I Was Caught up in a Hero Summoning, but That World Is at Peace (WN)

Chapter 2482 - Movie Watching with Kaori ⑱

<Author’s Notes>

Sorry to have kept you waiting for so long. The release date for the Light Novel’s Volume 15 has been set for February 20! The preorder page and the cover are already up as well, so I’ll attach them in the afterword.

We had come to Alice’s weapon shop for the time being, but it wasn’t as if Kaori-san actually needed any weapons. It wasn’t like she needed some amazing kitchen knife either, so there wasn’t really anything to buy at a weapon shop when…… whoa, there was an obviously strange corner set up next to the counter.

Wasn’t that the series of mini plushies based on the costume Alice usually wore……? Come to think of it, the miscellaneous goods store had sold original goods like that too……

[Ahh, how cute! Phantasmal King-sama, is it okay to buy these plushies?]

[Yes, any of them are 5R each.]

[Errr, then I’ll have one of each type……]

And just as Alice had planned, Kaori-san, who had been praising her costume nonstop, immediately latched onto the plushies and bought the entire lineup on display.

[……Ah, but seeing them in plush form, they do seem kind of cute.]

[Right? This chubby, stubby look is the best.]

[……So the problem really is what’s inside.]

[Hey now, Kaito-san?]

The smaller plush versions were indeed pretty cute, and Luna-san would probably like them too. While thinking that and watching Kaori-san shop, Alice suddenly spoke up as if something had just occurred to her, right as the payment was finished.

[……Even so, Kaori-san will be staying overnight…… so Kaori-san is going to fall prey to that dirty trick as well huh.]

[D- Dirty trick?]

[Oi, Alice, what the heck are you……]

Somehow, things are heading in a bad direction. The atmosphere was exactly the kind she had when she was about to mess around, so I had a bad feeling she was about to say something weird.

Sure enough, my prediction came true, and in the next instant, Alice started spouting something outrageous.

[Allow me to introduce this Kaito-san here! He is a mixed-bathing meister who burns with an incredible passion for bathing together with women!]

[Eeeeeh!?]

[Hey, what are you suddenly saying…… Kaori-san, please don’t take this seriously. She’s just messing around……]

[But at the very least, you’ve bathed together with all of your girlfriends, right?]

[………………]

[Kaito-kun?]

……It’s true. Unfortunately, as a matter of fact, I had done so. I- I mean, it’s not like I was usually the one actively pushing for it, but when she puts it that way, I can’t even muster a retort.

[On top of that, if we include the women who aren’t your girlfriends, the number of women you’ve bathed with together reaches fifteen, doesn’t it?]

[……………………]

[……Kaito-kun? ……You’re an outrageous carnivore type, aren’t you!? N- No, you’re way past carnivore, that’s practically a debauched paradise there!!!]

[N- No, um…… i- it is true, but…… there are misunderstandings too, you know……]

Honestly, it’s hard to argue when it’s fact…… If we’re talking numbers, it really does reach fifteen……

[And furthermore! At most, he’s even decided to bathe together with four women at the same time!]

[Eeeeeh!? You’re even pulling stuff like those shady power stone ads!?]

It’s true that those kinds of ads often show someone bathing with multiple beautiful women, but…… d- d*mn it, Alice was clearly saying this for fun, but the troublesome part was that she wasn’t lying at all.

Also, while Kaori-san was clearly surprised, she didn’t seem turned off by it. If anything, it felt like she had roughly guessed that I’d been swept along into those situations and was deliberately putting on an exaggerated reaction.

Well, even so, it wasn’t like I could just leave the misunderstanding as it was……

[K- Kaori-san…… please let me explain myself. What Alice said is technically true, but I’m not some mixed-bathing meister or anything. In the first place, there have been almost no times where I actively went out of my way specifically to bathe together with someone. Most of the time, it was more like I got dragged into it……]

[Unn, well, considering Kaito-kun’s personality, I figured you weren’t the type to go “Alright, time for mixed bathing!” on your own. But even so, isn’t it insane that you’ve bathed together with fifteen people without actively trying?]

[……I think I’m probably cursed…… by baths.]

Indeed, it was as Kaori-san said. Despite not intentionally trying to do it, it was strange that I’d ended up bathing together with so many people.

Even if you subtract the inflated numbers caused by the Six Kings Festival’s pre-eve mixed-bathing system, there were still plenty of other situations where things somehow turned into shared baths.

[Seriously, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been humiliated in the bath by Kaito-san……]

[No, in your case, they’re basically all self-inflicted……]

If anything, despite being an extremely shy person, there was even reason to suspect that Alice was actually number one when it came to the total number of mixed baths I had with. Shiro-san was probably second, but…… I feel like Alice was ahead by one.

[……So, Kaito-san. Are you going to bathe together with Kaori-san too?]

[Why did that become the topic!?]

[Kaori-san, please steel yourself. This is an unavoidable fate that eventually befalls every woman who becomes close to Kaito-san.]

[I- Is that so……? If it’s with swimsuits on…… I might manage somehow……]

[Kaori-san, don’t go along with this! Alice, if you don’t knock it off, I’m seriously pulling out my piko-piko hammer!]

It was obvious that both Alice and Kaori-san were just playing along and having fun, but from my side, it was awkward in a weird way. Once the topic came up, it made me uncomfortably conscious of things, and honestly, it was just troublesome all around.

But, was it just my imagination? Kaori-san somehow looked like she was having a bit of fun…… no, more like she seemed faintly happy about it.

<Afterword>

Serious-senpai : [Listen up, Kaito…… what this really is…… is Kaori wanting to be seen at least a little as a woman, and then seeing you, who wears your emotions all over your face, flustered like that, realizing that you’re looking at her in that way even a bit, and getting happy about it…… in other words, what looks like teasing is actually an absurdly high-level display of flirting…… If it weren’t me, I’d have missed it…… d*mn it!!]

Makina : [She exploded!? Not in some gross way, but in a gag-manga-style, pop, over-the-top explosion!?]