studiobondurri Chapter 282 - 279 Mysterious and Inexplicable
Chapter 282 - 279 Mysterious and Inexplicable
Even though the New Year had passed, the temperature in Japan in January was still quite low. And, given that Kanazawa is a part of the Hokuriku region, the scenery along the way as Yu Chen and Hiromi Jounouchi rode the Shinkansen was blanketed in white snow.
But when the two emerged from Kanazawa Station, Chen Yu couldn’t help but frown slightly.@@@@
For some reason, Kanazawa gave him a strange feeling. Although everything seemed normal, Chen Yu always harbored a subtle sense of discord.
"What’s the matter, Mr. Chen Yu? Are you feeling unwell?" Seeing Chen Yu suddenly frown, Hiromi Jounouchi asked with concern.
"It’s nothing, just feeling a bit strange, maybe because of the cold weather." Frowning and surveying the city covered in white snow before him, Chen Yu failed to pinpoint any disharmony after staring for a long time, and could only helplessly shake his head. He and Hiromi Jounouchi then got into a taxi and headed for the hotel arranged by the conference organizing committee.
Because Kanazawa City wasn’t as large as Tokyo, even with snow on the roads, the taxi quickly delivered them to the hotel they had booked.
After paying the fare and getting out of the taxi, Chen Yu, dragging his luggage and standing with Hiromi Jounouchi at the hotel entrance, felt an even stronger sense of discomfort, but still couldn’t identify the problem.
This feeling of discomfort was highly unpleasant for Chen Yu, yet he couldn’t put his finger on the exact issue. It was like having an itch on your back that you just can’t scratch, making him feel increasingly irritable.
"What’s wrong, Mr. Chen Yu? You’ve been frowning since a while ago, is there a problem?" Hiromi Jounouchi, observing Chen Yu’s increasingly impatient demeanor, asked him again.
"I can’t quite say, it’s just that something does not feel right." Chen Yu said, slightly shaking his head. Although he sensed something was off, even with his heightened awareness, he couldn’t detect any specific issue, Chen Yu eventually chose not to delve deeper, proceeding with Hiromi Jounouchi to the hotel’s reception and completing the check-in process.
Taking a modest sip from the lightly lifted cup, Chen Yu frowned, "Why does this sake taste off? What’s going on today? Why does everything seem a bit wrong?"
Hearing Chen Yu’s words, Jounouchi Hiromi moved closer to him, took the cup from his hands, tasted it, and also felt something was amiss, "Indeed, the taste seems a bit off, but I can’t quite pinpoint what it is... Could it be the sake itself?"
"It’s unlikely the sake, my sense of taste isn’t off either," Chen Yu said, his expression becoming serious. He cast a detection spell on the unfinished cup of sake in Jounouchi Hiromi’s hand to analyze the drink’s components.
The spell’s light followed Chen Yu’s fingertips down to the cup, but it flickered and then dissipated, leaving behind only a brief flash of grey luminescence, without any trace.
"Mr. Chen Yu, what’s wrong?" Jounouchi Hiromi asked, looking at the cup in her hand with concern. Chen Yu’s demeanor made her worried, and she was anxious to know what had happened.
"There’s a subtle problem," Chen Yu shook his head, took the cup from Jounouchi Hiromi’s hand, took another small sip, then finished off the rest of the drink in the cup, and set the cup down, "It seems there was a slight issue with this jug of sake, it has a light, almost spoiled taste, but it’s so subtle that only a Transcendent’s sense of taste could detect it."
Relieved by Chen Yu’s explanation, Jounouchi Hiromi said, "Then it might be due to the winter climate. Most things this season have been stored for a while, it’s normal for them to not be fresh."
"That could be it," Chen Yu nodded slightly, thinking that Jounouchi Hiromi’s judgement probably didn’t have any major flaws and that he was being overly suspicious.
Nevertheless, because of the slightly off-tasting sake, Yu Chen lost interest in continuing his soak. He stood up from the water, dried off with a towel, and put on the bathrobe provided by the hotel.
In the room, a server was arranging a variety of dishes on the table, an obviously lavish preparation, including the crabs that Hiromi Jounouchi had been longing for.
"Hiromi, they’ve delivered the dishes, and there’s the crab you wanted to eat!" Chen Yu called out to Jounouchi Hiromi, who was still soaking in the bath, and picked up a pair of chopsticks to grab a prepped crab leg and placed it on the small grill.