Chapter 339

Nijika stopped in her tracks, turned 60 degrees, and looked at Ishikawa Hayato.

"Because... I feel like Hayato-kun is the kind of person who spends money recklessly if he thinks something is good?"

She spoke uncertainly, then realized the teasing in her words towards Ishikawa Hayato and laughed.

Ishikawa Hayato raised his gaze, starting from her bare ankles, and looked at Nijika's cute smile with her hands on either side, thinking to himself how adorable Nijika was.

It's not the lively and straightforward cuteness of Ikuyo, nor the endearing cuteness of Ichiri, nor the alluring cuteness of Hitori when she occasionally acts coquettishly. Rather, it's her various subconscious little actions that make her look cute.

She walks with her arms swinging wildly, her gaze often carries a thoughtful expression, and she flashes a sweet and lovely smile when making eye contact. When carrying a backpack, she holds onto the straps with both hands, and so on.

"But I don't think that spending money is necessarily better. We're here to have fun, so a little extra time won't hurt. Of course, it would be better to enjoy different scenery from a bus with a wider view," Ishikawa Hayato said.

Nijika raised her gaze, tapped her chin with her finger to imagine for a moment, and chuckled, "That seems to be right."

However, her smiling face then took on a stern look, "But does that mean you won't skimp on things that require spending money?"

Ishikawa Hayato was unfazed by Qiang Wei's affirmation.

"Um!"

Nijika lowered her head listlessly, her playful side ponytail swaying slightly. "Hayato-kun, I have something I want to say to you, but I don't know if it's appropriate to say it now."

"It's alright, go ahead and say it." Ishikawa Hayato took her hand. Although her skin wasn't as smooth as Hibiki's, the feeling of kissing it was incredibly wonderful.

Ishikawa Hayato meant for Nijika to continue, but he himself didn't stop talking.

"Do you remember what we said when we went to the aquarium? Nijika has a lot to tell me, and now is the perfect time."

Even though nearly half a year had passed, Nijika quickly recalled what Ishikawa Hayato had said back then after being reminded of it, and said with admiration.

"Hayato-kun actually remembers."

"Of course, a pervert wouldn't forget anything important."

Nijika blinked in confusion. "What else is important..." she said, then suddenly remembered what Ishikawa Hayato had said back then.

"I've already thought of the position. I'll sit on the chair and hold Nijika in my arms, because when she's sitting on my lap, Nijika feet definitely won't touch the ground and will just dangle..."

Nijika's face suddenly turned red. Even though she had already sat in Ishikawa Hayato's lap, she still felt incredibly shy when she thought of his words.

She took a half step back, but didn't let go of Ishikawa Hayato's hand, watching him warily.

"You're not going to hug me right now, are you?"

"I didn't ask for anything, but Nijika said so..." Ishikawa Hayato smiled and pretended to hug her.

Nijika took several steps back and hurriedly said, "I didn't say I'd let you hug me!"

"No, you asked, and that was a rhetorical question with an inviting tone," Ishikawa Hayato teased.

"That's not true at all!"

Nijika immediately hid even faster, but a happy smile remained on her face.

The two chased and retreated, but because they were holding hands, they ended up circling around on the road.

After running a couple of times, Ishikawa Hayato "successfully" caught up with Nijika and hugged her from behind when Nijika stumbled because she wasn't paying attention to the slope.

"Got him." Ishikawa Hayato whispered in her ear.

Seeing that he wasn't doing anything inappropriate, Nijika let him hold her completely, leaning against him and hugging his arm as she smiled.

"They've been caught."

The two hugged for a while, and after Ishikawa Hayato kissed Nijika's cheek, Nijika gently pushed him away.

Nijika smiled helplessly.

"Let's not talk about those things anymore. It's a rare date, and I don't want to talk about anything unpleasant."

Ishikawa Hayato immediately retorted.

"What do you mean by being unhappy? I can listen to Nijika's lectures happily."

Nijika didn't know whether she was angry or amused, but she burst out laughing.

"It's more important to take the advice to heart and change your ways than to just enjoy listening!"

Ishikawa Hayato smiled, neither saying whether he would change it or not. He glanced at the taxis and buses approaching them and then took Nijika's hand.

"The bus has arrived, let's hurry to the bus stop and wait there."

"Um!"

Inside the hotel, Liang's team returned to their rooms.

Before entering, they saw a sign on the door that said "Cleaning Available," so they knew that Ishikawa Hayato and Nijika had already left.

After entering the room, they packed their luggage, preparing to follow the suspect.

Once Ikuyo entered tracking mode, she became very enthusiastic, checking bus schedules on her phone.

"The bus only runs once an hour here, and it looks like we've arrived already. Everyone, hurry up!"

What upset her even more was what Liang and Hitori were busy with.

Liang put on a black mask and then rummaged through her bag.

It was much simpler with Hitori. She simply wrapped a scarf around her head, then put on her party glasses and spoke indistinctly like a mummy.

"I... I'm all better!"

Ikuyo stomped her feet in anger.

"There's no time to play anymore. If we keep following him like this, not only will Hayato-kun notice, but even Nijika- senpai will realize it immediately!"

At this moment, Liang found a hat, put it on his head, glanced at Hitori, and said with a hint of smugness.

"This is the standard way to track and match."

"You guys are really something!"

Ikuyo couldn't stand it any longer and went over there.

First, she took off Hitori's exaggerated outfit, then rummaged through her and Hitori's bags and took out two masks, put them on her face, and then, holding her own mask, pulled on Liang's sleeve and walked outside.

"Let's set off!"

"I went ( to Ikuyo)," Ryo nodded as he followed behind her.

"Stop fooling around, Ryo-senpai. This isn't the time to play around!"

Ikuyo walked ahead without looking back, her face grim, and spoke in an unusually heavy tone.

After the three of them went downstairs, they took a taxi that was already waiting for them at the hotel entrance.

They didn't need to communicate; the three of them tacitly assigned seats, with Ryo sitting in the passenger seat and Ikuyo and Hitori sitting in the back.

However, things weren't so coordinated once they got on the bus.

Ryo said, "To Ichinomiya Station, please hurry..."

Ichinomiya was the first stop where Ishikawa Hayato took the bus. They didn't know which stop he would get off at, so they just followed him one by one.

Ikuyo, who had been sitting down slowly, leaned forward and spoke.

"Wait, Ryo-senpai, let me speak!"

Liang looked back helplessly.

When Ikuyo met her gaze, she instantly understood what she meant, after all, they were teammates who had fought against Ishikawa Hayato many times together.

Ikuyo smiled happily, pointed ahead, and called to the driver.

"Please catch up with that bus ahead!"

A while later, in front of Beppu Station, Seika, who was still thinking about where to go next, and Hibiki, who was considering what to do, both noticed a message on Instagram.

Ikuyo: "It was really fun shouting 'Keep up with them!' in a taxi for the first time."

Both Seika and Hibiki expressed their confusion about Ikuyo's strange message, but then they looked at the attached image.

Ikuyo, Hitori, and Ryo sat inside the taxi.

The taxi was clearly moving, the surrounding scenery was blurry, and there seemed to be little information; most people would probably have given up hope.

But!

Possessed by a Seika and Hibiki quickly gleaned useful information from the photos and conversations.

Judging from the scenery outside the vehicle, they were descending a mountain. From the rear window, one could vaguely make out several large, luxurious buildings and a winding road behind them.

High mountains, buildings, and a continuous S-curve highway.

Based on Ikuyo's words, we know that this is the first time they have traveled in two separate vehicles like this, which means that the building is very likely a hotel!

Seika and Xiang each searched on the map, and soon they found the location and name of the building in the photo, one after the other.

That was the hotel where Ishikawa Hayato and his party were staying.

Without further information, they could only speculate, and both of them, adhering to the principle of proximity, searched for nearby attractions.

The Seven Hells!

Beppu's most unique scenery!

Their eyes lit up.

Seika didn't speak, but Hibiki held up his phone and spoke to Ishikawa Jinpei.

"I know where my brother might be! Dad, hurry and call a car!"

Seika was startled when she heard the sound from not far away. What a coincidence!

And the older brother in that family is really pitiful.

Seika glanced at Hiroi Kikuri, who was looking around, and then, thinking of the taxi, she suddenly had a wicked plan to shake off Hiroi Kikuri.

Anyway, this guy is a grown man, losing him for a few hours won't cause any serious problems, we can just find him before dark.

She only observed how those people were getting along briefly; it wouldn't take long.

Seika revealed a knowing smile.

234. Umi Jigoku

After riding for two stops, Ishikawa Hayato and Nijika got off the bus one after the other.

After getting off the bus, Nijika looked around with her beautiful eyes, slightly surprised by the different, but not as peculiar, scenery.

Ishikawa Hayato got out of the car after her.

Because of the height difference caused by the bus steps, coupled with Nijika's beautiful outfit today, Ishikawa Hayato felt like he was on a date with a cute little girl.

Ishikawa Hayato shook his head, forgetting the strange thought, got out of the car, walked to her side, and took Nijika's hand.

"What are you looking for?"

"No, I thought that after getting off the bus I would see a terrifying gate to hell, and then I would walk in through a monster's mouth."

"Would you still dare to go in after that?"

Ishikawa Hayato teased, knowing full well that Nijika was completely clueless about scary things; when the family watched horror movies, Nijika would usually hide behind him.

Nijika turned to the side, grabbing Ishikawa Hayato's sleeve with her other hand, her beautiful red eyes staring straight at him as she spoke.

"Isn't Hayato-kun right beside me?"

Ishikawa Hayato paused, then stated definitively, "Nijika is flirting with me."

"Huh?" Nijika was stunned for a moment. After recalling what she had just said, a shy expression suddenly appeared on her face.

But he didn't refute it. He just looked down and saw that no one was paying attention to them, then moved closer to Ishikawa Hayato.

Seeing her undisguised emotional expression today, Ishikawa Hayato couldn't help but want to reach out and touch her, but then he saw the bus start moving again, and all the tourists who came to visit Hell had already moved on.

He then abandoned the idea and took a step forward.

Nijika followed closely behind.