Traveling With a Beautiful Girl

“…I must find her.”

I broke into a run.

Holding on to the faint hope that she might still be nearby.

She had gone to bed around 10 p.m. yesterday.

Considering Nanase’s strict sleeping schedule, she would have been awake by 4 or 5:30 in the morning.

I cursed the depth of my sleep, wondering why I hadn’t woken up.

The current time was 8 a.m.

The faint hope was dissipating, but I ran anyway, clinging to a shred of hope.

I ran around, attracting puzzled looks from many people.

The air was humid from yesterday’s rain, and I was quickly drenched in sweat.

Yet I kept running, searching. After searching around Bentenjima Station and beginning to run out of breath… I was beginning to come to terms with the fact that she probably wasn’t in the area around the station when disappointment set in.

“That’s right…”

I had heard somewhere that people visit places they have a strong emotional attachment to before they die. Could it be that Nanase is in one of the places we visited on this trip?
I started thinking based on an intuitive flash of insight.

Where did Nanase leave a strong impression during this trip?

Two candidates came to mind. One was the street piano at Hamamatsu Station, where we had a fateful reunion with Kanade-san. The other was the observatory at the summit of Tenjō-yama, where we saw the breathtaking view of Mount Fuji. Once I decided on the course, I immediately got on a train to Hamamatsu.

The regularity of train schedules is an advantage, but I was frustrated that we couldn’t arrive faster just this once. When I arrived at Hamamatsu Station, the time was past 9 a.m. After passing through the Bullet train Shinkansen ticket gates, I went to the street piano.

Nanase wasn’t there.

An unknown middle-aged man was playing the piano.

No one else was playing the piano. I stood still for a while.

I was somewhat shaken by the mistake in my first judgment.

“If you fail, you fail! Hurry up and move on!”

Ruka-san’s voice echoed in my head, bursting from the depths of my memory.

“Damn it…”

I turned around and headed for the next destination.

I realized that it would take more than four hours to get from Hamamatsu Station to Tenjō-yama at this time.

I would just barely miss the bus heading towards Lake Kawaguchi from Mishima Station.

Time was precious.

Thinking so, I got into a taxi as soon as I arrived at Mishima Station by bullet train.

“To Tenjō-yama!”

“Tenjō…? Uh, sorry, where is that?”

“It’s a mountain in Yamanashi Prefecture, near Lake Kawaguchi.”

“Oh, Lake Kawaguchi… Lake Kawaguchi?”

The driver gave me a suspicious look, clearly puzzled by the fact that a high schooler like me was asking to go to a mountain beyond the prefecture on a weekday afternoon.

“A family member is critically ill, and I need to get home quickly.”

In a way, I wasn’t lying.

She wasn’t a family member, but her condition was near critical.

“Oh, I see, I understand.”

Thanks to my serious expression, the driver did not ask further and inputted the destination into the car navigation system and set off. I sighed in relief.

The taxi ride took a little over an hour, seemingly faster due to considering my words about a critically ill family member.

“Here we are, sir.”

The meter showed about three times the fare from Tokyo to Hamamatsu by bullet train, but I wasn’t in a position to worry about it now.

I was glad I was making money on YouTube as I paid the fare and started running again.

I boarded the ropeway that Nanase and I had taken and headed for the mountain top.

[Can I open the window?]

[Sure, but is it that hot?]

[I just feel like feeling the wind a bit.]

The conversation I had with Nanase four days ago repeats in my mind. Now, I understand what Nanase meant when she wanted to open the window back then. I arrived at the summit. As soon as I get off the ropeway, I rush to the observatory.

[Ara, Takahashi-kun is here.]

[Who are you calling a tanuki (raccoon)?]

I saw the rabbit and tanuki mascots that I saw with Nanase.

[What was the story again, the one about Kachi-Kachi Yama?]

[It’s about a rabbit who kills a tanuki in place of an old man. The tanuki had killed an old woman.]

[Was it such a violent story!?]

I see the explanation board of Kachi-Kachi Yama that I read with Nanase. Each time, my chest hurts as if it’s being ripped apart. I’m climbing the stairs to the observation tower that Ruka-san showed me again.

I reached the top floor. Nanase wasn’t there either.

“…I figured.”

My small mutterings dissolve into the air just like my hopes.

At the very end of the observation tower. I walk to the protruding area that resembles a diving board. It’s the place where I overlooked Mount Fuji with Nanase. I casually look at Mount Fuji. There’s no sense of awe. All I feel is emptiness and impatience. Mount Fuji, which looked so beautiful when I saw it with Nanase, now seems somewhat faded.

It’s past 1 PM. It’s lunchtime, but I don’t feel the slightest bit of hunger. head is filled with thoughts of Nanase.

“Damn it…!!”

Along with the curse, I strike my fist against the railing.

I knew it. I knew it was impossible to find a single girl in this vast Japan with just myself. knew it from the beginning. I’ve been aimlessly searching, clinging to the baseless assumption that there might be a chance, and all I’ve done is waste time.

I should have contacted the police from the beginning.

“Damn it… Damn it…!!”

Thud, thud, I hit the railing with my fist over and over. My anger exploded, and it won’t stop.

Again, I let my emotions get the better of me, and I acted without thinking. As a result, I’m not able to solve anything and I’m left holding my head in my hands.

How many times have I gone through this pattern? Nanase must have teased me about it countless times.

Damn it, you should learn your lesson!

The irritation with my foolish self. The impatience of not being able to find Nanase. Various negative emotions mix up in my heart and I feel like throwing up.

“If it were Nanase…”

Nanase wouldn’t have made the same foolish mistakes as me. She would have carefully thought things through, formed highly probable hypotheses, acted intentionally, and solved the problem.

Just like she’s always done.

“Is it… all over?”

I mutter.

When I put it into words, I feel like it’s really over. My legs feel as if they’ve lost all strength, and I slump down.

It might be too late. Nanase might no longer be in this world.

I might never see Nanase again.

Should I give up?

Should I just forget everything and go home?

All sorts of unpleasant thoughts cross my mind. A sticky, unpleasant feeling invades my chest. My vision, my thoughts turn pitch black and then…

[I’m fine by myself.]

Last night, the image of Nanase’s teary-eyed smile surfaced in my mind.

“Don’t mess with me!!”