In crossover anime, who isn't a childhood friend?

Although the lack of light at night affected the clarity of her vision, she could still make out the outlines of Kasumigaoka and Chiyo's bodies, much like watching a shadow puppet show, thanks to the dim moonlight.

It was blurry, but enough for her to make out what the two of them were doing.

Yuan Qianye is like a seasoned weightlifter with abnormally strong physical abilities.

He held Kasumigaoka in his arms with the ease of holding a doll.

Under continued scrutiny, Eriri's gaze shifted from initial shock to utter bewilderment.

For the next few tens of minutes, the weight in Qianye's hand did not touch the ground.

Then, just as Eriri breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that it was finally over and she could finally be free tonight, she saw the situation change.

Saeko whispered something in her ear that sent chills down her spine: "Well, Chiya's almost warmed up, so the rest should be the normal procedure."

what? !

Eriko was watching from the sidelines, and she felt like she was about to collapse from exhaustion!

So this was just a warm-up for Chiya?!

Eriri felt that Saeko's words were definitely exaggerated to some extent, but she quickly realized that she was wrong.

The sounds of playing in the water gradually began to come from the room next door.

I don't know how much time passed; it might have been forty minutes, or it might have been an hour.

Eriri's excited brain had exceeded its threshold and was becoming somewhat numb.

A "thud" sound came from next door.

Erima wondered what that strange sound was.

A water-filled balloon was tossed around and rolled to the crack in the door.

Eriri opened her eyes to the widest extent possible, and at that moment, all the blood in her body seemed to freeze.

…………

Volume 2: Chapter 144: The Second Miss's Eyes Sharpened

The next morning.

Inside the spacious and bright hotel restaurant, large floor-to-ceiling windows offer a glimpse of the shimmering blue sea, a truly delightful sight.

Gen Chiya and his group sat around a long dining table by the window, enjoying a sumptuous breakfast.

However, this morning was a little different from before; one person was absent from the small team.

"It seems that Shiyu kicked off the blanket while sleeping last night and felt a little dizzy. She wants to sleep a little longer and won't eat breakfast. We also told her not to worry about her afterward. If she feels better, she will come and meet up with us." Saeko explained slowly while drinking the local seafood porridge.

"Oh, that's a real shame. It's such a rare opportunity for her to get out." Rikka felt a little regretful, but then became worried: "Shiyu-nee doesn't seem to be in very good health. Should we take her to the hospital? I once felt dizzy and didn't take it seriously, thinking I'd be fine after a nap, but it later turned into a fever."

“I think it should be fine. Before I left, I touched her forehead to check and told her to call us immediately if anything was wrong. She also didn’t really want to go to the hospital and didn’t even want to eat breakfast. She just wanted to sleep a little longer in peace.”

"I see. I hope Shiyu-nee gets better soon." Rikka nodded as if she understood.

Since the person who is feeling unwell is insisting on this, it is indeed better to go along with their wishes.

Yukino ate her breakfast quietly the whole time and did not join the conversation.

Influenced by other friends around them, she and Shiyu were able to stay together and perhaps have a few casual conversations, but their relationship didn't feel like that of "friends."

If I had to say...

Because of the influence Eriri had exerted on her from a very early age, and the various "bad deeds" she had been instilled in her, she felt that her relationship with Shiho was perhaps closer to that of rivals or antagonistic peers.

They scrutinize each other, secretly compare themselves, and find certain traits of each other disagreeable, yet they are forced to interact due to their shared social circles.

But something's strange now.

It wasn't Kasumigaoka Utaha's absence itself, but rather—

Yukino turned her head to look at Eriri beside her.

She ordered a small sandwich for breakfast, accompanied by a glass of warm milk. She was eating slowly and deliberately, chewing carefully, and was so quiet that she was almost... well-behaved.

There seemed to be no problem; the breakfast was to her liking, and she ate it very attentively.

But for some reason, Yukino felt an extremely strong sense of unease about her.

It's been like this ever since I got out of bed in the morning; I'm not as cheerful and excited as I used to be.

She was clearly looking forward to the trip before she even left, and chattered away non-stop the whole way.

Like Rikka, she was a source of joy on this trip.

But this morning, apart from a few greetings and responses, she didn't say anything else. If we hadn't grown up together and known her quite well, we might have mistaken her for an introverted person who wasn't good at expressing herself.

While this assessment isn't wrong, it's from the perspective of outsiders.

To those who know her well, Eriri could be considered a bit of a chatterbox, managing to keep the atmosphere lively without annoying her friends.

So what's going on now?

Only Rikka maintained her usual energy, while Eriri's energy suddenly went out.

She particularly enjoys soaking in hot springs, but this morning she didn't bring it up again. It was only after I took the initiative that she agreed to go together.

During the hot spring bath, Rikka told a few jokes, but she didn't react much. She just tugged at the corners of her mouth and gave a perfunctory smile, which seemed like a forced response to get by.

Now it's even more so on the dining table.

Although it's not very nice to say it like that, she didn't show that kind of smug expression, like "that guy is getting what he deserves," when she heard that Kasumigaoka Utaha was unwell.

After all, Eriri should be even less compatible with that person than herself, so she shouldn't be so calm, both emotionally and logically.

Even if one is mindful of not being overly gloating and maintaining a ladylike image, one should still let one's emotions show through micro-expressions.

But now?

Eriri's expression was calm, her eyes as still as a deep well, making her look like a wise sage unaffected by worldly affairs.

This sense of déjà vu shouldn't exist on the Eriri that Yukino knows; the incongruity is so great that it's impossible to ignore.

Yukino had always known that Eriri was the type of person who easily showed her feelings on her face, no matter what happened.

Therefore, given the current situation, she deduced that something must have happened.

Last night before going to bed, Eriri behaved normally and even dragged her to brush her teeth.

Then this morning she suddenly became taciturn, so using the process of elimination, the problem must have occurred last night?

The second young lady's eyes sharpened as she silently scanned the entire dining table.

Saeko and Rikka chatted quietly about their plans for the day. After visiting the nearby Blue Cave, they planned to follow the advice of online travel bloggers and take photos of themselves feeding black-tailed gulls as souvenirs.

Qianye always liked to multitask while eating breakfast, using her right hand to eat with chopsticks while her left hand held her phone to browse domestic and international political news.

Because it was a public place, and he was worried that the sound from the speakers would disturb others, he was wearing headphones, so he hadn't joined the conversation.

Everyone else seemed to be fine, except for Eriri, who was acting strangely.

Oh, and there's Kasumigaoka Utaha, who's currently staying in her room.

What exactly happened last night while I was falling asleep?

Is Eriri's current abnormal state related to Kasumigaoka Utaha's physical discomfort?

Yukino briefly brainstormed for a while, but couldn't come up with any plausible guesses.

It must be admitted that her ability to deduce and uncover the hidden truths behind events is still inferior to that of Minamoto Chiyo.

Of course, from God's perspective, it's not entirely fair to blame her for lacking ability.

It's important to understand that people often cannot do things beyond their own capabilities.

Similarly, no matter how intelligent a person is, they cannot deduce the truth that does not exist in their own knowledge base.

Ultimately, I suffered from a lack of experience.

If it were Utaha or Saeko at the table now, or even Haruno or Toka who know less about Eriri, their first instinct would be to look at Chiya Minamoto.

There's no way around it; experience tells me that instinct completely precedes thought in understanding the truth of the matter.

That's how the young Chu girl is.

However, Yukino couldn't come up with a solution herself, so she naturally wouldn't choose to ignore it and let it go.

Out of concern for her friend's kindness, she lowered her voice and gently asked Eriri, "Eriri, you haven't been looking well since this morning. Did you not sleep well last night?"

"!"

Yukino, whose gaze was entirely focused on Eriri, was completely unaware that Saeko, who was talking to Rikka, and Chiya, who seemed oblivious to what was happening around them, both glanced quickly in their direction.

Eriri was also a little flustered when Yukino suddenly asked her this.

Although she was flustered, she still managed to give a seemingly calm answer: "Uh... um! I didn't sleep well. It's probably because I ate a lot of watermelon while watching the movie last night, and I got up several times during the night, so I might be a little sleep-deprived."

This answer was exactly what Saeko had anticipated and had instructed her to give, word for word.

"I see." Yukino nodded, seemingly accepting the explanation, but still felt a little strange.

Last night, Qianye did order a large fruit platter, and there was indeed a lot of fruit in it, but when divided equally, each person didn't get a particularly large amount.

Getting up once at night is normal, but getting up several times is a bit strange.

At this point, Yukino was almost certain that Eriri was hiding something from her.

However, since Eriri was unwilling to say more, it was not appropriate for her to press her further.

She silently planted a seed of doubt in her heart, thinking that she should find an opportunity to take a nap today so that she wouldn't sleep too soundly at night.

Breakfast time ended peacefully.

Everyone returned to their rooms and changed from their yukatas into casual clothes.

During this time, Chiya and Saeko went to check on Shiho's condition. She was still fast asleep, and the noise from everyone's return did not wake her.

Saeko left a note, asking not to disturb her rest, and then everyone quietly left the room.

At the hotel entrance, I happened to run into Hattori, who was about to return to Osaka, checking out at the front desk.

Yuan Qianye stepped forward and took the initiative to talk to him. After agreeing to meet again when they had the chance, the two said goodbye to each other.

Because of yesterday's interruption, today marks the first day of the official start of the journey.

The itinerary is all arranged by Yuan Qianye, so girls don't need to worry about anything and can just enjoy the whole experience.