"...Why are you here? Did you find the Cursed Spirit?"
Naoya Zenin was a little confused.
After all, he had been fully focused on sensing the barrier just now. If the students really had found the Cursed Spirit, there was no way he would not have noticed.
But if they had not found the Cursed Spirit, then why had Momo Nishimiya specifically co all the way to the open-air hot spring?
"U-Um... We haven't found the Cursed Spirit yet. I-I just ca to soak in the hot spring..."
Momo Nishimiya blushed, lowered her head, and fidgeted with her fingers, not daring to look at Naoya Zenin again.
...Ca to soak in the hot spring?
The teacher frowned and carefully looked over Momo Nishimiya's current outfit.
Her hair was tied up, she was wrapped in a bath towel, and her bare feet were standing on the stone tiles. She did indeed look like she had co to bathe.
Naoya Zenin finally let out a breath of relief.
Only then did he fully draw back the Cursed Energy around his body, slowly relax, and return to the hot spring, leaning against the rocks.
Good. At least she had not found the Cursed Spirit.
He had nearly been scared to death just now.
If he had prepared so thoroughly and been so careful, yet still failed to notice the trace of a Grade 3 Cursed Spirit, then this transmigrator really might as well smash his head into a rock and die.
Thank goodness it was Momo Nishimiya who appeared.
If it had really been that Grade 3 Cursed Spirit, Yuki-onna, he truly would have been nailed to the pillar of sha in the history of the Jujutsu World.
He might even have had a chance at surpassing gumi Fushiguro.
But wait...
The teacher finally realized sothing after the fact.
"Wait. Why are you coming in here to soak in the hot spring???"
Wasn't that the most ridiculous part?!
I'm already bathing in here, aren't I?!
And there was absolutely no way this could be so classic ani misunderstanding!
Because before Naoya Zenin ca in to soak in the hot spring, he had clearly hung a sign outside the door saying soone was already bathing inside.
And just in case so genius student thought it was one of their classmates in the bath, he had even written his own na on it.
How could Momo Nishimiya possibly co in to bathe?!
And why had there not been a single panicked scream?!
It was as if this little witch coming in to bathe was completely natural, while Naoya Zenin was the awkward one who could not read the room.
But he could not show his panic in front of a student.
Naoya Zenin could only secretly take a few deep breaths before finally returning to his usual cold tone.
"Why did you co in here to bathe? Did you not know I was inside beforehand?"
First, he had to investigate the situation.
Maybe Momo Nishimiya simply could not read Japanese?
"Ah."
Unexpectedly, Momo Nishimiya nodded openly and admitted it.
"I ca in because I knew you were inside."
Naoya Zenin fell silent.
What was this now?
Could Momo Nishimiya have been taken over by Kenjaku without anyone noticing?
Was this the sneak attack Kenjaku had planned so carefully?
Possess a little girl, possess one of his students, launch a night attack on him, take photos, post them on Twitter to get him attacked online, have his teaching license revoked, get him fired from Tokyo Jujutsu High on the spot, turn him into a side character outside the plot, and then have the protagonist group kick him to death?
My god, Kenjaku-sama.
That is way too despicable, isn't it?!
Then again, now that I think about it, I don't even have a teaching license, do I?
I got in purely through connections, didn't I?
"...Sorry, I really don't understand what you an."
There was a faint stiffness in Naoya Zenin's voice that was hard to notice.
"Could you explain what you just ant?"
"Uh, I an..."
Momo Nishimiya did not notice Naoya Zenin's embarrassnt at all. She only lowered her head with a red face, her voice soft and delicate, sounding as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"I heard you were soaking in the hot spring, so I wanted to co soak with you?"
As she spoke, the little witch subconsciously moved closer. She wrapped her bathrobe tighter around herself, shifted forward a few steps, and dipped both feet into the hot spring.
"Whoa! It's so hot!!! Was this hot spring always this hot?!"
Naoya Zenin fell silent again.
Even though he already thought his students were all bizarre creatures, this was the first ti he had ever seen soone as bizarre as Momo Nishimiya.
No, what exactly did this an?
He turned his head and looked expressionlessly at Momo Nishimiya, watching the faint pink flush on the girl's exposed neck, like a fully ripened peach.
Then he lowered his gaze to that ultimate airport, flat enough for a pilot to glide over at low altitude.
Sexual implication?
You're using this kind of thing to test a teacher?
What teacher couldn't withstand a test like this?
"Momo Nishimiya."
Naoya Zenin spent a long ti gathering his words before finally speaking seriously.
"I know you grew up in Arica and received a more open education there, but you need to rember that we are teacher and student. This kind of inappropriate behavior would be heavily criticized by society in any country. As an outsider, I do not want to interfere with your sex education, but I still have to warn you. Woman, have so self-respect!!"
"What?! What are you even talking about?!"
Momo Nishimiya blinked several tis before she finally understood what Naoya Zenin ant.
The little witch was so embarrassed that she imdiately kicked at him.
"Who ant anything like that?! I only ca here because I wanted to discuss sothing with you! Otherwise, I wouldn't bother bathing with you at all!"
"What do you an, wouldn't bother? You shouldn't have co in at all! You shaless Westerner! Did your parents never teach you that n and won should keep a proper distance?!"
"Wh-What?! Aren't traditional open-air hot springs here mixed baths?! That's why I ca in!!!"
"...Who told you that?"
"Uh, TV dramas."
"...Didn't you ask a local?"
"Uh, I did. Kasumi Miwa said it was okay."
"...Naoya-sensei, are n and won really not allowed to bathe together here?"
Momo Nishimiya then asked cautiously.
"Have you been watching too much porn?"
Teacher and student stared at each other, unable to say a word for a long while.
"Tap, tap, tap..."
And so, the little witch began slowly moving away from Naoya Zenin, scooting her little butt bit by bit.
"...Are you still not going to get out?"
"U-Um..."
Momo Nishimiya wrapped a lock of hair around her finger, her face completely red as she said, "Can you give a little more ti? I-I still have sothing I haven't asked yet..."
"Ask."
Momo Nishimiya had originally co in to ask about the teaching assistant position.
After all, earlier she had seen Naoya Zenin specifically praise Noritoshi Kamo. Such direct praise was extrely rare from the mouth of this sadistic teacher.
The little witch had given it everything she had, and only when she placed first on that exam had she received praise from Naoya Zenin.
She had originally thought that because of that praise, it was only natural that she would beco the teaching assistant.
But now, she had not expected the usually quiet Noritoshi Kamo to also receive praise from Naoya Zenin!
Could it be that he wanted to beco the teaching assistant too?!
The mont that thought appeared, Momo Nishimiya instantly panicked.
After all, no matter how hard she thought about it before, she had only figured Mai and Kasumi would compete with her for the position. She never imagined that Noritoshi Kamo, as the heir of the Kamo family, would also be interested in fighting for it!
Momo Nishimiya was fairly self-aware.
If she had to compete with him fairly, she would definitely lose!
So even though the night would be busy, and even though it might disturb Naoya Zenin's rest, Momo Nishimiya still decided to take a gamble. She ca over privately to ask him whether she could beco the teaching assistant.
It was shaful, and it was humiliating.
But who was Momo Nishimiya?
She was the chosen one valued by Sponsor-sama!
For the sake of Sponsor-sama, who thought so highly of her, even if she had to lower her head to that great demon king Naoya Zenin for the ti being, she could grit her teeth and endure it!
There was an ancient saying in the East that put it perfectly.
Hard work pays off. Even a small force can overco a powerful enemy with enough determination!
Why couldn't Momo Nishimiya be the underdog who endures humiliation, bides her ti, and cos back stronger?
So she was definitely going to ask!
Now!
Imdiately!!
Right here!!!
"What happened to the scars on your body?"
Yet unexpectedly, the question she had been building up to for so long changed the mont it left her mouth.
The little witch actually found herself caring about the dense, countless scars covering Naoya Zenin's body.
After all, what had shocked her most earlier, besides Naoya Zenin's body that looked as if it had been carved by a blade, was the number of "badges" left on his skin.
"Hm? These..."
Naoya Zenin did not avoid the question at all. He simply raised his arm and said as if it were nothing, "Just the price of getting stronger."
Ever since his transmigration, he had not relaxed for even a mont.
On top of that, in order to develop new uses for [Projection Sorcery], he had repeatedly intensified his training with hidden weapons. In that bullet-ti world where every mont mattered, trying to use shuriken freely according to his will was bound to co with considerable backlash.
Just now, he had used a hidden weapon thrown later to knock down the one he had thrown first. That one move alone showed just how much effort Naoya Zenin had put into the twenty-four fras of [Projection Sorcery] within a single second.
In the ti an ordinary person trained once, Naoya Zenin could train twenty-four tis.
Naturally, the wounds piled up bit by bit, until his body was carved full of dense scars.
"Though it really does make people uncomfortable when they see it."
Naoya Zenin only continued speaking to himself.
"That's why I usually don't show it in front of you all. Looks like I frightened you."
"H-How could you?!"
Momo Nishimiya quickly denied it.
"I-I think it looks cool. Uh, cough, I an, you know, like a man's badge of honor or sothing..."
"Ridiculous. How could wounds be badges of honor?"
Naoya Zenin only shook his head with a cold smile.
"They are proof of weakness. Proof that I'm still not strong enough."
You're not strong enough?!
Momo Nishimiya was completely convinced now.
In her eyes, Naoya Zenin was already the great demon king she would have to spend her whole life trying to defeat.
And now he was telling her that the great demon king was only the weakest of the Four Heavenly Kings, the fifth Heavenly King?
No, who was he trying to fool?!
Didn't that make her the weakest goblin under the fifth Heavenly King?!
"I-I think you're already really strong."
"What's wrong with you today?"
Naoya Zenin directly cut Momo Nishimiya off.
He tilted his head and asked, "You've been acting strange since earlier. Do you have a fever? Did the cold freeze your brain? Why are you so concerned about ?"
In Naoya Zenin's eyes, Momo Nishimiya had always been the problem student who opposed him at every turn. There was no way she should be wearing such a worried expression toward him tonight.
Could she really have been taken over by Kenjaku?
That thought sent Naoya Zenin's mood straight to the bottom.
...If there was no other way, he could only kill Momo Nishimiya here and let her body be freed sooner.
"I-I don't have a fever!"
Momo Nishimiya did not notice the killing intent flickering in Naoya Zenin's eyes at all. She only clenched her fists and did everything she could to hide her embarrassnt, stamring, "Let's not talk about this anymore! Forget it! I-I'm leaving!!!"
The little witch had completely forgotten about asking for the teaching assistant position.
She had indeed been worried about Naoya Zenin just now, but that feeling, which even she had not noticed herself, had been exposed to her face. It left this proud little witch so embarrassed she wanted to crawl into a hole.
Right now, Momo Nishimiya only wanted to escape as quickly as possible!!!
"Rember to dry yourself properly. Don't catch a cold. You still have night duty later."
"O-Okay! Why do you talk just like my father?!"
Just as Momo Nishimiya was about to get up and leave the hot spring, her ears twitched. The next mont, she heard a bright, energetic voice coming from outside the gate.
"Naoya-sensei~~ Are you in there~~?"
A little blue-haired head peeked in from outside the door.
"I need to talk to you about sothing! Are you busy right now?"
"...I'm busy right now. Wait until I co out."
"Ahem, that really won't work! If I wait until you co out, I won't get another chance to talk to you!"
Kasumi Miwa tiptoed in, then saw Naoya Zenin soaking in the hot spring with his upper body bare. She covered her eyes in an exaggerated gesture.
"Wow! So dazzling! Naoya-sensei's body is shining, ahhhhhh!! I'm so embarrassed!!!"
However, the gaps between the fingers covering her eyes did absolutely nothing to hide the pair of curious eyes peeking through.
"Didn't I tell you to wait outside?"
Hearing the anger in Naoya Zenin's voice, Kasumi Miwa imdiately grabbed a bath towel and draped it over her shoulders. Like a grinning bathhouse attendant, she leaned closer with a flattering smile.
"Um, dear custor, would you like a back-scrubbing service? I used to work at a public bathhouse, and my back-scrubbing skills are really good! The grandpas and grandmas in the neighborhood all praised my technique!!!"
No wonder Kasumi Miwa had said mixed bathing between n and won was completely okay.
So she was the most unbelievable one of them all!
"Even soone as amazing as Naoya-sensei definitely can't reach the skin on his own back, right? Don't worry! I, Kasumi Miwa, known as the number one female Sword Saint of New Shadow Style, will use the force of an iaido slash to wipe out all your dead skin!!!"
Kasumi Miwa had just been about to co over and scrub Naoya Zenin's back when, in the next mont, the blue-haired girl suddenly frowned. She pointed toward the far end of the hot spring and spoke seriously.
"Sensei, look! It seems like sothing's moving over there! Bubbles keep coming up!!!"
"Gurgle, gurgle..."
"Because soone... hiss!"
Naoya Zenin looked at Momo Nishimiya beside him, who had taken advantage of her height and dived straight underwater. He had originally planned to tell the truth, but who would have thought that this little witch would suddenly grab his thigh on the spot? Her nails nearly dug into his flesh, as if she were making one final desperate trade.
It carried the clear ssage that if he dared sell her out, he could forget about keeping his teaching license for the rest of his life.
"Soone...?"
The mont Kasumi Miwa tilted her head, Naoya Zenin could only act as if nothing had happened.
"Soone dug a hot spring source here, so bubbles naturally rise from underground. Who taught your general education classes? You don't even know that much common sense?"
"Wow! So that's how it works?"
Kasumi Miwa exclaid with sincere admiration.
"Open-air hot springs are amazing! Could they even bubble up soda water?!"
...
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