Sniff Sniff, Outside the Water Really Is Dangerous
Come to think of it, Marine was the type who couldn't help herself whenever someone looked like they were in trouble.
So if she ever found out that Master was wary of her because he cherished me so much — well, the fact that she was being treated like a threat wouldn't even register. She'd just sit there grinning, already busy inventing ways to ship Master and me into a happily-ever-after. That was how much of an idiot she was.
Which meant Master would naturally realize she wasn't after me at all. The wariness he'd been carrying would loosen, and somewhere along the way, a decent amount of closeness would settle in between them.
I'm going to lose my mind…
The moment Master's warmth pressed against my side, I bit down hard on my lip and squeezed my eyes shut.
Ha. The memory the Affection Gift had planted last time — of Master bathing me — was clawing its way back up, and I was about to go insane. Of course it was a fabricated memory that only existed in my head. Master had none of it. But that wasn't the real problem.
The real problem was that even wrapped in a towel like this, I felt completely naked.
And even setting that aside, just sitting in a hot spring with nothing but a single towel was already rough enough.
Well… at least we're not going in fully bare, so maybe I should count my blessings…?
Given the worldbuilding — women dating other women was common enough — hot springs like this typically had people covering up with swimsuits or towels. It was probably also a convenient setting detail so the game could show hot spring scenes without running into problems… but either way, it meant that when Master, the only man around, washed with us, we never quite reached the full-nude catastrophe.
Keeping my thoughts busy like this seemed to help a little. Honestly, being fully covered and submerged in the water wasn't that embarrassing.
"Mmm…"
"Hiek?!"
But that had only been wishful thinking.
Master, growing drowsy, slowly leaned his shoulder against mine — and at that touch I startled so hard I dropped the towel I'd been clutching.
The warmth of damp hair and bare skin pressed into me. The distance between us collapsed all at once, and Master's distinctive night-flower scent hit my nose. Anyone who wouldn't panic in a situation like this would be the weird one.
Wait. If I just dropped the towel…
That meant the force holding it up was gone. Which meant it had slipped off, and my upper body was exposed.
"Ah…?"
"Jasmine, are you okay?"
I nearly screamed at the realization that my chest was bare — but Master, moving with startling speed, pulled the towel back up and guided both of my hands to hold it in place. I managed to calm down just enough to sit there trembling.
"Th-thank you."
"Sorry. I must've bumped into you and made it fall."
"Th-that's…"
Close enough that I couldn't really argue.
My heart was hammering like it was about to shatter, still reeling from what had just happened. No matter how fast Master had helped, he must have seen, right…?
Get a grip.
I might have this body, but I'm a man. Showing a body is something I can handle… is that even right?!
"…Master."
"Hm?"
"Did you see?"
"See what?"
"Just now. When it slipped."
"Ah…. A little."
I should just die.
While I still have a man's heart left, I need to escape this insane world. I cannot become gay like this.
"H-how was it?"
"How was what?"
"…Never mind."
What is this.
Master answering with zero reaction was genuinely reassuring — but separately from that, it was also a little irritating. I say this myself, but every time I wash, I can tell these things are extremely attractive. How can he say it so casually?
Last time he said looking at me was a feast for the eyes. Was that a lie?
"Master."
"Hm?"
I deliberately pressed myself against him, putting their existence on full display.
Well? Still no reaction?
"…Huh."
But there really was almost no reaction. Sure, he seemed pleased that I'd come closer and nestled in even deeper — but the fact that that particular part was pressed and squished against him drew absolutely nothing.
"W-wait a second!"
"Hm…?"
And that difference in perspective only led to Master holding me even tighter. Before I knew it, I was completely wrapped in his arms.
…My heart was pounding. My body wouldn't move properly.
"You okay?"
"Hah… haaah…"
Hugging each other half-naked, with nothing but towels between us. Nothing particularly lewd was happening — but I hadn't predicted things would escalate this far when I threw myself at him, and my mind was going completely blank.
"Something really does seem off…. Let's get out for now."
"W-wai—!"
Master must have assumed I was unwell. He scooped me up in a carefully modest hold, covering me as much as he could, and started walking out of the hot spring.
A wild fantasy of being carried straight to a bed and tossed onto it tried to unfurl in my head. I crushed it by force, reminding myself Master wasn't that kind of person.
How on earth did things end up like this?
"Ha… haah…"
Somehow I managed to change clothes and get outside. Since I couldn't tell him the truth, I stuck with the "I'm not feeling well" story — which was why I was now lying on a chair with my face bright red, receiving Master's fanning.
"Feeling any better?"
Getting worked up over something so stupid and going haywire made me feel like an idiot. And Master, fussing over me without knowing a thing, was somehow frustrating too.
With my mental fortitude completely shot, I closed my eyes and forced myself into sleep mode.
"Today we'll be installing these forms. Once they're set, we pour the concrete and let it cure. We won't be pouring today — just getting the forms in place."
There was no way this would be perfect in a single day. The plan was to build it today, do a final check tomorrow for any problem spots that needed fixing, and pour the concrete the day after that.
"At this point it feels less like a swim club and more like a construction club."
If they could pick up this much knowledge, they'd be able to build a proper pool somewhere later. In fact, a pool built that way does show up as an event eventually.
…Next summer's event, though.
"Huh? Teacher."
"Yes?"
"I can't see Aqua."
"Hmm. That's a problem."
I did remember something going wrong around this point in the story.
Aqua didn't just like water — she was obsessed with it. Which meant the opposite was also true: a state without water was dangerous for her. Normally we took frequent breaks so it wouldn't become an issue, but today the work required everyone pulling together, and the gaps between rests had stretched a little too long.
…I should go look for her myself.
"Looks like we're almost finished here. I'll go find Aqua."
"Okay."
The story makes it clear often enough that Aqua isn't quite normal. Even at her age, she shows a childlike innocence that goes too far. The extreme water obsession is another tell. Fruity, for comparison — sure, her common sense is a little lacking, but underneath it all she has a clean, almost mature personality. Her moral sense is strong, too.
Aqua has almost none of that. Her behavior is pure child, but looking at her appearance alone, she seems older than Fruity. She's slender and short, so she comes off as cute — but she doesn't look like a little kid, which creates a deeply off-kilter impression.
"Around here?"
Ordinarily you'd only consider the houses we have access to. But with Aqua, there was no telling where she might have gone. Digging through my memories, I managed to find a place that matched what the game story had depicted.
Wow. This place actually exists.
It was probably Aqua's secret base — somewhere even the swim club members didn't really know about. The building was basically a ruined wreck, but if you went inside carefully, there was a surprisingly clean-looking bathroom, and inside that, a decent bathtub.
"Ah…. Aaa…."
And there she was — sitting in a completely dry tub, trembling.
How long had she been like this for her condition to get this bad?
I immediately pulled Aqua into my arms and did everything I could to calm her.
"It's okay. You're not alone."
"Hauh…?"
"……"
Aqua had originally been a Minor Unit. Back then, she'd been bathing with her parents when they stepped out of the bathroom for a moment — and died in an accident. She spent the rest of her life waiting in the water for parents who never came back. That was her hidden past.
She survived by awakening as a Major Unit while still submerged, and learned about the world living entirely in water. Then Levant did something completely insane and dragged her outside by force — and through that, Aqua had developed enough to handle short periods out of the water without issue.
"Auh…."
Even now, nothing should have gone wrong. Normally, once she got here, she could generate water with her own ability. But today's work had been hard, her mana was heavily depleted, and by the time she arrived she didn't have enough left to make any — so the accident happened.
I want to put her in water right away, but…
Doing that would change nothing. Originally, Master — who had no abilities at all — was supposed to find her. If I was taking his place, I needed to act as if I had no powers either, to recreate the situation properly.
…For her sake, choosing the more certain path was the right call.
"Just hold on a little longer. You can think of me as water if you want."
"Water…."
I spoke the line exactly as it rose from my memory — and sure enough, Aqua began to calm down bit by bit. At this rate, things would go according to plan.
"Feeling a little better?"
"…Yeah, Mom. I… waited really good, right?"
"Eh."
Something was off.
This… didn't feel quite the same as I remembered…?