I was awakened in the morning by a phone-call from Tsubasa-sama. It was to inform me that I was not to head to school today, but to join her at Shunsui's place. The reddish-brown-haired young man and she have decided that they would spend the weekend at their family onsen, and evidently, Gōjun and I were tagging along. We were leaving today itself to spend at all three days on the mountain.
'May I go?'
'Yes,' Ojii-san agreed, with a smile.
I looked at Obā-san, who was sitting next to him at the table to seek her permission as well. 'Obā-san?'
She, too, gave me her consent, combined with a smile that made my heart happy like never before.
'Thank you,' I said to both of them, and getting to my feet, I left for my bedroom to do my bags rapidly.
As I was about to leave for Shunsui's house, suddenly, Obā-san asked me to wait.
'I will accompany you part of the way. I'm going to visit your mother at the hospital.'
My eyes went wide at her; my heart skipping a beat.
Oh, Obā-san!
I looked at Ojii-san's face, and we reached up to brush the tears that had appeared in the corner of our eyes, smiling with rejoice.
'I'm coming with you,' he informed her, sending his arm around her shoulders. 'I have not had the time to visit Kozue a lot recently. Tsubasa-sama has given me three days off. Let's try to spend the maximum of time with our daughter, what do you say?'
The old woman looked up at his face to gaze at him, nodding in answer.
And my heart was filled.
Okā-san… I'm so happy!
***
Gōjun Shoran was holding himself in front of the gate of the house, helping the old man Takara put the luggages in the boot of the car when, the dark-haired girl arrived. She gave the young man a shy smile and greeted the older male with a bow.
'Ah! Miss! Please, give me your luggages so I can put them in the boot too!' the old man told her, and she handed them over to him with gratitude.
As she did this, suddenly, Gōjun's eyes fell onto the girl's hands, and his breath caught when he noticed that she was wearing several wound-plasters around her fingers.
Instantaneously, he reached out to grab hold of her hands in both of his to exclaim at her, agitatedly, 'Oi! Princess! Don't tell me that you've been trying to repair that snow globe!'
'W-Well… Yes...' she answered, closing her eyes and smiling sheepishly. 'The result was not all that good and I ended up cutting my fingers at several places.'
He stared at her face, unable to understand how she could be smiling despite of her recklessness.
'Dammit! Don't do that kind of thing!' he scolded her, and without thinking, he brought her palms up to his mouth to kiss her fingers.
She froze into place, her eyes going wide at him in surprise; her cheeks reddening.
When he realized what he had just done, he released her hands immediately and flung around to cover his mouth with one of his hands, his heart beating very fast.
What took over me just now?
The other day, behind the gymnasium, I kissed her again. And the day before yesterday, I kissed her one more time. And then again, yesterday, I…
What's happening to me?
Is it really a mere physical attraction that I feel for her?
Yes. It can only be that. What else could it be?!
Once I've had my way with her, I'm sure that it will pass!
***
Gōjun…
I stared at his back, extremely surprised by his action.
When he turned around to face me again, he gave me a frustrated look to mutter at me, 'Your hands are precious for cooking! Don't come crying to me that you can't hold a knife properly because your fingers are hurting you too much! I'll consider them as excuses!'
I cringed away. He's cruel!
'And I really hope for you that you've brought the recipe book I gave you yesterday! Otherwise, you're dead meat!'
'Y-Yes, I've brought it. It's in my bag.'
'Good!' he stated, and yanking the back door of the car open, he got onto the vehicle to wait there for Shunsui and Tsubasa-sama to arrive, crossing his arms over his chest.
Scratching my cheek, I giggled nervously.
'Ah, Hime! You've arrived!' I heard Tsubasa-sama call out to me, at that moment, and I turned around to look at her where she was coming out of the gate.
'Tsubasa-sama! Ohayō!' I greeted her, with a cheerful smile.
'Ohayō!' she greeted me back, cheerily, and rushing up to me, she sent her arms around my neck to press her face against mine affectionately while hugging me.
Shunsui had come out of the gate too. As my eyes fell onto him- or rather, what he was wearing- I couldn't help but gasp out his name in total surprise.
The reddish-brown-haired young man was wearing one of the slogan T-shirts that Tsubasa-sama had designed with their pictures printed on it! I couldn't believe my eyes!
'Ah! I see that you've noticed, Hime! I've finally been able to convince him to wear one of the T-shirts! Isn't it so cute?'
She had jumped at him now, and pulling him down by one of his arms, she started rubbing her cheek affectionately against his.
The reddish-brown-haired young man closed his eyes in irritation.
'He's so adorable with me! Now everyone one of us is wearing the T-shirts!'
In effect, Gōjun, Takara-san and I were wearing the slogan T-shirts she had given to us. It was our way of showing our veneration to their love.
'And look! I'm wearing one with exactly the same design as he is wearing!' she exclaimed, excitedly, pointing at the T-shirt she was sporting. I gawked at it admiration.
It was a new design. The slogan was bigger. It said: LOVE FOREVER. And the picture was larger!
But even before I could open my mouth to say anything, Shunsui put his hand in my face, to state, 'Don't say a single word! Unless you want to be punished, of course!'
Eh?!
He was watching me with a diabolical look.
I cringed.
He might very well end up asking me to take care of the grass in the yard with a pair of scissors as punishment!
'No-No,' I stammered, breaking into cold sweat, my face going pale, while Tsubasa-sama giggled to herself.
***
When Shigure Nara arrived in front of the door of the hospital room, she paused down momentarily to look at her husband, tears rolling down her cheeks.
It had been years since she had not seen their daughter's face. And when Kozue had entered into her coma, she had categorically refused to set her eyes even once on her.
'Do you think that she has a grudge against me?'
She felt miserable.
'It's going to be alright,' her husband told her, with a reassuring smile, tightening his arm around her shoulders.
They held each other's gaze for a minute, before the man slid the door open, and taking hold of her hand, while still keeping his arm around her shoulders, he led her inside of the room up to their daughter's bed.
The old woman felt her heart swell and then, immediately, sunk, at the sight of that familiar face resting there. She looked at her husband again, more tears gushing down her face.
'Speak to her,' the old man encouraged.
Blinking back her tears, she nodded once and looked at their daughter again to pick her hand up in one of hers and press it softly, croaking out, 'Kozue, it's Okā-san! At last, I'm here, my girl! And I won't leave you ever again!'
Bringing their daughter's hand up to her mouth then, she placed a kiss on the back of it, sobbingly.
Just at that moment, they saw a pearl of tear streak down Kozue's cheek. Ryutsuki and Shigure Nara looked at each other's face again, their eyes going wide.
They were sure that their daughter could hear them.
'Kozue, you have to wake up!' the older woman told her, with an encouraging smile. 'Look! Your Otō-san is here too. We want to speak to you. We want to laugh with you. We want to go on a stroll with you. We want to do all the things that we used to do when we were together before. And there's also Hime now! She's such a marvelous young girl! And so, you have to wake up soon, my darling, so that we can do all these things together!'
***
It was in the late afternoon that we arrived at the onsen. This, was run as part of a ryokan and has been in the Shigeizumi family for generations. The building was quite small and one-storied, and it was situated on the Mountain of Rokumeikan.
The whole region was covered with forests, with only a small village for habitat located at the very foot of the mountain.
'Takara-san, are you sure that you don't want to stay with us?' Tsubasa-sama asked the old man, when we had gotten down from the car.
'No, my family is waiting for me in Kokubunji. I want to return to them as rapidly as possible.'
'Well, next time, we'll bring your wife along with us, and at that moment, you won't be able to refuse us anymore,' she stated, cheerfully, putting her forefinger up.
The man gave her a large smile, watching her with appreciation. 'Hai!'
The boys helped him to take our luggages out of the boot and soon, we were saying goodbye to the old man. He was to come to pick us up on Sunday.
'Please, drive safely!' Tsubasa-sama told him, as a parting note. 'But above it all, don't stop to give a lift to anyone after dark! Remember the incident with the woman from the other world!'
At this reminder to Takara-san, all color drained out of my face and I broke into cold sweat. I still had not been able to get rid of my terror for the supernatural. I guessed that it was irremediable. That fear was ingrained in me.
'Eh...?! I know a good game that we could play tonight! Hya- ku- mo- no- ga- ta- ri Kai- dan- kai!' Shunsui asserted, causing me to flinch.
He was grinning at me mischievously.
'Shunsui!' I said, complainingly.
Takara-san was still driving away when, unexpectedly, a car pulled up in front of the building at that moment. And to our great astonishment, the person who came down from the vehicle was none other than Saien Natsume-sensei!
'What is he doing here?!' Shunsui exclaimed on top of his voice, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.
'Well, it's me who has invited him!' Tsubasa-sama informed him, putting her forefinger up again and smiling cheerily.
The reddish-brown-haired young man's mouth went agape at her.
'Ah, Tsubasa!' the red-haired male declared, as he came towards us, after having grabbed his things from the boot of the vehicle. 'Thank you for having invited me. It had been eons since I've been to an onsen!'
'Why did you invite him?!' Shunsui demanded at her, gesturing at the older male peevishly; he didn't look happy at all.
'Well, I thought that it would give the two of you the occasion to apologize to each other and turn over a new leaf!'
At these words, the reddish-brown-haired young man and the older male stared each other for a minute or two, before their faces scrunched up, and pointing at each other's face, they stated, querulously, 'It's out of the question that I apologize to him!'
Crossing their arms over their chest then, they turned their back onto each other to sulk.
Tsubasa-sama and I giggled awkwardly, while Gōjun shook his head at them.
Yare! Yare! It's about time that they stop being stubborn and turn over a new leaf!
A young girl came running out of the building after that. The girl was around thirteen years old, had short brown hair, and was clothed in a kimono. She presented herself to us as the daughter of the manager of the place.
'I'm sorry. I didn't hear you arrive. I would have come to greet you immediately,' she exclaimed at Tsubasa-sama, bowing down to apologize to her fervently. 'My father has gone to the village. During his absence, I'll be the one at your service. My name is Momose Asagiri. It's really nice to finally meet you in person!'
'Ah, please, don't be so formal with me!' the blonde woman told her, in a pleasant tone, and putting her hand down onto the girl's shoulder, she made her stand upright again. 'Your father has informed me that your mother has just given been birth to their second child. You have a little sister now. It's so marvelous. He should not leave your mother all alone.'
The girl gave her a smile, before she directed the two male attendants of the hotel, who arrived after her, to carry our luggages inside.
'I have reserved the whole place so that we have it all to ourselves!' Tsubasa-sama informed us, as we were being led us down the different corridors of the ryokan, the young girl showing us around the place.
The ryokan had a lobby, a communal dining area, a modern kitchen, a game hall, and several, small traditional bedrooms. All of these were found on the ground floor. Downstairs, there was a basement, which served more or less as a store room. The onsen was situated at the back of the ryokan. It was outdoors, and MIXED!
I reddened at this discovery.
'Why am I not in Shunsui's bedroom?!' Tsubasa-sama moaned as Momose showed us to our sleeping quarters. Throwing herself at the reddish-brown-haired young man, the blonde woman clung herself at the front of his T-shirt, sniffling. 'I wanted us to be in the same room!'
'Oi! What are you saying?!' Shunsui groaned, clutching her hands. 'I'm too old for us to be sleeping in the same room! And the rooms are too small anyway!'
Hanging her head, Tsubasa-sama continued to sniffle.
Natsume-sensei was chuckling to himself on the side by now.
When Shunsui heard him, the younger male's face reddened in embarrassment and he snapped at the man, 'Will you stop that?'
The latter looked at him with a large grin. 'By the way, nice shirt!'
And on this, the red-haired male headed for his bedroom, leaving the reddish-brown-haired young man flushing even deeper, and fuming.
'Ah! He irritates me so much!' Shunsui shouted, stamping his foot on the floor.
Taking a deep breath, I sighed.
We're not out of the woods yet with these two! They're being childish!
'Ne, ne, Hime, you're sleeping with me, right?' Tsubasa-sama asked me, as she moved up to me to take hold of both my hands in hers, her spirits high again.
I blushed, feeling a bit shy.
'Hai!' I replied, and already, she dragging me into one of the bedrooms with her.
Shortly after we had unpacked our things, I grabbed the recipe book Gōjun had given to me to head into the kitchen, getting to the stove.
Thank you for reading!
Glossary
Onsen - hot springs