Click. The sound of a phone camera going off wakes me up. Before my eyes is a phone I've seen so many times. Rin's surprised face also comes into my view.
"Ah, sorry. Looks like I woke you up."
"...What are you doing?"
I stare at her blankly, as I ask her that. Rin quickly averts her gaze and starts acting all flustered.
"I guess my hand sort of slipped and I took a picture of you sleeping."
"Okay yeah, how about no."
"I think an image of you sleeping would make for a good reaction image."
"That's crossing the line!"
And now I'm fully awake. As I get up I realize that I was using Rin's lap as a pillow as opposed to the hard floor I remember sleeping on. Now I regret getting up, but oh well.
"It looked like you were really enjoying yourself as you were sleeping... I just wanted to take a picture for the memories..."
In response to Rin's resigned words, I feel myself getting really hot, more so than if I stayed in the hot bath for an hour.
"W-well, I took some pictures of you at the cat cafe... So feel free to take some good pics of me."
I mean, we've known each for so long, no point in trying to be all picky and stingy this late in the game.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, feel free to take some pics whenever you want."
"That might not be the most ideal... If I can take whatever pictures I want, I'm sure the storage on my phone would be gone just like that."
"You really want to take tens of thousands of pictures?"
Before I know it, I let out a wry smile.
"Here, Tohru-kun."
"Hmm... Hey, it's cold!"
I feel a freezing sensation on my cheek. Rin presses a cold metallic bottle onto my cheek.
"Coffee milk?"
"I bought some while you were sleeping."
Rin smiles as she holds up her own unopened bottle.
"So you were waiting for me to wake up before you started drinking."
"Drinking together definitely makes it taste better."
"That makes me happy too, but drinking it when it's cold is the bes... Wait, this is as cold as a brand new drink."
As I look at the bottle in my hand, Rin puffs out her chest in pride.
"Of course I knew when Tohru-kun would wake up. I bought it one minute before you woke up."
"Are you an esper?"
I felt like this happened before. Seems like Rin knows me inside and out. Well, when it comes to my stomach, that's pretty easy to figure out.
"Thanks, Rin."
"Yeah."
I give her my thanks as I stroke. She purrs in response. Before long, we pop open the tab and start drinking. I reluctantly get up, as I place my hands on my waist. I then imitate the way people drink this in the commercials.
"Ah, it hits the spot!"
When was the last time I had coffee milk? The sweet syrup combined with the coffee fills me up with a nice bitter-sweetness that quenches my thirst. Definitely refreshing to have something like this sweating off a lot of water in the onsen.
"Stop acting like that, it's weird."
"This is all just standard procedure, come on, you join too Rin."
"No way."
Rin takes small sips of coffee milk, as she goes at her own pace.
"Why do you have so much fun drinking coffee milk with your hand on your waist?"
"There are many theories out there. This is just in the literature, but because of the amazing taste, putting your hand on your waist will help you from losing your balance."
"Oh, is that so?"
Rin nods, as if she came across an interesting book.
"You sure know a lot."
"Not as much as you, Rin."
Well, it's nice to be praised. And it's the person I love the most no less.
"How about we get going?"
After we finished our coffee milk, we lazed around for a bit.
"Sure, let's go. Might as well walk around town and try out some foods."
"Oh yeah, that sounds great. Will definitely be some good research."
I take Rin's hand as we leave the onsen behind us.
*******
This is the end of this novel. As far as I have searched, only this many chapters are published. Up to Chapter 54 is the official end of this novel. And later chapters up to 70 are its kind of side story.