Sleep Learning - Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Man in the Bath

In a certain bathhouse in third city Hairun of the Bronze Country, where white steam and citrus filled the air, a yelling voice resounded for some reason.

“Aaah It was a man!?”

The voice was from Meer, a member of the S ranked party “Blizzard.” A towel had been wrapped around her short blue hair, holding it in place on top of her head.

“Eh~? I’m a man.” (Harumi)

Taking off his pajama’s while half asleep, Harumi’s birthday suit was revealed. While wearing clothes, he could only be seen as a girl. His natural long black hair was another point of Harumi that further left a hint of femininity.

“That’s news to me! Get out- and quickly go to the other side-ne!” (Meer)

Meer who had marched him by force to the women’s bath, could not be blamed. Forgetting that he was stark naked, she grabbed Harumi’s clothes that he had removed, and marched him back to the men’s side. On the other hand, Meer pushed Harumi into the dressing room that entered the men’s bath. However, her throbbing heart was unable to settle down.

“It’s all the fault of this useless cat-!” (Meer)

Even being annoyed, Meer entered the bath from the dressing room and blushed. Not far from her, Meer could hear deep screams from the men’s direction.

When the men looked at the visitor who entered from the women’s bath and suddenly saw Harumi without clothes, they screamed. Since Harumi’s hair was long enough to mask the important lack of figure seen only on girls, while helping with the reconstruction of third city Hairun and mistaken for a new member of the S ranked “Blizzard,” Harumi was given the nickname [Sleeping Beauty] and was famous among the men.

Clueless to such a thing, Harumi ignored the screams of the men and entered the bathtub.

The bathtub was filled with floating fruits, permeating the room with the pleasant smell of citrus.  Harumi thought it was a sleepy smell.

“Maybe Yuzu~?” (Harumi) (TL: Yuzu is an Eastern Asian citrus fruit, it looks kind of like a mix between a lemon and an orange)

Scooping from the bathtub with his hand, Harumi let the hot water flow over his shoulder. The natural gloss of his skin becomes more striking from the hot water. The men who had become used to this unprecedented visitor admired Harumi’s bewitching figure. Letting the hot water flow over his body, Harumi began to bathe. He sat down in front of a nearby faucet and began to rub soap into his towel.

“Awaawaa~” (Harumi)

While singing and humming with a loud voice, he began to wash his entire body. Harumi started from washing his left shoulder, simply for the reason that he is right-handed. Once he finished washing the body, he began to firmly wash his hair. Harumi does not leave anything out in regards to washing his hair. If he bundles the long black hair, then it can be used as a makeshift pillow. Several times he combed out his hair with his fingers as he washed.

Once Harumi finished washing his hair he arranged it up with the towel. The appearance of Harumi arranging his black hair shiny from the moisture was of a delicate physique which attracted the viewers. Standing at the edge of the tub, he dipped his leg to verify the hot water, and smiled broadly.

“Al-right! Sleepy time!” (Harumi)

Rather than enjoy the bath, Harumi thought it was more pleasurable to sleep in the bath. His weakness was to put his head on the edge of the tub as the water slowly flooded over his legs, hips, and shoulders.

“Good night!” (Harumi)

As usual, Harumi did not care about his surroundings and began to doze off. After awhile in the quiet bath the cute Harumi’s breathing while he slept could be heard. After blowing bubbles from his nose and with his lower body hidden in the hot water, the men around were no longer on the verge of fleeing…

A few hours later of being asleep, once Harumi woke up, he was not in the bathtub anymore. It was the bedroom with the Adventurer’s Guild he had stayed in over the past few days.

“Hue? What about the bath?” (Harumi)

“Do you not remember anything?” (Maia)

“I’m seriously gonna murder this useless cat at first opportunity!” (Meer)

Maia and Meer had made a generous bet. (TL: generous came from 仁王立ち or “royal benevolence.” They probably bet on if Harumi would be attacked in the bath or not, and Meer ended up on the losing side) When the story is told, some stupid man made an attempt to get close to Harumi who had began to sleep and make mischief, and the bath had become an inferno of pandemonium. Even under such circumstances Harumi was able to enjoy his nap in the tub without waking up.

“Why do I have to say that it is no good to sleep in a place around other people? Well, it was our bad that we didn’t know you were a boy, which I don’t think is prudent. But your sleep skills are really dangerous you know? Even though you obtain them with ease does not change the fact that they are dangerous. Understood?” (Maia)

Maia’s lecture continues. As for Harumi, after the fight with the Hekatonkheires he had learned the skill [Daydream] to mitigate [Sleep Learning]. The ability allowed him to set specific elimination instructions for [Dream Eater] from indiscriminate destruction to half-killing. It was now possible to exploit these skills, full elimination of a target with malicious intent to kill, or kindness towards someone who is an acquaintance and will not trigger [Dream Eater].

“Ye-es, I won’t do it anymore so let me sleep-.” (Harumi)

“Even though such a thing is happening now, you idiot!? Also, don’t try to sleep!” (Meer)

As had been seen during Hairun’s reconstruction, Harumi had been taken in by the party “Blizzard” and made to receive various quests. Because of the dual personality, Irori, Harumi was revealed and his guild ranking increased, and in order to keep him in check the guild put their party in charge of managing him.

Management of Harumi’s personality is a constant struggle. Also, Irori wasn’t currently around because of Harumi. The same Harumi who was receiving quests had also changed the local topography, so the enduring Irori had headed down to clean these various places.

“Today, we just received a quest, which makes three now? Get up. We have been requested to escort Princess Ririade, and there is no refusal. Now go get ready.” (Maia)

“I-Re-fuse.” (Harumi)

Though Harumi whines in the bed, Maia picked him up, like a mother cat lifting the nape of her kitten with the mouth. Sighing at this familiar scene, Meer began their preparations.