The city dimmed a little, not pitch black, but just dark enough to be called nighttime. It's a bit quiet too...
"Mmm, I think I want to have a bath for a bit," Diana said. She looked at me for a moment, pausing. "Do you take baths? I mean, as a robot..."
"Usually I just go through the relic sterilization facility, but I don't mind standard bathing. And if I can't, just throw me in the laundry pile. That might work, too."
I followed Diana through the city. And by "through," I mean literally through it. The girl refused to use street / carpet like a normal person. She hopped over railings, ran up walls, and flipped across the rooftops. If I wasn't a robot, no way in hell I could keep up with her.
I landed on the soft, carpeted street in front of a large, dome-shaped building.
"Here we are," Diana said, not looking even slightly out of breath despite her cross-city parkour. "Come on, let's get inside."
Inside the bathhouse, a receptionist sat behind a desk flanked by two doors. "Welcome. May I see your IDs?"
I unclipped my ID from my lanyard while Diana pulled hers from a pocket. The receptionist scanned them quickly before returning them. "Feel free to use the facilities. Male changing room to your left, female to your right."
"Thank you," Diana said, leading me to the right.
The changing room was spacious. Instead of lockers, there were several chutes built into the walls. "So, yeah, just take off your clothes and put them in that chute. They'll be freshly cleaned in three minutes."
"Huh. Interesting." I looked down at my own body. I wasn't wearing anything, obviously. Thankfully, I didn't have reproductive organs or any anatomical detail, so like... No, I was not built for that. I turned to Diana, who already stripped naked and put her clothing down the laundry cute.
From this angle, I couldn't help but stare, and I learned two things that day. One: She's smokin' hot, like that sweater was a fuckin' lie. It's not just super model perfection, it's straight up anime girl perfection. Second: I can't feel horny. I might be wrong about how "hot" she is compared to other people in this world. But from Old World standpoint?? She turn heads, she will definitely turn heads...
"Oh, right. You don't need clothes." Diana looked at me curiously, her face reddening slightly. "You look... pretty." She took a step back. "Sorry for staring. I've just never seen a robot like you before. You're very mechanical, but also... lifelike."
I looked down at my body, I'm built like a metallic mannequin. "Are robots a common thing?" I asked.
"Kind of. They're usually found in Determination." Diana led me to two doors at the end of the room. "Do you prefer the mixed bath or the girls' bath?"
Welp, mixed baths exist. Why was I not surprised? In a world where marriage was unheard of, strangers fucking is probably the norm.
"I prefer the girls' bath," I said. "But since I'm a robot, I'll follow your lead." I was actually a little curious if Diana was the promiscuous type.
"Oh, okay. Girls' bath it is!" Diana pushed the right-hand door open, revealing a short hallway that led to a large swimming pool. It was mostly empty, with only a few other girls washing themselves on stools at the edge. "I'm not really feeling up to the mixed bath right now, and it would be practically empty at this hour anyway."
Diana slid into the shallow pool and let out a long sigh of relief. I sat next to her. I couldn't actually feel the warmth or the water; I just processed the raw data. The temperature was exactly 34 degrees Celsius with a pH of 7.6.
"What's so special about the mixed bath?" I asked.
"Well, if you want to bathe with all your friends, it's the perfect choice." Diana's face reddened a bit more. "And I guess, if you're into it, you can match up with strangers."
Confirmed. In a world without marriage, strangers fucking is the norm.
I blinked slowly. "Let's talk about something else." I submerged myself for a second just to get my hair wet. I didn't need to, but it felt like the right thing to do. "Do you have any idea what the Trailblazer Exam will be like?"
"Oh, right! That almost slipped my mind." Diana tapped her chin, looking up. "I think last year it was a delivery mission? The closest city to us is Determination, so it was a month-long trip."
"Wow. The missions can take that long?"
"Yep. But every year is different, so I wouldn't bet on it. I've heard they can last just a day, or even a few hours."
I leaned back against the edge of the pool. The material was rubbery and soft. I wondered how all of this would feel if I were still human.
"Can you feel the water as a robot?"
"No. I don't feel. I just know."
"Aww, that's too bad. I was going to take you out for a cold treat after this."
I chuckled. "Well, I can smell things. Or at least identify chemicals by their scent. Like if something is acidic or not."
"Hmm... what about perfume?"
"No, I don't think so."
"Ehh..." The girl looked at me with genuine pity, as if it were the worst thing in the world.
"Look, it's just my sense of touch, taste, and smell. I can hear and see just fine."
"You're so strong... I can't imagine not being able to taste food anymore."
After a while, Diana stood up. "I'm going to get sterilized. I'll be back in a sec." She walked toward a strange booth in the corner of the room. I'd noticed these booths earlier and thought they were toilets. When Diana opened the door, I caught a glimpse inside.
It was... nothing. Just a small, empty, white room. No toilet, no fixtures, nothing.
Diana closed the door behind her. I had a feeling they didn't use regular toilets here. The booth was perfectly silent, as if it were completely soundproofed. After a few minutes, the door opened and Diana stepped out, looking slightly flushed but relaxed.
"The ones in Love are better," Diana sighed. "This one is too forceful."
"What the fuck happened in there?"
"Sterilization. What else?"
I blinked slowly. "I see..."
I knew absolutely nothing about the human "sterilization" procedure in this world. At this point, I was too afraid to ask.
Eventually, nearly an hour had passed. We headed back to the changing room. Our clothes were waiting for us in a box near the chute—neatly folded and still warm. We dressed, scanned our cards to check out, and left the bathhouse.