The Housesitters' Influence

"… Hnn? Did something change?"

"Huh? Wh-what happened…? Tria-chan… did you feel something too, Tria-chan?"

That day, Tria and Penpen had been housesitting at Penpen's Ranch when they both felt something. A small shockwave, like a ripple passing through their bodies underwater.

Nika, who had been resting in a separate room, came out to the Home's living room as well.

"Tria-chan, Penpen-chan… something just happened, right?"

"Yeah. You felt it too, Nika?"

"I did. What was that just now?"

"No idea, but maybe the Spirit-samas did something."

Generally, if something happened, it was spirit-related.

And if nothing in particular had been going on at the time, there was nothing else it could be.

… Even if, say, a terrifying Demon Lord had appeared, these girls who had devoted everything would only think about it in terms of "whether it's an enemy of Spirit-sama or not." So spirit-related it was, no matter what.

"I-if something was done to us, c-could we ask Spirit-sama about it, I wonder?"

"They said they'd be back at Home tonight. We can ask then. Want to wait?"

"Nah, let's check things out ourselves before hearing from Spirit-sama."

Nika was raring to investigate. Spirit-sama had told her to rest and recover her energy, but that also meant she had nothing to do. For a Spirit-Possessed who had devoted everything to the spirits, being unable to do anything for them left her restless.

Even if that rest was something Spirit-sama had ordered… She understood in her head that she should rest. But Nika just couldn't bear it.

"You were told to rest though, Nika. Are you sure you're okay?"

"My HP and MP are both full already, so I think moving around a little would actually be better for me."

"I-if that's, the case, then it can't, be helped, right? Hehe, let's investigate… heheh."

And so the three of them decided to look into what had happened.

"I-if Spirit-sama did something that affected us, then, um, something major must have, changed, I think."

"Something major, but not something we'd notice right away?"

"L-like something we couldn't do before, becoming possible now. Maybe something, like that?"

"Makes sense. So we just need to check if there's anything new we can do? … Hmm."

Tria tried moving her body around. Stretching: no change in range of motion. Punching speed: no change. Jump height: no change…

"Maybe Tria-chan and Penpen-chan can eat Defilement now?"

"If that were it, Nika wouldn't have been affected. I don't think so."

"R-right. Something, in common? What could it be?"

Penpen tilted her head.

"Tria-chan, why not try doing things you couldn't do before?"

"Things I couldn't do before… Like eating more steak than usual?"

"Your stomach doesn't, feel like, it got bigger, does it?"

"I could already do handstands, so hmm… Maybe I got faster?"

She ran a lap outside the ranch, but her time was within the margin of error. Effectively unchanged.

"M-maybe training, efficiency, went up, or something?"

"Possible. I'll try training while keeping a close eye on my stats."

"Oh, I'll join in too! Time for Spirit-sama's boot camp!"

"… That would definitely go against the order to rest."

Pushing your body to its limits with strength training while under orders to rest was clearly out of the question. Tria put a stop to it.

"I-is it no good? I figured…"

"The 'I figured' tells me everything… As long as you don't go full boot camp, it should be fine."

"Th-there's equipment t-too, you know? Dumbbells, multi-ab bench, treadmill, exercise bike…"

Penpen had crafted exercise equipment as well. She didn't have much of the professional-grade stuff you'd find at a gym, but she had various machines set up.

Tria was hoping to set up equipment like this in their own Home too, and planned to subtly bring it up with Spirit-sama. Especially the leg machines.

They did some training, but the results were no different from usual.

So what had actually changed? The three of them tilted their heads in puzzlement.

"… Let's call it here. I'm going to take a bath. I want to clean up before the Spirit-samas come back."

"Oh, then I'll, I'll come too."

"I'll join you!"

The bath at Penpen's Home was spacious. She'd secured a fairly large tub so she could eventually soak in it at her leisure. Even now, she sometimes got in with her clothes still on.

And as long as it was just the Spirit-Possessed, the bath was free to use. The spirits seemed to have some kind of curse that made them fall asleep whenever they tried to take a bath, so…

"… Phew… Mm."

"Bath, bath… haah～"

"Soaking in nice clean water feels so good!"

They filled the large tub generously with hot water and got in alongside a sachet of fragrant herbs. After washing off their sweat first, of course.

"… By the way. Did it feel like you could wash yourself more thoroughly just now?"

"Yeah. I, noticed, that too."

"To think we can properly wash our whole bodies now… that's really nice, isn't it?"

And just like that, they found what had changed.

Of all things, it was about body care. There had been certain areas they could no longer touch directly… but that restriction had been lifted.

"Penpen, I'm gonna touch you, okay?"

"Hyah!? … Oh, th-that's still, off-limits, huh."

"Only your own body, it seems."

When she tried touching Penpen, a mysterious barrier appeared and blocked her. Hmm.

"Oh. That's right. Massage."

"Huh? Wh-what is it, Nika-chan?"

"Let me give you a massage. Can I? I have a massage skill."

"… Okay? P-please go ahead?"

"Hup!"

And then, Nika grabbed hold. Of the bounty.

"Myah! … Ah, sh-she's touching me?"

"I can touch you! Penpen-chan, your skin is so smooth!"

"H-how come?"

"Spirit-sama said the rules are looser for medical procedures!"

"… I-I see… Ah, that feels nice. These things are just so heavy…"

Penpen narrowed her eyes in bliss.

After massaging her for a while, Nika let go.

Tria watched and nodded.

"Massage is fine, then… Hmm. So this means we should take better care of our bodies for Spirit-sama's sake."

"Sh-should we, report this to Spirit-sama, maybe?"

"When you're not sure, reporting is always the right call, yeah? It's just shakaijin common sense, apparently."

"'Shakai'… is that the name of Spirit-sama's country?"

"Probably?"

"If it's, Spirit-sama's, common sense, then we should, follow it!"

And so they decided to go ahead and report it tonight.

Incidentally, for the spirits, touching any body besides their own character's was for some reason still subject to the same old restrictions. "DAMN IIIIT!!" "NOOOOOOO!!" they wailed.

That kind of thinking is probably why you can't touch them, you know. So thought Penpen's spirit.