Everything Was Just a Coincidence1
Shodoshima: an island in the Seto Inland Sea composed of many peninsulas and inlets.
It’s an incredibly popular resort destination with its lush nature and sunny, temperate weather.
Famous for its traditional industry, you may find yourself visiting a small neighborhood named Hishio-no-Sato, also known as the Home of Soy Sauce, where you can find many soy sauce breweries and moromi storehouses.
The island is also well-known for the arts, being one of the locations where the Setouchi Triennale is held.
Its history is quite interesting too. For one example, it is said that the island was created by the two gods, Izanagi and Izanami.
And for another example, it seems that many hidden Christians used to live on the island to hide themselves.
Woahhhh… Cool!
This is crazy! I just rode a plane for the first time, and now I’m on a ferry for the first time! It’s huge! And it’s, like, slicing through the water! This rocks!
…Wow… We’re…so far…from home…
Yeah, you can’t even see the mainland anymore. Oh, look at the seagulls flying over there. There are so many.
It’s about noon. They’re probably looking for their lunch.
(They’re all so excited. It’s a complete change from what they were like this morning. I’m glad to see them having fun.)
*snapping camera* Ugh, the ocean spray is messing up my hair. This sucks.
*snapping camera* Who cares if the ferry’s big? And it’s not like seagulls are all that rare. You can literally see them everywhere.
(He’s acting disinterested when he’s taking the most pictures out of all of them. I know he’s having fun deep down.)
*ding*
Oh, sounds like we’re almost there!
So you’ll be staying in this inn, which we’ve rented out exclusively for you for the whole week.
The… The whole thing? We got the whole building to do whatever we want?! OHHHHH HELL YEAAAHH! THAT’S SO FRIGGIN’ SICK, BROOOOOO!
Wh— Akuta-kun, your nose is bleeding! Calm down! Don’t move, okay? Where are my tissues…
Dude, we GOTTA explore the place! You think there’s a secret room somewhere?! Let’s go find it!
I’m taking a room on the second floor. Nobody go in. I’m gonna head up there.
Hold on! Akuta-kun, stay still! And Nanaki-kun, don’t just go off on your own!
Dibs on the first floor bathroom. And just saying, this isn’t a school dorm, so I’m not sharing it with anyone else.
……
Ushio-kun, don’t be selfish! And Kiroku-kun, please stay awake!
It’s like you’re a full-time single parent.
Sure is! I can’t get anyone to calm down!
Nobody likes strict teachers, y’know. I’m gonna go pick out a room. Seeya.
Aghh! I told you to stop goi—
Ushio.
Huh?
Hup!
*flip* *thud*
Wh…?
Muneuji took Ushio’s hand…
And flipped him over…
……
(Wow. Was that Aikido? That shut everyone up quick…)
Everyone, we need to remember what we came here to do. There must be a reason why we weren’t expelled.
I understand that everyone’s excited to be on a trip, but if we don’t work together to keep things organized, we’ll fall apart.
But still…
Why me?! Nanamegi was about to go to his room too!
I’m sorry. Since we’ve been friends for a long time, it was easier for me to throw you safely.
(That’s his reasoning…?)
Everyone’s still in shock. This is your chance, Chief.
Th-Thank you, Muneuji-kun! I need to wipe Akuta-kun’s nose first…
Mrggh…
Okay! Now let’s all decide on the rooms together.
Let’s do it this way to make it fair.
What’s this…? Paper sumo?
This is the best way to decide on something. It’s only fair that the winner gets what they want.
Sounds fun! Let’s do it! No take backsies if you guys end up losing!
And the winner is Akuta-kun! What an impressive and technical finisher with the frontal crush out!2
Thankya! Dibs on the single room!
Nanaki-kun, since you were second, are you okay with rooming with our provisional third place, Kiroku-kun?
Yeah, I don’t care who I room with. Everyone outside of first place has to stay with someone else anyway.
Plus, it’s comfortable being around Kinugawa-kun, so I don’t mind.
……
Since I didn’t participate and Ushio was in last place, we can share a room.
I’m kinda jealous that you can still get excited over a dumb little game of paper sumo.
We used to play it together pretty often.
Well, yeah, but only a really, really long time ago!
Now that your rooms are decided, you can go ahead and put your luggage in them. Let’s take a little break, and then we can meet up again.
(The coordinator I asked to tour us around the island still isn’t here… We agreed to meet at the inn.)
(Maybe I should contact him again and change our meetup location.)
HO-HOHGYAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!
That was a really weird scream…! I mean, are you okay, Ushio-kun?!
What happened?! Did we get our first murder victim already?!
I heard a weird scream.
…?
Was it a bug?
Hwaaaaaagh…! I-I-It’s ovew dere…!
What’s over th— HUH?!
Th-The first murder victim…!
Footnotes
-
One of the last lines in The Inugami Family (1976). ↩
-
AKA the yoritaoshi. It is a finishing move in sumo in which one wrestler holds onto his opponent’s belt and forces him back and out of the ring, causing his opponent to fall backwards in the process. ↩