“Can somebody please tell me where we are going?”

Jiro watched the bathhouse on the hill grow smaller in the rearview mirror. He was supposed to be the manager of the place, but lately it felt like he was spending most of his time on the road. And now, for some reason, he was stuck in a car with three beautiful women: Kaori, Aya, and—of all people—Yui.

Yui had her bob hair tied back into a short ponytail, revealing the white skin of her slender neck. She was in the passenger seat looking out the window, as quiet as ever. In fact, the only thing she had said so far was a quiet greeting to Aya. There had been no greeting for Jiro. Until when was she going to pretend Jiro didn’t exist?

“Well somebody had to drive the three of you,” said Kaori as the car went into a tunnel. She glanced at Aya in the rearview mirror. “To be honest, I’m surprised you don’t have a license, Aya. I can understand Jiro not having one. He probably doesn’t have a license in anything. But I’m surprised about you, Aya. Driving a car is much easier than piloting a boat.”

“Hey,” said Jiro. “What’s that supposed to mean?!”

Kaori raised an eyebrow in the mirror. “Well, do you have a license in something?”

“No, but … that’s not the point.”

Aya giggled. “Kaori loves to tease you doesn’t she? It’s your fault you know, you have a very teasable disposition.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Aya gave him a look. “It means you’re cute. Especially when you’re uncomfortable.” Turning to Kaori, she said, “It’s a decision I made when I was fifteen, to never get a driver’s license. That was the year I decided I wanted to sail around the world. In a boat of my own. Getting a driver’s license felt like it would betray that.”

Jiro looked at Aya with surprise. He hadn’t expected her to say something so serious. Apparently, boats were a big deal to her. The loss of the Hinomaru must have been a shock. I didn’t see her mother or any siblings in the apartment, thought Jiro. In that case, she must have it hard, with her father injured and all. If she’s suffering, she hides it well though.

The car exited the tunnel. To their left was the ocean and to their right the peaks of the peninsula’s mountain range. “Are we going hiking?” Jiro said. “Is that it?” Now that he thought of it, all three of the ladies, even Yui, were dressed in outdoorsy clothes: windbreakers, pants, sneakers. As for himself … shorts and sandals. As usual, no memo for Jiro.

Jiro had been naked in the bath that afternoon, rubbing little Jiro and thinking about Aya’s hot naked body, when Kaori had snuck up behind him and whispered, “Enjoying yourself?!” Then, laughing as Jiro floundered and spluttered in the bath, she had said, “Be in the car in five minutes. We’re going on a road trip.” Aya and Yui had been waiting inside Kaori’s car. And now here they were, heading to some unknown destination. He suspected it had to do with the Hinomaru and his conversation with Aya and Ken the day before … but how? And what did Yui have to do with any of this?

Yui was still looking out the window, as cold and expressionless as ever. She might as well be a porcelain doll, he thought.

“You’re always so impatient Jiro,” Kaori was saying. “Always looking for answers. You know women like it when a man can take a little bit of uncertainty.”

Aya giggled. She and Kaori had clearly hit it off. Perhaps she saw Kaori as an older sister of sorts. “Why the grumpy look, Jiro?” said Aya. “Aren’t you glad to be riding with three Asian beauties? And we’re going to be sleeping in the same tent.”

He perked up at that. “What?”

Aya and Kaori exchanged knowing smiles. “Are you interested now?” said Kaori.

“N-not really …”

“Don’t worry,” teased Kaori, “we’re not doing it for you Jiro. One tent and a spot at the campground was all we could afford. Given how short on money we are.”

“Okay ....” So they were camping tonight. That sort of explained the clothes.

“And tomorrow,” Aya said, “we’ll be going out to Sochi Bay.”

“Sochi Bay …” The name sounded familiar. Jiro pulled up the map of the peninsula in his head. They were on the east side of the peninsula … and Sochi Bay, if he remembered correctly, was on the west side. As the crow flies it was not far, but they would have to drive along the coast. Long and thin as the peninsula was, it would take hours. Hence the need to stay at a campground.

“That was where the boat disappeared,” Aya was saying, “Or rather, it would be better to say it was stolen.”

“Stolen?” asked Kaori, curious. Even Yui turned to look at Aya.

“Yea, like someone reached up from under the water and pulled the boat under. I nearly drowned from the undertow. If I wasn’t a strong swimmer, I would have never made it to shore … and then I had to hitchhike all the way home in my wet clothes … What kind of monster could do something like that …”

Jiro made a considerate noise. He could think of at least two monsters strong enough to do something like that: Sheena and Tae. But if the kaiju weren’t responsible for sinking these ships, what was? Some magical force? A curse, like Ken had said? Or was it another kind of monster … one that he had yet to come across?

Aya shuddered and shook away the thought. Then she turned to Jiro and smiled. “But more importantly, let’s enjoy this night together, yes? We can continue what we started in my apartment. I’m sure you’ve been waiting to see more …”

Kaori let out a sultry laugh. “Don’t keep him all to yourself, okay Aya? There’s three of us and there needs to be enough of Jiro to go around.”

Jiro turned red.

Kaori laughed again. “Relax Jiro. You have an overactive imagination. Nobody is going to do anything. We’re just going to be sleeping, you know. Just sleeping.”

Jiro scratched his head. He didn’t know whether to feel excitement or dread for a night of camping. On one hand, he would be sleeping in a tent with three beauties. On the other hand, two of them would be teasing him relentlessly, and the other—as far as he could tell—absolutely hated his guts.

“Oh,” said Kaori, “there’s one thing I forgot to mention. About sleeping habits.”

“What is it?” asked Jiro. “You snore?”

“No,” said Kaori with a smile. “I prefer to sleep naked.” She looked over at Yui. “And so does Yui.”

Jiro gulped. How does she know that?