Shirou, who returned from the Fairy Kingdom

Aoko stopped her roommate from continuing, her expression serious.

Such words might have been acceptable to Shirou in the first few days after he moved in.

But now, Shirou has been living here for almost a week.

While Aoko and Ayumi were struggling to deal with Aozaki Touko and her puppet army every day, Shirou was silently supporting them from behind.

Yuzhu also enjoys Shirou's cooking with a happy expression every day.

The courtyard of the mansion was neatly and beautifully trimmed by Shirou.

The broken appliances were given a new lease on life thanks to Toshiro.

These are all things Shirou has done, and Aoko and Arisu have seen them all.

If you truly cannot trust him at all, and you wouldn't even feel at ease leaving him to guard the house—you should have decided to use your master's authority to make Shirou leave sooner rather than later.

Aoko couldn't understand why Yuzu would say such hurtful things.

The black-haired girl fell silent.

A hint of regret welled up in his trembling, dark pupils.

Aoko smoothed things over, saying, "I'm telling you, Shirou meant well."

I understand how you feel about not being able to fully trust Shirou, but at times like these, let's rely on each other, shall we?

I am not...

Yu-ju pursed her lips: It's not that I can't trust him.

I just...

The girl regretted her impulsive slip of the tongue and looked up at a loss.

She glanced at Shirou with a somewhat pitiful look in her eyes.

"..."

However, whether it was unintentional or not, Shirou happened to turn his gaze to Aoko at that moment.

Yuzhu suddenly felt as if a large piece of her chest was missing.

Aoko sat down on the sofa, thought for a moment, and said, "Well, it seems we all need to relax a bit, just like Shirou said."

"!"

Upon hearing this, Yuzhu looked at her roommate as if grasping at a straw:

Well done, Aoko! Keep going—

"This time, Shirou and I will go to the hot spring. Yuzu can stay at home and rest. If anything happens, remember to contact us and don't go out alone."

Yu-zhu's eyes widened: Huh?

"Shirou, you should have done some research beforehand if you wanted to reward me and Ayumi."

Don't you know that Yuju has absolutely no interest in bathing? A hot spring trip is hardly a relaxing experience for her.

Aoko recalled their previous conversation.

When talking about hot spring trips, Arisu once said, "It seems like a very troublesome thing."

It's no wonder that Yuzhu reacted so strongly when suddenly asked to do something she didn't want to do by a "stranger" during such a stressful time.

Since the winter break began at Reien Girls' School, Ari has spent almost every day on the life of a magician, and often stays in the library until evening.

For Aoko, staying at home is more relaxing than traveling.

Shirou: "Sorry, I'll be more careful next time."

Yuzhu whispered, "...I was wrong too. I shouldn't have said those hurtful things just now."

no.

No, that's not true! I'm perfectly fine with going on a hot spring trip! Really! It's okay!

The girl took a deep breath, preparing to reveal her true thoughts...

Aoko had already pulled Shirou aside to discuss the details of their hot spring trip.

Looking at Aoko's genuine smile, Ayumi inexplicably felt short of breath.

...This child belongs to Aoko. What am I expecting?

Aru saw that Aoko's pretty face was filled with excitement, just like an elementary school student before a field trip—

No, she's more like a high school girl on her first trip with her lover.

Although Shirou didn't share Aoko's excitement, he also showed a hint of anticipation.

Although he tried his best to suppress it, he couldn't hide it from the witch's eyes.

……

……

Early the next morning.

Shirou and Aoko were ready to head to the hot springs.

Aoko's efficiency goes without saying. She finished her barrier patrol last night and prepared until the early hours of the morning.

"Well then, Shirou and I are heading out now. We should be back by tomorrow morning. If anything comes up, please contact me urgently through your Mystic Code."

"..."

"Yuzhu? Are you listening?"

"……understood."

A girl's deep voice came from the sunroom; she should be there drinking her morning tea.

"Wait a moment."

Shirou decided to say goodbye one last time before leaving, and then headed towards the sunroom.

Hearing the approaching footsteps, Yu-zhu happily raised her head.

"Amamiya————"

The girl's expression froze.

Shirou and Aoko were the only ones who entered the sunroom together.

Unlike Ayumi, who was still wearing her school uniform even during winter break, Aoko was dressed so beautifully today that it was hard to look directly at her.

The girl with chestnut-brown hair wore a white cashmere cardigan that hugged her figure, and her mini-skirt showed off her long, slender legs. The pendant around her neck was also the first time she had ever worn it.

The white down jacket hanging on her arm seemed to be the best way to keep warm when going out. It didn't look like a cheap, roadside item, and it was certainly not a style that Qingzi could afford when she was working.

"........."

Yu-zhu's mouth was half open, unable to utter a word.

"Miss Yuzhu, I'm going out with Aoko."

"Ah."

Yuzhu lowered her long, thin eyelashes, avoiding looking into Shirou's eyes.

"Let's stay home for the time being tonight... If there's any movement from Aozaki Touko, let the familiar handle it."

"With Miss Yuzhu's familiar, we should be able to get through the night without any problems. Let's deal with it when Aoko and I get back."

"Ah."

I thought my mood would improve overnight, but it didn't improve at all.

Not only that, but by morning, Yuzhu's mood had plummeted even further.

Feeling inexplicably upset.

Yuzu was no longer listening to what Shirou was saying; she just kept nodding in agreement.

Will I be free after Aoko and Shirou leave?

The girl thought that was impossible.

She was now certain that she would spend the next day and night in hell—

"Then let's go."

"Ah."

"Miss Yuzhu, I will bring you a souvenir."

Shirou's final smile made Ayumi, who had been feeling suffocated, suddenly feel much better.

"……Um."

The witch blushed and nodded.

Shirou and Aoko walked towards the front hall.

The black-haired witch, left alone in the sunroom, opened the book placed in front of her.

She began to look forward to the gift Shirou would bring her.

……

……

That afternoon, Shiro and Aoko arrived at a hot spring inn located in the suburbs of Tokyo.

Recently, because of her older sister's attack, Aoko hasn't been sleeping well at night—Shirou, who sleeps in Aoko's room, knows this better than anyone.

However, she finally got a chance to catch up on sleep this morning and slept soundly on the bus.

When they arrived at the hotel, Aoko was radiant, and Shirou felt that they had made the right choice.

"Huh... is this a double room?"

Aoko stood frozen in front of the shoji gate, which exuded a Japanese atmosphere.

Shirou nodded and explained, "Well, these two tickets were bought for you and Miss Ayumi to use... cough cough, they were drawn."

Is there a problem, Aoko?

"There's nothing wrong with this..."

Aoko's face was slightly pale, which puzzled Shirou greatly.

After all, she had been sleeping on the floor in Qingzi's room for almost a week. Now that things had come to this, why was she suddenly resistant to sharing a room with me?

"I see... Shirou, is this your first time soaking in a hot spring?"

Aoko sighed, rubbing her forehead.

Then she said nothing more, pulled back the shoji screen and went into the Japanese-style room, and Shirou followed her.

The Japanese-style decor of the hot spring inn wasn't much different from the Amemiya residence, but since Shirou had been staying at the Western-style Kuonji residence recently, it felt quite novel.

“Let’s go check out the hot springs,” Aoko suggested.

"it is good."

Shirou got up from the tatami mat and was about to walk towards the corridor when he noticed Aoko had opened the paper door to the balcony—

It turns out that it wasn't a balcony, but another semi-open room with views of the city nightscape.

Then, in the center of the elegantly decorated room, there is a huge piece of wooden furniture reminiscent of a square wine ladle.

Shirou: "Aoko, what is this?"

"This is a hot spring."

"Wait, wait a minute! Isn't a hot spring something dug out of the ground? I've seen it on TV."

Aoko's lips twitched. This child really doesn't know anything.

"That's a natural hot spring in the mountain, while this hotel has an artificial hot spring for experiencing hot spring culture..."

"I'm telling you, you won't find those hot springs you see on TV in Tokyo."

"..."

The glint in Shirou's eyes disappeared—