"Denji, hurry up and follow me."
"Where are we?" Denji stared at the sign above the door. He couldn't read, so he had no idea what their destination was.
"You'll know once we go inside."
"No way. Just take me and Pochita home."
"Are you sure?"
"Absolutely sure!!" Denji's eyes were filled with an unshakeable resolve.
"What a shame. I guess I'll just have to go take a bath with the beautiful women all by myself."
"Take a bath with beautiful women?!!" Denji was shocked. He never imagined there could be a place in this world that would make someone feel so happy. His previously unshakeable resolve instantly crumbled, replaced by a burning desire to explore.
"That's right. This hot spring lets us soak together with beautiful strangers."
"A hot spring!" Denji had never experienced one, but he'd heard of them. "You're taking me to a hot spring? Hell yeah."
"No, no, no. I'm taking you home first, then coming back to soak in the hot spring by myself. After all, you said you definitely wanted to go home."
"Then I'm going in first." Denji completely ignored Arata's words, hugging Pochita as he joyfully sprinted inside.
But a few seconds later, he was kicked back out the door. The reason being, bringing a chainsaw to take a bath made them suspect he was a terrorist.
"They won't let Pochita come inside."
"No shit. I was planning to hide Pochita in my clothes bag before going in. But you just had to go and alert them. Now they're definitely going to be wary of us and check our belongings."
"So what do we do? Pochita can't go in?" Pochita also cast an expectant look.
"Right. We'll leave Pochita in the trunk for now, and just the two of us will go inside to check it out."
"Woof woof!!" Pochita barked in displeasure.
"I have no choice, Pochita. It's my fault for being too reckless. I'll bring you next time."
Helpless, Pochita was left all alone in the trunk. Arata gently stroked Pochita's forehead, smoothing out his fur. Under the gentle strokes, Pochita slowly closed his eyes and fell asleep.
"The sights he can't see at the hot spring, Pochita will see in his dreams." Saying that, Arata closed the trunk.
"Then let's hurry up and go in." Denji sprinted back inside in a flash. Since he wasn't carrying a chainsaw this time, he and Arata successfully entered the hot spring.
"Welcome. Room 10 is the third one on your right. Clothes and other items have already been prepared for you in the room."
"Thanks," Arata said, turning right.
Denji stood frozen in place, his face flushed red as he asked, "When do we get to take a bath with the girls?"
"Huh?" The staff member was startled. A lot of people wanted to ask that kind of question, but almost no one actually said it out loud. "Do you mean the mixed bath?"
"A mixed bath means I can take a bath with women? The kind without any clothes on?" Denji's attention was completely focused on the mixed bath.
"Even though it's a mixed bath, you still have to wear a towel." The staff member gave an awkward smile.
"Ah, I see... then... mmph..."
"Sorry about that, he's been watching too much Crayon Shin-chan." Arata quickly covered Denji's mouth from behind, not wanting him to embarrass them any further.
The staff member sweatdropped but could only bow and see them off. Arata didn't let go of Denji's mouth until they were inside their room.
"You lied to me. That kind of thing doesn't even exist."
"If you're not satisfied, I can make you sleep in the trunk just like Pochita."
"Well... actually, whether they wear clothes or not doesn't really matter."
"Stop dawdling and hurry up and change. That dead rat splashed blood all over me, I need a nice, comfortable bath." Arata tossed a hot spring robe to Denji.
The two of them started changing their clothes in the room. While they did, Arata purposefully shot a glance at Denji's missing nut. Denji noticed the peeping gaze and instantly turned his back.
"Hey, constantly staring at someone else's junk is really rude."
"My bad, I was just curious." Arata slid open the door on the other side of the room. Just outside was the open-air hot spring.
"Whoa, this is way too convenient."
Denji hadn't expected the hot spring to be right outside the room. He thought it would be like the village bathhouse with a bunch of guys crammed together in one spot.
"You get what you pay for. Plus, the women's bath is right next door."
"The women's bath is next door!!" Denji was instantly fired up. He dove headfirst into the hot spring, only to leap right back out a second later, screaming.
"So hot!!!"
"..."
"Are they trying to boil people alive?!!!"
"It's best to rinse off with water before getting into the hot spring, to give your body time to adjust."
"You should've said so earlier." Denji sat down on a nearby stool in a huff, using a wooden basin to scoop water and pour it over his body.
This was exactly how Denji usually bathed anyway. His wooden shack had no bathroom, no bed, no furniture, and not even a toilet. It was less than twenty square meters, and he slept directly on the wooden floorboards. But Denji had no complaints. On the contrary, he felt incredibly lucky just to have a roof over his head to block out the wind and rain. He didn't care about material comforts.
After finishing his rinse by the side of the hot spring, Denji carefully tested the water temperature with his foot. Feeling like he could handle it, he slowly sank in. Although it still felt burning hot, after enduring it for a moment, a deep wave of comfort washed over him.
"Whoa!! This feels so good!!"
Denji looked completely in bliss as he tilted his head back to gaze at the night sky. The countless stars filling the sky were a sight that didn't exist in Arata's era. Soaking in the hot spring, Arata's favorite thing to do was also look up at the starry sky, mentally connecting the dots to draw pictures.
"Hey, how do you think devils are born? Why are there devils in this world?" Denji's sudden question broke Arata's train of thought.
"Why are you asking this all of a sudden? You think I'm your teacher or something?"
"Just asking. If you don't know, then I won't ask."
"Devils are born from human fear. The more humanity fears a concept, the stronger that devil becomes. On the flip side, if humanity stops being afraid, the devil gets weaker."
"Then it'd be great if humans just stopped being afraid of stuff."
"Fear is human instinct. Even the strongest humans have things they're afraid of. Besides, even devils have things they fear most."
"Devils are afraid of stuff too? What are they afraid of?" Denji stopped looking at the stars, focusing entirely on Arata's next words.
The two exchanged a glance, and Arata smiled. "Devils are all afraid of Pochita."
"Tch, what's so scary about Pochita," Denji scoffed. Then he remembered something else. "Oh yeah, how were the Tomato Devil and Cucumber Devil born? Are there actually people scared of those things?"
"In the past, tomatoes were considered poisonous, so everyone was afraid of them. Even though they're safe to eat now, some people still throw up violently after eating them."
"Oh, okay, so the Tomato Devil makes sense. But what about the Cucumber Devil?"
"The Cucumber Devil... once we meet Power, I'll show you exactly why the Cucumber Devil exists."
"Who's Power?"
"An A-cup beauty with horns on her head and no tail."
"Tch, that's not some dirty joke, is it?"
"Absolutely no dirty jokes here. It's a completely factual matter backed by evidence."
Just as the two of them were talking, a woman's terrified scream suddenly echoed from the women's bath next door.
They quickly turned to look. Immediately after, an unidentified object flew over the wooden partition.
Splash!!!
It landed in the water, dyeing a small patch of the hot spring red. A woman's severed head slowly floated to the surface.