When the two girls emerged from the bathroom, their faces flushed with color, barely twenty minutes had passed since Hoshimori Shion had first stepped inside.
For a girl who prided herself on cleanliness, such a brief bathing time was truly uncharacteristic.
When Iori Shigure handed Hoshimori Shion her clothes, she remained utterly silent, her head bowed and her cheeks burning crimson.
Afterward, she placed Hoshimori Shion’s garments into the laundry basket.
Perhaps out of embarrassment, Shigure, despite her considerable skill in housework and laundry, ultimately chose to deposit all the clothes into the washing machine, entrusting the task to its mechanical cycle.
As for whether anything had transpired within the bathroom? Nothing at all.
Ayane’s phone call had abruptly extinguished the subtly ambiguous atmosphere that had begun to form between the two, dousing the nascent spark like a bucket of cold water.
It wasn’t just the tender mood that was snuffed out; Shigure’s painstakingly gathered courage had vanished with it.
Consequently, during the remainder of their bath, Hoshimori Shion and Iori Shigure had, by unspoken agreement, turned their backs to each other, using the bathwater to cleanse their bodies and wash their hair, quickly completing their ablutions.
The pervasive scent of milk that had clung to their skin was now supplanted by the crisp fragrance of shower gel.
****
Once both had finished bathing, Hoshimori Shion returned to her desk, picking up her pen.
This was not to say Hoshimori Shion possessed any particular fondness for studying; rather, she found that the act helped to calm her nerves.
The tension coiling within her, confronted by the geometric and algebraic problems before her, transmuted into…
‘I want to die.’
‘Ugh, forget it. It would have been better to just… stay with Shigure in the bathroom earlier…’
‘Anything would be preferable to grappling with these detestable problems!’
These were Hoshimori Shion’s thoughts, all formulated within a single second of confronting the math problems before her.
Meanwhile, Shigure had been conspicuously absent.
After emerging from the bathroom and depositing both their soiled outfits into the washing machine, she had vanished from Hoshimori Shion’s sight.
‘Iori-san, where are you?’
Hoshimori Shion, seated in her room, had already begun to feel a restless heat prickling her skin after less than two minutes of staring at the math problems, prompting her to raise her voice slightly as she asked.
Only minutes after her bath, Hoshimori Shion was once again feeling flushed and agitated, seemingly in dire need of another wash.
To make a cute girl feel hot and bothered, eager to shed her clothes and bathe—such, perhaps, was the allure of mathematics.
Indeed, it possessed a truly captivating charm…
‘I-I’m putting Hoshimori-san’s clothes into the washing machine. I’ll prepare some desserts in a bit!’
Despite her words, Shigure’s tone was unmistakably flustered.
It was as if… she were up to something she shouldn’t be.
Hoshimori Shion scratched her head, though she held immense trust in Shigure.
‘After all, she’s our little angel Shigure; she wouldn’t do anything naughty… right?’
At that very moment, Shigure, in a slight panic, quickly put down the clothes Hoshimori Shion had just taken off, hastily returning them to the laundry basket.
‘Was this really a bad thing? Well, it wasn’t illegal, at least…’
‘But for Shigure, this felt so immoral, yet… so utterly addictive.’
The clothes Hoshimori Shion had just shed carried not only the scent of milk that Shigure had accidentally spilled on them, but also a faint trace of perspiration from Hoshimori Shion’s walk under the scorching sun.
Beyond that, there was a subtle, utterly unique fragrance emanating from Hoshimori Shion herself—a blend, it seemed, of burning incense from a shrine and the delicate, inherent floral notes of her own body.
‘It’s not intentional, I truly didn’t mean to…’
Shigure inwardly reassured herself, ‘Just one more sniff, then one more, and then I’ll go make some snacks for Hoshimori-san. Otherwise, Hoshimori-san will definitely get hungry, and I absolutely cannot let her starve.’
‘But, oh, this scent is just so lovely…’
Truth be told, Shigure’s original intention was indeed to wash the clothes Hoshimori Shion had taken off.
Washing them early and hanging them out to dry quickly, especially with the strong sun today, meant that if Hoshimori Shion stayed for dinner, Shigure might even be able to return her freshly laundered clothes before she left.
But now, the little devil within the little angel began to whisper in her ear: ‘Don’t wash Hoshimori-san’s clothes and give them back so quickly. You like them so much, after all. Wouldn’t it be better to wash them tomorrow and then return them?’
Listening to the little devil’s insidious suggestion, Shigure herself began to waver.
Her current dilemma wasn’t whether she could return the clothes to Hoshimori Shion today, but rather if she could postpone washing them just a little longer…
‘Oh, boo hoo, this is so vexing…’
‘If I can’t return Hoshimori-san’s clothes today, she’ll surely be troubled.’
‘And I’ve already caused her so much trouble today…’
‘If I can’t even give her clothes back in time, will she start to dislike me…?’
Even as these thoughts whirled in Shigure’s mind, her hands remained ceaselessly busy.
She continued to hold Hoshimori Shion’s clothes, inhaling deeply and greedily, as if drawing them into a tight embrace to compensate for the hug she hadn’t been able to give Hoshimori Shion earlier.
Meanwhile, Hoshimori Shion, growing increasingly impatient with her studies outside, acutely sensed that something was amiss.
‘She sometimes used the washing machine at home herself; it certainly didn’t take this long…’
‘Perhaps I should go check on Shigure. It’s absolutely, definitely not to escape these utterly, utterly detestable math problems…’
Hoshimori Shion stood up and walked towards the room from which Shigure’s voice had just emanated.
Shigure, still engrossed in her greedy indulgence, twitched an ear.
Though captivated by Hoshimori Shion’s clothes, she also heard Hoshimori Shion’s footsteps drawing closer.
‘Just a few more seconds, and the door will open…’
In a flurry of panic, Shigure quickly put down the clothes in her hands, attempting to stuff them back into the laundry basket.
In truth, merely placing them back in the basket would have sufficed; Hoshimori Shion would likely not have questioned it.
However, Shigure’s guilt was so overwhelming that she haphazardly shoved the entire basket directly into the washing machine.
Just then, the doorknob turned, and Hoshimori Shion pushed the door open.
And there, she witnessed Shigure attempting to force an entire laundry basket into the washing machine.
Indeed, it wasn’t just the clothes she was stuffing in, but the basket itself.
Shigure was struggling mightily, trying to wedge the entire laundry basket into the machine’s maw.
Upon seeing this sight, Hoshimori Shion gasped, drawing in a sharp breath.
‘Iori-san,’ Hoshimori Shion gently prompted, ‘it seems that basket can’t go directly into the washing machine, can it?’
When Hoshimori Shion looked at Shigure, she found her flustered, on the verge of tears.
‘Eh?! Did I just make Shigure cry? Was it because of me?’
Seeing Shigure’s distressed expression, Hoshimori Shion quickly stepped forward, opening her arms wide.
She enveloped Shigure in a warm, comforting embrace.
Thus, Iori Shigure finally received the heartfelt, expansive hug she had secretly yearned for.