Still snuggled up in the bed, Rem whispered next to me, “Subaru-kun. We have to talk.”

My heart dropped, and panic started to spread throughout me.

“It’s about earlier.”

My panic increased even more. I hung onto her next words as if my life depended on it. The only thing giving me comfort the fact that she was still entwined in my arms.

“When... when it was really strong,”

“You mean, in bed?” Our faces were so close together I had to speak softly.

She used both hands to cover her face, which blushed furiously. She nodded her head frantically a few times.

Her adorable reaction and topic of conversation eased my worries. I was able to relax more and prompt her, “What about it?’

Slightly muffled, still covered by her hands, “Well, how to say... When it felt really good, I lost control.”

“Yeah, it just washes over you, whether you’re ready for it or not. It can be really surprising, but it also felt super good, right?” I asked.

She nodded her head again, and I could see the corner of her lips curl up in a smile from around her small hands.

“But this time it was no good.” Her smile vanished.

My worry from earlier returned, but not quite as strongly now that I knew what the issue was. I’d have to tell her later that the words, ‘we need to talk’, can be traumatizing.

“Why was it no good? I really enjoyed it.” I punctuated my statement by giving her a peck on the forehead.

She shook her head, “It’s not that. Rem really enjoyed it, too, you know?”

“So then?” I prompted.

“In that moment, I lost control...” She trailed off, but I patiently waited for her to continue. “I lost control of my synesthesia with nee-sama.”

“Huh. What does that mean, exactly? Did she feel...”

“She felt... it—” Rem shook her head then corrected herself, “She also would have felt— Subaru’s... She would have felt Subaru.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah...Alright.” I considered her words for a moment, just trying to wrap my head around it.

“Subaru-kun?” Rem finally uncovered her face, staring from underneath me.

I rolled off of her and got off the bed. Rem sat up, watching me with a conflicted expression. She needn’t have worried, though.

After I was fully off the bed, and standing over it still in the nude, I offered Rem my hand. She gingerly took it, allowing me to pull her out of the bed. Once she was off of it, I noticed a small red spot on the sheets.

Her beautiful visage stood before me. I admired her fair, smooth skin and cute tummy. That made me want to pull her into a hug, pushing her small body up against mine. I looked into her eyes, some of her bangs messily intruding on her face; Her adorably messy hair was proof of our efforts.

“I didn’t say it earlier, but I love you, too.” I smiled, reassuringly. Things with Ram would have to be dealt with later, I decided. “Don’t worry about Ram for now, I’ll handle it.”

“As expected of Subaru-kun.” She smiled back.

Then, I let go of the hug and instead grabbed ahold of her hand. “Now, it’s time for the two of us to shower together. Bathing together is a sacred ritual for man and wife, after all.”

“w—Wife?” She looked down and mumbled, “I am Subaru-kun’s Rem, after all.”

“And, we just made a baby together, too,” I added.

“It’s not Rem’s time of month yet,” she said placidly.

Honestly, I’d been so wrapped up in the act, I hadn’t paid much attention to Fertility Calibration. The perk from the company made it so unwanted pregnancies wouldn’t happen, but it also ensured that if I intended to get someone pregnant, they definitely would be, and the child would be the gender of my choice.

It was hard for me to say with certainty what my subconscious would have decided at that moment, but if I had to put money on it— Rem was almost certainly pregnant with a baby girl.

“We’ll have to wait and see, but call it husband’s intuition.”

“If Subaru-kun says so, it must be true.”

We reached the bathroom attached to our bedroom, our bare feet walking along the soft white carpet. Each room, including this one, had the equivalent of a master bathroom, all still in that modernist style. Though, likely at least somewhat in response to my desires, the bathtub was an unholy combination of modern and Japanese style— a massive square tub with white marble sitting in the corner of the room. It was more in-line with a swimming pool than a true bathtub. A small waterfall of hot-steaming water poured into the tub where it met the wall, with another drainage channel coming out on the other wall of the corner. The outer walls had ledges to sit on, but further into the tub one could easily submerge themselves in the deep-end.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Two showerheads lined the back wall, just out in the open. The entire white marble floor had various drainage holes throughout the floor of the bathroom, so no shower walls or curtains were needed. The toilets were in the previous room, not attached to the bathing area.

I led Rem over to the first showerhead, gently sitting her down on the shower stool.

“I’ve always wanted to bathe with my wife.”

“Rem, too, is excited to spend time with Subaru-kun.” She smiled brightly.

I took down the showerhead – the kind that you could detach and move around as you wished – and turned the facet on. I held the showerhead down at the floor, waiting for it to get warm. Once it was, I moved behind Rem and started spraying her back with the perfectly warm water. Some of the water reflected off her back and sprayed me with a slightly cool mist.

“Oh!” She shivered slightly in reaction to the water first hitting her back, but then she relaxed into it, clearly enjoying the warmth. “That’s nice.”

Once she was fully wet, I handed her the showerhead to hold from the front so she wouldn’t get cold. I moved over to grab the bar soap so I could properly explo— clean her body.

I pushed the bar of soap against her wet back, moving it up and down in smooth motions— just enjoying the way it glided against her soft skin. She practically leaned back into the touch, my Sticky Fingers perk activating and training me exactly in which ways to massage the soap into her back. I glided across a few knots near her shoulder, and I put the bar-soap on the ground for a moment so I could rub those out with my fingers.

Rem moaned in response, a surprisingly dirty sounding noise. She really began to lean into me then, to the point where I almost had to hold her upper body up so she didn’t fall off the stool.

I chuckled a bit in response— happy she was enjoying it so much.

“Don’t,” she moaned again, her back arching slightly, “laugh at me.” She finished.

Her words only made me chuckle more. “Don’t worry, I’m just admiring your cuteness.”

The tips of her ears turned red.

“You sure have been blushing a lot lately...” I observed slightly teasingly.

“Rem can’t help it. Somehow, I got really lucky, and my hero turned into my lover.”

I got up to walk around toward the shelf on the wall, grabbing a washcloth and then moving over to Rem’s back again.

After I finished washing Rem’s back, she took the soap from me to clean her front side. I pouted slightly at that, since I had been looking forward to cleaning her frontside, too. But, when I tried to insist, she just pouted right back, much cuter than me, and said that ‘it’d be far too embarrassing for her.’ So, I let it go. This time.

Likewise, I spent the time cleaning my front, too. Luckily, the Sweet Home could produce a practically infinite supply of consumables, so there was plenty of soap to go around.

I’d been hoping for it, but not expecting it, when Rem moved behind me. She seemed determined to pay me back for earlier— her ministrations felt more like a massage than a back cleaning. Having been to professional masseuses in my past life, I knew that her questing fingers were amateurish, but for some reason that only made me enjoy it more. She was doing this for me because she wanted to please me— not because she was a professional masseuse. That made it personal, and it excited me all the more.

She used the bar-soap to lather both hands, then pressed her fingers against my back. With the pads of her fingers, she smoothly slid across my lower back, easing the tension. Following along either side of the spine, she traced both of her thumbs up my back until reaching my shoulder blades. There, she mimicked my actions from earlier, squeezing her hands with gentle force into the place my neck met my shoulders. That location was particularly sensitive, full of nerves that sent pleasurable tingles down my back. Afterward, she moved back down to my shoulder blade, finding a knot along the edge of the blade and pressing into it. It was a good pain, akin to a pleasant stretch, made even more enjoyable by the fact that it was Rem, my lover, working the tension out.

Her Oni strength worked well for this, I thought. Yet, despite having the strength to fell a tree with a single punch, she made sure to moderate her strength just perfectly to massage the knots in my shoulders without bruising me. I melted into her touch, not leaning back so much as turning into a puddle in my seat. She moved up again, her hands squeezing into the muscles atop my shoulders. She gently pulled at the muscle there, stretching it in a way that sent pleasure all the way through my body and causing me to almost completely lose grip of the showerhead.

“It feels so good,” I encouraged her.

“Subaru-kun is cute like this,” she replied.

All too soon, the back rub came to an end. She finished it off by rinsing the soap away, and then using the washcloth to properly rub clean my back— even that felt good, like a gentle back scratch to finish the massage from earlier.

After we were all clean, I reached my hand out to her, which she held onto with a smile. Even though I’d already seen everything, she spread one arm across her chest to preserve her modesty as I led her to the gigantic bathtub. Stepping over the ledge, I eased one foot down into the water to test the temperature. As expected of a Sweet Home, the water was perfectly warm— just enough to feel hot against the skin but still something I knew I’d get used to after a little bit.

“The water’s good.” I smiled at Rem encouragingly.

Then, I stepped back out of the tub and brought Rem’s hand up and over, guiding her over the step. She used my proffered hand as leverage, pushing herself up over the big step. She put one foot over the edge and into the water, taking a moment to get used to the change in temperature. Then, she hoisted herself fully up with that leg, entering the tub and letting go of my hand.

I entered the tub after her, the sting of hot water hitting my feet. I got used to it after a bit, but moving around still stung slightly compared to when I was at rest.

We both eased ourselves into the water, Rem slightly slower than me. I loved hot water, and especially hot springs, so I found the initial hot sting pleasant more than uncomfortable. Though, Rem fully eased into it eventually, too. We sat side by side on the outer ledge for a moment. This was no good though, in my opinion.

So, to fix the problem, I reached an arm behind Rem and held her arm on the other side. Rem was already very light, despite her strength, and being in the water only made it easier to lift her slightly and drag her backward. She ‘eeped’ at the sudden motion, but she also trusted me enough to not resist.

While walking, I dragged her through the water and toward the edge against the corner wall. There was a small seat depression in the stone there, with a place to rest your legs up along the ledge in front. I sat down in the corner spot, my back leaning against the other wall of the corner and my legs in front of me on the ledge. I finished dragging Rem close, her small butt briefly brushing past my legs as I moved her up and into my lap. I spread my legs around her and eased her back against me. Like this, Rem sat in front of me, my arms wrapped around her and holding her back close to my chest— my legs on either side of her. The water reached past her chest, but not quite up her neck. Due to our height difference, she was easily able to rest her head against my chest— her short, wet blue hair pleasantly cool against my skin.

I let out a long, relaxed breath, Rem mimicking me a moment later.