Ch.166Chapter 166

After our long inn exploration ended, Sera and I returned to the room to find everyone sound asleep.

Seeing them sleeping so peacefully made me hesitate to wake them, but we came all this way for the hot springs, and I couldn’t let them spend the day like this. I scurried over to the beds.

Starting with Aria, I shook everyone awake, including Iris and Karen.

They all must have been tired, as they had dazed expressions on their faces. Watching them rub their eyes with disheveled faces was quite amusing.

“Everyone get up, we need to go to the hot springs!”

I shouted to wake everyone up. They slowly regained consciousness and began to prepare themselves.

“Ah, now I’m feeling tired.”

“You can’t fall asleep.”

When Sera held her forehead with a bitter smile, Ouro, who was beside her, gently grabbed her sleeve and quietly advised.

Sera responded with a chuckle, saying, “I won’t sleep.”

Having come all this way, it would be such a waste to just stay overnight without enjoying the hot springs. We might regret it later, wondering why we didn’t take advantage of the opportunity.

After some time, the wilted atmosphere revived. It takes time to fully wake up, but once awake, everyone seemed alert again.

That said, it was no longer a sensation I could relate to.

I simply existed without feeling sleepy or tired. I might not be understanding the others well enough, but I hoped they would bear with me as I took the lead.

Hugging a basket with change of clothes against my chest, I headed to the hot spring changing room.

In an instant, I undressed completely and headed toward the hot spring.

“Wow!”

My exclamation echoed back to greet me.

It looked like a bathhouse, or rather, it was exactly a bathhouse. Though it appeared ordinary, the fact that it was filled with hot spring water made it fascinating.

“Is this the hot spring?”

“It’s a bath made with hot spring water.”

I said this while tapping Ouro’s shoulder.

Ouro, holding her towel crookedly, followed my finger with her gaze. To meet her expectation, I pointed to the glass door leading outside.

One might wonder why there’s a glass door in a bathhouse, but it was clearly the path to the hot spring.

“Since this is a hot spring inn, I think we should enjoy the hot spring, not just the bath.”

“That’s the hot spring?”

“It’s outside.”

As I was explaining to Ouro, Aria silently stepped forward. She seemed pleased and glanced back slightly.

“…Wouldn’t outside be better than inside?”

“It feels too exposed, is that okay?”

When Aria gently suggested it, Karen expressed her concern.

“It’s not like we’ll be connected to the men’s section anyway.”

Aria shrugged after saying those words to alleviate Karen’s anxiety.

Indeed, if the men’s and women’s outdoor baths were visible to each other, it wouldn’t make sense. People wouldn’t be able to relax.

If that were the case, there would have been a mixed bath prepared from the start. So we could rest assured.

Karen seemed to be experiencing this for the first time, as she looked around nervously.

“I was relieved it looked just like a regular bath, but having to go outside again… I didn’t know that.”

Karen hesitantly tried to follow Aria.

As Aria was about to leave with Karen, Sera stopped them.

“I understand the excitement, but we need to wash up first.”

“Ah.”

“Ah.”

Both froze at the reminder that despite their eagerness to jump into the hot spring, they shouldn’t do so right away.

Seeing this, Iris chuckled and placed her hand on my shoulder.

“Shall we wash together?”

“Eh, what about Ouro…?”

“Sera will take care of Ouro. Right?”

When Iris gave a smiling glance, Sera extended her hand to Ouro as if in agreement.

“Come, Ouro. Shall we wash together before going out?”

“Yes.”

Ouro, being the type to go along with what seemed best, followed Sera without objection.

“Now, close your eyes.”

“Mmm.”

As I sat on the stool, shower water soaked my head. The hot water pouring down drenched my entire body, leaving a pleasant warmth as it passed.

I felt my body relaxing even though we hadn’t even reached the hot spring yet.

When I let out a small sigh of “Hyaa,” laughter erupted from both sides. I glanced around nervously, worried I’d made a strange sound.

I could hear Ouro, sitting to my right, making the same sound of admiration.

“Hya.”

“You two are exactly alike. You denied it earlier, but you’re carbon copies.”

Ouro’s sound of admiration was identical to the one I had made earlier. That’s why Sera was laughing so much.

I felt wrongly accused since I’m not usually one to make such sounds, but I had nothing to say in my defense, so I just kept quiet.

After washing completely, I pulled my hair back. Realizing why they said I needed a hair tie, I slowly moved forward.

“…Ugh. It’s cold. Let’s get in quickly.”

Sera opened the glass door, stepped outside, and immediately entered the hot spring bath.

As I stood quietly admiring the scenery while listening to the splashing sounds, Aria stood beside me, also silently taking in the view.

“It certainly feels strange seeing the forest around us like this. I rarely get to enjoy hot springs with friends, so I was disappointed, but somehow we ended up having such a wonderful day.”

“Hmm?”

“Thank you for coming with us.”

Aria said this and patted my head.

Though it probably didn’t feel good to touch because of the moisture, Aria smiled as if it didn’t matter and entered the hot spring bath.

Iris, who was late because she was grabbing an extra towel, finally opened the door and came out.

“Ah, c-c-cold. Huh? Ourr, aren’t you getting in? Ouro is coming out with Karen.”

“I was about to get in. Standing here looking at everything just felt so good.”

“You’ll catch a cold in this weather.”

Nodding at Iris’s concern, I slowly dipped my foot into the water.

Though it looked like still water, it wasn’t, as the water tickled my feet.

“Whoa.”

With a small groan, I immersed my body in the water, and the heat rising from my toes tickled my body. I shivered at the sensation of being soaked.

“Ugh. It’s so hot…”

“Are you okay?”

“Y-yeah.”

I nodded at Iris’s question.

Thanks to not being sensitive to temperature differences, I didn’t feel the need to jump out because of the heat.

Rather than the temperature, I felt a stronger sense of pressure. It squeezed my heart, making it beat faster. It wasn’t an unpleasant feeling.

When I closed my eyes, embraced by this sensation, I felt as if I were floating.

“Come to think of it, what does Aria do when bathing in the garden?”

As I kept my eyes closed, Sera’s voice tickled my ears. I narrowly opened my eyes to look ahead and saw that Karen and Ouro had arrived and were slowly dipping their feet in.

“Mmm?”

Making a strange sound as she dipped her feet, Ouro shivered, perhaps feeling odd from the heat.

It was definitely cold outside, but the immersed body felt hot, so that discrepancy probably gave her a chilling sensation. I had felt the exact same thing.

“Wow. It’s really hot… Ugh.”

Karen made a slightly pained expression after immersing herself in the hot spring.

She was struggling with the sensation of her heart being squeezed due to the heat.

“Karen, you said this is your first time at a hot spring, right? The cold outside probably makes it feel even more intense.”

Aria tilted her head as she said this.

A strand of wet hair escaped and slightly covered her face. The eyes visible through the gap were somehow beautiful. Well, they’re always beautiful.

“Ah, is that so…? I see.”

“Oh, Sera.”

“Yes?”

As Sera tilted her head curiously, Aria sent her a smile.

“You asked earlier, right? We just chat like this. Living in the same place, it sometimes feels like there’s nothing to talk about, but when we come to a hot spring, we laugh and chatter about nonsense.”

“Was it nice?”

I tilted my head curiously, as she seemed to be reminiscing.

Aria nodded.

“It’s hot… It feels like just taking a bath, but the cold feeling is strange…”

“Ouro seems to like it.”

“I’m relieved. I was worried I might be the only one enjoying it.”

As Ouro muttered about the current situation, Sera chuckled, and Aria nodded in relief.

Blinking, Ouro diligently brushed away the hair tickling her face. Seeing her turning her head this way and that, I smiled wryly and carefully swept my hair to the side.

“Ourr, are you okay with the hot spring?”

“Yes. There are fewer people than I expected.”

When I nodded in response to Karen’s question, Karen murmured, “You’re right,” and looked around.

Having realized that there indeed weren’t many people, Karen tilted her head as if she didn’t understand why.

Sera listened quietly and then shrugged.

“It’s probably because it’s dinner time. There will likely be a huge crowd again soon.”

“Then it might be better to eat late.”

“I suppose so.”

Karen agreed with that and told me I was lucky.