Ukyo Ward, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture.
Toei Uzumasa Movie Village.
Tsushima Kagami and the entire second year had set out that morning, riding the Shinkansen for over two hours to reach Kyoto Station.
Here the students snapped photos and took group pictures to commemorate the occasion before checking in to a nearby hotel the school had booked.
By then it was just about mealtime, and after eating their first lunch at the hotel and taking a short rest, they were herded off like coolies sold to Northern Myanmar.
One busload after another carted everyone off to Toei Uzumasa Movie Village, kicking off the first stop on the first day of the four-day, three-night school trip.
Toei Uzumasa Movie Village had practically become a must-visit item for any school trip to Kyoto.
As long as it's a school trip to Kyoto, nine out of ten schools will drag their students here.
It felt like some unspeakable backroom deal had already been struck.
The whole movie village centers on recreating the streetscapes of the Edo period.
It includes film sets like Nihonbashi, the Yoshiwara pleasure quarter, and samurai residences, along with facilities such as an anime museum, a ninja maze, and a tokusatsu hero hall.
It regularly puts on ninja stunt shows, samurai swordsmanship performances, and period-drama costume experiences, offering over forty kinds of character costume-changing services such as oiran and samurai.
Most films set in the Edo period, especially chanbara sword-fighting films, were almost all produced here.
It had a bit of a 'Todai's Hengdian' feel to it.
Tsushima Kagami, however, didn't much care for places like this.
Seeing it in person felt completely different from how it looked on film and TV.
And he wasn't really interested in any of that Edo, oiran, or ninja stuff.
And the tokusatsu hall next door was all Showa-era Riders, which didn't interest him much either.
To be exact, the only Kamen Rider he'd ever watched was Kuuga.
And that was only because, back when he was little and out to buy an Ultraman disc, he'd stumbled across 'Kuuga Ultraman,' and seeing a name he'd never come across before, he'd hurried to buy it and take it home to watch.
Only to discover—how come this Ultraman couldn't grow giant? And it didn't look very Ultraman either.
But it was already the tenth year of Heisei now, and yet Kuuga, the first of the Heisei Riders, wouldn't show up until the year 2000.
In any case, Tsushima Kagami found this place rather boring.
Still, he could treat it as an outing to clear his head.
"Here, this is for you."
"Are you all right?"
Ijichi Seika had walked over to Tsushima Kagami's side just then, handing him a piping-hot can of red bean soup.
At that moment Tsushima Kagami was lying on a bench, with Shimizu Nayotake sitting beside him, gently fanning him with a pamphlet.
"Thanks."
Tsushima Kagami sat up, took the red bean soup from Ijichi Seika, opened it, and took a couple of sips.
Only then did he feel a good deal better.
"Honestly, if you were scared of ghosts you should've said so sooner."
"Then we wouldn't have gone into the haunted house."
"And Shizuku even said you like telling her ghost stories."
"I thought you'd enjoy a place like this."
Hands on her hips, Ijichi Seika started nagging at Tsushima Kagami the way she habitually scolded Nijika.
"Sorry, I overestimated my own nerve."
Although Tsushima Kagami liked listening to all sorts of ghost stories, there was absolutely no way he dared to go into a haunted house.
After going in once as a clueless kid, he'd never set foot in a place like that again.
But today he had two girls with him.
And, wouldn't you know it, while the two of them were wandering around with him, they came upon the haunted-house themed attraction.
And both of them pointed at it, insisting on giving it a try.
By rights, with her heart condition, Shimizu Nayotake shouldn't have been allowed to go.
But she said she'd been a few times as a kid and wasn't scared.
And Tsushima Kagami thought it over too—haunted houses these days were still fairly old-school, so by rights it shouldn't be as terrifying as the ones he'd been to before.
In the end, after some thought, he went in together with Ijichi Seika and Shimizu Nayotake.
The result was that, within minutes, the two of them had to help Tsushima Kagami out through the emergency exit.
"Do you two really not find it scary?"
Tsushima Kagami looked at the two of them.
Shimizu Nayotake shook her head.
And Ijichi Seika thought about it too, then said,
"It's honestly less scary than that crowd who play death metal and visual-kei rock walking down a pitch-black street at night."
With that, Ijichi Seika shot a glance at the still-shaken Tsushima Kagami and laughed,
"Honestly, not even Nijika is as much of a coward as you."
Fine, fine—turns out I was a Lord Ye who only loved dragons in theory.
"Aw, everyone's got something they're no good at."
Tsushima Kagami waved a hand and downed the rest of the red bean soup in one gulp.
"I thought you could do anything."
"Haha, I didn't realize Seika-chan saw me through such rose-tinted glasses."
"I-I do not!"
"I told you to stop calling me that!"
Ijichi Seika turned her face away and hurriedly said.
Off to the side, Shimizu Nayotake gave a faint smile and nodded as well.
Tsushima Kagami was just about to toss the empty can into the trash bin beside him.
When he saw Sayuri running over toward them from not far off.
"Oh, there you all are."
"And to think I went running into the haunted house looking for you."
Sayuri came up in front of them and, seeing how poorly Tsushima Kagami looked, asked,
"Huh? Kagami, what's the matter with you?"
"It's nothing, I just suddenly felt a bit off."
"I'm much better now."
There was no way Tsushima Kagami wanted Sayuri to know he was scared of haunted houses.
If she ever found out, there was no telling what kind of mischief she'd stir up over it.
Sayuri, for her part, was none the wiser, and went on,
"I just saw Shizuku and Shizuka over at the costume hall—should we head over and take a look too?"
Tsushima Kagami glanced at Ijichi Seika and Shimizu Nayotake.
Once the two of them nodded, Tsushima Kagami said,
"Let's go, then."
When they arrived at the entrance of the costume hall.
They saw all sorts of students walking out in costume—samurai, princesses, oiran, maiko, ninja, Shinsengumi, and the like.
The four of them—Tsushima Kagami included—walked inside as well.
Once inside, they took in the many different costumes on display, along with the crowds of tourists and students browsing through them.
As they strolled and looked around, before long they spotted Yukinoshita Shizuku and Hiratsuka Shizuka, who were also off to one side looking at clothes.
By the time Tsushima Kagami and the others walked over, Yukinoshita Shizuku and her companion were looking at a row of kimono.
"Oh my, Shizuku, Shizuka—are you two planning to change into kimono for photos?"
Sayuri walked up to the two of them and asked outright.
The two of them looked over and saw it was Tsushima Kagami and the others.
Yukinoshita Shizuku said with a smile,
"We're just browsing."
"Actually, I'd rather put on a ninja outfit and go play at the Ninja Trick Castle."
Hiratsuka Shizuka, beside her, said with a smile too, even miming the motion of throwing a shuriken.
"Then why not go change?"
"Now you've got me wanting to go play too."
Sayuri went on.
"Oh my, it's just that these costumes feel like they've been worn by so many people."
"Wouldn't that be a little unhygienic?"
Hiratsuka Shizuka whispered into Sayuri's ear.
"You think so?"
"They look pretty clean to me."
Fiddling with the clothes on the rack as she looked them over, Sayuri murmured back.
Tsushima Kagami could understand where both of them were coming from, though.
Setting aside whether the rentals would even fit, who knew whether the staff had slacked off on properly washing and disinfecting them.
Not to mention one was a young lady of a great house and the other had once been one, so it was only natural they'd be fussy out of their germophobia.
"Oh my, Kagami, is there a kimono you like?"
"If there is, I wouldn't mind having me or little Shizuku put one on to show you."
Hiratsuka Shizuka suddenly looked at Tsushima Kagami just then and said with a smile.
Then she glanced at Ijichi Seika and Shimizu Nayotake standing behind him.
"If you don't, having Seika and Nayotake wear them for you would work too."
Ijichi Seika, who was looking at the clothes, heard Hiratsuka Shizuka say this.
And glanced at Tsushima Kagami again.
"If everyone else is wearing them, then I suppose I wouldn't mind either."
Shimizu Nayotake, for her part, said nothing and simply stood quietly behind Tsushima Kagami.
At this point Sayuri raised her hand too.
"Me too, me too—I can wear one as well!"
Everyone silently glanced at Sayuri's chest, then silently looked away again.
She'd probably be stuck going the cute route for the rest of her life.
For some reason, in that instant Tsushima Kagami felt as though he'd picked up on what several of them were thinking.
"Oh my, what are you all looking at me like that for?"
"Haha, it's nothing."
"Just figuring out which style of kimono would suit you, Sayuri."
Hiratsuka Shizuka quickly said.
"Hmph, that feels so off-putting!"
"It's just like the look Akane-senpai and Sonoko-senpai give me when they're looking down on me!"
Sayuri, your instincts are spot-on!
Tsushima Kagami thought to himself.
____
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