Chapter 174: The Bathhouse Event
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 174: The Bathhouse Event
I wanted to have a good, long sweat session after dinner, so for now, I just took a quick shower.
Afterward, I returned to the room with a towel around my neck to find Satoru and Ryuji already changed into the blue yukatas provided by the inn.
"Where's mine?"
"They have one, but I don't know if it'll fit."
Satoru handed me an XXL-sized black yukata.
"Why is mine the only one that's a different color?"
"I asked earlier, and they said they only have black in the larger sizes."
Ah, well, that's fair.
Accepting Satoru's explanation, I casually threw the yukata top on over my t-shirt.
It was a little tight around the chest, but it seemed wearable enough.
I went to the bathroom, changed into the black yukata while looking in the mirror, and then checked the mountain of messages that had piled up in the group chat while my phone was charging.
Ayame: 「Does anyone know what's for dinner tonight?」
Rika: 「The picture we took at the Ghibli studio earlier was so cute☆ Isn't this just amazing?」
Satoru: 「I'm so excited for the movie village tomorrow!」
As expected, it was mostly trivial chatter.
"Alright, let's go get some food. My stomach's about to cave in."
Ryuji, who had been leaning against the wall, pushed himself up. Satoru, who was lying on the floor scrolling through his phone, also got up, mumbling, "Is it that time already?"
As we were all walking down the hall to the dining room, Satoru, who had just been chatting with the girls, snickered and asked us.
"Hey, did you guys see Hattori's message?"
"Hattori? What about her?"
"She's usually so bubbly and energetic, but her texts are super formal. The gap is insane."
Hearing that, I thought back to the message I'd just seen in the chat.
「Does anyone know what's for dinner tonight?」
…He had a point.
There were no special characters or new slang that high school girls use these days.
Ryuji, walking beside me, tilted his head.
"Aren't there a lot of people like that? The type who gets more polite when they're not face-to-face."
But Satoru suddenly shouted, awakening Ryuji from his ignorance.
"You idiot! This is what you call 'gap moe'!"
"!!!"
Ryuji's face lit up with a belated sense of enlightenment.
「What's gap moe?」
Meanwhile, Chiaki, being from an older time, had no idea what the word meant. I just mumbled a vague reply, "It's a good thing."
I had no idea how to explain a word derived from a niche otaku subculture like 'gap moe' to this excessively pure-hearted spirit.
「Ugh, that's not fair. I'm just going to ask Ryuji later, you know?」
"Be my guest."
Having successfully passed the hot potato, I joined the conversation between Satoru and Ryuji, which was now blazing with 2D talk.
Don't you underestimate my skills, honed by three years of dedicating myself solely to rom-coms!
*
──Or so I thought back then.
I never imagined the depths of their otaku knowledge.
I could understand Satoru, who was an avid reader of not just Jump but various other manga magazines, but even Ryuji, the gamer, was surprisingly well-versed in this industry.
Anyway, we arrived at the dining hall with me nursing a strange sense of defeat.
""Let's eat!""
For dinner, we were served a standard meal instead of the kaiseki everyone had been hoping for, but it was still delicious.
The tsukemono, made with local specialties known as Kyo-yasai, particularly the Kujo negi, was something you could only eat here.
The portions were a bit small, but after a satisfying meal, we all decided to go to the bathhouse together.
It would be a waste to come all the way to an inn and not get in the hot spring.
It's a bit late to mention this, but the Japanese really love their baths.
How much? To the point where a household that takes a bath more than three times a week is considered average.
As a Korean who usually just showers, it's hard to understand, but it seems this bathing culture naturally led to a love for hot springs.
After dinner, the three of us headed to the hot spring, which was already packed with students from our school.
I'd deliberately tried to come at a time I thought would be less crowded, but it seemed everyone had the same idea.
Murmur, murmur—
As I took off my clothes in the changing room, eyes fell on me from all directions.
Usually, they were looks of fear or awe, but today felt different.
'Hey, look over there.'
'Is that a man or a horse?'
'So the strongest in the academy is the strongest down there, too.'
'The world is so unfair. Why does Kim Yoo-Sung have everything?'
My unnecessarily high-performance body could even pick up the hushed whispers of those around me.
"……."
I naturally wrapped a towel around my waist.
Seeing this, Satoru, who was putting his clothes in a locker, burst out laughing.
"You look like a Greek statue standing like that."
I told Satoru to cut the nonsense and urged him to hurry into the bath.
Whoosh!
As I opened the glass door separating the changing room from the hot spring, a blast of hot air hit my face due to the pressure difference.
'Now this is a hot spring.'
Right after, Ryuji, now in his birthday suit like everyone else, followed me into the bath.
"Where's Chiaki?"
Ryuji just shrugged in response.
"She said she'll wait outside until we're done."
Right. No matter how shameless she was, even she probably couldn't come into the men's bath.
I nodded, then dipped my hand into the water to check the temperature. It was perfect for soaking, and my mood instantly lifted.
Humming a little tune, I gave my body a quick wash.
It's the same anywhere in the world, but it's basic etiquette to wash yourself before getting into a public bath.
After a thorough scrub with shampoo and soap, I submerged my body in the hot water.
"Haaaaah—"
An exclamation of pure bliss escaped my lips.
Satoru, sitting next to me, gave me a look of disbelief.
"What are you, a forty-year-old man?"
"It's proper manners to make a sound like this when you're feeling good."
As I said that and covered my face with the towel that had been on my head, Satoru clicked his tongue with a pitying tsk, tsk.
Anyway, as I was enjoying the hot spring in my own way, I heard a commotion nearby.
"Kim-kun! Kim-kun!"
Huh?
Wondering what was going on, I removed the towel from my face to see one of the Bald Trio from my class staring at me with sparkling eyes.
"If it's not too much trouble, could I touch your arm muscle just once?"
"What…?"
I blinked at the completely random request.
But regardless of my reaction, the bald guy in front of me pressed his hands together in a prayer-like gesture.
"Please! It's my lifelong wish!"
'Dude, don't make touching another guy's bicep your lifelong wish…'
As I was thinking how absurd this was, I realized the situation was oddly similar to those scenes in manga where girls grope each other's chests.
Is this another event triggered by the rom-com world setting?
Despite my internal conflict, I decided to grant the bald guy's request.
It's not like it would wear out from being touched, so there was no need to be stingy.
"Here."
I extended my left arm to make it easier for him to touch. With a heartfelt "Thank you!", he carefully poked my bicep with his index finger.
"Oh…"
This is kind of embarrassing.
It's probably because it's a part of my body that others don't usually touch.
The bald guy, who had been prodding my skin with his finger as if testing its elasticity, swallowed hard and asked me cautiously.
"You're not flexing on purpose, are you?"
"I'm completely relaxed, so don't worry."
As I said that and opened my lightly clenched fist, he started kneading my arm muscle again.
About three minutes passed with him manhandling my bicep.
Finally, perhaps because his wish had been granted, he backed away with a satisfied expression.
And this whim brought about an unexpected result.
"Hey, can I touch it once, too?"
"Me too! Me too!"
"I've always been a little curious!"
Suddenly, my popularity exploded.
To be precise, it was my arm muscle's popularity, not mine, but since my arm muscle is part of my body, I could ambiguously claim this popularity as my own.
"NO."
But while one person was one thing, my muscles weren't so cheap as to be offered up to everyone. I immediately enacted a muscle isolationist policy.
At that, the crowd of boys from my class who had gathered around me dispersed with disappointed sighs.
And so, peace was restored to the men's bath.
But that brief peace was shattered again by the intervention of an entirely unexpected third party.
"Aah, I wanna peek into the girls' bath."
A single sentence, muttered by someone.
But its ripple effect was tremendous, instantly captivating the same boys who had just been clamoring to touch my muscles.
"To be honest, I was thinking the same thing."
"It's not a crime for a guy to be a pervert."
"Isn't this, like, a mandatory event on a school trip?"
A confession time suddenly began.
Before long, the boys started unleashing their long-hidden desires and idiocy.
"Sex! Sex! Sex!"
"You crazy bastard! The girls' bath is right next door!"
"Ah! I wanna have sex!"
"Shut up, you're embarrassing me!"
It was the emergence of the sex parrots.