episode_0072

The Miyano family bathroom was a simple yet neat sight, typical of what one might find in any rural home.

The tiles on the walls and floor faintly bore the marks of time, but they gleamed smoothly as if meticulously cared for.

Along with the sound of hot water streams hitting the tiles, steam rose and filled the small bathroom, making it hazy.

The warm, humid air, mixed with the scent of old wood and subtle soap, evoked a faint nostalgia.

“Is the water temperature okay?”

Her words came out trembling with nervousness.

Akari wanted to hide it somehow, but inside the humid bathroom, her voice echoed more clearly than usual.

“Yeah. But Nuna, that’s the fifth time you’ve asked.”

Yuu, with his eyes tightly closed under the pouring water, replied nonchalantly.

At his words, a short gasp escaped her lips as if she had been pricked by a sharp awl.

But what could she do?

She had never been in a bathroom with someone else, let alone her younger brother, except when they were very young.

Normally, she would have flat-out refused, but Fumika’s words about ‘satisfying desires’ clung to her ankle like shackles.

‘Calm down, Miyano Akari. He’s just a kid, about ten years old. He’s your brother, your brother!’

She repeated it to herself as if spitting it out, but her racing heart wouldn’t calm down easily.

Her brother, with his eyes peacefully closed, seemed to know or not know her inner turmoil, and she found him a little, no, very annoying.

‘This is just a perfectly ordinary act of washing a young sibling. Get a grip.’

“Keep your eyes tightly closed so they don’t sting.”

“Okay. I understand.”

After taking a deep breath and steadying her agitated mind, Akari took some shampoo and began to lather Yuu’s small head.

The soft hair and round head felt strange yet familiar beneath her fingertips.

For a moment, an awkward silence filled the bathroom, broken only by the regular sounds of scrubbing hair and falling water droplets.

Still, focusing on something like this seemed to calm her mind more than before.

“Remember how you used to cry and make a fuss every time Mom washed your hair, saying the soap got in your eyes?”

Akari spoke with a deliberately bright voice to shake off the awkwardness.

“Uh-huh. Nuna, you always deliberately got soap in my eyes.”

Akari was dumbfounded by Yuu’s cheeky distortion of the past, yet a smile spread across her lips.

“Oh, come on. When did I ever do that?”

“You did! You always did!”

“Ugh. Fine, you’re right about everything. You brat.”

How long had it been since she had such an unreserved conversation with her younger brother?

Right. They used to be so close when they were young.

But what happened to them…?

Even as her mind relaxed for a moment, complex emotions began to subtly rise like a creeping fog, darkening Akari’s expression.

‘The shop will have to close temporarily, I guess.’

Since Yuu, who knew all the shop’s operations besides their parents, was in this state, there was nothing she could do on her own.

It would still be a long time until their parents returned.

The fact that their living expenses were not an immediate concern, thanks to the money her father had sent in advance, was at least some comfort.

A bigger worry was what would happen if Yuu couldn’t return to his original form.

If he remained in this state even after a month when their parents returned, what on earth should she do?

“Haa.”

Who am I even worrying about right now?

Why did this foolish kid have to go to a shrine in the middle of the night and cause such trouble for me?

Because of him, I even fought with Dai-chan…

“Ouch.”

Perhaps her hand, which was thoughtlessly shampooing, had put too much force, as Yuu let out a low groan.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Did that hurt?”

“Uh-huh. A little.”

Thinking this was enough, Akari stopped shampooing and turned on the shower again, carefully rinsing Yuu’s hair.

As the warm water streams washed away the foam, his hair gained a clean sheen.

‘Still, Yuu is quite calm.’

When you think about it, he opened his eyes to find everyone around him suddenly grown up.

Even after being told his body had become younger, there was no sign of anxiety at all.

“Nuna.”

“Hm? What is it?”

At Yuu’s sudden question, Akari stopped thinking and responded instinctively.

“I’ve been curious about something since earlier, Nuna. Was the Oppa talking in the living room earlier your boyfriend?”

“Huh? Uh, yeah. That’s right… why?”

Even though it was clearly a question with nothing to hide, Akari hesitated for a moment before answering.

“No, it’s nothing. Then why did you fight with that Oppa earlier? Isn’t he your boyfriend, shouldn’t you like him?”

At the sharp, piercing question, her shoulders, beaded with water droplets, trembled slightly.

Why is he so perceptive at times like this?

“Oh, no. It wasn’t a fight, we just had a bit of a disagreement. It’s adult stuff, so you don’t need to worry too much about it.”

Akari tried to smile, but her face betrayed an undeniable worry and anxiety.

“Alright, now I’ll scrub your back. Turn around and sit facing this way.”

Akari awkwardly changed the subject, gently taking Yuu’s small shoulders and turning him around.

As the soft bath towel, covered in soap suds, touched his slender back, which was not yet completely dry, Yuu’s body flinched and trembled.

Akari simply couldn’t understand her own emotions, which were fluctuating more than necessary with each of these small reactions.

“Mom always used to do this, but it feels kind of new with Nuna doing it.”

Yuu hummed a tune as he spoke.

At his words, Akari suddenly remembered the questions she had kept in a corner of her mind.

“Yuu, aren’t you too sad? Your body suddenly became so young, but everyone around you is still the same. And your memories are gone too.”

Akari’s tone was cautious, wondering if she might be touching a sensitive spot, but.

“Yes!”

At his immediate, clear answer, she was momentarily speechless.

“Honestly, I was really scared at first… but I’m okay now. Nuna is here next to me.”

Yuu added casually and turned to look back, an innocent smile gracing his face.

At that moment, Akari felt her heart plummet to the floor.

It was a different feeling than mere affection or pity for her younger brother.

‘What is wrong with me?! It’s Yuu we’re talking about?!’

This change was due to the ‘Spoiled Child’ effect, but Akari had no way of knowing that.

She was simply swept away by a sudden wave of emotion, thrashing helplessly.

“Y-your back is all scrubbed, so let’s get into the bathtub now. It’ll help relieve your fatigue and feel good.”

Hiding her trembling voice, Akari hurriedly stood up.

But something was off.

Yuu didn’t get up; he just stood there fidgeting, his head hung low.

“What’s wrong with you? Is something uncomfortable?”

At Akari’s question, Yuu hesitated for a long time, then replied in a creeping voice.

“Nuna… wh-what’s wrong with this?”

“Why? Is there something wrong with your body? Are you in pain somewhere?”

“Th-that’s not it. Over here. This place… it’s a little strange…”

With his head still bowed, Yuu pointed a finger somewhere below his waist.

The moment Akari carelessly looked in the direction his small fingertip was pointing, she gasped.

“…Huh?”

Beyond the hazy steam.

The front of the small towel Yuu had wrapped around his waist was incredibly bulging.

One didn’t need to be told what it was, standing fiercely erect as if it would burst through the thin fabric at any moment.

But.

Was that really… *that*?

Something that could never be thought of as a child’s.

Comparable to an adult’s, no, perhaps even harder and more threatening than anything she had ever seen.

‘Was it always that big? Even Dai-chan’s wasn’t that… no, what am I thinking?!’

In shock, as if her mind had gone completely blank, Akari’s trembling eyes darted between Yuu’s face and the object beneath.

“Nuna, what do I do?”

Amidst the extreme confusion, Yuu’s tearful voice pierced her ears.

That pitiful voice snapped her back to reality, but the scene before her eyes was still unreal.

Akari stood rooted to the spot, unable to do anything, her lips merely fluttering.

“Sniffle. Nuna, am I… sick? When I think about Nuna, this place keeps hurting and feeling strange… I’m scared.”

Ultimately, at the sight of Yuu’s shoulders shaking as if he had burst into tears, Akari felt her heart ache.

Then, Fumika’s words flashed through her mind.

“It seems important to fulfill what Yuugun desires most right now.” Was ‘satisfying desires’ really meant so literally?

But something like that, how on earth could she…?

“I-it’s okay, Yuu. Don’t cry. It’s not a sickness. Nuna, Nuna will make sure it doesn’t hurt soon, okay? So stop.”

Akari herself didn’t know what she was saying.

Her mind was simply overflowing with the thought of needing to comfort Yuu.

‘Damn it, why did things turn out like this…!’

Her trembling hand reached for the knot of the small towel wrapped around Yuu’s waist.

The sound of her dry gulp was unusually loud.

If she untied this, there would be no going back.

The last thread of reason precariously sounded a warning, but it seemed already too late to stop.

Akari’s fingers were already gently pulling at the end of the knot.

Along with her quickening breath, a dangerous curiosity dangerously tinged her wet eyes.