In the living room outside Kaguya's room, Uchiha Ryo was observing Hayasaka Ai's tea-making process.
"You're really skilled. By the way, what kind of tea are you making?"
Hayasaka Ai took two bags of dried flowers from a nearby box. "This is a flower tea that seems to have been sent from the main family by Lady Kaguya's second brother. The blue flowers have a calming and focusing effect, and the pink flowers have a heart-warming and grounding effect."
Uchiha Ryo nodded. "Then give me a cup of the blue flower tea."
Hayasaka Ai did as he asked and brewed a pot of blue flower tea. Uchiha Ryo, however, looked at the other empty teapot.
"Actually, I can make tea too. How about you try my skills?"
Hayasaka Ai chuckled. "You can too? But I'd better do it. After all, I've been trained in these things since I was a child."
Uchiha Ryo stood up and took the teapot. "Although I just learned, it should be fine."
Uchiha Ryo steeped a pot of tea for Hayasaka Ai, adding a large amount of pink flowers. His skilled movements couldn't help but stun Hayasaka Ai... and the technique looked a bit familiar.
Hayasaka Ai realized it. Wasn't that her own tea-making technique!
"You... learned it just by watching once? Wait! You put in too much!"
Uchiha Ryo put down the teapot. "Mhm, you can try the tea I made later."
But the two of them drank Hayasaka's pot first... After two cups of hot tea, just as Uchiha Ryo was about to have a serious talk with Hayasaka Ai about last night's events, the phone rang.
What the hell? Who's interrupting my mood! Ah, it's Takashi. Never mind then.
"Ryo-nii, are you free right now? I might be in a bit of trouble over here. The key thing is, Nyanko-sensei is drunk."
Uchiha Ryo's expression gradually became serious. "Mhm, I understand. I'll be right there."
Hanging up the phone, Uchiha Ryo suddenly came to stand in front of Hayasaka Ai.
Hayasaka Ai, however, was suddenly reminded of the tent in the bathhouse. There was no one else here right now. What if he was really dissatisfied because she had locked him in the room?
Hayasaka Ai closed her eyes, but the imagined event did not happen. Instead, two fingers touched her forehead.
"Don't treat people like scumbags who only think with their lower body. I have something to do, so I'm leaving. As for the one day you owe me as a maid, we'll do it next time."
Lightly tapping Hayasaka Ai's forehead, Uchiha Ryo drank the last mouthful of hot tea and walked out of the living room.
Hayasaka Ai: "....That guy."
Not long after Uchiha Ryo left the Shinomiya residence, the three girls in Kaguya's room woke up one after another.
Shinomiya Kaguya's mind trembled. What had she done last night? Invited Uchiha Ryo to stay?! Were those really words that she would say... she really shouldn't stay up late!
And the three of them, finding that Uchiha Ryo was not in the room, all walked out.
In the living room, the butler Herthaka bowed slightly. "Young ladies, Young Master Ryo said he had something to attend to and has already left. But before he left, he brewed a pot of tea for the three of you and hopes you will enjoy it."
.....
Meanwhile, Uchiha Ryo had already rushed to the foot of the mountain that Takashi had mentioned. At this moment, Takashi was holding the very drunk Nyanko-sensei.
"Let's talk on the way. I'll help Nyanko-sensei sober up once we're in the forest."
Takashi nodded, then told him what had happened that day.
It turned out that the kind and gentle Takashi had still agreed to the request from his classmate, Aki Tomoya, and had become the prospective male lead for his game.
And today, Aki Tomoya had planned to invite the three members of his current game production group for a picnic on the mountain. And then... everyone except Takashi had disappeared.
Uchiha Ryo thought for a moment. "I understand."
Takashi also looked at the mountain. "Mhm, there's definitely a youkai on this mountain. Otherwise, it's impossible for three people to disappear right under my nose!"
Uchiha Ryo shook his head. "What I mean is, that guy Aki Tomoya is an absolute jinx. If you stay away from him, you won't get dragged into this kind of mess."
Takashi scratched his head in embarrassment. "But even if I hadn't come, he would probably still have brought the other two girls, right? If I wasn't here to call you then, they would probably have been in grave danger."
Following the mountain path, Takashi, holding Nyanko-sensei, soon arrived near a mountain shrine.
Uchiha Ryo: "This is where they disappeared?"
"Mhm. Aki-kun said he used to come to this mountain shrine often as a child. It's quiet and cool here, and there's a sizable lake nearby, very suitable for a picnic."
Very good. Uchiha Ryo had reason to suspect that this kid had offended the mountain god and was then punished.
"Takashi, put Nyanko-sensei on the ground first. I'll help him sober up and then ask him what's going on. I don't know much about youkai and mountain gods either."
Takashi obediently placed Nyanko-sensei on the ground.
"Water Style: Water Rampage! Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
After unleashing a combo that Enyun-chan would know as a happy bath time, Nyanko-sensei only felt a refreshing chill from the cold water, and then he was blown dry by a gust of wind.
Nyanko-sensei: "???"
He was completely sober, and Nyanko-sensei still hadn't processed what had just happened!
"Mmm.... Natsume, where is this?!"
Takashi once again explained the recent events to Nyanko-sensei, then pointed at the mountain shrine and said.
"Just half an hour ago, I was about to go to the lake to get some water. When I came back, they were all gone, and their phones wouldn't go through."
With that, Takashi looked at the lake not far away. His pupils then constricted, and he picked up Nyanko-sensei and ran over.
Uchiha Ryo also followed immediately. And what they saw... was a wooden boat floating and drifting on the surface of the water.
There were no oars on the boat, which meant that the small wooden boat was drifting with the current.
Takashi: "There's someone on the boat!"
The two humans and one cat looked intently. On the wooden boat in the middle of the lake, a woman in a white dress whose face could not be seen clearly was staring at the surface of the water, and then... plunged her entire face into the water.
The lake water rippled slightly. The woman kept her face buried in the water, showing no sign of pulling it out.
Takashi: "What is she doing?"
Uchiha Ryo: "Who cares what she's doing. If she's human, I'll save her. If she's a youkai, I'll attack."
Nyanko-sensei: "You two idiots, don't stare at her!"
Takashi obediently closed his eyes, but Uchiha Ryo continued to look at the woman nonchalantly. Originally, only her head was submerged in the water, but gradually... the woman's entire body slid off the wooden boat.
The bone-chilling lake water had enveloped his entire body at some point. Uchiha Ryo looked up and found that he had actually sunk to the bottom of the dark lake.
And that woman was on the small boat on the surface of the lake... looking at him with a blank expression.
"Oh? Genjutsu! You want to play genjutsu with me, huh!"
The three-tomoe Sharingan opened. "Demonic Illusion: Mirror Heaven and Earth Change! Let's see how you like a taste of your own genjutsu."
A youkai's genjutsu, in the end, only affected a person's spiritual power, making them see the image it constructed. But Uchiha Ryo's genjutsu was different. It used chakra as an energy source to directly interfere with the opponent's five senses, depriving them of their original consciousness.
The next moment, Uchiha Ryo's consciousness returned to his body by the lake. And the wooden boat on the surface of the lake directly flipped over... and the woman on it had completely disappeared.
Nyanko-sensei: "Hmm?? What did you do, kid?!"
Uchiha Ryo: "Well, didn't she want to go down? Maybe she really sank to the bottom of the lake."