Chapter 6

Hakade and Laurel had woken up, while Ana and Mia went to sleep. The clock showed four in the morning. The sun had yet to rise, but they were ready to depart. Hakade examined the route. They could reach 100 km/h on certain parts of the tracks, although some would require slower speeds.

“Is the route cleared?” Hakade asked. Laurel sat next to him, her fingers typing on the laptop’s keyboard.

“It’s clear.”

“We’re ready then?”

“We’re good to go.”

“Alright.”

Before departure, Hakade did some checks on the train using his flashlight. He would need to make a stop somewhere to do some secondary checks once the sun had come up.

The train honked its horns and began moving forward, its headlight cutting through the dark. As it began moving, a train approached, coming in from the other direction. It honked its horns and flashed its lights. Hakade returned the greeting. The train passed by in a flash.

“It's green all the way to Sankonomiya.”

“Alright.”

Hakade knew well how quickly that could change.

“How's traffic?”

“Not too much this early in the morning,” Laurel replied. “We shouldn't be seeing another train for a long while.”

One of the additional screens in front of Hakade showed a map of the tracks before him. Green tracks meant he could go there, while red meant his train couldn't, as some lines had different gauges or track types, preventing him from going there.

He couldn't see any orange lines, lines that couldn't be used due to temporary disruptions. He wished it would stay that way, but deep down he knew, eventually one of those lines would switch to orange.

Now that he accepted the quest, he had no option but to continue forward.

•••

Hakade didn't expect to run into a roadblock this early. Four hours into their journey, they arrived at Sankonomiya station. A small station nestled in between two mountains. People used to call it a hot springs town, thanks to the many hot springs surrounding the area.

An orange route section had appeared on the line heading east at Kangaku. Usually, depending on the type of disruption, Hakade could power through. Had it been some monsters or Mara, he could use either his ramming device or get out and use Scorpion. This time, it was regular maintenance of the tracks.

“You need to do the inspection, no?”

“Well, the inspection won't take an entire hour.”

It would be an hour before the planned completion of the repairs. Between Sankonomiya and the repair point took about twenty minutes of travel, which meant they had a minimum of forty minutes to spend.

“Do you want to take the girls to a hot spring?” Hakade asked.

“Is there enough time?”

“Repairs might take more time.”

Delays beyond a few minutes were rare, but Hakade never heard about the repairs finishing before the planned time.

“I mean, maybe you can learn something about Ann?”

Laurel paused, then said, “But that means leaving you alone on the train.”

Usually, two people remained on the train, just in case something happened.

“Well, yesterday you're alone, right?”

“In a major station, inside a walled city. Oh, and there's Ann, even if I don't trust her.”

“What? You want to stay here, then?”

Laurel tapped her chin. Hakade could tell she wanted to go to the hot springs. Chances to travel to natural hot springs had been limited ever since that day.

“We might not have this chance again,” Hakade teased.

“Then, what if we do find another hot spring along the way?”

“Then it's my turn to take a warm bath.”

Laurel seemed to ponder the subject. After a while, she sighed.

“Fine. Call us back the second something bad happens.”

“Don't worry. I'm not bold enough to fight anything on my own.”

Laurel closed her laptop and put it on the dashboard in front of her. She took her pistol, the same type as Hakade's, and headed out of the locomotive.

•••

There was no path between the locomotive and the passenger cars behind it, so Laurel needed to hop off onto the platform before heading back there.

She pressed a button and the door opened for her. Laurel knocked on Ana's and Mia's room. Mia was the first to wake up.

“Is something up?” Mia asked, still in her pajamas.

“Want to go to some hot springs?”

“Hot springs? Of course!” Her energy returned to her in an instant.

“Call Ana for me. I'm inviting Ann with us.”

“Okay!”

Laurel headed to the second car. To her surprise, Ann was awake, staring out at the mountains.

“Ann?”

“Ah, yes?” She turned her head back toward her.

Laurel found her mask unsettling. She would force her to take it off, if she could. Of course, that would be rude.

“There’s some maintenance work up ahead, so we'll be stuck in this station for a while. There are some hot springs, you want to come with us?”

“Thank you for your offer, but I must decline.”

Laurel had expected this response. She had her entire body covered. Maybe there was something she didn't want them to see. Laurel doubted she would do something as stupid as dipping into some hot springs.

“Suit yourself.”

The door closed. Back in the crew car, Ana had woken up. She yawned, heading to the kettle.

“Come on, we can make your coffee after we return.”

“No… My energy…”

Laurel dragged her off the car, while Mia followed behind them. They walked down the platform, heading to the small station building in the middle. The fare gate had disappeared completely, leaving a wide empty space in the station.

“Is Ann not coming?” Mia asked.

“No. Probably doesn't want us to see what's underneath her clothes.”

“... Something's… uncomfortable about her,” Ana murmured. She had given up on walking, letting Laurel drag her along.

They walked up a hill. A sign pointed toward a hot spring not far from them. Its letters had faded away, but Laurel could still see the directions if she paid enough attention.

“What do you mean?”

“Magic.”

Magic remained a mystery to all of them. It didn't exist back then. It just appeared one night, and some people achieved abilities that the human minds couldn't explain. Even Ana, who could use magic, couldn't explain it.

A system that had no rules, no rights and no wrongs. A fundamentally broken system that shouldn't have been a thing.

“It's… an unsettling feeling… but at the same time… not dangerous, I guess?”

“Unsettling but not dangerous?”

Ana nodded.

“It's as if… she's something greater than us all.”