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Chapter 9. Boundaries and Walls (5)

When Ria stepped out of the pool, I saw the water streaming down her body and swallowed without meaning to.

No matter how firmly I'd set my boundaries, it wasn't easy to look away from the beautiful person on the other side of them.

Still, I managed to turn my gaze elsewhere. I'd have to get used to it eventually, considering what lay ahead, but right now the stimulation was too intense.

Even after becoming a woman, this body still responds to sexual desire. Wasn't that only natural? No matter how much the Being Above had designed this body to serve as a conduit for its power, it was still a human body in the end.

"Pffha!?"

I was trying my best to force my gaze downward when, before I even needed to bother, my vision was suddenly blocked.

Ria had thrown something at my face. For a split second I thought she'd caught me staring holes through her chest, but fortunately, what landed on my head was a large towel.

"We have to wash up anyway."

Ria said it coolly and headed for the showers.

I pressed the towel firmly against my face, pretending to dry off, and used it to block my view.

Ria was right—there was no way we could get out of the pool and not wash at all. Drying my long hair would take a little time, but it couldn't be helped.

......And then, I found myself flustered once again.

Just as the changing room was built for multiple people to change together, the pool's shower room was the same. Ria and I ended up washing in the same space.

Of course, I went as far into the corner of the shower room as I could.

The one saving grace was that each stall had its own showerhead. Once inside the semi-transparent glass partition, as long as I didn't deliberately wash somewhere that reflected Ria in the mirror, there was no reason I'd see her from behind or anything.

But I could still hear.

The sound of the shower turning on, the sound of water pouring from it and seeming to strike Ria's skin.

It sounded like water running down a slope on a rainy day. And the soft splat-splat of Ria's feet moving across the shower room tiles.

"Still, for a first try, you did fine."

Ria's voice echoed through the shower room.

"You're still a little unsteady, but if you take your time and learn slowly, you'll get the hang of it."

"......."

My lips jutted out.

If Ria knew how to swim, didn't that mean someone had taught her? And she would obviously have been wearing a swimsuit.

Not a bikini like now, of course—

.......

What on earth was I thinking about?

"That's good ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to hear."

I said it, trying my best to sound indifferent.

"I'll try not to be a burden."

"......I've never thought of you as a burden."

Ah, my words must have come out too sharply.

Not knowing what to say in that moment, I said nothing at all.

I should have just apologized for the slip of the tongue.

I stepped under the pouring shower for no real reason and splashed warm water onto my face.

For a while, only the sound of falling water filled the air. Should I consider that silence a relief, or should I find it uncomfortable? I thought about it for a long time, but I couldn't bring myself to reach a conclusion.

*

Ria grumbled at me from time to time, nitpicked what I did, or got a little irritated, but fundamentally, she was incredibly good to me.

Maybe because she couldn't be honest, her tone was a bit prickly, but in the end she always maintained the attitude of someone trying to do something for me.

Today was the same.

To let me pick out a swimsuit, Ria had gone so far as to rent out an entire swimsuit shop.

And inside it, I grumbled endlessly. I nitpicked every single swimsuit Ria picked out for me, and I even picked out for Ria—well—a swimsuit that suited her but was considerably embarrassing.

We bickered a little, but in the end Ria went along with my stubbornness. She picked out a swimsuit that was at least a little less embarrassing for me, and chose that red swimsuit for herself.

On top of that, all of those swimsuits were bought with Ria's money.

"Anna."

"Yes?"

Had I been too lost in my own thoughts? Ria called my name, sounding a little uneasy.

I lifted my head and looked at her.

Right. She was doing it again now.

We were at a restaurant. And not just any ordinary restaurant—once again, one that Ria knew well.

Normally, we would have been eating the meals served at the convent. I'd never thought they tasted bad. They were probably excellent nutritionally, too.

But at the same time, they weren't particularly expensive meals.

For Ria, who had lived outside as the daughter of a famous Hero, they must have looked endlessly cheap.

Now we were at a restaurant that looked quite nice. The menu was excellent, too. Honestly, it was the kind of restaurant I'd never once properly visited even in my Past Life.

I'd just taken a bite a moment ago, and for my mouth, accustomed only to the health food the Church always served, it was truly, staggeringly stimulating food. In a good way.

A thick steak, no less. And the sauce—the kind of sauce that seemed like it had been simmered down over several hours. Every time I chewed, the grain of the meat pressed softly between my teeth, and the juices soaked into it spilled over my tongue and spread gently through my mouth.

After one bite, I was agonizing over whether it was really all right to keep eating this.

"Does it not suit your taste?"

Ria asked, her expression a little worried.

And I found this situation somewhat confusing.

"It suits my taste. To be honest, it's so delicious it's almost too much."

I said it with a serious expression. Then I set down my knife and fork.

I'd already taken a bite, so I couldn't offer this to someone else. No—whether I'd eaten from it or not, the moment food is placed in front of me, it can't go to someone else.

If I was going to refuse, I should have refused the moment we walked in here.

Because Ria had thought ahead and reserved this place.

She must have put real effort into getting this reservation.

Making all sorts of excuses, unable to bring myself to refuse, I'd ended up coming all the way here.

"Why? Is it a problem for a nun to eat something too delicious?"

I wasn't sure, but maybe it could be. Because—wasn't I a nun? In every religion, people who devote themselves to spiritual practice are expected to practice abstinence. Well, seeing as priests are apparently allowed to drink alcohol, maybe that wasn't strictly true.

In the first place, for someone with the status of a nun to come out to a place like this and cut into a steak was absurd.

"Or—are you upset that I brought you here without saying anything? Do you want to go back?"

When I didn't answer, Ria asked again, seeming a little anxious.

I quietly shook my head.

I wasn't upset.

To be honest—yes, from the moment Ria brought me here with that somehow expectant look on her face, I think I'd been looking forward ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to it a little too. A restaurant that looked expensive at a glance. And a seat that looked expensive at a glance.

Right beside us, the Seoul cityscape spread out in full view. Well, it wasn't like this was the tallest building in the country or anything, but it was still on the taller side among the surrounding buildings, so the downtown area was clearly visible.

Ria had even brought us to a spot where other people wouldn't be able to see us, as if she'd been conscious of the fact that we were wearing nun's habits.

If it had been the usual me, there would have been no way I could afford to eat at a place like this.

I could only eat here because Ria was paying for everything.

"......Ria, would it be all right if I brought up something a little serious?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, sure."

I paused for a moment, then pushed my chair back slightly and bowed my head toward Ria.

Getting a little steak sauce in my hair didn't matter at all, but honestly, I didn't want to ruin that steak, which looked like it cost far more than my hair ever could.

"Anna?"

Ria was horrified. It might have been the most shocked expression I'd ever seen on her face.

She hadn't even been this startled when I'd asked her to charge into enemy territory with me.

"I just—wanted to do this. I'm sorry, Ria."

"......Sorry for what?"

Ria asked back, her voice a little dazed.

"You went to an incredible amount of trouble for me all day today."

Why had she suggested going to the sea? Obviously, it must have been because she thought I'd never been able to. She couldn't have known I had a Past Life.

Teaching me to swim, too—she'd made various excuses, but in the end it was because she knew I'd never learned such a thing.

......Bringing me here was probably for the same reason.

"But all I did was grumble."

I lifted my head.

I saw Ria with a blank expression.

Ria, who had been staring at me with her mouth open for a while, eventually tilted her head back and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠looked up at the ceiling.

After gazing up at the ceiling with that same blank expression for a while, she carefully set down her fork and knife,

and wiped her face with both hands.

Then she let out a deep sigh,

"Good grief, Anna."

and murmured my name like that.

"That's not what you're supposed to say at a time like this."

"What?"

When I asked back with wide eyes, Ria sprang up from her seat. Thanks to the carpet under the floor, the chair didn't make much noise. If food spilled, how would they even clean it? It was surely much harder than cleaning a fast-food restaurant.

Then Ria walked around the table and came toward me.

"But that's—!?"

As I hurriedly tried to make excuses at the sight of her approaching, Ria quickly cupped my cheeks with both hands.

Then she lifted my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠head so that her eyes and mine met straight on, and said,

"What you're supposed to say at a time like this isn't an apology."

Ria spoke each word slowly and clearly.

"Tell me how you felt all day today."

Ria asked it a little frighteningly.

......It felt like one wrong word and I'd be devoured. She was close enough that I could almost feel her breath—close enough that I almost had the illusion she'd crossed the boundary I'd set with her far too easily.