Airi opened her eyes under the covers.
Dazzling sunlight leaked in from the window. Airi frowned, shielding her eyes with her hand as she slowly sat up.
’Where am I...?’
Her head throbbed as if it were splitting, and her body felt heavy.
Moreover, the blanket covering her was one she had never seen before.
Flustered, Airi quickly looked around. It wasn’t the room in the dormitory where she usually slept, but a completely unfamiliar sleeping area.
Blankets were spread out on the floor, and she could see other mbers sleeping in the spots next to her.
’....’
’Ugh... Is it morning?’
Rin, who was lying next to her, groaned and muttered with a pained face.
Just like Airi, everyone was waking up one by one due to the sunlight.
Seeing everyone together, it seed they hadn’t fallen asleep in a particularly strange place.
As she sat dazed on her blanket with that thought, mories of yesterday began to surface bit by bit.
...Did I fall asleep while drinking?
Airi rembered receiving and drinking the cups Rin handed her.
anwhile, Rin, Mika, and Tanya also slowly sat up from their blankets. Likewise, they were all in a daze since they had no mory of yesterday.
’What was I doing before I fell asleep yesterday...?’
’Airi. Do you happen to rember?’
They all talked with faces half-drunk with sleep.
Was it because they were too intoxicated? None of them could properly rember yesterday’s events.
Besides, except for Airi, the others had simply collapsed while drinking, so nothing particularly special had happened. It was only natural they didn’t rember well.
When one gets too drunk, people tend to divide into those who rember what happened and those who don’t.
The other three seed to have lost their mories of yesterday.
And Airi was wearing an expression as if the world had ended.
* * *
’I’m sorry, I’m going to go die,’
Airi shouted as she dashed out of the room, wandering around the lodging until she finally arrived at the hot springs.
It was because she had run into a staff mber midway.
Since she was wandering aimlessly through the lodging, it seed she had reached the building where the staff waited.
Perhaps the staff mber thought Airi was looking for the hot springs, as they kindly guided her directly to the front of the bath.
’....’
She hadn’t intended to go in, but Airi ultimately had no choice but to enter the hot spring under the staff’s guidance.
In the first place, she had just run out blindly because of the embarrassnt. She didn’t have a specific destination in mind.
’Sigh....’
After undressing in the changing room and entering the hot spring, Airi subrged herself in the hot water.
An open-air bath built into the mountainside.
Perhaps because it was a famous spot, she could feel a significant amount of mana gathered there.
Ever since she started learning magic in earnest, her sense for detecting such mana seed to have beco more sensitive. Airi observed the mana-infused spring water she scooped up with a look of wonder.
---
Just then, she sensed a presence from the changing room area.
Was everyone coming to the hot spring? Since it was a hot spring lodging, it was a given, really.
Airi had rushed out because she couldn’t bear the embarrassnt, but while soaking in the spring, she had managed to calm her heart a little.
Since everyone else had passed out drunk first, the only people who knew about yesterday’s events were Airi, Ian, and Lia.
It didn’t seem likely that Ian or Lia would go out of their way to talk about what happened, so as long as Airi herself kept her mouth shut and stayed calm, she could pass it off as if nothing had happened.
Having steeled her resolve, Airi nodded with a firm face and waited for the newcor to enter the water.
The person who entered the hot spring was Ian.
’...Hm?’
’Heek!’
Airi panicked and dove underwater to hide, but unable to withstand the heat, she quickly popped back out.
’Airi. You shouldn’t play around in the hot spring.’
’I-I’m sorr— no, that’s not it....’
The flustered Airi muttered to Ian in a small voice.
’This is the won’s bath....’
’I ca in through the n’s side, though....’
Ian and Airi turned their heads toward the entrance of the hot spring.
Since the structure wasn’t that complex, both imdiately realized what the issue was.
Only the changing rooms were divided; the hot spring itself was a mixed bath connected as one area.
’...Th-then, I’ll leave.’
’No, you can just stay. I’m going to head out soon anyway....’
Stopping Airi, who was trying to leave in a hurry, Ian entered the water.
In any case, her body wouldn’t be visible once subrged, and besides, they were already in a relationship where they had frequently seen far worse. Although Airi probably didn’t realize she had been found out yet.
Ian and Airi subrged themselves in the hot spring water with a slight distance between them.
Airi, with a slightly reddened face, stayed underwater and stole glances at Ian.
Looking at Airi’s attitude as she continuously gauged his reaction, it seed she definitely rembered yesterday’s events.
With that thought, Ian struck up a conversation with Airi. It was a good place for the two of them to talk privately.
’Airi. About yesterday... .’
’I’m sorry!’
Airi imdiately bowed her head and apologized. With a splash, her face was subrged in the spring water before she hurriedly exhaled and pulled herself out.
’Puh-ha.... So. Yesterday, I got too drunk, so I’ll make sure nothing like that ever happens again....’
’No, I was going to say you should do it like you did yesterday.’
’Huh?’
Airi froze like a statue in her confusion. It was because she hadn’t properly understood the aning of telling her to do it like yesterday.
’Everyone else is doing that much. If there’s sothing you want to do, don’t find it difficult and feel free to tell anyti.’
’Re... really?’
Co to think of it, everyone else was doing those kinds of things. Airi’s face turned beet red as she recalled the various scenes she had witnessed over ti.
From Ian’s perspective, at this point, one more person being added didn’t make much of a difference.
Furthermore, managing everyone’s stress and desires individually was quite a hassle. Rather than having negative events occur because of that, it was much better for them to directly demand things from Ian.
Is it really... okay?
Sensing that Ian wasn’t joking but was being sincere, Airi asked cautiously.
’By any chance... you don’t feel... disgusted by what happened yesterday...?’
’It was quite good.’
’I-is that so. Ehehe....’
Hearing that it was good, Airi broke into a bit of a smirk.
And in Airi’s mind, the word Ian had just spoken flashed brightly. Did he say ’anyti’?
Even though it was the alcohol talking, anyway, it was sothing she had already committed once.
Moreover, since Ian had told her it was okay, she gained a small conviction that this was sothing allowed.
For that reason, Airi was able to make her second request to Ian with a slightly lighter heart.
’Then.... Is it really okay anyti?’
’As long as I’m not busy.’
The more she thought back on what happened last night, the more she felt it was quite unfair.
She had done such an incredible thing yesterday, but her mory of how it felt when they were actually kissing was fuzzy.
She rembered what happened. However, perhaps because she was very drunk, her mory of what the touch was like or what the sensation was like was blurred.
It was truly an unfair state where only the embarrassing mories remained while the good ones had flown away.
If calculated in monetary value, it was a situation where Airi had lost about 10 gold coins.
’By any chance... how about now?’
’Now?’
Airi asked Ian cautiously while slightly gauging his reaction.
Anyway, since she had spoken her wish honestly, could it be said that her relationship with Airi had grown a little?
Ian looked at Airi, who was making such a question while cautiously checking his mood, then smiled slightly and gestured for her to co closer.
He wondered if it was really okay to call this growth.
Airi gulped with a heart-pounding face and approached Ian.
The first ti was too short.
The second ti, she was drunk so she didn’t have mories left.
So, in reality, this would be her first proper kiss?
As Airi had that thought and closed her eyes, approaching Ian... just before their lips touched.
A loud noise was heard from the changing room area.
It was the sound of a door opening and people talking to each other. Since the voices were clearly audible this ti, they could imdiately tell who it was.
This ti, the other mbers were truly entering.
’...!’
Airi hurriedly scanned the surroundings and spotted a suitable rock on one side of the spring that was good for hiding.
Airi moved her body nimbly and hid behind the rock. And Ian, who had been holding Airi, ended up hiding with her.
Ian, who had been pulled behind the rock by his hand by Airi, thought belatedly.
Why am I...?
’Ugh.... My head feels like it’s going to split.’
’Lia. Did sothing happen yesterday?’
’...When I ca, everyone was already passed out drunk.’
In the anti, the voices of the mbers entering the hot spring and chatting could be heard.
Eavesdropping on the conversation of the mbers who entered the bath while hiding behind the rock, Ian asked Airi in a small voice.
’Why are we hiding?’
’It’s a habit... .’
...What kind of habit is hiding when people co?
Anyway, it seed a bit late to go out now. Ian decided to stay hidden with Airi for the ti being.
’....’
’....’
The rock was slightly narrow for two people to hide together. For Ian and Airi to hide their bodies together, they had to be held tightly against each other.
Airi looked up at Ian with a face that wanted sothing while being held by him.
A look of stealing glances at Ian and hesitating to say what she wanted. It was clearly a face wanting sothing.
Ian could easily grasp what Airi’s complaint was.
They were just about to kiss when they were interrupted, so she must have been dissatisfied. Since she was worried about the mood to pester him to do it again in this situation, she couldn’t speak.
Ian grabbed Airi’s face and silently overlapped his lips with hers.
’...!’
To prevent any moans from leaking out, Ian held Airi’s trembling body tightly.
In any case, they had to spend ti hiding here for a while until everyone left.
Thus, until the mbers left the hot spring, the kiss between the two continued for a long ti.
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