Chiba City.
The Isshiki household.
Iroha Isshiki's bedroom.
Iroha Isshiki lay on her bed, covering her increasingly warm cheeks with both hands as her face flushed red. In a small voice, she murmured:
"Senpai is always like this. Usually, I'm the one teasing her until she gets embarrassed. But every once in a while, it's like she finishes charging up a special move—just one simple sentence or action, and she makes me super embarrassed.
"Ugh... my cheeks are so hot. It feels like if I put a bottle of mineral water on them now, I could drink warm water in a few minutes.
"But Senpai said she misses me... hehe, I'm so happy!"
The message Kotomi Izumi sent didn't just embarrass herself—it also made the little devil, Iroha Isshiki, blush.
After softly muttering to herself with a red face, Iroha Isshiki took a deep breath and patted her cheeks with both hands.
"No, I need to adjust myself quickly. If I wait until I'm completely over being embarrassed before replying, Senpai will definitely figure out that I got flustered."
At times like this, Iroha Isshiki always had a strangely strong competitive streak.
Even though she was still immersed in what Kotomi had just said, and her cheeks were still burning from embarrassment, she still picked up her phone and, with a flushed face, began typing word by word on the keyboard. The best way to describe Iroha Isshiki's current mood was with two words—happy. To be more precise, very happy. Extremely happy.
Kotomi Izumi had rarely been so honest, and Iroha Isshiki couldn't have been more delighted. Even if what Kotomi expressed this time was only longing, to Iroha, that was already a huge step forward.
Without realizing it, her small hands tapped across the screen, producing a rather long message.
Iroha Isshiki had a habit—whenever she finished typing a paragraph, she would read it from beginning to end before sending it.
This time was no exception.
However, as she read through it, her already flushed face grew even redder.
"When I was typing just now, all my attention was on putting my thoughts into words. I didn't even notice what I was actually writing. But now that I'm reading it again... what on earth did I just write?! This whole chunk of text practically looks like I'm hinting at my feelings for Senpai!"
Usually the one who loved teasing Kotomi, Iroha Isshiki now held her phone with a red face, hesitating—one moment wanting to send the long message, the next too embarrassed to do so.
"Th-then I should just delete it for now!
"It's way too embarrassing. And because I was so emotional while typing, quite a few sentences are awkwardly written. Even if I send it, Senpai might just be confused reading it.
"Yeah! That must be it! Better delete it first!
"Besides, Senpai is on her way to the station right now—she doesn't have the time to read such a long message anyway."
As if thinking it through—or perhaps convincing herself—Iroha Isshiki blushed as she deleted the long message she had written in her emotional state.
After deleting it, she couldn't help but sigh.
"What a pity..."
I don't really want to admit it, but the truth my heart keeps telling me is that I miss you right now. I miss you so much. I wish that when you arrive in Chiba, the moment you step out of the station, you'll see me.
After reading Senpai's earlier message again, Iroha Isshiki felt both embarrassed and happy as she thought about how to reply.
After a moment of consideration, the little devil suddenly had a flash of inspiration. A good idea popped into her mind, and she excitedly typed and hit send.
Iroha Isshiki: [Got it!]
[Senpai is such a clingy little child, huh? Hehe~]
Meanwhile, Kyoto City.
Sitting in a taxi, Kotomi Izumi curled her lips slightly when she received Iroha Isshiki's two messages along with the emoticon.
"This little devil actually called me a clingy child? How rude. I'm at least older than her... huh? Wait, if I think about it carefully, I'm only one year older than Iroha. Whatever, whatever. She's my sister's friend and calls me Senpai—so if she says I'm a clingy child, then she's definitely being disrespectful. Hmph!"
Kotomi Izumi quickly typed out a reply and sent it.
Kotomi Izumi: [I'm not a clingy child!]
Iroha Isshiki's reply came almost instantly.
Iroha Isshiki: [Hehehe, a tsundere Senpai is so cute. If I'd known, I would've video-called you so I could see the cute tsundere expression on your face right now~]
Kotomi Izumi: [I am not!]
Iroha Isshiki: [(1^w^)]
Kotomi Izumi: [(A)]
Iroha Isshiki: [Oh right, I suddenly want to ask you something, Senpai.]
[Senpai, what time will you arrive tomorrow? Since you're leaving at midnight, no matter how fast the Shinkansen is, you'll only reach the JR Tokaido–Sanyo Shinkansen station tomorrow, right?]
Although Kotomi Izumi didn't know why Iroha Isshiki was asking about her arrival time, since she asked, Kotomi thought for a moment and replied.
Kotomi Izumi: [It'll take about seven hours. If it's fast, I should arrive at the JR Tokaido–Sanyo Shinkansen station around 7 a.m. tomorrow. If it's a bit later, it shouldn't be past 8. Ah... next time I go traveling, I definitely need to choose the departure time carefully. I should avoid early morning and late night. Even though those times are quiet, they're also really cold. I can already imagine the cold wind hitting me the moment I step out of the station tomorrow morning.]
Iroha Isshiki: [(°°*)]
[Do your best, Senpai~]
[But, Senpai.]
[When you walk out of the station tomorrow morning, remember to look around carefully~]
[You might find a surprise~]
[(^w~)]
"Surprise?"
Looking at Iroha Isshiki's messages, Kotomi Izumi tried to think about what kind of surprise it could be. After thinking for a long time, she still couldn't figure out what the little devil meant.
In the end, she curled her lips and chuckled.
"Whether it's a surprise or not, I just hope this little devil doesn't give me a scare instead."
For a while afterward, Kotomi Izumi sent messages one by one to Megumi Kato, Mashiro Shiina, Utaha Kasumigaoka, Mai Sakurajima, Kisara Tendo, Shizuka Hiratsuka, and Haruno Yukinoshita.
The content of the messages was basically the same:
[Dear xx, I'm currently on my way back to Chiba. Even though it's only been a few days since we last met, I miss you so much. During this Kyoto hot spring trip, I barely got to enjoy the scenery, because you were always on my mind. It seems that next time I travel, I'll have to go together with you.]
After sending all the messages one by one, Kotomi Izumi felt the car gradually slowing down. Looking out the window, she realized they had already arrived at the station.
After paying the fare and taking their suitcases out of the trunk, the three of them walked toward the Shinkansen station entrance.
"It's 10 p.m. now. If we hadn't gotten stuck at that traffic light earlier, we could've arrived even sooner. Looks like leaving a few hours early was definitely the right call," Kotomi Izumi said with a smile after checking the time on her phone.
"Mm, the timing was calculated well. If next time you could also calculate the departure time correctly, that would be even better," Yukino Yukinoshita said, looking at Kotomi with a faint smile at the corner of her lips.
"You—Yukino, are you being sarcastic again?" Kotomi Izumi puffed her cheeks slightly and complained.
"I'm not."
"Tch, you really aren't cute at all," Kotomi muttered unhappily.
"What did you say?"
Yukino Yukinoshita, who normally never took words like "you're not cute" to heart, suddenly felt an inexplicable surge of emotion when she heard Kotomi say it.
"I said you're not cute. So what?"
"You—"
Yukino glared at Kotomi. She didn't know what was wrong with her. Normally, she would never care about being called "not cute," but hearing it from Kotomi made her feel inexplicably upset. It wasn't that she wanted to argue—she just wanted Kotomi to say, "You're very cute."
But with Yukino's tsundere personality, directly expressing that thought to Kotomi was practically impossible.
When neither side was willing to be honest, an argument was almost inevitable.
Just as Kotomi Izumi and Yukino Yukinoshita were about to start arguing, Yui Yuigahama stepped in as the peacemaker.
"Alright, alright, Kotomi, Yukino, don't argue here. It's cold outside—let's go into the station first," she said.
"Fine," Kotomi muttered, still a bit displeased.
Yukino, on the other hand, simply nodded, while thinking to herself:
What was wrong with me just now? I shouldn't have gotten upset over something so trivial. But when I heard it, why did I feel unhappy? Could it be that deep down, I actually wanted to hear Kotomi call me cute...? No matter what, I should find a chance to apologize to her later—and maybe tell her about this strange change in my feelings.
Yui Yuigahama looked at Kotomi, then at Yukino, and thought to herself.
Why does it feel like something is off between Kotomi and Yukino? To be precise, the atmosphere between them feels unstable, constantly rising and falling—like something new is about to change...
I hope it's just my imagination. Kotomi and Yukino share so many common topics—they're friends. I really hope their friendship can continue like this.
Kotomi Izumi's thoughts were much simpler. At that moment, she had only one idea in mind—spanking Yukino.
That little tigress... did she suddenly snap at me because it's that time of the month? Hmph. Once I win her over, I'll definitely find a chance to give her a proper spanking—turn this little tigress into an obedient little kitten.
Kotomi thought to herself.
Each of them carried their own thoughts as they walked toward the station entrance. But before they could step inside, both Kotomi and Yui heard a familiar voice.
"Yui-neechan!"
Kotomi Izumi and Yui Yuigahama both looked down at the same time and saw Yuki standing not far away, holding a small basket filled with two capsule toys.
Beside Yuki stood a little girl with twin ponytails, holding a cream bun-themed capsule toy.
"The little girl?"
Kotomi was surprised to see the girl who sold rings. Did kindergarten social practice really require coming all the way to a Shinkansen station to sell rings?
"Yuki?"
Yui Yuigahama was also surprised. Especially after noticing that the twin-tailed girl standing beside Yuki was the same girl who had lingered by the Anpanman-themed capsule machine before, her surprise deepened.
Could it be that Yuki and this twin-tailed girl were friends?
Just the thought made Yui feel a strange sense of inconsistency. If they really knew each other, then why had Yuki been standing alone by the capsule machine back then, holding an empty basket?
At that time, it was as if none of the other children had even noticed Yuki.
If the twin-tailed girl really was her friend, then how could Yuki have been left standing there all alone?
"Yuki? Yui, do you know this little girl?" Kotomi asked curiously.
"Yeah. Back at Harugamo Inn, didn't I go to buy those Anpanman capsule toys? I met her there. Thanks to Yuki's help, I managed to get so many capsules."
"No, no, that was all thanks to Yui-neechan's good luck," Yuki said with a smile. Then she turned to Kotomi and added:
"You must be Kotomi-neechan, right? Hello, it's our first time meeting. Please take care of me!"
???
Three question marks seemed to pop up above Kotomi Izumi's head. For a moment, she couldn't understand what the ring-selling girl meant. They had just met not long ago—how had it suddenly become their "first meeting" again?
Seeing Kotomi's confusion, Yuki revealed a slightly helpless yet cute smile. She walked up to Kotomi's leg and tugged gently at her skirt, signaling for her to crouch down.
Although puzzled, Kotomi still crouched down and leaned her ear close to Yuki's mouth.
Yuki whispered softly, explaining in a voice only the two of them could hear why she was pretending not to recognize her.
Kotomi, who had been confused at first, immediately understood after hearing the explanation.
So it wasn't that the girl had a bad memory—she was deliberately pretending not to know her in front of Yui to maintain the lie.
If she had shown recognition just now, then with even a slight question from Yui, the fact that Kotomi had bought a ring from her would have been instantly exposed.
If that ring had been for Yui, it wouldn't have been a problem. But the key point was—it wasn't for Yui. It was for Megumi!
And since the ring-selling girl didn't know who Kotomi had given that pink-and-white ring to, she chose to pretend they didn't know each other to avoid causing unnecessary trouble.
After hearing her explanation, Kotomi's confusion turned into realization. Then, with a look of appreciation and relief, she gently patted Yuki's head, sighing inwardly:
What a good kid!
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