Volume 3 Chapter 4 Part 2
「We’re home~」
「Welcome back~! Master, Deet.」
By the time Shizuku welcomed us at the doorway, Deet had already detached herself from my arms.
「Ah~ I’m hungry. Hurry up and make dinner, Tooru!」
「Eh~? Didn’t you just eat a crepe?」
「That was barely anything!」
Shizuku and I glanced at each other and burst out laughing.
As I wondered if I should make some meat and vegetable stir-fry, I heard Deet and Shizuku talking.
「Shizuku also wanted to eat a crepe!」Shizuku said longingly.
「Don’t worry, we bought one for you too.」
「Yay!」
Not only was there one for Shizuku, there was also one for Deet, even though she’d already eaten one.
「Save it for after dinner!」I called after them as I prepared the vegetables.
But despite my warnings, Shizuku and Deet began devouring the crepes.
After dinner and a bath, the three of us chatted until it was almost midnight.
「It’s pretty late already. We should sleep soon.」
「Eh~ but earlier, didn’t we nap for, like, an hour?」
「But I have part-time tomorrow.」
「Hmph! It’s been so long since we’ve seen each other and this is how you treat me!」
Compared the how she had acted when it was just the two of us, her attitude had seemingly done a 180.
「What about this. Let’s all lie down on the bed and we can keep talking from there.」
「But Master will just fall asleep immediately.」
「Ehhh!? All of us on the bed? I’m going to sleep on the futon in the Japanese-style room.」
I’d just napped together with Deet, so I figured that it’d be fine to invite her to sleep with me. Apparently though, that only applied to when we were alone. Now that Shizuku was here, I guess that was no longer an option.
「Wait. Do you and Shizuku always sleep together?」
「Yeah.」
Generally, Shizuku stayed in the closet during the day when I worked, but at night, we’d sleep together in the bed.
「Shizuku wants to sleep together with Deet~」Shizuku declared.
「T-then I guess I don’t have a choice… since Shizuku is acting so spoiled.」
Deet seemed satisfied.
The three of us got into bed, laying side by side, with Deet wearing her bloomers, which she deemed as loungewear. For some reason, her haughty attitude had all but vanished.
「Tooru… thanks.」Deet whispered into my ear.
I felt something lightly brush against my cheek as I fell into a comfortable sleep.
♦︎ ♦︎ ♦︎
「I’m home, Shizuku~」
「Ah, welcome back!」
The voice that called back to me wasn’t Shizuku’s cute voice, but rather, a sexy one. Though the tone of speaking was normal.
And furthermore, it was a voice that was both reassuring and familiar.
Though I couldn’t see her figure from the doorway, I knew exactly who it was.
「Huh? Deet? You haven’t left for the dungeon yet?」
「S-sorry about that. Is it okay if I stay for just one more day?」
That’s not what what I meant to imply! I wanted to slap myself. I felt like I was on the verge of hurting Deet’s feelings.
「No, I mean, I just thought you would’ve left when I went to work. The fact that you’re still here… makes me really happy…」
「Eh? I-it’s not like I’m doing this for you. I was just going to rest for one more day before going, that’s all!」
Deet looked away, her cheeks burning red. For the time being at least, I had salvaged Deet’s mood.
「A-ahem. By the way, where’s Shizuku…?」I asked.
What could have happened to her? Usually, whenever I arrived back home, Shizuku would be there to welcome me, enthusiastically greeting me by the door.
「I-it’s because I won at rock-paper-scissors.」
「Eh? Rock-paper-scissors?」
「W-wait, no. She went with Ria to the other world.」
「Huh? Ria came? And she went to the other world with Shizuku without saying anything to me?」
「Y-yeah.」
「Isn’t that a little strange?」
「R-Ria will tomorrow.」
A-ah. I understood. It all made sense.
In my high school days, I hadn’t been able spend time with a girl like Tateishi. But now, I was finally regaining my youth back.
「Deet.」
「W-what?」
「I bought hamburgers from MgDonald’s. Let’s eat them together.」
「Ah, MgDonald’s?」
「Yup.」
「B-but…」
‘But’? I thought she’d for sure leap at the opportunity.
That’s when I noticed the kitchen countertop. Neatly chopped vegetables and meat ready to be cooked lay on the cutting board, along with bottles of seasoning, and even a folded apron.
「H-hmph!」
Uh-oh. The last thing I wanted to do was irritate Deet and make her angry at me.
「What were you making? I can’t wait to taste your home cooking.」I said quickly.
「R-really? What I’m making is a secret. Ehehe.」
「I see I see.」
「Just rest up until I’m done.」
Deet went back to the kitchen, looking like she was enjoying herself.
I figured I would browse the internet for a while then take a bath, when I saw a recipe for fried eggplant and pork with miso on the computer monitor.
After a while, Deet called out me.
「It’s finished!」
And surprise surprise, the dish she brought out was fried eggplant and pork with miso.
「…Eh? It tastes unexpectedly good.」
「What the heck! What do you mean by ‘unexpectedly’!」
「N-never mind. It’s delicious. Really delicious.」
It really was delicious.
For an other worlder, using Japanese cooking tools to recreate a dish they saw on the internet must have been extraordinary difficult.
Without a doubt, in addition to being skilled at cooking from the beginning, Deet must’ve practiced using the stove while I was at work.
Though I guess she hadn’t paid attention to the fact that the recipe had been displayed in full view on the monitor.
「Do you really mean it?」
「Of course. This is really good.」
「Really? I don’t really cook so… you’re not just flattering me?」
「If you doubt me, why don’t you taste it yourself?」
「Eh? Ah? Oh, okay.」
Deet had been fretting so much over how I would react that she had forgotten to taste the food herself.
She carefully lifted a bite of food to her mouth.
「I-it’s yummy…」
「Right? It wasn’t flattery.」
「Yeah!」
From that point on, Deet remained in high spirits.
Afterwards, we played the levelling-up click game.
Needless to say, neither of us levelled up even once, but Deet seemed to enjoy playing together.
But seeing as how difficult it was to level up this way, I wanted to create a more efficient method of doing so.
Unfortunately, that had to be put on hold, as I had to wake up early for work tomorrow. The bath was already prepared with hot water, so I addressed Deet.
「Want to take a bath? You can go first.」
「…I don’t want to go first.」
「Eh? I guess that’s fine. I’ll go first then.」
As I stood up, Deet suddenly reached out and grabbed my wrist, pulling me back.
「You can’t go first either.」
「Eh? Then, what do you want to do?」
「…Let’s go in the bath together. You always do it with Shizuku, right?」
Did she just say… go in the bath… together?
♦︎ ♦︎ ♦︎
Even if she said to go in the bath together, there was no way we’d both enter the bath at the same time.
That much was obvious. Girls had to make preparations first. As to what those preparations consisted of, I had no idea, but I knew that they had to make preparations nonetheless. And so I entered the bath first, sitting inside the bathtub and awaiting Deet. It rose to its perfect position. Well, if Shizuku was here… she might get scared but… she wasn’t here right now.
But unlike Shizuku, Deet had most certainly readied herself for what was to come.
Maybe today, I would even pierce the heavens. [1. TL Note: This is a reference to the anime Gurren Lagann, whose full translated name is ‘Heaven-Piercing Gurren Lagann’]
「Tooru… I’m coming in…」
「A-ah.」
Through the translucent glass separating the changing room and bathroom, I caught flashes of skin color… and deep navy blue?
Deet pushed open the glass door and stepped inside.
「A-a school swimsuit…」
Guoooooooooooo!
「T-Tooru, why are you crying? What’s the matter?」
Don’t get me wrong- I was more than happy to see this beautiful sight but… It was like I thought I had won 100 million yen, only to discover that it was only 100,000 yen. I couldn’t be satisfied with the 100,000 yen.
Wait- that’s not the point.
Deet was wearing a school swimsuit, while I was wearing nothing at all. I sensed looming disaster.
「Did something sad happen?」
Rather than something sad, the situation had become exceedingly dangerous.
The only silver lining was that I managed to throw the milky white bath salts into the water before it was too late.
As long as I didn’t stand up, Deet wouldn’t be able to find out the fact that I wasn’t wearing anything, and more importantly, the fact that it was in perfect position.
I felt like I’d been in a very similar position before.
「No.」
「Then why are you crying?」
「T-these are tears of joy.」
「T-Tooru… I don’t get it but… I’m also really happy.」
For some reason, Deet also started to tear up. She washed herself, then stepped into the bathtub.
Crap. The crisis levels had risen sharply.
Comment (0)