kscans

Chapter 177 - Unstoppable Rejuvenation

...Phew, I've had my fill.

After getting my nosebleed under control, I took a moment to calmly admire her. My desire for the sailor uniform had been sated. I was confident I could be kinder than anyone else in the world right now.

"Next up, I'd like this one."

"You got it."

She was put off by the massive nosebleed, yet she had no particular reaction to the costume or to wearing it. It was like she lacked the self awareness of a young woman her age... but no, that was fine too. In fact, thinking of it as a sub genre of innocent lewdness made it even more exciting.

"By the way, Satou-san. You mentioned a full medical checkup, but do you ever get sick or anything?"

Talking through a curtain like this really makes your heart pound, doesn't it. Doki doki.

"Nah, but if the company says I have to do it, I've got no choice."

They're doing it for the employees' sake and even paying for it, after all. Though, it does feel bad making them spend money when there's nothing wrong with me.

"Being a salaryman sounds tough. I'm self employed, so I have it easy."

"Right, you did mention work. If you don't mind my asking, what were you doing?"

"I was involved in the construction of an artificial dungeon on a request from the Mutual Aid Society."

One for training, huh. Any member could apply to use that kind of dungeon, but they were mainly used to train rookies. They were even part of the curriculum at the schools in the Supernatural World. Hikaru and the others might end up diving into one of those places too, depending on their senpai's judgment.

"The Mutual Aid Society pays well, so I like them... whoops, changing's done."

Shaa. The curtain was pulled open, revealing Dr. Kawasaki in a school swimsuit.

"Ah... nice. Very nice. It's stimulating memories I don't even have..."

It wasn't one of the newer school swimsuits, but what's known as the old style. In elementary school we were free to wear whatever swimsuits we wanted, and my junior high didn't have a pool. I encountered school-designated swimwear in high school, but by then they were already the competition style swimsuits. So I've never seen the old style. But why, I wonder, do I feel this nostalgia.

"A nonexistent sentimentality and a youthful lust are now setting my heart ablaze."

"You're quite the poet, Satou-san."

"Anyone would get poetic. Not after being shown something like this. Hey, uh, can I get it wet?"

"Sure."

With Dr. Kawasaki's permission, I jettisoned the bloodbath into the sun and created a new, larger bathtub filled with water. I prompted her to get in, and Dr. Kawasaki entered the tub without hesitation.

"Could you dip under for a second and get your whole body wet?"

"Okay."

She really is obedient.

"Is this about right?"

"Yeah. Okay, get out... and hold that pose... sit with your knees to your chest right there."

I urged her to sit in a corner I'd recreated to look like the side of a pool. Seeing Dr. Kawasaki sit with her knees drawn up as I'd asked, I felt a violent pounding in my chest.

"...I, in that position... j, just turn your face toward me."

"Like this?"

Koten. She turned her gaze to me, tilting her head. That gesture, and the innocent smile that came topped with it!

(I can't... stop... my heart won't stop fluttering at her innocent smile...)

Incidentally, at this very moment, the artificial human camera SATO was still recording. SATO is a superior product with the highest image quality and no storage limit.

"............Dr. Kawasaki, could you let the water that's collected out?"

"Let the water out? Oh, so that's what this weird slit was for."

Looking impressed, Dr. Kawasaki hooked a finger into the slit, revealing her skin as the water streamed out.

"I... I want to become water... Nnh?!"

"!? Wh, what is it?"

"You... You...!!"

Dr. Kawasaki! Do you know what she just did!? She naturally, with her own finger, adjusted the part of her swimsuit that was riding up!! If it had been a calculated move, I wouldn't have been this shocked. But Dr. Kawasaki is a natural. A gesture that naturally teases a man's heart... How terrifying, what a terrifying woman you are, Dr. Kawasaki...!!

"...So my decision to form a friendship with you instead of making you an enemy was the right one after all."

"I don't really get it, but I can somehow tell you're saying something wacky, Satou-san!"

Don't call me wacky.

"You've shown me something great. Shall we move on to the next one?"

I dried her with my powers and made the suggestion.

"? Is it another school swimsuit?"

Dr. Kawasaki tilted her head as she accepted the costume I handed her. Man, she just doesn't get it. But I guess if it's a field you're not interested in, it all looks the same. To someone who doesn't know, different types of mass produced robots probably look pretty much alike.

"That's a new style school swimsuit. The swimsuit... right from the heart of my youth."

It was a one piece suit without slits, unlike the old style. It brings me back to my high school days. When I'd just graduated from junior high and started high school, I was so immature. Honestly, it's pathetic to air my dirty laundry like this... but back then, I had such a shallow understanding of swimsuits. Exposure equals erotic. How stupid is that. There was no way that was true, yet I never doubted it for a second. I was mistaken in thinking that a revealing bikini was the most wonderful swimsuit in the world.

The thing that changed my perception was the new style school swimsuit.

Summer of my first year of high school finally arrived. When our swimming lessons started, I was bewildered. There was the new style school swimsuit, enveloping my female classmates. It wasn't very revealing, and its navy blue color was plain. There was no reason I should feel any allure from it, and yet for some reason, my heart fluttered.

'There's no way, given the nature of swimsuits...!!'

Exposure equals justice. That's what I believed, so it was hard for me to accept it. To be aroused by a school swimsuit was something that just shouldn't happen. Such was my astounding immaturity, unable to admit my own lack of experience. That said, if I can defend myself, some of it was unavoidable. It's not easy to accept that something you've always believed in was actually a lie, right? My younger self was terrified by the feeling of the ground crumbling beneath my feet.

But even while I was scared, I faced it. Not to accept it, but to deny it. I suppose you could say my stubbornness paid off. Because I kept confronting it in order to deny it... I became unable to deny what a wonderful thing the school swimsuit was. By the time of the closing ceremony for the first semester, I had reached a state of mind where,

'School swimsuits are pretty great.'

So, you see, for me, the new style school swimsuit is a piece of swimwear I'm deeply attached to, one that sparked a turning point in my life.

"That makes even less sense, but well, if it makes you happy, Satou-san."

"I'm in your debt."

"I don't think you should feel indebted over something like this..."

As she spoke, Dr. Kawasaki finished changing and came out.

"Hk."

"?"

"Haha... Kuhahahaha!!"

I covered my face with my right hand, looked up at the ceiling, and laughed. I've lived a pretty laid back life, but not everything has gone my way. My falling out with Takahashi and Suzuki was one thing, but there was other stuff too. There were times I seriously hated everything. Even so, the reason I've made it this far is because I had "hope". No matter how down I got, I never stopped holding on to the faint hope that something good might happen tomorrow, and that's why I'm here now.

"Someday! Eventually, someday! It was all worth being led on by that sweet poison."

Seriously... People are the best!! Ahh, my happiness gauge is rising at a tremendous rate.

"This is one of the many days of human happiness! Dr. Kawasaki!!"

"If the masked man were as carefree as you, Satou-san, he wouldn't have gone that far... Wha?! Why did you suddenly get younger!?"

"You are the one who made it so!!"

Before I knew it, I was in DK (high school boy) mode. It was probably because the blue spring within me had been stimulated beyond measure. Which meant there was only one thing to do.

"Alright, let's go for a swim."

"A swim!?"

I expanded the space and repainted it, drawing the pool from my high school days. Squinting at the brilliant, pouring sunlight, I changed into the swimwear from back then, the school designated type.

"Let's have ourselves a little youth, shall we?"

"O, okay... Well, it looks fun, so I don't really mind..."