The Island Village, Murder, and the Daughter of the Abyss

“Welcome back,”

Hamahata Konoka greeted me with a polite bow as I returned to the inn. I gave a slight nod in return and spoke up.

“I can use the private open-air bath right away, right?”

“Yes. It’s connected to the underground hot spring, so the water is always warm.”

Hmm. Before I was possessed, I remembered reading an article about a Japanese hot spring that only changed its water twice a year, resulting in E. coli levels over three thousand times the safe limit. In comparison, having a direct pipe from the spring seemed far better. I’d looked up some information on hot springs before coming here and learned that this world had faced similar issues, which led to stricter sanitation standards. That was a relief. I had zero interest in soaking in a bacterial soup.

“Oh, and one more thing.”

“Yes?”

“I’ll pay extra, so please bring me about three people’s worth of food. I’m a big eater.”

“Ah, understood. In that case… the additional meal cost for three days would be…”

It must have been her first time dealing with someone like me. Hamahata Konoka began counting on her fingers as she calculated the extra charge. It was kind of cute. Using a smartphone would have been faster, but watching her do it by hand felt refreshingly innocent and endearing. Still, cute was cute. What I really wanted right now was to sink into a nice, hot bath as quickly as possible.

“I’ll just pay for two extra nights’ lodging.”

“What? N-no, you don’t have to…”

“Then we’ll add a few of our specialty dishes to the three-person meal, dear guest.”

Hamahata Konoka had been trying to refuse the extra lodging fee when the inn’s elderly owner appeared and smoothly overruled her by offering specialty dishes instead. I smiled faintly and took out some money from my wallet. The old woman bowed at a perfect ninety-degree angle. “Thank you so much, dear guest~!” She clearly knew how to run a business.

“Of course you should pay extra if you want extra service. Could you show me how to use the private open-air bath?”

“Ah! Right this way, sir!”

“Konoka, teach our guest properly. If he wants, you can scrub his back too.”

I headed to my room, immediately slid open the outside door, and stepped into the open-air bath. The stone-lined tub still held rainwater that had collected during the downpour. When Hamahata Konoka pressed a button, the water began to drain rapidly. Once the pooled rainwater was gone, the stone and cement floor underneath was revealed.

“I cleaned it thoroughly before you arrived. It did collect some rain since you got here, but it should be clean.”

“It’s an open-air bath. Rain is unavoidable.”

When I said it was fine, Hamahata Konoka gave a small bow and turned the faucet on the right side of the tub. Hot spring water immediately gushed out from a fairly wide pipe.

“Turn this one for hot water. If it’s too hot, the faucet on the opposite side gives cold water, so you can mix them as needed.”

“Thank you. I’ll wash up now, so you can go.”

“Ah… um… Then I’ll see you in a bit.”

Even though I’d been wearing a raincoat, the constant downpour had seeped through, and the combination of my body heat and trapped moisture had left everything sticky and uncomfortable. I was desperate to wash. Hamahata Konoka bowed and left the room. While the hot spring water filled the tub, I stripped off my clothes. My underwear was fine, but the hem of my short-sleeved shirt and the bottoms of my pants were completely soaked. With how hard it had been raining, there was no avoiding it.

I hung up my clothes and stepped into the bath. By the time I’d finished undressing, there was already a decent amount of water in the tub.

“Ahhh~!”

The temperature was perfectly hot. There was a faint sulfur scent, so it must have been a sulfur spring. I vaguely remembered sulfur springs being good for something, but I couldn’t recall what.

The rain cooled my chest and shoulders while the warm water below prevented my body from getting chilled. Listening to the sound of the rain and gazing out at the sea while soaking in the bath was pure bliss. Then the sliding door to my room opened, and someone stepped in.

“Excuse me.”

It was Hamahata Konoka’s voice. What was she doing here? When I turned around, I saw her standing there with a shower towel wrapped around her body, face flushed bright red and fidgeting nervously. She was holding what looked like a washbasin.

“I-I’ll scrub your back for you.”

“Ah…”

So the old innkeeper’s earlier comment hadn’t been a joke. I’d been thinking about getting out soon anyway, but a back scrub sounded nice.

“Then I’ll be in your care.”

“Y-yes…”

Hamahata Konoka dipped the shower towel in the warm water, added body wash, worked up a lather, and began gently scrubbing my back. Hmm… Her touch was a bit too light to feel particularly refreshing, but I could tell she was trying hard, so I stayed still and let her work.

I had just finished a vigorous session with the Pot-wearing Shrine Maiden, yet the soft, almost caressing strokes on my back combined with the sound of Hamahata Konoka’s increasingly labored breathing made my massive cock twitch and begin to rise without permission. Thankfully I had a towel over my lap, but it was pitched upward like a damn teepee.

“All done. Ah…!”

“Ah, sorry… My bad. It just felt so good that I got carried away.”

“I-I’ve finished, so I’ll be going now!”

Her face had turned the color of a ripe persimmon as she practically sprinted away. After seeing nothing but women drooling over my dick lately, her pure and innocent reaction felt refreshingly new. I washed the rest of my body, rinsed off, and returned to my room.

I was lying on the tatami floor, browsing the internet on my smartphone, when Hamahata Konoka returned with dinner. Her face was still flushed red. True to her word about adding specialty dishes to the three-person meal, she brought a massive steamed king crab along with several other crab-based dishes. Everything looked incredibly generous in portion and delicious.

Hamahata Konoka sat demurely beside me, apparently intending to attend to me during the meal just like she had at lunch.

“The food looks absolutely amazing.”

“Yes… My grandmother is a very skilled cook.”

When I praised the food, she finally broke into a bright smile. I smiled back and picked up my chopsticks. Being on an island, all the seafood was incredibly fresh. I was already starving, so I thoroughly enjoyed the meal. The sashimi was excellent, and the crab had that perfect sweet-and-salty flavor.

“You really eat a lot.”

“I do tend to eat quite a bit. This body burns through a lot ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of calories.”

I smiled at Hamahata Konoka, who was watching me with wide-eyed fascination as I devoured the food. As I ate, my thoughts suddenly turned to the people from Kanto University who had been investigating at the shrine. It was dinner time now—had they returned yet?

“By the way, have the people from Kanto University returned to the inn?”

“Yes. They all came back and are currently having dinner.”

Hmm. So they came down for food after all. After eating a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠decent amount, a question suddenly occurred to me. Earlier, Professor Honmura Koga had mentioned that on this island, when a woman’s husband died, she returned to her original family name. Yet Hamahata Konoka shared the same surname as her grandmother, which seemed odd.

“Earlier, the professor from Kanto University mentioned that on Chooten Island, women change their surnames when their husbands die. So why do you and the innkeeper grandmother share the same last name?”

“Ah, that’s… There’s another custom on this island. When a child loses their parents, they take the surname of their guardian. My parents passed away when I was very young, so I’ve used my grandmother’s surname since then.”

Ah, I shouldn’t have asked. The mood had suddenly grown heavy. In situations like this, a quick apology was the best solution. I bowed my head politely to Hamahata Konoka.

“I’m sorry for asking something so insensitive.”

“It’s okay~! I was so young when they died that I barely remember them anyway.”

That was a relief, at least. I stopped talking and finished the rest of my meal. Hamahata Konoka smiled kindly and placed a cup of tea in front of me.

“Thank you. After dinner, I was thinking of taking a short walk. Would it be possible to borrow an umbrella?”

“Ah, I’ll bring one right away while you finish your tea!”

I watched Hamahata Konoka’s retreating figure as she hurried out of the room, then took a sip of the tea. By the time I had nearly finished it, she returned with an umbrella. It had a cute polka-dot pattern.

“I’ll be back after a short walk.”

“Yes. I’ll tidy up while you’re gone. Take care.”

I left the room with Hamahata Konoka’s farewell. After putting on my shoes at the entrance and stepping out of the guest building, I saw Kimura Atsuhiro dragging Hijitani Saori by the wrist, heading somewhere.

I caught a bit of their earlier conversation. It sounded like Kimura Atsuhiro had said something like “Let’s go over there,” while Hijitani Saori had hesitated with “But…” Were they trying to have a secret rendezvous? When they noticed me coming outside, both of them froze for a moment and looked embarrassed.

“Have you had dinner?”

“Ah, not yet…”

“Yes…”

I asked about dinner as casually as possible, then said “Well then…” and walked past them. So Kimura Atsuhiro hadn’t eaten yet, but Hijitani Saori had. There was no need for me to get involved in someone else’s romance. Honestly, the bigger reason was that I simply didn’t care what they did.

I wasn’t planning to go far on my walk. I just wanted to circle around the inn once. Right outside the guest building were two other structures: the dining hall where meals were prepared, and beside it, the building where the Hamahata family lived.

I headed straight to the left. I had suddenly become curious whether the communal bath could be accessed from outside. When the murder happened, I’d been too distracted to examine the surroundings properly. We had quickly moved the body to the basement, and afterward everyone had gathered outside the women’s bath to talk, so my memory was fuzzy.

I soon began to sense the presence of the hot spring. It was enclosed by a tall wall made of woven bamboo. The side closer to the entrance was probably the women’s bath. No one seemed to be using it; the women’s side was completely quiet. The bamboo wall was built so tightly that sneaking in from outside would be nearly impossible.

“Breaking in from outside would be pretty difficult.”

I muttered to myself as I walked along the bamboo ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠wall. Soon I passed an area where I could hear water splashing—must be the men’s bath. It sounded like someone was inside. Bathing right after eating could cause stomach trouble. Whoever it was, they’d probably be dealing with diarrhea later.

Before long I reached a bend in the path and turned right. The sound of water faded, replaced entirely by the patter of rain. After walking a little farther, I spotted a stone monument with someone standing motionless beside it.

(Roughly made with Paint lol)