Chapter 42 - Bath Time

4.16.1206 - Sunday (Free Day)

It was a fairly standard morning inside the Branch Campus Dormitory. The dorm was fairly empty after everyone had their breakfast. Since it was a Free Day everyone went out to relax around Leeves. Rean was no different. His plans for the day mainly involved walking around Leeves and the Branch Campus and seeing if anyone needed any help, but first he wanted to have a quick dip in the men's bathroom.

After changing into a towel, Rean took a seat inside the artificial hot spring. It was nice, not Phoenix Wing nice, but still nice nonetheless.

"It seems a bit too indulgent to take a bath in the morning like this, but still…" Rean thought to himself as he relaxed.

Rean suddenly sensed someone at the door.
"E-Excuse me, is anyone inside?" Towa asked.
"T-Towa? U-Um… It's just me in here." Rean replied.
Upon hearing Rean, Towa awkwardly made her way inside the men's bathroom and changed into a towel, before taking a seat next to him inside the artificial hot spring.

"Y-You don't mind me taking a bath here do you?" Towa asked.
"W-Why would I mind? I mean… t-this isn't the first time we've used a hot spring together." Rean responded.
"G-Good point." Towa replied.
"So… why exactly are you using the men's bathroom? D-Don't tell me you saw me come inside and-" Rean asked before getting interrupted.
"I-It's nothing like that! I wanted to take a quick bath, but there was a sign on the door to the women's bathroom that said it was out of order." Towa explained as she felt her face get as warm as the water.
"T-That makes sense." Rean replied.

"W-Wait what do we do if someone else comes inside and gets the wrong idea?" Towa asked.
"Don't worry. Pretty sure everyone is out and about outside at this hour. I can't think of anyone who'd want to stay inside the dorm and take a bath at this hour. Besides us of course." Rean assured Towa.


The two continued resting in the hot spring for a few more minutes silently as they let the water wash off all the awkwardness of the situation.

"Is the artificial hot spring to your liking?" Towa asked.

"I mean, it's passable, but it could never substitute an actual hot spring. This is practically a jumbo hot tub. Granted I grew up in Ymir, so I might be a bit biased." Rean answered.

"Oh that's right, Ymir is Erebonia's very own hot springs paradise. To think it's only been a month since we were last there." Towa responded.

"Time sure does fly." Rean responded as he recalled the Phoenix Wing's hot spring.

"Can't say the same thing about our friends. To think it's been two years since we all went there as a group. You let me come along with you and Class VII." Towa noted.

"Yeah, Instructor Sara, Angelica, and George were all there too…" Rean replied before remembering he forgot to name someone.

"And Crow, too. Elise, the baron, and his wife took such good care of all of us. I'd like to go back there with everyone again, not just us." Towa added on.

"Yeah, we should." Rean said in agreement.

Towa was caught by surprise by his response, and turned to him questioning if he was already making plans.

"The school year's only begun, and we don't know what to expect. We don't even know what future Erebonia itself is headed towards. But if we persevere and overcome all the challenges before us, I know the chance will come again… And we'll be able to go on a trip with all our friends and finally relax…" Rean continued.

"Rean… Yeah. Let's make that dream a reality!" Towa announced as she snuggled up to Rean.


The two continued bathing for a bit longer than expected. They're conversation about their friends soon transitioned into them talking about their students and overall school life.

"So how has Class IX been?" Rean asked.

"For the most part, fine. The majority of them are very well behaved. There's just a few that seem a bit louder than the rest." Towa answered.

"Let me guess, Musse, Valerie, and Pablo?" Rean commented.

"How'd you know?" Towa asked.

"Some of your more loud students have made themselves known during history class." Rean answered.

"They haven't caused you any trouble have they?" Towa asked.

"Don't worry, they haven't done anything major. Just the occasional loud comment during a lecture from time to time." Rean answered.

"Still, I should take each of them aside during a free period." Towa noted.

"That won't be necessary Instructor Herschel." Rean teased as he rubbed the top of her head.

Towa instantly got embarrassed hearing Rean call her by her formal title, but she knew that two could play at that game.

"What about you, Instructor Schwarzer? You only have three students. I'm sure you consider yourself quite lucky for only having three kids while I deal with nine." Towa teased as she cuddled even closer to Rean.

"Well, Kurt keeps to himself most of the time. I usually spot him practicing his sword skills in the morning by himself. Juna is… passionate, to put it politely. I suppose as her history teacher I should applaud her for her knowledge on Crossbell history. Then there's Altina…" Rean answered.

"Have you been able to dig anything up?" Towa asked.

"After speaking with Principal Le Guin and Major Claire, I can confirm that she came here of her own accord. I'll still keep a close eye on her though." Rean explained.

"I'll do the same." Towa assured Rean.

Towa was still rather surprised by how quickly Rean turned around when it came to Altina. A year ago they both probably considered her their enemy. However, after his time working with her in Crossbell and in the Northern War, it seemed as if he grew to see her as a trusted ally.

Meanwhile, Towa herself wasn't as sure about Altina as Rean was. Not because of anything that happened during the Civil War, far from it, but it seemed as if things were still tense between them.

Towa couldn't help but remember all the times she felt Altina stare directly into her soul every time she and Rean were in a room together. Or all the lunch dates she had to call off at the last minute because Altina stayed after class to ask questions that were already answered in class. If she didn't know any better, it was as if Altina didn't like her.

"Is somewhere wrong Towa? You seem to be worried about something." Rean asked.

"Oh no, it's nothing. Just thinking about a rabbit I saw around Leeves earlier." Towa lied.

Towa wasn't sure if it was worth telling Rean about her situation with Altina. For all she knew it was all in her head. That and she wasn't very eager to find out who he would side with, his girlfriend or one of his students.

"I don't buy it one bit. You look more tense than when you came in." Rean responded.

"I'm telling you, I'm fine." Towa replied.

Before Towa knew it, Rean had begun massaging her shoulders.

"R-Rean!" Towa yelled as she felt herself melting.

"Haha. Just relax Towa, you deserve it.


"I can't believe I slept through my alarm." Juna ranted to herself as she made her way to the lobby.

Just as she was about to open the front door and head into Leeves, Juna heard someone's voice coming from one of the bathrooms.

"That sounded like Instructor Herschel, did something happen?" Juna thought to herself as she made her way to the women's bathroom.

Upon reaching the women's bathroom, Juna found a sign on the door saying that it was out of order.

"That wasn't there last night." Juna thought to herself before hearing Towa's voice again.
"W-Where did you learn to do this?" Towa moaned.

"You'd be surprised how much free time I had while at Thors by myself." Rean replied.
"Wait is Instructor Herschel inside the men's bathroom with Instructor Schwarzer!? What in the world are those two doing in there!?" Juna thought to herself as her mind started filling up the blanks with various explicit thoughts.

"Still, I'm not sure I would've expected to do this here of all places." Rean continued.

"I-I wouldn't mind if we continued this later tonight in one of our rooms." Towa replied.

"H-How could those two do something so shameless? T-That's it, I'm going to give them a piece of my mind." Juna said to herself as she made her to the men's bathroom.

Before Juna could open the door however, another girl popped out of the training room and dragged inside.

"M-Musse!?" Juna yelled before Musse covered her mouth.

"Shh. Don't ruin my little experiment." Musse whispered.


After a few more minutes, Rean's massage ended and the pair got dressed.

"Teehee, I think we might have stayed talking in the bath too long. I'm going to head to the campus. How about you?" Towa asked.

"I'm planning to spend today walking around and checking on the students. A lot of them are still trying to figure out what club to join." Rean answered.

"I see. Well, good luck. Don't forget, today's technically a day off for us, so be sure to do something fun, too, okay?" Towa advised.

"Haha, make sure to practice what you preach." Rean teased.

"Teehee, bye for now. I'll see you at the briefing this afternoon! Oh, and later tonight." Towa said as they both made their way to the front door.

Juna and Musse both left the training room once Rean and Towa were out of sight.

"What exactly are you planning?" Juna asked Musse as she took down the out of service sign from the women's bathroom's door.

"Heehee, I just wanted to see what our instructors thought about their students." Musse explained.

"By having them bathe together!?" Juna questioned.

"They both very much left their guards down in there. Heehee, and they said I was loud." Musses responded as she left to go do other things.

"There seriously must be something in the water here in Erebonia." Juna said to herself as she stood alone in the hallway.


Author's Note

Haha, oh things Musse has planned for her instructors. I hope no one minds the changes to the bath event.

Apologies in advance if this seems like a very uneventful chapter to announce this, but I plan to take a short break from posting any new chapters for Trails to Eternity for a bit. Don't worry, I promise to come back with more chapters, we're seeing this story all the way through to the end of Cold Steel IV after all.

Thank you all for reading this fic, it means the world to me to see so many people enjoying it, and I'm grateful for all the kind reviews and comments. I plan to be back soon with a revised upload schedule.