Chapter 27: It's Aomori, after all

Thursday, 15 May, 20XX - Part 2

“Heee, so this is what Aomori is like,” Yui commented.

We drove past Aomori Park which featured a thin clocktower made out of wood. After making a right turn, we saw the famous triangle shaped building located at the waterfront.

“Haruto, look. That’s the famous triangle building.”

“It’s called the ASPAM Building.”

“ASPAM?”

“I think it’s a tourism information center.”

“Isn’t it a bit big for a tourism information center?”

Yui was right. It was easily one of the tallest structures in the area. It was impossible to miss.

“I guess that makes it easy for tourists to find.”

“You think so?”

“We are tourists, and we found it.”

Yui burst out laughing.

“Mh, mh! That’s true. Let’s go in?”

“Sure.”

We parked the car in the car park next to the ASPAM building.

“This is seriously bigger than anything else here,” Yui said, gazing up at it. “What’s the point of making something this big? Does Aomori get a lot of tourists?”

“Maybe they need something other than apples to attract tourists.”

“…that’s kind of mean, Haruto.”

“Sorry.”

“Hmm, but I guess it’s kind of true, isn’t it?” Yui said.

“What do you mean?”

“Most foreigners will fly to Tokyo, and from there they will do the Golden Route. Most tourists go south, not north. And if they do go north, they will go directly to Hokkaido. The Tohoku region kind of gets left behind, right?”

“That’s right. How do you know that?”

“I had to interact with lots of foreigners during one of my part-time jobs. My English is pretty good, you know?”

“Huh, I didn’t know that.” I paused for a moment.

Something didn’t make sense.

“Wait a moment, Yui. If your English is so good, then why did you always rank at the bottom in English class?”

She averted her eyes. “I just didn’t have time to study, okay? That textbook stuff is kind of awkward. No one in the real world talks like that.”

Considering her home environment, it would’ve been difficult for her to get any studying done.

Inside, there were lots of shops selling local delicacies as well as an observation deck on the upper level. We explored the shops, had lunch and bought more snacks than we could carry.

“I’ve always wanted to do this,” Yui said as we struggled to carry our purchases to the car.

“You mean buy so much stuff that we can’t carry all of it?”

“Yup! I never got to go shopping when I was a little.”

So this was a form of revenge spending for Yui. After years of suffering because of her mother, she wanted to claw back everything that had been missing in her life.

After we had somehow put everything in the car, I looked at the mountain of snacks and delicacies.

“Can we even finish all of it before it expires?” I asked.

“Probably not.”

“It feels a bit wrong to waste food like this.”

“That’s true…”

We had boxes of dried scallops, dried mochi, a whole bag of apples, several liters of apple juice, dried sweet potatoes, apple butter sandwiches, and fresh pudding.

“We can just eat the fresh stuff first and the dry stuff later,” I said.

“Mh, that’s a good idea.”

Part of me was worried that the car wouldn’t be able to take all that extra weight. It was a tiny little Kei car. The axels weren’t going to break, right?

“Wait, most of the stuff we bought is some form of apples.”

Yui shrugged. “It’s Aomori, after all.”

After our shopping tour, we drove around the city for a little while, then found a ryokan at the edge of the city. We parked outside the ryokan, debating if we should go inside.

“Are you sure that we can stay at a ryokan?” I asked.

“It’s fine~ The police aren’t looking for us anymore, so checking in shouldn’t be a problem.”

“It’s cheaper if we stay at a business hotel.”

Yui was silent for a moment and then said, “I really need a bath. A big bath. Big enough to swim in.”

“You’re not supposed to swim in a bath.”

“I know…but I still wanna try it.”

“Maybe you can swim if there’s no one else.”

“Okay~”

We entered the ryokan and asked if they had any rooms available. My heart was beating fast. We had put on our ‘university student’ outfits, but there was still a chance that they might refuse us entry.

Fortunately, the front desk staff didn’t seem to be too bothered by our appearance. The ryokan appeared quite empty. It didn’t look like they had many staff left.

We picked the largest room they had. It was quite expensive, but after camping for so long, Yui insisted we stay in the best room this ryokan offered.

“This room is bigger than the entire first floor of my parents’ house!” Yui exclaimed.

She lay down on the tatami floor and rolled around.

“We’re too old for this kind of thing.”

“Ehhhh? Haruto, you try it too! It’s really fun. Come on.”

She lay on her back, stretched out her arms and beckoned me for me to join her on the ground. I gulped. Since when had Yui become so defenseless?

I lay down next to her. The back of my hand grazed against hers.

W-Wait…

It didn’t occur to me until now, but why were we staying in the same room? Sharing the same space in the tent and in the car was done out of necessity. And we shared the same room at the onsen inn because I couldn’t book two rooms on my own.

“Yui, wouldn’t it be better if I got my own room?”

“Ehh? But that’s a waste of money! This one is big enough for both of us.”

“Okay…”

She defeated me with a single answer.

I wonder if I will be able to get any sleep tonight.

A few hours later, the staff served dinner in our room. It was an extravagant meal including wagyu beef shabu-shabu hotpot, sashimi and a small grilled fish. It was the best meal we’ve had on this journey – no, it might be the best meal I’ve ever had in my entire life.

While we were eating, Yui began to cry. Tears rolled down her cheeks and fell into her rice bowl.

“Yui, what’s wrong?”

“I didn’t know food could taste this good. So this is what wagyu tastes like. I feel so glad to be alive.”

I got up and sat down next to her.

“Haruto?”

I used my sleeves to wipe away her tears.

“Heh-heh~ You’re like a mother.”

“It’s what my mom did when I cried as a kid.”

“That’s nice…” She smiled forlornly.

After dinner, we went downstairs to play table tennis in the activity room. We worked up a sweat, so we decided to take a bath.

Based on the number of people in the activity room and in the bath, it seemed that the occupancy rate was less than fifty percent currently.

Maybe most people were hiding in their homes, afraid to take a holiday. Or they had fled to remote corners in the countryside.

Friday, 16 May, 20XX - Part 1

We woke up around noon the next day.

When I saw the light outside, I panicked for a moment because I thought we had missed the 6pm deadline to meet the person in charge of the end of the world.

That was the reason why we came all the way to Aomori.

We had lunch for breakfast, took a bath and then headed out in the afternoon.

I put in the GPS coordinates into the car’s navigation system. It guided us to the edge of the city.

“Huh…I wonder where it’s taking us,” Yui said.

We stopped outside an abandoned middle school. The residential buildings nearby had all been abandoned. It felt like a ghost town.

“A middle school?” Yui asked.

“I guess they want to meet here.”

We got out of the car. Fortunately the front gate had been left unlocked.

It was 5:30pm. Half an hour until the message said we would meet.

We explored the empty hallways, the dying afternoon sunlight making the dust in the air visible. Eventually, we sat down in a classroom.

It was 5:55pm.

There was still no sign of anyone showing up. No car. No helicopter. No alien spaceship.

I sat behind one of the desks, my stomach feeling both light and heavy at the same time.

5:59pm.

I wonder what that person is like. Will they appear out of thin air? Maybe they weren’t human at all.

6pm.

Yui got up and walked to the front of the classroom. She looked at me and smiled.

She opened her mouth and spoke.

“It’s nice to meet you.”