Bath Culture
Korea and Japan.
These two countries, so close yet so far, share many cultural similarities.
But if you had to pick just one difference that hits closest to home in daily life, it would undoubtedly be this:
Bath Culture.
In Korea, the water used in the bathtub is drained without a second thought.
In Japan, however, it is standard for the entire family to share the same bathwater in sequence.
The Japanese bathing routine involves lathering up and washing your body thoroughly outside the tub first, and only entering the warm bath at the very end to soak away the day's fatigue.
In this modern age of individualism, more and more households are reportedly avoiding this practice out of hygiene concerns, but in an ordinary, close-knit family like the Ueda household, they still strictly adhered to the traditional rule.
...At least,
that was the case until now.
Until now.
'Ah... Raon-san was so cute.'
Leaning deep into his desk chair, Shun spun his mechanical pencil around his fingers, unable to hold back a small chuckle.
Even though it had been dozens of minutes since they parted, the image of Raon at Saizeriya was still vivid in his mind.
Her serious gaze, deeply focused on the difficult math problems.
Her thick, long, elegant eyelashes fluttering slightly every time she scanned a formula.
She seemed completely unaware of just how captivating her unpretentious, intellectual absorption was.
'I could really tell how much she loves math, but...'
Hmm.
Why on earth did she turn bright red at the very end and thud her head against the table?
Shun nodded to himself in deep thought.
He had absolutely no idea which of his words had embarrassed her so much.
But what did it matter? Shun decided to take it easy, assuming it was just a girl's delicate sensitivity or shyness at play.
After all, there was only one conclusion that mattered.
'She was incredibly cute, so it's all good!'
As long as she was cute, nothing else mattered.
Letting out a soft laugh, Shun closed his practice notebook and opened his diary.
Reflecting on his day and writing in his diary before going to bed was a long-standing routine of his.
Scribble, scribble.
A transfer student arrived. And she's incredibly pretty. But to think that transfer student—Raon-san—is actually a relative. On top of that, I caused a huge disaster while cleaning and almost got pounded to death like rice cake by Dad...
Shun swallowed a dry laugh as he wrote.
Just how many things had happened today?
It felt as if the laws of physics had been ignored and today alone had been stretched to forty-eight hours.
"Ughhh—I'm exhausted, so exhausted. My body and mind are completely worn out."
Closing his diary, Shun stretched his arms wide and collapsed flat on his back onto his bed like a starfish.
The saving grace was that tomorrow was Saturday.
Now that the storm of a day had passed, he could surely return to his normal, peaceful daily life over the weekend.
...Right?
Buzz. Buzz.
Just then, the smartphone in his pocket vibrated briefly.
When he tapped the notification, it was, as expected, a LINE message from the idiot duo.
These guys are so consistent...
Just as a wry smile crossed Shun's face and he was about to turn off his screen—
Knock, knock.
From beyond his bedroom door came an incredibly polite, cautious knock, like a bird pecking at seeds.
"Yes, come in!" Shun called out lightly while still lying on his bed.
He naturally assumed it would be his mother or father.
But immediately after, a strange sense of cognitive dissonance flashed through his mind.
'...Did Mom or Dad ever knock that politely?'
The moment that thought struck him,
a shiver ran down Shun's spine, and he bolted upright.
A soft click followed, and the door creaked open just a crack.
Raon, her long black hair cascading past her shoulders, peeked her head inside.
"Um, sorry to disturb you while you're resting, Ueda-kun. I have something I wanted to ask..."
Apologizing, Raon stepped cautiously into the room, one step at a time.
In that instant,
Shun gasped, his breath catching in his throat.
Raon was clutching a small bath basket tightly against her chest.
But it wasn't the basket that stole Shun's gaze.
It was Raon's outfit—something so violently distracting that it threatened to completely overturn the values of his seventeen years of life.
It was thin loungewear, likely thrown on just before heading to the bath.
Her top was an oversized white linen t-shirt.
Her bottoms were form-fitting, dark navy dolphin pants.
It was a common outfit that could be found in any household.
The only problem was that the subject wearing those clothes was none other than Raon.
'Oh my god.'
Shun's pupils shook like a high-magnitude earthquake.
Because she was hugging the bath basket tightly to her chest, the thin linen t-shirt was stretched taut, practically screaming for mercy.
Her pale collarbones peeked out from beyond the wide neckline.
Below that, her slender, shapely waistline was faintly visible.
To make matters worse, a black bra was faintly translucent through the thin white fabric.
But looking down only led to an even greater crisis.
Her thighs, extending gracefully beneath the short dolphin pants, were so dazzlingly white and smooth under the bedroom light that they practically glowed.
It was a literal physical onslaught!
The contrast between her incredibly voluptuous figure and her pure, harmless face—completely oblivious to the situation—was dizzyingly intoxicating.
"...!!"
Shun's heart, which had been idling lazily while texting on LINE just moments ago, began to pump like a runaway engine.
No.
Do not look down.
This is my house.
Remember the rice-cake pounding from a few hours ago.
If my eyes wander even once here, I will face absolute social ruin this time.
Suppressing the beastly instinct to look at her chest and thighs, Shun exerted superhuman willpower, stomping hard on his own feet to force his mind back to sanity.
Finally, and truly miraculously, Shun regained control of his eyes and brain. His facial muscles twitched as he forced a smile.
"Ah, haha. Something to ask? What is it? Go ahead."
"Um, before that... didn't a loud, cracking sound just come from under you...?"
"Don't worry about it. It's just the wooden frame of the house creaking. It happens sometimes."
At those words, Raon's violet eyes sparkled.
Letting out a soft gasp, she murmured in admiration.
"I see. So this is the famous Japanese uguisubari—the nightingale floor. As expected of a traditional wooden house..."
Truly the land of NINJAs.
Nodding in self-satisfied understanding, Raon tilted her head slightly.
"But... for a nightingale, didn't it sound a bit violent?"
That was because it was the sound of his foot bones cracking.
Swallowing a silent scream of agony, Shun smoothly changed the subject.
"Haha. I think it's probably a bit different from that... Anyway, what did you want to ask?"
"Well..."
At Shun's polite but somewhat mechanical reply, Raon looked troubled, her eyes darting around as a faint blush dusted her cheeks.
Biting her cherry-red lower lip slightly, Raon finally spoke.
"It's about taking a shower... I heard a brief explanation from your mother earlier, but there's something I'm a bit concerned about..."
"Ah, the bath."
Oh, was that all?
Shun let out a small sigh of relief internally.
When a guest visits, it is a long-standing Japanese custom and courtesy to offer them the "cleanest, first bathwater."
His mother had undoubtedly told Raon to wash first.
"If it's the bath, don't worry about it and go ahead, Raon-san. It's your first day, and our household rule is that the guest goes first."
Shun replied, regaining his usual cheerful demeanor.
But Raon's expression didn't clear up.
Instead, he could see her fair fingers tightening their grip on the bath basket.
"U-Um... I really appreciate the consideration, but..."
"Yeah?"
"After I'm done washing... I really shouldn't drain the bathwater, right...?"
Shun tilted his head, not quite understanding the intent behind her question.
"Of course. The rest of us have to bathe after you. You just need to cover the tub with the lid so the water doesn't get cold before you come out... Is there something uncomfortable about it?"
Having grown up as an only child sharing the bath his entire life, this was an incredibly natural part of daily life for Shun.
Thus, he couldn't immediately grasp what Raon, with her Korean mindset, was currently worrying about and finding so embarrassing.
As Shun blinked at her, Raon eventually squeezed her eyes shut.
Then, a voice as soft as a whisper in his ear slipped through her lips.
"Well, you see... the water that I just bathed in..."
Whoosh.
Raon's pale cheeks, her neck, and the tips of her dainty ears instantly flushed a deep, ripe peach pink.
"L-Later... you'll be getting in there... naked too, Ueda-kun... right...?"
"Yeah? What about it?"
"..."
"...?"
Raon couldn't bring herself to say anything more.
Pulling the bath basket up to just below her nose, she merely glared at Shun with a flushed face, her eyes filled with resentment.
Her expression practically screamed, 'How can you not get it, you idiot?'
But Shun still stood there with a mental question mark floating over his head, simply blinking in confusion.
Amidst the suffocating silence, Raon finally spoke.
"Am I... the only one who finds this embarrassing...?"
Though she tried to clear her throat and look away, she couldn't hide her fidgeting fingers and her bright red ears.
Raon nervously toyed with her collar, pulling it back and forth.