Order French fries at Shuchiin

Hearing this, Xing Yuanhui was not afraid at all and took a sip of his drink: "Why, no? I just like to take a bath alone."

Even if I traveled through time, it doesn't mean I have to accept the culture of bathing together. It's not that I'm not confident about my body, I just simply hate being shirtless in front of others.

Seeing that her actions seemed to have gone unnoticed, Fujiwara Chika sped up her escape speed and calmly interrupted, "He just has some strange little habits. For example, he always wears a shirt when he goes to the beach, and he doesn't even take it off when swimming or surfing."

When water hits clothes, won't it stick to the body and show the outline? The more you cover up, the more curious people will be, right?

And it doesn't matter if he wears a bikini, Xing Yuan is so weak! Although I'm probably embarrassed to wear a bikini in front of him now...

Huh? So he always avoids looking at me. Is it because he is used to keeping a distance, or does he have a crush on me?

Fujiwara Chika thought as she quietly moved closer to Xing Yuanhui, joining in the conversation from time to time.

Soon, the Fujiwara returned to the starting distance and continued to move closer.

Xing Yuanhui didn't pay too much attention to Fujiwara Chika, because when he looked over, he could always see her white feet submerged in the slightly turbid spring water, and her soft calves like snow lotus roots above.

The veins on the white and tender instep are faintly visible, and the toes are slender and light and agile. After soaking in hot water for a long time, the pink color of the girl's youthful vitality is further revealed. The color combination alone gives people a sense of elegance.

The overall lines extend from the toes to the ankles and then to the calves. The exquisite curves bring about three-dimensional visual changes, giving people endless reverie, just like exquisite jade.

Shit! Just look at the thoughts in my head flying around like they are free. If I stare at them, wouldn’t I really become a pervert?

Therefore, the general affairs officer relaxed his vigilance against the secretary and did not notice that a familiar fragrance was getting closer to him. He just thought that it was the sulfur smell in the spring water filling his nasal cavity, perhaps interfering with his senses.

For a moment, the proud sun outside the pavilion was covered by layers of clouds. The mountain breeze blew, and the people in the pavilion talked about trivial matters and interesting things. There was an indescribable sense of comfort in it.

But there was a black-haired girl who seemed to have discovered something.

"Eh? Fujiwara-san actually...!" Kaguya finally discovered the result of the other party's several minutes of hard work.

This is so unreserved! Do you want to stop her?

After struggling for a while, she decided to lend a helping hand after quickly consuming the food in her hand to support the energy needed for the Kaguya Conference in her brain.

This is not only because Fujiwara Chika is the first friend she has met besides Hayasaka, but she also sees an opportunity - if Xingyuan-san finds out and asks Ishigami-san and the president to make room for him, then I can be closer to the president!

So no matter what, at least one of us can achieve our goal? I want to do this business! Fujiwara-san, I'll help you!

So the Fujiwara inexplicably had a wingman who helped her attract attention and drew the three people's gaze towards herself.

Unfortunately, there always comes a moment when something happens, just as every student has thought about expanding the area of his or her own seat, and wondered whether he or she would be discovered if he or she secretly "borrowed" one centimeter from the desks in front or behind him or her every day. The answer has already appeared today - of course he or she will be discovered.

Therefore, Xing Yuanhui could no longer ignore the approaching pink and white girl. At this distance, anyone could spot her unless Fujiwara Chika changed into optical camouflage clothes.

It would be better to say that if the general affairs officer had not been lying to himself, his instinct would have forced him to look to the side long ago.

“Oh, I should have bought some…” Ishigami turned his head and was about to brag about how Chef Xingyuan mixed all kinds of different foods together during the camping trip, but he didn’t expect his friend to be staring at Senior Fujiwara who was hanging her head and unable to whistle.

As soon as he saw the change in position, he immediately understood what Xingyuan was looking at.

When did Fujiwara-senpai get to that position? Was it an illusion? I didn't even notice it!

Ishigami's fatal pause punctured the illusion that Kaguya had created with all her might, and Shirogane also discovered that someone was sneaking up behind the friendly forces.

Seeing that Xingyuan had discovered Secretary Fujiwara's actions, Baiyin, who had nothing to do, began to frown and think, putting dried meat into his mouth to replenish his energy.

It seems like... there is a chance?

Our heroine, who was moving stealthily on the wooden board, was now looking down and sighing at the hardships she had endured along the way, like a child who had finished his summer homework overnight and, after waking up, was flipping through the homework book and couldn't believe that he had done it himself.

After all, this is progress, giving people the motivation to further assert themselves (boo).

Very good, although my ritual did not achieve the desired goal, it is still good as it is now! Unfortunately, if I move closer, I will have to touch Xingyuan's things, which is too risky.

Fujiwara Chika waved her fist slightly, but when she looked up, she saw Xing Yuanhui staring at her. He had arranged a line of drinks and snacks in his hands, with a towel barrier on the outermost edge.

Chapter 48: Toe Bully

"What... are you doing?" Xing Yuanhui was extremely alert. Snack bags, drink bottles, and towels formed a joint army to guard against the bow-tie demon in front of them.

Although it has no defensive effect at all, it firmly reflects his desire to keep a distance. As the saying goes, win by momentum.

“No, no!” The blush on her face, which was already due to the heat of the spring water, gradually deepened. Fujiwara Chika laughed dryly, “It’s just that the water temperature at the inlet is a little high. I can’t stand it.”

Everyone's face is quite rosy now, so the slight changes in the pink-haired girl's expression are still within the scope of explanation.

"Really? I don't believe it." But Xing Yuanhui still had doubts. He touched his chin and hesitated, "I remember that women's ability to withstand heat is much higher than men's. This pool is so small, how much difference can there be?"

The temperature here is less than 40 degrees Celsius. Even if it is higher at the water inlet, it is not much higher. Can it burn you? If you believe me, I will suffer in vain in foreign countries.

"It's summer after all, we can't generalize the situation." Fujiwara Chika lowered her head and laughed, "I have to save face too, hahahaha..."

I just want to be closer to you, stingy guy! Why are you guarding so closely?

Xing Yuanhui hesitated for a moment, then said cautiously, "Really? Are you sure you don't have any weird thoughts, like trying to pinch my feet with your toes after getting close to me?"

Although this was the first time I had a foot bath with her, why was her transformation into a toe bully so deeply rooted in people's hearts?

It must have been the déjà vu feeling she had been enjoying poking her fingers at my waist since midway through the summer vacation.

"How is that possible! I haven't even thought about such a thing!" Fujiwara Chika's slender toes submerged in the water scratched the round pebbles at the bottom of the pool unconsciously, and she said with a puffy face in the water, "You think I'm a weird person. I would never do such a thing!"

Humph! I'll find a chance to step on your feet later! I said I won't pinch you, but I didn't say I won't step on you!

"Well... it's you after all." Xing Yuanhui hugged his clothes and leaned back slightly, his eyes reflecting the girl's appearance, full of unspeakable, "Who tried to grab my shirt on the beach before? I couldn't think of that, and naturally I couldn't think whether you would pinch me."

You did it in front of the four people from the Fujiwara family, and even found yourself a means of transportation. If I weren't able to run and jump and had full mobility, I would have been taken by you long ago.

Fujiwara Chika got more information from the vigilant gaze, and then shrank her head because of the gazes of the three people beside her. After hesitating for a moment, she reached out and pulled the corner of Xingyuan Danhui's clothes like she did when they were children: "Don't, don't say anymore..."

That was so many years... uh, so many hours ago. People grow up!

Now I'm starting to repent! At worst, I won't try to steal your shirt next time we go to the beach, okay?

Seeing the secretary enter a defensive state, with steam rising from his head, who knew whether it was produced by himself or the spring water under his feet, the three people who were eating melons nearby turned their eyes to the general affairs director. Their fanatical appearance was very similar to the two talented people from the news department who were lurking in the student union and the archery club.

Xing Yuanhui immediately realized that recounting the girl's sins in such a place would only satisfy others' desire for gossip, so he stopped talking.

"Fujiwara-san's progress is so... fast! This is too much!" Even though Kaguya had not learned any health knowledge a year ago, she could understand the amount of information hidden in the general affairs words in an instant, and she even began to stutter in her heart.

"It's really fun to eat the melons of your own people!" Even Shirogane, who should have been thinking about how to use the environment here to make Kaguya shy, stopped thinking for the time being.

"I'm going to record all of this and use it as a trump card to maintain my power!" Ishigami put in a lot of effort to ensure that his friends would not leave him alone in the Discipline Committee after school started.

Apart from the secretary with his head down who was still pulling at the corner of the general affairs officer's clothes, Xing Yuanhui was staring at the three heroes alone without realizing it.

In this spiritual field, it seemed as if there were heroic spirits born behind them, using their eyes as blades, turning the instinct of blinking into life. In a battlefield that only a passing kitten could see, fighting filled this square pavilion and the shouting never stopped.

A minute later, the three people whose eyes were red from the hot spring steam lowered their heads silently, wiping their tears as if they were regretting their defeat.

Seeing that he had successfully defended his privacy, Xing Yuanhui just closed his eyes and said with emotion: "It seems that I won."

"?" Fujiwara Chika, who had just been enjoying the beautiful tranquility, raised her head with confusion in her eyes. Seeing that the four people had their eyes closed, she became even more confused, "What did you win?"

Xing Yuanhui was like an old monk meditating on a cushion, saying something incomprehensible in order to pretend to be an expert: "This question is not important. Rather than floating fantasies, we should focus more on the affairs at hand."

But the little girl was ignorant, staring with big eyes and pulling her hands. Helplessly, Xing Yuanhui opened his eyes and said, "At least you can understand what the second half of the sentence means, right?"

Stop being so cocky, there’s a guy with bangs who’s about to be defeated and enter the second stage just like the protagonist of the novel.

"Then explain the first half of the sentence first." Fujiwara Chika insisted, "I really hate this kind of atmosphere where I'm the only one who doesn't know, okay?"

The last time I saw them, some people were still talking to me about love, thinking that I would step on landmines all the way and be unhappy.

"..." Xing Yuanhui was silent for a while, and still did not describe how the four of them had just used the typical Fujiwara-style duel to decide the outcome.

It's so sad to see all the students on the student council being assimilated by Fujiwara Chika...

As the representative of Shuchiin, he behaves so stupidly. Does it mean that this country is doomed?

What if the board game club takes advantage of this and introduces all the high school students to their favorite brawl game? It's better to hide.

"It just determines the winner." Xing Yuanhui replied calmly.

At the same time, he quietly put away the corner of his clothes, and looked at the already small distance between the boys under Fujiwara Chika's dissatisfied gaze. He had to choose between getting closer to the stone and maintaining the status quo, and he shook his head and chose the latter.

Not long ago, he slept next to me in the car, so this distance between us now... is acceptable, so be it.

After thinking it through, the general affairs officer stopped talking. The monk watched the bow-tie demon who kept shaking him, his teeth clenched, and was ready to sacrifice himself.

"What win or lose? How is it decided? It's so incoherent. If it were an essay, it would lose a lot of points!" Fujiwara Chika moved closer without realizing it, pressing down on the deformed towel and pushing Xing Yuanhui as if he was playing with a tumbler.

Really! It won’t hurt to tell me! Bad guy!

After the three people nearby felt the burning sensation in their eyeballs gradually subside, they slowly opened their eyes, then stared at the secretary shaking the general affairs for half a minute, then shook their heads and ignored them.

Actually, if you think about it carefully, their current situation is similar to that in school. There are even more outrageous rumors. So let them be.

Besides, the Fujiwara family travels together, and Xing Yuanhui has been with the team for so long and has not left, so the secretary's parents probably have no objection. Maybe they just watched Fujiwara Chika snatch it, so aren't we even more unimportant?

Baiyin no longer wanted to think about whether there was any misunderstanding here. He looked into the distance for a while, deliberately controlled his breathing to keep his brain clear, and chatted with Ishigami for a while. Then he turned around and spoke to Shigong again: "By the way, Shigong, do you think the water is hot?"

Shigong, who was still peeking at Fujiwara Chika's acupuncture for Xing Yuanhui, suddenly heard the president's words, and calmly sat down with his legs to the side, hesitantly said: "Hmm... Is it okay?"

There is a large bath in the Shinomiya mansion. Although there is no natural hot spring, at Hayasaka's suggestion, Kaguya often soaks in the hot water at home with her personal guards, which is even a little scalding.

Therefore, the temperature of the spring water only had some impact on her when she first entered the water. Now, if there were no fluctuations on the water surface, she might forget that she was still taking a foot bath.

The chaebol's daughter was still enjoying the conversation with her secret crush and was completely unaware of the plan to hide the silver.

"Is that so?" Baiyin nodded and suggested, "Why don't we increase the temperature of the pool? There is also a saying that you can soak in the foot bath for a while until you get used to it, and then increase the temperature."

"Heat it up?" Kaguya tilted her head and said hesitantly, "Let's not talk about the fact that Fujiwara-san said that he changed positions because the temperature was high, and we don't know how to heat it up, right?"

Apart from the temple walls and houses nearby, there are only two canals in this desolate wilderness. Do we have to make on-site modifications?

But the president and the person who brought us to the pavilion were exchanging pleasantries. Maybe he taught him some method to adjust the temperature?

"Actually, there's a water valve underneath. The man just opened it." Baiyin leaned over and found the valve in a hidden corner. The water pipe connected to it was almost invisible. "I'll turn it clockwise a little. It should get warmer."

After all, it is rare to find such considerate natural hot springs, where you can just follow the canal into the pool and soak there, right? I heard that some places have put a lot of effort into creating pools of different temperatures.

If it's too hot, Baiyin will hesitate, but if it's too cold, wouldn't it help save water if I collect a little? There's nothing to worry about.

"I see..." Kaguya thought for a moment, "Then I have no problem asking Fujiwara and the others."

"I have no problem." Ishigami raised his hand and said, "The president just asked me."

"Sure." The monk Hui was resurrected briefly, uttered a few words and then closed his eyes and pretended to be dead. Fujiwara Chika poked his face but he couldn't make a sound.

The increasingly dissatisfied pink-and-white girl waved her hand generously, like a gangster being tortured, and said in a loud voice: "Add! I want to see if you can still stay calm in such boiling spring water!"

I must pry your mouth open before the foot bath is over!

"Um..." Kaguya didn't know if she would disturb them, so she raised her hand and reminded them weakly, "It won't be that hot, Fujiwara-san, are you really okay?"

Really, even if everyone knows that you said the water was too hot just to move closer to Xingyuan, you can't just accept it because disguising yourself is too troublesome!

“No problem!” Fujiwara Chika, who had no idea whether she understood her bestie’s words or not, gave a thumbs up. Her powerful aura seemed to make her hair flutter. “At this moment, I can use the anger in my heart to completely control the heat in this pool. This water can’t hurt me at all!”

“…Okay.” Kaguya had to admit that sometimes, if she had to choose between General Affairs and Fujiwara-san, she would worry more about the former.

"Then I'll start." Baiyin turned the water valve carefully.

He did not have as good hearing as the general affairs officer, so he could not tell whether the sound of the tap water had become smaller under the sound of the flowing hot spring water in the canal, but the change came quickly.

Although it is difficult to judge the subtle temperature changes after soaking your legs and feet for a while, the steam has indeed increased.

After Shirogane confirmed that his goal had been achieved, he stopped talking to Kaguya and just closed his eyes and began to simply enjoy the foot bath.

After all, the success rate of his method was shockingly low. He just used more mild hydrogen sulfide, then deliberately controlled his breathing and synchronized it with the four palaces, and then moved closer, trying to eliminate her subconscious vigilance and induce her urge to confess.

He once read in a magazine that the success rate of confession when taking a hot spring bath together was quite high, although at that time he still doubted whether mixed bathing between men and women meant closeness, and whether the survivor bias of such a survey might be a bit large, but now he could only think of using these things.

But it doesn’t matter if it’s not successful, it’s not the first time. Even if it’s just an experience of soaking feet together, it’s not a loss for him.

He couldn't treat Shinomiya like Xingyuan did to Fujiwara in front of others. Maybe he could only do it when they were alone, but forget it now. Just like before, just do something useless and put your hope in it.

If it doesn't work out in Tokyo, Shirogane won't think that changing places will work.

Therefore, he just left a trap for Shinomiya like a hunter and went away, relying on fate to decide - Shirogane is no longer obsessed with making the other party confess first.

Actually, think about it, when we confessed our imaginary significant other, we should have known that this idea was just a product of fear and worry about being rejected. Otherwise, why is it always towards her in my fantasy instead of towards myself?

But I am just a poor boy. Maybe I can briefly surpass the children of noble chaebols in the exam by studying hard all night, but so what?

In terms of business theory, I may not know as much as Ishigami; but in terms of business achievements, Xingyuan is even more impressive as he can find a fishing ground. This is the origin of the high-priced Oma tuna every year.

And even if I wait for a confession, then what? Would I dare to accept it?

After accepting the offer? Waiting to join the Shinomiya chaebol as a son-in-law? From now on, this is the only ending for me?

I don't want to do that, it's so... lazy.

I know that even if I work hard all my life, I may not be able to get even one percent of the wealth in the fourth house, but I still want to give it a try.