[Short Story] #Three-Line Dialogue Challenge (Acidic, Evening Shower, Ring Pillow)

I will be participating in Haratokei-san's project🥰.

■Dialogue
"Wow! It's so fluffy!"

■Three Topics
・Acidic
・Evening shower
・Ring pillow

　　　　　　　　***

On the way back from shopping with Yui.
We were caught in a sudden rain.

"Wow, an evening shower!"
Of course, we hadn't prepared an umbrella.
Since I was carrying bags in both hands, there was no choice but to get wet anyway.
Amidst the smell of heated asphalt rising up... the two of us jogged back to the shop.

"I'll go get a towel, wait outside."
I said that, entered the shop through the back door, grabbed a towel, and unlocked the front door.

"Kaya-nee is... getting married."
Yui's voice kept echoing in my head.

I must have been very concerned about that marriage news.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. Here, a towel..."
As I went to hand it over... I felt a jolt.

To escape the rain, Yui had been wearing the hood of her white hoodie... and for some reason, that soaked hood looked like a veil to me.

It's just a happy piece of news about a relative.
I didn't think it would disturb my feelings this much.

...But. That Kaya is getting married.
Even though she was a girl who was mature for her age... I can't help but think that she's reached that age now, too.

--Well, I guess I'm getting old too...
My state of mind was complicated in many ways.

Maybe Yui will get married someday too... if she finds someone to take her.

--Am I... a priest?
This towel is, in a sense, a ring pillow.
...I found myself thinking about things like that vaguely.

"Wow! It's so fluffy!"
As soon as Yui received the towel, she buried her face in it to check.

"What are you doing..."
I thought she should take off her wet jacket first, and a sigh escaped me.
Judging by the fact that she still reacts like that... it seems there's nothing to worry about.

--No, what exactly am I worried about?

"You'll catch a cold, you know?"
I gently take off her hood.
But... Yui isn't that small of a child anymore.

The fabric soaked by the rain was sheer.
Come to think of it, the clothes underneath were also slightly transparent...

--I mean, what am I doing!

Is this... sexual harassment?
I hurriedly covered her with my own towel and, as if to cover it up, started scrubbing her head with it.

Lately... I can't help but feel that my words and actions are strange.
For some reason, at this timing, I'm even remembering those strawberry panties from the other day.
This in itself might be some kind of harassment, but I'm so flustered that I can't stop my hands.

--See, I knew it, something is wrong... Since when? This isn't like me...

That was when I thought so.
"That's enough, stop it!"
I heard Yui's desperate voice.

Finally, I snapped back to reality.
What I saw peeking out from the veil of the towel was... flushed cheeks and glistening eyes.

"I can do it myself! So Yasu-san, go take a bath already."
Looking up at that serious face... for some reason, I felt a shock that made my heart flutter.

...That was when it happened.
"It might be acid rain, you know? If you don't hurry, you'll go even more bald..."

At those words from Yui... I felt like my heart had been shot in a different sense.