Mixed Bathing in Another Dimension: The Hero of the Unlimited Bath Page 3

  Once I started working together with Sera, I realized just how difficult it was to give a group of children a bath. It was their first time seeing all the things that the Unlimited Bath held, so they all got really excited. They especially loved the shower, and the first three girls inside took turns using it to wash themselves.

  Sera got wet as she washed the children, and, well, the water made her shirt turn a bit see-through. No, no... I kept telling myself, and quickly averted my eyes. I won’t say what I saw, but it was a pale yellow color. I felt like I was going to end up staring at it the entire time, so I moved to the changing area and helped dry off the kids who were done.

  Suddenly, I realized my eyes were locked onto her butt, which happened to be pointing straight at me. Her wet shorts clung to her swelling, protruding bottom, and its curves plus the outline of her underwear were visible.

  That must be what they call ‘child-rearing hips.’ In Japanese, being ‘stuck under a woman’s bottom’ means you’re at her beck and call, but in Sera’s case, I certainly wouldn’t mind it – in fact, I really wish I could be!

  With a start, I pushed my mind back into reality. I hurriedly looked up to see Sera giving the children a loving smile.

  Ugh... I’m terrible. I’m so ashamed that I took this job just because it’d come with some nice perks.

  Sera had surely asked me for help because she trusted me. I needed to make sure I didn’t betray her trust, so I worked hard to act like a gentleman and focused on taking care of the children.

  Next after the trio were two girls, followed by six boys in two groups of three. Sera said she was going to take the girls, so I did my best to look away from her as I handed her a big bath towel. The moment I did that, she realized I had seen her, and nervously covered up her body.

  After she left, the boys came in with a friendly older priest. They were full of energy, and two of the wilder boys got shampoo in their eyes, but we had no problems apart from that, and everyone ended up enjoying their bath.

  After the boys all finished, I was left to clean up the Unlimited Bath alone in the courtyard. I didn’t need to clean the bath itself, though. All I had to do was close the bath’s door then reopen it. I felt fatigued when MP slipped out from my body, but that was all it took to restore the bath to its original condition. This was another one of the Unlimited Bath’s abilities. Being able to take the bath anywhere meant I could also use MP to keep the bath in perfect condition.

  “Umm...”

  “Whoa!”

  I had just finished up and turned to head back to my room when I saw Sera standing behind me. She called out to me so suddenly that I let out a startled shout.

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” she said.

  “N-no, you just surprised me... What’s wrong?”

  I was so surprised that I almost told her why I was really surprised, but I managed to regain my composure in the middle. You see, Sera had already changed back into that loose robe of hers. The way it perfectly hid her curvaceous body is what had truly surprised me.

  No, no... No weird grins! Stay cool. I focused and gave her my best poker face.

  “Huh? Shinonome?” I glanced next to Sera and saw Shinonome standing there. Once our eyes met, she hurriedly looked down to her feet.

  For some reason, she seemed wary of me. I can’t remember doing anything that would make her hate me... Maybe she’s just a little shy.

  “Um, it’s our first time speaking to each other, isn’t it? My name is Haruno Shinonome. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  “Oh, yeah, I’m Touya Houjou. The pleasure’s all mine.”

  “It seems that only highly respected people go by their family names here, so please call me Haruno.”

  “Oh, really? You can call me Touya, too, then.”

  “Okay, Touya.”

  “Again, it’s nice to meet you, Haruno.”

  Things still felt a little awkward, but it was our first time speaking to each other, so that was to be expected. After we finished our introductions, however, that was it for the conversation. Funnily enough, the silence pushed us both to glance at Sera and seek help at exactly the same moment.

  “Um, er, I have something to ask you, Sir Touya,” she said.

  “What? About Haruno’s gift?” I asked.

  Hearing this, Sera gave me small, gentle nod, while Haruno bit her lip and nodded as well.

  Thought so. In terms of her asking me for help, that was the only thing I could come up with.

  “I can’t give you any advice on awakening, though,” I said. “After all, I became able to use mine right after finishing the training they gave me.”

  “...I see.” Sera and Haruno both looked clearly disappointed. They must have been desperate.

  Then, for some reason, Sera blurted out something insane. “Um, Sir Touya, would you be so kind as to give Lady Haruno a bath?!”

  “What?!” I squeaked in an abnormal voice and shot my eyes toward Haruno. Her silence told me that she had apparently agreed to this plan. “Sera, you know that I have to be inside the bath in order to use it, right?”

  “Of course!” Sera leaned forward.

  Whoa, she sure is getting close... She smells nice, though...

  I started to feel embarrassed and glanced at Haruno, who also turned red and looked away. Perhaps she isn’t in full agreement with this after all. If I ogle her here, I’ll end up creating something much worse than a bad first impression. No smiling just yet... I told myself, and turned to ask Sera a question.

  “May I ask why? I think I’ve come up with a pretty good guess, but...”

  “Yes... I thought that maybe if she comes in contact with one of the Goddess of Light’s other gifts, it might help her to awaken her own... We’ve become desperate, so I even took her to the San Pilaca Cathedral on the day of the festival.”

  “The festival was a nice diversion, at least...” Haruno said as she smiled shyly.

  So they were at the festival, too. I was curious to ask her if she’d also watched that musical, but decided that now wasn’t the time.

  “I understand where you’re coming from, but you do know that we’ve confirmed the Unlimited Bath’s water is just normal water and not holy water, right?” I didn’t even know if holy water existed in this world.

  “Yes, but it’s true that it comes from the blessing of the Goddess of Light, correct?” Sera asked.

  “Well, yeah...” It was created from the gift she had given me, so that was true.

  “Lady Haruno just needs to find the right trigger. Coming in contact with a blessing from the goddess might be just what she needs...”

  Suddenly, I understood. Her request had seemed insane at first, but after listening to the explanation, I could see the logic behind it. She hoped that by putting Haruno in contact with the Unlimited Bath – a power bestowed by the Goddess of Light – it would stimulate the gift that was sleeping inside Haruno. Perhaps the whole reason she’d asked me to bathe the children was to confirm whether or not it’d be okay to request something like this.

  Haruno looked torn, as if she wasn’t sure what to say. I decided that in this situation, the best thing to do would be to take the request seriously, so I turned back to her.

  “Like I said just now, I need to be inside the Unlimited Bath in order to use it. If that’s okay with you, then I’ll be happy to help.” Since Haruno was from the same world as me, I felt like I could speak to her in a more relaxed tone. “It’s all up to how you feel about the idea. If it makes you feel uneasy or embarrassed, then we can forget we ever talked about this.”

  “In that case...” Haruno made a desperate face and started to say something, but I put up a hand to stop her. First, I wanted her to listen to everything I had to say.

  “I’m sure you’re feeling panicked because the other four heroes have awakened, but we don’t exactly have a time limit, so there’s no need to hurry. Besides, as long as you keep training, there’s always a chance that you’ll awaken one day. After hea
ring all that, do you still want to take a bath with me – someone who was a complete stranger until about a week ago?”

  “D-do we... have to go into the bath together?” Haruno was red up to her ears.

  Good. If she had made a face and said something like ‘What are you saying? Gross,’ then I might have burst into tears right in front of her.

  “A-Anyway, I don’t think you need to panic yet, Haruno. If you feel too embarrassed, you should just wait. I don’t think it’d be any fun to force someone into the bath against their will, nor would I want to.”

  Honestly, though, I felt like I was missing out on the chance of a lifetime. How could I let go of a chance to take a bath with such a cute girl? I should just take a bath with Sera instead, part of my heart shouted out. If possible, though, I’d rather take a bath with someone who actually wants to, instead of someone who’s having second thoughts. That was how I truly felt – although I can’t deny that this also came from self-interest, and the hope that it might give me a chance of being liked by either girl.

  After staring at me in silence for a while, Haruno bowed her head and apologized. “I’m sorry.”

  “Well, I’m not angry or anything...”

  “No, I want to thank you.” When Haruno raised her head, she was slightly smiling. She looked so cute that I started to feel remorseful about turning her down, but I withstood it.

  “Thank you, Touya,” she said. “I’m glad you answered me the way you did.”

  “...I did something to earn your thanks?”

  “To me, you did.” Haruno grinned. She looked more beautiful than cute at that point.

  When it came to bathing together, I simply thought if a girl was sincerely interested there’d be a better chance of getting her to like me. But if my decision had proven helpful, then that was even better.

  “I’m going to think about it a bit more,” she said. “Before that, though, I’m going to try working a little harder.”

  “Yeah. You can think about it after you’ve given it your all.”

  “Exactly! Sorry for making you worry, Sera. I’m okay now.”

  “I’m just glad you’ve cheered up...” Sera said with a relieved smile.

  Haruno must have gotten depressed over not being able to awaken her gift, and fell into a panic. I wasn’t able to help her awaken, but I did manage to cheer her up, so I was certainly satisfied. I wasn’t even sure whether bathing together would allow her to awaken, so this seemed to be the best course of action. Of course, if she ever decided she wanted to bathe in the Unlimited Bath, I’d be all for it.

  Haruno and Sera really seemed to be good friends. I later heard that Sera planned to join Haruno’s party once she departed. When I saw how close they were, I realized something: I don’t have a single person to add to my party.

  That evening, I left Haruno and Sera and returned to my room. I rolled onto my bed, noting how hard the bed mat felt. After some additional thinking, I realized just what a difficult problem I faced when it came to party members – a problem that revolved around my gift, the Unlimited Bath. It allowed me to bathe myself on the road, but I felt guilty about how I wouldn’t be able to let any of my party members bathe on their own as well. I had to be in the Unlimited Bath, or it wouldn’t be able to produce any water. It was also pretty cramped. Adding someone to my party, whether they were male or female, meant that I’d also need to ask them if they’d be okay bathing with me. The events at noon had taught me that unless they were a small child, no one would be happy about having to bathe with an adult male. I had experienced this firsthand when I let the temple elder inside in order to investigate the Unlimited Bath’s powers. Bathing with another guy was no fun. I felt this was important, so I repeated it to myself.

  I concluded that I would only be able to team up with women who would agree to bathe with me. Instead of bathing alone and not letting any of my party members in, or forcing myself to bathe with other men, finding women who would be okay with bathing with me from the beginning seemed to be the most constructive solution. I had received a gift that allowed me to bathe with anyone I liked. The Goddess of Light was basically ordering me to find some willing women. I couldn’t deny that I had my own personal desires – in fact, allow me to admit that I did. I wanted to bathe with a girl.

  This plan of mine was certainly easier said than done, and when I told the temple elder about it the next day, he agreed only after some exasperation. Then, just as he promised to help me find some party members, a young male temple knight in a white overcoat hurried in.

  “W-we’ve got trouble! Cosmos the Hero was attacked by demonic assassins!”

  “What?!” The temple elder was so startled that he knocked down his chair and stood up.

  As I listened to the report, the first thing I thought was: Who’s that? I soon learned that the first out of the five heroes to awaken his gift, Akio Nishizawa, had renamed himself ‘Cosmos the Hero.’ Akio was the word for the cosmos flower in Japanese, so it made sense.

  “Is Cosmos the Hero safe now?” the temple elder asked.

  “Y-yes, soldiers from the castle helped him defeat the monsters.”

  As I listened to the temple elder and the temple knight speak, relief washed over me. All I’d ever heard about Akio were the details surrounding his gift. He was another one of the few people who hailed from the same world as me, so I was glad to hear he was safe. After he quickly awakened his gift, Cosmos was summoned to the royal castle. There, he met this kingdom’s princess, one of the people who had summoned us, and managed to add her to his party. Normally, one might have second thoughts about taking a princess out on a dangerous journey, but all members of the royal family underwent training from a young age, so it was actually safer than enlisting a complete amateur. She was also the descendant of a family of heroes who could use holy magic, so with that in mind, she was the perfect choice to team up with a hero. After adding the princess to his party, Cosmos continued preparing for his journey and kept searching daily for more party members in town. The day he was attacked, a lone girl had asked him to let her join. I’m not sure if it was because she was cute or not, but Cosmos apparently said yes immediately. Then, when they were on their way back to the castle, the barrier that protected the castle forced the girl to reveal her true form.

  “The hero’s party defeated the demons, but it seems that Cosmos was confused by the sudden development. He kept saying ‘She must have had some reason,’ and ‘She really wasn’t a bad person...’” the temple knight said.

  Hearing this, the temple elder let out a sigh and shook his head. Whether this was a response to Cosmos’ confusion, or due to how naive his remarks seemed, I didn’t know. I kind of understood how Cosmos felt, though. After all, he had agreed to add her to his party, so it must have been hard to suddenly accept that she was actually his enemy. I got the feeling that Cosmos was a bit of a narcissist, but also had a gentle side. Something else was bugging me, though.

  “Were the monsters really after Cosmos?” I asked.

  “What do you mean?” the temple guard replied, so I explained.

  “If they were after Cosmos, they could have simply taken him out in a more convenient spot before he returned to the castle. That way, he wouldn’t have been able to get help from the castle soldiers.”

  “Guards were also sent out with the princess, you know.”

  “But there had to be less than what they had at the castle.”

  “I suppose...”

  Putting it bluntly, I had a hard time believing the monsters would risk so much just to attack a hero who still had yet to accomplish anything – especially one like me.

  “Hm... You make a good point. Let’s relay this to the royal family.”

  After a while, the temple elder came to a conclusion and sent the temple knight back to the castle. Once I saw how quickly he called other people in and started giving out orders, I realized now wasn’t the time to ask him for personal advice, so I took my leave and got out of his
way.

  That evening, after I finished my water production and magic training, I laid back down on my bed in my room and started studying the cleric magic textbook. Despite what I had said in the afternoon, I felt like there was a possibility I could get attacked one day, too. After all, I was a hero, and that might be the reason why the attack happened in the first place. But I had no fighting skills, nor was my gift meant for battle, and I didn’t have any guards of my own. If I had been attacked that day, I probably wouldn’t have survived. Once I came to that conclusion, fear sent shivers into my shoulders and caused me to shrink up a bit.

  Magic, party members, or weapons. I needed something in order to protect myself, but all I currently possessed was a magic textbook. For the time being, my only choice was to go on studying cleric magic.

  As I pored over the text, I suddenly heard a knock on my door. I hurriedly got up from the bed and looked toward it.

  “Um... It’s me, Haruno. Are you awake, Touya?” I heard Haruno’s voice coming from beyond the door. It was cute, gentle, and sweet. “...Touya?”

  “...Ohhh, Haruno! I’ll be right there!”

  I had been so entranced by her voice that I was frozen in place. Rolling off my bed, I moved to open the door, then stopped and made sure my hair, my collar, and nothing else was disheveled before I opened it.

  “Wh-what’s the matter, Haruno?”

  “There’s something I’d like to ask you about... Do you have time now?”

  “Come on in! I was just reading!”

  “Thank you...” Haruno said in a small voice as she came in. She was wearing a thick gown over her sheer white pajamas, and was holding it closed with crossed arms.

  “Here, sit down. Oh, over here, I mean.” The only furniture in the room was a dresser and a small table to which a single chair was attached. I let Haruno sit in the chair and sat on my bed so that we could face each other. I was in another world, in a room that someone had lent to me, but it still felt like a girl had come to visit me in my own room, so I was ecstatic. My voice might have even sounded high-pitched.