A Close Call at the Bathhouse
The place we arrived at was the bathhouse closest to the academy inside the city. It was large, and being the nearest one to the academy, I'd heard that academy students used it fairly often. The dorms only had shower rooms instead of proper baths, so if you wanted a real soak you had no choice but to leave the academy grounds.
"Yeah. It's a bathhouse. So what?"
Anne's tone made it clear she saw no problem at all. Fair enough—after training, heading to a bathhouse with friends was perfectly normal. Back in my assassin days I'd finished drills and climbed into the guild bath with my comrades plenty of times. But ever since coming to the academy I'd stuck exclusively to the private shower in my single room rather than the shared showers the four-person rooms used.
It was far more comfortable, and I didn't have to worry about anyone watching. Even if my body had become a woman's, and even if I'd grown used to seeing that body every day, looking at other women's bodies was a completely different matter. Of course, whether I peeked or stared openly, no one would suspect me. But I wasn't shameless enough to just brazenly go along with it.
And more than any question of conscience, there was a far bigger reason I absolutely refused to use shared showers or bathhouses.
"Um... among the cafés we went to last time, there was a pretty good one. How about we go there instead?"
"Really? Then let's just hop in the bath real quick and head over!"
No good. In Anne's head, going into the bathhouse was already a settled fact.
"Even if we go in and come out, we don't have spare clothes to change into, so won't we still feel sticky either way? Instead of that..."
"Ah, this bathhouse's main customers are academy students, so they use Clean magic to wash your clothes for you. No need to worry."
Yuri sank my argument without mercy. Clean magic might be low-difficulty, but using it as a business service? I supposed that was the level you needed to reach if you wanted to run a shop in the academy city.
Clinging to one last hope, I turned to Celian.
"Seli, you said earlier you were fine with wherever I wanted to go, right? Then the café—"
Before I could finish, Celian shook her head hard from side to side. The force of it was almost scary. Her face had gone red from shaking so vigorously, and her voice came out strangely excited.
"No! I... I also feel gross from all the sweat! Let's go into the bathhouse! Yes!"
There was no escape route in sight. While I stood there hesitating, unable to move one way or the other, Anne grabbed my hand and dragged me straight inside.
After paying at the counter we entered the changing room. I pressed myself right up against the lockers to keep my field of vision as narrow as possible. The thought of other women seeing my naked body still felt embarrassing from the perspective of my male mind, but when I reminded myself that the body they were looking at wasn't my old one—it was the same as theirs—there was nothing particularly strange about it.
I couldn't just stand there forever, so I shrugged off my jacket and hung it up. Next I undid the buttons of my blouse one by one and slipped it off slowly.
Then the bottom half. I unzipped my skirt and eased it down. All that remained was my underwear.
I'd gotten used to putting it on and taking it off by now; I reached behind my back, unhooked the bra, and let it fall. The two soft swells that had been hidden beneath it came into view. Whether I was embarrassed because I was looking at a woman's body—even if it was my own—or because other people were looking at it, I couldn't tell, but my face burned hot.
To enter the bath you had to be completely naked, so of course the panties had to come off too. Everything else had come off easily enough, yet I couldn't help hesitating over those. It wasn't simply that I was shy about being seen.
"I'll go in first!"
"Hic!"
Anne, already fully undressed, gave my back a light smack and trotted off toward the baths. The sudden contact of bare skin against bare skin—especially across my still-unfamiliar back—drew a sound from my lips before I could stop it. When I glanced sideways, Celian, who had only just taken off her jacket, was staring straight at me, her face flushed.
...I was the one who should be embarrassed for making that noise.
Anyway, only the panties were left. They were destined to come off eventually. But I absolutely had to keep the Master-Servant Imprint on my lower abdomen hidden. Whether it was the influence of the TS magic or the way my body had been reconstructed, the mark's shape and position had changed from before. What used to be a simple combination of circles had become a heart with something like wings unfurled, and its location had shifted from near the heart down to my lower belly. Its size and placement had been just barely covered by panties until now, so hiding it hadn't been difficult. But the present situation—where I had to be completely naked—was extremely dangerous.
There weren't many uses for a Master-Servant Imprint. Most of the people who received one belonged to the underworld. The most common was in the slave trade, but assassin guilds that feared betrayal, like mine, used them quite a bit as well.
If Celian spotted the imprint on me, it would be more than enough evidence for her to suspect I had been the assassin sent to kill her.
So I held up the towel I'd brought ahead of time with one hand to cover my front, and with the other I used a quick, deft motion to yank the panties off in one go.
I glanced around to see if anyone had noticed. Yuri was just now stepping out of her own panties, so I whipped my head away; Celian still hadn't undressed and was still staring at me. Her expression, though, held a hint of dissatisfaction. Was it really that strange for one girl to cover herself with a towel in front of other girls? Looking around, I saw I wasn't the only one—there were a few others doing the same. So it wasn't a problem. Thankfully there was no sign anyone had noticed the imprint.
"W-well then, I'll go in first too?"
I was sure I hadn't been caught, yet I could still feel Celian's gaze boring into my back as I walked toward the baths. It's fine, it's fine, I told myself, forcing the stare out of my mind as I stepped inside.
The moment I entered the bathing area, the characteristic heat and humidity wrapped around my skin. My sensitive body reacted even to that.
True to a bathhouse that catered mainly to academy students, there were plenty of girls who looked like students. I deliberately unfocused my eyes so I wouldn't look at their bodies. I still wasn't shameless enough—or used enough—to stare openly at other people's naked forms.
Through my blurred vision a small red-haired kid was busily running back and forth between the cold and hot baths. Even Anne wouldn't act that childish... so the little red-haired figure in my hazy sight absolutely was not Anne.
...I wanted to believe that.
Leaving the mysterious red-haired kid behind, I headed for the farthest shower stall with a partition and washed myself. I had to set the towel aside for a moment, but as long as I didn't turn around the risk of the imprint on my lower belly being seen was very low. Still, just in case, I worked up a thick lather of soap to cover it.
"El?"
While I was diligently washing my hair and body, Anne's voice came from behind me. Ready for whatever prank she might pull, I wasn't surprised when her hand slipped into my armpit. Exactly as expected, I clamped my arm down and trapped her hand. I'd been certain she was going for a tickle attack.
But Anne went one step further than I'd anticipated.
"Hyaah!"
The hand that had dug into my armpit closed around one of my soft breasts and squeezed. The squishy, unfamiliar sensation of someone else's fingers kneading me sent a strange tingle through my whole body that was far more startling than the surprise itself. After a brief moment of shock I felt a rush of embarrassment at the unknown feeling, shoved her hand away, and covered my chest with both arms.
"W-what do you think you're—!"
"But El's chest is different from mine—just the right size to fit perfectly in my hands, and it looked so soft I got curious~ Don't you think so too, Yuri, Seli?"
Anne sought agreement from Yuri and Celian, who had somehow already taken the stalls beside and behind me.
Both of them nodded at her words.
"...Can I touch it too?"
"M-me too..."
Far from stopping Anne, they were twitching as if ready to join in themselves.
Their beautiful bodies registered in my vision, but I was too busy being terrified by their gazes to care. Wondering if this kind of skinship was normal between girls, I looked around, but even the groups that seemed to be friends like us weren't doing anything of the sort.
"Th-there's no way that's okay!"
"Ah! Then let's wash each other's backs! That's fine, right?"
"...If it's only the back."
At this rate my chest was going to stop being mine, so I quickly accepted Anne's suggestion. Yuri and Celian's disappointed faces came into view. Seriously, what was with them and my chest?
In the end we sat in a line—Anne, Yuri, me, Celian—and began washing one another's backs. I kept the towel draped over my thighs just in case to cover my lower belly, but since we were only looking at each other's backs there was no risk of the imprint being seen.
I scrubbed Yuri's smooth back with the towel in my hand, and every time Celian's hand touched my own back through the cloth I flinched without meaning to, wondering what on earth I was doing. How had my life come to this...? Still, a future where I was washing a girl's back in a woman's body was far better than the one where my hands would have been forever stained with blood. The pitiful state of my mental fortitude was a separate problem, though.
Once everyone's backs were done, we turned around so I could wash Celian's—she'd been at the end and hadn't had hers done yet. Unlike Yuri's, hers was firm with a healthy layer of muscle. I could feel just how hard she had trained simply by touching it.
We rinsed off and all climbed into one of the small empty tubs in the corner. I couldn't take the towel into the water, but by carefully keeping it in place I managed to sink down until I was safely submerged. The imprint wouldn't be visible through the rippling surface anyway, so I was safe now. I'd just have to be careful again when I got out.
Thinking I was safe, however, turned out to be careless. We were chatting comfortably with the water just covering our chests, no need to avert our eyes, when Anne suddenly dunked her head underwater. I'd seen her antics more than once or twice, so I was ready to let it slide.
"Pwah!"
After holding her breath for quite a while she finally burst back up, gasping for air.
"How was that? Pretty long, right?"
"Anne. That could bother other people, so please don't do it anywhere else."
Celian scolded her in a gentle voice. It was lucky we were in a small private tub; if there had been others around it would definitely have been a nuisance. Of course Anne wasn't completely lacking in common sense, so she probably wouldn't do it when other people were present.
...Right?
While I was thinking that useless thought, Anne tilted her head and spoke to me.
"Hey El, did you hurt your stomach?"
"Huh...? What are you talking about...?"
"But it looked like there was some kind of scar or something on your belly."
"H-haha... No way. You must've seen wrong. If I had a wound I'd know about it."
What was running down my neck right now was definitely sweat, not water droplets.
"That so?"
Thankfully Anne let it go. In moments like this I was grateful for her easygoing personality.
"Th-then shall we get out? At this rate the café will close."
"Ah~ Agreed! Agreed!"
"Huh? Is it already that late? Yeah, we should head out."
Luckily Anne and Yuri checked the clock hanging in the bathing area, agreed with me, and started toward the changing room.
Meanwhile Celian looked at me with a faintly dissatisfied expression, as if she was already reluctant to leave the tub. But majority rule left her with no grounds to object!
Still, just in case, I quickly stood up and headed out of the tub, then out of the bathing area—towel carefully covering my front the whole way. Seeing me rise, Celian followed without further protest, though she still looked a little regretful.
Back in the changing room I opened my locker and found that, true to a place with Clean magic installed, the clothes I'd left inside were soft and fresh. The most urgent item was the panties. Once those were on, the imprint would be hidden. The moment I picked them up, Yuri—who was changing in the locker to my right—reached around from behind me and squeezed my chest exactly the way Anne had.
"Eek!"
"Hyaang!"
Unlike with Anne, I hadn't seen it coming. The surprise made me drop both the towel and the panties I'd been holding. Because the hand had come from the right I instinctively twisted left to shake it off—but the direction was terrible.
To the left of my locker was Celian's spot. Our eyes met naturally, and then her gaze followed the falling towel straight downward.
I hurriedly covered my chest with one arm and my lower half—specifically my lower abdomen—with the other hand. But no matter how fast I moved, I couldn't outrun the eyes. She had definitely seen it. And of all people, it had to be Celian—the one I least wanted to notice.
"...Did you see?"
I knew she had, yet I still asked in a dying voice, clinging to a futile hope. Celian gave no answer. But the silence itself was answer enough. She had seen the Master-Servant Imprint on my lower belly, and she must now be filled with suspicion—and disappointment—toward me.
So that no one else would notice, I quickly snatched the panties from the floor and pulled them on, then carefully watched Celian's face. Her eyes were still fixed on my body, so our gazes didn't meet.
What excuse should I make? How could I talk my way out of this? Should I just run away tomorrow even if it meant becoming a wanted fugitive?
All sorts of thoughts were tearing through my head when Celian's mouth finally opened.
"Me too..."
Huh?
"Can I touch it too..."
Thank goodness. She must not have seen it after all. But that was one thing—
"Of course you can't!!!"
—and this was another.