It seemed like he had successfully gotten the woman's attention. She looked at him- and slowly she spoke.
"You..."
He steadied himself and gripped the bat tighter in his hand. The woman grinned- again, appearing all the more suspicious to the young man. If she planned any misconduct, he had one swing and a chance to run off. However, what she did next completely startled him.
"Oh my God!!! You're a rather handsome guy!!!" He took a step back as she rapidly approached. Calling him handsome...that was something only Irie did. How strange. It was a foreign feeling to be called that. "What brings you to this town? You starting a business? Looking for an endorser? Maybe someone to take their hands in marriage? Gah! Possibilities, possibilities! Oh, I know! You're one of those engineering firms! Those folks who come to places to build oil lines and bridges! Yep, that's totally it!" "There are so many things wrong with her line of thinking that it's starting to get on my nerves." Isshiki held back a sigh from escaping him, when the woman paused- directly in front of him.
Their eyes met. His yellow ones with those eerily blue ones.
"Or perhaps...you're looking for someone, aren't you?"
What the hell? How did she guess? Did she find his car crash? Perhaps she saw Irie and the latter had mentioned him? It was too much to hope for. Maybe it was just a lucky guess, but her intonation raised too many red flags. One too many, in fact. Once again, that feeling of anxiety and dread felt like he had just taken a punch to the throat. Maybe he was being too pessimistic. Maybe he was overthinking. But it couldn't be a coincidence, could it...?
"Well, this town's landlocked. Only way out is through the bridge that connects to the highway. Just follow the signposts near the post office and voila! There's the bridge." She stepped back. Isshiki paused and loosened his grip just a little. "I...I see." He paused for a moment before deciding to ask another question before he hightailed it away from this strange woman.
"By chance, did you see anyone else aside from me here?"