up in the crowd.

“Ah…”

And in the next instant, the doors closed, and the Shinkansen started moving without a sound.

“No way…”

The Shinkansen sped away in an instant.

–Leaving just me and Satori behind.

“…This is bad.”

Nagoya’s next stop was Shin-Yokohama. Yokohama City in Kanagawa Prefecture. Right on the doorstep of Tokyo.

It wasn’t a distance where I could get off midway and do anything about it, and there wasn’t even a way to catch up.

Meaning I had no way to get back on that train,