65
Saturday had arrived. The time was 10:00 AM.
At this time between morning and noon, when there was nothing to do but many shops were opening as if by agreement, the train arrived at the station.
To be exact, the time was a little off, but there was nothing I could do about that.
I’ve heard that in the city, trains come every few minutes, but here, it’s good if they come within 30–60 minutes.
As I left the station while thinking such excuses, I decided to head to the meeting place.
“There really is nothing around here.”
I couldn’t help but mutter those words because they were the truth.
When meeting up on holidays like this, it’s usually in front of the station in light novels and anime, but there were a lot of people there from the morning and it was lively, and the main character who was a little late for the meeting might see the heroine being harassed, or he might be captivated by the sight of the heroine, who was dressed up differently than usual… That’s what often happens, I think.
However, that’s only possible because the setting of the story is in the city.
A local city in the countryside of Tohoku. It’s not a bedroom community or anything, and the people who are born there grow up there and stay in their hometown after getting a job or whatever, so it’s just a place with no development at all. It’s not like people are swarming all over the place.
In fact, there wasn’t a single person in sight after I left the station.
The station was desolate on holidays, and there was just a dilapidated bus parked in the rotary, with a few elderly people sitting in the one going to the hospital.
It’s a car-oriented society, so there were a few cars driving on the road, but there weren’t any large buildings in sight or department stores that would attract attention.
The only stores in sight were a bar and a convenience store. There wasn’t even a coffee shop to relax in.
Even if there was one, it would be in a run-down building run by an individual, so it would be difficult for students to go in. It was hard to designate it as a meeting place and wasn’t an easily accessible location.
I think it’s not good that there’s a sense of anxiety that outweighs the ease of going in, but there’s nothing I can do about it.
The shopping district a little further ahead has also almost turned into a shuttered street, with only bars lined up, so that’s not a place for students to hang out either.
In short, there’s nothing.
The town I live in is filled with a sense of isolation. There’s no future, and it’s clear that it will just slowly die. There’s no such thing as excitement in this town.
In class, people talk about wanting to go to the city when they go to college, and that makes sense.
They talk about the countryside on TV, but I don’t think there are many people who would want to stay in this world where they can’t get around without a car and can’t go anywhere.
I thought about that as I walked.
“But I don’t hate it that much.”
While I mutter to myself like this, no one hears me.
Even when I’m walking, I don’t pass anyone.
I can walk alone in the morning without worrying about anything, which is actually preferable to me.
I can understand why some people would hate a place like this and find it boring.
But for someone like me who doesn’t like socializing much, this isolated world wasn’t so bad.
Of course, it wasn’t good either, but I didn’t hate it enough to resist staying here.
As I walked for about 10 minutes thinking about this, I finally arrived at my destination.
It was a chain coffee shop that had recently opened in this city, a rarity here.
The exterior of the store was new, and even though it was an awkward time to eat, there were quite a few cars parked in the lot.
Everyone must be hungry for something new, I thought, and took out my phone before entering the store to send a message.
When I told her I had arrived, a short while later, a reply appeared on the screen.
Apparently, she was already inside. I went into the store and after a brief exchange with the clerk, I was led to the seat where she was sitting.
Well, it goes without saying, but she was there.
“Sorry, did I make you wait?”
When I asked, she moved her body slightly and slowly looked up at me.
There was a smartphone on the desk, but now she had a book spread out in both hands and seemed to have been reading it. It seemed that after replying to me, she immediately went back to reading.
“No, not really…Um, sorry. I just got curious about what happened next…”
Akane-san looked up at me with her face buried in the book she was holding.
The slight redness on her visible cheek was probably meant to hide her embarrassment.
I chuckled to myself, thinking that she really did love books.