Kaito's lodgings.
Afternoon.
Time flies, doesn't it...
Glancing out the window at the fading light, Kaito decided to go take a bath. He knew Childe would probably show up before long — he needed to finish and get back quickly.
As for Lumine and Miko... who knew if they'd even be awake by then.
He stood, got dressed, and looked back at the two of them still sound asleep. That thought drifted through his mind.
He had to admit — the fight earlier had been genuinely intense. Taking on both of them at the same time, he was still a little rough around the edges.
With that, Kaito headed out to wash up.
Whatever else was going on, a bath first.
He'd originally planned to bathe right after finishing up, but going up against both Miko and Lumine at once had worn him out more than expected — he'd just passed out instead.
A little while later.
There's nothing quite like a bath...
Kaito stepped back into the room, clean and refreshed, wearing a thoroughly contented expression.
"You actually finished your bath already." Miko suddenly sat up in bed.
"You're awake." Kaito turned to look at her. He hadn't noticed when she'd come to.
"Unless I'm sleepwalking?" As she said it, Miko climbed out of bed and came to stand beside him.
"If you went sleepwalking around like that, I'd have to tie you to the bed."
Kaito said it like a joke, eyes pointedly taking in the fact that Miko wasn't wearing a single thing.
"If I did sleepwalk, I'd definitely steal your clothes on the way out."
Miko kept the banter going.
But watching her show absolutely no intention of getting dressed, Kaito couldn't help himself: "Doesn't that feel a bit cold, Miko?"
"Of course it's cold," Miko answered, perfectly matter-of-fact.
"Then why aren't you—"
"Because I'm waiting for you to dress me." With that, Miko picked up her bra from the bed and tossed it straight at him.
Kaito: "…"
He caught it on pure reflex and promptly had nothing to say.
Though in truth — this sort of thing was actually something he was quite familiar with.
"Don't tell me you need me to show you how to—"
"No need." Knowing exactly where she was going, Kaito cut her off.
Since Miko had always undressed herself up until now, she had no idea he was actually quite practiced at this.
So confident, is he...
Looks like this guy has been undressing Acheron and the others plenty.
Watching Kaito say "no need" with complete self-assurance, Miko couldn't help but think exactly that.
Wait!
All those times — and he never once offered to help me undress...
The thought hit her suddenly, and Miko felt a flash of indignation.
She'd always just assumed Kaito wouldn't know how to deal with that sort of thing, so she'd done it herself every time — but now it was obvious she'd been completely wrong.
The nerve of him...
Fine. Let's see just how practiced you really are.
Fuming quietly, Miko turned her back to him, spread her arms slightly, and said: "Then hurry up and put it on me."
She waited.
A moment later, she felt Kaito line everything up — then came a soft click.
"Done." With that one word from Kaito, Miko gave the strap a small tug to check.
Perfectly secure.
"You really are practiced at this."
That settled it. Miko was now entirely certain that Kaito knew exactly what he was doing.
"Help me with this one too." She tossed him another item.
Kaito: "…"
He looked down at the scrap of black lace in his hands, felt the soft, matte texture of it between his fingers, and once again found himself at a loss for words.
The first one, fine — lending a hand made sense. But this one too?
"Come on, come on — I'll catch a cold if you take too long."
Seeing Kaito stare at the thing in his hands with the expression of a man deep in philosophical contemplation, Miko hurried him along and lifted one foot.
"Alright, alright." With her already in position, Kaito crouched down and helped her into it.
Snap —
"Good elastic." He gave the waistband a little flick to test it after he was done.
"You—!" She hadn't expected him to actually do that. Miko immediately shot her hand out toward that same spot on Kaito — she was going to test his elastic too.
Kaito promptly dodged backward.
"You two... what exactly are you doing?" Lumine had woken up. She caught Miko — dressed in nothing but her underwear — apparently in the middle of doing something with Kaito, and stared at the scene.
"Kaito's offering a dressing service — don't let it go to waste."
Seeing that Lumine was up, Miko immediately scooped up all of Lumine's undergarments and lobbed them at Kaito.
"Huh?"
Lumine watched Miko do this with a thoroughly bewildered expression.
"Let me help you get dressed, Lumine."
Kaito walked over to where Lumine was still sitting on the bed, her clothes in hand, and said it simply.
"Okay."
She glanced over at Miko, who was in the process of finishing getting dressed, and pieced together what must have just happened. After that, she let Kaito help her with her bra the same way.
"Lumine, lift your foot."
"Huh? This too... you're helping with this too?" Lumine stared at Kaito — now crouched down in front of her, her underwear in hand — and blanked out all over again.
Helping with a bra was one thing, but her underwear too?
"If I'm already helping, I might as well do all of it." Kaito looked up at her baffled face and said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Okay then."
Since Kaito clearly saw nothing unusual about any of this, Lumine lifted her foot.
"By the way — do you two want to take a bath? We're going out to eat soon. Childe's treating."
Once Lumine was dressed and Kaito had stood back up, he mentioned it to both of them.
"Obviously I need a bath — but this bathroom isn't connected to our room, otherwise I'd have already gone. " Miko said, fully clothed now.
She thought it would be nice if the bathroom were connected directly to the room she shared with Kaito.
Because then the whole process could be seamless, start to finish.
"Depends on whether we're still here after this. If we are, I'll renovate the place a bit."
Hearing Miko say that, Kaito made a mental note to do something about this courtyard.
Though first, he'd need to check with Zhongli — it was his place, after all.
"Alright, I'm going to go wash up then." Miko gave a small nod and headed for the door.
"Kaito, did you just wake up a moment ago?"
After Miko left, Lumine — now dressed — asked him that.
She was genuinely curious about what Kaito and Miko had been up to just before, and was fishing for information in the most indirect way she could manage.
"Yeah. Got up, went straight to take a bath — and then Miko woke up, and then you woke up right after."
____
👻🔥+40 ch: Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Oshi No Ko: Co-starring with Kana Arima
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