They took the train from Chiba City all the way to the outskirts, then boarded a bus headed for the hot spring inn after reaching the final station.
Beyond the city lay the suburbs. Japan did not seem to have anything like urban villages. Along the way, there were none of those old, low-rise buildings standing on the edges of cities.
Once outside the urban area, almost everything visible consisted of detached houses. There were hardly any especially tall buildings, and the detached houses in the city looked basically the same as those in the suburbs. The boundary between urban and suburban areas was not particularly obvious.
This was due to the high degree of urbanization, and also because Japan had little land and many people.
Because the country sat on an earthquake belt, very tall buildings were relatively rare. Most residents lived in detached homes, which was also why luxury apartments were even more expensive.
With a large population, limited land, and detached housing, Japanese cities often ended up sprawling across enormous areas. Sometimes when traveling between two different cities, it barely even felt like leaving the city at all.
That illusion came from the continuous stretches of detached houses connecting the suburban areas between cities. However, the deeper they went into the mountains, the fewer buildings there became.
Japan's primary means of transportation was the train. It was the most convenient and widespread transit system, and nearly all residential areas were built around train stations.
...
The bus moved slowly forward as a cool breeze drifted through.
Sitting beside Sato was Hirasawa Ui. Yui and Kanna had been dragged away by Ritsu to sit together, along with Hikigaya Komachi and Hikigaya Hachiman.
Hikigaya Hachiman sat by the window, propping his face up with one hand as he gazed outside with those protein-rich eyes of his.
The others in the back row were chatting noisily about who knew what, though from the looks of it, they seemed to be feeding Kanna snacks.
Tsk!
So they discovered Kanna's hidden attribute that quickly, huh!
"Onee-chan..."
Hirasawa Ui softly murmured with concern as she watched Yui laughing so hard in the back that she was practically falling over.
Seeing this, Sato could not help shaking his head with a faint smile.
He truly had not expected Hirasawa Ui's siscon tendencies to be this extreme. From the few interactions he had with her, she did not feel like a younger sister at all.
She felt more like a mother!
"Ahem!"
Suddenly, he deliberately coughed twice to draw Hirasawa Ui's attention. Sure enough, she quickly turned to look at him.
"Did Senpai catch a cold?"
The girl looked puzzled at first, though her expression soon turned into one of concern.
Sato did not answer her question. Instead, he intentionally put on a serious face and looked at her.
"Does Ui have some kind of dissatisfaction with me?"
"Eh?"
Hirasawa Ui froze for a moment, clearly not expecting him to suddenly say something like that.
"N-No! Why would Senpai say that?"
Sato lowered his voice slightly.
"Then why are you looking at Yui when I'm sitting right here? Could it be that talking with me is difficult or something?"
"N-No! It's not like that!"
"Because Onee-chan is really absent-minded, I'm worried something might happen to her if the bus suddenly brakes! I really wasn't intentionally ignoring Senpai!"
Hirasawa Ui hurriedly explained, looking as though she was about to cry from panic.
There were five seats in the very back row of the bus, while Yui was sitting right in the middle.
For most people, there would not be any issue, but because it was her clumsy Onee-chan, she was worried something might happen if the bus suddenly stopped.
Oh?
A trace of surprise appeared in Sato's eyes as he looked at Hirasawa Ui.
This girl was far gentler and more mature than he had imagined.
But once that realization settled in, what followed immediately afterward was embarrassment.
He had only intended to make a joke, yet he never expected Hirasawa Ui's reaction to be this intense. Seeing how anxious she looked now gave him a headache too.
"Um..."
Hirasawa Ui raised her eyes, and her gaze met Sato's.
Looking at the girl's eyes, which seemed so anxious they might start crying at any second, Sato felt somewhat guilty.
Her eyes were as clear as a young deer's in the morning forest, carrying a faint layer of moisture as they stared intently at him.
"Actually, I was just joking with you, Ui."
As soon as Sato carefully spoke those words, he could clearly feel the atmosphere around them turn strange.
The wind from outside flowed through the bus with a faint whistling sound, while the chatter of the girls behind them became unusually clear.
"Senpai!"
Suddenly, the girl before him, whose expression had stiffened somewhat, tightly pursed her lips and looked up at him with misty eyes carrying traces of grievance and embarrassment.
"Sorry! Sorry!"
Sato's heart instantly skipped a beat. He hurriedly pressed his palms together apologetically toward the girl in front of him.
"I just wanted to tease you a little, Ui. I didn't think your reaction would be this strong. That's my fault, sorry!"
Hirasawa Ui turned her head away and quietly stared at her knees.
Seeing this, Sato fell silent for a moment and lightly inhaled. Just as he was lamenting how troublesome this situation had become, he suddenly heard Hirasawa Ui's voice.
"It's not completely Senpai's fault either."
Her tiny voice softly entered Sato's ears.
Turning his head, Sato happened to see the girl's crystal-like earlobes tinged with faint redness. Looking slightly lower, he could also see the rosy blush spread across her cheeks.
"I was too distracted worrying about Onee-chan just now, so I didn't understand Senpai's intention..."
Hirasawa Ui spoke softly with a somewhat dazed expression. Honestly, even she did not understand why her reaction had been so strong just now.
It was an overwhelming urge to explain herself, to prove something.
Thinking about it carefully, it almost felt like a kind of panic born from being afraid that Senpai might misunderstand her.
Why was that?
She slowly raised her head and inadvertently met Sato's apologetic gaze once again.
Suddenly, her heart trembled slightly, and a thought surfaced that instantly turned her face bright red...
Subconsciously, she covered her mouth and stared at Sato in disbelief, her face burning.
C-Could it be... my feelings toward Senpai...