“Ugh…! What kind of trick did you use…!”

Emera, who never imagined the bear would lose without even fighting, glared at me in frustration.

It wasn’t even a trick; I just threatened it with killing intent… Is her intuition surprisingly dull?

Just as I was thinking about provoking her more to break her composure—

“Muu…!”

Furei, puffing out her cheeks like a child, started lightly smacking my arms repeatedly.

“W-What’s wrong…?”

Her usual lack of motivation was nowhere to be seen; Furei was fuming with anger, and I asked her with a wry smile.

“You scared Pochi…! You frightened him…!”

“N-no, isn’t that better than injuring him!? Would you rather I actually took him down!?”

“It would’ve been best if you’d held back your killing intent a little, or just knocked him out gently…! If you scare him that much, he might not come out again for a whole month…!”

Furei, who usually speaks so calmly, is now talking rapidly and angrily.

I sincerely thought it was good I didn’t knock him out.

“Don’t be ridiculous, there’s no way I could adjust my strength that perfectly…!?”

“You still have to do it…!”

Yeah, she really is Emera’s sister.

Their demands are seriously unreasonable.

Actually, it even has a bit of Maria-san’s vibe to it.

“…Hey, aren’t the two of you getting along too well? The match isn’t over yet, you know…”

As Furei changed from light pats to pounding on my chest, leaving me completely at her mercy, Emera, who had run to the entrance, hurried back in panic.

She probably thought we were playing around and came to take Furei back.

“Furei, I’ll call another beast. This time—”

“…………”

Just as Emera was trying to regain her composure and start again, Furei, with slightly teary eyes and puffed-up cheeks, turned a sulky gaze towards Emera.

Oh, this… she’s seriously pissed off.

She’s apparently unhappy that she won’t be able to play with Pochi for about a month.

“…Maybe we should call off the duel. Let’s settle it another way, Aima-kun…”

Emera let out a long, drawn-out sigh and then put on a forced smile.

Of course, not at me, but at Furei.

She seems to understand that she shouldn’t hurt Furei’s favorite thing any further and is resorting to another method.

“Didn’t the match already end the moment I won earlier?”

“No one said it was a one-round match…! Just hurry up and come!”

Emera ignored my protest and walked away quickly on her own.

There’s nothing more pointless than a fight with no end in sight, but Shirayuki-san told me to buy time.

If I can buy enough time, I’ll understand the reason—perhaps Emera is trying to make Furei completely angry first?

Is that why she wants me to hold out for as long as possible?

But aside from things involving animals, what else would make Furei angry?

I don’t know.

I kept pondering it as we walked, trying to figure out the answer.

Of course, I didn’t slack off on watching for traps along the way—and the place I was taken to next was the large public bath.

“A bath…?”

Not having the slightest idea what Emera was planning, I gave her a dubious look.

“I got in touch with Hitomi. She’ll get things ready right away, so wait here.”

I thought she was calling someone on the phone, and it turns out she was trying to reach the attendant they couldn’t find.

Well, if she’s not anywhere nearby, calling her is the only option… But seriously, where did all the maids go…?

“—I’m right here, you know?”

“—!?!”

A voice suddenly came from behind me, and I jumped back in surprise.

It was Shirayuki-san’s mother.

“Aren’t you being careless, letting someone sneak up on you like that?”

She smiles at me while scolding me.

It’s true I was distracted by Emera and my own thoughts, but even so, unless someone completely erased their presence, there’s no way they could get behind me…?

Is this woman seriously a ninja…?

“You’re quick as always, Hitomi.”

“Here you go.”

When Emera noticed Shirayuki’s mother and asked her, Shirayuki’s mom pulled a pair of men’s swim trunks out of the pocket of her maid uniform.

Could it be…?

“The water temperature is currently being adjusted. Aima-sama, please change over here.”

Once again, Shirayuki’s mother said something with such a lovely smile that it almost sounded like a joke.

I took the swimsuit and drew in a long, slow breath.

“You… are you seriously an idiot…!?”

The one I yelled at was, of course, Emera.

Why do I have to take a bath now?!

Moreover, in my female classmate’s bath!!

“Too loud…”

My voice echoed through the bathroom, causing Furei to frown.

As for Shirayuki-san’s mother, she was still smiling while releasing a dark aura.

But even I have times when I want to complain.

“I don’t know what kind of misunderstanding you’re having, but there’s no way we’re just letting you take a bath. Go get changed. We’ll talk after that.”

For some reason, Emera was acting all bold again.

Well, I more or less understood what she was planning to do, but at this point, I was starting to feel like I should just go home and rely on Maria-san, who has connections with the Tenjouin conglomerate.

As long as I could get those photos of Hina deleted, I’d be free to do whatever I wanted afterward.

But… Shirayuki-san’s mother is looking at me with a gaze that says she won’t let me escape, so that doesn’t seem possible.

For now, since I needed to buy time, I changed into the swimsuit just like they told me to—and when I came back, Furei looked at my body and let out a satisfied little “Nn…”, her expression oddly pleased.

Emera was muttering under her breath, “His physique is more solid than I expected…,” but I really wish she’d stop staring at me like she’s inspecting merchandise.

“So, what do you want me to do?”

I more or less knew where this was going, but I asked Emera anyway.

“The water temperature is currently set to 70°C. If you can endure it for thirty minutes, we’ll delete your sister’s photos. But—if you can’t, then you’ll get on your knees and apologize while crying.”

Emera folded her arms and spoke with a triumphant smile, full of confidence.

In other words, she really wanted to force me to kneel and apologize.

Ha… here we go again…

I wish she would stop reminding me of unpleasant things like bears and boiling water—