A Periodic Curiosity

On a day like any other I was sitting around looking through the piles of clothes. You see, today was my turn to wash them. And though the maid would normally be the one to do such things, she was out with Darkness running some errands. As I scoured through the assortment of clothing, I eventually came upon the small treasures that made doing such laborious tasks worth it…that's right, panties. I grabbed it and stared with a bit of curiosity because, well, I was having a curious thought lately.

"Hmm." I rubbed my chin in thought.

Suddenly, the door to the washroom opened and as I looked back, I saw Megumin standing at the threshold with a mildly disturbed look on her face.

"Eh, Kazuma, what do you think you're doing with my underwear?"

"Ah, don't worry, I wasn't planning on doing anything with them; I prefer them to be a bit warmer."

Megumin scrunched her brow in disapproval.

I grinned. "No, I was actually wondering about something."

"Oh? Is it something perverted?"

"No, hardly. Actually, I've been wondering about this for a while."

"Well, what is it?"

"Ah, how do I say this? Umm, back where I lived, girls would go through this monthly thing called menstruation."

"Menstru—what?"

"Ah, well, it's this thing where every month they would bleed out of their—"

"Ah, I see. Mhm, you mean the 'monthly bleeding'," Megumin said rather calmly.

"Monthly bleeding; what a crude way to name something. Although, it hits the nail on the head."

"What about it?"

"Well, back in my world it wouldn't be unusual to hear a story or two of girls having 'accidents' during this time."

"Accidents? What do you mean?"

"Well, sometimes the blood would spill out and stain the underwear or soak through. I've personally never seen it, but…"

"Really? Hmm…" This time Megumin was the one rubbing her chin in thought. "Personally, I haven't had that happen to me, but I can see it being a common occurrence."

"Uhh, wait, what do you mean it's never happened to you? Aren't you already at that age?"

Perhaps thinking that I was calling her immature, Megumin shot back fiercely. "Of-Of course I'm already at that age!" She took a breath and calmed down. "I had mine when I was 10. I mean, Kazuma, that I haven't had any 'accidents' as you call it."

I stared at her in slight disbelief. The reason being was that I've never seen any products related to such things during my time in this world; so, how was it that none of these girls ever had an accident?

"Oi, you're not just saying that because you'd be embarrassed to tell me; it's alright, I can tell you how many times I've had 'accidents' while having good dreams."

"N-No! I'm being serious; I've never had any such thing happen to me!"

Still somewhat unconvinced, I raised a brow. "Well, how about Darkness; I've never seen any signs on her underwear either."

"Ah, I'm starting to regret letting you do our laundry." She cleared her throat. "I don't really know about Darkness, but I wouldn't be surprised if she uses the same method that I use to prevent such mistakes."

"Method? And what would that be?"

Megumin silently stared at me, and then sighed. "Come."

Once I followed her, she led me back to her room, where we then stood in front of her dresser. Opening it, she rummaged through a stash of strewn-about items and, eventually, retrieved a tiny black box that was about the size of her palm.

Megumin opened it and took out something that appeared to be a black strip of tape. It looked somewhat rigid, but at the same time, flexible. It was about 8-10cm in length and was as wide as two fingers side-by-side.

"What's this?"

She sighed yet again, and then said, "It'd probably be better if I showed you." Megumin began rummaging through her dresser once more and following a short monologue of her trying to find something, recovered a pair of scissors. "Give me your hand."

"H-Hey, what are you planning to do with that?" I said as I guarded my hands.

"Do you want me to show you, or not? Don't worry, I just need to prick your finger."

"Eh, t-then let me do it. Knowing you, you'd probably gouge a hole in my hand instead."

"Wha—just how do you envision me in that mind of yours?!"

With hesitance, I gave her my hand. Megumin took it roughly, staring at me with a pout. She grumbled softly, and then pressed the tip of the scissors into my finger. I flinched slightly, and a moment later a small bead of blood appeared.

While I was waiting to see what happened next, Megumin took one of the strips and placed it on my finger. There was a tension to the strip, a sort of adhesion to my skin; however, it contained no adhesive. What I immediately thought of was that it felt a lot like a bandage with none of the stickiness. After a little while of staring it, I began to see a slight bulge in the strip.

Megumin grabbed my hand once more and pulled it off. When she did, my finger began to bleed again. She took a nearby cloth and wrapped it gently around the wound.

"There," she said, "now do you understand?"

"Uh, sort of. But, I mean, this was just a bit of blood; wouldn't girls going through that get a lot more? Where does it all go on something that small?"

"It's a magic item," She finally said. "It contains elements of earth, wind, water, and spatial-manipulation magics. In the Crimson Village this is the standard way to handle monthly bleedings. Outside the village, however, getting your hand on these is fairly expensive. Basically, only the wealthy can afford to buy them, most others just use some type of highly absorbent material. I've even heard stories of some female adventurers using nothing."

"Really, what the heck is wrong with the people in Axel…"

"Anyways, once the strip gets filled, we throw it away. On top of all the previously mentioned things, it also has the advantage of providing a moisturizing effect due to the water magic involved."

Even as a guy I was sort of amazed; I'm sure the girls back on Earth would kill to have something so convenient.

Megumin cleared her throat loudly, and then with a smirk, pointed at me, saying, "As compensation for that enlightening lesson, take me out to do my daily."

I sighed, but ultimately agreed. Of course…when we returned…I had forgotten all about the task I was responsible for. As expected, this didn't really go over to well with the other two. In particular, Darkness who was, for some reason, acting more aggressive than usual. I had an idea why, but, well, I didn't wanna say it…maybe she was just going through that time of the month?