"Excuse... excuse me."
"There's no one else at home, no need to be so formal."
Bringing the high school girl named Sayo Hagiwara inside, Shin entered his house and quickly returned with an unopened towel.
"Here, dry yourself off with this. You're soaked; take a bath in a bit."
Sayo Hagiwara, a bit flustered, accepted the new towel from Shin, nodding hastily.
Although the towel was new, the packaging looked a bit old, suggesting it had been in the cabinet for quite a while, unused.
Since Shin rarely had any visitors, especially overnight ones, the towels he kept for guests were just gathering dust.
Today, for the first time, two high school girls had visited his place in succession—something teenage boys would likely be envious of if they knew.
Just a moment ago, he had mentioned to Megumi Kato about his extra bedroom, and now, it was coming in handy.
"The bathroom is over there. If being all wet is uncomfortable, go ahead and take a bath. I'll find you a fresh bath towel."
Shin pointed toward the bathroom, then went to fetch a clean bath towel for Sayo Hagiwara.
He still had to tidy up the guest room; it hadn't been used in a while and had accumulated dust.
But thanks to his Stand, Blackbird, Shin didn't need to lift a finger; he could leave the cleaning to his Stand, which was quite convenient.
"…I didn't bring a change of clothes."
However, after Shin pointed to the bathroom, Sayo Hagiwara lowered her head and admitted a bit shyly.
Clearly, her decision to run away from home had been impulsive, leaving her unprepared. She only carried a small backpack with a few belongings.
The small bag obviously couldn't fit much, so she hadn't packed any spare clothes.
This fit the classic profile of a first-time runaway youth—realizing too late that they'd forgotten things.
"…"
Shin looked at Sayo Hagiwara, momentarily speechless.
Even though she said that, there obviously weren't any clothes for girls in his house.
"It's not ideal, but you'll have to make do with some of my clothes for now, is that okay?"
The only solution he could offer was to dig out some of his own clothes that he rarely wore and hand them over to Sayo Hagiwara.
As for brand-new clothes, those weren't an option—living alone, he couldn't afford to buy clothes just to leave them unworn at home.
Thankfully, Sayo Hagiwara seemed to understand her current situation and didn't have any room to make demands. She nodded and took Shin's clothes to the bathroom.
This part was rather refreshing, as she didn't show the spoiled, difficult behavior typical of girls pampered at home.
After seeing her enter the bathroom, Shin headed to the guest room to prepare it for Sayo Hagiwara's stay that night.
"Blackbird!"
At his command, his pitch-black humanoid Stand appeared, duster in hand, sweeping away the dust in the guest room.
All the airborne dust was absorbed by the "Void Miasma," and soon, the room was spotless.
It looked like this Void Miasma had potential as a cleaning assistant.
One could only imagine how the deceased Vanilla Ice would react if he knew that Shin thought of his Stand this way.
"Um… I'm ready."
After Blackbird finished cleaning the guest room, Sayo Hagiwara's voice came from behind him.
Shin had already sensed her approach through his "ki," but since Sayo couldn't see his Stand, he didn't immediately dismiss Blackbird and instead turned around to look at her.
Wearing his clothes, the white T-shirt looked very loose on her, hanging down almost to her knees.
This kind of loose-fitting T-shirt had a name: the "boyfriend T-shirt" look, which generally happened when girls wore their boyfriend's clothes.
One had to admit, it was rather endearing.
With the loose T-shirt, the fresh scent of her recent bath, and her naturally attractive face, most guys would find it hard to resist.
"Finished your bath? The guest room is ready for you too."
But Shin remained calm. Though he did find Sayo Hagiwara's current appearance somewhat tempting, he wasn't the type to rush things, so he acted naturally.
Setting the duster on the nearby cabinet, he pointed to the freshly made bed and said, "You can sleep here tonight."
"Here?"
Sayo Hagiwara glanced around the guest room, her expression a bit tense.
"Does Shin-kun usually sleep here?"
During their walk back, they had introduced themselves, so Sayo Hagiwara already knew his name.
"Me? I sleep in my room upstairs. I don't sleep here."
Raising an eyebrow, Shin clarified that his apartment was a two-story unit, with his bedroom upstairs, while the room on the first floor was for guests.
"What? Do you want to sleep with me?"
This was, of course, a joke. It was only their first meeting, after all—there was no way they'd share a bed.
Even though it was a slightly edgy joke, since he was giving her a place to stay, she likely wouldn't mind.
But after saying it, he noticed that Sayo Hagiwara had lowered her head, her cheeks turning red, and she didn't respond.
"…"
Seeing this, Shin rubbed his temples, feeling a bit troubled.
"You didn't actually think of it that way, did you?"
From her reaction, Shin guessed that Sayo Hagiwara probably had prepared herself to share his bed if needed.
In her mind, there was no way someone would let a stranger stay in their home for nothing.
Since he was willing to let her stay, she assumed he must want something in return.
And with no money, only a few small items in her bag, and nothing of financial value, she concluded that the only thing she could offer him was her body.
Honestly, that wasn't an unreasonable assumption—most people wouldn't take the risk of letting a stranger stay without expecting something in return. What if it was a trap?
But Shin had no such intentions. He simply wanted to help her out for the night out of kindness.
Just because he had strength didn't mean he had to abandon his humanity. Shin liked to think of himself as a good person.
But with Sayo Hagiwara acting like this… it seemed she wasn't going to let him stay a simple good guy.
To be continued…
Hand over your Power Stones! Ningen.