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

Chapter 56: The Game of Tag Begins

“I’m going home.”

Satori looked at me, who was shaken up, and said it as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

There wasn’t a single bit of hesitation in her voice.
It was like she had made up her mind, and she pulled me along with an attitude that didn’t allow for any arguments.

I planted my feet firmly to resist, but at the same time, I opened my mouth to try to convince Satori.

“Wait. No matter what, turning back now would be bad, right?”

“It’s not bad. If Akira won’t go home, then I’ll take you home.”

As she said that, she pulled me along forcefully.
It seemed like passersby had witnessed the scene, because I heard whispers coming from behind.

“What’s that about?”

“Aren’t they a couple fighting?”

People around us probably thought it was a lovers’ quarrel.

Sure, from the outside, it would just look like a high school couple arguing…

“I’m going home.”

But it wasn’t anything that mild.

If she dragged me off like this, not only would I be sent straight back to the island in no time, but I’d definitely be locked up in the confinement room right away.

And knowing her, she’d sentence me to life imprisonment as punishment for escaping.
I’d never see the sun again for the rest of my life, and she’d destroy my dignity every single day.

“…”

I had to avoid that at all costs.

But our strength was completely evenly matched, so at this rate, nothing would get resolved.
So I tried to convince her with everything I had.

“Hey, Satori. This is Nagoya. The island is hundreds of kilometers away. Don’t say something like going home so casually.”

“It doesn’t matter. No matter where we are, we’ll end up going back to the island in the end. That’s life, right?”

“No way that’s true!”

I desperately tried to reason with her, but as expected, she wasn’t someone logic would work on.
Satori tried to drag me straight to the platform in the opposite direction without any discussion.

“Let’s go.”

“Hey, just calm down for a second. Even if we’re going back, we need tickets, right?”

“I’ve got them here?”

“That’s a ticket to Tokyo. If we’re hypothetically going back to Okayama, we’d need a different ticket. Otherwise, it’d be riding without paying.”

“…Without paying?”

The force with which Satori pulled weakened for a moment.

“Yeah. That ticket is for a one-way fare. So, turning back midway isn’t allowed by the rules.”

“Really?”

“Really. You don’t want to get caught by the police for riding without paying, do you, Satori? So, let’s go out through the gates once.”

On the surface, it wasn’t wrong.
I didn’t think we’d actually get caught, but if the station staff spotted us, it’d be a huge hassle.

There’s no way Satori, the head of one of the noble families, would commit such a blunder. She mustn’t.

“…Okay.”

So, that answer was inevitable.
And for me, it was the biggest chance.
The one and only chance to shake off her grip and resume walking toward Tokyo.

“Then let’s head out through the gates right away.”

I tried to act as natural as possible while slowly pulling Satori’s hand toward the escalator and going down.
When we reached the gates, I stuck my hand into my pants pocket to take out the ticket.

–All right.

I confirmed that I at least had my wallet and flip phone, then went straight through the gate and out.
She did the same, pulling her ticket from her parka pocket, and in that instant as she passed through the gate–

–Now.

Seizing that one moment when her attention was diverted,

“Ah!”

I bolted off at full speed.

“Akira!”

I ran. I ran with everything I had. I heard Satori’s panicked voice from behind, but I didn’t look back. I ran. I ran. I ran.

“Wait! Akira!”

I weaved through the crowd and dashed down the stairs.
I no longer knew where I was running.

Even so, I couldn’t stop my feet. If I stopped even for a second, Satori would catch up right away.

“That’s it!”

As I circled around the station area, I came up with a certain clever idea.

I looked up at the sign that said Meitetsu Line, pictured the route to Tokyo in my mind, then checked behind me once,

“All right!”

I confirmed that Satori was held up at the traffic light behind, and used that brief time to buy a ticket.
Then I headed straight for the gates. Once inside the station, I glanced back for just a moment.

“I won’t let you get away!”

Satori’s voice echoed from far away.
But it was drowned out by the voices of the massive crowd of passengers, so I could hardly make out what she was saying.

“……………”

I was concerned, but right now, escaping took priority.
When I reached the platform, there was a train just about to depart, so I jumped on with momentum.

Right after that, the sound of the doors closing rang out, and the train slowly started moving.

“Phew… I somehow made it out.”

Just to be sure, I checked that Satori wasn’t in the car, and then I felt relieved.

The tension that had been wound tight loosened, and I nearly collapsed right there.

But this was a crowded train car.
All the seats were taken, lots of people were hanging onto the straps. And beyond the door where I was, there were people packed to overflowing.
There was no room to collapse, and it wasn’t a situation where I could let my guard down.

Right. It wasn’t decided yet that I’d escaped.

I pulled myself together again and decided to sort out my next actions.

The train I’d boarded was a Meitetsu Nagoya to Toyohashi.
It said rapid express, so it was probably a fairly fast one. At least, riding this to Toyohashi would be the quickest way.

That said, my destination wasn’t Toyohashi, but Tokyo.
If I wanted to head from Nagoya to Tokyo, I couldn’t just keep riding regular trains like this.

It would take an insane amount of time, so I definitely needed to transfer to the Shinkansen somewhere along the way.

That’s why the plan I came up with was to transfer at the endpoint, Toyohashi.
Toyohashi Station in Aichi Prefecture is a Shinkansen stop, and the Meitetsu Line runs through it too. Transfers are relatively easy, so it seemed like a pretty realistic option.

–This feels just like a game of tag.

I thought as I gazed out the window.

Escaping from Satori, the tagger, using every trick I could think of so she wouldn’t catch me.
Just hearing that might tickle a guy’s sense of adventure and get him excited, but in reality, getting caught would mean the end of my life, so as the one running, I couldn’t relax at all.
I don’t think there’s any other game of tag as bad for the heart as this.

Well, though, my win is basically guaranteed.
The moment I got on this train, it’s set that I’ll arrive at Toyohashi first, and once I transfer to the Shinkansen there, the rest is in the bag for me.

The only concern is that the fastest Nozomi doesn’t stop at Toyohashi, but even if I end up on a Hikari or Kodama, the chance of her getting ahead of me at Shin-Yokohama is next to nothing.

Unlike me, who researched escape routes like crazy last night, Satori has zero knowledge about trains.
There’s no way she, who didn’t even know how to go through the gates until yesterday, could outdo me.

The streets of Nagoya gradually receded into the distance.
The scenery changed in a whirlwind, and the distance between me and Satori was probably growing bit by bit.

That distance should be one she could never catch up to,

“……………………..”

So why is this?

Even though I should have escaped, I couldn’t suppress the unease in my chest.
An inescapable anxiety dominated my heart and wouldn’t leave my head no matter what.