“Great job…” He spoke sarcastically. After the pair were able to free themselves from the trap known as a slippery floor. Nishiki was soaked from head to toe and there were suds coming out of his ears. Tenha wasn’t much better off, but at least she was able to dry herself quicker than him. “You broke my washing machine, my clothes are all wet, and my toast is burnt.” The last part ended up occuring since he couldn’t get off that wet floor for a good five minutes. Now his hope for breakfast had turned charcoal black. Just like his mood.

“Not my fault you didn’t tell me how to use that cursed contraption.” She deferred blame onto him for this mess. “Now what?”

“Sadly, I’m going to have to replace my washer.” He was disappointed with how she had been eating into his bank account. The man was going to lose the house at this rate.

“But you aren’t even poor.” She responded. “I've seen your finances. In fact, why even work so many hours?”

“First off, please allow me to have some privacy in my life.” He replied. Even if the contract allowed her many things. The man hoped she wouldn’t keep snooping around. “And secondly, I was living a perfectly fine life before you showed up.”

“And what are you going to do about this?” She picked up a heavy shirt covered in soap and soaked completely in water.

“You mean, what are you going to do?” It was her responsibility to clean his stuff. He got annoyed with her continuing to defer to him on matters that she was in charge of. If only she had some sense of initiative so it didn’t feel like their tenure together was more of him babysitting the girl. “Look, we’ll just have to go to the nearby laundromat.” While that was near the bottom of the list of places he wanted to go today. With work tomorrow and all his suits practically ruined, there was no other option.

“Okay, help my collect all your clothes then.” She bent down and began rapidly stuffing his clothes into a bag.

“Why should I help?”

“There’s no rule against you helping, is there?” She really turned his sentiment from the day before against him. The absolute nerve of this girl.

“Fine.” Still, he relented and aided in getting his clothes together so they could carry it over to the nearest laundromat. At least he wasn’t the one who had to lug around that bag. She was the stronger between the two thanks to her supernatural origins. Though this earned them a few stares by onlookers considering she just looked like a little girl to the rest of the public at large. “Has this place always been so dirty?” He wondered aloud as they entered the establishment.

It had been years since the last time the man stepped foot in this building. Ever since he bought his own washer and dryer, there was no need to swing by here. His memories of the place weren’t positive. Most of it was spent lulling on the bench being bored while waiting for his clothes to be washed. Then when it was finished, moving all of it into the dryer and waiting once again.

So thanks to her, he was certain the rest of his weekend was going to be as mundane as the rest of his life. “Just put the clothes in there while I get us some coins.” It seemed that laundromats still hadn’t changed since the last time he was here. They still require that he use coins, even though the convenience of cards should’ve made them a thing of the past two decades ago.

The machines they used to convert his money wasn’t even modern enough to take his card, so the man was forced to take out some paper bills by withdrawing from a nearby ATM. “I swear, I’m shopping for a new washer as soon as possible.” He muttered to himself, complaining about this poor excuse for a life. “Hopefully you didn’t touch any of the buttons.” He said as the man finally returned with enough cash.

“I don’t want to be anywhere near these things.” She sat rather still. Her eyes darted back and forth across the rows of washers and dryers surrounding them. Their earlier event had traumatized her enough that the supposedly immortal fox spirit feared one of them was going to jump up and swallow her alive.

“Can you relax for one second?” He scolded her like a parent who hated their child. “You’re the one who messed them up. They’re not going to hurt you.” Nishiki then went about the process to explain to her how these things worked. That way, when they went back to their regular life with washer and dryer at his own home. She’d be capable of using them without getting them killed. The only extra bits he made sure to mention was to explain the differences between ones they would purchase for themselves compared to those available at a laundromat. Namely the money part.

“When you put it like that, it’s not as complicated as it seems.” She took his lesson well. Hopefully the girl wouldn’t need his help when she was on her on her own washing his clothes. Though that did make him wonder what she did when he wasn’t looking earlier. “What about the dryer?”

“You just put it in and press the button.” He told her in dead pan expression with his shortest explanation yet. With that out of the way, he sat down besides her and prepared to wait the next couple of hours of them being stuck here. There was little to say between them and it was dead silent in the building other than the not so gentle rumbling of machines running.

“I’m bored…” She broke the silence after what felt like weeks, even though it had merely been 10 minutes. Tenha couldn’t believe that humanity could have such a boring task with laundry.

“This would be better if you hadn’t broken my washing machine.” He spoke, leaning his head on top of his hand, which was supported by his elbow on his leg. “And you still haven’t apologized for it either.”

“It’s not my fault you didn’t explain to me how it worked.” She again denied any responsibility. “Look at how easy it was when you actually tried.”

“If you didn’t know, then you should’ve just stopped and asked me before making a mess of things.” The two glared at each other while the washing machine continued on trucking. This remained so for the rest of the wash cycle, where neither wanted to back down. Eventually, they did have to separate when the beeping started from their machine. She was the one who broke off and moved the clothing from washer to dryer. This way she could keep up her quota of cleaning for the day. “Looks like we’ll be here for another hour.” He said, laying back onto the bench.

“Oh joy, more of my life to waste with you.” She plopped herself face down onto the bench next to him. “This seems like a sad thing for you humans to deal with. Especially when you live such short lives.”

“It doesn’t feel that short.” He replied. Sure, the fox spirits were capable of living multiple times of lives compared to people like him. But the man already felt like a lot of his life has just slowly ticked on by ever since graduating college a few years ago. With how much working he had done, his body felt like he should be retiring into some elderly home soon.

Is this all he’s destined for? The man couldn’t think of enjoying this life at all, yet there didn’t seem to be any course along this path that allowed for change. So far, the only change had been forced onto him in the form of Tenha. Yet even with her presence, he didn’t feel like much was different at all.

At least, it shouldn’t seem different, but things were certainly nothing as he had been living these past years. There did seem to be an uptick in “first times in a long while” for him.

“I just can’t wait for this to be over.” She muttered to herself. The pair laid next to each other on the benches, though their heads aimed in opposite directions. “I still haven’t eaten breakfast.” Her statement gave him an idea.

“Do you want to go out to grab lunch?” He offered, perking his head up right away. “I mean to a real place, not some fast food joint or convenience store.”

“You really think I’m going out to lunch with you?” She asked in response as if the concept was disgusting to her. Though her loudly growling stomach answered that for them both. “...Fine, but you’re paying.”