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Chapter 175 Part 1

Hot Spring Resort of Dreams! (1) ~Ah, Summer Vacation~

Friday, August 17th, after the Obon holiday.

Following the letter of invitation he received the other day from Inui Rumiko, an official at the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, it was decided that Yuu would go to the hot spring resort managed and operated by the Toyota Sakuya Memorial Foundation.

Elena, who was preparing for the entrance exams, and Martina, who was busy with work, were unable to accompany him, so they were pretty lonely.

After all, not only was Yuu the only one who was invited, the date was also specified, and it was for three nights and four days.

Which meant, they wouldn’t be able to see him until Monday the next week.

In order to appease the two, the night before, the three of them took a bath together for the first time in a long time and had some naked conversation, and ended up bumping each other in bed until after 2am.

The next morning, Yuu left the house at 8am in a car driven by the security personnel, but soon after, he fell asleep, leaning on Kanako’s shoulder in the back seat.

The place mentioned in the letter of invitation was Hakone.

Speaking of Hakone, it was also the place where Yuu, before his rebirth, went on a trip in the second year of their marriage.

Getting into their second year, it was the time when the hidden cracks, or rather, differences in habits and opinions between the two, started to become apparent.

There were times when things became strained, but Yuu’s affectionate feelings for his wife never changed.

It was just that, that year, not only was he busy with work and his summer vacation was delayed until the end of September, he only had four days off, including weekends, so they decided to go to Hakone, which was nearby.

In order to the give the trip as much gorgeous feel as possible, they used the expressway and stayed at the most luxurious hotel possible, and he and his wife spent a passionate time as if they had returned to their newlywed’s days, so it remained as a fond memory from Yuu’s marital life.

Incidentally, if you traveled by car from central Saitama Prefecture, you would have to take the Ken-O Expressway from the Kan-Etsu Expressway into Kanagawa Prefecture, but in this world, the expressway equivalent to the Ken-O Expressway had not yet been built.

Also, since they had to go into the city center and pick up a Foundation staff, it was expected that they would get stuck in traffic jams and take a long time to get there.

As it was his first time, it was decided that a staff member in charge of the foundation’s front desk would accompany them.

Her name was Fujiki Hiromi. She was 26 years old and married, so he had heard.

She was a beautiful, graceful woman with straight black hair that reached the middle of her back and a slender face.

When he first met her, she gave off a cool impression, but after talking to her, he found out that she had a surprisingly friendly personality.

By the time Hiromi got into the car in front of the private railway station where they were to meet, Yuu had woken up, and he was able to ask her about the place they were headed for today.

「The facility is by reservation only, so I heard that including Yuu-sama, five men and 52 women are expected to use it today.」

「Heh~, that’s surprisingly few. By any chance, is it something like a hideaway?」

「No, it’s not. It can accommodate up to 300 people, and the number of women who wish to use it is even higher. However, we limit the number of women to about 10 times the number of men.」

「I see.」

He was told that only regular members of the Toyota Sakuya Memorial Foundation – the three members of the Hirose family were automatically registered as ones – and those who applied through various channels, known as guest members, were eligible to use the resort facility.

Male members like Yuu could use it for free.

Female and guest members had to pay a fee, and there were apparently various differences, but she didn’t tell him the details.

「The users are members of the foundation, and guests… Then, what kind of people are they…?」

「That’s something to look forward to when we get there.」

In response to Yuu’s question, Hiromi simply turned around from the passenger seat and smiled, but Yuu could more or less imagine it.

Speaking of members of the foundation, they were mainly the half-siblings, who numbered more than 200, the 20 wives, and the officially recognized lovers.

The half-sisters he had had connections with so far – Sera, Yanai Miku and Takahata Kiyoko – were all beautiful but quirky women.

Other than them, what kind of half-elder sisters were there?

Looking forward to the new encounters awaiting him, Yuu couldn’t hold back his excitement.

Passing through the traffic jams in the city center, the car got on the Tomei Expressway.

As the car showed a wonderful acceleration that could only be provided by a Benz, the scenery outside the window flowed and passed by.

Along the way, they got on the Odawara-Atsugi Road and caught sight of the Tokaido Shinkansen running not long after.

For Yuu, who had never ridden a train, let alone a Shinkansen, since being reborn in this world, it felt kind of nostalgic, or rather fresh, and he couldn’t help but gaze at it for a while.

After getting on the Seisho Bypass from Odawara-nishi IC and getting off at Hakone-guchi IC, they went  up National Route 1 alongside the Hakone Tozan Railway.

Even though it was summer vacation, perhaps because it was a weekday morning, the road was relatively empty as the car headed in the direction of Kowakudani.

A tourist town spread out in a not-so-wide valley centered in front of the Hakone Tozan Railway station.

As it was just past noon, they parked the car in the parking lot and got off.

Kanako’s group of four immediately surrounded Yuu on all sides, but there were always those who were sharp-eyed.

A group of women who seemed to have come there to sightsee could be seen whispering to each other after spotting Yuu.

This place was also famous for its hot springs, but as expected, there were no people walking around in yukata yet.

「Around this area, as expected, the local specialty is soba, I suppose. Though, I believe they should have Italian restaurants and sushi restaurants too.」

「Hmm. I think soba is fine.」

So Yuu replied to Hiromi’s words.

He liked sushi, but it was a curious thing that when you come to a place in the middle of a mountain like this, you would want to eat soba.

It seemed Kanako and the others who were accompanying him also had no objections, so they decided to have lunch at the nearest soba restaurant.

At a soba restaurant with a grand building that lived up to its name, 『State Guest House』, Yuu and the others treated themselves to some Zaru soba while enjoying the luxurious feel.

The price was worlds apart from the common people’s food known as soba, but it was truly delicious, so there was nothing to complain about.

Besides, it was nice to have a meal while looking at the meticulously maintained garden.

Inside the restaurant, which had a very high-end look, no woman called out to Yuu, who was surrounded by three other women.

However, as soon as they left the restaurant, a crowd of onlookers gathered as if they had spotted a celebrity, so Kanako and the others heightened their wariness.

They pushed their way through them somehow and returned to the car.

After passing through Kowakudani, the road continued through a valley sandwiched between mountains on both sides.

As they drove on for a while, they saw the sign for Motohakone. It seemed that if they continued on as they were, they would arrive at Lake Ashi.

However, Hiromi said, 「We’re almost there. When you see the brown information board, please turn left」, so the car got off National Route 1 and went up a steep, narrow road where cars could barely pass each other.

Yuu, who was in the back seat, could definitely see a long, brownish information board with white letters, but he could not read what was written on it.

The information board seemed to blend into the surrounding scenery, and was so inconspicuous that it would go unnoticed if they were driving normally.

Around 10 minutes after getting onto the side road, they zigzagged up the mountain road.

As it was a long trip today, a veteran security personnel in her 40s was appointed as the driver, but to allow her to concentrate on driving, the inside of the car was shrouded in silence.

Since a while ago, they had been doing nothing but climbing the mountain slope, and not a single building was in sight.

Let alone pedestrians or cyclists, there weren’t even cars passing by.

To such an extent that it was hard to believe if a resort facility really existed up ahead.

After a while, a tunnel came into view.

This time, a panel was conspicuously embedded above the entrance.

『Beyond this is the site of the Geothermal Energy Research and Development Corporation. No entry except for authorized personnel allowed.』

It read.

A two-colored traffic light was installed on the side.

Compared to the road they had taken there, the road ahead was clearly narrower, and it seemed that traffic was restricted by the traffic light.

Since the traffic light was glowing blue and Hiromi urged the driver to do so, the car slowed down and entered the tunnel.

They drove through the tunnel, which was illuminated by orange lights spaced at regular intervals, for about five minutes.

Then, they saw a yellow and black bar hanging in front of them. A box with personnel stationed there was standing next to it.

Although they became much less common in the 2010s, it was like a manned gate at an expressway or parking lot.