If an elf were to suddenly appear before her right now and offer her magic, allowing her to choose one spell from among many...
Hiratsuka Shizuka would definitely shout first, "There's actually such a good thing?" and then, without the slightest hesitation, choose teleportation magic. She truly wanted to teleport straight to Kotomi Izumi's side.
As for why she felt that way?
Hiratsuka Shizuka couldn't even describe it herself. She had clearly been a Japanese language teacher at Sobu High School before, yet now she couldn't manage to articulate something so simple. There was a certain sense of irony in that—almost theatrical in its absurdity.
In short, the moment she saw the message Kotomi had sent her, she felt an overwhelming urge to rush to her side, to appear next to her in the very next second.
It was as if Kotomi Izumi were truly a little witch, secretly casting a layer of heart-bewitching magic over that message she had sent.
But Shizuka felt too embarrassed to actually tell Kotomi that she wanted to be by her side right now.
After thinking it over again and again, the only thing she could do at the time was stubbornly send back a deliberately composed reply:
[Although soaking in hot springs during winter is indeed very comfortable, I'm already a mature adult. I'm not going to ignore distance and time just because of a single hot spring and hop on the shinkansen to Kyoto. Only after growing up do you realize how extravagant a spur-of-the-moment trip really is~]
In order to show off her maturity, Shizuka had deliberately said quite a lot, beating around the bush to imply that she had no time.
Well, if you judged purely by age, Shizuka was indeed quite "mature."
After all, she was already thirty... twenty-nine years and twelve months old. Just looking at the number, she was certainly mature.
Did she really have no time?
Not at all.
If anything, Hiratsuka Shizuka was extremely leisurely right now. She slept until she woke naturally every day. Out of seven days a week, she could stay cooped up at home for six of them, and on the remaining day she would head to the nearby supermarket to stock up on snacks and drinks.
She had officially resigned from Sobu High School. By the time the students of Class 1-F finished their short holiday and returned to school, they would likely discover that their homeroom teacher had already been replaced.
She had once thought about how she would say goodbye to her students after resigning.
Should she say something heartfelt before leaving? Get so moved she became incoherent, then walk out of Sobu High School amid tears?
After thinking it over, Shizuka abandoned that idea. Instead, she chose to submit her resignation paperwork quietly while the students were still enjoying their short break.
The resignation process went smoothly. All her work had already been handed over.
As for who would become the next homeroom teacher of Class 1-F, she had no idea.
Back to the main point—after resigning from her position as a high school Japanese teacher and homeroom instructor, Shizuka now had as much free time as she wanted.
Twenty-four hours a day, almost all of it spent lazing around at home.
A few days ago, she might still have gone out for a short walk after dinner. But recently, as the temperature dropped, she had canceled even that small routine.
In her view, going out for a walk in weather this cold could no longer be called a walk. It was simply volunteering to freeze.
Wasn't it better to stay in a warm room, curling up lazily under the kotatsu?
But if it meant going to Kyoto to soak in hot springs with Kotomi... Shizuka was actually very willing.
She wanted to go. She had plenty of time.
With both conditions met, the decision to go to Kyoto and soak in hot springs with Kotomi should have been inevitable.
So why, in the end, did Hiratsuka Shizuka choose not to go? Why did she deliberately lie and say she had no time?
The reason was simple—
Shizuka was shy.
At first, she had thought, It's just soaking in hot springs. What's the big deal?
But the moment she realized it would be with Kotomi, she instantly lost her composure. Images she couldn't even properly describe flashed through her mind. Even sitting alone at home, staring at the message Kotomi had sent, she found herself stammering at the phone screen, unable to form a single sentence, unable to think of what to say. In the end, she could only stubbornly use "I don't have time" as an excuse and send a reply.
The moment she sent it, she regretted it.
She felt she should have agreed.
But when she tried to withdraw the message, it was as if an invisible wall had appeared in the air, blocking her finger from the phone screen.
By the time that "air wall" finally vanished and her finger could touch the screen again, the time limit for retracting the message had long passed.
Most crucially, the message she had sent already showed as read.
Immediately after, Kotomi's reply arrived:
[Oh~ so that's how it is. As expected of a mature working adult, Little Shizu~ Then you go ahead and stay busy. I'll keep chatting with the big sisters in the hot spring—talking about the stars, talking about the moon~]
The moment she saw Kotomi Izumi's message, Shizuka didn't doubt it for even a second. After all, that little trashy witch really was capable of such things.
Just imagining Kotomi staying in the Japanese-style luxury room at Harugamo Inn that she herself had paid for, enjoying the inn's hot spring bath while chatting with the other women soaking there...
Just imagining those women being able to freely admire Kotomi's pure white beauty, perhaps even growing closer under the atmosphere of the steam and warmth...
At the mere thought of it, Shizuka could clearly feel jealousy flooding her heart, as if it might erupt at any moment.
So jealous that she wanted to teleport to Harugamo Inn in Kyoto right now, tie Kotomi up with rope and stuff her into a sack, drag her home, and lock her inside so that from now on she would never see another girl besides herself!
When she calmed down and thought about such an idea afterward, her mind went blank. She even began to doubt whether that thought had truly come from her. Why had her emotions fluctuated so drastically all of a sudden?
If it were that white-haired little angel, I could understand why I'd react so strongly. But Kotomi isn't a white-haired little angel. She's more like a white-haired trashy witch... So why, when I imagine her possibly flirting with other girls right now, do I feel so jealous? Why did I even think about tying her up and locking her at home?
Hiratsuka Shizuka thought in confusion. Yet the moment she imagined Kotomi possibly being intimate with other girls, her heart felt extremely uncomfortable.
Just as Shizuka was about to put on her "educator" airs and properly lecture Kotomi—You're at an age where you shouldn't be focusing on romance. You should discipline yourself and focus on studying. A woman who's obsessed with pretty girls is the most hopeless of all!—
While she was typing with a single finger, Kotomi Izumi's message suddenly popped up again:
[Heh heh, I was lying. Satisfied now~? Where would Harugamo Inn's hot spring get any big sisters from? The past few times I soaked, the bath was basically full of kindly grandmas. There weren't any pretty big sisters at all, nor any mature, elegant married ladies. Not a single one of the scenarios I imagined came true. Ugh, is Harugamo Inn just not attractive enough to young people?]
After reading Kotomi Izumi's message and realizing that she had not been flirting with girls she had just met in the hot spring, Hiratsuka Shizuka finally let out a small sigh of relief.
But very quickly, she realized something was off and couldn't help thinking to herself:
Wait, why am I even relieved?
And what does she mean by "Satisfied now~?" Could she actually be some deeply hidden witch? The kind who can use mind-reading magic?
Who she flirts with is her own business. So what was that tension, that anxiety, that jealousy I felt earlier—like my wife was about to be stolen away?
Mm! I must have misunderstood my feelings just now. It wasn't jealousy or nervousness at all. I was simply worried that she'd start dating too early and let it affect her studies!
Yes, that must be it. That's definitely it!
Even if I've already resigned from Sobu High School, I still have to keep an eye on Little Kotomi! That little trashy witch might pull off something outrageous if you look away for even a second.
No matter what, once she knew that Kotomi Izumi wasn't being intimate with other girls, the heart that had felt as though it were suspended tens of thousands of miles in the sky gradually settled back down.
After that, she and Kotomi continued chatting, one topic after another.
They talked about many things. So much so that even after her instant noodles had finished soaking, Hiratsuka Shizuka was still scrolling through yesterday's chat history with Kotomi, reading it with relish.
After finishing, she still felt unsatisfied. She realized she was growing fonder and fonder of the feeling of chatting with Kotomi.
Fonder to the point that even long after their conversation had ended, she would still want to scroll back through their messages and savor them slowly.
Even if the topics were nothing more than trivial daily matters—complaining that the soy sauce at the nearby supermarket had gone up in price, or that a certain upgraded self-heating lunchbox now cost more, had smaller portions, and tasted worse.
Just such mundane, everyday chatter was enough to make Hiratsuka Shizuka reread her conversation with Kotomi again and again after it ended.
"Should I find some time to chat with Kotomi again today? Or maybe this time I'll be the one to start the conversation? I've got it. When the time comes, I'll say it's to get used to pretending to be a couple next month in advance!"
By the time she finished muttering to herself, Shizuka had already begun to feel a hint of anticipation about pretending to be a couple with Kotomi next month. That anticipation, however, lay hidden in the deepest part of her heart—so deep that even she herself hadn't noticed it yet.
Kotomi Izumi did not soak in the hot spring for very long. Mainly because if she stayed any longer, those kindhearted grandmas would start introducing potential marriage partners to her.
After less than half an hour, Kotomi casually found an excuse and made her escape.
Leaving the bath, she dried her hair, changed into her yukata, then went to buy a bottle of coffee milk before sitting down on a bench in the changing room.
Every time after soaking in a hot spring or taking a bath, Kotomi Izumi loved to drink a bottle of coffee milk like this—glug glug—downing more than half of it in one breath. That sensation was an indescribable kind of refreshment.
"Kotomi, is something wrong with your body?"
After coming out of the hot spring, Yui Yuigahama saw Kotomi sitting on the bench and asked with concern, her tone full of worry.
Being cared about felt nice, but Kotomi didn't quite understand why Yui would suddenly ask such a question.
Kotomi Izumi blinked and replied,
"My body's perfectly fine. I eat well, drink well, sleep well. What's wrong?"
"When you left the hot spring earlier, I got curious and asked Yukino why you never soak for very long. Yukino said, 'Maybe it's because something's wrong with Kotomi's body.'"
Hearing Yui say that, Kotomi immediately understood why she had been asked whether she felt unwell.
So it was Yukino deliberately stirring trouble.
Thinking of that, Kotomi cast a faint glare at Yukino Yukinoshita, who was standing not far away pretending nothing had happened.
Once Yukino Yukinoshita felt Kotomi's gaze, she understood that her earlier mischievous remark to Yui had already been exposed.
Yukino had thin skin to begin with. Under Kotomi's glare, she couldn't help shrinking her slender, beautiful neck, like a cool little kitten caught by the scruff of her neck.
Even the coolest little kitten has her weakness~
This little Yukino actually dared to say there's something wrong with my body. Hmph. Once you become my girlfriend, I'll definitely make you understand properly what "ruthless Little Kotomi" means!
Kotomi, who was probably destined to be the dominant one, thought this to herself.
Out loud, however, she smiled brightly at Yui and said,
"Don't mind her. She's just jealous that I eat well, drink plenty, and sleep soundly. What do you mean my body's not good? My body's super strong, okay?"
At that moment, Kotomi suddenly remembered something and asked,
"By the way, Yui, when was the last time you had a physical checkup?"
"The last time..." Yui Yuigahama thought for a moment and realized it had already been several years. "I think it was at the beginning of last year. I remember it clearly because the nurse drawing my blood stabbed the needle in really painfully!"
Kotomi Izumi had a habit of getting a checkup once a year.
Around this time every year, she would go to the hospital for a full physical examination.
After learning that Yui Yuigahama hadn't had a checkup this year, Kotomi suggested,
"I was planning to find time to go to the hospital for a checkup after we return from Kyoto. Since you haven't had one this year, do you want to come with me? It's free, no charge. You can tag along and keep me company while we're there, and get your checkup done at the same time. If I go by myself, I'll feel a bit bored."
In Japan, a hospital checkup was quite expensive. Plus, Yui Yuigahama felt that she was in good physical condition and didn't see much need for one, so she hadn't taken it too seriously.
But since she could go with Kotomi and get a free checkup, Yui thought it over and nodded.
"Okay, then we'll go together when the time comes."
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