Hidan no Aria:Volume6 Chapter4

4th Ammo: Flash Cannon

Butei Charter article 4: Butei must be independent.

Butei High's field trip follows this rule, making its students find lodging for themselves.

Because Reki will definitely stay with me, even at night, I, not willing to be mocked by my classmates...booked an isolated hotel in northeast Kyoto, at the forest near Mount Hiei, online. After all, the site said that pets are OK.

We took a minibus, going along the driveway, disembarking at a desolate night path...

Standing there all alone, the hotel, "Bee's child", had a retro appearance, and personally, I liked it.

If she was a normal high school student, she'd definitely scream, "I don't want to stay at such an old place!" However, Reki, wearing her dress, her Butei High uniform in a paper bag...didn't say anything. I'm so glad that, at times like these, I don't need to worry about her.

*Clatter Clatter*, I opened the sliding door at the entrance, and an unexpectedly young landlady welcomed us from inside.

"My, my. Welcome."

"Ah, um...I'm the Tohyama that reserved a place here online. I reserved two rooms...but, I'm a little short on money, so could you change one of the two rooms into a cheaper one?"

So I said to her...Wearing typical Japanese clothing, the landlady looked between Reki and I...

"My, my~, ufufufu."

Covering her mouth with her sleeve, she narrowed her eyes happily.

...?

"Okyaku-han, since that is the case, wouldn't it be fine if ya switched ta one room? Ya can stay together with yer girlfriend."

Fufufu. The landlady said so extremely happily. I waved my hands violently, saying,

"N-no, she isn't my girlfriend."

"I am his girlfriend."

Eh? I turned my head, and the person who had cut in was Reki.

Wh-what are you claiming to be?

"The hotel is the subject of the sentence, and the only other girl here is me. Therefore, the third person naming for such a situation would be 'she'." [1]

Her speech like that of a teacher's, the robot girl said these things as if putting forth a counterargument.

"Mmnnn, I'm so jealous about how innocent you two are~~. Saori is so jealous~~."

With a strange movement like that of a little girl, the landlady swayed left and right.

She seemed to be dancing in time with the pendulum affixed behind her.

Facing her, who, if I were to put her in a manga panel, was scattering hearts everywhere, the landlady--Saori-san

"Ah, no...she's a girl that's a little bit...that..."

I wanted to try explaining Reki to her, but...

"Fortunately, there aren't any other guests today, so I'll prepare a nice room for ya, OK?"

Saori spun around, daintily walking inside, bringing us in.

The "Room of the Western Front" that we had been led into was a luxurious 8-tatami room, the tatami completely new.

Aptly named, the walls of the room were decorated with vividly colored Nishijin, which looked like tapestries. [2]

In front of the silk was a vase, which looked big enough for someone to enter, raising the overall feeling of classiness.

This is an amazingly...good room. Almost too good.

Preferring Japanese-styled rooms to the rooms in modern city-hotels, I was extremely thankful to the landlady, who had given us such a high-class room for such a reasonable price, but...

The problem is, the fact that Reki is sharing a room with me.

For these few days, I had been living in Reki's room, but that was just a desolate emptiness. Rather than, "living" together with Reki, the mood was more like, "in the midst of battle."

So, I was able to somewhat convince myself, but--

Staying in the same room during a trip, however, the mood was completely different.

"..."

"..."

Reki and I were sitting next to the wooden table, eating the food that the landlady, Saori-san, had quickly prepared for us. It was delicious, but I was agitated to the point where I wasn't sure what I was eating.

(He-heavy, this atmosphere...)

Reki and I...for some reason...

Isn't this ambiance something like the "couple that ran away together for whatever reasons" atmosphere, so commonly found in old movies?

And, the majority of those would be, the so-called adult movies...and afterward, it will go into something where I can't help but avert my eyes, pushing the fast-forward button...that stimulating scene.

Ah...

(I may be alone with Reki, but because we have nothing to talk about...I'm thinking about these unnecessary things.)

*Stare* Looking in front of me, Reki, sitting up straight, was eating her meal from the right to left, just gradually eating, as if the taste was completely irrelevant.

In a short while, she had finished all the rice, next, she ate all the tempura, from then on, it was sashimi, and lastly, she drank the miso soup in one gulp.

"..."

Afterwards, having finished our meal, together, Reki and I put our cellphones, both out of charge, on top of the TV, and each of us plugged our respective phones into our respective chargers.

When I had released my cellphone because there was nothing that I could do...I ordered Reki to: "Sit at the wall," sleeping at the sliding door at the other end of the room.

Us two, completely silent, could hear the sound of crickets coming from outside of the paper walls...

In the silence of the long, autumn night, it stood out even further.

"..."

Following my orders, Reki was sitting at the wall, apparently resting after she had eaten, staying completely still.

...Even though she's wearing such a beautiful dress, she's still sitting upright.

Turning my back on Reki, who was in that kind of position, I fell asleep...

*Slide*

"Forgive my rudeness."

The sliding door in front of my eyes opened, and Saori-san, kneeling in the corridor, had made her appearance once again.

"--How was your meal?"

"Ah, yes, it was delicious. Thank you for the meal."

Completely caught off guard, I sat up straight, slightly panicked, and Saori-san, seeing the distance between Reki and I--

She made an expression: "I grow tired of this."

"If yer completely finished with ya meal, then feel free ta take a bath. Because, today, both of ya are my only customers...You can use the hot springs for a while."

A bath...?

Flashing a face at me which said Give it your best shot, because of Saori-san's expression--

I had a bad feeling about this.

Confirming my premonition, the hot springs at the hotel didn't have any signs with "Men's bath", or "Women's bath".

In short, this was a mixed bath.

--Mixed hot springs.

For me, a no-man's land.

When I had strode into the ICBM hangar in EU, I was completely unarmed...and now, this was like entering there naked.

But, today was quite hot, so I had sweated a little, so I had no choice but to go bathe.

According to what Saori-san had said, there were no other customers, so there was no danger of being surrounded by any hostiles (= women).

"Reki, you, absolutely, cannot come in here. Absolutely forbidden. Absolutely."

In the room, having warned Reki--somehow, feeling as if I was the preview act for a comedy routine--I headed towards the hot springs.

Thankfully, this hotel had a service where Saori-san would wash our clothes for us while we were inside the bath.

As such, I put my clothes inside the laundry basket...*Rattle*, opening the sliding door...

Because I had confirmed that no-one was around, I walked to the bath that was formed by rocks and a bamboo wall, lowering myself into the water in order to wash myself.

(...)

This...feels amazingly good.

The temperature of the bath, lukewarm, was exactly to my liking, and besides that, the fact that I was alone allowed me to slip into a state of complete relaxation.

It was as if the fatigue from the journey was seeping out of me, into the bath.

Inside the steam of the bath, slowly wisping upwards, I...

(I wonder what everyone from Butei High is doing...we're on a trip, so they're probably having fun right now.)

...thought about my classmates, time flowing by.

After thinking about this and that, it had was already 9:00 at night.

Looking towards the stars, I saw that they were visible in the midst of the steam, and it was a beautiful sight. This is something that would be described as 'elegant'.

*Buzzz*....*Buzzz*...

That was the sound of insects from the forest.

Hooo...Hooo

What I had heard from the faraway forest was the call of an owl. It had bee a while since I'd last heard it.