The Haunted Bath

Despite the school being closed due to the haunting, my daily training regimen remained untouched. A faint irritation, however, continued to niggle at the back of my mind, even if I couldn’t voice a complaint. After thoroughly exhausting myself in the basement of the ‘Chrysalis’ building, working up a customary sweat, I submerged myself in the bath, as was my routine.

“Huuuugh—” Colt exhaled contentedly, leaning back against the bath’s edge, her eyes narrowed in blissful relaxation.

‘A bath truly is divine! I could feel all my weariness simply melt away!’

‘If gourmet cuisine served to sate humanity’s discerning palates and ravenous stomachs, then this milky-white bathwater, infused with a delicate floral fragrance, was surely the ultimate feast for a body and soul weary from the day’s toil! I wouldn’t be rising until I was utterly ‘sated.”

“Hmmph~ You’re making almost the same expression you do when you’re cooking, you know?” Leidi’s voice drifted over, imbued with an unmistakable smile.

Leidi had entered before me; although her particular regimen differed from mine, she, too, sought solace here after her own grueling training. ‘Ah, baths truly are wonderful!’

“Well, both are things I love, aren’t they? So it’s hardly surprising to make such an expression.” Opening just one eye, I observed Leidi, who was languidly seated on a floating raft, idly kicking her feet through the water.

“Oh, it’s nothing. I just think you look so beautiful when you smile like that.”

The gentle white mist rising from the water surface drifted intoxicatingly around the smiling Leidi. Her smooth, fair, slender body seemed to glow with a faint, alluring blush, as if she were slightly tipsy, while her wet, waist-length black hair clung possessively to her beautiful form.

‘Leidi, at this moment, was truly breathtaking.’

‘Ah—why was my heart suddenly racing?’

‘This was Leidi! What absurd thoughts were swirling in my mind? Begone, wicked notions, begone!’

“Eh~? Why so quiet all of a sudden~? Could you be utterly captivated by my beauty~?” With a playful splash, Leidi paddled teasingly closer to me.

“Of course not…” Averting my gaze, I slowly submerged half my face into the water, desperately hoping my cheeks weren’t flushing crimson.

‘Honestly, don’t pick on me like this; it makes me terribly shy.’

“Hmph hmph~ You’re really becoming more and more like a girl, you know.” As she spoke, Leidi gently stroked my head.

“Is that so…” I murmured, burying my face even deeper beneath the water.

‘This intricate sensation… it was neither joy nor irritation.’

‘Was my inner world truly beginning to shift?’

‘Was I… truly transforming into a girl…?’

“Splash—!”

“Waaah!!!” Colt and Leidi exclaimed in unison.

Without warning, Leidi and I were drenched by water from an unknown source, leaving us both disheveled and soaked, our hair plastered to our faces.

“What in the world?!”

“I’d like to know that myself!”

As we simultaneously tried to smooth our hair, we glanced around in confusion, yet found no trace of a prankster. Could the water have simply materialized out of thin air?!

“Ah! Over there!”

Leidi, startled, quickly patted my shoulder, directing my gaze towards a corner of the bath.

“Huh?!!!”

Faced with such an utterly surreal sight, my eyes widened involuntarily.

The bathwater was swirling rapidly towards that corner, as if the water itself were abruptly vanishing!

‘Suddenly vanishing… only to suddenly reappear?!’

‘Could it be?!’

“Leidi!”

Almost simultaneously, a significant portion of the water in that corner of my vision undeniably vanished! Then—

“Splash—!”

We were once again thoroughly drenched, left in an utterly disheveled state.

“……”

“……”

Leidi and I remained silent, exchanging a wordless glance.

Twitch~ twitch~

Our eyebrows twitched uncontrollably.

‘Just as I thought, Leidi was thinking the exact same thing…’

“What in the actual hell?!” both of us shrieked.

Cursing loudly, Leidi and I hastily grabbed our bath towels and scrambled out of the tub.

‘Is there no common decency?! Even now that we’re home, you still won’t leave us alone?!’

‘Couldn’t you at least wait until we’d finished bathing?!’