Ch 2

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Bright light hit Sakuya's eyes, and she squinted a little against the harsh change. When her eyes adjusted, she saw that they were in a small waiting area. An old woman sat at an old wooden desk across from them, and two large silky cloths hang on either side of her, denoting the entrances to the baths. Reimu walked up to her.

"Hello, dears. Are you here for a bath?" The obaa-san said when she took notice them.

"Yes Obaa-san," Reimu replied. "It's for the two of us."

"That'll be 400 yen, dears."

Reimu doled the money on the attendant's hand, who stored it in a sliding drawer. She bowed to them, and Reimu bowed back in response. After, she straightened up, turned towards Sakuya, and beckoned her to follow.

"Come on, this way."

With one last glance at the counter attendant, the maid trailed after the shrine maiden through the right hallway. It led to a small locker-like room to put store their clothes in. Buckets and towels filled each slot A few women of different ages were already there getting ready to wash. They looked up when Sakuya and Reimu came in, but they mostly ignored them and went back to what they were doing.

Reimu went to a random spot and started to take off her ribbons. Numbly, Sakuya took the slot next to her and put down her bag. Sakuya began hesitantly taking off her clothes, a slight pinkish tone appearing on her face. She had always bathed alone, and she felt awkward stripping down in the open. While taking off her bra, she noticed Reimu staring.

"Um, yes?" She inquired. Realizing that she had been caught, Reimu slightly blushed and turned away.

"Uhm, nothing," she said quickly. But as Sakuya continued to disrobe, she heard Reimu mutter, "Damn, now I do owe Marisa."

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Sakuya blandly stated, "I don't suppose this trip was to see if I was well endowed or not."

The shrine maiden jerked her head in surprise, thinking that the maid didn't hear her.

"Er, kind of," Reimu sheepishly admitted, "But it was more of an afterthought. I really did think it would be nice if we bathed somewhere relaxing and pleasant."

Sakuya didn't know how to respond to that, so she remained quiet until she finished undressing and unbraiding her hair. Reimu, who had already finished changing, waited as she put her soap and hair care products into her bucket and carried it and her towels to the other exit.

To Sakuya's surprise, the washroom was white and tiled, a modern contrast to the previous two rooms. Rows of mirrors, blue stools, and low hanging sinks facing back to back on low walls divided the room. Again, without so much of a direction, Reimu wandered into a row and sat down on one of the stools. Sakuya gracefully took the seat next to her and put down her bath supplies.

For a while, they silently cleaned themselves of any grime and sweat. Reimu cleaned herself rather quickly, wanting to soak in the hot onsen water. But she made sure to soap up every part of her body. Sakuya, ever mindful of her appearance, was slower to wash herself. She started with her hair first, carefully undoing her hair braids and untangling any knots. She generously rubbed her shampoo into her hair, using some water to lather the substance. Satisfied with her efforts, Sakuya picked up her soap bottle, squirted a light amount onto her sponge, and started to scrub her body clean. As she reached around to clean her back, Reimu, who had already lathered herself over, leaned over towards her.

"Here, let me help," she said. The shrine maiden took the sponge from Sakuya's hand and began to wash her back.

"You know, this is highly unusual for a person like you to be washing my back," Sakuya commented amusedly.

"Oh shut up," Reimu said, scrubbing harder in embarrassment. After a thorough scrub, she gave the sponge back to the other woman. The two quietly filled up their buckets with hot water from the sink and washed themselves down at their own pace. A few minutes later, they were done. Using the small towel provided to them, Sakuya dried her hair a little and then gathered up her short and long hair into a bun and tied it up with her hair ribbons.

"Ready?"

Sakuya heard the other girl ask and voiced her agreement. She gathered up her things again and walked to the other exit at the end of the wash room with Reimu.

Upon entering the new doorway, the maid saw that the next 'room' was in fact the large open air hot spring. A few older women and grandmothers were already in it and enjoying themselves in the hot water. Two rows of cubicles flanked both sides of her for people to put their things in. She was once again mildly concerned at how she had missed this from above. Reimu walked off to the right to store her things in one of the cubby holes and Sakuya followed. Soon enough, they were relaxing in the hot water.

"Ahhhh." Reimu let out a relieved sigh. Sakuya suppressed the urge to also let out a noise, but she slowly sunk farther into the water and let the healing warmth spread throughout her body.

The two of them soaked and enjoyed the hot spring for a few minutes in silence. They watched the other patrons slowly relax and get out of the water when they felt ready to. Sakuya raised a hand and watched the water drip back down.

"So, how is it?" She heard Reimu ask off to the side. Sakuya lowered her hand and slightly turned towards the shrine maiden. She thought for a few seconds about what to say.

"…It's calming," She eventually responded. "At the Scarlet Devil Mansion, I only ever took short showers."

"Because the youkai there keep making messes?" Reimu guessed.

"…In a manner of speaking," Sakuya reluctantly acknowledged. It wasn't like she could deny that the SDM inhabitants didn't make messes.

"The fairy maids not good enough at cleaning?"

Sakuya dismally sighed, "No. I often have to do the work myself in the end. Of course, they are good for some general housework and cooking, but when it comes to Flandre, fairy maids aren't equipped to handle her and her…incidents."

Reimu slightly frowned and speculated out loud, "So wait, so if you aren't there, wouldn't that mean Flandre could…oh."

"Yes. Oh," the head maid gloomily affirmed.

"Sorry," Reimu apologized. "I shouldn't have brought up the fairy maids."

"No, it's fine. Once I return to the mansion, I will no longer be on vacation and thus can remedy whatever has transpired," Sakuya said, lifting a hand again to dismally watch the water fall. "I only hope that the mansion will still be standing when I return."

Unsure of how to exactly comfort a maid whose entire existence kept the Scarlet Devil Mansion in check 24/7, Reimu brought a hand up and hesitantly patted Sakuya on the shoulder in support. "I'm sure things will be alright. Remilia and Patchouli are responsible enough to live without you for a while and can handle Flandre if needed. I think."

"A glowing endorsement if I ever heard one," Sakuya replied slightly rolling her eyes. But Reimu could see that she appreciated the gestured and had relaxed ever so slightly. "But thank you, Reimu."

"You're welcome, Sakuya" Reimu said, pleased at her success.

The two maidens continued to soak in the hot spring until they felt they had enough. After exiting the spring, drying herself off, and changing into her clean clothes, Sakuya felt more refreshed that she ever had from a bath in a long time. Now idly standing in the foyer area holding her bag and waiting for Reimu to finish talking to the obaa-san, she wondered if she ought to start using the large baths at the SDM. She reached up and felt her soft and silky hair; the maid decided it would be nice to do it once or twice a year as a small reward.

Reimu presently concluded whatever business she had and received something from the obaa-san. She bowed thanks and walked over towards the waiting maid.

"Here," Reimu cheerfully said and handed Sakuya a bottle.

"Milk?" Sakuya inquired as she inspected the small cow chibi on her bottle.

"It's kind of a tradition. You drink milk after a bath," Reimu explained. She unscrewed her bottle with an audible pop. Sakuya watched her appreciatively chug her milk down for a few seconds before opening her bottle and drinking slowly from it. It tasted slightly stronger than what she bought from the market, but it was manageable. Reimu finished drinking hers and smacked her lips in satisfaction.

"Ahh," She expressed with a flourish. "Good, right?"

Sakuya was still in the middle of drinking, but she carefully nodded her agreement. Finally she finished her milk, licking the last drops on her lips. After giving back the bottles to the obaa-san for reuse and thanking her again, they exited the onsen and flew back home.

The chilly night air felt cool against Sakuya's warm skin, but to avoid catching a cold, they speedily arrived back at the shrine. Once there, Reimu temporarily set up the kokatsu to warm their bodies up again. They chatted for a little while but soon were yawning and ready to turn in for the night. Reimu bid Sakuya good night, and the two left for their rooms to sleep.

Sakuya woke up the next morning feeling incredibly well rested. After washing up and brushing her teeth she went to the living room to find Reimu already up and eating breakfast. Several pieces of paper were scattered on the table in front of her.

"Morning," Reimu greeted when she saw Sakuya arrive.

"Good morning, Reimu," Sakuya answered. She looked at the papers in curiosity. "What's this?"

"This," the shrine maiden enthusiastically gestured around her," is going to be our vacation plan. But first, I want to know. How do you feel about traveling around Gensokyo?"

Sakuya blinked at Reimu. "Um, if I had to put it, I would do it if I had the time to. Why?"

"I did some thinking last night, and I remember you answering that you didn't know of places to relax in Gensokyo. So, I decided we're going to remedy that!" Reimu declared. "Starting today, we're going to visit and stay in several places around Gensokyo for the next week and a half!"

"I just started the planning maybe half an hour ago, which is why there's a mess. But I think we'll be able to see the most prominent and amazing parts of Gensokyo by the end," Reimu said confidently.

Sakuya blinked again at Reimu. The shrine maiden had never-before-seen gusto for the morning, and the fact that she was excited about her vacation to the point where she was even planning for the two of them was doubly bizarre.

"Have you done this sort of thing before?" She carefully ventured.

Reimu slightly blushed, admitting, "Well, no. But it doesn't hurt to try. I've been to a lot of interesting places, and it would be kind of nice to revisit them and see how things are going now."

"I see," Sakuya remarked. She gave Reimu's proposal some thought. It would actually be a nice chance to use this vacation and explore Gensokyo. Plus, she might be able to buy several new things and take note of interesting shops for the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Making her decision, Sakuya gave Reimu a warm and approving smile. "I think this would be a wonderful idea, Reimu."

Reimu brightly beamed at her before picking up a piece of paper and handing it to Sakuya. "Here. This is going to be the first place we visit. I beat up the goddesses several times there for causing several incidents, but now we're good friends and won't mind us visiting them."

Sakuya looked down and read Moriya Shrine on the top. Suddenly, she didn't really have a good feeling about Reimu's vacation planning.

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