"So, what on earth are you thinking? Actually volunteering to share a room with her..."
Nightti, at the Sakuramiya Residence.
After settling their luggage and having dinner, Bai Yi stood on the wooden corridor of the outer courtyard at the Sakuramiya Residence. She stared at Sakuramiya Hitomi in utter bewildernt, completely unable to fathom what the girl was thinking.
They each held a wooden basin filled with various toiletries.
Since there was a hot spring behind the main residence of the Sakuramiya family, Sakuramiya Hitomi had decided to bring her companions to experience it.
Sakuramiya Hitomi did not imdiately respond. Instead, Spencer, who was standing nearby, pursed her lips and said hesitantly,
"If it really cos down to it, I can share a room with her. Maybe I could even have a good talk with her."
"Yeah, even having Spencer stay with her sounds more reliable than you doing it..."
She was not just being alarmist. After all, Bai Yi had witnessed Sakuramiya Hitomi's physical constitution firsthand.
Taking even a single hit from an ability would essentially leave her incapacitated. She was an utter weakling.
And that was inside her reality barrier, where she actually had a boost to her physical attributes.
Hearing this, Sakuramiya Hitomi remained silent for the mont.
By now, the group had already entered the won's changing room.
A hot spring source had been developed within the Sakuramiya main residence, split into separate n's and won's baths.
Inside the changing room, Sakuramiya Hitomi set down her wooden basin and finally explained with a sigh,
"The guest rooms in the estate are spaced quite far apart. They are not right next to each other. Letting her stay alone would an no one could keep an eye on her.
"You do not need to worry about . Since I made this decision, I have definitely thought it through. Besides, it is best not to discuss these matters in the house. Walls have ears."
Bai Yi glanced around at the surrounding wooden architecture. Deciding to hold her tongue, she had no choice but to trust Sakuramiya Hitomi's judgnt,
"You better have thought it through. Otherwise, if sothing happens..."
As she spoke, Bai Yi also began to undress.
As for thinking it through...
Sakuramiya Hitomi had certainly considered it carefully, but her line of thought was not entirely focused on dealing with An Le as Bai Yi assud.
She voluntarily chose to share a room with An Le so she could have a proper conversation with her.
She naturally had ans to protect herself. After all, this was her ho.
"Rustle..."
Lost in thought, Sakuramiya Hitomi unbuttoned her clothes. But when she lifted her gaze to glance at the girls in front of her, she was utterly stunned.
Before her eyes, as the girls shed their garnts, they each revealed their beautiful figures...
First was Spencer, who undressed the fastest.
Her body showed obvious signs of rigorous training, yet it lacked none of a woman's soft grace.
Completely different from the girls of the Eastern State, she had a larger fra with bold, sweeping curves that dazzled the eyes like rolling ocean waves.
It was not just Sakuramiya Hitomi who was dumbfounded. Even Bai Yi was shocked by her figure,
"Wait, Spencer, how are you so big?"
"Huh? What is so big?"
Bai Yi stared at Spencer, who had stripped clean in the blink of an eye and was ready to enter the water. The corner of Bai Yi's mouth twitched.
Unaware of what she was referring to, Spencer turned around to look at her with such pure innocence that Bai Yi could not bring herself to elaborate,
"Never mind..."
She had not expected that soone as childish as Spencer would have such exaggerated physical assets.
Unable to help herself, she turned her head to glance at Ye Shiyu next to her. She was imdiately dazzled by the girl's tall, well-proportioned figure and skin as fair as snow.
Especially with her ink-black hair cascading down her back, she looked like an absolute fairy.
However, perhaps because she was so evenly proportioned...
'Not as big as mine!'
The corners of Bai Yi's lips curled up into a slight smirk as she confidently shed the rest of her clothes.
But halfway through undressing, she suddenly froze.
As she pulled her shirt off, she caught a glimpse of her lower abdon. There seed to be the faintest hint of a tummy forming...
"I gained..."
"I gained weight!!"
The mont she realized this, Bai Yi's expression stiffened. She hurriedly used her discarded shirt to cover her stomach.
She cast a panicked glance at Spencer and Ye Shiyu.
Both of them clearly worked out. Their figures were impossibly good, possessing tight muscles and even the faint outlines of abdominal lines.
anwhile, she just had a lot of soft flesh, and now, the early signs of a tummy...
'It is not even the New Year yet, Bai Yi!'
'Could it be that I ate too much recently?!'
Bai Yi faintly felt a sense of losing montum before the battle even began. She did not even dare to continue undressing.
But as she stood there hesitant, she caught sight of Sakuramiya Hitomi out of the corner of her eye, who was also clutching her clothes over herself.
What t her gaze was the girl's petite... or rather, barren figure.
"Pfft..."
Having fallen to rock bottom and feeling like a total loser just monts ago, Bai Yi could not hold it in when she saw the pitiful Sakuramiya Hitomi. She burst out laughing.
"Huh?"
Over on the other side, Spencer—who thought soaking in a hot spring was the sa as swimming and had started doing warm-up exercises—and Ye Shiyu—who was neatly folding her clothes into a bag with her na on it—turned to look at the sa ti.
"...What are you laughing at?"
"N-nothing... Pfft."
The two of them were puzzled, but Sakuramiya Hitomi's expression grew darker and darker.
'She is definitely laughing at !'
'Just you wait! Once I open my reality barrier, I will be bigger than all of you!'
"Clack."
Right at that mont, the wooden door of the won's changing room opened, followed by the curtain being pulled aside.
An unclean pink hue seed to crawl up the wooden walls, bringing a shadow-like sense of oppression.
The girls turned to look, and sure enough, it was An Le, who was also holding a wooden basin and had co to soak in the hot spring.
"Ah."
Seeing the half-undressed girls in the room, An Le's face flushed slightly. She smiled and said softly,
"I ca to soak in the hot spring too."
"..."
With that, she carefully began to unfasten her own clothes.
"Whoosh!!"
She had not even finished undressing, yet Bai Yi and Sakuramiya Hitomi already felt as if a tsunami was crashing down on them. Compared to her, the previous waves they compared were nothing but a minor scuffle.
Bai Yi and Sakuramiya Hitomi's faces stiffened. They both turned their heads away simultaneously, remaining silent as they hurried to finish undressing so they could get into the water.
"Um... Rember to rinse off your body before going in..."
"Okay..."
Even Sakuramiya Hitomi's reminder and Bai Yi's agreent sounded completely drained of energy.
"Splash, splash..."
In the shower area, Sakuramiya Hitomi tested the water temperature. Just as she picked up her bath towel and prepared to wet her body...
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Spencer struggling next to her, looking distressed as she tried to get hot water out of the old-fashioned faucet.
She turned to look at the others; they were all busy washing themselves and paying Spencer no mind.
So, she sighed and beckoned to Spencer,
"That one is quite difficult to use. Co over here, I have hot water. I will help you rinse."
"Huh?"
Spencer blinked in surprise. After a second of hesitation, she let go of the faucet and slowly walked over to Sakuramiya Hitomi.
Sakuramiya Hitomi turned the water pressure down a bit to prevent it from hitting too hard.
In truth, that was only a concern for her own delicate body. For soone as robust and healthy as Spencer, the water pressure hardly mattered.
As a result, the gentle stream of water Sakuramiya Hitomi directed over her felt more like a soothing massage.
"Splash, splash..."
Spencer blinked, looking at Sakuramiya Hitomi as she helped rinse her with hot water. It was impossible to tell what she was thinking.
"Turn around."
"Okay."
After rinsing one side, Sakuramiya Hitomi helped Spencer wash her back.
Once that was done, she finally said,
"Alright, you can go take a bath now. Rember not to bring the bath towel into the pool. You can hang it on the rack inside."
"Alright."
Spencer nodded and subconsciously turned to leave.
But after taking a few steps, she stopped.
Sakuramiya Hitomi, who had begun rinsing herself, heard the pausing footsteps and turned back to look at her,
"What is wrong?"
"Nothing really, I just feel like it is better to go in together..."
"..."
Sakuramiya Hitomi paused, then offered a faint smile,
"You go on ahead. I will be right there."
"Okay, I will head in first."
Spencer hesitated for a second, but seeing that Ye Shiyu and Bai Yi had already gone out, she decided not to be squeamish. Grabbing her bath towel, she skipped outside happily.
Watching her leave, Sakuramiya Hitomi suddenly rembered sothing and hastily called out,
"Wait! Do not dive! The pool is shallow..."
"Splash!!"
Outside, the unmistakable sound of diving echoed back.
"..."
Sakuramiya Hitomi sighed, nursing a headache. Since she was done rinsing, she put down the showerhead and prepared to head out.
Turning her head, she noticed An Le was still standing nearby, watching her silently, lost in thought.
"..."
Sakuramiya Hitomi t An Le's gaze but said nothing, simply turning and heading toward the bath pool.
Behind her, An Le also set down the showerhead and silently followed her out.
Outside the changing room, the bath pool was neither exceptionally large nor terribly small, but it was more than spacious enough to comfortably accommodate five people.
Steam drifted off the surface of the water, and ripples constantly lapped at the edges.
Due to Spencer's sudden dive, Bai Yi, who was already in the pool, sat there with a scowl, too intimidated to voice her anger.
Ye Shiyu showed no reaction, rely leaning back with her eyes closed to rest. She only opened her eyes when Sakuramiya Hitomi and An Le entered one after the other.
The n's and won's baths were separated by just a thin bamboo partition, and since it was open-air, it was not the place to discuss anything related to superpowers. Thus, the girls found themselves without a topic of conversation, simply soaking in silence.
Truth be told, their relationships with one another were not particularly good to begin with; they had only been forced into an alliance due to external circumstances.
Even An Le and Spencer, who were the only ones that could actually be considered friends, had nothing to say at the mont. The hot spring fell eerily quiet, leaving only the gentle sound of flowing water.
An Le tested the water temperature with her foot before slowly lowering herself in.
"Phew..."
As the warm water enveloped her, An Le felt the exhaustion seeping out of her body.
Her originally freezing body temperature gradually ward up, finally giving her a faint sense of being alive.
However, in the very next second, she felt a slight buoyancy near her chest. "..."
Feeling that sensation, her face turned a bright shade of red, and she hurriedly covered her oppai.
Having outsiders present made her feel incredibly self-conscious.
Still...
Sitting quietly in such a peaceful atmosphere actually felt really nice.
It was just a pity that she did not know how long this peace would last...
"Gurgle..."
An Le lowered her eyes slightly, her peripheral vision subtly sweeping over the girls in front of her.
"Hiss..."
Behind her, the slow hissing of a white snake drifted into her ears.
Little Finger raised its head slightly. Looking at the downcast An Le, it could not help but show a worried expression.
Mainly, she had been carrying a faint sense of resignation over the past few days, making Little Finger genuinely suspect she was depressed.
Flicking its tongue, it could not help but speak up,
"Are you alright, An Le?"
'What is wrong, Little Finger?'
Hearing Little Finger's long-absent voice, An Le turned her head and replied in her mind.
"It is nothing. I am just a bit worried about your condition."
"It is fine. I will kill all of your kind possessing them."
An Le smiled. She lifted her still-freezing right hand from the hot spring and said,
"Although it hurts imnsely when the tentacles are severed, the ones that regrow beco even harder and more powerful. Soon, they will not be able to do anything against ."
"..."
Little Finger stared blankly at the smiling An Le before averting its gaze, changing the subject,
"Are you unhappy because your parents want a second child?"
"Mmm... I do not know either..."
Hearing this, An Le showed a similarly confused expression. She looked up at the sky and murmured,
"Maybe I am a little unhappy. Maybe... I also do not really want a younger brother or sister...
"But since my parents want one, of course, I respect their wishes."
Little Finger let out a cold snort and mocked,
"What is there to respect? Just because they are your parents? They already struggle enough just raising you, and now they want to raise another one? Tsk!"
"It is exactly because they are my parents. I love them very much, so..."
"Completely incomprehensible."
Seeing it act like this, An Le could not help but smile and ask,
"Speaking of which, I do not think I have ever asked... Before coming here, what kind of life did you lead? Did you have parents?"
The question caught Little Finger off guard. It hesitated for a long ti but could not utter a single word.
It was created by the great Divine Lord. It was thrown into this world the mont it gained consciousness, so naturally, it had no mories of a prior life.
Because it never had one to begin with.
"...Do you not rember?"
"Yeah..."
"What about after coming here? Have you thought about what kind of life you want to lead in the future? Have you ever thought about what you desire? After all, Little Finger, it seems you are always asking
what I want..."
"..."
It ca here simply to evolve to perfection, to act as a vessel and welco the descent of the great Divine Lord.
But as for what would happen to itself, or even this world, after the Divine Lord arrived... it had absolutely no idea.
Seeing Little Finger remain silent, An Le blinked. Unable to resist, she lifted her hand, patted its head, and said with a smile,
"It is okay if you cannot think of anything right now. You can tell
when you do figure it out. As long as it is not anything bad, I will help you."
"..."
Hearing these words, Little Finger inevitably raised its eyes to look at the girl before it.
After a long silence, it gave a soft hmph and muttered quietly,
"Hmph. You cannot even help yourself, yet you want to help ? Take care of yourself first."
An Le scratched her cheek awkwardly, feeling a bit embarrassed.
Little Finger glanced at her but did not press further about the lingering resignation in her heart. It rely flicked its tail and slowly faded away.
Just before vanishing entirely, its voice echoed in her mind,
"Actually, my kind's progress in absorbing emotional energy is quite slow. They will not pose any imdiate danger to Yan Huan.
"You do not need to rush into fighting the other hosts right now. It is best to just get so proper rest."
"..."
Little Finger's voice and physical form completely disappeared, as if it had never been there at all.
All around her, only the trickling sound of flowing water remained.
"Click."
Right at that mont, the sound of a door opening echoed from the won's changing room once again.
As the door opened, the girls' previously scattered attention was suddenly drawn to a single focal point.
Looking up, they saw two girls wearing bathrobes stepping into the hot spring area.
One was a tall, silver-haired girl with red eyes, wearing an arrogant, unrestrained smile.
The other was a petite, blue-haired, blue-eyed girl with a neutral expression.
"Oh my, hello there~"
Upon seeing the girls in the pool, the silver-haired girl blinked in surprise before her smile widened even further.
None of the girls knew who the newcors were. While they secretly wondered, Sakuramiya Hitomi furrowed her brows, her expression turning ugly,
"Luciana..."
"Oh? So Hitomi has returned."
Luciana looked Sakuramiya Hitomi up and down from where she sat at the far end of the pool, then smiled faintly,
"You are still the sa as before—just as utterly worthless."
Hearing these words, the girls instantly realized who the newcor was. They all looked at the silver-haired girl with varying expressions.
eting their gazes, the silver-haired girl vaguely sensed a hint of danger, but she was not afraid in the slightest. Instead, she stepped directly into the water and let out a long sigh of relief.
"Luciana, what on earth did you say to Grandfather?!"
"Apologies, but I cannot tell you that."
Resting her arms on the edge of the hot spring, Luciana looked down her nose at the hostile Sakuramiya Hitomi and said with a smile,
"I am not keeping it a secret on purpose; those were your grandfather's orders. However, you know I am soone who never plays by the rules. Even your grandfather cannot order
around...
"Why not try to do sothing about it? Maybe I will relent and tell you what he said."
Hearing her incredibly punchable tone, Sakuramiya Hitomi gritted her teeth and spat out word by word,
"I do not have ti to play your gas like we did when we were kids."
"You never won against , so of course you do not like playing. But not playing at all is way too boring. So, I can tell you a little bit... just what your grandfather said to ."
"..."
Luciana stroked her chin and smiled as she looked at Sakuramiya Hitomi,
"Your grandfather is incredibly disappointed in you, Sakuramiya Hitomi. Even more disappointed than when you stayed by his side as a child."
Upon hearing Luciana's words, Sakuramiya Hitomi's face grew progressively paler, and her body began to tremble uncontrollably.
However, it was not because of her grandfather's evaluation of her.
Rather...
It was because it brought back mories of 'that ti she stayed with her grandfather as a child'.
"What is wrong? Oh, I rember now... Apologies, I completely forgot. It was exactly because of that period of ti that you developed a psychological trauma, prompting your parents to do whatever it took to send you to Linn..."
In the hot spring, Sakuramiya Hitomi bit her pale lips, her teeth chattering so much that she could not even speak.
Even though she was subrged in the warm spring water, she felt as if she were trapped in an ice cave, shivering uncontrollably.
Among the girls present, Ye Shiyu and Bai Yi rely glanced at Sakuramiya Hitomi beside them without any further reaction.
Spencer, however, frowned. Seeing Luciana annoyed her greatly, and she was just about to stand up...
Sensing her glare, Luciana blinked in surprise and turned her head toward Spencer,
"Ah, Aruiya. I did not expect you to be here."
"You..."
Hearing the na the girl called her, Spencer was montarily taken aback, wondering if they sohow knew each other.
Luciana smiled faintly and pointed at herself,
"When we were kids, we attended the sa school for a while. Though we were not close, I saw you a few tis... You seed to get along quite well with the girls from the Kennedy family?"
"..."
Hearing this, Spencer's eyes widened. She stared at the Luciana before her in disbelief.
Before her eyes, Luciana's body slowly distorted, seemingly transforming into a giant multi-headed bird looking down at her, the little bomb pig.
'Does she...'
'Know the group of people who bullied ?'
The atmosphere in the entire hot spring instantly shifted.
Everyone was taken aback by Luciana's words, each mulling over the information hidden within.
Ye Shiyu, having a better background than Bai Yi, was more sensitive to such details and imdiately realized that this newcor had significant backing.
Although Bai Yi was clueless, seeing that Ye Shiyu dared not act rashly, she remained silent.
anwhile, separated by a single wall in the n's bath, Yan Huan had been listening attentively to all the exchanges next door. He took a deep breath, his expression darkening.
He cast a glance at the little boy wrapped in a bath towel soaking opposite him, as well as the muscular teenage boys flanking him on the left and right. They were the Vice President, the Accountant, and the Disciplinary Committee Head of Shuurei Academy.
Taking another deep breath, he stood up with a cold face and looked toward the other side.
As soon as he stood up, the two muscular teenagers on either side silently rose as well, staring intently at him as they spoke in a flat tone,
"What are you trying to do?"
"..."
Hearing this, Yan Huan suddenly thought of sothing. He turned back to look at them and said with a smile,
"I am going to peep."
"You dare?"
The two boys imdiately tensed up upon hearing his declaration.
And seeing the tall Yan Huan actually approaching the partition—where one could see the other side just by standing on their tiptoes and climbing up slightly—their expressions shifted dramatically. They moved toward Yan Huan from the left and right.
"Smack!"
The mont their hands grabbed his shoulders, the smile on Yan Huan's face grew even wider,
"You guys resorted to violence first."
"You..."
Seeing Yan Huan's smile, the two of them blanked for a second.
Before they could even react, they saw Yan Huan raise his fists, aiming straight for their faces.
?
"Aaaahhhh!! P-President!!"
Over at the won's bath, just as the atmosphere was devolving into an incredibly complex situation, Luciana's expression suddenly froze.
It was not just because the sudden screams of her boyfriend, Shenye Ju, echoed from the n's bath next door...
It was also because of what was happening right next to her.
Luciana turned her head in disbelief, only to see that the four girls in front of her temporarily showed no reaction to her provocation.
Instead, the sole exception was the plain-looking girl beside her—the one she had silently ignored upon entering. The girl had raised her hand and placed it squarely on Luciana's shoulder...
It was An Le.
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