As its proprietress said, Hidden Hot Spring Inn is a very small hotel, with a staircase no more than one and a half meters wide.
Therefore, it was impossible for Willy and the four people to go up and down the stairs at the same time; one of them had to turn to the side first to avoid the other.
Logically speaking, there are four people on the other side, while Willy is only one person, so it would be most convenient for him to make way.
Unfortunately, the boy was eager to get back to his room and rest, and couldn't be bothered to follow these unspoken rules of social interaction.
After he spoke, the four seemed to be awakened, speechless, and subconsciously did as he said, making way for him.
As they passed each other, Willy left a cheerful "thank you."
"..."
Several seconds passed after he left before the bespectacled man among the group spoke, seemingly in a daze:
"What a handsome young man..."
He even exaggeratedly took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, and then put them back on.
"I say, could this be some kind of mountain ghost?"
He meant to make a joke to ease the awkward atmosphere, but he didn't expect to be slapped hard on the shoulder by a woman with dyed blonde curly hair next to him.
"...Hey! Ayami! Why did you hit me!?"
The bespectacled man gasped and shrank to the side.
"...Who told you to scare Caiwei first? She's terrified of these things, didn't you know that?"
Another woman among the four spoke up; she was the one who had been called "Mio" earlier.
As she spoke, her gaze did not fall on the group; instead, she kept looking up at the corner of the stairs, biting her lip.
The last young man among the four also behaved the same way. He was patted on the shoulder several times by Caiwei before he finally withdrew his infatuated gaze.
"Hey! Ryosuke, I've called you several times!"
Cai didn't look at him, and said with dissatisfaction.
"……ah."
Ryosuke seemed to have snapped out of his daze, but he was completely different from his previous cheerful self, responding listlessly with a half-hearted reply.
"...What kind of attitude is this?"
The four of them had already continued walking down the stairs when Caiwei suddenly stopped and turned to look at him angrily.
"Did you have your eye on that person from earlier?"
"Hey, Ayami..." Tomoya opened his mouth in surprise, but the hand he grabbed from Ayami was slapped away.
Mio shook her head at him.
The two looked at each other, their eyes reflecting the same emotion.
--here we go again.
"I'm your girlfriend, aren't I? Why do you always look at other women?"
Ayami's voice grew louder and louder, and Tomoya nervously looked around, afraid of calling the landlady over.
"...I just thought it was strange to see other people in such a remote place, so I stayed a little longer."
Ryosuke rubbed his temples and straightened his lips:
"Caiwei, can you please stop being so unreasonable?"
"I'm being unreasonable? I—"
Before Ayami could finish speaking, Ryosuke, who was behind her, pushed her aside and strode down the stairs, ignoring his companion's calls.
Tomoya glanced at Ryosuke's retreating figure, then at Ayami, whose makeup was now ruined by tears, and finally clicked his tongue and chased after her.
"Mio, Ayami is in your care now. Take her back to her room!"
This group of people had just finished soaking in the hot springs and came down together to find something to eat, but they never expected it to turn out like this.
Mio nodded, put her hand on Ayami's shoulder, whispered comforting words in her ear, and they went back to their room together.
Meanwhile, Vili, who was rolling around on the tatami mats in the room, was completely unaware of the turmoil happening outside.
Although the room's furnishings were old-fashioned, it was spotlessly clean. The wooden floor had a warm luster, and the tatami beds were soft and smelled of laundry detergent.
The rain outside was getting heavier, but there was hardly any more thunder.
Raindrops tapped against the windowsill, accompanied by the faint scent of sulfur from the hot springs and a light woody aroma in the air. Vili couldn't help but yawn, his head nodding slightly.
A pink petal fell from his pocket and solidified into his form.
"Unanswered!"
"……Um?"
Vili responded vaguely.
"I saw everything~"
The cherry blossoms circled around him once, smiling.
"What do you see?"
Willie buried his head in the pillow and rubbed it gently.
Although I slept on the bus... I don't feel like I slept well. It's like I'm being watched by someone the whole time. My neck hurts, and I'm still sleepy.
"You and that person!" Sakura finally stopped, hands on her hips, and said, "That guy named Yukimura Masashi!"
He must like you!
"..."
Willie finally turned over, glanced at her, and burst out laughing.
"How is that possible?"
Seeing that Shan Ying was about to retort, he spoke first, cutting her off:
"Although I don't want to admit it... I'm quite experienced. Judging from Yukimura's indifferent demeanor, he treats me no differently than anyone else."
"But this is for the best."
He was much more at ease.
Yamazakura put her hands on her hips and shouted:
"No, that's not true!"
"He let you lean on him to sleep, and he didn't say anything even when his shoulders ached. Even though the mountain road was so difficult to walk on, he still carried you on his back the whole time."
"This only shows that he is a responsible senior."
Vili interrupted her.
"Didn't he say that we need to conserve our energy during the mission, so he told me to rest first? As for carrying me, that's because he was worried that I would walk too slowly and affect the progress."
“I think he would have done the same if it were any other junior colleague.”
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