A New Teaching with Authority (1)
"Why do you suppose the custom of drinking bottled milk after a bath ever got started?"
"Hard to say. A milk company's marketing, I imagine?"
"Korea doesn't have this custom, does it?"
"Not by way of bottled milk, at least."
Taste was a matter of preference, of course, but bottled milk itself was strangely hard to come by. Han Seoyeon gave the answer as she drank down milk that had cooled to a chill.
What she had on was a yukata the inn had provided. A sidelong glance found Ninomae dressed the same.
They actually found one that fits.
Ninomae's figure was the sort that left the rest of a garment hanging loose if you fitted the chest, and pinched at the chest if you fitted it anywhere else. Because of that, she was forever choosing between clothes that clung and clothes cut loose enough that she had to swallow looking a little heavier than she was. Right now, though, it sat on her as if it had been made to order.
…No. Perhaps it really had been. Han Seoyeon's eyes traveled out to Hyakurenno Yuri, standing a good distance off. In the modern world, most problems had a way of resolving themselves once you poured enough money over them.
"She's quite good, Yuri-san."
Whatever Ninomae had made of that look, that was what she murmured.
At the end of both their gazes, Yuri and Akane had claimed a ping-pong table and were trading a rally.
"If we're speaking of being good, isn't that side even more so?"
"Over there is... how should I put it. The realm past human."
What the tip of Han Seoyeon's finger indicated was another table entirely — an eerie little arena ringing with the sound of ripped wind.
"As expected! You keep up with even this much, easy!"
"Hehehh... nice body control."
The werewolf Tsunashi Tenka, and the maid Momomomo Chisa. The two of them were carrying on a game of ping-pong that was dreadful on the sound alone.
"What's frightening is that this isn't even them being serious."
"It isn't serious?"
"Tsunashi-san hasn't transformed yet, and the maid's movements are quite relaxed."
Part of it was that a civilian manager's eyes were on them. Part of it was that a truly serious hit would be more than the ball or the paddle could survive.
"......And yet they say that even among those people, Shion-san got chased off for throwing off the balance."
"Slander. Even so, it wasn't to that extent."
"Really?"
A doubtful look came flying. Seoyeon averted her eyes and said nothing.
"The stream seems to have been a success. That's a relief."
It was a blatant bid to change the subject, but Ninomae decided to let this one pass.
"Well... it was a stream with even less room to fail, wasn't it?"
An offline collab of five was already difficult to fail, so long as nothing went seriously wrong; idle talk alone would have guaranteed a bare minimum of entertainment. A group hot-spring bathing stream laid on top of that? It was practically extortion — hand over the money. The Milky Way of superchats that had stitched itself across the chat still lingered in a corner of memory.
Saying so, Ninomae drew out her phone without much thought... and her expression went stiff.
"Oh dear. A tier list has come out."
"I know perfectly well, so you don't have to say it...! No — please don't call it a 'tier list'?!"
The red in Ninomae's cheeks was not solely the lingering heat of the bath. She was someone who heard often enough that she had the largest bust in Anathema, but hearing a thing many times had never once made her used to it.
"Senjoji-san, honestly... why would you post something like this......"
"Well, to meet the viewers' needs?"
"Hyah?!"
A bewitching voice brushed her ear from far too close, and Ninomae startled so hard she jumped. Then she hurriedly seized Han Seoyeon's arm.
"Wh-when did you get here?"
"Just now."
"You scared the life out of me, Senjoji-san."
Senjoji Chiyo laughed an apology.
"Anyway. Couldn't you call me by my name now, too?"
"By your name?"
"It was fine until now, but if you know my sister as well, two 'Senjoji's are going to get confusing, right?"
"Mmm. That's true, but......"
Ninomae hesitated a little, then carefully tried the shape of it.
"Chiyo... san?"
"Oh, no way. That's too cute, isn't it, Hitomi-chan?!"
"Eep?!"
A moment later Chiyo had her in a hug, caught tight and fussed over, and Ninomae's face was thoroughly lost. She looked more than a little embarrassed, too. Shoving her off hard didn't feel right either — it wasn't that she disliked it, or found it repulsive — and so her arms wandered helplessly in the empty air, with no idea what they were meant to do.
Then Chiyo's head snapped around, demanding a name from the other one as well.
"Come on, ride this wave — you too, Shion-chan!"
Han Seoyeon regarded that face for a moment before she answered.
"No reason not to. —Chiyo-san."
"Uh, wait. I didn't think you'd actually go along with it out of nowhere."
Chiyo's body gave a single jerk. She clearly hadn't imagined her name would come out without a shred of hesitation. Seoyeon, by contrast, was entirely matter-of-fact. Korean as she was, whether she was called by surname or by given name stirred little resistance in her either way. She had the theoretical knowledge, of course, but a difference of culture made the weight of it difficult to feel down in the bone — all the more so when she had tacked a -san on the end.
"You were the one who asked to be called that in the first place, Chiyo-san. Why the reaction?"
"Get this through your head. A beautiful woman calls your name in a low, husky voice, offhand, as if it were nothing — and the womb of that organism known as the female has no choice but to tremble."
This time, disgust won. Ninomae shoved away the Chiyo she had been holding, and a look faintly lit with contempt came along as a bonus.
"That would make two people Ninomae-san addresses by their given name."
"Yes. Well. I suppose it does?"
Set aside "Shion," which was closer to a nickname, and the people Ninomae Hitomi called by given name rather than family name came to two: Senjoji Chiyo, just now, and Hyakurenno Yuri. On Yuri's side there had been no helping it. Yuri herself had pushed, and hard — the surname Hyakurenno was simply too famous, and if word got out that Ninomae knew the family, the pests would come swarming. That she made no such demand of Seoyeon, looking at it the other way... this one was an elite Holy Knight. She could be trusted to handle herself. That, presumably, was the thinking.
"I don't mind if Yuri-chan was first. I'm perfectly satisfied at the rank of concubine."
"No. What I mean is, under Japanese law, same-sex marriage isn't even—"
"Love, from time to time, transcends both law and ethics."
"That is not something you're supposed to transcend!"
Ninomae cried out, aghast. The woman was talking like a party to an affair.
"W-well. There are, on occasion, values that take priority over the law. Wouldn't you say."
And the one who stepped in to defend the remark was, of all people, Han Seoyeon. Something in it seemed to have pricked her.
"See? Shion-chan's right. And really, the delicious part is the sinful thrill of breaking the ru— nheh?!"
"Would you just shut your mouth."
Thwack. A ping-pong ball, spinning at a vicious clip, flew in and caught Serena square between the eyes.