Leave a comment

Author’s note:
Please enjoy this chapter from a third person perspective.

“Oh! That’s right… Since we worked so hard, should we go to the large bathroom?” Alim proposed to Mika.
“The large bathroom… Oh, now that you mention it, we never went in there, right? What kind of facilities were there again?” Mika asked Alim while inclining her head.

Alim proudly gave her an explanation of the large bath she had created, since she had asked so nicely.

“It’s based on a hot-spring inn, which was left mostly unchanged! There’s also a sauna and various types of baths. However, there’s no open-air bath, you see.”

When Mika heard that there was no open-air bath, she looked a little disappointed and asked Alim for the reason.

“Why is there no open-air bath?”
“Well, that’s because the large bathroom is underground,” Alim replied.
“It’s underground…? Why?”
“It was a convenient place, you know.”

If that was the best place for it, it couldn’t be helped, Mika thought, but she still looked openly disappointed. When Alim picked up on her mood, she hurriedly offered something in exchange.

“Yep… Oh, still, there’s something similar! A virtual open-air bath.”
“W-What’s that?” Mika asked Alim, since she got curious about this nonmechanical sounding name.
“Erm, there’s air conditioning, so the wind flows, like it would in an open-air bath, and there’s a virtual background. There are also various backgrounds to choose from, for example it can look normal, or as if we’re inside a forest, on the ocean, up in the air, or in a planetarium.

Alim joyfully presented the virtual open-air bath she’d created to Mika, as if she was recommending a good inn. When Mika heard that, she also grew more and more eager to go there.

“Alright… let’s go there, then! Besides… where was it again?”
“Hm, it’s over here, you know.”

Alim, while holding Mika’s hand, took a change of clothes and some towels and went to the large bathroom’s premises.

“It really looks like a hot-spring inn. Merely from the changing room.”
“Right?”

The antechamber alone fully made them feel, as if they had come to a ryokan¹. They both had come up till here, on the day they created the mansion.

Racks for taking off one’s clothes were lined up and the air conditioning had exactly the right temperature, for being in the nude. There were also large mirrors and expensive looking dryers in front of washbasins. Apart from that, the was also a machine, from which you could get tea and water.

Alim took off her clothes and put them into a basket. Following that example, Mika did the same. None of them acted shy. This was because they were of the same gender. Such was the effect of a skill.

The two opened the door to the large bathroom and went inside.

“It’s… it’s so wide!” was the first thing Mika said, as she saw it.

It was much too expansive, to be owned by a single person. Obviously, there was a sauna and a cold-water bath, but there was also a foot bath, a bath with sitting rows, a bubble-bath with an electric current² and a jacuzzi. Then there were three kinds of virtual open-air baths, each with different effects, including a bath, where you could lie down, and small, single-person bathtubs³. Apart from those, there were several other kinds of baths.

“It sure is! Oh, the water will flow endlessly, due to the enchantments on the large bathroom, so you don’t need to worry that we’re being wasteful.”
“Gotcha~.”

Mika and Alim picked up pails and poured hot water over their bodies.

“Great! …Then, what should we do first?”
“Let’s wash our bodies. After that, I’d like to go in slowly.”
“Understood, let’s do that.”

They sat next to each other in front of a shower and first wet their bodies, before lathering them up with body soap, which had been put onto body towels.

“Alim, how about we wash each other’s backs?” Mika suggested to Alim.

She had no ulterior motives.

“Sure, shall we?” Alim simply consented.

That was, because they had done so the last time they had bathed together, too.

“I’ll go first, then.”
“Alright.”

When Mika turned her back to Alim, the latter started to scrub it gently and precisely.

“I thought so before, too, but… you’re quite skilled at washing someone, aren’t you, Alim? It seems unthinkable, that you’re a boy… Where did you learn that?” Mika asked casually.
“Erm, you remember, that my skin did get very easily damaged, right?” Alim replied, while continuing to wash Mika’s back.
“Yeah.”
“Well~… As a matter of fact, it caused me lots of trouble at first. As Ayumu, whenever I scrubbed hard while washing up, my skin started to sting… So, I did a lot of trial and error, you know.”
“Oh… I see.”

It looked like Mika understood that explanation. During that exposition, Alim had washed Mika’s back, from the base of her neck to just above her buttocks, carefully and gently, apparently without fooling around or touching any unnecessary spots.

“Then, I’ll rinse off your back, Mika.”
“Oh, please do.”

Alim poured hot water from a pail over Mika’s back.

“You’re next, then, Alim.”
“I’m in your hands.”

Alim turned around and presented her back to Mika.

“Dear customer, does it itch anywhere?” Mika asked, while she scrubbed Alim’s back.
“No, it doesn’t.”
“Gotcha~.”

In the middle of washing Alim’s back, Mika gently nudged the former’s red hair with her free hand.

“Alim, why don’t you try growing your hair longer?”
“Hm, growing my hair? Oh… I never even thought about that.”
“I think long hair would suit you too, Alim, but… maybe you could wear it in pigtails.”
“Is that so? Hm~, but it’s easiest to move as it currently is, you know.”

Alim grabbed the hair that was close to her nape and made a show of playing around with it a bit.

“Still, I wonder if you could create an item, that can shorten or lengthen it? Why not give it a try?”
“Oh, I see… you’re right. I’ll take a jab at it, at some point when I have free time.
“When you have free time… whenever that might be…”

After that, they stopped talking about anything specific and Mika silently washed Alim’s back. However, she was suddenly carried away by the impulse to play a prank.

“Alim~!”

While Mika called Alim’s name, she lightly tapped the latter on her shoulder. Naturally, Alim turned her head in Mika’s direction.

“What is it~?”

Mika, who was waiting for Alim to look in her direction, had extended her index finger, so it’d precisely meet the latter’s cheek. With a sproing, it poked into it.

“…The feeling of your cheek.”
“…What are you doing?”

Alim gazed intently at what Mika was doing. Still, she kept poking the cheek with her finger. This interval lasted for around 10 seconds.

“Can you move it already… that finger of yours?”
“Oh… sorry! It just felt so good.”

At the same time as Mika retracted her finger, Alim turned around again.

“Jeez… fine, whatever.”
“Eh-heh-heh, sorry, sorry,” Mika apologized.

Still, she wasn’t planning to stop messing around.

“Alim… I’m sorry, it’s a bit hard to wash your back, so could you raise your right arm?”
“Hm~? Gotcha.”

Regardless of the prank Mika had played just now, Alim easily consented to that request. Mika took that opportunity to slip her arm past Alim’s flank and grabbed hold of the latter’s right breast, which was still in the middle of its growth.

“Kihya~!?” Involuntarily, Alim let out a strange scream.

Far from letting go of what she had grabbed, Mika moved her hand.

“H-H-Hang on… M-Mika!? What are you doing?! S-Stop… please stop…”
“(Since the cheek feels so good, I though… this here would too, but… well, it’s amazing.)”

While raising heartbreaking shrieks, Alim tore Mika’s hand from her chest⁴. That moment, Mika, who had been in a dream, came back to herself.

“Huh? Ah… sorry, I didn’t mean to…”
“…You didn’t mean to? You definitely did…”

Alim’s heart⁵ was racing wildly. She turned to Mika and took her hand to reprimand her.

“Jeez, Mika, I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t like it, if I’d touch your chest! Don’t do something like this so suddenly! Wait, even if it wasn’t sudden, it wouldn’t be fine…”

Mika was flabbergasted at Alim’s statement, but a moment later, her cheeks started to turn red. She was fidgeting terribly.

“You’re right… I also wouldn’t like something so sudden… Sorry, I completely gave in to temptation. Still, if it’s you, Alim, I wouldn’t… particularly… dislike it, per se… right?”
“Eh…”

Alim fell silent at that unexpected response. Or rather, she turned completely rigid.

“C-Come on… Alim?”

To bring Alim, who had suddenly stiffened, back to herself, Mika tried waving her hand in front of her eyes, but Alim didn’t react. When she tried poking her cheek, she finally reacted.

“Wah~…!?”
“Oh, you’re finally back.”

Alim puffed out her cheeks, as she looked at Mika.

“A-At any rate, you… you shouldn’t do something like this so suddenly! Understood?”
“Y-Yeah.”

Alim looked, as if she had forgotten what Mika said just before. The shock had apparently been that big, Mika thought.

“Yeah, yeah, but still, Alim.”
“W-What is it?”

Alim got a bad feeling, when she saw Mika grin broadly after agreeing, and covered her chest with her hands in a hurry. Mika continued grinning.

“Compared to the day we met for the first time in Anazumu… they’ve grown a bit bigger, after all. Heh-heh, mine still win, though.”
“…Oh, yep. I guess,” Alim replied in a somewhat dumbfounded voice and turned around, once more. “Well, that’s enough, so please continue…”
“Oh, you’re right. I just need to rinse it off, you know.”

Mika poured the hot water, which had gathered in the pail unnoticed, over Alim’s back. When she had done so two or three times, it looked like she had rinsed off all the lather.

“Then, let’s quickly wash off the rest and get into the bath!”
“Yeah!”

Alim and Mika washed all the spots that hadn’t been done yet and rinsed off the soap in the shower.

“There we go. In which bath should we go, Mika?”
“Erm, the pseudo-open-air bath would be fine, too, but… let’s take an indoor one, first… Ah, that one’s good!”

Mika pointed to a bath where hot water was gushing out at just the right force, as to give one a massage in a hot spring.

“Gotcha, that one it is.”

Mika and Alim went into this bath, side by side. There was no one but the two of them, so they were fine, even if they used extra room, and they showed no signs of leaving.

“Ah~, the current is hitting my back~…”
“Right… that feeling.”
“Mika… I wonder, how would it feel, if we turned towards the waterspout just like this?”
“Why don’t you try it?”
“Yup.”

Alim turned her abdomen towards the stream of water. Then, she immediately turned back around.

“How was it?”
“…It made my stomach wriggle.”
“Gotcha, let’s go into the next one, then.”
“I agree~.”

Alim and Mika left the Jacuzzi.

“Which one next?”
“Don’t you have something similar to a waterslide?” Mika asked, while surveying her surroundings carefully. “From what I can see, there doesn’t seem to be one here.”
“There is one.”
“So, there is! Let’s go there, then~!”
“But that one’s no good, we’d need to wear swimsuits and we’re both exhausted, you know?”
“Alright~, then that’s also for when we have time, right?”

They gave up on the slide.

“Then, what should we do?”
“Hm~… You decide, Alim.”
“Alright… Oh, how about that one?

Alim pointed at what looked like naught but an ordinary bath. However, it had some kind of strange device attached to it.

“What’s that?”
“You’ll definitely love that bath, Mika.
“Me? Love it?”
“Right, for the time being, please go in.”

Right after Alim and Mika had entered the bath, tons of roses emerged from the mysterious device. The many different types of roses were mainly red, white, and pink. I other words, it was a rose bath.

“Wow! What is this bath, it’s amazing!”

Mika seemed quite happy, as she looked at the flowers, she was fond of.

“Heh-heh-heh… This is a bath with a spraying device item attached, you see!”
“A bath with a spraying device?”
“Right, when someone enters this bath, a random item that they like is being sprayed out. Mr. Arkin⁶, for example, would get (counterfeit) money⁷… For you, Mika, it looks like it’s flowers.”
“Oh… So, that’s why it made roses, one of my favorite flowers!”
“That’s it… Well, after 30 minutes, they’ll all disappear.”

Mika scooped the roses and rose petals, that had been drawn into the bath, with her hands, smelled them and gazed at them. Then, she picked up the closest bright-red rose that was a bit on the larger side and placed it onto her head.

“How is it? The rose on my head.”
“It looks lovely! It matches well with your yellow-green hair.”
“Oh, you also have white rose petals on your head, Alim, you know?”
“Really?”
“Yeah, it looks cute!”

Alim and Mika stayed quite a long time in this bath. Before they knew it, all the densely packed roses had disappeared.

“Ah… They’re all gone.”
“It’s been 30 minutes.”
“Oh… that felt good! Then, for the next one…” Mika stated, while she and Alim left the bath, but their light skin had turned faintly red.
“Before we go to the next… Should we cool down for a bit?” Alim recommended.
“Gotcha, the cold bath should be fine, then, right?”

This time, the two of them were about to go into the cold-water bath. This bath was specially designed, so the water wouldn’t be too cold at the start, which made it easier to enter. For that reason, the temperature was that of lukewarm water.

However, once somebody was completely submerged, the water would turn cold and then finally reach the same temperature as a cold-water bath in a normal bathhouse. This was perfect for people who had trouble entering a cold-water bath.

Mika tried to hold one foot into the bath.

“…It’s lukewarm, even though it’s supposed to be a cold-water bath?”
“That’s the kind of bath this is. It’s my deluxe version. Try going in for a bit.”
“Hm, understood.”

Mika and Alim submerged their bodies in the deluxe cold-water bath. Then, the water gradually cooled down.

“Oh… It’s slowly getting colder.”
“That’s right, that makes it easy to get in, right? Since the water is lukewarm at the beginning.”
“That’s true, now that you mention it, but a cold-water bath would’ve been nice, exactly because it’s cold… Well, no matter.”

A few dozen minutes later, the cold-water bath had turned quite frigid.

“Ah… it’s gotten somewhat chilly.”
“Hm… It has probably already reached the appropriate temperature for a cold-water bath, hasn’t it?”
“I see~… I’m starting to crave warmth,” Mika said, while she was clinging to Alim’s arm.
“Why are you clutching my arm?”
“It’s warm… that’s what I thought.”
“Oh, it’s turned cold, too, hasn’t it? Should we go to the pseudo-open-air bath now?”
“Let’s do that!”

Alim and Mika left the cold-water bath and went towards the open-air bath. On route there, they reached a room with four doors.

“They’re behind these three doors, aren’t they?” Mika asked.
“Yep, there’s a different type of bath behind each of them.”
“What about the background?”
“You can change it in all rooms via remote control.”
“Oh, I see! Should we first go into the leftmost one, then?”

Mika opened the left door. Beyond that point, there was a path.

“Did you recreate the path up to the halfway point, too?⁸”
“I did. Now… let’s go!”
“Yeah!”

They walked, while taking care not to slip on the path, and then finally arrived at an orthodox open-air bath, plus two single-person baths. The background was mountains and forests at night, illuminated by moonlight. Furthermore, the sounds of bell crickets⁹ could be heard.

“Oh, you can see a lot!”
“It’s great, right?”
“Yeah, oh, I’ll go in after that one.”
“Ah… hang on…”

Mika headed towards the single person baths, while pulling Alim with her hand. Then, both of them went into the same single person bath together. Their bodies stuck quite closely together.

“W-Why? Why did we go into the same one together?”
“Erm… eh-heh-heh, that’s because I wanted to do that. You don’t like it?”
“No, it’s fine.”

Mika and Alim were mutually embarrassed. From the outside, they merely looked like two girls, messing around, but from their own perspective, it had a different meaning.

Mika looked at the background.

“Amazing~… It’s so pretty…”
“It sure is! …What would you like? Should I change it? The options are snowy landscape, or in the middle of a desert.”
“Did you say, ‘in the middle of the desert’…? For me, it’s fine just like this, I guess.”
“Gotcha, I’ll leave it like this, then.”

Then, both of them stayed in the same single person bath for a while.

“Let’s go to the hot spring now,” Mika suggested and left the small bath.

Alim got out at the same time.

“This hot spring… it has various benefits, but the best among them is that it helps with lower back pain.”
“But none of us has back pain.”
“Well, that’s true.”

Mika and Alim took a bath in the hot spring. It looked like, rather than normal hot spring water, this water had a slight red tinge.

“Whew~… absolute bliss.”
“You’re right~…”

For some time, the two of them peacefully enjoyed the hot water without speaking a single word.

“Great… Let’s go to the next, then…”
“Yeah, the room next to this one.”

They left the hot spring, and followed the passageway outside, until they’d returned to the room with four doors¹⁰.” Then, they went into the door next to the one they’d previously entered, or in other words, the middle door.

They should have entered a room. Instead, was no corridor, like in the room just now, and before they knew it, the two of them found themselves in the middle of nature.

“Wow… incredible. It feels like there are insects.”
“This here is based on the concept of a secret hot spring, you chance upon in the middle of nature. The door can also no longer be seen, once you move away from here.
“There… there are no insects here, right?”
“There are none.”

They moved away from the door and went towards the hot spring. Surely, they could no longer see the door, once they had moved a certain distance from it. The floor’s texture felt quite real, and Mika got the impression, as if she really was walking barefoot in the middle of nature.

Then, the two of them finally arrived at the hot spring.

“Aren’t you supposed to wrap yourself in a bath towel in these kinds of hot springs? That’s what the variety shows back on earth said…”
“There shouldn’t be anyone here, so we’re probably fine, if we go without.”
“But, what should we do, if a man comes here?”
“I think, if we either yell ‘Kya~! Pervert~!’ or shoot off magic, we should be fine, you know.”
“I-I see.”

Mika and Alim went into the water.

“Phew… it kinda feels strange… rather than going into a hot spring, it feels more like we’re in the middle of nature.”
“That’s right… Oh, of course!” Alim looked, as if she had thought of something.
“Hm? Did you remember something?”
“Heh-heh, I just thought of something good to eat.”
“Something good?”
“Well, please have a look,” Alim replied and expanded Dark Matter, transforming it instantly into hot-spring-boiled eggs¹¹ in wooden bowls. Wooden spoons were also included.

Alim held out one of the two portions of boiled egg to Mika.

“Will you also eat, Mika?”
“Hot-spring-boiled eggs~! Yeah, I’ll eat!”

Mika accepted the portion from Alim. Scooping up the egg, which had been boiled perfectly, with the wooden spoon, she filled her mouth with it.

“So tasty… isn’t it?”
“Right~… that’s so good.”

They quickly devoured the boiled eggs.

“Alim~… C-Could I have another one?”
“Sure thing~… there you are.”

Alim created, once more, two portions of hot-spring-boiled egg and handed one of them to Mika. Then, they immediately ate them again.

“That was super tasty!” Mika declared.
“I’m glad that you’re happy, should we go to the next one, then?”
“Yeah.”

They left the nature-open-air hot spring and went where the door had been. When they got closer, they could see it again. They opened it, emerged in the room with four doors, and then entered the door to the right.

They emerged on the outside of a high-rise building¹². There, with just the right width and depth to lie down, was a hot spring that looked quite artificial, compared to the previous two.

“Wow… this is amazing!” Mika exclaimed.
“It kinda makes you feel, like you’re rich, right?”
“Yeah!”

They went into the hot spring and laid down.

“Ah, the night breeze feels great.”
“Say, the night city background looks good, doesn’t it?”

Suddenly, Alim twisted her body slightly and pushed a mysterious switch, that was attached to the railing.

“Huh… What did you do now, Alim?”
“A table will emerge, when you push that button.”
“Really?”

In accordance with what Alim had explained, a white plank appeared in the space between the two of them.

“This way, you can put something down. For example, a book to read, or a beverage. Now, Mika! What would you like to drink?”
“Something to drink… I see…”

After Mika had pondered for a while, she made a suggestion.

“A melon soda with ice cream on top would be nice…”
“Understood, I guess I’ll have that too.”
“Then… erm, I have a request.”
“What is it?”
“C-Could you put in a straw? Erm… One that forks in two at the top.”
“Huh… oh, sure! Yup, gotcha!”

Following Mika’s order, Alim brought out a melon ice cream soda, that was on the larger side, and placed it on the table together with a spoon. Beyond the ice cream, topped with a slice of melon, there was a bifurcated straw with what looked like a heart in its center.

“Yeah! Thank you.”

Mika took the melon soda and started to drink it by herself.

“Huh… H-Hang on, Mika?”
“What~? Oh, now that I think of it, didn’t you make a portion for yourself?”
“Eh…”

Alim looked downright depressed. Without doubt, she had thought, that they’d drink it together. Well, this was another of Mika’s mean pranks.

While looking at the depressed Alim with a broad grin, she placed the melon soda, she had just drunk from, on the table.

“Sorry, sorry, it was just a joke.”

Mika held one end of the straw in her mouth. Alim then also took the other end of it.

“It’s nice that we can try this, but… it’s kinda embarrassing.”
“Right?”

With both of them feeling awkward, they gazed at each other’s faces, as they drank the melon ice cream soda to the last drop. They each ate half of the ice cream, and Mika took the melon topping.

“Eh-heh-heh… Something like this is nice, once in a while, you know.”
“That’s right… Oh, should we get out now?”
“We’ve been in here a considerable time, haven’t we?”

They left the outside bath, emerged in the room with four doors and went to the changing room from there. Then, they wiped off their bodies with bath towels, dried their hair, put on clothes for sleeping and finally left the large bathroom.

“How was it, Mika?”
“It was terribly fun! Can… can we go there again?
“Is that so? That’s great, then. Of course we can go there again.”

They returned to the room, that was made just for the two of them.

TL notes:
We’re finishing volume 7 with a massive bath-themed chapter.

When I translated chapter 121 five months ago and read “large bathroom”, I thought of a somewhat large (normal) bathroom, maybe with a tub big enough for several people and a large shower. Leave it to Alim to instead build a veritable bath theme park.

It’s interesting that here (and in previous chapters) Alim often thinks of playing pranks on Mika but doesn’t, since he’s worried how she’d react, while Mika just goes ahead and does it.

I used female pronouns for Alim here, since it’s a third person chapter, which felt super weird, and I might have left some as their male counterpart by accident.

1. The original is 旅行. It’s a traditional Japanese inn, that often also has a hot spring.
2. It’s supposed to be healthy, but running an electric current through the water you’re submerged in doesn’t sound healthy at all, in my opinion.
3. The original is 壺湯 (lit. “Vase Bath”). I guess they’re like those round, high wooden tubs you sometimes see in movies.
4. I shouldn’t have laughed as hard as I did, when I read this scene for the first time.
5. The original is 動機 (“motive”, “incentive”). This is likely a typo and supposed to be 動悸 (“palpitation (of the heart)”, “pounding”). Both words have the same pronunciation.
6. The original is アヒル (ahiru). I assume that’s a typo and supposed to be Arkin.
7. I guess this would work with paper money, but Anazumu is fully coin based. Ouch!
8. Not sure about that sentence. Either he recreated the path you’d find in a typical hot spring inn, or it might also mean that the “path is being (re)created while they are walking on it”.
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meloimorpha_japonica
10. In the original it sometimes says four doors, and sometimes three.
11. The original is 温泉玉子 (lit. “hot spring egg”). It describes eggs, that are boiled very slowly (originally in a hot spring).
12. The original is 構想 (“plot”, “idea”, “conception” or “vision”). This is likely a typo and supposed to be 高層 (“high-rise”, “multistory” or “tall”). Both words are pronounced the same way.