That evening, Arata and the others went to bathe in the hot springs together.
After soaking in the baths and strolling through the streets, they naturally headed back to Tenten's place.
Tenten's apartment was on the smaller side: two bedrooms, one living room, and one bathroom.
Denji slept on the small bed in the guest room.
Since Arata didn't need to sleep, he simply lay on the couch, resting his eyes.
At that moment, the sound of a flushing toilet came from the bathroom.
Having finished washing up, Tenten noticed Arata hadn't gone to a room. She assumed the guest bed was too small for both guys to squeeze into.
"Is the bed in the guest room uncomfortable? How about you sleep in the master bedroom, and I'll take the couch."
"No need. How could I let a girl sleep on the couch? Besides, I've contracted the Dream Devil, so I don't need to sleep at all."
"That sounds miserable. If you never sleep, doesn't your mental state suffer?"
"Of course not. I'm unaffected by a lack of sleep, so my mental state is always at its absolute peak."
"I'm so jealous. Unlike me, who always has to wage war against the bed every morning." Tenten suddenly remembered something else. "Oh right, didn't you say you could cure my insomnia? Why don't you come to my room and help me?"
"No problem." Arata sprang up from the couch with a kip-up.
He followed Tenten into her bedroom.
"What do I need to do? Do I need to take off my clothes?" Tenten asked, sitting on the edge of the bed. She was clearly open to the condition.
"No need. It's not an essential oil massage. You just need to lie down."
"Like this?" Tenten lay face down on the bed, her rear facing upward.
"Sleeping on your stomach can compress the organs in your chest and abdomen, which is bad for respiration and blood circulation. Sleeping flat on your back or on your side is better for the human body, especially the right lateral decubitus position."
"For someone who never sleeps, you sure know a lot."
Tenten turned over as she spoke.
"Is this posture okay?"
"I think this posture is okay."
Just as Arata finished his sentence, the bedroom door was violently shoved open.
Denji stood at the doorway and yelled, "Master, what are you guys doing?!!"
"Tenten has insomnia, so I'm helping her."
"Liar! I clearly heard you two discussing that."
"You misunderstood. We were just purely having a chat."
"Purely having a chat?! I don't believe it! There's no way a pure chat leads to that kind of position!"
"Denji, hurry up and go back to sleep. Don't interrupt your master while he cures my insomnia," Tenten persuaded.
"Dammit!!!" Seeing Tenten's face remain completely unchanged, Denji could only clench his fists and leave the room, his face full of bitter resentment.
After all, no matter how jealous he was, he couldn't stop whatever their next move was going to be.
"Denji is actually pretty cute."
Tenten smiled after Denji left.
"Yeah, I took in a very cute apprentice."
"How about you take me in as an apprentice too? That way, I can constantly swarm around you and annoy you just like Denji."
"You better just get some sleep. You can have anything you want in your dreams." Arata shattered the newly built atmosphere with a single sentence. He added, "You belong to Division 3, so you'll stay in Division 3. And I'll be heading back to Tokyo as soon as we finish touring Nara."
"Then will you still come to Nara to visit me?"
"I don't make casual promises about uncertain things. But it's time for you to sleep."
The moment his words fell, Tenten's vision gradually blurred.
Yet in that split second, she didn't want to sleep anymore, terrified that the man before her would suddenly vanish and never reappear.
The next morning, the alarm clock rang.
Tenten's eyes snapped open.
The very first thing she did was scan the bedside.
She found that Arata wasn't in her bed.
She also found that she wasn't naked.
She immediately knew they had indeed only maintained a single posture last night.
She hopped out of bed in a frantic hurry and ran barefoot into the living room.
When she saw Arata lying on the couch watching TV, she let out a long sigh of relief.
"Did you sleep well last night?" Arata asked.
"Mhm, very well. Since it was sleep bestowed by a certain someone, it was naturally comfortable. Plus, I had a very strange dream."
"Don't look at me. I definitely didn't schedule any 'in-home massage' characters in your dream."
"Regardless, it was a good dream." Tenten finished speaking and turned to go back to her room.
Just then, Denji walked out of the guest room, yawning.
If they were at Aki Hayakawa's apartment, Aki would have had breakfast ready by this hour.
In this unfamiliar environment, they were missing the person who would voluntarily wake up early, cook breakfast, and yell at them to get out of bed.
Even though every word out of Aki's mouth dripped with rejection—as if he wanted to kick them out of the house at any second—his actions always left them incredibly satisfied.
"Master, what time are we eating?"
"Once Tenten changes clothes, we'll go out to eat. After all, your master made another 20 million yesterday. You can have an extra egg this morning."
"Um..." Compared to eating, Denji seemed to have a much more pressing question.
He sneakily sidled up to Arata and whispered, "Did you do it?"
"Get lost!!" Hearing this, Arata directly treated Denji's face to the sole of his size 43 shoe.
"Looks like nothing happened."
Getting kicked to the floor made Denji feel instantly much more balanced inside.
"Let's go. There's a really delicious breakfast spot near my place, I'll take you guys to try it."
This time, Tenten wasn't wearing her tight-fitting ninja outfit.
She had changed into a long white slip dress paired with little blue shoes. It gave her a very "girl-next-door" vibe.
The group then followed Tenten out the door.
After breakfast, they took a bus and visited quite a few places.
However, because 77% of Nara Prefecture consists of forests and mountains, with a forest coverage rate of 63%, the residential and commercial areas were relatively small.
So, the group headed over to the neighboring Osaka Prefecture to enjoy the local specialty: Takoyaki.
When night fell, they simply checked into a high-end luxury hotel in Osaka.
Arata footed the entire bill, letting Tenten and Denji thoroughly experience the feeling of being filthy rich.
They didn't return to Tenten's house until after enjoying the luxury hotel's breakfast the following day.
Because Division 3 was on leave after cracking a major case, they met up with Tsurugi and Peter at noon. They all traveled to Japan's seventh-largest city and the cultural symbol of the nation: Kyoto Prefecture.
Because Peter was a Fiend, he spent the entire trip draped in a trench coat, wearing a baseball cap, and donning a mask with six holes over his face.
Even so, Peter felt incredibly happy. He had never experienced this kind of freedom before.
The group ate local specialties like Kiyomizu-yaki and Momiji (maple leaf) tempura.
After eating, Denji was so moved he literally started crying. He had never imagined he would be so lucky to travel and enjoy such incredible food.
And all of this was thanks to Arata. Without Arata, the current Denji wouldn't exist. Lacking fatherly love since childhood, he was half-tempted to call Arata "Dad" right then and there.
That night, they returned to Tenten's house.
Arata taught the two of them how to play Fight the Landlord. The more they played, the more into it they got, staying up until the early hours of the morning.
Before they knew it, two days had passed.
On the morning of the third day.
Tenten woke up early and went to work.
Only Arata and Denji were left in the apartment.
By now, Arata had already finished preparing for their departure, primarily because Himeno kept calling him non-stop.
Division 4 had long since learned that Arata solved the case in a single afternoon. They originally planned to let Arata have an extra day of fun in Nara, so they didn't rush him.
But when Arata still hadn't returned by the third day, Himeno started worrying that he might actually stay with Division 3 permanently. Thus, her urging phone calls became increasingly frequent.
Over the phone, Arata constantly heard Power's voice in the background.
Sometimes, Power would even snatch the phone and scream a few lines at Arata.
Her words were entirely composed of complaints about Aki Hayakawa:
Getting yelled at for not flushing the toilet.
Getting yelled at for not closing the door when taking a shower.
Getting yelled at for throwing vegetables around.
With Arata and Denji gone, Power, as the Blood Fiend, was constantly taking the brunt of the scolding. So, she demanded that Arata and Denji hurry back so they could all gang up on Aki Hayakawa.
When Himeno handed the phone to Aki, he stammered for a long time, not knowing what to say.
But in the end, he still managed to ask when they were coming back.
It was easy to tell that during the days they were gone, the people in Division 4 truly did miss them.
So, at noon, Arata took Denji to the Nara Prefecture Public Safety Headquarters.
Just as they were about to go in and say their goodbyes, they saw Kiko Natsume sitting in a wheelchair, smiling right at them.
She seemed to know Arata was leaving today, so she specifically waited for them here.
Taking the opportunity, she also informed Arata about a dinner party taking place tonight.
Arata initially wanted to politely decline.
But Kiko Natsume revealed that she had already contacted Division 4.
Tonight, Himeno, Aki Hayakawa, Makima, and the rest were all rushing over to Nara to attend the dinner.
It went without saying—tonight's dinner party was destined to be anything but simple.