"AAHH! Violet!!! What are you doing here !???" I covered my boobs with my hands as I twisted to see the girl standing behind me.
"I told you I'd come back after a few hours, didn't I?"
"Sure, but I'm bathing! You could have waited!!" I wished the bathtub was deeper so I could hide myself from her, but unfortunately I had been forced to make it rather shallow from lack of mana, and moreover the water covering me, while a tad murky from my dirt and sweat, wasn't exactly opaque.
"But I'm already here." She stated plainly.
"Sure, now go away! I'm still naked!"
She paused for a moment. "Do you want soap?"
I was about to lash out again, but paused. I did want soap… "Huhhh," I sighed. "Sure, now give it here and then leave."
"Do you have anyone to wash your back?"
Why was she being so persistent!??? I took another breath. "No, I don't. What? Are you offering? I've washed myself alone plenty of times without anyone else's help."
"Yes, I'm offering. Would you like me to wash your back?" She said simply
I paused, caught between amusement and derision. What was this, some anime?? Why did she want to wash my back so badly? I stared at her searchingly for a while, but couldn't see through her blank facade.
"Whatever, do what you want." I huffed, turning back around and sinking as far as I could into the shallow bath.
I heard her footsteps approaching, and then felt a cold, soft hand brush my shoulder.
"Sit up, I can't wash your back like this." Her voice was low and prickly in my ears.
I felt heat softly rise to the tips of my ears, but said nothing and sat up like she asked. I heard the splash of water as she dipped her hands into the bath, then felt soapy, silky hands begin gliding against my back, their cold quickly fading against the warmth of my skin.
"Why are you washing my back?" I mumbled, still confused at the usually indifferent girl's insistence.
"Hmm," She hummed, her voice still perilously close to my ears. "I suppose just because I wanted to."
"And why did you want to?" I pushed further.
"Why does anyone do anything? Why do you pursue runesmithing, or why did you enter this world thinking it was a game? My desires aren't plentiful, so I like to act on them."
"And one of them was to wash my back??" I asked, even more confused than before.
"Hmm…I suppose you could say that." She began rinsing the soap off my back with the water from the back of the tub. "Do you want to do the front yourself?" She asked, offering the bar of soap in her hand.
I took it unthinkingly, starting to scrub my front as I pondered her response.
"So…did you just want to see me naked then?" I honestly couldn't think of another answer. So was this…yuri then? Obviously as a fan of anime and a denizen of the internet I wasn't unaware of it, but I'd never really come across any situations that could be described as such in my personal life. But then again I'd never really dated anyone had I?
"Hmm, I wasn't thinking of it when I came over, but when I saw you I just wanted to…" She brushed her fingers through my fine chestnut-brown hair, pausing slightly. "Maybe I did want to then…?"
She seemed genuinely uncertain of the answer. I finished scrubbing my front and my legs and then paused. "Do you want to…do my hair then?" Honestly why I was suggesting it now, I couldn't have said either. All I could say was that the feeling of her washing my back…wasn't unpleasant.
She paused for a moment, her fingers freezing in the midst of my hair. "Could I?" She tilted her head, and I felt the confusion tinting her aura. As if to say Why are you offering now?
I laughed a little, amused at her confusion. "Sure, go ahead." I handed the soap back, unsure if she had something that was specifically shampoo or if we were just going to use the same bar.
She paused, a new uncertainty creeping into her aura. "Usually I maintain my hair with magic. Is there…a different way to do it?"
Ahh, so shampoo's not really a thing here then, is it…I pondered. Usually in these kinds of isekai situations the protagonist was supposed to have all this otherworldly knowledge they could use, but honestly when it came to soap…How even was it made? Like even normal soap, I had no idea. I was into anime and webnovel stuff, not old-fashioned soap making. Was it like oils and stuff? I tried to remember the stuff about soap making from different anime's I had watched, but honestly couldn't get very far.
"So do you just like cast a spell then?" I tried to reign in my wandering thoughts to get back to the topic on hand.
Violet shook her head. "I'm a natural sorcerer, if I'm unhappy with how my hair is, it fixes itself…"
"Oh…" Is that really how natural sorcery works??? Just want something done and it happens??
"Well, maybe if you want my hair a certain way, then you can use magic for it?"
"Hmmm," She tried to consider. "But I like your hair the way it is."
"I—" I felt heat rising in my face again. "How about you focus on my scalp then. Could you make a spell that makes your hands cleansing and pleasant to the touch?"
She considered for a moment and then stretched out her hands.
"Hyaa," I shot my hand to my mouth, my eyes wide. WHAT sound did I just make!?? The moment her hands touched my head, my whole mind went blank for a moment. "U-uh," Thankfully she had already withdrawn her hands. "Maybe that was a little…" I flushed. "Um, too, *cough* pleasing to the touch."
I shuddered a little at the memory.
"Oh," I felt the magic on her hands slightly adjusting, though I couldn't see it because she was behind me. "Ok." She hesitantly reached out again, scared I'd have the same reaction, but this time I only sighed contentedly.
Her hands were like a warm sunny day with a breeze swaying through the trees, and birds chirping merrily in the branches. I didn't know how else to describe it, I had never felt anything like it before.
Magic…I sighed contentedly relaxing into her touch…Is really something isn't it?