Her long, golden-blonde hair, tossed by the wind and soaked by the rain, was messily draped over her body. Her skin, already fair due to her European heritage, looked even more porcelain-white after being drenched by the cold rain.
The girl was curled up on the steps, hugging her legs. Her slender, delicate figure looked especially small and fragile in the wind and rain, evoking a sense of pity.
Her clothes were soaked through by the heavy rain, a clear sign she hadn't just been caught in it for a moment, but had endured the storm for quite some time.
"It's you?" Fumiya Jin said, holding his umbrella as he approached her, his expression slightly strange.
"Mmm..."
The girl, who had been keeping her head down to avoid the rain, looked up at the sound of his voice and straightened herself. It was only then that Fumiya Jin noticed her clothes were completely soaked through.
Soaked clothes, naturally, cling to the skin. As a result, the overly full, oval curves for such a slender girl, as well as the rather eye-catching small protrusions along her smooth silhouette... were all quietly revealed.
Moreover, it was worth mentioning that the material of her top wasn't thick. Though normally completely opaque, it had become somewhat translucent after being saturated with water. And so... not only their shape, but a hint of a cherry-jelly-like color also peeked through...
Fumiya Jin suddenly felt his mouth go dry. Yes, it must be because I drank too many carbonated drinks earlier.
"Why are you here?" Fumiya Jin asked.
"You said... it would be okay after you finished your business," Shiina Mashiro said, looking at him. "So I waited for you here."
Fumiya Jin raised an eyebrow slightly. "How did you find my house?"
"I asked Editor Andou," Shiina Mashiro said.
Fumiya Jin thought back for a moment... It was true, the publishing house did have his address. After all, he had to fill out that information when he signed the contract. Besides, back then Fumiya Jin didn't know about the Samsara Game, so naturally his guard wasn't as high. As a man living alone, he didn't think there was any danger in leaving his address.
However, Editor Andou was a professional editor; she wouldn't just casually give out an author's address to anyone. The girl made it sound simple, but in reality, she must have come up with some other reason to ask for it. But at this point, that didn't seem important anymore.
"Alright, regardless, I have time to talk with you properly now," Fumiya Jin said. "But first, tell me honestly, what is your objective?"
Hearing this, the girl didn't seem to think much before answering: "To read books, to draw... and to live."
The first two objectives were easy enough to understand. As for 'to live'...
"You mean in the game?" Fumiya Jin asked.
Shiina Mashiro nodded. "You're very strong, so... Ah-choo!"
The girl suddenly sneezed. She covered her mouth and sniffled. Her body trembled a few times. She looked like she was about to catch a cold.
Fumiya Jin frowned slightly, studying her for several seconds. "Never mind, let's get inside first," Fumiya Jin said, taking out his key and opening the door.
...
Fifteen minutes later.
Fumiya Jin brewed a pot of hot tea and sat by the coffee table, slowly sipping from his cup.
Squelch, squelch, squelch... The sound of wet slippers on the wooden floor approached.
He turned his head to see a girl who had just finished bathing, her skin flushed a faint pink, walking over. This should have been within Fumiya Jin's expectations. After all, he was the one who had pushed her into the bathroom, telling her to take a shower and change her clothes first. Otherwise, if she got sick and fainted, he'd have to contact her family, which would be too much trouble.
The problem was, what he hadn't anticipated was... the girl right now wasn't wearing the set of clothes he had temporarily given her. Instead... she had come out wrapped in just a white bath towel.
The bath towels in Fumiya Jin's house weren't the extra-large kind that could cover the whole body—after all, those were inconvenient to wash, the sort of thing you'd only find in hotels. His bath towels were about 50% larger than a normal towel, but that was it.
Right now, the towel was wrapped horizontally around the girl's body. The top edge barely covered the peaks of the snowy mountains, but it still revealed a sliver of a crescent moon... The bottom edge covered the danger zone, but it only reached about a third of the way down her thighs.
As for the two long, slender, and perfectly shaped pale legs below, as well as the beautiful collarbones and snowy shoulders above, they were all completely exposed to the air.
Add to that the girl's expressionless little face, which was devastatingly pure and cute yet seemed completely oblivious to its own charm, and her head of golden hair, still damp and draped behind her...
"Hah..."
Even Fumiya Jin, a person of pure character with immense self-control, couldn't help but take a deep breath. But the girl glanced at him, and upon noticing his gaze, she showed no signs of caution or vigilance. Instead, she walked over openly and sat right next to him on the sofa.
"Why aren't you wearing the clothes?" Fumiya Jin asked.
"My hair isn't dry yet. It would get the clothes wet," the girl replied matter-of-factly.
"You can think of a detail like getting the clothes wet, but you didn't consider the danger of appearing like this in front of a man your age?" Fumiya Jin said.
The girl looked at Fumiya Jin with a clueless expression. "Danger?"
Her cluelessness was simply baffling. It was as if for a beautiful girl who was gorgeous, had a great figure, and seemed easy to bully, the act of 'going to a strange man's apartment to take a shower and then appearing before him wearing only a bath towel' was a perfectly safe thing to do, something that wouldn't lead to any negative consequences or cause her any harm.
Fumiya Jin was almost at a loss for words. "Do you know that acting this adorably clueless is just asking for trouble? If you'd run into anyone other than a decent guy like me, you might have ended up locked in a basement until you'd given birth to a whole soccer team."
Shiina Mashiro thought for a moment, then shook her head. "I don't understand those things... But, you don't have to lock me up. Just let me read books, draw pictures, and... don't let me die in that game. As for anything else, I can do it."
Hearing this, Fumiya Jin raised an eyebrow. "Are you... trying to make a deal with me? You want to trade your body for me to be your teammate and protect you? Unfortunately, my team is already full. I'm not going to take on extra risk and enter an instance with you alone just for some eye candy."
Shiina Mashiro tilted her head, looking at Fumiya Jin. "But, your colors are saying ... there's something you want from me too."
Fumiya Jin chuckled. "Colors? Don't give me that. What could I possibly need to get from you?"
Shiina Mashiro pressed her lips together. She suddenly reached out with a small, pale hand and grabbed Fumiya Jin's. Then... she placed it on the upper edge of her bath towel, letting it rest there.
"Your colors... say so."
...
______
🔥 New stories are available now! 🔥
🪦 Get 25% off on my support site (P...)!
✅ Access up to 40 advanced chapters of ALL stories!
✅ Receive exclusive content and updates!
Help us hit our community goals:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 Bonus Chapter for everyone
🚀 55 MEMBERS = +5 extra chapters of ALL STORIES!
👻 P - Walnutchan