Chapter 56: The Fourth Face of the Salt Lake

As they stared at the dancing particles of light, they realised that the darker their surroundings got, the more the particles of light appeared.

Thinking that they might be in danger, Tatsurou had Cardina use Search Magic to analyse them. Hence, he found out that they were actually lumps of mana clustered together and were as harmless as a fly.  

“Amazing, isn’t it…”

“Yeah…”

As they exchanged their impressions, the tiny sphere of light continued to increase to the point where the entire lake was completely filled with them.

Covering the lake fully, the particles of light began to ascend, reaching a height of about 10 meters before finally vanishing.

However, as the wave of light disappeared, new particles of light took their place, creating a scene similar to a garden full of fireflies.

“It’s so bright even without the moon, isn’t it?” Ai muttered.

“Hey, wanna see what it looks like from the sky?”

“Do you even have to ask!”

Tatsurou took the board out and floated up into the skies while Cardina stayed back to take care of their tent.

““Wow…””

From above, they could see every single grain of light rising from the lake’s surface and were mesmerised by it.

Seeing such a scene before him, Tatsurou felt a sudden urge. Wrapping his arms around Ai, he made sure to hold onto her tight before…

“Tatsurou?”

“Hoo…”

“Who?”

“WOOOOHOOOOOO!!!”

“DID YOU EAT SOMETHING WROOONG!!!”[1]

Tatsurou shouted as he directed them down towards the source of the light spheres.

They nosedived towards the lake like a thrill ride in an amusement park, free falling in the middle of the tiny specks of light. Once they were about four meters from the surface, Tatsurou altered their trajectory into a helical shape akin to a roller coaster’s bank, slowing their fall while still keeping them above the lake.

“YAHAAAAAA!”

“HE’S GONE MAD NOOOOOW!!!!”

This boy was once addicted to thrill rides.

He was holding back since Ai was with him but it seems like he had finally snapped, diving into the midst of tiny stars.

Ai wasn’t bad with this kind of things but having to go through it every single date made her tired of it. Though she liked this childish side to him, she felt that Tatsurou goes over the top when he gets to it. She had thought about admonishing him but seeing the Tatsurou was well-behaved in their recent dates, she decided against it.

And so, she chose to enjoy the fun.

After all, it’s not like you can find an amusement park that offers high-speed flight through magic light particles just anywhere.

Once they were close to the lakeshore, Tatsurou flew them up and did another nosedive.

And through the pretty lights they go.

And again, another roller coaster ride.

The boy screamed at the top of his lungs and the girl followed suit, all while trying to grab the grains of light in their way.

Sweeping through the particles of light, they glimmered brightly while clustering close to her arm.

Once they had their fill of fun, the two headed back into the tent along with the memories of the beautiful scenery. 

“Haah, that was satisfying…”

The moment they touched down, Tatsurou immediately laid face down on his sleeping bag. As he had used too much mana and was also exhausted from controlling it, he was dead tired.

“Tatsurou, next time you’re gonna do that, make sure tell me first okay!”

“Ah… my bad. C’not control m’self…”

“You little…”[2]

“Ack…”

Hearing his half-baked apology, Ai made a chair out of his back. She moved herself around, trying to make him feel the weight.

“Ahh, marshmallows on my back…”[3]

“M,marshmallows! They’re not that soft!”

“Hmm? Which part isn’t…?”

Saying that, he stretched an arm out and grabbed her butt. Maybe it was due to his fatigue but, at this point in time, Tatsurou could no longer think properly.

“EEEK, YOU PERVERT! YOU…”

“Why does it feel like Shizuka-chan’s —- OW, OW, I said I’m sorry!”[4]

Cutting him off mid-sentence, Ai started to pinch his back. Raising a white flag in defeat, Tatsurou turned his body over.

“KYAA… HEY, DON’T SUDDENLY TURN AROUND!”

“OW, OUCH… Don’t pinch me on the tummy… Ah,ahahahaha, it tickles!!”

“No can do! Not ‘til you reflect on your mistakes! Kzzt Kzzt Kzzt.”

“AHAHAHAHA, I’M SORRY! PLEASE! AHAHAHA!”

“Good.”

As Tatsurou tried to catch his breath from all the tickles, Ai crossed her arms and lay down on his stomach.

Moments later, their eyes met and she smiled at him with mischievous eyes, wrapping her arms around him.

“Tatsurou♪Tatsurou♪”

“Get off you heav—”

“— You were saying?”

“Aren’t you eating properly? ♪You’re light as a feather♪”

“Right? Fufu… Tatsuro–♪”

Though he swore that he had just felt the devil’s presence, the ‘creature’ in suspect now looked like a spoiled cat, rubbing her head on her owner’s chest.

She was so cute right now that he wanted to record this moment in 8K Ultra HD but sadly, he did not have any filming equipment with him.

His soul cried at such a wasted opportunity but he decided to play along with the cutest creature in the entire universe.

 “There, there.”

“Hmm hmm… hmm?”

Wrapping both his arms around her, he held her tight before flexing his abs to lift them up to a sitting position. Though his movement surprised her, Tatsurou sealed her lips with his own before Ai recovered from her daze.

“Mm… Tatsurou… Hmm…”

Ai’s eyes were out of focus as she lost herself in the moment while Tatsurou’s face was red till the edge of his ears. Still, he continued to hold her as they indulged in more hugs and kisses. However, right before he completely lost his mind, Tatsurou let Ai go and took a distance, making them regain their sense of reason.

“… Should we go to bed now?” asked Ai.

“We should…” answered Tatsurou. “Oh, I just remembered since we were outside the whole time but I should make a bath too!”

“Bath time!”

“I’ll only be making a small one so don’t expect too much.”

Walking out of the tent, Tatsurou moved to the side while taking the leftover iron from the fly board out of his item box. 

“You’re using iron…” Ai muttered.

“Ah, I thought about using Earth and Darkness to make a lightweight one that we can carry around.”

“That’s great for when we need to travel, isn’t it?”

“I just thought of this now too, but we might need to buy another tent to put the bath in. It’ll be like the bathroom curtains.”

“Sounds great!”

With his new task in line, Tatsurou proceeded to manufacture the new bath tub.

Due to the intense session they had earlier, Tatsurou’s mana was now filled to the brim. With their hands linked together, he immediately began to mold the iron.

The bath tub was big enough to fit a single person with their knees bent and had a rounded rim about a centimeter in thickness, getting thinner as it got closer to the base, which was only half a centimeter in thickness.

“Looks a bit thin. You sure it won’t break?” asked Ai.

“I’ll check it with Information Magic just in case, but it should be as solid as the fly board.”

“That sounds reassuring.”

“And it’s a lot lighter than it looks,” he said as he put his hands on the tub. Raising it up, he showed her that he could easily lift it up while wearing a satisfied look on his face.

Placing it back down, Tatsurou used Information Magic to check each and every part of the tub. Once he confirmed that there were no cracks anywhere, he added the hot water in.

“Tatsurou, you go first today.”

“Me? It doesn’t really matter that much to me, but are you okay with this?”

“Yep. I still feel like the one who made it should go first.”

It didn’t really take that much of an effort if you ask Tatsurou, but if it’ll make her feel better, then that’s a different story.

“Okay, then.”

“Take your time. I’ll be in the tent. Call me if something happens.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

With their turns decided, they enjoyed the open-air bath experience beside the never-ending parade of the tiny spheres of light.

But, just before their eyes closed, their stomachs began to grumble.

“We totally forgot about dinner, didn’t we?”

“We did eat something else right after buying it…” she said, touching her lips as her cheeks blushed slightly.

Seeing her, Tatsurou’s expression turned serious. 

“Ai.”

“Hmm? What is it?”

“What you said earlier. Don’t you think you sounded like the old man?”

“WHAT ARE YOU–!”

While exchanging such conversations, they finished their meal and gazed at the lake for the last time, searing the scene deep into their memories.

In the tent, the two laid their sleeping bags flat, turning it into a makeshift futon and closed their eyes in each other’s embrace.

TL Notes 

[1] Raw: Did your ‘weird switch’ get flipped? Makes perfect sense! /s

[2] Raw: This ‘Fake Kansai Dialect person’

[3] Again, jokes and a lot of non-formal stuff don’t translate well. Raw:

「ああ、何か素敵な柔らかいものが背中に……」

「や、柔らかくないもん！　かっちかちやぞ！」

[4] Reference to this: しずかちゃん風 and I don’t know who that is…