This girl... didn't take bathing seriously at all. It felt like a boy in military training rushing through, simply dumping a bucket of water over himself and calling it done.
Tsukiyo's attitude made Natsumi uncomfortable, but she could sense that the other was genuinely worried about her.
"How do you usually bathe?"
"Th-that... just with water. Isn't that how everyone does it?"
Seeming flustered under everyone's gaze, Natsumi's words clearly lacked confidence, but she couldn't figure out why they were looking at her with such strange expressions.
After all, under the protection of a Spirit's Astral Dress, their bodies don't get dirty. But Natsumi's standard was simply 'not dirty'.
"..."
Alright, everyone finally understood why Natsumi had turned out like this.
Although they had guessed she neglected taking care of herself, they hadn't expected her to be *this* neglectful. What was the difference between this and washing dishes without detergent?
Did she really think a simple rinse was enough? Please, have you never seen girls who spend an hour or more bathing?
They aren't playing on their phones in the bathroom for that long; they genuinely need that much time to bathe properly, and that's even following the most streamlined steps.
"Let's bathe again, Natsumi. What you did just now isn't enough."
"Huh? B-but... I'm perfectly clean already."
Natsumi looked at herself, feeling wronged. She was clearly spotless, so why were these people looking at her as if she'd just crawled out of a garbage dump?
What was going on? Were they making fun of her? Even if they made her bathe again, she'd just repeat the same steps.
Seeming to sense Natsumi's thoughts, Nia saw a good opportunity and raised her right hand, about to speak.
"Don't speak. Keep kneeling. If you make me unhappy, you'll skip dinner."
The moment Nia opened her mouth, Tsukiyo's cold words cut in, making her swallow her words.
At that moment, Nia and Ellen were kneeling on the living room floor, each wearing a sign that read '[I am guilty, I am a sinner]'.
Thankfully, Tsukiyo had returned quickly, otherwise the entire house would have been destroyed by these two.
Although it took some time to restore the house to its original state, she wouldn't forgive Nia and Ellen so easily. A physical punishment was necessary.
Ellen didn't speak, just glared resentfully at Nia with a look that said (This is all your fault).
Nia glared back defiantly, her eyes retorting (What does this have to do with me? Isn't it your fault?).
Even while kneeling, the two hadn't stopped, using their eyes to express their grievances without letting Tsukiyo notice.
Not wanting to deal with these two headaches, Tsukiyo began thinking about how to handle Natsumi's problem.
Natsumi clearly had some understanding of human society, but her knowledge was broad and superficial; she lacked understanding of the finer details.
For example, she didn't even know the simple things about how to bathe properly and make herself smell nice.
"...Since you can't do it alone, Natsumi, let's try a different method."
"You're not familiar with what needs to be done while bathing, so let someone go in and teach you. Since we're all girls, let Kurumi help you."
"...Huh?"
Natsumi was stunned. Let Kurumi help her bathe? What kind of development was this?
Turning to look at Kurumi, she found Kurumi gazing at her with the eyes of a predator spotting prey. When their eyes met, Kurumi even licked her lips, making Natsumi's skin crawl.
Go into the bath with this person? No! Absolutely not!
If she were alone with this person, Natsumi felt she would be devoured whole, even with her spiritual power, the result would be the same.
"No! I don't want to! I don't want to go in with her! Absolutely not!"
Like a child, Natsumi clung to Tsukiyo, looking fearfully at Kurumi.
Kurumi hadn't expected Natsumi to react this way. She smiled wryly, troubled; she had only meant to tease Natsumi a little, so how had it come to this?
No matter how Tsukiyo tried to persuade her, Natsumi refused to go in with Kurumi.
Natsumi had only come here because of Tsukiyo. Here, only Tsukiyo could give her a sense of security. She absolutely did not want to be alone with a dangerous person like Kurumi.
There was no other way. Faced with such strong aversion from Natsumi, even Kurumi couldn't think of any tactics. Only Tsukiyo could handle this.
Tsukiyo also realized that Natsumi didn't want to be with someone she wasn't familiar with. If someone familiar went in with her, perhaps Natsumi wouldn't be so tense.
Feeling more and more that this made sense, Tsukiyo stood up and spoke under everyone's gaze.
"In that case, I'll go in with you too."
"...Huh?"
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