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Ayano Mitsuki felt a bit strange.
He hadn't seen Asakura Takuma, who was supposed to be in the same room as him, since lunch.
His childhood friend, Lemon Yakishio, had been by his side the whole time, pulling him to play billiards and pool, having a blast.
"Lemon, are you sure it's okay for you not to attend the Magic Club's activities?" Ayano Mitsuki couldn't help but ask her.
"It's fine, it's fine, I was just there to make up the numbers anyway." Lemon Yakishio said cheerfully, looking as carefree as ever.
"Are you a ghost member…?"
Ayano Mitsuki felt he completely understood the Magic Club's situation.
Because Soubu High School was a school with a relatively high deviation value, it was naturally stricter with student clubs. If the number of members didn't meet the standard, it was easy to receive a club disbandment notice from the Student Council or even the school's higher-ups.
Because of this, during Soubu High School's annual club recruitment day, the club leaders would be unbelievably enthusiastic, even leading some new students to mistakenly believe that their seniors wanted to trick them into joining to harvest their kidneys…
Ayano Mitsuki knew that his childhood friend had loved running since she was little, and had been a good hand in the track and field club since junior high. Even now that she had finally gotten into Soubu High School, she still put most of her energy into running. Last semester, as a first-year student, she even surpassed the second and third-year seniors to get a spot in the prefectural competition.
Clearly, it was unlikely she would suddenly give up running.
Thinking about it this way, it made sense that she joined the Magic Club just to be a ghost member to make up the numbers. Perhaps she had friends in that club.
Ayano Mitsuki thought so.
It was just that the name of the Magic Club sounded somewhat unreliable, but as someone who had participated in the hot spring trip, he was now in a position where he had taken favors and eaten well, so he really couldn't bring himself to tell Lemon Yakishio to quit and join a more normal club.
However, upon closer thought, Asakura Takuma and Yukino Yukinoshita, who for some reason also appeared at the Magic Club's training camp, were top students who consistently ranked in the top two of their grade. Perhaps the Magic Club wasn't as strange as he thought, and it was simply that Asakura Takuma had a stronger curiosity for the mysterious.
"Mitsuki, there seems to be a dance machine over there, do you want to play together?" Just as Ayano Mitsuki was still making reasonable conjectures about the strange Magic Club, his childhood friend came over to ask.
"Your energy truly is endless…" Ayano Mitsuki, who had long felt somewhat exhausted, couldn't help but sigh.
At this moment, a blue-haired girl walked in from outside the lounge.
Ayano Mitsuki remembered her name was Yanami Anna.
She looked around, seemingly searching for something, until her eyes lit up when she saw Lemon Yakishio tinkering with the dance machine in the activity room.
"Yakishio, I finally found you!"
Wait a minute, were you looking for her? Then were you serious about opening the trash can lid and checking inside just now?
Ayano Mitsuki started complaining fiercely in his mind.
"Anna?" Lemon Yakishio looked up at her: "Huh, why does your skin look so smooth?"
"Hehe~ That's the power of the hot springs…" Yanami Anna first showed a triumphant little expression, then immediately shook her head and came back to her senses: "No, that's not the point, Yakishio, that matter… cough, our club activities have new progress, you should come to the meeting to confirm it too."
"I'll go with Lemon." Ayano Mitsuki, who had been sitting and resting, stood up.
"Oh, sorry, our club activities are a trade secret. Please stay here and enjoy yourself for a while, Ayano." Yanami Anna immediately said, "Of course, you can also go soak in the hot springs, and you can also have such smooth skin!"
"…"
As a boy, he really was sorry for not being that interested in smooth skin.
Although Ayano Mitsuki was still a bit uneasy—after all, he had never encountered a club whose activity content was kept secret until now—seeing that Lemon Yakishio seemed completely unfazed by it, he could only temporarily set aside his worries and wait for her return in the lounge.
The Magic Club meeting didn't seem to be long; Ayano Mitsuki only waited for about twenty minutes before Lemon Yakishio returned.
However, he didn't know what exactly was discussed at that club meeting. Ayano Mitsuki noticed that after Lemon Yakishio returned, her state became a bit off.
Unlike her previous lively and talkative self, Lemon Yakishio was clearly in a distracted state, occasionally zoning out.
When Ayano Mitsuki defeated Lemon Yakishio with a score of 7-0, he further realized the seriousness of the situation.
"Lemon, you can tell me anything. No matter when, I will stand by your side and help you." Ayano Mitsuki said seriously to her.
But Lemon Yakishio didn't react, only staring at his face, and after a moment, she showed a silly smile.
"Hehehe…"
"…"
This was bad; the symptoms seemed to be getting worse.
Ayano Mitsuki had no choice but to find the members of the Magic Club, trying to get the specific content of the meeting from them.
However, he ultimately failed—the president, Asakura Takuma, and the girl named Yuigahama had once again disappeared after the meeting, Yanami Anna was only showing off free hot spring steamed buns and knew nothing about his questions, and the remaining Gokou Ruri was still a junior high student, only considered an unofficial member of the Magic Club, so Ayano Mitsuki really couldn't place his hopes on her.
It wasn't until close to dinner that Ayano Mitsuki finally saw his roommate again.
But strangely, despite it being a hot spring trip, he didn't seem to have soaked in any of the pools. He looked somewhat disheveled, as if he had been crawling through the woods all day, dusty, with narrow leaves clinging to his body.
Yuigahama on the girls' side looked similar, which made Ayano Mitsuki instinctively speculate about their relationship.
The dinner at the inn was more luxurious than lunch. Compared to the main dish and a rice bowl at noon, the evening meal was more like kaiseki cuisine, served in many small dishes one by one, including relatively expensive ingredients like pine needle crab. Everyone (except Hiratsuka Shizuka, who was still snoring from drinking too much) was quite satisfied.
After dinner, just as Ayano Mitsuki was mentally preparing to talk to Asakura Takuma, Lemon Yakishio approached him first.
At this moment, the girl seemed to have just come out of the bath. Her purplish-red yukata complemented her healthy brown skin, making the slender girl as beautiful as a budding water lily.
"I have something I want to tell you, Mitsuki. Can we go out for a walk?"
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