Kiyomi woke at dusk.
He saw the two women covered in dust and fell into silence.
Shoko aside, Lady Eit was the capable housewife type, someone who usually handled high-level coordination. But after so long on the run, her body was weak, and her efficiency had dropped.
Kiyomi took another trip to the storage room, gathered up everything they couldn't possibly use, and asked Solitar to either burn or dispose of it.
As for the bulky furniture, Solitar moved it with magic. For her, it was as simple as a human rearranging a cat tower.
It took 30 minutes total.
In the end, all the clothes, blankets, and fabrics Solitar had brought back were dumped in one place for cleaning.
Among the supplies was a pale gray block, apparently a mixture of natural alkali and plant sap. Eit pointed it out, it could be used for washing. Soap.
In a nearby box were multicolored, fragrant bars resembling bath soap, for personal use.
Following Eit's interpretation of Kiyomi's instructions, Solitar tried encasing the laundry in clean water and tossing the soap in.
Then she gently swirled the water with magic.
It took Kiyomi about three minutes to convey this concept, he even brought a bucket as a visual aid.
Eit understood. Solitar agreed. It was… honestly amazing.
The "Solitar-brand washing machine" worked far better than a normal one. After three cycles of washing and rinsing, the water had become noticeably clear.
Without needing a word from Kiyomi, she spun the clothes to remove moisture, then used magic to dry them.
She seemed quite pleased with herself afterward.
,
Eit stood to the side holding the baby, looking both worried and afraid.
Of the two people she was supposed to teach, the one named "Ryo" seemed a little… abnormal.
He could communicate normally with a demon.
And the demon actually responded.
Terrifying.
Shoko used her card to ask Kiyomi how he managed it.
Kiyomi didn't have a good answer.
If your cat pestered you to brush its fur, clean its climbing post, feed it, would you say no?
He couldn't say that to Shoko. The ojou-sama had too much pride.
Still, haughty kittens had their own charm.
,
Kiyomi went to cook dinner.
Meanwhile, Cinderella-mode Shoko and Lady Eit were driven off to take a bath.
The tub had been cleaned and filled with hot water.
It was more like a small bathhouse, when the two women sat inside, it still had room for at least four more people.
Solitar came along too. She undressed, slipped into the water, and closed her eyes in pure bliss.
"Human pleasures… are sometimes quite nice."
Eit shrank into the corner, stiffly replying, "As long as you enjoy it, my lady."
"No need to mind me."
She showed no shame in exposing her body to strangers, nor did she care about the presence of the two women. Solitar gently combed her hair, clearly in a great mood.
Eit and Shoko, however, couldn't relax at all. After helping each other wash their hair, they rinsed off with warm water, didn't linger in the bath.
"Pardon us. We'll be leaving now."
They dried off and changed into the clothes Solitar had brought.
Shoko wore a simple white one-piece dress. Lady Eit wore a slightly heavier long gown. It gave her a noble air. The silver lace at her chest could be adjusted for fit.
Even the cloth used to wrap the baby was replaced.
After leaving the bathroom, Eit returned to her room with the baby, then undid the chest ties.
Shoko's eyes widened.
So that's what it was for?
It was her first time seeing that kind of feeding. Despite the embarrassment, she also felt a deep sense of reverence… and yearning.
Was her own mother like this when she was little?
She couldn't remember, but it felt so warm.
Afterward, Shoko was asked to hold the baby while Eit wrapped her chest and straightened her gown. She did it all with poise, calm and graceful throughout.
,
"Looks like it's fermented, right?"
Kiyomi poked the puffed-up dough.
He had tried making bread at home. Some guides said you could ferment it with wine or beer.
It looked like it had worked?
Dinner would be bread, then. The side dishes… salted fish, and dried meat.
Solitar had brought some fruit. He'd try turning that into jam.
"With the ocean right outside, at least we can get fresh fish, "
He muttered this, then noticed something odd on the wall: a faint gray mark.
It was subtle, but he'd been working with flour earlier. The mark had become visible against the dusting of powder.
He poked it with a rolling pin.
No reaction.
Then, tentatively, reached out and scratched it with a fingernail,
"With the ocean right outside, at least we can get fresh fish, "
An unfamiliar voice echoed in his ear.
But Kiyomi recognized it. It was his own voice, recorded from a call or voice message.
This house…
Never mind. That level of surveillance was almost reassuring.
At least it showed they were being taken seriously.
,
At the dinner table, Shoko's new look was striking.
Lady Eit was also beautiful, with a melancholy air and overflowing maternal presence.
But Kiyomi held only respect for mothers.
She was quite different from his own mom, so there was no sense of overlap, no projection of longing.
Shoko, on the other hand, seemed invested. She was paying close attention.
Kiyomi made a mental note of it.
Then shifted his gaze.
Solitar, freshly bathed, was still wearing her usual outfit: a light dress and sandals. Somehow, it never got dirty.
"Whoa, that's amazing."
She poked the risen dough, watched it deflate slightly, then puff back up.
Solitar hadn't eaten much human food. In caravans and villages, she'd seen only the type of bread hard enough to double as plates.
That unfermented dough often included bran, wood shavings, even sand. Once cooled, it became so hard it had to be sliced thin. In some poor regions, people used huge slices of black bread as small tables.
This fluffy stuff? First time. Solitar decided to take notes. Another new discovery.
Shoko, used to modern convenience stores, found it a bit dry. Not as good as supermarket bread.
The sides were salted fish and a weirdly flavored dried meat and bean soup.
Even though she was down on her luck, Shoko had still been eating modern 21st-century meals. Now she'd been thrust back at least two centuries. Suddenly, she regretted ever complaining about seaweed rice balls.
[Taste, has room for improvement.]
[Ingredients, insufficient.]
Without lifting their heads, the two silently exchanged their feelings via the cards. Some of their pent-up pressure eased.
Then that pressure doubled again when Kiyomi mentioned that the house had magic recording their voices.
,
Eit was given a cleaned-out storage room to live in, on Solitar's orders.
The baby's crying would disturb her precious humans, so, no exceptions.
Eit was relieved, honestly.
That left only Solitar's room on the second floor, crammed with books and jars.
There was definitely a surveillance vibe, and she made no effort to hide it.
That day, they'd cleaned out two old-fashioned bunk beds. One was broken and given to Lady Eit. The other was brought into Kiyomi's room.
Technically, it only slept two.
No matter what Solitar wanted, Kiyomi wouldn't dare let her sleep on the floor. He'd take it instead.
But she refused.
Demons didn't need rest. As long as their magic flowed, they wouldn't feel tired.
Solitar simply sat quietly in a chair, eyes fixed on the bed.
The girl slept in the top bunk. He was below.
The wooden divider didn't make Shoko feel any safer. But Kiyomi had already adapted.
Just as he was about to close his eyes, words appeared above him:
[Sleep.]
There wasn't really an equivalent for "Good night."
Kiyomi floated his card upward.
Shoko saw the same words. Her lips curved faintly, and she closed her eyes, satisfied, welcoming sleep.
Only Solitar, sitting nearby, looked confused.
Their emotions had… relaxed.
But why?