The Bathhouse
To my disappointment, though, the delicious cookies I'd left in the break room refused to vanish. Why wasn't anyone eating something this good?
It seemed people hardly touched them except when I was there, and that made me a little sad. Should I add more sugar next time? They probably weren't eating them because they weren't sweet enough.
Setting the cookies aside, I decided that today I'd go out and do some repair work on my garden plot. I hadn't been back once since the typhoon, so I had no idea how it had changed. Surely the plants hadn't been ripped out roots and all, leaving nothing but barren earth to greet me?
Trowel in hand, I reached the plot and found a sight I hadn't expected. Despite that ferocious typhoon, almost nothing had died. A few plants had even set fruit.
As expected—the plants I made are the strongest! I harvested the strawberries the office staff would love, and along the way I sat down on the soil and turned the earth so the other plants could grow properly. That was just a bonus. Weeding like this was how you made room for everything else to thrive.
I'd gone at the work so hard and so thoroughly that I ended up covered in dirt. Basket brimming with strawberries, I headed up to the office, and the moment Maru saw the state of me she startled and hurried over.
"Hana! Why are you covered in dirt like that!"
"I went to play in the garden for the first time in ages!"
I did farm when I went out there, but from my point of view it was basically playing. The plot just wasn't that big. An hour was enough to fuss over every single plant—that was about the size of it.
"But this is a problem... the water isn't running right now..."
"What do you mean, Maru?"
"Because of the typhoon, they're inspecting the water supply. They said the building won't have water today."
"Really?"
Hearing that, I tried to head back to my room, but Maru caught my hand.
"Hana, you're not going back to your room looking like that, are you?"
"I'm perfectly fine, Maru!"
One look at the state of me, though, and Maru jumped, blocking me from going in.
"Hana! You can't go into your room covered in dirt!"
I answered her with a question in my voice.
"Can't I just wipe off with wet wipes and go in?"
"Absolutely not!"
But if there was no water today, how was I supposed to wash? It wasn't as if I could bathe in water from the purifier. My worry was soon solved by Bora, who appeared just then.
"Maru. We'll have to take Hana to the bathhouse today."
"Shall we? There's a bathhouse about ten minutes from here. I'll take her, sunbae."
"Please. Take good care of Hana."
At those words, my face went pale. The bathhouse... Being told I was going somewhere that was all but forbidden ground for men, reluctance welled up in me. I'm not some grown man boiling over with lust...
"Maru, Bora! I'm fine! I'll just sleep outside today!"
"Don't say ridiculous things, Hana. Come on, we need to get ready for the bathhouse."
"Waaah!"
Caught in Maru's grip, I couldn't even get into my room and was left waiting outside. She came back out carrying bath supplies she'd fetched from somewhere, perfectly suited for a trip to the bathhouse.
"I can't wait to go to the bathhouse with Hana!"
Maru was dressed casually. The women who stayed with me kept two sets of clothes on hand—what they wore when they came to the company, and what they wore when they were with me. Probably so they could be comfortable on night duty.
Dragged along by Maru, I was hauled out of the building at last. I climbed into the car like a convict being carted off to prison for some mortal crime. To think getting covered in dirt would land me in a mess like this...
"Hana. Fasten your seat belt properly!"
I'd been so out of it I'd even forgotten the seat belt. Maru leaned over and buckled it herself for me in the passenger seat. I sat there with my mouth hanging open, simply being taken to the bathhouse.
It's an awkward hour. There won't be many people, right?
I was staring blankly out the window when, before I knew it, we'd arrived. I climbed out of the passenger seat, and with no way to run or come up with another plan, I had no choice but to take Maru's hand and go in. She carried my change of clothes, held my hand tight, and stepped into the bathhouse.
"One adult and one child, please."
"Yes."
The part-timer at the counter took the money. Maru and I each took a key and climbed the stairs. The women's bath, they said, was on the second floor. Part of me had no choice but to go in with my heart pounding. To think I'd walk into a women's bathhouse I'd been certain I would never set foot in for the rest of my life... Life really was impossible to predict.
"Ah!"
Standing before the door, I grabbed Maru's hand and pleaded.
"Maru! Can't we just go home?"
"Hana. How gross would it be to sleep covered in dirt!"
"But still..."
Maru was so firm that I stopped whining and went in. Whining any further was something I just couldn't do to her. Inside, an empty scene greeted me. It was a weekday afternoon, so there was no one around.
"Ah..."
It wasn't much different from a men's bathhouse. Still, a few middle-aged women, still fully dressed, caught my eye. Fortunately they didn't seem to be heading in to wash—more like they'd finished and were on their way home. What a relief.
I hurried to my locker, put the key in, opened the door, stripped, and stuffed my clothes inside. The only thought filling my head was to wash fast and get out. I dashed in, gave myself a quick rinse, and climbed into the tub. There was no one in it.
I kept my eyes shut as tightly as I could and stayed in the corner. For some reason it felt like I was committing a crime. But that couldn't last, because Maru's voice came from behind me.
"Haa~ This feels amazing."
Thump. Thump.
If I turned around right now, I could see Maru as nature made her. But I'd already spent far too much time with her for that... I really would be crossing a line I must never cross. And yet one side of my instincts was telling me to just open my eyes.
"Hana! Why are you turned away in the corner! Come to the middle!"
Maru grabbed my shoulder and spun me around. I squeezed my already-closed eyes even tighter. Seeing my face, she laughed and stroked it.
"Hana, you're so shy. What's there to be embarrassed about?"
If Maru knew the mind inside me belonged to a man in his twenties, what face would she make? She'd look at me with pure condemnation and curse me as the pervert of all perverts. If I didn't want to hear that, I absolutely could not open my eyes. But soon, as if she disliked that I had them shut, she fiddled with my eyelids and spoke.
"Hana, open your eyes! You're not even washing your hair, and here you are with your eyes closed..."
As if this version of me didn't sit right with her, Maru scooped me up and started soaking me in the hot water in the middle of the tub. I couldn't keep my eyes shut any longer. I cracked them open, certain I'd see the kind of bare woman's body that only showed up in adult videos—but a completely different sight greeted me.
Maru had wrapped herself in a towel. Of course her figure was outstanding, model-like, so even that was plenty stimulating. Still, unlike seeing completely bare skin, a scene censored like this was all right to look at.
I opened both eyes and looked at her. She seemed to notice, and she stroked my head as she spoke.
"Hana, you soak all the way under, and then we go wash. Got it?"
"Yeah!"
Maybe because the bathhouse was far from the city, right now it was only me and Maru inside. If we rushed through the bath and left, it would be perfectly fine.
As I let the hot water seep into me, the fatigue from working the garden earlier seemed to fly clean away. I passed the tedious time by diving under now and then. After a while, Maru picked me up and headed for the showers. She sat me down, took out the bath supplies, and got ready to wash me in earnest.
"Hana, don't move!"
Maru squeezed a long line of shampoo into her hand and started scrubbing it into my hair in earnest. Foam rose until my hair was a complete mess of shampoo. I couldn't remember the last time someone else had showered me. I'd always washed alone. I watched myself in the mirror and surrendered to Maru's hands.
This body was far too small and frail. I wanted to grow big like Maru soon. A tiny body was useless no matter where you were.
Once I'd entrusted myself to her and was all clean, Maru whipped away the towel she'd been wearing with a sharp flick.
"Huk!"
I jerked my head down. She was probably about to wash herself too.
I didn't see a thing...