Chapter 172: The Tanned Girl and the Game Room

After Ms. Luminous and I got out of the bath, she actually dried my body off with a towel.

She was taking such thorough care of me that it hardly felt real.

After she even dried my hair with a hair dryer—

“Okay, all done. With hair as short as yours, Sousuke, it dries quickly.”

Ms. Luminous cheerfully ran her fingers through my hair.

“Thank you. You and the others must have a much harder time of it.”

“We do. I was thinking about cutting it, but…”

Ms. Luminous glanced at me through the mirror.

Somehow, I felt like I understood the answer she wanted.

“Short hair would suit you too, but I think it looks really good the way it is ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) now.”

Someone more outgoing could probably say that without hesitation, but I still got nervous over things like this.

Still, I must have given the right answer, because she smiled.

“If you say so, Sousuke, maybe I’ll keep it this way.”

The distance between us felt almost like that of a couple.

If we hadn’t been transferred to this deserted island, I probably never would have seen this side of her.

“Th-then, Kuno. Please head upstairs ahead of me.”

“Ah, okay.”

She had suddenly gone back to speaking like a teacher.

Would her way of speaking change whenever things developed into that sort of situation again?

Honestly, both versions of her were appealing, so I had no complaints.

“Well, um… thank you for everything.”

“Ugh… N-no, thank you. You’ve really helped me with so many things, Kuno… I’m grateful. Good night.”

“Good night.”

I stepped out of the dressing room and quietly closed the door.

Then I heard her voice from behind me.

“Ahhh… Th-that was embarrassing. Was that really okay? H-he finished, so I guess it was okay…? Still, it was huge… C-can something like that really fit…? It fit inside tiny Iyama, so it should probably be okay… What am I even thinking…?!”

She probably had no idea that every word was reaching me through the door.

Deciding that the kind thing to do was pretend I had heard nothing, I headed upstairs without making a sound.

On the way, I thought I heard a wistful little moan from the dressing room…

But I firmly suppressed the urge to turn around and climbed the stairs.

When I stepped into the second-floor hallway, someone was waiting for me.

“Yo, Kuno.”

It was Shobu Urume, the tanned girl in woolen loungewear.

The bottom was cut like shorts, so at a glance, it almost looked as though she had nothing on underneath. But she was definitely wearing something.

“Shobu? What’s up?”

Even as I asked, my heart was pounding.

I had heard her consulting Minori during dinner, and after what Ms. Luminous had said earlier, I had been expecting there might still be something else.

“It’s kind of late for this, but you can just call me Urume.”

“Got it. Then you can call me Sousuke too.”

“I kinda want to give you a nickname. Sousie… Sou-Pon… Soss… Sauce?”

“Please don’t.”

“Aww. Fine. Then I’ll just call you Sousuke.”

Thank goodness she gave up.

I had come dangerously close to being saddled with a nickname that sounded like something you poured over food.

“Want to stop by the game room for a bit?”

“Yeah, sure…”

By the way, the lighting in our house had been switched over to Ms. Luminous’s Light-and-Heat Magic.

Light spheres floated along the ceilings in each room and throughout the hallways.

It was an incredibly useful spell. Besides providing light, when paired with solar panels, it even generated electricity at night.

The two of us walked through the brightly lit hall and entered the game room.

There was a pool table, a ping-pong table, a poker table, a foosball table, an ordinary table, darts, and plenty of other things. Some of them were still missing equipment, though.

“I was thinking… don’t you wanna play bowling?”

“Ah… Yeah, I could probably make that with my ability.”

It would be difficult to do inside the game room, but I could just build a bowling alley outside.

The bowling balls we threw and the pins we knocked down could be handled easily with my Storage & Replacement.

The more I used my ability, the more things I could do with it. In my case, both the distance at which I could store things and the distance at which I could place them had been increasing.

In any case, bowling seemed like a pretty good idea. It was simple, and everyone could enjoy it together.

“Right? Wouldn’t that be great?”

“Our food stockpiles have been growing too. Maybe from now on, we could give ourselves more free time and relax a little.”

I had thought about it before, but even if we reduced our exploration trips from twice a day—morning and afternoon—to once a day, we would still be able to live comfortably enough.

Nobody would begrudge us a little time to enjoy ourselves.

And if we were ever going to return to Earth, building up our bodies, improving at sports, and studying would probably all be useful too.

Our physical condition would carry over when we returned, after all.

“Exactly! That’s what I’m saying. But for now, there’s something I wanna try.”

What Urume had her eye on was the foosball table.

A lot of people had probably seen one in foreign TV shows.

Inside the table was a miniature field and a row of player figures.

The figures were attached to rods that ran through the table.

When you spun the rods, the players spun too.

You put the ball on the field, then both sides spun their rods and tried to smack the ball into the other side’s goal.

There might have been more complicated rules, but that was all I knew.

“Let’s give it a try.”

“Since we’re doing this, how about whoever scores gets to ask the other person for a favor?”

“I’m fine with that, but… are you sure, Urume?”

“You’re wondering if you can ask for some pervy favor, right? If you were that kind of guy, you wouldn’t have managed to build a harem like this.”

I appreciated the trust, but the reason she trusted me was a little complicated.

I gave a wry smile.

“Then… okay, go!”

Urume placed the ball herself and immediately spun the rod.

I was caught off guard for a moment.

“Hey, isn’t that cheating?”

“Nuhaha! No rules!”

She probably meant there were no rules.

“Damn it…! I won’t let you!”

It was a simple game, but precisely because it was simple, it was easy to understand and easy to get absorbed in.

“Aha! Not even close!”

Urume handled the rods so well that it was hard to believe she had never played before, and I was gradually driven into a corner.

I stopped several shots, but eventually, she forced one through.

“Yes! Goal…! I scored first!”

Urume jumped up in celebration. Her chest bounced with the movement, and the hem of her top lifted just enough for me to glimpse her tanned navel.

“That’s more frustrating than I expected… Let’s play again… Wait, before that, you get to ask for a favor.”

When I said that, Urume’s cheeks turned red.

“Y-yeah…”

She looked nervous.

Sensing that the atmosphere had changed, I started getting nervous too.

Urume lifted the hem of her woolen loungewear as though spreading it open, looked at me, and said—

“Can you get in here?”

“…Huh?”

I honestly had no idea what she meant.