Those two extraordinary elements may have very well saved her from falling into a miserable state of mind normally inflicted upon anyone who had experienced assault. By the time she turned the shower and sonic scrubbers off, she felt like she had returned quite close to her usual state of mind.
Euphemia pulled an oversized bath towel from the closet and spread it out to find it was, as expected, a famous brand-name towel with material so soft it felt like clouds on her skin. The high-quality genetically modified cotton-like material rapidly absorbed the water from her skin and hair and cleaned the towel at the same time. She quickly rubbed on the lotion on the shelf and borrowed the Eau de Cologne for a spritz or two while she was at it. The refreshing citrus fragrance was subtle instead of overpowering.
Since her hair was still wet, Euphemia decided not to put it up. She was going to go straight home and take another shower with her own products anyway, one shower wasn’t enough to feel clean after what she went through, and so she wrote off doing anything with her hair. Next, she spread open the neatly folded shirt Zel had left on the shelf for her. It had to have belonged to him, because it was as big as a tablecloth with the arms spread out.
Wow, I thought it was going to be big, but this is huge! she mused, holding it against her chest to compare sizes.
Euphemia was on the petite side, but that only meant she was slightly shorter than the planet’s average adult woman. In spite of that, the black shirt went right past her thighs and stopped just above her knees. The width of the shirt was on the narrower side in comparison to its length, but two Euphemias could have easily fit inside it.
She had to fold the sleeves close to a dozen times before she finally saw her hands. But she paid its size little mind as she pulled on her underwear and knocked the dirt off her amazingly intact pants before pulling them on as well.
The bathroom lacked any makeup, so she slapped her cheeks in front of the mirror to give her overly white skin a temporary red tint. Then she combed her hair out more carefully than usual. Euphemia’s gorgeous blond hair, which was slightly darker than normal because it was wet, reached her waist. Although her thick hair shone and felt like silk, she didn’t particularly care for it. She always thought the color was too flashy.
Her similarly oversized eyes were vivid emeralds that looked like freshly grown spring moss, which gave others the impression that she was a frivolous blonde bimbo without any intelligence. That was the last impression she wanted people to have of her as a scientist.
Regardless of her woes, this was the face she was born with.
Euphemia gave up on getting all the knots out of her hair and put the brush down, picking up the towel she had used to give the wet bathroom a quick wipe down instead. She didn’t see a washing machine anywhere, so she tossed the wet towel into the basket sitting on the floor.
No one was in the bedroom when she returned. She was disappointed even though she expected it. Did her mystery man return to his own room to sleep? From what he told her, he went through a lot last night.
She wouldn’t achieve anything by thinking about him, so she picked up the mug of coffee he’d poured for her before she had gone into the shower. The coffee filling the big, heavy mug to the brim was kept warm by the mug’s internal heater. The hot bitter flavor stimulated her tongue and brain.
I wonder why he saved me. He said he did it on a whim… Why did he even know I was going to be attacked in the first place? Thinking about it more carefully, the whole thing sounded too good to be true.
Euphemia was starting to doubt if it was truly a coincidence that Zel had been driving his car past the same area of the freeway at that hour of the night. After all, not many people went outside city limits just before rainfall.
At least, not normal humans.
That said, Euphemia had also been outside the city at that hour. No one will be around—she had made light of the situation, thinking it was free from danger without people. Her foolish naivety over a perceived security was already deeply impressed upon her by those who tried to rape her, but if a powerless woman like herself could roam the Wilds, how could a man of superior physique and fighting technique doing the same be considered strange?
In retrospect, he had taken out two other armed men with less effort than it’d take to swat a fly.
He also single-handedly defeated the ferocious Muta as it leapt at him. Barehanded, too. That was not a human feat. And then there was one more out-of-place element Euphemia had confirmed with her own eyes.
In the darkest hour right before the rainfall, his eyes had glowed without a light source. They emitted a silver gleam.
Who in the world is he?
That question was all that filled her roiling thoughts.