08:37 pm. Many of the students who finished their dinner went to the large bathhouse of the ryokan.
That was one of the things that all the students, including Horikita Suzune, were looking forward to.
Horikita had finished the meal relatively sooner than the surrounding students, but she was surprised to notice that three students had already started to take off their clothes in the dressing room.
Some of them are girls who don't like being seen naked, and want to finish their meals quickly.
On the other hand, for Horikita, there is no such thing as disgust or shame at being seen naked by the same sex.
One of the reasons for this was that originally, she had a very faint presence in elementary and junior high school, and she didn't have any friends, so there was no one around who would pay any attention to the way she looked.
Nevertheless, she spread out her face towel in a certain manner and opened the sliding doors to the public baths while concealing her body.
A muddy heat rushed through, and a large bathing area came into view, larger than she had imagined.
There are two large indoor baths in the room.
Then there is one outdoor hot tub, but the large rock bath can be seen through the window.
After lightly rinsing off the dirt with hot water, Horikita decided to head for the rock bath immediately.
Then she was able to recognize two unexpected visitors in the rock bath.
One of them is a classmate, Kushida Kikyou.
"Ah, Horikita-san."
As soon as she noticed the visitor, Kushida replied, waving lightly to welcome her. Of course, Horikita understands that this is not from the heart.
This was because Rokkaku Momoe, a class A student, was also present. Kushida won't show her true feelings in front of students from other classes.
Horikita answered with a gentle gaze, and went to the end of the bathtub without approaching Kushida.
She wanted to get to a place where no one could talk to her or bother her.
After ignoring Kushida and Rokkaku, without speaking with anyone, she continued enjoying the hot springs for 5, 10 minutes. At some point, Rokkaku disappeared, and only Kushida remained.
There wasn't even a trace of the smile on her face left.
"Why didn't you leave with Rokkaku-san? Not Exciting Enough?"
"Huh? I don't need a specific reason, do I? I just love the hot springs. Wait, did you think I wanted to talk to you?"
"I'm not thinking anything like that."
"Really? Didn't you ask that because you were aware of it?"
"Those are some stabbing words."
Facing Kushida, who suddenly showed an aggressive approach , Horikita sighed with some regret.
"You really have a wide range of friendships. I've never even spoken to Rotsukaku-san before."
In an attempt to change the direction of the conversation, Horikita talks about Rotsukaku who left the open-air bath.
"She cried for me to come with her. She was embarrassed, or something. It's not surprising, since she has such a poor body. "
Even though she knew no one could hear, she was speaking quite harshly.
" As for you, Horikita-san… you look pretty good. Not that I'm impressed, though. "
After observing Horikita as if evaluating her, Kushida came a little closer to Horikita.
"What? Do you want me to do something?"
"Nothing. But, isn't it a bit weird to be so far apart? You and I are classmates. It would be weird if I hadn't approached you and talked with you."
If Rokkaku was there, it would not look strange for the two to be seperated.
However, if they were far apart in this large open-air bath, new visitors may have questions.
"All I know is that your struggle is incalculable."
"The best thing to do, would be to leave this place and go to the indoor bath."
"I'll have to refuse that."
"You won't listen even if I ask you to quit the school... you're pretty stern, huh, Horikita-san?" Horikita sighs again as she puts out the word of expulsion. Seeing this, Kushida smiles.
"What an elegant smile."
"Of course. We can be seen from the indoor bath, so I can't do anything clumsy here."
Besides her voice, she's also considering the surrounding eyes. Students who don't know anything can only see from indoors that their classmates are friendly and laughing with each other.
In addition to a sense of distance, she always pays attention to the surroundings and does not leave gaps.
"If you can act that well, maybe you should have lived your school life without being revealed to Ayanokoji-kun."
"When I first enrolled in school, I wasn't stressed at all. I didn't think you would be there."
"I'm sure that was unexpected, but..."
The disappointment after she thought that she was completely cut off from the people in middle school is immeasurable.
"Living on the premises alone to build new relationships. We have to diverge somehow, right?"
As a result of that divergence, the tragedy began when she was found out by Ayanokoji.
"You're free to keep hating me. If you're going to contribute to the class, I don't have any complaints. Your contributions at the culture festival were impressive, Kushida-san."
"Well, I can do that much without difficulty." It's a weapon to protect herself.
Then, Kushida sends a gaze to the sliding door that leads to the open-air bath and stops talking.
Immediately afterwards, Ibuki opened it with a face towel on her shoulder. Kushida, who was watching out for visitors, loosened her awareness... because Ibuki already has a good understanding of Kushida and Horikita's true natures.
"Horikita!"
Perhaps looking for Horikita, Ibuki raised her voice as she came into view.
"... Now you're here?"
Approaching boldly and naked, she jumped into the open-air bath. Splashes of water swell up, and hot water splashes onto Horikita and Kushida. "That's a massive violation of manners."
"Don't care. More importantly, it's time for a match!"
"A match in a place like this? Are you saying we should play rock-paper-scissors or something?"
"Huh? In such a large bath like this, there's only one thing to do, right? A match to see who swims fastest from one end to the other!"
"I could say swimming is more a violation of manners than jumping in."
"Who cares? It's not like there are any regular customers, and no one's watching."
"A match sounds good to me. I'll be an impartial observer, so why don't you do it?"
"You're talking now? In the first place, it's your role to stop things like this, right?"
"I'll consider this as something you and Ibuki-san started without listening to me, so it's okay.
I can just make a concerned face and look worried to put on a show."
"Kushida says it's fine too. So, it's a match!"
"I won't do it."
"Huh? But I came here because I thought I would have a chance to compete. How disappointing."
She said so and quickly left the bathtub.
"Did you really show your face here just for that? Do you like open-air baths?"
"I don't feel like getting along with you. Outside or inside, it's all the same hot spring, isn't it?"
Saying she has no intention of staying if there will not be a match, she quickly pulls out. "That Ibuki-san... what an idiot."
After the sliding doors were strongly shut, Kushida laughed.
"She's weirdly obsessed about having matches with me. You're also similar, though." Again and again, Kushida tried to engage in a fight.
Kushida laughed after Horikita replied that she was similar to Ibuki.
"Don't put me together with her."
Kushida's words and expressions said different things, but Horikita ignored it.
They expected new visitors so that further conversation would be unnecessary, but it is still meal time, so no other students showed up.
"Still, you were pretty lucky, huh, Horikita-san?"
"And what would you be talking about?"
"I'm talking about Ayanokoji-kun being in the seat next to you right after you enrolled in the school. Thanks to that, you were able to get close with him, and you were able to secretly get a lot of help, right? "
Kushida shouldn't know the details of how things have been up until now. However, she knows that Ayanokoji, in some capacity, was involved.
"If it wasn't for Ayanokoji-kun, you might have been expelled by me now, Horikita-san."
It wasn't your own strength that let you make it this far. At that time, if she was told such a thing,
Horikita would have immediately objected.
But now, she can calmly see things and look back on them.
"I suppose I can't completely deny it. But, I'm sure it wasn't good luck just for me, but for you also. Without Ayanokoji-kun, the you who has exposed everything wouldn't be here now. You would have kept playing the good guy, and kept repeating the same mistakes."
Of course, she doesn't know the result. There is a good enough chance that Kushida would have gotten through her three years of school life under false pretences.
But it is a different matter whether she could keep doing that forever or not. Because, in truth, Kushida continued to feel constant pain each and every day. Now, she can disperse her stress by having two different sides to her.
"...Perhaps."
The truth that she can be thrusted at by someone she doesn't like.
Kushida nods, saying that although admission is usually nothing but humiliation, there are some things that must be admitted. And that, was only possible because she was pushed to the abyss of death in the unanimous special exam, and was able to come back to life.
For the first time in her life, a change came to her mindset and values.
"If you think about it, maybe you were even luckier than me."
"That's annoying, to be honest. When you make a good come-back like that, Horikita-san." With this, the two's words stop.
There is no particular reason for long baths between people who would not otherwise mesh with each other. As such, there was no clear answer as to why they were staying, but leaving first would mean losing. Such an atmosphere was the cause of this.
"...Excuse me~"
It was only a few minutes after Ibuki's departure that the two's time came to an end.
Ichinose Honami reservedly showed up at the open-air bath.
"Ichinose-san alone? That's kind of rare."
"A-ha-ha... I guess so, huh."
Kushida knew well that a large crowd of people were talking to her at dinner. From that too, it was clear that she showed up here because she wanted to be alone.
"I guess there are times when everyone wants to be alone. I'll go if it's a bother."
For Horikita, for whom the flames were starting to get a little hotter, it was decided that this was time for the conclusion.
This was her chance to touch batons with Ichinose and switch. Because after this, she estimated that Kushida would only chat about trifling things.
"Ah, no! It's not like that at all! Don't worry about it!" Ichinose hurriedly stopped Horikita trying to get up.
Then, adding onto this, Kushida turned a smile towards Horikita.
"You're already up, Horikita-san. Ichinose-san is also saying this, so why don't we chat together?"
"What do you mean?"
"I thought we haven't talked enough yet. No good?"
Even though she didn't, Kushida spoke so, as if she meant it from the bottom of her heart.
Ichinose also gave a slightly uneasy expression, wondering if she had interrupted something by coming here.
"I've decided we've talked enough, but... fine. I'll hang out just a bit longer, then."
Then, she stood up and sat down on a boulder to cool her body that was burning in the night wind.
With the snow, it was cold outside the bath, but it was actually pleasant.
"Hey, I had something to ask you, Ichinose-san. Is that okay?"
"Hm? Whatever, ask me anything."
"Is there anyone you're dating?"
"Hmm? Ah, huh!?"
Ichinose was in a great panic because a question that she hadn't even thought of came up.
"Recently, boys in various classes have asked if you're available, you know."
Kushida asked so, appearing to not know anything, but the truth was different.
In fact, Ichinose is currently available, and has a favourable attitude towards Ayanokoji.
The gathering of such information has been completed early on.
She was more familiar with the situation than anyone in the Ichinose class, but she wouldn't say that out loud.
"No, there's not, there's not!"
"I see. Then, is there anyone you like?"
The reason that she was talking as if she didn't know anything was that Kushida wanted to learn more about Ayanokoji.
To find out the reasons why Ichinose has feelings of affection towards Ayanokoji.
She took into account the possibility that it would eventually become her new weapon.
"No, there's not. Really, there's nothing like that for me."
However, Ichinose refused to accept it, and sank her face in the bath.
It's an action to hide her red embarrassed, awkward face.
If she admits it here, she could talk about the matter of Karuizawa, or even deeper subjects, but that can't be done so simply.
Then, she purposefully decided to transfer the conversation onto Horikita.
"What about you, Horikita-san? Don't you have anything to say about romance?"
"I don't."
Less than even a second later, Horikita responds.
She has little interest in romance.
"I see. You seem like you'd be very popular, though. Horikita-san. You seem to get along with Sudou-kun too."
"I don't know anything about that. What about you, actually? You seem close to the boys from other classes too. I wonder if Ichinose-san is also curious about that." Facing the dreary question, Horikita returned it as it is.
With the aim of quickly removing herself from the conversation and letting the two talk.
"Oh, right. I get a lot of questions from boys about Kushida-san too, you know."
While clicking her tongue at Horikita in her mind, Kushida shows a shy smile to Ichinose.
"Huh..? Really? I don't really know anything about romance either, so... However, I think it would be a waste to fall in love as a student."
Considering that this was an idle chat, Kushida made sure to spread the seeds here.
"A waste?"
"Mhm. I mean, I hear that student romances hardly ever come to fruition. About 10%-30%, I think? When I think that it's not even half, I don't really feel like stepping into anything...
That's why now I'm conscious as to not fall in love."
She thought that by telling this to Ichinose, who has a wider circle of friends than even Kushida, she would be able to kick out the boys in advance who would confess to her with the resolve to get rejected.
Since enrolling in this school, the number of confessions to Kushida made in the shadows has exceeded 10 from all classes.
"I'm glad people like me, but... at the same time, I'm afraid of being hurt."
"That's right... I think, I get it somehow..."
Nothing was more futile than a love affair as a student, that's what Kushida thinks. While listening to these two talk about romance, Horikita was about to get up.
"I think I should go now."
"Huh? You're leaving already?"
"I don't know anything about love."
"I see. There's no helping it, then. But, isn't there another reason that you want to end this?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Forget it. I guess this is too hot for you. I did want to chat a bit more with you though, Horikita-san."
"Are... are you serious?"
"Of course. You think so too, right, Ichinose-san?"
"Mhm. I still want to talk to Horikita-san too."
In response to Kushida's provocative remarks and leading, Horikita sits back down.
"Let's do that, then."
As the class leader, her option of escaping Kushida's invitation disappeared.
"Are you sure you're okay? It would be really bad if you got dizzy and collapsed."
"Thank you for your concern. But, I'm worried about you too, Kushida-san. Your face is all red too."
"Maybe because I was talking about love."
"That's all? I hope you're not forcing yourself."
Horikita's sharp gaze, and Kushida's smile collide into each other.
"What's wrong with you two?"
Ichinose felt the discomfort and slightly tilted her neck.
Seeing that, Kushida completely eliminated the dislike she had left for Horikita.
"Oh, no, that's not true, is it? Right, Horikita-san?"
"...That's right."
There is no need to give Ichinose additional information, even though she is seen as trustworthy.
Horikita also judged so, and followed along.
After that, for a while, the romance talk between Kushida and Ichinose continued, and it eventually turned into idle chatter.
Horikita listened on, enjoying the hot springs and the gentle snowfall.
After that, Ichinose was called back to the room by her friends who had finished their meals.
As yet another group of women came to the open-air bath, both Horikita and Kushida continued to endure and challenge each other's patience. And then, after about 10 minutes of this...
"Maybe it's time for both of you to get up? You're completely red, you know?" Seeing the two at their limits, Ichinose peeked out from inside.
"Right, Horikita-san?"
"No... you should listen to Ichinose-san's words too."
They were both trying to cling on in this situation, but the other students who finished their meals began to appear in the open-air bath. After this, it became difficult to continue the match, so they both read the room and stood up at the same time.
"It was a nice bath, wasn't it?"
"It really was. Too much already, actually..."
"Did something happen between you two after all?"
Ichinose once again felt a strange atmosphere, but the two left the bath as if nothing had happened.