Chapter 25: The Collective Bathhouse Ordeal

Having endured the perilous confrontation with the High-Tier Witch Violairella and the subsequent base inspection, Xia Yue, Lin Wan, and Yu Niannian, though still harboring lingering doubts about the many mysteries surrounding Kazami Jin and the preposterous ’emergency rescue’ incident, found a more potent emotion overshadowing their desire for answers.

It was a deep-seated fear of loss, now that she was found again, and an almost primal possessiveness, a reluctance to ever let her out of their sight again.

Watching Jin in her piteous state—ashen-faced, incoherent, and wishing she could simply burrow into the earth and disappear—the three women exchanged knowing glances.

Lin Wan shattered the suffocating ‘interrogation’ atmosphere first.

She shed her teasing expression, and though a mischievous smirk still played on her lips, her tone softened considerably.

“Alright, alright, look how terrified you are.

This time… considering you acted in desperation to save someone, we’ll let that matter go for now.”

Xia Yue nodded subtly, her cool voice carrying a hint of imperceptible resignation.

“Let bygones be bygones.

But don’t let it happen again.”

Her concise words effectively drew a temporary close to the ’emergency rescue’ debacle.

Yu Niannian immediately hugged Jin’s arm, beaming with delight.

“That’s wonderful! I knew you didn’t mean it, big sister!”

As if granted a pardon, Jin let out a sudden, shuddering breath of relief, her legs nearly giving out beneath her.

The sheer joy of her narrow escape almost brought her to tears.

However, before she could fully compose herself, Lin Wan’s tone shifted abruptly.

She placed her hands on her hips, adopting the posture of a ‘main consort’ (?) reprimanding a ‘concubine’ (??), and playfully tapped Jin’s nose with her finger.

“But! Little Jin-Jin, you listen up!” Her voice carried a strong emphasis.

“That trouble with Huo Hualan, you brought it upon yourself! With her temper, she’ll definitely come after you once she wakes up! You’ll have to figure out this mess on your own; we won’t be helping you with this one!”

Xia Yue added coolly from the side, her gaze pointedly sweeping across the small single room.

“We hope similar incidents won’t recur.

This room has limited space.”

Yu Niannian nodded vigorously, her small face serious as she chimed in.

“Mhm mhm! Big sister only needs the three of us! You can’t bring anyone else back! Otherwise, there won’t be enough room for everyone!”

Three people… is that enough?

No more bringing others back?

Not enough room?

What… what kind of talk is that?!

When did she ‘bring’ anyone back?!

Didn’t they all just show up on their own?!

And Huo Hualan, that was an accident! A colossal accident!

A surge of inexplicable grievance and protest welled up within Jin.

She couldn’t help but mumble her defense, her voice barely a whisper, thin as a mosquito’s buzz, and still trembling from her recent fright.

“This… this how can you blame me for this… it’s not like I invited them… it was you… you all insisted on…”

“Hmm—?” *The three voices chimed in simultaneously.*

Before she could finish her sentence, three drawn-out, distinctly threatening hums sounded in unison.

Xia Yue’s gaze instantly turned glacial.

Lin Wan narrowed her eyes, and that dangerous ‘try saying that again’ smile reappeared on her face.

Yu Niannian puffed out her cheeks, looking at Jin with an accusing gaze that clearly said, ‘How could you say that, big sister?’

A palpable wave of overwhelming ‘authority’ pressed down upon her, instantly extinguishing Jin’s faint spark of rebellion in its cradle.

“I’m wrong, I’m wrong!” Jin instantly cowered, clasping her hands together in a gesture of sincere surrender, her voice thick with a nascent sob.

“I swear! From now on, I’ll be perfectly well-behaved! I absolutely won’t provoke anyone! And… and I’ll try my best not to let anyone provoke me either! This room… this room is more than enough with just the three of you! There’s no space for anyone else! I promise!”

Only then did satisfied expressions appear on the three women’s faces, watching her eager declaration of loyalty, so desperate she seemed ready to swear to the heavens.

Lin Wan reached out and ruffled Jin’s hair (making her already disheveled locks even messier), she said with a grin.

“That’s more like it~ Good to know you’re sensible!”

Xia Yue gave a slight nod, which Jin took as acceptance of her ‘promise’.

Yu Niannian, on the other hand, brightened up again, happily shaking Jin’s arm.

“Then, big sister, can we take a bath together now? Weren’t you going to take a bath just now?”

Kazami Jin: “…”

With her recently sworn vows still echoing in her ears, and faced with three pairs of expectant (or rather, unrefusable) eyes, she could only nod, tears welling up.

Freedom?

Solitude?

What were those?

Could they be eaten?

From this moment onwards, her vacation officially transformed into a communal life, spent with her three ‘guardians,’ and filled with ‘surprises’ (or rather, frights).

As for the proposition of ‘not enough room in the room,’ Jin silently wept inwardly.

She had a sneaking suspicion that, one day in the future, this ‘flag’ might manifest in a way she couldn’t possibly imagine…

Hearing Yu Niannian’s innocent suggestion of “Let’s all bathe together,” Lin Wan and Xia Yue, who had been subtly at odds just moments before, both froze simultaneously.

They both simultaneously recalled the utterly absurd and awkward experience in the school bathroom, where three of them were crammed into one space, yet due to issues with space and showerheads, none of them had truly ‘washed together’ properly.

That cramped space, that eerie silence, those gazes with nowhere to land… it was simply too mortifying to revisit!

Lin Wan’s mouth twitched, and she immediately vetoed the idea.

“No, no way! That tiny bathroom is impossibly cramped; it’s hard enough to turn around in there! Four people? We’d have to pile on top of each other!”

Though Xia Yue remained silent, her slightly furrowed brow and the fleeting look of embarrassment in her eyes clearly conveyed her aversion to reliving that particular ‘dream’.

Kazami Jin, for her part, shook her head like a rattle-drum, her hands tightly clasped over her chest (though, wearing only underwear, there wasn’t much to protect).

Her face was a clear plea for mercy.

Bathing with just one person was already enough to make her skin crawl.

But four together?

In such a tiny space?

How was that any different from a public execution?!

For a moment, the question of ‘who would bathe with Jin’ seemed to have reached another stalemate.

Lin Wan glared possessively, Xia Yue applied silent pressure, and Yu Niannian blinked her large eyes, looking from one to the other.

Just as Jin braced herself for another round of ‘contention,’ perhaps even a repeat of the absurd ‘stroller drift’ scenario, Lin Wan’s eyes suddenly lit up, and she clapped her hands together with a decisive smack.

A brilliant, dawning smile spread across her face.

“I’ve got it! Why are we trying to squeeze into this tiny, broken-down shower stall?”

She excitedly pointed towards a certain direction outside the window, within the base.

“I remember there’s a pretty big public bathhouse in the base’s living quarters, isn’t there? It even has hot springs and massage pools! I heard it was built to mimic those high-end bathhouses outside! Why don’t we just go there instead?!”

The suggestion caught everyone off guard.

A public bathhouse?

With hot springs?

Yu Niannian was the first to cheer.

“Oh, yes, yes! That sounds like so much fun! We can soak in hot springs! Big sister, let’s all go together!”

Xia Yue pondered for a moment.

A public bathhouse offered ample space, enough to accommodate all four of them without feeling cramped or awkward, and with clearly defined functional zones, it was indeed far more reasonable than squeezing into a tiny shower stall.

She glanced at Jin, who was still on high alert, then at the eager Lin Wan and Yu Niannian.

Finally, she gave a slight nod.

“Alright.”

“Yay! Unanimous vote!” Lin Wan announced triumphantly, then, without further ado, she grabbed Jin’s hand, who was still in a daze.

“Come on, come on! Little Jin-Jin, don’t dawdle! I’ll take you to experience our organization’s perks!”

“W-wait, wait!” Jin tried to struggle.

“I… I’m not dressed yet!”

“Why bother dressing? You’ll just take them off at the bathhouse anyway!” Lin Wan retorted, completely justified, as her other hand was already rummaging through Jin’s dirty clothes, which she had carelessly tossed on the floor.

“These are filthy, don’t want them! Big sister will buy you new ones later!”

Xia Yue had already turned to contact the logistics department to arrange access to the bathhouse and ensure it was cleared (As a supervisor and important member, temporarily cordoning off an area was certainly within her capabilities).

Yu Niannian, meanwhile, chirped like a happy bird, already rummaging through her toiletries and cute pajamas, preparing to change into them later.

Kazami Jin was half-dragged, half-pulled by Lin Wan.

As she watched the three magical girls, who had so swiftly reached a consensus and were now efficiently executing their ‘bathhouse team-building’ plan, her heart swelled with an immense sense of absurdity.

Her imagined personal freedom vacation, less than half an hour after it began, had already devolved into a ‘team-building activity’ where she was escorted by three powerful figures to a public bathhouse?

This development… wasn’t something fundamentally wrong with it?!

However, protest was futile.

Under the ‘tyranny’ of the three magical girls, her feeble resistance couldn’t even make a ripple.

Thus, under the curious and envious gazes of many base staff, Kazami Jin, utterly devoid of hope, was ‘surrounded’ by Xia Yue, Lin Wan, and Yu Niannian, as they advanced towards the reportedly luxurious public bathhouse.

Her heart screamed wildly:

‘I just wanted to take a quiet bath by myself!’

‘Why does even taking a bath have to turn into a group activity?!’

‘And Huo Hualan! Please don’t recover too quickly! Please don’t come looking for me!’

Outwardly, however, she could only force a stiff, compliant smile, while silently weeping internally, resigning herself to this inevitably chaotic, ‘fiery’ bathhouse journey.