Persona Erosion: The Bathhouse
Remaining Duration: 07 minutes 11 seconds
Thick clouds of steam billowed through the academy dormitory’s grand bathhouse.
Ever since I had been transmigrated into this world, I had only ever used this place late at night or in the small hours of the morning, carefully avoiding other people.
And yet here I was…
Why was I sitting shoulder-to-shoulder in the hot water with three academy girls right now?
My body, however, felt not the slightest shred of embarrassment about the situation. On the contrary, it was acting with complete shameless confidence, even letting out the kind of satisfied groan you’d expect from a middle-aged neighborhood uncle soaking his bones.
“Khhhaaah! Nothing beats hot water for washing away fatigue! Ain’t that right, little ones?!”
The two “little ones” sitting right beside me answered with pure, sunny cheer.
“Yes, big bro! Bathing with you is the absolute best, da!”
“That’s right. The water’s nice and warm, and being next to big brother makes it even better!”
Panir and Salad.
Those two already seemed perfectly adapted to the situation. No—if anything, they looked like they were enjoying it more and more by the second.
“Wow… Saya— I mean, big brother—your skin is… it’s just like a baby’s!”
Salad examined my arms from every angle, letting out pure, unfiltered admiration.
Panir nodded along and added her own expert analysis.
“Indeed. Smooth surface, even tone, excellent elasticity… academically speaking, this is a most fascinating skin, da.”
In the middle of this all-girls mutual body-praise session, the water seemed to grow hotter and hotter—whether from the thick steam or the sheer awkwardness of the atmosphere, I couldn’t tell.
My body, however, was thoroughly pleased with the compliments and let out a booming laugh.
“Khahaha! That so? What’s the big deal if a real man happens to have nice skin?!”
That was when I noticed it.
In the far corner of the bath, beyond the dense curtain of steam, a flash of red hair kept glancing our way, clearly trying to stay out of sight.
Esme.
She was submerged up to her shoulders in the scalding water, yet she still clutched a wet towel tightly over her front and had curled herself into the smallest ball possible.
“Oi, little sister!”
My thunderous call made Esme’s shoulders flinch hard.
She shot me a look of pure irritation, but my body paid it no mind whatsoever.
“Why’re you hiding all the way over there? Get over here and soak with us!”
“W-Who the hell is your little sister?! And I’m fine by myself!”
Esme snapped back and turned her head away.
But I couldn’t take my eyes off her.
More precisely, I couldn’t look away from the countless scars covering her body.
Her physique was completely different from the others. Unlike Salad’s and Panir’s pale, flawless skin, Esme’s well-trained muscles were crisscrossed with large and small scars, like a warrior’s medals of honor. There were recent wounds, yes, but also older, deeper marks that spoke of countless real battles survived.
My body made no attempt to hide its genuine admiration.
“Whoa… look at that body.”
At my words, Panir’s and Salad’s gazes naturally followed mine to Esme.
Suddenly finding three pairs of eyes fixed on her, Esme’s face flared crimson, the heat reaching all the way to her eyes.
Normally she was a battle maniac who never felt ashamed of her scars. But this was different. Standing alone with a body covered in scars in front of three people whose skin was utterly perfect… that was a whole other level of vulnerability.
“W-What are you staring at, you pervert?!”
Esme shouted and curled up even tighter.
Her violent reaction left Salad flustered; she quickly looked back at me for help.
My body only raised its voice even louder toward Esme.
“Pervert? Khahaha! You think I’m interested in that skinny little frame of yours, brat?!”
“Wh-What…! I’m not skinny!”
“That’s not what I’m looking at. Look at those marks!”
Once again every gaze returned to the scars etched across Esme’s body. Her face had gone past anger into pure mortification, burning bright red.
My body rose from the water, cutting through the splashing waves as it strode straight toward her.
“H-Hey, don’t come over here!”
Esme scrambled backward in panic, but I ignored her completely and stopped right in front of her. Then I lightly traced a finger over the deepest, oldest scar on her shoulder.
“Hyaah…!”
Esme’s body jolted as if she’d been electrocuted.
“This… was made by a sword. That deep, and you still survived. Not bad.”
I shifted my gaze and pointed to the burn mark on her side.
“And this is magic. Looks like you took a high-ranking mage’s flames head-on. An ordinary person would’ve been reduced to ash right then and there.”
My body spoke with the reverent tone of someone examining the wounds of a war hero returned from the battlefield.
Esme said nothing. She simply held her breath, staring into the eyes that were carefully reading every story written on her skin.
“Brat.”
I looked straight into her crimson eyes.
“The scars on your body aren’t flaws to be ashamed of. They’re medals that prove how fiercely you’ve fought and how desperately you’ve survived.”
“Those are just empty words…”
“A blank, unmarked body is nothing compared to yours. A body forged through countless battles is a hundred—no, a thousand times more beautiful!!”
“S-Stop… just stop…”
Esme mumbled in a dying voice and hung her head low.
Panir and Salad watched the scene with sparkling eyes, as if they’d stumbled upon the most fascinating spectacle of the day.
“Khahaha! No need to be embarrassed. I could praise that magnificent body of yours all day long!”
“Sh-Shut up!!”
Esme roared, yet all she could do was look up at me with eyes that were red and watery. She clenched her fists tightly and bit down hard on her lower lip, fighting to keep whatever emotion was rising from spilling out. Then she forced a cough and looked away.
“Ahem!”
But the tips of her ears, flushed all the way red, made it clear she hadn’t entirely hated what she’d heard.
“Haa… why did I even follow you guys here…”
Esme grumbled under her breath, then moved a little closer and settled into a corner of the bath nearer to us. The rigid tension in her shoulders had loosened, just a fraction.
My body gave a satisfied chuckle and returned to its original seat.
In that exact moment, a translucent window appeared before my eyes.
Remaining Duration: 0 minutes 03 seconds.
Status ailment is being lifted.
The hot, boisterous sensation that had been dominating my mind drained away like an ebbing tide. In its place came cold, crystal-clear reality.
“…Huh?”
A completely vacant sound slipped from my lips.
What filled my vision was…
My own naked body, and theirs.
“….”
Silence fell.
Everything I had just done, every single word I had spoken, flashed through my mind like a panoramic nightmare.
“Uuuugh.”
As every sense crashed back into reality at once, a horrific wave of shame set my entire body on fire. I wanted nothing more than to sink to the bottom of the bath and disappear forever.
“Big brother? What’s wrong?”
“Big bro? Is something the matter, da?”
When Salad reached out worriedly to feel my forehead, I jerked backward in pure panic.
“Ah, n-no… it’s just…”
My voice refused to come out properly.
“Salad.”
Panir’s quiet voice cut cleanly between us.
“We should head back now. Saya-nim seems… a little tired, da.”
She had deliberately switched from “big brother” to the precise “Saya-nim.”
Without looking at me again, Panir walked toward the bathhouse exit as if nothing at all had happened.
One step.
Two steps.
Her hand was just about to close around the doorknob.
“Panir.”
At that single call, the back that had been reaching for the door froze solid like a statue.
She turned her head slowly—very, very slowly.
I remained submerged in the water, chin resting on my hand as I looked up at her. Something like a smile hung on my lips, but my eyes were not smiling at all.
“We had quite the eventful day today, didn’t we?”
Panir’s pupils trembled minutely.
Of course she hadn’t intentionally tried to harm me. But the rare side effect of the tea she had given me was the root of this entire farce, and she had cheerfully played the role of “little sister” the whole time, actively enjoying and escalating the situation. That much was fact.
After a brief pause to collect herself, Panir slipped her usual languid smile back onto her face as if nothing had ever been wrong.
“Haa… but it was fun, wasn’t it, da?”
“….”
Only the sound of water droplets hitting the tiles echoed loudly through the bath.
I deliberately let the silence stretch before I finally spoke again, slowly.
“Will you grant me one request?”
At those words, a sharp light flashed in Panir’s eyes. She no longer tried to smooth things over with a smile; instead she studied me carefully, as if reading the next move on a board.
“If you grant me just that one request… then everything that happened today…”
I paused for a beat, then continued in a low voice.
“…could simply remain as a fun memory from club activities, don’t you think?”
“What kind of request is it, da?”
I met her blue eyes head-on.
“I originally planned to tackle it later, but now that things have turned out this way… I need to go as soon as possible.”
“Pardon?”
Panir’s brows furrowed slightly as she tried to parse my meaning.
“Come clear one dungeon with me.”
The reward from that dungeon was something I desperately needed right now.