Princess Luna: Another 90 km on the Kyushu Expressway led her north onto Honshu, Shimonoseki (下関) and the fish market at Karoto (唐戸). By now she was tired again, yet most stalls had already ended their afternoon sessions. A second-floor sushi restaurant was luckily still open.

Parcly Taxel: Cuttlefish, smoked salmon and the like comprised my first true meal of this trip, and at last my belly was no longer screaming for food to fill it. Such starvation is common among those destined to be reborn as windigos, as well as those recently transformed as such.

Spindle: There are three main crossings between the Japanese home islands. The one we crossed, over the Kanmon Strait (関門海峡), was the narrowest and earliest to be constructed; the other two crossings from Honshu to Shikoku and Hokkaido came about a decade later.

We crossed back into Kyushu and the heart of Beppu (別府), finally arriving at the Nishitetsu (西鉄) Inn under street lights and the hum of buses. Here we duly unloaded our luggage and lay on the beds for a while before going out for dinner.

Parcly: As you might have guessed from the narrative so far, the Kanmon-facing side of Kyushu specialises in seafood. We entered a restaurant serving such dishes near the local rail station, with lanterns indicating their preference for Kirin beer (most restaurants with liquor licences only serve one type of beer, both to save costs and keep loyal customers). I ordered a pretty variegated donburi, but not beer – I abstain from pure alcohol, but cocktails are fine.

Outside Beppu Station, there was still a dressed-up sculpture for the Rugby World Cup that had happened in 12 stadia across Japan earlier in the year, including one in nearby Ōita (大分). South Africa won, 12 years and another 12 years after their second and first titles respectively. I still remember the last kick into the stands and the exuberant celebrations that followed, a team that seemed bound to win this year.

Spindle: After a pretty hectic 24 hours covering thousands of kilometres and three countries, we could finally relax in the inn’s onsen and take a shower. Not many ponies were present due to it being a weekday, and Parcly hugged herself for doing so much in so little time.