“N-Namiko?” muttered Yumeji as he stood there with his jaw on the floor. This was a time to remain composed, a time to keep cool and act like it was no big deal to see your beautiful neighbor standing in front of you in nothing but a towel, a time to act like a good neighbor and not a total weirdo. He would have to summon up all of his courage and find the right words to say.

Instead he just stood there, awkwardly trying to avoid looking at the woman standing in front of him. After what felt like ages, but was probably more like a few seconds, he noticed Namiko motioning towards his apartment door with her head.

“Oh, yeah, would you, uh, like to c-”

“Thank you very much,” she replied as she stood next to the door, patiently waiting for him to unlock it. She was so eager to get inside that Yumeji could hardly get by her to open the door. Standing so close to her, it took all of his strength to avoid taking a quick glance at her body from his perfect vantage point.

“So… how can I, uh… why are you-” Yumeji again muttered as the two of them stood in his apartment. This was only the second time that he had had a girl in this apartment, and the other one was his friend Komi, so it barely even counted.

“I’m so sorry to intrude on you like this,” Namiko said as she avoided eye contact with Yumeji, obviously as embarrassed by the situation as he was, “but I had a bit of an accident in my apartment.”

“Oh, are you alright?” asked Yumeji as he began looking her over for any obvious signs of injury. Her perfect, long legs seemed uninjured. The subtle curves around her hips and breasts seemed to be in good shape, too. He soon realized that this health check had a few benefits to it.

“Y-yes, I’m fine,” she replied as she blushed slightly at the thought that Yumeji was concerned about her. “I didn’t get hurt or anything like that. It’s just that something went wrong with my plumbing, I think.”

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“Your plumbing?”

“Yes, I think so. I was brushing my teeth when all of a sudden water started shooting out everywhere! It was freezing cold water, too.”

Huh, that’s weird, he thought to himself. It must have happened while he was running out to the store because he didn’t remember hearing anything happening next door.

“It was coming out of the faucet and my showerhead and I didn’t know what to do so I just shut the valve off just to get it to stop,” she quickly said as she gestured with one hand while the other held up her towel. “So anyway, I was totally soaked and I didn’t know what to do. Obviously I can’t use my shower right now, so, I was kind of hoping…”

Yumeji stood there for a moment waiting for her to finish her sentence before he realized he was supposed to jump in.

“Oh, you want to use my shower?”

“Yes, please. I’d really appreciate it!”

He grew a little bit disappointed as it became entirely clear that Namiko hadn’t come over to see him willingly, but there was also a clear opportunity in front of him. This was a chance to show what a helpful and dependable guy he could be, and it cost him nothing to do.

“Sure, no problem! It’s right over there, I guess it’s probably the same spot that yours is in, I mean, I’ve never been in any of the other units but they’re probably all the same…”

Namiko started to walk towards the bathroom but paused just short of it. She squirmed a little bit, like there was something she needed but didn’t know how to ask for it. Yumeji looked at her for a moment, then realized what was wrong.

“Oh, you don’t have any clothes!” he shouted, as if he was buzzing in to answer a question on a quiz show. He ran over to his dresser and found a clear pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. “Here, you can borrow these.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, it’s no problem! I just washed them, too.”

“Thank you, again,” she said with a shy smile as he took the clothes and headed into the bathroom.

As the door shut behind her, Yumeji took a deep breath. What a weird night, he thought to himself.