The Dragon and the Five-Star Hotel
Of course I already knew. No matter how dense I might be, if I hadn't noticed a thing in a situation like that, I'd be one seriously weird dragon.
After all, I'd "accidentally" caught Ha-yan at the pool shop, openly picking out—and trying on—the swimsuit she meant to show me. A bikini, no less.
Though calling it an accident felt generous. Maybe Do Ji-yeon had simply been playing both of us the whole time.
On top of that, they'd carved out the entire afternoon from our itinerary just so we could use the hotel's indoor facilities? And Ha-yan and Do Ji-yeon had pushed for it hard?
If I still hadn't figured it out after all that, I wouldn't be a dragon—I'd just be human. Plain old human.
And in that situation, who was footing the entire bill for this school trip?
Who had rented out a five-star hotel lock, stock, and barrel?
That would be me.
So who do you suppose left the "instructions" that let us have the indoor pool all to ourselves?
"It is rather unsightly, Master. Power is not meant to be used for things like this. And you look terribly pathetic."
"You're the one lounging around playing with us right now, so what are you even talking about? Want me to send you straight back to the office?"
"Good heavens. What a thing to say. Of course not. I shall roll around like a dog if that is what Master desires."
Rhea—whose figure was far more voluptuous than Ha-yan's—lay on the sunbed next to mine in a white monokini, making a show of being scandalized as she answered me.
Not that any of it was real. She had almost certainly put on that whole act knowing exactly what I was going to say.
And every word we were exchanging right now was pure mana-voice conversation.
"Ah—um—er—S-Senior? Would you like to try this?"
"Oh my? Why, thank you."
"Heh heh. D-Don't mention it."
"...Ugh. Choi Hoon is seriously the worst."
Beside Rhea, Choi Hoon was grinning like an idiot as he offered her another drink he'd brought himself. Do Ji-yeon, watching the whole display, looked one second away from turning inside out with disgust.
Honestly, I felt a little secondhand awkward myself.
Every time the kids caught me and Ha-yan being lovey-dovey, their faces scrunched up like that. Had they been feeling this exact way all along?
Do Ji-yeon saw my expression and whispered so quietly Choi Hoon couldn't hear.
"No no no. Absolutely not. You two are no ordinary couple. You're the neighborhood's officially recognized lovey-dovey pair. No way they'd think that."
"Then what?"
"It's just that Choi Hoon is such a hopeless instant-crush guy that he looks weird doing it."
"If that's all it is, then thank god."
Relieved that I wasn't the strange one after all, I wandered off in another direction.
Over there, Ha-yan was cutting through the water at a pretty good clip, thoroughly enjoying her swim.
She'd always been a healthy girl who tried all sorts of sports. Still, watching her thrash around that vigorously in a bikini was a little surprising.
"Pwah! Hah! Swimming after so long is actually fun! Hehe."
"Yeah? Then I'm coming in too!"
Splash~~
I jumped straight into the pool where Ha-yan was swimming.
Normally that kind of entry was banned because you could hurt people nearby—but right now the place was all ours.
Ha-yan, who'd turned her head aside against the sudden wall of water, shook the droplets from her face with a faintly sulky look and glared at me.
"Hey!! Who just jumps in right next to someone like that?!"
"Who does? Me, that's who. Up we go."
"Eyaaah? Wh-Why all of a sudden?"
"Because I want to do all the skinship we couldn't do with people around. Why?"
"Nnngh..."
Once I was in the water I immediately pulled Ha-yan into my arms.
I was only wearing trunk-style swim shorts myself, so when our bare skin pressed together she made a funny little sound.
If I'd had the body of a normal second-year high school guy, something else of mine would already have made the atmosphere extremely weird—but I was a dragon. Suppressing that particular instinct was nothing.
That didn't mean I was impotent, okay? Absolutely not. I was simply following Ha-yan's mother's solemn command to the letter: not until we were adults. Never.
Anyway—Ha-yan's skin really was incredible. Not a single blemish. And she hadn't even put on any makeup because of the swimming.
In water that came up to about my chest, I scooped her up into a princess carry.
Ha-yan automatically looped her arms around my neck and asked in a voice too soft for Do Ji-yeon and Choi Hoon to catch.
"What happened over there? Why did those old geezers suddenly call for you?"
"Ah, that? Nothing special. Have you ever seen them call me over for anything actually serious? It's always something completely pointless."
"Still, tell me. I have a right to know!"
"A right? What right?"
"Ah... uuum... nngh......"
She'd said it herself and then gotten so embarrassed she hid her face against my shoulder.
How could a creature this cute even exist?
I shifted one hand just enough to tickle her side.
"This! This right here! Who says something like that?!"
"Eyahk! Eiyahk! O-Okay! I get it alreadyyy!!"
"Tsk. What a spectacle."
"Oh. For once I completely agree."
"...Students. Might I join in as well?"
Blocked by an invisible barrier and forced to watch our flirting, Do Ji-yeon, Choi Hoon, and Rhea united in a joint death glare—then eventually relocated to the farthest possible spot.
Not that it was any of my business.
Having surrendered to my tickling, Ha-yan tried to hide her flushed face as she spoke.
"I-I'm your girlfriend, after all. And I'm a wizard who learned magic from you, Siu, so I think that means I'm qualified to know."
"Aigoo. Aigoo-goo. How on earth did I end up like this with a girl like you!!"
"Enyaaaaah!! Dizzy!!"
In the end I couldn't hold back my feelings and spun her around several times in the water while still holding her up.
Of course, I also told her everything that had happened over there via mana-voice—in more detail than anyone could possibly need.
After that? Well. We spent a wonderfully fun time in our private pool, even with the other three, who had somehow developed a partial immunity to our flirting.
"Wow... so the reason you were waiting for lights-out was so we could sleep here?"
"Heh heh. Of course. This is a trip I paid for—am I not allowed one little act of rebellion?"
"We're still just using the top floor of the same building. Calling it rebellion is a bit much..."
"I left a magic dummy behind so our homeroom teacher wouldn't notice we snuck up here. That counts as rebellion in my book."
There was no way a dragon—especially one who only got so few chances to be lovey-dovey with Ha-yan—would be satisfied with just the pool.
If we were going to monopolize the swimming pool and an entire five-star hotel, we had to use the suite at least once, right?
After a lively afternoon in the water, we also enjoyed a delicious dinner at the hotel's scenic restaurant.
That part normally would have cost extra, but I told the others it was free. A tiny white lie. They didn't need to know the real price, did they?
And there was no reason to use the group card and give our homeroom teacher something to lecture us about.
Right before evening roll call, I told Ha-yan via mana-voice to get ready and come up to the top floor of the hotel. Just in case, I also stationed Rhea right outside Ha-yan's room.
The moment roll call ended, we rode the elevator up to the suite together and started our private time.
"Whoa. Insane. You can see the whole city at a glance!"
Ha-yan pressed herself against the suite's enormous floor-to-ceiling window, her still-damp hair—smelling richly of shampoo—fluttering as she began exploring the suite at a pace that left her feet sweating.
I'd already told her about it during dinner, but she must have been too curious to wait; she came straight up the second she finished washing.
"The bathroom! Insane! I should've just showered here! Living room! Kitchen! Four whole bedrooms!! And every single bed is massive! Drinks! Snacks! Perfect!!!"
Truth be told, I'd wanted to bring her to a place this grand for a long time, but Ha-yan's mother had always told me not to waste money, so I'd held back.
But we'd already come all the way on a school trip—surely she could forgive this much "rebellion"? Besides, Ha-yan and I would soon be heading to Japan for the evaluation. And I had zero intention of pinching pennies there either.
While exploring the suite, Ha-yan's eyes landed on a cabinet displaying several bottles.
"Whoa... what's this? These champagnes look insanely expensive."
"Looks like they come standard with the suite. Want to try a little?"
"U-Um? Are we even allowed?"
"No teacher's going to come all the way up here to check our bags. From what I heard, a few kids from other classes already got caught."
"Yeah. Ji-yeon said that on the day she got unlucky and ran into both the homeroom teacher and the department head at once, the other kids had already had all their alcohol confiscated."
"And you've tried drinking once before, right? That home-brewed stuff."
"Ugh. You mean that soju? That stuff tasted awful."
"This one's a little different."
I flashed Ha-yan a grin and, with practiced hands, took a bottle of champagne from the cabinet and began gently pressing on the cork.
Still smelling of fragrant shampoo and wearing pajamas, Ha-yan stuck right to my side and asked with curious eyes,
"Why are you pressing on the cork? Are you trying to close it again?"
"Nope. This is how you're supposed to open it. Know what happens if you just yank it out by force?"
"What happens?"
"Exactly this."
I grabbed another bottle sitting right beside it and wrenched the cork free.
Then—
Pop!!!!
"Kyaaaaah!!!"
With a tremendous bang the champagne cork shot all the way to the ceiling before falling, and—
Fssshhhhh...
—the bottle in my other hand began frothing over like overflowing cola.
I spoke calmly to Ha-yan, who was hiding her face against my chest with startled eyes.
"Got it?"
"Eek!!! Do you only feel better after showing me like that? You could've just explained it in words!"
"But this way was certain, wasn't it?"
"Th-That may be true, but..."
In the end Ha-yan raised the white flag, walked to the kitchen, came back with a huge wad of paper towels, and said,
"Still, if we were going to drink, I wanted to set the mood and have a proper glass."
"Our Ha-yan. Coming to a place like this has made you way too bold, hasn't it? Getting all thirsty on me?"
"Th-Th-Th-That's not what I meant at all!"
Catching the real meaning behind my words, Ha-yan sprang up and waved both hands frantically in protest.
I laughed happily at the sight and poured just a few sips' worth of champagne into proper flutes, then held one out to her.
Ha-yan, tasting champagne for the first time, stared at the glass in her hand with fascinated eyes.
"It looks like a carbonated drink."
"Try it. It's not a tasteless liquor like soju."
"Hehe. Drinking like this behind Mom's back really does feel like we're doing something bad."
"Then shall we toast?"
"Cheers~~!!"
Clink~!
Ha-yan and I tapped our champagne flutes together and immediately brought them to our lips.
I'd played the role of an older person often enough that I'd tried all sorts of alcohol, but Ha-yan had never tasted anything beyond soju and beer.
And after sampling a completely new kind of drink, Ha-yan—
—the moment the champagne went down her throat, she looked at me with wide, astonished eyes.
"Whoa! This is what alcohol tastes like? Seriously amazing! If all liquor tasted like this, I could drink it happily!"
"Don't go overboard, though. Last time one glass was enough to turn your whole face red."
"Tch. I know that."
"Sure you do."
And the truth was, neither Ha-yan nor I had the faintest idea what was coming next.