Bath

After finishing their fried rice, Lu Mingfei and Erii walked out, both of them clutching anime figures and hugging pillows.

As they stepped out of Akihabara, Lu Mingfei decided it was a bit of a hassle to carry all this stuff around while sightseeing, so he opted to head back to the hotel first.

Passersby on the street watched them walk by, arms full of pillows and figures, acting as if no one else existed, and could only sigh—truly, they were otaku!

Lu Mingfei didn't care about the judgmental stares at all; he was just hugging a pillow featuring Asahina Mikuru in a maid outfit.

Erii followed closely behind Lu Mingfei; she didn't know the way, so she simply went wherever he went.

Back at their hotel, Lu Mingfei stood at the entrance for a moment, thinking, before shoving the pillows and figures into Erii's arms.

"Hold onto these for a second. I'm going inside to scout for enemy intel. I'll be right back, so don't wander off," Lu Mingfei instructed.

Erii nodded obediently, thinking to herself that this must be Sakura's base. It made sense to scout carefully; it would be bad if there were enemies, but who could the enemies be?

Lu Mingfei went inside to observe the situation. Seeing that his aunt, uncle, and Section Chief Chen's family weren't lurking around the lobby, he let out a sigh of relief. It would be a real headache if he ran into his aunt and uncle.

He had no idea how they would react to his pillows and figures, especially since he had also brought back a living, breathing person.

Walking back out of the hotel, he saw Erii standing exactly where he left her, looking incredibly well-behaved.

"Let's go in," Lu Mingfei said, taking the pillows from Erii's arms.

He opened his room door to reveal a single large bed and a bathroom.

"Let's put the anime merch on the bed for now. Once that's done, we can go explore the street outside; I heard the snacks there are pretty good."

Erii nodded, carefully placing her pillows and figures on the bed before looking at Lu Mingfei with wide eyes, as if waiting for his command.

"Let's go!" Lu Mingfei said with a smile.

"Let's go!" Erii wrote in her notebook.

There was a street right next door known for being a famous snack street, which was exactly where Lu Mingfei took her.

Night had just fallen, and the street was bustling with vendors selling all sorts of local delicacies.

They definitely hadn't come to the wrong place.

"Erii, just tell me if there's anything you want to eat," Lu Mingfei said, looking at her.

"Sakura, I want to eat that!" Erii wrote without a moment's hesitation.

She pointed a finger at a nearby barbecue stall selling grilled eel, which smelled delicious.

"Boss, four skewers of grilled eel, please."

It didn't take long before four skewers of freshly grilled eel were in their hands. Two for each, and they enjoyed them immensely as they walked.

"Sakura, I want to eat takoyaki!"

They ordered a few servings of sauce-covered takoyaki. One bite in, and it was refreshing—crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and absolutely delicious.

Every time Erii pointed at something, Lu Mingfei would buy it. Erii kept snacking on these street foods, buying only small portions of each so she could try a wide variety of things she had never tasted before.

Many of these were things Erii had seen in anime but never actually eaten; she usually only consumed food carefully prepared for her by the Snake Eight Families.

"Sakura, taiyaki!" Erii looked longingly at a small, crowded shop selling taiyaki.

"Got it!" Lu Mingfei told Erii to wait on the sidelines while he went to grab some.

A short while later, Lu Mingfei returned with a bag of taiyaki, and Erii's eyes sparkled.

The two walked and ate, as if they wouldn't be satisfied until they had devoured every piece of food in sight.

Before they knew it, they had reached the end of the snack street.

"It's already past ten," Lu Mingfei said, checking his phone.

"Erii, we should head back."

Erii rubbed her stomach and nodded; she had had such a wonderful day.

On the walk back, Lu Mingfei felt that Erii's eyes looked much more lively than before. Whenever she ate something delicious, she would squint slightly and savor it carefully.

Suddenly, Erii stopped walking and pointed at a drink in a vending machine. It was the latest popular girl-themed fruit drink, the one with commercials playing on TV every single day.

Two drinks rolled out. Lu Mingfei handed one to Erii and took one for himself.

Back at the hotel, Lu Mingfei realized a problem: Erii was a girl. Where could she stay with him? He didn't feel comfortable leaving her anywhere else.

This girl knew absolutely nothing about the world; what if she got lost?

"Um, Erii, would you mind staying in the same room as me? Don't worry, I absolutely don't have any ulterior motives!" Lu Mingfei asked, rushing to explain.

Erii tilted her head and wrote in her notebook: "Okay."

Lu Mingfei was slightly stunned by how readily she agreed.

"Right, same drill as before. Wait outside for a second while I check the room."

Erii stood there obediently, hands folded in front of her, waiting like a girl out of a manga.

Everything was clear inside, so Lu Mingfei brought Erii into the room.

Lu Mingfei flopped onto the bed. He was exhausted after walking for so long, mostly because he was so full.

"Wait a minute, there's only one bed here!" This wasn't just a room issue anymore; the problem was that there was only one bed and not even a sofa.

Erii seemed to notice nothing at all, simply sitting on the other side of the bed and playing with her newly purchased figurine.

The room was very quiet, and Lu Mingfei didn't know what to say for a moment.

"I'm going to take a bath," Erii suddenly wrote in her notebook.

Before Lu Mingfei could even respond, Erii pulled at her belt and slipped off her white upper garment.

The translucent white lining slid down the curves of her body, revealing fair shoulders, prominent shoulder blades, and a white lace bra.

Erii stood up from her hakama, wearing only her lace lingerie. She pulled the little yellow duck from the inside of her skirt, balanced it on her head, trotted around the room on her tiptoes, and finally ran toward the bathroom.

Lu Mingfei watched, dumbfounded. Even after Erii had disappeared into the bathroom, he still hadn't recovered from the shock of her undressing.

The sound of rushing water echoed from the bathroom, leaving only a pile of red and white shrine maiden robes on the bed.

Only then did Lu Mingfei realize she had truly gone to bathe; she had simply told him she was going, and regardless of whether anyone was around, she had stripped off her clothes and headed straight for the bathroom.

Inside the bathroom, Erii splashed the clear water in the tub, the little yellow duck swimming back and forth.

She kept pushing the little yellow duck away, only to hook it back with her foot, playing with it to her heart's content.