Inside the elevator, Mai stole a glance at Ye Xing beside her and whispered:
"I'm sorry. Even though I proposed this trip, I completely overlooked this detail. Let me cover the room expenses."
As she spoke, Mai attempted to retrieve her wallet from her handbag, but Ye Xing waved her off.
"No need. Money isn't an issue for me."
Mai knew Ye Xing wasn't being prideful - he genuinely wasn't short on funds.
Just his recent exorcism fees alone amounted to over 300,000 yen, and this was after splitting equally with other Supernatural Society members.
Though she'd never voiced it, Mai secretly admired this about Ye Xing.
A mere few hundred thousand yen meant little to someone like her—a former nationally renowned idol actress, equivalent to perhaps half an episode's filming fee.
But truthfully...
Faced with such substantial earnings, Ye Xing could have easily kept everything for himself or tossed his colleagues a token 10,000-20,000 yen as "hardship pay."
After all, he was the president who founded the society, and according to both Rio Futaba and Miko Yotsuya, he operated on an entirely different level from them as an exorcist.
Had he chosen not to share the rewards, no one would have questioned it.
This made his decision to split the earnings equally all the more commendable.
"That won't do. Whether you need it or not, since we're travelling together, we should at least split the costs."
"Fine. You can pay me back after we return to Kyoto. No point calculating now."
"Agreed."
Upon reaching their floor and unlocking the suite, Mai circled the room, inspecting its furnishings before sighing contentedly.
"How lovely."
Ye Xing dropped their luggage carelessly and remarked:
"It's just a standard family suite. Hardly worth such admiration."
Mai froze at his words.
He had a point.
During her acting days, she'd stayed everywhere from four-star family suites to Tokyo's most luxurious presidential suites.
Why did this feel different?
Was it because this was purely leisure travel without work obligations?
Or perhaps...
Mai's cheeks flushed.
"The single bed outside is yours."
Ye Xing stretched with a long yawn before collapsing onto the plush double bed.
"This one's mine."
After their prolonged daily interactions, Mai had come to understand Ye Xing's temperament.
Had he offered her the larger bed instead, that would have genuinely surprised her.
"Wait a moment—"
Suddenly, Mai Sakurajima seemed to have thought of something, narrowing her beautiful eyes slightly.
"Why do you look completely unruffled? Have you... been to a hotel with a girl before?"
Ye Xing countered with a question of his own.
"Then why aren't you nervous, Sakurajima-san?"
Mai Sakurajima's true thoughts.
'Of course I'm nervous!'
Despite her composed appearance, Mai's heart was racing at its limit.
Even her delicate cheeks felt slightly flushed.
'What should I do? What should I do?'
Staying at Ye Xing's home was one thing, but sharing a hotel room with him was an entirely different concept.
What comes to mind when you think of hotels?
Though Mai had never been in a relationship, having been in the entertainment industry, she'd heard a thing or two from colleagues about such matters.
So now...
'What should I do?'
Suppressing her embarrassment, Mai forced herself to appear calm and collected.
"As your mature senpai, of course, I wouldn't be nervous."
Seeing her like this, Ye Xing nearly lost his composure.
This aspect of Mai's personality - her innocent nature clashing with attempts to appear worldly - was part of her unique charm.
"..."
As silence settled over the room, Mai grew increasingly flustered.
Her fair hands fidgeted with the hem of her skirt, her lips pressed together lightly, her beautiful eyes betraying unmistakable panic.
'A miscalculation.'
'A grave miscalculation.'
She hadn't considered that booking a hotel room would require two IDs, meaning they could only get one room.
What Mai found harder to admit was...
Somewhere deep down, she might have been aware of this issue all along, yet said nothing and didn't remind Ye Xing.
'Myself...'
She seemed quite looking forward to sharing the hotel room with him.
This was the real reason Mai Sakurajima felt so flustered and nervous.
Had Ye Xing seen through her thoughts?
Mai thought it was highly possible.
She'd noticed that what set Ye Xing apart from ordinary people was his outrageous yet strangely effective negotiation skills.
If he had seen through her...
Mai felt like jumping out of the window right then.
"Um... well, actually," Mai sat on the sofa with her back to Ye Xing in the master bedroom, subtly placing a hand over her chest as she changed the subject, "After knowing each other for so long, I still don't know what your dreams for the future are."
The moment these words left her mouth, Mai cringed internally.
What kind of topic was this?
Was this some variety show?
Too embarrassing.
"As for me..." Ye Xing appeared to contemplate, staring absently at the intricately carved ceiling seriously. "The money from exorcism is still too little. Could make it a side job."
This answer piqued Mai's interest, momentarily forgetting her shyness. "Then what would be your main career?"
"Fighting."
"Huh?" Mai frowned slightly. "You want to become a professional fighter? Isn't it a bit late to start now?"
She hadn't been present during Ye Xing's fight with Wu Hei in the gym changing room, hence the question.
Ye Xing was genuinely considering this.
If he needed money in the future, becoming a Kengan fighter and competing in a few matches didn't seem like a bad idea at all.
In the Kengan matches, the stakes started from millions with no upper limit.
At the very least, he could earn several hundred thousand per match.
Wasn't that much faster than exorcising evil spirits?
Of course, Ye Xing didn't exorcise mainly for money - it was to consume the evil spirits.
...
After washing up.
Ye Xing lay down on the master bedroom's double bed.
"Mai-san, I'm going to sleep now."
"Oh... oh, alright."
Then Ye Xing's next sentence short-circuited Mai's brain.
"Wanna sleep together?"
Mai froze momentarily before her face turned completely red.
Sleep together?
In what sense?
Same time? Or the same space?
The most effective, straightforward questions are often the simplest.
Mai's thoughts raced almost as fast as Rio Futaba's analysing intelligence.
If he meant the same time, she should just say goodnight.
But if Ye Xing meant the same space...
Would saying goodnight make her adorable junior, who'd mustered the courage to ask, feel terribly awkward?
As a mature senior who'd been in showbiz, how could she leave her junior in such an awkward position?
To preserve his dignity.
And to ensure Ye Xing could always see her.
Mai decided not to respond verbally. Covering her face like a thieving mouse, she quickly entered the bedroom, jumped onto the bed, and pulled the blanket over her flushed cheeks.
"Don't... don't misunderstand, I just... thought such a big bed would be wasted on one person."
To be honest, even Mai Sakurajima herself felt this excuse was utterly clumsy.
Fortunately, Ye Xing didn't expose her, merely chuckling lightly.
"Don't go groping around with your hands while sleeping tonight."
Flustered and exasperated, Mai immediately retorted.
"You—you're the one who shouldn't grope around!"
"Whatever."
Ye Xing responded indifferently before closing his eyes and slipping into a sleep as peaceful as a baby's.
Listening to his steady breathing by her ear, Mai—who had initially been lying with her back to him—felt her muscles tense to the point of aching.
At the same time, she couldn't shake a sense of indignation.
'This guy... actually fell asleep just like that?'
'How unreasonable!'
She, Mai Sakurajima, was, after all, a former national-level idol actress—the kind who'd be constantly stopped for autographs on the street. Sharing a bed with a beautiful senior like her, and Ye Xing had the nerve to fall asleep so easily, as if he wasn't the least bit nervous?
'He's way too composed.'
Mai wasn't vain about her looks, but she was confident in them. Ye Xing's calm reaction left her feeling somewhat unbalanced.
'This guy...'
Carefully, making no sound, Mai turned over in bed.
The moment she did, her nose nearly brushed against Ye Xing's.
"Mmm..."
She almost—just almost—let out a startled gasp.
Taking a deep breath, her chest rose and fell rapidly from tension.
'Maybe I shouldn't have overthought this. I should've just slept in the single compartment outside.'
Yet even as this thought crossed her mind, her gaze involuntarily drifted to Ye Xing's face.
'He's even more handsome when he's not talking.'
Though inwardly bashful, Mai's eyes remained honest, lingering appreciatively on his features.
She knew watching someone sleep like this made her seem like a creep.
But it wasn't like there was any harm in looking.
'He's asleep anyway. He won't know I'm peeking.'
Resting her cheek on her left hand, Mai stared at Ye Xing's face, a faint smile tugging at her lips.
This life where no one could see her had its inconveniences, but...
It wasn't so bad.
...
Early the next morning.
Mai opened her eyes, sat up, and stretched like a drowsy cat just roused from sleep, rubbing her eyes with one hand.
Glancing aside, she saw Ye Xing was still asleep.
"Such a heavy sleeper."
She murmured, covering a light chuckle with her hand.
Just as she reached out to pat his shoulder and wake him, an odd sensation suddenly registered against her thigh.
"Hmm... What's this?"
Frowning slightly, Mai slid her left hand under the blanket and grasped an unfamiliar object.
'A nail? No, too thick for that. A dagger? The tip isn't sharp enough. A stick, maybe?'
The more she examined it, the stranger its shape seemed.
But considering Ye Xing was an exorcist who likely stayed alert even in sleep, it was probably some kind of defensive weapon.
Having been immersed in the Supernatural Society, Mai Sakurajima had gained some understanding of the paranormal.
'This must be a top-tier spiritual object,' she thought.
Otherwise, why would it faintly emit waves of heat?
"Mai-san."
At some point, Ye Xing had opened his eyes, his gaze resting calmly on Mai's face.
"Are you feeling... unsatisfied?"
"Hah?"
Mai frowned, replying irritably.
"What nonsense are you talking? I was just curious about what kind of spiritual object would make you carry it around. I merely wanted to touch it out of curiosity."
"A spiritual object?"
Ye Xing remained as composed as ever, speaking in a matter-of-fact tone.
"If you consider me personally as a spiritual object capable of repelling the paranormal, then what you're currently gripping is indeed a very powerful one."
Mai's face showed confusion.
"What do you mean..."
Mid-sentence, she suddenly realised, letting out a yelp like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, immediately releasing her left hand.
She'd attended biology classes, after all.
It finally dawned on her.
What she'd been holding and carefully stroking wasn't any spiritual object.
At this realisation, Mai's face instantly flushed red, and she couldn't help raising both hands to cover it.
But then she remembered what those hands had just been touching, and promptly lowered them again.
Meeting Ye Xing's utterly calm gaze, she felt an overwhelming embarrassment that caused her to cover her face once more.
This cycle repeated two or three times.
Watching Mai repeatedly raise and lower her hands, looking like steam might erupt from her head at any moment, Ye Xing couldn't hold back his comment.
"Are you practising palm techniques or something? I didn't realise you were a martial artist."
Mai wanted to retort, but the humiliation was too much. In the end, she could only leap swiftly from the bed, her pale feet landing on the carpet before she dashed to the bathroom, locking the door firmly behind her.
"This guy... really..."
Mai Sakurajima turned on the tap, dampened a towel with cold water and wiped her face, yet the burning sensation in her cheeks showed no signs of fading.
She bit her silver teeth in complaint, then suddenly stopped mid-sentence.
This matter...
Could she really blame Ye Xing?
He hadn't overstepped any boundaries while sleeping at night.
Rather, it was she who, half-asleep early in the morning, had caused such an embarrassing scene.
This was completely inconsistent with her mature and composed senior persona!
After calming down, Mai Sakurajima opened the bathroom door and peeked out cautiously. She saw Ye Xing sitting on the sofa, head bowed as he played with his phone, completely unaware of her presence.
Tiptoeing out, she opened her suitcase, took out a set of clothes, and sneaked back into the bathroom to change.
Then, she carefully applied her makeup.
Looking at her reflection in the mirror—calm, flawless, and without a single crack in her composure—Mai nodded confidently.
"Yes, this is more like it."
Did he really think a mere junior could get the better of her?
Impossible, absolutely impossible!
Mai Sakurajima opened the bathroom door and walked out gracefully, standing prettily before Ye Xing with a smile.
"I'm ready. Let's go out."
Of course, such a family suite wouldn't have just one bathroom.
Ye Xing had been quicker. While Mai was still muttering to herself and sorting out her emotions, he had already finished washing up and changed his clothes.
Only now, his expression was meaningful as he pointed towards the bathroom door in the main bedroom.
"Mai-san, take a look there."
Following his finger, Mai's pupils shrank in shock, her words stumbling.
"Th-this..."
From inside the bathroom, the view outside was opaque.
But from the main bedroom and Ye Xing's current angle, one could clearly see what the person inside was doing.
This was the legendary one-way mirror.
Mai Sakurajima's carefully restored composure teetered on the edge of collapse once more.
To mask her embarrassment, she looked around and picked up a small plastic box filled with English text from the table, changing the subject.
"Hahaha, what's this?"
Ye Xing said meaningfully,
"It's a mysterious, magical tool that might be used tonight... or might not."
"Magical tool?"
Mai didn't pay it much mind, simply placing the plastic box back on the table.
Of course, this wasn't something Ye Xing had bought.
The hotel provided it.
What surprised him was that Mai Sakurajima had never seen such a thing before.
On second thought, it made sense.
Whenever Mai stayed at hotels in the past, everything would have been meticulously arranged and checked before her arrival.
Items like "spirit barriers" would undoubtedly have been removed by staff even if originally present in the room.
One glance told the truth.
Verified as: a pure-hearted beauty forcibly maintaining a mature senior persona.
"Just one request for today,"
Mai Sakurajima, wearing a dress and a white sunhat—though without any special accessories, her natural beauty and grace were captivating enough—followed Ye Xing out the door and asked curiously,
"What request?"
"Let's try to go somewhere less crowded. Too many people keep hitting on me."
"Pfft."
Mai Sakurajima chuckled teasingly.
"Well, what can you do? In others' eyes, a handsome guy like you walking alone is bound to attract attention."
Ye Xing gave Mai a knowing half-smile. "So in Mai-san's eyes, I cut such an impressive figure?"
Mai's cheeks flushed pink as she realised her slip. Flustered, she tried to stamp on Ye Xing's foot.
Predictably, he dodged effortlessly.
Today's battle in Wakayama.
Mai Sakurajima: utterly defeated.