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

"I've never seen Mio watch horror movies, but I don't think he'd be afraid of those fake characters in them."

After all, with a group of genuine non-human beings by his side, how could he not feel afraid?

Then, there's only one possibility left: it's that Arisa, who went in with Hio, was causing trouble.

Before the two of them could continue to ponder what had happened inside, it was their turn to go into the haunted house to find out.

Although the time was short, the two different routes meant that Nozomi could not ask Honoka for help.

a long time.

The exit of the haunted house.

Sitting on the bench, Himiko took deep breaths of the dry, cold, fresh air, looking as if she was still shaken.

Having finally calmed down a bit, he looked resentfully at the girl beside him who was still acting as if nothing had happened, drinking a beverage she had bought from a vending machine.

"Arisa...may I touch your tail?"

When Xi Ling suddenly said this, the angry expression on her fair face vanished instantly, as if nothing had happened.

Because of this, Arisa also let her guard down and gently placed her tail, which was still swaying freely behind her, into Nozomi's small hand.

Then, she asked with some doubt.

"I've never seen you interested in my tail before, Mio. Why are you suddenly so eager to touch it now?"

But Mio didn't answer her; instead, she focused all her attention on the dark, leathery tail.

It felt really nice to the touch, and it was cool to the touch, like he was holding a whip.

On the contrary, when Nozomi carefully coiled her tail, a blush appeared on Arisa's pretty face, as if she was enduring something.

Just when she thought that Xiling was only asking her for her tail to play with out of curiosity, she caught a glimpse of the boy's lips curving slightly upwards.

This immediately gave Arisa a bad feeling.

The next second, he suddenly stuffed the tail into his mouth and even gently bit it with his teeth.

For Arisa, the nerve endings on her demon tail are more than ten times more abundant than those in other parts of her body.

So much so that even the slightest touch would amplify the sensation tenfold and transmit it back to her mind.

"Eek! Mio... let go! What are you doing?!"

Arisa was both ashamed and angry, but unfortunately, her tail was being held hostage by Mio, preventing her from moving around at all.

However, Nozomi had no intention of letting Arisa, who was so determined to cause her trouble, off so easily...

When Honoka and Ami, who came out from another route, saw the two people sitting on the bench waiting for them.

But what surprised them was that, contrary to their expectations, Nozomi seemed quite calm.

On the contrary, Arisa looked terrified, her face pale and as if she had been frightened by the staff of the haunted house.

"No way~ my dear daughter, could it be that you were the one who screamed just now?"

Ami suppressed a laugh and stepped forward, putting on a show of concern for Arisa. But in reality, if Arisa admitted it, Ami would definitely make fun of her.

but……

"No, that sound was Mio shouting..."

At this point, she glared fiercely at the boy beside her, seemingly somewhat angry.

However, Mio imitated Arisa's indifferent attitude from before, pretending to be innocent and as if nothing had happened, which made the girl even angrier.

If there weren't other people around, she would definitely have pinned Xi Ling to a chair and given her a good scolding, while also rubbing her own still throbbing tail.

She didn't know why Ximiao would do such a thing to her tail, but now was not the time to settle scores with him.

Arisa could only keep this grudge in her heart for now, suppressing the urge to teach Nozomi a lesson, and smiled as she spoke to Asami and Honoka in front of her.

"Let's call it a day for now, I'm feeling a bit tired."

"Oh? Since you've said so, Arisa, it's getting late, so let's go back to the hotel. It just feels like we wasted our money on the tickets."

After glancing at the time, Asahi couldn't help but say this.

But they have to go back to Xijing tomorrow, and if they want to come back here again, they probably won't be able to until next year.

Chapter Twenty-Four: Relationships

"Finally, is there anything you'd like to say, Mio~"

"...If I apologize now, is there any way to salvage the situation?"

Looking at Arisa, who was gradually approaching her, Nozomi asked weakly.

"What do you think~"

The group, now back at the hotel, decided to take advantage of this last opportunity to soak in the hot springs one last time.

then.

And so, this scene unfolded, showing Nozomi and Arisa alone in the room...

If only he had known, he would have agreed when Aunt Ashi asked him if he wanted to go to the hot springs.

Now, I'm practically a lamb to the slaughter.

Don't fight against others.

However, it's uncertain who will be the one begging for mercy after being blanched.

downstairs.

In the changing room next to the hot spring.

Since the previous group of university student travelers had already gone home, the once bustling hotel suddenly became a bit quiet.

In the middle of the changing room, two people were sitting on a bench, struggling to take off their thick down-filled thermal pants, chatting idly.

"It feels like this hot spring trip ended so quickly."

"After all, it was only two weeks, and halfway through, Nozomi even got sick with a fever, so of course it felt like the trip ended very quickly~"

Ashi smiled and said this to her, then quickly took off all his clothes and put them in the closet.

It feels quite nice to be able to soak in a hot spring in peace and quiet once in a while. Fanxia, ​​who was soaking in the hot spring, silently exhaled a breath of stale air.

No deadlines, no editors nagging me, and I can soak in hot springs and eat delicious food—it's like living in paradise.

He even tested Mio's 39°C temperature in the room...

Looking at Fanxia beside her, whose fair face had inexplicably become somewhat flushed, Ami was immediately curious about what was wrong with her.

However, she figured she wouldn't tell her the truth anyway, so she grabbed a bag of quail eggs from the side and put them into the hot spring without hesitation.

"Huh? What's wrong with you...?"

This series of actions left Fanxia completely bewildered, not quite understanding what she was doing.

"Well~ Fanxia, ​​just wait quietly. I sometimes do this at home too, and it tastes great~"

"Eh--"

There's hardly anyone around here anyway, so it shouldn't be a problem if she secretly cooks a soft-boiled egg, right?

Until evening, when it was time for dinner.

After soaking in the hot spring, Honoka and Ami didn't go back to their room. Instead, they wrapped themselves in bathrobes and sat with their legs crossed in the dining area.

"Why are Mio and the others so slow? I already sent them a message."

Holding his phone, he checked it again. He had indeed sent a message to Ximiao's phone, but why hadn't they come downstairs yet?

Fanxia couldn't help but feel a little confused.

"How about we go up and take a look?"

Ashi, who was sitting opposite and had already started drinking beer, made the suggestion, but she didn't seem to have any intention of going upstairs.

Seeing this, Fanxia had no choice but to get up, sigh, and reluctantly walk towards the stairs.

In no time, they arrived at the door of the room, knocked gently, and waited for a long time, but did not hear anyone come to open the door.

"strangeness……"

Just as she was about to knock on the door again, the doorknob suddenly turned, and then she saw Xi Ling wrapped in a bath towel, her hair still wet, looking like she had just taken a shower.

"Fanxia-nee? Have you come back from the hot springs?"

Unexpectedly, it was Honoka who came back. Ximiao's face clearly showed a surprised expression.

Then, his eyes darted around, as if he were feeling guilty, which was very suspicious.

Upon seeing this scene, Fanxia immediately had a bad feeling and quickly pushed aside Ximio, who was blocking the door, and went into the room.

She looked around the room and saw that apart from the somewhat messy bed on the floor, there was nothing else unusual about it.

Most importantly, Arisa wasn't in Mio's room. She checked again before finally letting out a sigh of relief.

Behind her, Ximiao, who was wondering what Fanxia was doing, couldn't help but ask.

"Fanxia-nee, what are you doing?"

"No, nothing. Where is Arisa?" Seeing that Arisa was nowhere to be found, Fanxia, ​​who had come to call them for dinner, asked responsibly.

"She's in the next room."

Where Fanxia wasn't looking, Ximiao suddenly bent down, picked up a thin piece of fabric, and stuffed it into her bath towel.

After he got dressed, Fanxia went next door and called Arisa to come downstairs for dinner.

Although she didn't know why, Arisa also seemed to have taken a shower, but Honoka didn't pay much attention to it.

In her view, it was nothing more than going out to the city and working up a little sweat, so coming back and taking a nice hot shower was perfectly normal.

however.

"Oh, so you both took a shower?"

Looking at the two people whose expressions were somewhat unnatural and whose hair was not completely dry, Ashi seemed to have discovered something, and her gaze made them both very uncomfortable.