As the sun is setting, we return to the cottage from the jetty. Since we had already eaten an early dinner earlier, all we had to do was relax in the cottage, but we decided to prepare the bathroom first.
Well, though I say prepare, we’re actually just activating the magic tools that have been installed with a touch…… After a while, the bath is ready.
[Now then, it’s still a little early, but let’s go ahead and take a bath.]
[I suppose so. In that case, let’s get ready to go. Does Master have any towels?]
[Yeah, I got them in my magic box.][I see, I also have clothes and other stuff in my magic box, so there seems to be no problem.]
In response to my words, Anima got up from the sofa she was sitting on…… Arehh? Something feels out of place. “Let’s get ready to go?” Arehh? Doesn’t it seem like the conversation is naturally leading to us getting into the bath together?
From her demeanor and the way she’s preparing, it seems like Anima is fully determined to head to the bathroom with me. She also didn’t seem embarrassed at all, and was instead brimming with motivation.
When I had gone fishing with her before and stayed outside overnight, she seemed quite shy and nervous, and she even fainted while we were bathing.
……Ahh, I see, this is “that”, isn’t it…… Due to a strong determination “not to repeat the same mistake as before”, she’s brimming with an overwhelming sense of motivation, putting aside embarrassment and the like out of her mind.
As if to affirm such thoughts of mine, Anima looks at me with eyes full of vigor and declares.
[Master! I made a big blunder before, but I will not make the same mistake this time! As your servant, as your lover, I will complete my role of washing Master’s back!][……I- I see…… Unnn.]
Seeing Anima’s blazing determination, I realized a significant mistake. This is because during our mixed bath before, Anima had been misled by Alice with the lie “Couples are supposed to share a mixed bath and engage in a naked relationship with each other”, and she completely believed this.
And at that time, I had sworn to myself that I would clarify her misunderstanding…… but due to the commotion caused by Anima faining shortly afterward, I completely forgot to clear up that misunderstanding.
And now, Anima is filled with determination that this time, she will perform the mixed bathing well as my lover…… and I feel that this would be difficult to refuse. I mean, if I told her that we should go in separately this time, she’d probably get depressed, thinking “This is because of my previous blunder……”.
H- Hmmm. But unlike the last time, since I knew what was going on ahead of time, I may have mental leeway, and the reason why Anima fainted was because of that tail incident, and without that, there shouldn’t be any problem.
[……I’ll confirm this just in case, but aren’t you feeling embarrassed, Anima? You don’t have to force yourself, okay? I didn’t get to say this last time, but Alice was just fooling around, and there’s actually no rule in the other world that lovers must bathe together.]
[I’m glad Master is concerned about me…… However, please don’t worry about me! I will never repeat the same blunder twice!]
[Ahh, unnn. I see…… T- Then, shall we go together?]
[Hah!]
This is no good, her determination switch had been completely flipped. She’s in her servant mode…… Hmmm. Well, I don’t want to dampen her motivation either, and if Anima herself is fine with it, it’s not that I don’t want to do it either.
I promised Anima that we would be doing things that would be typical of lovers, and mixed bathing is definitely something lovers do. I’ll just make sure to be careful here so that no incidents occur, just like what had happened before…… I hope we can finish this mixed bathing in a way that satisfies Anima.
……For the time being, given what has happened so far, there’s a possibility of some sort of accident happening in the bathroom, so let’s be extra cautious about my surroundings.
<Afterword>
? ? ? : [Ohh, Kaito-san isn’t being optimistic, so it seems like things are gonna be okay.]
Serious-senpai : [I don’t really like mixed bathing events…… anyhow, Kaito seemed to have gotten used to mixed bathing…… he’s gotten calmer about it.]
? ? ? : [Well, there are lots of things that occur over there, but with the other party being Anima, I guess things would do well?]
