Ch.290Temple! (1)

“Alright, everyone. What do you know about Buddhism?”

Aiko asked, clapping her hands while seated in the temple hall.

“My dad likes Hong Kong movies, so I know about things like Shaolin Temple,” Umi said.

“Ah! Me too! Those Chinese movies they show late at night are surprisingly fun!” Taiga said with a smile.

“I just came along with my boyfriend,” Eri stated honestly.

“Buddhism!! It’s the national religion in my country!!”

Tina seemed genuinely interested, raising her hand and bouncing up and down. Each time she bounced, her chest moved in a rather pleasing way.

“Oh my. Which sect might that be?”

Ms. Aiko showed interest in Tina.

“It’s a Buddhist sect called Renewal Buddhism!”

Tina replied with a bright smile.

“There’s no such sect!!”

Ms. Aiko immediately got angry.

“A-Anyway…”

Ms. Aiko cleared her throat.

“For a Buddhist, you get angry quite easily.”

Kana made a remark.

“Maybe she’s become a cyber psycho from overusing implants… just like Kana.”

I muttered.

“Stop linking me to that forced meme!!”

Kana hit me repeatedly.

“The religion I believe in is survival of the fittest. That’s all.”

Kirtan said with a smile, seemingly aware that he had said something cool.

“In other words… you have absolutely no interest in Buddhism.”

Aiko said.

“I’m very interested!!”

I shouted loudly. Yes!! When I was young, I was so impressed by the story of Master Wonhyo drinking from a skull that I tried to imitate it!! I threw a tantrum, refusing to drink water unless it was from a skull-shaped cup. My father slapped me for that, and I regained the mind of a normal boy…!! Thank you, Father!!

“Well… anyway, there’s not much to a temple stay. The teachings of Buddhism are simpler than you might think.”

Aiko said.

She’s regaining her composure here. That’s the composure of an older woman…!!

“If you’re grateful for all the connections you make now and cherish them, you’re halfway to becoming Buddha. Cherish your current relationships.”

Aiko said with a smile.

Ooh…!! That’s a good saying!

“By the way!! Chief Monk!! Tell us about your first love!”

Umi seemed to have entered troublemaker student mode.

“F-First love?!”

Aiko’s face turned bright red. Yeah, that would be embarrassing.

Thwack-!

I immediately hit Umi on the head.

“I apologize. Our Umi is quite mischievous.”

I said.

“Ahaha. It’s fine.”

Aiko said with a smile.

Anyway, while we were having this orientation…

“………”

The atmosphere was gloomy on the other side. Mika and Aki… the two were maintaining a strange silence.

“So… Mika’s boyfriend… is Shota.”

Aki said.

“Yeah… I never thought you’d also fall for Shota’s charms.”

Mika mumbled awkwardly.

“The relationship seems… complicated.”

“Yeah…..”

Who would have thought they were friends? After that, they exchanged glances and seemed to be sharing opinions. Since it looked like they had complicated circumstances, I decided not to approach them.

“Good. Then what we’ll do today is follow the temple’s daily routine.”

Ms. Aiko quickly moved the conversation along.

“Oh!!! Finally!!”

Are we finally going to do something like a temple stay?

“Now. The basic way of life in a temple is self-sufficiency.”

Ms. Aiko stated firmly.

“Resolving everything on your own as much as possible, including meals, and being frugal is the way of life that brings you closer to Buddha.”

After saying this, Ms. Aiko headed straight to the yard.

There were piles of firewood there.

“Firewood? I can’t believe people still use these things…”

Eri muttered in surprise.

“Wow! This is the dream!!”

My eyes immediately lit up. I’ve seen this in anime. Chopping your own firewood to heat bath water!! This is outdoor life!!

“No. We use a boiler at our house.”

Ms. Aiko calmly shattered my dream.

“Then why are you using firewood?!”

Kana objected.

“Well… before I became the chief monk, I trained by chopping wood. It just became a tradition.”

Aiko said.

“…This person is more casual than I expected.”

Taiga said.

“What are you saying? This has its own meaning. If you make charcoal, you can use it for cooking.”

Aiko said.

“Ohhh… now that you mention it.”

“Just split the firewood while emptying your mind. I’ll help if it seems dangerous. Today’s quota is 100 pieces of firewood! Just split that much!”

Ms. Aiko said.

Somehow… it feels like she’s using the temple stay as an excuse to make us work… well, can’t be helped.

“Let’s get this done quickly.”

I picked up an axe.

“Come forth! Muscle-brain girls!!”

I immediately summoned my harem members.

Muscle-brain girls!! The martial arts faction of our party! Kana the swordswoman who could cut through anything, martial artist Tina, former delinquent Taiga!! And not to be outdone, former space pirate Kirtan!!! These four were the core members. It was laughable that there were almost no psycho-robo users!!

“Who are you calling muscle-brain?!”

Kana got angry and immediately drew her sword. Somehow… Kana always carried her sword around. It was amazing that she never got caught during security checks. Is it because she’s a pretty girl?!! Anyway.

“Student, firewood should be split with an axe…”

Before Aiko could stop her, Kana swung her sword.

Crack-!

With that, the firewood cleanly split into two pieces.

“…….?”

Aiko looked at Kana with bewildered eyes.

“I see… so we need to split the firewood in two.”

Tina immediately raised her hand for a chop.

“Hnnnngh!!!”

Tina brought her hand down on the firewood.

Craaack-!

The firewood was cleanly split into two pieces.

“What are you people?!”

Ms. Aiko shouted loudly at us, forgetting to use polite speech.

“Isn’t splitting firewood with a hand chop something all Buddhists can do? All followers of Renewal Buddhism in our homeland learn this.”

Tina tilted her head.

“I keep asking, what is Renewal Buddhism?!”

Ms. Aiko seemed confused with all these distractions.

“Hah!!!”

Meanwhile, Kirtan was diligently chopping firewood with an axe. Though less impressive than the others, Kirtan was also quite strong. He was smashing through the firewood with little resistance. Taiga was also working hard beside him, reducing our workload.

“Then I’ll…”

I held a hand axe and charged up a breath of flash strike.

“Haaaa….”

A thin line that only I could see appeared on the firewood.

Tap-!

There was no need to hit hard. I brought the axe down with just a little force, as if tapping it.

Craaack-!

The firewood split with a clean cut.

“Let’s keep this pace! The rest of you can rest!”

I shouted to everyone.

And in just a few minutes, we succeeded in chopping all the firewood.

“High schoolers these days… are amazing.”

Ms. Aiko muttered behind us. Ms. Aiko… not all high schoolers are like this.

———–

“Well. Everyone did a good job with the firewood. Don’t you feel your mind clearing up after sweating so much?”

Ms. Aiko said.

“I’m not even tired. Didn’t even break a sweat.”

Kana said.

“Arrrgh! These kids are really hard to do a temple stay with!!”

Ms. Aiko started to lose it!!

“Mom. Calm down.”

Having finished talking with Mika, Aki immediately intervened with Aiko.

“Ah… right. Now we’ll have lunch. Of course, you have to make it yourselves. Self-sufficiency. That’s what a temple stay is about.”

Ms. Aiko said, clearing her throat.

Participants have to do everything themselves… and they even pay for the temple stay? This is a hit. I could understand why temples in the original world were crazy about temple stays. The costs are minimal.

“Wow!! I’m interested in temple cuisine!! It’s mostly vegetables, right?!”

Eri’s eyes lit up.

Surprisingly, there was quite a response from the harem members. Yes. Mostly vegetables… anything that seems good for dieting immediately sparks interest.

“Yes. We’re all going to make curry. Curry without meat.”

Ms. Aiko said.

“………”

Everyone’s expressions quickly soured. Right. Curry is… too common and mainstream.

“What’s wrong with curry?! There’s no worry about messing it up!! Plus, it’s delicious no matter when you eat it!”

I shouted loudly.

“Shota, was it…? You’re… a decent kid after all.”

Somehow, Ms. Aiko started to depend on me mentally.

I immediately volunteered and put on an apron.

“Shota. Hahahahaha!! A floral apron!! Bwahahahaha!!”

Seeing this, Umi burst into laughter.

“Hey!!!”

I immediately scolded Umi.

“W-What’s wrong, Shota.”

Umi immediately shrank back.

“I’m not Shota. Call me Chef.”

I stated firmly. The kitchen is a battlefield, and we were all soldiers on the front line.

“I’ll take charge of this lunch.”

I declared.

“This guy… getting into the mood in another weird way…”

Taiga wore a tired expression.

——–

While we were preparing the meal…

At some point, Mika joined me.

“Hey, Shota. Aki… has fallen for you.”

Mika whispered. The cleavage visible beyond her body, slightly bent to whisper in my ear, was incredibly erotic.

“Ah. So I’ve heard?”

I replied.

“Sigh… really. You’ve charmed another girl without even realizing it.”

Mika sighed.

“Are you… going to accept Aki?”

Mika seemed concerned about that.

“No? No matter what, adding more harem members is… a bit much.”

I said.

“Sigh… it’s good that there won’t be more competition, but at the same time, it’s complicated…!”

Mika clutched her head as if troubled.

“As her friend, I don’t want her to be rejected… No! But if Shota accepts Aki, that would complicate my feelings too…”

I could understand Mika’s feelings.

“Let’s… stop talking about this for now.”

I placed my hand gently on Mika’s head with a kind smile.

“Shota…..”

Mika seemed reassured by that touch.

“Right now… I can only think about curry.”

I said with a refreshing expression.

“It’s because of curry?!”

Mika immediately objected.

Anyway, I hurried to prepare to make the best curry.

That’s when it happened.

“I’ll help too, Shota.”

Ms. Aiko stood next to me.

“…..Yes.”

I blushed slightly, unconsciously, because Ms. Aiko had an incredibly nice scent. Anyway, Ms. Aiko and I decided to cook together. The rest… we just let them play.