Chapter 30: Meeting Again (Patreon)

On the morning after the harbor incident, Kusanagi Godou was surprised.

The local newspaper centered around Cagliari and southern Sardinia, which he saw at the hotel, did not carry any reports about the disaster that had occurred the day before.

There was an article with a photo of the fire at the harbor, but after asking the English-speaking hotel owner, he only got the answer: "Yesterday, there seemed to be a fire in the port area. I heard it was due to a gas leak... You got caught up in it too, right? Such bad luck!"

Then, the owner comfortingly patted his shoulder.

No one he asked at the hotel knew anything about the giant boar or the tornado.

Although he wanted to question them further, his limited language skills ultimately forced him to give up.

Then, with a puzzled heart, Godou settled his bill at the hotel and checked out.

Everything that happened yesterday should have been real; after all, he was there.

And the crack on the stone slab was also proof.

In short, he decided to go to the scene first. He headed towards the square where the cathedral was located, and what met his eyes was the shattered cathedral and the destroyed streets.

At that moment, the relevant town workers were all silently engaged in restoration work. Who knew how long it would take to return things to their original state?

"This really wasn't a dream..." Godou muttered, looking at the devastation.

Next, he went to the harbor and found the situation there even worse.

Walking alone through the harbor, which had been ravaged the night before, he seemed to want to encounter the few people he had met yesterday again.

What happened to that elegant young man?

And that golden-haired girl—was she injured in the end?

What about that giant boar?

Because the plot had changed, Godou, of course, didn't run into anyone.

In the end, unfamiliar with the place and people, and finding nothing, he could only continue on his journey.

Godou's destination was a certain town in the center of Sardinia. From Cagliari, it should only take about two or three hours by train or car, so he wanted to take the train.

But he had already waited in the waiting room for almost an hour, and there was still no sign of the train. Italian trains are always late; it seemed the rumors were true. He could only wait bitterly, lost in thought.

Just when even he was growing impatient, accompanied by clattering noises and screeching brakes, the train slowly pulled in. Godou finally stood up from the chair he'd been sitting on for dozens of minutes.

After successfully buying a ticket, the scenery seen from the train...

Basically, outside the window were endless grasslands or boundless wilderness.

Along the way, he saw flocks of sheep and shepherds grazing on this vast land several times.

Sheep herding was one of Sardinia's main industries.

Amidst this scenery, he could occasionally see some ancient fortresses built with piled stones. These were remnants of fortresses built by prehistoric locals and had now become important tourist resources.

After changing trains once along the way, he finally arrived at a town on the outskirts.

He had departed from Cagliari station just past noon and arrived at his destination three hours later. After a bumpy bus ride lasting several dozen minutes, he finally reached the small town.

In the afternoon, having arrived in the town, Kusanagi Godou decided to find a hotel first before asking for directions and making his visit. He wasn't sure if he could find the other party's house immediately, so he was prepared to search for one or two days continuously.

Since it was a holiday, his time was quite ample.

"...I hope there's a vacancy at a hotel somewhere. If not, I'll have to find a place to stay; I can't exactly sleep on the streets, right?" Godou muttered to himself, looking around.

There were no particularly striking tourist attractions; it could only be described as a very ordinary and common rural town.

Close to mountains and hills, it was full of natural scenery, but it was still a town with little to sell itself on.

Judging from the scenery visible from the train, this seemed to be the standard for towns in Sardinia.

"Getting around this island by car would probably be easier. Speaking of which, I'm so hungry..." He had only eaten bread as a substitute for a proper meal on the way, so Godou was particularly hungry now.

However, finding a hotel went surprisingly smoothly, and asking for directions was the same.

Spreading out the town map, he asked passersby for directions, using clumsy English to tell them his destination. When holding the map and asking pedestrians how to get there,

due to the language barrier, he couldn't convey the finer details to the other party.

But even so, he managed to grasp the general direction and set off towards it.

If he got lost or took a wrong turn, he could just use the same method to ask pedestrians for directions again.

After repeating this four times, on the fifth attempt, he finally encountered a pedestrian who could speak Japanese.

Twenty minutes later, he arrived at his destination—a stone house with a small courtyard near the forest. He had finally found the place.

Bang bang bang~

"Is anyone home? I'm Kusanagi Godou from Japan!"

Click~

"Who is it?"

"Huh?! It's you again!?"

"..."

What he hadn't expected was that as the door opened, the person emerging from inside was none other than that handsome, elegant young man.

They had met again.