落とし穴１４６堀：夏の怪談リバイバル 宿の中 (Part2)
"Well, it's not exactly a shared dormitory, but if we can increase the capacity just by adding futons, that's fine, right? If it's just three people, it feels like friends coming over to stay."
As we chatted and inspected the room...
"Oh, how about this one? Taiki, Taizo-san."
"Whoa. The living area is incredibly spacious, and there are connecting rooms. Wait, there are like four or five rooms in total! This is amazing."
"I suppose it's meant for a large family, or perhaps for VIPs, given the furnishings."
The room we were evaluating was far from a simple single-occupancy space. As Taiki had noted, there were four separate rooms partitioned by sliding paper doors, complete with a traditional alcove, and a veranda by the window that looked out onto a courtyard garden. It was truly luxurious.
It was the kind of room that wouldn't see much use unless a large family or dignitaries from various nations arrived, but...
"Alright, let's go with this one."
"I think that's a good idea. The rooms are separate, so we can sleep apart, and the living room is wide and even has a television."
"True. If we're here, we won't be much of a bother to others even if we get a little rowdy."
It was the perfect room for the three of us to relax and have some fun.
"Unanimous, then. Kirue, Sasari, we'll take this room."
"Understood. Please, make yourselves at home."
"The meal menu is on the table. You can place an order using that phone between 10:00 AM and 9:00 PM."
With that, Kirue and Sasari left the room.
After seeing them off, we dropped our luggage in the living area and sat down around the table.
"Man, it's so well-built. It really feels like we've arrived at an inn on a trip."
"It really does. It makes you feel like you're actually on vacation."
"Yeah. It's a good thing to be able to enjoy this kind of atmosphere."
We looked around the room as we spoke. Perhaps because it was newly built, it had the pleasant scent of rush grass. It was a purely traditional Japanese-style structure.
"Now then, first off, room assignments..."
"Anywhere is fine by me, really."
"Well, for the time being, there's not much difference between the rooms."
This suite centered around the living room, with three bedrooms connected to it. The bathroom and toilet were accessible from just off the entrance to the living area.
"The only real difference is that two rooms have windows facing the courtyard, and one doesn't..."
"Oh, then I'll take the room without a window. I sleep better when it's pitch black and quiet at night. If there's a window, I can't help but notice the sound of the wind or the trees swaying... Well, it's a lingering habit from my days of being on guard against assassins."
"If that's the case, Taiki, you take the back room. Man, you've had it rough."
I agreed with Yuki's words. I had known it, but Taiki must have gone through a tremendous amount of hardship to unite a nation. He must have experienced things we couldn't even imagine. The fact that he still worried about assassins while sleeping meant he had been attacked in his bed many times.
As I thought this, Taiki’s serious expression shifted into a smile.
"Anyway, it's fine that we picked the rooms, but we're just going to end up playing in the living room the whole time, aren't we?"
"That's true. We didn't come here to sleep, after all. We came to play."
"Though, since we're just going to be playing games indoors anyway, I do wonder if there was any point in coming all the way to a distant inn."
I said that with a wry smile. Our original goal was just to play games. Even so, one might ask what we were doing coming all the way to an inn for that.
"Even so, this is Weed. It's our own backyard, after all. Well, the real gaming starts at night, so should we go for a stroll around the area or head to the baths first?"
"Good idea. The girls asked for our feedback on the inn, so we might as well get that out of the way first."
"But who knows, they might have some local specialty. Let's ask when we call to order lunch."
With that, I picked up the phone to place our lunch order...
"Hm?"
I felt a sudden gaze from outside and looked toward the courtyard, but...
"What's wrong? Was someone in the courtyard?"
"Doesn't look like anyone is there."
"No, I thought I saw something cross outside, but it looks like a sparrow."
Watching the sparrow land in the trees of the courtyard, I convinced myself that was what had crossed my vision. I thought I felt like it was a person, but it was likely just my imagination.
The inn was perfectly normal, and the room was perfectly normal. So far, there wasn't even a hint of a ghost.
Our fun days at the old-fashioned inn were about to begin!