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

"The answer is that when a boy really can't hold it in and needs to go to the toilet, he can find a big tree and fertilize it."

"..."

Since Xi Ling had already said so, she couldn't say anything more, so she silently turned her head back and looked at the scenery along the way.

When they reached the top of the snow-capped mountain, the cold wind made Xi Ling shiver, her face turning red from the cold. Even wearing the hood of her down jacket did not help.

Moreover, for some reason, he felt strangely familiar with this cold feeling, and vaguely felt that it had something to do with Sister Fanxia.

But when he glanced at Fanxia, ​​who was rubbing her hands together, eager to try out the advanced ski slope, he gave up the idea.

"Probably not... Maybe the air conditioning in the apartment is set too low, which is why I have this illusion."

Ximiao muttered to herself, then glanced at the slide they were about to challenge, her legs trembling slightly.

"Is it alright to start from here?"

The mother and daughter, who were already prepared, were slowly walking towards Nozomi and the others. After seeing that Nahoka looked eager to try, Ami asked her a question.

"no problem."

"I have a little... tiny problem. This is my first time skiing, and this slope looks a bit dangerous," Ximiao said weakly, looking quite pitiful.

Upon hearing this, Ashi was about to say something.

"That……"

"I'll take Mio down there."

Before she could finish speaking, Arisa, who hadn't said much until now, suddenly spoke up.

Then, she looked at Ximiao, who was standing there dumbfounded, and asked again.

"Is it okay, Mio?"

"Of course~"

Since Arisa has said so, that's perfect. He quickly moved his skis closer to Arisa, gripping her arm tightly, looking quite frightened.

Upon seeing Mio's timid appearance, even though Arisa was in a bad mood because of her earlier unpleasantness with Honoka, several naughty ideas for bullying the boy immediately sprouted in her mind.

It's like teasing him a little would make me feel better.

However, Ximiao was unaware that his girlfriend was already plotting how she would torment him later.

Not far away, you could see Aunt Ashi and Sister Fanxia holding two ski poles for balance, about to ski down.

Before leaving, Ashi made sure to give Arisa a few more instructions.

"Be careful! If Mio gets hurt, you'll be in big trouble tonight!"

"I know, Mom!"

Arisa responded irritably, and then she took Himio to a relatively flat area of ​​snow and began to teach him some basic things.

Most importantly, we taught him how to brake while gliding...

Seeing that Nozomi's side had already started, Ami, along with Honoka, the two older women, happily arrived at the starting point of the ski slope.

"Let's have a race to see who gets to the bottom first!"

Ami suddenly spoke to Honoka, who was standing next to her.

As a snow woman, Honoka naturally didn't want to back down in her area of ​​expertise, so she readily accepted the invitation, even making a provocative remark.

"Since it's going to be a competition, it wouldn't be quite right if the two of us adults didn't have any stakes involved, would it?"

What do you want to bet?

Upon hearing what Fanxia said, Ami immediately became interested and asked her a question.

Author's Note: (*′▽｀)ノノ

Chapter Eight: The Smell of Gunpowder Rises Again

"Yes, keep your body balanced and bend your knees slightly."

On the hillside, Arisa was holding Nozomi's arm tightly, teaching him basic skiing skills. Since there were relatively few people here, they could take their time.

Meanwhile, Fanxia and Ami, who had become hands-off managers, had long since abandoned the two of them and sped down the ski slope.

Nozomi had nothing to say about this; after all, he'd never skied before.

"Is that right?"

Following Arisa's words, Nozomi made the movement perfectly and clearly felt that she was gliding forward, which made her a little flustered.

"Don't be nervous, just keep your balance, it's very simple."

Seeing that Hio had gradually grasped the knack, Arisa stopped keeping him in place and instead controlled the speed, sliding Hio down with her.

Feeling the cold wind blowing in her face and the reassuring presence of Arisa behind her, Nozomi relaxed, and her movements became smoother.

Just when Nozomi thought they would ski all the way to the rest area at the foot of the mountain, Arisa suddenly leaned close to his ear and whispered something to him.

"Mio, you know what? I was a little confused before about our relationship. I couldn't tell whether it was an impulsive decision or a well-thought-out choice."

"Eh?"

Nozomi, puzzled as to why Arisa would tell him something like this now, uttered a question.

But I still had to shift some of my attention from the skiing activity in front of me to Arisa behind me.

Arisa continued, "But now, I don't care about any of that anymore. All I know is that you like me, right?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he felt his ski poles being snatched away by Arisa, and then his skiing direction gradually deviated from the planned path, stopping in front of a cedar tree.

"Alisha?"

Because he still had his skis on, it was difficult for him to turn around and face Arisa directly. He had to tilt his head with difficulty to try to catch a glimpse of Arisa's pretty face.

But Arisa didn't give him that chance. Her cold, jade-like hand forced his head to face forward, as if she would snap his neck on the spot if he didn't give a satisfactory answer.

It sent a chill down Xi Ling's spine. Even though he was wearing a thick, warm down jacket, a few cold sweats still trickled down his back.

"What, is this a difficult question to answer, Mio?"

"I like you! Of course I like you, Arisa, but..."

"but?"

Upon hearing what the boy said, Arisa raised her eyebrows slightly, as if waiting for what he would say next.

"Regarding what you just said about thinking about things between us, I don't know if it was a decision made on impulse or after careful consideration, but I do know that... the moment I saw you on the train, I fell in love with you, Arisa."

Although he was desperate to survive when he said those words, he was still certain of their truthfulness. He wouldn't have said such embarrassing things if the situation hadn't been critical.

If Arisa could see his face, she would know that Nozomi's face was already flushed.

But clearly, the girl was also a little embarrassed by his words. She didn't expect that Xi Ling's answer would be much better than she had anticipated.

but……

"Since that's the case, then I'll do some outrageous things next. I hope you won't have any objections, Mio~"

"Eh?"

Immediately afterwards, Ximiao felt a pair of cold little hands slip inside his clothes, making him shiver.

"It might get chilly for a while, but it should be fine soon," Arisa said with a light laugh.

……

"Hiss... Why haven't they come down yet? Could it be that Mio is too scared to slide down?"

Sitting on a bench, looking at the slope not far away, Fanxia held a bottle of hot soy milk in her hand, which she had just bought from the vending machine.

Meanwhile, Ami was holding a can of Starbucks coffee, a prize she had won from Honoka.

"Let's wait a little longer. After all, we just went to an advanced ski slope, which is indeed a bit difficult for a beginner like Mio."

Hearing what Ami said, Honoka felt that what she said made sense, so she patiently drank the warm soy milk in her hand and waited for Nozomi and the others.

After an unknown amount of time, Fanxia had finished her hot drink in small sips, but still hadn't seen Ximiao and the others.

Unable to wait any longer, she planned to take the cable car to the ski slopes for another run and see how it went.

however.

Just as she stood up from the bench, Ami, who wasn't in a hurry, seemed to have seen something and suddenly grabbed Honoka.

"Don't worry, look, they're here."

Following the direction her slender white finger was pointing, Fanxia vaguely saw two figures, one in front of the other, leisurely sliding down the slope.

A short while later, Arisa brought Hime to the rest area.

On Ximiao's fair face, there was still a blush that had not yet faded, and on her forehead, there were a few beads of sweat that had not been dried by the cold wind.

Looking at him like this, Fanxia, ​​who had no idea what had just happened, just breathed a sigh of relief and couldn't help but tease him.

"What's wrong with you, Mio? Are you sweating because you're nervous about your first time skiing?"

As she spoke, she took out a handkerchief from her bosom and wiped the fine sweat from his forehead.

However, Xi Ling felt a little guilty and dared not look directly into her beautiful eyes, and then responded softly.

"I'm not nervous...it's probably just that the clothes I'm wearing are too hot."

While he was chatting with Honoka, Arisa calmly walked past Nozomi, seemingly intending to do something else.

Seeing this, Ayashi became concerned about her daughter and asked, "Arisa, where are you going?"

"Let's buy a drink to moisten our mouths~"

As Ami watched Arisa take off her skis and walk into the rest area in her boots, she seemed to know something. She couldn't help but smile and said nothing more.

Xi Ling let out a long sigh and sat down on the bench. However, Fan Xia noticed that the expression on his face seemed a little strange the moment he sat down.

She didn't point it out, but just glanced at the boy again before following closely behind Arisa, intending to buy a hot drink to warm up Nozomi.