[Summary: Nanako checks out the Balls Club, Kanji pays up his debt, and the DEATH Squad members do some training together.]
[7/7: Thursday]
The Balls Club had been at the back of Nanako's mind ever since she'd heard of it. She'd taken this long to act on it because she was still reluctant to join a club. But clubs would be closed next week to encourage students to study, so it was basically her last chance before the summer break.
Even with that deadline, she didn't really want to join, but she'd thought about it, and... it would surprise Mr. Morooka if she did, wouldn't it? And Balls Club, man, who wouldn't want to join that?
Yosuke, apparently. She tried dragging him along to the gym, but when they got there, he stopped her. "Whoa, I think it's about time you told me what this is about, Nanako."
"You said you'd join a club if I joined," she explained. "I wanna join the basketball club, so I thought we could join together."
"I don't want to," he said, and he was brave indeed. He didn't back down in the face of her DEATH glare. "Really, Nanako. I'm not that interested in sports, and besides, this club is for boys. I don't think they'd allow you on the team. Hey, don't get mad at me, that's just how it is!"
"Yosuke!" she said, feigning a scandalized tone of voice. "Are you afraid of balls or something? Sports are great. It'll keep you in shape and being a part of a team is a great feeling. You'll make more friends, I guarantee it!"
"I don't want to join," he repeated. "Just let me go, okay?" She was clinging to his arm for some reason.
"No," she said, stubborn as a mule. "Like, I'm fine with going in there alone, but you said you'd join a club! Why not this one? Or are you—"
"Because I've already joined a club," he blurted out, his face flushing.
She let go of his arm and stared at him for a good long moment in her surprise. He wouldn't lie to her, but when the heck had he joined, and what club? Was it 'Junes part-timers united' or something?
"It's... It's the music club, okay?" he said. "I'm going to learn to play that guitar. And, well, everyone's been nice to me there."
"The club leader is a dick!" she exclaimed.
"I'm sorry that you had a bad experience, but..." He shrugged. "I don't think he's that bad. He's just looking out for the club."
"Not that bad? He threatened my piano!" she shouted. "And he called it junk. Yeah, sure, it is a junker, but it's the only one I got out here!"
"S-sorry...?" Yosuke held his hands up defensively and recoiled as she simultaneously stepped towards him. He backed up against the gym's door.
"What are you apologizing for!?"
"B-because you're yelling at me?"
She stopped short. Then she stepped away and relaxed against the wall. She took a few deep breaths. It wasn't Yosuke's fault, but she was still pissed at the band club leader. "It's fine," she announced after some deliberation. "I hope you have fun there."
"Yeah... I think I will," he said slowly. His body relaxed now that her voice had returned to its normal volume.
"But you can still join a sports club," she told him.
Yosuke smacked his palm against his forehead.
In the end, Nanako relented and let Yosuke go. She'd conquer the Balls Club on her own. At least his words had riled her up—now she was ready for anything. She marched on into the gym to grab her destiny by the, well, balls.
The boys weren't even playing basketball. Instead they were just sort of standing around and talking in two distinct circles of conversation. She recognized the dark-haired Kou Ichijo, so she headed over to the group he was in. It was the smaller of the two cliques, with only four guys in it, including him.
"Nanako-san," he greeted, eyes lighting up in recognition. "What can we do for you? Want us to move the piano again?"
"I wanna sign up for basketball team manager," she declared.
Kou's mouth quirked. "Well, we already have a manager. Ebihara-san. She's... over there."
Ah, she saw it now. The second, larger group of boys was standing around a light-haired girl sitting comfortably in a folding chair. Some of the boys were on the floor by her feet and all of the boys were hanging onto her every word.
With a bit of work, she'd resemble Chie's Shadow.
"We haven't been shooting any hoops ever since she was assigned that position." Kou sounded very disappointed. "The balls haven't needed polishing in so long!"
"We don't have any team spirit," said another boy. "They all just wanna flirt with her. And she doesn't want to be here, even with all that attention."
"I see," said Nanako. "Would you guys welcome a new manager, then?"
"Sure," said Kou. "All I want is to play again!"
"Then help me out here," she said, and she proceeded to give them her plan.
Soon after, Nanako marched straight into that circle of boys until she stood right before Ai Ebihara. "I'm challenging you for the position of team manager," she declared.
Ebihara regarded her with her nose turned up. "Who the hell are you?"
"Yeah!" said a boy in the group. "Who do you think you are?"
The boy stood up, apparently to defend the queen, but Ebihara waved her hand—it was perfectly manicured with long, beautiful nails—and he immediately sat back down. "Well, it doesn't matter," she said. "Take it up with Mr. Kondo. He's the one who gave me the stupid position."
"Why don't we go see him together, then, and work something out," Nanako suggested. "Since you do want to step down, right?"
Ebihara narrowed her eyes. "What makes you so sure that I do?"
"Because when you're here, you aren't shopping! Besides, none of these boys is even worthy of your attention. They're too much like sheep, look at them fawning over you. They're only going to disappoint you in the end."
The boys collectively began to protest, but Ebihara looked thoughtful. "Yeah, they're totally a bunch of losers. You want to inherit that?"
"I'm going to whip these balls into shape until they're gleaming," she said. The metaphor made no sense, but the point got across.
"Like I care. Although the whipping sounds fun." Ebihara stood up from the chair. "You can have it. I was only here for one reason anyway." She glanced sidelong across the room at the second group of boys, then scowled.
She left the gym, which left Nanako to introduce herself. "Well, then! As your new boss, things are gonna—"
"There's no point in sticking around if Ebihara's not here," one of the boys protested.
"Yeah," agreed another. "This sucks—"
He was shut up by a basketball aimed at his head. Kou and his friends were armed with balls and ready to use them.
"It's dodgeball practice now, bitch!" Nanako declared. She picked up the nearest ball and threw it at the another member of Ebihara's gang. The boys yelped and scrambled to get away as the onslaught began.
"What the hell!"
"This is crazy!"
"Ai-chan!"
But Ebihara, who was now standing in the gym's open doorway, just closed it on their faces. She had no loyalty to her fans, that was for sure.
On the other side of the spectrum, though, a couple of Ebihara's boys apparently weren't sheep and decided to join in the 'fight' and have fun with the rest.
"Gotta love it," said Kou with a wide grin. So excited to be able to throw basketballs once again, he gave up on targeting the boys who were leaving and aimed at the basket instead, scoring a point.
Another boy followed his example, and soon it became an impromptu basketball practice session with the remaining boys. Nanako took the opportunity to assess the team. It was too bad, in the end, that they were two shy of the ten needed for a competitive game of basketball. If only she'd recruited both Yosuke and Kanji! Hey, it was still possible to get them in on this Balls Club, heh heh.
Some time later, Kou wiped his forehead and went over to Nanako. "That was great. It's been too long since we've played the courts like this!"
"There's more where that came from," Nanako promised. "Hope you boys are ready!"
The boys agreed, perhaps not realizing what exactly they were agreeing to. They should have asked to read the fine print, because Nanako was going to whip them into shape, just as she'd said!
They were making some small talk about the sport, since Nanako wasn't entirely familiar with it (though she pretended to be so as not to lose credibility), when the gym door opened and a number of the boys who'd left earlier entered.
"You!" one of them growled. "Do you have the key?"
"What key?" Nanako asked innocently.
"The key to the locker rooms! Mr. Kondo said you had it! You locked us out! We need to get changed."
"The club meeting isn't over," she told them. "So there's no need for you to change!" When they began to complain she told them she'd give them the key once they'd scored three points against Kou's team.
They had no choice but to agree, and Kou was probably happier than he'd ever been in a very long time. Nanako was satisfied, too. She'd made the right decision to join the Balls Club. Seeing the boys getting hot and sweaty in their basketball uniforms, hnng! The loose jerseys, the shorts! It was giving her flashbacks to middle school, no mistake. If only she could get that hidden camera in the locker room working, everything would be perfect.
[7/8: Friday]
Because it was raining, the DEATH Squad formed a study group at Aiya instead of Junes.
And because it was raining, Nanako made Kanji come with. It was time for him to take the Rainy Day Special Mega Beef Bowl Challenge. Hey, he'd lost that bet at Okina! Now he would bet against the beef.
The beef bowl was at least twice the size of a normal bowl and filled to the brim with noodles and meat. The egg on top was also supersized, as if it had come from an ostrich instead of a chicken. Kanji was looking down at it with an unreadable expression, possibly psyching himself up for the challenge ahead.
"You can do it, Kanji-kun!" Chie said, patting his back in encouragement. "If I can do it, you can! Though I don't know if I can make it today..." She looked down at the second Rainy Day Mega Beef Bowl set in front of her. She was taking the challenge herself.
"Maybe I could help?" said Yukiko, eyeing the egg on top with a famished look.
"That's against the rules," Yosuke pointed out. "Besides, your ramen will be out in a second."
"If I can't finish it, you can definitely have the rest," Chie told her. "I don't mind!"
Yukiko smiled sweetly at her, and Chie smiled back... and then began to eat.
"Have you ever taken on the challenge, Aika-chan?" Nanako asked when the delivery girl brought out Yukiko's ramen and the plate of pot stickers that Nanako had ordered.
Aika didn't deign to answer. "Enjoy your meal."
"She's probably smarter than that," Yosuke commented. "Kanji, why in the world would you bet against Nanako?"
"Couldn't believe what she'd said, is all," Kanji muttered through some beef-laden noodles. "So I didn't really think 'bout it."
"What did she say?" Yosuke asked, curious now.
"Let's just say, the world's bigger'n I thought, senpai. You can't tell, sometimes, living in a small town." Kanji paused, his chopsticks in the air. "An' at the same time, the world's small. She showed me that."
"That's deep, Kanji-kun!" Nanako said with a prideful grin.
Yosuke crossed his arms and frowned. "…What does that have to do with the bet?"
"Yosuke," Nanako said. "I bet you five cans of cola that Kanji-kun will finish the challenge bowl."
"S-Senpai," Kanji protested, "I'm full already, and I still can't see the sides of the bowl."
"I'm not taking any of your bets, no matter the reward," Yosuke claimed. "Knowing you, there'll be no way I can win."
"Oh? Is that a challenge?" Nanako raised an eyebrow. "I'll come up with a deal so sweet that you can't resist, just you wait."
"Think you're in trouble now, Yosuke-senpai," Kanji said. "'Least I'm only out money. You might be swallowin' your pride."
"You should know better than to make a deal with the devil, Yosuke!" Chie said, overhearing their conversation.
"I didn't make any deal!" he protested. "Wh-why are you looking at me like that? The beef bowl's on the counter!"
Chie sighed. "Yeah, I don't think I'm going to finish it. Yukiko, did you really want some?"
"Yes, please!" Yukiko eagerly took Chie's chopsticks out of her hand and began to eat from her bowl.
"Aiyah! Too bad, Satonaka!" exclaimed the store owner. "That's 3,000 yen. Maybe next time. Kachan, are you gonna give up, too?"
Kanji stared into his bowl. The soul of the beef stared back at him. He sighed and took out his wallet.
"Don't forget, you're paying for me, too," Nanako reminded him.
"Yeah, yeah..." Kanji grumbled.
"See? You would've won that bet, Yosuke," Nanako teased.
"That would've been 600 yen worth of soda," Yosuke mused. He shook his head. "No, I'm sure you would've glared at Kanji until he somehow finished the bowl. I know you hate losing."
"Heh heh," said Nanako. She patted Kanji's shoulder. "Thanks for the meal."
"No problem, Senpai... Been a while since I took the challenge, anyway. Was good food. Aiya's always good."
"Mm-hmm," Nanako agreed. Then she sighed. "I guess... we should go study..." She looked out the windows and it was still pouring rain outside. "Aika! Could we study in here?"
The store owner answered that since they were paying customers, he didn't mind unless the restaurant became busy. They stayed there for the rest of the afternoon, although after a time the smell of beef made it difficult to concentrate.
[7/9: Saturday]
By now everyone was so thoroughly sick of studying that they all needed a break. "We haven't trained in ages," Nanako said. "I know the kidnapper hasn't struck lately, but that's no reason to get lazy, right? Let's make for the TV World."
When they arrived at the backlot, they found several pairs of tiger-striped boxer-briefs strewn about the stage.
"I have not been throwing my underwear in here!" Yosuke said vehemently when everyone looked at him.
Yukiko began to giggle. "N-now you have s-spares!"
Yosuke's face turned crimson. "Nanako! This isn't funny!"
"Hey, I had nothing to do with this!" Nanako replied. She had one hand on her hip, the other cupping her chin in thought. "Teddie!" she called. "Is this your doing?"
"Boss!" The bear was hustling towards them. He skated to a stop in front of Nanako. "Y-yeah! Do you like them? I made them just for you! You asked me to make some clothes, so I did! And then I thought that one wasn't enough, what if Boss needs more, and—"
Now Chie and Nanako were both laughing along with Yukiko.
Kanji scratched his head and looked away. "I guess they made an impression on him, Yosuke-senpai."
"Oh my god," Yosuke moaned.
Nanako picked up a pair and inspected them. She thought of asking where he obtained the material to make them, but decided she probably didn't want to know. "Well, thank you, Teddie. If I ever turn into a boy, I'm set."
"Boy...? Oh... Boss can't wear them?" Teddie's ears drooped down.
"Boxer-briefs are for boys," Nanako explained gently. "But we do have a couple of boys here, so we'll find a use for them!"
"I wanted to make something for Boss," Teddie said, still dejected.
"Well, if you're inspired enough, I'd like a set of glasses for my little cousin! And... say, do you think you could make shirts and blouses, too? Just like the ones we're wearing now."
Teddie's eyes narrowed in thought, and then widened as he nodded. "I'll try, Boss!"
While she instructed him on the specifics of what she'd like, she pretended not to notice Yosuke nonchalantly collecting the tiger-striped underwear and placing them into a neatly folded stack next to the exit TV.
They headed to Yukiko's Castle, straight to the throne room. Their plan was to sweep out the Shadows from top to bottom, floor by floor.
Although it had been a while since they'd fought, it didn't take very long for them to get back into the swing of things. They tore through the Shadows by systematically targeting their weaknesses. Kanji blasted the ravens out of the air with his electricity, Yosuke blew away the fish with his wind, Chie stopped the fire beetles in their tracks with her ice, and Yukiko melted down the rare Avenger Knights.
And Nanako just watched them go about it. She didn't even have to give them orders. They remembered how to deal with every type of Shadow here. Well, it was new to Kanji since he hadn't been to the castle before, but he caught on quickly. And it didn't matter too much: the place was hardly a challenge.
In an effort to change things up, Nanako commanded the team not to use their Personas. She herself needed to get better at using her naginata. She was always dropping it in the middle of combat. Yukiko definitely needed to practice her aim with her fan, and Kanji needed to learn a little restraint because he kept denting his weapon. Yosuke was often hesitant to get too close to the Shadows, and Chie sometimes kicked an enemy into a teammate in her enthusiasm.
With those weaknesses in mind, they cleared out two more floors of Shadows, showing steady improvement in their teamwork. When a balance-shaped Shadow summoned ice around Yukiko and knocked her down, Yosuke helped her back up to her feet while Kanji knocked the Shadow aside and into Chie's kick. Yukiko broke the 'no Personas' rule to heal everyone after a demon mage threw up a wall of flame, burning everyone and taking both Chie and Nanako down for a good long moment. Nanako had been keeping the elephant-headed Vetala at the forefront of her mind since she'd worked so hard to make it, but its fire weakness sometimes made it a liability. Most of her Personas had a glaring weakness, unfortunately.
She really needed to get better at switching her Personas on the fly. It'd be awesome if she could switch right before she was being hit by an enemy's ability—switch right into a Persona strong against it. If she could manage that, she'd be virtually invincible. Practice, that's what she needed, but it was too hard to do with everyone else around...
After they found the stairway to the next floor, Nanako called for a break and handed everyone water bottles from her backpack.
"I'm going to split us into two groups," she announced when they were refreshed and ready to continue. "We don't need to all be together, right?"
"I wanna go with Yukiko!"
The speed in which Chie declared that almost made Nanako laugh. "Well, Chie, I wanted you and Kanji-kun to go together, but I realized you wouldn't have a healer unless I came with. But you and Yukiko already work well together. At the same time, given a chance, I know Yosuke and Kanji would make a nice team."
"Whatever you want, Senpai," Kanji said. "I'll go with anyone."
"You go with Yukiko," Nanako decided. "Chie, you're with Yosuke."
"Aww, man!" Chie complained.
"W-what's wrong with me?" Yosuke asked.
"All you're gonna do is make dumb jokes! Or try to look up my skirt when I'm kicking!"
"I already know you wear shorts underneath your skirt," he said, which was the wrong thing to say. Chie kicked him, and he crumpled to the ground, clutching his shin and wailing. "I think it's brokennnnn!"
Although Chie's combat boots could do quite a bit of damage, it probably wasn't that bad. He was still whimpering after a minute, though, so Yukiko healed him.
"A-anyway," Nanako trilled while he was getting back to his feet. "Those are the teams. Now split up and get to it!"
"What about you?" Chie asked. "Coming with us? I don't think Yosuke wants to be alone with me now, heh. Serves him right!"
"I'm going back to check up on Teddie," Nanako said. It was only partially true, but they didn't need to know that. "You guys are already halfway to the bottom. I'll see you there."
Nanako nimbly avoided Teddie and headed to the bathhouse. She didn't plan to go too far into it—just hang around the first floor area and train on her own. It was slightly more dangerous here than the castle, mostly because there tended to be more Shadows in every group, but she was sure she'd be fine. Besides, if she ran into trouble, her Cu Sith could instantly take her out of the dungeon. It was how she'd left everyone in the castle.
She took off her blouse, dropping it carelessly on a stool, and went in. Not far into the dungeon, a group of five massive rocks with yellow arcana masks blocked her path. Basalt-type Shadows. With one word from her, the shaggy dog Cu Sith flapped open its huge ears and created a gale of wind that knocked over all of the Basalts. They should be way too heavy to knock over with wind, but... TV World. She repeated the attack and the Shadows dissipated.
Yeah, this place was a joke! And Cu Sith, able to attack all the Shadows in the area at once like that, was proving to be massively useful. She'd dumped Ukobach for Jack Frost a while ago and couldn't wait to find something weak to ice.
But without Ukobach, she didn't have anything that could summon fire anymore. She could only have so many Personas in her mind at one time, apparently. What was with these limitations? Wasn't the mind supposed to be, like, the window to the infinite universe? Hmm, she should talk to Morooka about that one. Or, or Igor...
Her thoughts were interrupted by another group of Shadows: a couple of cupids and a flying fish. This could be trouble—she remembered that the cupids could cause panic. But they were weak against ice, so...
"Jack Frost!"
The cutesy snowman encased the enemies in ice, but the fish flashed and the ice was reflected and formed around Nanako instead. It would have been worrisome if she wasn't still using the same Persona. Jack Frost simply stuck his tongue out at the fish before disappearing.
Cheeky little guy.
The fish tried to ram into her, but she drew up her naginata and it stupidly impaled itself on it. Yeah, this place wasn't much more of a challenge than the castle.
She was leery of the next group of Shadows, however. She'd never seen them before. They were red clouds of mist with an arcana mask just floating there within the cloud. She tried Cu Sith's wind first, but it seemed to have no effect. One cloud moved close to her, so she tried to slash it, but her naginata went right through the mist. The Shadow didn't have an invisible body or anything.
They had to be weak against some element. She switched to Omoikane and—
Fire suddenly surrounded her and she swore as it singed her.
The TV World's physics were so unusual. The fire disappeared as fast as it appeared. It hurt like real fire would, but the pain wasn't lasting, or at least it wasn't enough to stop her from retaliating the next chance she got. It also didn't burn through clothes, for whatever reason.
She went through her arsenal of Personas, avoiding those weak to fire, but nothing she tried seemed to be working against these Shadows. Fireball after fireball came at her until she couldn't take it anymore and brought out Izanami to try and douse the damned flames with her water.
It ended up drenching away the Shadows, too. Nanako thanked the goddess and then asked her to sing a healing melody until the pain from the fire was just a bad memory.
Only two battles in and she was already soaked with sweat. But it was exhilarating, wasn't it? Fighting on her own. She remembered her goal, though—to work on recognizing what a Shadow would do next and switch her Persona in time to match it. The switching process took a few seconds—a few seconds too long. It required concentration, calling the new Persona to mind and pushing the previous one out, and try as she might, she wasn't getting any faster at it. It was incredibly frustrating to know this limit and also be unable to do anything about it. It was starting to give her a headache, too.
To give her mind a rest, she attacked the next Shadow, a lone police-dog, with her naginata instead. It shot at her with its gun, but she ignored the pain and swung again.
Then a stream of multicolored light came flying at her head and made a popping sound. Her mind went blank.
When she came to some minutes later, her body was throbbing in pain and she was surrounded by cupids. Dammit, she'd been panicked, hadn't she? Yeah, money was strewn about the floor, money that had come from her own wallet. A cupid laughed at her expression and she summoned Jack Frost to deal with them all at once.
She picked up as much of the money as she could and considered how dangerous the situation could have been. The Shadows had attacked her while she was in that befuddled state. The lasting pain was proof of that. They could have killed her. But the cupids weren't very strong, so they hadn't been able to finish her before she'd recovered her senses.
It was proooobably about time to go back.
She cleared out a few more sets of cupids on the way out, and as she was preparing Cu Sith in her mind to destroy another wall of basalts, they fell over before she could even summon the Persona.
"There you are!" shouted Yosuke.
Oh, damn, she'd been caught.
"Nanako! What the hell are you doing, going in alone? You had us all worried!"
"Yeah, Senpai," Kanji said, walking up to them. "We got to the bottom of the castle and Teddie was runnin' around out there like he'd lost his head."
Eh heh... apparently she hadn't 'nimbly avoided' the bear's notice at all. "I just wanted to test something with my Personas is all," she said. "No need to worry. As you can see, I didn't go very far."
"You should have told us," Yosuke said, crossing his arms. "You know it's dangerous to go alone! You're the one who came up with that rule. If you wanted to test something, you could have told us to back off and let you do it. That way, if anything happened, we'd be there to back you up."
"Have to agree with him, Senpai," Kanji said. "'Cause if you got hurt, we wouldn't've known at all."
"Nothing in here can stop me," Nanako said. One of the basalts Yosuke had knocked over had returned to an upright position, and Nanako showed off by knocking it over again with Cu Sith's wind. "See?"
"Boss? Boss, are you okay?" Teddie's worried voice filtered into their minds. Moments later, she heard his footsteps and then the bear was with them, too. "Boss! You had me so worried!"
So worried that he'd even come into the bathhouse? Now Nanako felt guilty. His fur was getting soaked from the steam, and it was also starting to smell rank. "A-all right," she said. She patted his head, yeah, he was all wet. "I'm sorry, Teddie. I should've warned you. But I didn't go far, and I'm okay..."
"I'm glad, Boss! I made you the glasses you asked for, after all!" Teddie handed her a silver pair of glasses.
"Nanako," said Yosuke flatly.
She looked at him. "So you all cleared the castle? No problems?"
"Not really, Senpai," Kanji answered. "Was a nice workout, I guess. Halfway through Yosuke-senpai switched with Yukiko-senpai, so me an' him went through the last few floors together."
"Yeah, I, uh, I had enough of Chie for one day," Yosuke admitted. His posture relaxed as he began to forgive her perceived recklessness. "Do you have anything more to test, Nanako? Or are you ready to go back?"
"I was just heading back when you guys showed up!" she told him. "Honestly, you had nothing to worry about."
"But—" Yosuke began, but she cut him off by using her Persona to warp them back to the bathhouse's entrance.
After they recovered from the disorientation due to the warp, Teddie moved a few steps away and shook himself like a dog, spraying water and sweat over all three of them.
"Teddie!" Nanako scolded. "Go outside and do that!" She'd just picked up her blouse to put back on, too, and now it was dirty.
"S-sorry, Boss!" the bear apologized, and then he left the building. They could hear him panting and shaking outside.
Nanako shook her head, and then looked down at her damp blouse. She looked sidelong at the boys as an idea took hold. "Now then," she said briskly. "Since we're here already, and we're done for the day, why don't we use the baths?"
Kanji blinked and then said, "Yeah!"
"'We'?" asked Yosuke with a frown. "You mean..."
"Heh heh," said Nanako. "That's right. I told you during the camping trip that I'd totally go in the baths with you guys."
He stared at her for quite a long moment. "What about the other girls? We left them at the stage."
Nanako called out to Teddie and told him to go let Chie and Yukiko know that she was fine and that they could go right on home.
She waited until she heard him walking away, and then turned back to the boys. "Just you, me, and Kanji-kun. That's what I want today."
Yosuke's reply was the blush creeping over his face. Then he took off his shirt and pants until he was only wearing his boxer-briefs. No pattern today, just a solid dark gray. Nanako was distracted from staring at him by Kanji following suit. Yep, he was still in briefs.
She made the boys head first through the passage that led to the baths because she wanted to watch them from behind. Yosuke walked stiffly, definitely on guard. He suspected something. Heh heh. He knew her, didn't he? Just not in the same way that Kanji-kun did. But she wasn't planning anything except a good time.
Yosuke paused at the door to the chamber that held the baths. He seemed relieved all of a sudden. Nanako looked at him questioningly. "I just realized," he said, "that electronics don't work in here."
"Yeah, so?"
"Thought you might be trying to take a picture of us in a compromising position," he explained. "I wouldn't doubt you'd try to send it to Katsuragi somehow, or something."
"That's a good idea!" Nanako said brightly. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding! Kanji-kun, why are you looking at me like that!?"
"S-sorry, Senpai!" Kanji hung his head. "I just... wouldn't put it past ya."
She narrowed her eyes for a moment and then shrugged. "Guilty as charged, I suppose. Now are we gonna have a bath or what?"
She opened the doors, strode in, and made for the nearest washing station. Yosuke stayed near the door, looking lost, until Kanji kindly directed him to a different washing station across the way.
Nanako removed the rest of her clothes and put them in a basket near the washing station. She took her time cleaning herself, partially because she really needed a cleaning from all the training, and partially because she could hear the two boys talking amongst themselves while they did the same thing.
"Nah, senpai, we're gonna use the same bath," Kanji said.
"What, really? But there are plenty of baths here."
She couldn't see through the haze of steam, but she imagined Kanji shrugged before replying. "'s what we did last time."
"Waitwaitwait, last time? You went into the bath with Nanako before!?"
Nanako laughed lightly.
"Yeah, when we mapped the place. We needed a break after all that walking we did, so—"
Yosuke made a strangled sound that made her laugh even more.
"She suggested it, after all," Kanji continued. "Was fun. Made me feel not so bad about havin' made this place."
"Y-yeah," Yosuke said. "I can imagine."
There was silence after that as they presumably continued with the washing.
"You guys done yet?" Nanako called from her station when she was finished. "We're gonna use the bath right here." It was the bath closest to her because that was the most convenient. Without further ceremony, she stepped in the steaming water and submerged most of her body within it.
"Dude, you forgot a towel!" Yosuke called after Kanji, who was heading towards the bath.
Kanji halted and glanced back at him. "Bring one for me, will you, senpai?"
"Yeah, okay, but I mean, you aren't wearing one!"
Kanji looked down at his blatant nudity. Then he laughed. "It's my damn bathhouse. I'll wear nothing if I want."
He stalked forward the rest of the way and stepped into the bath that Nanako was in. He grinned at her, and she grinned back.
Yosuke was prudish with his towel tightly wrapped around his waist. He paused at the edge of the bath and locked eyes with Nanako, who was watching him closely. "D-don't..." he started.
She rolled her eyes. "Come on, it's nothing I haven't seen before. It's not like your boxer-briefs hide that much, anyway!" He didn't seem particularly reassured, so she added, "I'm naked, too. Are you saying you don't wanna bathe with me? I mean, Kanji-kun is already in and all~"
He swiftly removed the towel and stepped in, but he wasn't fast enough to prevent Nanako from sizing him up.
Heh heh.
Though maybe he didn't notice. "Oh!" he sighed as he sank into the hot water until it was high on his chest.
"See? It's fine," Nanako told him. "We're friends and we're having fun."
"It is nice," Yosuke admitted. "I haven't been to a public bath since I lived in the city. And before you ask, no I didn't go with my friends. I went with my family..."
"Isn't it great? It could only be better if Yukiko would let us use the hot springs, heh."
"She'll never do that, Senpai," Kanji murmured. His eyes were closed and his head was leaning back against the edge of the bath. "'Sides, the hot springs're segregated, you know, boys only and girls only, so we all wouldn't be able to go in together like this."
"Well, this is supposed to be boys only," Yosuke pointed out. "You're just breaking rules again."
"Because that's no fun," Nanako said. "I want everyone to be here, all at the same time." Maybe she should've invited the other girls... Next time.
"It's not really proper," Yosuke said. "I mean, Yukiko-san has a reputation to maintain."
"Oh? And Chie and I don't?" Nanako said in a dangerous tone of voice.
"N-no," he said. "That's not what I meant. But you know how Yukiko always has that air of being traditional and proper about her all the time."
"Yeah, I know what you mean." Nanako sighed. "Honestly? I don't think she likes it all that much. Being proper all the time. She gets real into burning things, you notice?"
"Yeah, Senpai," said Kanji. "You shoulda seen her when we ran into some of those ravens. She was shoutin' all sorts of things at them because they wouldn't burn. It was a bit scary, to be honest!"
"Yukiko, the spitfire," Nanako murmured. "I gotta spend more time with her. But anyway, whether it's proper or not doesn't apply in here. It's just us and the Shadows, y'know? No one'll believe you if you said you went into a bath with Yukiko. What happens here, stays here, I guess you could say!"
"That's true," Yosuke said with a sigh. "But maybe they'd believe me if I said I went with you!"
Nanako splashed him and they both laughed.
She allowed the comfortable silence to lapse while they all enjoyed the hot water. It was pretty great that the baths were self-maintained. She wondered how long they'd be functional. Forever was hoping for a lot. Imagine them still being hot and steamy during the winter. It would be heavenly!
Okay, that was enough relaxing. Time to enact the next part of her plan.
"Hey, Yosuke," she said sweetly.
"What?" he murmured. His eyes were closed now, too. Yeah, he was totally relaxed.
"I bet you won't kiss Kanji-kun."
Water splashed around as Yosuke sat up suddenly. "Wh-what the hell?" he cried. "What even made you think that?"
"Err, Senpai?" said Kanji, blinking his own eyes open. "I don't think of Yosuke-senpai like that."
"Thanks, man!" Yosuke told him with feeling.
"But you didn't even hear what I was gonna bet," Nanako complained with a playful pout. "Oh well!"
Yosuke scowled down at the water, then glanced at her, and then at Kanji, and then at the water again. After a long moment, he asked, "Wh-what were you going to bet?" in a quiet, strangled voice.
"Heh heh," she said.
[AN: My only regret so far is that summer break is coming up, so there won't be any time for further Balls Club fun.
If you're curious about that bet at the end, well, my coauthor wrote an adults-only story about what happened next. It's called "And Yosuke In-Between" and can be found on AO3. The URL is: archiveofourown com works/3622281
Next Chapter: The Superior Man]