Chapter 2-A: Bath Time!

One day, I adopted three monstergirls. I'm not sure what led me to take this decision… all I know is that I just couldn't leave them alone.

Eryn took off his mask and windbreaker, then tossed them onto the sofa.

"Hum…" Eryn folded his arms, tapping his finger on his left arm. He wasn't sure what would be the next course of action. I honestly didn't think I get this far. Perhaps I should refer to the notebook. Just as he was considering that…

"Uhm, Eryn?" a voice called out shyly, breaking his train of thought.

"What is it, Iris?" Eryn bowed his head to look at her.

"I'm… really grateful you've adopted us and given us a home." Iris twiddled with her fingers, her eyes darting around the floor. "A-And, I don't want to sound too selfish…"

"Hmmm…?" Eryn tilted his head at a curious angle. It seems she wants to ask something…

"Do you… have a bathroom?" Iris asked.

"… Oh, right!" Eryn slammed his fist onto his palm in realization. "You haven't had your baths yet, have you?"

"We h-haven't…" Iris replied timidly.

"It's okay, Iris." Eryn patted her head gently to reassure her. "That's not selfish at all! Baths are necessary, after all."

"Ah… okay!" Iris smiled brightly.

"Let me get the bath ready." Eryn stood up and rolled up his sleeves. Of course, they need their baths. How could I forget?

He walked over to his bathroom and opened the door. Guess this big bath will see better use now. He drew the curtains away, revealing a sizable bathtub. He looked into the bathtub and sealed off the drain. Then, he turned on the faucet and let the water flow in. He ran his hand over the streaming water and made minor adjustments to the temperature. Hopefully, it's warm enough for them. He sat on the edge of the bathtub, waiting for it to fill up.

"Wow! Your bathtub is huge, Eryn!" Iris exclaimed.

"Iris? And Lofie…" Eryn turned his head around and noticed Iris and Lofie, standing outside the bathroom. Didn't expect them to follow me here.

"I've never seen a bathtub this big before!" Iris's eyes sparkled with excitement like that of an innocent child. Well, she is a child, in a way…

"Waaah…" Lofie stared in awe. She tugged at her sister's arm. "Iris! Iris! Let's take a bath!"

Eryn smiled at her eagerness. It contrasted with her usual demeanor. Lofie is awfully expressive…

"This bathtub will take a while to fill." Eryn stood up, putting his hands on his hips. "Could you two… actually, where's Melty?"

"I hate baths…" Melty popped her head in, appearing in view. "I don't want to take baths!"

"Melty!" Iris folded her arms, clearly displeased with her. "It's not good to skip baths!"

"But I don't wanna!" Melty huffed.

"Eryn will kick you out." Lofie cut in, in a deadpanned tone. "Bad Melty."

"H-Hehh?!" Fear set into Melty's eyes. Her ears began trembling. "B-But…!"

I didn't realize Lofie's got a sharp tongue… it's always the quiet ones, huh? Eryn hummed. Well, surely Melty understands she's joking–

Melty frantically ran to Eryn and hugged him. "Please don't kick me out, Eryn!" Tears began welling up in her eyes. "But I hate baths! They're scary!"

Or not… Eryn stroked her red hair. Does she hate baths because she's… a fire monster? He recalled Aiden saying she was some kind of fire mouse. She was also afraid of the rain, now that he thought about it.

"Iris, has Melty always hated baths…?" Eryn asked while stroking the hinezumi's head to calm her down.

"Well, we were always tossed into the bathtub… and the water was mostly cold," Iris answered. "But the last shelter was really nice! Sometimes, they had warm water! But Melty always tried to skip her baths."

Just what kind of shelters were they put in before? Eryn thought. It deeply concerned him.

"Don't worry, Melty." Eryn crouched down and looked into her eyes. "Baths are totally safe."

"Really…?" Melty sniffed, rubbing her tears away.

"I promise." Eryn smiled, conveying a tone of seriousness.

"O-Okay…" Melty nodded weakly. "I think I can be brave… if you're here with me, Eryn."

"… Eh?" Eryn blinked twice, cocking his head at an angle.

"I d-don't know if I can do it alone." Melty twiddled with her fingers nervously.

"W-Well, you can depend on Iris and Lofie. You can take a bath together with them." Eryn chuckled awkwardly.

"No!" Melty exclaimed, fuming at her two elder sisters. "They always splash water on me!"

"Oh, really?" Eryn shifted his gaze to Iris and Lofie. Would they really do something like that? "Is… that true?"

"Ah…?" Iris averted her gaze, unable to look him straight in the eyes. "I w-wonder…?"

Lofie took cover behind Iris, peeking through her shoulder. "… Maybe."

"… Haha, I see." Eryn couldn't help but a crack smile. It seems even the responsible Iris was prone to a little lying. He supposed that was them playing around, but Melty might have understood it differently.

"… Okay, Melty. I'll help you take a bath." Eryn said. "There's nothing to worry about."

"… R-Really?" Melty's face lightened up. "You will?"

"Yep." Eryn nodded, then he stood up. "How about you two?"

"We're okay!" Iris raised her hand, also in Lofie's place. "We can take a bath ourselves!"

"… Alright then." Eryn stepped out of the bathroom. Ah, I guess they'll need a new change of clothes, won't they? Eryn glanced at the clothes they were wearing. They were simple gray shirts and pants, that probably belonged to the shelter.

"Wait here. I'm going to grab a change of clothes."

"Okay!" Iris replied.

Eryn jogged to his room and opened up his wardrobe. Now, where are my old clothes? He'd kept most of his clothes, even the clothes he wore when he was younger. Obviously, his current clothes might be too big for them.

No, actually, what about my sister? They're probably a better fit. Eryn closed his wardrobe and moved to his sister's room or at least the room she used to live in before. She wouldn't mind, would she?

He opened up the drawers, searching for her smaller clothes. Bingo! He found them!

Good news: conveniently, there were three pajamas, right about the monstergirls' sizes.

Bad news: they were the only clothes that could fit them.

I guess I'll have to lend my clothes eventually. He'd think about that later. Maybe he could call his sister? It's been a while…

He took the clothes and closed the drawer. He jogged back to the bathroom and saw Iris and Lofie had taken their clothes off already.

"Eryn, the bathtub is almost full!" Iris pointed at the bathtub, water nearly reaching the top.

"Oh!" Eryn quickly walked to the bathtub and turned off the faucet. That was close.

"Well, are you two ready to jump in?" Eryn asked with a smile.

"Yeah!" Both Iris and Lofie raised their fists together.

"Alright then!" Eryn lifted Iris by under her arms and slowly placed her in the bathtub. "In you go, Iris."

"Wow, the water's so warm!" Iris began moving around.

After Iris, Eryn then lifted Lofie up and slowly placed her in the bathtub. "Now, Lofie."

"Wah…" Lofie wiggled her head around. "It's so comfy…"

Eryn pointed at the soap and shampoo in the corner of the bathtub. "Feel free to use those."

"Okay!" Iris flapped her arms, splashing water around. "Lofie, let's play!"

"… Yeah!" Lofie spun around, splashing water around herself. Some of it got on Eryn's pants.

They sure love their bath time. Eryn could understand why Melty wouldn't want to get in the bath with them.

"Alright, Melty." Eryn turned to her. "I'll help you take a bath."

"Are you going to put me in with them?" Melty asked, a bit shaken.

"Haha, no." Eryn shook her head. "Come, sit here. I'll help you."

Eryn sat on the edge of the bathtub, taking a short stool and placing it in front of him. He patted the stool, motioning for Melty to sit on it.

Melty took off her clothes and sat on the stool, facing away from Eryn.

"I'm going to wash your hair, Melty." Eryn held the shower in his hand, aiming it at her red hair. "Is that okay?"

"… Okay, Eryn." Melty nodded, still feeling reluctant.

Eryn turned on the shower, water streaming towards her red hair.

"Eeep!" As soon as the water touched her hair, Melty flinched forward, almost falling off the stool.

"D-Does it hurt, Melty?" Eryn turned the shower away quickly.

"N-No, it just surprised me." Melty adjusted back to her seat.

"I see… I'll continue, okay?" Eryn slowly turned the shower towards her hair. He aimed the shower around, doing his best to wet her hair completely.

"It's… really warm," Melty said softly. "I've never taken a bath like this."

"Huh, really?" Eryn raised an eyebrow. "Well, I hope it's not too bad." He continued showering her hair while carefully wetting her ears. He made an interesting observation as he was washing her hair… they don't have human ears, it's so odd to see nothing here.

"Okay, could you close your eyes?" Eryn placed the shower down. He then took a shampoo bottle and dispensed the liquid into his hand. He rubbed his hands together vigorously. "I'm going to put some shampoo into your hair."

"… O-Okay." Melty closed her eyes as she was told. Soon, she felt his hands rubbing all over her red hair. "Is it because shampoo is dangerous if it gets into my eyes?"

"Right, right."

Her hair's surprisingly soft, too. He gently rubbed her hair all over, running his fingers through her strands of hair at the back. Eventually, her hair was covered in white foam.

"All right, now for soap." Eryn briefly used the shower to wash his hands. He then took a soap bottle and dispensed the liquid into his hand. Once again, he rubbed his hands together vigorously. "I'm going to apply soap to your back now."

"Okay." Melty nodded.

Eryn gently pressed his hands against her back. Her skin's… really smooth and soft, huh? With careful pressure, he moved his hands up and down her back, then moved up towards her shoulders to her arms… Hmmm, her tail…

His gaze was fixated on her black, smooth tail. Much like the lack of human ears, the existence of a tail was very unsettling to him.

"Er, Melty…" Eryn called out, unsure. "Should I… uh, could I touch your tail?"

"It's okay!" Melty's tail rose in response as if giving him permission.

"O-Oh, all right." Eryn gently wrapped his fingers around her tail. It's… soft, too… like her skin, but fluffy as well. He moved his hands up and down the entire length of her tail.

"It feels really nice, Eryn." Melty looked over her shoulder. "Your hands are really nice!"

"That's… good to hear." Eryn sighed in relief. I thought I might have used too much force. He then handed the soap bottle to her. "Could you use the soap for your front?"

"Okay!" Melty took the soap bottle, dispensed a lot more soap than she needed, then rubbed it all over herself, from her chest down to her legs.

"That's good." Eryn patted her head. After applying the soap, he took the shower in his hands. "I'm going to wash you now."

Eryn turned on the shower and began rinsing from the top of her head down to her back.

"This is kind of fun!" Melty giggled, turning her head around.

"Easy there." Eryn chuckled, having finished rinsing her back. "Try to wash yourself with this." He handed the shower to her.

"Okay!" Melty took the shower and tried to aim it at herself, but accidentally shot the streams of water over her head…

"Ah, Eryn!" Melty turned around and gasped as she realized she just soaked Eryn in water. "I'm sorry!"

"Well, this is something…" Eryn's shirt was soaked with water. He wiped the water off his face with his forearm and rubbed his hair back. He then let out a laugh. "You know, I needed a bath too."

"Oh, hehehe!" Melty giggled sweetly. Eryn continued helping her to rinse her entire body.

"And done!"