The Stars Above

Chapter 17

Written in 2021-2022, uploaded onto Wattpad on 12/24/2022.

Spoiler warning for the ending of Just Shape and Beats, I guess.

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The Astral Student sighed contentedly as he lowered himself into a mid-sized pool of water.

He'd paid a good sum of Champ's rent payment to have Matilda install a hot tub room in his house, and by golly, devils worked hellishly fast, pun intended.

One might have concerns about using such a piece of hardware when it was built by a weapons smuggler, but given the kind of skills Matilda had, he could probably trust her on this.

To be fair, she did a pretty damn good job on the aesthetics. Adjustable lights, some windows to let some fresh air in, even a small fridge by the side of the tub.

This place had it all.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door as Helenski slowly pushed it open.

"H-Hey....Ku-san...c-can I join?"

There she was, in some frilly blue one-piece swimsuit. Now, Helenski was by no means a supermodel, which was the default appearance of most supernatural entities— she was a bit average, not really sexy but just really cute and huggable.

Whereas most anime protagonists would suffer a nosebleed, Kuraima was no mere anime protagonist. He did not have weak nose vessels, only proud, half-American flesh!

While he did have the Teenage Hormones(™), he at least knew how to keep it in his pants.

"Oh. Y-Yeah. Sure. Take a seat."

Helenski nodded and strode into the water, not even hesitating to dip right in even after feeling the water's warmth.

'Must be a side effect of having fire powers.'

"Hey, so...uh...you want a pop?"

"...Sure."

Reaching over into the mini-fridge, he leaned out of the water to grab a soft drink, the water clinging to his swimwear.

Helsinki's face began to turn red as she stared at her boyfriend's rear-end for a bit longer than she would like to admit to.

'The way his leg muscles move...they're like pistons...' She thought to herself.

As Kuraima sat back down, the platinum-haired girl nearly jumped when she realized Kuraima was looking at her.

'Oh that's adorable, she's blushing. Maybe the heat is getting to her after all- OH RIGHT, SODA.'

Handing her a can of coca-cola, the two opened their drinks and raised them.

"Cheers."

"C-Cheers...!"

Clink.

"Ah..." Kuraima sighed contentedly after taking a swig, setting the can aside.

He put an arm around Helenski's shoulders, causing the short girl to tense up for a moment before she relaxed, scooting closer to lean against him.

All seemed peaceful, until...

Splash!

Champ suddenly popped out from under the water's surface, gasping for air.

"Gah! Oh god! Fucking—!"

Kuraima, panicking at the sight of the bikini-clad former mob boss, grabbed his half-empty can of root beer and chucked that thing right at her.

Having granted the soda can a [Blessing] at that very moment, the can was covered in a familiar glow as it left his hand and shot across the tub, before nailing Champ right in the forehead.

She slumped over, dazed and unconscious.