Chapter 201

The hot spring hotel they were going to visit was about an hour's drive from Maple Plain City.

I heard that area is a tourist area under development and is not fully open to the public yet. Haihara is a little curious about where Kirishima Ai got such a hot spring pass, which includes free food and lodging.

Taking the tram might be faster, but it would involve a long walk after arriving at the station, so they ultimately chose to drive.

Haihara quickly discovered the problem.

Because of its remote location, even navigation isn't very accurate, and for someone who doesn't drive often, finding the way is really difficult.

After getting off the highway, Haihara got lost.

Kirishima.

Since they weren't at school anymore, Haihara just called Kirishima Ai that.

"Teacher?"

Kirishima Ai paused for a moment, then came to her senses.

From the very beginning, she had been somewhat dazed because she kept staring at Teacher Haihara's face.

As for why this was done...

It was because she found the teacher's distressed and clumsy demeanor after getting lost quite endearing.

She thought she had been caught peeping.

But what Haihara said next was completely unexpected:

"You look adorable today."

She said it expressionlessly.

Kirishima Ai blinked, stunned for a moment, but after she came to her senses, a blush spread across her face.

She turned her face away, but her ears were already bright red.

Why would a teacher say something like that when they're lost?

After that, the car became very quiet, and neither of them said a word.

Haihara realized she had indeed forgotten to praise Kirishima Ai.

She rarely, if ever, saw Kirishima Ai clothes, except for a few events.

It was only after seeing Kirishima Ai's casual clothes that Haihara truly felt the charm of Kirishima Ai as a high school girl.

Especially white socks.

After painstakingly searching various maps using Google and other software, Haihara even consulted his scientist girlfriend before finally finding a reasonably reliable route to the hot spring inn.

Perhaps she should have asked Kougami long ago.

He truly deserves to be called a genius scientist.

As soon as she mentioned her name, Kougami knew how to get there, as if Kougami owned the hot spring inn.

Haihara's path became much smoother afterward.

As for Kirishima, who was in the passenger seat, perhaps because she was still a little sleepy in the morning and had nothing to do along the way, she looked drowsy and could fall asleep at any moment.

The girl's fair and delicate face still had a faint blush, making one want to poke it.

Along the way, Haihara was getting a little tired while driving. Thinking about it carefully, this was her first time driving a long distance, and she ended up driving for more than an hour. It was impossible for her not to be tired.

In the distance, she finally saw the hot spring hotel.

Built high up on a mountain, it requires driving a mountain road to get there, which is the most difficult part, but fortunately the road is not too difficult to travel.

As expected, there weren't many cars in the nearby parking lots when we arrived, so there were probably no other guests besides them.

However, when Haihara looked up, ready to tell Kirishima Ai get off the bus, she saw a sight that surprised her.

The little girl leaned against the passenger seat, her eyes closed without any guard.

Here with Haihara, you can hear her even breathing and the soft purring she makes as she sleeps soundly, just like a cat purring.

It seems this child is also very sleepy.

Haihara leaned a little closer, gazing at the girl's adorable sleeping face.

Instead of waking her up immediately, he took out his phone.

She adjusted the angle little by little.

Because Kirishima Ai is so cute, she doesn't need any special camera features; the photos taken with just the default camera are already quite pleasing to the eye.

"Snoring... Chirping..."

After a while, Kirishima Ai felt a gentle pat on her face and opened her eyes, slightly dazed.

When she opened her eyes, strangely enough, as if in a dream, she found that Teacher Haihara was looking at her.

And it was a very gentle smile, although such a smile would be called a sneer on most people's faces.

Because of that smile, Kirishima Ai thought she was dreaming, but soon the woman's smile faded, replaced by her usual calm expression, leaving Kirishima Ai somewhat confused about reality.

She heard the woman say:

"We've arrived, Kirishima."

Chapter Seven: Miss Blue Dream Meng's Amazing Wisdom

Since the hot spring inn was not officially open yet, Haihara had contacted the inn's staff a few days earlier.

After contacting them, I learned that the current manager of the hotel is the landlady, and all I need to do is let her know when I'm almost there.

To be honest, Haihara doesn't have much experience when it comes to traveling.

Otherwise, she would have known to call ahead.

Shortly after arriving at the destination, Haibara, flustered and disoriented from getting lost Haihara remembered to call the landlady.

I'm sorry, she's an unreliable adult.

Hopefully, I'll still have time to call the landlady after I arrive.

Fortunately, the landlady answered the phone quickly.

The proprietress's voice was much younger than I had imagined. Even if she wasn't a woman in her early twenties in the prime of her life, she was probably a well-maintained and still charming young woman.

Haihara's intuition in this regard has always been very accurate.

[So, it's Miss Haihara, right?]

It was a very gentle and melodious voice, as sweet and soft as nectar, its charm palpable even through the phone.

"That's right, there were two people in total. I contacted you two days ago."

Haihara responded quickly.

Meanwhile, Kirishima Ai was still curiously looking out the car window, perhaps because the hotel was built on a high place, so the view was quite good.

The proprietress sounded very enthusiastic:

[We're making ginger soup right now, and the room is ready. After you've settled in, you can come over and have a bowl of ginger soup to warm yourselves up.]

[Just have the hotel receptionist check your identification in a bit.]

They seemed even more enthusiastic than Haihara had imagined.

Perhaps it's because there aren't many people around.

Haihara wasn't particularly interested in such warm human kindness, but on such a cold day, and with so much free time, a bowl of ginger soup wouldn't be bad.

After making the contact, Haihara led Kirishima Ai up a short distance and soon arrived at the inn.

The hotel is very large.

It seems to be a very high-end hotel, the kind that evokes images of vacation homes for the wealthy, and that's probably true in reality.

However, what caught Haihara's attention was that the hotel was surrounded by flowers.

Petals of various colors and shapes.

The flowers were in full bloom, some even climbing up the wall, blending seamlessly with the modern yet elegant architecture and adding a touch of nature.

I don't know if it's just Haihara's imagination.

Some of these flowers don't seem to bloom in late autumn.

However, she didn't really understand it, so she didn't have much to comment on.

After entering the hotel, they showed their identification and hot spring tickets to the receptionist. Then, led by the receptionist, they smoothly arrived at the hotel room that had been prepared for them.

"Thank you for your hard work, teacher."

After seeing the hotel where they were going to stay, Kirishima Ai glanced quietly at Teacher Haihara.

Upon reflection, even though they were no longer in school, she still called Haihara" teacher."

After all, there wasn't any other suitable name.

After that, the two of them looked at the hotel room where they would be staying.

The floor is made of tatami mats, and we sleep on futons on the floor at night.

The rooms here are clean and bright, and they are separated from the private hot spring by only a glass door.

Moreover, there are several large public baths next to the hotel.

Before they arrived, the room had already been heated by the air conditioning, making it warm and dispelling much of the chill they had just carried.

Just as Kirishima Ai was beginning to contain her excitement, she stared at the room, stunned for a moment:

"... teacher."

Haihara had just put down her luggage and taken off her coat when she heard Kirishima Ai in pain. She looked up:

"What's wrong?"

She saw that Kirishima Ai was staring blankly into the room.

"Are we... sleeping in this room together tonight?"

Kirishima Ai's voice was somewhat unsteady.

Her gaze was also shifty, sometimes pretending to look at the hot spring outside, and sometimes secretly glancing at Haihara.

In fact, Kirishima Ai had just thought of this problem.

Although Doctor Hong Shang gave her two tickets, Doctor Hong Shang never said whether it was considered a room or if they would share a room.

The hotel seemed to have tacitly accepted that the two of them were sleeping in the same room.

Haihara thought for a moment, then calmly said:

"Whatever you like. If you want to sleep alone, I'll go ask the hotel staff later; they should have plenty of rooms available."

She had assumed that since Kirishima Ai had invited her to the hot springs, she must want to sleep with her.

If we travel together but don't share a bed, it doesn't seem to make much difference to Haihara as to sleep at home.

Kirishima Ai regretted asking that question earlier.

"You're right... I'll think about it for a bit."

As she spoke, she looked down at the room again.

If she agrees, they'll probably sleep together tonight.

Although it wasn't the first time she and her teacher had slept together.

But on the first two occasions, she was generally in a low mood, and even when they slept together, she mostly sought comfort from the teacher.

What is this all about tonight?

As Haihara packed her things, she remembered the phone call she had just had with the landlady:

"Let's go to the landlady's for a bowl of ginger soup later; it's getting a bit chilly."

For office workers like Sha Qina, this weekend's holiday wasn't even three days long.

So, in her view, it was just another ordinary weekend.