Note: The center of this chappie is a scene I've been wanting to do since I began thinking about this arc.
Chapter 38: The Steaming Bath
"You can do it Konoe-san," Yuji said as he, Shana and the green haired girl stood at the top of a good slope. There weren't any other people there, and the rest of the group had already gone down ahead of them. The eager Johan had been the first to get down, riding a snowboard.
"Even though it's your first time, I know you can do it," Yuji encouraged Konoe.
"Isn't it your first time too?" Konoe said to Yuji.
"Haha, yeah," said Yuji. "What about you Shana? Have you done this before?"
"It can't be as hard as flying, can it?" Shana said, trying to look calm, but deep down she was actually nervous.
"Well, you do have to maintain a constant balance and everything, but there's a pretty big difference," said Yuji, "we're on snow, not in the air."
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Shana shouted.
They heard a rumbling sound behind them.
"That doesn't sound good," said Yuji. He suddenly noticed a sign mostly covered by snow and tree branches that read: "…ger: …anche …ne".
The three turned around to see an avalanche of heavy snow and ice headed straight towards them. The three just stood, frozen in surprise, as it came down. For a short moment, Yuji sensed that Konoe had remembered something locked in her deep, dark past.
"Hey Shana," Yuji said with a low calm-like voice.
"What?" Shana replied in the same manner.
"Think you have enough time to use that Unari Nenshou (Burning Roar) technique of yours?" Yuji asked. Shana shook her head.
"Really?" said Yuji as the wave of sleet came closer.
"RUN!" the Mystes yelled.
As soon as the word left his mouth, Konoe pushed him and Shana down the slope before following them down herself. The trio skied for their life down the slope, using their trained reflexes to evade any obstacles. But the snow was steadily catching up.
"Wait a minute! We can fly!" Yuji realized.
Abandoning his ski stick, he grabbed Shana and carried her on his arms in front of him before making a jump and taking to the air, knowing that the Flame Haze needed time to take out her cape and summon her wings; not only that, Shana's bright wings of flame would attract too much attention from those below. Konoe followed the Mystes' airborne trail.
We have to make it look like we just did a jump so that no one below would get too suspicious, Yuji told Konoe through their psychic link. Fly as if you were gliding through the air with the momentum.
The trio soared through the air, creating an illusion that they had just launched themselves with great altitude. They had avoided the avalanche, however, they were not able to evade a tall pine tree. They crashed into it. Fortunately, neither of them got seriously hurt. Unfortunately, they were stuck.
Ike and the others ran from a safe distance to the tall tree.
"Wow, I thought stuff like that only happened in movies and anime," said Fujita.
"Don't worry Sakai, we'll get you down!" Ike yelled up.
"Why is there danger everywhere we go?" Shana said, struggling to get out of the branches.
"Maybe that's just our fate?" said Konoe.
"Whoever was supposed to maintain that sign should be sued!" Yuji yelled. Everyone laughed.
SnSnSnSnS
"Damn, that was too close," said Yuji as he, Ike, Eita, Keisaku and Johan entered the male's open bath later that day. They were the only ones there, as if the place was reserved just for them.
"It's great that this place has a hot spring," said Ike.
"It feels like a hundred years since I've been in one of these," Johan said as he stepped into the warm water. He still wore the cross-shaped Hougu, Giralda, around his neck. "So refreshing!"
"Hey Johan, I've been wondering," said Yuji to the other Mystes, "why didn't you just ask Konoe-san to extract you from the Reiji Maigo. I'm sure she's as capable of releasing beings as she is sealing them. And we have the False Reiji Maigo we got from Gemini to keep you alive."
"The False Reiji Maigo is still far too unstable for anyone but Gemini to use," Johan answered. "And honestly, none of you guys, not even Fumi-chan, really has the expertise to restructure it."
"Couldn't Pheles fix it then?" Keisaku suggested.
"Probably, but after that incident when we last met her, my beloved returned to the Crimson Realm," Johan said. "It will be a little difficult for her to return."
"Shouldn't you be able to create another Reiji Maigo?" said Eita. "You did it once, you can do it again, right?"
"Are you crazy? My darling Pheles and I almost died when we made the first one," said Johan. "When we were working on its creation, there was only a 10% chance of success and a 60% chance that it would fail horribly and kill us both. At that time though, we were so driven by our passion to think about odds."
"What about the other 30%?" Keisaku asked.
"It could have failed horribly, killed us both, and destroyed half the world," Johan replied. Yuji clutched his chest, eyes widened in shock from the realization that he carried what almost became the equivalent of fifty nuclear bombs.
"But enough about that. Let's have some fun," the Eternal Lover said as he prepared to use one of his "harmless" spells on the wooden fence that separated their bath from the women's bath.
"Fun?" Eita asked.
"Wherever there's a good mountain resort, there's a good bath, and where there's a good bath…"
"Who would have thought that someone like you would be such a pervert," said Keisaku.
"Hey, you're not exactly holy yourself," Johan said. "Didn't you do something like this last year?"
"But don't you already have Pheles?" Eita asked.
"I'm still young, I wanna do something crazy like this too," Johan insisted. "Besides, she isn't here."
Yuji and Ike looked at each other and simultaneously shook their heads.
"We'll probably get caught like before anyway," said Eita. "And Matake could be pretty dangerous if she caught us."
"And I don't think it's a good idea to get any of the Flame Haze mad either," said Ike. "Even without displaying any powers, I can tell that they're really fierce. I mean, look at Shana-chan."
"C'mon, don't you wanna see Kazumi in all her youthful bouncy glory?" Johan said. Ike and Yuji blushed. "You too, Eita-kun and Kei-kun…"
"Don't call me Kei-kun," said Keisaku.
"So only Margery-chan could call you that huh?" Johan teased.
"Shut it," Keisaku said, blushing slightly.
"Anyway, don't you think you should take this opportunity to see your loves in their best forms? Who knows when the next time a chance like this happens?" Johan continued to persuade. "Ah, if only my lovely Pheles were over there too."
"I still think it's a bad idea," said Yuji.
"Do you really think that?" said Johan with a big smirk. "Don't you have the ability to use Fumi-chan's eyes to peek? So you probably get to see her and Shana-chan bathe, if by chance they actually do it together."
Yuji's face turned red. "H-Hey! I never did such a thing!" he protested. "Besides, Konoe-san's already mastered blocking me out. She's doing that even now, on the other side."
Johan put a hand on Yuji's shoulder. "I pity you," he said.
Yuji brushed off his hand. "What's that supposed to mean?" he said.
"Well, wouldn't you want to try it now?" Johan asked.
Yuji still refused. "If I join you, Konoe-san would sense me, since my hormones would probably lower my guard."
"That's no fun," said Johan. He turned to the others. "What about you guys?"
"I'm in," said Ike.
"Me too," said Eita.
"I guess I'm in too," said Keisaku.
"Don't worry my brethren, I'll be in charge of the operation," Johan stated.
"That's what I'm afraid of," Keisaku grumbled.
SnSnS
Meanwhile, on the other side of the fence, the six women also bathed. Shana, Kazumi and a blindfolded Konoe were washing each other's backs. Ogata and Fujita gossiped by the fence. And Margery drank sake while relaxing in the warm water. The Flame Haze had left the vessels of Alastor and Marcosias in their room.
"This feels waaaaaaay better than Marco's Flame of Purification," Margery commented.
"Flame of Purification?" said Fujita, overhearing. "Is that some special kind of bubble bath or something?"
"Uh, yeah," Ogata said. "Anyway, back to our topic. You said you and Ike-kun heard that there was a legend on this mountain from an old lady earlier."
"Oh, right, she told us that there's a legend that began over a hundred years ago telling that if a couple kiss at the peak of the mountain, not only will their love last forever, but the couple themselves will possess eternal youth."
"And just how did that myth spread?" Shana asked as she and the other females joined in.
"It's said that a foreign couple once climbed the mountain, reached the peak, then left," Fujita continued. "After fifty years, that same couple returned, and they appeared as young as they ever were before."
"Hey, you think we should test that legend?" Kazumi suggested. "We can do it tomorrow morning."
"That's a great idea," said Ogata. "And to make it more fun, let's make it a race."
"That sounds nice," said Konoe. "I'll ask Yuji to go with me."
"No, I will!" Shana said.
"Don't forget about me!" said Kazumi.
The three began to quarrel until Fujita directed a question at Konoe.
"Incidentally, why are you wearing a blindfold?" she inquired.
"Um, no special reason," Shana and Konoe said at the same time.
SnSnS
Johan cast an Unrestricted Method he called Tint on the fence. It was a spell that he, as one of the wizards of Unrestricted Methods, had developed on that same day. The spell took the form of a porthole framed with spell insignias.
"It's a one-way x-ray window, so we can see them, but they can't see us," said Johan.
SnS
"Ogata-san, is something wrong?" Fujita asked as the brunette suddenly sharpened her awarenesss.
"I sense a disturbance," she said.
"I don't feel anything," said Margery. "Do you, brat?"
"No, and stop calling me brat," Shana replied. She kept to herself, however, the fact that she had felt the presence of a third Flame Haze on the mountain. And that same presence, at the moment, seemed to have vanished.
"That's not what I'm talking about," Ogata said as she turned to the fence behind her and took out one of the late Friagne's "useless" Hougus, which had the shape of a small light bulb no bigger than her thumb. It was designed to illuminate if there were any active Unrestricted Methods or Hougus in the area, and it indeed glowed faintly.
SnS
"Shit, they're onto us," said Keisaku before the fence was blown open from the other side. Johan's Unrestricted Method dissolved, and one of the wooden planks hit Ike on the head, knocking him out.
"Uh oh," Eita said as he, Keisaku and Johan stood face to face with Ogata, Margery and Shana, each wrapped in a towel. The three women cracked their knuckles.
It didn't take long for Eita and Keisaku to get pounded, but Shana had a tough time against Johan.
"Not bad, but how about getting past this defense?" Johan said as he took a stance. Shana tried to beat him up, but he parried every attack she could throw at him.
Shana smirked suddenly and stepped to the side. Behind her, Fujita and Konoe held up a hose. As soon as Kazumi spun the valve on the other end, the Eternal Lover was blasted away with water.
SnSnSnS
"It's getting noisy in there," the sharp sensed Yuji said as he exited the bath after getting dressed. He had gone out as soon as Johan initiated his scheme.
Along the corridor, he noticed a young man with blue with the looks of an idol. He wore a rainbow patterned vest, and on his left arm was a diamond armlet. Yuji turned around as soon as they had passed each other.
"You're a Flame Haze," he said.
The young man faced the Mystes. "You must be extremely sensitive if you managed to see past my illusion, Mystes of the Reiji Maigo, Sakai Yuji," he said.
"Who are you?" Yuji asked.
"I am known as Alicio, the Colorful Papillion, Flame Haze of Aphrodite, the Glittering Rainbow," the Flame Haze answered. "I was stationed here by Outlaw, and lemme tell you, it was pretty boring until I saw her."
"Her?"
"Truthfully, her love is wasted on you, Mystes."
"Who are you talking about?"
"The Flaming-Haired Blazing-Eyed Hunter Shana of course! Her body was so beautiful, it was like porcelain handcrafted by a master artist."
Yuji glared at Alicio, who completely ignored him and continued raving.
This guy's dangerous, the Mystes thought. I might have to keep an eye on him.
The Mystes backed away and turned to leave, but the Flame Haze caught his shoulder.
"I swear, I will make her mine!" Alicio declared.
SnSnSnS
"You gotta admit, that small peek was worth it," Johan said as he, Keisaku, Eita and an unconscious Ike were in their room after repairing the fence.
"Shut up!" Keisaku and Eita yelled.