“THIS is definitely the best thing after a long journey.”
“Will you do it for me too, Big Sis?”
“Sure thing. Here it comes!”
As soon as I entered the castle’s bathhouse, I poured warm water over my head. Per Cia’s request, I do the same for her too. This has become our tradition before entering the bathwater.
Drenched from the top of her head to her toes, Cia looks like a wet puppy with her long hair sticking to her. The one thing that differentiates her from a dog is that she doesn’t shake the water off. She keeps perfectly still, eyes closed. Giggling over how cute she is, I run a comb through her hair and remove the excess water around her eyes.
“You can open your eyes now.”
“Thank you for always rinsing me off.”
“Anytime!”
The next step is usually soaking in the water, but we can’t do that yet. “Planning on coming over here any time soon, Nady?” I call over my shoulder with a laugh.
“B-But…is it really all right for someone like me to partake in such a luxury?”
Nady is still lingering by the door. She looks like a completely different person with her hair down. She seems more mature this way. And well endowed. I rarely saw anyone so voluptuous in Japan.
“Don’t speak down about yourself. You don’t have to stand on ceremony with me,” I remind her.
“I believe the others made it clear to you what they think of me…” she mutters.
The Lucors seem to discriminate against Nady. I heard them mocking her as a giant, a freak, a beanstalk, and with variations of the word “useless” during our return journey.
Some even had the nerve to say “Why is the Priestess speaking with Nady?” when I slowed to chat with her.
“In any case, I am considered a freak of nature among the Lucors. I do not deserve your kindness—”
“I don’t know much about your people,” I interrupt. “But there’s nothing wrong with being different. I mean, I’m pretty sure I’m the biggest freak of nature there is in this world.”
“Th-That’s…”
I can purify zombies with my pinky finger and cleanse corrosive water and land by hawking up a loogie. I’m a high school girl housing the power of an eccentric goddess. I win the “most different person in the world” badge simply for being from another world.
As I take pride in my uniqueness, Cia enthusiastically tosses in, “It’s true! Big Sister Mizuha is special!”
“Yes, that’s the word! Being different means you’re special. Don’t let it get to you! At least you can take comfort knowing we won’t treat you differently. Right, Cia?”
“Of course not!”
Did our feelings reach her? Nady seems less like a nervous cat now.
I beckon her with my hand. “Come over here and sit in front of me.”
She cautiously prowls closer and perches where I’m pointing. Examining her up close, it looks like the only thing that’s different about her is the tail and ears. Her claws aren’t too long, and she has silky, soft skin that’s not covered in fur. When it comes down to it, she’s not that different from a human.
“Okay, here comes the water. Close your eyes!” I warn as I pour the bucket of warm water over Nady’s head. Her fluffy ears and tail instantly soak up the water and sag.
She seems to be copying Cia as she’s staying perfectly still with her eyes shut. It’s double the cuteness with the cat ears and tail.
I comb the excess water out of her hair as I did with Cia, taking the opportunity to pet her furry ears. The short fur has a silky texture and doesn’t feel artificial at all—not that I really thought they were fake. I hope she will let me pet them when they aren’t wet.
“You can open your eyes now,” I say after wiping the water off her face.
“Th-Thank you,” she replies sheepishly while opening her eyes. “Incredible…you only poured water on me and yet I feel like I received a deep cleanse!” She’s in awe as she pats down her tail.
“You have Big Sis’s spit to thank for that,” Cia announces proudly.
“Cia, that’s one detail you could have left out...” I sigh.
“I’m sorry, but there is nothing dirty about you.”
I really wish she would realize how much her emphasis on that point is causing my self-esteem to crumble. And it’s not just Cia, but everyone in Grantz I want to make understand that.
“Anyway, time to get in the water! We’re going to catch a cold this way,” I say to change the topic, making my way to water in the process.
The three of us sit in the bath together. Naturally, the water level went up higher than when it’s just me and Cia.
“Phew… I feel regenerated…” I let a sigh slip as the water permeates my fatigued body.
If I said a line like that in front of my friends in Japan, they would have teased me with “Oh my gosh, Mizuha! You sound like an old man!” But this is another world. I won’t be judged for my bathing etiquette here.
I absolutely love taking baths. They seem to take the tension right out of your aching bones. Sadly, Nady seems too tense to enjoy it. She shrinks down into the water when our eyes meet, trying to submerge herself up to her neckline.
“I’m sorry for being so big,” she mumbles.
“I wasn’t looking at you because of—”
“U-Um, I think it’s good to be big!” Cia encourages right over my explanation. It was so sudden, Nady looks baffled.
“Cia here wants to grow up fast,” I explain.
“I...see…”
Primarily, it’s the chest area Cia wants to grow fast. I think her figure is perfect the way it is right now, but she has a different opinion. Anyway, that has become one reason why she looks up to Nady now.
“You still have plenty of time to grow bigger,” I say.
“But I have no assurance that I will get any bigger,” she pouts, patting her chest.
Once she’s older, I doubt she will make these cute gestures anymore. Either way, I don’t want to see Cia sad. I hope she develops the way she wants to.
“You two seem close,” Nady observes.
“We always manage to spend time together. She is the second person I purified.”
“I still vividly remember your hand slamming into my face...” Cia folds both hands over her heart as if remembering a precious memory.
“I-It was that way for me too!” Nady exclaims, the water splashing with her excitement. “I was engulfed in light when the Holy Priestess’s hand touched my face! I distinctly remember the great shock that followed too…”
“I know what you mean! I can’t believe you went through the same experience, Miss Nady!” Cia and Nady passionately discuss their experiences. I feel completely out of the loop.
“Excuse me, would you mind not hitting it off over such an uncomfortable topic for me?” I groan.
I’m not smacking them because I want to. I’m cornered into it. Though there is the OCCASIONAL time when I shove extra hard because I’m startled.
“By the way, any chance I can get you to stop calling me Holy Priestess?”
“But you are too important to be called anything else… I shouldn’t even be speaking to you like this.”
“But I want to be friends,” I say, causing her jaw to drop.
“F-Friends?” she falters in disbelief.
“Yep. Friends call each other by name. I’m just gonna call you Nady.”
“B-By name? I don’t think I’m deserving of being addressed in such a cute way…”
“Why not? You’re cute!”
Sure, my world and country tend to view small things as cute too. But that doesn’t mean small is the only kind of cute. Case in point, Nady is as cute as they come to me. The other Lucors have cat ears and tails too, but her fur is especially pretty, and her golden eyes are stunning. Everything about her just screams “she’s a nice girl!”
“Right from the moment I saw you, I wanted to be friends. Not interested?”
“I am—I’m interested.” She corrected herself to speak more casually. Then she timorously mutters, “Mizuha…”
“There you go! Now you just have to say it with more confidence.”
“It’s not that easy the first time.”
I can’t disagree with that argument. Besides, what matters isn’t how we address each other, but that we’ve become friends. She has stopped speaking so stiffly with me, so we’re on the right track.
“By the way, have you decided what you want to do tomorrow, Big Sis?” Cia asks me.
“Resting for sure. I’m a bit pooped after this last expedition.”
“I…see.” Cia sinks into the water, dejected. She seems disappointed.
“What’s wrong? Did you want to do something?”
“Some very pretty flowers have started growing inside the capital lately and I was hoping we could go look at them together.”
“Oh, if that’s all, I’m down for it.”
“Are you certain? Wouldn’t you rather rest your weary body?”
“It’s all good. We’re just going for a stroll to look at the flowers.”
Strictly speaking, anything is all good as long as it doesn’t involve zombies.
“Would you like to join us, Miss Nady?” Cia asks.
“I would hate to cut in on your time together.”
“Any friend of Big Sis is a friend of mine!” It’s just like Cia to put extra emphasis on friend.
Having lost her excuse, Nady reluctantly agrees to join us.
Beaming, Cia further suggests, “How about we show her around the capital while we are out?”
“Great idea!”
“Um, you needn’t go that far for—”
“Friends don’t hold back with each other, Nady.”
Never to this day have I known how useful the word friends could be. Nady, whose face had been too taut to smile this entire time, blinks twice before her lips curve in a timid smile.
“O-Okay, Holy Pri—I mean, Mizuha.”