Episode 3. Are You Done Being Scared?
Episode 3. Are You Done Being Scared?
Did I worry about my place of residence when I left school?
That concern was resolved very easily.
The address was written in detail in the memo app.
Fortunately, it was close enough to walk to.
And the place I arrived at was a villa that looked like it could collapse at any moment.
The exterior walls, probably built with red bricks, had discolored to a blackish hue like dried blood from how much time had passed.
The glass door at the entrance had cracks running across it, and trash bags were scattered messily around it.
"......"
I suppressed something surging fiercely inside my heart and entered the villa.
As I climbed the stairs, an indescribable stench—a mix of garbage odor and mold—enveloped my entire body. The scent of poverty.
"And of course, she lives on the 5th floor."
Since the 5th floor was the top floor of the villa, I climbed all the way up the stairs.
No one would expect an elevator in a place like this.
"Huff, huff......"
This kid's stamina is seriously lacking.
She's a Hunter, yet she's panting from just climbing five floors.
Even if she's a buffer or a Healer, this is a bit much.
Anyway, when I arrived at the front door, the lock was just a keyhole.
'Is this for real?'
No electronic door lock, which are on every door these days?
I turned the doorknob and pulled, and the door swung open with a hollow clunk.
You really shouldn't leave things so insecure in this day and age.
Well, it's good for me. I'll look for the key later.
"Hmm......"
The house has a lived-in feel. The floor is dirty, but it's not like it's never been cleaned. There was an instant rice container on the kitchen counter, with rice grains still stuck to it as if she'd eaten it this morning.
Going into the bathroom, I could see spots where moisture hadn't dried yet.
Meaning, she hadn't just started living here.
So she's been living here all along?
'In a place like this?'
A wooden door with corners rotten and crumbling.
A ceiling stained with black marks as if stepped on with shoes.
Wallpaper dirtied and splotched with colorful mold like an action painting......
Huh, that strange emotion I felt at the villa entrance seems to be rising again.
"Phew......"
It's a bit absurd.
Well, I expected it since she's an orphan.
But this is a bit much.
'Let's have some water and think.'
I've been strangely thirsty since I woke up earlier. I'm producing less saliva, and I even feel dizzy.
I can feel my lips, which were flushed red even at noon, cracking dryly.
I opened the refrigerator, which looked like it was about 20 years old.
'......?'
The inside was completely empty.
Meaning, there's nothing.
'Seriously?'
Seriously nothing.
Just like this kid's parents.
Only a cold, hazy chill seeped out.
"No, fuck."
I didn't want to swear with this pretty face.
But I couldn't help it.
There are generally two ways to get water at home.
Either buy bottled water or use a water purifier.
And I just confirmed there's no bottled water.
Then there should be a water purifier.
I searched every nook and cranny of the house for anything that might produce water, but there was nothing.
There was no way there would be, in a house like this.
That fact indicated I had to choose a third method that most people don't use.
"......"
I went to the sink and turned on the faucet.
Water gushed out refreshingly, as if mocking me.
I pressed my lips to the fiercely falling stream of water.
Well, I was thirsty, so I gulped down the water, glug glug.
My first meal after possession was slightly metallic-tasting tap water.
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After my "meal" (laughs), I decided to wash up immediately.
A smell was still rising from my skin.
"Ugh......"
As I carefully pulled down the black pantyhose, the nylon, sticky against my crotch and thighs, made a *zzzzip* sound like Velcro being torn apart as it came off.
Ugh, a feeling strange enough to make a sound.
I undid the blouse buttons one by one and took off the school skirt.
Now I was left wearing just a bra and panties.
"How... do I undo this bra."
I think it has a hook in the back......
I moved my fingers behind my back.
"Eht......"
Fumbling awkwardly with my index and middle fingers, it took a long while before I finally got it undone.
The panties too... let's just pull them down decisively without hesitating. That way it'll be less embarrassing.
And so, the clothes lay scattered on the floor.
The folded blouse and skirt, the crumpled stockings, the slightly damp panties, etc.......
It feels a bit strange and erotic.
To think that clothes a girl would wear were just on my body......
'Stop with the weird thoughts and just wash up.'
As I saw earlier, the water worked fine.
Cold water gushed abundantly from the showerhead.
I thought about turning on the boiler, but I should probably save money in my current situation.
My body also felt a bit warm.
Swishhh-
I fixed the showerhead high up and stepped forward slightly.
The sensation of the cool stream of water hitting the crown of my head, sliding down my hair and along my spine, then brushing past the curve of my buttocks made me grit my lower teeth.
Goosebumps immediately rose on my snow-white skin.
On the bathroom shelf were only shampoo and soap. Treatment? Cleansing foam? Nothing like that.
I guess she's been washing her body with just these two until now.
Even guys these days shower with more cleansers than this.
Anyway, I squeezed out a line of shampoo and carefully worked it into my long hair. I had to squeeze out more halfway through because there wasn't enough shampoo.
'Having long hair is a hassle like this.'
It comes down to just above my waist, so that's very long even for a girl.
So washing my hair felt less like shampooing and more like washing seaweed freshly gathered from the blue sea.
My face, well, I just scrubbed it.
Now for the torso.
Holding the soap, its edges rounded from use, I looked down.
Before, I would just see my stomach directly, but now...
My moderately sized breasts come into view first.
Breasts.
One of the areas that clearly distinguishes men from women.
The perky, snow-white breasts glisten from the moisture and lighting.
Seeing that, I couldn't help but feel the brutal reality that I had truly become a girl, a schoolgirl at that.
I tried to look straight ahead or at the ceiling as much as possible while scrubbing my body with the soap.
There were marks of dried sweat all over my skin, making it feel like I was peeling off a thin film.
Forearms, shoulders, chest, cleavage, navel, crotch, thighs, calves......
Scrubbing sequentially like that, I realized one thing.
'This kid has no hair at all.'
Even areas like the pubic region, where hair inevitably sprouts for females, were pure white with nothing.
Gently touching it, it didn't seem like she did any special maintenance. If she had shaved, it should feel slightly stubbly.
But it's smooth and shiny without any of that.
Seems like she's just naturally like this.
'So that sense of incongruity I felt while clothed was because of this.'
No wonder it feels strange.
Out of curiosity, I raised my arm to check my armpits too.
As expected, they were similarly clean and noticeable. They looked as smooth as the bathroom tile I'm bracing myself on now.
I tilted my head to intently observe my armpits, then, suddenly wondering what the hell I was doing, I just went back to washing my body.
I rinsed off the suds with cold water again and turned off the faucet.
Standing in front of the mirror with water droplets dripping, drip, drip from my entire body.
Today might be the day I've looked in the mirror the most in my life.
Obviously, being naked now makes my femininity stand out much more than when I was in the school uniform.
A woman's body is fundamentally different from a man's.
Beyond the size of the breasts or the genitals.
It's the lines that are different.
The sleek curves running from the collarbone and shoulders to slender arms, and starting from the armpits, gracefully passing along the sides and pelvis—these were elements not found on a man's body.
And they now exist on me.
The girl staring intently back at me with black pupils has perky breasts with pink areolas, a navel sunken like a small well, a cute, slightly protruding lower belly, and thighs and calves forming an inverted triangle, with her crotch seemingly shrunk in fear.
And that girl was me.
My mind, even my rational side, is vehemently arguing how this makes any sense, but what can I do?
This is the reality.
I barely held back the tears that threatened to burst forth, nodded, and tried to accept it.
No matter how much I deny it, the stark truth is that I have to live on in this girl's body.
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It seems becoming a girl has more than doubled my shower time.
Probably the long hair is the main reason.
But thankfully, there was a hair dryer. It was tiny like some toy and the airflow was laughably weak, but it's better than nothing.
I dried my hair (it took a very long time) and applied body lotion all over. Of course, on my face too.
By now, anyone would guess, but there's no way there would be basic skincare like toner, cream, or facial lotion.
By the way, she only showers with soap and shampoo and only uses body lotion for aftercare, yet she maintains such good skin and pretty looks?
At this point, I kinda want to see what her parents looked like.
Anyway, to get dressed, I opened the old wardrobe wide.
The state of the wardrobe was similar to the refrigerator.
"Phew......"
I closed my eyes for a moment and slowly swallowed my anger.
After about a minute, I scurried around the house looking for something to wear.
"Huh."
In the corner of what seemed to be her main room with a desk, I saw clothes crumpled up like paper.
A sleeveless, overly large short-sleeved cotton T-shirt and one pair of short dolphin shorts.
I picked them up, held them to my nose, and sniffed, *sniff sniff*.
'They do smell a bit like sweat.'
Judging from years of living alone experience, these are pajamas.
She probably took them off in the morning and, too lazy to put them in the laundry basket, just stuffed them in the corner.
Anyway, I picked up the shorts and pulled them up to my waist.
No, I tried to.
Wasn't there something I needed to put on before the shorts?
The moment I realized that, I frantically rummaged through the house looking for panties.
"Huff, huff......"
And the fact I realized upon returning to my starting point was.
This girl only has one set of underwear...!
There's only that bra and those panties, now soaked with sweat and lying on the floor...!