It was cute enough seeing her get all excited when she was usually so calm and composed, but I got a supreme sense of joy learning how much she was looking forward to kissing me.
It took a while, but eventually, the drum bath was ready. Mai and I were going in first, so we took turns getting changed into our bathing suits in the tent. I had to hand it to Ichinose; it was much easier changing in the tent compared to undressing in the car.
I poured water over my body and started washing myself before soaking in the tub. But just as I was lathering up the soap, Mai grabbed the sponge off me.
“I’ll wash your back for you, Yuuma…as your girlfriend.”
…I guess she wanted to use this time to show Kamiji we were a real couple.
“Okay, thanks.”
I turned my back to her, and she began gently washing my back. How long had it been since I last had someone do this to me? It felt really good.
“—Now I’ll wash your front,” Mai whispered, wrapping her body around me from behind. She pushed her soft breasts against my back as she sponged my shoulders and stomach.
…Was this really going to prove to Kamiji that we were a loving couple…? I was starting to feel like I was receiving some sort of sexual service…
Once she’d finished washing my top half, I felt her body move away from mine. Luckily, for the sake of my health, she didn’t move on to my lower half.
But the next second, she passed me the sponge, stepped around in front of me, and crouched down.
“Now it’s your turn to wash my back.”
No sooner had Mai said that than she reached around behind her back and undid her bikini straps.
“Mai?! What are you doing…?!”
“Something occurred to me while I was watching Kamiji wash herself in the nude earlier. We probably aren’t cleaning ourselves very well if we’re wearing our bathing suits while we take a bath,” Mai explained as she removed her bikini top.
She had her back turned to me and was covering her breasts with her hands, but it was still far too exciting a sight to behold.
Sure, she had a point. I hadn’t properly washed myself inside my swimming trunks since we’d begun taking drum baths here.
But this was taking it too far…!!
“Um, what about if I waited in the tent while you—?”
But before I could finish my question, Mai stood up and slowly turned to face me.
“…You’re allowed to look, Yuuma. You’re my boyfriend.” Mai’s hands were empty, and her face was bright red.
She was right; backing down here wouldn’t look natural if we were a couple.
Hiding my agitation, I focused on Mai’s breasts—and noticed something incredible. She probably thought she was covering them, but I could see the pink tips between her fingers.
I told myself to calm down. I was supposed to be her boyfriend, so it would look suspicious if I panicked.
I had to take the offensive.
“…Okay, I’ll start washing your body from the front,” I said, pressing the sponge against Mai’s body and quickly creating a huge amount of lather to hide her skin. After completely covering the upper half of her body with bubbles, I washed it clean with the sponge, feeling the soft sensation of her skin the whole time. It was incredible.
Still, I couldn’t keep enjoying myself forever…
“Will that do?” I asked, forcing myself to put down the sponge.
But Mai replied shyly, covering her breasts with her hands.
“…What about…the bottom half?”
“Huh…?!”
Was she telling me to wash her down there as well? Don’t tell me she was going to take off her bikini bottom…!!
“I—I don’t know if we should go that far…”
But if doing that would remove any doubts Kamiji had about our relationship…
I glanced over at Kamiji to see how she was taking all of this—and noticed her frowning suspiciously.
“Hey…Kousaka. What kind of a show are you trying to put on for us?”
…I guess we’d gone overboard.
With that, our attempt to make Kamiji think we were a couple forcibly came to an end, and Mai put her bathing suit back on and got into the drum bath with me.
We were finished in about five minutes, and I headed to the tent to get changed. But as I did, Haruka followed me in her bathing suit, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. She dragged me to an area a little way away from Kamiji and the others and started cross-examining me.
“You and Tsukishiro washing each other’s bodies… Were you trying to declare war against me?”
Haruka had seen it all. Naturally, she was furious.
“No, you’ve got it all wrong. That was an act so Kamiji wouldn’t suspect us…”
“Can you at least warn me next time? I was beginning to worry you’d both gone out of your minds. I thought you were about to start having sex in front of everyone.”
“Was it that bad?”
“It really was. It was so unbelievable I kept thinking I must be dreaming.”
“Seriously…?”
“Didn’t I tell you earlier that I’d kill you if you ever touched Tsukishiro’s breasts?”
“I didn’t touch them. I just washed them.”
“You told me you wouldn’t lay so much as a finger on them.”
“I didn’t. I washed her with a sponge.”
“Stop splitting hairs…!! There’s no way you didn’t enjoy it…!!” Haruka protested in a hushed tone. I assumed she was trying not to have Kamiji hear her, but there was venom in her words and she sounded incredibly scary.
Still, I couldn’t really come up with much of an argument since it was true that I’d enjoyed it.
“I mean, do you really need to go to such lengths to keep the zombification thing a secret?” Haruka asked. “Amano and Kamiji both seem like nice people, so why don’t you just tell them the truth?”
“They do, but Kamiji seems like she’s got a pretty loose tongue… I’m afraid she might let it slip when she drinks.”
“Hnnnngh…”
“So give it up and just let me and Mai act like a couple, okay?”
“…Fine. I’ll be super generous and put up with it,” Haruka said through clenched teeth. “As your punishment, I want you to wash my body now.”
“As a punishment…? Isn’t that more like a reward…?”
“After that, let me wash your body. I want to do what you did with Tsukishiro.”
“Believe me, I couldn’t be more sorry, but we can’t do it today. Kamiji will definitely get suspicious if she sees us getting all touchy-feely.”
“Then we’ll do it tomorrow. We’ll come here as early as possible and wash each other’s bodies.”
“…All right.”
Satisfied once I agreed to do as she said, Haruka walked away toward the drum bath.
…I wasn’t entirely sure what had just happened, but I seemed to have made an incredible promise. I’d thought it was tough to hide my relationship with Tsukishiro, but I’d never expected it to turn out like this…
After everyone had bathed, we all went to the supermarket for supplies, then returned to the dorm. By then, it was six PM—meaning it had been about eight hours since Kamiji had been scratched by a zombie.
“I haven’t turned into a zombie as yet, so does that mean I’m okay?” Kamiji asked in the cafeteria. But I didn’t exactly know the answer.
“Probably…?”
I had no idea about the incubation period for the zombie virus. It had taken just under an hour for me to turn into a zombie the first time around, but for Mai, it had happened almost right after she was bitten…