Chapter 1739: Nighttime Founding Festival with Shallow Vernal ⑨

To begin with, there’s generally a certain set of patterns when it comes to happenings in onsens. And those happenings are relatively unlikely to occur while soaking in the onsen.

As long as you’re leisurely soaking in the onsen and enjoying the scenery, there shouldn’t be any strange happenings…… Well, there are a rare few instances, just like the times with Alice, who somehow manages to cause accidents whenever I’m in the bath with her, but she’s more of an exception…… No, there’s also Neun-san who I’ve also had trouble when I bathed with her, I guess?

[Kaito-san, would you like to drink alcohol like we did when we were in the onsen in the Sanctuary?]

[Ah, that sounds great. There’s something atmospheric about drinking alcohol with a tray floating in the bath, isn’t there?]

Shiro-san lightly waves her finger, and a tray with a small sake cup and hot sake appears. I don’t know the origin of all this, but drinking sake like this in the onsen somehow feels nice.

As I was thinking this, before I knew it, the sun had set and it was night, and even in the midst of all this, only Mt Fuji shone in light.

[Here you go.]

[Thank you.]

Drinking the hot sake that Shiro-san poured for me, I felt an indescribable feeling of comfort, as if there was this warmth spreading from the pit of my stomach.

[While we’re at it, why don’t you drink too, Shiro-san?]

[Fumu. Well then, in that case……]

After confirming that Shiro-san had brought out her own sake cup, I served her sake this time. This has its own charm, creating a nice atmosphere, making this a luxurious and happy moment.

[While we’re at it, wouldn’t it be more atmospheric if it’s like this?]

[Ohh, it’s snowing…… Snow falling on the onsen is a nice sight, isn’t it?]

The combination of onsen and snow is really good. Unnn…… Considering the current season and the fact that Hydra Kingdom is a place where it hardly snows due to the climate, this would normally be a cause for concern, but since they’ve made it so that the scenery visible here has been adjusted, I wonder if I can be reassured about this?

[……I’ll ask just in case, but this snow……]

[It’s alright. It’s only falling in this onsen, and it’s not visible to anyone else and it’s not falling in the royal capital.]

[Ahh, I’m glad to hear that.]

[It would be putting the cart before the horse if Kaito-san becomes so worried that you couldn’t enjoy yourself after all.]

I see, that’s a wonderful consideration. She’s got such a wonderful consideration…… that I couldn’t help thinking that if she had shown that consideration during lunch or in the evening today as well, it would have been even more wonderful. But well, there’s no point in saying anything about what happened already, so for the time being, I’ll just think about the fact that I can enjoy the spectacular view without worries.

[Kaito-san, we’ve got a good atmosphere here, don’t we?]

[Eh? I suppose so?]

[Then, wouldn’t it be more picturesque if you hugged your lover’s shoulders or something along those lines? It would make quite a good moment. Let’s do that.]

The speed at which the situation unfolds without waiting for any responses from me is making my head spin, but at any rate, Shiro-san’s request seems to be for me to hold her by the shoulders…… but umm, you do realize we’re naked, right? You want me to do that like this?

N- No, well, since we’re already sharing a bath together, there’s really no point hesitating about something of that level. This is a situation where I should fulfill my lover’s wish.

With that thought in mind, I decided to move my hand over Shiro-san’s shoulders and hugged her tightly. The feeling of skin-on-skin contact in the hot water unintentionally makes me nervous. But of course, it wasn’t uncomfortable, and was instead embarrassing, but also gave me a happy feeling…… I feel a blush rising up my cheeks, but the sense of happiness is incredibly strong.

Shiro-san, looking like she enjoys the moment, simply rests her head on my shoulder with a content expression on her face. Without asking for anything more, she peacefully enjoys the onsen.

After a while, as my embarrassment faded a bit, I shared drinks with Shiro-san, each of us pouring sake from the other. Just like that, we enjoyed a truly luxurious and happy time together.

<Afterword>

Serious-senpai : [……Guaaahhh, h- half of my body is already sugarized……]

? ? ? : [Eh? Your sugarization is a gradual effect?]

Fourth character rough draft, Isis’ date outfit. Incidentally, the cover design shows the headdress removed, so you could really feel it’s an early draft.

It’s very pretty and beautiful, with a brooch on her chest modeled after a Blue Crystal Flower, which is really nice.