“Kiyomi! Stop covering your face; I need to be able to wash it!”

“No!”

“Kiyomi, come on, don’t make this hard.”

Hatsumi was pleading to me at this point.

“No, I can wash it myself! With my eyes closed!”

How did it come to this?

Sometime earlier…

We had just left the forges, and I was eyeing my sword as we walked. Lorn and Hatsumi had been discussing lunch along the way. It was already early afternoon, and the walk also burned all of our energy enough to encourage them on the decision.

“We should probably go light; we don’t want Kiyomi passing out while we’re still out.”

Lorn proposed.

Wait, do you think my constitution is that weak?

“Skewers would be good. Some of the stands back in the plaza aren’t too bad with them.”

Hatsumi replied quickly.

“So it’s skewers then; how does that sound, Kiyomi?”

“Sounds tasty, I can’t wait.”

Lorn and Hatsumi both ended up smiling at me.

What, did I do something?

Hatsumi just placed her hand on top of my head, and we kept walking.

“So Kiyomi, I’m curious. “

Hatsumi shook my hand to try and get my attention in case I had not heard her.

“Curious about what?”

I tilted my head some.

“Your tastes, do you recall any of them? What you may or may not like?”

Is this a prompt for something bad?

“In what way?”

I responded, trying my best not to squint.

“With food and clothes, since we’ll be getting you clothes later. If we know what you like, we can help direct the search with the tailor a little.”

Hatsumi flashed a toothy smile, seemingly unbefitting of her age. She seemed like a girl who’d found a new friend to do something with.

I think I might disappoint her here.

“Uhm, food-wise? I think that I like savory food. Meats that are cooked rare, and fresh or grilled vegetables.”

“Hm, so feeding you should be easy then.”

Woman, is that what you think of feeding me?

“I…guess?”

“Sorry if that sounded strange. I mean, it would be hard to keep you strong if you had difficulty with too many foods.”

I do have a sense of discipline, you know.

I found myself puffing my cheeks, coaxing a small giggle from Hatsumi.

“I didn’t intend for that to sound mean; I’m sorry, Kiyomi. It is just setting you up for your future; we’ll need to give your body a good foundation. It will give you an edge. Most people that become adventurers at such an age tend to not be in the best position, and they can’t eat much or eat well.”

Has she been thinking this through all day? I didn’t think of that reason for the question.

Hmmm, so about the clothes?

“So about the clothes part?”

Hatsumi proceeded to light up at my question.

Yep, this is where I might disappoint you, Hatsumi, sorry.

“Uhhhmmm, I think I only really have a liking to warm colors? I don’t really know much of anything about that stuff.”

I added with a slight frown.

Awww, yeah. I’m sorry I couldn’t meet your expectations.

Her expression looked disappointed for a moment before lighting up again.

“Hey, that means we can have more fun with it! You get to try a bunch of new clothes, and we get to have more fun choosing outfits for you!”

We?

I was confused for a second until Lorn spoke up.

“We’ll need all the help we can get. Since all this was my idea, ill help pay for whatever we pick out.”

Well, at least Lorn was willing to help, but now I was at the mercy of both of them? From how they talk, this is not simply picking out some clothes. They’ll be dressing me up like a doll repeatedly.

“Can we get the food first? I’m really hungry.”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

And here, I found myself speaking up with a purpose. I was hungry, and I don’t think I’d survive the afternoon without eating at this point. I could feel slight pain in the stomach from not having eaten. Judging by the sun, we had skipped lunch by an hour or so.

“Oh, sorry. Let’s get some skewers!”

Hatsumi gave her answer with a cheerful tone.

…..

“Hmmm, I think I’ll have the Beef and pepper skewer.”

Hatsumi pointed out from the wooden slab at the cart's side.

“I’ll take the grilled enoki and vegetable skewer.”

Then lorn.

“…”

Then me, the issue though; was that at this point, I found out I couldn't read a thing. I can understand people. But the actual ability to register words was gone. I could only make out a small number of words on this whole board even. Pork, enoki, and vegetable.

“Kiyomi, are you alright?”

Hatsumi kneeled down to check on me, and I found myself turning away some.

“Hey, hey, what’s up. You can order whatever you want from this menu.”

She tried cheering me up. I want to thank her for that, but truly not being able to read. This was a big hit to me, especially knowing I was going to have to learn again.

“I…can’t read it.”

I found myself muttering while staring at the slab still. Meanwhile, from my periphery, it seemed like something connected with Hatsumi.

“Ah, well, it can’t be helped; we’ll come to it eventually. But for now, why don’t I read it for you?”

Hatsumi proposed that lightly, she may not have been prepared to help me from that far back in instruction, but she took it with ease.

Man, did I luck out.

I nodded to her in confirmation. To which she apologized to the cart owner, then began reading the menu to me.

“Okay, so this one is-“

……

Maybe ten minutes later, and here we all were, sitting on the edge of a water fountain, munching away at the grilled skewers. The skewer I ended up choosing after Hatsumi helped me go over the menu was a Skewer of grilled beef and enoki mushrooms. The meat was flavorful, and it thankfully seemed that both salt and pepper at the least were readily available in this world. The enoki tasted fairly similar to earth; the only difference is this was apparently a local variant. It was grilled after being soaked in the drippings of the steak and other seasonings. Unfortunately, while it was very delicious, half of it was finding its way onto me rather than in my stomach. Hatsumi was berating me and rubbing my face with a cloth half the time.

“Kiyomi, seriously, slow down! You’re getting it all over yourself.”

There was the next problem I had; due to my continued impatience and attempts to stuff my stomach, I was being rather sloppy with the skewer. By the time we’d all finished, my face was covered in dried beef juices and bits of meat. Hatsumi groaned before moving to wipe my face again, but to no avail, the stain seemed to stay. Rolling her eyes, she placed the cloth back in a pocket.

“Kiyomi, open your mouth, please.”

What? Oh no, is there some kind of punishment for sloppy eaters or something? Is she gonna stick soap in my mouth or something?

As I panicked momentarily, Hatsumi took the initiative and grabbed one of my cheeks and pulled it to the side, peering into my mouth. Widening her eyes some, she nudged Lorn.

“Hey Lorn, I never knew a demon had so few molars. Her canines are a bit larger too.”

“Hm? Oh, demons follow closely behind most other demi-humans.”

Huh? Wait, my teeth?

“Kiyomi, you have to definitely eat slower. Otherwise, you’ll definitely have a repeat of this.”

Hatsumi ended up letting go of my cheek before sighing.

“Well, it looks like we’ll have to make a detour.”

She said, looking at Lorn.

“Baths?”

Hatsumi nodded.

“May as well; she barely had one already. Should freshen her up before trying clothes.”

Just a bath? That shouldn’t be an issue, just wash myself and get a move-. Wait, baths? As in plural? As in all of us? Wait, I haven’t even checked myself! I couldn’t look when I went to pee; my friend is gone! Don’t make me face that reality!

“Welp, let’s head back home for now.”

…..

The next thing I knew, Lorn had grabbed my wrists, and Hatsumi was cleaning my face. Eventually, I settled, withholding my eyes closed at this point.

“Kiyomi, you’re going to have to open your eyes again at some point. Or do you want to slip in the bath and get hurt?”

It sounded like Hatsumi chastised me.

While I understand, I also am getting hit with a heavy case of culture shock. I was a man not even two days ago from what I could remember, and I wasn’t exactly acclimated with bathing with women. Let alone other individuals, I would rather bathe by myself; at least I could be embarrassed about myself rather than them too.

“Wonder if she’s scared of water?”

Excuse me?

“I’m not afraid of the water! I just don’t wanna bathe with someone else!”

I ended up protesting what felt like an insult.

“She’s probably embarrassed. I’ll just put her in my lap.”

Hatsumi joked.

Damnit, this is hopeless.

And that led to where we are now. Me frowning and trying to lock my eyes forward, while the overgrown longhair was slowly stroking my hair; and a grandma elf with the body of a thirty-something staring at me from directly across the bath.

“Kiyomi, you fought pretty hard to stay out of here. Why be calm now?”

Hatsumi asked with a questioning tone.

I didn’t know the answer quite myself. The best guess I could make was that I was too embarrassed to bathe with two random women. Couple that with I was now a girl…There is a lot that I want to think through that I haven’t had the time to ponder. I really want some time to myself sometime soon. This whole day was just me being dragged around. For them, it may have been a tour, but everything was as new to me almost like a newborn. Unfortunately, I can already comprehend reality. I am having extraordinarily complex feelings about this whole series of events.

“I thought I’d be embarrassed, but it turns out I’m not.”

Apart from everything else, I thought I’d get weird feelings. Thankfully, that’s behind me. This just felt normal comparatively. Like I was in a pool rather than a bath.

“Well, if it’s a little easier, sorry for forcing you without really leading up to it. This technically is your first experience bathing.”

Hatsumi halfheartedly apologized.

At least she thought to. Not that she needed to, realistically it was a bit ridiculous.

“I’m sorry for being troublesome.”

“Apology accepted.”

I couldn’t see her, but she sounded pleased with the response. Like I was being easy to reason with for a child. At the thought, for a child, she'll more than likely have it easy with me. Not every child has enough years to know when to be considerate of the caretaker's stress. Not that it had to be a consideration, to begin with, either.

“Kiyomi, I’ve been meaning to ask. Do you remember tying your hair in a knot?”

That was an out-of-place question. Come to think of it, when I first woke up, I tied my hair in a knot to keep it from everywhere.

“I think so, why?”

And then she flicked one of my horns.

“Ow, what was that for?”

I reached back to rub the horn, but she swatted one of my hands with her tail.

The horns were surprisingly sensitive on certain parts when I realized it. The sensation was weird, like feeling something on your teeth.

“Cause this whole time, I’ve been trying to untangle this giant knot in your hair. You pulled it so tight I thought you used something to hold it. Now be still, I will have to use my claws to loosen it some. I hope you like having longer bangs because I will have to cut some of the top layers back here.”

!?

“Huh? Wait-“

*snip*

…..

At this point, Lorn was snickering to herself on her side of the tub while watching the events unfold. The small demon child whining about the now cut hair. The older woman tried to calm the child down and continue grooming the now cut mess. Watching the sight in front of her was nostalgic. It was out of place to see the beast-kin so energetic in such a long time. Couple that with the presence of a child by her side once more, and it seemed like the last seven years had simply never ceased.

It was a good idea to set them together. Hatsumi, you needed this.

She thought to herself, her snickering having died down to a simple loosened grin.

Kiyomi has somewhere to call home now. We pushed it on her suddenly, but she seems to be taking events as she goes. She will grow up to be just like you if she keeps that up.

She then proceeded to turn her attention to the corner of the room where their belongings lay. Her eyes directed to the sword propped in the corner.

Now we only need to pray her past never comes back to her…

With that, Lorn stood up from the bath. Her body leaving the water prompting the child across her to clamp her hands back over her eyes.

“I saw them! My eyes will never know peace!”

She then audibly sighed.

“Well, we can make it a little easier on you, or probably not. Hatsumi, we should head to the tailor now, so we have plenty of time.