After closing the office door, Wuyou finally let out a quiet breath and muttered, "They finally left…"
It wasn't that he disliked Air Groove or Symboli Rudolf—he was simply tired.
He had no idea why, but the girls around him always seemed to end up arguing because of him.
Even Rudolf and Air Groove, longtime friends and partners, had turned fierce just now, like two predators squaring up over the same prey.
Could it be… I'm just annoying?
But then again, when there was only one girl around him, her emotions usually stayed pretty stable.
Wuyou could distinguish many human feelings—anger, sadness, grief, happiness…
Yet there was one feeling he still couldn't understand:
that "special" emotion the opposite sex had toward him.
It was strange to describe—some were passionate, some restrained, some innocent, some… borderline unhealthy.
Like a jar of assorted candy wrapped in black cloth.
You never knew what flavor you'd get next.
But… in the end, it always tasted sweet.
After thinking until his head ached without finding an answer, Wuyou went back to his chair and sighed.
"Human emotions really are too complicated… I'm just a little carrot fairy—I don't get it…"
Then he remembered the hot spring voucher sitting on his desk.
He should ask those two if they wanted to go.
Wuyou stepped out of the office—
only to find that Rudolf and Air Groove had already left.
"…Sigh. Guess I'll ask next time."
Time slipped by, and lunchtime arrived.
Still not yet time for afternoon training, so after eating in the cafeteria, Chiharu Representative returned to the office with Wuyou to rest.
The two sat on the sofa drinking tea, cupping their mugs while warm steam curled upward—
like a pair of winter retirees basking in the sun on a balcony.
"By the way," Chiharu asked, casually but clearly invested, "that hot spring travel voucher can bring four people, right? Who are you bringing, Yuu?"
She didn't even need to say it out loud.
She had already claimed a slot.
Wuyou thought about it and felt genuinely conflicted.
Even if he excluded everyone he'd met outside Tracen, just counting those he'd seen recently—
Oguri Cap, Tamamo Cross, Nase Fumino, Super Creek, Gold Ship, Symboli Rudolf, Air Groove…
He hadn't even included Hayakawa Tazuna or the Chairwoman.
Only four slots.
That was… tough.
"How about… we ask them one by one?" Chiharu offered.
Seeing his dilemma, she made the suggestion smoothly.
Wuyou nodded.
"Mm. Let's ask."
He took out his phone.
Tazuna and the Chairwoman were probably too busy—end of year workload and all.
His first pick was Oguri Cap.
He opened their chat and sent a message.
Carrot: Oguri.
Ding-dong.
The reply came almost instantly.
Kasamatsu Is My Hometown: Yuu-bro, I'm here.
Wuyou's mouth twitched.
Chiharu was beside him, biting her lip to hold back laughter.
Who came up with that display name? That didn't sound like something Oguri would think of.
He really wanted to ask, but business first.
He explained the weekend hot spring trip.
At the top of the screen, "Typing…" bounced again and again.
Wuyou already knew how this would end.
Sure enough, after a short wait, the reply arrived.
Kasamatsu Is My Hometown: Sorry, Yuu-bro. The selection race is next week… I want to run more this weekend and get the feel right.
On the other end, Oguri nearly crushed her phone just to type that sentence.
Hot springs! So good! I want to go too! There'll be delicious food! And I can make hot spring eggs—!
If Oguri couldn't go, Wuyou asked the others one by one.
What made him choke was—
not a single person was free.
Nase Fumino wanted to go.
She wanted to go badly.
But she got hard-ganked by the old man at home—called her back for "something important."
Judging by the fact that Super Creek said Fumino suddenly started searching wheelchair prices…
Yeah.
That old man was in trouble.
Nase Eito: What's this? A baton?
Nase Fumino: A wonderful tool I'll need after I get home.
"In short," Wuyou said with a laugh, "looks like it's just you and me."
Chiharu had been reading all the chats beside him, so she already knew.
She nodded and answered with a single, calm—
"Mm."
But somehow, to Wuyou, that "mm" sounded… a little thick with something.
In fact, he wasn't wrong.
Chiharu's smile was already fighting harder to stay down than a stubborn cowlick after sleeping on wet hair.
It was a little shameless to admit, but Chiharu had really wanted it to be just the two of them.
And now—
her dream had come true.
Thank you, Three Goddesses, for your blessings!
"Then," she said brightly, "after school, want to go buy what we need?"
"Sure," Wuyou nodded.
He was thinking of buying a good selfie stick—if he was going to a hot spring hotel, he could do a lifestyle stream for once.
He'd been a "VTuber" long enough. A little real-life content wouldn't hurt.
Hearing his agreement, Chiharu's smile grew even more.
And there's an outing too… Nice.
…
Elsewhere.
In a luxurious lounge within Tracen—territory belonging exclusively to the Mejiro family.
At that moment, the seven Mejiro sisters were gathered together, drinking tea and eating sweets.
"McQueen," Mejiro Ardan said with a gentle smile, "you can't eat any more."
McQueen froze, hand hovering midair over an egg tart.
"Ardan-sis… I'll just have the last one…"
"You've said that eighteen times."
"…Ugh…"
To avoid becoming a "fat horse," McQueen reluctantly withdrew her hand, looking like she'd just lost a war.
"Okay! Reservation confirmed!" Mejiro Bright (Zenno) lifted her phone, drawing everyone's attention.
"The hot spring rooms are booked. This weekend we just go."
They'd stayed at that hot spring hotel many times. In fact, the hotel kept a suite reserved specifically for the Mejiros—outsiders couldn't even rent it.
Mejiro Takamine nodded, then added as if remembering something:
"Oh, right… tell them to optimize the room's Wi-Fi."
"Last time the signal wasn't good."
The sisters' expressions turned… odd.
Bad signal?
That didn't sound right.
It wasn't blazing fast, but tens of megabits should've been easy.
Noticing their looks, Takamine sipped her tea, tone calm.
"That day… Carrot-sensei had a special stream."
"Aaaah~~~"
Then it made sense.
Totally made sense.
—Wait.
Special stream?! Carrot-sensei's feed didn't mention anything like that!
"T-Takamine-sis," Dober couldn't help asking, "how did you know?"
Under the sisters' curious stares, Takamine's lips curved into a faint smile.
"Nothing much."
"We were chatting in DMs. Carrot-sensei told me."
The sisters collectively sucked in a cold breath.
So Takamine and Carrot-sensei were even closer than they'd imagined.
And as they looked at Takamine again, their eyes held something extra—
admiration…
envy…
and—
a tiny bit of jealousy.
....
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