Chapter 9

“What kind of scent is this?”

I looked up in embarrassment that Kalisten was burying his face in my neck, and our eyes met. His bright red eyes looked like a beast, so my body began to tense up in anxiety.

‘The person I want to kill smells like your blood.’

I felt like I could hear Felix, so I hesitated and backed away without realizing it.

Kalisten’s eyes, which seemed to have lost their fondness for a moment, started to flutter with madness.

– Beep!

The moment he was about to approached me.

The door opened.

“Ah… .”

His eyes returned as if he had been awakened by the tinnitus of the alarm, and he even looked somewhat perplexed and embarrassed.

“… go.”

“Huh?”

“Get out.”

“Ah… yes… . See you in the evening.”

Watching him while I bowed my head, I grabbed the plate. Seeing that his ears have turned red for some reason, it may be that he’s so mortified to be so close to others.

I had to go out with a plate and line up again.

Kalisten kept his head down, so low it looked like he would never raise his head again.

“Number A-702.”

“Yes! A-702!”

The researcher glanced at my plate and scowled seeing Kalisten had eaten everything.

Come to think of it, he wasn’t the researcher who always inspected us. The original researcher had brown hair, but the person standing here today had red hair.

“Damn it, that bastard. Did you work up an appetite after killing people?”

It was clear that he had raised his voice deliberately for Kalisten to hear. Confused, I lowered my gaze to his feet. Then the researcher patted my shoulder and said,

“Be careful of that bastard. He’s someone who only laughs when he kills people.”

“Ah… . T-thank… thank you… .”

The researcher smiled crookedly and went to inspect the others’ plates.

The blood on Kalisten.

It occured to me it might be the blood of the researcher who slapped me across the face.

I lifted my head, then felt Kalisten looking at me and looked down again. I just couldn’t bring myself to make eye contact.

***

Everything was awful at the lab, but there was one favorable point in the shower facilities. Each shower was private with its own partition, so we were able to wash completely independently.

I had to take a shower with my necklace on so I should not stand out as much as possible. And while it’s important to keep my identity hidden, I also didn’t want to see the naked bodies of men outside.

Maybe if Kalisten wasn’t so mutinous I would have ran into him in the shower.

Surprisingly, the first ones to shower were Grade A. It’s because we listen well and don’t fight back.

On the contrary, the higher the rank, the stronger people’s rebellions grew and the more violent they often were.

Water dripped from a blue sphere above my head. Just like the sunflower shower head I saw in my last life.

After waiting for a while, cold water trickled down.

“… .”

After checking that the door of my compartment behind me was sealed, I took the necklace off for a while and set it aside. This original body returned, and one couldn’t help but be confident while looking in the mirror.

Even though she was a little shabby and haggard now, with just some clean clothes and grooming, she was beautiful enough to make anyone look back twice. [t1v: body disassociation hence 3rd POV]

I applied soap to the hair that ran down my shoulders. I didn’t expect shampoo here. Fortunately, there’s soap.

I gathered all my hair to the front and washed it as if I was washing clothes. Then I washed, and the unbearable cold water made me whimper. When I was a man, my hair was short and taken care of. However, when I was a woman, her hair was long enough that it came down to her buttocks because there was no one cut her hair.

When I took off the necklace, my voice changed too, so I avoided raising my voice.

That’s why I had to bite my lips while shivering.

The ice cold water hit my head, chest and dripped to my toes, freezing my feet. My body trembled and my teeth were chattering even though my jaw was clenched, but I couldn’t help it because I hated not washing.

Sometimes I felt like I was getting used to washing with cold water since I did it every day.

But I still look forward to the hot water that came out about once a week. Higher grades always have hot water.

“Huh… .”

After washing everything, I shut off the water. Squeezed out my hair and put the necklace back on. My hair got shorter again, and it was difficult to walk because my body was shaking.

I had to wipe my body with a towel and leave. Clothes are given out when you go out the exit.

When I closed the door, everyone was still showering, and there were groans and whines of pain here and there. As I looked back at a cry, I bumped into something.

“Ugh… !”

I fell squarely on my butt wheel with a thud and pain shot up my tailbone. But soon it all faded away. Unconsciously, I lifted my head to see who I bumped into.

A man with bright red hair and blue eyes. He was looking down at me, expressionless, and I saw the grade and number written on his shoulder.

Number Z-898.

He had already manifested Esper powers. Mentioned several times in the original novel.

“Ah, I… so-sorry… .”

He stared at me and placed a large towel over my head. For a moment, my vision went dark, and I was terrified at the thought of being hit.

Then I noticed the weight of my necklace held together with strong magnets was missing. I hurriedly found it, put it on and removed the towel. He was nowhere to be found.

“Ah… .”

He must have seen that I was a woman.