Episode 46: Room with Bath

"Vast—!"

Yui’s first voice echoed across the 15-tatami floor of Room 1001.

The flooring held two semi-double beds, a large desk, a sofa bed, chairs, a television, an air conditioner, a refrigerator, an espresso machine, and an air purifier.

Additional facilities include separate areas for foot baths, toilets, washbasins, and showers.

And Yui ran forward, her steps quickening, the door creaking open to reveal a terrace beyond.

The terrace was enclosed on both sides and overhead by the building's walls.

Beyond the terrace, a handrail wall stood waist-high. Opening the sliding door created a semi-outdoor bath; closing it formed a view bath.

The bath is spacious, isn't it.

As Natsuki had remarked, the bath was about the size of a semi-double bed.

Hot spring water is drawn directly from the source, and the bath is filled with water.

The temperature is slightly hot, but easily adjustable by adding water.

"The room is thirty-seven square meters, and the terrace is twenty square meters."

"How big was the previous room?"

"Eighteen square meters."

Hotel twin rooms are generally considered to be between eighteen and twenty-four square meters.

In the case of Chukann Natural Hot Spring Hotel, the size falls just within the standard range, and is not illegal.

It is simply a premium room, that is all.

Social inequality, here it is.

"The shower and bath are glass-walled."

"It's a couple's room, apparently meant for a mixed-gender bath."

Hayato silently repeated the information, as he had heard it before.

He had never entered one himself, but he could not help recalling rumors of a romantic hotel.

Perhaps a matter the Edo shogunate might rage about: "You can do it at Yoshiwara brothel!"

But one must not panic here.

A highly冷静 and rational explanation is required.

Small cabins, shared bathrooms, public baths with strangers—these increase stress. Stress leads to mistakes during exploration. Therefore, rooms should be large.

How many points, one might wonder, did Hayato’s excuse amount to.

The explanation regarding the visible glass panels was presented with subtle imprecision.

It was like saying, “I can see a little, but I’m working hard on the exploration, so please reward me!”—but phrased with the careful diplomacy of a politician or bureaucrat, cloaked in the vague phrase “I understand your meaning.”

Natsuki’s silent, unblinking stare suggested her true feelings were exposed.

This room from now on, then.

Hayato, having declared his intent, settled heavily onto the wide sofa.

A refusal so absolute it might as well have been immovable by lever.

"……Shall I brew some cold-brew coffee?"

"Yeah, please. Just pulling the grounds from storage now."

Natsuki did not utter the word "no."

She had said it was acceptable if she were the one to go, acceptable if a companion accompanied her.

But she had not said it was acceptable to have Yui as well.

And modern Japanese women, in general, were not in favor of harems.

Shibusawa Eiichi, whose face appeared on the 10,000-yen note, had lived with his wife and concubine in the same household. The Ministry of Finance that chose him was impressive, one could not help but admire.

— Might be trouble. The thought wasn't absent.

Natsuki type individuals could be extremely dangerous when they exploded.

Earlier, she had said, "If you save Mio-chan, I'll even accept a harem." Perhaps, at that moment, one should have tried harder to prevent it.

"I'll bring out the water buckets and rations too."

Hayato moved the empty water buckets and wooden crates as if to distract.

A washroom meant water could be drawn freely. That was convenient.

Just placing the empty buckets was enough. No need to deplete the water supply.

After setting several buckets in place, Hayato dropped a sack of rice into a corner of the laminate floor.

It was a five-kilogram sack, portioned for their own meals.

"Is that rice?"

Yui, who had been excited, returned after spotting the sack.

She opened it, eyes widening at the smooth, fine grains of raw rice.

"Bringing it from the Country Elevator. The condition is quite good, I'd say."

Hayato added another thirty-kilogram sack containing husks.

Then Natsuki returned, having prepared water-drip coffee, placed the cup on the desk, and examined the sack of husks.

Rummaging through the rice sack, she checked for condensation, moisture, dryness, oxidation, mold, and pests.

"From where in the silo did you take it?"

"Third floor, middle section of the silo."

It was said that the lower sections had better stored pine.

But no acrylic viewing panel was visible at the bottom.

— Pressure issue, perhaps.

Lower sections had higher pressure, requiring thicker acrylic panels.

Placing the viewing window in the middle section might have been the most practical—both structurally and for monitoring pine condition.

"Condition appears quite good. How much was recovered?"

"One twenty-foot container. Enough for three people to eat three meals daily for sixty-six years."

"Rice—!"

When Hayato gave specific figures, Yui smiled openly, her joy plainly visible.

Hayato saw this and immediately confirmed.

"Using the generator to power the rice cooker will make Room 714 too cramped. We’re staying here from today. Yui, no objections?"

"Uhh..."

Yui’s smile froze mid-motion.

She turned her gaze awkwardly toward the glass-walled shower room.

Evidently, Yui had also been concerned about the couple’s room.

"Living here means we’ll always eat white rice."

"U, g, ggh..."

"If you absolutely can’t manage it, I’ll keep Room 714 reserved. I’ll let you have it alone?"

Hayato said this, lightly pulling Natsuki closer to his side.

Natsuki, tugged by Hayato, settled into the crook of his arm.

Yui's cheek twitched as she saw it.

"Ah, why say something like that?"

Tsundere tsun, activated.

Deru, however, was rare.

Hayato, inwardly trembling, maintained a poker face and boldly pressed forward.

"If Yui insists it's truly impossible, then there is also Room 714. If Yui is fine with this room, there is no issue."

Hayato held Natsuki's body against his side, her face turned away, forcing Yui to decide.

He positioned her this way to prevent eye contact, blocking any signal to Natsuki for coordination.

Yui groaned, then snapped.

"Yes, yes, I understand. I'll take this room."

Yui's reaction was exactly like a 14-year-old in the middle of a second rebellion phase.

Hayato did not care.

The world ran on results.

—Victory achieved.

Hayato, confident in victory, basked in the afterglow, reciting Armstrong’s famous words about the first lunar landing—“a small step for a man, a giant leap for mankind”—as if quoting a fool, the weight of triumph settling upon him.

He praised farmers, saying, “Rice is strong. Rice farmers are the strongest.”

◇◇◇◇◇◇

Night arrived.

“Ahh, today was tiring.”

Hayato muttered theatrically, stepping into the shower.

The only work he could claim as tiring was shuttling back and forth on the country elevator, breaking the silo’s acrylic panels, collecting pine cones, and milling rice.

If asked how this compared to labor in another world, he would have no answer. Generally, it was moderate effort.

After washing his body, Hayato opened the door with a creak and stepped into the view bath.

The viewing bath contained the silhouette of an early arrival.

— But this was a natural hot spring hotel. A legal open-air bath.

The hotel had operated for years. It was clearly legal.

Still, Hayato followed tradition precisely.

"Ah, well. I am a country bumpkin, and cold. Forgive me."

In the Edo-period work *Ukiyo-Buro* (1809) by the writer and ukiyo-e artist Shitamachi Sanma, bathhouse etiquette required saying things like, "Forgive me if I do not know Edo customs, or if my cold body touches you."

Hayato performed the proper greeting. He approached the semi-open bath. He rinsed his body with hot water, then entered the bath.

Perfect procedure.

Two others were already present. Given the Japanese cultural context, no issue was expected.

Both had wrapped bath towels securely around their bodies.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be someone Hayato knew.

"Yui and Natsuki? Meeting at the open-air bath—what a coincidence."

Yui’s lips twitched, her expression conveying a silent protest: *You say that so easily.*

Hayato, with no recollection of her, tilted his head.

"...It's a bit cramped."

"Is it? I think a semi-double bed’s about the right size for three."

Saito, who had assigned Hayato room 1001, was truly perceptive.

Still, since Yui insisted it was cramped, Hayato reluctantly shifted toward Natsuki.

He extended his left arm and pulled her close by the shoulder.

Natsuki flinched, her body jerking—but in stark contrast to Yui, she accepted the pull without resistance.

"What are you doing?"

"It’s cramped, so I tried moving toward Natsuki."

"Huh?"

Jealousy from someone so aloof—what kind of thing is that?

But Hayato had anticipated this development.

Essentially the same tactic he used to pull Natsuki toward him on the laminate floor.

If he attacked straight from the start, Yui would adopt a stance of total resistance.

But if he excluded Yui alone, she would become angry all the same.

He exploited that habit. "If you’re going to be angry, then include you in the group."

"Then Yui too."

Hayato’s right hand touched Yui’s small shoulder.

Yui’s cheeks flushed red. She might be screaming inside, “Gyah!” But she showed defiance, gripping Hayato’s right hand tightly with both hands.

Hayato’s right hand was immobilized. He could no longer move it freely.

"Damn it, you’re good at this."

"What are you talking about? I don’t even understand!"

Natsuki was simply being embraced by the shoulder, as usual.

Lowering her hand would bring it to the nape of the neck, then to the bath towel.

If Hayato's hand went under the bath towel, the Edo shogunate might not permit it, but Natsuki and the Ministry of Finance surely would.

Yet Hayato's left hand was not his dominant one, and his right hand was locked in combat with Yui, unable to focus.

Performing different tasks with each hand was extremely difficult.

Prince Shōtoku, who could distinguish ten voices at once, was truly a great man.

While Hayato struggled, Yui untied the rubber band holding her hair.

She used it to begin a game of cat's cradle with Hayato's right hand.

The intricate movements consumed most of Hayato's concentration.

"Like soothing a child."

"Isn't that what you are?"

Yui's words were regrettable to Hayato.

He had merely imitated a rustic Edo-era mannerism in jest.

Hayato offered a reasonable argument.

"On the matter of my effort receiving slightly less return."

"The shower room has glass walls, you know?"

That might be difficult to endure.

Hayato was instantly defeated in argument.

Thus, the great achievement of rice was transformed into an upgrade of the guest quarters.

Daily posts end today.

After this, posts will be published twice a week, at 8 PM on Fridays and Saturdays.

To apologize, additional text has been added from "And then, night falls."

Please accept our apologies ( ˆ꒳ˆ; )