After that... Really, I wanted to escape this strange amusement park slash alternate dimension as soon as possible.
“Look, look, Hitomi! Isn’t this view a little interesting? This is an amusement park, right?” Utena chatted. “The view from up here is great— Not good, right? Creepy, right? It’s so disgusting, don’t you think, Hitomi?” She was all excited, somehow, and was making a lot of noise.
The giant Ferris wheel that you could see from anywhere in the park; Utena and I were currently riding in one of the gondolas. I felt that this wasn’t the time to be elegantly enjoying the view at all, though. Well, there were extenuating circumstances, and this had to be done.
The inside of the gondola was plain; normal, even, which was rare for this outrageous place. The seats in this gondola weren’t very comfortable. I was sitting on a seat made out of something smooth and hard, like a rock. Utena was in front of me, and we sat facing each other, all alone. Now that I thought about it, this is the first time I’ve been alone with her. Up until now, there’d always been someone else next to her, and we never had time to settle down and talk.
I gazed fixedly at Utena, who was glued to the window in front of me, looking outside. She had dull brown hair, and was wearing a skirt I was deeply familiar with, only rolled up to the limit to make hers as short as possible. With her knees on the seat, she was kicking her legs up and down behind her; any harder, and the force would show me her underwear. Feeling that this sight would be poison for my eyes, I looked away.
I wanted to leave. Why did I have to go on a trip to the sky with this princess? It made me want to run away. The movement of the gondola was painfully slow, and we were no longer at a height that I could jump from safely, so I had no choice but to sit tight.
“Hm? What, is there something on Utena’s face?” Feeling my gaze, Utena turned around. “You seem weird. This’ll probably be the last time we see this place, so why don’t you enjoy the sights too, Hitomi?” She was in a really good mood, and has been like this for a while now. She’s probably just excited that we finally have a possible means to escape this amusement park dimension. She also seems like the sort of person who enjoys amusement parks in the first place.
“Don’t move around too much, okay?” I cautioned. Utena was moving a lot, and the gondola was shaking in proportion to her movements, which was really scary. “This place, it’s not a real— actually, it’s not like this place is a normal amusement park, anyway. It’s likely that nobody took safety into account,” I tried to explain to her. “So if you keep shaking the gondola, we might fall.”
“You’re right,” she agreed. “If we fall from this high up it would hurt, and that would suck.” With a show of reluctance, Utena sat down in her seat properly.
Right next to us was the entrance/exit of the gondola, which was really just an oblong hole. If this was a real amusement park, there’d be someone to close the door and lock it, preventing people from falling out. But in this place, we shouldn’t expect anything of the sort. The entrance had been left open, and it was the picture of danger— outside of the gondola was empty air. If for some reason the gondola tilted, we could slip and fall out of it, only to be thrown into the atmosphere. If there had been a door or something, I would have closed it, but there wasn’t. Well, the lack of a door was the exact reason that we were able to hitch a ride without buying a ticket. But it’s not like I wanted to ride this thing, though.
“You’re looking a bit sour there, Hitomi.” Utena was unusually perceptive, which was unlike her. She was looking at my face. “Is there something you’re worried about? If you’re okay with Utena, I can at least listen.”
“No, it’s fine... I’m just...a little scared of heights,” I admitted. I came into this amusement park falling from way up high, after all. My memory of when I was saved was vague and hazy, but the fear of dying by falling is still ingrained into me. It’ll probably become full-blown acrophobia.
“Utena’s fine, you know? You’re pathetic, haha♪” Happy for some reason, Utena restlessly swung her legs from side to side. Apparently, she wasn’t enjoying the uncomfortable gondola seats. She would sit on her hands, or stand up halfway and then sit down; Utena didn’t stay still for a second. “God, what a terrible seat,” she remarked.
“Yeah,” I agreed, “we should have brought cushions with us.”
And just like that, we made rather inconsequential small talk. I sighed. How long does it take for this gondola to go all the way around? At this rate, it would be half an hour, or perhaps even longer. And in that time, I would be stuck alone with this girl. The gondola wouldn’t fit three people, so Kurashima stayed on the ground. It seems he’s searching for a stretcher or something similar that he can use to carry Torii, while making sure she stays healthy. Certainly, carrying her on a stretcher or pushing her around on a cart would be easier than carrying her on his back. Kurashima’s taking care of that, among other preparations for leaving. After finding out that yesterday, we’d experienced some pretty horrible things while he was away, he’d said he wanted to redeem himself for not being able to help.
Well, let him do what he wants, although I did want to help with the preparations for leaving. Before that, ride the Ferris wheel— that was also one of Kurashima’s suggestions, as a way to kill time, or something.
Personally, I didn’t want to sit in this unstable ride. Not only was it too tall, it also had nowhere to escape to. But for now, I also have my own reasons for choosing to do so; I wanted to try and find one of the exits, or the gates, while we were high up. I really don’t want to be going the wrong way when the park shifts the gate locations, or possibly gets rid of them altogether— after all, I didn’t have a clear memory of where they were located.
And more than that, there was something I wanted to make sure of, which was that the area past the gates really was the ‘outside.’ I couldn’t get past the idea that, outside the gates, there would just be more of this alternate dimension, going on forever. If that was the case, escape would be impossible. Even if outside the gates was just an infinite wasteland, or just more alternate dimension... Just in case, I was still going to try and escape at least once. But if I can get a peek at it beforehand, I could at least keep down my despair if, by any chance, we are actually unable to leave.
If I just went through the gates unknowingly, only to find out that I couldn’t actually escape, my heart would just break, and I’d fall into despair.
It’s also a way to kill time until we’re ready to go. I was hoping that I might be able to come up with another way to escape just in case, while we had this vantage point. The first time I was falling when I was here, I didn’t have any leeway to do that at all, but now I did. Looking at the scenery with the goal of escaping in mind, there might be some fact to discover that would lighten my heart.
I wasn’t expecting much, though. I’m just an average high school student, not the protagonist of a story. I don’t have the skills or brains to notice some important clue and use it in order to live longer, or something. That’s why, well, this was just a consolation... It was action on the level of being better than not doing anything.
“It’s boring just looking at the scenery, isn’t it.” Utena quickly got bored of the Ferris wheel, and she started winding up the tips of her hair with her fingers. I hadn’t told her of my plans— to confirm the locations of the gates, among other things. It wasn’t something important enough to ask for her help, and Utena doesn’t seem like she’d like people telling her what to do.
“Let’s talk, Hitomi,” she said. “...hm? You don’t want to?” I hadn’t even replied yet, but Utena had already come to a hasty conclusion, and was wearing a frown on her face.
It was certainly true that I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to enjoy conversation right now. I did think that it would be a little annoying to deal with Utena, but those feelings shouldn’t have shown on my face. I should just let the situation flow around me, I told myself, separating my body and my heart while putting on a forced smile. That’s the kind of person I am. I should have been good at acting tactfully.
“Hey, Hitomi, behind you... Isn’t your window...looking awfully like a TV screen?” Utena said, asking something strange.
Panicking, I turned around, but there was just the window pane behind me. Beyond that, there was only the scenery of a creepy amusement park.