Kikanshita Yuusha no Gojitsudan : Chapter 25

Chapter 25 The Hero’s Summer Camp 7

　The next day, the members gather in front of the inn.

　From today until the seventh day at Lake Inawashiro, the members from the previous day are replaced by other members.

　Mayumi Okazaki is the leader. Her bike is YAMAHA TDR250, a dual-sport (bike that can be used on/off-road) bike with the same type of 2-stroke engine as the first TZR250, which is said to have been powered by a racing engine but with a lower gear ratio. There is. The power of a racer replica with an off-road seat position is something that makes me question what they were thinking when they made it.

　Well, it matches with Okazaki-senpai’s personality.

　And then Akane and I were the same as before. The fourth person was Aikawa, who was also with us at the beach. She was riding a YAMAHA Cerro 225.

　As a result of the discussion at breakfast, It’s decided that Okazaki-senpai was in the lead, I was second, Akane was right behind me, and Aikawa was at the back. Or rather, there was no other choice.

　I would have liked to ask Okazaki-senpai to be the rearmost person in the line, but according to her, she said, ‘It’s too much trouble, so I’ll pass’. It was as I expected.

　However, it would have been troublesome to have a two-stroke bike in front of us, so we asked her to ride at the front of the group, and a little ahead of us.

　Huh? You don’t know what that means?

　You see, 2-stroke bikes scattered a lot of unburned fuel and oil from the muffler. If you’re behind the bike, you’ll be exposed to all kinds of unburned fuel and oil. Moreover, the exhaust gas smells bad.

　That’s why there are no 2-stroke bikes made today except for mopeds because of the emissions regulations.

　Okazaki-senpai’s TDR250 is a pre-regulation 2-stroke bike from the heyday of motorcycles. They are very popular with some motorcycle enthusiasts and can be sold in the used market for higher prices than new bikes, but they are not popular for group touring.

　So, Okazaki-senpai is essentially riding alone.

　Well, there are other reasons for that, too.

“Well, shall we go?”

“Well, having Kashiwagi around makes things easier.”

“I know it’s pointless to say this, but the leader is you, you know, Okazaki-senpai.”

“Don’t you know? It’s common sense for leaders of all times to take it easy while keeping the results to themselves and shifting the responsibility to their subordinates, you know?”

“There’ s no way that’s common sense!”

　I’m sure there are people like that out there, but if it was all of them, I wouldn’t have the strength to go out in the world! There’s no hope or dream.

“Well, let’s leave Okazaki-senpai aside, Akane, don’t copy the way Okazaki-senpai rides, okay.”

“Is that so?”

“It’s not helpful. Or rather, if you imitate it badly, it’ll cause an accident. Furthermore, your’s and her’s type of bike is different, so for now you can just watch the way I ride and use it as a reference.”

　The way Okazaki-senpai rides is almost like an auto racer.

“Hyu~! You just have to keep your eyes on me, he said. Don’t start flirting in a place like this, okay? What do you say we take a two-hour break on the way?”

“When and who ever said something like that?!”

　What is this old geezer saying all of a sudden?

　Akane is looking down with her face bright red.

“Ah~, senpai? We’re the only ones left, you know?”

“Good grief, It’ s because you’re screwing around too much. This is why virgins are. The only time it’s good to be slow is when you’re doing the thing.”

“Whose fault is that? Whose! Also stop with the sexual harassment!”

　I can’t take it anymore.

　I put on my helmet and mounted my bike.

　Okazaki-senpai also mounted on her bike, still grinning, and started the engine.

　When everyone is ready, Okazaki-senpai takes off first, and I run my bike a few seconds after Okazaki-senpai’s.

　Once everyone is out on the road, the training camp finally resumes.

　It should be like this from the start.

　I wonder if we’re really going to be okay from now on…

---

　The evening of the seventh day of the training camp.

　Our group was able to arrive at the hotel at Lake Inawashiro safely.

　We didn’t have any big trouble on the road so far, and there was no problem with Okazaki-senpai’s reckless driving.

　Well, on the way, Okazaki-senpai went ahead of us and took three wrong turns, and it took us a while to join up with her, and we had a run-in with a motorcyclist who was getting agitated(at Okazaki-senpai, of course) at the mountain pass, but for the most part it was a smooth ride.

　Seriously unexpected.

　Aikawa and I had talked about ‘how to get away from Okazaki-senpai if she gets into trouble’, but it was in vain. No, the fact that it was wasted is a good thing, right?

　Anyway, currently we are at a hot spring hotel on the shores of Lake Inawashiro.

　Hotel!

　It has a really nice ring to it.

　I got excited just by the fact that it’s a hotel, considering we’ve been staying in a guest house up until now.

　Moreover, there is even a large bath with a view. The spring water running from the source!

　I just hope it’s not a cover.

　The rooms are five twin rooms and two single rooms.

　This is a wonderful treatment, considering that so far we had to sleep huddled together in two large rooms.

　When we arrived, we inspected our bikes and checked in.

　Then we put our bags in the room and immediately enjoyed the hot spring.

　Of course, it’s not a mixed bath.

　By the way, I wonder why people get so excited about large baths.

　However, as soon as President Kanzaki came in, everyone’s tension dropped a bit…

　You have quite a magnificent thing for a man of such stature.

　Nevertheless, after we enjoyed the hot spring until we got dizzy, there’s still dinner waiting for us.

　We waited for everyone to assemble and then went to the restaurant.

　Since it was a buffet style dinner, we secured our seats first and then all the members were seated.

　President Kanzaki gave a speech, which was brief because he did not talk about unnecessary things.

　We started to eat after a brief reminder of what we had to do tomorrow.

　A group of college students during a training camp.

　It is nothing short of a hungry beast.

　They swarmed, ate, drank, and swarmed again as they devoured the food prepared for them.

　I heard that buffet supposedly doesn’t mean all-you-can-eat, but it’s no use in telling that to college students.

　They ate and ate like they were gobbling up the food more than getting their money’s worth.

　Even the girls are eating a lot of food too, especially the expensive ones.

　The business smiles of the staff were a little strained.

　The other customers were overwhelmed by the momentum of the circle members, or rather, they seemed not to be able to eat much because our circle member had already finished all the dishes completely.

　I wonder how hungry these guys were.

　I can’t speak for others either. I mean, I’m the one who eats the most.

　The other guys also consume food by the kilogram.

　Even Akane, who was reserved at first, gets caught up in everyone’s momentum and eats a lot of dessert with the other girl members.

　I’m sure she’ll regret it later because of her weight.

　After about an hour, everyone finished their meals and left the restaurant.

　The hotel staff’s expression was very stiff, but let’s not mind it.

　…I have a feeling that we won’t be able to use this hotel again next year (likely that we will be refused).

---

　After the meal is over, most of the members are gathered in one room, though they are free to do whatever they want.

　The reason for this is the standard summer event: a ghost story and a test of courage.

　Speaking of summer camp for students, we cannot afford to miss this one.

　This room was the biggest twin room we rented, but it was a little too small for eight people.

　As you would expect from such a crowded place, it was a little hot even if we turned the air conditioner on, but it might be just right for a ghost story.

　Yamazaki, a second-year economics student, is the organizer of this event.

　He is a fan of occultism and is very enthusiastic about this kind of event, but he is not interested in the occult research group in the university. When I asked him why, he said ‘I like occultism, but I’m not interested in UFOs and psychic powers’. I don’t quite understand, but is there some kind of faction?

　Although I said it was an event, it was simply that the people who had a ghost story would talk about it one by one, and when it was over, we would go to the so-called haunted places.

　After some of us finished telling ghost stories, next was Akio-senpai’s turn.

“This is something that someone I know actually experienced a long time ago.

　It was in the autumn when he was touring through Ise-Shima in Aichi Prefecture to Wakayama, and it was already dark.

　When he and his friend were riding two bikes along the road by the sea, they saw a tail light that looked like a motorcycle ahead of them. At the time, they didn’t really care about it, and were just riding along. Their distance to the light was about 50 meters away. The only thing that was a little strange was that it was a country road by the sea and there weren’t many lights, so it was hard to see the area beyond the lights, but even as they passed underneath the lights, they couldn’t see anything but the taillights of the bike. Neither the bike nor the person riding it.

　Still, it bothered them a little, but they didn’t really speed up and just kept going as it is.

　But after riding for a while, the taillights were going straight, but there was a curve ahead of them, which was almost perpendicular to the road, and they hurriedly braked to slow down and somehow managed to turn the curve without getting into an accident. As soon as they rounded the curve, they stopped their bikes, and he said to his friends, ‘I’m pretty sure the bike in front of us went straight,’ but they couldn’t see any more lights like the taillight around.

　The two felt weirded out and decided to leave the place immediately and hurry onward.

　Later that day, they arrived safely at the inn they had booked, and the next day, the two of them, who were supposed to go back the way they came, had returned to the area near where the previous day’s incident took place. It was close to noon; I think. As he and his friend were nearing that curve, slowing their bikes down, they saw a girl crouched on the sidewalk at the side of the road, crying. There were few houses around, but there were no other people in sight. My friend quickly pulled his bike over and stopped, and the other followed suit.

　They got off their bikes and called out to the girl. It was already pretty chilly, but the girl was wearing light, short sleeves. But they didn’t question it at the time. My friend asked, ‘What’s up? Did you fall down? Is there anyone at the house nearby?’ But the girl just cried. The two were at a loss, and as they were looking at each other, the girl suddenly stood up, covering her face with her hands.

　When they looked at the girl again, she turned her face down and pointed toward the ocean. And then she said the words ‘over there’. So they looked in that direction and saw that it was where the curve was the day before, and when they felt their spine turn cold, they turned their gaze back to the girl and saw that there was no one there.

　The girl who should have been there just a couple of seconds ago was nowhere to be seen. They hurriedly looked around, but couldn’t find her. Of course, there was no place to hide.

　The two of them had certainly seen the girl in front of them and heard her voice just now. And yet.

　’what was that?’ they thought, but they couldn’t say it out loud, so they hurriedly got back on their bikes and left the place. It was all they could do.

　After returning to their hometown, they talked about a lot of things, but in the end, they didn’t understand anything except that it wasn’t a dream but a reality. They didn’t even dare to find out what happened in that place.

　That’s the end of my story.

　Oh, and by the way, the two bikes they were riding were a YAMAHA RZ350RR and a SUZUKI RG400 Gamma Walter Wolf.” (TL : It’s a bit hard translating this paragraph, please comment if you found any mistake)

　No, we don’t need information on the make and model of the bike at the end, do we?

　The story itself is good, though.

“Akio-senpai, you’re a good talker~.Even though you’re a frivolous person.”

“It’s true. Even though you look frivolous on the outside.”

“No, you know, I wish you would stop putting ‘frivolous(charai)’ at the end.”

　Akio-senpai replied to everyone’s impressions, slightly depressed.

　Because it can’t be helped. You’re frivolous after all.

　At any rate, it looks like the others’ ghost stories are all done, so I’ll be the next one to tell the story.

“Well, then…”

“All right, let’s go for a little test of courage, shall we?”

“Hey!”

　Just as I was about to speak, Yamazaki interrupted me.

　I thought it was my turn to talk, but what the hell are you doing?

　I was going to complain, but Yamazaki responded by giving me the stare.

　No, I don’t think there’s any demand for a man’s stare(jitome).

“It’s you anyway, so you’re going to try to liven things up by talking about something unworthy of our time, right?”

“That’s a very rude assessment. Oi,”

“Last year it was ‘The Terror Miso Soup(Kyōfu no misoshiru)’ and ‘The Evil Cross(Aku no jūjika)’ if I’m not mistaken? Who is the one who played with the used-up material?”

“No, I’m talking about something else this year.”

“So what was the story you were going to tell us?”

“I want to tell you a story about A Man Who is Afraid of Buns(Manjū ga kowakute shikataganai otoko).”

“Isn’t that a Rakugo!!”

　No, because, you know, don’t you want to make fun of it when people are serious about ghost stories and stuff?

“Haa. Forget it, we’re all moving on.”

　Yamazaki said and urged the members to start moving.

　Tsk.

---

Translator’s Note :

Sorry, this chapter is taking more time than expected. I don’t know that antihistamine causes drowsiness.

Even though I’ve already translated 26 chapters, I’m still not sure if I’m able to translate the joke properly.

Rakugo : Rakugo is a form of Japanese verbal entertainment. The lone storyteller sits on a raised platform, a kōza. Using only a paper fan and a small cloth as props, and without standing up from the seiza sitting position, the rakugo artist depicts a long and complicated comical story. From Wikipedia

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