Rinna’s constitution was naturally sensitive to cold and prone to chills. If she caught a cold, she might end up bedridden for weeks.
Hisaki turned, walked to the wardrobe, and pulled out two clean, soft dry towels and a hairdryer from the drawer.
Then she returned to the bed and sat down next to Rinna.
The mattress sank slightly at an angle, and Rinna’s body slid a little toward Hisaki along that incline. Hisaki reached out and steadied her.
Hisaki lifted Rinna’s head, placed a dry towel beneath her damp hair, and began to dry it.
The dry towel wrapped around the silver-white strands, gently absorbing the excess moisture.
Her movements were slow, light, as if she were wiping something so fragile it might break at the slightest touch.
From the roots to the tips, from the left temple to the right temple, from the stray hairs gathered by the red ribbon at her forehead to that one stubborn lock at the back of her head that never quite lay flat.
Where the towel passed, the color of her hair shifted from the moon-white of being soaked to the silver-white of being dry. The color lightened slightly, and the luster returned.
Then came the hairdryer.
Hisaki plugged it into the outlet by the headboard and set it to the lowest setting.
Warm air slowly blew out from the nozzle. The sound wasn’t the loud roar of a high-power hairdryer but an extremely soft, gentle whir, like the sound of water flowing through heating pipes on a winter night.
She tested the temperature, making sure it wouldn’t burn Rinna’s scalp, then slipped her fingers into Rinna’s silver-white damp hair, blowing it dry strand by strand from the roots.
The warm air from the hairdryer softly brushed over the fine silver hairs on the back of Rinna’s neck, then drifted to her ears, lifting the stray strands at her temples slightly.
In her sleep, Rinna’s head moved slightly, instinctively leaning a little closer to Hisaki’s warm hand.
Hisaki steadied Rinna’s head, her fingers sliding from roots to tips, matching the direction and temperature of the hairdryer.
The silver-white strands slipped through her fingertips, strand by strand, changing from soaking wet to half-dry, from half-dry to completely dry.
The dried hair became fluffy and soft again, like silk threads soaked in moonlight, leaving a cool, silky feel as they passed through her fingers.
Every time her fingers threaded through the strands, they carried a faint scent of shampoo—the one Rinna used herself, a very light herbal fragrance mixed with the lingering sulfur smell of the hot spring.
Steamed by the warm air, it turned into an indescribable but pleasant aroma.
When Hisaki reached the back of Rinna’s head, she gently lifted the nape of her neck with her fingers.
Rinna’s neck was slender, her skin so thin that the faint blue veins beneath it were visible, glowing softly under the warm yellow indicator light of the hairdryer.
Hisaki’s thumb lightly brushed the small hollow where Rinna’s nape met the back of her head. The movement was incredibly tiny, as if she were touching some precious thing she shouldn’t be touching.
It took a little over half an hour.
When Hisaki turned off the hairdryer, she glanced at the clock on the wall.
Nine sixteen.
Rinna’s hair was mostly dry, with only the ends still slightly damp. Hisaki gently wrapped them in a dry towel, absorbing the last of the moisture.
She carefully smoothed the strands with her fingers. The silver-white hair lay neatly scattered across the white pillowcase, almost completely free of tangles or mess.
Hisaki put the hairdryer back in its place and folded the wet towel into the laundry basket.
Then she looked down at herself—her own hair was still wet, a few strands sticking to her collarbone.
The cuffs of her black yukata were slightly damp, the dark pattern of spider lily petals lying quietly on the fabric in the lamplight.
She needed to take care of herself too.
Hisaki washed her hair as quickly and quietly as possible, changed into her pajamas—a set of plain white, long-sleeved cotton pajamas.
The collar buttons were neatly fastened up to the second one, and the sleeves just reached her wrists.
The hem was straight, without any extra decoration.
By the time she returned to the bed, the clock had already turned to nine forty-three.
Hisaki pulled a thin quilt from the closet.
The duvet cover was also pure white, carrying the scent of having been dried in the sun and the faint camphor-wood smell accumulated from being folded in the closet.
She gently placed the quilt over Rinna, who was curled up. Her pure white hair still wasn’t completely dry, but her condition was much more stable than when she had first returned.
Hisaki quietly pulled her own quilt down and lay on her side next to Rinna.
The distance between them was small enough to feel each other’s breath.
She lay on her side, reaching out one hand to gently cover Rinna’s hand, which was resting on her belly—a hand with distinct bones, soft and slender.
Her head rested against Rinna’s forearm, her face buried in the folds of the clothes at Rinna’s side. Her nostrils were filled with the warm, moist scent of the herbal fragrance and sulfur that still clung to Rinna.
Hisaki closed her eyes.
“I think… I might… for you, Rinna…”
She murmured softly, her body growing heavier under the invasion of sleep.
But the last shred of waking clarity warned her not to move recklessly. Rinna’s body was too fragile—it might break. “Please get better soon… Rinna…”
Her voice grew softer and softer, more and more indistinct. Before the last syllable had even left her lips, she had completely fallen into a dream.
***
The next day, morning, Friday.
Six thirteen AM.
The light outside still had that peculiar thin, grayish-blue hue of early morning, seeping through the gaps in the sliding door paper, drawing extremely fine silver-gray lines of light on the tatami mats.
In the courtyard, the stone lanterns had gone out on their own at some unknown hour before dawn.
A thin layer of morning dew clung to the needles of the tall pine trees. Occasionally, a larger dewdrop would drip from the tip of a needle and land on the stone below, making an extremely soft plip sound.
Rinna hadn’t fully woken up yet. Her consciousness was still drifting somewhere between dreaming and waking.
She had had a long dream.
In the dream, she tried to push away that mass of mist. It dispersed when she pushed, then gathered again. Push, gather. Push, gather. She couldn’t push it away.
Her consciousness would sink deeper into sleep, only to be pulled back by that mass of mist.
This repeated several times.
Then, the “knocking” in her dream turned into a real sensation.
Before Rinna even opened her eyes, her consciousness suddenly sharpened. She clearly felt a dull, dragging pain in her lower abdomen, coming in waves.
It wasn’t a sharp, stabbing pain, but something duller, more oppressive—like someone was wringing her insides with a towel soaked in cold water.
The pain came from her lower abdomen, radiating outward along her lumbar spine, spreading in all directions, even making the muscles on the inside of her thighs feel weak and sore.
Her body reacted instinctively—curling up.
She pulled herself deeper into the quilt, drawing her knees toward her chest, clutching the quilt’s edge with both hands. Her palms were covered in cold sweat.
But curling up didn’t ease the pain; instead, it made the dragging sensation in her lower abdomen even more concentrated.
She started to feel chills all over.
The quilt was thick enough. Last night, Hisaki’s body heat had still been lingering in it, but now she couldn’t feel any warmth at all.
Everything below her knees was ice-cold. Her toes felt like they were pressing against a cold basement floor.
The dizziness returned. The ceiling light wasn’t actually moving, but her vision was treacherously tilting slightly, and her stomach began to feel uneasy.
Then came the nausea, the urge to vomit.
Her temples throbbed, her heartbeat was a little fast, carrying a clear sense of panic.
Her body had no strength at all—even weaker than after bathing in the hot spring last night. She didn’t even have the strength to lift her hand.
Rinna opened her eyes.
She lay in the quilt, her eyelashes trembling slightly due to her body’s discomfort, her breathing a little faster than usual, her lips slightly parted.
Her hands and feet were cold. Everything below her knees felt like it was soaking in ice water. When she curled her toes, she could feel the skin on the soles of her feet was cold and damp.
The emotional fluctuations of the past few days, getting chilled from staying in the bath too long, her weak constitution combined with blood and qi deficiency… All these symptoms formed a clear causal chain.
Rinna traced this line from beginning to end in her mind, then reached a conclusion.
‘I’m done for.’
I’m getting my period.
The very next moment, the most honest part of her body provided the most direct evidence. She could clearly feel something flowing out from below.
That sensation was too unique to describe with any other physical reaction.
A warm, moist, undeniable… the fluid unique to that time of the month was slowly seeping out from deep within her lower abdomen.
Her whole body froze. Even her breath stopped for a moment. She could feel the warm current slowly seeping out from inside her body, following the channel.
Hisaki was still lying beside her, one hand gently covering the back of Rinna’s hand on her stomach. Her breathing was steady and even, clearly still deep in sleep.
Rinna gently pulled her hand out from under Hisaki’s palm.
The movement was extremely light, extremely slow—one finger at a time. She didn’t dare make any move with even a slightly larger amplitude, afraid of waking Hisaki.
She was lying on her side. As she pulled her hand out, she had to control her body’s balance so she wouldn’t roll over from the side due to losing support.
Then, enduring the dull, surging pain in her abdomen, she used her elbows and palms to support herself on the mattress, slowly pushing her upper body up.
Every time her abdominal muscles contracted, the dragging pain in her lower abdomen intensified by one degree, as if something was pulling her downward from the inside.
She bit the inside of her lip, swallowing the muffled groan that had risen to her throat.
Sitting up made the oozing of the warm fluid below more intense. The skin on her inner thighs hadn’t yet touched anything, but the dull, cramped pain deep inside her body forced her to pause for several seconds.
Hisaki woke up anyway.
Almost the moment Rinna pulled her hand away, her eyelashes moved slightly, and then she slowly opened her eyes.
Those deep black eyes were still a little hazy in the grayish-blue morning light. But the moment she saw Rinna’s face—pale lips, brows twisted in pain—all the drowsiness vanished completely.
“Rinna? What’s…”
Rinna’s voice was hoarse and trembling, each word seeming forced through gritted teeth.
Hisaki had already sat up, her hand supporting Rinna’s shoulder.
Her gaze quickly swept over Rinna’s pale face, then moved to Rinna’s hands—tightly pressed over her lower abdomen, knuckles white.
“I got my period…”