After facing Yotsuba, who was unaware of the evil in people's hearts, the car set off again.
After several breaks, everyone finally reached the town closest to Itomori City at around 1 a.m. the next day.
Since Haruto had booked the only hot spring hotel in the town beforehand, everyone had the chance to rest.
Early morning.
"Master, I brought someone."
"?"
Haruto opened his eyes at the sound of the words, and a few question marks appeared in his head.
Haruto sat up: "Yoruha, who is it?"
Yoruha's eyes focused on Haruto, and she blinked and said calmly, "Master, you aren't wearing any clothes, are you being indecent?"
Haruto's face darkened slightly: "Let's get down to business."
Yoruha nodded, knelt down, and said seriously, "I picked up a girl. She begged me, so I brought her back."
"That's all?"
"Mm, that's all."
Haruto covered his forehead and said, "I see, you step out first, I'll come out after getting dressed."
Yoruha shook her head and said seriously, "As a maid, I must assist Master in dressing."
"You are not a maid."
"Does Master not want me anymore?"
"I didn't say that."
"Allow me to dress Master."
After driving Yoruha out, Haruto put on his clothes, opened the door, and walked out of the room.
The hot spring hotel in this town was an old Japanese-style house.
Each room had an independent outdoor and indoor hot spring.
Haruto had booked four rooms; Saki and Yoruha shared one, the quintuplets from the Nakano family used two, and he was alone.
It could be said that this small hot spring hotel matched what he had arranged. Walking out of the bedroom, Yoruha led him down a side corridor.
A large cherry blossom tree was planted outside the corridor. The cherry blossoms had already withered in Chiba City but were still blooming perfectly here.
A breeze blew, and someone's wind chime swayed. The sound of the chime was clear, soft, and distant under the blue sky.
Yoruha stopped and couldn't help but turn to look at the scene, an inexplicable light flickering in her eyes.
There was a bamboo tube in the yard to collect water; when it was full, it would quickly tip over, and when it hit the stone, it made a short, distant sound.
Haruto stopped and looked at Yoruha.
The girl's black hair was slightly tousled by the wind, and a few cherry blossom petals had fallen onto her body and head.
The usually expressionless face seemed to show an invisible change in a daze.
Another dull, distant sound was heard.
Yoruha returned to her senses, then turned her face and looked to Haruto's side, raising her hand and placing it on her chest with an empty gaze: "Master, what was that feeling just now? It felt so strange."
This girl's emotions were gradually becoming richer.
Haruto raised his hand and touched Yoruha's head, looking into those pure blue eyes, and said, "That is the love for beautiful things, a very lovely feeling."
"Love?" Yoruha seemed to think, then shook her head: "I don't understand."
"In the future, you'll understand gradually."
"Oh~"
Yoruha responded and suddenly tugged at Haruto's clothing. Seeing him look at her, she said seriously, "Master, don't leave me!"
"I never intended to leave you."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"But Master just said 'I don't want to leave her,' but didn't say 'I won't leave her.'"
"..."
Haruto looked at Yoruha's serious expression, a gentle smile on his face, and continued to pat her head as he said softly, "I won't leave you, truly."
Hearing these words, Yoruha let go of his clothing.
It seemed like this girl was happy.
It wasn't an illusion, was it?
The two continued forward, heading to the backyard.
Haruto glanced at her back, then looked up at the sky, seeing the blue, boundless sky dotted with only a few cotton candy-like white clouds, making it appear empty and distant.
The cracks in the sky were covered by the roof. Without the cracks, everything seemed so beautiful.
His heart grew calm and serene.
Walking leisurely amidst the slight creaks of wooden boards, he felt as if time had slowed down, and everything became beautiful and peaceful.
In a flash, the two arrived at the backyard.
Haruto looked around and didn't see anyone. As he was about to ask, he suddenly noticed a piece of clothing visible from behind a pillar.
Taking a few steps forward, he looked closer and realized that it wasn't that no one was there, but the person was tied to the pillar, so he couldn't see them!
His mouth twitched a little, and he turned to look at Yoruha.
Yoruha blinked: "Because she sneaked around and wanted to run away, so I tied her up."
Great.
This reason was perfect.
Hearing the voice, especially a male's voice, the girl tied up couldn't help but cry out in desperation.
'This is terrible. How did it come to this? I just wanted to quietly observe Onee-sama and give her a surprise. What did I do wrong?'
'Ah, he's close!'
'Big bad guy, don't come here!'
The girl tried her best to open her large, teary eyes and glared at Haruto, trying to scare him with her "super fierce" eyes.
However, the girl didn't know that the fierce glare she thought she had had no intimidating effect at all.
Seeing her strange expression and her constant glances up and down, the delicate body of the girl named Miharu couldn't help but shiver.
'It's over.'
'I'm so cute, I'll definitely be bullied this way.'
'Ahh! This must be a dream, definitely, I want to go home, I don't want to come to Chiba City again!'
'Woooo.'
At this moment, a somewhat helpless voice sounded.
"Stop crying."
Miharu looked at him with wide eyes, and a glimmer of hope suddenly rose in her heart.