Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou (LN) - Volume 9 - Chapter SS5

Floating Hot Springs Panic 

Fernir gently sailed through the sky. This high up, there were no obstacles to obstruct it, or enemies to attack it. Even if there were monsters inhabiting the sky, Fernir was more than equipped to handle them. Hajime had not only upgraded its weapons with evolution magic, but he’d also strengthened the ship’s hull. Furthermore, there were thousands of cannons and missile launchers positioned strategically all around the ship. There was nowhere in Tortus safer than Fernir. 
“Sho coooooozy.” 
“H-Hold on, Suzu! You shouldn’t do that!” 
Right now, all of Fernir’s passengers were enjoying the onboard hot springs that Hajime had recently installed. In fact, Suzu was enjoying the hot springs so much that she’d nearly submerged herself into them. She then floated to the surface, exposing her naked body to the elements. Kaori, on the other hand, sat down leisurely in the tub and said, “Now now, Shizuku-chan. We’re all girls here, so it’s fine.” 
“You might be right, but still...” 
“She’s right, Shizuku-san. It feels so goood. Come on, join us.” 
“We’re talking about showing proper modesty here, Shea. Whether or not it feels good is irrelevant.” 
“Shizuku, there is no need to be so small-minded. Look at how vast this blue sky is.” 
“That’s even more irrelevant!” 
“Shizuku, curse you for having such an erotic body.” 
“Can we please get back on topic!? And stop saying stuff like that!” Shizuku said as she hugged herself to hide her body from Yue’s lecherous gaze. Blushing, she shot a furtive glance behind her. There was only a single wall, past which stretched the vast blue sky. 
“Yue, you shouldn’t talk so loud. The bath is in open-air mode, so people outside can hear us.” 
“Huh!?” 
Upon hearing that, Shizuku blushed even brighter and hugged herself tighter. Though her arms and legs were tightly muscled from all of her training, her body still possessed very feminine curves, which Yue stared at intently. 
“You can talk about Yaegashi if you want, but you better not talk about your own bodies. If these other two guys hear anything, I’ll be forced to kill them.” 
“Mmm... Okay.” 
“Hey! You can’t talk about me either! I demand better treatment than this!” 
Naturally, Hajime ignored Shizuku’s protests. The men’s bath, which was separated by a single wall, suddenly grew noisy due to the sounds of splashing. It sounded as though two guys were trying to run away from a third. As Hajime had put the bath in open-air mode, the people soaking in the hot springs could enjoy seeing the sky all around them, both above and below. The bath itself was made to look as natural as possible too. Furthermore, Hajime had used evolution magic to give the bathwater restorative properties. 
It was hardly surprising that the girls found it so relaxing. As always, the master craftsman had spared no expense in making it as luxurious as possible. 
“Though I must say, it is quite impressive that you managed to fashion such a bath, Master. Are baths of this nature popular in your homeland?” 
Hajime had done a wonderful job of modeling a Japanese-style bath. Not only was the tub made of real rock, but there was also even a small bamboo thicket growing in the bathhouse. There was also a small waterfall that circulated the water through a magic filter that removed all impurities. Since it was afternoon, Hajime had put it in open-air mode, but there was also an indoor mode with soft lighting for when it was night. 
“I wouldn’t say all the baths in Japan are like this, but most are. I modeled this one after my favorite hot springs back on Earth.” 
“Oho. So you are a fan of hot springs?” Tio asked, seemingly glad to have learned another thing about Hajime. However, Hajime waited a few moments before responding. 
“I think it’s more accurate to say the Nagumo family is.” 
“You mean to say your parents?” 
“Yeah. All of us love hot springs, especially in winter. My parents are pretty busy most of the year, so we don’t often get chances to go on vacation... but they still get time off around New Year, so it’s become kind of a tradition to go to the hot springs to celebrate it.” 
Hajime’s voice was gentle, conveying just how much he cared about his parents. Yue and the others listened with rapt attention, while Shizuku and the rest reminisced about the times they spent with their own family. After a few minutes of comfortable silence, Kaori finally said, “Come to think of it, I always tried inviting you to visit a shrine with me and Shizuku-chan and everyone, Hajime-kun.” 
The peaceful atmosphere suddenly grew tense, mostly in the men’s side of the bath. However, Kaori didn’t notice the change in Kouki and Ryutarou and continued, “I always wondered why you never answered, but now I know it was because you were with your parents. Fufu, if I’d known that, I wouldn’t have gotten so jealous—” 
“Let me just say this now,” Hajime’s cut in, his voice sounding surprisingly stiff. Kaori tilted her head quizzically, while Shizuku just looked up in resignation. 
“It wasn’t that I didn’t notice Kaori. I saw your texts.” 
“Huh!? Wait, if you saw them, then does that mean you just ignored me!?” 
Shocked, Kaori got to her feet. 

“Yep.” 
“How could you, Hajime-kun!? That’s so mean!” 
“Because in the one hour I spent in the hot springs, I got more than forty texts from you.” 
In other words, Hajime had been terrified of responding. Kaori’s texts had been endless. “What’s wrong?” “Are you busy?” “Sorry if I’m interrupting anything, but I’d really like to hear back from you.” “Oh, still busy?” “Hm, are my texts not reaching you?” “Sorry!” “I’ll resend them!” “Nagumo-kun, Nagumo-kun!” “Where are you right now?” “Are you at home?” “If you’re home, why aren’t you replying?” “Did something happen?” “Are you okay?” “Should I come visit you?” “If you don’t say anything, I’ll start counting down!” And so on. 
“Back then, I thought that countdown was the countdown to my doom.” 
“I’d never do something to hurt you!” 
Incidentally, Kaori had indeed tried to barge into Hajime’s house. It had only been thanks to Shizuku’s valiant efforts that Kaori had been restrained. Afterward, while Hajime had been trying to think of how to reply, Kaori had barraged him with another avalanche of texts. In the end, she’d even started leaving voice mails. When one had said, “I won’t stop until you pick up...” Hajime had been so terrified that he turned his phone off. After that, he’d focused on the hot springs and tried to forget everything else. His dad was pretty worried about him when he saw Hajime shivering even inside a hot spring, though. 
“I finally managed to stop Kaori after her tenth call attempt. When I saw how many texts she’d sent you, I realized what you must have been going through.” 
“Yaegashi, you really are my savior,” Hajime said, feeling truly grateful to Shizuku. It was thanks to her that Kaori’s text spam had stopped in the hundreds instead of the thousands. 
“Kaoridiot, you’re a total stalker.” 
“Kaori-san, even I’m a little creeped out by that.” 
“Kaori, not even I am capable of defending such actions.” 
“Ugh... I-I’m sorry. I just really wanted to spend some time with Hajime-kun,” Kaori replied as she sunk into the bathtub, trying to hide from everyone’s piercing gazes. 
“Well, I guess it’s partly my fault for not having the balls to reply until the next day. Sorry.” 
“Th-Thank goodness you understand. And in the end, we were able to see each other at the shrine.” 
“Yeah. Even though the shrine was so packed that you could barely see ten feet in front of you, you somehow spotted me in the crowd and weaved your way toward me. I nearly passed out when I saw you.” 
“......” Kaori averted her gaze from the other girls. She was beginning to realize that all of the memories with Hajime she looked back on fondly, he seemed to consider scary. Yue gently walked over to Kaori and patted her shoulder. 
“Yue?” 
“Kaori. Rest easy. Hajime might get terrified when he thinks of you and hot springs, but whenever he thinks of me and hot springs, he’ll remember the night we first slept together.” 
“......” Yue’s voice was so bold that Shizuku and Suzu had to hide their faces inside the water. On the other hand, Kouki and Ryutarou nearly collapsed from shock in the men’s bath. 
“A-And why exactly should I rest easy because of that? Hmmm?” 
“Because I’ve managed to cover up your bad memories with good ones, which means you’re no longer needed. You can leave now, Kaori.” 
“Disintegrate!” 
“Huh!?” 
Unable to take Yue’s gleeful taunting, Kaori unleashed her disintegration powers. Though Yue managed to dodge the barrage of deadly feathers, the wall behind her was not so lucky. Kaori’s feathers obliterated it instantly, destroying the only partition between the men’s and women’s bath. Though Hajime had created the wall out of highly sturdy material, it still stood no chance against Kaori’s full might. With the wall gone, water from the women’s bath rushed into the men’s bath. 
“Huh? Wait, nooooooooooooooooooooo!” 
Shizuku’s choice to retreat to the wall backfired on her, and she was sucked toward the men’s bath. Realizing she’d made a colossal mistake, Kaori rushed forward to save Shizuku. At the same time, she heard two muffled yells from the men’s bath. 
“Waaah, Kaori, you idiot! Why did you use disintegration magic inside!?” 
“I-I’m sorry!” 
Shizuku leaned back against a boulder while Kaori hugged her tight. It almost looked like Kaori was pressing Shizuku up against the wall for a confession. Unfortunately, that meant exposing her naked body for all to see. Kouki and Ryutarou lay on the ground, unconscious, while Hajime’s lips twitched. While Shizuku was protected thanks to Kaori, she could still see into the men’s bath. She looked down toward it and— 
“ASGOLigjaeglkjhgleqwtiuhaksjfhltiu !” 
Even after things had settled down, Shizuku hid behind her ponytail for the next few hours. And for quite some time after, she couldn’t look Hajime in the eyes.