After dragging Kurt out of the bath area, Kai simply dropped his body onto a long bench in the changing room. He then hurriedly put on his clothes. He had no intention of helping Kurt get dressed—Kurt could do that on his own.
Kai was a little puzzled, though. His clothes were spotless and odorless, even though he hadn't washed them at all. Still, he quickly brushed it off, thinking it was just another one of the countless oddities of this world. There was no way he could question every strange thing he came across here.
"Oi, wake up already!"
Kai lightly kicked the bench where Kurt was lying. Kurt frowned from the jolt, then slowly opened his eyes to see Kai glaring down at him with an annoyed look.
"Hm? What happened?"
Kurt asked, confused about his current situation. He remembered being with Kai in the hot spring earlier, but the reason he had fainted was still fuzzy in his mind.
"Just put your clothes on already! I don't want to keep looking at your ugly body!"
Kai snapped before storming out of the changing room, not bothering to explain anything to the still-bewildered Kurt.
Outside, Kai ran into Katie, whose face was flushed bright red. The moment she saw him, she quickly walked away without saying a word. Kai watched her leave with a guilty expression. He could only hope things would return to normal when he met Kurt tomorrow.
"My, my… you really went and did something unnecessary."
Kai turned his head toward the voice. Claire was standing in the opposite direction from where Katie had left.
"Well, I couldn't help it… all those emotions inside the bath just overwhelmed me! I felt like I had to reveal the truth to the world!"
"…What on earth are you talking about?"
"Nothing!"
Awkward silence fell between the two of them, both recalling the conversation they'd had in the bath. Neither of them knew what to say next.
"If you don't have anything important to say, then I'll be going… goodbye."Claire's face was flushed red as she walked off, following after Katie who had already left.
Not long after Claire was gone, Kai ran into Elly.
"Yo, Elly… how are you? Was your bath nice?"
Kai greeted her with a stiff, awkward smile.
"Hey, Kai… I'm doing fine. How about you?"
Elly answered with a bright, blooming smile, like a flower in full blossom.
"Y-yeah, I'm doing fine too!"
"I see… I'm glad to hear that."
Kai started feeling embarrassed when he remembered that he had actually intended to peek at a kind and innocent girl like Elly. He really shouldn't have given in so easily to his desires.
"But Kai, I didn't expect you to have such a plan when you entered the hot spring."
"Eh?!"
Kai was startled by Elly's sudden words. He had no idea what she was talking about.
"You must've been planning to bring Kurt and Katie closer together, right? That's why you did something like 'that,' isn't it?"
"Eh?! Ah… y-yeah."
"I knew it… I had a feeling you must've had some kind of plan."
Kai put on a confused look, while Elly continued to smile warmly. He had no clue what she was actually talking about, so he just went along with it half-heartedly.
"Um… can I ask you something?"
Kai, now beginning to understand what Elly might be hinting at, hesitantly posed a question.
"Of course. What is it?"
Though Elly kept her gentle smile, for some reason Kai felt a faint sense of dread behind it.
"This is just a hypothetical… just a 'what if' question!"
"Yeah, I get it… so, what is it?""Um… just hypothetically—just hypothetically—if I actually planned to do 'that' and not to get them closer… um… what would you think?""Hm?!"
For some reason Kai felt a heavy pressure from Elly's expression. Her face looked strangely dark to him.
"Hmm… well… I guess I'll make you understand that what you did was wrong… or something like that."
Although Elly didn't explain exactly what she meant to do to Kai, he understood it wouldn't be pleasant, so he quickly nodded.
"Yeah, I get it… well… doing 'that' is bad, right? Hahaha… I don't think any naughty kid would do 'that'… right?""Of course… every naughty kid needs to be disciplined… hehehe!""Hahaha!"
Even though Kai laughed along with Elly, he didn't feel like laughing at all. He laughed because he felt his life might be threatened if he didn't.
"Alright then, see you later, Kai… I want to catch up with Claire and Katie!""Ah, yeah… see you."
Elly waved and left the bathhouse. Kai awkwardly waved back with his stiff smile.
Once Elly was out of sight, Kai let out a relieved breath."Phew… I feel like I just dodged something really scary."
He wiped the cold sweat that had somehow formed on his forehead.
"Hm? What are you talking about, Kai?"
asked Kurt, who had just come out of the men's changing room.
"Nothing… if there's nothing else you want to do here, let's get out of here!""Hey, wait, Kai! Don't leave me alone!"
Kurt hurried after Kai, who had already started walking away.