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Aiko scowled at the girl behind the counter.

"Oh my, Aiko. Is this a friend of yours?" Nomura asked.

"No. Enemy," Aiko answered.

"E-Enemy?" Koharu staggered backwards.

"Oh my. An enemy." Lady held one hand up to her cheek. "Just the two of us tonight, Miss Enemy," Nomura said, and placed some coins on the counter.

"Uh, ah, yeah," Koharu said glumly, and took their money. "Go right ahead."

"Come on, little Aiko," Nomura said, and headed through to the women's bath.

Aiko narrowed her eyes one last time at Koharu, then followed Nomura through the curtain into a small alcove, then another curtain into the changing room. Ever so vaguely, memories of coming to a place similar to this flitted through Aiko's head. Had she been to places like this when she was younger? She took her clothes off and left them folded neatly in a wicker basket together with her towel.

"Have you been here before, dear?" Nomura asked, also having disrobed. She handed Aiko another, smaller towel.

"No."

"I hope you haven't been washing yourself in the river the whole time."

Aiko looked away.

"N-No."

Nomura sighed, and ushered Aiko through into the baths. "You sit here, I'll do your shampoo," she ordered, gesturing to a plastic seat by a row of detachable shower heads. Once Aiko was sitting, Nomura sprayed her with warm water, then rubbed one of the elixirs she'd brought with her into Aiko's waist length hair.

Before long, Aiko's head was covered in a thin coating of foam. Nomura used one of the shower heads to rinse it out, then looked appraisingly at her work.

"Hmph! Not nearly good enough! Aiko dear, when was the last time you washed your hair?"

Aiko tilted her head to one side, but she couldn't really recall.

"Can't remember."

"Well we can't have that. You have such beautiful long hair, you need to take better care of it."

As Nomura started to rub in more shampoo, Aiko tried to remember how she took care of her hair when she was Mathilda. In Impalia, she had sometimes had the luxury of a warm bath, but there had come a certain point in her life where she simply spent more time outdoors than in. She had bathed in a lot of rivers, at least. How had she looked after her hair? She'd been more preoccupied with not dying, so after a while she might have stopped caring altogether.

As Nomura's fingers gently tickled her scalp, and massaged the tangles out of her hair, the sweet smell of fruits and milk wafted about her, and Aiko felt her eyes slowly closing.

"Can't fall asleep yet, dear," Nomura chuckled.

Aiko's hair was covered in bubbles again, though this time they were light and fluffy. Nomura washed those away too, and took yet another bottle from her basket.

"More?"

"Of course! You didn't think you'd get away without conditioning, did you?"

Aiko relented, and watched as Nomura rubbed yet more lotions into her hair. When everything had been rinsed out, Nomura gently squeezed some of the water out, then coiffed Aiko's hair into a large bun on the top of her head.

"There we go. Oh, my! You're just adorable. Go on, wash yourself with this soap." Nomura passed Aiko a bar of soap, and then started to wash her own hair.

Aiko looked dubiously at the soap, but not wanting to cause any trouble for Nomura, started to lather herself up until she was practically buried in bubbles. Nomura sprayed her down one last time, then the two of them lowered themselves down into one of the baths.

They weren't the only ones there, but it wasn't crowded by any means. Only a few old ladies, none of whom paid them much attention.

The water was hotter than Aiko could remember ever bathing in before, and she felt herself start to sweat as soon as she sank down to her chin. But it felt soothing, and she felt her muscles start to relax for what might have been the first time since she'd woken up in this world.

"Aiko dear, you need to take care of yourself," Nomura said after they had been soaking quietly for a little while. "Maybe it's none of my business, but you can't just go dipping into the river or running about barefoot."

Aiko thought about it.

"Why?"

"Why?" Nomura cracked one of her eyes open and looked across at Aiko. "Because you're a young girl, of course. Young girls shouldn't do such things."

Aiko wondered what young girls should be doing, if not dipping themselves in the river and running around barefoot. Maybe it was just how things were in this world. She tried to search through what was left of Aiko's memories, looking for some clue. But there was nothing there.

"Dizzy," Aiko said finally, after they'd been in the bath long enough that her head was starting to swim.

"Oh my, that won't do, I suppose we were in quite a while," Nomura chuckled behind her hand. "Come on, Aiko dear, that will be enough for tonight."

Nomura helped Aiko out of the water, and wrapped her hair up in a towel. There were robes stacked up in the changing room, the same ones they'd seen the other customers lounging around in. Both Nomura and Aiko got dressed in those, then headed back into the reception room. Nomura bought them cold milk from a small fridge by the front desk, and they drank it in one shot before sitting in large leather chairs that hummed, vibrated, and massaged their muscles.

"I don't do this every time I come but, well, maybe every now and then is alright," Nomura sighed happily as the massage chair shook under her.

"Massa-a-a-a-a-ge," Aiko agreed as the massage chair pummeled her back.

When they'd relaxed enough, they went back to get changed. Nomura used a hair dryer to slowly work the water out of Aiko's hair, gently pulling her fingers through the long silky strands.

"You really do have such beautiful hair, Aiko. If you let it get that dirty again I'll be cross."

Aiko nodded. She hadn't really thought much about it in the short time she'd been here. Whoever Aiko had been before Mathilda moved in, it didn't seem like she'd been that concerned about it either. Maybe their shared sense of apathy had been enough for such things to slip her mind entirely. But now that her hair was clean, Aiko wondered how she had been able to stand it when it wasn't.

"Understood."

It was time to go home. Nomura carried their towels and Aiko carried the tub of soaps and shampoos. As they left, Aiko looked back at Koharu, who was sitting dejectedly at the counter.

"Are you sure you don't want to say goodbye to your friend?" Nomura asked.

Aiko shook her head.

"Well, I won't pry, but she's been sulking like that ever since you called her an enemy."

Aiko narrowed her eyes. For an enemy to become so gloomy just because she'd called them her enemy was ridiculous.

"Weak enemy."

"Aiko, it's not nice to say things like that behind people's backs."

Aiko frowned, and turned to Koharu, who was looking at them with her chin on the counter. She pointed a finger at the blond-haired girl.

"Weak enemy!" Aiko shouted at her from across the reception area.

Koharu melted and slid down somewhere behind the reception desk.

Aiko smiled, satisfied.

Nomura sighed, and shrugged. "Well I suppose there's no helping that, then. Let's go home, little Aiko."

The two of them headed back through the well lit streets toward the apartment. There were still lots of people around. Aiko wondered what they were doing. Coming back from work or school? Or maybe only just now going to have something to eat? The people of this world never slept.

"Aiko dear," Nomura said without warning, as they walked along the neat roads. "I'm glad that you finally started leaving your apartment. I was a little worried that you might never come outside again."

Aiko looked up at the older woman, not sure how to reply. Before she had woken up, what had she been doing? Who had she been? She had no idea.

"I'm not sure what it is that's weighing you down, but if there's anything that's worrying you, you can always come ask for help. There's no sense in a young girl like you trying to shoulder everything on her own."

Aiko looked back at the road, at the people walking by. Why was Nomura so nice to her?

"Understood," Aiko said.

"Well as long as you understand," Nomura smiled.

They walked the rest of the way back in a comfortable silence. When they got back to the apartment, Nomura unlocked Aiko's door and handed her the towel she'd been using earlier. "You hold onto this, but make sure you dry it properly. You can hang it from the rail on your balcony."

Aiko nodded and took the towel. She pressed it against her face.

"Thank you," she said through the fabric.

Nomura smiled. "Don't mention it, dear."

The older woman said good night, and the two of them went into their apartments. Not wanting to upset Nomura, after she had dutifully locked the front door Aiko headed out to her narrow balcony.

As she did, for just a moment, Aiko felt a tingling on the back of her neck. A familiar and unpleasant feeling. Suddenly sharp, she looked out over the balcony, at the street below, and the maze of buildings before her.

Something, or someone, had been watching her. But now there was nothing.

With nothing else to do about it, Aiko hung the towel over the hand rail, and headed back inside.