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What about you, Harumi? Are you confident that you won’t scream if a naked man suddenly appears before you? The answer is most likely no. Even I screamed back then when I was still a man.

「Look, everyone’s wrapped in their towels, so open your eyes Kotone.」

I’ve had my eyes closed since I started taking my clothes off. During that, I got out of my clothes and covered myself with my towel. I can do that much with my eyes closed.

「So that’s why it takes you so long to change during pool time.」
「Just as I thought. Exactly as expected. So bothersome.」

Don’t call me bothersome. I’m also bothered by this, you know. Still, this is how I react towards women, so what would happen if I’m faced with male nudity? It’s probably best that I don’t get that sort of encounter.

「Let’s stop talking and just get in already.」
「Ahd whose fault do you think this is?」

Yes, it’s my fault. Like I thought, Kaori is on retort duty today. The other two are too surprised to react. I guess this is due to us knowing each other for a longer time.

「Still, it came to my mind again, but isn’t it tiresome? I mean washing your hair.」
「It actually is tiresome.」

As we lined up and started rinsing ourselves, Kaori spoke to me and I completely agreed with her. Washing hair as long as mine takes a lot of time. And I might even miss washing some of it.

「Come to think of it, why are you letting your hair grow out, Kotone? With how you are now, I imagine you just cutting it for being a bother.」
「My neighbour is going to cry, you see.」

Hearing my reply, Miyako was speechless. That’s the only reason. We see each other everyday and the morning right after I cut my hair, she sulkingly stares at me. Just because I cut my hair slightly shorter than usual. If I cut it really short, I can seriously see her crying.

「Akane, was it? She’s the person you can’t go against, right?」
「So that’s how our relationship looks from other people, huh.」

Though in reality, I actually have her by the stomach. And despite that, I’m weak against Akane’s requests. For some reason. Something’s not right here. I can refuse her when it comes to the topic of food, though.

「Hm~mn, so you have someone like that, huh.」
「What’s with you, Harumi? Making it sound so suggestive.」
「Nothing~」

Were the person in question a boy, then this would have turned into girl talk, but Akane is a woman. Moreover, a weirdo who arbitrarily calls people her wife. Though for some reason, I often happen across people like that even in my past life.

「Umm, can anyone help me with my hair?」
「Sure thing.」

I can’t let my hair soak in the hot spring. While it’s fine to do it in your own bathtub, public etiquette should be kept. Still, I’m not used to putting my hair up, it’s hard.

「How come your hair doesn’t even look damaged when it’s so long?」
「I wonder that a lot myself, but isn’t it probably genetics?」

Kaori enviously asked while feeling my hair, but even I find it weird. Especially since in this season there’s so many opportunities to be exposed to direct sunlight, it should get damaged. Is Akane’s care routine effective?

「Here, done.」
「Thanks. Still, with the towel included, it’s really heavy.」

It feels like I’ll hear an unpleasant crunch if I carelessly tilt my head. It’s just natural though, since the towel wrapped around my head is heavy with water. I might not have a relaxing soak unless I find somewhere to lean my head.

「Still, it’s really jiggling a lot. Disgusting.」
「Where are you even looking at? No, that goes without saying, but still.」

I only have a bath towel around my body, so it shakes at every step I take. Moreover, Harumi is already in the tub, so she’s looking at me from a lower angle. If she were a guy, it would have been a destructive sight.

「Haa~, I’m melting~」
「Kotone, you sound so lewd.」

As I immersed myself into the hot spring, Kaori retorted to the first thing I said but I don’t have the leeway to talk back. Hot spring really is paradise.

「You have the same look as when you’re eating.」
「I’m full with happiness, you see.」
「I think of this when you’re eating too, but is that fine for a rich lady?」

Well, true, it’s a cheap sort of happiness. Probably wrong for a high class lady, but this is fine for common folk like me. Since I don’t feel like making the effort to adjust my sense of values.

「Do you even plan on going back to your old life?」
「Do I look like I’m making any effort to do that?」
「Absolutely not.」

Rather, this life is my old life. There’s no way that the old me would know the life of a high class lady. And while I do have Kotone’s memories, I can’t imagine being able to live that life. I’m not even trying to think about the future right now. I don’t have the leeway to think about it, after all.

「And Kaori, isn’t it easy to tell from seeing how Kotone is right now? If she wanted to go back to her old life, there’s no way she would be working at a cafe.」
「Just as Harumi said. I probably would’ve done something else.」
「Like what?」
「Dunno.」

There’s no way I would know what I need to do to return to the high class life. I guess either contributing something to the family, or maybe adjusting my attitude. Both are impossible. Even in my imagination.

「Ahh, it’s seeping into me~」
「Don’t suddenly laze around in the middle of a serious conversation.」
「It’s your fault for starting that kind of conversation while I’m in a hot spring.」
「Why are you making it out to be my fault?」

Too bad for Kaori, but the hot spring takes higher priority. The present before the future. And hot springs are supreme.

「Then I’ll change the topic. Isn’t Kotone’s skin so pretty?」
「Why that topic though~」
「No snappiness in your reply, huh.」

I’m in the middle of relaxing, after all. Besides, I already feel so hot, if I let the blood rush to my head, it’s going to make me dizzy. I want to soak for a long time, so I don’t want to make the mistake of cutting it short because of that.

「I feel like, right now, Kotone will allow anything you ever do to her.」
「Harumi, you better stop there. It’ll be scary afterwards.」

It seems like the two are talking about some dangerous stuff, but I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that. Though it’s true that if they did something right now, I’ll probably let it slide.

「Just don’t sleep, okay.」
「I’ll die doing that, so I won’t.」
「You say that like you’ve done it before.」

I actually had a close call doing that, after all. It’s still fine in my own bath tub, since I’m used to it, but sleeping in a hot spring is seriously bad. After that, we continued chatting while enjoying the soak.

「Ahh, that was a nice bath.」
「For some reason, even though we went to play at the beach, it feels like the hot spring is the main highlight.」
「Right?」

You want to say that it’s my fault, Harumi? For me, the hot spring was the main objective, the beach was just a bonus. Next time, I want to try a ryokan¹ overnight and enjoy a hot spring for the whole day.

「I wanted to soak a bit longer.」
「We don’t have much time anymore. Mom and dad are waiting for us at home.」
「I guess there’s no helping it.」

Even I’m not inconsiderate enough to trouble them. I’m at least that rational. But the reluctance is still there.

「Should we go for a ryokan this winter?」
「Agree!」
「Okay, let’s plan around that.」

Wonderful, Harumi. In that case, let’s make planning for it a top priority. I’ll talk with the owner and make absolutely sure to negotiate a day off.

「Well then, let’s actually go home now. Dad, safe driving, okay?」
「Y-yeah. I know. I’ll drive carefully.」

I guess the old man is still a bit nervous. I thought that he should be used to me by now, but that wasn’t the case. If possible, maybe it’s better to have someone from the bodyguards take turns driving with him. Well, in today’s event, I got closer with my friends. Still, I feel like it’ll be bad if this gets known to certain people.

1. Lyly: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryokan_(inn)#:~:text=A%20ryokan%20(%E6%97%85%E9%A4%A8)%20is%20a,and%20talk%20with%20the%20owner.