Published at 23rd of November 2020 09:54:52 PM
Chapter 18
The beginning: 2 years worth of months and days 7
“Are you still gonna get in with us?”
“Why?”
The location: the changing room .
As I was taking off my outer kimono, Rangiku who came in afterwards asked me this . And then, when I returned with a question of my own, Rangiku shut up .
Hey, don’t ask that kind of question after all this time!
And was Rangiku the type of guy to care about that kind of thing in the first place?
“Rangiku, you’re overthinking it,”
“That’s right . Nogiku’s not a girl anyway”
That’s rude, you know!!
is what I think, but .
… . . but it’s true that lately my thoughts have been wandering around the border between male and female lately .
I know I’m a girl, and I’m a maiden, yknow! But sometimes I think things, and then go “even though I’m a girl…”
On the other hand, thoughts that lean more towards being a guy, like ‘how do I become more handsome and cool’ or ‘aaah, I’m longing for women . I wanna touch!’ happen a lot .
Which is why when I’m straight up told that I’m not a girl, the part of me that is one reacts, but it’s not that much of a shock .
Yeah . This means that I’m on the right path to developing awareness as a courtesan, or a geisha, right?
“Today come and sit on my knees, all right?”
“Oookay~”
Having finished washing myself, I was about to get into the bathtub when someone called out to me .
I’ve spent these two years on people’s knees thinking, ‘am I really that small?’ At this point, my body was that of a seven year old now . My feet properly reach the bottom of the tub now, and I wouldn’t drown .
But from the very beginning, it was kind of my fault .
As I was walking towards the bathtub, I happened to catch my feet on the slippery floor right in front of it and slip,
“*gasp, choke, drowning noises*” (tn: there were actual sounds but,, ^^; Sorry)
“Nogiku!!”
Plop! Right into the bathtub .
Rangiku right behind me had saved me, but after seeing me half-drowned, everyone would put me on their knees the whole time I was still at Amatsuki .
Even though I’m already seven now .
And this feeling of humiliation of being carried by someone who’s only three years older . Ahh, how miserable .
Though I’m used to it, is it just my imagination that something inside of me is becoming paralyzed? Even though I myself aren’t sure what it is specifically, it’s still distressing .
“Aah, it’s warm isn’t it”
“Yeah, it sure is”
“It’d be great if there was an open air bath”
“Then let’s rip off the ceiling then”
That’ll make Oyaji-sama mad, you know . The two of them laughed while looking at the ceiling .
He has some times that he’s a demon, but Nagikaze is usually nice, and in the end is someone I get along with, so he’s a good friend… . wait, based on age, an older brother?
Well, besides me, everyone here is probably an older brother to me .
“What, an open air bath?”
“I wanna get in one too~”
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Shuusui and Rangiku who were also in the bath joined our conversation .
Oh, Rangiku’s wringing his hair out .
Hey, do that outside of the bathtub!
“It’s a Goemon bath for me”
“I’d like a wooden tub bath, personally”
“Then isn’t a steam bath good too?”
For some reason, Shuusui’s mention of the Goemon bath started the Bathtub Discourse .
Stuff like “A steam bath is like…” “even though it’s steam you won’t get scalded” “the smell of cypress…”
Ahh, I’m jealous, this means they’ve all gotten in one before, doesn’t it?
“So you guys all have gotten in one then?”
“””No”””
“And then, —–”
“I see”
They were just talking about stuff they knew .
Fun fact, the Goemon bath Shuusui was talking about had a pretty cruel origin .
Ishikawa Goemon was a bandit who had been sentenced to death, but the method of execution was to be put in a big iron pot filled with water along with his young child, set a fire underneath it and have the water boil .
In the beginning, Goemon had lifted his child up so it wouldn’t get hot, but in the end it had gotten so hot that he put the child underneath him at the bottom .
After being used in Goemon’s execution, it became known as ‘the Goemon bath’ so this story left a bad aftertaste .
And then, it’s also said that instead of water they had used oil .
Well, oil would’ve been hotter anyway .
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It was necessary for prostitutes to have a lot of knowledge on various subjects, so sometimes we had to listen to stories like this, that may or may not even be useful .
We’d been told that it was one method to make sure the customers wouldn’t get bored, but do you really want to hear such a gross story, Oyaji-sama?!
Ahh, after remembering such a story I kinda want to get out of the bath .
Grrr, curse you Goemon!!
How could you use your child to stay off the bottom of the pot!!
“Nagikaze, I’m going to get out first . So let me dow-“
“Oh? Then maybe I’ll get out too”
“N,no, it’s fine . You guys keep talking”
I’d thought this before, but Nagikaze, you really just go along with people’s opinions a lot, don’t you? Not to mention just leaving the decision making to someone else .
Whenever he’d leave something up to me, I always got uneasy
‘Eh, what would be the best choice for Nagikaze? The worst? Oh, what should I do… Hmmmm… . . ” It’s as if I was being pressed to make choices in a game where you had to read the other person’s mood… . ?
Huh?
Choices…Game… . . ?
……that’s—–What kind of game was that again?
Was there even such a game?
Huh?
“…… . . ”
“What’s wrong? Nogiku”
“,ah, nothing . Or, well, maybe the blood rushed to my head or something”
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Seeing me stand there blankly with my thoughts running wild, Shuusui got worried and called out to me .
Not good, not good .
Yeah, my thought’s might’ve just gotten weird because the blood went to my head .
And besides, it’s not like I HAVE to remember that kind of thing, so it’s probably fine to not think too deeply about it .
“How about we all get out too”
“We were soaking for a pretty long time~”
As I was thinking, before I realized everyone had already left the bath .
What’s with this, the one who suggested it first was me!! Don’t just get out before me!
Later, in the changing room .
“Come to think of it, what else do you like, besides an outdoor bath?”
“Hmmmm…”
“It’s gotta be a Goemon bath, right?”
“No, it’s definitely a steam bath”
“Hmmm… . Oh!”
“Mixed bathing is good!”
“””What?”””
(well, there are women there!)
Author’s note: There are lots of different versions of the story of the Goemon bath, so please just take this as one of them .