After returning home from Commercial Street, Wuhua and Lianying finished their hearty dinner.
Wuhua sat upright on Lianying’s bed, looking around nervously.
She occasionally glanced toward the bathroom, where Lianying was rummaging through things.
About ten minutes earlier.
“Xiaohua, let’s take a bath after dinner! We’ve been busy all day, so we need to get really clean. I’ll go prepare first, you can play in the room for a bit.”
Lianying suddenly said this. Wuhua wasn’t surprised—she’d had a similar thought on the bus—but.
“I don’t want a high school student to help me take a bath…! Especially not in this little girl’s body.”
Based on Wuhua’s understanding of Lianying, this was definitely something she would do.
Just imagining that scene made Wuhua extremely shy and flustered. Whether it was local custom or old habit, she had been bathing alone since she could remember.
“Although I’ve heard that in the north there are services where someone scrubs your back, this is completely different from that.”
Wuhua muttered to herself, trying to convince herself and calm her racing heart.
Until.
“Xiaohua? You can come over now. The water pressure and temperature are just right, it feels great on the skin.”
Since Lianying had said it like that, Wuhua knew she couldn’t refuse. She stood up, gathered her courage, walked the few steps to the bathroom, and pushed the door open.
Inside the warm-lit, pale yellow bathroom, colorful basins and short plastic stools were neatly arranged. The basins contained various bath supplies, including soap and towels.
‘W-What’s going on? This setup doesn’t look like a bath, it’s more like butchering a pig.’
Wuhua, who at first thought it was the New Year, swallowed hard, walked in, and closed the door behind her.
But after waiting a while, she didn’t hear Lianying’s voice or see her anywhere.
“Could it be that she intends to let me wash myself?” Wuhua said, and immediately let out a sigh of relief. Then she started to take off her clothes.
“It seems Lianying understands that a seven-year-old child can bathe independently.”
Since the clothes were loose-fitting for a child, they were easy to take off. Wuhua was soon completely naked.
Because of her height, only Wuhua’s face could be seen in the bathroom mirror. She looked at her flat chest, which hadn’t started developing yet.
‘It seems, not much different from before.’
‘Except for missing something.’
Perhaps because she instinctively realized this body belonged to her, Wuhua didn’t have any particular thoughts about it. Just a bit of discomfort and dissonance.
Thinking about some irrelevant things, Wuhua turned on the water heater and skillfully adjusted it to a temperature suitable for her.
—
“Oh, you’ve already started? Geez, no need to rush.”
Before the hot water could wet her body, Lianying’s voice and footsteps suddenly came from outside. And the next second, the sound of the doorknob turning.
“Eh!?” Realizing Lianying intended to come in, Wuhua’s brain instantly froze. She wanted to stop her, but didn’t know what reason to use.
After all, Lianying didn’t even care that Wuhua might be taking a bath.
‘Even if I said I was using the toilet, it wouldn’t work!’
Without time to think, Wuhua, having no other choice, gave up struggling. She retracted her earlier evaluation.
With a click, the door opened and Lianying walked in.
“Um, Lianying…” Wuhua, not wanting to be seen naked, turned her back to her and looked toward the door.
And then, standing there was—
Tying her smooth, waist-length light pink hair into a bun at the back of her head, Lianying held a plastic tray with a towel on top of her head.
And she rested her developing breasts on the edge of the basin for support. She looked very charming and sexy.
As for why Wuhua could see all this so clearly, it was because…
“L-Lianying… why aren’t you wearing any clothes!” Forgetting to add any form of address, Wuhua quickly closed her eyes and turned completely around.
The naked body of a high school girl was far beyond what Wuhua could handle.
“Hmm? Of course you take off your clothes to bathe, Xiaohua. You’re acting strange.”
Lianying closed the door, then took the showerhead from Wuhua’s hand and briefly ran hot water over herself.
“I left my clothes in the room to avoid getting them wet,” she said, then quickly rinsed the short stool in front of her.
“Come on, you can sit down. I’ll try to wash every part of Xiaohua clean.”
—
‘I-In the end, she still intends to wash me…’
‘It’s not that Lianying changed her mind at the last minute; she planned this from the start.’
Wuhua, who had almost confused herself, felt exhausted even before starting to wash.
She obediently sat on the plastic stool, still facing away from Lianying.
“That’s right. It might be a bit cold at first, but it’ll warm up quickly.”
Seeing this, Lianying revealed a bright smile and sprayed water on Wuhua’s back with the showerhead.
“Then let’s start with your back and hair. Is the water too hot or too cold?”
Wuhua forced herself to shake her head. To be honest, she no longer cared about the water temperature.
“Mm… okay, then.” Although she had acted calm at first, Lianying was also bathing someone else for the first time.
After rinsing enough, she began to gently wipe Wuhua with a towel, not daring to apply much force.
“…” The sensation of Lianying’s hand through the towel made Wuhua’s heart itch.
“Then, next…” Feeling it was enough, Lianying began to squeeze body wash into her palm.
And she tried to apply it to Wuhua’s smooth, tender skin on her back, which became even slicker under the foam, like the mucus secreted on a fish’s body.
But Lianying didn’t realize this and continued to wipe her as before, and then.
—
Lianying’s hand slipped from Wuhua’s back to her chest, and naturally ended up cupping it in her palm.
In that instant, like a thunderbolt from a clear sky, both of them trembled slightly as they realized what happened.
Even though it was just an unopened bud, the contact of sensitive areas quickly flushed the cheeks of both innocent girls red.
“Th-This place also needs to be washed, mm-hmm!” Pretending to be nonchalant, Lianying continued to wipe with a forced composure.
She even forgot to use the towel and directly touched the skin with her hand. In her mind, she kept telling herself that this was normal behavior.
“…I-It tickles, Sister Lianying.” Wuhua also showed the normal reaction of a little girl, raising her arms to make it easier for Lianying to wipe her.
Perhaps the sensation was truly unique, Lianying couldn’t help but pinch it while wiping.
“Ah…!?” Even she couldn’t believe it, Wuhua let out a soft moan involuntarily.
A feeling she had never experienced before spread through her body like an electric current, rushing along her nerves straight to her brain.
“S-Sorry.” Lianying apologized as she pulled her hand back. Flustered, she dried it with the towel.
“Um, Xiaohua. You can turn around now, it’ll be easier to wash.”
“…Okay.” Knowing she couldn’t refuse, Wuhua closed her eyes and slowly shifted her bottom to face Lianying.
At the close distance, she could smell Lianying’s scent and feel her warm, moist breath.
“As for your hair,” Lianying said, leaning in to sniff Wuhua’s long hair. “Let’s wash it separately another day.”
For some reason, Wuhua could feel something swaying in front of her.
She squinted, slowly opening her eyes a crack—
In the bathroom that was spacious enough for two, swirling water vapor filled the air.
Through her blurry vision, Wuhua saw the area connecting Lianying’s collarbone and chest. For a high school student, it was probably on the fuller side.
Not daring to move her gaze any lower, Wuhua closed her eyes again.
Lianying didn’t notice her small action either. After finishing wiping Wuhua’s abdomen and lower body,
“Then, next is rinsing. Tell me if it’s too hot.”
After Wuhua nodded, Lianying quickly rinsed all the foam off her body.
“That’s… a job well done.” Lianying turned off the showerhead and handed Wuhua the prepared towel.
“Your change of clothes is in the room. Put them on by yourself, and be careful not to catch a cold.”
When Wuhua returned to the room, the sound of washing came from the bathroom again.
“Oh no. I washed a bit too long.”
Wuhua lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling, feeling dizzy and lightheaded, her body swaying.
Her mind was full of haunting images.
She remained silent, firmly imprinting tonight’s experience in her heart.