My youth romance is always confusing

"So? Where are we going?"

Looking at the two people who were struggling for a long time, I felt that we had to set off quickly.

Totsuka racked his brains and the last place name suddenly appeared in his mind.

"Got it, let's go to Chiba!"

"Ah, that one, yes, yes."

Zaimokuza also expressed his agreement.

"Huh? Going to Chiba? What for? Shopping? But if I buy things and let Zaimokuza carry them, it can be considered as exercise."

It seemed a little unbelievable at first, but if Hachiman could go shopping with Totsuka, he would certainly be more than happy to do so.

"What did you say? Hachiman? If we talk about going to Chiba in Chiba, then we must be going to Chiba Village!"

Zaimokuza threw a Pegasus Meteor Fist into the air, causing huge waves in his world.

But it looks funny from the perspective of others.

"How is that possible? When people in Chiba say 'go to Chiba', they should be going to Chiba Station, right?"

"No, Hachiman, it's not that exaggerated, but now Chiba Village has become a well-known place."

Totsuka agreed with Zaimokuza with a smile on his face.

"oh oh."

Since Totsuka said so, it must be true. What on earth happened to Chiba in the past few years?

An unknown fat guy pushed up his glasses.

"Hehe, that's the famous Chiba Village. Many people go there for the 'pilgrimage'."

"But 'pilgrimage' and the like are not just about literature—"

I was halfway through my sentence when I realized what Zaimokuza and the other two were talking about.

"It can't be your book."

"Of course, my works are also well-known, haha, although I am still single now."

Hey, hey, don't lead the topic to something so sad.

But I'm a married man now, oh hey.

I patted Zaimokuza's shoulder to comfort him.

"Come on, one day you will marry your favorite voice actor."

"Ah ha ha..."

Totsuka looked at the two of us and could only smile awkwardly.

"Chiba Village, Chiba Village."

After deciding where to go, I searched for the location of Chiba Village on the map on my phone.

"It's really quite far. It will take two or three hours to drive."

After finding the location, a bad look appeared on my face.

“I don’t have a car.”

"Me too."

I rubbed my sweaty forehead with the back of my hand.

"Then take my car and follow me back first."

After taking the two of them to the car, I sent a message to Yukinoshita saying that I might be back later in the evening.

They let the thinner Totsuka sit on the passenger seat, and then arranged the fatter Zaimoku to sit on the back seat, and then the three of them set off.

"By the way, do you two have nothing to do tomorrow? If you go out today, it might take five or six hours to go back and forth."

On the way, I casually chatted with the two of them to kill time.

"As for me, I have given my students exams these past two days, and I will be on holiday soon."

Giving students an exam? Did Totsuka become a teacher? That's amazing.

"I've already told the editor that I've got some inspiration and I'm going out to collect materials in the next two days. Don't disturb me!"

Zaimokuza proudly puffed out his well-proportioned chest muscles.

Time passed as we talked, and gradually, the peaks of the mountains appeared before us.

"Mountain! It's a mountain!"

“It’s really beautiful.”

"Oh! It's a mountain."

Including me, the three of us were instantly inspired to love the mountains.

Of course, for the people of Chiba who live day after day on the vast Kanto Plain, mountains are a very rare landscape.

Maybe you can occasionally see Mount Fuji when the weather is clear, but other than that, there is no other view of the mountains.

As the car moved forward, endless green hills slowly spread out before our eyes. The pure and clear summer sky and leisurely clouds, coupled with this beautiful scenery, are surely something that no Chiba citizen would refuse.

This journey was really a good decision.

Looking at the tall green mountains, I remembered where Chiba Village is.

It's a place I went to as part of a nature experience when I was in junior high school, but more importantly, it's where I first met the little girl Rumi Tsurumi. Of course, I heard this from Komachi.

While Zaimokuza and Totsuka were looking around, we arrived at our destination.

Although I was prepared, the fragrance of flowers and plants, which was completely different from that in the city, still made my whole body involuntarily excited when I got off the car and hit my nose.

"Chiba, Chiba, Chiba Village!"

Didn’t you see that a certain fat guy was so excited that he was dancing with joy?

"Hey, Zaimokuza."

Far away from the three of us, we could clearly see several groups of people.

Maybe it's really like Zaimokuza said, that he is here for a pilgrimage to the holy land.

At noon, the three of us filled our stomachs with bread. After all, it was a last-minute decision and we couldn't prepare any barbecue or anything.

"hey-hey."

Thinking about what happened in high school, Totsuka became happy. It would be more accurate to say that he had been happy since he got off the bus.

The three of them walked slowly to the village's check-in area, and from afar they saw many elementary school students there.

"It's not summer vacation yet, how come there are elementary school students here now?"

Thinking back to my junior high school days, I think it must be a bit strange that there are so many people here.

"I don't know. Maybe it's because there are too many people during the summer vacation? Can't arrange it?"

Looking at those elementary school students, Totsuka felt that he had become much younger.

"Of course, don't underestimate the popularity of my work."

If you're not paying attention, Zaimokuza will start showing off again.

Maybe because he has only a few good friends around him, this guy has become more and more unscrupulous. He was a little better in high school, but he was so immature at that time, so it seems that this is almost the same.

"How are your thoughts on your new work?"

We're just taking a walk anyway, so why not find a topic to chat about?

"Hey~ Is Zaimokuza going to release a new work?"

Hearing this topic, Totsuka's eyes lit up.

——What? Even Totsuka is a fan of this guy's books? Otherwise, I'll ask for some royalties. Not much, 10 billion will be enough.

Not noticing Hachiman's sinister look, Zaimokuza thought about the results of the previous night.

"Well, under Hachiman's guidance, we have taken a new step!"

"You don't really want to write that."

Hey, hey, you will definitely be scolded if you write like that.

"That's okay. We can start from the beginning. It will be easier to write."

"You don't want to write one book for your whole life, do you?"

I mercilessly exposed Zaimokuza's somewhat dark thoughts.

"Ahem, how is that possible? I was a little tempted, but the editor said he was going to make a new game or something, so I was thinking if I could try writing multiple endings myself."

"Oh, is it so."

Then I'll just believe you.

"I'm really looking forward to it."

Looking at Totsuka's gleaming expression, I thought it would be best if I could charge him more in copyright fees.

"Ah, it's the stove!"

The three of us walked a little further and saw an outdoor cooking stove on the hillside.

Will this thing still be used ten years later?

"so good."

It seems that Totsuka is lost in his memories again. Is this guy too obsessed with the past today?

“It’s great that things were resolved well at that time.”

"Well."

Totsuka changed the subject and brought up the topic related to me.

Although I don't have that memory, I know what he was talking about, and it must be about 'Tsurumi Rumi'.

In Chiba Village, I solved the issue of Tsurumi Rumi's interpersonal relationships, although it seems that the guy still has few friends now.

"Yes, that's right."

I didn't want to reveal my true identity, so I could only make excuses.

"Ok!"

Hachiman and Totsuka talked about the past. Although Zaimokuza had never been here, as an author, he did not stop his pilgrimage to the holy land.

"Hey, you two, come and look, there's a stream ahead!"

Before we knew it, Zaimokuza had left the two of us and walked away to a far place.

"You walk really fast."

"Of course, I haven't forgotten that the purpose of this trip is to lose weight, and having fun is just a side job."

"Don't say such cool things, damn it."

Thanks to today's good weather, the water surface is sparkling, as if gold has sunk to the bottom of the water, making it hard to open one's eyes.

I walked to the river and put my hand into the water. The hot weather made the cold water give me a sense of contrast, which made me unconsciously like this feeling.

“Wow, it’s beautiful!”

Totsuka exclaimed in admiration when he saw the stream.

"What a shame I didn't bring a swimsuit."

What? Totsuka's swimsuit? I really want to see it.

Damn it, Zaimokuza, why didn’t you decide to come here earlier?

The three of us continued upstream along the stream.

The shadows of the trees covered us, and the air by the stream, which was not too hot, made us feel a little cool under the breeze. This situation was more like an outing than an exercise.

"It's nice to go out once in a while after staying at home all the time."

Even though I am a big homebody, I feel that today is a particularly good time.

Compared to the past two days when I was playing the King's Game with Ebina Miura and the others and there was a lot of intrigue, I seemed to be more relaxed now that I'm out with these two people.

But it was a good experience.

"Hey, Hachiman."

Totsuka suddenly spoke to Hachiman.

"what's up?"

"When we have time, let's go out and play together, okay?"

I have no intention of rejecting Totsuka's request, but if everyone comes together -

"Should we invite Miura and the others as well?"

"Well, of course, everyone who is still in Chiba can come out together whenever they are free."

"Oh, that's no problem."

I don't know why I agreed to Totsuka so easily. It's better to have less contact with outsiders this month, but deep down I don't reject the idea of ​​continuing to contact them. Are these people different from when I was in high school? Obviously, they and I had no intersection at all at that time.

Or, have I changed?

I thought that everyone's youth had long passed, and everyone had grown mature, becoming more and more independent and stronger. However, there are always people who want to hold on to their youth, shouting things like "I absolutely don't want to grow old."

This point should be the same for both Totsuka and Miura Ebina.

To me, youth is a sin and a lie. This is a fact I wrote down myself not long ago. But when I see people around me still clinging to the tail of youth, to be honest, I am still a little shaken.

Perhaps at some point in the past, I also longed for youth, but as those things happened, it was buried deeply by layer upon layer of soil, buried to the point that I didn't even realize it was still there, and then I abandoned and hated the so-called "youth" on my own.

But after hearing Totsuka's words, a certain place deep inside that never saw the sun loosened up once again.

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