Dismounting after a bumpy thirty minute bus ride I feel the clear, all-encompassing sunlight pour down upon me.
Kei: So hot......
I briefly wipe at my forehead, showing the beginnings of imbued sweat, and release my gaze from the enveloping, far reaching sky.
It is a place with nothing in sight.
The road in front of me continues into the distance, and the bus grows smaller in my vision as it races to the next stop.
The ground is that of an unpaved country road. It looks like it would be troublesome to walk when wet, and heat aside, it's good that today turned out clear.
Surveying the area dizzily with my brightness-adjusted eyes, I see rice fields and a causeway unfolding to my right.
Behind, and in front, the bumpy road that brought me here.
And to my left, a deep, green forest.
It pitches upwards as I look inside, and distinguishing where the forest ends and the mountain begins seems a futile effort.
Kei: I guess... the hostess did say "quite an exertion," didn't she......
Facing the trail with light hiking equipment at best, it looks like it could be just a tad formidable.
However, to see the Ohashirasama from up close would require hiking up that mountain, so...
Kei: Ahaha... I'm not going to wind up stranded up there...... am I?
With the block-shaped nutrient-adjusted foodstuffs I bought today, and a bit of chocolate, I definitely am not prepared for that.
Definitely not prepared...... but...
Nope, I'm all right. I'm sure I'll be fine.
If it's really that place from my dream, it's no place a child's legs couldn't reach, and whatever the case, I have at least that much stamina.
And to wait for the bus and go back having done nothing would just be stupid. It's once per hour, anyway, and I would be waiting quite a while.
Once again, I lift my gaze to the heavens, and facing the sky of endless blue, I give an energetic shout.
Kei: Alright! Mountain hiking, fight-o!
......My first enemy is the forest.
Continue...