Volume 1 - Harpy Heaven, Chapter 3 - Clean and Dirty

Now that Haru had taken Yuisu's original bedroom, Yuisu picked a guest room to make her own and set her stuff in it. She decided on the one next to the bathroom for its convenience. She spent a couple minutes pacing to clear her head, then trudged back to Haru’s room to explain the bathroom and laundry situations. The door was still open, so she stepped in.

Haru was already unpacking some of her boxes, putting folded clothes into an open-faced dresser. Given Haru’s lack of dextrous hands, the cubby-style was certainly easier to use than drawers or hangers. The large dresser was the only furniture Haru had brought, so it must have been important to her.

“Hi, Haru. If you’ve got a moment, I’d like to show you the bath and laundry rooms.”

Haru turned and smiled. “Sure thing, miss Yuisu.”

As they walked toward the bathroom together, Yuisu spoke up. “Haru, you don’t have to keep calling me ‘miss’. Just Yuisu is fine.”

“Oh, I couldn’t be that casual, miss Yuisu. I need to show my gratitude, since you’ve done so much for me by taking me into your home.”

Yuisu shrugged. “If that’s what you want, I guess it’s fine. Anyways, this house has a traditional Sentō-style bathing room, connected to this laundry room.” She gestured around the bamboo-accented room as she spoke, “Fresh towels are right here, and feel free to leave your dirty clothes in that basket, and I’ll take care of them. There are also labeled bins to put any clothes that require specific care.” She pointed at a plain wooden door to the side. “The toilet is through that door, and that room is quite spacious, since the house was remodeled for my uncle’s wheelchair.”

She beckoned Haru to follow and stepped into the bathing area. The floor and walls were tiled in blue and white and the back wall featured a large painted mural of a mountain range. “Make sure to close the door, to keep the heat inside.” Yuisu walked around the sizable room and pointed at various features. “Here are seats and faucets to wash your hair and rinse yourself before soaking in the pool.”

Yuisu cleared her throat. “Are you, uh, able to do all of that on your own?”

Haru nodded. “I should be fine. It can take a while to properly wash all my feathers, but I can manage on my own.”

“Perfect. As always, feel free to ask if you have any questions. I’m beat, so I’m gonna head to bed, but you’re welcome to take a bath tonight if you want.”

“I think I’ll do just that. Thanks again, miss Yuisu.”

Yuisu grabbed pajamas from her old room and shuffled off to her guest room. She stripped nude before putting on the pajamas, since she couldn’t sleep well in underwear, and pulled her long hair up into a ponytail to keep it under control. She set up the futon and flopped onto it, trying very hard not to think of the naked Haru bathing mere yards away.

As she hugged her body pillow, she also tried to forget Haru’s strangely poetic and explicit description of its scent. A ‘mewling kitten, craving attention.’ What the hell kind of description is that? Did Haru say it that way because she knew what I’ve done with this pillow? Not knowing what to expect, she braced herself, brought it to her face, and sniffed. To her human nose, it smelled like laundry detergent and nothing more.

Yuisu tossed and turned for a while, unused to her new room and new circumstances, but she eventually fell asleep. Her dreams were filled with images of cute creatures playing in the snow of a moonlit forest, until they were suddenly attacked by a snowy owl. It tore out of the dark sky and flew off with a kitten in its clutches. As the owl went to tear into its prey’s vulnerable belly, the owl transformed into Haru, the kitten became Yuisu, and the attack changed to a different thing entirely. Haru forced Yuisu’s legs apart, said, “Let’s see how this kitten tastes,” and dove in.

Yuisu awoke in the morning with her blankets tossed about and her pajama bottoms around her ankles. She was still clutching the body pillow, which she quickly realized needed to be washed again.

The sun was barely up and Yuisu had left all her clean clothes in her old room, so she planned to wash and re-wear yesterday’s clothes rather than disturb Haru this early. In the laundry room, she stripped down and threw her underwear, PJs, and yesterday’s clothes into the washer-dryer and started it. She set her body pillow aside for the next load.

She rinsed and bathed, relaxing in the calming heat of the bath, until a DING! from the laundry room told Yuisu her clothes were ready. She dried off and dressed herself, then remembered the basket she had told Haru to put her dirty clothes in.

I’ll just run her clothes through next. As a gracious host, it’s the right thing to do. It has nothing to do with wanting to know what kind of underwear she wears, she told herself unconvincingly.

After double-checking that the laundry room door was closed, Yuri-su mode was engaged. She practically dived into the laundry basket and pawed through the clothes. Here’s that tiny tank-top she wore, and here are her jeans. Man, these are torn up. Is that in fashion these days? Next, she lifted out a lacy black bra.

Yuri-su’s eyes went wide and a grin crept onto her face. Ooh, sexy. What’s the cup size of those monster mammaries? she thought as she checked the tag. No way! Only a C?! That’s the same as me. Wait a minute… this band size is the same as mine too…

“Damnit,” she muttered. This is my bra. I must have left it here the other day. Yuri-su slapped her palm against her forehead. Haru obviously wasn’t even wearing a bra yesterday!

She threw the bra aside and grabbed the last thing from the basket. It was a sky blue strip of stretchy cloth, about eight inches long, and two inches wide. Elastic straps extended from two of its corners and ended in metal snaps. Yuri-su flipped it around, trying to make heads or tails of it. A small tag on one side said simply ‘Liminal’s Secret’. Yuri-su tried to visualize how it would be worn, using Haru as her mental model.

The door opened and Haru stepped in, wearing a plain grey pajama top and matching shorts. She saw Yuisu zoned out with a dumb grin on her face and Haru’s underwear held in the air. She scoffed and said, “I see you found my underwear…”

That snapped Yuisu out of her trance and she turned red. “Uh, how do they... uh, work?”

“The side with the tag is the back, and those straps go around my hips and snap onto the front. String panties are the normal go-to for extraspecies girls with unwieldy legs, but some species have difficulty tying the strings.” She waggled her thumbs for emphasis.

“O-oh, really? How interesting.” Yuisu gently set the panties on the pile of clothes. “I was, uh, just about to wash this load of laundry for you, Haru.”

“Oh, thank you, miss Yuisu. You do too much for me.” She pointed a wing at the panties on top of the pile of clothes. In a sultry tone, she said, “As thanks, perhaps I could model those for you?”

Yuisu went wide eyed and started to sputter.

“Just kidding!” Haru chuckled. “I’m just going to use the restroom. Don’t mind me!” She waved a wing and stepped through the door to the toilet.

Red-faced and flustered, Yuisu started the load of laundry then fled the laundry room.