Chapter 38:

Haruto Comes Clean

Changing Jobs in Another World, But Everything's Too Specific, Vol. 1


Haruto had been beaten, broken, and put back together. He had been blown up, turned into a frog, and thrown through the sky. He was dirty, smelly, poisoned by the world itself, and now he was covered in urine. He was ready for a break.

Aki led him back to her home so that he could clean himself up. His anxiety shot up as he entered the shop, seeing that it had an adjoining living space. In his existence as a corporate zombie, he had never been inside of a girl's room. Now there was nowhere else for him to go.

Aki was picking things up from the floor, pointing him to the bathroom. The house smelled like a mix of medicine, sulfur, and flowers, creating a strangely pleasant combination. He couldn't hear her words through the pounding of his heart, and he replied with hoarse, short answers.

Dehydrated and drained of energy, he asked her to boil some water. He hoped that if it was boiled, the water wouldn't send him back to the toilet for another round. He was so untrusting of the world that he decided to take Yggdrasil into the bathroom with him this time.

The door shut behind him, leaving him in a cozy room with warm, wooden flooring that had been treated to resist moisture. A pipe with a showerheadhung out of the wall over a Western-style clawfoot tub. He wouldn't feel right using someone else's bath to soak without asking, but his nerves didn't allow him to call out to Aki.

He turned on the water quickly, afraid of what the two outside the door would think if they didn't hear it soon. He thought about changing into Stick Hero for its bravery skill. It was stupid that he was feeling so embarrassed by this.

He undressed carefully, trying not to touch the yellow stain on his shirt. Also stupid, given that he was about to wash himself, but that was Haruto. He couldn't stand getting dirty. Even though he was already in a disgusting state, willingly touching it was something he just couldn't do.

He folded his ruined clothes neatly, placing them clean side down on the floor. He contemplated throwing them away, but his frugal side nagged at him, telling him that they were salvageable. Then he stood up and caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror.

"Hello! Where did all of this come from?" He asked, looking at Yggdrasil, flexing.

He had noticed that his physical attributes had gone up in his personal profile but never realized that he had actually gained muscle. He wasn't in the worst shape, compared to his old coworkers, but he was definitely not this. Before, the most exercise he got was running around his apartment, pretending he was the character he was watching.

Yggdrasil bounced up and floated in front of the mirror to join him. They posed together, trying to look cool. Haruto even changed to a few different jobs. He hadn't seen it before, but his visual appearance actually changed depending on the job he had equipped. He was even mesmerized by his Fan Service Delivery Boy job for a moment or two.

He looked down at his son as his reflection brought it to attention. Frightened of the power of this job, he changed quickly to another and pulled himself away from the mirror. Cold water fell from the showerhead. He stepped into it, thinking of fat women to calm himself, as relieving himself in another person's tub would also be rude.

After he was sufficiently unaroused, he added some warm water to the mix. Haruto was pleasantly surprised. Not only did this village have indoor plumbing, but it also had hot water.

He couldn't help but sit and enjoy the moment. The chill left him, and the room filled with a light haze of steam. The water ran over his head and face, and relaxation hit him like a Truck-kun.

Yggdrasil bobbed behind him, enjoying the water. Some might find it weird to bathe with a stick, but Haruto didn't care. This stick deserved to enjoy a warm shower as well.

Haruto thought that he could be content to stay in this shower forever, until a realization hit him. A water bill might be growing as he enjoyed himself. Once again, caught between his own comfort and the politeness of not making trouble for others, he decided to finish up quickly.

He grabbed a bottle, covered in strange writing, strange to him anyway. It looked like shampoo and smelled like Aki, so he used it, cleaning the grime from his hair. He would apologize for using it without asking later. He even used a small dollop to clean Yggdrasil, causing more little flowers to sprout from his wrist.

After he was clean and smelling lovely, he begrudgingly turned off the water. He looked around the steamy room for something to dry off with. There was nothing. No towels in the cupboard, on the rack, or anywhere.

He opened the bathroom door with a creak. The steam poured out to be replaced with the cool air of the other room, sending a chill down his spine. "Hey, Aki? Is there a towel I can use?"

There was no answer. Just a sound of deranged giggling, reminiscent of what he heard in the Gob-uh-lin slave cell when they met. Was she looking at him right now?

"She's off in her own little world." The System said, floating around the room. "Why not just come out and air dry?"

"Are you crazy? I can't do that!" Haruto shouted.

"That's what I do. Just change to Stick Hero. Then you won't be embarrassed." The System joked as it handed him a towel. "I found one. Here you go."

"Thanks," Haruto said, shutting the door again.

Haruto could hear Aki crying out, muffled by the door. "Nooooo!"

Haruto flipped the folded towel open, glad to have the door shut and the warm air contained. He dried Yggdrasil first, rolling it back and forth like he was shining a bowling ball. Yggdrasil beamed, happy to be clean and pampered. It didn't have an expression, but Haruto could somehow tell how Yggdrasil felt.

As he dried himself, he looked at the clothing that Rodney the Tailor had made for him and sighed. He didn't want to put them on. He didn't want to wear day clothes. He wanted to be comfy.

A knock came at the bathroom door. "Ahem. Daddy gave me some old pajamas for you. I thought you might want to relax." Aki said.

Just as he had the thought, an angel descended to save him. "Oh, really? That's just what I wanted. Thank you so much!"

What Haruto didn't know was that this was Aki's backup plan. "Operation Scope the Goods" had a second part. Just as she did with the towels, she had purposely not given him the pajamas beforehand. That allowed her to attempt peeping on him through the crack in the door when it was opened.

Haruto, none the wiser, cracked the door. He pulled the pajamas through, shutting the door and donning them. Meanwhile, Aki slumped down to the floor, and a stream of blood trickled from her nose.

"He got hotter..." Aki said, gasping for breath.

Mysticalmess333
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