Following a long, meticulous inspection of several individual locks of hair(for split ends, maybe?), Yahanaseara nods to herself in what I can only hope is approval.

She then pushes up from the chair that I had her sit in while brushing her hair, reaches both arms behind her head and raises them upwards, lifting all that floof along with them...

fwoosh

...and right as I get a glimpse of the nape of her neck, it all comes right back down.

crickl

crackl

Then a quick heel pivot causes that fluffy sparking cloud to twirl around her like a tor-

"Thank you, Brigitte."

aaaaand I'm shocked back to my senses.

"Uh, no problem!" I stammer.

"I had almost forgotten how it felt to have someone else brush my hair..."

Please don't smile like that.

"...I would not be so presumptuous as to ask you to do so on any kind of regular basis, but-"

"Whenever you want!" I blurt out. "With hair as pretty as yours, it'd be a shame not to properly take care of it!"

Yup, that's me. A master of communication.

whump

"Uh- Wha-"

wwwwwwhy is she hugging me

"Truly, thank you for everything you have done for me," her voice echoes into my chest. "My only regret is that I have no way to properly repay you."

"Heeey, just having you around is a reward in itself!" my stupid mouth says with zero input from my brain.

And then she just hugs me even tighter and why the hell is my heart pounding like I just ran a lap around the courtyard back home

Fortunately, she finally lets go of me and steps back before I end up having a heart attack.

At which time I realize that she's still wearing nothing but a towel.

"......"

...and also that my pajama top happens to have gotten unbuttoned just shy of the point where it would become indecent.

Thus causing the flames of embarrassment to burn even hotter.

In my face.

"...Brigitte?"

"Bwuh-"

brigitte you idiot there's nothing to be embarrassed about you're both girls so why the fuck are you acting so weird

"D- don't mind me," I say, faking a laugh as I quickly button my top back up. "Sorry for holding you up though, you're probably getting cold just wearing that..."

"Hm?"

She glances down.

"...ah, yes," she laughs. "Er... would you mind retrieving my clothing?"

"Shit, that's right," I groan. "Sorry."

Before we went to sleep last night, I added her dirty laundry to my own when swapping it out for the Nighttime Bag that's currently in use.

Since there's never been a single time that the servants haven't had all the clothes I sent back home washed by the time I wake up, that shouldn't be an issue...

"...bleh."

But now my system's going to be all out of array.

"Is something the matter?" Yahanaseara asks.

"Just my usual neuroses," I sigh.

Like hell I'm about to let my obsessive compulsions force her to stay in a towel though, so I push the sense of impending Wrong all the way to the back of my head and swap in the bag that contains her clothes.

The urge does come over me to do like my mother used to back when I was little and neatly lay her clothes out on the bed, but then I remember that she's way older than me and it'd be kind of rude to go through her stuff like that.

So instead, I hand her the bag and duck into the bathroom to give her some privacy to change.

And also brush my teeth and freshen up with a quick morning shower while I'm at it.

............

.........

......

"...hm."

Well this is an unexpected dilemma.

Since this shower was an impromptu thing, I didn't think to bring any change of clothes in with me. Which means that the only things in here to actually wear are the pajamas that I wore last night.

...but like, I slept in those. They've got sleep-sweat and sleep-drool on them, not to mention that Yahanaseara was using me as a pillow so they also kind of smell like her-

Ahem.

Anyways, I can't just put yesterday's pajamas back on without my internal nonsense compelling me to take another shower.

...which leaves me only one option.

"Guess it's my turn to go out there in nothing but a towel..."

But weirdly enough, not even the slightest hint of embarrassment encroaches upon my soul. Or even nervousness, despite all the nonsensical inner turmoil that my stupid broken brain's been subjecting me to ever since I accidentally freed my new traveling companion.

No, the only emotion I feel as I secure this towel around my scrawny frame is defeat.

Not that I have idea why that is, but far be it from me to complain that I'm actually not panicking over nothing for once.

click

My arrival into the suite proper is heralded by considerably less steam than that of a certain Elemental Spirit.

...though my stupid glasses still get all fogged up.

Ugh.

"Ah, Brigitte!"

A happy blur calls out to me.

"Thank you so much, my clothes are just as clean as the day they were made."

"The servants back home do good work," I reply.

Fortunately, my vision isn't so obscured that I can't make my way to the bed to retrieve the Clothing Bag-

"By the way..."

Right as I pick it up.

"Yeah?"

"Does the 'room service' thing also serve breakfast?" Yahanaseara asks.

"Heh," I sigh. "Yeah, go ahead and order whatever."

"Thank you!" she chirps. "And what should I order for you?"

"Geh-"

I'm really not hungry.

But there's also no doubt whatsoever that trying to skip a meal will incite another (deserved) scolding session.

"...just get me a waffle."

"Understood!"

With that said, I retreat back into the bathroom before she can think to get on my case about not eating enough.

And now that I have once again secured my solitude, I allow my neuroses to take over and finally rectify my disordered bag system.

Swap this Clothing Bag for the same Nightime Bag from before... toss last night's pajamas in there... then swap it for Clothing Bag #7...

...and now that I finally have a fresh set of clothes in-hand that I haven't also been wearing for the past two days, I can at long last get dressed.

I'm not on the road anymore, so I might as well wear a proper bra instead of just a camisole... a matching bottom...

Pants, a light shirt, then the robe over those...

Pull my hair out from the neck-hole and tie it back...

Clean my glasses, aaaand... there.

Now that Brigitte Martine Fehrenschildt is now presentable to the world, I finally step out of the bathroom...

...and my nostrils are instantly filled with the sweet aroma of breakfast pastries.

"I didn't take that long to get changed, did I?"

"Not at all."

Glancing towards the answerer of the question I was asking myself, I find a certain lightning girl sitting at the table with a massive stack of pancakes in front of her.

"I do suggest that you hurry before your food gets cold," she says, gesturing to the spot next to hers.

Or rather, to the plate next to her which contains a single waffle.

"Uh, yeah," I sigh.

One quick detour to the nightstand to refill my pockets with their usual contents later, I plop down next to the surprisingly fussy Elemental Spirit and commence the chore that is eating when I'm not hungry.

"You didn't have to wait for me, you know..."

nom

"Yes I did," Yahanaseara replies after downing an entire folded-up pancake in a single bite. "I am not so rude as to begin eating before the person who paid for my meal."

nom

That's two down.

...though now that she mentions it...

"...here."

I fish out the coins I got from Nils yesterday from my pocket and hold them out to her.

"Eh?"

But instead of taking them, she just stares at me with a look of complete puzzlement.

"We got paid double, remember?" I ask. "So here's your half."

"Half!?" Her eyes grow wide. "I could never presume to-"

"If we're gonna be doing adventurer stuff together then that means that you're entitled to half of what we make," I reply.

Different partnerships may have different shares, but I've always been of the belief that being greedy never helped anyone in the long run.

"Not to mention that you probably don't have any usable money on you, right?" I ask.

"...I do not, but..."

"Then that's all the more reason to take it," I sigh. "What if you get hungry, but we're separated for whatever reaso-"

"I will not allow us to be separated," she interjects.

In a tone that sounds way more like my mother than I care to openly admit.