The morning after the harbor incident, Kusanagi Koutarou was surprised.
The newspapers he saw in the hotel, the local newspapers centered in Cagliari and the southern part of Sardinia, did not report on the disaster that had occurred yesterday.
There was a report about the harbor fire with photos published, but after asking the hotel owner who spoke English, he only got this response: “Yesterday, there was a fire in the dock area. They said it was caused by a gas leak... you were caught in it too? What bad luck!”
Then, he patted Koutarou on the shoulder to console him.
No one in the hotel knew about the giant boar or the tornado.
Although he wanted to ask them in detail, he eventually gave up due to his lack of language skills.
With questions in his mind, Koutarou settled his account at the hotel and left.
Everything that happened yesterday should have been real, after all, he was there.
And the cracks on the stone slab were proof.
He decided to check the scene first. As he walked towards the square where the cathedral was located, he was met with the sight of the shattered cathedral and the destroyed streets.
The town's staff members were silently working hard to repair the damage. It was unknown how long it would take for them to restore the town to its original state.
“This isn’t a dream after all…”
Koutarou muttered as he looked at the devastation. He then went to the harbor, finding the situation there even worse.
He walked alone through the harbor, which had been ravaged the night before, hoping to encounter the people he had met yesterday.
How was that handsome young man doing?
And the blonde girl, did she get injured?
What about the giant boar?
Because of the change in events, Koutarou naturally didn't meet anyone.
Ultimately, unfamiliar with the place and unable to find them, he had no choice but to continue on his journey.
Koutarou's destination was a small town located in the center of Sardinia. It would take about two to three hours to reach it from Cagliari by train or car, so he decided to take the train.
However, he had been waiting in the waiting room for almost an hour, and there was still no sign of the train. Italian trains were definitely prone to delays. It was just like the rumors. He could only wait impatiently, thinking.
Finally, just as he was starting to get impatient, a train slowly pulled into the station with a loud screech, accompanied by the clatter of wheels on tracks. Koutarou got up from the chair he had been sitting on for several minutes.
After successfully buying a ticket, the scenery he saw outside the train.
It was basically endless grassland or vast wilderness as far as the eye could see.
Along the way, he saw several flocks of sheep grazing on these large expanses of land, along with their shepherds.
Sheep herding was one of the main industries in Sardinia.
Among these landscapes, there were ancient fortresses built with stones. They were ruins of citadels built by the locals during the prehistoric period, and now they were important tourist attractions.
After transferring to another train along the way, he finally arrived at a small town on the outskirts of his destination.
He departed from Cagliari Station just after noon and arrived at his destination three hours later. After a bumpy bus ride for several tens of minutes, he finally reached the town.
Arriving in the town in the afternoon, Koutarou decided to find an inn first and then ask for directions before visiting. He didn't know if he would be able to find the person's home immediately, so he was prepared to look for a day or two.
Since it was a holiday, he had plenty of time.
“...Hopefully there's still a room at the inn, if not I'll have to ask for lodging. I can't sleep on the streets, can I?”
Koutarou looked around and muttered to himself. There were no particularly striking tourist attractions, just a very ordinary and average country town.
It was close to mountains and hills, full of natural scenery, but still a town with no selling points.
Judging by the scenery he saw from the train, this should be a standard Sardinian town.
“It would be more convenient to travel around this island by car. Speaking of which, I'm so hungry…” He only had a sandwich for lunch on the way, so Koutarou was very hungry now.
However, finding an inn was surprisingly easy, and so was asking for directions.
He spread out the town map and asked passersby. He told them where he was going in broken English, then held up the map and asked them how to get there.
Due to the language barrier, he couldn't convey all the details.
But even so, he managed to get a general sense of direction, and then he set off towards it.
If he got lost or took a wrong turn, he could just ask someone else for directions in the same way.
After repeating this four times, on the fifth try, he finally met a passerby who could speak Japanese.
Twenty minutes later, he reached his destination. He found the place in front of a stone house with a small courtyard near the forest.
“Knock knock knock～”
“Is anyone home? I'm Kusanagi Koutarou from Japan!”
“Click～”
“Who is it?”
“Eh?! It’s you again!? Ni, Nihou!”
“…”
Then, to his surprise, the handsome young man came out of the house as the door was opened.
We meet again.
Wait, why is he everywhere?