Chapter 99 - Don't Suddenly Say Something That Makes You Sound Smart
"Phew... what a nice bath..."
With such a huge mansion, naturally the bath is huge too.
"This is the first time I've ever been in such a spacious cypress wood bath at someone's private home."
This was after I took her to the space battleship. After Kawasaki stopped crying, she kept pestering me with all sorts of requests like wanting to tour the inside of the ship and see it actually navigating. She's a proper adult in her mid-twenties, but there's something childish that shows through, so I couldn't be too firm with her and ended up granting her wishes. Before I knew it, quite a bit of time had passed. It's troublesome how you lose track of time in space. Anyway, when evening came and we got hungry, we returned to the mansion, where they recommended I take a bath before dinner, which brings us to now.
"I got to see all sorts of interesting things too."
I really was glad I came to visit the Kawasaki house. Just as I was thinking that,
"I'm so happy to hear you say that!"
Kawasaki appeared. I think my shock was justified. At a stretch, if she were wearing a swimsuit, I could understand. But this woman, while she is covering her body with a bath towel, is basically naked. Doesn't she have any sense of shame?
"Y-you... you..."
"? Is something wrong?"
"Wrong or not, do you normally get in the bath with a man?"
"Oh come on, Satou-san, you don't think I'm stupid, do you?"
You are stupid.
"I'm not the kind of woman who would bathe with a strange gentleman!"
Well, I'm not exactly a stranger, but still...
"After all, Satou-san and I are tight! Tight!"
Just like King Enma, isn't this "tight" designation coming way too fast?
"If I trust someone enough that I'd consider marrying them, then there's absolutely no problem."
After rinsing off her body with water, Kawasaki casually entered the bathtub. And despite there being plenty of space, she sat right next to me. She even took off her bath towel... and damn, this woman has a good figure. Not the voluptuous erotic type. She has well-balanced beauty, the kind that makes you admire her more than feel aroused.
"Ahh... such a nice bath..."
She's completely relaxed... well, it is her house, so that's natural. There are various things that don't sit right with me, but... whatever.
"However, invaders from space, is it?"
"What? Are you bitter about being left out?"
"I can't say I don't have such feelings, but... even if I went, I wouldn't even be able to adapt to space."
"? Someone of your skill level as a practitioner should have mastered adaptation techniques, right?"
This time I was the one taking her along, so I cast the adaptation technique myself, but someone at Kawasaki's level of ability should be able to handle it easily.
"Hmm? Wait, could it be that Satou-san hasn't noticed?"
"?"
"There shouldn't be any restrictions on your thinking... ah, you simply weren't interested, that's what this is."
"What do you mean?"
"It's true that I have mastered environmental adaptation techniques. I could perform at the same level in the deep sea as on land."
"Then..."
"But they're completely useless in space."
What does that mean?
"Satou-san. While there are differences in ability, the upper echelons of supernatural world inhabitants can cause phenomena that far surpass surface world science."
"Yeah."
"Despite that, why do you think no one has ever tried to use that power for space development?"
That's... now that you mention it, it is strange. Simply because they had no interest in something like space? Well, there probably were some people like that. But was everyone like that? There should have been at least one person who turned their attention to space. Especially gods. It wouldn't be strange for one to think about creating life and gaining worship in a new frontier. There are other points that don't make sense too. The politicians saw me able to operate in space without problems. The Prime Minister or someone should have quietly approached me with such a request. Whether I'd actually do it is beside the point, since asking costs nothing. But there was never any such talk.
"You mentioned restrictions on thinking? So there's someone preventing the use of supernatural power for space development?"
"Rather than a specific individual, it's more like species instinct and... the planet's will, I suppose?"
"Huh?"
"Gods, humans, demons, all are life born and nurtured on Earth."
Therefore, Kawasaki says, the source of the supernatural power wielded by these lives also lies on Earth.
"To use an easy analogy, think of electrical outlets. The standards differ by country, right? Japanese electrical appliances won't work if you take them abroad without adapters. It's the same thing. The supernatural power we use only works within Earth's specifications. The invisible laws laid down by the planet Earth. Power can only exist under those laws."
So that's what species instinct means. It would be meaningless. It would only waste lives pointlessly. Because they unconsciously understand this, the option is excluded from the beginning.
"Satou-san is like a bug in existence itself, so you're an exception."
Don't call me a bug.
"Then what about the planet's will?"
"Even gods can't handle space. Yet humanity carved a path to space without relying on supernatural power."
From the perspective of those food-crav... invaders' technology, it's probably child's play. However, even at that level, Earth's humanity has begun space exploration, albeit at a terribly slow pace.
"Supernatural power originates from individuals, but science, while requiring study, is a power that can be equally handled by all people."
At least the barrier is lower than supernatural power.
"Not as outstanding individuals, but as a species, prosperity is possible, the planet judged. That's why it shackled the superhuman and allowed ordinary people to dream of the sky, I speculate."
At the same time, Kawasaki says this planet also wishes for the life it created to leap into space.
"Is that, you know, like wanting them to leave the nest?"
Before the planet reaches the end of its lifespan, it wants its children to take flight. Since we call it Mother Earth, such a will would be...
"I don't think so."
"Eh... no?"
"At least I don't think it's such a beautiful motive."
"What's your basis for that?"
"Us humans."
Humans?
"Among all the various forms of life, why were humans alone able to start walking the path to space?"
"Why... why indeed?"
"Desire. Frankly, aren't we like highly intelligent locusts?"
"Locusts, you say..."
"We devour even our mother planet according to our desires, don't we? We're worse than locusts."
I can't deny that...
"Do you think the Earth that gave birth to such creatures has a good personality?"
"...I can't think so."
They say children resemble their parents.
"Let's think about this with that in mind. First, why did Earth design life that would harm itself? It's because it judged that such creatures could reach space. Then why did Earth desire expansion into space? Children resemble their parents. Considering those words, you can roughly guess. Expansion of dominion. Probably, if life forms created by one planet dominate other planets, it's considered an expansion of Earth's dominion."
This is probably a law of the universe rather than just Earth, Kawasaki laughs. It seems like a far-fetched idea, but she probably has other materials that led her to this judgment. She's probably omitting the explanation of those details because it would take too long. It's unkind in terms of making me understand, but she seems to think I'll pick up on that... I did earn quite a bit more favorability than expected.
"The discussion got quite off track, but this is my speculation. Did it answer your questions?"
"...Yeah."
Why supernatural power barely works in space. I was satisfied with the answers to both my initial question and the new questions that arose during her explanation.
However, such things no longer mattered.
(This woman is way more dangerous than I thought...)
What she talked about is probably correct. My intuition, which naturally sharpened as I listened, tells me so. Among the gods, there are probably some who have noticed the mechanism. Like that one-eyed old man. However, among humans, how many could have realized this on their own...
"Kawasaki."
"? What is it?"
"You're... really smart."
I pat the head of Kawasaki sitting next to me. Man, I'm tired of everything now.
"Hehehe... you can praise me more if you want!"
While casually comforting Kawasaki who hugged me, I look up at the sky.
(But despite having such brains, what she does is being an annoyingly troublesome robot otaku.)
I really don't understand this anymore...