Meat Loaf's Grace, Repaid by the Fountain

It's still snowing.

But only fluffy snowflakes remained.

Soaking in the open-air hot spring and looking at the snowflakes falling in the sky, must say, it does have a different mood.

"Asakawa-san."

Ogata called softly through the fog.

"What is it?"

"My shoulders are very uncomfortable."

She's out at 8am, playing long afternoons, and out again now. The girl's only shoulder was clearly unbearable.

Naoki gestured: "Come here, I'll give you a massage."

"Hah?" Ogata was surprised, "Can you also get a massage in the hot spring?"

"I don't know." Naoki said earnestly, "It's precisely because I don't know, that's why I have to try it. The hot spring already has a massage effect, and if I massage in the hot spring, it might have a super double effect.

"I will go there." Ogata quickly stood up from the hot spring pool, with a towel on his head, one hand covering his chest and the other covering his lower abdomen, walked over and sat down.

So it's Naoki's turn to cause trouble.

Massage generally requires lying down or half lying down. At this time, two people are sitting together, and the posture is quite awkward. It is definitely not suitable for massage.

"Asakawa-san, give me a massage." Ogata is full of confidence.

"I will try it."

Naoki stretched out his hand, his fingers curled like a piano player, and landed on Ogata's shoulder.

The words had already been said, and of course he couldn't take it back. For the effect of the massage, he had to try it before he knew.

After a while.

"Hmm... Ahhh, so comfortable... Don't stop..."

A girl's groan could be heard from between his fingers.

"Hot bath plus massage, feels like something strange is going into the bones..."

"No, don't stop...it doesn't matter if the power is more...ah..."

Sekijou who came out of the bathroom in a hurry, happened to hear Ogata's voice, and she suddenly felt uneasy.

"What did you do to Rizu-san!"

This is a hot spring, so this is absolutely not the place to do that kind of thing!

"Sawako, you here?" Ogata opened his eyes, his face reddened, and his voice trailed off, "Asakawa-san said in the hot springs... It would be very comfortable...Sawako come here.. ."

Actually wanted to do that kind of thing together.

Sekijou angrily glared at Naoki. If eyes could kill, Naoki would be holed up by now.

"Do not take it wrong." Naoki is full of truth, "I just massaged Ogata's shoulder."

"Eh?"

Sekijou was startled, took two steps forward, and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

There is some distance between the bodies, and it's obvious Naoki is massaging Ogata's shoulders, but that's his own misunderstanding.

"Why don't you have a massage in the room?" Sekijou said shyly, "A hot pool is not a place for massages at all."

Naoki said seriously: "A warrior who eats crabs."

"What kind of warrior eats crabs, but eats spiders?" Sekijou complained, walked to the edge of the hot spring pool, and sat down carefully

Naoki stopped what he was doing and looked at Ogata: "This is the end?"

"No." Ogata narrowed his eyes halfway, "Very comfortable, massage for a while."

"You have the final say."

Naoki continues to help with the massage.

"Um... um... I feel like my body is going to melt..."

Sekijou's face turned red at that, and she sank into the water, only his nose showing on the water's surface.

(Too bad, if it was anyone else, I would have quit long ago.)

(If Rizu-dan is an angel, then Asakawa is a demon, and that angel has fallen into the devil's hands!)

(But... a massage in a hot spring, is it comfortable?)

After a while.

The massage is finally over.

Out of breath, Ogata was lying by the hot spring, not forgetting to greet his best friend: "Sawako, come and try it too."

"I don't want to." Sekijou shook his head quickly.

"You said your shoulder hurt before."

"It used to be, but it's gone now," Sekijou said loudly.

Usually that's it, the massage in the hot pool is too bad!

While speaking, a rustling sound suddenly sounded in the air.

Sekijou was surprised: "What was that sound?"

Naoki and looked at the sky: "It is pitch black at this time, I can't see clearly."

"Sawako." Ogata said nervously, "Hurry and sit over here."

Sekijou was still a bit hesitant, but the next moment, the rustling sound suddenly came again, almost flying over his head.

Sekijou let out a low voice, got up quickly, covered his body quickly, got up and walked to Naoki and Ogata, nervous: "Could it be a vampire?"

Naoki said speechlessly: "What is a vampire ?"

Sekijou argued: "That's a vampire in the comics, the kind of bat that flies at night."

"You think too much, it's not a bat." Naoki complained, "This is actually..."

In the dark night, it flew again, and this time, Sekijou even felt the unknown creature touch the top of his head.

Having seen the presence of ghosts, Sekijou now suspects that all kinds of legendary creatures cluttering the world are real, and hugs Naoki's arm in panic.

"Remove the towel over your head." Naoki orders suddenly.

"Eh?"

Even though Sekijou was confused, she removed the towel wrapped around his hair.

Naoki said again: "Throw it into the water."

Sekijou hurriedly did so.

"It doesn't matter?" Ogata hugged Naoki's other arm tightly.

"Does not matter." Naoki explained, "That was an owl."

"Owl?" Sekijou opened his eyes wide and couldn't help but say, "Even if it's an owl, why do you keep trying to catch me?"

Naoki said in a weak tone: "Haven't you noticed the pattern on your towel?"

"So." Ogata's expression became serious, "There's Mickey Mouse embroidered on Sekijou's towel."

Sekijou looked at the towel rapidly sinking into the water, she couldn't believe it: "Owls have such good eyes, why misjudge the towel!"

"It might not be an ordinary owl." Naoki pondered.

Sekijou was surprised, and hurriedly hugged Naoki's arm tightly again: "Could it be the magic owl in Harry Potter?"

England is thousands of miles from here, and magic owls can't fly so far!

"You think too much." Naoki was speechless, "I mean, you've probably met an owl with a low IQ."

"May be." Ogata analyzed carefully, "I heard that the IQ of owls is very low."

When the towel sinks into the water, the hunting behavior finally ends.

Sekijou breathed a sigh of relief, and suddenly felt an icy cold on his body, and looked down, only to realize that she had been holding Naoki's arm without wearing any clothes, and she had even forgotten to loosen his arm.

Sekijou's face suddenly turned red, and she released his hand like an electric shock, and then immediately sank into the water, spitting out bubbles.

"Eh?" Ogata screams in shock "Sawako killed herself, save her!"

Naoki said, "No need to save."

"Artificial respiration!"

Sekijou couldn't help but get up: "...I didn't kill myself!"

"Asakawa-san, what was that sound just now? Are you okay?"

An unknown girl's voice sounded from the other side of the bamboo wall.

Ogata looked at Naoki and whispered, "I don't know who's talking."

"It's Itsuki." Naoki answered casually.

In the past, the Quintuplets' identity was distinguished by their hairstyles, manicures, and earrings. Today, there is no need to rely on heretical methods. Even if the eyes are tied with cloth, Naoki can identify by touch.

"It doesn't matter." Naoki said through the wall "Just had an owl."

"Eh?" Itsuki was amazed, "There are still owls in winter?"

'Owls flying around.' After soaking in the hot springs and going ashore, Naoki had just dried himself off when there was a knock on the door.

Naoki opened the door, and saw the Quintuplets standing outside the door. ..

"Asakawa-kun." Ichika smiled "We are here to protect you."

The protector is unreliable, and that's a lot of delays!

"Where is the owl?" Yotsuba looked ahead.

Naoki said: "He has flown."

"It's still a step too late." Yotsuba were disappointed.

Naoki smiled and said: "If you want to see an owl, we can go to the zoo when we come back tomorrow."

"Asakawa-san is biased." Ichika put his hands behind his back "You only invited Yotsuba to the zoo, how about us?"

"What?" Yotsuba blushed slightly, "Asakawa-san didn't say he's only going with me, of course everyone is going together."

At the same time.

Sekijou and Ogata came out.

Nino put his hand in front of his chest, looked at Ogata, she couldn't be angry at all, she said something, and she has a pure personality that is not hidden, even she can't be jealous.

As for Sekijou...

As soon as the two girls' eyes met, Sekijou immediately looked away guiltily.

Nino also had nothing to say, she had bathed with Naoki before so of course she had no right to talk about anyone else now.

Anyway, even if there are mistakes, it's all Naoki's fault!

On the other hand, Itsuki said enthusiastically: "Lu Xun said that you can catch birds by sweeping snow and scattering grain."

"Then it will snow for three to five days?"

"We'll bring it back tomorrow."

"We can not." Naoki complained, "Owls are protected animals. If you catch, you can eat prison food."

...

Seeing the girls chatting, Naoki looked at Itsuki and gave his a sly look, "Come here."

"Eh?"

Itsuki blinked and slightly raised his guard: "What are you going to do?"

"I am hungry." Naoki whispered "Are there meat buns? "

"No meat buns." Itsuki said exasperatedly, "You've eaten roasted sweet potatoes and chestnuts before."

Naoki sighed: "Remember carefully, have I eaten something?"

"It seems.. ...." Itsuki hesitated, "No?"

There were many people before, everyone was talking, chatting and playing games. She was happily eating stone-roasted sweet potatoes, and didn't pay attention to Naoki's movements.

The ahoge hair on top of Itsuki's head shook a few times and whispered: "The meat buns I brought have already been eaten, but there are still snacks that I bought in the afternoon. I will give it to you later."

_

After a while.

A soft knock sounded on the door.

Naoki opened the door, and Itsuki entered silently with a bag of snacks.

"Snacks for you." Itsuki put the snacks on the table, "I'll be right back."

"Wait a moment." Naoki called out to Itsuki, "Stay and eat together."

"I've brushed my teeth." Itsuki shook his head "And I'm not hungry, so I'll have a snack tomorrow."

Naoki took a bag of matcha cookies, tore it open, and took a bite: "Get up early tomorrow ."

Itsuki was surprised, and said: "Why did you get up early?"

Naoki swallowed the cake in his mouth, "Like summer, let's soak in the hot springs together."

Itsuki's hair fluttered, and his face quickly turned red at a rate visible to the naked eye. A scene quickly flashed in his mind.

On that day in June, she woke up in the morning and couldn't sleep. She was out for a dip in the hot springs alone, but she ran into Naoki and was snatched from her first kiss in the hot springs pool. She pretended to be nervous for a long time afterward… It had been so long ago, his memories were already hazy, but Itsuki was surprised because the memory of that day was so clear in his mind.

"I don't want to." Itsuki's face turned red and refused, "The weather is really cold, if I wake up in the morning and go to the hot springs, I'll freeze to death, right?

"It's the best time to soak in the hot springs."

Itsuki put his hand on his chest: "Even if you say that… We're not in the same room, how can we soak in the hot springs together?"

Naoki said "As long as we are in the same room, we can be together in the hot spring?"

"I will be back."

Itsuki turned and left.

...

Back to room.

"I suddenly thought of a very important question," Ichika said suddenly.

Yotsuba asked curiously, "What's the problem?"

Ichika lowered her voice and said, "What if someone sneaks into Asakawa-kun's room at night?"

Ichika gave an example, "For example, Rizu and Sayuki."

Yotsuba hesitated: "Sayuki-san... It looks really good?"

Even Nino hesitated.

If Naoki was attacked by another girl at night in front of his eyes, thinking about it would make her angry.

"So let Asakawa-kun come to sleep?" Ichika stretched out her finger "To prevent him from being attacked at night."

...

After a while.

Naoki came to the Quintuplets' room with blankets and pillows, and looked at Itsuki: "Everyone goes to bed early and wakes up early."

Itsuki: "😐"

Why did Naoki come here without saying a word?