Chapter XX: Red Road Hotel – Anju of the Bath House

"So steamy…"

That's the first thing that came to Alexandra's mind when looking at the 'facilities'. She was so surprised she couldn't help but mumble that to herself.

Aside from being steamy, it was also hot. Quite strange for toilets. Not to mention this place was situated at the end of stairs leading to a basement.

Anju walked past her and bowed another time. "Welcome to the Red Road Hotel's bathing facilities. Rejoice, me, the noble Anju, will take care of you this time around."

"Bathing facilities? What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said, what else?" Anju asked, tilting her head to the side.

"What else? Hey now, you should stop using words and terms you don't understand. You are getting ridiculous!" Anju made an uptight smile as Alexandra continued. "Listen, you 'noble', usually the 'facilities' refer to the toilets, not baths."

"I… know. But dear customer, didn't you think that maybe there were toilets somewhere in this place?"

"Toilets in a bathing facility? Doesn't that sound wrong to you?"

"It sounds normal to me."

"Hmph. As expected of you."

Anju's smile became a bit more uptight. Alexandra noticed but this only made her feel if anything. Because she knew the girl couldn't do anything but agree with her in the end.

"…Ah! Maybe you are right…" she said with a voice lacking a bit of conviction. "A-Anyway. I figured you might want to take a bath too so I brought you here. Was I wrong?"

"No. That isn't it." Alexandra sighed. "Whatever. Show me the way."

"Of course. This way."

Anju navigated Alexandra through the bath's entrance. There was an area with drawers for people to put their clothes in and then a corridor with multiple doors ending with a great space with an open bath. At least, that's what Alexandra could see from where she was standing.

"... Dear customer, dear customer."

"What?"

"Hm, won't you… enter the bath?"

"I will."

"Oh… fine then."

There was a long silence during which Alexandra just looked at the walls while Anju stared at her with a troubled expression.

"Dear… customer?"

"What now?"

"Aren't you supposed to, huh, take off your garments?"

"It would be hard to take a bath with them for sure."

"T-Then—"

"Why are you still here?" Alexandra asked, suddenly turning to Anju with a raised eyebrow.

"W-Why? No… No specific reason? You requested me, didn't you?"

"I didn't. Get away. Shoo. Out of my view."

"(Why you…) Ahem. But, this facility is currently off-limits, you know? It is only the two of us in there!"

"Is that a threat?" Alexandra asked as her eyes narrowed. Anju could feel something akin to a murderous aura coming from her.

"(What is up with this freak??!) Whyyyyyy would you think that?! I just figured you would be embarrassed to show your bare skin to other people!!!"

"What? You think that this is my biggest concern?"

"Well, you were looking left and right as if you were about to do something not really legal so…"

"I don't remember being naked being illegal. Why would you look at me so much? Is there a reason for such—"

"Okay, stop there," Anju said, dropping the act and with her usually sweet and harsh tone. "What is your problem? Do you have trust issues? You are making me panickate here. Why do your eyes seem to always be looking at a place thinking: can I escape? No, more like, can I kill this one without getting in trouble? Honestly, it is creepy." She got closer to Alexandra. "Also, exhibitionism is still a crime, you simpleton."

There Anju expected Alexandra to lash out at her again but that didn't happen. On the contrary, she seemed greatly distressed while looking at the ground.

Anju sighed and put a hand on her hip. "Look... Sorry. I didn't mean to say something that would hurt you. But you are seriously creeping me out. I observed you for some time now and you seem to be waaaay too stressed for your own good. Not that I care. You made an enemy of me from the second you used that name. You can't take that back. Never. However, as a noble, my heart must be full of compassion. No, it must be compassion itself! That's why I am willing to let you apologize properly!"

"... Don't try to turn this around. You tried to kill me first."

"So you admit thinking about killing me. Way to go creep."

"What?! Creep, creepy, all of that! Why do you act like you are the victim here?! Hmph! I knew you weren't worth my time!" She turned around. "I am leaving!"

"ARGH!!! I CAN'T BELIEVE SOMEONE CAN BE SO DUMB!!!"

Anju's sudden outburst stopped Alexandra in her tracks. Anju raised her skirt and produced a pistol.

"Now a little question for you." She pointed the pistol in Alexandra's direction. "Can you evade bullets?"

At that moment Alexandra put her hand into her bag to take her dagger. She was trained for this and it didn't even take her a second.

With her dagger in hand, she tried to close the distance between her and Anju as quickly as possible. She didn't exactly know what a pistol was but she knew it was dangerous in the same way that the rifle was earlier. Distance was her enemy.

"Bang."

To Alexandra's surprise. Anju raised her bangs with her free hand and pointed the pistol against it before firing. The next second, she was on the ground with blood coming from her forehead.

Alexandra stopped, paralyzed, not understanding what she just witnessed. The girl on the ground wasn't moving. She just fell on the ground without any sound. At least, Alexandra didn't hear anything. All she heard was the terrifying detonation and then the heavy silence. She didn't even realize she dropped her weapon.

The girl fell on her knee and her breath got rougher and more irregular. She couldn't stop herself from puking.

"... I didn't. I didn't do it. It wasn't me," she mumbled. "She… Why? Why?"

But her question was only met with silence.

What went wrong? What was she supposed to do now?

Again, only silence met her questions. Nobody would tell her what to do. No matter the reason, she just killed someone. The thought alone made her puke again while tears started raining down her cheeks.

"Eww. You know I just cleaned this place this morning? What a mess. I am not paid enough for this!"

Slowly looking up, Alexandra met the blonde girl's piercing red gaze. It was filled with what looked like disgust, but also, surprisingly, life.

Anju sighed holding her bleeding forehead and took Alexandra's dagger.

"I kind of guessed you had a weapon but I wasn't expecting something of this quality. I can tell it is valuable. That or the hit I took makes me too dizzy to judge properly. Anyway, this is confiscated! No weapon in the bath!"

Alexandra didn't react, only staring at Anju like an idiot. This greatly annoyed the former who narrowed her eyes further making her look even more disgusted.

"You are a mess too... I don't know… Now you strike me as a creep for a different reason. You can use a knife with that much mastery and seem ready to stab about anyone but you break down just by seeing a corpse? That is kind of ridiculous. Ridiculous and seriously creepy."

"....You… How.... How did you…"

Anju sighed and showed her forehead. The place where she shot herself earlier looked burnt.

"You do know that those ranged weapons can't kill anyone, right? No, you don't. Of course, you don't. Well, accidents happen but at worst you just get knocked out or burnt." Anju sighed again. "Or both I suppose? Why did I even do that to my beautiful beautiful face? Ugh… I want to die."

She looked upset now and the fact Alexandra still looked dumbfounded added to her anger. She sighed yet again and put the dagger in one of the drawers before forcibly putting Alexandra up.

"Now, strip. I don't have time for this."

"H-Huh? How… How can you ask this now?"

"Such a spineless person."

"S-Spineless? Who? I am not—"

Alexandra was interrupted by Anju suddenly hugging her.

"What… What are you doing?!" she asked, panicked.

"Don't get the wrong idea. This is but a manifestation of my noblesse oblige. I can't have you falling now. Your legs are still shaking."

"They aren't!!!" she yelled even though she could tell Anju was right.

"Yes, yes, it must have been frightening, right little baby? I will stay here until you calm down."

"Get away!!!"

Alexandra tried to push Anju away but she didn't have the strength to pull that off. That combined with the fact that a part of her actually found the situation somewhat comfortable and the heat of the place made her way too red for her own good. Thankfully there were no mirrors in the room.

***

Finally, Alexandra ended up getting naked without the help of Anju even though she insisted on helping. Well, she clearly did only to have an excuse to look down on her further. However Alexandra was more embarrassed by the idea of being undressed by her than the idea of being the target of her disdain.

"Go wash yourself for now," Anju said a few minutes prior. "I will join you after handling your mess."

"... You don't have to put it that way," Alexandra mumbled, a towel wrapped around her body. Then suddenly, she realized, "Wait! You are coming in too?!"

"... You are asking this now?" Anju asked, looking almost horrified.

"No, I meant… I… I don't need you to wash me!"

Anju took a deep inspiration. "Look. Don't test my patience any further. Wait… You are embarrassed?"

"I am not!"

"Why are you red then?"

"I am not red!" said the girl who was red.

"... Oh no. Don't tell me… you swing that way?"

"Which way?!! Which way are you talking about?!!"

"If you behave, I might tie you up and spank you. We have all night after all. Now, leave me alone, will you?"

"W-What are you even talking about?!!"

In the end, she just turned around, more stomping than walking. No one else came down there. It must truly have been off-limits then. That made it way more uncomfortable.

After washing herself as quickly as possible under one of the cold showers before the bath, Alexandra hesitated. There was only one way out and she would definitely meet that girl on the way. That could sound childish, but she didn't want to. She really didn't.

"Why doesn't my family have an invisibility code? That would at least be useful…"

After a sigh, she decided to go for the bath anyway. She was there to fight angels; she couldn't be afraid of a single harmless girl. Besides that was her apology, or something like that, so she couldn't just turn it down now.

"*sigh*"

At least the bath is good, she thought. She finally understood why that room was so steamy. It was because of many holes at specific points of the room. Steam escaped from them creating a sort of steam veil. Quite useful in a place like this, without actual veils for intimacy and all, but this wasn't a concern apparently? She didn't want to think too much about it.

"Oh? You are still here? I thought you would have tried to run away by now, "a voice coming from the steam said.

"Hmph. Get real! Why would I run away?"

"That's right. You swing that way after all," Anju replied, going toward the shower.

"Again, which way are you talking?"

Her question didn't get any answer. Anju was too busy washing herself.

The girl was probably her height and while she didn't have as much to say in some department as Alexandra, she had exactly what was needed where it was needed. She could only see her back but she could tell how unnaturally smooth her skin was. It was as if she was from another world.

Suddenly, Anju turned towards Alexandra with a smile. "Don't peek."

"Who would peek?!!" Alexandra reacted almost immediately, looking away.

For a second Alexandra could see the scar under her bangs. Why did that girl do that to her face without even as much as a thought? There were plenty of other ways to prove that her weapon wasn't lethal. Did she really have to go that far?

"You can look now," Anju said, getting into the bath just beside Alexandra.

"Wait, wait, wait! Why are you—"

"Afraid after all?" Anju asked with a devilish grin.

"This isn't about— Argh! Don't you try to provoke me! It won't work!"

Anju drew even closer. "Anyway, there's a thing I wish to tell you."

"Do it from over there!"

Anju caught Alexandra's hand which made her squeal a little.

"Don't run, it is important, " she said, looking at Alexandra in the eyes.

"... I… okay…"

She felt trapped. Her mind was racing so much that it virtually came to a halt.

Anju then hugged her again with all of her body before whispering in her ear.

"Dear customer, I am ashamed to admit it but… It seems like I have fallen for you."