Hot-Spring Inn
Screeeech!!!
A small sedan slid into the entrance in a perfect drift and came to a stop.
Smoke billowed everywhere. Watching the five people get out, the attendants at the entrance broke out in cold sweat.
Why did this scene look so much like bank robbers getting out of a car in a movie?!
What normal person drives until the tires are smoking?! Judging by the amount of smoke, these people must have just gone through an intense high-speed chase!
Please—they were just a small hot-spring inn, and a legal one at that!
This place was completely unsuitable as a hideout, okay?!
Seeing black smoke slowly rising from the leader's body, the attendants swallowed nervously. Judging by their aura, these people definitely weren't first-timers!
Repeat offenders!
Definitely repeat offenders!
That overwhelming presence made everyone's legs tremble—they even forgot to call the police right away.
Or maybe… they'd already forgotten the emergency number!
If they were just violent criminals, it wouldn't be this bad. Scary, sure—but calling the police would still be doable.
The problem was, this wasn't just about violent criminals anymore!
As the figures emerged from the smoke and drew closer, the attendants finally noticed—
Wasn't the way these people were walking a bit too strange?!
They were swaying so badly that it involuntarily brought to mind a certain kind of creature—
Zombies!!!
Gulp!
The lead attendant swallowed hard, pulled out a baton from behind his back, and a trace of tension flashed through his eyes.
If zombies were already appearing, then the end of the world probably wasn't far off.
In that case… could he stop going to work?
And his boss's 2+1 deal—could he maybe…?
As the image of black silk stockings and the full, rounded curves hidden beneath a tight skirt surfaced in his mind, he swallowed again.
What kind of executive could withstand that kind of temptation?!
Having already made up his mind, he decided that once those "zombies" got close, he'd bolt without hesitation!
He was the chosen one!
However…
As the smoke gradually dissipated and the scene inside became clear, the expressions on their faces slowly shifted from tension to something strange—until finally they stared ahead with blank looks.
(???)
What stood before them were no violent criminals or zombies at all.
Just a few pale-faced young people, their steps unsteady.
In a situation like this, there were only two possible reasons.
One was being completely drained.
The other…
Motion sickness.
Thinking back to that godlike drifting just now, it was pretty obvious these kids were the latter…
Σ_(???」∠) Urgh!
Yep—definitely the latter!
That sound from Kamishiro was like a starting gun. The trio instantly entered full vomiting mode, the retching coming one after another.
Σ_(???」∠) Urgh!!! ×3
Aina: (;?＿?)
"D-do you really have to exaggerate this much? I was already holding back a lot."
If there hadn't been so many cars on the road, she could've drifted all the way here.
"Look—Chisa's totally fine!"
Aina puffed out her cheeks and glared angrily at Kamishiro's trio. She felt they were questioning her driving skills, and the proof was that Chisa showed no problems at all!
However…
The moment her words fell, a retching sound came from beside her as well.
Σ_(???」∠) Urgh~
{{(°△°; "}}!
Aina froze, staring at Chisa in disbelief.
Did the slap in the face really have to come this fast?!
Chisa gave Aina an apologetic look, then continued struggling.
She really didn't mean it.
At first, Chisa thought she could endure the nausea. She'd been holding back the whole time, deliberately avoiding looking toward Kamishiro and the others—
Afraid she wouldn't be able to take it if she did.
But… she'd overlooked one very important thing.
The smell!
Once that gag-inducing stench hit her nose, Chisa could no longer resist and immediately joined the vomiting ranks.
At this moment, the only thought in all four of their minds was:
This was a shady cab!!!
"…"
Aina fell silent.
No way… she drove pretty smoothly, didn't she?
It had to be Tokyo's cars and roads!
Yes, that must be it!
"Um, excuse me, miss—may I ask if you have a reservation?"
The lead attendant spoke cautiously, afraid of offending this woman in the slightest.
Though this wasn't quite the violent criminal or zombie scenario he'd imagined, someone with driving skills like that was definitely no ordinary person. Better to be careful.
!!!
The sudden voice startled Aina, and she instinctively sidestepped like a frightened little rabbit.
"…"
The attendant's mouth twitched. This big shot seemed a bit different from what he'd imagined.
Still, he didn't act rashly and smiled politely at them.
"W-we should… have one?"
Aina answered uncertainly after coming back to her senses. There definitely was a reservation, she just didn't know who had made it.
Attendant: ???
"Should have"… so is there one or not? Or were they trying to freeload?
First impressions and wild imagination were truly terrifying. Four people were vomiting, and with Aina's little-rabbit behavior, he could still come up with thoughts like that.
Honestly… novels really ruin people!
"W-we do… urgh! Kotegawa—Σ_(???」∠) urgh!"
Beside her, Kamishiro spoke shakily, his face deathly pale.
But before he could finish, the mosaic in front of him triggered another round of unfinished business.
Fortunately, the key information had already come out. Hearing the name "Kotegawa," the attendant immediately pictured a gentle-looking woman smiling warmly.
Then he glanced again at the five people present…
There was no way to connect the two in his mind.
Compared to this, the two beasts who'd gone in earlier with Miss Kotegawa suddenly didn't seem so unacceptable?
Thoughts aside, his reception remained professional.
"So you're companions of Miss Kotegawa. They arrived just a short while ago. This way, please…"
As he spoke, he gestured invitingly.
Seeing this, Aina nodded blankly and led the way forward, without sparing a thought for whether the four behind her were even capable of moving.
Kamishiro stared blankly at Aina's retreating figure, feeling that something was slightly off.
Also—hadn't Aina driven a bit too fast?
If he remembered correctly, they'd stayed at the station for quite a while.
And she still caught up?!
Please, have some respect for Tokyo's traffic laws!
In the end, it was only after the attendant reminded her that Aina stopped.
She awkwardly retreated back to the main group.
"Um… if I say I just went to use the bathroom, would you believe me?"
(???)
Kamishiro and the others said nothing. They silently gave her a thumbs-up and went back to finishing their unfinished business.
Σ_(???」∠) Urgh!
Never riding Cakey's car again!
…
Inside the Room
"Kamishiro? Why are you back so fast?!"
Having just finished tidying up, Nanaka and the others stared at Kamishiro and his group at the door in surprise.
She looked toward Azusa beside her—wasn't there supposed to be some criticism and education first?
Azusa herself froze, then looped an arm around Kamishiro's neck in amazement.
"Did those two uncles really just let you go? They didn't make things hard for you?"
"Heh heh…"
Kamishiro gave an awkward laugh.
"Honestly, it was mostly thanks to Aina."
If it hadn't been for Aina's godlike driving skills, they couldn't have gotten here so fast.
And the scariest part was—
She hadn't even violated traffic laws?!
That's right. The entire way, Aina hadn't broken a single traffic rule. That was the most outrageous part!
In Kamishiro's memory, they'd been drifting nonstop! Was Tokyo traffic really that insane?!
How did he, a half-Tokyo native, not know this?!
Azusa: ???
Azusa tilted her head, not quite understanding—she just felt that Kamishiro's face looked a bit too pale.
"As long as you got here safely, that's what matters!"
Seeing everyone looking her way, Aina quickly covered Kamishiro's mouth.
How they got here wasn't important!
Watching Aina's agitated behavior, Kamishiro rolled his eyes and let it go, turning to look around the room.
A classic Japanese-style suite—very clean. The environment just couldn't compare to Kitahara's home, that was all.
After all, one was in the mountains, the other in the most bustling part of Japan.
For a place like this, it was already quite nice.
"Where are the seniors?"
Iori asked. He hadn't seen them since earlier.
"Oh, Toki and the others went to tidy up the rooms."
Azusa jerked her chin. Because there were so many people, they'd booked two rooms.
One for the men, one for the women.
Japanese-style rooms could easily fit everyone.
"I see."
"Having the seniors around is strangely reassuring."
Kamishiro and the others sighed emotionally. Aside from drinking, the seniors really were reliable!
"Let's go help too."
As he spoke, Kamishiro headed toward the door. He couldn't just dump all the work on the seniors.
"Wait!"
"Hm?"
Kamishiro looked at Aina blocking the doorway in confusion.
What was wrong now?
(?_?)
Aina said,
"Did you forget something?"
Kamishiro: (°ー°〃)
"Forgot what?"
"The forum, the forum!!!"
Weren't you still freaking out about it in the car earlier?!
!!!
After the reminder, Kamishiro also remembered what he had forgotten, and his little face instantly turned deathly pale again.
This really wasn't him trying to forget on purpose.
He actually wanted to bring it up while they were in the car, but Aina never gave him the chance!
The moment he blurted out that filler word, Aina directly switched into Fast & Furious mode.
And then…
Then Kamishiro's memory started getting fuzzy!
((???|||))
Thinking about what he had seen on the forum before, Kamishiro couldn't help but tremble.
"Kamishiro, are you okay?"
Azusa patted Kamishiro on the shoulder worriedly. The last time she saw him like this was when they came out of the haunted house.
"S-something went wrong…"
Iori: "Don't tell me… something went wrong with that post of yours?"
Kohei: "You didn't get cocky and post something again, did you?"
The two of them looked at Kamishiro in panic. They really didn't want this Tokyo trip to end up being spent in a love hotel again!
They wanted girls (maids)!
"What post?"
Azusa and Nanaka also leaned in. Had something happened that they didn't know about again?
They were clearly on the same trip—so why did it feel like Kamishiro's group was living in a completely different reality?
"Well, it's like this…"
Chisa began explaining it to the two of them.
The more Azusa listened, the brighter her eyes became. In the end, she directly pulled out her phone and started searching for the forum of "a certain high school"!
"Hahahaha, Kamishiro, your move was way too clever. I didn't expect you to still have such high popularity in Tokyo."
Laughing loudly, Azusa decided to take a look at just how much influence Kamishiro still had after being away for so long.
After opening the forum, there was no need to search deliberately—any post made by Kamishiro during that time was absolutely at the top in terms of popularity!
She opened the post. It had only been posted not long ago, yet it already had no idea how many hundreds of replies stacked up.
But what really stood out was the pinned comment…
"Kamishiro, it looks like you completely exposed yourself."
Azusa looked at Kamishiro with a strange expression. Their Tokyo trip really did seem like it was going to be rough.
"What?!"
"Really exposed?!"
Hearing this, Iori and Kohei hurried over to Azusa's side to see how exactly he'd been exposed, and whether there was any way to fix it.
If it really came down to it, sacrificing Kamishiro might even be an option!
Then—
They saw an absolutely explosive scene!
Pinned under Kamishiro's post was a video!
A video of Tokyo Station.
It recorded the entire process of three nearly naked perverts being arrested.
"..."
After watching it, Iori and Kohei fell completely silent.
In this situation… it seemed like even sacrificing him wouldn't work, right?
How were they supposed to explain things to the beasts hunting down Kamishiro—that although they drank together, stripped together… they actually weren't that close?
This was truly being bound together for life!!!
The two of them suddenly turned their heads, staring straight at Kamishiro with murderous eyes.
Today—if there wasn't a proper solution!
They were going to dismember this bastard on the spot!
If Kamishiro hadn't posted this, maybe not that many people would've known. Or they could've tried to clarify it somehow—after all, the video itself was actually pretty blurry.
Of course, "blurry" only applied if you watched it blindly.
If you watched it knowing who was who…
This damn thing was basically a crystal-clear declaration of war!!!
Looking at the popularity, their hearts went cold. At this rate, they probably had no future with Tokyo anymore, right?!
And it wasn't just them. Aina and Chisa were also looking at Kamishiro with "gentle" expressions.
Thanks to this god-tier move, the two of them had somehow become accomplices as well~
"Kamishiro, I think we need a reasonable explanation here~"
Seeing everyone's expressions, Kamishiro subconsciously stepped back, forcing a dry laugh.
"Well… don't you think the five of us drinking together at the hotel could also be kind of fun?"
((???|||))
He really hadn't anticipated things turning out like this!