· Shatter, Reality

At dusk, beneath the orange-red setting sun, the group of five walked out of the subway station and boarded the bus bound for Moriya Shrine. As the bus moved on, the surroundings began to change constantly. The high-rise buildings gradually disappeared, and the area around them started to fill with the breath of nature.

Neat rows of trees stood on both sides of the road. Ahead, a massive mountain appeared, and small villas showed up here and there around them—expensive ones at a glance.

"Um, Kochiya, is your family really rich or something?"

Shinka Nibutani stared blankly at everything outside. This was Chiba, and the middle of the city at that, yet Sanae Kochiya's family shrine actually had a huge shrine in a place like this. To an ordinary person, it was simply unbelievable.

After all, any random house here cost more than an ordinary person could ever hope to afford in a lifetime. Yet in a place like this, Moriya Shrine had an entire mountain as its shrine grounds. And from what Sanae Kochiya had said, the whole area from the subway station to here belonged to Moriya Shrine.

"Rich people? Is that a thing?"

Sanae Kochiya tilted her head as she looked at Shinka Nibutani beside her, dazed. She had no real concept of these things. All she knew was that this whole area had once been the Kochiya family's property—and of course, it still was now.

"."

Shinka Nibutani stared speechlessly at Sanae Kochiya, who had absolutely no concept of her own shrine's wealth. Was this the legendary rich person who didn't know they were rich?

As for why Shinka Nibutani was here, it was naturally because, as a former chuunibyou, she had in fact been quietly keeping an eye on Rikka Takanashi's group since that morning.