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“You really are an idiot… Momo…”
“Look who’s talking, Master… At least for today, you’re in no position to call me that.”
“Ah, welcome ba—… wait, what happened to you two? You’re soaked through!”

Of course, after picking a full-blown fight in the middle of a downpour, Master and I were both drenched.

Neither of us had backed down in the argument, and in the end, as if defeated by the relentless rain itself, we trudged back together to the castle. The stares from the maids and from Ms. Hoshikawa were painfully sharp.

“W-w-wait, towels, towels! You’ll catch a cold if you don’t dry off right away!”
“Thank you… ah-choo!”
“Hah, for you, that was an awfully cute sneeze—achoo!”
“You’re in no position to talk, Master!”
“You dare!”
“Okay, okay, enough already, both of you. You’ll really catch a cold like this—especially you, Laika, you only just recovered.”

Ms. Hoshikawa stepped in between us and broke up the quarrel, forcing us to call a truce. We reluctantly dried ourselves off with the towels she handed over.

But our rain-soaked clothes had been left out too long; every time we wrung them, more water spilled out. Even though the maids kept bringing us towel after towel, it was never enough.

“Lady Momose, Lady Laika, we will prepare a bath for you. I must ask you to use it—unfortunately, we cannot allow you further inside the castle in that state.”
“I’m so sorry! Come on, Master, let’s go together!”
“A bath? Tch, I can just dry off with magecraft—it’d be done in five minutes.”
“No! You’re not allowed to waste magic! Besides, once in a while it’s better to soak properly in hot water and warm up from the inside… probably!”
“‘Probably’? What do you mean ‘probably’… Wait, don’t tell me you intend to bathe with me?! Do you have no shame?!”
“It’s fine, isn’t it? (For now) we’re both girls, and bathing separately would be a waste of water.”
“I don’t care—it’s not our water, it’s the castle’s! Damn it, let me go!!”

I grabbed my struggling master and followed the maid as she guided us toward the great bath.

Her rain-drenched body was ice cold to the touch. This wasn’t something a quick warming spell could fix. She needed to soak in a hot bath and let the warmth seep all the way into her bones.

“Seriously though, you’re light, Master! Are you eating properly?!”
“How rude. I ate just yesterday.”
“Excuse me! Could we also have some food ready for after the bath, please?!”

I made up my mind: before anything else, I had to drill a healthy lifestyle into Master.

If things went on like this, she’d die long before that ‘six months’ she kept talking about. Three proper meals a day and eight hours of sleep were non-negotiable. From here on, I’d be strict about it.

✦✧✦✧✦

“Ahhh… nothing beats a bath after all…”
“Ughh… too hot.”

The bath the maid led us to was incredible. So incredible that all the firm resolutions I’d made before getting in threatened to just melt away.

The tub was bigger than a gymnasium, with stone lions spouting water from their mouths—a bath truly fit for a king. I’d always wanted to try one like this at least once in my life.

On top of that, the water was milky-white, maybe from some kind of bath salts, and it felt thick and smooth against the skin. My whole body seemed to glow. Honestly, it felt almost wasteful that the two of us got to have it all to ourselves.

“Master, you’re awfully quiet. Are you warming up properly? Make sure you soak all the way up to your shoulders.”
“I am. It’s been too hot since I got in. Can’t we lower the temperature a bit?”
“Ehh, I think it’s perfect. Doesn’t it just feel hotter because you were chilled from the rain?”
“No, it’s because Outlanders have always preferred hotter water. That hasn’t changed in a thousand years.”
“Mmm… is that something your master told you?”
“Yeah. That glutton used to love sitting in the bath, warming up sake, and drinking it while watching the stars. Sometimes she’d fall asleep drunk and nearly drown.”

Unable to stand the heat any longer, Master perched on the edge of the tub, dipping just her legs in as she went on with the story.

Her snow-white skin bore no scars, and when she brushed back her wet hair to gaze off into the distance, she was so beautiful that even I couldn’t help but stare.

“Wow… to think you were so against it at first, and now you’re being bold, Master.”
“Think about it rationally—I’m roughly a thousand years old. If you don’t mind, then there’s no problem.”
“That’s… kind of depressing, in its own way.”

It was true, of course. Compared to her, I was like an infant. But the way she looked down on me with such cool detachment left me with a complicated, unsettled feeling.

I was happy that she’d tried to be considerate of me, yet somehow it still made my chest tighten with frustration.

“…Master, what was your master—my great-master—like?”
“A walking calamity.”
“That even counts as a person?”
“She kept a human shape, at least. But wherever she traveled, trouble followed. She picked fights with dragons, smashed up bandit and pirate hideouts with her bare hands… she was like a living storm.”
“That’s amazing…”
“She was about ten times more troublesome than you. But… wherever she passed through, she always left someone smiling in her wake.”
“…She really was… amazing.”

Master’s face, as she recalled the past, was as expressionless as ever, yet I could have sworn there was a faint smile there too.

That person had meant so much to her. Even after a thousand years, she could still remember her so vividly.

“She accepted her circumstances as fate and never intended to return to her original world. Even so, for the sake of other Outlanders, she would sometimes search for a way to cross worlds… but never with success.”
“If even your master couldn’t find a way back, then returning to the original world really must be infeasible…”
“But you did come to this world. That means, conversely, there must also exist a way to return.”
“Except that, up until now, no one has ever been able to find it.”
“Exactly. And I have only six months to uncover it. I don’t have the luxury of helping with your nonsense.”
“I know. That’s why I’ll be searching for a way to heal you, Master.”

A way to mend her battered soul. Unlike Master’s mission—which at least had some shred of possibility—my goal might not exist at all.

But there were still six months. That was time enough to hold on to hope. Better to try than to sit and wait for the inevitable parting.

“Honestly, talking with you always goes in circles. …Why are you so intent on looking out for me anyway? I don’t recall ever treating you kindly enough to deserve such repayment.”
“Huh? But you did save me—when I was dying in the snow.”

The day I wandered into this world, freezing and on the brink of death… she saved my life.

I could never forget it. From the very first day we met, Master had been the one to rescue me.

And now, after being imprisoned for a thousand years, this kind person was finally free, only to face death in six months? It was just too cruel. That was all there was to it.

“Back then, I really thought it was the end. If you hadn’t been there, Master, I would’ve died for sure!”

I wrapped my arms around Master’s body from the side and forced her back down into the bath until her shoulders were under the water.

By now she must have cooled down again; if I didn’t warm her up properly, she really would catch a cold.

“That’s why I will repay that debt. Six months isn’t where it ends. I’ll make sure you’re happy—absolutely, no matter what!”
“…Honestly, I went and picked up one troublesome child, didn’t I?”

She let herself be pushed under, muttering with bubbles rising as her face stayed beneath the water.

She’d get mad if I told her, but moments like this made her look her age—cute, even.

“……In that case, Momo, while you’re at it, I have one favor to ask.”
“Yes, what is it, Master?!”
“Before I drown, pull me out. I’m counting on you.”
“Huh? Ah—M-Master?!”

Leaving that as her so-called last words, Master sank straight down until even the top of her head was swallowed by the water.

I failed as a disciple. She had already gotten dizzy from the bath.