Hot Water (Part 2)
by BrDPirateMan
Eri had this way of twisting people's arms and it worked very well. Somehow she managed to get all five of us in the hot spring, and on hindsight, she was an impressive actress. She could land a part in a drama movie. Better still, she could work for the government as a spy, like a modern-day Mata Hari or something.
Shiki, on the other hand, was terrific at twisting my neck. My poor neck… it hurt so much.
The outdoor bath, lit by a variety of lamps, was populated by a number of people, both men and women alike. Everyone was as bare-bodied as I was, but the funny thing was that most, if not all of the other spa-goers were middle-aged. There was not a single young person to be found. In fact, the only teenagers were us. That made me relieved somewhat. It would be embarrassing if there was a whole bunch of girls frolicking about in full view of us guys.
There was a small artificial island made of rock in the middle of the bath that people could lean against. Beat and I were on one side while the girls were on the other. We were facing away so there was no way I could see Shiki directly without turning around.
Beat had warned me not to do anything weird to Rhyme. She would be joining us, and if I did so much as to think about her in her undressed state, then "I'ma kill you, yo!" as he had put it. Oh please, wouldn't I be the lowest of perverts if I were to fantasise about a 13-year-old?
Besides, with Shiki on the other side of the rock island in the middle of the pool, she was the only thing I could think about. Damn, she was right behind me, along with Eri and Rhyme… but if I turned to look, Beat might mistake me for peeping on his sister. Not good. And I wanted so much to see Shiki without her towel… Well, all that I would be able to see would be above the shoulders, but that would still be nice…
It was too bad. All I got of Shiki was a few seconds of her wrapped in a towel.
Eri's infectious personality had magically dissipated the foul mood, and Shiki and Rhyme, previously more than a little irritated, were now chatting quite happily with her. I couldn't get half of what they were yakking about. Girl talk, I guess.
The tensest among us was Beat, whose overprotective nature made it impossible for him to loosen up. No matter how much I had tried to convince him that I wouldn't think of his sister in a dirty way, he was hardly trusting of me. So how could I find it in myself to relax for that matter, when he was sitting ramrod straight with brows furrowed as though to intimidate me?
Damn, if only I could sit next to Shiki. It would be even better if we were alone…
"Oh no!" Eri cried out, "I forgot to… Hey guys, I gotta go. Take your time, yeah?"
"What's wrong, Eri?" asked Shiki, concerned.
"There's an important phone call I have to make," replied Eri, standing up with her towel around her. "I completely forgot about it. I can't wait either. I've got to make the call now. Meantime, enjoy yourselves, okay?"
"Alright," called Rhyme, as we watched Eri emerge from the pool and scamper off. "See you later, Eri."
Some of the people who had been sharing the bath with us got up to leave. One of the older women caught a brief glimpse of us and smiled to her friend. I overheard her muttering something about how nice it would be if they were young again, and to that her friend nodded in agreement. What was it about growing old that made people forever reminiscent about their younger days? There was only about a handful of people left in the outdoor bath, about seven or eight including the four of us.
Suddenly, Rhyme said, "Oh dear. There's something I have to do. It's really important. Sorry, Shiki, everyone, but I must leave for now."
"Okay, don't rush, Rhyme," said Shiki.
"Hey, if Rhyme's goin', I'ma go too," Beat piped up, following his sister out of the pool.
"Beat! There's no need to come with me. I can do this myself," chided Rhyme.
"No way, yo," said Beat, concern thick as molasses. "My mind wouldn't be at ease if I don't come witchu." He really was overprotective.
"We'll be fine here," I hollered after them. They disappeared along with the rest of the onsen-goers.
I did a quick scan of the pool but no one could be seen except Shiki. The bath was deserted. Not a single soul in sight. Only the scratchy chirping of crickets could be heard, along with the soothing sound of flowing water and the occasional whoosh of the cool night breeze.
It was the very picture of serenity, but upon realization of one important fact, my heart became a thunderstorm of emotions.
Well, Shiki and I were alone…
I gulped. Were we really the only ones left? It had been my secret desire to be alone with her, and in the bath, but wasn't this… a little too easy? Was life supposed to be this good? Surely there had to be a catch somewhere… Life couldn't be smooth-sailing all the time…
On the other hand, if I made the right moves, Shiki would fall head-over-heels in love with me. Hmmm… Maybe I could use this chance to seduce her…
No, no! That's not right! I swatted away the devil sitting on my shoulder and tried to clean out my mind, but his pitchfork was stuck in me, corrupting me slowly but surely. Trying to make things better for myself, I made small talk with Shiki.
"So, uh, Shiki… Um, nice night, isn't it?"
"Uh-huh…" came her meek voice.
"Say, what do you think of this place?"
"It's not bad, I guess… It's… well, yeah, it's not bad."
Something about the way she spoke to me was a little worrying. Sure, she could be quiet at times, such was her personality, but it wasn't like her to be this quiet. She was an interesting girl; she could engage in lively conversations if she wanted to.
"Shiki, what's wrong?" I asked over my shoulder. "You okay?"
"Um… Well, it's nothing really."
"Are you sure? You're not usually like this."
"Well…"
"Shiki," I said, in the most soothing voice I could muster, "I'm your friend. It's okay, you can tell me what's on your mind. But if you don't want to talk about it, it's alright…"
"Oh, you're mistaken," said Shiki, sounding a little more cheerful. "Thanks for your concern, but it's nothing serious at all. It's just… I… I feel unsafe."
"Unsafe?"
"Yeah," she replied, "I'm… all alone in this pool."
"But I'm right here," I said. "Don't worry, everything's fine. I'm here with you."
"No, Neku, look…" Her voice was shaking. "The pool's already empty except for the two of us. And it's already dark and everywhere it's just so quiet that it's creepy… Wh-What if there are perverts lying in wait peeping on me? They could be nearby snapping photos of me… And if they post those photos on the internet…"
"Then I'll take a look at them to see if they turned out right," I quipped cheekily, trying to lift the mood.
"Neku! That's not funny!" Whoops, looks like it didn't work after all. Even though I could not see her, I could just imagine her face glowing red. Heck, I could almost feel her body heat radiating from her entire being. Maybe I was confusing it for the steam from the warm water, though.
"But seriously, there's no need to worry," I said, "Like I said, I'm right here, behind you. If you need help, just give me a holler and I'll come running."
"But Neku… I'm scared. You may be behind me but I can't see you. It feels like it's just me and that there's no one else!"
Hmmm… This was a bit of a quandary. What should I do? Suddenly an idea struck me, and I found myself wondering why I hadn't thought of it earlier.
So I wrapped my towel around myself and stood up to wade over to Shiki's side. She immediately jumped and started shifting away in shock.
"N-Neku!" she shrieked, covering her chest with her towel. "What are you doing? G-Get back!"
"But you said you felt uneasy sitting by yourself," I explained, seating myself beside her, "So I thought it would be best if I sat here to accompany you."
"Wh-Whoa! HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!" She slapped the water surface and flung water in my face. Need I remind everyone that the water was steaming, and while it was normally soothing on the body, it was unbearable on the face?
"Gah! Hot!" I yelped, hurriedly rubbing my cheeks, forehead and everything else in an attempt to reduce the pain. "My face!"
Realising what she had done, Shiki gasped and fussed over me. "Neku! I-I'm so sorry! Please, hold still so I can take a look." She started to examine my poor face, stroking my cheeks and touching my skin with those delicate fingers of hers. "Well, it seems fine…"
"I'm alright, Shiki," I said, though I neglected to mention that being splashed with hot water was an experience I would rather not go through again.
"Sorry, Neku," she said, double-checking to make sure she didn't miss a spot. "It's just… I… I wasn't prepared to…"
At that precise moment, both of us realized that she had gotten disturbingly close to me. The proximity of her body… Had she moved another inch, my arm would be touching her chest... Well, there was no denying that she was stunning. She was already pretty to begin with, but seeing her so near I was able to appreciate her beauty even more. The way her short brown hair framed her face, coupled with her eyes which glowed so brightly, convinced me that she was one fine-looking girl. The steam that rose from the water lent a mysterious aura around her, like fog on a cool morning.
She had been staring at me for as long as I did, seemingly caught up in her own thoughts, before she snapped out of it and broke away in a fit of blushing. "I… I wasn't doing anything weird!" she stammered, plagued by verbal diarrhea. "I was only checking to see if you're alright! I… I…"
I just let her be, choosing not to utter a single word and waiting patiently for her to finish.
"That… I… See…" Shiki was struggling to find the right words. She couldn't. She sobered up from her frantic oh-my-god-what-should-I-do routine, and just looked away from me. She slipped a little further under the surface, obviously uncomfortable with her nakedness in the presence of a guy. I was her most trusted friend, but I wasn't too surprised that she would be far from trusting of me in such a vulnerable situation.
Still, she wasn't ungrateful for my thoughtfulness. "Th-Thank you, Neku…" she muttered, slowly looking at me askance.
"Uh, yeah," I said, my voice barely audible. "D-Don't mention it."
I knew that I was barging in on her comfort zone, but I knew I had to do something to put her at ease, never mind if I was seen as a pervert. Because I knew fully well that I had no ulterior motives behind my actions.
Well, it would be more accurate to say that seeing her bare and unclothed self was a bonus objective…
In the silence that followed I found myself trying to take surreptitious glances at her. I knew that it was wrong of me to do such things, but you know… I couldn't exactly help it. Blame it on my hormones. They made me want to try and make out the curves of her body that lay beneath the water surface. The rippling water made it difficult, though. I settled for her bare shoulders instead, and I caught one or two treasured glimpses of her cleavage, though it was nothing explicit. No matter how careful I was, however, she always noticed.
"Don't peek!" she snapped at me, more embarrassed than angry. But the fact that she didn't run out of the bath in disgust was something of a good sign…
Things were so awkward that Shiki and I could barely do anything but talk in ridiculously short sentences comprising no more than three words.
"So…" I drawled, beginning the chain of silliness.
Her reply was, "Uh…"
"What's new?"
"Nothing much."
"Oh…"
"What about you?"
I paused for a moment to recollect my thoughts which were hopelessly in disarray. "I-I'm fine!" Then I gave a small laugh in an attempt to put ourselves more at ease. It came out dry and rattling, and needless to say, it didn't work.
"Sorry for all this, Shiki," I said, clutching the back of my neck and looking away. "I'm not making things any easier for both of us, am I?"
"To tell you the truth, Neku," she mumbled, "I've never been to a hot spring before."
"Really?" I said, totally surprised. "I'd have thought that you and Eri would have gone at least once or twice by now."
She shook her head. "If this inn had separate baths for men and women, I wouldn't be this embarrassed. Never thought that my first time at an onsen would be in the mixed section, and to make things worse everyone else could have been perverts in disguise!"
I doubted that all those old folks were dirty-minded, but if they were, they were probably feasting their eyes on curvaceous Eri more than Shiki. Wait a minute, now that I thought about it, did I classify as a pervert myself? I considered joking, "Well, I'm not a pervert now, am I?" but decided against it. Better to play safe if I was to move things forward with Shiki. Smutty humour could wait for when we were blissfully together.
"Well, Shiki, I've always been a virgin – uh, I mean, an onsen virgin!" I panicked. "Yeah, that's right, all I mean is that I've never been to an onsen before. Yeah." Dammit, my mouth sure had this bad habit of saying the wrong things at the wrong times!
"Ah, I see…" After that, she didn't say anything else, gazing at her warped reflection in the water.
Not a single word was spoken. But somehow we could more or less tell what the other was thinking. Do you like me? Blame it on pheromones or telepathy, or weirder reasons like karma or even – heaven forbid – imprinting by Players straight from the Reapers' Game. That last possibility made me shudder. What if we truly weren't alone, but were surrounded by dozens of lost souls, secretly watching us and having sadistic fun slotting dirty things into our heads?
What if the Game Master for that week had a brainwave and made this the mission of the day:
Get Neku and Shiki alone in the hot spring. Then make them do "interesting" things together.
You have 120 minutes. Fail and face erasure.
Above all else, have fun.
Love,
The Reapers
Oh no! If this was the case then it wouldn't be long before we would succumb to our desires. Imagine the horror if that happened! What would become of the two of us? What if we did some… uh, irreversible things…? Holding hands would lead to hugging… then kissing… then… marriage? Oh god, I wasn't ready for such a big responsibility yet! No matter how much I liked Shiki, no matter how sexy she looked soaking in the warm water, I couldn't bear to hurt her feelings by acting rash. And I knew that if I didn't escape soon enough, one thing would lead to another and it would be over for me and her!
I didn't want to leave, but if I wanted to woo her it would be best that I do it outside of the bath. Inside it was just too dangerous.
"Ah, well, Shiki, take your time," I said, wrapping my towel around myself and preparing to leave. "I'm just gonna go back to my room for a bit…" In my mind I apologized to all the Players. They would probably get erased because of me, but my future was at stake here.
Shiki suddenly grabbed my arm before I could even start to stand up.
"No, please," she stammered, her face practically glowing like a neon light, "I… I don't know how long it'll take before Eri returns… and… and… I feel uncomfortable and unsafe staying by myself…"
"Um..." I protested, but it was no use. One look at the fright on her face was enough to halt me in my tracks.
"Please… Neku, stay here a little longer," said Shiki, refusing to let go of me, "At least until Eri comes back."
"A-Alright…" So I settled back in the water, right beside her.
And right then and there, I knew it.
I was doomed.
As memes flooded my head (well, it was just my overactive imagination, mind you), I tried to think of ways to survive this painfully tantalizing ordeal. Shiki was terrified. How could I refuse her plea for help? All I could do was hope that Eri would hurry up so I could leave to live another day.
It wouldn't be so easy though.
Just sitting next to each other naked was enough to trigger a heart attack. My blood was pumping throughout my body at full throttle. I wished I had some tissues handy so I could at least wipe and hide my nose in the very likely event of a nosebleed.
"Neku," Shiki said, breaking the silence, "can I ask you something?"
"Er, y-yes?"
She turned her head slowly, facing my direction. Her eyes were locked onto mine.
"N-Neku," she gulped, "by any chance, do you… do you like me?"
"Wh-What?" Did I hear her correctly? The colour on my cheeks was darkening.
"Do you like me, Neku?" she repeated, awaiting my answer with bated breath.
Was this my golden opportunity to tell her that I loved her? What better time to clue her in than now, when she specifically asked for clarification on my feelings? As much as I wanted to blurt out those three magic words, however, I paused to think rationally. She said "Do you like me" as opposed to "Do you love me". If she was just making sure that I at least liked her as a friend, and I confessed to her, wouldn't that be extremely awkward? She might not even want to see me anymore.
"Like" is so ambiguous! Curse this word! I had no choice but to go for a safe answer.
"What do you mean, Shiki? Of course I like all my friends… so I like you too!" I shot her a disarming smile.
Instead of accepting my answer, she frowned slightly. To my utter surprise she cupped my face in both of her hands. My heartbeat skyrocketed.
"Shiki!" I exclaimed, "What are you doing?" Wasn't she doing something that only lovers should be doing?
"Neku, you know exactly what I mean when I asked you that question," she said with a firm determined voice, although it was quivering somewhat. "I want to know if you're in love with me!"
She saw right through me. What could she have possibly seen to suggest that I had found a romantic interest in her? I had tried to look as calm and cool as I could and not betray any signs of a crush on her. There was no way I could have dropped her any hints. So how did she know? And what's more, she was asking me a question that I was supposed to ask. Weren't guys supposed to take the initiative? I didn't want it to work the other way around…
"Ah, well… I…"
"And I'm not letting go until you give me an answer!" she snapped. "Neku, it doesn't matter if you don't love me… Really, I wouldn't mind if it turns out that you think of me as just a friend. But at the very least, I must know what's on your mind! Now out with it! The suspense is killing me!"
What came over Shiki? Why did her personality make a 5400 degree turn (do the math; that's 30 times) in the blink of an eye? Was she possessed? By Noise? Love Noise? Did such Noise exist in the first place? I didn't know anymore. All I knew is that if I didn't give her an answer, and Eri and the rest came back to see her clutching my face like we were about to kiss… well, I'm sure a lot of rumours would go flying all over the place – something neither Shiki nor I would want.
"Shiki, my… my neck hurts. And this isn't something I can –"
My sentence was cut off. "Answer me!" she said, her voice raised, hands firmly clamped around my cheeks.
That was when I knew that there was no way I could back out of this.
I hesitated to answer the mother of all questions. Even solving a math question about quadruple integrals would be a much simpler task. I also pondered about the effects my answer would have on our friendship. Would Shiki avoid me if she knew I loved her? Or would she reciprocate my feelings, leading to us going out? Or would she say that we could only remain as friends? Here were three possibilities, and only one of them would apply. The chances of getting the most favoured one was one in three. And math class taught me enough to know that 33% was a dishearteningly low number.
Still, since she asked for it, it was worth a shot!
I summoned as much courage as I could and said it in one quick breath.
"ShikiIloveyou."
"What? Speak up! I can't hear you!" Her hands refused to come off.
"Well… uh, isn't this the weirdest place to say something like that?" I said, chickening out again.
"What did I say about not letting go of your face?"
"Alright, fine," I huffed in defeat. She was ever so persistent. Did she learn these tactics from Eri or what? "I'm only gonna say it once, so listen."
"I'm all ears. Now say it." Her hands were trembling.
"Shiki. I. Love. You."
Her face was already red to begin with, but now that she had clearly heard me, it deepened in colour. "I knew it," she said quietly, but with a small smile. "I wasn't wrong after all."
"What?"
"I always kinda figured that you liked me a lot, Neku," she continued, brown eyes shining like diamonds, "but you know, I like you too…"
"R-Really? But, um, before anything else, could you take your hands off of my face? It's kinda numb."
"Oh, sorry!" Shiki released her vice-like grip at last, and the first thing I did was rub my cheeks. I could have sworn her fingerprints were permanently imprinted on them by now. She giggled.
"I'm sorry if I came across as forthright, Neku," she said, "but I just wanted the truth, you know? I was getting kinda tired of dancing around the whole issue but never getting to the point. And now that it's finally resolved, I hope we can be more truthful with ourselves."
That was exactly what I wanted to tell her someday when the mood was right… but she beat me to it, and at a much earlier time too! I wasn't too happy about that, but chose to suck it up.
"So, Shiki… do you like me or love me?" I asked.
"Dummy," was all she said, giggling some more.
"I'll take that as a 'yes, I love you too, Neku'."
"You really are an idiot, Neku," she teased me, "and a pervert too." She poked me in the forehead just like Eri did when she suggested the whole onsen trip.
"D-Don't call me that…" I said, smiling.
The two of us just laughed the whole matter off, but as we were still shy, we didn't dare to look at each other. However, I was glad that we were heading in the right direction. She looked happy, and so was I. I felt contented to sit there in the outdoor bath, surrounded by trees and the light wind with Shiki by my side.
Suddenly my mind conjured up an idea.
Kiss her. Go on, you know you want to.
I gulped at the audacity of my own thoughts. I had never kissed before… I didn't know whether Shiki already had her first kiss, but I doubt that kissing alone in an outdoor bath with no clothes on was something she had done before. I was toying with the idea and frankly, it was exciting. The question was how to best get around to doing it.
Subtlety was a must. Tact was crucial. There would be no second tries.
However, all those mental notes I scribbled in my head came down to nothing the moment I opened my mouth to speak.
"Hey, Shiki, so, uh, are you ready?"
She stared at me, blinking. "C-Come again? Did you ask if I was ready? Ready for what?"
Oh, shoot! Wrong words! Now she'd think that I was trying to seduce her and invite her to bed! Great going, Neku. My relationship with her would end as soon as it started!
"Ah, no! Sorry! I said the wrong thing!" I blurted, waving my hands frantically from side to side in a "no" gesture. "Forget about it… I'll… I'll just go back to my room for now!" I prepared to stand up and get the heck out of there.
"Hey, wait!" she yelled, clutching my arm and pulling me back down beside her. "Neku… wait."
Oh no. I'll bet she was really angry. I would forever be known as a pervert to her. There would be no way we could be together now. Hmmm…let's see, if Shiki was a no-go, then who else in my class could I hook up with… NO! What was I thinking?
Shiki bit her lip, in deep thought about what to say next. I was racing to think up of an antidote to our awkwardness, but found none.
"Well, uh…" she gulped, "I don't mind if you want to kiss me."
Huh?
"Shiki! H-How did you know what I was thinking?" Maybe it would be alright after all. She didn't misinterpret what I said.
"It's written all over your face, Neku," she said, looking away. "Your body language is practically screaming that you want to kiss me so badly."
"Oh, uh…" I didn't know what to say. The relief was overwhelming. But the excitement was reaching a head.
Shiki eased herself against the rock island, her eyes closed and her head tilted upwards in the slightest bit. Was this the green light for me to go for it?
I pinned her in place. I wasn't rough with her and I didn't force her in any way; my grip on her shoulders was as light as possible, as if to suggest that if she wasn't comfortable with the whole thing, she could break free and bail out if she wanted to. But Shiki didn't move. She stayed where she was. She was trapped… but willingly.
Was she really fine with me doing this? My heart beat faster than a machine-gun. I started to move in…
Her face was like one giant tomato and she trembled in anticipation as my breath raked her bare neck.
"Shiki…" I whispered her name as my mouth drew closer to hers.
Her voice had a noticeable tremor in it. "Um, Neku… My towel is slipping… I… I need to…"
Too late. She couldn't finish her sentence. It was but a simple and chaste grazing of our lips, but the very act of our first kiss was enough to blow our brains a hundred light-years into space. I had promised myself that I'd just touch her lips for a second or two and that would be it, but my weak spirit couldn't handle it. I gave in and pressed my lips onto hers fully. She made a muffled sound as though in protest, but before I was tempted to pull away, she began kissing me back.
I wasn't dreaming, was I? Here we were, alone in the hot spring, without any clothes on… and we were kissing? What did I do to deserve this miracle? Did I save a drowning child? Did I rescue a hapless kitten from high up in a tree? Was I a supporter of environmentally-friendly hybrid cars? No, I did neither of these acts of kindness. But before anyone up in the heavens were to misunderstand and use their powers to stop the bliss abruptly, I spoke in my mind that I was thankful I had the opportunity to taste Shiki's lips.
My hands caressed her bare shoulders up and down very very slowly, and the feeling of her smooth skin under my fingertips was so amazing that no words could quite describe it well enough. I wanted to embrace her, but her hands on my chest instinctively pushed me back, preventing me from folding my arms around her body. I guess this was as far as I could go, but even then, it was quite an exhilarating feeling to even be so close to her naked self in the first place.
She was shaking from my touch, but that didn't stop her from chewing my lips with such shocking enthusiasm. By instinct, our heads angled a tiny bit to deepen our kisses, and wow… it felt so out of this world.
I could tell Shiki liked making out with me. She was moaning into my mouth.
"Neku… Aah… Mmm…"
Oh god, that sound! It was the loveliest music to my ears. Every time she purred with delight I could feel myself one step closer to insanity. Any minute now, I was going to blow up in an explosion of rampaging hormones. I kept telling myself, Must resist male urges, must resist male urges, but even that was failing. Shiki was too delicious for words. I needed to eat her up… and I was so hungry... Damn, I wondered if she felt the same way about me; for a normally shy and reserved girl, she had an unnaturally voracious appetite…
However, scarcely a minute had gone by before our little mouth-to-mouth session was rudely interrupted.
We heard voices. Shiki plucked her lips away from me and glanced over her shoulder. I followed her gaze and subsequently panicked.
A couple of shadows was moving about in the doorway, partially hidden by the paper flaps that hung from the top. Someone was coming to use the bath!
For a second we froze on the spot. I could make out our unwelcome visitors to be two men probably in their early twenties or so.
"You sure this hot spring is mixed?" asked the first guy.
His friend replied as though to console him, "Hey, don't worry, man. I read the tourism booklet to and fro. It's one of the more famous onsens in Japan."
"So, we'll get to see some hot chicks, right?" At this, Shiki's face turned paper-white.
"If we're lucky."
They were coming in! Oh no, this was a very bad situation I had here. Although, to be honest, I had trouble debating over which was worse: someone seeing us making out in the pool, or a couple of lechers looking out for girls like Shiki.
"We have to hide! I can't let them see me! Or us, for that matter; that would be most embarrassing!" whispered Shiki urgently, shrinking deeper into the water.
"But how?" I asked, breaking into a cold sweat. "Like, under the water? We'll drown before we even –"
"No, idiot! The island!" She jerked her head towards her left. I saw that the far end of the island was rather tall like a wall, and could easily hide us both if we stayed behind it.
"Okay, got it."
"You have to help me hide, Neku!"
"I will. Now come on!" I speedily ushered her towards our hiding place, and no sooner had we settled down, the two young guys sauntered in and immersed themselves in the bath.
"Huh, no girls here," muttered the first guy. "Not even a single old lady."
The second guy said, "Dude, what you said just now sounds so wrong."
The rock outcropping was large enough to conceal a single person, but not wide enough for us both. So we had to stack against each other like a pair of cards. That seemed to work. I felt like some kind of secret agent with my back pressed against it. Neither of the intruders noticed us, which was good. Mission accomplished.
I breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, they wouldn't see us now… I hope."
"This feels so obscene," said Shiki, in a hushed voice to avoid detection. "I can't believe for one minute that we're doing this."
Because there wasn't enough space, Shiki was forced to sit in my lap, right between my legs, pressing her body against mine. I was having trouble keeping my mind from disintegrating, no thanks to the feeling of her back and butt on my entire being. Wow…her skin was nice and soft…
We hadn't even started going out – heck, we only just had our first kiss together – and now we were in this ridiculously intimate position like we were lovers? And we were both naked too! This was all too much for me. Not to say that I didn't enjoy it – what normal guy wouldn't like the sensation of a girl's skin on theirs – but my blood pressure was now so precariously high that any moment now, I knew, my blood would burst violently out of my nose in a gruesome geyser.
I felt like fainting. No, I told myself, have courage! It wouldn't do to lose consciousness in a place like this and with Shiki firmly wedged against my frame. Gotta stay calm… I closed my eyes and tried to forget that I was squashed between a hard place and a soft one... Perhaps thinking about my favourite music would do the trick. In fact, it was actually working quite well when I found myself silently bopping my head to the tune of one of the songs from a favourite rock band of mine, until…
"Um, Neku?" squeaked Shiki in a small voice. "Wh-What are you doing? Don't touch me!" She shot me a death glare from over her shoulder.
Confused, I said, "What? I'm not touching anything."
"Yes, you are!" she insisted.
"But my hands are free."
"A-Are you sure?"
"Why do you ask?"
She just stared at me and started to blush madly. Looking away sharply, she was silent for several seconds. After that brief pause, she stuttered, "W-Well, I certainly hope that it's your knee that's poking into the small of my back right now."
Oh, the horrors! She was right. Something was jabbing into her back, but that most definitely wasn't my knee! And to make matters worse, it seemed to be, uh… well, when you blow up a balloon, it grows in size; it's an analogy for what was happening to my... you know.
"Eep!" Shiki shuddered, as she felt another prod in her back. With teeth gritted she glared back at me. "S-Stop it! You pervert!"
"It's not like I can do anything, Shiki!" I protested. "I can't control it! It just –"
Her hand shot up to my lips and pinched them shut like a Ziploc bag. "Don't say it!" she snapped, cringing. "Don't you dare say anything!"
"Sorry!" I said, "But it's not like you're making things any easier for me! Plus, it hurts when you sit on it like that!"
"Shut up!" She blushed even harder. "Just. Shut. Up."
"Hey, man," said one of the two guys who were soaking in the bath, "I thought I heard voices. And was that a girl's voice?" Shiki and I held our breaths.
"Nah, I didn't hear anything," dismissed his friend. "Your imagination is way too active, pal. Must be from all the years of being without a girlfriend." He chuckled.
"Yo, that's uncalled for," snickered the first guy, laughing.
Girlfriend, huh… Shiki and I sealed our love for each other with that amazing kiss… So did it mean that she was my girlfriend at last? I never thought I'd see the day when someone like me who previously hated people would end up a changed man and with a sweet girl by his side. What path would we head down next? It was still too early to say. But if all went well, we would be going on dates for a good while…
My reverie was broken by Shiki's clearly irritated voice. "I should have gone behind you," she said, squirming uneasily. "But if we swap positions now, they'll notice."
"Sorry, Shiki. M-Maybe next time," I said stupidly.
"What do you mean, 'next time'?" she seethed, her entire visage painted with a vivid rose hue.
"I said sorry!"
We just sat there in the steaming bath trying to stay hidden, listening to the two friends chatting and exchanging dirty jokes, many of which, while funny, only made our situation even more awkward. I wondered when they would leave. We just wanted to get the heck out of that place. Those two idiots had been in the bath for barely five minutes, but it felt like an hour. And all the while Shiki was jammed into my person like a hot dog in a bun – oh, god! What a horribly inappropriate simile! We hadn't even gone to the "nudge nudge, wink wink" stage, for goodness' sake!
"I'm getting hungry," said the second man. "Wanna go grab something to eat?"
"Eh, that's fine with me," replied the first man, standing up from the bath together with his friend. "It's not like there're any girls to look at anyway. It's so boring."
As soon as they were out of sight, Shiki immediately pulled away from me. Her face was completely flushed as she reached behind her back to rub at the place where she was stabbed (bluntly) for almost five minutes.
"Sorry about that, Shiki," I mumbled, embarrassed myself.
"Never mind. F-Forget about it," she said, coating herself with her towel and getting up. "Come on, let's get out of here. I know Eri and the others will be back, but I think I've had enough of hot springs for one day!"
"Yeah, me too."
XOXOXOXOXO
The breeze was cool and very refreshing on my skin, which was sufficiently warmed from both the bath and…another reason.
I stood there by myself at one of the many outdoor corridors of the inn, taking in the calmness of the night. So many things had happened ever since we arrived, and I just wanted to chill and rearrange all my thoughts. When I mulled over how I could have ended up in such a totally impossible situation back at the bath, I couldn't help but wonder if it was a coincidence or just pure dumb luck. Wait… they're both the same thing.
Either way, I was still shivering just from thinking about how smooth her skin was. I never thought that a cute, innocent girl like Shiki would be such a temptress. And she wasn't even trying.
"Heh…" I chuckled quietly to myself, gazing languidly at the moon. "Best bath ever…"
"What are you mumbling about?"
"Whoa!" Completely taken in by another one of my daydreams, I failed to notice that Shiki had sidled up beside me. "Shiki! Don't scare me like that!"
"Daydreaming again, I see," she sighed, clutching Mr Mew in her arms like she always did.
"You brought Piggy along for the ride too?"
"Hey, he's a cat," she said, smiling and gently buffeting me in the head with her soft toy. She seemed to be in a good mood despite all the nonsense that happened only an hour ago. "What are you doing here?"
"There's a nice wind out," I replied, "And it's so noisy in there, what with Beat and Eri duking it out at table tennis. What's the score?"
"Beat's losing," Shiki chirped. "I think Eri has eleven points against Beat. He's frustrated that he can't defeat her."
"Is he a newbie at this game?"
"No. That's what makes it even sadder."
We shared a round of laughter before turning our sights to the beautiful moon. Or rather, it was more like she did, because I was busy stealing glances of my very first girlfriend (and hopefully the only one). She looked great in a yukata; that's Japanese for robe, especially the ones they use in hot spring inns such as this one. She wasn't a head-turner like Eri was, but she was still pretty. Something about the yukata brought out her simple beauty even more and magnified it.
"Neku," she said quietly, "you know what?"
"Hmm?"
"I'm really happy to be here."
Even though she didn't directly say it, I was sure she was talking about being with me that made her happy. I was happy too, and gave her a smile. Then I remembered the hot kiss we shared while soaking in the bath. Unforeseen circumstances had forced us to stop halfway through, though it only led to an even hotter situation. Still, to have a kiss cut short was something that chagrined me deeply. But now that everyone else was inside either having fun playing table tennis or feasting on the inn's culinary specialties, we were alone with no one to disturb us.
And we were standing in the presence of such beautiful scenery, with the moonlight beaming down on us. It was so romantic.
"Hey, Shiki," I started, getting sweaty palms. She looked at me expectantly. "Well, we kinda got sidetracked back at the bath… D-Do you want to, uh… keep on… um…"
Dammit, not now. I didn't want to get cold feet now. The best time to get closer to Shiki had presented itself to me! It was a beautiful night, the moon was full and bright, and the planets had aligned in a straight line. I didn't wish to throw away an opportunity that the forces of the universe had come together to produce just for me. Yet, after what happened, I felt it would be inappropriate to make such a simple (simple?) request as to kiss.
After wrestling with my emotions for a bit, I eventually gave up. "Um, Shiki… never mind. It was nothing, really. I kinda forgot what I wanted to say all of a sudden."
She knew better, though. "You don't seem like the sort to get Alzheimer's disease so young, Neku."
Oh dear.
Looking away, she whispered, "I-It's alright if you want to kiss me."
She's a sharp one, alright.
"Are you sure?" I asked, very politely. "If the incident at the bath was too crazy for your taste, and you change your mind, I can understand."
She frowned and took my hand in hers. "Stop being so wishy-washy and pessimistic, Neku. I'd hate to see you go back to your old emo self again."
"Huh?"
"No matter what, I still love you, Neku. You love me too, right?"
"That… Yes, of course I do."
"Then there's nothing to worry about!" said Shiki, smiling and exasperated at the same time. I noticed she was coming closer, eyes shut. "Now shut up and kiss me already."
Go for it, Neku, I thought. I gently wrapped my arms around her waist, and she did the same around my neck. She leaned up towards my face, and I closed my eyes, waiting for the sweet taste to permeate my mouth when our lips would connect. Closer. Closer…
"OW!" I yelped all of a sudden. "Ow! Shiki! My toes! You're stepping on my toes! OW OW OW!"
"Huh?" She looked down. In an attempt to move in closer to me, she had accidentally trodden on my foot, which was exposed from wearing sandals. And her sandals happened to be the hard wooden Japanese variety that some people favoured. The pain was excruciating and I thought my toes would dislocate.
"Sorry! I'm sorry!" she exclaimed, leaping back and away. Unfortunately, my arms were still circled around her, and when she forcibly moved away from me, she pulled me along with her. As a result, both of us lost balance and tumbled to the floor. My swift reflexes allowed me to shield the back of her head with my hand. I was able to prevent a grave injury from happening to her. But my hand took the brunt of the fall and got crushed; at least, that's what it felt like.
"Argh!" I cried, feeling a sharp pain in my right hand.
"Ow!" Shiki was saved from a potentially fatal injury, but falling down was still at best a painful experience, and she was groaning. "Ow, that hurt… Neku, you clumsy oaf…"
"Urgh… Sorry…"
Even with the pain and all, Shiki and I were quick to notice that we were hugging each other so closely. Her yukata had slipped a little from the fall and her cleavage was exposed only very slightly, but it was enough to induce all kinds of crazy fantasies inside my head. Our eyes met and locked with each other, registering a growing need to satisfy our romantic urges.
"N-Neku…"
"Shiki, I…"
Just then, the nearby doors all burst open and people flooded out. Among them was Eri, who had come with Beat and Rhyme.
"What happened out here?" shouted one of the men.
"We heard screams!" she called, concerned. "Is anyone hurt? Is everyth –"
Upon seeing the harrowing sight of me embracing Shiki on the wooden floor, everyone went wide-eyed, like they saw a ghost.
"Er…"
"Um…"
"Buh?"
Suddenly, the whole situation became so unromantic, even the moon looked like it was frowning and the decorative greenery seemed to wilt and die pathetically.
No one could utter a single word. Even Beat couldn't go into "BWAAAAH!" mode. Instead, he blinked furiously like an idiot, while his sister Rhyme was rooted to the spot. Eri's mouth refused to close, hanging open so wide her entire wardrobe of clothes could fit inside. And she had a lot of clothes.
It must have looked like I was doing something positively evil to Shiki.
Shiki's face, previously beet-red, had now turned ashen. She had been caught in an uncomfortable and potentially scandalous position with me. Eri did not take too kindly to weird things happening to her best friend… She was kind of like a big sister to Shiki in the sense that she was always on the lookout for guys who would dare to hurt her in any manner.
Guys like me. Uh-oh.
As I watched Eri's right eye begin to twitch in growing rage, I made a quick mental calculation. How many seconds left did I have before I would die in the hands of the angry pink-haired girl? How much was half of sixty again? Suddenly math wasn't my favourite subject anymore. Then again it never was.
And something told me I had less than that amount of time anyway.
"Y-Y-Y-Y…" She was so mad, she could hardly form an entire word. I think she meant to say "You…"
"Phones… How could you…" Beat's eyelids were still opening and closing at an alarmingly rapid rate, like a living stroboscope.
Rhyme was shifting closer to Beat, using him as a shield from the madness as she hid behind him. Everyone, on the other hand, remained motionless and shocked as ever.
"Neku… You…" Eri growled, her fists clenched so tightly that her knuckles had turned white. "What… What did you do to Shiki?"
"I…! I didn't do anything!" I yelped, jumping off of Shiki. "I wasn't doing anything to Shiki, I swear!"
Despite that, one of the middle-aged women in the group, having seen us in that decidedly obscene position, started to scream. "M-M-MOLESTER!" she yelled her lungs out, running inside like she was on fire, presumably to alert everyone else. "There's a molester in our inn! Quickly! Catch him!"
"Wait! He's telling the truth!" Shiki cried out, "We were… well… He's innocent! We… Er…" She blushed again, thinking back to the make-out session we just had. Suddenly she was at a loss for words.
Eri was not convinced at all. "Neku, I can't believe you would… and to Shiki…"
How in the world were we going to explain our way out of this one? No, more precisely, how was I going to make it out of this mess alive? Eri trusted Shiki; they were the best of friends. But me? After seeing me in what appeared to her as an attempt at raping her friend in public, I was sure of an answer: no.
"Oh, Neku… You are sooooo dead." Eri said, her hair looking like writhing snakes now. For one moment, I thought she would turn me to stone with her piercing glare. One of the women grabbed Shiki and pulled her to safety, while some of the men had formed a semicircle around me. There was no way I could run even if I wanted to.
"Eri, wait!" I blurted, panicking as she advanced in my direction menacingly. "You… You got it all wrong! We… I wasn't doing anything weird to her! We're just… We're –"
"I'LL KILL YOU!"
Eri launched herself at me and started strangling me. I tried to stop her, but who could stop a raging woman? Shiki tried to break free from her protector's grasp and calm her friend down. She wanted to pull Eri away from me, and tell her that I wasn't a pervert and give various other reasons why she shouldn't slaughter me. But do you think the pink-haired witch listened? Of course not. She just continued to choke the life force out of me while the men watched me with hate.
"Go to hell!" she screamed.
"Yeah! That's it!" shouted one of the onsen-goers. "Show that pervert! Let's keep him busy till the police arrive!"
"Eri, stop!" Shiki was pleading. "Everyone, please listen to me!"
"I know a pervert when I see one!" Eri snarled, tightening her grip on my poor neck and shaking me back and forth repeatedly like the rattle on a rattlesnake's tail. "I'll get him for this!"
"Gak!" I was choking. "B-Beat! Help!"
However, through the gaps in the crowd, I discovered that Rhyme had fainted from the immense shock and Beat had propped her up against the wall, shaking her by the shoulders, shouting if she was alright. He was too preoccupied with his unconscious sister to help me.
Trying to pry Eri's fingers loose was next to impossible. Was I going to die before I even had a proper date? I didn't want to die so young… No…
Help me… Someone…
XOXOXOXOXO
And that was how I died. Eri killed me. With her bare hands.
The end.
XOXOXOXOXO
Okay, I was just kidding. I'm still alive. I'm no ghost. And no, I had not died, gone to the UG, played the Reapers' Game and won so I could be reincarnated. None of that happened. I survived, okay? Simple as that.
Shiki managed to persuade everyone that I was no pervert out to prey on unsuspecting girls. Somehow, everyone at the inn believed her. Even the policemen who had come to check things out. I was cleared of all accusations, thank goodness. But I had never been so scared of a police officer in my whole life.
Ironically, Eri, Beat and Rhyme found it the hardest to trust me.
When we took the bus back home, Eri made it a point to sit in between me and Shiki to prevent me from causing any more "grievous harm", so she put it. The eyes of that devil woman were glaring at me the whole time with so much hate, that the only way to truly dispel her anger was to get a priest to exorcise her. I could do nothing but look out the window sheepishly, hoping that she wouldn't flare up again and try to murder me.
At one point during the trip, I remembered thinking, I sure could use that priest right about now.
As a result of that whole episode, Eri hated my guts for a long time. Beat was convinced that Shiki and I had done… uh, you know… Oh, and he disliked me for awhile, too, because he was mad that Rhyme ended up traumatized. Despite Shiki telling her numerous times that it was all a great big misunderstanding, she remained uncomfortable around me. I guess the image of what looked like me doing something dirty to Shiki was something she wouldn't forget for a long time to come.
At least the hostility wasn't permanent. It did wear off, but until then I lived in the doghouse.
Oh well, at least Shiki was supportive of me. She was such a sweet and caring girl. And thanks to our experience at the onsen, we've become much closer than before.
"So how's the ol' neck today?" she asked one day. "And your hand doesn't hurt too much, I hope?" We were sitting together on one of the benches on the highest floor of 104 Building. From where we were, we could clearly see the cityscape of bustling Shibuya.
"My hand is fine now, but I can still feel her searching fingers on my neck." Thinking back to that day chock-full of craziness, I couldn't help but shudder.
"That's Eri for you," she grinned, head propped up in her hand. "A whirlwind of energy from start to finish."
"I doubt she was enjoying what she was doing to me that day," I said.
I thought I could feel invisible hands stroking against my neck, and figured for a moment that Eri was around, but when my own hands shot up to check, I was safe. Shiki merely giggled at me. "Well, you got us caught in the act because you had to scream so loudly. Don't real men rein in their pain? Hee hee."
Tired of protesting, I made a low grumbling sound instead. She found it cute.
"But, that said, Neku," she brought her voice down to a whisper. "I-If it's alright with you, could you… I mean, could we…"
I cocked one eyebrow in curiosity.
"…could we… pick up where we left off that day at the onsen?"
I had to recall the previous events for a few seconds before I understood what she meant. When it finally clicked in my head, my heart skipped a beat. She actually wanted me to…
We gazed into each other's eyes, knowing fully well what we wanted so much. Come to think about it, we haven't found the time to kiss yet, which was puzzling considering that we were now going out. Still, there was one pressing concern…
"You know, Shiki," I mumbled, "there are still people here. Perhaps we should go to a more… private location. I mean, if something happens, I don't want another misunderstanding to rear its ugly head. I don't want to get arrested."
She laughed, slapping me on the back. My wit could be really good at times, I knew. "I'm cool with that," she said, smiling broadly.
Five minutes later in a relatively deserted corridor of the building, we were still busy smooching each other passionately as I gently pressed her against the wall for fear of crushing her. What was it about kissing that was so addictive? Was it the softness of Shiki's lips? Was it the way her body fit so perfectly against mine? Could saliva taste so good? Maybe it wasn't the saliva because really, it couldn't, but whatever the reason, I couldn't let go. Neither could she.
My arm was around her, fondling the small of her back slowly. But it traveled too far downwards and my fingers grazed the top of her buttocks. She let out a small scream of surprise, after which she pinched me in the arm.
"Ow!" I yelped. "It's just… my hand kinda slipped!"
"No touching my butt, bad boy," she snarled. She wasn't particularly angry though. More like she was amused.
"Sorry… you're just… too cute. I'm not a pervert now, am I?" I smiled.
"Well, no…" Without any further words, she launched her face into mine and we kissed again for a brief period of time before we eventually stopped, exhausted. She laid her head on my chest and my heartbeat was pounding against her ear. And if she could hear it, and I knew she could, she'd know that it was beating at about a thousand beats per minute.
She gave a satisfied sigh and I half-expected her to sleep in my arms because I saw that her eyes were firmly closed.
"Shiki," I whispered, parting her silky brown hair from her ear, "hey, you can hear me, right?"
"I'm awake, dummy," she mumbled, snuggling into my chest. She felt so good as I stroked her head. "What is it?"
"I was thinking, well, when we get the chance, we should go back to Teppeki Spring Inn… but just the two of us…?" The last few words made all manner of tantalizing fantasies appear within the confines of my mind. Shiki and I alone together in the same place without any disturbances from our friends (especially violent, strangle-happy Eri)… There was not a single thought in my head that was rated safe for kids.
I half-expected Shiki to rip herself free from my embrace and yell at me for propositioning… uh, I mean, proposing such an idea. But fortunately for me, she didn't. In fact, she beamed at me, simply saying, "I'd love that, Neku."
Well, to make a long and strongly suggestive story short, Shiki and I had a most wonderful relationship. And while it wasn't rose-coloured the whole time, at least we were well aware of the knowledge that we were more than just friends. Till this day we're still going strong. Needless to say we were the happiest couple in the world.
Author's note: This story appears to be complete, but there is still one last part to go: a short epilogue that I will post very soon. So watch this space!