After Reaching the Happy Ending, I Was Locked up by the Extremely Possessive Heroines I Had Conquered - Chapter 58: Finally to Tokyo

Chapter 58: Finally to Tokyo

The green car was surprisingly quiet.

The passengers felt different from those in the regular cars—salarymen in obviously expensive suits, an old lady slowly reading a book, and others like that.

The people came from all walks of life, but they all carried a calm air about them.

At the very least, there probably wasn’t anyone else as suspicious as us, connected by handcuffs.

Feeling out of place, we still sat down side by side in the seats I had reserved.

I opened the table, lined up the canned coffee and chikuwa chips I had bought at the Toyohashi kiosk, and let out a long breath.

The footrest gently caught the tiredness in my feet, and the reclining seat sank in as if wrapping around my body.

So this is the green car. It was definitely comfortable enough to make paying extra feel worth it.

If possible, I wanted to relax like this all the way to Tokyo Station.

Thinking that, I glanced sideways, and Satori kept silently staring out the window without a word.

The scenery outside changed rapidly.

From city to mountains, then from mountains to a new city again.

There were many similar views, but not one was exactly the same.

That was only natural.

The feel of each town was different, the people living there were different—everything was.

That was what made a town a town, a region a region, and human life what it was.

“…………………………………”

Watching that scenery, what on earth was she thinking?

I was curious, but somehow it felt rude to speak up now. It seemed like anything I said would just become noise.

So I kept staring out the window the same way she did.

How much time passed after that?

The train quickly left Aichi and entered Shizuoka, passed several tea fields, and finally Mount Fuji drew near.

“That’s… Mount Fuji?”

“Yeah.”

In my view stood its peak, towering vastly with nothing in the way.

Not a single cloud covered it; the sunlit summit glowed mysteriously and carried a grandeur that overwhelmed everyone who saw it.

“…Amazing.”

Satori whispered softly.

There was only one emotion on her face.

—Awe.

It was her first time seeing Mount Fuji from outside the island. Japan’s pride, its majestic presence, the scenery itself—it all clearly moved her deeply.

As proof, she kept her mouth slightly open, hand pressed against the window, staring intently as if devouring it with her eyes.

“Amazing! It’s this big!”

“Yeah. Worth seeing, right?”

“Yes. Definitely worth seeing.”

She nodded over and over but never looked away. She seemed to forget even to blink, burning the sight into her eyes.

I was glad she liked it so much.

Thanks to this experience, the world reflected in her eyes had widened just a little. She had stepped out of the island, and new values were forming.

Her thoughts, her sense of worth—everything was being reshaped.

But that was exactly what travel and adventure were all about.

And I wanted to keep having those adventures a little longer. Not just this time.

From now on, for the rest of my life, I wanted to see new sights together with them.

“—!”

That was why, once we reached Tokyo, what I had to do was already decided.

I would tell her how I really felt. I would lay bare my true thoughts without hiding anything. And I would seize the best future.

That—that was my choice.

—A once-in-a-lifetime proposal.

※

By the time Mount Fuji had faded into the distance, the train was approaching Odawara.

To the right stretched a vast sea.

The water sparkled under the sunlight, and seeing it from the train window made it feel especially beautiful.

Satori narrowed her eyes as she gazed at it.

Feeling a little hungry, I opened the chikuwa chips I had bought in Toyohashi and washed them down with the canned coffee.

The combination wasn’t exactly great, but eating on the Shinkansen gave it a special feeling. This too was an experience you could only get while traveling.

“………………”

Maybe because of the crunching sounds, Satori silently turned toward me.

“Want some?”

I held out the whole bag, and she nodded a few times.

She took it and put some in her mouth.

“Tasty.”

“Good to hear.”

“I skipped lunch, so it really hits the spot.”

“You skipped lunch?”

That surprised me, but then I remembered she had been swinging on the swings while I ate lunch.

Swinging hard enough to skip a meal—Satori’s actions were still full of mysteries.

An ordinary person like me could never understand them. As expected from one of the three great families.

“Then when we get to Tokyo we have to eat lots of good food.”

We needed to make up for skipping lunch by filling up at dinner.

That was a kind-hearted suggestion, but…

“We’re turning right back, though?”

Satori said it like it was the most obvious thing.

“…Tokyo Station has tons of delicious food inside?”

“The island has delicious food too?”

“Don’t you get tired of the same things all the time? Sometimes you want junk food, right?”

“Home cooking is best. Home cooking.”

She repeated it for emphasis. She really loved her hometown too much.

But this is an age of diversity. I wished she would accept new things a little more and go global.

While having that slightly heart-straining conversation, we steadily drew closer to Tokyo.

We passed Shin-Yokohama, cut straight through Kanagawa Prefecture, and finally reached the border.

I spotted the Tama River railway bridge, crossed it in no time, and suddenly tall buildings towered all around us.

Buildings as far as the eye could see.

This was completely different from Black Tide Island covered in plants or the view of Mount Fuji. Pure big-city atmosphere.

Even though the sun had set, everything outside was brightly lit, almost like daytime.

While I was captivated by the changing cityscape, the train slowed down and the announcement played.

“We will shortly arrive at Tokyo, the final stop.”

Prompted by the announcement, the other passengers started getting ready to disembark.

Some organized their luggage, some returned their seats to the upright position, and some hurried to the restroom.

In the middle of all that, we just stared at each other in silence.

This journey ended here.

I didn’t know what would happen from now on, but at least the goal of leaving the island and coming to the capital had been achieved.

But this wasn’t the end. If anything, it was the beginning.

The start of a new life from now on.

—Tokyo Station.

This was both the endpoint and the starting point.