Volume 3 Chapter 4 Part 3
「Even if we’re both wearing swimsuits, this is pretty embarrassing, isn’t it.」
「Y-yeah.」
Deet usually wore even more revealing clothing than a school swimsuit, why was bathing with her such a different experience?
Deet, facing me, extended her arms and held my head.
「Well, since we’re wearing swimsuits, just this much is fine.」
「Eh? What is?」
「I’ll give you a hug…」
Her arms pulled my head into her chest.
What the hell!!!!!!!!!!!! Woah!!!!!!!!!! It feels good!!
「D-do you dislike it?」Asked Deet.
I vigorously shook my head left and right, enjoying the sensation against my face.
「R-really?」
I vigorously shook my head up and down, enjoying the sensation against my face.
「That’s good… that makes me happy… hm? What’s that?」
Deet said something, but now wasn’t the time for that. i wanted to bask in the sensation for eternity.
「I felt something touch my thigh. W-what’s this?」
Eh!? Crap.
「Huh? Wait- is this-!?」
Ah… despite being in the middle of battlefield, I had completely forgotten about my battle.
「Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!」
Deet left the bathroom.
♦︎ ♦︎ ♦︎
「Why weren’t you wearing a swimsuit!」
I suppose that I’d just be digging my own grave if I tried to explain or protest.
After the incident, both Deet and I had taken our own separate baths. Now, we were in the Japanese-style room, and Deet was expectantly waiting for my response.
「S-sorry.」
「J-jeez.」
Luckily, it didn’t seem like she was all that angry.
After all, when we were alone, Deet always reverted back to her dere-mode.
「I-I guess Tooru thought it was only natural to enter the bath naked?」
「Yeah. Actually.」
「I-I see. Then it should be I who apologizes. I shouldn’t have made the assumption.」
「N-no, it’s not your fault…」
Deet generally made a lot less assumption than most girls, and besides, she always tried to correct any mistakes.
Deet clung tightly to me as we talked.
Since she’d gotten bored of the click game, I was showing her the contents of my smartphone.
「Look. This is a picture of my grandma who took care of me when I was little.」
「Woah- smartphones are really cool. By the way, Tooru, did you also assume that I’d bathe without a swimsuit?」
She forcibly brought up an unpleasant memory. Maybe she really was angry at me?
「Y-yeah.」
「In that case… want to take another bath? This time… um… without swimsuits…」
It was as if time itself had stopped.
It wasn’t until I heard the sound of my phone drop against the ground did time resume its usual flow.
「D-Deet…」
Sitting there with Deet, I repeated the same actions that had given me so much bliss in the bathtub. I buried my face in Deet’s chest, relishing the sensation.
「J-jeez! T-Tooru!」
What firm yet springy texture…
「L-let’s… continue this in the bath… okay?」
If we continue this in the bath, raw milk will spill! Are you sure about this, Deet!
At that time.
Ding-dong. Ding-dong.
「W-who’s that?」
She had every right to be suspicious of a person ringing the doorbell this late at night.
I suddenly experienced a strong premonition.
My phone, which had fallen face up on the tatami, buzzed to life, the screen lighting up.
Ayame: 『Tooru! I came to do grind some levels Q(* ´ Ɐ ` 私)』
I raised my head from Deet’s chest and looked at her. I found myself being stared down by a pair of horrifying, cold eyes.
♦︎ ♦︎ ♦︎
Walking home together after work with Tateishi had become our usual routine.
Ayame: 『‵”(*ᴵ-ᴵ*) *see you later!*』
「Ah, you can’t come over today.」
Ayame: 『Jeez! I got it already! You don’t have to keep saying it (≧へ≦)ムゥ』
If you say so. I planned on having fun with Deet later tonight, and I couldn’t have Tateishi visit during that time.
I was still traumatized by Deet’s glare from yesterday when Tateishi had come over. Her dere-mode had returned when Tateishi left, but by that point, bathing together was out of the question.
But today would be different. Today…
「Deet, I’m back!」
「Welcome home, Sir Thor!」
This time, it wasn’t Deet’s sexy voice, but a bright, energetic one.
「Huh? Ria?」
「Hmph! It is! Is there anything wrong with that?」
Now that I thought about it, Deet had mentioned something about playing rock-paper-scissors against Ria.
「By any chance, did Deet go to the other world?」
「Yeah. Shizuku too.」
「Ah. I figured as much.」
I was disappointed that Deet wasn’t here but… when I saw Ria’s beaming face, I realized… that I was looking forward to today!
Their plan must’ve been to each spend a day alone with me. And the mastermind behind the plan was probably Shizuku! Nice one, Shizuku!
「I’ll make dinner!」
Forgetting all about my previous happiness, my brain quickly shifted gears, trying to figure a way to stop Ria from cooking. Not to be rude, but she wasn’t particularly competent when it came to the culinary arts.
I came up with an idea.
「Want to eat out today?」
「Eh?」
「You’ve only visited the city once before, right? There’s a lot of good restaurants.」
「Hm~ really? Let’s do that then.」
Ria looked slightly crestfallen. But I didn’t have a choice. To make up for it, I’d to show her all around the city.
「I’ll change clothes first.」Ria said.
「Yeah. You can use any of my clothes.」
「Okay!」
Though she considered them to be both loungewear and pajamas, there was no way I’d let Ria step out into the streets wearing bloomers.
All my clothes were the in Western-style room so I waited in the Japanese-style room.
「Maybe I’ll read some manga in the meantime.」
The Japanese-style room was where I stored all my otaku goods, including manga.
The manga I was currently holding was titled “The Hermit Grandfather.” It was a story about Confucius and Lao Tzu living in modern day Tachikawa, leisurely enjoying daily life. There was a chapter where the two of them visited famous locations throughout Tachikawa. Maybe I could use that as reference for places to take Ria… Oh, that’s a good spot! Or there! And definitely this place! [1. TL Note: I have no idea where this ‘hermit grandfather’ comes from, or whether it’s a reference to something. All I know is that I now have a burning desire to read it, if it exists]
After a while, Ria, wearing my clothes, opened the door to the Japanese-style room.
Ria was pretty tall for a girl, but then again, I was pretty tall for a guy, so my sweater ended up being little big for her.
Only her fingertips were visible, sticking out of the sleeves. If I didn’t know better, I might’ve mistaken it for an intentional fashion choice.
「How does it look? Does it suit me? I guess it’s pretty weird, right?」
It was unbelievably cute.
「N-no. It suits you.」
「Oh, really? Whew.」
Ria giggled. Clutching the sweater’s sleeves, she brought them against her face. Almost as if she was smelling them.
「Geh. Does it smell that bad?」
I thought I had washed it properly though.
「No. Not at all.」
「?」
「I’m just enjoying Tooru’s scent. It’s really nice.」
That’s the first time I’d ever heard someone say that.
「I-I see. I think the duffel coat would look good on you, so you can wear that too. Oh, and the muffler too.」
「T-thank you.」
Afterwards, I headed into the streets of Tachikawa, accompanied by a beaming Ria.
「There’s a lot of Japanese people here.」Ria commented, a little in awe.
「Yeah. Though this feels like more people than usual.」
And for some reason, I felt like we were drawing numerous stares.
Perhaps the males were just gawking at Ria- a strange, blonde beauty with her beautiful smile. That’s only be natural, I guess.
Or perhaps they were furious at the guy walking besides Ria, or in other words, me. I understood exactly where they were coming from. Ria had latched onto one of my arms, refusing to let go.
The amount of guys staring at us had increased. And I could indeed confirm the fact that they were furious.
「R-Ria, you holding onto my arm is kind of embarrassing…」
「Isn’t a guy and girl supposed to do this when walking in Japan?」
「I don’t know where you got that idea from, but no, that’s not always the case.」
「Fine~ I get it~」
Though she sounded dissatisfied, she released my arm nonetheless.
I planned on visiting a place later where she could do stuff like that, so I needed her to wait for just a short bit. I only hoped we could get a spot.
「What do you want to have for dinner, Ria?」
「Umm, I’m not sure. I don’t know much about Japanese food.」
Fair enough.
Ria looked around. 「Um, that restaurant over there looks it has a lot of people.」
I glanced to where she was pointing. It was Yoshiyamaya. Beef bowls, huh… [2. TL Note: reference to Yoshinoya, a popular rice bowl chain. Kind of like McDonald’s, but way superior]
Ria probably wasn’t considering about this, but Yoshiyamaya wasn’t exactly the type of place you’d take a girl on a date. There was even that copypasta about how the U-shaped tables at Yoshiyamaya, which forced you had to look other customers, made you want to start fighting them. [3. TL Note: refers to a 2-chan copypasta about how a self-proclaimed ‘Yoshinoya connoisseur’ despises the amateurs visiting the restaurant, and how he thinks that Yoshiyona should have a grave, somber mood, not a family-friendly, happy one]
And in the one in ten-thousand chance that a fight did break out, Ria might end up massacring everyone.
「What about we go somewhere else?」
「But the food looks really good! And it’s cheap too.」
She was studying the huge advertisement banner hanging outside the restaurant, showing a mouth-watering beef bowl. Huge letters proclaimed ‘Only 380 yen!’
I wasn’t surprised that Ria knew what was cheap or expensive even in Japan. She was doing her best to support a poor orphanage, so it only made sense for her to pay extra attention to money and prices. I reluctantly agreed to eat at Yoshiyamaya. But at the very least… I’d order her… an egg with her bowl. [4. TL Note: This is the equivalent of ordering guacamole at Chipotle]
That manga, “Hermit Grandfather” sounds similar to a manga that got an anime a few years back, I could’ve sworn the title was something like “Buddha Next Door” but I’m not finding the series with anything even remotely similar. It’s about a bunch of historical figures that somehow ended up in modern Japan, it sounded kind of interesting so I was planning on watching it at some point but now I can’t find it.