I endured the humiliation and humiliation while being besieged by the ghost story elder sister.

After preparing breakfast, he sat on the steps in the entryway, a place he hadn't done in a long time, and called out towards the living room.

"Fanxia-nee~ I'm going to school!"

Then, he heard Fanxia in the living room respond.

"Be careful on the road~"

Immediately afterwards, he picked up his schoolbag, walked out the door, and took the elevator downstairs.

Since Arisa had moved to the apartment below his, the two no longer needed to go to the tram stop to meet.

Ximiao arrived at the door of Arisa's house and gently rang the doorbell.

A moment later, footsteps were heard, and someone came over and opened the door. What came into view was Boros's cute, expressionless face.

Upon seeing that it was Hiyo, she walked into the house without turning her head, leaving Hiyo standing at the door, wondering if she should also go inside and wait for Arisa.

While Hiyo hesitated for a moment, Arisa, who had changed her clothes and was carrying her schoolbag, also came out.

What puzzled the boy was that Arisa had two dark circles under her eyes on her pretty face, making it look as if she hadn't slept well the night before.

He didn't ask any more questions, but after Arisa put on her shoes, he went into the elevator with her.

Just as he was going downstairs, he heard the girl next to him yawn several times, sounding very sleepy.

No longer able to hold back, Ximiao finally asked.

"Arisa, did you go to bed very late last night?"

"...That's not the case."

"Oh, I see. Then why do you look so listless?"

"Because I didn't sleep at all..."

"Eh?"

Upon hearing what Arisa said, Nozomi was stunned and didn't quite understand why she would stay up all night the night before school started.

So when they got to the station and boarded the tram to school, Arisa immediately leaned against Nozomi's soft hair, which still smelled of shampoo, and dozed off.

"Hiss... I know there's a big height difference between us, but it still feels really weird like this..."

Although there was no one else on the tram early in the morning except the two of them, they still felt a little ashamed.

Nozomi had no choice but to close her eyes and doze off, just like Arisa, to make time pass faster.

It wasn't until they arrived at the station near the school that Mio shook the soundly sleeping Arisa awake, leading the still somewhat dazed girl off the train.

The thick snow on the streets showed no signs of melting.

The dry, cold air hit her face, which made Arisa a little more awake. Then she sneezed and looked unwell.

Just as she took out a tissue from her bag to wipe her face, she suddenly realized that someone had tugged at the hem of her clothes.

She turned her head to look at Xi Ling beside her, only to find that he had already taken off the scarf around his neck and handed it to her.

"This is?"

"Here, put this on you. You've been staying up late and caught a cold. It would be terrible if it suddenly fell off during class."

"..."

Although I knew that Himiko meant well by giving me the scarf, I still felt something was off about what she said.

But she still took the scarf that Ximiao handed her and wrapped it around her neck.

Besides blocking the cold wind from sneaking into the gaps in her collar, she could also feel the lingering warmth of the boy on the scarf.

It seems like it's going pretty well...

Thinking of this, Arisa couldn't help but tug at her scarf, making it wrap around her a little tighter, as if she could still smell Nozomi's scent.

A blush inexplicably appeared on her fair and pretty face. Unfortunately, without her scarf, Hiyo could only lower her head to prevent the cold wind from sneaking into her clothes along her collar, so she couldn't see Arisa's appearance.

Once they entered the school's teaching building, the two of them couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"I don't know why, but it seems particularly cold here in Xi'an this year."

"Huh? Wasn't it like this before?"

Hearing what Arisa said, Nozomi, who was here for the first time, couldn't help but ask with some doubt.

"Of course not~ In the past, even if there was snow in Xijing, it would only last for a day or two before melting away. Look at this year, Mio, even the temple fair was forced to be canceled because of the snow."

Well... although she had a rough idea that the increased probability of a blizzard was due to the fact that the Snow Woman herself was in Xijing, it was better not to say it out loud yet.

After changing into indoor shoes, the two returned to their classroom in Class 1-A. The familiar classroom and their deskmate brought back a sense of nostalgia.

The two of them thought the same thing, without prior arrangement.

Author's Note: School has started.

(╯‵ ′)╯︵┻━┻

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Daily Life Back at School

"Arisa? Arisa! Wake up! get out of class is over, it's lunch break time, get up and eat your lunch!"

Looking at Arisa, who was still lying unconscious on her desk beside her, Nozomi said with a hint of helplessness.

Fortunately, Arisa, who had already caught up on sleep all morning, has now barely recovered from a near-death state to a state of low health and has regained some energy.

Although she didn't know why, she slept through several classes without the teachers noticing that she was sleeping on her desk.

Nozomi could only attribute the reason to the fact that Arisa, being a devil, used a little trick to prevent the teacher from noticing that she was dozing off.

The girl beside him stretched and rubbed her eyes before taking out the special bento box made by the cat maid for the day from her bag.

Seeing the rather luxurious-looking lunchbox, Nozomi was no longer surprised.

He didn't know before that the bento was made by the cat maid. He once thought that Arisa had prepared the bento early in the morning and ate it very happily.

But after learning the truth, although he didn't feel anything was wrong, he suddenly understood why there were so many fish in the bento box.

After lunch, Ximiao made an excuse to go to the convenience store to buy something to drink, and took the opportunity to leave the classroom and go to the toilet.

He walked into the third toilet stall with practiced ease and saw Hanako sitting in front of the screen, engrossed in playing a game, just like always.

Seemingly hearing the noise behind her, she suddenly turned around while playing a scene from the story. After seeing that it was Xi Ling, she went back to playing the game.

The boy felt somewhat ashamed that they hadn't taken his visit to heart at all.

"Ahem... Miss Hanako, I'm here."

"Oh, so what?"

She said without turning her head.

Now, Nozomi, who had originally bought a small cake to reward her cunning advisor, was at a loss for words.

After taking off her shoes, Ximiao went inside, obediently sat on the cushion next to the table, and placed the cake on the table.

In reality, the reason he deliberately chose this time to visit Ms. Hanako with a small cake was simply because he wanted dessert after dinner.

As for Arisa... I'll go to the convenience store and buy her an ice cream later.

whee.

After a while, Hanako finally cleared the level and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Then, remembering that Xi Ling was behind her and seemed to have brought over a box of cakes, she stood up impatiently.

Perfect timing to have some sweet little cakes and take a break...

however.

She saw that the cake, which should have been entirely hers, had been cut in half by Ximiao and placed in a box.

As for the other half of the cake, the boy ate it without hesitation.

"Wait... wasn't this cake for me?"

"Huh? Didn't I pay for it?"

Without the slightest hesitation, Nozomi gave a perfect reason, silencing Hanako's urge to complain.

Seeing that she was in the wrong, Hanako stopped talking, sat down at the table, picked up her cake, and started eating it in small bites.

"So, what happened to that thing from before (chew chew chew)?"

She asked with some curiosity.

Upon hearing Hanako's question, Nozomi immediately recalled what had happened under the kotatsu, and a blush crept onto her fair face.

Seeing Nozomi's expression, Hanako immediately understood that there must be a story behind it all, and was just about to listen to her tell what had happened.

As luck would have it, the school bell rang at that moment, and as if she had found an excuse, Nozomi suddenly stood up after finishing her cake.

"Alright, now that we've eaten the cake, I should go. As for what happened, I'll tell you during the club activity later."

After saying that, Ximiao left without looking back and went back to the classroom.

Hanako was left alone in the room, pondering what had just happened with Nozomi's appearance.

Inside the classroom, Arisa, who had already packed her lunchbox, couldn't help but complain when she saw Nozomi return.

"Why did you take so long to go shopping? You already have class."

As soon as she finished speaking, she saw Xi Ling take out a still-steaming, icy ice cream from behind her back and hand it to her.

"Here~ besides drinks, I also bought an ice cream for you, Arisa."

"..."

Looking at the ice cream that looked so cold, and seeing Ximiao's very serious expression, if she didn't know Ximiao's usual behavior, she would have thought that the boy was deliberately teasing her.

However, she still asked with some patience.

"Mio, what do you mean by bringing this ice cream over here?"