Anime Crossover: The Losing Heroines Have Become Witches

Chapter 564 559: Ichiyaboshi (Overnight Dried Fish)

Early morning sunlight spilled into the room through the gaps in the love hotel's thick curtains. The soft light drifted in the air like oarfish due to the Tyndall effect, carrying a faint warmth.

On the large bed unique to love hotels, the girl's eyelashes trembled slightly, and then she slowly opened her watery blue eyes.

The first thing to enter her field of vision was the young man's face, close at hand.

The other party had likely been awake for some time; the sunlight outlined a gentle contour on his profile, and his eyes held a slight smile, as if he had been waiting for her for a long while.

At that moment, the girl's heart skipped a beat, and even her breathing became cautious.

"Tha-that... Asakura-kun... have you been awake for a long time?"

"Not that long, I suppose."

"I see..." The girl let out a soft sigh of relief.

"Because Hitori's sleeping face was so interesting, an hour or so passed before I knew it."

"Isn't that quite a long time! Eh, is my sleeping face that strange?"

The girl immediately cupped her face, revealing a flustered expression like ( >△< ).

"Don't worry about it, it was just purely interesting."

Asakura waved his hand and then sat up. "Since you're awake, Hitori, it's about time to get up and prepare to check out."

"Oh, okay... ow, it hurts..."

Hitori subconsciously followed him and sat up, but then her face darkened and she couldn't help but lie back down on the bed.

"Are you still feeling uncomfortable?" Asakura asked while putting on his clothes.

"...I think it's mainly Asakura-kun's fault for the three rounds in the bathroom." The girl rarely showed a huffy expression, staring at Asakura and muttering: "I clearly already said no more..."

"No, the main responsibility lies with you, right, Hitori?"

Asakura said in a deadpan serious tone: "Because Hitori is so cute, I couldn't stop!"

"Ehehe, i-is that so..." The girl revealed a shy smile with a hint of secret joy.

She's really too easy to handle, Asakura thought to himself.

Although Hitori's body was still a bit uncomfortable, she wasn't actually a particularly pampered person—otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to endure at least six hours of guitar practice every day since elementary school. After adjusting a little, she got out of bed and started changing clothes under Asakura's gaze.

"Um... could you please not stare like that... I feel a bit embarrassed... I mean..."

"By now, things far more intense than this have already happened. There's no need to be embarrassed just by changing clothes, right? Or rather, do you need me to help you change?"

"B-because I feel like I'll be attacked, I'll just do it myself..."

"Speaking of which, though it's a bit late to ask now, was yesterday a safe period for you, Hitori?"

"Safe period?"

"..."

Forget it, I'll just have to pay more attention myself.

Directly having contact with no distance was indeed a bit reckless, but since it was the first time, there were bound to be some lapses in preparation.

Speaking of which, it was a love hotel, yet they hadn't even prepared any family planning supplies. Asakura couldn't help but start to question the service level of this establishment.

After changing and doing some brief washing, Asakura prepared to lead the girl to check out.

However, when he came out of the bathroom, he found the girl lying on the bed, seemingly searching for something carefully.

"Um... the pro-proof of the first time..." Hitori said in a small voice: "St-strange... why can't I find it... it was clearly the first time..."

As the messy bedsheets were searched through several times, the girl couldn't help but panic.

Unable to find proof of the first night → suspected of having lost her chastity long ago → abandoned by Asakura → a single mother kicked out of the house → dying tragically in the winter snow.

"At-at least spare the child..."

"What kind of train of thought skips from the previous topic to this step?" Asakura couldn't help but complain. "If you're talking about that bloodstain, I specifically lined the sheet with a towel yesterday. I've already put it away; I'll pay the hotel for the price difference later."

"Eh-eh-eh? Y-you're putting it away? That..."

"It's for preservation, after all."

"Wh-why does Asakura-kun make it sound like there's a 'missionary use' and a 'viewing use' too?!"

"How is that possible!" Asakura retorted. "Besides, are you still going to call me 'Asakura-kun' even now?"

"Then... what should I call you? Taku... Takuma-kun?"

"Call me Master (Danna)!"

"Ma-master..." The girl narrowed her eyes, showing a distressed expression. "The distance between our souls feels even further now?!"

"Just kidding, you can call me whatever you want."

"Asakura-san."

"Doesn't that name make our relationship more distant?"

"Then... Kuma-kun?"

"Since it's Takuma, the nickname is Kuma (Bear)..." Asakura's mood was subtly complex.

"Kuma-kun can call me Bocchi too," Hitori said with satisfaction.

"Forget it, it's better to keep calling you Hitori." Asakura shook his head and looked at the girl with a smile. "After all, there are many people who call you Bocchi, but I seem to be the only one who calls you Hitori, besides your family."

"..."

Under Asakura's bewildered gaze, for some reason, the girl once again began to beat her chest vigorously.

☆

The Gotō residence.

"I-I'm back..."

Hitori opened the door, cautiously moving into the house with steps as small as possible.

"Big sister!" Futari, who was originally playing with the dog, came running over happily: "Ah-re, did that Onii-chan not come along with you?"

"Ugh..."

Hitori shook her head.

After all, it wasn't until she checked out today and left the love hotel that the girl finally felt as if she had jolted awake from a dream, realizing what she and Asakura had done.

At least in the short term, the girl felt she couldn't look the other person in the face.

"Did you have a fight?" Futari asked, unable to help herself after seeing her sister's complicated expression.

"Not at all, it's just that Kuma... cough, Asakura-kun has... a few other things to take care of." Hitori said hurriedly.

"If it was a fight, it must definitely be big sister's fault."

"Why?!"

Hitori looked at her younger sister in shock.

The little girl said in an innocent tone: "Because big sister always thinks too much, that's why it's easy to mess things up~"

"Futari, do you actually hate me, your big sister?"

"No, I like big sister the most."

The little one shook her head.

"..."

Hitori stroked her little sister's head, her mood feeling a bit complicated for a moment.

Even though her heart would uncontrollably throb violently—even to the point of a faint aching—when Kuma-kun said he liked her, she didn't have that feeling at all when Futari said such words to her.

Furthermore, as long as she stayed with Kuma-kun, although there were occasional moments of dejection, most of the time she would become very happy.

Strange, even though she felt just a moment ago that she couldn't look him in the eye for a while, now she inexplicably wanted to see him.

Even if she tried her best not to think about him, the bits and pieces of their time spent together would still surface in her mind: his chest that, while not burly, was quite solid; his lower abdomen with the faint outline of muscles; and...

"Evil thoughts, begone! Evil thoughts, begone!"

"Waaah!" Futari was frightened away by Hitori's abrupt behavior, "Mama, big sister has suddenly started banging her head against the wall! Go get the salt ready!"

Immediately, the Gotō household fell into a scene of utter chaos.

☆

Although he really wanted to send Hitori directly home and take the opportunity to visit her place again, the thin-skinned girl used every ounce of her life's courage to reject Asakura's request.

He estimated that for the next two days, the girl would be in a daze for a while because of what happened last night.

Therefore, Asakura could only give up on the plan to trick her into going to Summer Comiket to play together.

After returning to his own home, before Asakura even had time to take out his keys, he heard footsteps coming from beside the door.

Then he saw Shiina appearing at the adjacent doorway.

The girl was holding detergent and a rag, looking as if she intended to do a major cleaning of the room.

"Eh? Asakura-kun?" The girl froze for a moment, "You're back this soon?"

"Is it that strange?" Asakura asked.

"Because you made it so serious at the start, I thought it would definitely be the kind of trip where you stay away for at least eight days and seven nights."

"While that wouldn't be impossible, I already made an appointment with my junior (kouhai) after all," Asakura sighed, "I can't leave things half-finished."

"An appointment?"

"Don't worry about it, I brought a souvenir for you."

"Thank you... Um, what is this?"

"Dried fish." Asakura pulled out a large, beautifully packaged bag of dried fish. It looked exactly like the kind of souvenir someone buys randomly at a local specialty shop at the train station because they only remembered they hadn't prepared gifts for anyone on the train ride home at the end of a trip.

"..."

Shiina looked at the dead fish eyes on the dried fish that seemed to be emitting a strange light; for the first time in her life, she felt the urge to reject a souvenir brought back by someone from a trip.

However, as long as this kind of Ichiyaboshi was handled properly and used in specific dishes, the taste would be quite good—it could be considered a delicacy.

So, in the end, she dutifully accepted Asakura's souvenir.

"How has the situation at Rabbit House been while I was away?"

Seeing the girl accept the dried fish with a complicated expression, Asakura asked her further.

"Rabbit Dango are selling as well as ever, to the point where Miss Kita, who came back to work part-time at the shop, was clutching her head and shouting 'there's nothing left at all!'"

Shiina said with a smile, but then she continued with a bit of regret: "The sales of other desserts are also quite good... it's just that still almost no one orders the drinks in the shop."

"You'll have to ask Miss Kawaragi about that; after all, no one plays jokes with their own life." Asakura shrugged: "When I have time, I'll set up an all-you-can-drink advancement or something to win back our reputation. Let the brave ones give it a try and break the unfavorable impression that 'Rabbit House drinks are the waters of life and death!'"