And so, what she said next,
Caused my heart to stop in shock.
"Are you going for the After Record for 'Vice Versa' tomorrow, sensei?"
Normally, the slight quiver and tremors on the fast moving Limited Express feel comfortable. I did
at times treat the carriage car as a cradle and slept soundly on it.
But at this point, I felt that the sounds and tremors were akin to a massive earthquake.
It was rumbling away, and I felt it was trying to throw me out of my seat.
This was the first time in my life that I wondered why there was no safety belts on the train. My
hands were grabbing onto the armrest.
"Wh-why...ho-ho-how...?"
I stare right into Nitadori's eyes as I barely eke out these words, and the rest ended up as
gibberish.
I actually wanted to say,
"How did you know about this?"
"Ah, I guess from your expression that you want to ask 'how did you know, right?"
I was unable to say anything, dumbfounded for 5 seconds like a doll, and Nitadori took the
initiative to speak up.
I nodded.
"How, did you know...?"
And then, since it did not matter at this point, I said this line.
"Pfft!"
Nitadori let out a little chuckle, and I forgot my current predicament as I saw the smile of the
pretty girl up close. However, there was no way I could forget about that. I immediately got up
from my seat, and surveyed the carriage.
There were 5 heads I could see.
Two of them were seated at the front-most, side by side. They definitely must be the middle-aged
couple waiting for the train behind me a while back, and from their hiking getup, I suppose they
went to the hills visible from my room, and were on their way back. There was a lot of snow on
the hilltops as the weather was still cold.
A young man, probably a salaryman, was seated a few seats behind them at the window side.
Seated at the row behind him at the right window side was a college male who seemed to be
traveling. I did see them on the platform.
Closest to me was a young female seated alone near the aisle in the middle of the carriage car,
dressed in gray pants and suit. I did not see her on the platform, and she seemed to be of the
working class who just finished a dispatch job.
Since there was no one else nearby, I did not have to worry about others eavesdrop if I were to
speak at with a normal audible voice. It seemed Nitadori realized my thoughts as she said,
"You're really worried about other people noticing it? Don't worry. I'll make sure that nobody else
will overhear us."
"Thanks..."
I sit down as I listen to her slightly hushed voice, and turn my face to the right, seeing Nitadori's
face that was extremely close to me, and asked,
"How did you know?"
"Well then, what do you think?"