"Mashiro, it's time for us to head out."
Mio walked up to the door of Shiina Mashiro's studio and gave it a light knock.
A moment later, Mashiro pulled the door open, a suitcase already in tow.
"Is everything packed?"
"Mm."
Mashiro gave a small nod. Mio had taken care of her clothes and daily necessities; the suitcase in her hand was packed entirely with the things she needed for painting.
"Then let's head down. Chihiro-sensei's already waiting downstairs."
That's right—the hot spring inn Mio was headed to was the very one where Sengoku Chihiro and Hiratsuka Shizuka were staying. It wasn't all that far away.
When Chihiro found out Mio was coming, she'd been the one to insist on driving over to pick the two of them up, which meant Mio got to save on the fare, too.
Hauling the suitcase down to the ground floor, they could see Chihiro's car already parked out front.
Spotting them, Chihiro climbed out and said, "Yo. Long time no see."
"Didn't think you'd actually offer to come pick us up yourself, Chihiro-sensei. Color me surprised."
"Mostly I'd been soaking in that inn so long I was starting to rust, so I figured I'd take a little drive—and grab you two while I was at it."
"Speaking of which—you haven't been drinking, have you?"
At that, Chihiro simply reached out and gave Mio's cheek a light pinch. "Do I look like the kind of person who'd do something that reckless? Hurry up and get your stuff in the car. We're leaving."
"Okay, okay." Mio rubbed her cheek, then—with Chihiro's help—got the luggage loaded, and the group officially set off.
Watching the scenery slide past the window, Mio asked, a little curious, "Chihiro-sensei, does your road trip really just end at the hot spring inn?"
"Probably not over yet. The place is nice and all, but stay too long and even that gets boring. Shizuka and I talked it over—we're thinking of heading somewhere else tomorrow or the day after."
"Don't tell me it's just so you can go drink somewhere else."
"How rude. In your eyes, is drinking the only proper business we've got?"
"Does drinking count as proper business?"
"For us? I'd say it does."
As she said it, Chihiro glanced into the rearview mirror at the back seat, where she could see her cousin leaning against Mio's shoulder.
To anyone else, the two of them might have looked awfully close—but Chihiro didn't react in the slightest. Back at home, those two got a whole lot cozier than this.
She did wonder, though, whether her cousin and Mio had gotten any further along in the time she'd been away from home.
Just picturing that clueless look her cousin always had made Chihiro's head start to ache.
A few hours slipped by quickly, and by the time Mio woke again, the group had already arrived at the inn's entrance.
Noticing Mio had woken up, Chihiro gave a little smile. "Looks like I won't even have to wake you."
"Sorry. Went to bed kind of late last night, so I dozed off." Mio finished and couldn't quite hold back a yawn.
Once she'd forced herself awake, Mio reached over and shook Mashiro awake, too.
With Chihiro leading the way, Mio made it to the front desk.
Just as they were about to check in, Chihiro seemed to remember something and turned to Mio. "Oh, right. I figured you two always sleep together anyway, so I only booked the one room. That's not a problem, is it?"
"You're telling me now? Even if it were a problem, it'd have to not be one at this point."
That said, Mio didn't really mind. If anything, even if she'd done the booking herself, she'd have reserved a single room too.
Once they'd checked in, Chihiro didn't even need a staff member to show the way—she led the two of them straight to their room with practiced ease.
"This is your room. Shizuka's and mine is at the very end of this hall. Anything comes up, just come find me there. As for me, I'm heading back to sleep."
"It's already lunchtime. You sure you don't want to eat with us before you head back to sleep?"
Chihiro waved a hand without looking back. "Not really feeling hungry right now. You two go ahead."
That's what she said, anyway—but she'd skipped breakfast, and her stomach had long since started growling. The thing was, if she went and joined those two, she'd feel like a great big high-wattage lightbulb butting in.
Better to just have someone send lunch up to her room.
Back in her own room, Chihiro spotted Shizuka the second she walked in—sitting by the window, head down over her phone.
"Yo. Thought you were still out cold."
"I only woke up a little while ago. Did Shirai and the others get here yet?"
"I'm already back—what do you think?" Chihiro shot her a flat look, then leaned in, curious. "What's got you so focused?"
"Texting my mom. She's asking when I'm coming home for a visit."
"There's still time left in the break. Why not swing by your hometown tomorrow while we're out this way? It's not far."
Shizuka hesitated, then shook her head. "Nah, I'll pass. If I go back now, they'll probably haul me off to another matchmaking meeting. I'll just go back on my own some other time."
With that, Shizuka rubbed her stomach and stood. "I'm starving. Want to go grab something to eat?"
"I already had the front desk send food up to the room."
"Why have it sent up? Isn't it nicer to just go down and eat? Have your meal, take a breather, maybe even sneak in a hot spring soak after."
"The hot spring can wait till later. Right now, what we really need is to crack open some of this~" Chihiro pulled a beer out of the fridge, her meaning needing no explanation whatsoever.
"You're thinking about drinking at high noon. I swear, you're unbelievable."
That was what Shizuka said—but her hand still reached out, perfectly naturally, to take the beer Chihiro held out, and she started drinking.
After finishing off one can, Shizuka seemed to recall something. "Oh, right. I think I spotted Haruno around here earlier. Should we call her over to join us?"
"Haruno?"
At Shizuka's words, Chihiro couldn't help raising an eyebrow.
Mio comes here, and Yukinoshita Haruno just happens to turn up too? That was a little too much of a coincidence, wasn't it?
She had no proof—but Chihiro had a feeling that the reason Haruno was here was very likely Mio.
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