Chapter 4 part 2

The next day, Holmes and I were to meet at 9 a.m. at Demachiyanagi Station. I arrived a little bit early and carefully secured my bike in the bicycle lot next to the station.

“There we go.”

By the way, Demachiyanagi Station is close to the junction between the Kamo River and the Takano River that I talked about before. The Keihan subway and the Eizan railway are both accessible from it, and you can board the Keihan Main Line to Osaka from here as well, making it a busy station.

I exited the bicycle lot and went to the ticketing area. There, I saw that Holmes had already arrived.

“Good morning, Aoi.”

“Ah, good morning.”

“Shall we go?” he said, holding out a ticket.

“Oh, you didn’t need to buy it for me.”

“It’s not a problem. I’m sorry that this trip had to be so sudden.”

“Don’t be!” For me, this worked out perfectly.

We passed through the small ticket gate directly onto the platform where a train with only two cars was on standby. Even though this was the starting point, it still felt oddly impactful to see the train cars so close.

“Let’s take the front car. We’ll have a nicer view of the mountain there,” Holmes said.

“Okay.” I headed for the front car in a cheerful mood. The interior layout was the same as the city trains, with a horizontal row of seats on both sides. That said, the empty two-car train felt more like a rural train up in the mountains. I got excited, feeling like we’d already traveled far away.

I sat down and enthusiastically looked around the train. I noticed that a single one of the hanging straps was in the shape of a pink heart and stared at it in confusion. “Holmes, that one strap is a pink heart, right?” I asked.

“Yes.” Holmes nodded. “The Eizan railway’s train cars have heart-shaped straps. According to superstition, they’re ‘happiness straps’ that grant the holder happiness.”

“Happiness straps!”

“While we’re here, you should try holding onto it too.”

“Oh, um…okay. I might as well.” I awkwardly stood up and grabbed onto the heart-shaped strap. Then, the train started moving, so I hurriedly sat back down. “A-Are you not going to do it, Holmes?” I asked, trying to hide my embarrassment.

“It’s not my first time riding the Eizan line,” Holmes said with a grin.

It’s not his first time. In other words, he’s held onto that strap before. He doesn’t seem like the kind of person who’d do that if he was by himself, so could it be that he rode this train with his ex-girlfriend and they held it together? Or was it with someone else? He said that after he fell out with his ex, he ‘spent part of his university life doing the complete opposite of what a priest would.’ That means fooling around with girls, right? Thinking about it, such an attractive, highly educated guy has to be popular. I heard about his past, but what about right now? Does he have a girlfriend?

I think I’ll ask.

I peeked over at Holmes, who was sitting beside me, gazing out the window. His side profile really was handsome.

“If there’s something you want to ask me, feel free,” Holmes said nonchalantly. His usual perceptiveness made my heart skip a beat.

If I ask him in this situation whether or not he has a girlfriend, I think he’ll misunderstand for real.

“N-No, it’s nothing.” I shrugged and looked out the window. The train’s course went through the mountain, and the vast rural scenery looked nothing like where I lived. It was hard to believe we were still in the same district. It really did feel like we’d traveled somewhere far away.

Before long, we entered a lush green tunnel. These were the fabled “green maples.”

“Wow, they really are pretty!” I exclaimed.

“They have a different aesthetic from autumn leaves, right?”

“Yes, they’re lovely and fresh.”

“I wouldn’t have minded driving to Kurama, but the train has its own advantages.”

“I like it, because it feels more like a journey. After all, this is…” A trip to relieve heartbreak. I shut my mouth before finishing the sentence.

“You’re right. This is a hiking trip, after all,” Holmes continued for me.

I felt relieved. “Exactly,” I said with a small chuckle, looking out the window. The green maple leaves were dazzling under the bright sun rays.