#057 Trouble in the Forest
It has been two days since I came to Coral’s house.
-Maeam. Maeam.
Unexpectedly, what greeted us was not the sound of a chicken, but the sound of cicadas.
The morning scene I woke up to at her house was very relaxed, unlike the city center.
As I was lying down and scratching my stomach with half-closed eyes, I came to my senses when I heard a rustling noise coming from in front of me.
“···Hmm.”
Standing in front of me was Dia, looking as usual, having finished all her grooming.
She met mine with sparkling eyes and greeted me with a grin.
“Amber, good morning.”
“···Haaam. “When did you wake up?”
“About two hours ago. “Everyone was sleeping so beautifully that I watched intently, right?”
When she said that she had been watching intently, I quickly looked in the mirror.
You probably drooled all night, right? If that were the case, it would be a shame…
From Noble mtl dot com
Dia looked at me with a kind smile, as if she found me cute like that.
“It’s okay. “Sleeping Amber was cute as usual.”
“···Grunt.”
Once again, I realized that DIA was surprisingly full of people.
He always looked and dressed perfectly, and he rarely got emotionally upset or anything.
No matter how buff the main character was, she was so perfect.
Compared to him, my hair gets messy whenever I get the chance, and my skirt is often rolled up.
Considering that I seriously thought about cutting it short because it was difficult to maintain, I almost envied Diamond for always keeping her long, curly hair neatly maintained.
I got up from my tired body and stretched.
I think I woke up for the second time, so I should hurry up and take a bath.
“I’m going to go take a shower. Diamond.”
Her Bath I was about to pack up her basket and head to her bath, when she called me out.
“Uh… Are you going to take a bath?”
“Yes. “Why are you doing this?”
“Umm…”
Dia looks unusually calm. She couldn’t keep her hands still and she said to me:
“That… “It must be the water I took in this morning. Are you okay?”
This is near the beach, so water is rare, so it is said that the family uses the bathing water they get up to three times.
As the original was not a Korean game, it seemed to bring in a unique rural culture.
I tried to be considerate of her and told her as much as I could to show her that I didn’t care.
“Of course. “Someone had to go in first anyway.”
“···Yes. “That’s right.”
“Then, I’ll go take a shower.”
While heading to her bathhouse, I continued to feel Diamond’s embarrassed gaze.
-Smurf.
I took off all my clothes and stood in front of the steaming bathtub.
The reason it is called a bathtub is because it was really a huge wooden barrel just for bathing.
‘Was there a diamond in here…?’
Even just now, she was in this water with her naked body.
She thought about that as she looked above the surface of the water, then shook her head.
‘Let’s not worry about it…!’
She felt like she should start taking a bath before her strange thoughts overtook her, so she boldly dipped one of her feet into it.
‘Oh, it’s hot!’
For a moment, it was so hot that I thought her feet might be getting cooked, but I held on and dipped both of her feet into the bath.
I slowly entered her body from the top, just as when I went into the hot tub in the sauna as a child, I would dip my feet first and slowly enter.
After a while, when my skin felt warm, I dipped my body up to my stomach and leaned my shoulder against the wooden barrel.
“Haa~”
As I leaned against the barrel, an uncle-like sound automatically came out of my mouth.
A pleasant temperature just enough to make my body tingle covered my lower body, and the hot steam rising above it lifted my mood.
But then again, it occurred to me that I was once again immersing myself in water like a diamond.
‘···Let’s calm down. ‘It’s just water.’
Is my face burning right now because of the heat or because of strange thoughts?
I finished my bath after spending a reasonable amount of time feeling like I would get used to it any longer.
I got dressed and came out of the bath with a refreshed expression.
Ruby and Coral had just woken up outside and were waiting with a bath basket.
“I’m sorry. “Did it take a while?”
“No, we just woke up.”
The two people were looking at each other when they saw me coming out of the bath.
Coral spoke to Ruby with a meaningful expression.
“Can I wash after Amber, Ruby? “I’ll get you clean bird bath water, Ruby.”
The two people looked like they were smiling, but there was an unusual current between them.
“···No. The owner of the house is Coral, but you can’t do that. “I’m a guest today, so I’ll go in after Amber.”
Two people in a tense confrontation, each claiming to be next.
‘Why are you like this, these two…?’
Anyway, one of these two will end up soaking in the bath water I just came out of.
When I thought about that, my face heated up again.
I never thought it would be such a shame for someone to try to enter the water where I washed.
I started to understand why Dia blushed earlier.
Anyway, the tense battle of nerves between the women before my eyes continued.
Coral waved her hand and plucked Ruby to stop her.
“No, no…! How can you let a noble guest enter water that has been used by many people? “I’ll go in and out here first.”
“It’s okay. I don’t care about that. Okay, I went first…”
-Drur.
While the two were arguing with each other, the door outside the locker room opened.
“Oh my, are all the guests gathered here?”
The one who came in was Coral’s mother, holding a towel without a single cloth on her body.
– Sloshing.
Her saggy breasts and buttocks swayed dizzyingly in time with her steps, making it hard to believe that she was a married woman.
“···!”
The voluptuous, slightly fleshy body still had a softness to it, as if showing off its vividness.
This is the body of an adult…?
As I was concentrating on her violent naked body that attracted attention like an electric bulletin board, Ruby hurriedly covered my eyes.
“Amber, you can’t look at things like this…!”
“Oh.”
If she hadn’t covered her eyes, she would have lost her senses forever.
Coral, who only then realized her situation, shouted to her mother.
“Mom, why are you naked in front of her friends?”
“Oh my, I got so used to it that I forgot.”
She smiled as if nothing had happened and opened the door to her bath.
“Daughter. “I’ll wash up first and then come out?”
Her mother enters the bathhouse without Coral having time to stop her.
“Uh, huh…?”
In the end, Coral’s mother took my next bath.
‘···What did I see…?’
The violent body I saw earlier was still lovingly swaying in my mind.
***
After the bathing commotion, Coral asked us as we sat on the floor biting into watermelon.
“Everyone, how about going to the forest today?”
“Forest?”
Coral added her explanation to Ruby’s question.
“There is a place called Maze Forest behind the village. “When I was young, I played there a lot by myself.”
After hearing her words, I tilted her head and asked.
“Coral. “Why is the forest called Maze Forest?”
Coral answered my question with a slightly creepy expression.
“Because… “There are quite a few children who went missing there to play.”
When she spoke with a scary expression on her face, I got scared and pulled Ruby’s arm.
If someone else said something like that, it could be dismissed as a joke, but if a girl who sees ghosts like Coral said it, it would be a different story.
It could be really dangerous.
“···Can I go to that place?”
“It’s okay. It’s all a thing of the past. “This hasn’t happened even once since I was born.”
Unlike me, who looked worried, Ruby and Diamond looked fine.
Coral patted her chest and spoke to me.
“Nothing will happen. “I guarantee it.”
“···Okay.”
I headed to a place called Maze Forest with them.
As I entered the entrance of the forest, I could feel the perfect coolness thanks to the wind blowing from the sea and the shade created by the trees.
Coral picked up an acorn from the floor and explained it to me.
“Isn’t it because the structure is complex? It’s a surprisingly ordinary forest.”
“Yes. But, a ghost in the shape of a missing child… “That won’t happen, right?”
Coral responded to my words with a slight smile.
“Amber, are you scared of ghosts?”
“I guess it’s a bit like that. Of course, you can’t see it with my eyes.”
If I could see ghosts like Coral, I probably wouldn’t have been able to come out of the corner of my room for the rest of my life.
Because I’m scared.
Coral listened to my story and smiled brightly.
“Really? For that matter, you had a good time at the sea yesterday…”
“···What?”
Perhaps that means there are ghosts in the sea too…?
Coral left me frozen and walked ahead.
“Okay, shall we all leave? “I have to look around and get out before it gets dark.”
From Noble mtl dot com
“Were there really ghosts in the sea?”
The fact that I was swimming next to spooky-looking ghosts gave me goosebumps, so I grabbed their shoulders and quickly followed them.
When we reached the halfway point of the forest, Coral looked back at us and said.
“Everyone, this is the real deal. “The road is very complicated, so be careful not to fall apart.”
Actually, as she said, the trees in front of here were so thick that you wouldn’t even notice if anyone disappeared.
After hearing Coral’s words, Dia raised her finger and expressed her opinion.
“Then how about we hold hands and go?”
“Let’s hold hands?”
“Yes. That way, you don’t have to worry about being separated from each other, and you can immediately find out who’s missing, right?”
No one really denied her opinion, and we ended up standing in a line like a train and holding hands.
As I stood between Diamond and Ruby and held their hands, I felt a clear difference in temperature.
Diamond’s hands are warm as if soaked in sunlight, and Ruby’s hands are slightly cool and cool.
When I thought about what magical attributes the two people were each born with, it made me wonder if they had switched.
As I entered the forest, it felt so cool that I wondered if it was actually summer.
Every time I take a breath, my vision becomes particularly blurry and it feels like there is fog.
Is it as if this space is separated from reality?
It’s not called a maze forest for nothing.
Undoubtedly, in this kind of atmosphere, there were enough rumors that the child was missing.
As we were walking for a while, I let go of Ruby’s hand and said,
“Miss, let me wipe the sweat on my hands for a moment.”
Normally, this wouldn’t have happened, but since it was summer and I had been holding my hand for a long time, it felt a little slippery.
At that moment, Dia, who was following me from behind, stopped and handed me a handkerchief.
“Wipe with this, Amber.”
“Oh, thank you!”
After wiping her hands on her handkerchief and returning it to her, she extended her hand towards her ruby again.
“Miss, that’s enough. “Let’s start again.”
As she said that, she waited for Ruby to hold her hand, but there was no response.
“···Huh? Miss?”
Ruby and Coral, who had been walking happily in front of me until just now, had disappeared somewhere.
***
With Diamond and her alone, I looked at her crying and explained to her what I had seen.
“I let go of her hand and looked away for a moment, but she immediately disappeared.”
What was strange was that they disappeared in an instant.
And that in just over 3 seconds.
“···As expected, it sounds like a lie, right?”
Dia listened to me and looked quite serious.
“···No, I don’t think what Amber said was a lie.”
She waved her hand in the air and she said.
“The mana in the air in this forest is several times thicker than in other places.”
“Is it Mana…?”
“Have you felt particularly dizzy and your vision blurry since you came here? “Maybe it was because of the mana.”
“So, if we let go, there’s a chance that could happen?”
“···Yes. I think so. “For now.”
After hearing Dia’s explanation, I held her hand tighter so as not to let go.
As I was stranded in the forest with her, holding her hand, I slowly looked around.
“What should we do next? “If I move too hastily, I think I’ll get even more lost…”
It was an even bigger problem because Coral was the only one who knew the geography of the forest.
She seemed to have the same opinion as me, so she paused and added her opinion.
“First, let’s wait for Coral to return. “If they find out we’re gone, they’ll come back to find us.”
“Yes. “I do that…”
We waited for them at a nearby tree stump.
But when there was no sign of him appearing even after an hour or two, I started to get more and more anxious.
‘What if I really go missing like this..? Could it be that I too become a ghost…?’
This was the moment I especially wanted to see Ruby. She was 17 years old and she became lost in the forest.
Dia seemed to be equally nervous.
Dia continued to look around her, unusually, and her body was shaking.
I felt puzzled by that and asked worriedly.
“Dia, are you okay? “You don’t look very good…”
“Oh, it’s nothing…”
However, contrary to her answer, as time passed, her expression seemed to get worse.
Dia placed her hands between her legs and flinched helplessly.
“uuu.”
“As expected, what’s wrong with you?…!? “What’s wrong, does it hurt?”
She hesitated to answer my persistent question and finally opened her mouth.
“No more… “I can’t stand it…”
“Yes? What?”
Dia had the most embarrassed expression I’ve ever seen, and she muttered softly.
“In the morning… “I drank too much water…”
She covered her crotch and looked like she was about to cry.
“Urine…This….”
“···Ah.”
I said, turning her gaze away from her.
“I won’t be watching, so come back after solving the problem.”
“Yes? No···! Then Amber and I will fall apart.”
“Then what should I do? You look like you’re in a hurry…?”
“···.”
Dia was silent for a moment, her face turned red, and she spoke softly to me.
“By any chance… could you hold my hand while I do my work…?”
