"You see, Kafka, ever since I was a child, I've always wanted a younger brother who I could play with and someone who could deal with my antics...I was quite the tomboy when I was a child who liked to cause mischief everywhere I went, and because of that, the other kids my age would always run away at the first sight of me." Nina slowly recalled the days where she used to fight around with the boys and chase around the girls with insects in her hand, like they were all fond memories.
"And because no one wanted to spend time with me, I decided that I wanted a younger brother who wouldn't leave my side no matter what since I was his older sister and someone that I could shape up to be an ideal sidekick for my adventures."
"But unfortunately, my parents decided that one child was already more than enough for them to handle and never gave me any siblings until the very end..." Nina let out a sigh, as if she found it a pity that her father never forgot to pull out.
She then looked at me with a wry smile on her face and said a rather crude joke, "...My parents also passed away a couple of years ago, so it's not like I can go and ask them for another sibling now, can I?"
I didn't know how to reply to her sarcastic remark that also had a tinge of sadness hidden underneath, which she was trying to hide and stayed silent.
"After that, I thought there was no hope for me to gain a little brother and someone that I could bully around or coddle with as an older sister...But who would've thought that out of nowhere you would appear, who for some reason I just can't help but think of as my little brother?" Nina said as she looked at me with intrigue, almost as if she herself was surprised that she saw me that way.
"Why me? What's so special about me that you think about me that way?...Have you never seen any other boy that was my age who you've had the same thoughts about before?" I asked in a panic, as I couldn't let her add more difficulty to this trial by putting me in the little brother zone even before the first request was given.
"I don't exactly know..." Nina held her chin and stared at me closely, like she was trying to find out just why she saw me that way. "Something about you is just really likeable and friendly, unlike the other kids your age who either are all brats that cause nothing but trouble or are unsociable, upstuck kids that barley open their mouth when you try to speak to them."
"You're also exactly the type of person that I would've raised my little brother to be if I had one." Nina pointed at me by playfully poking my cheek.
"Confident, brave, eloquent, charismatic, honest, strong, and someone who treats women with the respect they deserve...These are all characteristics I would've made my brother learn so that he could be an upright man one day, unlike the rest of the scum out there like the one's you saw today."
"You also have this fluffy bed of silky dark hair on top of your head that's perfect for tossling around, which is also something I wished to do with my little brother as well, and I can now do with you~" Nina suddenly started tousling my hair around aggressively and messed it up while having a bright smile on her face.
"Well, leaving all the jokes aside, Kafka, tell me more about yourself and why you moved to this town with your family." Nina said to distract herself from her thoughts that could put her in a cell and leaned forward towards me, like she was ready to listen to my story.
"We'll definitely be seeing each other more often since you've moved nearby, and it would be nice to get to know a little more about you as your local hot spring proprietress."
"You can first start off by telling me why you're so freakishly strong that you can send a man through the air with one single kick, and you can also add in a bunch of embarrassing secrets about yourself that you haven't told others to make your story more entertaining..." Nina rested her chin on her hand while looking at me with avid eyes that were waiting for me to start speaking and looked like she was actually demanding that I start confessing instead of requesting that I do, which made me let out a reluctant sigh.
"You know my life isn't as interesting as you think, Nina...So don't blame me if you get bored." I said, even though my life actually had so many ups and downs that no one would ever believe if I were to tell them the truth, that you could even write a book on it.
"I'll honestly take anything, even if it's a story about you watching paint dry, if I could pass these boring long hours where I wait at the counter without doing anything, so talk away, Kafka...I won't be one to judge." Nina nudged me to start speaking so that she could pass her time.
"Well, if you say so..." I laid back on the sofa as well and started talking, while looking at Nina beside me.
"What did you want me to talk about first?...Oh right...You wanted to know how I could send a man flying with a kick. Well you see, Nina ever since I was a little kid I used to..."
Once I opened my mouth, I started to speak a bunch of lies about my make-believe past that I had already made up if such a situation were to ever occur where I needed to recall my life, as there was no way I could tell the actual life I've lived back on Earth.
Nina also wholeheartedly listened to me like it was only me and her in the moment, with no one else around to bother us, while often interrupting me to ask questions with an eager gaze and making me elaborate on everything I said as if she wanted to know all the tea in my life.
This only made me realise that even though she had just berated the ladies for being so gossipy and nosey, she was the exact same as well, which I was sure that she got from them after spending too much time in their presence.
And just like that, while the rest of the people at the hot spring were enjoying their time in the warm bath, me and Nina were relishing in one another's presence and having our own pleasant chat together...