Megumin's POV
Well that was embarrassing. Good thing no one's ever going to bring it up again-
"Welcome back, my dear adventurers! It seems as though the silly crimson demon girl has just suffered a grave experience because of her own foolishness!"
"Shut up!"
"And the strongest of the weak has come after not even bothering to wash the stink off of his body!"
"Huh? Oh, right. I never did deal with that, huh. I guess I'll take a bath when we get back. For now, here are the jars you wanted."
"Hmm… Moi believes that your rewards are due at this point. Moi shall go fetch the payment,"
I watched from atop Kazuma as Vanir went into the back and emerged with a pouch of gold.
"Your payment. Moi also senses an ulterior motive for coming here, hm?"
"Uh, yeah! I was looking to do some power levelling with you and Wiz! Like before!"
"Indeed you are. Moi believes that we can arrange that as I don't foresee anyone coming in while we're hard at work with you. Very well."
"Awesome! Catch you guys tomorrow!"
Wait… Why is Wiz lying on the floor, transparent?
"Uh, Kazuma?"
"I'm Kazuma."
"Look down."
"Huh?! What happened, Vanir?"
"Ahahah! Your rage is quite the dessert moi needed after a long day of work! That foul archpriest in your party lost her temper when the shopkeeper failed to give her the money."
"That's… Whatever. Do you mind me draining you a little bit?"
"If you must."
I watched as Kazuma transferred some of Vanir's mana into Wiz.
"Welp, I'll see ya tomorrow."
"Farewell, adventurers!"
Walking out the door, I wonder if he'll agree to this.
"Hey Kazuma, want to take a bath together? We're both covered in goo, after all."
"Huh? Sure."
Of course he isn't against it at all. We walked in silence for a while before getting home and into the bath.
"Ah… It's nice to finally get all of this gunk off."
"Did you get covered in that just to have a bath with me? Y'know, you could've just asked."
"Well, let's just say that that's just an added bonus."
"Kazuma! Can I use some of this gold to get us some crab? They're having a sale at a local stall!"
"Yeah, sure. Just bring Darkness along with you so you don't spend too much."
"What do you think I am? I'm a goddess, dammit! If you think I need a babysitter-"
"You know, I could just cut off your allowance-"
"Ok, ok! I'm going to get Darkness!"
This guy seriously doesn't take any crap. At least from Aqua.
"Hey Kazuma?"
"I'm Kazuma."
"Want to scrub my back?"
"Sure, if you do the same for me after."
He really has zero shame. Not that I mind. This feels great~
"You know, I was expecting you to get at least a little embarrassed from that."
"Well, I can't always chicken out at the last second, now can I? Besides, we've already slept together and it's not like I'm seeing anything I shouldn't be seeing. Plus, we're just washing each other. Normal couple stuff."
I bet this loser's trying to peek at me. As if I'd allow that.
"Y'know, I'm surprised you haven't peeked at me yet."
"Hey, I might not look like it, but I have at least a little bit of common human decency. I look at clothing, I make jokes, I do other stuff, but I draw the line and actually doing stuff to my naked girlfriend."
"Yeah, just like at Alcanretia."
"H-hey! I've changed since then. Besides, why'd you invite me anyways if you're scared?"
"Because I'm not."
I don't even need to turn around to know that his jaw just hit the floor.
"A-alright then. Well, I-I think that I'm done here. Your turn, Megumin!"
"Fufu… Kazuma's getting all embarrassed because I complimented him!"
"Shut up! I'm… I'm just not used to it, ok?"
Wait, what did he just say? I mean… I guess he's not wrong… Sure, he got some praise for defeating the devil king, but everyone still calls him a perv, a NEET, and recently, a lolicon. Even when they praise his victory, it's mostly backhanded compliments about how he's underhanded.
"O-oh. Well, if it makes you feel better, you look like you've put on some muscle since last time I saw you like this."
Silence. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5-
"No insult? Nothing to pop my ego? Are you sure you're a part of my party?"
"Fufufu… Is Kazuma that insecure?"
"I… I guess not. Thank you, Megumin."
And now we're both happy.
Kazuma's POV
I won't peek. I won't peek. I won't peek. I won't peek. That's rude, wrong, and would destroy her trust in me. No way I'm going to destroy the trust that she claims she has in me. Just wait it out. Self control is key to the survival of any self-respecting adventurer.
"Alright Kazuma, I'm done."
"That's good. Thanks, again."
"No problem! You must really be compliment-starved if me giving you even one brings you to your knees in defeat!"
"Oh, shut up."
Still, I can't help but smile. Then again, the day's coming to a close and I haven't even eaten yet.
"Hey Megumin?"
"Yeah?"
"How about you feed me tonight and in exchange, I'll cook lunch and dinner tomorrow."
Megumin, I can see your smile. There's no point in hiding it.
"Very well. If my party leader demands it, then I must oblige him."
After that, we just change into our sleep wear and boom. There we are.
"Open wide~"
…
…
This tastes like garbage! Damn, Darkness really didn't put enough skill points in cooking, huh? Yep, there's no way in hell she's cooking. This isn't anywhere as bad as Aqua's but still. Oh well, I'm hungry.
"How does it taste, Kazuma?"
"This is awful! Holy crap, I think I just found the equivalent of wonder bread to rice!"
"Hey, don't say that about Darkness! Besides, what's wonder bread?"
"Look, I'm not going to sit here and pretend it tastes good just because my friend made it. In any case, I'm hungry, and you agreed to feed me, so I'll still eat it."
Megumin let out a sigh as she continued feeding me with a smile as I powered my way through the bowl. After about half an hour, we were done.
"You really didn't like that, huh Kazuma?"
"Yep. I'm definitely giving that noble some lessons."
"O-oh. What about me, could you teach me how to cook as well?"
"I don't see why not. How about this, I'll give you and Darkness lesson in 2 days?"
"Actually, Darkness already has a pretty high cooking skill. She just prefers to put less seasoning and extra ingredients in hers. She mainly uses it to jam pack everything she makes with nutrients."
"Hmph. Makes sense. How about just you, then?"
That sly bastard.
"I think that'd work. I already put a good amount of skill points into cooking when I was young."
"Excellent. Classes shall commence in 2 days, Megumin-kun!"
"What does that extra sound mean?"
"Eh… Nothing. Anyways, I'm not quite ready to be separated from you, so do you want to head over to my room?"
Why are her eyes lighting up like I when I told her that I used explosion magic?
"It's about time you took the initiative, Kazuma! Sure, I'll join you!"
Alright. We just head upstairs, freshen up, and nose dive into bed.
"Hey Kazuma?"
"I'm Kazuma."
"It's kinda cold."
It really isn't, but I can see where this is going.
"Alright."
Having her on top of me feels pretty amazing. Just us, sharing a bed, sharing a space, sharing a hug. Not bad for a hiki-NEET like me.