Utsuromura Village (1)
Welcome. To the hollow village you can never escape, no matter how you turn.
I came to with a jolt, finding myself slumped in a bus seat. No other passengers in sight. Had I gotten blackout drunk and stumbled onto the wrong bus again? Guess I do have a bit of a scatterbrain streak.
Nah. A creeping sense of wrongness finally hit me. The bus was ancient—probably thirty years old. No card reader in sight. The unpaved road jolted my ass like a pestle in a mortar. AC? Forget it. The air inside was thick and stifling.
If this were a Seoul route, it'd be buried in complaints already.
Squinting up at the route map, I read the faded, yellowed paper:
[Kisaragi Station → Utsuromura]
Kisaragi and Utsuromura? Japanese. My listening's decent, but reading? Perpetual JLPT N4 scrub—except these kanji flowed right off the tongue...!
I peered out the window. Endless green rice paddies stretched wide, backed by thickly wooded mountainsides. It was summer. Summer in Japan.
No way... Did I possess someone in Sas? The setting was Utsuromura Village.
Silent Story ~Endless Summer Vacation. Or Sas for short. Gal-recommended it as the ultimate rural healing visual novel. A pro like me never heard of it? Must be a hidden gem.
Sucks to possess right before playing, but Sas is pure healing VN. No brutal challenges in the plot. And best of all...
This game's R-18 rated.
Sas. Not strictly an eroge, but why quibble? All I want is some cozy healing vibes~.
I was chugging kimchi soup—no, kimuchi nabe—when the bus lurched to a halt, pitching me forward.
The driver cranked the lever by hand. With a chalkboard screech, the doors hissed open.
Slingshotting my Boston bag over my shoulder, I stood.
"Hey, mister. This the end of the line?"
"…………"
Silence from the driver. Not even a nod.
"Thanks for the ride."
Nothing. Stoic type, I guess. No sooner had I stepped off than the doors stayed wide open and the bus peeled out.
What the...?
His cap had hidden it inside, but now I saw the driver's face. Grinning ear to ear, teeth bared.
Japan's bus drivers are always polite, sure, but this smile was empty. Mannequin-like. Just a guy bad at customer service smiles?
The unease didn't linger. My eyes bugged out like this: Σ( Д )ﻌﻌﻌﻌ⊙ ⊙
—A bus stop!
You might think "big deal," but you don't know. Rural Japanese bus stops are next level.
[Utsuromura Entrance]
Round sign, paint chipped but barely readable. Tiny wooden shelter of woven planks under a tin roof. Vintage vending machine beside it—does it even work?
Pure illustrated rural stop. Tanuki neighbor kid shows up? Roly-poly bus rolls in? Miss the rare ride and wait with your childhood friend, love sparking? Soaked uniform girl ducks rain, meets creepy bald dude?
—Magic spot where anything can happen.
Heart pounding, I ducked into the shelter. A girl sat demurely, dozing.
Ghostly pale skin. Long black hair cascading down. Huge eyes shadowed beneath. White see-through dress to her knees, wide-brim rice hat. Ramune bottle sweating beside her.
Holy shit. White dress girl appeared!
Quintessential pure rural summer VN heroine. Probably the main girl.
"…Mm."
Light sleeper? She blinked awake, big eyes locking on me.
"Are you Natsunashi Yuuki from Tokyo?"
Yuuki. Guess that's my name. Super common. Default weeb game protag name.
"Y-yeah, that's me."
I scrambled to school my face, nodding with max smile.
"I'm Hoozure Reika. We're like, distant relatives or something."
Distant relatives are distant relatives. "Like" what? But rural romcom VNs always tie you to local kin. Sas must be that type.
"I'm one year older than you, Yuuki-kun, so big sis Reika~."
Ahem. Hands on hips, big-sis pose. Kuh. Cute.
"Rei-nee."
"!"
Fluster flashed across her face.
"What's up?"
"Didn't think you'd actually call me Rei-nee. No, no, too embarrassing still."
"Got it. Reika-san it is."
Romcom start off strong. Dabbing sweat from her neck with a handkerchief, she said,
"It's almost three hours by bus from far-off Kisaragi Station, so you must be tired."
"Flew by like a dream. I'm good, Reika-san."
Actual dream-driver bus was under five minutes.
"A dream, huh?"
"Yeah. Super excited to reach Utsuromura Village."
"As village chief's daughter, I'm glad to hear that—for now."
Village chief's kid? Score.
She beamed, handing over her ramune. Thirsty as hell, I took it.
"Got your message about coming to your late mom's hometown for summer break. Aspiring photographer, right?"
Boston bag felt heavy—yep, Yuuki's here to snap rural nature shots. Poke around, rack up bonds with multiple cuties. Textbook plot.
"Eh, sure. I'll take some pretty shots of you too, Reika-san."
"Yay. You're staying at your grandma's old house, right? Had the servants clean it. Hoozure family'll handle food and water, so no worries."
Overkill for distant kin.
"Sorry to impose."
"Impose? Utsuromura blood always has the right to return... since ancient times...."
Rural bonds, got it. Nailed.
"Bit of a walk to the village. Need help with your bag?"
"Nah! I got it."
"So spirited. Follow me close, Yuuki-kun."
Utsuromura's entrance? A tunnel, surprisingly. Ofuda charms knotted at the mouth. Lonely sign read:
The Japanese Constitution does not apply from here on.
"What's with the sign, Reika-san?"
"Sign?"
Adjusting her lantern, she tilted her head. Playing dumb?
"The one saying the law doesn't apply."
"Ahh." She sighed pityingly. "Neighboring village put it up to harass us back then. Baseless rumors. We have a village office inside."
Even in a game, no way the constitution skips one village. Isolated spot, must've been bullied forever.
"Haha, yeah?"
I chuckled awkwardly. Wasn't hoping for "Polygamy only here" BS. For real.
Reika-san finally spoke at the tunnel's mouth, after silence.
"Yuuki-kun."
"Yes, Reika-san."
"Not exactly laws, but things to watch out for while living here."
Her clear voice echoed off the walls, crisp and steady.
One. No outings from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.
"Unlike the city, rural nights are pitch black. Night watchmen patrol for safety."
Nooo, my lanternfly hunt op!
Two. Stay away from the old shrine on the west side.
"Typhoon and termites wrecked it. New shrine's fine—my bestie's the shrine maiden there. Visit freely, Yuuki-kun."
Shrine maiden heroine! Ki-ya-hoo!
Three. Don't touch lost items—leave them.
"What's a lost item?"
"Stuff someone dropped. Owner'll claim it, so ignore weird finds or report to the office."
Four. Don't enter the mist.
"Hot springs here. People die inhaling sulfur-tainted fog sometimes."
Hot springs event? Nice.
Five. If a bell rings anywhere, bow low and never look up.
"Old custom~. Revering spirits, always battle-ready."
Like Korea's civil defense drills.
Six. Follow village requests.
"You're a resident for the month, so help if something comes up."
"Easy peasy."
By the time Reika-san finished reciting Utsuromura's ordinances, we'd reached the tunnel's end. Beyond: my Japanese rural healing life at last!
The moment I stepped toward the light—
Thwack.
Something slammed into me...