Magical User Aozaki Aoko Case Files Chapter 038

The bathroom in the Kuonji residence was a splendid, rather European-style room.

The floor was inlaid with warm-colored marble, carved with elegant patterns.

A large rectangular mirror, set in a waterproofed wooden carved frame, was positioned on the wall above the sink.

In the corner of the bathroom, there were various oddly shaped vases, holding genuinely living ornamental plants whose states were fixed by magic.

These ornamental plants included European-style flowers and pruned plum branches in an Oriental style, but they had undoubtedly been adjusted by true connoisseurs, appearing very natural and blending perfectly with the overall bathroom environment.

In the center of the bathroom was a huge, bowl-shaped bathtub with a circular opening, surrounded by wooden steps for footing and placing items.

Next to the tub were brass pipes and spouts, all very systematically exposed on the ceiling and walls rather than being embedded within. When Aoko first saw this, she found the design quite avant-garde and steampunk, so she replaced all the pipes in her and Touko’s mansion with similar styles.

She heard that the person who designed this mansion was Arcueid’s father, which made Aoko admire his taste and artistic cultivation. No wonder a mere mortal could marry a witch like Arcueid’s mother.

Humming a tune, Aoko walked into the bathroom wrapped in a pure white bath towel.

She walked to the bathtub, bent down, and turned on the faucet to fill the tub. Her magnificent peaks in front of her chest showed deep valleys under the pull of gravity, and her slender waist, which could be held in one hand, bore a weight unbefitting her age, making one worry at first glance if it would snap.

While waiting for the bathtub to fill, Aoko rummaged through the storage cabinet next to the tub. Simply soaking was fine, but to better relieve fatigue, some extra ingredients were necessary.

She first took out a bag of Epsom salts, pouring the entire bag into the bath with a whoosh, then picked up a bottle of lemon essential oil, her personal favorite scent.

Aoko found a glass dropper and drew enough essential oil from the bottle. After dripping about eight drops into the tub, she screwed the small bottle of essential oil shut and put it back.

She put her hand into the water to test the temperature slightly and found it satisfactory.

“Arcueid, the hot water is ready, okay?” Aoko raised her voice slightly, calling out to the person outside the bathroom, “You can come in~”

Soon, Aoko heard a rustling sound, as if someone was undressing at the bathroom door. Then the bathroom door was pulled open, and Arcueid, wrapped in a bath towel, walked in.

Arcueid’s body was quite slender. Compared to the exaggeratedly proportioned Aoko, Arcueid appeared younger and more endearing.

Her shoulders were narrower than Aoko’s, but the fairness and delicacy of her skin were absolutely no less than Aoko’s. However, compared to Aoko’s healthy pinkness, Arcueid’s skin looked somewhat pale and delicate from prolonged lack of sun exposure.

The steam in the bathroom had been increasing over time. Aoko generously unwrapped her bath towel and set it aside, then very naturally stepped into the bathtub and sat down, her long, beautiful legs crossed, her graceful silhouette through the steam inviting imagination.

“Come in quickly?” Aoko invited Arcueid, “If you don’t get into the hot water quickly, you might catch a cold later, you know?”

Hearing Aoko’s invitation, Kuonji Arcueid slowly walked towards the bathtub.

In Arcueid’s more than a decade of life, this was the first time she had bathed with someone else. In her vague childhood memories, Arcueid’s mother once held her and bathed her, but that was a very distant past, even she herself could hardly recall it.

Her current housemate, however, was clearly different. Her perfect figure was extremely charming even to Arcueid, who was also a woman, and the hazy atmosphere created by the steam made Arcueid’s cheeks flush.

She endured the shyness in her heart, sat directly into the bathtub, and then carefully hugged her legs, curling up to one side.

“Eh~?” Aoko scanned the shy Arcueid up and down with a teasing gaze, then slowly moved closer to Arcueid, and while Arcueid wasn’t paying attention, she pulled off the bath towel wrapped around Arcueid from behind.

The usually cold and strong fairy tale witch let out a surprisingly cute cry unfitting her image. Aoko giggled, hung Arcueid’s bath towel aside, and leaned in to tease her shy housemate.

“Who bathes wrapped in a bath towel?” Aoko said nonchalantly, “Anyway, we’re both girls, it’s no problem if I see you~”

Arcueid angrily hugged her chest with her arms, glaring fiercely at the grinning Aoko, then unconsciously her gaze shifted downwards, seeing Aoko’s massive headlights, and her face turned even redder.

Aoko didn’t go too far; she felt that if she teased her any more, her good roommate would faint from shyness.

“Let’s have something to drink,” Aoko thought for a moment and said, “How about red wine? It helps with sleep, you know?”

Seeing that Arcueid didn’t object, Aoko snapped her fingers on her own accord, summoning an invisible servant to bring a bottle of red wine and two stemmed glasses on a tray from outside the bathroom.

Pulling out the cork, Aoko poured herself and Arcueid a small half-glass of Bacchus each. This time, they were drinking from the old mage’s collection, which was clearly more valuable than her cheap father’s…

She handed a glass to Arcueid, then made a toasting gesture, inviting her.

Arcueid hesitated for a moment but still took the stemmed glass Aoko offered and lightly clinked it with hers.

“Haha, a toast to our successful defeat of Touko’s dog.”

—Separation Line—

Meanwhile, Miss Aozaki Touko, who had been defeated in the first round due to insufficient information, was hiding alone in her temporary workshop in the old school building, smoking a cheap cigarette someone had given her, immersed in a melancholic mood.

Having lost a large number of puppets, and the full three hundred thousand words of Rune traps had not achieved their expected effect, even Lugh Beowulf, her greatest trump card, had been inexplicably killed. Did she have any chance of turning the tables?

Should she surrender…? Touko thought vaguely, then quickly rejected the idea because she was unwilling; she still wanted to try again…

But Aoko’s magical talent was no less than her own, and she had inherited the Aozaki family’s magic. Regardless of whether she could fully unleash the magic’s power, it was a formidable trump card, not to mention that guy also had many inexplicable and strange moves that were difficult to explain with conventional magical theory…

Touko extinguished her cigarette, rubbed her forehead, then took off her coat and lay down on a single bed.

She unconsciously recalled the laughter and quarrels she shared with Aoko when they were children, the bits and pieces of their shared magic studies, and then finally her grandfather’s temporary decision to name Aoko as his successor. A bitter emotion surged up, making Touko unable to control herself.

“I’m not that guy,” Touko rolled over and muttered to herself, “I won’t be weak.”