After hearing that, Yukino Yukinoshita froze for a moment. Then, like a startled little white rabbit, she widened her eyes and looked at the "big bad wolf," Kotomi Izumi.
"W-What are you saying? Y-Yui is still right here..."
Although nothing showed on her face, when Kotomi saw Yukino react like a frightened little rabbit after hearing her words, she was secretly thrilled inside.
Hehehe! I, Kotomi Izumi, have spent so long being the little rabbit and the little lamb. I finally get to turn the tables and be the big bad wolf for once! I really am the dominant one. I just never fully brought it out before! I'm amazing!
Even though she felt extremely pleased inside, Kotomi carefully restrained herself from showing it too obviously. After all, if the little rabbit in front of her—Yukino—realized she had said it on purpose just to scare her, that thin-skinned rabbit might panic and bite back.
As for why Yukino had added, "Yui is still right here..." at the end, Kotomi didn't think too deeply about it. She assumed Yukino was simply shy.
Shy as she might be, when Yukino said that last line, it almost sounded like, "Kotomi, we can't do this. You're already married to Yui." The rare hint of bashfulness and uncertainty about how to refuse, appearing within her normally cold personality, instantly drove away Kotomi's lingering sleepiness and replaced it with excitement.
Why is Yukino so cute? I want her to become my girlfriend right now, immediately! Kotomi shouted inwardly, as though the trumpet of attack had already begun to sound.
"So what if Yui is here? You're the one who asked me first. You have a question, and I happen to know the answer. I can explain it to you, but I don't do it for free. I need compensation. And that compensation is—let me kiss you once."
Kotomi spoke very quietly as she said this, wrapping an arm around Yukino Yukinoshita's shoulders in front of Yui Yuigahama and leaning closer.
It wasn't because Kotomi had suddenly become braver recently. It was simply because Yui Yuigahama was obedient and easy to coax.
If Megumi Kato had been present instead, even with ten times the courage, Kotomi wouldn't dare act like this in front of her.
"Kotomi... y-you... don't do this..."
Yukino Yukinoshita lowered her head shyly, her cheeks flushing red.
She actually said something like that to me... and Yui is right here. Isn't she afraid Yui will see? Yukino thought in slight panic.
She didn't even dare turn around to look at what expression Yui might have right now.
Even if Yui were only watching them with confusion, that confused gaze felt like thorns against Yukino's back, as if a sharp blade were pressed against her spine.
At the same time, though, hearing that Kotomi wanted to kiss her made Yukino feel happy... yet this happiness was something she couldn't openly acknowledge, because Kotomi was her good friend Yui Yuigahama's girlfriend.
That alone made Yukino feel she had to cut off any feelings she shouldn't have when facing Kotomi.
Her shy gaze dropped toward the floor. The normally icy and aloof Yukino Yukinoshita now only wanted to find a crack in the ground and disappear into it, unsure how to face either Kotomi or Yui.
Seeing this, Kotomi decided to stop while she was ahead. She hadn't expected to accelerate their progress to kissing in one go anyway. This was only meant as a test. Seeing Yukino blush instead of getting angry meant her objective had already been achieved.
Besides, even if she really could kiss her, Kotomi wouldn't actually do it right now.
Yui was still watching.
No matter how easy to coax or obedient Yui might be, Kotomi wouldn't choose to kiss Yukino directly in front of her. At least not yet.
Kotomi leaned close to Yukino's ear and whispered softly:
"Hehe, just kidding. Don't take it seriously. Let me tell you what that vending machine inside sells. It sells..."
Kotomi muttered a long explanation in a low voice. At first, Yukino Yukinoshita looked slightly confused, but as Kotomi continued describing it in detail, the icy beauty's cheeks gradually flushed with an increasingly alluring shade of red.
After finishing, Kotomi looked at Yukino with a mischievous grin, as though she had completed a great achievement.
Yukino, meanwhile, had her mouth slightly open at first. Now, out of embarrassment, she had forgotten to close it, breathing heavily. Usually she would seize any opportunity to make sharp retorts at Kotomi, but at this moment she needed quite some time to catch her breath before finally managing to say one sentence, face red:
"K-Kotomi, you pervert!"
After saying that, she didn't forget to kick at Kotomi.
With the enhancement of the Queen of All Females physique, Kotomi Izumi's physical reaction speed had become extremely fast. For example, right now, when Yukino kicked toward her, the movement appeared like slow motion in Kotomi's eyes. With a simple sideways step, she easily dodged Yukino Yukinoshita's "attack."
This enhancement hadn't existed before. But ever since Kotomi used fame points to raise the system's various levels into double digits, it was as though she had completed an achievement in a game and automatically received a reward. The buff had simply been added onto her.
She just didn't know yet whether it required manual activation or triggered automatically.
Kotomi planned to test it over the next while. If she could figure out how to trigger it, then if she ever faced a yandere attack again, as long as she slowed their movements in her perception, wouldn't she be able to dodge every strike easily?
Thinking of this, Kotomi couldn't help but sigh in admiration. This buff was incredibly useful!
After her kick was dodged, Yukino Yukinoshita was first surprised at how fast Kotomi's reaction speed had been. Even though she hadn't trained specifically, that kick had been quite sudden in her opinion. Kotomi usually acted a little silly, so she shouldn't have been able to avoid it. Yet Kotomi had dodged—and very easily at that.
This made Yukino even more convinced that Kotomi's usual clueless behavior was probably an act. She looked at Kotomi with a somewhat suspicious gaze.
Meanwhile, Yui Yuigahama, who had been watching from the side the entire time, stared blankly at Kotomi and Yukino.
It wasn't that she didn't want to speak. She simply had no idea what her girlfriend Kotomi and Yukino Yukinoshita had been doing since just now.
She wanted to ask, but she was afraid that asking might make Kotomi angry.
So Yui could only stay quiet and obediently watch their intimate interaction, drawing little circles in her heart unhappily.
Once we get to the room later, I'm definitely going to jump into Kotomi's arms and act spoiled, Yui thought silently.
Yui Yuigahama still thought that Kotomi had booked two rooms. She assumed that later she would share a room with Kotomi while Yukino would stay alone in another room. Her mind had already begun wandering, thinking about how she would act spoiled with Kotomi once they got to their room.
Yui Yuigahama especially loved acting spoiled with Kotomi Izumi before going to sleep. It was as if, without doing so, she wouldn't be able to sleep the entire night.
As she imagined how she would act spoiled, the scenes gradually formed in her mind. The more vivid they became, the more excited she felt. The more excited she felt, the further her thoughts ran... until she suddenly felt her nose grow warm. Only then did Yui hurriedly stop her wandering imagination.
I almost got a nosebleed... Yui thought in embarrassment. She definitely didn't want to show such a humiliating side in front of Kotomi and Yukino.
If she had been alone with Kotomi right now, she wouldn't have hidden it at all. She might even have used a nosebleed as an excuse to cling to Kotomi and act spoiled as much as she wanted.
But now, it wasn't just Kotomi. Yukino Yukinoshita was also here. Although Yukino was her good friend, Yui only wanted to act spoiled toward Kotomi when the two of them were alone.
After indulging in teasing Yukino for a bit, Kotomi Izumi decided not to waste any more time. It was time to talk about the real matter. It was already late, and she had no intention of pulling an all-nighter.
"Alright, let's get to the point. Yukino, Yui, I've booked the room. It was really a close call..." As she said this, Kotomi even pretended to let out a long breath.
"What happened, Kotomi?" Yui Yuigahama asked with concern.
"Are there not enough rooms?"
Yukino Yukinoshita recalled what Kotomi had said earlier. In winter, everyone loved traveling to cities with hot springs. Kyoto naturally became one of the most popular tourist destinations during this season.
Once a city became a popular tourist spot, an obvious problem would surface—there simply weren't enough hotels and inns. If visitors arrived first and then tried to find accommodation, they might not be able to book anything at all. They could go from one hotel to another, only to find no vacant rooms anywhere.
"Most of the rooms in this hotel are basically full. You can check that electronic panel over there. If a room number is glowing pink, it means someone is already staying in it. Blue means the room is still vacant," Kotomi Izumi explained.
Yukino and Yui glanced at the electronic panel Kotomi mentioned. Almost every room number was glowing pink. Only one room stood out—a single blue light among a sea of pink.
Yui Yuigahama: "Does that mean there's only one room left?"
Yukino Yukinoshita: "They're almost all pink. If you didn't look carefully, you really wouldn't notice that one blue light."
Seeing that both of them had noticed it, Kotomi continued,
"I asked the receptionist just now. The entire hotel only has one vacant room left. It's a large-bed room. It's already very late. Even if we try other hotels now, putting aside whether they have vacancies, walking around at night isn't safe. Let's just stay here tonight. Tomorrow, we'll sleep until we wake naturally, check out, and then take a car to Seiya Tower."
"A large-bed room? That's fine. It's already almost 3:50. We should get the key and rest early," Yukino agreed.
"I'll listen to Kotomi," Yui Yuigahama said. No matter what Kotomi said, she would always stand by her side.
"Alright then. I'll go get the room key. I set checkout for noon tomorrow. We can sleep until we wake up naturally," Kotomi said before turning toward the front desk.
She retrieved the key card for the large-bed room and didn't forget to give the receptionist a meaningful look.
Having taken the money, the receptionist understood immediately and gave a subtle nod. After Kotomi and the others walked away, she quietly clicked the mouse again.
The electronic panel, which had just shown that most rooms were occupied with only one large-bed room left, instantly returned to normal. Now most of the lights were blue, indicating vacant rooms, rather than pink.
Watching the three girls' backs as they left, the receptionist had once thought she was still young. But now, she suddenly felt as though she was falling behind the times. She couldn't help muttering to herself,
"Three people, and all girls, coming to stay at a love hotel in the middle of the night... Do young people really play this wildly nowadays?"
They took the elevator up to the third floor, where the large-bed room was located.
A love hotel was truly a love hotel. Even the corridor lighting radiated an atmosphere of intimacy, making people unconsciously quicken their steps, eager to reach the room sooner.
Very soon, they arrived at the room they had booked—301.
Seeing the number "301," Kotomi couldn't help but laugh. There was no special meaning behind it. It simply reminded her of a few days ago when she had played Apex with Kiyoko Matsumatsu.
Kiyoko had chosen Bloodhound and, though usually skilled with the Peacekeeper, had suddenly wanted to try something different and use the R-301 for a round.
Kotomi still remembered that the map that game had been World's Edge. Before jumping, she had declared she was going to play Sentinel properly. But the moment she spotted a gold optic, she became more excited than if she had seen a beauty in black stockings. Sentinel? Never heard of it. She clicked her mouse rapidly, swapping out shield cells for sniper ammo, carrying over two hundred rounds and still feeling like it wasn't enough.
Just as Kotomi was about to activate Valkyrie's ultimate and fly to high ground to enjoy using the gold optic, Kiyoko spotted an enemy. Without hesitation, she activated her ultimate and shouted, "I am Bloth Hoondr!"
Then she emptied an entire magazine from the R-301 at close range—without even knowing what armor the enemy was wearing.
Afterward, Kiyoko had even said confidently, "I told you I'm not good at World's Edge. When Kings Canyon comes back next season, we'll play ranked. I'll definitely carry you all the way to Predator."
"Kotomi, what are you laughing about?" Yukino Yukinoshita asked curiously.
"Nothing. I just suddenly remembered something funny."
"Something funny?"
"I was playing a game with a friend before, and she made a hilariously terrible play. The gun she was using was called the R-301. Seeing this room number just reminded me of it."
Kotomi laughed again, then used the key card to open the door to Room 301.
—
—
40 Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon:
Patreon.com/DaoOfHeaven