19. Shower

19. Shower

A refreshing morning with chirping sparrows.

“Did you sleep well, Priscilla?”

“Hick! Ah, yes! Yes…!”

Priscilla, who always slept with her back to me, apparently slept facing me directly today, which was unusual.

Her red eyes, like perfectly replicated rubies. My sleepy reflection is visible within them.

Perhaps she woke up before me, as Priscilla was already gazing intently at me when I opened my eyes. I patted Priscilla’s back, which I was holding tightly, then kissed her forehead and got out of bed.

“Ugh… Hoo….”

I stretched my arms high towards the sky to loosen my stiff body, and then rotated my tail in a circle to relax my muscles. A few twitches of my ears, and the morning stretching was complete.

With a refreshed body, I turned around to see Priscilla dozing off on the bed.

“Priscilla?”

“Yes, yes?”

“Did you not sleep well yesterday?”

“Uh… yes. A little….”

Ah.

Come to think of it, wasn’t Priscilla unconscious for a long time yesterday?

Even at the moment I fell asleep holding Priscilla tightly, she was still unconscious, so there was a high probability that her day and night were reversed.

When I was training with my father, there were times when I was unconscious for so long that I would wake up at night and sleep during the day, so I could fully understand.

In my case, I fixed it by passing out once more at night… but it would be difficult for Priscilla to do that, wouldn’t it?

“Will you be alright?”

“Yes… I’m used to staying up all night.”

Priscilla replied weakly. Her usually neat twin buns looked disheveled, suggesting her hair condition was affected by her health.

Her listless voice and the dark circles under her eyes made her look pitiful.

… It would be great if I had a sibling at times like this. With my sister’s healing magic, I could instantly get rid of fatigue.

Hmm, magic?

“Wait, Priscilla. You said you were a mage, right?”

“Yes? Ah, yes. But….”

“Can’t you use healing magic or something?”

Priscilla yawned widely at my question and replied with sleepy eyes. Her tone suggested she wondered why I was asking such a thing.

“Healing magic… Hyaam… isn’t something you can use so easily. You might not know since you’re not a mage, Skadi….”

“It’s not something you can use easily?”

“Yes… To use healing magic once, a healer who specializes in healing magic has to use all their strength. It’s that difficult and… Hyaam… complicated magic.”

Difficult and complicated magic?

I briefly recalled my sister’s appearance in my memory.

The way she lifted her wooden staff slightly, and a green light flowed out to heal my wounds. The way she slammed her staff down, and a wave spread out, empowering me….

Freya, whom I had seen, always cast healing magic as if it were no big deal.

I wondered if my sister was hiding the difficulty from me, but having seen my sister’s actions many times, I could easily distinguish whether my sister was exerting effort or not. She clearly used healing magic very simply.

I asked Priscilla with a hint of doubt.

“My sibling did it very easily.”

“What? That’s impossible. Perhaps Skadi just didn’t realize it?”

“No, I couldn’t possibly fail to notice my sister struggling. Besides, my sister….”

“-Freya, can you use healing magic?”

“Yes!”

“… She really used it incredibly easily.”

“That’s impossible-“

Priscilla’s mouth fell open as if she couldn’t believe my story, then she muttered something and fell into her own thoughts.

“No, Skadi is also incredibly strong, so maybe your sibling…? But healing magic can’t be used so easily… It’s not logical….”

“Priscilla?”

“Yes?!”

It’s early morning now. Since there isn’t much time before the lecture, I poked Priscilla’s chest to snap her out of her thoughts. Priscilla looked at me in surprise.

I asked Priscilla.

“Do you want to wash together?”

“Uh, eh?! Well, uh….”

Priscilla, who had been flustered, finally seemed to make a big decision, closing her eyes tightly and looking towards me, she said.

“… Yes!”

Finally, it seemed that what I had been persistently suggesting to Priscilla was bearing fruit.

——

A bathroom filled with hot steam.

Two women stood in the not-so-spacious room.

Naturally, one of them was me, and the other was Priscilla. Perhaps it was the warmth of the hot water, but Priscilla’s face was slightly flushed.

Even though there was steam, water vapor doesn’t completely obscure vision. Not like in a manga.

Therefore, Priscilla’s naked body was clearly visible to me, and the white curves, where things should be in and things should be out, were shown to me raw, without a single piece of cloth to cover the space between them. Priscilla was likely the same.

It’s too late to be embarrassed by a woman’s nakedness now; I’ve lived in this body for too long. While the landscape changes in ten years, I’ve lived as a woman for a full twenty years.

Besides, I was used to showering with my sister.

… Even so, it wasn’t entirely uninteresting. My mind was originally male, wasn’t it? It would be a lie to say I have no interest in women.

Moreover, since reincarnating, there hasn’t been a single male near me except for my father. For some reason, all my servants were women. Therefore, even if my sexual preferences have become dulled from familiarity, their form has not changed.

I still preferred women to men, and that’s why my gaze naturally drifted when I saw beautiful bodies like the one before me.

Priscilla subtly averted her gaze from my blatant stare. I muttered softly.

“You’re pretty.”

“What?!”

I thought I said it quietly, but perhaps the distance was too close, and she heard me. I shook my head, dismissing it as nothing.

I picked up the showerhead. The water flowing from it was lukewarm, just the right temperature for washing. I naturally asked Priscilla.

“Shall I wash you?”

“What?! I, I can wash myself!”

“Ah… I see.”

Priscilla wasn’t my sister. Perhaps because she was about the same height as my sister, I kept mistaking her. I was expecting to wash Priscilla like her….

My tail drooped slightly, looking dejected. My ears also drooped.

Seeing my expression, Priscilla quietly said.

“… But I think being washed is… well, okay.”

“Really?”

My voice brightened, and my tail wagged energetically.

I looked at Priscilla. Priscilla was looking at my tail. My tail wagged excitedly from side to side. Left, right, left, right….

Then, Priscilla’s eyes, following my tail, became hazy, and she opened her mouth blankly, as if she had lost consciousness.

… Hmm.

I waved my palm in front of Priscilla.

“Priscilla?”

Priscilla, who didn’t respond no matter how much I called her.

Watching Priscilla standing there blankly, I pondered for a moment, then poured the water from the showerhead onto Priscilla’s head.

“Heeek!”

“Oh, you’ve come to your senses.”

It’s common sense to wake someone up by pouring water on their head when they’re not conscious. Fortunately, it seemed to be correct knowledge.

I began washing Priscilla’s hair, who had regained her senses. Water flowed down, and her soft red hair tangled in my hands.

The reflection of Priscilla and me in the mirror.

As if a mother were washing a child’s hair, the white wolf was diligently washing Priscilla. Priscilla accepted my touch with her eyes tightly closed.

Priscilla’s twin buns, even when wet and covered in soap suds, still proudly displayed their rolled shape. It felt quite peculiar.

Finally, I poured water to rinse off the remaining soap from her hair, and Priscilla looked at me.

“I-is it over?”

“No.”

After washing her hair, you have to wash her body too.

As my hand moved towards her body, Priscilla urgently exclaimed.

“W-wait! Why are you massaging my chest!”

“Of course, I have to wash here too. What else would I do? Don’t be so flustered. It’s normal for close female friends to touch each other like this.”

“What?!”

It’s common sense.

At my words, Priscilla pursed her lips. I diligently lathered Priscilla’s entire body with soap, as if I were washing my sister.

It seemed like Priscilla might have shed a tear when my hand reached her lower body, but it was probably just water droplets from the showerhead.

I had no worries about doing anything wrong. I still clearly remembered what my sister had told me.

“-Sister, when washing each other’s bodies, you have to scrub thoroughly and meticulously!”

“… Really? Then, um, those places too?”

“Of course!”

It was truly amazing how uninhibited people in this world were about touching each other’s bodies. Could the existence of magic in this fantasy world create such a difference in common sense?

Well, I’m a foreigner by this world’s standards. Rather than questioning common sense, it’s right for me to adapt and conform.

… Ah, speaking of which, I was supposed to ask Priscilla about her sister today.

I had completely forgotten until we left the bathroom and started drying each other’s hair, when the plan I made yesterday came to mind.

But the best time to start is when you think it’s too late. I decided to ask Priscilla about what happened with her sister right now.