Succubi Chapter 210. Normal is Suspicious
Succubi Chapter 210. Normal is Suspicious
I froze.
Water ran down my face.
Slowly, very slowly, I turned around.
There she was.
Sera.
Inside the bathroom.
Still naked.
Hair loose.
Eyes sleepy.
Tentacles behind her shifting lazily like they had entered the room separately and hadn’t agreed on the mission.
I stared at her. “Sera. I need to shower. I can’t be late.”
“Mhm.”
“So why are you here?”
She pouted cutely, which was unfair because she was clearly breaking at least six boundaries and somehow still looked like the victim.
“I came to help,” she said. “Not harass you.”
I grimaced.
Then looked down at her tentacles.
One of them waved.
Another slowly curled like it was embarrassed.
A third immediately tried to look innocent, which was impressive for something with no face.
“…You sure?” I asked. “Because they don’t act that way.”
One tentacle actually curled inward like it was blushing.
I pointed at it. “See? That one knows.”
Sera glanced down sleepily.
“Silly you,” she mumbled. “I can help.”
“Define help.”
“Wash.”
“With you, normal is suspicious.”
She stepped closer under the shower spray without hesitation, water sliding over her hair and shoulders. Her expression stayed drowsy, calm, almost innocent.
Almost.
That was the keyword.
She reached for the soap. “I’ll be fast.”
I stared at her for another second, then exhaled through my nose.
Fine.
Maybe this was okay.
Maybe she really wanted to help.
Maybe the universe would allow one normal intimate moment without turning it into a full-scale emergency.
Sera gently pressed her hands to my shoulders and turned me around.
Warm water hit my chest while her fingers began working soap across my back.
Slow.
Steady.
Surprisingly normal.
I blinked.
Oh.
She really was helping.
Her palms moved carefully over my shoulders, down my spine, washing away tension I didn’t realize I still carried. For a few seconds, I just stood there under the water, letting her do it.
It felt nice.
Too nice.
Not seductive.
Not exactly.
More like being cared for again.
And that was somehow more dangerous.
“You’re quiet,” Sera mumbled.
“I’m suspicious. You’re actually helping. It’s unsettling.”
She leaned her forehead lightly against my back. “Too tired to harass.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Good.”
But her hands stayed gentle.
Her tentacles, however, were another story. They hovered nearby, trying very hard to behave. One passed her the soap. Another held my towel. Another one slowly drifted too close to my hip before Sera lazily slapped it away without looking.
I stared straight ahead. “Did you just discipline your tentacle?”
“Mhm.”
“Do they have separate brains?”
“No, but they act according to my instinct.”
“That explains a lot.”
A sleepy laugh escaped her.
Soft.
Barely there.
And against my better judgment, I smiled.
Because this was ridiculous.
This was probably going to make me late if I wasn’t careful.
But for this one moment, under warm water, with Sera washing my back like it was the most natural thing in the world…
I felt calm.
Then she said, very seriously, “Turn around.”
I immediately narrowed my eyes. “Sera.”
“For washing.”
That sentence sounded innocent.
The kind of innocent that had already been caught hiding a knife behind its back and now wanted me to believe it was just cutting fruit.
I stared at her.
She stared back.
Water slid down her sleepy face, dripping from her lashes, over her cheeks, down her neck. Her expression was blank in that Sera way, like she had no thoughts except soap, sleep, and maybe mild academic crimes.
Behind her, her tentacles floated in the steam.
Trying to look normal.
Trying very hard.
One of them held the soap.
Another hovered near the shampoo bottle.
Another one slowly curled inward like a guilty dog sitting beside a dinner table.
I pointed at it. “That one is suspicious.”
Sera turned her head slightly. “Behave.”
The tentacle drooped.
Sera yawned. “Turn.”
I exhaled dramatically, then did what she told me. Not because I trusted the tentacles. No. I trusted nothing in this bathroom except maybe the tiles, and even then only because tiles had no agenda.
But I turned anyway.
Because she had actually behaved so far.
Sera moved closer.
Her hands touched my shoulders again.
Warm.
Gentle.
She actually washed me.
Properly.
Her fingers moved over my collarbone, down my arms, across my chest, careful and slow but not seductive in the usual dangerous way. It was more practical. Domestic. Almost soft enough to make my thoughts stutter.
Which was honestly unfair.
Because this morning had already been a lot.
My body still remembered everything, but my heart was the one acting weird now.
That stupid warm feeling again.
Being cared for.
Being helped without needing to earn it first.
I stood beneath the shower and tried not to overthink it.
Failed immediately.
Sera’s tentacles were trying to behave too.
That was the funniest part.
They hovered around us like trained dogs told not to touch meat while drooling onto the floor.
No touch. No touch. No touch.
But every once in a while, one would twitch closer, then jerk back like it remembered discipline existed.
One tentacle slowly reached toward my waist.
Sera slapped it away without even looking. “Bad.”
I stared at the wet wall in front of me, holding my laughter.
Eventually she rinsed the soap off my shoulders, then took one step back.
“Done.”
I turned around slowly, suspicious again. “…Really?”
“Really.”
“You’re letting me go?”
“You’ll be late.”
I blinked.
That was surprisingly responsible.
Then she stepped aside and pointed toward my towel with one lazy finger. “Get ready quick. I’ll take a bath.”
I narrowed my eyes at it. “You don’t need my help?”
The tentacles behind her all seemed to brighten at once. Like a group of students hearing the teacher forgot about homework.
Sera glanced back at them.
Then at me.
“No.”
Several tentacles drooped in betrayal.
“You can’t be late,” she said.
That simple sentence hit harder than it should have.
She remembered I had class.
She cared enough to stop.
My chest warmed again.
Damn it.
I nodded, quieter now. “Yeah. I agree.”