"The old granny has already left." Sora quickly turned around, covering his body with the towel. "Let's hurry up and leave."
"T-Terrifying..."
Although Sora moved fast, Ruri still caught a fleeting glimpse of the terrifying monster. The steam rising from the top of her head grew even thicker.
"Towel..." Ruri's voice was shy, like a mosquito humming, completely lacking the chunibyo aura the Black Cat of the Dark Night should have. She sounded pitiful, weak, and helpless. "My towel is gone..."
"Hide well and don't move, I'll help you find it."
Sora quickly bent down to search.
Unfortunately, the hot spring pool was filled with steam, and the towel was white, making it hard to distinguish. Sora searched for a good while, eventually diving underwater, before finally finding the towel at the bottom.
"Ptooi, ptooi, ptooi~"
Sora surfaced, spitting out the hot spring water that had accidentally rushed into his mouth. "Found the towel."
"Thank you..."
Secretly glancing at the boy wiping his face, a super shameful thought suddenly popped into Ruri's mind.
(Sora-kun went 'ptooi ptooi ptooi' because he accidentally choked on the hot spring water, right?)
(I also choked on a few mouthfuls just now...)
(So this is no longer an ordinary mixed bath, but drinking each other's bathwater, right!)
(I absolutely don't want such a shameful execution ahhhhh!)
"Here you go."
Sora threw the towel to Kuroneko, then decisively walked toward the shore.
"I will go keep watch in the changing room first, you come over as quickly as possible."
"Okay..."
Arriving in the changing room, Sora quickly dried his body and put on his bathrobe. However, he didn't rush to leave; instead, he stayed behind to wait silently.
This was the men's hot spring after all. Although it was late at night, there was no guarantee someone who couldn't sleep wouldn't come over for a soak. If they bumped into Kuroneko, a girl all alone might be in danger.
A moment later.
The sound of quiet footsteps echoed.
Ruri blocked her body with the towel. With one hand covering her lower abdomen and the other covering her chest, she walked over cautiously. "S-Sora-kun?"
The girl's shy, soft call sounded nervously.
"I'm here, there's no one else in the changing room." Sora's voice was steady, possessing a reassuring power. "I'll go wait for you in the hallway, you dry off and come out as soon as possible."
"Thank you, Sora-kun..."
Hearing the sound of Sora's footsteps leaving, Ruri quietly slipped out from the shadows. After confirming the changing room was completely empty, she immediately breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly entered the changing room with a blushing face.
Once she put on the bathrobe, Ruri finally let her guard down. Blushing, she pulled open the door and looked down at her toes. "Sora-kun, I've finished changing..."
"Then let's go." Sora put away his phone, his expression normal. "We'll return to our rooms to rest."
"Okay..." Ruri lifted her small face and quietly glanced at the wall. The wooden sign that had been swapped as a prank earlier had already been changed back. The thought of accidentally wandering into the men's hot spring sent a lingering wave of fear through the girl. "Thank you for today, Sora-kun. I am the Black Cat of the Dark Night... I will definitely repay this debt of gratitude in the future!"
Clearly, because she was too embarrassed, Kuroneko could only use chunibyo to mask her shame.
"A-And also... you absolutely must not tell everyone about this!"
"Don't worry, I'll just keep it in my heart."
"Hurry up and forget it, Sora-kun, don't remember it!"
"What if I can't forget it?"
"Then I'll use dark magic to give you amnesia!"
"..."
After chatting a bit, Sora suddenly remembered something. "There is actually something I want Ruri-san's help with."
"Eh?"
"I am currently making a small game and want to ask Kuroneko-san for help."
"Sora-kun is actually making a game?"
Ruri's eyes instantly brightened.
Her hobbies were quite extensive: manga, light novels, games... she loved anything related to ACG culture. She even took the initiative to learn programming because she was very interested in games.
"We'll talk about it tomorrow." Sora stepped forward. "It's already very late, let's head back to rest first."
It was indeed extremely late now, and the hallway wasn't a place for chatting. Ruri could only suppress her curiosity and follow behind Sora back to their rooms.
The two quickly returned to their room doors.
"Goodnight, Ruri-san."
"...Goodnight."
Quietly opening the door and returning to her room, Ruri's heart hung nervously in her chest, super worried about being discovered by Anna.
But upon entering the room, she saw Anna lying flat on her back, limbs spread wide. Her snow-white, long legs had kicked out from under the blanket at some point. She was clearly sleeping super soundly, completely unaware of what year it even was.
"Anna's sleep quality is super good..."
Ruri quietly breathed a sigh of relief, a flash of envy crossing her eyes, and carefully lay down beside her.
"I'll probably still have insomnia until dawn, right?"
Lying on her side, Ruri sighed helplessly in her heart.
She thought she definitely wouldn't be able to sleep tonight. Who knew that not long after lying down, a wave of drowsiness quietly washed over her, and the girl groggily drifted into dreamland.
The night passed without words.
The next day.
"Ruri-chan, you can get up and eat breakfast now."
The girl's energetic shout rang in her ear, waking Ruri from her deep slumber.
"Mmm..."
Ruri groggily opened her eyes. Messy dream scenes quietly surfaced in her mind, and her pretty face instantly flushed red.
After falling asleep last night, she had many messy dreams, basically all related to Sora, and the content of the dreams was all super terrible...
Unlike Elf, Ruri was a veteran otaku. Not only had she read restricted manga, but she had also secretly read erotic novels.
"T-To actually dream about night-attacking Sora in the hot spring..."
"Damn it!"
"There's no way I could be that lewd!"
"It's all because of the accident last night that I had such a shameful dream!"
"..."
"Eh, why is Ruri-chan's face super red?"
Anna tilted her head in confusion.
"I-I had a nightmare..." Ruri's gaze instantly started wandering. Feeling the strange sensation in her body, she felt even more ashamed. "I'm going to the restroom to wash up first."
"..."
8:30 AM.
Sora successfully met up with the girls, preparing to eat breakfast together.
The hot spring inn provided a free breakfast; it would be a waste not to eat it.
"Good morning, Sora."
Anna's smile was bright and sunny. She waved to greet Sora, as if everything that happened last night was an illusion.
"Good morning."
Sora looked at the blue-haired girl and replied softly.
Their eyes met.
The gluttonous girl's gaze instantly wandered, and the tips of her ears quietly took on a crimson hue as she quickly turned her head away.
Alright, it seems the kiss last night wasn't a hallucination.
Next, Sora greeted the other three girls.
Elf and Angel-sama were perfectly normal. Only Kuroneko's gaze darted around. As soon as she opened her mouth, her face turned bright red. The dream scenes in her mind didn't disappear upon waking, but rather became even clearer, making her too ashamed to look up.
Sora thought Kuroneko was just shy because of what happened last night and didn't pay it much mind, leading the four girls to the dining hall for breakfast.
"I feel like Sora is even better-looking than yesterday..."
Anna wasn't an introverted or shy person after all, otherwise she wouldn't take the initiative to chat. After adjusting for a bit, she quickly returned to her normal way of interacting, curiously looking at Sora while eating.
Leveling up his character increased all stats simultaneously, naturally including charm and appearance. Combined with the childhood friend filter, in Anna's eyes right now, Sora's profile was sharply defined, his skin fair, his nose straight, and his eyes like the bright moon and morning stars... In short, the more she looked, the better he looked.
"Sora's skin has gotten paler, and he looks more radiant?" Elf tilted her head and looked over, her tone confused. "Can soaking in a hot spring also improve your looks?"
"After taking a bath, a person's appearance briefly improves." Sora kept a straight face and steered the topic away. "Do you guys want to head back first thing in the morning, or play at Mount Takao for a day before going back?"
"Of course we're playing for a day!" Anna quickly clenched her pink fists, her eyes sparkling. "The two-day, one-night hot spring voucher lets us play for two days. Going back after just staying one night is way too much of a waste!"
"I want to play too." Elf crossed her arms over her chest. "They say Mount Takao is very fun, but I've never been here. It would be a pity to go back without playing."
Sora then looked toward Angel-sama. "What does Mahiru-san say?"
Mahiru hesitated for two seconds, her voice gentle:
"Since we're already here..."