I was really enjoying my trip in Zone 16.
At first, I entered the hotel shivering from the cold, but after that, we just casually wandered around and enjoyed our vacation.
And today was no different.
I slept until I felt like waking up, had a quick breakfast, and started strolling outside.
Just… well, that was it.
“The soup is delicious.”
“Sure is.”
Today too, I woke up at a reasonable hour, enjoying the hotel breakfast.
It had already been about a week since we arrived and I was feeling like time had passed either more quickly or more slowly than I thought.
“What should we do today?”
“Right? We’ve been to the temple and enjoyed the hot springs. How about something new… hmm…”
“Do you have anything in mind?”
“Not really, I don’t.”
I honestly couldn’t think of anything.
I hadn’t really searched for activities since the first day.
“Then how about we go where I suggest?”
“Do you have a place in mind?”
“Yep.”
“Oh…”
That was unexpected.
For once, Corbin was the one suggesting a place to go.
I normally took care of this stuff, so it was a bit surprising.
Besides, Corbin was usually a bit of a slacker about these things, which made it even more unusual.
I had no clue where he wanted to go, but it had to be a good place since he was the one suggesting it.
“Okay, so what do you want to do?”
“Let’s have breakfast first, and then decide.”
“Sounds good. We can’t just go somewhere without having eaten first anyway.”
…?
I was curious about where Corbin was taking us.
Hmm…
I was interested but didn’t pry further.
After all, he probably thought it through.
I decided it was better not to spoil the surprise.
I had no idea what it was, but…
Anyway, after having breakfast with Corbin at the hotel, I got ready to head out again.
As usual, we hopped into the self-driving car.
“Hmm…”
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m not sure where we’re going based on the address.”
Of course not.
This wasn’t our hometown.
Corbin searched for our destination, but he really had no clue, so we just stayed quiet.
So we cruised along the cleared roads until we hit a traffic jam.
It seemed the place we were headed had more people than usual.
“Traffic’s a bit… heavy.”
“Sure is.”
“Hmm… I didn’t expect this.”
“Well… it says it’s only a 30-minute wait to get there.”
“…That’s true, but it seems like there are so many people that it might be uncomfortable.”
…Uncomfortable?
What was he doing that would make a lot of people an issue?
Well… it’s natural to feel uncomfortable when there are a lot of people.
But if Corbin was mentioning it, then it must have been a genuine concern.
Feeling a bit worried, I patiently waited in the car amid the traffic.
By the way, Zone 16… had a lot of mountains.
“Oh…”
Not just mountains, but beautiful snow-capped ones, making it perfect for sightseeing, but really… there were so many mountains, it was kind of astonishing.
It had to be since there weren’t any in Zone 07, right?
“What’s got your attention?”
“I was just admiring the mountains. All we’ve got around our place are apartments, you know?”
“But if you go outside the Zone… aren’t there cliffs or such?”
“Not really pretty ones.”
“…That’s true.”
Honestly, if there’s not even a patch of grass and all you see is rocky terrain, it’s hard to call it beautiful, right?
I felt the same way.
Honestly, if you compare a beautiful snow-covered mountain to rocky cliffs… it’s a no-brainer.
Also, those rocky cliffs are all outside the Zone.
“Hmm… you could look at the view anytime, can’t you?”
“So are you saying I’m just trying to get your attention?”
“Haha…”
There was no reason to stop me from admiring the view otherwise.
Besides, the AI was driving anyway.
There was no need to avoid looking at the mountains outside.
Was he really asking me to make eye contact or something?
“So you’re just going to keep looking at the mountains?”
“I get it. I just have to make eye contact, right? What are you even getting at…”
“I’m not looking to start a conversation. Just thought I’d say something.”
“Hmph…”
Honestly, I planned to keep looking at the snow-covered mountains, but since someone kept insisting…
I reluctantly turned my gaze toward Corbin.
Well, since we were surrounded by mountains, I could always look later.
So I decided to take my time enjoying the scenery next time.
*
“Oh.”
“What do you think?”
“Uh… so that’s why you said I didn’t need to look?”
…We’d arrived.
At least.
The car was getting closer to the mountain, and I wondered what was up, but I never expected the destination to be here.
“…I guess we really don’t need to see the mountains from the car.”
“Right?”
“Yes… I was a bit surprised.”
We got out of the car, and now we were waiting.
Waiting to get our equipment.
“Next! What’s your shoe size?”
“270!”
“Yes~!”
We were standing at a rental shop for skis and snowboards.
A huge ski resort that covered an entire mountain.
I hadn’t exactly avoided skiing, but neither of us was particularly active or into sports.
I had tried to keep it off my mind, but… here we were.
And I never expected Corbin would bring me to a place like this.
He wasn’t particularly into this sort of thing.
If anything, I thought he might only be interested in skiing in games, but bringing me here was completely unexpected…
“Corbin?”
We finally got our gear and stood in the snow holding it… well, that was what we were doing.
While doing that, I noticed something about Corbin, and I called out to him.
“Yeah? What’s up?”
Corbin turned his head slightly at my question.
It wasn’t something that needed asking, but…
“Why do you seem so familiar with this?”
“Do I?”
“Yes…”
Corbin seemed way too at ease.
I received skis while Corbin got a snowboard… and it was evident the difference right away.
I was standing awkwardly, tightly clutching my skis, while he looked so natural holding the board.
“Wait… have you snowboarded before?”
“Yeah.”
“…?”
“I used to do it a lot as a kid. We went with family in winter, so of course I’m familiar with it.”
“Really?”
“What? You think I’d lie about that? Why would I make something like this up?”
“No… just… it doesn’t seem to suit you.”
That threw me off a bit… quite a bit.
“I mean… did you really think I spent my childhood just playing games and never did any of this?”
“…Ahem.”
…He dodged my question.
Not that he was wrong, but it felt a bit awkward to answer confidently.
Plus, he hit the nail on the head, leaving me speechless.
It was definitely very different from Corbin’s usual image.
The Corbin I knew didn’t do much exercise outside of hitting the gym on weekends.
“How about we head to the lift first…?”
“Should we?”
“…Ehh.”
Though I felt a bit embarrassed for getting caught, I let it slide for now.
It was a pretty obvious question, anyway.
Corbin probably didn’t have any particular thought on it either.
After all, whenever his mom talked about him as a kid, she’d only mentioned those kinds of stories.
It wasn’t surprising.
Anyway, we hopped onto the lift, skis and board in tow.
Speaking of which, there were so many surprising things since we arrived at the ski resort.
It was shocking just that Corbin brought me here in the first place.
Not to mention everything else.
“Is this your first time skiing, Lindera?”
“Not the first… but it’s been so long since I last did it.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
As we rode the lift, slowly ascending, we chatted about such things.
Following Corbin’s lead, we aimed to tackle the easiest slopes first…
But I hadn’t skied in ages.
I was feeling a bit nervous.
I had once done way better at bowling than I expected.
But skiing is totally a different ballpark.
“But honestly, skiing is pretty easy if you take it slow. You might even find it fun.”
“Is that so…?”
“Yep.”
Meanwhile, Corbin, already a pro, casually chatted and laughed.
That was kind of unfair.
I hadn’t expected Corbin to be so experienced.
Even with all that “time spent as a kid” on the slopes, I just didn’t picture him as athletic.
“Hmm… even if I suck at it, I can’t really get hurt here.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. You might end up in the nets if you can’t steer, but it’s not steep enough to really get hurt going too fast, plus the run is short.”
“…If you say so.”
Still, I felt a bit anxious.
I decided to take Corbin’s word for it.
As we boarded the lift, I had my skis strapped on, slowly moving higher up.
According to Corbin, the slope should be mild and the length limited.
Yet, from where I was, it looked… pretty high up.
Of course, riding the lift exaggerated the height, but it was definitely up there.
“Corbin, if I fall from here, am I going to die?”
“Um… if you fall on your head or don’t get treated quickly, yeah.”
“Uh-huh.”
The one definite thought was to stop shaking my legs, which I had been doing all this time.
It was fun shaking my legs while going up, but…
If the lift suddenly stopped or broke down…
Being still seemed like the better option.
“Oh, but Lindera, do you know how to make an A-shape with your skis?”
While we waited for our stop, Corbin suddenly asked me another question.
But I already knew what he was getting at.
Though it had been ages since I skied, I knew this one.
“Doing that makes you go faster, right? And if you make it look like a straight line, you go slower.”
“Uh… huh?”
“Yeah?”
“…Huh?”
Was that not right?
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