Chapter 70 - Offensive and Defensive Battle
"How about a bath after you've had your tea? I'll boil the water for you."
Having that smell wandering around the house is a problem, Rio said with a troubled look.
"It's still past noon... isn't it a bit early? More importantly, what if those guys attack while I'm bathing?"
That's right, that's right, Angelica backed me up.This girl is fundamentally my ally no matter what.Undeterred by the tag team of us parent and child, Rio came at us.
"Then you can just jump out naked at that time. Nakamoto-san wouldn't lose even if he was stark naked, right?"
"What!? What do you think my father is!? I don't want to see my father fighting while exposing all sorts of things in such an indecent state... Father, rampaging around naked...?"
Angelica placed a hand on her chin and fell silent for a few seconds.Eventually, she nodded with an "Mm," and said, her green eyes shining with anticipation.
"Here, you should take her up on the offer and soak in the bath."
It was an incredibly swift betrayal.She colluded with Rio, and the two of them ganged up on me with calls to take a bath.
Are you really okay with that?Aren't you a little too weak to desire?As I was dumbfounded, Angelica placed her hands on her hips with a proud "Ehem."
"While Father is cleansing himself, I will be on guard duty. I am a Holy Maiden, after all. I won't be caught off guard by mere goblins."
Saying so, she puffed out her chest proudly. Her well-shaped bust pointed pertly upwards.It probably wasn't intentional, but it was a pose that precisely obstructed my thinking ability.To top it off, she placed her right hand on her chest, pressing and squishing it as she began to appeal something.When a glamorous girl performs the action of striking her chest to say "Leave it to me!", it apparently becomes a mild form of brainwashing.
Right now, not a single phrase of what Angelica was saying was entering my head.It seems that, judging by the flow of the conversation, I had agreed to something like "Alright, I'll go take a bath," but I have absolutely no memory of it.My sense of self seemed to have been blown away for a few seconds.
I was also weak to desire.I was in no position to say anything about Angelica whatsoever.
"Once you finish drinking that, I'm sending you to the bathroom."
As I was disappointed in myself, Rio came from the kitchen.She held a blue cup in her right hand and a pink cup in her left.Just as I was predicting that the blue one was obviously for me, she offered the pink one, saying, "Nakamoto-san, this one's yours."
Does she have some kind of fixation on colors? I wondered curiously as I accepted it.Then I noticed the letters 'RIO' printed on the side of the cup.I felt a sense of lethargy at this silly scheme.
"No matter how you look at it, this is the one you usually use, right?"
"What's the problem?"
"There's something red on the rim. It looks like a lipstick stain."
"I did rinse it, but maybe it didn't come off properly. I was drinking tea from it right before you guys arrived."
Don't sweat the small stuff just because you're a guy, Rio said defiantly.
"Come on, come on, just gulp it down."
Meanwhile, beside me, Angelica, who had been handed the blue cup, was trembling with her shoulders shaking.Trembling, or rather, it was reaching the level of convulsions.Tea splashed about, wetting the tatami and the table. A drop seemed to have fallen on her thigh too, and she was making a fuss by herself, going "Hot!?"
"...I think you understand, but you absolutely must not drink that."
Rubbing her thigh, Angelica glared at me from the corner of her eye.
"It's clearly insufficiently rinsed and unsanitary. I demand that Rio-san rewash the cup."
"Didn't you say something earlier about liking Nakamoto-san even if he's unhygienic?"
Invisible sparks flew between Rio and Angelica with a crackle.I really couldn't tell if these two had good or bad chemistry.
In the end, the pink cup was snatched away by Angelica and drunk dry.Left with no choice, I accepted the blue cup and sipped it slowly.There was no way I could discern the taste.Tea drunk while being stared at intently by two teenage girls is nothing but a hot liquid.
"I can't relax when you two are staring at me."
I tilted the cup and gulped down the tea.I could tell Angelica's gaze was fixed on my Adam's apple.It's Angelica's habit to observe my throat whenever I'm eating or drinking something.A protrusion that women don't have seems to be irresistibly fascinating to her.
"So, it's a bath, right? I just have to go, yeah?"
Well, if I put up a barrier while I'm bathing, the goblins won't be able to attack either, I thought, adopting a defiant attitude.I'll cast Sacred Circle on Rio and Angelica, and use that time to quickly wash my body.Once that's done, I'll release the barrier. I'll deliberately draw them in and meet them head-on.
Having finished formulating the plan in my head, I stood up.I focused magical power into my fingertips and enveloped the two girls in a circle of light.
Angelica, understanding the overprotective nature of this magic, blushed and looked pleased.In contrast, Rio had a cool, expressionless look. She might be thinking something like, "Why did he suddenly show us a magic trick?"
"Well then, can you show me the way?"
"Yeah."
Follow me, Rio said and started walking.She's tall and has good posture, so she has the elegance of a model walking.She's a girl who is terribly mismatched inside a house that can only be described as mid-Showa period.
"She's lively, isn't she, that Angelica girl."
Rio spoke to me with her back, still facing forward.
"She was like that earlier, but she's not a bad person. Please get along with her."
"I don't dislike her or anything, I'm just jealous. If Nakamoto-san wasn't involved, I think we could get along normally."
"You're saying that right in front of me?"
"Here it is."
Rio stopped her feet precisely.
"It's a bit embarrassing to show you, though."
Is it that bad? I braced myself with a certain kind of resolve as I peered into the bathroom.I wondered if it was perhaps full of black mold.But it was far better than I had imagined.
It certainly had a retro design, but it was properly cleaned.The tiled walls were sparkling, and the small, deep-green bathtub had been meticulously polished.
From the cluttered state of the living room and entrance, I had thought it would be much worse, but this is fine.
"Isn't it clean?"
"You think so? Maybe it's because my mom hardly ever uses it."
"...Does your mother hate baths?"
"It's not that. It's just that she's always staying over at men's houses, so she doesn't really use the bath at home."
"...That's sad."
"Thanks to that, the house gets messy right away, but at least the plumbing areas don't get very dirty. It feels like a typical house where the parent doesn't do housework."
"Every single time I hear about your family situation, it makes me incredibly sad."
I don't really mind it myself, you know~ Rio said as she pressed the boiler switch.Once that was done, she rolled up her jersey above her knees and began vigorously filling the bathtub with hot water.
"The bottle on the left is body soap, the middle one is shampoo, and the right one is conditioner."
Rio thrust her hips out, stirring the hot water with single-minded devotion.In this position, the lines of her panties become visible through her pants, but is she aware of it?I'm a gentleman who looks down, thinking I probably shouldn't be looking, and stares at the bath mat at my feet.
"...What should we do about your clothes once you take them off? If you wear them again, they'll just smell again. Want to borrow Leo's clothes?"
"Isn't that guy over ten centimeters taller than me? I think they'd be baggy."
"I see."
Then, how about wearing mine? Rio said nonchalantly.
"Probably, the height difference between me and Nakamoto-san is only about five centimeters, right?"
"Are you trying to make me cross-dress?"
"It's not like I'd pick out something frilly. I have other jerseys besides the one I'm wearing now, so wear those. As for underwear, I'll have you just use the ones you're wearing now, though."
"...I'm at the point where I just don't care anymore. I'll leave it to you."
As I was spacing out, thinking "I wish the hot water would fill up faster," Rio fired off questions one after another.
"Do you shave? Want to use Leo's razor? Wait, is sharing razors bad?"
"I shaved this morning, so I won't."
"Hmm. We should put in some bath salts, right? There's one that's good for your skin and one that's good for joint pain. Which do you want?"
"Either is fine, but between those two, make it the one for joint pain."
"Got it. And, it's okay if I get in with you too, right?"
"Yeah, you too... huh?"
What did she just say? I reflexively looked up.