Bears Tear People Apart
"You're... going to wash me?"
"Yes."
Did girls really wash each other like this?
Or was that just another thing that counted as perfectly normal in this world?
"Um... I don't really know how these things work, so... do girls normally wash each other...?"
Lily tilted her head, looking puzzled.
"Huh? Of course. My sister and I used to wash each other all the time."
Wasn't that just because Lily and Dania were family, though...?
Apparently I'd gotten the wrong idea about this too.
"Mm... then I'll leave it to you."
"Yes, Unnie."
The moment I sat down on the bath stool, Lily stepped in behind me and poured water over my skin.
"Hyaah!"
The water was a little cold, and I flinched with a startled cry before I could stop myself.
"Ah. I'm sorry, Unnie. It'll warm up in a second."
"N-no, it's fine..."
Before long the temperature settled into something pleasantly warm.
"Is it all right now?"
"Yeah. It's perfect..."
I was still enjoying the heat when an unfamiliar sensation brushed against my back.
"Uh... um? Lily... aren't you a little too close...?"
Lily pressed herself flush against me from behind.
It wasn't that I harbored any ulterior thoughts about her — but being touched this directly was still embarrassing.
She showed no intention of pulling away. If anything, she only pressed her body more firmly against my back.
"Why...? Do you not want me this close...?"
"No... it's not that, but..."
The wounded look on her face made my resolve crumble on the spot.
"We're both girls, you know? You don't have to be shy."
Before I could even answer, Lily gently swept my hair back and whispered against my ear.
"Then I'll wash your hair for you, Unnie."
"Nnh... please do..."
Lily slicked some kind of oily liquid over her palms and began working it through my hair. Every so often her fingers grazed the shell of my ear, sending little shivers of ticklish sensation through me, but I managed to endure it.
Before long she rinsed everything clean, washing the foam away until not a trace remained.
"Thanks, Lily. Now I can wash y—"
"Unnie. I'll wash your body too."
She cut me off mid-sentence. The look in her eyes as she spoke was quietly burning, as if she were holding something down with sheer force of will.
"I-I'm fine! I'll wash my own body!"
Cowling under that intense gaze, I refused her hands. Some instinct warned me that if I surrendered my whole body to her care, there would be no going back.
A flicker of disappointment crossed her face. Then she tried again.
"Then just your back."
Her stare was still uncomfortably heavy, but I told myself she couldn't possibly be harboring anything strange toward me.
"All right... just my back, then. I'll leave that to you."
I'm overreacting. That's all this is.
I was a man once, after all. Moments like this with another girl were still unfamiliar territory. Telling myself that, I offered her my back.
Lily lathered her hands and set them on my skin.
Her fingers traced slowly, meticulously over my shoulders — a light, almost teasing caress that felt far too intimate.
"Hngh...!"
A high little sound slipped out of me before I could catch it.
"...Are you all right, Unnie?"
She stopped at once, voice full of concern.
"I-it's... f-fine."
Hearing that, she set her hands moving again — busier now, rougher somehow. I bit down hard on the sounds that kept trying to escape.
Her touch was quick and yet somehow languid, a strange rhythm that mapped every inch of my back. Slowly she worked down from my shoulders toward my shoulder blades.
Then my waist. And she didn't stop there — her hands kept sliding lower and lower—
"Th-that's enough!!"
I caught her wrists and stood up from the stool in one motion.
"From here on I'll do it myself...! You hurry up and wash too, Lily!"
Staying any longer felt dangerous. I rinsed the foam off as fast as I could, threw on my clothes, and bolted for the bathroom door.
When I yanked it open in my rush, the person waiting on the other side was Dania — eyes wide, face flushed scarlet.
.
.
.
Lily stared down at the hands that had been touching Hera only moments before.
That sound just now was definitely...
That cute, faintly lewd little moan her touch had drawn out.
Hera had felt something because of her. The thought filled Lily with a fierce, swelling joy — and then the image of Hera's body, still vivid behind her eyes, rose up again.
Dizzyingly alluring. A bare form that could only be called sensual.
Just picturing it sent that strange feeling rolling through her once more.
Not yet... I can't.
For now she was still only the little sister in Hera's eyes.
She had a long way to go before Hera would see her as a woman.
Every time Hera's gaze drifted, almost unconsciously, toward her older sister's chest, Lily felt a deep, private sting of defeat.
No. I'm growing too. Little by little.
She shook her head hard, banishing the ugly thoughts.
She shared the same blood as Dania. Someday she would bloom the way her sister had. Clinging to that hope, Lily clenched her fists.
Just wait a little longer, Unnie.
Once I've finished growing...
Even if you try to push me away like this, I won't stop.
"D-Dania Unnie? How long have you been standing there?"
"Uh... well..."
Caught staring at me as I came bursting out, Dania floundered and looked away. But she recovered almost at once, composing her face into an easy, unhurried smile.
"Dinner was just about ready, so I came to call you... and look at that, perfect timing."
At her words, a delicious smell drifted out from the kitchen and curled invitingly around my nose.
"Ah, I see... It smells wonderful."
"Hehe... Go on and sit down. Make yourself comfortable."
I took my seat at the table, and dish after dish was set in front of me. Just looking at them was enough to make my mouth water.
Is this heaven...?
A pleasant bath — well, sort of — followed by food this sweet. It was exactly the happy life I'd been waiting for, the one I'd always hoped to have.
If it was with Dania, I felt like I could spend the rest of my life right here.
"This is so good... Unnie... marry me..."
My sudden proposal made her eyes go wide with surprise. Then she settled back into calm and answered the confession without missing a beat.
"If it's you, Hera... I wouldn't mind. Where should we go for the honeymoon?"
Her playful reply pulled a soft laugh out of me, and I went right back to eating.
Dania watched my face for a long moment. Then she leaned in close.
"Honestly, Hera, you're such a mess... You've got food on your mouth."
"H-huh? Do I?"
A little embarrassed, I hurried to wipe it away—
Schlp—
"?!!"
As casually as if she were sucking on a lollipop, Dania sealed her mouth over my lips and began to suck. Between draws I could feel her tongue, slow and deliberate, licking across them.
"H-hnnph...?"
I tried to push her off in shock, but her hands locked tight around both my arms and held me still. I couldn't resist at all.
She lingered there for what felt like forever, tasting my mouth, before finally drawing back. Then, as if savoring the aftertaste, she ran her tongue slowly over her own lips. The sight was shamelessly seductive.
"Haa..."
"U-Unnie?! What was that for?!"
"Hm? I was just cleaning the food off your mouth."
"E-even so, that was—!"
Apparently done listening, Dania laid a finger against my lips and made a quiet little shushing gesture with her other hand.
"Girls can do at least this much for each other... Right, Lily?"
At Dania's words I turned my head — and found Lily staring straight at me with the hollow, empty expression of someone straight out of a novel.
"H-hiiik..."
Déjà vu?
I was almost certain something like this had happened before.
But the look on Lily's face now was colder and far more frightening than last time.
It was the face of someone who had just watched their precious lover get stolen away.
"L-Lily... this is, I mean... it was just dinner—"
I didn't even know what I was saying. I opened my mouth to calm her down somehow and found I had no idea what words to use.
I promised I wouldn't take her sister away!!
How long had it even been since that promise, and here I was putting her through this again?
I hadn't started it — but the guilt toward Lily still hit hard all the same.
I looked at her with unsteady eyes.
She sat down at the table with deliberate slowness, fixed a piercing stare on my mouth, and finally muttered under her breath:
"...Then I'll just erase it."
Lily decided, then and there, that tonight was going to be a long one.
And so, after a meal thick with an unnameable tension, and after a night in which I half-remembered the sound of running water...
Warm sunlight was stroking my eyelids once more.
"Hnnnngh..."
When I sat up in bed, Lily was still sunk in deep sleep beside me, as if she'd been up the whole night through. I stretched out the last of the drowsiness, rubbed my heavy eyes, and gradually felt my mind come back online.
"Hm? What's that noise?"
The moment I was fully awake, a rhythmic thudding sound filtered in through my ears.
Curious about the source, I left the room — and found Dania already up, as usual, sitting at the table and gazing out the window.
"Good morning, Unnie."
She turned at my greeting and welcomed me with a bright morning smile.
"Ah. Hera. Did the noise wake you too?"
"Not exactly. But I heard it once I got up. What's going on?"
"Mm... You should probably see for yourself."
Following her suggestion, I stepped closer and looked out the window.
The view had changed, if only a little — and people were hard at work renovating the buildings outside.
The old structures that had once looked rundown enough for ghosts wouldn't have been surprising now sported fresh signs and all kinds of decorations. They were starting to look like places people might actually want to live.
"Those must be the people Gorjan sent."
"Yeah. Looks that way."
So Gorjan had actually meant to keep his promise.
The image of him I'd been carrying inside me began, slowly, to shift — from a shameless old pervert who preyed on women into a genuinely capable merchant.
No wonder the people of the South had respected him as their king.
Right. You really shouldn't judge people by their faces.
Having reflected once more on my own narrow-mindedness, I turned to Dania with a suggestion.
"Want to go out and look around the streets?"
"My. Is that a date invitation?"
There she went again.
Lately Dania had started teasing me like this more and more. To her it was probably just light little sister-baiting, but it always left me feeling strangely fluttery.
Still, unlike the first time, I'd gotten used to it enough by now that I could play along.
"Yes. Please go on a date with me, Unnie."
I grinned and held out my hand. She looked startled for a beat — then took it with a languid, alluring smile.
"Fufu... What a little fox you are, Hera."
Once we stepped outside and started walking the streets together, it became obvious just how many people had been put to work. Armed soldiers patrolled here and there as if on watch, and merchants were already preparing to open shop in the newly finished buildings.
"A weapon shop... a teahouse... good heavens. There's even a place selling sweets?"
It wasn't only the people. All sorts of buildings that hadn't existed before were springing up as well.
We wandered through the steadily diversifying streetscape until one structure in particular caught my eye.
"I wonder what they're building over there?"
"Good question. It doesn't really look like a shop..."
The atmosphere was far too cozy for a place of business. It looked more like a house someone would actually live in than a storefront.
Unable to rein in my curiosity, I approached the workers and found the man who seemed to be directing everyone else.
"What kind of building is this?"
I tapped him on the shoulder with a finger as I asked.
He turned his head without looking and snapped,
"Huh? Who's this broad? I'm busy — get lost."
Then he actually looked at my face. He studied my features for a second—
"H-huuuhk! B-Black... Black Bear!!"
—and lurched backward in pure terror. A heartbeat later he was on his knees, begging for his life.
"Spare me just this once!! This ignorant fool failed to recognize the Black Bear of the West!"
What?
The West's... what bear?
The black bear that tears people apart.
Apparently, without my noticing, I had picked up a nickname.