Before leaving the Lake Camp completely, I remembered that lodges were supposed to be present in the location. As it turned out, those were situated too far from the lake and close to the fences and natural shrubbery protecting the place from trespassers.

When Juri and I circled around those rental lodges, our evaluation remained the same.

Rather than for a large group, this lake camp was perfect for a family gathering or a group of friends. They could rent a lodge but it's only use was either a place to rest after getting tired playing or partying outside or a storage for the things they brought with them.

Anyway, that's that.

Juri called Setsuna-nee and informed her of what we thought of the place before going back the way we came from.

When we passed by the reception area on our way out and to return the passes, the woman at the desk had changed. While she also reacted a little exaggeratedly, the woman had more mental fortitude.

Really, I thought my popularity in school and the way I always gathered attention in public places was already its limit… But here we are…

I guess I should thank my parents for their superior genes that I realized too late.

Anyway, what I did was only normal. Smiling and thanking them politely. There’s nothing wrong in it.

Maybe, the first reception staff’s mentality was too just too weak if or like Juri said, my smile had already become deadly to some. Whichever the case, I had no plans to change that. My girls were loving the genuine expressions I could produce on my face nowadays. According to them, it’s a lot better than when I was forcing it or acting on it. Which is true…

“Okay, the next one is the Greenwood Forest. I guarantee you that it won’t be the same as this one. It’s a place I have visited once with my family and I enjoyed my time there.”

As the bus that would send us to the next location arrived at before us, Juri energetically pumped up her fist, trying to infect me with the hype. She probably noticed that we were both a little let down at what we saw despite how much we enjoyed our time together.

Well, since she said that she enjoyed her time there… it’s only natural for me to expect it to be like that.

“Really? Now, I’m excited. I’ll be in your care this time, Juri.”

“Geez. What ‘in my care’? I may still rely on you when we go around it.”

“I’m just doing what I ought to do. Looking out for you.”

“Okay, sweet-talker. Let’s get up then.”

Looking like she’s trying to escape, Juri jumped up the steps of the bus, pulling me along with her.

Yeah. That sounded like she’s not really escaping at all.

Following her inside, I instantly got a good look of the situation. Unlike earlier wherein we were among the first few passengers, the seats here had been mostly occupied already except from those at the back.

It’s my ideal spot whenever I would be with my girls but with Juri… well, I saw the look of disappointment flashing past her face. She’s probably not fond being at the very back. It also became apparent when she seemingly slowed down as she once again scanned the whole bus, looking for a free two-seater spot.

Obviously, that resulted in failure. Due to that she had no choice but to continue there, taking the corner spot.

As I sat down next to her, I squeezed to her side and playfully whispered in an attempt to probe what’s wrong.

“Not that fond of back seats, are you? Let me guess… Bad memory?”

Juri pinched my cheeks and lightly pushed me away before shaking her head, “I admit. I’m not fond of sitting… But not because of I had bad experience. It’s too far from the entrance. If something happened, it will be hard for us to get out.”

Ah. I see. I didn’t expect for her to be that pessimistic and at the same time too cautious.

“If that’s the case. Leave it to me. I can kick that window open and jump us out of here.”

“Pfft. Can you? Isn’t this reinforced glass? How strong are your feet?” Juri giggled then knocked on the window which returned a dull sound.

“Uh. Strong enough?” I intentionally answered goofily which brought earned me another giggle from her.

Then, playing along with me, Juri crossed her arms and nodded a few times, “Good. Good. Then, Ruki. It seems like I’m still the one who will be ‘in your care’.”

Bringing up our conversation from earlier, Juri showed a mischievous grin before hooking her arm on mine and leaning her head on my shoulder.

“… Uh. Did I just play myself to this?”

“Yes. You did.” Juri acknowledged while sounding very pleased.

Pushing down her pessimistic view of being at the back seat, this cool and pretty woman seemingly got lost in the comfort and security next to me.

I might’ve lost there but I could say that what I intended to happen was successful. She stopped worrying and the disappointment of having no choice but to sit here disappeared.

Just like this, we spent our second bus ride with Juri eventually dozing off to her dream land.

To make sure that she’ll remain comfortable for the rest of our ride, I inched even closer to the point that I was already hugging her. And soon after that, I started caressing her head while watching her sleeping face.

I don’t know if she also did this on me earlier but considering I was out for more than half an hour, she probably did.

Let’s just say I was getting back at her. Right?

Anyway. As the one awake for the whole trip to our next destination, I thought it would go uneventful as earlier.

However, when the passengers slowly dwindled to almost less than half of what it was earlier, an incident. No… It’s probably not an incident but a small disturbance happened.

Given that I was at the back and I could see everything that was happening in the aisle if I tilted my head, a female passenger who’s probably in her early thirties – just based on her appearance, abruptly stood up while the bus was moving.

Although a distance away from me, I noticed how distressed she was as she tried to get away from her seat.

The next moment, a man who was clearly not her companion reached for her arm and tried to pull her back to her seat.

Clearly, she’s being harassed and quite possibly being molested and she wanted to get away.

She probably didn’t want to cause a scene by shouting so she tried escaping from there.

Unfortunately, that’s a poor attempt.

In any case, to have the gall of doing that in broad daylight, he’s clearly one of those who looked like a thug, a hooligan or a lowlife who had muscle for brain.

I thought the nearby passengers would go out of their way to intervene and help the woman. However, that wasn’t the case.

Even though I could only see their heads from where I was, most of the other men in the bus simply turned their heads away or tried to act like they’re not seeing what’s happening.

As for the women… They were probably also afraid of getting caught up with whatever trouble that was brewing.

Far up in the driver’s seat, I had no idea if the bus operator already noticed. He’s too focused on the road.

“H-help…”

A few seconds of struggle later, the woman who couldn’t pull her hand away from the man finally called for help.

Her head erratically moved as she sought out every person her eyes could see.

However, none of them stood up for her.

“Eh? What’s happening? Ruki… That.”

And right before the woman’s voice grew even more distressed and the perverted cackling of the man echoed inside the bus, Juri who was comfortably sleeping next to me woke up.

Noticing the commotion, she craned her neck and found the situation.

I instantly noticed her body tightening up as though she’s about to sprang up from her seat to come to the woman’s aid.

But before doing so, she looked at me and hesitated.

Understanding what went through her head, I nodded at her and whispered, “Don’t worry. Leave it to me. Stay here.”

“Eh? Wait…”

Maybe she was not expecting me to understand her reaction, Juri tried to stop me but it was too late.

I already stood up and right at that moment, the distressed woman’s eyes found my figure.

Hope bubbled in her eyes as miraculously, her wrist slipped out of the man’s hold.

Before she could be grabbed again, she staggeringly dashed in my direction.

“I-I apologize, young man… Please help me.”