Bath Time
Fortunately, I was able to safely leave Katie with Emily.
“Tiss and Shan comrades worked so hard! I was moved by your efforts, Katie! I won’t forget this favor!”
Katie beamed with a bright laugh, grabbing my hand and swinging it back and forth.
Shan’s cheeks, which had been cared for in return for all her hard work, glistened with a healthy sheen.
[Hey, you have to stay quiet. If you get caught, things will get complicated.]
“Yeah! Don’t worry!”
Seeing how genuinely grateful she was, I felt a strange sense of satisfaction.
Stacking up favors like this would definitely come in handy later, so it was worth it.
“I never imagined the little miss would ask me to take care of the Legion.”
Emily gave a slightly awkward smile, as if caught off guard.
Guilt tugged at my conscience, but there was no other choice right now.
“Sorry. At this point, the only person I could trust to take her was you, Emily. I’ll make it up to you somehow.”
Emily let out a small sigh, then reached out and gently stroked my head.
“Alright. I’ll do my best with the Legion girl. But remember, it’s only temporary. The little miss has to send her back out of Area 3 herself.”
“Got it. I’ll make time this weekend to handle it.”
“Thanks.”
“See you in a week, comrades!”
“Yeah, see you on the weekend.”
After saying goodbye to Katie and Emily, I returned to the dorm with one last trial still ahead of me.
“Tiss, I know what you were thinking, but we have to think too. Do you have any idea how surprised I was?”
“Yeah. Sia almost fell off her chair. If you’re just stepping out for a second, at least say something or leave a message.”
“Sorry.”
When I got back to the dorm, I gave Siwoo and Sia a proper scolding.
It was true that I had been too selfish and careless earlier.
Our sister comes back from a week in the ICU and just vanishes?
Any normal person would react the same way.
“Sorry.”
[This… this is bad.]
I had no words, even if I had a hundred mouths.
“Instead, how about we take a bath? It might make you feel refreshed~”
“A bath?”
“Yeah. You haven’t bathed in a week, sis. For hygiene, you should wash now.”
“Oh… I forgot about hunger first.”
Only then did the realization hit me after Sia pointed it out.
I couldn’t exactly report to Baba Yaga right now.
Sniff sniff.
[Ugh…! Is that my smell coming out?]
Shan even gagged.
With my stomach full and back warm, the smell from my body finally started to bother me.
Hee hee.
Sia’s lips curled into a smirk as she waited, and I realized she had been teasing me the whole time. But I let it slide.
“Alright. I’ll bathe.”
“Eh? For real?”
“Bathing is fine. I don’t hate it just because my appearance is like this.”
“Eh…? R-really?”
The ears and tail made people misunderstand, but unlike the beastmen in the media, I actually enjoyed bathing.
For reference, White Ghost was extremely clean to keep her pure white appearance.
Hmm.
Sia was fidgeting after I suggested it, which caught my eye.
“Why are you acting like that, Sia?”
“Uh… n-no, nothing.”
[Is something wrong suddenly?]
No.
Why did she propose first, then blush and hesitate?
[Is it that Sia is now embarrassed?]
No way.
[L-let’s go in. I can’t stand the smell from my body anymore. I want to get in and wash quickly.]
Shan said it was fine, so after a long time, I should finally soak my body.
“Sia, are you feeling okay?”
“No! I’m completely fine!”
“Then I’ll go in first and bathe. Come in slowly.”
“Eh…? Okay.”
I entered the bathroom first, gave myself a quick shower to wash away the dirt, then sank into the warm tub.
Splash.
Sia must have put in bath gel, because a faint rose scent filled the water.
As expected of the Academy dorms, the facilities were top-notch.
They respected privacy while also offering private baths with space-expansion technology in each room.
Those who didn’t want to show their bare skin to others preferred these personal baths over public ones, even if it meant missing out on the various hot springs and saunas.
Haaaa.
Now I finally felt human again.
[Uwaaa… so hot.]
Shan, your reaction is way too mature.
[B-but it really feels good~ After a week, I finally feel alive.]
Shan, sharing my senses, was thoroughly enjoying the sensation of the warm water wrapping around my body.
It wasn’t just feeling the same sensation. I had created a mini bath inside my right breast using ichor and essence, and immersed myself in it.
With the sloshing sensation coming from inside my chest, I could feel round Shan floating around.
[L-later, banana milk! Let’s eat banana milk too!]<|eos|>