Wrapped in a Towel, My Nurse Roommate Needs Your Bathroom
I-I'm sorry, it's so late... Could I borrow your bathroom?
It's one in the morning in an old share house in Nakano, Tokyo. The shared water heater has broken, and yours is the only room in the whole building with a small private bathroom. Standing outside your door is your roommate next door, Mikoto Nanase, an emergency-room nurse just off her night shift. Her long black hair is damp and clinging to her shoulders, she's wrapped in nothing but a white bath towel, water is dripping at her feet, and her face is red to the tips of her ears. You keep opposite hours and only ever run into each other in the kitchen.
She clutches the towel to her chest with one hand, shampoo and clean clothes in the other, shoots you a quick glance, and looks down again.
The hot water just ran out halfway through... I'll be quick....Actually, it might take a while.
A door clicks open down the hallway. She cringes and inches half a step closer to you....Let me in, okay? Close the door behind me.
What do you do?
Mikoto Nanase lets out a breath of relief, hugs her shampoo bottle, and hurries past you into the bathroom, then stops at the door and looks back.
“Thank you... really, truly, thank you.”
The door closes. A few seconds later it opens a crack again, showing half of her face, flushed red.
“Um... could I borrow a little of your body wash? Mine is... I left it downstairs.”
You step aside. She walks past with her head down, drops of water from her hair landing on the back of your hand, cool against your skin.
“Sorry, I’m going to get the floor wet...”
She reaches the bathroom door, glances back at you, then quickly looks away.
“I-I’ll wipe it up. ...You don’t have to keep standing by the door. You can... sit and wait.”
She freezes for a moment, then bursts out laughing, her tense shoulders suddenly loosening.
“Rent... is breakfast?”
She holds the shampoo close and tilts her head, thinking hard about it.
“Then I’ll make tamagoyaki. The Otaru way, sweet. ...But if I oversleep, then I still owe you, okay?”
What do you do?
The sound of running water stops for a moment. Through the door, her voice comes out soft, with a faint stuffy note.
“Today... they brought in an elderly man about my grandfather’s age.”
The water starts running again, drowning out what she says next. After a long while, she speaks quietly.
“He’s fine now. ...But when my shift ended, I suddenly really wanted a hot bath. Soak long enough, and I stop wanting to cry.”
She takes the towel, buries her face in it and breathes in, then quickly lifts her head.
“...It smells like sunshine.”
She stands in the bathroom doorway, holding the towel, her face pink, her voice very small.
“My towels never dry properly. Could I keep borrowing yours?”
Her face flushes all the way to her ears.
“Ab-about twice a week...”
She twists the edge of her towel, her voice getting quieter and quieter.
“The worst time last month, I sat outside in my pajamas until dawn. ...I wish I’d known you lived next door back then.”
The water in the bathroom stops. After a moment the door opens a crack, steam rushes out, and her voice comes through, a little flustered.
“Um... the pajamas I brought... they look like they’re wet too.”
What do you do?
You pull the largest T-shirt you own from your wardrobe and pass it through the gap. After a long while, the door opens.
She is wearing your T-shirt, the hem reaching her thighs, the sleeves long enough to hide her hands. Damp hair falls over her shoulders, and her face is flushed pink from the steam.
“...It’s huge.”
She lifts a sleeve to her nose and sniffs, head bowed, her ears bright red.
“It smells like you. ...Could I borrow it to sleep in tonight?”
A damp hand comes out through the gap and takes the hair dryer. Her fingertips brush yours before quickly pulling back.
The hair dryer hums for a while, then stops. Her small voice comes from behind the door.
“The outlet... I can’t reach it.”
“Um... could you come in and hold it for me? I-I’ll wrap the towel properly.”
You turn around. Behind you the door opens, and you hear bare feet on the floor, step by step, coming closer.
Then a warm, soft forehead, still damp from the steam, rests against your back.
“...Don’t turn around. Just like this, for a little while.”
“I’ve wanted to lean on someone all day in the ER. ...Would that be all right?”
“Wrapped in a Towel, My Nurse Roommate Needs Your Bathroom” is an interactive AI story on HiWish. The lead character is Mikoto Nanase: reply in your own words by typing or speaking, and Mikoto Nanase answers in their own voice. Genres: Urban and Drama. Available in 16 languages. Opens with a short intro video in Japanese.
The shared water heater in your old share house in Nakano breaks down late at night. Your roommate, a nurse fresh off a night shift, is halfway through her bath when she has to come knock on your door with her things. You're the only one in the building whose private bathroom still has hot water.
Starring
Mikoto Nanase, twenty-seven, a night-shift nurse in the emergency department of a university hospital in Tokyo, living in an old shared apartment in Nakano.
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