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Ch. 36: Into the night

"Suika?"

"Hmmm?" Suika opened her eyes at the gentle probing of voice and hand and turned to her side. "Oh… Kogasa? Wait… Wait a minute! H-How long have I dozed off? !"

Ibuki Suika had fallen asleep within the hot spring. It was late at night now, and most of the guests had retired to the lounges within for song and drink, or else gone to bed in their own rooms. Only a handful of late merrymakers, accompanied mostly by staff cleaning up after the departed guests, remained in the outdoor facilities. Suika stared down at her body. It was red, as if lightly poached by the water, which remained the only energetic force at this hour.

"U…Uh…" Suika moaned in discomfort as Kogasa knelt by the side of the pool, looking on anxiously.

"Suika, are you alright? I had no idea you were in there for so long," she said.

"Ah-Yeah… I'll be fine. I just ah… Nnngh…" Suika propped her hands on the bath's edge behind her, and sat up in a vertical position. Gah… My back… And hot springs are supposed to be good for such ailments…

Kogasa saw the grimace on Suika's face and, guessing her thoughts, chuckled a little, "Suika… You'll hurt anyplace if you sleep against rocks."

"Th-That's not the only problem, Kogasa..." Suika said, red faced, the scarlet colour having nothing to do with the heat. Tiny bubbles were issuing before her in a constrained, reluctant manner.

"Huh…?"

"I-I need to pee!" Suika suddenly got out of the pool and rushed off to the nearest bathroom, leaving behind an astonished Kogasa and an omnimous trickle of 0.05% proof water.

"Ahhh… Woo! That felt good!" Suika came out of the ladies, stretching her hands above her head as she went. Smiling a sheepish smile at Kogasa as she met up with her, Suika remarked, "Hehe… I guess I absorbed almost half the hot spring back there… Hehe…"

Kogasa looked at Suika with more amusement than disgust, then thrust forth a large blue sake gourd back to Suika, "Here! You forgot this."

"Thanks Kogasa," Suika took it back and smiled. She then stared up at the night sky. It was strewn with stars shining bright against the cosy orange glow in the sky from all the warm lights of the resort. The whole image reminded Suika of some sort of sparkling champagne.

"Hey…" Suika turned to Kogasa, her mind full of champagne which necessarily was associated with a festive mood, "I know it's late but… But ah… Is there anything you want to do now?" she asked tentatively. "I mean…with uh… with me I mean…"

Kogasa's eyes widened, her ruby and sapphire irises reflecting the tiny bright lights in the sky, her face glowing a radiant orange like the resort, "A-Are you asking me out?" she whispered, almost in a disbelieving manner. S-Suika's asking me out?

"Ah… Ah yeah, I guess…" Suika scratched her head, her body feeling warm all of a sudden. "I mean ah… I mean what's the point of coming here if we're not going to have fun-Woah!" The warm feeling in her body was suddenly replaced by the now familiar feeling of inertia as she was tugged arm first by earnestness.

"I know just the place to go!" Kogasa said earnestly, a big smile on her face as she dragged Suika along, who by now knew better than to fight the inertia. Suika gave herself a wry grin and let herself get pulled along to whoever knows where by the blue haired karakasa.

"…Why pizza?" Yuugi asked, scrutinising the thin, hard slice of bread topped with cheese and tomato puree. "However you look at it, it looks like some stale piece of crust topped with whatever leftovers there were from last night… Like some poor vagabond's dinner…" she mused. (A/n: Remember, this is Yuugi's opinion. If you have been offended, please take it up with her, not me. If uh… If you dare, that is… I know I wouldn't… Just sayin'…)

"What are you talking about?" Parsee frowned, annoyed by Yuugi's lack of cultural experience and tact. "It's a widely appreciated dish from a far off foreign land. I know we don't get much of it, but it's supposedly very popular outside," she said. Yuugi across the counter was still eyeing her piece of pizza in an unconvinced manner.

Tonight, Parsee had insisted that they tried something different form the usual Japanese fare and sake, and had forcibly brought Yuugi along with her to a Western café offering the main continental fare, a sort of casual introduction to the tip of the European iceberg. Parsee had immediately taken a liking to it, and the bridge princess, seating pretty in her central european-esque loose blouse and ankle length dress, what with her blonde hair and green eyes, did not look out of place.

Yuugi had stuck to the yukata provided free of charge.

Parsee sighed irately, eyed her de facto girlfriend, then looked to the side and sighed again, dreamily this time. Food from a far off land always had a particularly romantic aura around them, Parsee thought. A sense of romance which Yuugi, Parsee pursed her lips, lacked. Why did I go along with this cultureless brute again? Parsee asked herself. When am I going to get my white knight to whisk me away to some romantic sunset over the horizon?

"Well, do forgive me for the lack of class," Yuugi put down her slice of pizza. Its aftertaste seriously disagreed with her palate. Too cheesy… "But everyone's entitled to an opinion," she shrugged. "It's not like I grew up in uh… What's that city with the funny looking lightning conductor you said again?"

"It's called Paris," Parsee said through clenched teeth. "It's one of the most romantic places in the world. And the Eifel Tower's a national icon, not some lightning-"

"Yeah, well, it does lightning conduction remarkably well too, doesn't it? Or was it radio broadcasting?"

Parsee opened her mouth, then shut it and settled with looking at Yuugi with disappointed annoyance.

"Ah come on… What's wrong with this place?" Yuugi gestured around her, referencing the wider region.

"Nothing's wrong," Parsee crossed her arms, turned her head away and said stiffly, "It's just that… You know… It'll be nice to go out and see places…" Parsee sniffed a little. Was it just the trick of the light, or were the rims around Parsee's eyes a little red…?

"P-Parsee…?"

"I'm mostly stuck there you know… that stupid gateway to Hell…" Parsee added in after awhile, still looking defiantly to the side.

"And no one ever comes by huh?" Yuugi said softly.

"Yeah… No one…" Parsee murmured.

"Well," Yuugi lifted up her glass of beer and took a thoughtful sip from it, "Good thing I'm a nobody…" she said musingly after carefully setting the glass down with a clink with her right hand, her left arm straight and clutching the edge of the table in a casual manner.

Parsee's gleaming blonde hair whipped around as she snapped her head to look at Yuugi, her mouth parted slightly and her eyes wide open and perceiving everything in a different light suddenly. Yuugi, her body slightly turned to the side as she continued to casually hold the edge of the table, merely glanced up with a small, knowing grin.

"Y-Yuugi…"

"Ah… Save the talk!" and with one smooth motion, Yuugi, still seated, extracted Parsee from around the table with one firm arm and pulled her all the way round to her lap on the other side.

"Ah! Wh-What are you doing? !" Parsee protested unresistingly as she suddenly found herself seated on Yuugi's lap, braced against her broad chest and strong arm. Yuugi looked down and grinned. Parsee's reaction sure was cute, the way she was curling up as if to try to minimise physical contact.

"P-People will look!" Parsee squeaked. And sure enough, heads were turning to the sound of the commotion.

"Oh? Does my dear Princess have an issue with that?" Yuugi asked, then sat up straighter. Her head was a good head or two above all the other seated diners. "Hey! Mind your own business!" she called out. Immediately, the diners looked back down at their plates, apparently afraid they had riled the Oni.

"See? Problem solved!" Yuugi beamed.

"Th-That was remarkably barbaric…" Parsee said meekly, but found herself now leaning readily against Yuugi, a smile fighting to get itself onto her lips. For awhile, the two just sat there quietly, Yuugi thoughtfully munching on her pizza and Parsee too nervous to eat anything.

"Hey," Yuugi said after awhile.

"H-Hmmm?"

"You know… A long time ago, I used to travel the world rather often…" Yuugi said slowly.

"Oh?"

"Yeah… Well, I've never been to anywhere as far as Paris or something, but I've been to plenty of places outside of Gensokyo."

"Mmmm…"

"I was thinking… Maybe…" Yuugi looked down at Parsee, "Maybe I would take you to one of those places someday soon… You know… Like this outing we're having right now. Of course I can't guarantee the outside world's safe, but I figure it's been awhile since I've seen it myself," she held her breath.

"That… would be nice…" Parsee leaned her head against the crook of Yuugi's neck as a sign of approval.

Yes! Yuugi cried out in her head, and for the first time in a long while, her brain was starting to churn out plans.

"Hah… Hah…! Wh-What do you think?" Kogasa turned around excitedly and breathlessly, her hand still clutching Suika's wrist. Behind her, Suika was doubled over, breathing just as hardly. Wow… When Kogasa wants to move, she really can move… Suika thought, but forced herself to look up at Kogasa' insistence.

The two were on the top of a hill, and before them was a little nook in the edge of a small forest. The trees were straight, with knobbly but papery smooth bark and a fresh scent. The grass nestled between them was soft and springy with just the right amount of moisture to comfortably sit on.

"Oh? That's quite the nice spot you've found-"

"That's not it! That's not it!" Kogasa said excitedly and pulled Suika right to the little grass patch. "Come on!" she pulled down Suika with her, and the two ended up seated next to each other. The grass patch was located on the other side of the hill just off the top and was rather reclined, so Suika had to take care not to roll down its side.

"Lie down, it'll be easier!" Kogasa exclaimed and promptly flopped herself down onto her back next to Suika.

"Oh?" Suika did as she was told, and settled herself down next to Kogasa. "What am I supposed to see-Ooah! This is nice…!" Above the duo was a band of dark clouds contrasted against a generous splashing of stars in a belt so wide its width was nearly the entire sky. The very centre of the belt held a large, white and hazy light that glowed gently, its radiance complementing the billions upon billions of stars all around it, the dark space beyond them all tempting and teasing, holding the promises and secrets of yet more stars unseen. What was most remarkable was that entire construct, if one looked really carefully, seemed to be moving about in a gentle arc in the sky. The entirety of it in one heavenly orchestrated movement, not one star out of sync.

"Wow… It's pretty clear tonight, huh? The Milky Way…" Suika said quietly, her hand already moving to uncork her gourd. Stargazing was like moon viewing, best served with sake and companions. "It feels like it's been awhile since I've properly taken the time to look at the sky like this…"

"I'll bet you don't see such sights underground, huh?" Kogasa said.

"Nope. I guess that's maybe one of the reasons why I moved back above ground," Suika replied.

"But… That's not what I brought you here to see!" Kogasa said, giggling.

Suika turned to Kogasa raised an eyebrow, "It's not?"

"Nope!" replied Kogasa. "The beautiful night sky… We can see anytime we want in Gensokyo if we took the time," she said. "The sky here's always so clear and free of pollution… Nope! What I brought you to see was this!" she gestured downwards in the direction of her feet.

"Mmm?" Suika and Kogasa were lying at a forty degree angle on the soft grass, so by simply tilting her head, Suika could see past her feet and-Oh!

Splayed out before them was a large lake as far as the eye could see, its rims encrusted with hills sharply silhouetted against the night sky. Its surface was smooth, unbroken and dark, and it perfectly reflected star for star, nebula for nebula the image of the heavens hanging above it. A double chandelier, moving in slow, perfect arcs in opposing directions like clockwork, waltzing out the time for the universe and all of its denizens.

"Hah…" Suika breathed out, her sake gourd next to her open but unneeded. The sight of nature's wonder before her had already filled her to the brim.

"It's really nice isn't it?" Kogasa asked eagerly.

"Yeah… Two heavens for the price of one huh?" Suika mused, "Double the ecstasy… That should be a crime… Hey, where did you find this place?" she asked, still staring at the lake and its reflection of the ecstasy in the sky.

"It was originally formed when the geyser incident happened, or so I was told," Kogasa informed Suika. "Apparently the one near the Hakurei Shrine wasn't the only one."

"What? ! Y-You mean this thing was entirely man, or rather, incident-made?" Suika turned to Kogasa in shock.

"Yup. That's what I'm told by the staff," Kogasa said. "Of course, most of the resulting vein of hot spring water was redirected for the resort, but the lake was left behind, and now it's just a cool, crystal clear lake," she explained.

Suika whistled as she returned to staring at the mirror of water and stars. "Hmph… And Reimu was complaining the geyser was good for nothing…"

"I think there are a couple more lakes right over the hills…" Kogasa said.

"A-A couple more?" Suika sweat-dropped. Wow… That hell raven from the incident before was really busy back then…

The two lay in silence, Kogasa serenely and Suika sipping sake and appreciating the stars alternatively. After awhile, it started to dawn on Suika that something was off…

"Kogasa…" Suika began, turning to her side to see, not unsurprisingly, that Kogasa was already meeting her gaze. "Kogasa, you're not looking at the scenery."

"I know," Kogasa said simply as she calmly continued to stare at Suika's face.

"… U-Uh…" Suika looked back ahead of her and sipped a bit more of her sake, not knowing whether to be creeped out or not.

"Suika," came Kogasa's voice out of Suika's field of vision.

"Y-Yeah?"

"I've agreed to work here," Kogasa said, and for some reason Suika turned back at once to Kogasa.

"I-I've agreed to stay," Kogasa said, her voice determined yet slightly shaky. "I… I might not be able to see you as often once I begin to work here so-" her voice cut off at that point however, and she could do no more except simply stare at Suika with a bravely calm composure.

"She expects you to be mad." For some reason, the words Satori had said earlier came back to Suika. Suika's heart gave a guilty lurch as she stared back at Kogasa. She knew how Kogasa felt, how much Kogasa liked her. But she had no means or words to comfort her. Not without, you know, actually progressing further beyond their current relationship...

But… to just leave her be… That would not be right… Suika hesitated for a moment before she raised a hand to pet Kogasa on the head, a reluctant but genuine smile for Kogasa's sake donning her face.

"I-I'll come see you," she managed. Kogasa's eyes shone a bit, then she closed them and, curling up her body a little on its side, she moved in against Suika without any objection as she tried to lose herself in the sensation of Suika's petting hand, her lips carrying a tiny smile.