Keli and Kazuma followed the yakuza car into New Village.
At a glance, the village was neither too big nor too small, with an estimated actual population of about 500.
It had all the characteristics of a normal Japanese village.
Temples, as numerous as convenience stores in Japan, ordinary small roads, little devils playing cards by the roadside, and a group of elderly grandpas and grandmas.
Looking around, Sato Kazuma sighed regretfully.
"It's all a lie after all."
"What's a lie?" Keli, who felt the convenience store owner at the village entrance had just been staring at him, casually responded to Kazuma.
"There are no newlywed wives from Russia, no beautiful JK's needing tutoring from a private tutor, no childhood friends waiting for you at an unmanned train station, no tanned big sisters, no cute little girls who like ramune, no fox spirits that appear if you throw 500 yen into a shrine. 10
Only a large group of lonely elderly people and left-behind children whose young family members have gone out to work."
Keli glanced at Sato Kazuma.
"It's good enough that there aren't any ancient god descendants here that you see as human but others don't, no perverted customs where all women are taken to be sex slaves, and no traditions of regularly sacrificing outsiders to the mountain."
"What kind of games do you usually play?!" Kazuma asked, half-annoyed.
"Games where you play as a farm boy who can stop time, fish, catch bugs, and fight, and then go around the village picking up girls."
"Summer x Rhapsody? I like driving big cars too." Kazuma's eyes lit up.
"No, with your magical thought process, it wouldn't be Stardew Valley, would it?"
"No, it's Lakeview Valley." 2
Just as the two were looking at the village scenery and searching for where that car went, a middle-aged man blocked their path.
"Cough, cough. Excuse me, are you here to visit the village?"
The middle-aged man's tone was gentle, but his words had a hint of inquiry.
Keli had already noticed this person; he had been heading directly towards them from a distance.
Kazuma was momentarily stunned by the sudden question.
Keli, however, answered calmly.
"Yes, we heard there were some fun things in New Township, so we specially came from Tokyo."
"Oh, oh! So that's it."
Hearing they were from Tokyo, and their accent indeed sounded like Tokyo, the middle-aged man seemed a bit disappointed.
But in a flash, he enthusiastically began to introduce New Township.
"Oh, you don't know, there's so much to do in our area! I am Taguchi Ikuma, the head of the New Township Agricultural Cooperative. You two are university students from Tokyo, right? If you have a good time, please help us promote it more!
Our village not only has hot spring inns, but the nearby mountains are also rich in various mountain produce. Many restaurants get their wild onions from those two mountains. They say they're Kyo-wild onions, but they're still from places like ours, Kyoto doesn't have wild onions.
And there are many other industries too, you know."
As he spoke, the man also winked.
"As you know, many foreigners come to Japan for the sex industry, but Tokyo cracks down hard, and it's impossible to truly provide 'honban' services to customers. So, often, a guide is needed to bring them to places with such industries, like ours.
However, it's the off-season for tourism now, so you don't have to worry about encountering foreigners. If you two young men are interested, you can take a walk down that street over there."
Listening to the other party's suggestive words, Keli also smiled and spoke.
"Is that so? Then we must thank Taguchi-san very much. It's truly enthusiastic of you, a busy public servant, to specially come and be our guide."
"It's nothing. Anyway, our New Township isn't big, and besides liaising with people around, I also need to help the villagers welcome guests, after all, the population loss in Japanese rural areas is becoming more and more serious now.
In the future, when you graduate, if you need to pay hometown tax, filling in Matsubushi is also a good option. Matsubushi's return gifts are produced in our village, and our return gifts are no less than Hokkaido's. Oh, by the way, it's the start of the school year, can you two still travel?"
"Yes, we're in our third year now. After finishing our thesis, we really didn't want to stay at school or go to a mahjong parlor with our seniors, so we came out to travel," Keli replied.
"Oh, oh! I see. Then, have fun, you two." After speaking, the man waved and left.
"This guy, he kept introducing things, but he was always asking about our situation."
Sato Kazuma waited for Taguchi to walk away, then leaned into Keli's ear and spoke. Kazuma was still very sharp.
Keli also nodded.
"And did you notice? It feels like different people have been watching us ever since we came in. This place is a bit strange."
And it wasn't just the issue of being watched; Keli had felt something was off ever since he entered this village, but he couldn't quite pinpoint it.
The two walked for a while longer and saw the black sedan they had been following earlier. Since it was the countryside and there wasn't really such a thing as parking spaces, the car was brazenly parked on the side in front of a shop.
Keli and his companion walked closer and found that the place seemed to be an inn. The main entrance had "Yasudaya" hanging on it, and a small sign read "Local Cuisine, Egg Rice..." and other words.
It seemed to be a shop where the hall was open to the public as a restaurant, and the upper floors were for lodging.
"Let's go inside and see."
Keli touched his stomach, which felt no hunger, and led the somewhat tired Kazuma inside.
Upon entering, there was a front desk and a small hall with a few dining tables.
Perhaps due to it being the off-season for tourism, there were only a few people eating at this time.
There was a family with pink hair at one table, and Taguchi, whom they had seen before. Other than that, it was empty.
"Yo! Michiko, we have guests! These two are distinguished guests from Tokyo!"
Taguchi saw Keli and his companion, stood up enthusiastically, and shouted.
"Coming, coming."
A middle-aged woman quickly came out from the back kitchen.
Seeing that it was just an ordinary auntie, not the big-breasted proprietress in a kimono from a two-dimensional countryside who was clearly old but looked young, Kazuma shook his head regretfully.
"Damn it, isn't this a two-dimensional world?" Keli also complained regretfully.
"What nonsense are you talking about? Isn't this reality?" Kazuma looked at Keli in confusion.
"Where in reality are there pink-haired people everywhere?!" Keli wanted to say that, but held back.
"Are you two here for food or lodging?" The woman, who was probably the owner of the shop, walked over.
"Food," Keli replied.
He glanced at the menu for the so-called local cuisine. The prices were damn expensive and not at all "local."
"Raw egg over rice, and a ginger ale," Kazuma decided quickly.
"This one, the grilled meat chazuke set meal," Keli chose a set meal that looked relatively normal.
Watching the two sit down amidst the greetings, the man at another table looked at his daughter, who instantly became nervous.
"Yili, it seems only your Shuka in Tokyo is on holiday because a student witnessed a killer. Those two young men look about your age, do you want to go say hello?"
The pink-haired girl, whose pronunciation was very similar to "hitori" or "Yili" which is actually written as "hitori," shook her head repeatedly.
"No... no need."