By Zephyria 
To buy time for Aska’s anger to subside, I washed as leisurely as possible. It wasn’t intentional, really, because even if I wanted to wash quickly, I wasn’t used to washing alone.
When I clumsily finished washing and came out, Aska’s expression had eased considerably, as if he had calmed down in the meantime.
“What’s this?”
He asked, looking at the drawing I had brought. I was about to say something when water streamed down my forehead. As I roughly wiped it with a towel and approached him, Aska frowned.
“You always nag at me if I come out without wiping the water off, but why are you doing that?”
Nag? How many times had I told him not to swear? It seemed Aska had no intention of listening to me in the first place.
I was about to say something when Aska sat me down on the sofa and started sniffing me like a dog. He moved to my neck, forearms, and chest, inhaling several times before finally sitting next to me, satisfied.
Because Aska made such a fuss every time he washed, I had already replaced all the bath products with unscented ones. I looked at Aska, who was sitting so close that our skin was touching, and suddenly became curious, so I asked.
“Do you dislike scented candles that smell like grass or trees too? That’s just the smell you get when you go into the forest.”
“Scented candles? Why all of a sudden?”
“Do you hate all smells?”
I used to soak in a bath with medicinal herbs to relieve fatigue or muscle pain, but I hadn’t done that in a long time because of Aska.
“Grass or trees? Those are okay. But I hate the smell of flowers.”
“Why flowers? It’s the same as grass.”
“Flowers too, last time… I hate the smell that used to come from the water, but real flower smells are okay.”
He had picky tastes.
“So, you’re saying that subtle scents are okay after all?”
“Why? Are you going to put something weird in the water again?”
“I’ll only put in medicinal herbs or herbs.”
As I said, wiping my hair with a half-wet towel, Aska was disgusted.
“No.”
“But you said those were okay?”
“I meant it’s okay for me to use them, not you.”
When I frowned, Aska pulled my wet hair and complained.
“What is this?”
The pulling wasn’t strong, so I just left it and picked up the drawing.
“Before I explain this, there’s something I need to tell you first.”
“What is it?”
“Babies don’t come from fields.”
“Then where do they come from?”
I told Aska everything I had learned in my crash course a little while ago, from beginning to end. Aska, who had been indifferent at first, became interested from the middle and even asked questions.
“Babies grow inside the belly?”
“On average, they come out after about ten months.”
“Where? Through the mouth?”
“……”
I was sometimes at a loss for words, but there were no major problems. I also explained well about the strange symptoms that had occurred in Aska’s body a while ago.
“Have you ever had that happen to you too?”
When I nodded, Aska’s gaze went to between my legs. Afraid that he might ask me to show him, I quickly changed the subject.
“Ask me if you have any more questions.”
“I understand that I shouldn’t tell or show this to just anyone.”
That was enough. I stroked his head as if he was doing a great job and nodded, and Aska asked.
“How do men mate with each other? Their shapes are different.”
Aska tilted his head, examining the drawing closely. I roughly explained how to have a relationship with a man, but Aska still looked puzzled.
“Do men have different uterus locations?”
“Men can’t get pregnant.”
“Why?”
“Only women can get pregnant. Only women have a uterus.”
In fact, experiments to artificially create living things were underway, and such magic existed, but they were all illegal, so there was no need to tell him.
“Then why do men do this to each other? It won’t lead to fertilization anyway.”
“It’s not always for that purpose. They do it to relieve sexual desire, or just because they like each other. It feels good after doing it too.”
At my words, Aska looked at me quietly and asked.
“Have you done it too?”
“No.”
Until recently, I was closer to hating such things. In the first place, I was disgusted by even skin contact with other people. It was because I had unintentionally witnessed bizarre acts thanks to Khalifa’s abnormal sexual proclivities and had learned too many things I didn’t want to know.
But when I thought about it, I didn’t mind touching Aska. Was it because the purpose was treatment and there were no other intentions?
I was pondering the sudden question when Aska suddenly asked.
“Then shall we try it?”
“What?”
“You said it feels good. Let’s try it once. We’re married anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”
This was an unexpected suggestion. He probably didn’t know what he was saying, but I was curious, so I asked.
“Do you want to do it with me?”
“Yeah, I’m curious.”
“How good it feels?”
Aska nodded. Perhaps because I didn’t answer easily, Aska said impatiently.
“I can only do it with you anyway, right? You’re not supposed to do it with other people when you’re married. You can’t do it with anyone but me either, so let’s just do it now. If it feels good, we can keep doing it, and if it doesn’t, we can stop right away.”
I didn’t necessarily have to keep my chastity, but Aska wanted to do everything the same way, so it seemed better not to tell him this.
After all, even if I told him, he would definitely say, ‘How can you be so unfair?’
More importantly, Aska wasn’t even human, so wouldn’t it be bestiality if we had a relationship? No, he’s not an animal, so it’s not bestiality, is it?
In any case, it was definitely cross-species mating.
“Let’s do it.”
“You don’t seem very enthusiastic…”
Aska flared up when I said it with a reluctant expression.
“Why?”
Until I was young, I thought these acts were disgusting. I’m much better now, but that doesn’t mean I’m okay with bestiality.
“Anyway, that’s that, and your birthday is in a few days. We decided to do it a month after my birthday, right? Do you remember?”
Aska nodded when I changed the subject. The Greenhouse was completed just in time, so I should give it to him as a gift. But I asked him in case there was something else he wanted.
“Is there anything you want as a gift?”
“Something that feels good.”
I couldn’t help but sigh at the immediate answer.
“That’s not a gift. Tell me something material.”
“Never mind, then. I don’t need anything.”
His voice clearly showed that he was upset. Inevitably, I took a step back.
“I’ll think about it.”
Aska’s expression brightened at my words.
“When are we going to do it?”
“I said I’d think about it, not that I’d do it.”
“If you say you’ll think about it, isn’t that permission? You always do that.”
What was he talking about? When I frowned, Aska laughed. Suddenly feeling uneasy, I finally decided to set an exact time.
“Not right now. Let’s do it when you’re taller than me.”
“Taller? Since we’re both growing anyway, let’s do it when my nails get longer.”
Aska’s nails grew long in an instant. I grabbed his wrist and pulled it down.
“Don’t suddenly take them out like that, it’s dangerous. Let’s do it with height instead of nails.”
Perhaps because he was eating well, Aska had gained quite a bit of weight and grown taller than when I first met him. But I was still growing too, and looking at his build, it didn’t seem like Aska would grow taller than me.
“When will I get taller?”
“I don’t know. But you’re still growing, so you’ll grow a lot more in the future. Anyway, that’s what I know.”
“What does height have to do with it? It’s annoying.”
Aska grumbled and turned his head away as if sulking. But soon he seemed to understand and glared at me.
“Don’t say something different when the time comes.”
“Okay. I’ve never gone back on my word.”
“Don’t lie. You’re a liar. Then why did you go play alone earlier?”
“I didn’t go to play, I went to learn this from someone else so I could tell you, okay?”
“Anyway, you went alone, right?”
No matter how much I explained, there was no answer once he started insisting. I clicked my tongue and shook my head, then suddenly remembered when I had just met Aska.
Back then, I had told Aska, whom I thought was a woman, that I only liked men to reassure him. Aska had heard that and said it was strange for a man to like another man, but now it seemed like he didn’t care about that at all.
“But I’m a man, are you sure it’s okay to do that with me? Don’t you hate that kind of thing? You called me a barbarian.”
At my words, Aska shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal.
“I’ll be a barbarian too, then.”
“……”
Did that mean he was willing to be a barbarian for something that felt good? He liked it as long as he was given something to eat, and he was so simple-minded, how was he going to live in this harsh world?
I felt complicated.