Chapter 175: Peeking into the Women's Bath is a Crime
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 175: Peeking into the Women's Bath is a Crime
"Sex! Sex!"
Normally, they would have stopped, mindful of the girls, but the sense of liberation that came from the wide-open space of the hot spring shattered their limiters.
The effect was so infectious that, in an instant, nearly a third of the second-year boys in the hot spring had turned into a flock of sex-crazed parrots.
"What in the world..."
As Ryuji muttered with a dumbfounded expression, Mahes, who was soaking in the hot spring despite being a ghost, crossed his arms and said.
「Sometimes, lust drives men mad. And madness is easily spread.」
Don't analyze it with such a straight face...
I grumbled inwardly and decided to just watch my rampaging classmates for now.
They were all talk and no action, at least for the moment.
If I jumped in rashly at this point, I’d be treated like the guy who can't read the room.
But perhaps I had underestimated the libido of a teenage high school boy.
While everyone else was just talking about peeking into the women's bath, hesitant to act, one guy actually decided to do something about it.
It was a kid from the next class named Masaru, who had a reputation for being a pervert.
Masaru pounded on the bamboo partition separating the men's and women's baths and shouted.
"You pathetic fools! How long are you going to stand around staring at each other! Paradise awaits us just beyond this wall!"
In response, one of the Bald Trio from our class let out a groan.
"But this bamboo wall is too high. Unless we become giants, it's physically impossible to peek over it."
"Nonsense! Are you going to give up over a mere obstacle like this? You should be thinking about how to make the impossible possible!"
"Then tell us! Are you saying there's a way to see over that high wall?!"
"Of course!"
Masaru puffed out his chest confidently and pointed to a stack of wooden basins in the corner of the bathhouse.
"We'll stack those in a pyramid, climb on top, and look over!"
"!!!!"
The boys all turned to stare at the basins, their faces a picture of shock.
It seemed such an idea had never even crossed their minds.
Mahes, who hailed from Egypt, the home of the pyramids, seemed impressed by the idea. He stroked his chin and let out an "Oh."
"Hey, you're not supposed to be impressed."
「Am I not?」
When Ryuji, standing next to him, shot back with a look of disbelief, Mahes scratched his head, looking embarrassed.
"Amazing! Masaru!"
In any case, one by one, boys who agreed with Masaru's plan shot up from their spots and began to put his idea into action.
Specifically, they started bringing the wooden basins from the corner and building a tall tower.
All to catch a glimpse of the paradise that lay beyond the roughly five-meter-high bamboo wall.
"It's complete!"
And so, the tower of wooden basins was finished.
Like the Tower of Babel, said to have been built to reach the heavens, the tower soared to a height of about three meters.
However, considering the average height of a Japanese high school student, it was still just short by a frustrating 20 to 30 centimeters.
It might have been a different story for me, at 190 cm and still growing.
"Damn it! You idiot!"
As the pioneer, Masaru was the first to climb the tower. He trembled at his miscalculation, but there was no way to magically increase his height.
"I can't give up now!"
Despite the already unstable footing, he stubbornly stood on his tiptoes.
Now, the women's bath was just barely within view.
As a fellow man, I had to respect his determination to see the women's bath no matter what, but the girls from our class were over there.
Just as I was getting up from the water to intervene...
"Oh? To think you'd dare peek into the women's bath while I'm here. You've got some nerve."
A familiar voice came from beyond the bamboo wall.
BANG!!
Suddenly, the dry crack of a gunshot echoed through the bathhouse.
"Gack-"
Struck in the chin by a rubber bullet Sasha had fired from a model gun, Masaru collapsed, paradise just within his grasp.
Crash!
The tower of wooden basins crumbled along with his ambition.
"Captain Masaruuuuu!!"
Some wailed at his glorious end, while others just stared with pathetic eyes.
I didn't really fall into either category, but as a fellow man, I paid him my respects.
'It was idiotic, but magnificent.'
His only mistake was not realizing that the ruckus from the men's side could be heard perfectly clearly on the women's side.
'In a place like this, there's no way it'd be soundproof.'
I lightly tapped the bamboo wall behind me and was about to get out of the hot spring when I noticed it.
There was a perfectly placed gap between the bamboo slats.
"......"
Maybe I should just memorize its location.
*
All those who had tried to peek into the women's bath were rounded up after the girls reported them once they finished bathing.
Every single one of them, from the ringleader Masaru to those who had joined his "sex parrot" chant, their voices giving them away.
A storm of discipline blew through before bedtime, but it had nothing to do with us, as we hadn't participated.
They got off easy with just a commotion because they were students. If they had tried to peek into a women's bath as adults, they all would have been dragged to the police station.
They should be grateful to be in a rom-com world that's so lenient about peeking into the women's bath.
"Man, I'm so tired."
Satoru said in the darkened room. Lying next to him, Ryuji let out a hollow laugh.
"Can't be helped, we walked all day."
Lying at the very end of our row, I asked the two Kyoto veterans a question.
"What are the Movie Village and Gion district we're going to tomorrow like?"
"They're just normal tourist spots. Famous for being used a lot as filming locations for historical dramas and movies."
"And there are two things you're guaranteed to buy when you go there."
"What are they?"
"A wooden sword and a Shinsengumi haori."
"Ah."
True, I had seen a lot of them yesterday when we went to Kiyomizu-dera Temple.
That jade-colored haori with the distinct jagged pattern.
It seemed to be the symbol for those who had already visited the Movie Village before us.
"They're just cool, you know?"
"No man can resist."
Seeing them share a strange sense of camaraderie, it seemed both of them had bought one before.
"What about the Gion district?"
"Ah, you can see geishas and maikos there. Of course, you can't see them every day, only at certain times or on certain days."
"Are they pretty?"
"That depends on the person. Personally, not my type. Their faces are painted completely white."
So it's an acquired taste.
「I want to see a geisha too!」
「I've seen them on TV. A geisha is like a dancer in this country.」
Pretending not to see the ghost duo chattering amongst themselves, I reviewed tomorrow's schedule and then checked my smartphone before going to sleep.
There were no messages from the President or the Vice President.
If I didn't know any better, I would have thought they were just being considerate and not messaging me during my school trip. But knowing the real situation, I couldn't just relax and enjoy myself.
I stared at the messenger screen for a while before turning it off.
I knew that worrying about it alone wouldn't do any good.
"Good night."
As I pulled the covers up and muttered, I felt a presence stir beside me.
But they didn't seem to feel the need to reply, and the room remained quiet.
I slowly closed my eyes as a wave of sleepiness washed over me.
I needed to conserve my energy if I was going to be running around all day tomorrow too.
*
Chirp! Chirp!
I opened my eyes to the sound of birds chirping in my ear.
'It's an unfamiliar ceiling.'
As I sat up with that dazed thought, I saw Satoru and Ryuji sleeping next to me, drooling.
I checked the time on my phone. It was 6 AM.
I'd slept in later than my usual wake-up time, but considering how much I'd walked yesterday, I was up reasonably early.
I slipped out into the hallway for a quick walk to wake myself up, but there was no one else around.
Putting on the slippers that were provided in the room, I headed to the main lobby, where I found our homeroom teacher, Matsuda.
"Good morning."
"Yeah, you're up early."
Mr. Matsuda gave me a lazy wave, then stretched with a huge yawn.
"Did you pull an all-nighter?"
"Yeah, something like that. It's kind of like being on night duty. Have to make sure none of our students are wandering around at night."
Seeing how tired he looked, I bought a coffee from the vending machine and handed it to him.
"Here you go."
"Oh, thanks."
Mr. Matsuda looked at the canned coffee I gave him as if it were a strange object, then said he'd enjoy it and popped the tab.
"Do you always wake up this early?"
I shook my head at his question.
"No. I usually get up a bit earlier to work out, but I slept in today."
"Right, I guess you have to, to maintain that much muscle."
Mr. Matsuda nodded in understanding and patted my shoulder, saying we should work out together sometime.
I told him I'd think about it, then headed to the garden behind the ryokan while sipping on the cider I'd just bought.