Saturday, the Start of a Leisurely Day
“How’s your body feeling? You okay?”
“…Yeah. Thanks to you….”
Cecilia answered in a shy little voice.
Her face was flushed, but there was none of yesterday’s sexual heat in her expression. She just seemed embarrassed. She was shrinking into herself.
“W-well, I’m not completely better yet, so for the next day or two I’ll still be a little… Hyaat?!”
Cecilia muttered something rapid and tiny under her breath. I casually stepped closer and laid a hand on her forehead.
“…You’ve got a slight fever.”
“Uuu….”
“A day or two more, huh. Nowhere else that hurts?”
“N-no. Yeah….”
Her silver-white ears twitched atop her reddened face. Her complexion looked bright enough — she should be fine.
“Alright.”
I gave her forehead a light tap and withdrew my hand. Smiling down at Cecilia, who was looking up at me with upturned eyes, I said,
“Let’s eat. Anything you want?”
After a moment’s thought, the answer she offered was “something Eunhyuk cooked.”
And so the decided menu was a simple seasoned bean-sprout salad and braised potatoes. The soup was radish soup, which we’d had before — made with the leftover radish.
At first I thought it was breakfast, and only after checking the clock did I realize it was lunch. We sat side by side, companionably chewing through rice and side dishes. I ate in good spirits, collecting compliments about how delicious everything was and how well I cooked. Fortunately, there wasn’t much awkwardness in the air.
After a leisurely twenty or thirty minutes had passed—
““Thanks for the meal.””
We rose from our seats, offering the greeting in unison. Each of us carried bowls, utensils, and the rest of the dishes over and set them in the sink. I turned on the water and was about to grab the sponge when—
“Ah, I’ll do it.”
I stepped aside for Cecilia, who had slipped up beside me. It was a natural enough flow. I dragged a chair over nearby and sat down on it. The sound of running water from the sink quietly filled the room.
“By the way, speaking of which.”
“Hm?”
Watching Cecilia scrub the dishes with soft little squeaks of soap and sponge, I suddenly spoke up.
“…Just so you know, you don’t have to answer if it’s awkward.”
“W-what is it…?”
At my continued words, Cecilia flinched, her tail going stiff as she turned her head toward me. Looking at her, I hesitated a moment before opening my mouth.
“That, uh, heat cycle thing. What’s the schedule like?”
“Ah, aah. That, huh….”
With a flushed face and a shy smile, Cecilia turned her head back toward the sink. Moving her hands with soft scrubbing sounds, she went on.
“Usually four times a year. …Once per season. One just finished, so the next one…”
“Three months from now. That’d be winter.”
When I said that, Cecilia nodded.
Three months. About ninety days on the calendar. Short if you thought about it that way… but for us, who’d only met a few days ago, it was also a long time.
Would the next one be stronger than this, or weaker? How should we handle it? Was there anything we needed to prepare in advance? …What choice would I make when the time came?
Those questions were meant to find answers to my various concerns, but in the end I shook my head without landing on a satisfactory answer to any of them.
Think about it later. That was the conclusion I came to.
“I’m done with the dishes.”
“Ah, yeah. Thanks.”
Just then, Cecilia finished washing up and turned to look at me.
“….”
“?”
Then she stood close and quietly looked up at my face. I could see her tightly closed lips and her sky-blue eyes shimmering brightly. Her ears looked normal as usual, and the tail peeking out behind her was swaying lightly. It felt like she had something she wanted to say but couldn’t bring herself to.
“What’s up?”
“…Mm, nothing. It’s nothing really.”
Saying so, she flushed and whipped her head away. Whatever she’d been deliberating over, it seemed she’d decided not to say it after all. I was curious, but there was no reason to dig forcefully. I let it go without pressing.
“Upsy-daisy….”
With a cute little sound, she plopped down on the bed. I watched her quietly for a moment.
A roomy free-size shirt bought from the convenience store, free-size pants likewise from the convenience store. Just an ordinary outfit — short sleeves and shorts with only her arms and legs peeking out a little. It should have been perfectly ordinary, and yet looking at her like this, I felt somehow strange.
Probably because I’d seen her bare body yesterday. Her feminine figure, soft skin damp with sweat. That disheveled form, laid bare in every corner save for a few places, wouldn’t leave my mind.
…It probably wasn’t good to be thinking such things while looking at her, who’d only just come out of her heat. I wondered if I’d been building up too much lately.
“Come to think of it, Cecilia.”
“Hm?”
Either way, continuing to dwell on that topic wasn’t desirable. Forcing myself to change the subject, I steered the conversation elsewhere.
“Does your tail feel cramped or anything? I noticed before — it looked a bit pinched in your pants.”
“U-uhh… a little? But it doesn’t really get in the way of living, and I can’t exactly cut a hole in the pants, so I’ve just been dealing with it….”
I nodded slowly. She had a point. If necessary, cutting a hole in clothes wasn’t particularly difficult. The problem was that if the hole was too small — or too large and let the inside show through. Just cutting was easy; cutting it exactly the right size to be comfortable was hard. And it wasn’t as if there were pants made specifically for beastkin either. Of course, even if not now, once the existence of other races became more public, such things might appear.
Hmm. Or at least, elastic-waist pants of a suitable size might be a little more comfortable? The current ones were the drawstring type, so even if you tried to loosen them, they’d slip down and be a hassle.
“Come to think of it, not just the pants but the tops too…. Is it okay for a girl to only have one kind of plain T-shirt?”
“I don’t really mind even if I only have one set of clothes….”
When I muttered half to myself with a sidelong glance, Cecilia tilted her head and answered in kind.
She didn’t mind even a single set of clothes. Of course, proper clothes cost money, so that would be good economically, but….
“Hmm.”
I pondered, resting my chin on my hand. I could feel the interest that had sparked growing little by little. Tops and bottoms both solid colors, plain. Cecilia was content with simple clothes. But perhaps because I’d witnessed her femininity up close, I found myself a little curious about what she’d look like all dressed up.
“Still, it’d be good to have a few outfits, right? Winter’s coming soon, so we’ll need a coat too.”
And so the persuasion I pulled out was a slightly roundabout approach. We’d need a coat for Cecilia anyway. No harm in buying one early. While we were at it, I figured we could pick up some other clothes for her to wear.
“Winter…. Is winter here very cold?”
“Pretty cold? It snows a lot and things freeze over enough to cause problems, so yeah, considerably….”
“Snow! I’ve never seen it.”
Sitting on the bed, Cecilia suddenly leaned forward and said it in a bright voice.
“You’ve never seen snow?”
“Yeah. The places I lived — there were various ones, but most of them weren’t that cold even in winter. I’ve been to really hot places, but never cold ones….”
Wherever her timid personality had gone, Cecilia chattered with a radiant smile, her eyes sparkling. It was plain to see she was looking forward to it. She even seemed happy just from the anticipation alone. A warm smile rose on my face as I watched her.
“By the way, never having seen snow — does that mean you’ve only ever lived in tropical regions?”
“Hmm, deserts, plains, all sorts of places. I’ve been to places that have winters too, but the timing never worked out…. Ah, no. I have seen snow once.”
As she spoke, Cecilia lifted her head slightly as if tracing a memory, her voice trailing. And after a moment, she opened her mouth.
“When I was little, on a particularly cold winter day. Just once.”
Her gaze was wistful. She gently raised a hand and fiddled with her right ear.
“…In my hometown.”
It was a small voice. And I was freshly reminded that she was an otherworlder. Coming to this world without knowing the cause meant, in other words, that there was no way back to her hometown.
“…Let’s go out, Cecilia.”
When I spoke, she lowered her head again to look at me. Her sky-blue eyes shimmered faintly. Her tail swayed once, slowly.
“Let’s go out and buy clothes, buy gloves, pick up a few things to play with. The autumn leaves are pretty right now, so we can go sightseeing, and if it gets late we can eat dinner outside. We can talk about what to do in winter, too. So, uh….”
What do you call that kind of thing again. I was mumbling, unable to think of the word, when Cecilia finished for me.
“…An outing?”
“Yeah. An outing.”
I nodded lightly, and Cecilia looked at me and let out a soft laugh. I didn’t know what was funny. But it wasn’t an unpleasant forced smile.
“Yeah. An outing sounds nice. Let’s go together, Eunhyuk.”
With a small smile still on her face, Cecilia stood up from the bed. In that moment she misstepped and nearly fell, and I gently caught her hand to steady her.
“Upsy-daisy…. Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it.”
I felt a brief warmth and let go of her hand. I stretched once, then opened the wardrobe to find clothes to wear outside.
Current time, about one in the afternoon. The day of the week was Saturday — in other words, the weekend. Thinking I’d make up for not being able to move properly yesterday by taking her out to play today, I pulled out two outdoor coats.