Returned from Another World, Earth Turned Out to Be Quite the Fantasy Too. Also, Losing Heroines, Stop Looking This Way. - V5 Chapter 08: “A Fluffy Soak in the Hot Spring?” ①

Chapter 08: “A Fluffy Soak in the Hot Spring?” ①

“Haa, haa… this is bad. Just thinking about Kazuto-kyun in nothing but a towel, sweating it out in the sauna with a bunch of guys…! The sun’s gonna shine way too hard if this keeps up—nooo, I can’t take it!”

“…The fact that this one is our sun goddess makes me feel genuinely sorry for Japan. She’s giving God a run for his money.”

At the Minazuki household’s outdoor hot spring, Amaterasu-Omikami was soaking with Koume, Ginko, the Minazuki sisters Mio and Miyako, plus Onsa and Kirara Abe.

Unkai had politely stepped back with a smile, saying, “Please, let the younger generation enjoy their time.”

Normally, they’d bathe completely naked, but since the guys were nearby, they’d all changed into school swimsuits just for today.

“Teruko-chan, wanna sneak a peek at the sauna?”

“Tempting! I mean—uh, no no, I am a sun goddess after all. Gotta uphold divine dignity and pride and all that, y’know.”

“You answered way too fast, you impulse gremlin. And where exactly are you hiding this supposed ‘divine pride’ of a sun goddess? You better go apologize to every other sun god out there!”

Ksshhh!

Koume, wearing a school swimsuit with a patch that had “Koume” stitched on it, splashed hot water straight at Amaterasu.

While Amaterasu was very much interested in spying on Kazuto in the sauna,

She was barely—just barely—managing to hold onto her divine dignity.

“…Still can’t believe this chubby lady is actually Amaterasu-Omikami. Man, I might cry.”

“Oh my, moved to tears? I’m honored. I’ll even throw in an autograph if you want.”

“…This is the sun goddess, huh? I’m seriously in shock.”

“Those are tears of disappointment! And did you just call her chubby lady?! That’s straight-up blasphemy!”

“Onsa Abe… Amaterasu-sama’s had a belly since the Age of the Gods. It’s fine.”

“Wait, really? She’s always had it, huh…”

“Mio-san!? That’s not true at all! Back in the Age of the Gods, I had a slim, divine figure, okay!? There wasn’t any junk food or beer back then, you know!”

Fair point. In ancient times, there were no potato chips, no fried snacks, no six-packs of craft beer—

So maybe Amaterasu was a bit more svelte in her glory days.

“…Hey, Ginko.”

“Yeah, Koume-san?”

“So now that Abe’s ‘Shino-no-no-no-no’ has shown up, what’s the deal with Madoka Abe and Natsuki? Is that gonna be a problem?”

“Ahh, good question. Looks like Shino-no-no-no-no-san isn’t planning to fight Natsuki-kun, but what happens when he finds out Natsuki was Madoka Abe’s childhood friend? If he finds out too, he might finally stop aiming all his hatred at the oni. But…”

“But the real issue is why everyone thought Natsuki-kun was dead to begin with, right? Even with Jack-san’s memory boost, he couldn’t remember. So yeah… this is gonna get messy.”

That said, even without the Abe family, there were still other factions in Kyoto fighting against Shuten Doji and the rest of the oni.

So yeah—this whole battle wasn’t ending anytime soon.

The Abe family probably did want to take down Shuten Doji too.

And Madoka Abe, who’d been convinced Natsuki was dead…

Well, being suddenly told “he’s alive” wasn’t something he’d just accept right away.

“…Sounds like we’ll need to track down the oni who attacked Natsuki in Kyoto and get the truth out of them.”

“Agreed. I’m sure it’s complicated for Madoka-kun. I mean—his beloved childhood friend turns out to be alive, and now his sister’s fallen head over heels at first sight? That’s pure chaos.”

“…Okay, now I actually feel kind of bad for the guy.”

“And don’t forget! We might be looking at a brother-sister double love triangle! My imagination is going wild. Dehehehehehehe~!”

“Ugh, gross.”

While Koume was busy trading banter with Ginko,

There was something else tugging at her thoughts.

It wasn’t just Madoka Abe—

Even Shinonome and the rest of the Abe family thought Natsuki was dead.

And Natsuki himself had fragments of memory about being attacked.

Haruko had even seen him covered in blood and said he was mentally wrecked afterward.

Which meant—without a doubt—someone or something really did attack Natsuki back then.

(But that’s not the whole story, is it? If he was just a kid back then, there’s no way he could’ve used magic. Which means… someone else must’ve gotten involved—someone even we don’t know about. That’s the most logical guess. But thinking too much about it probably won’t get me anywhere.)

〜〜Afterword〜〜

Koume’s thinking hard.

Ginko’s surprisingly flexible across genres.

Next time: a little girl-to-girl talk session.