The Massage
“Eileen, wake up. It’s almost time for the dormitory inspection. You should head back before you get demerits, shouldn’t you?”
“Hah...!”
My eyes flew open at the calm voice calling my name.
For a moment I couldn’t grasp where I was, blinking blankly around the room until my gaze met Teacher Yohan’s. He was gently shaking my shoulder, urging me to get up.
“Did I doze off again...?”
“You did. You must have been exhausted—you were even talking in your sleep. Someone could have carried you off and you wouldn’t have noticed.”
“Ah... I-I’m so sorry...”
“There’s nothing to apologize for. Falling asleep during a massage only proves you trust me enough to leave your body in my hands, doesn’t it? That you feel so at ease with me is something I’m grateful for, if anything.”
From his perspective, some inexplicable girl showing up every day under the pretext of counseling only to sleep the whole time away should have been the height of rudeness. Yet he spoke so kindly that all I could feel was gratitude. I closed my mouth, unable to find any reply.
Why is it that every time I come here I just drift off like this...?
It was exactly like I’d taken a sleeping pill. My consciousness kept snapping off in a way that felt unnatural. Looking back carefully, there were more than a few strange points.
Of course, there was no way the trustworthy Teacher Yohan would ever give me something like a sleeping pill.
I told myself it was simply because I’d been fretting over so many things lately and was exhausted all the time. Ever since ending up in this body I’d been plagued by chronic fatigue, after all. Plenty of stress, and my body always felt stiff and sore.
Huh... now that I thought about it, my body felt lighter than usual. Probably because of the massage. When he’d suddenly suggested it I’d thought it was a bit abrupt, but if the effects were this noticeable, I was glad I’d accepted. Maybe tonight I’d finally be able to fall asleep feeling good for once.
More importantly, it was getting late. I really needed to head back. The massage had left me sweaty, my skin strangely sticky, and all I wanted was a shower as soon as possible.
That was the moment I tried to sit up from the bed.
“Hah...?”
My shoulder suddenly twitched, a soft moan slipping free.
Right after, a bizarre sensation climbed my spine one vertebra at a time, like falling dominoes.
My body... was so hot.
What is this? Why all of a sudden?
I never finished rising from the bed. Strength drained from my legs and I collapsed to the floor, arms wrapping tightly around my own shoulders. The shoulders I clutched wouldn’t stop trembling. It was exactly... as if I were in heat.
“Hah, haah...!”
A long, slow sigh thick with sweet heat escaped me, my heart burning with urgency.
Yohan approached, voice full of concern.
“Eileen! Are you all right?”
“D-don’t touch me!”
“Oh.”
I reflexively slapped away the hand reaching for my shoulder. Then, startled by my own action, I lifted my head with wide eyes. My gaze met Teacher Yohan’s. He was rubbing the hand I’d struck, looking thoroughly taken aback.
...I had no idea why I was acting like this either.
I needed to apologize right away, yet my mouth refused to open properly.
“I-I’m sor—hah—sorry...”
“Don’t worry about me. More importantly, are you all right? Did something happen?”
“I’m... fine...”
I managed the answer in broken fragments. Anyone listening would have known I was anything but fine.
Looking even more worried, Yohan reached for my forehead.
“Have you caught a cold? You were fine just a little while ago...”
“Ah, ah...!”
The instant his hand touched my forehead, a current seemed to race down my spine.
Whether he understood my state or not, Yohan murmured calmly,
“You do seem to have a slight fever. Nothing serious—if you go back to your room and rest properly it should pass. I’ll give you some fever medicine; take it once you’re there.”
“Yesh...”
My head was foggy. I answered in a thick, slurred voice.
When Yohan withdrew his hand the symptoms eased a little, yet my body remained just as burning hot.
If anything, the closer I got to him the worse it seemed to become. When my eyes happened to fall on his lips, the thought even crossed my mind that I wanted to lick them once.
I’m crazy, I’m crazy...!
I was frustrated not even knowing why I was like this.
The fleeting suspicion that Yohan might have done something to my body while I was asleep brushed past me.
But I immediately shook my head, rejecting the absurd guess.
There were people worth suspecting, but never him—never my teacher. He was the only ally who would always be on my side no matter what. The mere fact that I’d doubted him for even a second without any evidence filled me with guilt.
That said, I didn’t want to stay in the infirmary any longer. If I remained near him I was certain I’d end up showing him a disgraceful side of myself I could never let him see.
“I-I’m sorry! I’ll head back first!”
“All right, go carefully. Take good care of yourself. If you’re still unwell tomorrow, be sure to tell me, okay?”
“Y-yes...!”
I blurted out a hasty goodbye and all but fled the infirmary.
I didn’t even remember the journey back to my room. I ran, gasping for breath, until suddenly my door was right in front of me.
Room 502
Second door from the end of the fifth-floor corridor in the dormitory. Confirming it was mine, I hurriedly turned the handle. Whether from impatience or not, I mistyped the door-lock code several times before finally getting it open.
Once inside I leaned my back against the door for a moment, then slid down to the floor.
“Hah, haah...”
Arriving somewhere my privacy was guaranteed seemed to settle my mind and body a little. Even so, the heat in my flesh remained unchanged.
Fidgeting slightly, I swallowed the fever medicine Yohan had given me with a gulp of water. Not satisfied with that, I chewed and swallowed some headache pills I’d received earlier as well.
The effect... I couldn’t tell. I barely felt any difference. If anything—maybe it was just my imagination—my body seemed to grow even hotter.
Earlier only my body had been burning; after taking the medicine my vision turned hazy too. My head spun until I no longer knew what was what.
I felt as though I were floating, gravity gone, as if I were in a world above the clouds. Like someone drifting in zero gravity, I blankly raised my arms and let them fall again and again.
Knock knock.
After I’d been spacing out for a few minutes, a sudden knock at the door made me flinch and tremble. I scrambled to my feet and opened it.
A man with somewhat sagging wrinkles stood in the doorway.
“Ah... Dormitory Warden.”
“I’m doing the headcount. Emma from next door, Room 501, is absent—do you know anything about that?”
“Ah, no. I don’t know. I’m sorry.”
“Is that so? You look quite unwell. I’ll be going then—rest well, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Yes...”
After a few brief exchanges the warden finished his check and left at once to inspect the next room.
I closed the door and let out a long breath.
“Haa...”
I hadn’t done anything wrong, yet my heart was pounding for no reason I could understand.
Still, the warden’s unexpected visit had cleared some of the drunken haze from my mind.
I sat there blankly a while longer before clumsily peeling off my clothes and heading for the shower attached to my room. I planned to cool my overheated body under cold water.
Shaaaa—
I lifted the showerhead and turned the faucet; icy water poured out at once, soaking me. It didn’t seem to calm the heat much, but washing away the sweat clinging to my skin made me feel a little better.
A thought crossed my mind that the fluids on my body were a bit too viscous and slippery to be ordinary sweat... but well, if it wasn’t sweat, what else could it be? Waste products must have come out during the massage. As I always told myself, obsessing over every little thing only makes you more tired.
I squeezed out body wash, worked up a lather, and spread it evenly over myself.
Every time my hands brushed my chest or between my legs a thoroughly strange sensation rose, so I had no choice but to give those areas only the briefest swipe and avoid them. Even that light contact made my body feel several times hotter. Holding back the moans that tried to escape was a struggle of its own.
Once I’d finally covered myself in foam I picked up the showerhead again. The cold shower wasn’t helping much either. Now all I wanted was to finish as quickly as possible and collapse onto my bed.
Shaaaa—
A cool stream of water washed over me.
I was moving the showerhead around, rinsing off the foam, when—
“Kyah...?!”
The instant I lowered it and the strong water pressure struck my sex head-on,
I dropped the showerhead. At the same time my legs gave out and I sank straight to the floor.
A wet slap echoed as my backside hit the puddle that had collected there.