"So comfortable... what a pity President Kamiyā didn't come." Kumamoto Alice slowly adjusted the white bath towel wrapped around her with her delicate hand. Even while soaking in the hot spring, her mature body remained tightly covered. Looking toward Yūki Chinatsu, who had just returned from behind the hot spring rocks, she casually brought up Kamiyā Yuu.
Very interesting!
That was what truly interested her.
She liked 'RWBY' because she saw something completely different in that animation. It deeply attracted her and made her feel genuinely entertained. Later, when she saw the recruitment notice from Yosuganosora Animation Studio, she suddenly developed the idea of joining the company to create animation herself.
Kumamoto Alice had received an elite education since childhood. From astronomy and geography to music and literature, she excelled at everything. Her artistic talent especially astonished many famous British art tutors.
Unfortunately, despite her outstanding abilities, the circles she could move within were limited to Britain's social elite. At the root of it all, her father—though the heir apparent of a Japanese conglomerate—had merely married into her family for the sake of political and financial exchange. His influence within the family was easy to imagine.
Combined with the British hereditary nobility's obsession with bloodlines, as a mixed-race child, she was destined to remain outside the family's core power structure.
Still, aside from being leisurely to the point of boredom, aristocratic British life was not particularly unpleasant.
Britain's "social circle" had continued to exist from medieval monarchism through capitalism and into modern society. It reached its peak during the transition from monarchy to capitalism. At that time, the interests of nobles and merchants became closely intertwined. Many merchants wished to gain noble titles through the social scene, while British nobles with little more than titles sought merchants' wealth to restore their prestige.
Exchange of interests, political marriages, social standing—everything could be achieved through the social circle. Many of the famous British author Jane Austen's works depicted love stories born from this very environment.
The social circle was deep and murky. Even under the banner of "socializing," those active within it often represented their family's reputation and status. Kumamoto Alice had thrived in that world. It would not be an exaggeration to say that within Britain's upper social circles, her personal influence had already surpassed that of her hereditary family.
Precisely because of this, she found many things dull and tiresome.
On the surface, she appeared to be a gentle and perfect British lady, but in reality, her personality was rather terrible.
Kamiyā Yuu was interesting.
Even after meeting countless members of the upper class, he remained one of the few people she still could not fully understand. Normally, he appeared to be an ordinary man, yet his actual abilities far exceeded her expectations. At first glance, he seemed no different from anyone else, but he possessed extraordinarily sharp situational awareness. He could quickly grasp the core of a problem and find a solution.
There was also an inexplicable charisma about him that ordinary people simply could not possess.
Powerful figures cultivated authority through their status and behavior. True killers could make ordinary people feel chilled to the bone with just a glance, like facing apex predators such as lions or tigers. Genuine masters of Japanese swordsmanship also carried a different spiritual presence from ordinary people.
Kamiyā Yuu was merely an ordinary person, yet he possessed a kind of influence even Kumamoto Alice herself could not understand. That was far too abnormal.
In truth, Kamiyā Yuu himself had already noticed this after endlessly experimenting with his consciousness space. The amount of time he could remain there—and his computational ability—continued growing stronger over time. By now, he could stay within the consciousness space for around thirty hours without affecting his mental state in reality.
If he had to describe it himself, it felt as though the "spirit" or "intelligence" stats on his personal attribute panel were constantly increasing.
Although he had no supernatural powers like throwing fireballs or telekinesis, his memory, mental strength, thought processing speed, and reactions had long surpassed those of ordinary people by a huge margin. Even his body—which had never undergone special training—had reached the physical standards of a professional athlete in overall performance.
It was precisely because of all these contradictions that Kumamoto Alice could not properly define Kamiyā Yuu.
Observing him at work had already become one of her essential daily activities.
Kamiyā Yuu was revered by Kuroneko, trusted by Morishita Aoi, and closely watched by Uehara Etsuki. Kumamoto Alice herself also held considerable curiosity toward him.
However, curiosity alone should never interfere with Kamiyā Yuu's everyday life.
But this situation had become far too interesting.
She could not resist causing just a little trouble and nudging events toward an even more twisted direction.
"W-What!? Mixed bathing is way too indecent! Shameless!" Before anyone else could speak, Yūki Chinatsu suddenly sprang up from the hot spring with a splash and shouted emotionally.
Why did mixed bathing suddenly come up...?
Gogyo Ruri and the others found her response utterly baffling. Kumamoto Alice looked at her with an amused expression and chuckled softly.
"Why suddenly mention mixed bathing? I merely hoped President Kamiyā could also experience the hot springs here."
Yūki Chinatsu quickly shrank her petite body back into the water. To cover up her slip of the tongue, she submerged her mouth beneath the hot spring and blew bubbles.
After quite a while, she awkwardly laughed.
"Ahaha~ I accidentally associated it with scenes from manga."
Gogyo Ruri asked suspiciously, "Normally, anime wouldn't include that kind of plot. Otherwise, the BPO would issue warnings."
"Don't worry about it~ don't worry about it."
...
"Miss Kamiyā, shall we go behind the artificial rock formation? I also want to see a fully traditional Japanese hot spring setting." Kumamoto Alice smiled as she suggested this to Kamiyā Sora beside her.
The steam from the hot spring had dyed Kamiyā Sora's face a soft crimson. Looking dazed, she glanced at Kumamoto Alice's tightly wrapped body and quietly asked, "Miss Kumamoto, are you still not used to Japanese hot spring culture after all?"
"Because of my upbringing, I truly am still unaccustomed to it." Kumamoto Alice stood up from the hot spring.
The white bath towel clung tightly to her skin after becoming wet. Her astonishing figure left the other girls staring blankly, especially her pair of perfectly proportioned, long legs that naturally outclassed Japanese women.
Whether due to racial traits or years of kneeling posture causing circulation issues in the legs, many Japanese women tended to have somewhat thick calves and shorter thighs, lacking aesthetic balance.
Although Morishita Aoi and Kamiyā Sora—who were also soaking in the spring—did not possess such flaws and had beautifully shaped long legs themselves, they still could not compare to the natural advantage of her bloodline.
Kumamoto Alice's skin lacked the roughness common among Westerners. Smooth as jade and dampened by steam, combined with a figure comparable to top international models, she utterly shattered the girls' pride as women.
There was not even enough difference for them to comfort themselves.
"Come with me." Kumamoto Alice extended her delicate hand toward Kamiyā Sora, inviting her to go behind the hot spring rocks.
Yūki Chinatsu, whose brain had practically stopped functioning, anxiously jumped out again.
"W-Wait... hold on! There's nothing over there! It's basically the same as what we can see here, and it's narrow and cold too! It's nowhere near as nice as this side, so there's no need to specifically go there!" Her petite body stood in front of them, clearly trying to block their path.
"Is that so? Then it sounds like a good chance to experience a cold spring." Kumamoto Alice replied leisurely.
Kamiyā Sora hesitated briefly before placing her small hand into Alice's and allowing herself to be pulled up.
—The worst possible development!
After hearing what had happened, Kamiyā Yuu slapped his forehead. He could already feel his stomach beginning to cramp painfully.
At that moment, he envied those superpowered protagonists capable of escaping embarrassing situations like this.
For example, that pink-haired esper from a certain anime in his previous world.
Or that psychic with green glasses.
Or that superpowered guy with arcade joysticks sticking out of his head.