“It really is a bear bath,” Tiermina said.
“Make sure to wash yourself before you get in the tub.”
“You have soap, too… it’s almost like an aristocrat’s bath.”
“Shuri, I’ll wash you, so come over here.”
Fina sat Shuri in a chair and soaped her down, starting with her head. Tiermina, seemingly disappointed she hadn’t been able to help her daughters wash up, looked at me. “Yuna, shall I wash you?”
“I can do it myself.”
“But isn’t it hard to wash that beautiful black hair of yours? Since it’s so long?”
“It’s a pain, but I can do it myself.”
I’d gotten used to it over the years. I sat down next to Fina and soaped myself clean. Shuri, who was clean before anyone else, had already gone to sink into the hot water. The moment Fina tried to wash herself, Tiermina caught her and started washing her. Eventually, we were all in the tub.
“Yuna, you have a lovely figure.”
“Do I?” My waist was slim, but as for my chest…
“It is a pity about your chest.”
It was like she’d read my mind. My chest was barely bigger than Fina’s, though I wasn’t sure how I felt about comparing myself to a ten-year-old.
“I plan on growing curves. Like bam, shwoo, bam,” I declared. I still had a few more years to grow.
“I wonder if that’s possible.”
“Do you think mine will get bigger?” Fina said.
I compared Fina and Tiermina. “You’re free to dream.”
“That feels rather unkind…” Tiermina looked at her own rather demure chest. She’d put on some weight compared to when she’d been bedridden, but she was still emaciated. “You don’t need to worry, Fina. Yours will get bigger, unlike mine.”
“I’d like mine to be the same size as Yuna’s.”
I hugged Fina, feeling a deep kinship with her in that moment.
Eventually, we wrapped towels around our heads and got out of our extended bath. When we made it back to the main area of the house, we spied Gentz sitting there all by himself, looking lonely. When he saw us…
“You! You took a ton of time!” His shout rang through the room.
Chapter 36:
The Bear Uses a Blow Dryer
“ALL RIGHT, it’s my turn now!” Gentz headed to the bath.
The remaining four of us toweled off. It would take a while to get our hair dry like that, so I headed over to my room and brought back a pseudo-blow dryer. I’d used earth magic to make something dryer-shaped and set a couple of fire and wind gems in it. There was a chance someone out there sold this sort of thing, but it would have been a pain to look for one in the stores, so I just made one myself.
“Fina, come over here for a sec.”
“What do you need?”
“Turn around and sit here.”
She obediently flipped around to so her back was to me and sat down. Her hair, which was a little longer than
shoulder length, hung down in front of me. I grabbed the dryer and ran mana through it. Warm wind started coming from the dryer.
“Eep! What is that?” Fina squealed, whipping around.
“It’s a tool to dry your hair by blowing out hot air.” I showed her it was fine by blowing it at her hand.
“It’s warm.”
“Now that you know, turn around.”
Fina obediently turned away from me. Once Fina’s hair was dry, I moved on to Shuri, whose hair was a little longer than Fina’s.
“Yuna,” said Tiermina, “that’s a useful tool you’ve got there.”
“I made it since it’s so hard to dry long hair.”
“When you’re finished, may I borrow it, too?” Tiermina’s hair was back-length.
“Sure.” I handed the dryer over to Tiermina once I finished with Shuri.
“Are you sure I can go before you?” she asked. I had my hair wrapped in a towel and hadn’t dried it yet.
“It’ll take me a while, so I can do it after.”
“I’ll use this with gratitude, then.”
Tiermina turned it on her hair as her daughters watched. It was such a wholesome scene. When she finished and handed it back to me, Gentz came back from his bath.
“That was some great hot water. Those bears sure gave me a fright though. Thanks, Miss.” Then Gentz took a good look at me and froze up.
“What’s wrong?”
“Bear girl, you sure look different without your hood on.”
“You think so?”
“I had no idea that your hair was that long under the hood. Hair makes such a difference to people’s impression of you.”
Who are Tiermina and Gentz getting their lines from? I thought.
“I think you look pretty cute in your hood,” he said, “but you look beautiful with your long hair.”
“Yes, I think that too!”
“Praising me isn’t going to get you anything.”
“It’s such a shame that you’re hiding your hair when it’s this pretty.”
Since I couldn’t tell them I was powerless without my bear onesie, of course, I decided to keep quiet. Fina started helping me when I was partway through drying my hair, and I thanked her. Once we were all done, I led them to the guest rooms.
“Gentz, you use the room in the back. I only have two beds for Tiermina and the girls, but could you take that room next to it?”
“Yes, Shuri and I can share a bed.”
I looked over at Gentz. “Gentz.”
“What?”
“Make sure you don’t pay any night-time visits to Tiermina. Fina and Shuri need to sleep,” I told Gentz, with a look that meant business.
“I wouldn’t do something like that!”
“Don’t have her visit you in your room, either. I don’t want to wash dirty sheets.”
“I wouldn’t want you to do that, either!”
“We wouldn’t do anything like that in someone else’s house,” Tiermina said, “especially with the girls around. In any case, we’re
