Morning. How'd ya' sleep? Oh, I see, that's good. Unless of course you said you hadn't slept well, in which case that's a shame. As for me though, I had a very nice night of fun and games with these two before peacefully drifting off into dreamland around 2 hours after midnight. Now for some that might be way too late to get a good night's rest...
"And it is!" I shouted drearily at Ouroboras, "It's still way too early in the morning! Come on, dude, the Sun still hasn't come up!"
"Right, what Lune said!" Issei backed me up, "Aren't you like, the Sun God? Is it even possible for you to function without it?"
"I govern the Sun and all the other stars in the sky, not the other way around." He corrected us.
Wait, so wouldn't that make him a Star God? Eh, honestly it doesn't really have the same ring to it as Sun God does. Never mind, I can understand why he went with what he did. Still, what does the Sun have anything to do with the other stars?
"It was your idea to stay up late. You are not teenagers anymore, so you should have known waking up in the morning was going to prove more difficult than usual."
"We were planning on sleeping in until noon, though..." I sulked.
"Well, we're already awake, so I'm just gonna say Ouri's right." Issei rubbed his Eyes before getting up, "Sleeping and lazing around all day is fun and all, but it won't get anything done. This is an emergency, no time to rest!"
"Emergency, he says. For what - Getting me back home, or doing all those tasks from the checklist?"
"Both, but I was more so leaning towards the latter." He stuck his tongue out, "Come on, let's go to the onsen!"
Making sure we locked the door after taking all the necessary robes and towels from the closet, we had made our way to the changing rooms. During our way there, we even managed to catch sight of the friendly older lady working at the booth. Issei and Meil greeted her normally, leaving me to have to awkwardly try and mimic what they said in order to not stand out.
"Gah, that was so weird..." I sat down on the locker room bench.
"Bahahaha! He said-! He said it so stiffly!" Issei couldn't stop mocking me, "「オハヨウ。」, ahahahaha!"
"Do not worry, Lune Grimheart. The locals are used to foreigners trying and failing to speak their language to them." Ouroboras stated.
Well you're trying and failing to cheer me up now yourself, y'know!? Geez, between these two idiots, I don't know which one is worse. It's like picking between two evils - Getting honestly grilled by Issei, or getting accidentally roasted by Ouroboras. Both involve me getting burned, so I'd rather we just move on from this topic. God, thank goodness Cecily or Nelly weren't there to witness this. I don't know if I'd have the strength to come back if they did!
"Alright then." Issei took his shirt off, "We going the old fashioned 'All three take our pants off at the same time' or from left to right?"
"You're still hung up on that? Grow up, dude." I reclined, "No one cares about your size."
"In some cultures, it is said that a man's size determines their worth." Ouroboras remarked without warning.
"......."
"............."
"...Ah, my bad, I mixed up today's day and age with the prehistoric times." He shook his head and continued to undress.
"You can't mess up over a million years of difference!"
That being the case, all three of us were now in our underwear. I was wearing boxers, Issei was proudly covering his thing with nothing but a pair of Whitey-tighties, and Ouroboras...
"What's up with the rags?" Issei pointed out, "You cosplaying a mummy or something?"
"Hm? These are my usual undergarments." He shrugged, "I dare say, a God must never be seen not wearing these. Day and night, for that is simply our culture."
"So you all wear those diapers?" I then flinched, "Wait, you don't ever take those off!? Dude, that must freakin' smell!"
"For such insolence, you would usually get your brain melted, Lune Grimheart." He shot me a nasty glare, "To even assume a God or Goddess can get dirty, much less require regular hygienic maintenance as humans do is blasphemous."
"Eh? But Aru used to always take baths back when she lived at our house..." I muttered.
"Yeah, and she'd use up all the warm water too." Issei grumbled.
"Aru... Allucius, you mean?" He raised an Eyebrow, "A Goddess living under a human's roof, how deplorable."
"It really didn't feel all too different than taking care of a bratty girl." I shrugged, "Looking back, it was kinda like we just exchanged Nelly for her the moment she left for Uni."
"A bratty girl? I do not understand, you keep calling her tha-"
"Take this!" Issei abruptly stopped the conversation by flashing his penis, "Ahaha! This is the thing that enamored two women at once! Praise it, look up to it, but just know that you can never reach its peak si-!"
"Ah, mine's bigger." I unceremoniously let my boxers fall to the floor.
"Dammit!" He stomped on the ground, "Shit, I was expecting Ouri's to be the biggest, but I at least wanted to beat Lune. What the hell, man! How come I'm last!?"
"You're forgetting that I managed to enamor two women with this too." I joked before getting serious, "Now let's stop standing with our dicks out and go inside the warm water."
"Hold on! We still didn't see Ouri's!" Issei desperately pointed to his crotch.
"About that." Ouroboras calmly took his own rags off, revealing an otherworldly maelstrom of Eyes, wings and other angelic sights, "Be not afraid, but..."
"The biblically accurate cock!?" Issei fell back on his seat.
"As a God, I can control my body's shape to whatever I wish, so..."
"No one cares, just put the damned towel on!"
With that, we all reached for our own respective towels to adorn. It was then and only then that Issei had revealed to us that you don't actually have to be naked while you're in the hot springs, and can actually keep said towel on you if you don't feel comfortable showing off. That being the case, none of us are shy or anything, but we all agreed to keep the towels on just so we wouldn't have to worry about accidentally sneaking a glance at each others' privates. Finally, the onsen event can begin.
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Walking out of the locker room together, we had stumbled upon a set of three doors. Well, more like curtains, but you get the gist. The guys explained that one is for the men's side, the other for the women's, and the third, middle one is where the mixed baths were. Issei, being Issei, had subconsciously begun walking to the mixed baths section, muttering something about an important lucky bastard moment occurring, but Ouroboras thankfully dragged him back to the men's side before he could commit any heinous crimes.
"Whoa, we're outside, but it's so warm!" I went to walk into the steaming hot water.
"Hey now, not yet!" Issei pulled me back, "You smell. Go clean yourself up over there first."
"Smell!?" I anxiously checked my pits, "Dude, no the hell I don't!"
"Issei Kaido did not mean to call out your body odor." Ouroboras elaborated, "But he was correct when he said you must not immediately go for the hot bath. It is standard practice to at the very least cleanse yourself first. This IS a public domain, after all."
Ah, so that's what he meant. Yeah, now that I think about it, there are some other guests staying here. Mostly wrinkly old men and tired middle aged guys, but they deserve some rest and reprieve once in a while too, I guess. So that's the case, huh - If everyone just did as I almost did, then the water would quickly turn murky and smelly. That wouldn't make for much of an enjoyable hot springs experience, surely, so I'm glad I had them to warn me in time.
"Sit down." They did as they told me to do, "The onsen offers you free shampoo, but you can bring your own if you so wish."
"It's what I usually do, since I can never seem to get used to the onsen's shampoo, but desperate times call for desperate measures." Issei chuckled, "Just a quick scrub would be enough, by the way."
"Ah, I see?" I tilted my head before washing my hair, "This is... kinda nice."
"Of course it is, cleaning yourself up is always good."
"No, not that. I meant like, the communal part of cleaning." I tried explaining it as best as I could, "Don't get me wrong, showering or taking a bath together to conserve water exists in spades back home, but I never really assumed you could actually make it work with random people in an establishment like this."
"You would be surprised by the sheer comfort the people of this world can offer you." Ouroboras smiled, "Ah, now to clean the lower part..."
"Now for us to look away." Issei and I shivered.
All of a sudden, as I was cleaning up my body, the feeling of self-consciousness hit me. That's right, right now I'm in a totally different world, cleaning myself up with the fabled Sun God right beside me, and all this after seeing so many wonders I couldn't even fathom back in my world. Of course, I miss my family and friends back home and wanna go back as soon as possible, but for just this short little while, I'd like to enjoy the moment fully...
"Alright, I'm gonna step in." Issei was the first to stand up.
"I'll join you."
"Yes, as will I."
The water was, as one would expect, remarkably warm. The steam helped relax our skin, the temperature was just right to relieve you of all the built up stress and tension one could have brought with him, and overall the experience was just very nice in general. Sitting down in the hot springs, I had been informed by the two of some basic guidelines and rules. Don't swim and splash about in the hot springs, don't bring any food or drinks, no peeing in the pool, and of course, not to stay too long.
"That last one is kind of subjective though." Issei explained, "Some people just handle hot temperatures better than others, but a good rule of thumb is to leave when you see your fingertips getting wrinkly."
"Will anything bad happen if we stay here even after that?" I asked.
"Well..." He shrugged, "You'll get lightheaded, I guess."
In my head-No, in my heart, it was already decided the moment I heard that. These two left after a measly 15 minutes, but I didn't wanna waste this moment. That's right, who knows if I'll ever get to experience this bliss in my life ever again. Hence, I sat here in the water. For half an hour, an hour, and all the way until my stomach reminded me I still needed to eat breakfast. I left the place more wrinkly than all the old grandpas that came before me, but I was satisfied. Granted, I couldn't walk straight from the lightheadedness, but that didn't matter.
"Ahhh~!" I wobbled back over to our room, "That felt nice. Now, what's for breakfast?"
Waiting impatiently for me on the floor were these two, who busied themselves with playing cards until I got back. Looks like they noticed I was enjoying myself, so they didn't want to interrupt me, but now that I've left the trance of the onsen, I kind of feel bad for making them wait so long.
"You are finally back." Ouroboras gave a sidelong glance.
"Dude, breakfast was an hour ago." Issei rolled his Eyes, "You gotta wait until lunch if you wanna eat anything. By the way, Ouri, you think they'll let us turn the TV on here?"
TV? What's...? Nah, screw that, I'm dying of hunger here, man! Ohhh, now I see what this is! The onsen, it tricks naive people into never leaving its clasp! What an evil invention, it saps away one's energy as it makes them think they're getting refreshed! No wonder those other guys were wrinkly and old looking!