Traveling With a Beautiful Girl - Chapter 5: Tokyo → Atami

“Let’s go shopping.”

As soon as the train arrived at Tokyo Station, Nanase said this.

“Are you buying a station lunch box?”

“Maybe your brain is 80% empty after all?”

“It’s less than before!”

“We’re going on a trip now, right? Don’t you think anything when you see I have nothing with me?”

“Ah…”

I realized and felt embarrassed. I’m either thoughtless or just not observant. My lack of experience in dealing with people becomes evident in situations like this. I can’t say anything about Nanase either. Tokyo Station’s Yaesu Underground Shopping Center was, in a way, a huge shopping mall. As expected from one of Japan’s largest terminal stations, many stores are still open even late at night.

First, Nanase bought a suitcase for the trip. Then, she bought underwear, clothes, cosmetics, and various other items that I can’t quite identify. Where was she getting the money for all this? I wondered but thought it would be impolite to ask, so I just assumed her parents were wealthy.

“Well, where should we go?”

Now fully equipped for an overseas trip, except for being in a school uniform, Nanase asked,

“Um, where should we go?”

“What were you planning?”

“Sort of just hopping on a train that felt right and getting off where I felt like.”

Nanase gave me a “are you serious?” kind of look.

“At least let’s decide on a destination. Even if we’re going from Shinjuku to Ikebukuro, taking the Saikyo Line or Yamanote Line makes a difference of more than 5 minutes.”

“We don’t have to be that precise.”

Well, I understood the desire to save time by taking the Saikyo Line. Unlike me, who preferred to act without worrying about the details, Nanase seemed to be the type to carefully plan her moves. It felt very fresh because her thinking was the complete opposite of mine.

“Do you have any places you want to go, Nanase?”

“Me? Um…”

Crossing her arms and thinking for a while, Nanase said:

“Heaven?”

“Somewhere in the present world, please.”

“Hmm… then how about Atami?”

“Quite a classic choice.”

“It can’t be helped. When I think of a trip, I think of hot springs, and it just popped into my head.”

“Did it bubble up like a hot spring?”

“Do you think that’s clever?”

“I don’t, so please let it go.”

“Like letting the water flow?”

“That’s actually pretty good.”

Nanase snorted with a proud expression.

“Alright, let’s go to Atami then.”

“Really? Just like that?”

Nanase’s eyes widened, like a child who’s just received an unexpected reward.

“If you want to go, we’ll go. That’s the kind of trip this is.”

Aside from the original purpose, I also want to accommodate Nanase’s wishes as much as possible. That way, she’ll likely have more fun on the trip and her mood will improve.

“I see… it’s a wandering trip, huh?”

“That’s right, a wandering trip. To get to Atami from Tokyo, should we take the Ueno-Tokyo Line?”

“Let’s take the bullet train. It’ll save us an hour.”

“That’s rushing it quite a bit.”

“Time is money. It’s better to buy time with money.”

“Someone who was trying to erase that time earlier is saying something”

“I’m in ‘living mode’ right now. I’ve put aside the values of ‘dying mode’ for the moment.”

What does she mean by “mode”? Well, I have some funds too, and it’s a special occasion, so why not? So, we boarded the bullet train and headed for Atami.

Surprisingly, we arrived in just about 40 minutes.

“I never thought we’d go from the afterlife to Atami.”

I’ll just ignore Nanase’s comment that left me at a loss for words. Even though it’s a tourist spot, it’s late at night, so the area around Atami Station is quiet. The situation of being so far from home without parental supervision at this hour makes my heart race for some reason.

“Let’s stay at a hotel tonight and prepare for tomorrow.”

“I already booked a business hotel near the station, so let’s go.”

“Aren’t you too prepared?”

“Takahashi-kun, you’re too unprepared. I got two separate rooms, so don’t get your hopes up.”

“What do you think I am?”

“Lust.”

“I’m not even a person, just a concept?!”

“Don’t make a scene. It’s a disturbance to the neighborhood. Let’s go.”

“Who’s to blame?”

I followed behind Nanase, who’s rolling her suitcase with a rumble, letting out a sigh.