Volume 3 Chapter 3 Part 2
「Ahh~ this water is nice…」
Recently, Shizuku had always accompanied me during my baths, so it’d been a while since I’d bathed alone.
「But what was her genius idea anyway? I honestly have no idea.」
Well, whatever. Shizuku was a smart one. Knowing her, if she’d said it was a good idea, then it was bound to be a good idea.
「Master~ the preparations are complete! Shizuku will bath with you now!」
Preparations? What preparations?
Peering through the frosted glass, I could make out a pair of sidetails that probably belonged to Kokorone Miru.
Except the color of her clothes were a dark, navy blue. Don’t tell me-!?
The bathroom door suddenly swung open. I had reacted too slowly.
「I borrowed Ria’s school swimsuit.」
Shizuku, who was now Kokorone Miru wearing a school swimsuit, entered the bathroom.
This was exactly what I wanted to avoid! How the heck was I supposed to resist this!?
Shizuku seemed to grow timid. 「Shizuku is basically always naked, so wearing this swimsuit feels embarrassing…」
This situation was beyond bad. What do I do now?
In Kokorone Miru’s form, Shizuku rinsed herself with hot water. In ten seconds, she would head towards the bathtub. I had to think of something fast.
I know! The bath salts! I had bought them for Shizuku previously, and they were currently sitting right next to the bathtub.
「Ah, are you using the bath salts?」Shizuku exclaimed, seeing me dump them in. 「Shizuku loves them!」.
「Y-yeah. That’s the point.」
Kokorone Miru beamed. I forced myself to smile as well.
It was a bath salt that turned the water a milky white color… perfect. I’d be able to hide my thing, which had already become far too lively.
Shizuku finished rinsing herself with hot water.
「May I join you in the bath, Master?」
Since we always bathed together, I couldn’t find the will to reject her. The only problem was that if my thing touched Shizuku, it’d send her into a panic.
I scooted forward, making space for Shizuku behind me.
「G-go ahead.」
「O~kay!」
I heard a faint splash as Shizuku got in.
It wasn’t a particularly big bathtub, and I felt Kokorone Miru’s- no, wait, Shizuku’s feet pressing against my back.
In response, I scooted even further forward, and soon, I found myself huddled against the bathtub wall.
「Master, why are you curled up into a ball?」
「It’s… I’m not really…」
「How can you relax like that? Please come over here.」
Shizuku wrapped her hands around my shoulders and pulled me lovingly towards her.
「Wahh-」
I couldn’t muster up a single ounce of resistance as I was slowly backed into Shizuku’s beckoning arms.
Abruptly, I found my back cushioned against Kokorne Miru’s springy chest, separated only by a thin layer of school swimsuit, while my elbows rested on top of her legs.
I doubt even a 200,000 yen arlen chair could have given me a sitting experience like this. Though I’ve never sat in one, so I wouldn’t know.
Shizuku moved Kokorone Miru’s cheek next to mine, nuzzling it gently.
「Doesn’t it feel good~ Master.」
「Yeah… it does…」
It felt beyond good. I wanted to sit here forever. As that thought passed through my mind, I suddenly began to feel feverish. If I didn’t get out soon, I’d dizzy from the bath.
Unfortunately, there was a minor problem: my thing was still acting up.
Whether it was that white slimes were naturally heat-resistant, or that they could handle the heat from bathtubs, Shizuku wasn’t affected in the slightest by the steaming water. Which means I had to take the initiative.
「Shizuku.」
「What is it, Master?」
「So um, you’re Miru form is great and all, but what about returning to your usual white slime form?」
「Do you dislike this form?」
I couldn’t exactly claim to dislike it while owning a Kokorone Miru doll. But from her tone, I could tell that Shizuku was asking Why?
「I actually like it a lot, you know.」
「Right.」
「But I think your white slime form is really cute, and I like it a lot as well.」
「!」
「So you don’t always need to maintain your Miru form. Just do it when a human form is necessary. But under normal circumstances, you can just be your white slime self.」
I turned to face Shizuku, still in Kokorone Miru’s form. Her face was bright red, and she was staring directly downwards.
「I-I see… So Master… prefers white slime Shizuku… more than Miru?」
「Yep. I prefer Shizuku more.」
Shizuku began muttered under her breath in a voice too low for me to hear, but eventually, she raised her voice, saying 「I’ll change back.」
With that, I lost the most comfortable chair in the entire world, and in its place, I felt the weight of the usual Shizuku sitting on my shoulders.
Now! Mustering all my mental power, I forced my thing to return to its normal state. Then, I stood up from the bath.
If I’d been only slightly slower, I’d have been boiled like an octopus.
「I’ll go wash my body now.」
「I will wash Master’s back and head!」
「Thanks~」
Shizuku began washing me like always.
「Master, are there any places that feel itchy?」
「Nope~ Ahh, this feels nice.」
「Fufufu. I’m glad.」
Being washed by Kokorone Miru would undoubtedly be an ephemeral experience, but that could never compare to being washed by Shizuku.
I hadn’t lied in the slightest when I’d said that I thought that Shizuku’s white slime form was really cute, and that I liked it a lot.
After washing, I entered the bath again, this time hugging Shizuku in my arms.
「Fu~ The Miru chair from earlier was great and all, but bathing with Shizuku like this is the best.」
Shizuku jiggled flusteredly. 「S-Shizuku is feeling pretty warm now, so Shizuku will be leaving the bath first.」
Saying that, she quickly hopped out of the bathtub. Maybe slimes weren’t as heat resistant as I originally had assumed.
Hm? It looked like something was submerged in the bathtub. Due to the milky white color of the water, I couldn’t quite make out what it was.
「What the heck is this. Ah…」
It was Ria’s school swimsuit that Shizuku had been wearing.
After I finished bathing, I played a little of the levelling-up click game before having dinner with Shizuku.
I still wasn’t that hungry after the takoyaki, so I decided to have some snacks with tea.
Shizuku particularly liked the Japanese plum snacks.
Though the first time she tried them, the intense sourness caused her to jiggle uncontrollably.
「Yummy~」
「It’s pretty simple and quick to prepare.」
「Oh, by the way, Master, are you going to do more of the click game after dinner?」
「Just a bit.」
I wanted to reach a level where I could casually go to the other world without worrying for my safety.
「Speaking of the game- we haven’t seen Enami recently, have we?」Shizuku commented.
「That’s true. I want to try using the automatic clicker… wait, no. I meant, I wonder what happened to him? Do you think he’s safe?」
Initially, I installed an auto-clicking software to automate the levelling process, but after nearly crushing Enami, who apparently had gone somewhat feral, I put the plan on temporary hold.
The fact that we hadn’t seen Enami in some time was concerning.
「From the times we saw him on the monitor, he seemed to be doing fine.」Shizuku said.
「Yeah.」
I had put out quite the hefty reward for his capture at the Adventurer’s Guild, so maybe he had been captured already.
Upon his capture, the Adventurer’s Guild would get in touch with either Deet or Ria to notify them.
And thanks to Miri, the Thief’s Guild would regularly visit the Adventurer’s Guild and check whether the request had been completed. However, I had heard back from neither the Adventurer’s Guild nor the Thief’s Guild.
Obviously, the best way would be to search for Enami myself. It didn’t seem likely that Deet would help me with Enami, and Ria was probably busy raising money for the orphanage, so I figured I’d try asking Miri. And if I was to do that, I’d need to get much stronger.
Besides, the fact that levelling up increased my stats in Japan as well made it all the more favorable. For instance, my grip strength now measured 112kg. I couldn barely believe it, but I was able to push away Tateishi and Kuno like they were nothing.
「That reminds me. I wonder if Tateishi is okay.」
「What happened?」Shizuku asked.
「I heard about it earlier at my part-time job, but apparently Tateishi caught a cold right after she left my house.」
「I see.」
I was in a group chat with some of my co-workers on LIME, a messaging app. Looking down at my smartphone, I checked the recent texts.
As expected, the chat was spammed with messages between Segawa, whose mind was filled only with girls, and Kuno, who acted like a responsible, older sister.
「It doesn’t look like Tateishi said anything today.」
「Can you not contact her directly?」
Shizuku was pretty sharp. Of course I could contact her. But it was a rather difficult affair. Because it meant that I would have to add Tateishi as a friend.
「Tateishi is pretty cold towards me most of the time. Though, I guess she wasn’t like that last time.」
「Really?」
「Yeah. She doesn’t talk to me very much.」
「Eh? But she talked to Shizuku a lot.」
What the heck? Well, Shizuku had taken my place during morning shifts on more than one occasion. Since I was mostly sleep-deprived at that time, I was nothing more than a zombie in the morning. That was probably when Tateishi had talked to me.
「What did you two talk about?」
「Let’s see… It was mostly about work, but also, she asked for relationship advice!」
「R-relationship advice?」
「Yes.」
That the ever cold Tateishi would consult me about love was unexpected, to say the least. I was curious about the contents, but before that, I decided to send a message to her on LIME.
Tooru: 『Good evening. Sorry for chasing you out of my apartment yesterday like that』
I wondered how she’d respond.
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