CH 26

A copper water container engraved with blooming peony flowers.

I’m currently lying down on a warm stone platform in the bathhouse, while counting the number of the petals.

Behind it, a smooth glass bottle was filled with a thick amber liquid that was shimmering.

The heat is hot. But maybe I’m not feeling hot only from the steam rising up, but because I feel troubled.

I opened my mouth with all my might.

“…Hey, Mika…”

“What?”

Mika’s voice, which sounded somewhat grumpy, echoed through the humid air of the bathroom, as if shaking the room.

That alone made my heart skip a beat.

Sweat runs slowly down Mika’s bare back as he sits beside my stomach where I lay.

Mika’s skin has a healthy color. I traced his muscles that contracted in time with his breathing with my eyes, and then hurriedly turned my face away.

(…What should I do…?)

***

—It was just a few minutes ago.

The bathhouse that Machina showed us, which he said was Rubrum-style, was located underground.

As the door was being opened a little, I peeked inside and hot air leaked out.

The stone platform in the center was large enough for three adults to lie on, and it looked like a bed made of smooth black marble.

The high domed ceiling was decorated with a mosaic that looks like the night sky, and the small magical lanterns hanging in the middle of it looked like twinkling stars when looked up from below.

(There’s no bathtub, huh… Is this the Rubrum style?)

As I was fumbling with this thought, I heard Machina quietly telling Mika something behind my back, and I turned around.

Mika had a terrible look on his face and wrinkles between his eyebrows, while Machina was smiling and laughing happily.

But when Mika spat out, “I can do it myself,” Machina put down what looked like a sheer white gown that seemed like it would be transparent in the water, said, “Take your time,” and walked out.

Then, with a difficult look on his face, Mika handed me that thin gown and said, “Take all your clothes off and put this on.” Then he told me to lie down on the table in the middle of the room.

A hot, steamy bathhouse.

I lay down on the stone table and found that, somehow, it was kept at a comfortable temperature, warming me to the core as I lay face down. A copper water container, a bulging ceramic vessel, and a large glass jar were placed just around my face.

I was thinking how hot having a bath seemed to be even though it was summer, but just as I was about to close my eyes, entranced by the feeling— the wooden door opened and Mika walked in, wrapped only in a loincloth.

Mika looked at me and our eyes met through the steam.

I forgot how to breathe.

As I blinked my eyes, Mika sat down next to me, who was lying face down. I hadn’t seen him like this since I was little, and I felt a little amazed at his broad, well-trained back. My heart pulsed wildly as I watched the sweat trickle down his back.

This is not the time to let my heart get distracted.

—However.

The dense air filled the wet space.

It was as if a sweet nectar which is not supposed to be consumed by the mouth, was dripping down to the core of my body.

My heart throbbed and thumped loudly.

***

And then, now.

I opened my mouth to do something about the strange atmosphere that was flowing between me and Mika, who had his back turned to me and was not looking at me.

“…Mika, do you want to lie down as well? It feels nice.”

“………No, I’m fine. Anyhow, I’ll-”

“Huh?”

“I’ll wash you.”

Mika put his hands over his face and said something that made no sense to me.

(…..Hm?? Wash?  W A S H?)

W-wash? Wash what? The question swirls around in my head.

Mika stood up, scooped up some hot water from a large kettle on the wall, and came back to me. The hot water bubbled in the copper tub in his hand. I saw Mika reach for a large glass bottle filled with amber liquid, so I got my body up.

“Huh, what do you mean? Where’s Machina?”

“…Sorry, Nagi. Machina had prepared a woman to wash your body, but I rejected it on my own.”

“Huh?”

Mika looked back at me and said that a bit awkwardly.

Just hearing that brought the heat to my face. I had never thought of being washed by someone else. It was true that there were bath women in the royal castle, but I had never used one. I was honestly glad that he refused it for me.

However, I soon realized that something was strange.

I wondered if Mika’s earlier comment, “I’ll do it myself,” meant that in exchange for refusing the bath woman, Mika would wash me instead. My body temperature suddenly rose.

What’s with that?! I panicked. Of course, that’s too much for me.

“N-no… you don’t need to. I would rather do it myself… Wait, uwaa! Hey, wait-”

“Ahaha, how long has it been since I took a bath together with you? …wait… ah-”

I was in the middle of refusing, but then, warm water was poured over my head, and a dribble of warm water dripped down.

The thin cloth I was wearing was also completely wet and stuck tightly to my skin. I glanced at Mika as I ran my fingers through my wet hair, and I saw him looking away awkwardly while covering the lower half of his face with one hand.

I felt like his face was kind of red, and I got even more confused, tilting my head.

“Huh, what’s with that face? You’re the one who poured water on me…”

“N-nothing. Lie down, forget it, anyway, just lie down.”

“Whaat?”

I don’t really understand, but I have no objection to lying down. It feels so good to lie down on this warm stone. I lie down on my stomach, wishing that Mika would lie down too. I see Mika rubbing something dark green with what looks like a thin cloth bag and soaking it in the hot water.

“I’m taking it off… Nagi.”

Before I had time to argue, Mika’s fingertips touched my back.

That was enough to make me shiver.

With a gentle touch, Mika’s hard fingertips slid off the cloth that was stuck to my body. I felt too embarrassed to resist now, but I didn’t know what to do. I just quivered as his fingertips slid down my back. I tried to make a small complaint, “That tickles,” in distress, but I didn’t have the leisure to even look at Mika’s face.

The cloth was lowered up to my waist.

I couldn’t help but be conscious of the fact that my back was exposed, even if we were both men, and I felt a strange, numb sensation.

“I heard that this is how it’s done.”

I glanced over to see Mika rinse the cloth bag a few times, and then, I saw him blow into the bag.

The cloth bag swells, bigger and bigger.

Soap foams fell out of the swollen cloth bag.

I think the dark green stuff I saw earlier was soap.

Mika said, “Watch this,” and stroked that bulging cloth bag with a loop made of his fingers.

Immediately— foams, fluffy like clouds, started falling on my body.

“Wow, so many foams. I didn’t know you could do it like this.”

By the time Mika had repeated the action a few times, my body became like fluffy cotton candy, like I was in a cloud. I was amazed at how it can make so many foams.

As I picked up the lumpy pile of soap and looked at it, wondering if I was going to get washed with it, I noticed Mika’s hand on the side of my stomach.

When I lifted my head, I saw that Mika was there as if he was hovering over my upper body, and his hand gently touched my back, which was covered in foams.

I flinched.

“Mika… that’s enough.”

“With this many foams, nothing can be seen. Whoa, your skin is so smooth.”

“…Ngh, i-it tickles, stop it.”

A hard hand, different from my own, crawls up my back.

Just above me, Mika’s skin, which is clad in nothing, seems to overlap with mine.

At the distance that seems like we could almost touch, we can even feel each other’s breath.

I end up being conscious of it.

Just like the swollen cloth bag from earlier, my chest went up and down heavily.

Mika’s hands touched my arms, my legs, and washed over my body. It was just that, something playful, but the heat in my body seemed to gather in places it shouldn’t.

The heat of the steam that I inhale turns my body into a lewd color.

The air is thick just like honey, as if it could burst at any moment.

Even Mika might think it’s strange. His hand slows and stops.

I turned around.

And then, I immediately regretted it. He was looking intently at me, then he called my name.

“Nagi…”

Ah, —this is no good.

That’s what I thought.

A hot breath escaped from my own mouth.

Mika’s jade-green eyes glinted in the color of the night.