Episode 30 — Red Shadow
～ Part 1 ～
Read at translatedino.blogspot.com
『Because what you need to move from Phase 2 to Phase 3 is my blood.』
Kyousuke was doubtful of Akai’s words. Her face that came very close was illuminated by the moonlight and took on a clever tinge.
This was the first time that he had ever seen Akai Asuka, one of the 3 great beauties of the class, this close. A tall and slender figure of about 170 cm. Smooth skin with no defects to be found. The more he looked at her, the more it felt like a magical beauty, something that should not exist in this world.
Kyousuke was completely unable to move and just barely managed to ask a question.
“What do you mean…”
“Well now. What do you think it means?”
Suddenly turning around, Akai proceeded 2 steps, 3 steps back.
“Hearing Utsurogi said so, you have yet to realize.”
“What?”
“It’s a little early to reveal the story.”
Like this, Akai kept on walking on the red carpet with her leather shoes.
Akai is hiding something. It’s definite with her remark just now.
There are many things to worry about. Why does Akai know about the side effects of an ability that she has never used before? Why is it that only Akai and Inugami whose forms didn’t change in the transference? Why does she know about the condition for going from Phase 2 to Phase 3? Akai must know something about these series of incidents since the field trip.
That, is similar to those people who called themselves the «Blood of Red Moon».
“Wait, Akai!”
Forcibly moving his body which felt like it was being bounded, Kyousuke chased after Akai.
She casually looked back.
For a moment, the pale moonlight coming through the window was stained red as if dripping blood. There was a feeling like the two of them were the only ones in this spacious royal palace. He felt a hallucination as if he had once again wandered into a new world, completely isolated from the previous one.
Peeking through the window was a red moon.
Just as Kyousuke caught Akai’s arm, she turned a sharp gaze at Kyousuke.
“You’re in the way.”
Right after, a strong impact struck Kyousuke’s body. His body was blown away several meters and rolled on the carpet. Miraculously, his bones didn’t become scattered. After being annoyed to anger for a moment, the look in Akai’s eyes were returning to her usual lazy queen one. The aloof gaze as if lording over everything except herself was directed at Kyousuke.
“As opportunities come, I will tell you more about it. Utsurogi only has to remember what I’ve said just now.”
“Wait, Akai…. At least tell me just one thing.”
“Can you not give me orders?”
“…Please!”
Raising his body that had finally become free, Kyousuke lowered his head. Akai said while tinkering with her nails.
“So what is it?”
“When the base was attacked for the 2nd time, the one who defeated the red winged devil, was it … Akai?”
“Ahh, you noticed.”
Akai’s lips loosened a little, drawing a slight arc.
“Or perhaps you heard from Sachi. It’s fine either way.”
Her word meant affirmation. As expected, Kyousuke thought.
“I won’t say anymore. Because it’s easy to spread when more people know about it. Since I didn’t have much time, I was impatient.”
∗Fuu,∗ along with a sigh, Akai said something that was unlike her usual self. She looked up at the moonlight coming from outside the windows.
The glow of the moon floating in the night sky had already regained it usual cool light.
“You said that I’m still going to get stronger?”
“I said that, but there’s still a long way to go. Utsurogi needs to resolve your own problem first.”
“Problem? Mine? Is there such a thing?”
“If there isn’t, you wouldn’t be in such an uncool appearance.”
Despite saying that she wouldn’t say anymore, surprisingly, Akai seemed to have given out some hints right after.
However, Kyousuke didn’t understand. What does she mean by being in this appearance? What is my problem supposed to be?
Suddenly, he remembered Goubayashi. He judged himself that he became an ogre because of his own inner «demon», and then he went off on a journey in order to face against it. What meaning is there to my own appearance? And how the heck am I going to face against that?
I don’t understand.
When Kyousuke suddenly raised his face, the figure of Akai Asuka had already disappeared before he knew it.
The next morning, Himemizu Rin was visiting the big public bath.
The royal capital had a culture of taking morning baths. To be precise, it was a culture brought here by the transferred Japanese. It was said that many bathhouse technicians were expressly summoned from the South of the continent where there was the culture of public bathhouse, and they constructed many baths here and there in the royal palace and royal capital. Such manga development, I have read something similar in our world, Rin thought.
So Rin visited the grand bath of the royal palace. Basically, it was to be used by guests staying in the royal palace and the aristocrats. Aristocrats aside, when it came to guests, there was only the students of 2nd year class 4. Therefore, both the men and women sections of the grand bath had now been transformed into a bathhouse of monsters.
Frankly speaking though, Rin hated the public bath.
She didn’t dislike bath itself. It was the public bath that she hated. Bath-houses and hot springs are surely no good.
The reason for that was extremely simple, it was because she was tormented by her inferiority complex.
At the time they were still humans, Rin learnt of her lack of development in outdoor schools. Although some of you may think it was only the development of junior high-school students at best, but among the girls who had already finished their secondary sex characteristics development, Rin’s flat-as-a-cliff chest was very conspicuous. She was laughed at. It was a bitter memory for Rin.
Nevertheless, Rin still came to the bath every morning. It was to communicate with her classmates. It was the so-called naked-socializing.
However, despite all that, going to the grand bath as a slime had also greatly accelerated her inferiority complex in a useless direction.
“Are~, isn’t it Surarin.”
It was Sugiura Aya who first came into the bath full of steam and greeted her.
Scylla is a type of monster whose upper half is that of a girl and lower half of an octopus. The lower half of an octopus was reminiscent of a villain in a Disney movie, but Sugiura from her waist up was splendid unlike that certain villain.
Rin stared at the body of Sugiura, who spoke to her in a friendly manner, from head to toes … tentacles as if trying to devour her.
“Surarin, you like bath~. But can you wash that body?”
“Iya~, it doesn’t mean I can’t really wash…. But once I bath in hot water, the unnecessary waste products will come out without trouble.”
“Eh, that is a breach of etiquette…”
“That’s wrong!? What are you imagining!? I am not that unrestrained!?”
By the way, Rin’s father and brother used to do «that» in the bath. When it was found out, she and her mother gave them quite some preaching.
“Ah, it’s Himemizu-san. Yahhoo.”
“Ah, Itomi-chan.”
∗Kashan, kashan,∗ walking in with that sound was a girl with the lower half of a spider, it was Kumosaki Itomi.
Since the area being occupied by the lower body of Scylla and Arachne was several times that of an ordinary person, the bath-house ended up feeling awfully cramped with just these two people lining up. Rin once again intently watched Kumosaki’s body from head to toes. It was good that a slime’s body had no eyes, making it difficult to tell even if she was staring as if licking all over their bodies.
“This is vexing, everyone has it good…. You have face and breasts too…”
Finally, Rin summarized her feelings with that.
Although all the students had reincarnated as monsters, most of the female students still had their face and breasts. The size and shapes were varied, but at least they were there. Sugiura’s assets were abundant, while Kumosaki’s were beautiful.
That’s not to say face and breasts are everything. Rin’s weapons when she was still human were her healthy legs. Another weapon of her was her liveliness which wasn’t lost even now that she had become a slime.
However, when becoming naked in this place called the bath, Rin’s inferiority complex as a girl was naturally stimulated.
“It’s not really that good, is it? It’s fine even without breasts.”
Saying so pompously from behind was the cait sith Nekomiya Miya.
Her appearance itself was exactly that of a cat. The cat eared beast-kin didn’t have such an indulgent figure. A perfect black cat. There was one different that she could stand upright but she was still mostly just a cat.
Since the bathtub would be filled with hairs if she was to soaked in it like that, she drew water into a somewhat large tub and submerged in it.
“My face is also like this. Well, this appearance «seems» quite suitable for my charm and I am proud of it.”
“I have been thinking about it, but as expected, does Miya-chan has a lot of nipples?”
“Stop asking such a maniac question. That’s enough about breasts for you.”
Nekomiya’s expression was openly clouded. She always came to the bath every morning even though she was cat, as a matter of fact, she simply liked bath.
“The girls whose femininity has decreased drastically was me and Miya-chan, and then who else? Totoha-chan?”
“That’s right. There’s also Kaminari. I, you and her are the three big disappointing beauties of the class. After that is and … ah no, there’s also Kaoruko as well.”
“Ah~, Kaoruko-chan~. I hope she is doing fine…”
Having reincarnated as a thunderbird, ‘s body was now too big to enter the bathhouse. In the first place, everyone would be electrocuted if she was to enter the hot water, so she had been excluded from the morning bath.
Speaking of thunderbirds, the only thing Rin could think about was the puppet show which her father liked, according to the story passed down in the native Americans, it seems to be a bird of god. Even though its existence is confirmed in this world, it seems to be extremely rare, according to Selena’s opinion, it should rival Ryuzaki in his dragon form in term of potential. However, because of her timid personality, that power had never been demonstrated. In the first place, it was lethal that the person herself was afraid of thunder.
Rin washed away the wastes products from her body, then submerged in the bathtub. She kept in mind not to absorb the hot water.
Nekomiya crossed her arms and looked up at the ceiling.
“Also, Kaminari…. She seems to be saying that she will stay in this country, doesn’t she?”
“Ah~, she was on good terms with Miya-chan?”
“We’re in the same drama club. Well, our relationship is older than that, it was me who invited her. She wanted to be an actress but with that personality, she always ended up working behind-the-scene.”
“Fun fun.”
With the eloquent story telling of Nekomiya, even just the drama club was starting to look interesting. Rin was listening to her story while responding appropriately.
“I’m going to go home. I want to be an actress. Although it may also be fine to aim to become a cait sith actress of the stage over here.”
“There’s also the achievements that had been built up as a child actor over there.”
“It’s an old story. Just, I’m not sure about Kaminari. That girl doesn’t seem to have as much lingering attachment as I do.”
Certainly, Kaminari Totoha’s name was in the list that Ryuzaki had shown. She was one of the people who they needed to make some necessary arrangement for.
That’s right. In order to obtain such information, it was indispensable for her to socialize naked.
“Miya-chan should ask her to go home together.”
“Since I’ve been dragging her around with my selfishness up until now, I don’t want to force her to follow along now that we’re in a situation where our lives are at stake.”
“Fu~n. You’re not being honest.”
The thing called friendship is often troublesome.
“Hanazono also seems to likely stay here…”
Sugiura while submerged in the bathtub, muttered in a small voice.
I see, I see. Rin nodded. It’s just like Ryuzaki said earlier. Everyone doesn’t want to part way with their friends. Sugiura as well had a dream of succeeding her family’s Japanese restaurant. So she wanted to go back to their world at any cost.
But they couldn’t involve their friends who wanted to live peacefully in safety just for that dream.
That remark in consideration for their friendship, on one hand was correct, but on the other hand it was a mistake.
Rin also wanted to return to their own world. Along with everyone if it was possible. For that reason, she had to work hard after this. It was time for Himemizu Rin to display her political skill as the one who used to reigned the upmost caste of the class.
“Ne~, Surarin.”
As Rin renewed her determination, Sugiura sullenly poke her.
“Wh–what? Aya-chan.”
“The bathtub is already empty.”
“Geh.”
She had drunk everything before anyone noticed.
To be continued…
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