10 Overnight 3
"Listen, Mio. Remember this well… men and women don’t bathe together."
"!?"
Mio, rigid with shock, the most startled she’s been since meeting them.
"Did I… did I bathe with Daddy and Sharon?"
She asks, anxious, as if expecting to be caught.
"No, no. Parents and children are fine."
"Good… I’m not in trouble."
Her relief lasts only a moment.
She now shows the most troubled expression since their arrival.
She hasn’t looked this distressed since deciding on pizza toppings earlier.
"So… I can only bathe with either Daddy or Sharon?"
"Exactly."
Mio looks from Jin’s face to Sharon’s.
She clutches her head.
"It’s hard for me… I can’t choose."
She feels as though she’s done something terribly wrong.
No—yet this is a line that cannot be crossed. Not even here.
When Jin and Sharon appear troubled, Mio returns to her room as if recalling something, then brings back a picture book.
“This! Everyone’s wearing clothes and bathing together!”
Showing a picture of penguin children in swimwear heading to a pool, Jin hesitates, unsure where to begin.
First—
“Mio, actually, penguins and humans follow different rules.”
“Surprise.”
This one’s clearly an idiot after all… Doubt stirs in Jin’s mind.
No—probably just lacks common knowledge. He shakes his head.
He’s simply never been given the chance.
“Also, that’s not a bath. It’s a pool. A pool.”
“Pool? What’s that for?”
“Ah—swimming. Swimming, swimming, swimming?”
Upon reflection, Jin realizes he’s never been to a recreational pool.
Only ever used pools for swim training.
If asked what it’s for, the only thing that comes to mind is swimming.
"I don't really get it..."
"Anyway, I'll take you when summer comes."
"Looking forward to it!"
As Jin thinks he’s diverted the conversation, Mio begins nodding again, deep in thought.
Jin considers his next move, uncertain if he’s fully evaded her scrutiny, when Sharon claps her palms together.
"Ah. That’s right. That’s an option."
Now that she mentions it.
That would satisfy Mio’s request and still uphold public decency.
"Swimsuits... I completely overlooked that."
A new swimsuit, ordered via express delivery.
Wearing the trunks, Jin mutters to himself.
Closing his eyes to the absurdity of being in swimwear indoors is effective.
It’s not so different from the pool.
With this, bathing together as a trio presents no issue.
At least, not on the surface.
The rest is simply the matter of it being cramped... Well, there’s nothing to do but endure it.
"Otō-san. It’s fine!"
"Okay, I’m coming."
Jin follows after the two who entered the bathhouse first.
Sharon and Mio are already submerged in the tub.
Since Mio would otherwise be left out, Jin bought a frilly one-piece swimsuit for her.
Mio is excited, wearing her new, cute swimsuit.
"Enjoying the bath first, Jin."
"Uh-huh."
Sharon’s form, in her racing swimsuit, is one Jin has seen before during swim training in her trainee days.
Only now—more so than then—
"What’s with that look?"
"Nothing. You... gained weight?"
"Wha—!?"
Jin claps his hand over his mouth, realizing too late he’s crossed a line.
"I haven’t gained weight! Body fat percentage’s been kept steady since training school! And do you even know what ‘tact’ means!?"
"Sorry. Mistake. Yeah, definitely a mistake."
Jin’s clearly in the wrong.
Whatever he says now would only count as harassment.
"Why’s Dad mad?"
"Listen, Mio. If some guy asks you that—like, if he’s foolish enough to say you’ve gotten fat—don’t spare him. Crush him completely."
"Uh… I think I get it."
"Hey. Don’t teach my daughter anything so violent."
I couldn’t bring myself to ask what exactly was supposed to be crushed.
"It’s not violent. It’s important for girls."
"‘Crush him completely’—that’s more like a villain than a girl."
The gesture of scratching one’s neck fits that kind of behavior.
"Dad, wash your hair!"
"Good, good."
"Wait a moment, Jin. What’s with that rough handling? Be more careful. Hair is a woman’s life!"
"Always greasy anyway. Or maybe that’s why it’s greasy…?"
As Jin clumsily scrubbed his hair, Shirley, just stepping out of the bath, began issuing instructions from behind.
—Lather the shampoo more thoroughly! Ah. Don’t push your fingers in so hard! Gently… treat each strand with care. Mio. Lift your face a little more.
……Shirley. Step back a bit.
Placing a hand on Jin’s shoulder, Mio’s hand reached toward him—inevitably drawing close.
The sensation at her neck was unbearable.
………………Excuse me.
A faint, hesitant retreat.
Rubbing at the lingering sensation as if to erase it.
You should be a little more careful… about this kind of thing…
In this situation, you’re the last person to say that!
Indeed, they were light-years removed from propriety.
Mmm. Dad, rinse the foam soon. My eyes hurt.
—Sorry, sorry.
Hot water poured over his head, washing away the suds.
The foam vanished. Mio blinked, turned sharply.
Standing rigid, one hand on his hip.
—You can’t fight like that!
—Yes.
"I'm sorry."
The situation: seated in the bath, clad in swimwear, scolded by her daughter.
Jin couldn't help but think, What is this?
Afterward, he alternated washing his body and hair.
Having relied solely on nanomachine cleansing, he was honestly unfamiliar with the proper method.
"Ah, you don't wash like that... Mio-chan is much better at it."
"I practiced a lot at Sharon's house!"
"I've barely ever been in a bath before—cut me some slack..."
He'd never needed to wash properly before; immersion had been enough.
"I can't watch this anymore."
Sharon reached for Jin's hand, then recalled his current state and pulled back.
He might say something if he repeated the same actions.
"Mio-chan! Teach your pitiful father!"
"Understood!"
"What kind of character are you?"
"Any itchy spots?"
Rubbing Jin’s body vigorously with a sponge soaked in foam.
Different from how he’d rubbed himself haphazardly—this lacked force entirely, producing an odd, ticklish sensation.
“Washing your parent’s back is an important duty for a child, Mio-chan.”
“I’ll do my best!”
“Is that so?”
“In our household, it was.”
“…I see.”
Jin wonders whether such things are common in ordinary families.
Unfortunately, he has no experience with this.
He doesn’t know how to proceed—only follows along passively.
Yet—this moment, perhaps, isn’t unpleasant.
He thinks so.
And finding that thought pleasing, he feels a quiet warmth.
“…Maybe three people in a bath is too tight after all.”
“Squished tight.”
“H-hold on—no, Jin. Don’t move. I’ll charge you if you touch somewhere inappropriate.”
“Don’t push yourself…”
Jin, Shirley, then Mio entered the bath. The water had cooled considerably.
Adding Shirley to the tub already occupied by Jin and Mio left no room to move—inevitable.
Shirley strained to maintain posture, but Mio’s relaxed presence made any adjustment impossible, her struggles futile.
Jin had already lost the ability to extricate himself by force.
"Three people really is impossible... Mio, next time, don’t do this anymore?"
"U—okay."
Simpler.
Mio would grow.
Eventually, bathing together with Jin would cease.
In that sense, the diminishing time left for such moments felt worth preserving.
"Ah..."
Just as she thought that, Shirley slipped.
Her golden crown struck Jin’s nose with force.
"Sh—sh—"
"Sorry! Wait—where did you touch?!"
"Who knows... move... quickly..."
Jin thought, with genuine conviction, that he would never again share a bath with the two of them.
Mio had given up too, so there would be no second time.
After stepping out of the bath, he read a picture book at Mio’s request.
They passed the late-night hours in leisure.
To Jin’s chagrin,
Shirley’s reading of the picture book was skillful.
Mio had become thoroughly enamored, and Jin was demoted to second place—slightly bitter about it.
“Then let’s go to sleep!”
Mio declared with exaggerated enthusiasm, as if she truly meant to do so now.
Jin recalled then—this had originally been the main purpose.
“Mio is in the middle.”
“Mio-chan is the center.”
Without needing to confirm, they positioned Mio in the center.
They lay across the bed in a three-way “川” (川) formation.