Chapter 15

“I did agree to take care of you, but still . . .”

I couldn’t help but grumble as I filled the washbowl, which smelled of hinoki cypress, with water.

I didn’t expect his first request would be for me to take a bath with him. Moreover! I never thought I would be in an empty bathtub just before lights out.

“I can’t help it, you see? Unlike you students, we teachers are busy. On top of that, I had to write a report on today’s incident.”

“. . . Sorry.”

“I told you, don’t apologize. I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if I saw a student get hurt in front of my eyes.”

“This isn’t a big deal. Don’t worry.” He spoke while waving his right arm in the air, which was wrapped in a double layer of towels and plastic.

Even if he told me not to worry, I would probably feel guilty every time I saw his cast. It looked so painful.

And yet, he still joked about things like “There was a lack of Haru, so this is just perfect,”, so I poured warm water on his head as gruffly as I could.

“Whoa, guh . . . You prick— do it gently.”

“This is already gentle enough.”

If he was going to complain, he should just do it himself. I wanted to say that to him, but it was my fault for causing his injury, so I kept my mouth shut.

His beautiful black hair wasn’t tangled very much at all. The shampoo foamed so well that, with Akira’s hair volume, he looked like he had an afro in no time. It wasn’t often that I got to wash someone’s hair, so it was a strange feeling.

When I finished washing and rinsing his foamy hair in the shower, Akira mumbled “Thanks” and swept back his wet hair.

I was unexpectedly struck dumb. Even the drops of water on his neck seemed to exude seductiveness, causing me to look away in a panic. My eyes end up meeting with Akira’s in the mirror, and my gaze wanders around in a panic. I was such an idiot, it was so obvious that I was conscious of him.

“. . . Here’s the towel.”

“Huh?”

“You’ll wash every part of my body, right?”

He stretched his arm and pulled me closer. He whispered to me in a strangely alluring tone of voice, as if he was breathing into my ear, making my heart pound loudly.

The fact that he emphasized “every part” was really . . . He had a terrible personality, purposefully speaking in such a lewd manner.

“I’ll only wash your back, do that part by yourself.”

“What, you won’t do it for me?”

“You do it with one hand, idiot.”

Akira’s shoulder trembled a bit as he laughed. I forced him to hold the foamy towel, and I washed his back with body soap.

Akira’s body was really amazing. He had a broad back and strong arms. His body was well toned and manly, with no flab at all.

It was completely different from my thin body, incapable of gaining muscle . . . Come to think of it, he had great abdominal muscles even from the first time I saw him. So he was the type to look slender in clothes and muscular without.

With this guy, I did that kind of thing— I shook my head to get rid of the scene that had unintentionally popped into my head.

What the hell am I thinking about!

My heart pounded in my chest.

“Haru?”

“. . .”

I was surprised when he suddenly called me. My eyes met Akira’s through the mirror.

“Your face is red, what’s wrong? Ah, could it be . . . that you get turned on seeing me naked?”

“N- no! It’s not that, you idiot!”

He said this with a smirk, and I immediately grabbed the shower head and sprayed water over his head.

It was so embarrassing and I couldn’t stand it, I just wanted to run away right here and now.

I stood up and was about to head to the changing room when Akira pulled my arm forcefully to stop me.

Just like that, he pulled me closer and stuck his wet body close to me.

“Sorry for teasing you. You’ll catch a cold like that.”

“. . .”

“Besides, if Haru left, I’d have a lot of trouble getting dressed and all that.”

Akira didn’t play fair. He knew I wouldn’t be able to talk back if he apologized like that.

I wonder if the painful-looking cast in my field of vision was there to spite me.

“Hah, alright. But if you lay a hand on me I’ll leave you right away!”

I gave him a firm warning and headed back to the bathtub.

The moment I stepped my foot inside the big bathtub with warm water coming out from the lion’s mouth, Akira said, “Since we’ve come all this way, let’s go to the open-air bath”, and gave me a wink.

I reluctantly left the bathtub. I was met with a door with a sign “No Students in Training”.

“Wait, I shouldn’t go in.”

“It’s fine, there’s no one here.”

He pressed his finger to his lips and smiled mischievously. No, a teacher shouldn’t take the initiative to break the rules! Before I could say so, the door was opened, and I shivered involuntarily at the sudden burst of cold air.

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