Miss Heir wasn't very kind to me.

Chapter 68: 34. "So, let's return to our peaceful daily lives... can we?"

When we returned to the hotel, it was indeed late at night and the lights in the room were off.

It looks like Hanekawa has already gone back.

Sleepiness finally arrived, brewing in her brain the moment her toes touched the tatami. Masumi swallowed a yawn, undressed, put on a yukata, and slid into bed.

Is it because it's summer? I've been out for quite a while, but the sheets are still warm.

Masumi closed his eyes quietly. The starry sky he saw while taking a walk was so impressive that it seemed as if bright spots of light were still hanging on the inside of his eyelids.

At the same time, the sound of even breathing rang in my ears, and it sounded particularly clear in the world dyed dark by the night.

Masumi suddenly opened his eyelids and slowly turned his head. As expected, Hanekawa Kaigetsu's sleeping face was reflected in his pupils.

A black cotton and linen bathrobe draped gracefully across the bed, gently wrapping her snow-white skin. The sleeping girl's brows relaxed, her long eyelashes fluttering like butterfly wings, her clear, captivating blue pupils slightly concealed.

"Hey, Hanekawa, get up."

He pushed Haiyue helplessly: "Go back to your room and sleep."

"Um……"

A muffled sound came from the pillow.

The pillows provided by the hotel were very long, and Masumi and Kaizuki were each resting on one end, so they didn't notice it at first.

"Did you hear that?" he asked again.

"Hmm... I heard it..."

Haiyue's mumbling in her sleep was all heard by the pillow, leaving only a rustling sound like sobbing, which floated into Masumi's ears.

It seemed impossible to wake her up easily, Masumi thought about it and found his cell phone nearby.

The screen's glowing white light illuminated his face. Masumi opened LINE and entered the chat interface of the "Starry Employees Group," his fingertips racing—

Masumi: "Is anyone still awake?"

After a while, it still didn't show as read.

The message bubble floats alone in the electronic ocean.

Yes, at this time, everyone is probably asleep.

He was about to put down his phone when a message alert sounded suddenly.

Masumi picked it up again and saw that it was Chiai Asahina who replied to him.

Ai-chan: "Masumi-san?"

Ai-chan: "You haven't slept yet."

Masumi: "There was a little unexpected situation."

Ai-chan: "Accident? Didn't you guys go to the hot springs?"

Ai-chan: "That's great. I want to take a hot spring bath too."

Ai-chan: "(ω)"

Ai-chan: "Don't tell me you couldn't sleep because the hot springs were so comfortable. How cunning!"

Masumi: "That's not the case. Besides, there's nothing we can do about it. After all, you have homework to finish."

Masumi: "You haven't slept yet, are you not finished yet?"

Ai-chan: "Hehehe, actually I finished it at nine o'clock, but I was lying in bed scrolling through my phone the whole time and ended up reading for a long time without realizing it."

Ai-chan: "I've also finished making the uniforms for Kaitsuki and Yuyuko. I'll send them over next time I go to Fanxing."

Masumi: "Thank you."

Ai-chan: “It’s okay.”

Ai-chan: "Who made me a great fashion designer!"

Ai-chan: “(*︶*)”

Ai-chan: "I feel a little sleepy, let's stop talking for now. Good night, Masumi-san."

Immediately, he sent an emoji of a rabbit wrapped in a quilt.

Masumi: "Good night."

Putting down the phone, Masumi looked at Haiyue who was sleeping soundly and sighed quietly.

He dug out a new pillow and placed it between himself and Haiyue, keeping them separate. Fortunately, the hotel bed was wide enough, and the girl's body was slender enough.

Rather, it is the perfect size for sleeping two people.

Let's just sleep like this for one night.

After finishing everything, Masumi said "good night" to himself, closed his eyelids, and tried to fall asleep as soon as possible, his thoughts sinking into the night as deep as the ocean.

◇

The night was as dark as ink, and the Southern Cross shone brightly in the sky.

A three-masted sailing ship floated alone on the sea, with nothing around it except the vast and boundless ocean stretching out in all directions.

The waves have a dull blue metallic hue.

This is the harsh sea area known as the "Roaring Westerlies". The wind roars tirelessly, and the surging waves rush in, hitting the ships with a deafening sound.

"First Mate Masumi! That siren is coming towards us!"

The one who rushed up to the stern deck and yelled at Masumi was Chiai Asahina, the third mate of the expedition ship named "Starry Sky".

Following the direction of her finger, giant tentacles as thick as ship masts stretched out from the sea and swept towards the "Star".

Masumi asked with a grim expression, "Where are Captain Kamishiro and Second Officer Seno?"

"Captain! Rin is sleeping in the cabin, and Mami-san is drunk and still awake."

"What!? At such a critical moment, they are actually sleeping?"

Masumi made a sound of disbelief, but before he could finish, there was a loud "bang" as the tentacles hit the deck. Masumi, who was standing on the poop, staggered and fell off the boat.

"Mamazu—"

Qian Ai reached out to him in vain, but was unable to reach him.

The body suddenly sank into the sea.

"Dulu, dulu..." The sound of bubbles rippling in the water echoed in my ears, like boiling honey.

The water temperature is much warmer than Masumi imagined. Strange, shouldn’t this be an extremely cold sea?
And there was no feeling of suffocation at all. It seemed that what flowed into the alveoli was not cold sea water, but slightly dull oxygen similar to that in early summer.

He slowly opened his eyes, and the deep blue world spread out vastly before him. The seabed was so clear that it seemed unreal. There was no trace of aquatic creatures at all, and it seemed as if the sea monster that had just attacked the ship had never appeared.

Masumi floats in the blue sea. The sky is vast and the water is warm.

Only spots of light flickered and swayed overhead.

what is that……

He stared at the light in a daze.

Star?

It was not until the twinkling stars came closer and closer that Masumi gradually saw their true appearance.

jellyfish.

It is sometimes written as "Haiyue", the moon in the sea.

A dreamlike marine creature that gathers light from the sun and glows in the sea.

The soft and transparent body stretched out, and the slender tentacles slowly reached out towards Masumi.

"Well!!!"

The tentacles stretched out and wrapped around his limbs and torso, then tightened desperately, causing Masumi to feel a pain similar to suffocation.

"Help! I can't breathe! Cough cough cough..."

◇

"Cough cough cough cough!"

After a violent coughing fit, Masumi opened his eyes.

The wooden ceiling came into view, and the tatami beneath him, separated by a layer of soft mattress, conveyed to him the solid touch of the ground.

He immediately realized that this was a hot spring hotel in Tajima, not the harsh waters of the Southern Hemisphere.

It's a nightmare.

Even though I had woken up from the dream, my body still felt inexplicably heavy.

And the limbs seem to have a sense of urgency as if they are bound.

Masumi looked at his chest. Was the quilt he covered himself with last night so high and thick?

"Woo~"

I could faintly hear the sleepy sounds of small animals hibernating.

Hanekawa Kaizuki poked her head out from under the quilt, her messy flaxen hair loose, and her soft touch pressed against Masumi's body through her yukata.

"Hanekawa?"

It turns out that the sirens and jellyfish in the dream were all caused by this monster girl.

In the early morning, the temperature in the room was slightly cool. When the girl's cheek exposed from the quilt touched the cold air, her eyelashes trembled a few times.

As if seeking warmth, she snuggled closer, clinging to Masumi like a jellyfish.

"It's so heavy... Hey! Hanekawa, get up!"

Haiyue had no intention of waking up, so Masumi had no choice but to stretch out his hands, gently support the girl's shoulders, wrap her delicate shoulders in his palms, and try to carry her up.

knock --

There was a knock at the door.

"Who!" Masumi immediately stopped and asked nervously.

"It's me." Lin Yin's voice came from outside the door: "Have you seen Haiyue? I woke up this morning and found that she was gone."

"No, I didn't see it."

Masumi's voice sounded a little weak under the quilt, but fortunately, they were so far away that Rin couldn't hear it.

"so……"

Lin Yin sighed in frustration from outside the door: "It's really worrying. If you see her, remember to tell me."

"Uh...I know."

As soon as Rinyin left, before Masumi could breathe a sigh of relief, the paper door was pulled open with a "swish".

"Good morning, Masumi-kun."

Ma Yuan greeted him with full energy, his state was completely different from his limp appearance after being drunk.

"Did you sleep well?"

"Really? I was taking a hot spring bath last night and I accidentally got dizzy. I heard from Xiao Linyin that you rescued me. Thank you so much."

"fine……"

"Eh?" With a mischievous smile on her lips, Mami continued teasingly, "I was completely unconscious at the time. You didn't take the opportunity to do anything weird to me, did you?"

"No, no."

Masumi clutched the sheets nervously, and the hot air from Haiyue's lips gently sprayed on his neck, tickling his skin.

"What's wrong with you? I don't think something is right." Mami narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Why do you look so guilty?"

"You're not really going to stretch out your claws on me, are you?"

She pretended to hug her chest tightly, but her cautious expression was broken in less than a second. "Hehe, I was just kidding."

"I still trust Masumi-kun's character."

"By the way...why is your quilt so high? And it's so thick, is it a double quilt?"

She said as she was about to come closer.

"Wait! Don't come over here!"

"Why are you reacting so strongly? Are you shy?" Asami stopped and tilted her head to smile.

"That's it."

"You're a grown man, what are you shy about?" Mami shook her head helplessly.

"Wait!" Suddenly, as if she thought of something, Asami's eyes flashed.

"Could it be that... Masumi-kun is a so-called 'naked tribe', wearing nothing under the quilt! Oh, I really can't tell, Masumi-kun."

She made an irresponsible guess.

Please don't get excited without permission.

"Forget it~ Seeing how nervous you are, I won't tease you anymore."

Mami narrowed her eyes and gave what she thought was a considerate smile: "The sun is shining on your butt, hurry up and get up and have breakfast."

"Oh, okay."

The paper door was pulled shut securely.

Finally, I got away with it. Masumi breathed a sigh of relief.

The culprit, the soft jellyfish girl, was still lying on top of him, sleeping soundly and peacefully.

◇

After breakfast, the one-night-two-meal hot spring trip officially ended.

"Bon voyage, everyone."

"see you next time."

In front of the hotel, their parents from the distant future said goodbye to them.

"Thanks for the hospitality."

"Goodbye, uncle and aunt!"

"..."

After the four people in the car said goodbye in their own ways, the car engine roared and the scenery of Kochi Town began to flow through the car window.

Rin was still driving, Kuon Mirai was sitting in the passenger seat, and Masumi was squeezed in the middle by Kaizuki and Asami.

"Oh, soaking in a hot spring is so relaxing."

In the carriage, Mami stretched her arms lazily: "The food at the hotel is delicious, and the wine is also good. It's really a wonderful journey."

"It would have been better if I hadn't accidentally gotten dizzy from soaking it," she sighed.

"Come to think of it..." Masumi asked her, "You don't remember anything about what happened after you fainted?"

"Well...it's not like I have no impression at all."

Putting her hand on her chin, Mami thought for a moment, "I remember having a dream after I got dizzy from soaking."

Dream?
"What dream?"

"I dreamed that I was soaking in an open-air hot spring in Niigata alone. Suddenly, Masumi-kun came in and helped me out of the hot spring, exhausted from soaking."

"...What an incredible dream."

The co-pilot, Kuon Mirai, blinked and commented.

"This is what really happened last night." Masumi complained: "Don't you remember it very clearly?"

"What about the back?"

"Eh? Is there anything else?"

Mami sounded surprised when she heard that, her pretty brown eyes blinked, an innocent expression on her face.

It seems that he really doesn't remember what happened afterwards.

"...Yeah, no more." Masumi nodded: "I happened to run into Kamishiro after I came out. After handing you over to her, I went back to my room."

Rin continued to drive the car without saying a word.

"Eh--"

After letting out a meaningless sigh, Mami gently patted Masumi's shoulder and said, "Anyway, thank you, Masumi-kun. I owe you my life."

“…It hasn’t gotten to this point.”

There was a sudden vibration in his pocket, Masumi took out his mobile phone and clicked on the LINE interface.

In the chat bar, an account named "Kurage" with a colorful jellyfish avatar sent him a message.

Kurage: "Liar."

Masumi glanced at Haiyue who was sitting on his left, playing with his phone silently.

Who do you think did it?

At the same time, Mami's questioning voice slowly drifted over.

"Come to think of it... I've been at the hotel, and I don't think I've seen Xiao Weilai much. Where have you been?"

"Well... I haven't been back to the town in a while, so I wandered around outside for a while."

This reason was very reasonable and Mami was easily convinced.

"Really? Come to think of it, I haven't been back to Kusatsu for a long time. Next time I have the chance, I'll take you to see Lake Biwa."

After she finished speaking, she turned to look at Haiyue again: "Where did you go this morning, little Haiyue? Linyin has been looking for you for a long time."

"..."

Hanekawa Kaizuki paused her fingers from darting across the phone screen, then replied nonchalantly, "Hiding in an empty room... playing games..."

This person is the same. He can lie without blushing or feeling nervous.

LINE's message prompt flashed across the game interface she was playing.

Masumi: "Liar."

"..."

"Really? Don't run around like that next time."

"Yeah." Haiyue nodded slightly.

"By the way, Masumi-kun, what did you mean by the message you sent in the group chat last night?"

"I can't sleep, I want to find someone to talk to."

"Hey, this reason is too weird, I don't believe it!"

"Believe it or not, it's up to you."

The van drove out of the mountains of Tajima. Asami asked questions to no avail, so she had to pout her pink lips in dissatisfaction, muttering "boring" while glancing at the scenery outside the window.

The emerald green mountains gradually disappeared at the end of the sight, and the hot spring trip of the four people, each with their own little secret, finally came to an end.

"Masumi-kun, are you browsing Amazon?"

Asami asked curiously, looking at his phone screen.

"Well, I want to buy a laptop."

"Laptop? For playing games?"

Masumi shook his head: "Writing a novel."

"writing a novel?"

Asami became interested. "Masumi-kun is actually going to write a novel? What genre do you want to write? Light novel? Science fiction? Why do you suddenly want to write a novel?"

Asami kept chattering and asking questions, which gave Masumi a headache. He immediately stopped her and said:
"Wait a moment and ask them one by one."

"Okay, okay, first question: What type?"

"light novel."

"What's the subject matter?"

"Let's fall in love."

"Eh—" Asami trailed off, "You've only had one girlfriend, and we haven't even held hands, yet you're confident enough to write a romance light novel?"

"it does not matter."

Masumi said confidently, "Mr. Hojo also writes about love. He told me that only authors who have never been in love can write the most idealized love."

"It is said that he has remained single just to ensure the quality of his work."

"..."

"You don't really believe it, do you?"

Mami was referring to the latter sentence.

"I have the right to remain silent."

Masumi answered this way, and at the same time secretly apologized to Mr. Hojo in his heart.

"Okay." Asami sighed. "One last question: Why did you suddenly want to write a novel?"

Masumi pondered this question for a long time, until Asami was about to show her impatience, and then he faintly replied:
“Some feelings can be expressed with just one sentence, but some feelings can never be expressed.”

"That's why people try to use all sorts of methods to give it form. I think novels are the best example of this."

"Oh? You sound quite literary." Mami put her arm around his shoulders in a familiar manner, and the scent of shampoo wafted to her nose.

"But..." Masumi hesitated to speak.

"But what?"

"Laptops are so expensive." Masumi sighed.

"What?" Seeing his serious expression, Asami laughed in amusement, not expecting him to be so worried about this. "Don't stop here so easily, Masumi-kun."

"Oh right," she suddenly suggested, "since you don't play games anyway and only use it to write novels, it wouldn't be a big deal if you bought a second-hand computer."

"Secondhand?"

This reminded Masumi. He opened the trading website, and Mami followed suit. Her delicate white fingertips rested on a product column. "Look, aren't the prices much better?"

"indeed."

"However, there are many pitfalls when buying second-hand goods. Don't be fooled by the price alone." She reminded in a serious tone.

"If you're a novice who's not familiar with the situation, it's very easy to be fooled, especially if Masumi-kun is buying a digital product."

"Yeah, I know." Masumi nodded, comparing it to second-hand musical instruments.

"In that case, let me, the 'second-hand goods expert,' Seno Asami, help you carefully review it."

Asami poked her right cheek with her finger and put on a heartwarming smile: "Just consider it as a way to repay you for saving my life."

"Oh, thank you for your help."

Seno is definitely more reliable than me in this regard, and since she is willing to help, that couldn't be better.

"Let me see... this one seems pretty good..."

After carefully deciding with Mami on a product she thought was reliable and agreeing with the seller, she made the payment. As for receiving the courier, it was already the regular holiday the following week after she returned to Fanxing.

The plum rains have completely gone, and Kobe has ushered in a sunny season.

The chirping of cicadas melted into the summer heat, and Masumi's daily life seemed to have returned to its former peaceful state.

In the morning, I went for a run along the designated route. There were many people standing at the station today.

Masumi went back to the store, had breakfast, read a novel, and waited for the delivery.

The laptop I bought from a second-hand website was delivered to the store at noon.

Although he decided to write a novel on impulse, apart from the subject matter, he hadn't even finalized the most basic things like character design and plot. Masumi thought about it and decided to leave it for tomorrow.

After all, Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither are novels written in a day.

So he was staring at the computer with nothing to do, but was forced by Mami to buy and download a pixel-style online game, and played with her for several hours.

In the evening, go out for a walk, walk on the streets as the sun sets, and return home after the crows start cawing.

Just before I could see the outline of the coffee shop, the phone in my pocket vibrated.

Masumi took out his phone and Rin and Asami sent him LINE messages at the same time.

The above content left him confused.

Neko: "Someone's looking for you."

Neko: "I think some things are better discussed face to face."

If the content of Kamishiro is just a bit confusing, then Seno's can be called a threatening letter.

Ryujinin Michiyo: "Masumi-kun, run!"

Ryujinin Michiyo: "Don't come back! Don't come back! Don't come back!"

What is this?

Masumi showed a puzzled expression and walked quickly on the street filled with the chirping of cicadas. Before sunset, he pushed open the glass door of the Starry Sky Cafe.

"I am back."

Returning to the store as usual, Masumi clearly felt that something was wrong with the atmosphere inside the store.

Kamishiro Rin, Seno Asami, Hanekawa Uzuki, and Kuon Mirai, four girls were waiting in the store.

After he pushed the door open and walked in, everyone looked at him, and the straight gaze made people shrink back.

But Masumi's attention was now completely taken away by the new "uninvited guest".

Her honey-gold hair is still as vivid and dazzling as in my memory.

Faced with the dazzling hair color, Masumi stood there in a daze and couldn't help but squint his eyes.

He stared at the dazzling golden hair for a long while before slowly coming back to his senses.

"Long time no see, Kurokawa."

Masumi whispered to the girl in front of him.

The girl also turned her head to look at him with a gentle smile on her face.

Beneath the gentle smile, the slightly twisted corners of the lips seemed to hide disturbing emotions.

"Long time no see, dear—"
-
[Volume 2: Lost in Plum Rain: End]

(End of this chapter)