Episode 83 – Nagashima ②

“I’m leaving. I’m going home.”
“We’ve come this far, so let’s just hold on for the ride. ……”
“I’m leaving. ……”

After about 30 minutes of waiting in line, Mirei started to get frustrated when it was our turn after one or two more rounds.
I felt sorry for her because she had tears in her eyes. I’m also a bit nervous.

And so.

“Sounds amazing.”
“Wow, sounds like fun!”

The sound is incredible.
The sound of metal friction is tremendous, and the sound of the coaster rattling on the rails makes you feel as if it is about to break down.
Will we crash? Will the train come off in the middle of a revolution and fall down? Or maybe the safety belt comes off and I’m the only one going down. …… is falling down confirmed?

“A-Anyway. Let’s put these crazy berserkers in front of us to make it a little less scary by half. Better in the back than the front, apparently.”

Mirei nods in agreement.
It seems she heard me.

By the way, the two berserkers did not hear me and were discussing how many times to ride the steel dragon.
I think these guys are idiots.

“Yes, then the next customer, please get ready!”

I followed the attendant’s instructions and left my valuables in my locker.
By the time I got around to taking off my hat and sunglasses, I thought that perhaps Mirei and others would be exposed, but, well, even if they were, it would be okay because we are not here in a date format.
It’s not one-on-one, so it shouldn’t be like when Shizuku san went down in flames.

But it did go unnoticed, perhaps because there was not too much Mirei’s dominance.

“Yes, then make sure you fasten your safety belts~“

The seatbelt is wrapped around the waist, and the upper half of the body is on a safety lever that comes down from around the shoulders.
Yes, this doesn’t seem like it would fall off, but I feel like there’s a little bit of leeway to be secured by the lever and still have room to fall off. ……

“Mirei, are you okay?”

After all the action, I could afford to worry about my neighbor.
Or rather, I’m more worried about Mirei.

So I turned to the side, and sure enough, there was Mirei, her face pale and her body not moving in any way.

“Hey, Mirei. Mirei?”

I call out to her, but she doesn’t respond to anything. She just stares blankly into the void.

No belt and no lever is indeed a bad idea.

“Sorry !!”

I hastily call the attendant, who rushes over to me smiling.

“She seems a little nervous, so would you mind replacing this?”
“Yes, no problem!”

The attendants work through the manuals in a brisk manner.

“Ha. Where am I?”
“Hey, we are going to start okay?”

There, Mirei finally regains consciousness, checks her current state and the state of her surroundings, and then turns pale once more.

“…..Ueeehnn”

That’s when she started crying. Like an unruly baby.

“Moueeeeeeeehnnn !! I’m leaving, I’m going home!!!!”
“Calm!? It’s no use crying about it here!?”

She was still wailing without listening to me, but then the attendant brought her face close to hers in a calm manner.
Then she whispered something in her ear.

“……The man next door, he’s your boyfriend, isn’t he?　Then you can hold your boyfriend’s hand or arm when you are scared. See, you can move your arm a little. And …… your boyfriend will be thrilled to”
“(Nod Nod)”

Then, for some reason, Mirei, who had been crying so much, regained her composure and managed to get back on her feet.
It seems that she was indeed unable to get rid of her fear, but she was able to look forward and prepare her mind.

What did she say? she is sending some kind of good job mark to Mirei…

Incidentally, the two in front of me seemed to be unable to contain their excitement anymore, and Shizuku san, for example, was ready to raise her hands. Are you suicidal or something?

In case Mirei’s crying might have been annoying, I apologized to the couple behind me, who were about 30 years old, but for some reason they encouraged me to “take care of your girlfriend ~ it’s totally fine!”
She’s not my girlfriend, she’s not my girlfriend.

“Then here we go!”

The steel dragon was then launched.

The ride started out slowly and gently, then climbed uphill for a tremendous distance.
At the beginning of the climb, I could see the other attractions and could afford to think, “Oh, it’s a roller coaster,” but when it got too high and I couldn’t see anything but the sky, I honestly wanted to cry.
Really, I’m still glad I had the people I knew’s head in front of me, otherwise I would have cried. I mean, I was sobbing.

“M-Mirei, are you okay?”

I’d like to say I’m not totally okay with it, but I’m not. Mirei was probably even more nervous than I was.
I looked to the side and saw Mirei with a determined look on her face, as if she was ready to close her eyes and get through this.
She seemed to have made up her mind as well.

Then it’s time for me to be the man.
While I was ticking my way up, I took deep breaths to get into a rhythm.

And the top.

The bright red rail that had been visible all this time was no longer visible, and despair swept over me all at once.

The next view I saw was of the train falling straight down, reversing up and down from earlier.

“Nooo—–!!!!!!”
“Kyaaa—!!!!”
“Fuuuuu—-!!!”

The three of us (Harushita san seemed to be quietly enjoying herself) fell down with each of us screaming. By the way, my scream was the most feminine one, Kyaaaa

Mirei grabbed my hand at that moment, and I involuntarily squeezed it back.

“Nooooooooooooooo!!!!!”

I am falling at a tremendous speed.
Somewhere, I felt my internal organs suddenly rise to the surface, and a cold sweat broke out.
It is the kind of feeling you get instinctively when you think you might die.

From there, there are two big mountains.
Instead of slogging up them as before, it lets the speed take you straight up and fall down all at once.

As the name suggests, it slides on rails that look like the skeleton of a dragon.
The whirling, zig-zagging descent and ascent were repeated in detail, giving an exhilarating sensation. I had the sensation of cutting through the wind.
For a little while, really just a little bit, I understood how people enjoy roller coasters.

–But I still couldn’t understand why people would enjoy throwing their hands up in the air on that steep hill.

And the whole time after we got off the attraction, Mirei was holding my hand.