The third day of the Hokkaido trip.
On a nearby beach.
"You can see a bit of the shape now, right?"
Kasumigaoka Utaha, wearing a long coat and swimwear, looked toward the distant horizon, squinting.
Yukima Azuma also looked in that direction.
From afar, in the sky, he could indeed see the bright blue silhouette, different from the sky.
It was the cot nad Charlotte approaching.
Tonight, it would pass through the skies of Hokkaido.
These days were all an opportunity to watch it, but tonight in Hokkaido, it could be said to be the best ti and place for observation.
They say you can see the details of the cot as it passes.
Cots only appear every 1,200 years.
"Do you want so shaved ice?"
Eriri carried a pile of colorful shaved ice toward them.
"Did you ask before buying?"
Yukima Azuma smiled wryly, choosing a bowl of green apple-flavored shaved ice.
"Of course! How can you not eat shaved ice when you're at the beach?"
Eriri held a bowl of lemon-flavored shaved ice and spun it around, but quickly stopped and held her head, sitting down.
Clearly, the cold was giving her a brain freeze.
Yukima Azuma shook his head helplessly and reached out to rub her forehead.
Kato gumi held a bowl of strawberry-flavored shaved ice, and Kasumigaoka Utaha held a bowl of grape-flavored shaved ice, exchanging glances.
Is this the type of "foolish people are blessed" mont?
Both of them thought to themselves.
They rented a sunshade on the beach.
The four of them lay under the shade of the umbrella, gazing at the sparkling sea, enjoying the lazy passage of ti.
Normally, when you go to the beach, you'd at least go into the water a bit.
Among the four, only Eriri couldn't swim, but she had brought a swimming float.
But since they would be moving soon, no one felt like playing in the water right now.
Yukima Azuma had purchased tickets for the big cruise ship today.
To see the cot, aside from climbing high mountains,
it was best to go out to the open sea.
That way, there would be no obstacles blocking the view.
Although Hokkaido also had mountains like Tengu-yama,
sumr on the mountain,
just thinking about it made people hesitate.
Not to ntion the mosquitoes.
There were all sorts of insects, and really, just using mosquito repellent wouldn't be enough.
"So boring."
Eriri finished applying sunscreen, repeatedly testing the boundaries between the umbrella's shade and the sumr sunlight.
"How about we build a sandcastle, maybe bury Eriri in it?"
Yukima Azuma said absentmindedly.
"That's a good idea."
"Sounds fun."
As a result, the other two girls enthusiastically supported the idea.
"Hey!" Eriri imdiately stopped being bored.
After a noisy, fun ti, they played on the beach for two to three hours before packing up and heading to the port.
The long sound of a ship's whistle echoed, and the gigantic cruise ship slowly docked.
"That's impressive..." Kato gumi looked up. "It's much bigger than I imagined."
You couldn't get a sense of its scale just from pictures.
No matter how you looked up, you couldn't see the top of the enormous luxury cruise ship.
Even the chains used to anchor the ship were as big as a person.
"Kind of nostalgic, huh?" Eriri sighed.
Her words made Kato gumi blink.
Although she knew the Sawamura family was very wealthy,
it was monts like this that really made the difference more obvious.
"Don't mind that, Eriri is a baka, when she was in middle school, she invited to a party."
"Then I asked her who would be attending, and she said it was just a few of her mom's friends, aunts, and uncles."
"So, I asked Sayuri oba-san, and only then did I realize, the people attending were all famous politicians or business tycoons."
"I almost got fooled."
Yukima Azuma whispered into Kato gumi's ear.
Hearing that, Kato gumi imagined the scene.
Back in middle school, Yukima Azuma was just an ordinary student.
It was easy to picture...
Eriri clearly wasn't trying to show off, she just lacked a bit of self-awareness.
"But now, Azuma-san attending those kinds of parties doesn't seem out of place at all."
Kato gumi said lightly, her fingers brushing a few strands of hair behind her ear.
"gumi, do you know? The ti I rember the most was when I first ca to Tokyo, sitting in a friend's bookstore, reading light novels while avoiding the heat."
Yukima Azuma said seriously.
Kato gumi's fingers froze, then she naturally lowered her hand.
The corners of her mouth curled into a smile.
That's right, with him, she didn't feel any distance at all.
It wasn't material wealth that created distance between people, but rather perceptions and intentions.
Kasumigaoka Utaha had intended to approach and interrupt when she saw the two of them whispering.
But as she got closer, she heard Yukima Azuma's words.
She knew Yukima Azuma was speaking from the heart.
She too missed that ti.
Even though she had later beco a famous light novel author, when she thought back to that ti, she didn't feel poor or lacking in any way.
What remained was only the joy from the bottom of her heart.
...
They boarded the cruise ship.
The group entered the cabin to store their luggage.
The tickets Yukima Azuma had purchased were for a one-day, one-night cruise.
They would sleep on the ship and disembark the next morning.
After organizing their things, the group headed to the ship's pool.
Not playing in the water at the beach, they could now finally enjoy the cool waters.
The water in the pool on the cruise ship was much cleaner compared to the beach or regular pools.
Ti quickly passed until evening.
The sky gradually quieted, and the last light faded as the sun sank behind the horizon.
The moon suddenly beca prominent.
Under the bright moonlight, the calm sea seed to hum its own lody.
"Wow, it's so beautiful!"
Standing on the ship's deck, Eriri exclaid, voicing the feelings of the entire group.
In the distant night sky, a brilliant streak of purple-blue light, trailing a magnificent tail, left a mark across the dark sky.
That trace burned little by little, then vanished, but still left a lingering afterimage on the viewer's retina.
If they were to recall and describe this visual scene later, countless beautiful words would surely co to mind.
But at this mont, all that remained in the minds of the boys and girls was a simple exclamation: "It's beautiful."
Kato gumi picked up her cara, aid at the cot in the sky, and pressed the shutter button.
Click!
The sound rang out repeatedly.
There were many others around also taking photos.
"A eting 1,200 years apart..." Kasumigaoka Utaha murmured in awe.
Yukima Azuma looked at the vibrant colors in the sky, his thoughts, like the cot's tail, flaring up and then quickly fading.
"Let's take a picture together!"
He suggested.
The three girls nodded in agreent without any need for words.
Kato gumi had brought a cara tripod.
She chose a good angle on the ship's deck, set the cara in place, and adjusted the focus.
After setting the tir mode, she quickly ran back to the others.
Under the bright moonlight stretching across the deck of the cruise ship, behind the boys and girls, the night sky was filled with a brilliant cot streaking across the sky.
That mont was captured in a photo.
Kato gumi ran to check the photo she had just taken.
Seeing the clear image of Yukima Azuma, she smiled with satisfaction...
As long as the focus wasn't off, no matter how Yukima Azuma posed or what expression he had, he always exuded a captivating charm.
While adjusting the cara, Kato gumi suddenly froze.
In the fra of her lens, the sparkling lights in the distance suddenly turned into two parallel streaks of light.
Suspicious that her sister's cara might be broken, she looked up and checked with her naked eye.
When she clearly saw what was happening in the sky, she couldn't help but take a deep breath.
"This... doesn't seem quite right."
Kato gumi's words made the three people who had been joking freeze in place.
Yukima Azuma quickly turned his head toward the sky.
He saw the cot in the sky, and as it passed a certain point, it suddenly split into two.
The main part continued on its original trajectory, speeding through the planet's sky.
But the separated part seed to have burned through all its remaining energy.
From above, the flas shot down, turning into a blazing teor.
Eriri, tense, gripped Yukima Azuma's arm tightly.
Kasumigaoka Utaha also focused intently on the burning streak as it faded into the distance.
"Sothing's definitely wrong." Yukima Azuma took a deep breath.
The teor, with its current size and mass, didn't seem like it would burn up completely before it pierced through the atmosphere.
As it passed through the clouds, creating a large hole in the sky, everyone's eyes were fixed on its trajectory.
Finally, the flas fell sowhere far beyond the horizon.
The noise aboard the cruise ship suddenly stopped, and the entire space fell into silence.
Seconds ticked by.
Yukima Azuma made a few phone calls, gathering the exact details.
"The teor fragnt that separated from the cot Charlotte has fallen onto Japanese territory."
"To be precise, it fell in Gifu Prefecture, causing significant damage. Rescue teams are currently operating there."
Upon hearing Yukima Azuma's words, the three girls let out a relieved sigh.
A feeling of surviving a disaster passed through them, though there was a hint of guilt for Gifu.
Since none of them had family or friends there, their initial reaction was relief.
Afterward, their sympathy for the disaster took over.
After witnessing the event, no one had any desire to continue playing.
They returned from the deck and headed back to their rooms.
Eventually, the three girls gathered in Yukima Azuma's room.
"I feel… it's going to be hard to sleep tonight," Kato gumi voiced her true feelings.
"That's not surprising after seeing sothing like that," Eriri, usually full of energy, now felt drained.
Kasumigaoka Utaha gently ran her fingertips over Yukima Azuma's palm, her gaze full of curiosity.
She knew Yukima Azuma seed to have a special interest in this cot.
Though Yukima Azuma didn't know why he had been so focused on the cot Charlotte before, everything seed clearer now after the incident.
However, he simply shook his head lightly, signaling for Kasumigaoka Utaha to be at ease.
At this point, it was still impossible to determine the full impact of the cot fragnt.
After contacting Laplace Corporation, he learned that Kurokawa Akane appeared to be unaffected.
The "Adolescence Syndro" caused by the cot Charlotte seed to have shown no significant changes.
Perhaps, the teor fragnt's fall was just a simple disaster.
Yukima Azuma thought about the direction where the teorite had fallen.
To investigate potential changes, the most direct way was to head to Gifu Prefecture and search for the core of the cot that had fallen there.
However, taking control of the disaster zone in Gifu was beyond the current capabilities of Laplace Corporation.
"Maybe we should monitor it further," he thought to himself.
...
Yo, Gourt readers, is Curse Chef here.
I have a vote on pa.treon for new fanfic translations, I'm not sure which one to choose so I'll let you guys choose, I'm making it public so if you're interested, please vote.
Have a nice /curse_heian_chef
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