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Gokou Ruri accompanied Asakura, gazing at the stars for a long time—because the hot spring inn was in a secluded area, the cosmos here looked much more abundant than in Chiba city.
It wasn't until Asakura was almost dizzy from soaking that the girl felt something was amiss, so she prepared to bid farewell and return to her room to rest.
"Oh, and the Magic on Yukino," before the girl left, Asakura suddenly remembered this and said to her, "Don't forget to lift the curse on her tomorrow."
"She got off easy."
Even after spending a day with her at the inn, Gokou Ruri still seemed to dislike Yukinoshita Yukino.
Asakura thought it was probably because Gokou Ruri had sensed Yukino's aloof, somewhat superior air during their interactions, and Gokou Ruri disliked that high-and-mighty feeling the most.
Whether the other party was truly aloof or just arrogant, Gokou Ruri simply didn't like it.
Asakura looked at Gokou Ruri and said with interest, "Speaking of which, Yuigahama said that when you're with her, your speaking tone is very pretentious. Is that true?"
"That's not true."
The girl flatly denied it, with an expression that said, 'Yuigahama Senior is asking for it': "Besides, I believe it's wrong to badmouth others behind their backs."
"Am I going to see Yuigahama with a pair of cat ears on her head tomorrow?" Asakura teased.
"…I've only been studying Magic for a short time, so it's understandable if there's an occasional rampage," the girl said after a moment of silence, then continued as if nothing had happened.
"You were just showing off your progress in mastering Magic to me," Asakura retorted.
"Theory and practice are not the same."
Asakura "…"
Weren't the water cats, towel cats, and scrubbing cats just now practice?
It seemed she had decided that her Magic would have a planned rampage for a little while.
"Don't bully Yuigahama too much, you know, she really likes you."
"Takuma, don't you want to see Yuigahama Senior with cat ears and a cat tail?"
"............I really do."
Asakura chose to compromise with his inner desires.
—Two hours later—
Asakura, plagued by guilt and unable to sleep, came to the inn's front lobby, intending to buy a drink from the vending machine.
Although the landlady swore that the tap water in the inn was drinkable, after a brief check of the inn's history and discovering that the pipes had not been renovated since its establishment, Asakura decisively treated her words as meaningless background noise.
As he passed through the hallway, he bumped into a sneaky Yanami.
"What are you doing?" Asakura asked.
"Eek—" The startled girl almost shrieked, but fortunately, she quickly recovered, clamped her hand over her mouth, and swallowed the latter half of the scream.
She turned her head, glared fiercely at Asakura, then lowered her voice: "What are you doing?"
"I'm just going to the front lobby to buy some water," Asakura replied in a normal tone.
Seeing no hint of guilt on Asakura's face, Yanami could only puff out her cheeks, glaring at him angrily.
Asakura unhesitatingly poked the girl's cheek, and she couldn't hold back a "Phew!" as the air escaped.
"You…"
Before the girl could get angry, Asakura preemptively asked, "So what are you doing out here?"
"Of, of course, I'm getting energy for my body to get through the long night!"
"You didn't eat enough dinner?" Asakura asked in surprise, "I remember dinner portions were quite satisfying, and didn't they say you could get extra rice?"
"You don't understand, Director."
Yanami sighed, "For a girl, when I get my sixth helping of rice, the problem is no longer whether I can eat enough, but what my image will become in everyone's eyes."
"I think whether male or female, being able to eat six bowls of rice is already quite impressive," Asakura retorted.
It should be noted that while the bowls at the inn were not large, much smaller than the bowls used for donburi at lunch, they were still larger than Southern tea cups. Six bowls would be enough to make Asakura sick.
"No, it was six extra servings of rice," the girl added, a bit embarrassed.
"…"
So, she ate a full seven bowls and still wasn't full?
"Don't, don't look at me with such a disrespectful gaze. At that time, I probably, maybe, possibly, might have been full, but I just got hungry again after an intense and exciting sleeping exercise!"
"That sounds truly intense and exciting. By the way, eating and then sleeping, aren't you afraid of gaining weight?" Asakura subconsciously looked at her small belly.
The soft sensation from when he had pinched it earlier resurfaced in his mind.
Damn it, why did it feel so good? There was always an urge to keep pinching it…
"What do you want to do?" Noticing his gaze, Yanami immediately shifted backward.
"Nothing, you're overthinking it."
Asakura casually averted his gaze: "Instead of that, why are you in the front lobby? If you want to eat something, it would be easier to find ingredients in the kitchen, wouldn't it?"
"Of course, because there are hot spring steamed buns here in the front lobby!"
Yanami's eyes sparkled: "This afternoon, I accidentally ate all the Onsen Manju over there, and as a result, the hotel's maids seemed to have forgotten about it, and they didn't refill it. It wasn't until just now that I heard Gokou Ruri-chan say that the Onsen Manju here had been refilled, but the brand is a little different from before."
Are you really going to wipe out their stock…
"Besides, there probably aren't any leftovers in the kitchen at this time. Even if there are ingredients, I'd have to cook myself, which feels like a hassle. Onsen Manju is better; I can just peel off the wrapper and eat it directly!"
That's the real reason, isn't it? Asakura thought.
He walked ahead without saying a word, with Yanami following behind him. However, because of the considerable height difference between the two, the girl had to quicken her pace every few steps to keep up with Asakura.
"Speaking of which, are you guys doing something behind my back?" The girl asked seemingly casually, "Yakishio Lemon's confession aside, you didn't even let me help much with catching fireflies. Yuigahama Yui and the others did it all. You also seemed very busy before; I couldn't see you around the hotel. Only Gokou was still there because she needed to take care of her younger sisters… I always have the feeling that I haven't helped with anything."
"No, that's not the case."
"Really?" The girl was pleasantly surprised.
"What I mean is, that's not a misconception."
"Could you at least take care of a girl's complex feelings?"
"Compared to your feelings, I think taking care of your stomach is easier." Asakura stopped and looked at her: "It's not good to always eat sweets. Do you want to eat Omurice?"
"I want to eat it!"
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