A/N: Hehehe we arrived at the chapter with the best title XDD Here follows the next part of the first day of the trip! Please enjoy!!!
"Oh look, that's our next stop!" Hinata said, pointing out the window of the Yui Rail at the orange-red castle that stood out vividly among its surroundings. Emilia, Rem, and Beatrice, turning around in their seats and following Hinata's finger, looked toward the direction and found the ancient castle coming into sight. Ram, standing behind the three girls, looked very intrigued by the sight as well. "We have already seen the appearance of the castle on the tour guide you made, but Ram must say she still finds herself very surprised at a castle looking like that." Ram said with her eyes widened a bit more than usual.
"Ah, I understand." Subaru said, chuckling. "You four must find it odd seeing castles built out of wood, I assume. After all, the castle you're familiar with is made with very different materials, like marbles right? And in a very different style." He said, and Ram, surprisingly, gave him a docile nod in agreement. Subaru suspected that her good mood was the result of her dissing him quite a bit earlier as well as the fact that he was wearing the T-shirt that read 'do-hentai' and decided not to poke her more for now.
Moments later, they heard the speaker telling them that they were approaching the station and reminding passengers disembarking not to forget their belongings. With a small lurch, the train stopped at their station, and the eight got off the train, heading toward the Shuri Castle Park together. After a short walk, they were greeted by an uphill path that had a seemingly everlasting line of stone walls. "And here, we enter the Shuri-jo Site. I trust that you all have a general idea about the info about the castle, but as your tour guides and lecturers on knowledge about Japan, we'll be feeding you everything you need to know about the Shuri Castle whether you like it or not. Bear with us, minna!" Subaru said, grinning and raising his fist at Hinata. "Ou!! Whether you like it or not!!" Hinata added, fistbumping with Subaru. "You repeated the wrong sentence stupid!!" Subaru shouted as Hinata burst into laughing.
Ignoring the two, Aki and Haruka took over the lecture. Emilia and Rem were smiling and waiting for them to start while Ram heaved a sigh at Subaru and Hinata. As for Beatrice, she temporarily detached herself from the group to stop Subaru and Hinata from messing around further. "Something to know first, the Shuri Castle was listed as a world heritage site, but the castle itself actually isn't ancient. It's been rebuilt several times due to the several rather violent historical events that took place here." Aki said, and Haruka pointed at the stone wall beside them. "The wall, nevertheless, is the relic, built about four hundred and fifty years ago." She said as the group walked along the path.
Subaru and Hinata, after getting karate chopped by Beatrice on the waist, returned to the group. Walking beside Subaru was Emilia, who was wearing a peculiar expression. "What are you thinking, Emilia-tan?" Subaru asked. "This is the relic of a kingdom from four hundred and fifty years ago, isn't it? I just find that... I'm not really sure how to describe what I'm feeling now, but I guess it's awe that I feel in my heart." She said, turning to Subaru. "...Ah ah, it is very impressive." Subaru said. He guessed that Emilia was feeling that way because the castle here alone had a longer history than that of Lugnica itself, at least the Lugnica that was recorded in books and documents.
They walked on, and at the same time, Aki and Haruka continued telling them more about the castle. "Ah wait, are you four familiar with Japanese history? You transferred to our high school so you probably didn't learn much about Japanese history, did you? That's taught in elementary and junior high school here." Aki asked as the thought occurred to him. "Well, when we got here, Subaru taught us several important Japanese people throughout the history as well as the time periods they were alive, oh, and some well known historical events too, but we didn't go into the details." Emilia answered, and Rem, Ram, and Beatrice nodded.
"Alright, then we'll include the Japanese history background that you need to know to appreciate the Shuri Castle better!" Hinata said, taking out a notebook from his backpack. "Hai, Natsuno-san. We will do our best to learn." Rem said, smiling. "Sou nanoyo. In fact, Betty notices something that she wants to ask about, so this would be a good chance to learn all at once, Betty supposes." Beatrice said, nodding. They had just walked through a stone arch flanked by two stone lion statues and a flight of stone stairs.
"Oh, what is it that you noticed? Ah ah wait don't answer yet. We're gonna make the whole thing interactive. What do you think Beatrice-san might have noticed?" Hinata said, turning to the rest of them. Beatrice apparently thought this was a good idea too and turned to Subaru. "Subaru, what do you think?" She asked, and he held his chin with an eyebrow raised, gazing at their surroundings. "Ha~ I think I know, something about the, uh, elements of the architectures so far?" Subaru guessed. "Same here, those are pretty eye-catching to us, but not sure about that for you foreigners." Haruka followed, and Beatrice nodded.
"That is what Betty was thinking about, in fact. Betty can confidently say that she has read a lot about Japanese history as well as those of the countries surrounding Japan, Betty supposes. Noticing those elements is quite easy for Betty, in fact." Beatrice said, putting her hands on her hips and looking proud of herself. "Haha, as expected from Bea-ko! You didn't read every book in our apartment for nothing! Erai erai!" Subaru said, ruffling her hair and laughing. While Beatrice flung her arms back at Subaru for messing up her silky hair, Rem and Ram spotted what they were talking about.
"Ah, now that Subaru-kun mentions it, Rem remembers the illustrations of ancient Japanese architectures from books about the Three Unifiers. The castles built in the Tokugawa Period consisted of mostly stones, similar to the walls and arches we walked by so far, as well as woods but in a slightly different style but still recognizable as Japanese. However, there are other parts on the architectures here that differ from those." Rem said, tilting her head slightly. "There are more reddish tiles used here. The sign on the arch we just walked past was red carved with golden characters too. Ram assumes you're hinting about the Chinese culture resemblances, Kouyou-san, Tsuyumi-san, Natsuno-san?" Ram said, finishing the rest of Rem's thoughts.
"Impressive, you three." Aki said as he, Haruka, and Hinata gave them a small round of applause. "You're correct! The Chinese culture influence is very evident, right? It's because when Okinawa was still called the Ryukyu Kingdom, it was a subordinate state to both Japan and China and paid tribute to the two larger nations. And due to its geographic location, sandwiched between China and Japan, it was very important for trading back then." Subaru explained as they walked on, passing patches of grass and flowers and more stone steps.
Hinata, giving the pages of the notebook he was burying his face in a few flips, looked up and continued the explanation. "The Ryukyu Island, that's where we are now, were unified by the Ryukyuan monarchy in 1429, starting an almost five hundred years of ruling by them, until 1879. There were originally three forces fighting over the rightful throne, but in the early 1400s the emperor of the Ming Dynasty of China recognized the Chuzan principality as the rightful ruler of the Ryukyu Island, so the other two lost their standings." He said, and Emilia put her hand up. "Hai Emilia-san!" Hinata nodded at her.
"How come the, um, the Chuzan principality became the ruler because the emperor from China said so? That's a bit confusing." Emilia asked. "Glad you asked. It's because at the time, China was the superpower of Asia, with the most power militarily, economically, and politically. Many other smaller Asian nations were subordinate to them, ruled over as tribute states, and the Ryukyu Kingdom was among them. So, they had to do as China said." Haruka explained. "Hai!! Easy-to-understand scenario!!" Subaru shouted, spreading his arms and smirking. "Imagine this is a park in our neighborhood, and I'm elementary schooler number 1!!" Hinata shouted and pointed at Subaru. The four girls looked bewilderedly from him to Subaru.
"I'll be kid number 2!!" He shouted and pointed at Haruka. She sighed and followed along. "I'll be little kid number 3 then." She said with a much less enthusiastic voice. "One day, the three kids were fighting with each other because they all wanted to claim the park as their territory." Hinata said in his normal voice and then switched to a kid's voice. "This's gonna be my kingdom, Natsuno Kingdom!!!" He shouted in the childish voice, making the four girls laugh. "Nah you get outta here!! This park belongs to me! And I'm naming it Natsuki Land!!" Subaru shouted, also in a childish voice. "You two zip it, this is my land, the T-T-Tsuyumi Realm..." Haruka said, her voice trailing away in embarrassment.
Then, Aki walked to the three, his arms folded. "I'm the big and scary high schooler in the neighborhood." He said, and his two fists landed on Subaru and Hinata's heads. "You three shut up. I think you're stupid, and I don't like you, so I'm giving the rightful ownership of this park to Tsuyumi. Say a single complaint and I'll kick you in the butt." Aki said, standing there menacingly. "Hai..." Subaru and Hinata said in a small voice in unison, looking as if they'd really shrunk in size, and Haruka gave them the peace sign. "Yatta." She said in an indifferent voice. "And that ends the easy-to-understand scenario! Did that answer your question, Emilia-tan??" Subaru asked, looking up at Emilia, who nodded and smiled back.
"It was a nice little show, Subaru." She said. "The little kid Subaru acted as fitted you very well. It was pretty cute!" She added, covering her mouth and giggling. "That's where you focused on??!!" Subaru shouted. "Hai, Subaru-kun. The kid version of Subaru-kun shows a different sort of cuteness! Rem feels very satisfied now, arigatou gozaimasu!" Rem said, giggling as well. "Dakara! You're all focusing on the wrong thing!" Subaru whined and started laughing, while Beatrice and Ram told the rest of them that the show was somewhat unnecessary but nevertheless effective in delivering the information.
They then started walking again, and Subaru told them more about the history of the Ryukyu Kingdom. "The king, King Hashi, started ruling the Ryukyu Kingdom, and with the Ming emperor's recognition, he was granted the surname name 'Sho', thus becoming King Sho Hashi. This guy, Sho Hashi, then borrowed much from the Chinese culture and adopted the hierarchy system and built this castle. That's why there are so many Chinese elements in the architectures here. Ah, but something to bear in mind, the Shuri Castle was destroyed several times through the history, and the Shuri Castle now isn't really the same Shuri Castle built all those years ago. The Chinese elements are retained though, you'll see them once we got to the main castle." Subaru explained, and the girls nodded.
"Eto, just to be sure. Subaru, the Chinese elements are things like red tiles, golden carvings and words, dragons, something of the sort, right?" Emilia asked, straightening a finger below her chin. "Yep, you're right. The style of the castle and the way it was structured are also reflecting Chinese influences." Subaru said, nodding. Rem took a step closer to him and spoke to him in a quiet voice. "Rem finds the fact that there are also nations in this world that have a close relationship with dragons very interesting, Subaru-kun. Rem wonders what meanings they hold." She said.
"Ohhh, that's actually something that I didn't think of. I suppose I was just used to the idea of them using dragons to resemble themselves and overlooked this overlap." Subaru said, punching his hand into his palm, an expression of realization showing on his face. "Nani nani? What're you talking about?" Hinata asked, turning to them. "A-Ah, we're just talking about how the depiction of dragons in Asian cultures differ from European cultures." Subaru said hastily, and Rem nodded with a smile.
"Speaking of dragon, Ram thinks the depiction of dragon in Asia is an insult to the almighty dragon." Ram said, her arms folded. "Agreed, in fact. Dragons here look like eels, Betty supposes." Beatrice added, and Hinata burst into laughing. "T-That's so true hahahaha!!!" He roared with laughter. Just then, they had arrived at another flight of stairs, and as they observed the massive stone walls and the gateway that led to the path to the main castle, they couldn't help but feel the atmosphere change. It was more powerful, steadier, and more magnificent.
They walked along the road, passing several ancient looking stone gates, and a few minutes later, they found their eyes falling upon a very magnificent bronze bell, the replica of the Bridge of Nations Bell. "Hey come and look at this bell. It's the symbol of the Ryukyu Kingdom's good relationship with its neighbors." Hinata said, running toward the bell and beckoning them to come closer. "It seems that it is covered in inscriptions of Chinese characters. What does it say, Barusu?" Ram asked, looking at the inscriptions. "Hmmm, it's all in old Chinese..." Subaru said, folding his arms.
"Wakatta wa, it's Ram's fault for asking the inept Barusu in the first place. Tsuyumi-san, may you tell Ram instead?" Ram said, turning to Haruka. "I didn't say I can't read it!!!" Subaru protested, but Haruka already started speaking with a smirk. "The rough translation would be 'The Kingdom of Ryukyu is a splendid place in the South Seas, with close intimate relations with the Three Nations of China, Korea, and Japan, between which it is located, and which express much admiration for these islands. Journeying to various countries by ship, the Kingdom forms a bridge between all the nations, filling its land with the precious goods and products of foreign lands; in addition, the hearts of its people emulate the virtuous civilization of Japan and China.'" Haruka said, a triumphant look on her face for some reason.
"Thank you, Tsuyumi-san. Ram understands now." Ram said, turning around and throwing Subaru a smirk as well. "Oh screw you two!" Subaru said angrily, making faces at them. There seemed to be an electricity line forming between the three. Giggling, Rem and Emilia looked from them back to the bell. "This bell carries a really good meaning, doesn't it?" Emilia said, wondering what sort of sound the bell would made. "It does, Emilia-sama. Rem imagines that an impressive bell like this would also have a penetrating chime that purifies people's heart." Rem said, beaming. "Oh, a healing bell, you say? A fine name, it is!" Hinata chimed in, grinning. "That name you just said rings a bell somehow." Aki said, and the next second the look on his face told them that he regretted making that pun. "There is just something about this humor that Betty cannot comprehend, Betty supposes..." Beatrice muttered with a small sigh in defeat.
Ten minutes later, they arrived at the courtyard where the Shuri Castle stood solemnly. "Ohhh, sugoi...!!" Emilia let out a sigh of admiration at the Shuri Castle, her hands held together before her chest. The eight walked a bit closer to the stunning architecture to have a better look. "Ah, those are the dragons, right? Right there on each side above the entrance." Emilia said, pointing at the drawings of dragons. "They really do look like eels, Betty supposes." Beatrice said, looking up at the dragon paintings with the other three girls beside her. "Nevertheless, Rem can feel a sense of mystic and foreboding from them. The claws and fangs make them appear very powerful." Rem commented, nodding at herself.
"Nice one, Rem! I see that your attention is on the claws, so let me tell you more about the meaning behind a dragon's claws in Chinese culture. Look closely, how many fingers do you see on the dragons' claws?" Subaru said, and Emilia looked back up at the dragons. "Four, it seems." She answered. "Yep, that symbolizes the fact that the rulers of the Ryukyu Kingdom were subordinate to the Chinese emperor. You won't see any dragons with five fingers here because that represents the Chinese emperor himself. Anyone who dares to defy that rule would be most severely punished." Subaru said.
"So the emperors did have a connection with the dragons?" Emilia asked, and Subaru chuckled. "Not literally. They just use the dragons to symbolize the emperor. By the way, dragons whose claws have three fingers represent the heir of the emperor." Aki answered. The group looked at the main castle, they headed to the ticket office since to go beyond this part, they would need to buy the tickets. As they walked, they spotted more dragon related parts on the architecture. "Ram understands the connection between dragons and the Kingdom now, but she still doesn't understand why they look so different from the... other type of dragons." Ram said, pausing a bit to refrain herself from saying Lugnica out loud.
"That, actually, has a simple answer to. The dragons depicted here and European dragons are fundamentally different." Hinata started explaining to the four girls while Subaru and Haruka were buying them tickets. "Eight hundred and twenty yen each." Haruka said as she and Subaru handed the others their tickets, and after handing Subaru and Haruka the money, Hinata resumed his explanation, and as he talked, the eight entered the building. "So Natsuno-san, you're saying that the misconception about Asian and European dragons is the result of bad translation?" Ram said, her eyes sharpening after listening to Hinata's explanation.
"Yep, that sums it up basically." He said, grinning. Walking ahead of them, Subaru felt an unmistakable gaze on the back of his head from Ram. "Nee-sama I know you're about to roast me again so save it for later." Subaru said without looking back at her. "Ara, Barusu, Ram never said that. But your admitting to be the target of roasting is a sign of improvement." She said with a smirk, and Aki, Haruka, and Hinata snickered without trying to hide it. "Ha ha, that's funny, Nee-sama." Subaru said as he rolled his eyes.
They continued walking down a corridor, looking at the small chambers on the sides. "Everything here is built out of wood, isn't it?" Rem asked as they walked, feeling the wooden beams supporting the structure. "This reminds Rem of Naraya." She said. "Yeah our ancient ancestors really did understand how to make use of the woods and construct such magnificent architectures. It definitely is one of the most prominent aspects of our culture." Subaru replied. Just then, they walked past a rather spacious hall. "This's an important location in the building. Visitors who came to visit the king used to deliver message here, and over there was the hall where the Satsuma domain's officials were entertained." Haruka said, pointing at the different locations as she talked.
"Satsuma?" Emilia asked, noticing this word that was somewhat familiar. "I think I've heard this term somewhere before... where did I hear it..." Emilia muttered, frowning slightly. "Perhaps Satsuma imo. Those are quite tasty." Hinata said with a laugh. "Those are delicious indeed, but I definitely heard it when we were learning about history..." Emilia said, tilting her head and thinking hard, and Rem made a sound of realization. "Satsuma was one of the domains that ruled the southwestern part of Japan, wasn't it?" Rem said, remembering the name from the books about the Three Unifiers they read when Subaru was first teaching them about Japan. Emilia made the same sound as Rem just did. "Ah, that's right! I think there were other ones like it, um, what else are there... oh, Choshu, Tosa, and Hizen!" Emilia said after searching her memory bank for the names, smiling confidently at Subaru.
"That's great! You actually know quite a lot about Japanese history!" Hinata said, clapping. "Yeah, you've actually taught them something. I'm impressed. And Natsuno, that joke of yours, pretty lame." Aki said, smirking, and Hinata laughed again. "I worked my ass off for two whole months to teach them everything alright!" Subaru said, punching Aki on the shoulder. "So here was where the Satsuma Daimyos were entertained, huh?" Ram said, and Subaru and Hinata nodded. Daimyos were lords that ruled different domains in ancient Japan. "Mn? But wasn't here the Ryukyu Kingdom? What were the Satsuma Daimyos doing here?" Emilia asked in confusion.
They then got into a line, waiting to enter the throne room. "Yeah about that, Japan actually invaded the Ryukyu Kingdom in, uh, 1609, yes, 1609, and the Japanese seized control over the king, eto..."
"King Sho Nei was his name."
"Oh yeah King Sho Nei, thanks Hinata, and he was actually imprisoned. He was released after two years however, because the Tokugawa government didn't want to risk fighting with China." Subaru explained. "The Ryukyu Kingdom was a tributary state to China, remember?" He added after seeing Emilia continued to look a bit confused.
"Ah yes, thanks for reminding me that, Subaru. So after the invasion, the Satsuma Daimyos also ruled the Ryukyu Kingdom?" She said, and Subaru nodded. "Yep, after that the Ryukyu Kingdom became a tributary state to both China and the Tokugawa government." He said. "The kingdom still retained some degree of autonomy nevertheless, just so you know." Hinata added, and Emilia nodded her thanks to him. The girls asked more about the history of the Ryukyu Kingdom, and soon, they were allowed in the throne room.
It was as magnificent as the outside of the castle. The room was a vivid red and gold, decorated with even more carvings and craftworks of dragons. At the center of the room, below a large plaque, was the throne, flanked by two golden dragons and two larger pillars, which were also painted with golden dragons. "Quite a modest throne, this is." Ram commented, her arms folded. "Hai, Nee-sama. Rem was also imagining something more grand, frankly." Rem said, nodding. "Haha, the cultural differences we keep experiencing are just so fun!" Hinata said, laughing. "Yeah, I suppose if you grow up in an European country, when you heard the word 'throne', you'd probably think about a large seat embedded with shinny jewelries." Aki said.
"Oh look at that, is it the crown?" Emilia said, pointing at what appeared to be a hat that was embedded with countless round jewelries. "It seems it is, Emilia-san." Haruka said as they all looked closely at what the king of the Ryukyu Kingdom used to wear as a crone. After having one more look at the throne room that was actually quite fitting for a king, they moved on to the next room, where smaller replicas of the castle were displayed in glass cases. The replicas showed what the castle used to look like, demonstrating how the officials gathered in front of the king. There was also a model of the castle only showing the wooden beams, making how the castle was supported by the structure more obvious.
"This is how the castle looked like when the kingdom was still thriving... sugoi...!!" Emilia said, bending down at the glass case and having a better look at the models. "This is how the scholars and researchers think how it might look like, Emilia-san. This place's been burnt down five times throughout the history." Aki said. "Oh... right, I'd forgot about that..." Emilia said, her face dimming down slightly. Haruka, Subaru, and Hinata all kicked him in the shins. "You didn't need to bring that up now stupid!!" The three hissed while Aki dropped to his knees, holding his shins and cursing at the three.
A familiar giggle sounded behind them, and they all looked around and found themselves looking at Kotoha, Nico, Yui, and Aya. "Oh hi, how long've you been there? Were we being followed?" Subaru said, waving at them and laughing. "Hi senpais, Emilia-chan, Rem-chan, Ram-chan, Beatrice-chan. We saw you when we got to the castle, so we just stayed a bit behind you afterwards." Nico said, smiling. "Sorry, I hope we're not intruding." Yui said, bowing her head, and the eight shook their heads. "Nah it's fine. I think this's the last room in this building anyways. By the way, where's the other half of your group?" Hinata said, noticing that their twelfth graders were missing.
They gave them a rather awkward laugh. "Well, they sorta ditched us. They don't seem to be interested in the Shuri Castle at all and stayed in the shopping mall on Kokusaidori Street." Kotoha said, heaving a sigh. "But it's fine. We get to come here by ourselves. They do their stuff and we do ours, it's a win-win. Even better for us actually because the atmosphere felt really stiff around them to be honest." Nico said. "Ah, sorry to hear that. Hope you're doing fine on your own." Hinata said. "Subaru-kun, do you think they can join us for the rest of the Shuri Castle tour?" Rem asked, taking Subaru's hand. "Yeah sure, I was thinking about the same thing actually." Subaru said, grinning.
"Hey yeah! Good idea! We can go explore the rest of the park together, and we can guarantee you plenty of Ram-san roasting Subaru scenarios!" Hinata said, laughing. "That last part is unnecessary Hinata!!" Subaru shouted, and Ram threw them another smirk, telling them that she was ready to put Hinata's words into action. Bowing their heads and thanking them, the girls' four classmates joined them on the rest of the tour. Emilia and Rem shared with them many things they'd just learned from Subaru and the others, and they were also pretty impressed with Emilia, Rem, Ram, and Beatrice's knowledge about Japanese history. Also, Ram did not let them down and burnt Subaru several times with her smart mouth as they walked.
Subaru, after recovering from the roasts, looked very proud of himself as he listened to the four girls, the foreigners, demonstrate their more than impressive knowledge about things that happened in Japan centuries ago. "Ah, I feel so fulfilled right now." Subaru said and got a slap on the arm from the other three. "Quit that look, stupid." They said and laughed, and Subaru flung his arms back at them, laughing as well. "Ah, Shiori-chan told us that her group met you during lunch," Nico said, bringing up the topic, and Subaru and the others started telling them about their lunch and how Shibata showed them what being gifted in linguistic abilities looked like.
About half an hour later, they'd finished walking around the Shuri Castle Park and decided to go for dinner as it was already past five thirty. They boarded the Yui Rail and headed back to the Kokusaidori Street to savour more delicious food. "Senpais, minna, we'll be meeting up with Shiori's group for dinner, so we'll be going." Kotoha said as they came out the monorail station. "Alright, take care, minna. See you later." Emilia said, and the others waved. "See you later! Enjoy your dinner too!" Kotoha and Nico waved energetically, and Yui and Aya nodded at them. Watching the four walk away, Subaru voiced his suggestion for dinner tonight.
"Let's go find a good restaurant to try champuru!"
"My exact thought Subaru!!"
"Ayyyyy!!!" The two shouted together and hi-fived. Ram clicked her tongue. "Alright, champuru. Explain what it is, Barusu." Ram ordered, her arms folded. "Listen carefully, Nee-sama! Champuru, which means 'to mix together', is the name for Okinawan stir-fried dishes. What it is like, taste for yourself Nee-sama!" Subaru said, snapping his fingers at Ram. "Ha, ii dawa. Stir-fried dishes sounds appealing enough. Lead the way, Barusu." Ram ordered again. "Why do you keep saying it as if you're our superior..." Subaru said in defeat but still walked off with Hinata next to him, looking at his phone to look for a good quality restaurant.
As they walked, Rem and Beatrice were talking with Subaru and Hinata about what they would be doing tomorrow. "Subaru-kun, tomorrow we will be going to the aquarium, right?" Rem asked, clinging on to his side. "Yep! The Churaumi Okinawa Aquarium! You'll definitely love it, more than the castle I dare say, haha!" Subaru answered, laughing. "Aquarium, a type of tourist attraction that stores a huge amount of fish for people to look at, Betty supposses... a rather weird one, in fact..." Beatrice muttered to herself, wondering why people thought watching fish was entertaining and remembering the alligator gars she and Emilia saw together when they went to the small zoo in Kusatsu.
"Well, there're all sort of fish, you know. The tropical fish are very colorful and eye-catching, the very long kelps are pretty interesting too, and the deep sea section displays a variety of odd but fascinating looking sea creatures as well, but the best part, hm, to be continued tomorrow!" Hinata said, laughing. "Eh?! Not the cliffhanger! I'm eager to know more!" Emilia whined, asking Hinata to reveal more about the aquarium as she was listening very intently to him. Subaru laughed as Hinata told her that it was classified information and Aki reminded them that if they really wanted to know they could just search it up online.
"Ma, you'll see tomorrow. You're all gonna get your mind blown!" Subaru said to the four girls as they arrived at the restaurant. "Mou, Subaru ijiwarui!" Emilia pouted after her sixth attempt to dig out more about the aquarium ended in vain. "Why me?! Weren't you asking Hinata?!" Subaru exclaimed as the rest of them laughed. After hearing the 'imenshebiri' that started to sound familiar to them, the eight entered the restaurant. They were soon led to a table and given the menus. They all got themselves different types of champuru and had a very delightful dinner.
The delightful atmosphere was contributed by the sacrifices of Beatrice and Emilia. Among the many champurus they ordered, such as tofu champuru, somen champuru, and manina champuru, there was this one called the goya champuru, the most famous of all. The goya champuru was made of egg, tofu, pork, and--
"Hyaaaa!!! What is this?!?!" Emilia and Beatrice shouted when they took a bite of the goya champuru Subaru ordered for them. Yes, the goya champuru was made of egg, tofu, pork, and-- "Bitter melon!?!?" The two exclaimed in unison, forcing down the food in their mouths with very amusing expressions. After swallowing and taking large gulps of water, Emilia, with her tongue stuck out, backed away from the bowl and clinged onto Ram, who was next to her, and Beatrice was spitting and clawing at the bowl with her hair standing on end as if she was a cat. "I thought my mortal enemy was the green devil, pimarus... but this...!! Bitter melons...!! The evilness far exceeds that of pimarus!!" Emilia pointed at the bowl fiercely, while Ram, still with Emilia leaning against her, had an extremely speechless look on her face. The moment was not unrecorded, if you're wondering, all thanks to Haruka's quick reflexes.
The rest of them finished their food with their spirits greatly lifted, and afterwards, Subaru made up with Beatrice and Emilia with two large, chocolate and vanilla flavored ice creams. After watching Emilia and Beatrice finish the ice creams relatively quickly, considering the size of the ice creams, and feeling their taste buds get stimulated again, the six went and got themselves some desserts as well. Finally, after ice creams, they did not forget the tradition that they, as high school students, were obliged to practice and went to buy themselves several bags of cup noodles and Okinawan snacks and drinks. By seven thirty, they got back to the airport to gather with the rest of their schoolmates, and half an hour later, they boarded the shuttle buses waiting for them and headed for their hotel, Hyakuna Garan, bringing the first day of the trip to an end.
A/N: Ya~~ part four is done!!! Something to note here, in 2019 a fire burnt down the Shuri Castle, but here I decided to let them go visit the castle in the condition before the fire happened. Also, the hotel they'd be staying at, once again, is a real one, but I'll be making some alterations to it to fit the story better as well, just so you know. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!!! Moving on to part five!!! This update is gonna be the most massive one ever XDD Thanks for reading!!!