Side Story:
Arc and Ponta’s Bathtime Adventure
I got permission from Ariane’s mother to use the bath. It was the first chance I’d had to wash myself since coming to this world.
I followed Glenys through the house, cradling a snoring Ponta in my arms. When she opened a door down on the first floor, I was greeted by a walkway that ran through the backyard to a small building. The walkway had a roof to keep the rain off, but it lacked walls, giving me a perfect view of the backyard.
A changing room was waiting for me behind another wooden door. Off to my right stood a series of shelves packed with baskets made of interweaved vines, containing various supplies. It looked a lot like a changing room in a traditional public bathhouse back in Japan.
Glenys pulled out one of the baskets, which contained some neatly folded clothes.
“You can put these on when you’re done with the bath. It must be tiring to always wear that armor, no?”
She held out an elven robe—the same that she herself was wearing—marked with a unique crest on the back.
“Much appreciated.”
Glenys showed me how to tie it closed using a leather belt connected to the back. After giving me a quick rundown on how the bath worked, she left me and Ponta alone in the changing room so she could start preparing dinner.
Ponta let out a yawn and glanced around the room, waking up at last.
“Let’s clean you up, buddy.”
“Kyi?”
The fox tilted its head to the side in confusion. I chuckled.
I removed my gleaming Belenus Holy Armor and placed it piece by piece onto the changing room floor. There was no way it would fit into any of the baskets.
Ponta ran around and through the pieces of my armor as if they were some sort of obstacle course.
Once I’d taken everything off, I was completely bare. Even though there was nothing for me to hide on my skeletal body, I still used a small towel to cover the area where my private parts would have been.
“Huh. So…it’s just like a normal bathhouse in here?”
I picked Ponta up by the scruff of the neck and set it on my shoulder.
The changing room was connected to the bath by large frosted-glass doors. The sight that greeted me on the other side was quite impressive.
“Whoa!”
The floor of the bathing area was made of textured stones. Off to my right was a bath surrounded by square posts made of exquisite wood. A light steam rose off the surface of the water. To my left, a large mirror hung from the wall, probably for washing up before entering the bath. On the ground were several stools and some wooden pails. A metal pipe jutted from the ceiling with something that looked awfully like a showerhead affixed to the end. The whole bath area was doused in warm light from a series of crystal lamps embedded in the ceiling.
For a moment, I felt like I was in the bath of a traditional Japanese inn, completely forgetting that I was in another world.
I made my way to the washing area—it was customary to clean yourself before entering the bath—and removed my towel. I twisted the bulb halfway up the U-shaped pipe and was greeted with a shower of warm water.
“Kyi! Kyiiii!”
Surprised at the sudden spray, Ponta dove off my shoulder and ran to the corner of the room. It shook its whole body, trying to get the water out of its fur.
I realized it might be a bit of a hard sell to get a wild creature like Ponta to enjoy a shower. I decided to worry about the fox later and focus on my own body first.
Warm water flowed over my skull, dripping down my lower jaw and through my empty ribcage. It continued down my spine to my pelvis, where it drained out onto the floor.
It was a very peculiar sensation, almost like urinating. But I let the water wash over my entire body, enjoying the warmth seeping into my bones.
“This feels so good!” I threw my arms out and yelled without thinking.
The green cottontail fox tensed in the corner of the room, but I didn’t pay it much mind.
My gaze wandered to the top of the shelves in front of me. A hard, round, green object sat in a wooden box. I brought it up to my nose and give it a whiff. The scent of herbs assaulted me—apparently this was some kind of soap.
I tried to work up a lather, but it was practically impossible without any flesh on my hands. The soap simply scraped against my bones.
I glanced over to Ponta, who was starting to show some interest in the bath, dipping its front feet into the water and splashing around. Watching Ponta’s beautiful green fur coat sway from side to side gave me an idea. The fox was too fixated on the bath to notice as I walked up behind it, snatching it up with my left hand. I used my right hand to draw some water into the wooden pail I’d brought with me and promptly dumped it over Ponta.
“Kyiiiiiiii?!”
Ponta’s delicate, poofy green fur was now sopping wet and clung close to its body, making the fox look half its normal size. I splashed water over my tense companion a few more times, until it looked like a deflated balloon.
I took Ponta back with me to the washing area and began rubbing the soap into its fur.
“Let’s wash you up, huh?”
I gave Ponta a thorough scrub, working up a nice, thick lather of soap. My partner had transformed from a deflated furball into a loofah. The fox looked up at me with uncertain eyes, so I leaned in and blew on it, sending bubbles flying off into the air. One of them floated all the way up to the ceiling and caught the light of the crystal lamps, casting a rainbow down upon us.
“Kweee!”
Excited by the show, Ponta batted its paws around, trying to catch the bubbles as they drifted through the air. The more it moved, the more bubbles went flying off. Ponta—a giant bubble in its own right—took off after the rainbow-colored spheres that floated about the room.
I looked down at the bubbles in my hand and smiled. It had all gone according to plan.
As I worked the lather from Ponta into my skeletal frame, I reminded myself to ask Glenys if they had a brush or something for future baths. I couldn’t keep using Ponta like this.
I let my gaze drift downward, where I caught sight of a brush with a sponge made out of a gourd attached to the end. Somehow, I had totally overlooked this. Ponta seemed to be having fun playing with the bubbles, however, so I didn’t feel too bad. I’d just use the brush from now on.
I washed the soap from my body, shaping the last of the lather into an elaborate hairdo on top of my head. The skeleton that faced me in the mirror wore a soapy afro atop its head. If my soap hair were black, I’d look almost exactly like a musician from a certain popular pirate manga back in my world. I snickered to myself and turned around to show off my new appearance.
“Hey, Ponta, what do you thi—whoa!”
Ponta gave me a quick glance before summoning up a magical gust of wind and flying toward me. The spirit creature collided with my soap hair, its wind continuing on throughout the bathhouse, creating a tornado of bubbles.
“Kweeee! Kyiii!”
“It’s a bubble hurricane!”
Ponta squealed as it tumbled about in its magic tornado. I got caught up in the excitement and threw out my own arms, twisting my skeletal body into various superhero poses in front of the mirror.
The room was now completely covered in bubbles.
A shiver ran up my spine as I thought of what Glenys would say to me if she found the bath like this. I could still see the smile on her face as she held the wooden practice sword out toward me. Yep, I definitely needed to make sure the place was spotless, or she might never let me use the bath again.
I filled a pail with water and splashed it across the floor and walls. I grabbed Ponta by the scruff of the neck as it tried to run past me and washed the soap from both of our bodies. Ponta growled low in its throat as the warm water splashed over it, apparently enjoying the sensation.
“Kyiiiiii…”
After cleaning up the room, I picked Ponta up and headed for the bath.
“Aaaaah…”
Barely any water splashed out as I slid into the water, thanks to how little space my bones actually took up. The warmth instantly seeped into me, causing me to let out an audible sigh. This, combined with the pleasant scent of the wood, completely relaxed me.
The bath itself was exquisitely put together—I couldn’t find a single seam, despite the fact that it was a perfect square. It had probably been made by the same artisans who’d built the wall surrounding the village.
I rested the back of my skull on the edge and let my body loosen up. Ponta wasn’t able to stand in the deep water, so I set it atop my ribs. After a few moments, the fox started doggy-paddling around the water, summoning up the occasional gust of wind to slide across the surface like a hovercraft.
I let out a loud yawn as I watched Ponta play. I probably looked like the skeleton of some long-forgotten person who’d died in the bath.
“I might just fall asleep right here.”
After finishing its game, Ponta glided back across the water to my chest and scrambled back atop my skull. It gave its entire body a massive shake, sending droplets of water in every direction.
“Hyak?! Blech! Cut that out, will ya?”
I plucked up the damp furball and rose from the water.
“I should probably get out before I overheat.”
Considering I didn’t actually have any blood running through my bones, this seemed a remote possibility. However, I didn’t want to leave Ponta in the water for too long.
I stepped out of the bath and used the towel I’d brought with me to dry my body. It was a lot harder to wipe water from the gritty bones than my usual smooth skin.
Once that was done, I dried Ponta off and made my way back to get dressed.
A sudden chill washed over me as I stepped out of the warm, moist bath and into the dry air of the changing room.
I took a quick look around. Unfortunately, there was no milk waiting for me. That would have made the whole experience perfect. But I figured I could just ask Glenys for something to drink once I got back to the main house.
I sat on the bench in the changing room and let out a sigh. Overall, today had been a great day.
After rearranging its fur in the corner of the room, Ponta summoned up a light gust of wind to dry itself the rest of the way.
I was just thinking that I didn’t need a hair dryer when I suddenly heard steps on the walkway. A moment later, the door opened, and someone stepped inside.
We locked eyes.
The well-proportioned, amethyst-skinned woman in front of me had let her long, white hair loose. She held a large towel in her hand. Her golden eyes went wide, her eyebrows raised in surprise.
“A skeleton…”
She dropped the towel and immediately reached for a sword that wasn’t there, out of habit.
I jumped up to my feet, surprised by Ariane’s sudden reaction. I had no idea she’d even returned.
“Wait, Miss Ariane! It’s me, Arc!”
I’d never taken my armor off in front of her before, so she must not have put together that the skeleton in her bathhouse was me. Even though I was able to clear up this misunderstanding, Ariane quickly kicked me out, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment over her mistake.
The ending might have been less than ideal, but overall, I was satisfied with my time in the bath.
I made my way back to the dining room in search of Glenys, to see if I could get something to drink.
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