The Marco Polo Airport in Northern Italy was often called the Gate of Venice.
The main purpose of the airport in Venice, which was floating on the Adriatic Sea and opposite of the Italian mainland, was to transport tourists. From there, the only way for people to take buses or trains was to walk across the 4km long Liberia (Note: this means 'freedom' in ancient Latin) Bridge to the Italian mainland, and then move through the remaining tourists that were being brought there through the sea routes.
Besides the main island Venezia (Venice), the roads also lead to Vicenza, Padua, Bassano del Grappa (Note: Grappa is a type of Italian alcohol, while Bassano is a city that makes Grappa), Belluno and other cities. Anyway, all the tourists who were in Northern Italy for sight-seeing would land on this airport first; this included Kamijou and Index. Normally, this place couldn't be reached directly from Japan, but Academy City was an exception.
After breaking through the interrogation of foreign security with some random and last minute Italian and sweating over the luggage that wouldn't show up for a long while, they managed to get out of the airport successfully after everything was done.
On a side note, Index, who had bought some simple shirts and skirts at Academy City's airport, was now changing out of them and back into the white nun's habit. Since she couldn't bring the safety pins into the plane, she removed them, and after she reached the Marco Polo airport, she put them back on. To Kamijou, who was in Italy for the first time, for a girl's first request be to wear those safety pins again, he was somewhat depressed.
On the bright side, come to think of it, the fact was that they had managed to land on foreign ground safely.
Now, they only needed to meet up with the tour group members and follow the tour guide. Here in Italy, they would definitely choose the main island: Venezia, rich in historical culture and full of places where they could sight-see. In fact, Kamijou was clear about this after reading the tour guidebook overnight.
Just Venezia alone, there's the San Marco Piazza, Ducal Palace, the bell tower, the Ponte dell'Accademia, the natural history museum, the maritime museum, the world's first Teatro La Fenice!! Then there are native workshops of glass handicrafts and the place where Galileo taught after leaving Venezia, these are all tourist attractions!! They practically introduce them all in the tourist information!! Wa~!! I'm, I'm so touched!! (Note: these are all actual locations.)
Kamijou thought.
"Not here yet…Touma."
"Ah, come to think of it, the guide said that we can't gather alone…"
It had been over two hours.
There were a lot of places that they wanted to go see, but without the guide, the places they could go were limited. Maybe the guide had misread the time or something.
Right now, they were at the bus interchange in front of the airport. However, this was still of part of the airport. The ceiling and pillars were not illuminated by sunlight, but by ceiling lights. As the floor and the ceiling were flat and smooth, it didn't feel like it was outside. No matter what, the lighting resembled those of a multistory parking garage.
All the buses passing by were blue and orange in color, although of different models. Maybe they have different destinations, Kamijou observed.
Even so, they could act according to the time.
I can see now how Orsola could get lost even by taking a bus…
Kamijou remembered the smile of that former Roman Catholic nun, understanding the situation somewhat. On the other hand, Index still seemed to be affected by heatstroke, swaying about a bit.
The average latitude of Europe was close to Hokkaido. Because the humidity was lower here than it was in Japan, this was not comfortable at all…the tourist information noted that this was inevitable.
The airport faced the Adriatic Sea, and the warm wind of the tide mixed with the exhaust of buses to form a little cyclone. The temperature might be more comfortable if the body and face were warm like this. Time was passing by and the heart was becoming like a water-eroded rock. The Western European tourists and businessmen were also looking up at the sky, wiping the sweat off their faces.
"Touma, are we abandoned here?"
"Damn it, they should've been here by now...really, we can't use the phone to contact them; we don't even have an idea on what to do!"
As result of the hard work from telephone companies of Academy City, Kamijou could use his phone in Italy. However, the number that he asked for was prerecorded in Japanese, so he couldn't call them.
The members weren't gathered, and the guide couldn't contact us, Kamijou thought. But he couldn't just take the plane back like this; they had already booked their schedules and a hotel.
"There's a familiar nun here, so there should be no problem. Anyway, we can't just stand around here. And we can't do anything by just standing around here. Let's put our luggage in the hotel. We're all staying at the same place. Maybe we might meet up with the tour guide."
"Ah,uuuu…Touma, can we rest? I'm tired now, my legs are tired."
"Don't complain, I'm tired as well. Either way, let's get to the hotel first. There're beds and air-conditioning there, so we can rest before going out to sight-see."
"Uuu…I can't energise myself with that. Without that famous Italian ice cream, I won't be able to revive. I have never eaten it before, but since it's so famous, it must be good."
"That kind of thing, huh? People would normally go for those famous things during a sightseeing tour, normally speaking."
"Mn, on a side note, Venezia is famous for its Italian Squid Ink ice cream."
"…Let me ask something: is it really that famous?"
On hearing this slightly delicate request, Kamijou went near the pillar to read the rectangular schedule board and check when the earliest bus was.
"— No point worrying about it, I might as well see it for myself…Index! Sorry, can you check and tell me which bus goes to the hotel?"
"Eh, mm, okay—"
Seeing Index walk towards the board, Kamijou sighed and thought that it was great that he was with her. To be honest, he could read a bit of English, but Italian was completely foreign to him. He wouldn't know what to do if he was alone. Just as Kamijou was thanking this nun who was reading the board intently in his heart, she said,
"—but Touma, how do you read a bus schedule?"
"YAAAAAHHH!!! MY TUBE OF HAIR WAX BROKE!!!"
In the end, after chasing each other for quite a while, it took them 15 minutes to get onto the bus.