[42] Real Problems Arise

Chapter 42: Real Problems Arise

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The 5th episode was planned to be a bit longer than usual. The first part of the episode was the little stifle between me and Sen about the photo, and over the next three days, we recorded more for it.

We were staying here for four nights and three days; a night had already passed. On our first day, we roamed the town, had fun, and all of it was recorded. We visited the famous tourist spots around here and had more fun there.

On the second day, we visited the shrine of this place. The Shrine of the Goddess of Volcanoes, Konohanasakuya-hime.

"Fuck," I cursed at the face of the shrine, and Mai who was beside me frowned.

"You shouldn't curse in the presence of a shrine, Aqua-kun." She said, and luckily she was the only one who heard me say that.

I didn't care though. I suddenly knew who it was that was looking at me at the top of the mountain for the past few days. Damn.

When I entered the shrine through the red gate, I felt the gaze of the Goddess return immediately. How curious, doesn't she have anything better to do other than stalking anyone who wanders this place? I'm glad she's not hostile though.

I don't usually pray to Gods; rarely ever did that after my 2nd life as the Isekai Hero where I prayed to this Holy Goddess. But I decided to throw a 'prayer' to this shrine, thanking the Goddess for letting me use her home's natural energy for myself. Divinities don't usually do things like this for free, at least not the ones I knew.

'Oh great goddess of volcano,' On the gate of the temple, I prayed. 'I thank you for letting me consume your resources.'

— Ding!

To the bystander's surprise, the shrine's bell rang on its own just when I finished. Glad she accepted my thanks. I'll take it as a sign that she won't mind me using it more.

On the third day, we had quite the fun. We roamed the mountains at night, wearing traditional Japanese outfits and playing with firecrackers. Until the sun rose in the east sky and we watched it melt the ice of the mountain above. That recording was what concluded our episode.

We even had a dance session, I held the hands of Mai and did two loops and then did a few with Mem-Cho, while [Until I Found You] played in the background. It was a fun day.

We have one more day and night left, it's tomorrow. We could spend that time doing whatever. Cameras would still be rolling, but nothing else would be edited unless something remarkable happened.

On our last night, we were all dressed in traditional Japanese Kimono and montsuki, playing cards. All of us gathered on the bed in the girls' room and played.

I sat on the edge of the bed, engrossed in a UNO card game session with Akane. The room was filled with laughter and the clattering of cards as we shuffled and drew from the deck. As I examined my cards, Akane scratched the side of her blue head, a small mischievous twinkle in her eye.

The mountain range was visible on the massive window behind her, as she sat with her greenish blue hair swaying in the air, donned a daring kimono. She played cards with me with grace, her kimono revealing her thighs in the soft lunar glow. The serene night embraced the fusion of tradition and modernity, though she appeared shy that she had to wear such a thing at all.

[Image Here]

"Looks like it's not your day, Aqua-kun." She said, smiling. She had once again been avoiding me after the Mai incident, unsure if she should be around me when I was like that, but here she was once again back to me, begging for attention by proposing we play cards.

"Seems like it," I said. I had bad cards, so she was winning since I wasn't going to cheat on a fun game.

The game had been going on for a while, and Akane was slowly gaining the upper hand. I had a red 3 in my hand, waiting for the perfect moment to play it. My cards included a green 8 and a yellow Skip card, my strategy was a blend of lazy planning and intuition.

"You're not making a move?" she asked.

"Right away, madam."

I decided it was time to make my move. I placed my red 3 on the discard pile, smiling as I declared, "Uno." I had just one card left, a blue 5, and maybe victory was within my reach.

The tension in the room grew as I reached for a card. I pulled it from the deck and, to my delight, found a blue 8. With a sigh of relief, I played it, skipping Akane's turn and giving myself a chance to catch up.

Akane grinned, "It really must be a bad day, Aqua-kun." She played a green 5, narrowing her options to just one card. I struggled to find a way to turn the game around but could only place a yellow Skip card, delaying Akane's inevitable victory for one more turn.

With my heart racing, I chewed my lips. It was true that I wasn't very serious about this, but hey, competition is competition. The others were silent now, looking at our game.

Akane placed her last card, the blue 5, declaring, "UNO!" with a triumphant smile.

"Oww, dammit."

Akane won the game, just as the room filled with cheers as they congratulated her on her well-earned victory. She's not bad.

"You're good, Akane." Despite the loss, I laughed and joined in the celebration.

"Hehe, thanks." She showed me a broad smile. It seemed she hadn't expected to win, I excelled at everything so she had come here hoping to lose; her goal was to make a good relationship with me again. But she had won, and I was happy about that, which elevated her mood more than she had come hoping for.

As she should, for she was allowed this victory by I. How kind of me.

"Mhm, guys I will go use the washroom for a bit." Akane stopped laughing and said, getting up and taking her leave.

Sen Kaibara suddenly stood up too. "I need to use the washroom too; I'll be right back."

There were separate washrooms for boys and girls; it's not weird that they just happened to want to use the washroom at the same time. So nobody had a problem with it. I decided to focus my attention on my [Jade Perception] in that direction, it enhanced my hearing abilities that'd let me eavesdrop. Just in case.

* * *

[Third Person Point of View]

Akane felt happy for some reason, even though such a minuscule victory waged up to nothing in the long term. It just felt good to win, especially when she didn't think she would win.

Some people just had that aura around them that gave an instinctual vibe that they couldn't be beaten at anything. In her mind, Aqua was one of those people. She felt good to overcome that aura and indeed score a victory.

"Hmm-mhm-hmm," She hummed as she walked to the basin and began to wash her face. She closed her eyes and splashed water on her face, and a moment later, she opened them to look at the mirror. "Hm- ah!?"

Akane was startled as she turned around, finding Sen Kaibara standing right behind her. He had his hands in his pocket as he looked into her eyes.

"Sen, what are you doing in the female washroom?!" Akane half whispered half yelled, staring at him with a growing frown.

"I just wanted to talk in private, Akane-Senpai," Sen replied.

"What?" Akane grew confused.

"You are trying to garner attention, aren't you?" he followed. "I noticed. There are only three more episodes left, what can you do in this short time?"

"Sen, if you wanted to talk about this, we could have just…"

"No, there is no time to waste." Sen interrupted her, taking out his hands from his pockets. "You are trying to get closer to Aqua to garner attention, correct? But it's not working. He already has his 'plate' filled, you know? I am here to let you know that I can help you. You might go past Mai and get close to Aqua, but you can't go past Mem-Cho. I am saying, even if you pursue him, you'll just be a side chick. Is that what you want?"

"…" Akane looked at him skeptically. "You are shameless."

"It's just acting," Sen shrugged. "Let's do it. You and I. I think we can do it under three episodes, we can garner enough attention, as much as you want. Aqua got all this attention from kissing, we can just do mor-"

"Disgusting pervert." Akane's face morphed in disgust as she slapped him. Her hand planted on his cheek before she rushed out of the washroom, leaving a stunned Sen behind.

Akane was going through a hard time these days. The comments on Twitter didn't mention her at all now, not even once. People didn't even care about her. But that didn't mean she'd sell her dignity to garner attention; otherwise, she'd have kissed Aqua already by now. How dare this Sen guy mistake her for an attention whore who'd do anything for the spotlight?

She only wanted to make it so that her manager didn't lose her job, that kind lady had a family to take care of, that was the only reason she was trying to get close to Aqua anyway. Not as one of his girlfriends, but maybe as a friend. For all his playboy tendencies, he seemed like a good enough guy – at least he didn't invade the female washroom to talk about kissing and making out in front of the camera to garner fame.

* * *

[First Person Point of View]

What's up with that guy? I left him alone for the past few days, but he's still plotting things behind me. Haah, these mortal minds can't fathom mercy. Should I shatter his kneecap? At least it was funny how she slapped him.

Akane returned and we sat down again on the bed, and a minute passed. We chatted while I was busy thinking about what to do with Akane; my earlier plan was to ignore her and let her canon-event claim her, but she is not a bad girl, I'll feel bad if she tries to kill herself. And what if this time instead of jumping from a bridge, she decides to hang herself? Or something else? I wouldn't be there to save her, so it's a stupid idea to let her try committing suicide.

Hmm, how should I approach this?

"Aqua, you're staring at her for a minute now." Mem-Cho suddenly spoke up, making everyone look at me as I was resting my chin on my palm and staring into Akane's eyes.

I didn't bother breaking out of the trance as I stared, making Akane blush slightly. I suddenly had an idea. "Sorry… it's just… she has this aura around her. That is always overshadowed by her clumsiness. Due to her unfamiliarity with the camera. I heard she is a Goddess on-stage performance, though. Well, not 'heard', I saw her performance myself. I've been fascinated ever since."

The others made a little 'oooh?' sound, some of them whispering to each other with a smirk, while I watched Akane blush more.

"U-um, Aqua-kun…? You didn't tell me you saw my p-performance." She said, trying to sound calm but failing.

I smiled. "I-"

Then the world went bright.

I was interrupted as my [Copper Sight] was blinded by the combustion of a million colors, making me hiss and close my eyes. Everything around me, the bed, the room, the very air, became a vibrant, enchanting blend of hues: sapphire blues, emerald greens, ruby reds, and shimmering golds. It was as if the night had transformed into a magical, kaleidoscopic wonderland, and it was so bright that I had to close my eyes.

What the hell?

"A-aqua-kun?! What happened?!" I felt Akane yell, along with some more, I raised a hand with my eyes still closed, gesturing for them to calm down.

A few seconds later, I opened my eyes and cursed in my head. The aura was less bright now, but it was still brighter than before. Something that shouldn't be possible in the normal world.

"Aqua, are you alright? What happened?" Mem-Cho asked; she must have noticed the magical discharge too, and Mai must have too. The others were oblivious, and only I was in pain earlier.

"Shit." I realized what just happened.

"Aqua, do you know what's going on?" Mai asked while I stood up. Just as I did, a scream came from not far away.

"Aaaargh-!!" A pained scream came from the washroom, where Sen Kaibara was yet to return from.

All of us exchanged glances, and then we rushed off to the washroom, all seven of us paused at the gate seeing what we found inside. A bloody body, the body of Sen, lay on the floor, as blood spread from him. He had claw wounds on his body.

The kids panicked, even Mem-Cho and Mai, they weren't used to blood, let alone the corpse of a friend.

"Guys, he's not dead." I didn't lie. I looked at everyone. "Everyone calm down. It's okay, we are safe as long as you stick together. We are in a [Thin Place]."

A Thin Place. Spaces of energy. An area where the veil between the mortal and the eternal world is thin. A thin place is where one can walk in two worlds – here, the worlds are fused together, knitted loosely where the differences can be discerned or tightly where the two worlds become one.

No wonder people go missing from this Onsen. This was too close to a Thin Place, as it was just under Mount Fuji, where a dimension existed. Still, unless someone's messing with the space-time frequency, it should have been safe since Gods usually keep their pocket dimensions stable.

What's going on here?

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