"Haaah, I feel like I'm melting." Clarissa sighed happily, barely able to stop herself from sinking into the water completely. Yosano nodded, leaning against the rocks surrounding the hot spring. "I don't even remember the last time I've been to a hot spring. Or vacation for that matter."
She looked at her thoughtfully. "We should travel to France the next time it's possible. Even if it's just for a weekend too. That's enough time for us to cause havoc at the Champs-Élysées." The redhead grinned and her friend laughed. "Shouldn't you be inviting your boyfriend to a trip to Paris before me?"
"Hm, I don't think Paris is his type of city." She shrugged. "But it's the city of love and romance so-" Clarissa sat up. "Shh!" She shushed the other woman quickly and looked to the fence next to them. Thankfully it sounded like the men's side was already having several conversations so Dazai probably didn't hear them.
Yosano raised her brow. "You still didn't tell him?" She spoke more quietly this time and Clarissa huffed. "Don't be ridiculous, of course I didn't. And I won't." The woman said as if it was the most obvious fact in the world.
"Why not?" Her friend asked her with a curious expression. "Why would I?" She countered and Yosano looked at her as if she had just told her she hated kittens and puppies. "Don't look at me like that!" The redhead splashed water at her.
The young doctor just sighed. "You're a hopeless cause, I swear." Clarissa rolled her eyes. "Look, I'm already content about the fact he wants to give having a relationship a try. I'm not going to drop a bomb like that on him on top of that. Especially since it's going really well. I don't wanna ruin it."
"How would telling the person you're in a relationship with that you're in love with them ruin it?" She asked honestly confused. "Ahh, I don't know what to tell you Akiko-chan. We're weirdly alike in many ways. I really didn't expect to fall for anyone, much less someone who is similar to me." Mostly because she was sure her self-hatred was too well-developed for something like that to happen.
"But it also means I can make a good guess about how he would react. If it was the other way around and someone I wasn't in love with confessed to me I would want to back the hell off as soon as possible." She explained.
Yosano nodded. "I see, I see." Clarissa relaxed, hoping she would lay the topic to rest now. But she spoke up again. "And why exactly are you assuming he's not in love with you too?" The redhead blinked at her after that. Before she could say anything the other women came out of the wash room.
Lucy and Louisa looked very uncomfortable, with this being the first time for them at an onsen. "Now you can just slowly step into the hot spring." Kyouka told them as she did just that.
Naomi and Haruno were taking some pictures of the scenery, careful not to get any of them on them though. Then they got in as well, followed by the two American women.
"This does feel amazing." Lucy admitted and closed her eyes. Even Louisa seemed more relaxed than usual after soaking in the water for a few minutes. Their side was much quieter than the one next to them, even though they were close she couldn't decipher any words with several conversations happening at once.
She was startled by a loud splash and opened her eyes. "What the..." Clarissa frowned confused when she saw a rubber duck was floating towards her. From the corner of her eyes she saw something flying towards them. She caught it only to come face to face with another rubber duck.
It came from the men's side. "What the hell are you doing over there?" She called out loud enough so they would hopefully hear. "S-Sorry, Clarissa-San!" Atsushi called back. It was easier to hear them now since her shout seemed to have caught all of their attention.
"Ranpo-san please be more careful with the- oh no not again." Another rubber duck came flying over the fence. This time Yosano caught it and threw it back right away. "Ow!" A voice that was obviously Ranpo's suddenly shouted.
"Yosano-san you did that on purpose!" How the hell did he even know- oh she should know better than to question it at this point. "A hot spring is for relaxing, most of you have a too high blood pressure anyway so you should make good use of this!" The doctor scolded her friend on the other side.
"Dazai stop going underwater already!" Even if she hadn't been able to recognize the voice just judging by the words she knew that had been Kunikida. She sighed deeply. "I've never been more thankful about being a woman than I am right now."
A sudden giggle turned all heads. With all eyes on her Louisa blushed furiously. "Oh my... I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to... it's just surprising to see how normal you all are." She explained.
Clarissa raised a brow. "I'm not sure if normal is the best words to describe us but I'm glad you're finally feeling more at ease." The American woman nodded shyly and sank into the water a bit more deeply.
When it was time for dinner they got out and washed up again, meeting the rest of their colleagues back inside. She smiled when she saw Dazai and linked her arm with his, her shoulder resting on his head. He was right, telling everyone about them had been a good choice. She was glad about being able to do this without anyone questioning it.
There were a lot of 'Ooohs' and 'Aaahs' when they walked into the dining room and saw the feast that had been prepared for them. Along with the hot pot there were a lot of small side dishes as well. Even though they were sixteen people she wondered if they would be able to finish it all.
With everyone relaxed from the hot spring and happy about the good food they were all in a lot more casual mood. The sake probably helped too. Since she didn't want to spend the next day buried under a futon with a hangover she made sure not to drink too much.
Many of the others weren't holding back at all though. One of them being her boyfriend who after about an hour of them sitting together was drunker than she had ever seen him. Not that it was probably very noticeable to people who didn't know him all that well.
But judging by how he spoke without thinking everything through twice she could tell the sake was getting to him. Yosano was as always in the lead when it came to drinking and made sure everyone's cups were always full as well. Those among them who were legally allowed to drink anyway.
"You haven't even touched yours yet!" Yosano told her accusingly after filling the president's cup again and moving the bottle over hers. "I'm already a little woozy, you know how quickly I'll end up wasted if I drink any more!" She said defensively and ate another piece of the kobe beef instead.
The temperature in the room was pretty high with so many people gathered around boiling pots of food. The alcohol and the warm bath from before made her feel thankful about only wearing a thin yukata, but she still fanned herself with one of the fans from the Inn.
"Yosano-san is right, we're on vacation after all, aren't we?" Dazai grinned, taking her cup and holding it out to her. "Exactly, I'd rather enjoy tomorrow than spend it feeling sick." He sighed and finished her cup in one go.
"What a shame I was hoping to get you drunk, you get really handsy when you are. Like when we did it at that Karaoke bar." He mumbled, apparently forgetting that they weren't alone. Or maybe he just didn't care. Yosano pat Kunikida's back when he almost chocked on his food after that statement.
Clarissa hid her face behind the fan for a moment. "He's cut off!" She told Yosano sternly who just found the whole thing extremely amusing.
"Eh, why?" Dazai asked with an honestly confused look on his face. "Why? You're being way too talkative even by your standards." She sighed, still red in the face after he gave away details about their love life in front of their colleagues like that.
"Hm, it's not like I really mentioned any details. I didn't tell them that you ruined one of my bolo ties because you used it to t-" She hit the back of his head with the fan. "Oh my god, shut up already! Remember there are minors present!" Clarissa said, pointing at Atsushi who sat close to them and was now even more red-faced than her.
Dazai rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, he's nineteen." She shrugged. "We're in Japan. Legally he still is a minor so shush!" The young woman warned him. Thankfully the even younger members like Kenji and Kyouka were sitting further away from them.
Her boyfriend didn't seem to want to 'shush' though. "We should get you a girlfriend, Atsushi-kun. Or a boyfriend, or whatever. You're going to end up like Kunikida-kun if you continue to just live for your work... actually now that I think about it before anything else we should start working on getting Kunikida-kun laid first. He really needs it."
Complete silence from everyone close enough to have heard what Dazai said. "Oh boy." Clarissa broke it and moved away from him a bit. "It was nice knowing you, darling." She said, taking a sip of some barley tea as Kunikida walked around the table to choke Dazai.
"I'll tell you what I need! I need to make you shut up once and for all, you waste of bandages!" He yelled at his partner while the other just laughed... as well as he could while having the life chocked out of him.
It seemed nearly getting killed by his partner for what was probably the hundredth's time... just this week... took a bit off the buzz away from Dazai. He laid on the floor with his body under the table and his head on her lap. She wasn't really complaining, she absolutely preferred PDA over him saying even more things that might get him killed.
Kunikida calmed down as well after Yosano shoved another cup of sake into his hands. With both the trouble makers now laying on the floor, one hugging her and the other hugging an empty bottle things were finally quiet and relaxed again.
"This might be the best thing I've ever eaten." The president said as he pulled another piece of beef out of the hot pot. "Thank you for planning all of this, Christie-kun." He added and it genuinely made her smile. "My pleasure." She said honestly.
Dazai mumbled something from where he was resting on her thighs. "Osamu, whatever you said, don't say it again because I have a feeling it's gonna start another fight." She sighed and he just grumbled in reply.
She turned her head to look at Atsushi when she heard him chuckle. He looked like a deer caught in the headlights for a moment. "Sorry." The teen said quickly. "It's just still odd to hear someone call Dazai-san by his first name. And to see him this relaxed and... happy." He said thoughtfully.
"Not to advertise alcohol to a minor but... that's one of its good sides." Clarissa shrugged but the weretiger shook his head. "I don't just mean tonight." He clarified and it took her a moment to follow his train of thoughts. When she finally did she felt a blush rise to her face, so she quickly grabbed the fan again.
"He does make a good point." Yosano decided to chime in. "He's at least a little less weird." Ranpo added though she wasn't sure if any of them were in the right place to judge anyone's 'weirdness'.
"He even paid his tab at the café a while ago." Lucy suddenly said, moving a bit closer to them. Clarissa blinked. "He did?" The other redhead nodded. "No one was more surprised than Tsuna-chan after she grilled him about it for so long." She chuckled.
Dazai was either ignoring the conversation or finally passed out. It was pretty obvious the reason he had never paid the tab was not because he couldn't afford it but because he enjoyed flirting with the pretty waitress.
"Did you give him a raise?" Yosano asked their boss who shook his head. "What for? None of you even have to pay rent anymore." He shrugged in reply and calmly sipped his sake. She had no idea how much he already had, but he looked the same as always.
While the others argued with the president that they needed money for various other things she looked down to the man on her lap. Of course, she had noticed the change between the person he had been four years ago and the person he was now. But she wondered just how much he changed since they had gotten together. Or how much she herself changed for that matter.
She smiled softly and brushed his hair out of his face. He leaned into it lightly but still seemed pretty out of it.
Somehow they eventually managed to eat most of the food even with several of them passed out as a result of the several emptied sake bottles that were on the table. When everyone started heading to their rooms she tried to wake up Dazai.
"Come on, I can't even feel my legs anymore. Wake up." She whined as she nudged his shoulder and poked his head. In response, she got a few grumbles and unidentifiable words. She sighed deeply. "I don't wanna sleep here."
Atsushi was about to leave but stopped in the doorway when he noticed she couldn't get Dazai to wake up. "I can help you carry him back to your room if you want." He offered, and she would have hugged him if a certain someone wasn't forcing her to sit on the floor. "Bless your heart, Atsushi-kun." Clarissa sighed happily, and he chuckled as he leaned down to help her get him off the floor and her lap.
After a few clumsy movements they were standing with Dazai semi-awake and complaining about being moved as his arms rested on both hers and his protégée's shoulders. "You better actually be this drunk, if you're just pretending I'm going to be really mad." She huffed, but she knew that if he had he would have stopped the act by now.
They made it to the room rather quickly and Atsushi came in with her, helping her to lay him on the futon the Inn employees had laid out on the tatami floors. "Thank you." She told the weretiger who gave her a smile. "After everything Dazai-san has done for me this is the least I can do." It was obvious he admired him even after seeing his mentor in this sort of state.
She let out a long yawn, realizing how tired she was now that she was in the darkened and quiet room. Atsushi bowed his head to her quickly. "I'll be going to my room too then. Good night, Clarissa-san." The young woman nodded. "Sleep well, Atsushi-kun." She told him before he left and closed the door behind himself.
After getting changed into her sleeping clothes she exchanged Dazai's yukata for something more comfortable to sleep in as well. He barely even moved, and she wondered if he had ever allowed himself to get this wasted. It did remind her of the party where he was the one to help her get back home.
She smiled fondly, as she laid down next to him and realized how much had changed since then. While she did like him back then he was still a mystery to her. Someone she thought she would never figure out.
He was still mysterious to her in many ways but he had opened up to her more than she ever expected. And she did as well. He probably knew more about her and her past than anyone else. The strangest thing was that... she was happy about it. He knew about her messed up past, but he was still here. And he never looked at her with any pity or judgement. That meant more to her than she would ever be able to convey to him.
He suddenly blinked one eye open, causing her to flinch a bit. "Hmm... where are we?" His voice was rough and quiet. She chuckled. "Back in our room. Go back to sleep." Clarissa leaned in to place a kiss on his forehead.
His arms wrapped themselves around her waist to pull her even closer. "Okay... goodnight." He mumbled and seemed to fall asleep again seconds later.
"Yeah. Good night." Clarissa smiled and drifted off to sleep as well.