Somehow, morning passed into early afternoon without any major emotional crises. Nevertheless, despite her earlier vow to just bloody well deal with her rampaging emotions, Tsukushi kept finding herself slipping into melancholy.
Akira and Soujiro tried to cheer her up, of course, and even Shigeru, once she'd been subtly clued in, did her best to provide distraction. Still, Tsukushi remained glum, as she pondered Sakurako's words of advice. I thought I knew what I really wanted. What would be for the best. Was I wrong? I don't feel like I've been making good decisions recently. Argh! Why did I have to go and. Screw up so completely?
And nothing could disguise the tense atmosphere as the seven teens sat around engaged in desultory conversation. Rui, with seeming unconcern for the pointed glances directed his way, sat close to Tsukushi, and amused himself by playing with her hair. Every so often, he'd hold up a mirror he'd found somewhere, so Tsukushi could see what dashing new shapes he'd knotted her brown tresses into. She'd laugh, as she was meant to, and he'd smile slightly at this sign of life, untie her hair and start anew.
The other five, with the exception of the petulantly oblivious Tsukasa, would watch this strange activity from the corner of their eyes and wonder what Rui and Tsukushi were thinking behind those calm masks both currently wore. Neither look meshed well with the tortured-sounding voice that had woken Akira early that morning, or the traumatized girl the guys had eventually made to laugh. But it was no use trying to draw either out of their shell now. Rui never opened up in company, and honestly, he didn't care what shit they thought or said about him. All that mattered was Tsukushi, and finding a way to reassure her, calm her, make her happy. They needed to talk, that he knew. But it would have to wait until they could get time alone again. And at this moment, their friends seemed determined to make sure that didn't happen. Really, Rui didn't understand why. It was as if they blamed him for some unspeakable crime. But had any of them even asked what really happened? He didn't know what Tsukushi had told Akira and Soujiro, but he suspected it didn't matter. Their opinions had been formed before they'd even reached his house, and nothing was going to change them now.
It wasn't as if he didn't blame himself. Oh no, down inside, he felt like a completely insensitive asshole. He knew Tsukushi'd needed more time to recover, but he wasn't perfect, and god knows, he was no saint either. Sure he should have known Tsukushi's emotional state was completely fucked, and her pain and confusion led her to act in ways she'd be sure to regret. . . But. . . .. Everyone makes mistakes, and he failed to understand why his friends condemned him so.
It didn't matter what they thought, though. Not really. He loved Tsukushi. And he would make amends, to her somehow. But he wasn't about to give up and let her go. No matter what his friends might say.
Another conversation, only half begun, lapsed into strained silence and died a depressingly premature death. Even Tsukasa, zonked out as he now was on heavy duty pain killers (His doctor had finally stirred himself enough to poke at Doumyouji's wound, proclaim it, "not healed yet," and stuff some more percocets down the poor boy's throat.), was starting to wonder at the unnatural strain in the room. It was giving him a headache.
"Why don't you all go outside or something?!" Doumyouji burst out with at last, tired of all the veiled glances and dead silences, "I thought you came here to go hot-springing! So why don't you go out and do that! You're driving me crazy in here!" He didn't want to admit he didn't know what the secret was; the secret that was so obviously fueling the tension in the room. If they weren't going to tell him, he wanted them out of his sight, where he wouldn't be reminded of his ignorance every ten minutes.
"He's right!" Shigeru jumped up, "The sun is still shining, let's get out there and enjoy it while we can. It's supposed to get cold tonight, so I'd advise against any moonlight soaks. Yeah, let's go!" Her enthusiasm for something, anything at all, swept the room like a breath of fresh air.
Akira smiled at the welcome distraction, and promptly teased, "Do we get to be coed again? That was fun yesterday. . ."
Soujiro nodded in agreement and allowed his eyes to trail speculatively down Shigeru's torso, "Yeah, those clothes just don't flatter you at all, not like just water does. . ."
"And certainly not like some idiot boys I could name" Shigeru laughed, "That was the lamest come-on I've ever heard!"
"And he should be embarrassed to display his so-called endowments for us to *ahem* admire." Sakurako mocked, as the two girls broke down into a fit of giggles.
"But by all means," Shigeru forced out between laughs, "if you Still think you're man enough for us, come on in."
"Where's the adult pool?" Rui asked quietly. He was in no mood for their juvenile water games.
"Spoilsport!" Sakurako taunted, "You're just afraid to be exposed to humiliation!"
"I have nothing to prove to the likes of you." Rui refused to be drawn in to this argument.
"I think we'd better do segregated springs after all," Soujiro murmured quietly to Akira. But not quietly enough to escape Sakurako's notice.
"Ah-ha! You are afraid of inadequacy!"
"Hmm…" It was Akira's turn to grin devilishly, "That's not what you said that time at the Ritz."
"Yeah well, you believed that? You also thought I was a virgin then!" Sakurako spoke without thinking, and the two boys dissolved into giggles, as she realized what she'd said.
"Not like some of us didn't know better by then." Tsukushi muttered darkly as she remembered.
"Shh…" Rui felt Tsukushi tensing as she remembered what Sakurako's scheming so long ago had led to. Gently, he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her reassuringly until she forced the past out of her mind again.
By then, of course, their friends had noticed Tsukushi's withdrawal, and the banter ceased.
"All right then," Shigeru stood up, breaking the silence once more. "I'm going to go get the towels. Who else is coming?"
A chorus of "Me!" met her. Everyone, in fact, except for Doumyouji obviously, who couldn't go, and Tsukushi, who simply couldn't face the thought of being stuck in the spring with Shigeru and Sakurako interrogating her about Rui. Much as she loved soaking in the calming waters, she'd much rather chill out somewhere quiet in the house. Some place where she could just recuperate and try to regain her sense of self.
"Tsukushi?" Shigeru inquired worriedly, "Are you sure you don't want to come? We'd really like to have you join us."
"I just don't feel like it right now." Tsukushi demurred, pasting an artificially bright smile on her face, "I'll be fine staying here, thanks!"
"I think I've changed my mind." Rui said slowly. "I'll stay here too,"
"Oh no, you won't" Soujiro waved a finger warningly, "You know you can't resist the springs. You never could.. . ."
"Trust Us." Akira added, "You'll regret it if you don't come in." It was almost comical, the way the two boys tried to loom in the doorway like the wrath of god. It was time for their 'chat' with Rui, and he wasn't going to worm his way out of it.
"Ummm.. . " Tsukushi looked up to regard her two self appointed champions with some concern, "It's fine if he stays, really. . . who else is going to untangle this mess?" she gestured vaguely to the knotted sculpture Rui had just made of her hair.
"I'll do it." Doumyouji, who had so far been quiet. spoke up, unexpectedly. Every pair of eyes in the room swiveled to stare at him.
"What did you say?" It was Akira who spoke the room's collective disbelief.
"It doesn't look that hard." Doumyouji shrugged, "What else am I going to do while you guys are out having fun? Besides, I know how Rui feels about his precious onsen time. Almost as vital to him as sleep."
"But. . but. . ." Sakurako stuttered this time, "You don't mind?"
"Like I said, what else am I gonna do?"
"Read a book?" Rui suggested. He allowed no trace of sarcasm to color his voice. What was Doumyouji up to? Now he really didn't want to leave Tsukushi alone.
"It's ok, Rui. I'll be fine. Really." Tsukushi placed her hand reassuringly on his, and shot the boys across the room a searing look that said plainly, "Don't you dare hurt him." She could read the look in their eyes as well as anyone. Truly, this mess was all her fault. They shouldn't all be picking on Rui like this.
Soujiro met her eyes, and nodded, almost imperceptibly. He arched a questioning eyebrow in Doumyouji's direction, as if to ask anyone, or everyone, what that man's sudden and uncharacteristically altruistic behavior meant?
He received only a subtle chorus of shrugs and head-shakes, as the collective denied comprehension of what thoughts were flickering through Doumyouji's impenetrable skull.
It was actually pretty simple. Doumyouji was annoyed. Sure, these damn drugs were fuzzing his awareness, and made it hard to concentrate. But he was damn sure he'd been left out of most of the morning conversations deliberately. The way all his friends kept avoiding meeting his gaze, and shied away from certain subjects. . . It was frustrating. Like when the boys had been teasing Sakurako just now. Why had the conversation stopped? He'd looked askance at Akira, who'd promptly stared earnestly at the ceiling, and then at Soujiro, who chose to contemplate the floor. Finally, his roving eye had fallen on Rui and his pale, quiet girlfriend. It was amazing how that girl could go from hell-driven spitfire, to the drawn-faced chit huddled protectively in Rui's arms. Something in his brain had finally clicked. Not the connection that his friends wished for. No, a return of memory; that would have been too much to ask. But something did click, nevertheless, and that something told him that girl knew all the answers. She held the key to the tensions that gripped the room. . . .
And he, he was tired of being out of the loop. Of not knowing the answers. So, he was perfectly willing to help his friends in their spectacularly unsubtle attempts to extract Rui from his seat, and vacate the house. Once they left him alone with this girl, then maybe, just maybe, he'd be able to get some answers to the questions that were building up inside.
Hell, since they'd all insisted that he'd once liked this girl—maybe he'd even ask her about that. Find out if it was something important that he'd forgotten, or just a silly little footnote in the great saga of the Doumyouji clan.
To be continued. . .