The Shower Room
As if Monday’s sparring had only been the opening act, Heros Academy ran us ragged through Wednesday.
We didn’t spar every day like we had on Monday. Instead, we trained hand-to-hand against automatons in simulations meant to prepare us for one-on-one combat, or we got put through basic conditioning drills and the like.
In other words, it was an absolutely brutal schedule that somehow managed to be boring at the same time. A miracle of misery, really.
“That concludes anti-villain training. Tomorrow, instead of training, you’ll be spending the day thinking over your temporary hero names and suit designs. After that, we’ll go back to our usual self-directed training. Good work, everyone. Please get some rest today.”
“Haa… haa… ahh, fff… fi-finally… it’s overrr…”
Yeonhwa, drenched in sweat, looked utterly relieved that this hellish training was finally over.
The rest of us were just sprawled out on the ground in the middle of the field, breathing hard.
Myself included.
Whether they were the prim ones or the energetic ones, everyone had flattened out to the point of looking half-dead.
At this point it was hard to tell whether we were in survival training or just trying to live through academy life.
Those with abilities that could handle cold—Seolhwa, Jinhyun, A-gyeha and the like—used what little energy they had left to make ice or whip up chilly gusts to cool themselves down.
The rest of the class crept and crawled over to them, huddling close to soothe their sweat-soaked bodies.
Of course, it only offered a momentary bit of relief. There was nothing they could do about clothes and hair that were already drenched through.
“I’m gonna need a shower…”
One of the students muttered it under their breath. Several others immediately agreed.
And because Yeonhwa was, as always, way too socially aggressive, she naturally started recruiting people to go shower with her…
Somehow, before long, every girl in Class A was headed to the shower room.
Myself included.
I wanted to skip it, but Yeonhwa, Lapis, and A-gyeha kept dragging me along, so I got roped in against my will.
In other words, it was peer pressure.
You know how it is—you don’t really want to do something, but everyone around you is doing it, so you end up going along anyway.
Compared to most peer pressure, this was remarkably mild and produced unusually wholesome results, but still.
Whatever the case, there was nothing wrong with taking a shower.
The boys didn’t exactly move as a group, but about half of them were scratching their heads or wiping sweat from their faces and saying they might as well head in too.
Minho, Jinhyun, and Changwon were among them.
“Wait, where was the shower room again…?”
The girls put their heads together, but no one could remember. In the end, Yeonhwa went to ask Yustitia.
“She said it’s in the basement level of the student center. Or there’s the swimming pool, too. The pool’s closer, but… the student center has laundry facilities, so wouldn’t that be better? We need to wash our gym clothes anyway.”
“T-there’s a laundry room here too? I mean, this isn’t even a dorm…”
Lapis looked even more shocked by the fact that the academy had a laundry room than by anything else, and she turned to Yeonhwa in disbelief.
“Yep. I found it while I was walking around the academy! It’s state-of-the-art, even has a drying function. They say it’ll get your clothes fluffy in ten minutes!”
“That’s better than the one we have at home. Heros Academy really is the best. Top-of-the-line, even in its laundry machines.”
Seolhwa sounded genuinely impressed that Heros Academy even had the best washing machines.
The girls unanimously voted for the student center, so after stopping by the classroom to grab our bags and uniforms, we all trooped off toward the building.
On the way, Lapis spotted me lagging a little behind the group and came over to talk.
“Bl-Blanca. You seem… really quiet. D-did I do something wrong…?”
“No. I just don’t have anything to say. Things are going fine without me, and everyone seems to be handling themselves just fine, too. So what’s there to talk about?”
“Still, if you don’t say anything, it feels a little weird, doesn’t it? At the very least, why don’t you talk with us?”
“Ugh. Sounds tiring.”
“If you think it’s tiring, then it really does get tiring, Blanca-ssi. And walking around all slumped over like that isn’t very heroic, either.”
A-gyeha seized the opening and jumped right in.
I knew she was worrying about me in her own way, but man, this was exhausting in its own special little way.
“You can’t act like a hero twenty-four seven just because you’re an aspiring one… That’d be impossible even for an active hero.”
Since I had the upper hand in terms of common sense, A-gyeha had no comeback and backed off with a reluctant, “I guess that’s true.”
“Come to think of it, doesn’t our homeroom teacher seem especially fixated on pointing out that Blanca alone isn’t acting hero-like?”
Yeonhwa naturally slipped into our conversation and brought up Yustitia.
“W-well… t-there is a little bit of truth to that… B-Blanca does have some… issues, but the teacher is a little… y-you know…”
Because Yeonhwa and Lapis knew about my past, they took my side, but A-gyeha didn’t know any of that, so she said the obvious thing.
“That’s because Blanca-ssi really isn’t acting very heroic.”
“She’s right, though. But it still feels like she’s being a little too harsh about it.”
“She’s an active hero, after all. She’s bound to be picky about that sort of thing. I’m guessing she’ll keep at it until Blanca-ssi starts looking more heroic.”
“I can’t stand hearing the same thing over and over again…”
A-gyeha casually suggested that maybe I should be the one to change, and I shot back that if it were that easy, I’d have done it already before heading into the changing room.
A-gyeha didn’t seem interested in pestering me any further, so she quietly stripped off her clothes and tucked them into her locker.
A quick glance told me what I already expected.
She really was big. A-gyeha had a figure that was all her own. She was nowhere near my league, obviously, but even so, that was impressive.
Yeah, that’s the kind of build you need if you’re going to fight for the position of the one and only wife. Of course, Seolhwa was still the wife no matter what.
Lapis was… small and delicate, just about the size you’d expect from her frame.
And Yeonhwa was very much average.
More than that, I had no idea why everyone kept sneaking glances at me from the corner of their eyes.
If they were staring openly, fine, but the way they kept flushing and looking away whenever our eyes met was just plain weird.
“This place is better equipped than ours…”
“The shampoos, too… th-there are all kinds of them… Is, is this expensive…?”
“I’ve only ever seen a place like this before, never actually come in… This is insane, isn’t it?!”
When we finally entered the shower room with a vague sense of unease hanging over us, everyone was too busy exclaiming in awe to do anything else.
Most of them said it was better than their homes, or even more luxurious than a high-end resort.
I couldn’t exactly argue.
Aside from the fact that it was a shared facility, it was better than the one attached to the boss’s mansion.
While the others were squealing and chattering, I broke away and turned on the hot water, letting it stream over my head.
The warmth was just right, like all the grime and fatigue were being washed away down the drain.
Once I started, the others stopped gawking and began pairing off naturally to wash up.
“Th-the water’s kind of…”
“Ah, right. Lapis doesn’t like water much, does she? But you still have to wash up sometimes, don’t you?”
“Uuuh…”
Before long, Yeonhwa, Lapis, and A-gyeha had gathered around me, and the four of us were chatting idly together.
Then, just like water finding its own path, the attention of the group gradually drifted toward me.
“Um… Blanca-ssi. I noticed this during the rescue drill too, but you’re pretty sturdy…?”
While speaking, A-gyeha poked at my arm with a finger, as if she were prodding a cat loafing on top of a slice of toast.
“Obviously. You thought just because I have a nice chest, the rest of me would be a lump of fat?”
“N-no! That’s not it at all! I-I mean… uhm… ah… um… y-yes…”
My offhand comment seemed to have completely knocked A-gyeha flat. Her eyes went all over the place before she finally admitted defeat.
“If I were all fat, there’s no way I could move like this. Of course I have muscle too. It’s just that everything I eat goes straight to fat.”
“I see, so that’s how it is…!”
As I grumbled a little while hanging out with A-gyeha, Yeonhwa drifted over at some point, slipped her hand under my chest, and hefted it with a murmur.
“…Blanca. This isn’t what you call fat.”
Then what the hell do you call it? I was just about to ask when I caught sight of her icy expression and shut my mouth.
I didn’t know why she was so cold all of a sudden, but I had a feeling arguing would be a bad idea.
Nothing’s scarier than someone who used to smile but suddenly stops.
“B-but, with Blanca’s abilities… sh-shouldn’t you have that much in reserve…?”
Lapis spoke up as if defending me, but it didn’t seem to mean much to Yeonhwa.
Instead, it only seemed to draw A-gyeha’s curiosity, who had been quietly listening until then.
Yeonhwa kept lifting and lowering my chest, even kneading it a little, before finally letting out a long, wistful sigh and relaxing her frosty expression.
I still had no idea what exactly she was jealous of. It was just uncomfortable to me, that’s all.
…But the moment I thought that out loud, I had a bad feeling something terrible would happen, so I kept my mouth firmly shut.
“I-I mean, if I eat well and sleep well too… c-could I become like you, Blanca…?”
Lapis stared at my chest for a while before saying it with an envious sort of tone.
“Maybe if you take after your mother or grandmother. Right, Yeonhwa? You think so too, don’t you?”
“Y-yeah… I guess… haha… ha… haa…”
Hmm. Maybe I’d asked the wrong question.
Yeonhwa somehow looked even more depressed.
“Small ones have their own appeal, after all…”
She muttered it so softly even my hearing could barely catch it, and I couldn’t make out the rest.
“Everyone. Speaking of which, we’re choosing our hero names tomorrow, right? Have you thought of anything yet?”
A-gyeha seemed to have recovered her composure, because she paused mid-shampoo and asked us.
“A hero name…? Yep, I have one! I’ve had it in mind since I was little! Pyra! It’s a little twist on my dad’s hero name, Pyro! What do you think?!”
Now that the subject had turned to something she liked, Yeonhwa brightened right up.
“I think it’s good. It reflects Yeonhwa-ssi’s ability in a very direct way, and more than anything, it lets you show respect for your father’s hero name.”
“It’s c-cool!”
“I agree.”
“Hehe, right?! Do you have one too, A-gyeha?”
“Of course. What I’ve been thinking of is Hecate.”
“That’s the name of a goddess said to govern magic in ancient myth! It’s a little grand, maybe… but dreams are better when you think big!”
“No, I’m going to become a truly great hero worthy of that name. That way I can shove Blanca-ssi’s nose in the dirt!”
“I see. Do your best! I’m rooting for you, A-gyeha! Oh, and Blanca too, don’t just sit there and take it! But Blanca, do you have anything in mind?”
“Not a thing.”
I wasn’t joking. I had absolutely nothing.
Not a single idea.
“Eek. I had a feeling you’d say that, but I didn’t think you’d really mean it…! Hmm… something that would suit Blanca…”
Yeonhwa clutched her head and tried to think of a hero name for me instead, but nothing really came to her.
“I’ll try to come up with something by tomorrow. You don’t have to worry about it for me. Besides, it’s temporary, right? I can just make something up.”
“That exact attitude is what makes you unheroic, Blanca-ssi!”
“I-I… kind of… want to use my grandmother’s name… Terra…”
“It means earth, doesn’t it? I think? You really love your grandmother, Lapis.”
“Y-yeah. Grandmother is strong, and cool! Th-that doesn’t mean I hate Mom or think she isn’t cool, though…!”
“Of course not. Still, I get how you feel, Lapis.”
With that, Yeonhwa decided all she had to do now was think of something for Blanca and started scrubbing my back with her shower towel.
Somehow, she seemed to be rubbing a little harder than necessary.
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