March 23rd (Tuesday) – Asamura Yuuta
A steel dragon carved its way through the vast blue sky above.
Its tracks, like a great ladder, twisted and coiled like a serpent, looping once before returning to their origin. It was unmistakably a roller coaster.
“Eh, this is the first one…?”
“Well, you wanted my recommendations, right?” Ayase-san replied.
“I mean, I did, but…”
For the second day of our trip, Ayase-san and I had settled spending the day at a theme park, adopting Narasaka-san’s suggestion. The problem was, neither of us were particularly familiar with such grand entertainment venues. Even with a destination, we had no clue how to actually enjoy it, so we’d asked Narasaka-san to be our guide for the day.
“Nuhuhu~! C’mon, when you think of USJ, this is it!” she declared, puffing out her chest with confidence.
Even so…
I glanced up at the attraction again. An open, exposed vehicle shot along the steel rails at an unbelievable speed, and from all the way down here, I could hear sharp screams. The loud clack-clack-clack of the vehicle on the tracks was enough to make my heart rate climb.
“Looks fun!” Narasaka-san chirped. “This is definitely my top recommendation, y’know!”
Is it really, though?
I couldn’t help but feel there had to be something else. Surely a theme park of this scale had calmer, more sedate attractions.
“Are we really riding that?”
“Asamura-kun. No, Yuuta-niichan!”
“I’m not your brother, Narasaka-san.”
She just shook her head. “What’re you talkin’ about? A friend’s older brother is practically your own older brother! That’s just how the world works, Asamura-kun. And a sister’s friend is practically your own sister, or so someone somewhere once said!”
“No one said that. Not a single soul.”
“Geez, you’re such a pain. What’s the big deal? Just let me call you ‘brother’ for a bit.”
‘Brother for a bit’? What is that even supposed to mean?
“You see, Asamura-kun,” she began, a hint of mischief in her voice, “it might be a little-known fact, but USJ has about as many roller coasters as you have fingers on one hand.”
“H-Huh.”
“And today is theme park day. The plan is to spend the entire day having fun at USJ. So, the conclusion we can draw from this is…?”
“…We’ll enjoy all the various attractions in the park equally…?” I ventured.
“Non, non, non!” she denied, for some reason, in French. “First, we’ve gotta conquer all the roller coasters, obviously~”
And just like that, it was decided.
Narasaka-san’s smile was dazzling, her enthusiasm infectious. As the planner, I wanted to embrace her idea—I truly did, from the bottom of my heart. But as someone who was hesitant even about the plane ride to Singapore, conquering roller coasters first thing in the morning felt a bit… extreme. Wasn’t there anyone who would object?
“Let’s go, Tomo-kun!”
“Yeah.”
Et tu, Maru? I felt a pang of betrayal, wondering if this was how Caesar felt when Brutus turned on him. Still, it wasn’t that I was scared of roller coasters… it was just a matter of mental preparation.
“Asamura-kun, you don’t have to force yourself,” Ayase-san said gently.
“What about you, Ayase-san?”
“I haven’t been here since I was a little kid, so I’m actually looking forward to it.”
I’d assumed she was afraid of anything scary, given her reactions to thunder and horror movies. But roller coasters were fine? Why? Come to think of it, she hadn’t seemed to mind the plane on our school trip either.
“Well, it’s not like I hate them or anything…”
“C’mon, this way, this way!” Narasaka-san beckoned from ahead.
…Eh?
My feet froze when I saw the sign bearing the attraction’s name.
“Backdrop…”
“That’s its main feature,” she said cheerfully.
“W-Wait, hold on.”
But there was no waiting for me.
Fortunately (or unfortunately), the lines weren’t long. After a mere fifteen-minute wait, the four of us were being strapped into a backward-facing roller coaster. To my surprise, we had to empty our pockets of everything before boarding, a clear sign of how much we were about to be shaken. If we went upside down, centrifugal force would hold our bodies in place, but anything loose would surely fall. Keys, coins, anything…
…You’ve gotta be kidding me.
Once seated, I found my upper body was surprisingly exposed. The seat was designed to create a sense of floating, my feet barely touching the floor. After a short briefing from the attendant, the vehicle lurched forward with a clatter. It’s started. Were we really going to do this backwards…? Well, the sign said so.
I gulped, my throat suddenly dry.
Why do roller coasters always have that long, pointless pause right before the drop?
…No, I knew why. That pause was designed to stimulate the imagination, to fan the flames of fear. The essence of entertainment was tension and release. When you were tensed to your absolute limit and then suddenly let go, your brain… sparked with excitement. Right, this was entertainment. It looked dangerous, but it was an extremely safe ride, probably safer than an airplane. If it were truly dangerous, it wouldn’t work. Still… I wonder how high we’ve climbed. I never realized how anxious not being able to see where I was going would make me. To make matters worse, a roof midway obscured our vision even further.
As the vehicle ascended, the buildings and people below grew smaller. My back lifted slightly from the seat, my weight shifting to the safety bar in front of me. Climbing, climbing… how high were we going to go? Ah, the people look like ants now…
Guh. My body fell back against the seat with a jolt, as if we’d gone over a crest.
My vision was instantly filled with nothing but blue sky.
The next moment, the world blurred.
The fall began with a sensation of being torn away from the heavens. We were plummeting backwards down a steep slope—marginally better than a complete free fall. The wind roared in my ears, punctuated by screams from all around me. I clenched my teeth, determined not to bite my tongue. Gagagaga, the wheels shrieked against the rails. The music blasting from the speakers by my ears helped a little, but my body was still trembling. It’s okay, right? I’m not going to be thrown into the sky, right? My head knew it was impossible, but my body was consumed by fear.
I could hear Ayase-san screaming next to me, but strangely, her screams sounded… happy.
After the initial plunge, the coaster continued its frantic tear through the park, climbing and descending repeatedly. But I didn’t have the luxury of taking in the scenery. My body was being thrown left and right, the sudden acceleration pressing me deep into the seat.
Ugh… waaaaaah.
Just as a strained voice was about to escape me, the speed dropped.
Gatan-gatan. The shaking gradually subsided. The vehicle came to a stop while I was still in a daze. A faint crackle from the speaker preceded an announcement, prompting us to get off. Swaying, I put strength into my trembling legs and somehow managed to disembark.
“That was fun!”
“It was alright.”
I heard Narasaka-san and Maru’s voices, but I lacked the energy to agree.
“It’s been a while, but that was still great!” Ayase-san’s cheerful voice felt a little distant.
When I got off, my legs were trembling like a newborn fawn’s. My heart was pounding, my pulse racing. The world seemed to be shaking—like a tremor of magnitude 3 or 4. I collapsed onto a nearby bench.
“Saki, I’ll go get you something to drink.”
“Ah, wait. I’ll go with you.”
Maru and Narasaka-san headed off somewhere.
“Are you okay?” Ayase-san sat down next to me, tilting her head to peer at my face. She was close. So close, in fact, that my heart was about to start racing for an entirely different reason.
“I-I’m fine, I’m fine.”
“Should I look for the first-aid room?”
“It’s not that bad. Sorry for being a bother.”
“Don’t be. You don’t have to worry about it,” she said, placing her hand on my forehead. It wasn’t like I had a fever, though. “My hand’s cold too, so I might not be able to tell.”
Probably from gripping the metal safety bar the whole time.
“I don’t think I have a fever.”
“Really?” She lifted my bangs and pressed her forehead against mine. “Hmm. Can’t tell.”
If my temperature was higher than hers, it should have felt warm to her. It was a classic, if outdated, way of checking for a fever. I was amazed she was so familiar with a method I’d only ever seen in old stories. With thermometers so common now, you rarely saw people checking temperatures like this.
More importantly, her face was so close it was making my heart pound. I couldn’t tell if the frantic rhythm was from the roller coaster or from seeing her face from a distance where I could count her eyelashes. The speed of my heartbeat didn’t distinguish between the two. Is this the suspension bridge effect—no, that’s not it. Calm down, Asamura Yuuta.
I lifted my face and took a deep breath. Phew.
Just then, I saw Maru and the others returning.
“You back with us, Asamura?”
“Here. We bought you guys drinks!”
They handed them over. “Thanks.”
“You can rest a bit longer, Asamura. We’ll go and quickly get the next one done,” Maru offered.
“Next up~ We’re gonna become dinosaurs and fly through the sky!” Narasaka-san cheered.
“I think it’s more like we’re being dragged by a dinosaur,” Maru corrected, glancing over his shoulder. I followed his gaze and saw it—was that a pterosaur at the front? It was a ride where you didn’t sit in a car, but hung completely horizontal beneath the rails. Terrifying.
“Maru and the others… are going on that?”
“If we don’t hurry, the sun will set before we can conquer them all!” Narasaka-san declared. “We’ll finish up before noon and then take our time with other attractions in the afternoon!”
To ride a handful of roller coasters in the morning… what incredible courage.
“So, we’re off!”
“If you stay put, we should be able to meet you back here.”
“O-Okay.”
“I’ll rest here a little longer too,” Ayase-san said, sending Maru and Narasaka-san on their way. She was probably staying to keep me company. I was making her worry.
“I’m sorry, Ayase-san. You probably want to go enjoy yourself.”
“It’s fine. More importantly, you should drink something if you can.”
I wasn’t dehydrated, but my mouth was bone dry. A small sip of the iced oolong tea she handed me made me feel much better. Still, this was a completely unexpected situation. I’d looked up USJ beforehand, scouring social media, and all I’d seen were Instagram posts from popular girls having a leisurely time with character ears and colorful drinks. It might have been prejudice on my part, but I’d been sure Narasaka-san would take a more relaxed approach.
It was a roller coaster from the get-go.
We had entered the park first thing in the morning, and now I was glad I’d gone easy on the breakfast buffet. If I’d been full, I might have actually gotten sick.
“Phew. I’ve calmed down a lot.”
“That’s good,” Ayase-san said, relieved, and leaned a little closer. “I was a little worried.”
“No, well, I was just surprised is all. I’m fine now.”
“You don’t have to push yourself. If you’re not good with them, I’ll sit here with you until Maaya and the others are done.”
“That would be too much to ask.” It seemed Ayase-san genuinely enjoyed these kinds of theme parks. And… so did I, in a way. “I’ll be a university student this spring. I don’t want to miss out on an opportunity for a new experience.”
Precisely because I wasn’t good at it, I wanted to try without being picky.
I steeled myself and stood up. “Let’s go to the next one.”
“Um… Are you serious? You’re not pushing yourself, are you?”
“Of course not. In fact, I think I might get addicted to this heart-pounding feeling.”
“That’s a dangerous thing to say,” she laughed. “But I like them too, so I get how you feel.” She paused, her expression softening. “You can stop anytime you think it’s too much, okay?”
“I know.”
I’ll probably ride the next one and end up like a newborn fawn all over again—though I doubt I’m that cute—with my legs trembling. The old me would have hated showing such a pathetic side in front of Ayase-san. That’s why I pushed myself too hard during our third-year summer training camp.
But now, things are a little different. It’s okay to show my pathetic side. I have a feeling she won’t hate me for it. Not Ayase-san.
Right now, the desire to understand the appeal of the roller coasters she loves is stronger than my hesitation. I want to cherish her desire to support me just as much as I want to support her.
Besides, if she’s going to stay close to me like this… well, it feels like a perk of the job. Not that I’d ever say that out loud.
“I’ll send a message to Maru and the others. Which one do you want to ride?”
“The one that’s like being pulled by that pterosaur!”
…Eh?
“It looks scary, but fun!”
I closed my mouth, which had been about to suggest something a little calmer. Managing a smile, I nodded to Ayase-san. “Okay.”
As promised, Maru and Narasaka-san spent the entire morning conquering the thrill rides.
“Hah! I’m stuffed!” Narasaka-san declared.
“We haven’t even eaten yet, though?”
“I’m sayin’ I’ve had my fiiill! I think I’m good on roller coasters for a while~”
“Narasaka’s ‘a while’ is two months at best, you know…” Maru deadpanned.
“Oh, come on, Tomo-kun. It’s a bit longer than that.” She held up four fingers and smiled.
Four months… I wouldn’t call that ‘a while’.
Maru shook his head in exasperation.
“I’m good for half a year.”
That wasn’t much different. You’re cut from the same cloth, Maru.
As for me, I rode two more after that, and that was my limit. I spent the rest of the time doing everything I could to push back the sourness rising in my throat. Ayase-san had offered to stay with me, but I felt bad, so I entrusted her to Narasaka-san and the others. She seemed a little disappointed to miss out on conquering every single one, but I think that was more than enough.
For lunch, we found a restaurant with a shipyard theme. Maru explained it was from a movie, but when I asked for the name, he just said it was one where they get attacked by a shark. I pointed out that there are a ton of those, and he specified, “you know, the first one,” and it clicked.
I’ve never seen it, but it’s famous. He invited the four of us to watch it sometime, but I saw Ayase-san grimace beside me and declined with a wry smile. She can’t handle horror movies.
They were selling reasonably priced sandwich and drink sets, so we all chose slightly different kinds.
“Is this a baguette sandwich?” Ayase-san wondered.
“No, no,” Narasaka-san corrected her. “A baguette is French bread, right? The surface doesn’t look that hard, so this is probably a koppepan sandwich!”
“I see.”
Even though it was lunchtime, we got to the register without much of a wait, likely because it was a weekday before spring break officially started. The meal we received was, as Narasaka-san had predicted, a soft koppepan sandwich filled with meat, shrimp, and other things. Her smile seemed to say, See? The paper container the bread sat on was printed with a shark baring its fangs, its huge jaw looking like it was about to devour the sandwich. So this is the shark from the movie…
“I… definitely don’t want to watch this movie,” Ayase-san said, her hand hesitating as she reached for her sandwich. Even the printed teeth seemed to scare her.
We found an empty table on the terrace and, once seated, showed each other our sandwiches while diligently satisfying our demanding stomachs.
After a short break, the afternoon began.
We slowly made our way around to Narasaka-san’s other recommended attractions. In a complete shift from the morning’s intensity, most of them were slow and relaxing, though there was one that was about as intense as a water slide.
The perception that USJ is all about Hollywood movies is a thing of the past, a fact I’d realized anew while researching on social media.
“Lately, they’ve been going beyond Hollywood and actively collaborating with globally popular anime and games!” Narasaka-san explained on my behalf.
“Even if they haven’t been made into Hollywood movies?” Ayase-san asked.
“Yep!”
“I see.”
“Well, that’s why there are signs with familiar-looking art styles all over the place,” Maru added, pointing around the park. Indeed, as we looked around, we saw scenes that he and I were very familiar with. There were a number of attractions based on games and manga, but they were so popular that we unfortunately had to skip them this time. Besides, Ayase-san didn’t know most of them anyway.
Narasaka-san’s recommendations were perfect—not too crowded, but still covering all the classic spots and full of fun things to do.
Our four voices, full of surprise and laughter, rang out under the Osaka sky.
By the time the red evening sun sank beyond the park, our legs felt like lead, and we were all exhausted. But it had been fun.
“Theme parks are great, aren’t they!” everyone nodded in agreement with Narasaka-san’s closing words. She had been an excellent guide. Thanks to her, we’d had so much fun that we ended up even more exhausted than the day before.
“Maaya’s guidance was great. And Maru-kun, thanks for all the trivia,” Ayase-san said.
“Yup. Praise me, praise me~” Narasaka-san beamed.
“I just said what I knew,” Maru said modestly. “I might be wrong, so you should double-check.”
“No, no. Yours was practical knowledge, Maru. My cramming was no match for it,” I said, bowing my head to him.
“Ah, if we move now, we can make a good connection,” Ayase-san noted, checking her watch. I checked the schedule too and hurried everyone toward the station. We didn’t have time for a proper dinner, so we grabbed bento boxes at a convenience store.
By the time we got back to the hotel, we were all too tired to even speak. And we still had one more day left.
“This is bad,” Maru said. “We should probably just go to sleep early today.”
Everyone managed a nod of agreement. Even that felt like a pain.
After eating our convenience store dinners, we took our baths and quickly went to bed. And so, the tumultuous second day of our graduation trip came to an end.
Just before I drifted off, a pang of regret crossed my mind.
Ah, this is no good. I was planning to be more proactive to make sure Maru and Narasaka-san had fun… What did I even do today? I feel like I just screamed and spent half the time recovering.
Tomorrow for sure, I thought, as the sleepiness enveloped me like mud, pulling me down into the abyss.
The way I fell was like being dragged down backwards, just like the ride from earlier. It was less like peacefully drifting off and more like having my consciousness forcibly ripped away—a feeling that seemed to symbolize my own anxiety about advancing into the unfamiliar world of university life.
