'Ah, we would really think that we're in one of those blood-curdling novels that Gōjun is so fond of!' Tsubasa Shigeizumi commented, shivering a little. 'You know, the kind where all the characters go on a holiday in a recluse area, and during the weekend, one of them gets murdered, with the plot revolving around solving the crime!'
The red-haired male giggled.
'The whodunit type, eh? And if we were in a novel here, who in your opinion would be the murderer?'
The blonde woman cupped her chin thoughtfully to ponder over it. Saien Natsume did the same action, taken by the game.
'Momose!' he exclaimed, after a minute, putting his forefinger up, and giving her a triumphant smile, as if he had resolved the mystery.
'That's right! She was not with us when the lights went out! She's our prime suspect!' Tsubasa agreed, in the same tone, before she became thoughtful again. 'But isn't that a little too easy? Usually, in those types of novels, it is always the person who seems the least suspect who is the murderer.'
Saien cupped his chin thoughtfully once again just like her. 'You're right. It can't be Momose. It would be too obvious. Then, who could it be?'
'And what if it was me?' she asked, in a terrifying tone, putting on the most twisted look as she could manage on her face. 'What if the murder has not already taken place, but is about to take place only now? Who tells you that I have not attracted you outside to kill you?'
The red-haired male flinched, and putting his hands up at her, he giggled, nervously, 'My! My! Tsubasa, please, stop that! You're going to give me nightmares!'
She laughed.
'Alright. I'm going to stop.'
They had arrived on the side of the ryokan now.
'Ah, there it is!' she declared, pointing at the box on the wall, and they both headed for it.
Opening the box, Saien realized that it was the breaker that had caused the power cut. The switch has become a bit loose and needed to be replaced. He lifted it up again, and all the lights were restored.
'I'll tell the manager to ask someone from the village to come over and get it repaired tomorrow, so that there are no more problems in the future.'
He nodded, and closing the box, he told her, 'Let's hurry up to get back inside! It's about to rain!'
Hardly had he said this that droplets of water began to fall on them from the sky. Covering their heads with their hands, they started to run to get back indoors. Just as they had almost reached the entrance door, suddenly, one of Tsubasa's feet slipped on the wet floor and she would have fallen on her chin on the ground, had Saien not turn around just in time to catch hold of her hands.
'Are you alright?' he asked her, as he helped her to her feet where she had fallen on her knees.
'Yes,' she nodded, and looking up at his face, she thanked him, giving him a grateful smile.
They both hurried to get themselves indoors after that. They headed directly for the game hall to find the others. Shunsui and Momose joined them by the same minute, and the brown-haired girl went to fetch them a towel.
Hime and Gōjun arrived after a few minutes.
***
Well, well, Shunsui Shigeizumi said to himself as he observed his friend and the dark-haired girl, a large, self-satisfied smile coming to his lips, I've done a good thing to send these two downstairs together. The situation was ideal for a romantic scene to take place!
The dark-haired girl was touching her lips with her fingers, her eyes lowered, her face all flushed.
Shunsui could imagine perfectly well what had happened: Gōjun holding the dark-haired girl's hand in the dark and picking up the occasion to kiss her.
In fact, Gōjun was still holding the girl's hand tightly in his.
'Now, let's see who has won!' the reddish-brown-haired young man' mother declared, after she had dried her hair with a towel, and they all moved up to the small table in the middle of the room to look at the cards that were lying there.
'Yare! Yare! I accept my defeat this time!' Saien declared at the blonde woman, scratching the back of his head a little and giving her a meek smile. 'I can't win against you!'
The red-haired male had a pair. While the blonde woman had two pairs, which was in fact, a square!
Making a small jump in the air, the woman cried a big 'YES!', smiling triumphantly.
'How about we play Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai now?' Shunsui suggested, cheerily. 'I think that the ambiance is perfect! The old building. The recluse area. The rain outside.'
'I'm in for it,' his mother declared, excitedly.
'Same for me,' Gōjun said.
'And you?' the reddish-brown-haired young man declared at Saien Natsume, in a challenging tone. 'Are you joining yourself to us? But maybe you don't have the guts for it.'
'You're going to regret having invited me to participate in this game!' the red-haired male asserted, putting one of his fists up at him and smiling defiantly. 'Prepare yourself to cry like a sissy! I have a good chronicle of horror stories that could make anyone's blood run cold!'
'We'll see who is going to cry like a sissy! I've also got a good chronicle of stories of the kind, mind you!'
'Yare! Yare!' the blonde woman exhaled, closing her eyes and shaking her head.
On her side, the dark-haired girl didn't seem to be able to hold it anymore.
'It's out of the question that I play to that game again!' she cried, desperately. 'Help, Kami-sama!'
***
But, inevitably, I ended up as a participant in the game, even if it was well against my wish.
As if it was possible to resist Shunsui, Gōjun and Tsubasa-sama!
Even if I didn't take part in the story-telling, I was forced to sit with them and listen to the blood-curdling stories that they would tell. Momose participated in the game too, and the girl was incontestably the master of it. She knew tons and tons of tales and she left both Shunsui and the red-haired male far behind in terms of horrific content. They were both forced to accept their defeat in front of her.
By the time we had finished the game, the rain had stopped, and Tsubasa-sama and I were the first to enter the onsen. The gents told us that they would wait to take their turn.
It was the first time that I was coming to an onsen and I found it extremely agreeable.
After we had come out of it and got dressed, Tsubasa-sama told me that she was going to the kitchen to drink something, and that I should inform the boys that they could use the onsen now.
As I was making down the corridor on which our bedrooms were found, I caught sight of Shunsui, who was making in direction of the kitchen. I had been about to call out to him when, suddenly, I heard strange sounds coming from my right. These sounds were coming from Gōjun's room. His door was half-open.
Hesitantly, I took a peek inside of the room and my eyes fell onto him where he was lying on his futon with his eyes closed. He had fallen asleep, and was apparently, having a nightmare.
Making my way timidly up to him, I sat myself down in a squatting position by the side of his futon, wondering if I should wake him up. He didn't seem to be scared in his sleep. But he seemed to be having a dream full of pain.
Still very hesitantly, I lifted my hand to shake him gently by his shoulders.
His eyes snapped open on the spot, a small gasp escaping his mouth.
Covering his face with his hand then, he closed his eyes for a minute, breathing profoundly, before he opened them up again to look at me.
'Don't enter my room just like that,' he stated. 'What if I was nude?'
My face reddened.
'I- I'm sorry,' I stammered. 'I was passing by and heard you having a nightmare. you seemed to be-'
Without giving any warning, he sat up in a jerk and grabbing hold of my left forearm, he pulled me down to onto his futon, such that I was resting on my back, only to shift on top of me, pining my wrist by the side of my shoulder, while his other hand come down to rest against the futon on the other side of my head.
My eyes went wide at him; my heart picking up speed; my face heating up completely.
'Gōjun… Wha- What are you doing?'
He stared at me in the eyes for a few seconds, before he bent down into my face to seal our mouth in a long kiss.
I went very still; my eyes closing on themselves; my heart beating crazily.
Gōjun… What-
Out of the blue, he pulled the collar of my T-shirt roughly down my shoulder and held it there to bare my skin, only for his lips to leave mine to come down onto my neck.
My eyes blew wide open; my heart going completely wild now in panic.
'Gōjun, what are you doing?' I gasped, trying to struggle.
His mouth was all over my neck and shoulder.
I managed to slip my hand between us to press it against his chest.
'Gōjun, please, st-'
But he cut me off with another kiss on the mouth. The next second, I felt his hand slip under my shirt to come onto my waist.
This sent my heart in absolute havoc.
'Gōjun, stop!' I cried, somehow managing to shove him back at that moment, to sit up.
Clutching the collar of my T-shirt with both my hands, I jumped to my feet and ran out of the room.
Just as I came out of the door, I bumped into someone head-on. It was Shunsui. He had a towel around his neck and had been carrying some personal bathing materials, that I dropped in the collision. I guessed that he must have come across of Tsubasa-sama in the kitchen. However, I was too disheveled to help him pick his things up where they had fallen on the floor, or even apologize to him for having bumped into him.
Instead, I ran for my bedroom, and sliding the door shut, I leaned backward against it, still clutching my collar with my two hands, a bit shaken.
Gōjun, what took over you?
***
Gōjun, what took over you? Shunsui wondered, as he stared after the dark-haired girl.
Given how disheveled she looked, he had a small idea about what his friend must have done.
I know how you think. You must be telling yourself that it's a mere physical attraction that you feel towards her.
But you're wrong.
When will you stop being scared of caring and loving someone, for fear of being abandoned- of getting hurt?
When will you admit it to yourself that what you feel for her is not lust, but love; that you're in love with her?!
***
I didn't sleep well that night.
And in the morning, it was very reluctantly that I got out of my futon.
I prepared everyone's breakfast, and when I came across of Gōjun in the dining area, I tried to avoid his look as much as I could, feeling extremely uncomfortable.
I really wonder what took over him last night.
Soon after breakfast, Tsubasa-sama proposed that we descend down the mountain to visit the village, and since Momose was accompanying us, we took the occasion to visit her mother and new-born sister.
When I saw the woman, I was amazed at how much Momose resembled her. It was, as if, we were confronted to twins. If not for the age difference, it would have perhaps been impossible to identity them from each other. The woman's name was Sakurae.
'Kawaii!' I cooed, as I gazed at the small baby in the woman's arms.
'Do you want to hold her?' the latter asked me.
I cringed away, instantly, panicking a little. 'C-Can I, really?'
'Yes,' she replied, giving me a large encouraging smile, and very carefully, she placed the infant in my arms.
I thought that the latter would cry, but she simply looked at me with wide open eyes, reaching up with her tiny hands to grab my chin.
'What's her name?' Gōjun asked the woman, from where he was holding himself next to me.
'It's Momo,' she informed him, and looking at her elder daughter, who was standing at the foot of her bed, next to her husband, she added, with a cheery smile, 'Momose and Momo.'
'Hello, Momo!' Gōjun said at the baby, sending his arm around my neck to look at her more closely. 'I am Gōjun. And this is the Princess.'
I blushed.
'It's really nice to meet you, little Momo,' I cooed. 'My name is Hime.'
There came a camera flash in all of a sudden, and Gōjun and I looked at Shunsui who had taken a picture of Gōjun and I with the baby.
'My! My! When we look at the two of you like this, we would think that we're seeing a young couple with their first born!' he giggled.
At this, I looked at Gōjun's face, flushing tomato red. The latter looked away in embarrassment, and I almost thought I could decipher a small blush on his cheeks.
'That's true!' Sakurae-san declared, giggling with Tsubasa-sama.
I flushed even deeper, that is, if that was even possible.
'Do you like children, Saien?' the blonde woman asked the red-haired male, as she approached us to caress the head of the baby, watching her tenderly.
'Well, not really!' the man answered, scratching the back of his head, sheepishly.
'That's strange! I would have seen you well-fitted in the role of a father!' she told him, giving him a pleasant smile over her shoulder.
The red-haired male's eyes widened at her, his expression a bit surprise.
'Are you kidding?!' Shunsui muttered, grumpily. 'That guy does not have a jot of paternal fiber in him. If you had seen him at school!'
'Even if I hate giving ground to Shunsui, I think that he is right on this subject!' the man asserted, putting his forefinger up and closing his eyes to giggle awkwardly.
'In all cases, I love kids!' Tsubasa-sama said, smiling affectionately at little Momo.
'Oh, Okā-san!' Shunsui said, and sending his arm around her shoulders, he pulled her against his side in a loving hug. And looking at each other, they exchanged a tender smile.
We decided to stay with the Asagiri for a while after that.
Sakurae-san's delivery was only recent and she was still very weak. Even if Momose and her husband helped her during all their free time, there were still many household chores that were left pending, and Tsubasa-sama and I proposed to take care of them for her. We also decided that we should make a nice soup for Sakurae-san, that would get her back to feet.
We were in the middle of preparing this when, Momose informed us that she was going out to buy a few groceries, because she feared that there was not enough food for our stay at the onsen.
'It's okay,' Tsubasa-sama told her, in a kind tone. 'I'll go. You stay with your mother. You have not had the chance to be with your little sister and her a lot recently, am I wrong?'
'It's true that with school and my replacing my father at the onsen and all that...' the girl admitted, lowering her eyes and scratching her cheek a little. 'Thank you for all that you're doing!'
'Ah, there's no need to thank me,' the blonde woman giggled, blushing in embarrassment.
Turning to me then, she asked me to take care of the soup, after which, she began to make for the door.
Saien-sensei, who was returning by that same instant from where he was gone outside to smoke a cigarette along with the boys, asked her where was going and he proposed to accompany to help her carry her bags.
Tsubasa-sama accepted gratefully.
Thank you for reading!