Another string reel from Bandoli

He seemed completely unaware of how bold his statement was.

Invite a girl to take a bath in a bathhouse in the early morning.

Doesn't this person have any common sense?

Even Maruyama Aya, who was usually quite bold, was a little stunned by his suggestion.

Then he just walked in one direction.

He turned his head and looked at her straight, his golden pupils, which were dull and without any distractions, tiredly signaled her to follow him.

It was a classic bathhouse with the sign saying Asahi Yu.

The quaint Japanese-style eaves house seems to be still alive in the Showa era.

Not open for business.

Also.

It is somewhat rare to find a bathhouse still open at midnight.

The young man seemed to notice nothing and just walked to the roller shutter door that was locked by a huge lock.

"...Well... although I appreciate your kindness, this is still..." Maruyama Aya said tactfully.

After all, the door wasn't open, they...

The door lock was unlocked.

"Ugh?"

Maruyama Aya only felt that something blue, like a small flashlight, flashed.

The door lock fell off.

The boy moved so quickly that she didn't even have time to see what he was doing.

"I'm an acquaintance of the owner and I have their keys."

This is how the boy explained it.

What was that just now...was that...a key?

Maruyama Aya walked into the bathhouse with this question in mind.

The bathhouse was empty, the lights were off, and it was as dark as a scene from a horror movie.

This caused Maruyama Aya to feel a little frightened.

If... in this kind of environment... because of the images flashing through her mind, Maruyama Aya began to worry that she was being set up.

As she was thinking, the light came on and the boy walked towards her.

All the lights in the bathhouse were on.

"The door to the women's bath is open," he answered in a firm tone even though he didn't go in.

Under the colorful painting of Mount Fuji.

"I'm so tired!" Perhaps it was the cold, or perhaps it was just a lack of nerves. Maruyama Aya soaked alone in the large, steamy bath, closing her eyes peacefully in the steam. She felt a moment of daze.

My shoulders are a little stiff. They've gotten heavier recently.

She seemed to realize it only afterward, and her cheeks turned red.

How could she be so...unguarded?

The wisps of smoke made her dizzy.

Wait a minute...will there be a second person walking barefoot on the tiles?

It was like the unfolding of a horror movie or the plot of a short novel, making her whole body red.

The towel clung to the body due to the water, outlining the contours of the body.

How strange...it's almost dawn.

The water is still hot.

When I came out of the bathroom, nothing unexpected happened.

When reaching for the towel to wipe my body...

“I have to go to cram school today.”

“It might be very difficult until the exam is over.”

"We're almost giving up..."

yes……

The most difficult memory of the day for Maruyama Aya flashed through her mind.

Yes... I am the only one left at the same time...

"I have to do something, I have to work harder..."

I don’t know what to do, but when Maruyama Aya wanted to change her wet clothes, she found that the clothes she had originally intended to at least keep her warm had already been dried.

There were no signs that the clothes had been touched, and even the underwear was still in the same state as when it was taken off.

But they are already dried.

This inevitably made Maruyama Aya think too much.

I...I...Is there something ghostly going on?

All these weird and somewhat supernatural phenomena made Maruyama Aya feel a chill down her spine.

Could this be a haunted bathhouse that has been cursed and where someone has died, and that boy was also the deceased who died in the car accident...

Just the thought made her get dressed hurriedly...

I was so panicked that I even forgot to wear underwear and wanted to run outside because of the cold feeling.

Yes, just panic, definitely not clumsy.

"Here, chocolate milk."

A glass bottle of chocolate milk seemed to have predicted Maruyama Aya's route. It appeared from the corner where she wanted to run and pressed against her right cheek.

He touched her cheek lightly.

The perfect temperature was transmitted to her face.

When Maruyama Aya instinctively took the chocolate milk and turned her head stiffly to look over.

The boy with black-dyed blond hair leaned against the wall calmly, drinking steaming coffee without any worries.

Refreshing and capable, even the hair looks like it has been blown.

She had obviously washed much faster than usual, but it was as if he hadn't even gone in.

And the body is clean as new.

This... this... this person couldn't be a fox demon...

Maruyama Aya was trembling and felt that she would not be able to escape. She drank chocolate milk while shaking and was almost crying.

"puff"

Maruyama Aya seemed to hear him laugh.

Although it was very light, so light that it seemed like an auditory hallucination.

But it does exist.

"Just think of it as a dream," he said.

"I must have been dizzy, that's why I became so lax."

The boy seemed to be talking to her, but also seemed to be talking to himself.

His tone was quite discouraged, as if he had just experienced a major blow.

His eyes were as sad and dull as if he were dead.

Just like...her former classmates and juniors...

"Excuse me...what happened to you?" Maruyama Aya suppressed her inner fear and asked the boy in front of her who was suspected to be a monster.

Maybe the boy had never hurt her from the beginning to the end, or maybe his dejected look made Maruyama Aya feel something.

He was silent for a long time, so long that Maruyama Aya didn't know what to do.

The boy spoke.

"...It's nothing important, it's just...this is my first time experiencing what failure is."

He didn't know why he spoke.

Maybe just want to hear some words in response.

Speak freely in front of Maruyama Aya, a stranger.

"I've always thought I was pretty strong, so I was pretty reckless. But for the first time... there's something that can stump me..."

His tone was dull, making Maruyama Aya even closer to the figure she had imagined in her mind.

Sure enough...it is...a monster!

In reality, ever since the appearance of the alien creature Fried Noodle Man, people of all ages and genders have been fascinated by the exploration of supernatural creatures.

There's been an endless stream of investigative programs and bloggers dedicated to these topics, and the craze continues to this day.

After all, even if it's just fantasy, when it changes from zero to infinite zero, there will always be people who start to fantasize.

This was the first time in her life that she encountered supernatural creatures around her and in the world she was familiar with.

"Actually, I can go anywhere. I always thought that one day, I would want to be where I'm supposed to be."

"But, when I realized that I wasn't as omnipotent and powerful as I thought."

“I just felt like I was lost and had lost confidence.”

Maruyama Aya listened to the strange boy's low-pitched worries.

At this moment, he was not the monster she had imagined.

Just like an ordinary child, complaining about the bitterness of life and lamenting his own lack of ability.

When Maruyama Aya opened her mouth without her noticing, the two of them started complaining about their lives, like old friends who had met after a long separation.

The distance between the two seemed to be closer.

As they left the bathhouse, they returned to the bus stop.

Time seems to be speeding up.

"Why do you want to be an idol?" the boy asked, still in that low voice.

"If it's just like you said, you always fail, you always can't do it, even your dancing is so bad."

Although he was clearly speaking in a manner that seemed to mock her, the boy's words did not contain any derogatory meaning, but rather seemed to be stating facts.

He was skeptical about the topic of idols he mentioned.

Regarding this question, Maruyama Aya didn't know what she should say.

She gripped the corner of her clothes tighter and tighter, then she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hard work...annoying boss...no matter what happens...I can always get energy from my idols."

"I want to hear people say that about me. That's why I want to be an idol."

"Although not yet..."

"but……"

Her tone was still a little unsmooth, her words were a little disjointed, and she even bit her tongue in the middle of the sentence because of nervousness.

"It would be so brilliant to be someone like that, because I've been inspired and given courage by people like that. I aspire to be someone like her, so I want to be an idol."

"Maruyama Zoncai! I am Maruyama...Puha!" She struck a rather stiff pose.

The movement was quite skillful, and it was obvious that he had practiced and rehearsed it many times.

Mingming looked like he was about to cry because he could only bite his tongue when saying his own name.