Chapter 5: Ready for a Hot Spring?

Before Kotori spoiled almost the entire plot of "Date a Live", Shido finally stopped her from talking.

Although Utaha couldn't have guessed anything from these materials, what about her readers?

If there were one or two more intelligent readers who might have thought of something, then there would be trouble.

Of course, Shido just didn't want to keep talking with Utaha. He had helped her more than enough, and it's about time for his date with Kotori!

Utaha didn't bother them anymore. Although she was thick-skinned, she knew what to do and not to do. Knowing it was impossible to break up the love between these two siblings, she might as well give up on it for the time being!

After Utaha left, Fumino went back to work as well. She originally wanted to see the relationship between Shido and Utaha, but now it seemed that there was nothing special. These two were coworkers in the light novel industry at most.

Fumino breathed a sigh of relief, but was still worried that Yumiko and Nino would be upset about the fact that Shido had a girlfriend.

"How is it?"

Rizu asked worriedly.

"No... - nothing!"

Fumino shook her head in a panic. This was someone else's love life, and without their permission, she shouldn't intervene at all.

"Oh?"

Rizu looked at the other party suspiciously. Although her ability to observe facial expressions was not as good as Fumino, she could see that her best friend was very nervous at this time.

Is it really something about Shido?

Rizu frowned, then looked at Shido's back as he was leaving the Udon Shop...

At this time, Shido had already left the Ogata Udon store while holding Kotori's little hand.

Even though this place served wonderful udon, Shido didn't want to come again!

"Shido!"

Kotori shouted a little suddenly.

"What is it?"

Shido asked casually.

"Where are we going now?"

Kotori asked curiously. It seemed that Shido decided not to reveal the location of their date in order to keep a sense of mystery.

"Just come with me."

Shido smiled without explaining much.

The two took the Shinkansen, and it took about 90 minutes to see a very spectacular snow-capped mountain. Even though it was spring, the top of the mountain was still a vast expanse of white snow, which was very beautiful.

(Shinkansen: a railroad system carrying high-speed passenger trains in Japan)

"Mt. Fuji?"

Kotori said with a little surprise. You know, in her original world, there was also Mount Fuji.

"Well. Our destination this time is Hakone!"

(Hakone, in Japan's Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park west of Tokyo, is a mountainous town known for its hot springs resorts and views of the iconic volcano Mount Fuji. )

Shido said with a smile.

"Why Hakone?"

Kotori asked with her head sideways.

"Because I feel that the power of the Tree of Life might end up somewhere in high elevation..."

Shido guessed without any basis.

"All right."

Kotori sighed. She thought Shido had a brilliant plan, but she didn't expect it to be such a mess.

But when she looked at Mount Fuji outside, she pushed aside all hesitations. As Shido said before, the purpose of this trip was not to find the power of the Tree, but to go on a date, hoping to get some powers along the way if they were lucky enough.

So the top priority was dating!

And as we all know, the most famous attraction of Hakone seemed to be the hot springs...

Kotori's face turned a little red. She secretly glanced at Shido. Could it be that Shido brought her to Hakone to take a hot spring with her?

"What's wrong? Staring at me like this..."

Shido asked.

"No! Nothing!"

Kotori waved her hand a little flustered, then turned her head away.

Shido smiled. It was up to anyone's imagination whether his goal was to take a hot spring with Kotori or not.

The two got off the Shinkansen, and the cold wind blew gently. It seemed that the temperature was slightly colder than that of Chiba, but neither of them were too afraid of the cold. You know, the man was the one who sealed many Spirits, and the girl was the famous Flame Spirit.

But Shido still walked in front of Kotori thoughtfully, blocking the cold wind for her, and put his coat on Kotori, which made her feel particularly warm.

The two did not immediately go to the hot spring, but came to the famous Lake Ashi, where tourists could clearly see the reflection of Mount Fuji in the lake. This kind of beautiful scenery was not something you could see everyday.

Of course, this was not the final destination. After they took a few pictures, they came to the gondola lift!

(A gondola lift is a means of cable transport and type of aerial lift which is supported and propelled by cables from above)

"Are we gonna get in?"

Kotori asked nervously for some reason. To be honest, they were both able to fly, so it felt weird to ride the cable.

"Of course! You can see the most gorgeous scenery from high places, and you can also see the vast land!"

Shido smiled and explained.

It was said that because the cable was a claustrophobic space, it would make people feel somewhat nervous, so the couple riding it together would have a situation similar to the Suspension Bridge Effect, making them more dependent on each other.

But Shido didn't seem to have thought of any of that. As mentioned earlier, both of them could fly, so there was nothing to be afraid of.

In addition, Kotori stayed in the battleship for a long time. How could she feel nervous because of a cable...

"Shi… Shi… Shido... this should be safe... right!?"

Kotori asked with a pale face.

"Don't worry! They will be taking safety measures first..."

Shido touched her little hand and comforted her.

"Really?"

Kotori asked with confirmation.

"Really!"

Shido nodded affirmatively.

"Really really?"

Kotori asked again.

"Really really!"

Shido reluctantly responded. He didn't expect Kotori to give off Tohka's vibe.

At this time, Shido suddenly remembered that when he went to an amusement park with Kotori, the roller coaster scared her pretty good as well.

Could it be that she was scared of heights?

"Don't worry, I'm by your side at all times."

Shido gently hugged her and comforted her.

"Okay, Shido!"

Kotori nodded lightly, leaning on Shido's broad shoulders. Her heart was beating faster and faster, and she didn't know whether it was because she was sitting in the cable or because of Shido's gentle words just now.

Seeing that Kotori was so scared, Shido didn't care about the effect of the suspension bridge. As soon as they reached the other side, he held her little hand and walked to a bench to sit down.

"Are you all right?"

Shido asked worriedly, touching Kotori's back.

"No..."

Kotori shook her head. Judging by her expression, it seemed that she had not recovered.

Seeing that Kotori was still like this, Shido chuckled lightly, then took out a lollipop from his pocket and stuffed it into her mouth.

"Hmm! . . . um!"

Kotori was startled, and then felt the lollipop in her mouth, which calmed her down quickly.

Seeing that Kotori had calmed down, Shido suggested:

"Okay, let's go to lunch!"

"Okay..."

Kotori didn't have any objection, and she didn't want to talk anymore. She felt that she was too embarrassed just now. She knew that she was still in the commander mode, yet this happened.

She lowered her head. This is absolutely unacceptable, I must maintain the pride as the commander!

But it seemed that Kotori didn't know that in Shido's eyes, there was no such thing as the so-called commander's pride.

Shido smiled slightly, took Kotori's little hand, and came to a nearby restaurant. It was said that the beef rice was quite famous, and tourists came to try it when they came to Hakone.

After lunch, the two went to the most famous hot spring hotel in Hakone. Kotori felt more and more nervous as they got closer to it, however, due to her pride as a commander, she pretended to maintain a poker face.

However, her blushing cheeks showed that she was still very shy, and Shido naturally noticed this and sighed.

He really wanted to take a hot spring with Kotori, but if Kotori couldn't accept it, Shido wouldn't force her.

It would be a pity, though. He hadn't had a hot spring experience with the Spirits for a very long time, and doing it with Kotori wouldn't be the slightest dissatisfying.

"Are you two high school and junior high students?"

The waiter of the hotel looked at the two suspiciously. Due to certain incidents, the current hotel was very sensitive about the age of the men and women staying.

If it was a boy and a girl who were underage, the hotel would not rent a room to them. This was a legal requirement and the hotel must abide by it.

"We are siblings!"

Shido smiled and explained.

"Siblings?"

The waiter still looked at the two dubiously, knowing that after this law was promulgated, many couples claimed to be siblings in order to infiltrate the place, and after they checked out the room the next day, the housekeepers would find suspicious traces without exception.

"Yeah. This is my Oni-chan!"

Kotori in white ribbons, who appeared out of nowhere, smiled sweetly. Her innocent smile made the waiter unable to doubt the authenticity of her words.

"We were traveling with our family, but the others went back before us..."

Shido smiled and explained. He could tell what the waiter was suspecting, but there was actually no evidence, not to mention that he and Kotori were indeed brothers and sisters.

So he should just make everything clear for the other party.

"All right..."

The waiter nodded lightly, and he didn't think too much about it. After all, it was just for his job. Whether the two were siblings or not, it had nothing to do with him. He just had to remind them of the policy.

According to the instructions of the waiter, the Itsuka siblings came to their room. This was a very traditional Japanese-style room, about the size of six tatami mats, and it was big enough for two people.

There were not many facilities in the room, not even a TV, only a table and a bed. After all, when you came to a hot spring hotel, there was only one way of entertainment, and that was to take a hot spring!

There were two kinds of hot springs here, one was public and the other was private. The public was shared with other guests of the hotel. Since they were strangers, of course they would bathe separately for men and women.

The other kind was private, and these were small hot springs, which cost extra to rent, and many couples choose to bathe together in the latter.

But Shido thought about how shy Kotori was just now, and felt that his non-blood-related sister didn't seem to be able to accept the latter, so he didn't rent it.

"While it's still early, let's go take a dip in the hot spring!"

Shido smiled, knowing that if there were more people at night, it may not be so comfortable to soak in...

He saw at the hotel reception just now that the public hot spring should have just been cleaned and opened, so now would be the time with the fewest people inside, and also the cleanest!

"Okay!"

Kotori nodded. Although it was a hot spring hotel, they still soaked in the hot spring separately.

The two took the bath towels provided by the hotel and came to the door of the hot spring. Kotori seemed to suddenly think of something, "Hold on!"

"What's wrong?"

Shido asked softly.

"I seem to have missed something, I have to go back and get it!"

Kotori said anxiously.

Shido glanced at the ribbon on the other's head, nodded understandingly, and said with a smile:

"Then I'll go first, wait in the room after you are done!"

"Okay, Oni-chan."

Kotori had a charming smile on her face. It turned out that she forgot to bring the black ribbon with her. Now she could use different colors of ribbons to switch her personality to achieve a certain purpose.

Just like in front of the waiter earlier, Kotori used the innocent performance specialized by her white ribbons in order to convince the waiter of their brother-sister relationship.

Although it was unlikely to wear a ribbon when bathing in a hot spring, it was better to behave like a commander than an innocent little girl after she came out.

Shido let out a light sigh, and didn't wait for her to come. After all, they would be bathing separately, so it was meaningless to wait for Kotori to come back, so he walked into the men's side with a smile.

After a while, a silver-haired woman hurried over, glanced left and right, and was relieved that she did not find other guests.

She was a new waitress in this shop, and she was a bit clumsy. She just accidentally switched the brands of the male and female hot springs!

"The one on the left is for men, the one on the right is for women, that's what it should be."

The silver-haired waitress switched the brands and nodded with satisfaction. Fortunately, no other guests had come to the hot springs this early to catch her rookie mistake!

PS: Do you get that feeling of deja vu?