Aside from these two groups, no other tourists boarded the bus.
As the scheduled departure time arrived, the tour bus lurched into motion, beginning its slow journey along the winding coastline.
Hayashi Shuichi sat by the window, his mind still adrift, trying to dredge up the name of Sonoko's father.
Outside, the azure sea met the sky in the far distance. White yachts dotted the expanse like scattered pearls rising and falling with the tide, creating a breathtakingly beautiful tableau.
"Wow..." Narumi couldn't help but let out a soft gasp of wonder, his face practically pressed against the glass. "It's so beautiful."
From the row in front, Yukiko turned around with a bright, cheerful grin. "It'll be even more stunning when we reach the Shonan coast! I've heard the water there is so crystal clear you can see the coral on the seabed!"
"Really?" Narumi's eyes lit up instantly. He leaned forward, his small hands gripping the back of the front seat in excitement.
"Oh, right," Yukiko remembered something and pulled a tube of sunscreen from her elegant woven bag. She deftly dotted her face with white cream, smoothing it over her skin before handing the tube to Reiko. "Put some on. The sun is only going to get stronger later; we don't want you getting a sunburn."
Reiko took the sunscreen and applied it carefully. Then, a thought struck her, and she turned back. "Narumi, do you want some? Your skin is so fair; you'll burn easily."
Narumi blinked, reflexively glancing at Hayashi Shuichi with an inquiring look.
"You should definitely use some," Shuichi agreed with a nod. "You don't get out much, and the sunlight at the beach is intense. It's better to be safe."
With permission granted, Narumi took the sunscreen from Reiko and squeezed a small amount into his palm. His movements were awkward and hesitant, clearly showing that this was his first time doing such a thing.
Furuya Rei watched the clumsy display and let out a soft chuckle, reaching out to help him.
"Make sure to get the back of your neck," Ruri reminded them. "That's the spot that burns the fastest."
While the girls on Shuichi's side were preoccupied with the sunscreen—the air around them filling with its light, clean scent—Tomoko's group on the other side was starting to grow restless. They had enjoyed the scenery at first, but the repetitive rhythm of the waves soon became monotonous.
To kill time, they began taking turns singing.
The noisy, off-key singing made it impossible for Chikage Tomizawa to nap. She eventually gave up, opening her eyes and tapping on the back of the seat in front of her.
"Shuichi," she called out to the row behind. "Let's do something. Just sitting here is getting boring."
"Should we sing too?" Mouri Kogoro suggested.
"No!" Ruri shot him a flat look. "With that voice of yours, singing in an enclosed bus would be an assault on everyone's ears."
"Well, we have to do something," Kogoro muttered, rubbing the back of his head with a look of defeated frustration.
"How about a story?" Reiko stood up, leaning over the back of her seat with her chin resting on her hands as she looked toward her brother. "Onii-chan, will you tell us a story?"
Seeing everyone's expectant gazes shift toward him, Shuichi could only nod in resignation.
He went quiet for a moment, deep in thought, before he slowly began to speak.
"Alright... let's go with a story called Final Destination. Once, during summer break, a class of students went on a trip together in a large bus. Not long after the bus started driving along a coastal road, a girl named Yuine saw a terrifying vision..."
He began to recount an adapted version of the Final Destination plot. By weaving in realistic details and modern elements, he quickly drew the others into the narrative.
Gradually, even Tomoko's group stopped their singing, their attention drifting toward Shuichi as they listened intently to the macabre tale.
"...Two months later, Yuine was walking home. Of all the classmates who had gone on that trip, she was the only one left alive."
"However, during those two months, no more accidents had occurred around her. Yuine believed that by 'faking' her death, she had successfully cheated the Reaper. Little did she know that at that very moment..."
Just as Shuichi reached the climax of the story, the bus suddenly ground to a halt. The momentum caused everyone to jerk forward, abruptly shattering the tense atmosphere.
"Attention, passengers," the driver announced with a smile. "We have arrived at the Coastal Observation Deck. Everyone has one hour to get out and explore."
"Alright, let's head out," Shuichi said, standing up and stretching his limbs.
"Onii-chan, what about the ending?" Reiko asked, her eyes wide with lingering suspense.
"I'll tell you later," Shuichi replied, giving his sister's cheek a playful pinch before heading toward the bus door.
"Can't you just tell us now?" Reiko pouted.
She looked around and saw that the others also had expressions of unsatisfied curiosity.
"That story was really well told; I'm actually feeling a bit of a chill," the long-haired girl sitting next to Tomoko remarked. "He's a consultant for the Metropolitan Police, so he must have handled plenty of cases. You don't think that story was based on a real event, do you?"
"How could it be? There's no such thing as a 'Grim Reaper' in this world!" Tomoko laughed, shaking her head. She watched Shuichi's retreating back and huffed in annoyance. "He just loves being a tease. It would have killed him to finish the ending?"
"If you ask me, they all definitely die in the end," the yellow-haired man interjected with a loud, grating laugh. "It's the Grim Reaper doing the killing; he's not going to let anyone survive. There's a saying, right? If the King of Hell wants you dead by the third watch, he won't leave you until the fifth."
He nodded to himself as if he had said something profound, a smug smile on his face.
"You're talking about Yanluo Wang. That's a bit different from a Western Reaper," the glasses-wearing boy from the Suzuki family chimed in.
"Honestly, you guys..." Shizuka, the ponytail twin, clutched the rich kid's arm, her voice laced with a performative whine. "Why are you still talking about this? It's just a horror story. What's there to discuss?"
As she spoke, she huddled closer to her boyfriend, clearly more unsettled than she wanted to admit.
"Shizuka, you were actually scared, weren't you?" the twin with the jade Buddha teased with a light laugh. "I saw you. While that high schooler was talking, you were practically shivering while clinging to Satoshi's arm."
"Waka, you weren't any better," Shizuka shot back immediately. "You're more afraid of ghosts than I am. Why else do you wear that Buddha necklace every single day?"
Amidst the twins' bickering, Tomoko's group followed the others off the bus.
The sea breeze immediately hit them, carrying the salty tang of the ocean and the warmth of the sun.
After disembarking, Shuichi stood at the edge of the observation deck, rolling his somewhat stiff shoulders.
"It's so high!" Reiko exclaimed, leaning over the guardrail to look down.
The observation deck was built into the side of a cliff. Below the transparent glass railings were jagged rock faces and the churning, violent surf. The waves crashed against the stones with a deafening roar, sending up plumes of white foam that shimmered brilliantly in the sunlight.
"Don't lean on the railing like that," Shuichi said, quickly pulling his sister back. "Did you forget the story I just told you already? These railings are constantly exposed to the sea breeze; they rust through incredibly fast. What would you do if it suddenly snapped?"
(End of Chapter)
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