novelraw Chapter 751: Tokyo
Chapter 751: Tokyo
The driver's voice came from the driver's seat. Fisher probably didn't know what exact price this was either, so he casually pulled out the corresponding numbers from the wallet he'd had since arriving in this world and slapped them onto the driver's palm. Amidst the pained expression of Jasmine pursing her lips beside him, he pulled her out of the car. The moment they opened the door, what greeted them was the signboard in front of the building: "Kyoto Station."
Looking at the train station sign, Jasmine opened her mouth, turned her head to look at Fisher, who had opened a map and was casually looking for directions beside her. After repeated hesitation, she couldn't help but ask,
"Teacher Fisher... are we really going on a trip right now, even while school is in session?"
"Ah..."
Actually, anywhere was fine. Fisher merely felt that no matter what, they couldn't stay here anymore, staying in the same city as Helaire, who had presumably made full preparations.
Thus, Fisher nodded and laid the unfolded map in his hands before her. He wasn't familiar with the geography of this other world, so he intended to let Jasmine decide their destination,
"Jasmine, is there anywhere you want to go?"
"Eh, me?"
Jasmine hesitantly took the map handed over by Fisher. Instead of picking a destination, she looked at Fisher and asked again,
"Teacher Fisher... are we really going to...""Alright, hurry up and choose, Jasmine... anywhere is fine. Just the two of us, okay?"
Fisher let out a long breath and raised his finger to lift the map she was holding a bit higher, bringing her attention back to the map.
Although she still had some concerns about leaving school to travel right now—both studies and Teacher Fisher's job were very important—since Teacher Fisher had said so, Jasmine obediently followed his train of thought to pick a place.
She extended her slender finger, first landing on "Kyoto" where they currently were, then traced eastward, sweeping past the cities along the way. Following the path her finger grazed, it was as if she was lighting up specks of light within her memories.
And right before her finger submerged into the ocean, her hand finally landed on the location deepest in her memory.
She opened her mouth, then said to Fisher with flickering eyes,
"Teacher Fisher... let's go here..."
Jasmine's tone also brought a fluctuation along with it, making Fisher involuntarily lean closer to her, following the outline of her finger to look at the map. At the tip of her finger, the name of the city finally appeared.
"Tokyo?"
"Mm!" Jasmine pursed her lips and nodded, continuing, "I heard Tokyo is very big and incredibly prosperous... There are many people, and the people there are very rich, with lots of delicious food... Previously, many rich people from Tokyo came to play in Kyoto, spending very generously. I heard them say even America across the ocean was almost bought by them..."
"Mm..."
Fisher stroked his chin. A distant memory flashed, reminding him that previously, Asuka Karasawa seemed to have also mentioned this place name; it was where she once lived.
He was indeed somewhat moved. Firstly, out of curiosity about the place Asuka lived, and secondly, perhaps Asuka's memories would conflict with the currently fictionalized scenario in the dream. Maybe going to that place could alleviate the degree of the dreamscape's deepening?
In short, after mulling it over, Fisher finally nodded, tilted his head toward the train station, and said,
"Alright, then I'll go buy the tickets."
"Okay... Oh right, we left in such a hurry, we haven't even had time to ask Mom for money... I heard expenses in Tokyo are very high. Also, we have to call them later to let them know... Let me see, I think I brought some with me... right."
As Jasmine spoke, she pulled out a cute little bear wallet from an inner pocket of her coat. However, the crisp clinking sound of the scattered coins inside clearly indicated she was short of money.
Fisher had quite a few bills in his teacher's wallet. He took them all out, amounting to nearly a hundred thousand yen, but he couldn't distinguish the specific purchasing power. Having eaten and lived at the temple for the past few weeks, the places to spend money were few and far between, so he had to ask Jasmine,
"Is this much enough?"
"Mm... if it's just for a trip, there shouldn't be any problem, Teacher Fisher."
"Then that's enough. I'll go buy the tickets."
"Mm-hmm..."
Fisher took Jasmine to the ticket office to buy train tickets, purchasing tickets for a train departing just after 9:00 AM. In the waiting room, Fisher's mind still hadn't relaxed.
He was truly worried that Helaire, who hadn't been seen for weeks, would pop out from somewhere and spring a huge surprise. Therefore, he preferred to stay nervously glued to Jasmine at all times rather than relax his vigilance and lose the whole game.
In contrast to Fisher's complete concentration, the oblivious Jasmine appeared extremely relaxed. Basically, apart from a hint of anxiety on her face when she was about to report to Xuan Can and Gou Wen via the public telephone, she had already fully entered travel mode.
And the response from Xuan Can and Gou Wen seemed far more open-minded than Fisher had imagined; they surprisingly agreed.
"..."
"Mm-hmm, Teacher Fisher and I are at the train station right now..."
"What about the tickets? What time are the tickets for?"
"9... 9:25."
"How many days are you going for?"
Holding the receiver, Jasmine turned her head to look at Fisher beside her, who was holding two bottles of strawberry milk, silently asking for his opinion.
Fisher blinked and held up five fingers. Jasmine understood and nodded,
"Five days... we'll be back in five days."
"Alright... I'll have your dad transfer a bit of money to the card later. We still have Teacher Fisher's account details, it should be enough for you to use for five days."
"Okay, thank you, Mom!"
"Also..." Xuan Can's voice, which sounded clear to Fisher through the receiver, suddenly changed its tone. She spoke as if giving a warning, "Make sure you stay safe, understand?"
"Mom!!"
"...Beep, beep, beep..."
Jasmine, her face flushed red, slammed the receiver down. Amidst the female voice broadcast saying "Service completed" from the phone, Jasmine secretly glanced at Fisher before her, seemingly attempting to ascertain if he had heard Xuan Can's words just now.
However, Fisher merely handed the strawberry milk to Jasmine with a normal expression, smiling as he said,
"We have a train ride of almost two hours, it's almost time to board."
"Mm-hmm!"
Holding the strawberry milk, Jasmine's eyes shone brightly as she looked at the crowds bustling about. Following the broadcast information, they went to get their tickets checked and boarded the train.
"Hello passengers, welcome aboard the Tokaido Shinkansen. This train is the 'Memory', bound for Tokyo Station. The stops will be Kyoto, Nagoya, Shin-Yokohama, and Shinagawa... This is a completely non-smoking train. Those who need to, please proceed to the smoking room at the rear..."
Inside the car, Jasmine looked up, down, left, and right at the aisle and the seats they were about to occupy. Then, as if suddenly discovering something, she picked up a booklet from the seat. Turning around, she smiled at Fisher and said,
"Teacher Fisher, look at this quickly!"
Fisher motioned for her to sit in the seat closer to the window while looking at the booklet full of Japanese text she was holding up,
"What is this?"
"Mm, looks like a Tokyo travel guide let behind by a previous passenger... Look, it has Tokyo Tower, Senso-ji Temple, and stuff..."
Fisher didn't recognize any of it, so he had to look down at the color images produced by some sort of copying technology.
"Speaking of traveling... Teacher Fisher, let's think of a specific travel plan right now!"
"A plan, is that necessary?"
"Of course it is..." Jasmine puffed her cheeks, raising a finger as she said, "A planned trip feels much better experience-wise, and we can also anticipate potential problems in advance. But we don't need to make it too complicated. I just want to have a preliminary expectation for this trip..."
As Jasmine spoke, she pulled out a pencil from the pocket of her coat, smiling as she traced on the travel brochure,
"If today is March 26th... we're going for five days. Today we'll enter the city area. After finding a hotel or whatever, we can go take a look at Tokyo Tower... March 26th, going to Tokyo Tower with Teacher Fisher... What about tomorrow? Teacher Fisher, look quickly, what should we do tomorrow..."
As Jasmine used the pencil to circle the picture of the red Tokyo Tower on the travel booklet and made annotations, Fisher also rested his chin on his hand. However, while Jasmine was looking down at the scenic pictures on the booklet, Fisher was purely looking at her.
"Jasmine, do you really want to go to Tokyo?"
"Eh? I... I can't really say I really want to... It's just that I seemingly never had the chance to visit many places in Tokyo before, so if there's a chance..."
As Jasmine spoke, she herself froze, not understanding why she suddenly said such words.
She had obviously never been to Tokyo even once, right?
Why did she have the illusion of having been there before?
However, the feeling of thinking about visiting those places wasn't bad. Even if she had been there before and didn't remember, she would still be very happy to be able to see them this time.
Jasmine shook her head, no longer dwelling on the thought, while Fisher also noticed her brief moment of distraction.
At this moment, the bullet train was about to depart. The wind outside the window was very quiet, preserving a trace of entrancement on Jasmine's face.
Fisher didn't say much. He merely reached out and pressed down on her hand, which was still on the booklet, speaking softly,
"Plans can't keep up with changes. Moreover, since it's a rare opportunity, we can go wherever you want to see when the time comes. If we stick to a limit of five days and make a plan, we might have to make compromises for certain things, don't you think?"
"I... suppose so, hehe."
Jasmine chuckled foolishly and rubbed the back of her head. Although she obediently put down the pencil used for planning, a new confusion arose on her face,
"Then what should we do during the time on the train?"
Fisher reached out and rubbed the corners of her eyes, sighing as he said,
"Recharge our batteries?"
Being rubbed made Jasmine feel a bit drowsy. Thinking carefully, it was still morning now. Normally, having math class at this time would definitely make her so sleepy she couldn't keep her eyes open. How come the moment she left school and the classroom, she became this excited?
Are math classes naturally a sleep aid?
However, reminded by Fisher, Jasmine really did find a trace of drowsiness. So she nodded, took the opportunity to squint her eyes, and comfortably leaned against Fisher's shoulder. Clenching her fists, she muttered to herself,
"Mm... true. We finally managed to come out on a trip, we need to rest up well so we won't be tired later and can visit more places..."
Fisher couldn't help but chuckle. Taking advantage of Jasmine's rest, he also turned to look up and down the aisle, repeatedly confirming the absence of that terrible feeling of being followed by Helaire.
But the train car was extremely quiet and cozy, accompanied only by the clear morning light and the sound of the rapidly advancing bullet train. As time passed, he also developed a bit of drowsiness, unable to resist turning back to look at the comfortably sleeping Jasmine.
Currently, her eyes were closed, a strand of black hair resting by her lips, making Fisher want to reach out and tuck it back for her. But halfway there, he paused, unwilling to disturb her sound sleep right now. So he also closed his eyes, gently resting atop her head, adopting a mutually reliant posture...
"Clack, clack, clack..."
The train wheels rolled, growing increasingly further from Kyoto and closer to Tokyo.
Beside them, the imagery on the semi-transparent enclosed train window flowed. Shadows fell opposite the morning light's projection, reflecting the mutually reliant figures on the seat.
Simply because Jasmine was sitting closer to the window, her figure was clearly visible on the windowpane, while Fisher, whom she leaned against, was somewhat blurry.
Upon closer inspection, the image of the young girl leaning against Fisher on the window seemed somehow... different from Jasmine?
The morning sun had already slanted, making the reflection on the window fall slightly behind Jasmine. It was as if it remained stuck in the past tense, gazing at Jasmine's shadow from afar.
Only that shadow maintained the same posture as Jasmine, sleeping soundly as mud, remaining nestled against Fisher, unwilling to wake up...
Looking closely, the face sleeping with tightly shut eyes amidst tangled black hair within the mirror-like windowpane belonged precisely to that lonely soul who had crossed over ten thousand years ago:
Asuka Karasawa.
"Clack..."
Ahead on the other side bathed in sunlight, a passenger suddenly found the sunlight glaring, so they raised a hand and pulled down the curtain hanging on that side's window, blocking the incoming sunlight from the outside.
The sunlight inside the car was interrupted. Silently and tracelessly, the shadow on the window that was slightly out of sync with Jasmine vanished without a trace, seemingly completely dispelled, or perhaps merging with the currently sleeping Jasmine...
"Wuwuwu, it was roughly like that, Teacher Helaire... Teacher Helaire, teach me! If... if I give up just like this, I definitely won't be able to sleep when I go back tonight! And not just today, I won't be able to sleep every single day!"
In the teachers' office, Helaire, holding a cup of coffee, looked somewhat helplessly at the Renee before her, who was holding her own head as if experiencing a splitting headache, yet her facial expression was on the verge of tears without any tears falling, only showing a face full of despair. For a moment, Helaire didn't know what to say...
Who told Renee that seeing her would instantly be like opening a dam's floodgates, experiencing the endurance of the past few weeks, the pleasure of thinking she was "about to succeed," and the resulting discrepancy of falling into an icy cavern the next instant all over again?
"Ah, ah... They left just like that. Do you think Teacher Fisher and Jasmine will secretly become... closer with each other? I... I can't accept it. Just thinking about it makes me want to grind my teeth to dust..."
"Mm..."
Helaire pouted, supporting her chin with her hand, speaking quite distressedly,
"Well, in this case, do you still want me to continue helping you?"
"At least... at least let me get to know Teacher Fisher more deeply before—eh?"
Renee's indignant expression suddenly froze upon hearing Helaire's words, then she hastily nodded, speaking sincerely,
"Yes."
Listening to Renee's currently adorably oblivious belated realization, Helaire felt her headache worsen. Her action of propping her chin with one hand became increasingly casual, only stopping when almost half her beautiful face sank into her palm. Her face also tilted slightly,
"Saying such things is truly something only the biggest loser among losers would say... It's like a pitiful little puppy subsisting on others' leftovers..."
"Th-this can't be helped either, right! Teacher Fisher left with Jasmine right in front of me!"
"Then I'll point out a path for you. Will you take it?"
"...Wh-what path?"
"Chase after him with me, and snatch Fisher back. How about it, going?"
Renee opened her mouth, hesitated for a moment, then grit her teeth and nodded,
"Going! But... how do we know where he and Jasmine went? Should we go ask Jasmine's parents?"
Helaire smiled slightly, stood up, picked up the paper bag placed on the floor beside her, shook her head, and said,
"No need... I always know where he is, just like he knows where I am, and whether I've caught up to him..."
Renee pseudo-understood, but roughly grasped Helaire's meaning. She clenched her fists and stood up, filled with righteous indignation,
"Then we'll set off right now. To... to where?"
Helaire reached out to pat her head, speaking dotingly,
"To Tokyo, silly child."