Laundry
I'd always changed my underwear once a day, and becoming this body hadn't changed that.
I stared at the clothes heaped in the laundry basket and thought it over. Haru or Bora usually ran my loads for me, but maybe today I ought to try it myself. Handing my underwear over to someone else was a little embarrassing, if I was honest.
And laundry wasn't even hard. I'd watched from the side. You tossed in detergent and fabric softener, hit the button, and that was that.
I picked up the basket. Today I was even going to wash my dinosaur pajamas. I'd worn them so long that the tail was already caked in dust—probably from dragging along the floor.
The moment I lifted the basket in the bathroom, I couldn't see a thing in front of me. The washer was outside the room, so I had to haul everything out there. With a heave and a huff I made it into the hall and headed for the laundry room.
Tucked into a corner of the corridor, it was a space the staff rarely visited. Evening had fallen, and the place gave off a distinctly creepy air, the kind of scenery where a ghost felt inevitable. I was terrified—but ghosts were an illusion.
So long as I could still work through the theory of the horizontal coordinate system, a ghost had no business scaring me. I used the laundry basket as a shield and stepped inside. The lights were off. I set the basket on the floor, flipped the switch, and the room came into view.
"Whew..."
Of course there was no one there. I walked up to the state-of-the-art washer—and immediately hit a serious obstacle. It wasn't a front-loader. I couldn't reach the lid.
This couldn't be happening!
I hated being short. There was nothing good about it and plenty that was bad. I was a sad little creature, cursed with a lack of height.
I spun in a circle, looking for something to stand on, and found a decent candidate: a step stool on wheels, though I had no idea what it was normally used for.
"Hup—"
Once I set it in front of the washer, the world opened up. I lifted the lid and dumped the clothes from the basket inside, shook the last bits loose, and the basket was empty.
I grabbed the powdered detergent from beside the machine and shook in enough to raise a proper foam, then finished with fabric softener. As expected, I was perfect.
I pressed the start button, and the washer roared to life. Water trickled in. I pulled out my phone and stood there waiting for the cycle to end.
Then I remembered I was supposed to put the detergent back. Right now it was sitting on top of the machine.
Rattle, rattle.
I wheeled the step stool in front of the washer again and stretched my arm as far inside as it would go, reaching for the box.
Ngh—just a little more!
I'd shoved it too far back. My fingers couldn't touch it. I rose onto my toes and reached farther, and at last I got a grip.
"Ah!"
But standing on tiptoe threw off my balance. I skated across the stool like I was dancing, and—just like in a cartoon—flung the detergent straight up.
I'd already snipped the top open with scissors. Powder burst into the air and filled the room as if it were snowing.
"Eh..."
The place was a disaster, blanketed white, a perfect winter scene. Every last bit of powder had poured out. I stood there in a daze, holding the empty packet.
This... this was a spanking. I slipped quietly out of the laundry room and headed for my own room as if nothing had happened.
My whole body was already coated in white powder. There was no hiding it. I decided to zip down the hall and vanish. Whatever had happened in that room, it hadn't been me. I was going to say a ghost did it.
I made it inside safely and locked the door. I hadn't done a thing.
Perfect.
All I had to do now was wash up, and it would be the perfect crime. I stepped in wearing a thoroughly pleased expression—and froze. Haru was already in the room.
"Hana, have you seen the laundry bask—"
She looked at me. I screamed.
"Ah!"
Haru took in the sight of me and came closer, startled.
"Hana! What is this?!"
She was horrified. Fair enough. In my current state I was a white reaper, head to toe in detergent powder.
I threw my hands up, hoping to plant a proper fear in her and send her running.
Haru did not move according to my expectations.
"Don't tell me... Hana? No. You didn't."
She looked more and more like she was getting angry, and my confidence steadily died. I had messed up, but still...
Haru took my hand and marched me toward the laundry room. With every step my face went paler. There was no way she would let this slide once she saw it.
We arrived. She opened the door, took in the scene, and clapped a hand over her mouth.
The room had been painted in white detergent. I edged sideways, sneaking glances at her face, but she had my hand in a tight grip. Escape was impossible.
"Hana... did you do this?"
I looked up at her with the teariest eyes I could manage and answered in the smallest, most defeated voice I had. Right now, maximum submission was the only strategy.
"Yeah..."
"Haa..."
Haru let out a long sigh. Fortunately it was Haru and not Bora, so I didn't get my backside spanked—but I spent hours cleaning the room. Laundry, it turned out, was not my job. I'd try again once I was taller.
The only sound left in the room was the washer, clattering away.
Kim Sehee was working in the chairman's office when someone knocked.
"Come in."
"Chairman."
The person who opened the door was not an employee. It was Hana.
"Hm? Hana, what are you doing here?"
Wasn't she supposed to be at the building? The question flickered and passed. Kim Sehee decided to let it go.
She rose from her chair and scooped up the little visitor. Hana was incredibly light. From her pocket, Kim Sehee produced a piece of candy and held it out, and Hana unwrapped it with a smile.
"Who did my Hana take after, to be this cute~"
As she said it, she nuzzled her cheek against Hana's. That cheek was soft and springy, dangerously addictive. She could have squished it all day and never gotten bored.
She was midway through her healing session when another knock came. Annoyed at the interruption, Kim Sehee narrowed her eyes, ready to glare at whoever walked in.
Then she saw who it was, and she had no choice but to be shocked.
"Uh... uh...?"
She could only stare, wearing the blankest expression of her life. The person who had just entered the chairman's office was another Hana.
Identical enough that she wondered if she was seeing things. She looked down at the Hana in her arms. It matched the face she saw every day. But the Hana who had just come in was a little smaller.
If the one she was holding was ten-year-old Hana, the one standing in the room was nine.
The smaller Hana stared at Kim Sehee, then came toddling over. On reflex, Kim Sehee gathered her up with her free arm.
One Hana in each arm, she felt her thoughts seize up at a phenomenon she could not understand. Then both Hanas smiled and pinched her cheeks, tugging.
"Ah, whatever~"
Kim Sehee decided not to think too hard about the sudden surplus of Hanas. She would simply enjoy the moment. She was taking turns kissing the cheeks of the two in her arms when, through the open door, Hanas came pouring in in a rush.
"Oh my, oh my!"
There were more than ten of them now. Kim Sehee deeply regretted having only two arms. To be unable to hold this many adorable Hanas—this was a disaster.
"Chairman!"
They swarmed around her and started clinging. Kim Sehee was happier than she had ever been, simply because there were so many Hanas. She wished this happiness could last forever.
"Hah!"
Kim Sehee's eyes flew open. Both arms were empty. Only then did she understand. Everything just now had been a dream.
A dream with Hanas everywhere, and it had been so wonderful... She sat up in bed and decided that today she would go visit the building where Hana lived.
If she didn't see Hana, she was going to regret it terribly. She picked out presents to bring, and then Kim Sehee got ready for work.