All Beautiful Girls Want to Stick with Me

Kotomi Izumi smiled faintly. While listening to Iroha Isshiki recount the legend of the Celestial Maiden and the Five-Headed Dragon earlier, she had already noticed that Iroha was only pretending not to know. She just hadn't exposed her at the time.

She hadn't expected that even after being exposed, this little devil could still laugh cheekily without the slightest embarrassment. Moreover, she even took the initiative to grab Kotomi's hand:

"Senpai, look over there! There's a bell! Let's go check it out!"

Without waiting for a response, she dragged Kotomi toward the nearby bell.

"This bell definitely has a story to it," Iroha said like a curious child, circling the bell, examining it from every angle.

"Well, you're right about that. This bell does have a story. It's called the 'Dragon's Love Bell.' Legend has it that if two people ring this bell together, they will obtain eternal and unbreakable love."

Romantic legends are beautiful and dreamy, but there was one thing Kotomi didn't say aloud: both Lover's Hill and the Dragon's Love Bell had appeared too suddenly. At the end of the day, they were later additions for the sake of tourism.

But sometimes, being too pragmatic can be exhausting. Occasionally believing in legends like this could be a nice way to temporarily soothe the hurried hearts of city dwellers.

Uh... As a high school girl, isn't that thought a bit too much like a corporate worker's mindset?

Oh well, why overthink it? Overanalyzing everything is just tiring.

After listening to Kotomi's explanation of the Dragon's Love Bell, Iroha's eyes lit up. "Senpai, is everything you said true?"

"Well... as the saying goes, sincerity makes miracles happen. If you're willing to believe, maybe it is true."

"Senpai, that sounded like something you'd say to pacify a child," Iroha corrected.

You little devil, aren't you a child yourself? Or are you planning to evolve into a big devil right in front of me? Kotomi thought to herself.

She hadn't expected Iroha to suddenly grab her hand and pull her toward the Dragon's Love Bell.

"Iroha, what are you trying to do?"

"Hehehe, Senpai, since we're on Lover's Hill, and we're standing right next to the Dragon's Love Bell, it's a rare opportunity. Let's ring it together!"

"Huh?"

Kotomi seriously doubted whether she and Iroha were even on the same wavelength. The topic jumped so fast that she struggled to keep up.

"Who knows? If we ring it together, maybe we'll fall in love forever~"

Iroha said with a mischievous smile. If you ignored the content of her words, you might think she was plotting something naughty.

"That line alone sounds unreliable," Kotomi replied instinctively.

"Come on, Senpai, don't say that. What if it's true? Didn't you just say sincerity makes miracles happen?"

Unable to argue with Iroha, Kotomi glanced at the soft, white hand holding her wrist and nodded reluctantly. "Fine, since we're here on Lover's Hill, and there's no entrance fee, we might as well ring the Dragon's Love Bell."

Kotomi's lengthy explanation was just her way of hiding her embarrassment. Ringing the Dragon's Love Bell together with Iroha...

Would ringing this bell really make them fall in love forever? Kotomi muttered to herself.

"Come on, Senpai. I'll count to three, and we'll ring it together!"

"Alright."

"One, two, three!"

Kotomi and Iroha rang the Dragon's Love Bell together. The clear, resonant sound of the bell echoed alongside the sound of ocean waves in the distance, filling their ears.

It felt like an ordinary bell chime—nothing particularly unusual. There was no sudden epiphany or profound emotion.

It was probably just an ordinary bell.

Probably...

The two left Lover's Hill and headed toward the cellphone store. Perhaps it was due to the recent news of a string of murders, but neither Kotomi nor Iroha dared to risk playing too long and missing the last train.

"After we buy the new phone, let's find a restaurant nearby for dinner," Kotomi suggested as she looked around the shopping district. Clothing stores, electronics shops—everything was there. A little further in, there were plenty of restaurants.

"I want tofu hot pot."

"This isn't Kyoto."

"Senpai, good food tastes great no matter where you eat it!"

"Fine. Let's have tofu hot pot for lunch. I haven't decided what I want to eat anyway."

"But, Senpai, we're here in Enoshima, by the seaside, and it's not even winter. Are we really going to eat tofu hot pot? Doesn't that feel a bit out of place?"

"Weren't you the one who said you wanted tofu hot pot..." Kotomi said, twitching her lips.

"Ah! Senpai, I want eel rice!"

"Eel rice has nothing to do with Enoshima either, does it?!"

"Alright, alright, let's go buy the phones first. Even if we went to a restaurant now, the kitchens probably aren't ready yet, and we'd just have to wait. Instead, let's finish buying our phones first, then eat."

"True, Senpai, you're so reliable when it comes to time management~"

"Why does it feel like there's a hidden meaning in your words?" Kotomi squinted suspiciously at the grinning Iroha.

"Is there? I don't think so. Hehehehe, I'm just admiring how reliable you are as a high schooler!"

This comment hit the sweet spot for Kotomi. She smirked smugly and said, "Hmph, when you get to your second year of high school, you'll have to call me a reliable adult."

Arriving at the phone store, Kotomi compared several models before settling on a high-end flagship phone from a particular brand. While she didn't care much for flagship models, this one just happened to meet all her needs.

It had a large memory: 8+256GB.

The camera quality was top-notch. Though Kotomi didn't know much about pixel specs, the descriptions sounded impressive. It also aligned with Megumi Kato's wish for her to have a phone with a better camera.

Speaking of which, why does Megumi care so much about my phone's camera? Kotomi wondered to herself. She thought about it for a long time but couldn't figure it out.

The phone supported fast charging.

As for the color, she chose one of her favorites: glaze white.

The total cost, including all accessories and screen damage insurance, came to 390,000 yen.

Although Kotomi initially planned to buy a phone for 150,000 yen... this was way over her budget.

But why did Kotomi so decisively buy this phone, even with such a significant budget overrun?

The reason was simple: it was a foldable phone!

The main screen measured 8 inches, with a secondary 6-inch screen. When both screens were unfolded, it transformed into a 14-inch display.

Kotomi was utterly enchanted by the foldable screen. It meant she could enjoyably play visual novels on her phone... ahem, she meant write stories on it.

Conveniently, the phone came with a leather case featuring a built-in keyboard. It was an external keyboard specifically designed for this model.

When fully unfolded with the keyboard activated, it was practically a sleek, lightweight laptop.

As a novelist and visual novel scriptwriter, both the expansive 14-inch screen and the keyboard's functionality were too powerful to resist.

By the time Kotomi realized it, she had already paid, and 390,000 yen had been deducted from her bank account.

After payment, the store clerk began transferring all the data from her old phone to the new one.

If the new phone had less memory, it wouldn't have been able to accommodate Kotomi's vast collection of... ahem, important files stored in her photo gallery.

Meanwhile, Iroha also purchased her phone, opting for the Iphone 17.

Although the clerk enthusiastically promoted the Iphone 18, singing its praises, Iroha wasn't swayed. After all, a phone that didn't include a charger or earphones—what was the point of buying it? To collect dust?

Iroha's data transfer finished in under half an hour, while Kotomi's took a full hour and a half to complete.

"Senpai, what exactly do you have on your phone? Your old phone was practically turning into a scorching hotplate during the transfer!"

Even the store clerk had been startled during the data transfer. After years of working in a phone store, they thought they had seen it all.

But this? What the hell? Is this phone in a sauna? This was new.

"Eh-heh-heh." Kotomi scratched her head with an awkward laugh.

After all, the sheer amount of... ahem, files stored on her old phone was staggering.

Once all the data was transferred, Kotomi cleared every bit of data from her old phone.

To her surprise, the store clerk offered 2,700 yen for her old phone during the buyback process.

Iroha's old phone, on the other hand, was only worth 1,400 yen.

They had made a deal before coming to Enoshima: whoever got the higher trade-in value for their old phone would treat the other to lunch.

Today's victor was Kotomi.

She won, but it didn't feel like a win.

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