Bubbles
"So whose place are you staying at in the meantime?"
That question landed on me with a rather different weight than intended.
Would I sleep in the paradise that was Tania's home, or the paradise that was Adele's?
I kept asking myself the same thing over and over.
Which heaven should I choose?
Either way, the advantages were endless. Either way, there were no downsides at all.
And so, after a full two minutes of agonizing deliberation, I arrived at the answer of the century.
"Can't I just go to both?"
Wherever I went would be heaven. Wherever I went, I could be happy. But whichever side I chose, I'd be left with the regret of not having gone to the other.
Humans were creatures of greed and desire by nature — and among humans, I was an especially greedy one. I had no intention of letting either of them slip away.
"How many days will the remodeling take?"
"Uh… two days should do it, right?"
"Only two days?"
"If I tell them to, they'll make it happen."
"……?"
Anyway, the remodeling period happened to be two days. Which meant I had the chance to sleep at each place once, didn't it?
"Then can I stay one night at Tania's and one night at Adele's?"
"……."
"……."
Tania and Adele both wore the same complicated expression — half disappointed, half relieved — and nodded.
Then they exchanged a glance.
"So, Eli."
"Yeah?"
"Whose place are you sleeping at first?"
There was even a grim resolve in Tania's face as she asked.
Gulp.
Behind her, Adele swallowed hard, arms still crossed.
A bead of sweat rolled down Tania's cheek. She looked genuinely tense.
"Uh… can we just settle it with rock-paper-scissors?"
"……."
"……."
All I'd wanted was to go to both places. Which one came first didn't particularly matter to me.
Tania and Adele's eyes met in midair once more.
"Rock! Paper! Scissors!"
They shouted in unison and threw out their hands.
Joy and despair split cleanly down the middle.
"Aaaagh!"
"……."
Tania, the loser, clutched her head as if a migraine had struck out of nowhere, dove under the blankets, and screamed. Adele, the victor, curled her fingers into a tiny fist and murmured a timid little "I won."
I was watching the whole scene with warm fondness when Tania suddenly bolted upright, ground her teeth at Adele, and shouted,
"I'll win next time."
"Says the loser."
"Uuuugh!"
Sunk in a single blow.
Adele came over to my side, gently wrapped one hand around my shoulder, and pointed toward the entrance with the other.
"Shall we go, then? Elysia."
"Yeah. See you tomorrow, Tania!"
I turned and waved. Tania, looking like she might burst into tears at any second, gave a tiny wave back.
"See you tomorrow……."
Leaving her fading voice behind, I followed Adele's lead and started walking.
I rode in a black luxury car I'd never been in before and arrived at Adele's house.
Past an entrance so grand it was almost oppressive lay a garden blazing with every kind of flower. Beyond that stood a small fountain.
And then — a massive mansion painted in white and gold. It was so enormous you had to tip your head all the way back just to see the top.
"…This is it?"
"Hm?"
"…Which room number is yours?"
"Hm? What are you talking about?"
Adele covered her mouth and laughed — a pretty little chuckle, as if she'd just heard a delightful joke.
"Obviously the whole thing is mine, Elysia."
"……."
I hadn't really processed it until now, but it hit me all over again just how extraordinary Adele was.
A chaebol family that ranked first or second in the country by sheer capital. On top of that, the Lucia Guild — one of the three most famous guilds in the world. And the girl raised in that environment was the very person gently holding my hand right now: Adele Moonlight.
"Shall we go in?"
"Y-yes……."
Respect welled up unbidden and I slipped into formal speech, but Adele brushed it off smoothly, as if my odd little habits were nothing new.
The interior was even more lavish than the outside suggested.
The moment we stepped through the door, an elderly butler greeted us beneath a dazzling chandelier. Lights glittered like stars. The floors and walls were finished in the height of luxury. A grand staircase of fine hardwood led to the second floor, and every hallway was laid with a long, unwrinkled red carpet.
Walking anywhere in this place made you feel like the protagonist of something grand.
The old man in the butler's uniform and monocle approached and bowed with perfect courtesy.
"Welcome home, young miss. And to your friend as well."
"Mm. I'm back."
"Ah — hello……."
Crushed by the sheer opulence of the mansion, I hunched up and mumbled a greeting. Adele laughed and gently tugged my hand.
"You don't have to be so scared, Elysia."
"Okay……."
She started kneading my hand, as if trying to ease my nerves… ah…! Right there… that feels good……!
For reasons I couldn't explain, it was incredibly refreshing and pleasant.
While I was busy savoring Adele's hand massage, the elderly butler approached again.
"I've prepared the bathwater for you."
"Mm. We'll be there shortly."
Adele gave a short nod, then turned to me with a smile.
"Shall we wash up first? You sweated an awful lot last night."
The butler standing beside us gave a tiny shudder.
Was this how Tania had felt this morning…?
Adele gently stroked my slightly flushed cheeks with her cool hand, as if cooling a fever.
"Looks like you still have a bit of a temperature, too."
She grinned that sly grin of hers.
You think smiling that prettily makes everything okay?
Well — it does!
I closed my eyes, burned the image of Adele's smile into my mind, and nodded. I hadn't actually been sulking, but I put on a prim little expression as if my anger had just been soothed and followed her down the hall.
The place we arrived at was a grand bath so vast it was almost embarrassing for just two people. I assumed other people used it too and glanced around to check if anyone was there —
The butler behind us helpfully stepped in.
"This is the young miss's private bath."
"Ah… I see."
So this place — roughly twenty times the size of my entire house — was Adele's personal bathroom. At this point, even marveling was starting to get tiring.
"I'll go grab some clothes to change into. You head in first."
Adele gave me a light pat on the back and disappeared somewhere with the butler in tow.
Left alone in a daze, I eventually gathered myself and carefully stepped into the changing room.
The moment my bare feet touched the warmly heated floor, the fatigue seemed to melt away already.
It wasn't as if anything would break if I walked normally, but I still crept along timidly toward the cabinet.
The cabinet itself — black with gold engravings of all kinds of designs — looked expensive at a glance.
"It's bigger than my wardrobe at home."
It was large enough that I could probably crawl inside and sleep without any trouble.
I carefully opened it and began peeling off my clothes one by one. I'd rushed over first thing after waking up, so all I had on was my school uniform skirt, a white shirt, and underwear underneath.
I folded each piece neatly and set them inside the cabinet. Normally I would have just stripped and piled everything in a heap… but somehow it felt like I ought to do it properly.
Come to think of it, this was the first time since the possession that I'd taken my clothes off somewhere that wasn't my own home.
Maybe that was why.
A strange shyness washed over me, and before I knew it I was stretching my arms to cover my pure white skin.
The mirror reflected my body — a beautiful figure sketched in perfect lines — and my faintly reddened cheeks.
Flawless, snow-white skin. A physique that was both perfect and sensual, without a single excess.
The chest I was trying to cover with one hand only emphasized its size further, stirring a desire to squeeze it. And from the cleft I was hiding with my other hand, I could feel a strange stickiness and dampness.
"Eek!"
I shrieked without meaning to and bolted for the bath.
I tried to dive straight into the tub —
"Ah, hot!"
— and yanked my toes back out after barely dipping them in the scalding water.
But then I heard Adele's footsteps approaching from the changing room entrance.
"Nngh!"
In the end, I plunged into the hot water.
Water hot enough to make my skin tingle wrapped gently around my entire body. I'd shoved myself under all the way past the top of my head, and the water was so clear that for a moment I almost forgot I was underwater — I could see everything around me perfectly.
But my lungs soon burned for air, and I surfaced.
"Pwah!"
I stuck only my head above the water and wiped the droplets from my face —
"I didn't know you liked hot springs that much."
— just as Adele walked in, holding a single thin towel that barely covered her from top to bottom.
Platinum-blonde hair swept back. That ever-present sly smile. Skin white as polished jade. And that thin towel, swaying with every step, teasingly almost-but-not-quite revealing what lay beneath and driving the viewer half mad.
"I'll have to bring you here more often from now on."
"……."
I tried to sink a little deeper into the water to hide — but unfortunately, I couldn't tear my eyes away from her voluptuous figure. So I stayed with only my nose underwater, stealing glance after glance.
Blub blub.
The air escaping from my nose and mouth rose to the surface in a stream of bubbles.