The bath water was almost unbearably hot, but that’s just how Leda had always liked it. There was something about immersing herself in heat that made her feel at ease. She liked coming to the bath house, feeling the silence around her, breathing in the steam, sometimes letting her head slip under the surface and pretend for a moment that she existed somewhere outside of reality. But of course, she was outside of reality. Every time she woke up and looked at her room, or peeked into the garden and listened to the distant unfamiliar sounds of feudal Japanese city life, she knew this wasn't reality. Not her reality.

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