Аннотация: Yuto and the girls go to the hot springs at the hotel of Kuhzaki's father's sister.
Kuzaki's family had to arrange with Rinko's aunt to send a minibus to pick us up in order to transport all their daughter's friends. Since there was a minibus at the springs not just for beauty, but to carry people, and now is the season, we left inconveniently, at one o'clock in the morning. The driver wasn't particularly happy either, but he was friendly. However, the degree of happiness increased dramatically when we put Kaya in the front seat. Not just out of the goodness of my heart and to distract the driver, but in order to look carefully at the sides in the headlights - you never know, she will remember a familiar slope or find out something else. In general, while the guy was talking, squinting in the direction of the brownie, thoroughly retelling the principles of the internal combustion engine (zashiki-varashi was really interesting), we settled in the bus cabin wonderfully and with full dedication... They staged a poker battle! Well, what about it? You also need to rest sometime. We also invited Rinko's parents, but seeing me being torn to shreds by these furies, they decided to knock out the weakest player first, refused under a plausible pretext and dozed off in chairs all the way. I don't think you'll be surprised if I tell you that I was left without a single chip in just an hour? Then the girls looked at each other, moved their heads together and, after whispering about something, staged a card fight among themselves - it seems that the dispute was again revolving around the "checksum" of the chips. Heh, it's just been half a year since that birthday party story... but it seems like three years! It's amazing how compactly the "event feed" can fit in such a short period of time as a year. It hasn't even been a year since Rinko and I met Hiroe... what can we say about the fact that two Yokai are traveling with us, and we don't feel a bit surprised. However, the fact that Rinko's "friends" are not just people, except for us, no one in the car knows... otherwise, I don't know if Kuzaki's ancestors could have slept so sweetly, leaning back in the back seats, hehe. On the other hand, I seem to have already become quite imbued with the "Amakawa ideology" and habitually consider my two companions not as "potentially dangerous non-humans", but as "intelligent with enhanced capabilities". A kind of "living weapon" that looks like cute girls in a peaceful life. And no psychological discomfort! In general, if we divide the degree of danger, then the first place is generally for Hiroe. Our "director of analytics" possessed truly terrible weapons - brains and the appropriate skills! The ability to understand and analyze a person's actions, the ability to make predictions based on a built model with a high degree of reliability and in given circumstances. Besides, manipulating people, and now, by the way, not only them, which she is not shy about.
In general, in many books, and in manga, the line is often drawn that the Main Character suffers from his weakness if he is physically protected by strong comrades... And he suffers especially much if he is protected by women. Well, I don't know. In my opinion, it's better for the same Shizuka to go into battle, knowing that at the right moment the snipers covering her will not run out of bullets and batteries and that there is a base behind her where she can and wants to return. It's better than me admiring others by personally blowing enemies to smithereens, not caring about the rear and security. Perhaps that's the whole point - it's difficult to perceive a set of personal characteristics of an intelligent being as a strength or weakness. Actually, it's kind of a stupid tendency to talk about "power." The criterion is benefit! And speaking of benefits, taking into account the interests of all stakeholders within my sprawling vassal team could become a problem in the near future - it is necessary to provide conditions for everyone and find compromise solutions in case of conflicts (or objectively take the right side), and I cannot bow out. That is, I can, if according to the manga, Yuto uses clones in battle (oh Kami, it was necessary to send a contact fighter against the Kyubi flamethrower shooter!), but I doubt the ability of "clones" to transmit information like the "shadow cheat" from Naruto... In short, I need to find a HR specialist, or better yet, lay the foundation for a team, and I had the right person in mind who could pick such a team for me. Or recommend it.
That person is Hiroe's mother, Aya Kaname. After Shizuka slammed the arrogant Baku, she "overlaid" her daughter specifically - she just listed all the oddities of her daughter's friends' company, some indirect observations and conclusions. The conclusion "there's some kind of mysticism here" was obvious. Well, we somehow had no doubt that it would come to this. However, I insisted that I would conduct a demonstration of my capabilities and negotiations in person - and immediately after the new year according to the European calendar. Why? I needed a closed job on the "Water Resource Trust" - in fact, the only "product" that I could "show my face." Once you decide to recruit investors, you need to do it properly... and strengthening the "political prestige" of the Kaname family. For a partner to be a good partner, you must be a useful partner to them. I don't think Aya herself would agree to become an employee, but I was hoping to get a recommendation for a person who can be brought up to date (and it's hardly possible to work with spirits without imagining their real capabilities) so that they would remain loyal and willing to work... All right! That's it! Stop "loading up"! We're going on vacation, and as "light board games" we're looking for the Amakawa base. I looked around - the darkness outside the windows with the occasional lights of cars passing towards me did not seem interesting to me, and, settling myself comfortably, I dozed off...
The car rocked when the driver braked, and I was thrown out of the dream. A dream where I'm in besieged Takamiya, leading the defense against British tanks for some reason, and Shizuka helps me, who dyed her hair red and has a pretty feminine figure. I also remember Ageha instructing human fighters, urging them to shout "Blood for Hinoyonma!" every time they hit an enemy soldier. Cami! I'll dream about it, I'll dream about it! I thought about politics at night, it's called...
I got out of the car and almost suffocated from the frosty-fresh smells of the morning mountain twilight... and a very specific one - thermal mineral water from the hotel. A ghostly haze of vapors from outdoor baths floated in the air behind the building, and through glasses, this slightly surreal picture was complemented by lights scurrying back and forth- fireflies of E-class spirits. Yes, Rinko told me... But fuck, you can't imagine it until you see it for yourself! By the way, my "ferry" camera comes with a set in the quadra I brought with me - it will be possible to shoot a video! And also to see where these natural-born spirits specifically come from. The rest promised to be interesting!