A few moments earlier, in the female baths…

「Hey, hey!… How'd you get your hair so smooth and shiny? How old are you? I didn't see you before I jumped in, were you here for long?」

Nona asks the young girl sitting at the far end of the pool. She keeps asking and asking while practically shoulder to shoulder with her, and clutching at the pool's stony edge with her toned back turned towards the rest. The girl doesn't reply, and simply looks into her amber eyes with a very soft, neutral smile while Nona continues talking with her fluffy brown head slightly tilted.

「Nona… She can't speak our language. Most people here can't. Don't pester her… 」「Hm?」

Stripe lets out a sigh and nearly sinks in the water from embarrassment, grimacing heavily. Nona peeks over her shoulder at her with a confused blink.

「Hey, Stripe! Why don't you tell her what I'm saying, then!?」

Splosh!

Nona replies with a grin, pointing her finger at the girl sitting beside her as Nona turns around and settles down next to her.

「…I'm terribly sorry for this girl, she doesn't know how to behave at an onsen.」

Turning her vertically slit, golden eyes to the young girl sitting across the pool, Stripe apologizes with a bow of her fluffy striped ears.

「No, I don't mind at all. She seems very friendly…」

After a brief look at Nona, the girl replies with her head very gently tilted while smiling at Stripe.

「…It's a rare sight, a beastman like you. Especially here. Quite the distance… Not to mention, you speak our language.」

The girl adds as her eyes turn to Stripe's animal ears on top of her head.

「W- Well… There are a lot of reasons for that…」

Stripe turns her eyes away, stammering and grimacing nervously.

「…I am sure. You are all one group, correct?」

The girl replies with a nod, and looks over everyone else in the pool. Alicia is making herself small and hiding in the water, Lily is staring at the young girl with a wary scarlet gaze and her arms crossed, while Lian nonchalantly sits at the side with her elbows on the floor behind her, and with her back towards the half of the wall that's also an open space. Stripe grimaces slightly, hesitating to answer.

「…Yeah, we are.」

Though reluctant, Stripe nods her head in response.

「I see. Can I know what she's asking me?」

The girl nods back, and glances at Nona, who had already lost interest and is admiring the landscape.

「Ah… She just asked how did you make your hair smooth like that, and how old are you… Stuff like that.」

Stripe quickly explains with a shrug of her shoulders.

「I see. I don't think I've done anything special with my hair, it's always like this… And I'm 15.」

The girl replies with a soft voice and a light smile.

「Ah… She's 15, Nona…」

With a quick nod towards the girl, Stripe turns her attention to Nona and calls out to her.

「Hm? Who?」

She asks, blinking her confused eyes at Stripe.

「The person you're sitting next to…」

Crossing her arms with an exasperated sigh, Stripe replies. Nona turns her eyes to the girl next, and blinks at her a few times.

「Oh. I forgot. Tehe.」

Nona simply replies, and shrugs with a grin on her face. The girl smiles back then returns her attention to Stripe.

「…May I ask you a few questions too?」

She asks and tilts her dark brown, tied head slightly.

「Nhh… Sure…」

Though uncomfortable with the idea of answering questions to a stranger, Stripe feels an obligation to keep the conversation going and reluctantly shrugs.

「…Have you seen a tall, very handsome man around here?」

The girl asks, blinking a few times while staring directly into Stripe's vertically slit eyes. They widen, and she blinks back before quickly averting her gaze.

《Shit! I got careless! That's a really specific question!… No way she's not after Straf!… What would he do!?…》

Stripe thinks, grimacing slightly. Suddenly, her head perks up.

Splosh-Snap!…

「…Is that your type!?」

Stripe quickly pulls her hand out of the water, snaps her fingers, and points it across the pool at the girl with a falsely smug, awkward grin.

The girl blinks at her in confusion, then begins giggling while covering her mouth from view with her fingers.

「…Huhuhu… No… If you haven't seen him, please forget that I've asked. It does sound rather silly otherwise.」

Her giggling stops, and she lowers her hand back down into the water, replying with a shrug of her bare shoulders and a faint smile.

「Riiight…」

Stripe nods back with an awkward smile, then covertly lets out a relieved exhale towards the side.

She relaxes and slumps a little into the pool, letting out a deep sigh as the travel fatigue and cold evaporates from her body. Nona is slumped on the rocks lining the edge of the pool, resting her head on her arms with drowsy, half-open eyes. A little too hot for comfort, Lian blows out a quick puff of air, then looks at Lily and Alicia. Alicia is no longer trying to make herself small, and she's simply sitting with a contented smile on her face with everything below her neck under the water.

Even Lily has something akin to a pleased smirk on her pale face, though she's still sitting with her arms nonchalantly crossed with her chin just barely above the water. Nobody says a word, though an indistinct conversation of a man and a woman can be heard from somewhere. A long while passes with the only sounds being background chattering, soft wind, and gentle rustling of slowly flowing water. The young girl lets out a contented sigh then reaches for the towel on the floor behind her.

「It was nice to meet you, but it's time for me to get out. I'm a little too hot.」

The girl remarks as she stands up and wraps her steam-shrouded body in her towel in one motion, and steps out of the pool.

「Uh, ah… Yeah…」

Stripe replies with an awkward nod, turning her gaze down to the water, before looking right back at the girl while she heads for the curtain leading to the hallway.

「Byeeeee…」

Nona lazily bellows out like a squeezed bagpipe, still slumped onto her arms. Alicia relaxes significantly when the stranger leaves.

「…He's definitely here. I need to be on my toes-」「Son of a fucking bitch!」

Lowering her gaze to the wooden floor, the young girl places her chin between her thumb and finger as she mumbles quietly to herself while heading to the changing room.

「…Straf, what about the towel!?」「Hm?」

A woman shouts from behind her, causing her to stop and peek over her shoulder. She blinks at the mixed bath curtain, then takes a few steps towards it.

Fwapf!

「Wha-」

The curtain flies aside and a tall, handsome man storms out, stomping right for the girl while wearing only a bucket on his groin.

Utterly stunned by the appearance of the muscular, wet, and completely naked man in front of her while being barely dressed herself makes her freeze up and cover her mouth with her hand. Frozen, she can only stare. He glares at her, scowling. Her eyes widen further and the girl quickly shuffles away, making way for the man.

「What!? It's an onsen!」

He growls out in an incredibly harsh tone as he stomps past and takes a turn down the hall.

《…The man of foul repute!》

She thinks while staring blankly at the floor, still recovering from the shock…

…

Five minutes later, behind the onsen, on the rocky and sparsely grassy mountain top…

THWUMP!…

Barefoot and wearing only his pants, Straf lets go of a rabbit's ears and gives it a rough kick.

…FWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPFFFFFFFFFFFMMMMMMMMMmmmmm!

「Oooooop… That one's not coming back!… One small kick for me…」

Red sparks shine between the rabbit and his leg, and the creature flies off into the air in a completely flat trajectory, growing smaller and smaller at it sails away into the uncharted seas above.

Straf activates [Contextual Time Perception], leisurely walks up to another horned bunny, then grabs its ears as the flow of time accelerates back to normal.

「C'mere you little shit…」

Straf says with his mouth scrunched to the side, then returns to his previous spot. The bunny frantically kicks its legs trying to free itself, to no avail.

「…One giant fuckin' leap for… What are you, even?…」

He asks, narrowing his eye at the rabbit. Straf focuses his eyes on it, and reads the flailing rabbit's name.

「…Is mountain a part of your official name, or is it just a geographical denominator?…」

Straf leans in towards the bunny's whiskered face. Too tired, the bunny's chest simply expands and contracts many times in the blink of an eye. It doesn't reply.

「…Alright. One giant leap for mountain piercerkind! Orra!」

THWUMP!

He declares as he drops the rabbit onto his swinging foot again. The mountain piercer lets out a yelp, and flies off with the morbid sound of a well-inflated football being kicked.

Straf briefly watches it go on its merry way before it loses his attention, and he looks around for more rabbits.

《Will you please stop already!?》

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Athea shouts in his mind, which he nonchalantly ignores.

「Ah.」

He utters out and activates [Contextual Time Perception] again. He picks up another mountain piercer with ease, and the terrified animal flails like the previous one.

《Stop!》

Athea demands. Her voice echoes in his mind.

「Nuh-uh.」

Straf bluntly replies while walking back into his spot. He lifts the flailing bunny up and shifts his stance for a kick.

Fwwwoooooom.

Athea appears in a flash of golden light with a gentle gust of air, and rushes up to Straf.

「Please, stop already! You are ruining the local ecosystem! Again!」

She pleads with her hands plaintively outstretched towards him, palms upward. Straf aborts his preparations for a kick and places his free hand in a fist on his hip.

「Oh nooo!… Not the local ecosystem!… What the fuck ever will we do in 20 to 40 years when some river somewhere dries out because the mountain piercers are dead!?…」

With a mocking tone and smirk on his face, Straf spreads his arms and holds up one mountain piercer to make a point. It breathes rapidly while frozen still.

THWUMP!

「Khhhhhkk!…」

Athea winces as Straf gives it a kick with nary a warning, sending it flying. He watches it soar through the sky with an amused grin on his face and his fists on his hips.

「Can you believe this shit? They have horns. What the fuck does a rabbit need a horn for? A bunny with a horn…」

Straf scoffs, shaking his head, briefly pointing his hand in the general direction of the mountain piercer in its suborbital flight. Athea stares into his eyes with her teeth clenched in frustration.

「…Good thing they're not called hornny. That'd be too fuckin' much-」

He turns around and starts searching for another creature.

「Please, stop!」

Athea steps into Straf's way and blocks his path with her arms, interrupting him. He looks at her with a heavily annoyed grimace and a scrunched mouth.

「…Want me to send you flying too?」

Straf asks in a casual, almost jesting tone, very briefly pointing his hand at her as well.

「Please, just talk to me.」

She pleads, and lowers her arms. Straf steps right past the moment she does so.

「Why? I don't give a shit about the bunnies or their consequence on the local ecosystem, or lack thereof… I don't give a shit about anything.」

He replies with a quick, dismissive peek over his shoulder while hunting for more.

「You already killed at least a half of their population-! This isn't about them! Please, just stop!」

Athea quickly jumps into Straf's way again, and his face gains a frustrated grimace once more. He takes a large breath and lets out a frustrated sigh.

「What is it about, then? Just give me the fucking deus ex machina and stop giving me cryptic goddess clues. Go on.」

He asks, throwing his arms up before placing his fists back on his hips.

「This is about you. What you are doing is not healthy-」

She replies while staring into Straf's annoyed eyes.

「Not healthy!? I'm at a hot spring, breathing fresh mountain air, kickin' fuckin' bunnies, and I'm not doing any work at all! It's a vacation! It's the definition of healthy!」

Straf interrupts her with a loud, mocking scoff and a snide grin, then spreads his arms he declares with a loud voice.

「Straf, please stop pretending that you don't know what-」

Athea's shoulders slump with a sigh, and she blinks her blue eyes into his.

「I am not fucking Straf!…」

Straf shouts in her face, leaning in and poking himself with his middle and index fingers, scowling at Athea in an instant. She recoils back a little, but remains close.

「…You know my fucking name! You killed me! You did a fucking oopsie and sent a hunk of fucking metal hurling for me! All I got from you is a fucking sorry!…」

He continues shouting, glaring at Athea's apologetic face while she listens quietly.

「…You know my fucking name. What is it? Tell me. Go on… Unless you already fucking forgot!…」

Straf straightens out and nods up at Athea, verbally prodding her with his fists on his hips, before shouting again. He waits, and waits while she simply stares into his eyes.

「…You already forgot, didn't you? Guess billions of lives a second means one is fuck-all to you.」

He nods, grimacing in angered disbelief as his glare softens into disgust.

「Straf… I didn't. You are Straf. This is your name. This is what you first introduced yourself as. This is the name everyone knows you by. This is you…」

She lets out a sigh and calmly replies with a deeply apologetic look in her eyes. Straf's mouth corner twitches while he listens.

「…If you could look at yourself and see your own name, can you guess what it would say?…」

Athea asks, but Straf remains silent and continues looking at her at the verge of a glare.

「…Please, just talk to me. Like this. What you're doing is not healthy. You are hurting yourself again. You need to stop doing this.」

She pleads again with her brows furrowed. Straf lets out a scornful huff from his nose.

「Stop doing what? A fucking reality check? What should I do, huh? Just go「Ooooh it can't be helped!」and live out a wish fulfillment fantasy of a fucking loser!?」

Straf barks back, expectantly spreading his arms with an angry scowl.

「There's nothing wrong with you enjoying your life. There's nothing wrong with you being happy here. Straf, it's good if you are happy here-」「Pft…」

Athea insistently explains in an almost begging tone, nodding her head with each sentence. Straf scoffs, chuckling and shaking his head with his gaze turned aside.

「What, want me to fucking settle down here, huh? Want me to just fuckin' suck it up?…」

With his fists on his hips, Straf asks with an angry yet amused grin.

「…Oooooh, I get it! You want me to go native! This is another world, and I'm from another world!… If I go native, then this will be a native…?」

As if enlightened, Straf's head perks up and he begins nodding with his grin growing and anger fading. He spreads his arms and leans in inquisitively.

「…Go on. Fill in the blanks. I'm a native otherworlder therefore it's a native…?」

He gives her an encouraging nod, further prodding Athea. She lets out a sigh with a weary face.

「…Please, take this seriously-」「I can't take this fucking seriously!…」

She pleads with a tired tone, to which Straf doesn't even let Athea properly finish her sentence before he shouts out and squats down, hiding his head in his knees and covering it with his arms.

「…You're asking me to put on a fucking clown suit with squeaky fuckin' shoes and take part in the fucking clown parliament…」

Straf says while curled up with his face hidden in his legs. Athea listens quietly while looking down at him.

「…Today's debate in the parliament is about the maximum allowed banana slips a week. The clowns with top hats on their wigs want it to stay unlimited, the clowns with flat caps want five…」

He continues, lifting his weary face up to look at Athea.

「…No one can agree on anything or even compromise, so a big fuckin' clown fight breaks out. They pie each other in the face and shoot each other with balloon guns…」

Straf hangs his head as he keeps talking.

「…Eventually, tired of fighting, they agree to renegotiate. They come up with a solution that leaves neither side happy, but at least it's somethin', and they go shake hands…」

He says in a gloomy, tired voice, then raises his eyes back up to meet Athea's.

「…One o' 'em has an electric zapper on his hand. The clown government collapses, and the neighboring mimes silently take over. Did you get all that?」

Straf adds, then shrugs and reluctantly stands up. Athea takes large breath and lets out a long, weary sigh.

「…To be honest, I don't have the slightest clue what you are talking about…」

She shrugs with her mouth aslant.

「Yeah, figures…」

Dejected, Straf nods as he places his hands in his pockets.

「…But I just want you know one thing. There are people here who need you here, and there are people who love you here. Please, just let them. At least try.」

Athea says, and turns her gaze towards the onsen's rear exit. Cycelia is standing in the doorway, wrapped in a towel and watching the two with her brows furrowed.

Fwooom.

Athea disappears upward into a narrow, golden beam of light. With a weary and resigned sigh, Straf heads back to the onsen.

「…What did you two talk about?」

「Nothin', Lia…」

Cycelia asks as she makes way for Straf. He replies with a shrug and a downbeat voice as he passes by…