She Comes And Goes As She Pleases (Part 16)
by BrDPirateMan

"You WHAT? !"

Uzuki glared at me incredulously. Kariya and Mr Hanekoma were just as dumbfounded, but thank goodness for small favours they didn't explode in my face like she did.

And she would, again. Like now. "Run that by me again!"

"Whoa girl, chill, chill!" Kariya had his hand on her shoulder to restrain her, but looking at her, I'd say my safety would be assured only when she was placed in handcuffs. "I think that's enough for poor Phones. He's already been through a lot as it is without you getting your panties in a bunch."

"But it's inconceivable!" she growled. "I've heard of people who put off romantic confessions for another day because they're scared, but who forgets? !"

It's been two weeks since the Hachi Fest ended and the new semester had already begun. The summer vacation was behind us now, and it was back to classes for Eri and I. Not only that, autumn had set in and the days were starting to get colder, bit by bit. I had been meaning to relay the latest developments in my love life to faithful listeners Uzuki, Kariya and Mr H when I found some free time to myself, which is precisely what I have now done. But as you can tell, they didn't take very kindly to my failure.

Kariya raked his fingers through his hair. "Sure is the first time I've heard of someone forgetting to confess, I'll give you that."

"And from someone as eager to do it as Phones too…" That was from Mr H. Even he was legitimately surprised. He even stopped wiping the counter.

The frown on Uzuki's face was furrowed in deeper than usual. "Are you sure you're not covering up that you were too scared to confess? !"

"O-Of course not," I gulped. "After I listened to your advice I actually felt confident, you know! But I really was too wrapped up in the fun of it all, and… yeah. I forgot."

"What the heck… How did that even…"

Kariya wasn't one to dwell on things too much; good for me. "Well, what's happened has already happened. Colour me shocked that Phones here actually managed to screw up, but it's not like we can rewind time and change the course of history."

"He's right, sister," agreed Mr H. "It'd be better for Phones to move on and try again. We wouldn't get anywhere thinking about the past too much."

Our fiery lass still had an axe to grind with me, but even she had to concur and give up. "Fine. Point taken."

"Don't keep us waiting," said Kariya in jest. "The next time you drop by, we want to hear a good story! Well, we're not really rushing you or anything, but you shouldn't take too long, either."

"What he said," snapped Uzuki. "Just hurry up and confess already! Maybe you'd prefer to pick your moment and wait for the right atmosphere and all that blah blah blah, but don't you think it'd also be best to set the record straight and be direct about it? I don't think Eri would mind."

"True that, Uzuki. Except… it can't hurt to take precautions. If you just go right up to someone and say you like her, all of a sudden, it'd freak her out. We certainly don't want that happening now, do we? It's very important to be careful."

"Again with this. I don't understand you people! You're just slowpokes, that's all there is to it!"

Mr H found the argument between the two Reapers amusing and laughed. "You sure are getting heated up over Phones' confession thing, sister."

Uzuki huffed, "Only because he's being wishy-washy, and I can't stand wishy-washy guys!"

I tried to defend myself. "I-I'm not being wishy-washy, Uzuki! I was all set to go. I just forgot!"

"Yeah, well, I don't like forgetful guys either!"

"Urgh…" Her words stung like bees…

XOXOXOXOXO

Just hurry up and confess, she said… Easier said than done! I couldn't just do that anytime… I had to wait for the right time and place! Just like Kariya said. Uzuki may disagree, but if she's not the boss of me – and she certainly wasn't – then what the hey.

My confidence was in place. All that was left was to do it. I'd get round to it eventually, but a suitable moment had yet to show itself.

In the meantime, however, I had the autumn climate to worry about. Just barely a fortnight ago it was a sweltering hot summer, and now it had gotten chilly to the point where it'd be awfully uncomfortable to head outside without a jacket. As a homebody, I don't go out as often as the average person, but now I didn't even want to take one step out of the front door.

Even with central heating at my home, it couldn't hurt to have a bit more warmth. And so in the living room I laid out the kotatsu – a low table with an electric heat source. It's like an electric blanket, and what you do is slip your legs under the tablecloth and sit there to warm yourself up. The humble kotatsu has been my faithful companion for many a good autumn or winter day, and now, it would accompany me again.

There was no particular rush with homework and I didn't feel like doing anything because of the cold, so I just sat there like a statue. Lazy days like this don't come often, but when they do it's a little numbing.

Wonder what Eri's doing now…?

Life has a funny way of answering questions. As I would find out when she showed up at my doorstep.

The autumn may have chilled me into dormancy, but she was a peppy as ever, ready for action at the drop of a hat.

"Hi, Neku! Um… Are you busy?"

"No, not at all. Why? Is something the matter?"

"Not really, though I'll explain… Say, c-can I come inside first? I'm gonna freeze solid at any moment!"

How could she not? That hooded jacket wouldn't be enough to keep her warm if she was wearing a mini-skirt. The way she was shivering was adorable, though.

"Hee hee… Pardon my intrusion, Neku. …Ooh!" Her eyes snapped to the kotatsu that was in plain sight. "A heated table! That's just what I needed! You wouldn't mind if I slip my fine self underneath, would you? Please?"

I chuckled at her eagerness. "Go ahead. I was just about to invite you to do just that anyway."

"Really? Thankies!" She gave me a big hug. "You're so nice!"

"Wh-Whoa, h-hold on there…" Oh my god, her chest was pressing against me… I could hardly breathe! Did they grow bigger? ! Since when? ! And, more to the point, how? !

"Eep!"

She sprang away in a second, like in those romantic comedies where the heroine hugs the male protagonist and recoils out of embarrassment when she realizes what she has done. And then they both blush like mad. One of those cute moments, you know? But with Eri… now, she wouldn't do that for that reason. If it's her we're talking about, it's probably something else.

And I was right. She pulled down the zipper of her hoodie and out popped her teddy bear from the chest area like a jack-in-the-box, which she fished out.

"Whew!" Again she was talking to it… "I almost forgot about you, Phones. Sorry for crushing you like that, little fella!"

Oh… that explained things. But that raised another question. "Y-You were keeping it inside your jacket? For what purpose?"

I led her to the kotatsu, where she promptly slipped in, and I started preparing a mug of cocoa for her. "There's a power failure at my apartment, Neku. It's localized, so we're the only house in the block without electricity. My landlady is getting round to having it fixed, but until then things are really cold without central heating. That's why I came here. To stop myself from turning into a block of ice."

"Oh, I see. But that doesn't explain why you were hiding a teddy bear in your jacket…"

"I couldn't bear to leave poor Phones in my house to face the cold alone. I had to bring him with me. But it's a little embarrassing to carry him around like Shiki sometimes does with Mr Mew, so I had him safely stashed away in my jacket."

I brought her the cocoa and sat down with her. "I'm not even going to start questioning the logic behind that… But didn't it make your chest bulge out too much? When you hugged me just now, it hurt a little, too."

"Yeah, people were staring. I walked past this group of girls and I could almost taste the envy oozing out of them! Talk about an ego boost, ha ha ha!"

"If you ask me, it's kind of scary…"

"I wouldn't go so far as to call it scary, but I agree with you that fake boobs are dumb. The real thing is much better." As she said that, she eyed down at her chest and groped it a bit with her hands, as though to examine it. How could she do things like this in front of someone, and a guy no less? ! Was it just me, or were they more pliable than I tho–

"Wait, wait. Th-That's not what I'm talking about, Eri!"

Her lips curled into a mischievous leer. "Say, what're your preferences? What size turns you on? Hmmm? Don't be shy! I'm your best friend. We should be cool with a lot of things by now, right?" She was chuckling herself to dust.

I sighed. "Personally…"

"Yes, yes! Go on!" She was giggling harder. "I'm all ears!"

"…I'm a fan of size 10."

"Oooh… size 10, huh?" Then she snapped back quickly, "Hey, wait! I wasn't talking about shoe sizes! And you know it!"

"Yeah, I knew. That's exactly why I said it."

She pouted purposefully. "Tch… you're no fun."

XOXOXOXOXO

"Ahhh…! Bliss…"

"You all warmed up, Eri?"

"Yeah. Mmmm…!" The girl was wiggling in delight as she soaked in the warmth. "Drinking hot cocoa while sitting at a kotatsu. Man, thish ish sho guhd!"

"Not sure what you just tried to say, but it's great that you came over when you did. Even though it's not winter yet, autumn can be cold. I imagine it wouldn't be fun sitting in an apartment with a busted power supply."

"I'll become a vanilla-flavoured popsicle!" Wh-Why vanilla? "Blackouts are boring too. I can't watch TV, or use my computer, and because I live alone, there's no one to talk to… Well, I could chat on the phone, sure, but I dunno… it's kinda weird doing it in the dark. To me, anyway."

"We're too dependent on electricity to descend back into the Stone Age just yet."

"By the way, what were you doing before I arrived?"

"Me?" I scratched my head. "Eh, nothing, actually. It's a lazy day for me."

"Aha! Tapping into your inner slacker for once, huh? Hee hee… I know how that's like." She took another sip of cocoa. "Then I'm glad I came over. Between the two of us, we wouldn't need to wither from the boredom anytime soon."

My frame stiffened. "A-And your idea of passing the time would be…?"

Eri heaved a slightly annoyed sigh. "You make it sound like I'm always ready for mischief…"

"Aren't you?"

"Hmph! I'll have you know one thing, young man. And that is… I am always ready for mischief! So there! Ohohoho…!"

My face dropped like a box of nails. "What the heck…"

Her frame shuddered a little and she rubbed her arms vigorously. "Brrr! It's swell that we've got a kotatsu, but the upper half of my body is still cold! It must be colder than usual today."

"I'll get you a blanket." But as I was getting up, she stopped me and motioned me to sit back down.

"Wait. I've got a better idea."

A better idea? Since when were her ideas any better? She's been the brainchild of many a harebrained scheme, and being dragged along wasn't exactly my idea of fun. Well, maybe once or twice they worked out fairly nicely, but…

Next thing I knew she had crawled over to my side. "Neku, could you move over a bit?"

"Huh? Are you trying to sit together with me on my side of the table? Don't be ridiculous… There's no way the two of us will fit in!" Even when I said that, though, I was really hoping that we could. It'd be nice to cling together.

"Don't worry about it. I can be veeery flexible, so of course we will."

"I dunno…"

"You never know till you try! Now, let's give it a shot!"

"Huh… Whoa? !"

Eri quickly sidled closer and gently nudged me aside to make space for herself and her fine legs to slip through. I was right in that it would be cramped, because for all of her so-called flexibility, even she had slight problems fitting in. But through a lot of compromise and uneasy squirming plus a fair bit of pain, she accomplished the difficult task of sitting side by side with me, although she had to drape her leg over mine to squeeze in – hang on… that's not really sitting "side by side"… Still, I guess somewhere along the way, a miracle happened.

"Heh!" She wiped her forehead. "See? I'm flexible, aren't I?"

"It still feels like a can of sardines in here…" How was sitting together supposed to warm her up anyway?

"And for the final step, I'll be borrowing your body for a bit. Yoink!"

Like greased lightning she moved in for the kill. …Nah, I exaggerate. All she did was give me a bear hug… Wait. "All she did"? ! A bear hug from her was plenty! ! ! She did love being clingy…

"Just as I thought!" she squealed. "Mmmm, you really are hot."

Hearing that almost made my head snap back. Whoa, that sure was an amazing thing to hear! Did she think I was that cute?

But some mild disappointment was in store for me. "Oh Neku, it's so nice that you have so much body heat to spare! I'm warming right up. Aaah… Happiness is a kotatsu and a guy with an unusually high body temperature."

Oh, that kind of "hot"… I knew it had to be something like this. Oh well, not complaining.

"Eri? Uh, I can't move my arms."

"And you don't need to," she giggled. "Just stay the way you are. …You know, some people have warm bodies and others have cold ones, but you have the warmest. I wonder if high body heat is something you're born with? Or maybe it's simply because you're a hot-blooded young man." She broke into brief soft laughter and her death grip tightened a little. My blood circulation was going to get cut off at this rate…

"That's it!" she continued. "I've decided! Since you make such an excellent living heater, I'll make it a point to cling to you when I'm feeling chilly. I'll be here a lot during the autumn, and you can bet I'll be here during winter and the cold early days of spring!"

"A-And in the summer…?"

"…I'll dump you."

"Huh?"

"Kidding!" she sniggered, snuggling even closer. "I'll cling to you no matter what! 'Cause we're best friends, see? And best friends stick together!"

"I'm happy about the best friends bit. The 24/7 clinging part though…"

Suddenly, the whole house was plunged into darkness, which gave us a start. She even fumbled her embrace with a gasp.

"A blackout?" I muttered.

In the inky blackness she replied, "Looks like it. Maybe my landlady borked the repairs for my apartment's power supply and now it's affected us too somehow."

"H-Hey, don't say things like that. You make it sound like we've been jinxed."

Her cell phone rang and she answered. A short conversation later, she said, "That was my landlady on the line just now. She called up to tell me the power at my place hasn't been fixed yet. The whole block is out of power as well, but reassured me that none of that is her fault. …Or so she said." Don't tell me this really was all because the landlady screwed up? !

Wait a minute… I just thought of something. If this was a power failure, any electrical equipment I had wouldn't work. And that included this kotatsu. That's right… it's not working right now. Which meant that sooner or later it wouldn't be warm anymore and we would freeze.

There was no telling how long the blackout would last. There was some leftover warmth in the kotatsu, but it can only last so long before things got cold again. I should do something about this… Heck, I was making the whole thing sound like a life-or-death struggle against the forces of nature. Was I overthinking things? Maybe not. Better take some precautions. After all, a guy's got to take care of the girl, right?

So that's exactly what I was going to do. For Eri.

"Eri," I said, "please lend me your phone. I have to look for some stuff, and I'll need the light to see my way around. Just sit tight, okay?"

"Alright. Be careful."

Navigating around the darkness was tough even with an improvised flashlight, but at least I was in an environment that I was immediately familiar with and I knew where to go. I returned to Eri soon enough.

"Alright, I'm back," I said. "Sorry you had to sit by yourself in the dark, Eri. You okay?"

"Still all good on my end. No nightmares."

"Here. Take this."

The thing I was searching for was my duvet, and now I draped it over her shoulders. "Tuck yourself in, Eri. Oh, and please make way. I'm coming back under the kotatsu."

It was even more challenging squeezing in together again when we couldn't even see right. But eventually after a few mistakes and accidentally touching each other in the wrong places – my hand grazed the inside of her thigh and made her gasp – things were back in order once more. I moved as close to her as I could before looping the duvet around both of us. With this, I hoped we wouldn't feel the cold so much.

I asked with concern, "How do you feel now?"

"…I'm fine. It's… warm."

"If you're worried about Phones, have him join us." Funny how I was actually thinking about the teddy's welfare…

"Y-Yeah. He's already with me."

What's with her? She was being strangely subdued. Normally she would be spouting off jokes and wisecracks like she had a second mouth, or teasing me with her seductive nature till the town flowed red with my nosebleeds. Now, no one's a joker all the time, of course, and everyone has their quiet moments, but I still found the change in her behaviour quite peculiar.

"What's wrong, Eri?"

At my query, she seemed to snap back to her usual self. "Oh! It's nothing really, hee hee… It's just, well, this is the first time a guy's done this for me. No one's laid blankets over me when I'm cold before."

Her response made the palpitations in my heart grow a bit more intense, but I played it cool. "Blackouts don't happen a lot, so one wouldn't get blankets on their shoulders too often. Besides, I'd think this is the sort of thing anyone would do… right?"

"That's just like you to say something like that," she chuckled. "You're right, though. It's a rare thing to be sure, but you know… I don't get quite as caring a vibe from my previous boyfriends. Guys can be so hopeless like that. You, though… You're definitely different. And I like that."

She just praised me… I could tell she was very impressed with me. Ah! That's right! Now that the atmosphere was nice and suitably quiet, what better time to confess than now?

No, hang on. Confessing during a blackout? What kind of idiot would do that? ! It didn't matter that Eri was snuggled up with me and getting really cozy and comfortable… It didn't matter that we were alone with no one to disturb us… It didn't matter that she was happy with my gentlemanliness… None of it mattered at all! It's just not done telling a girl about your feelings during a power failure when you can't even see who you're confessing to! I mean, that's just plain ridiculous! ! ! It's like reading comics blindfolded!

There's also the possibility that she might get put off if I did that – "What? Neku, are you stupid? ! We're in the middle of a blackout!" – so all things considered, it was best to leave it for later. Damn, this was a pretty good situation though.

"Neku," she piped up, "it can get pretty boring waiting for the power to come back, so why don't we exchange some ghost stories?"

Urk! Horror stories were my greatest weakness! And I didn't mean that I was especially fond of them… quite the opposite! That's why I stay away from all forms of horror-related media. Slasher flicks and gory video games were out of the question. Call me a wimp, but I couldn't help that I hated the stuff.

Eri, on the other hand, was a big fan. She just loves a good scare. Horror was as much a hobby for her as fashion. Unfortunately, she's built up quite a resistance and is always hungry for something fresh and different, something that would really knock her boots off. So nowadays whenever a cliché jump scare happens in a movie… she laughs.

Yeah, she's weird. But back to story time…

"What's with the pause, Neku? Hee hee… Petrified already?"

"You know I'm not good with stuff like that! Power failures I can take, but not ghosts!"

"Awww, but see… it's dark, right?" She playfully directed the light of her phone upwards and it painted ghastly shadows on her face. "So it's great for storytelling! Sure, we could turn off the lights at any time, but blackouts are a spontaneous thing, so that makes the experience even more fun and effective – "

"Oh no you don't!" I was very vehement about it. "I'm not getting nightmares again! Can't we talk about more normal things? !"

"What're you talking about?" she huffed. "If you've never heard ghost stories in the dark before, your youth will be wasted! If you're really that scared, you can cling onto me, you know."

"How does 'my youth will be wasted' make any sense at all? !"

Eri grew impatient very quickly. "Rrgh… You're always like this! That's it! Not waiting anymore! We start now! Let's kick things off with 'The Seven Mysteries of Seiko High'…"

Wh-What? ! My alma mater had such a terrifying history? ! Oh god, there were spirits flying around the campus while I was schooling and I didn't even know it? ! Timeout, Eri, timeout!

But nope, she carried on. Her voice took on a purposely creepy and whispery tone as she provided narration for her haunting tale. "This is… a story about unrequited love… It is said that twenty years ago – "

"I'm not listening. La la la la!"

Her eyes rolled to the heavens. "Ugh… I can't tell stories when you get like this! Fine, I give up. You win. Be a killjoy." And just like that, the tale came to its chilling… well, I suppose 'chilling' would hardly be apt to use here. Abrupt and underwhelming might be more like it.

"Look, Eri, I'm sorry for spoiling your fun, but horror isn't my cup of tea. You should know that already from the time we went to watch 'The Haunted Village'."

Despite her little setback, she saw the lighter side of it. "Heh… You screamed like a maniac whenever the vengeful ghost appeared onscreen. The usher even came to shut you up."

The embarrassment of that incident made my face heat up. "I remember. It wasn't fun."

"I suppose it can't be helped… If you don't like something, you wouldn't be a convert anytime soon. I guess it's not fair of me to try and force my likes and dislikes on you. If you did the same to me, I probably wouldn't enjoy it very much."

"You only realized this now? !" was what I would have liked to tell her, but arguing would kill the mood and I didn't want that.

She was feeling talkative and had more to say. "Do you remember that time in high school when the whole class went on that outdoors field trip, and we held a kimodameshi? You know, the one where you and I were paired up?"

Kimodameshi… That's the test of courage held as what some might call a fun little yearly event; certainly wasn't the case for me. It usually takes place in spooky surroundings like a forest or abandoned building, and the main objective is to explore your way to a certain location, and either lay down something or retrieve prepared items from there as proof that you had arrived at the finishing point. A ghost story about the area would be relayed to everyone to juice them up for the big scare. Collaborators would dress up as spooks to jump out at unwary students and frighten them. And if that's not enough, did I mention it's always held at night?

I never could get out of those darned kimodameshi, but at least we could brave the great unknown in pairs. Pairs were decided by lottery, and at that time, the girl I was madly in love with was Shiki, so I would always hope to partner up with her. Not surprisingly, the chances were slim, and my dreams never materialized. It was always someone else.

One time, though, my partner was Eri. So this was what she was talking about, huh?

"Yeah," I said, "I know about that one."

"I could go on about how scared you were," she chirped, "but I think the incident with Beat is waaay funnier."

I laughed quietly as I went through the events of that night with her. Yes, I actually laughed.

"Beat was playing one of the spooks," I recalled. "We encountered him halfway through the forest we were supposed to navigate."

"He leaped out of the bushes at us, right? He could've startled me, but he messed up the jump-scare when he did his ghost roar thing."

"What kind of ghost goes, 'RAAAAARGH, yo!'? Can't help that he's kind of a blockhead, but that was a bit too stupid to be scary in the first place. A ghost wouldn't use street talk…"

Eri giggled harder. "Man, it ended up being such a riot, I laughed my head off all the way back to the others. And because I was laughing so hard, some actually thought I had been possessed or something."

"You always did have a loud laugh. If there were any real ghosts out and about, they'd have been scared off themselves."

"That's how I am. You should know that about me by now, Neku! Anyway, yeah… The kimodameshi… Good times. Things were never boring with you back then, and they sure aren't now, and they certainly wouldn't ever be."

"Heh… I could say the same about you."

Our fun little conversation went on for a little while longer before it was interrupted with the very welcome return of the power supply.

"Power's back!" she whooped.

"About time," I said, heaving a sigh. The kotatsu was starting to heat up again too.

"Blackouts can be fun if you do it right, but nothing can replace the electricity we've come to love and depend on."

Her cell phone rang soon enough. My guess was on the mark that it was the landlady on the line. Eri explained afterwards that the power was back at her house too.

"So… you're going back home, Eri?"

Her face lit up with a naughty smile. "Nah, I think I'll stay for tonight. There's cocoa, a kotatsu, and a reeeeally interesting guy to keep me company." The way she drew out her words and that giggle of hers made my insides tumble and turn… in a good way. She even playfully felt up my chest with one hand – holy yeow! "I'd be silly not to stay. Unless I'm bothering you, Neku?"

"N-No! Not at all! Y-You're most welcome to stay. Hmmm… Ahem… One thing, though."

"Uh?"

"The bill for your cup of cocoa, using the kotatsu, and imposing upon me as a whole will come up to 10000 yen. And the lodging fees have not been included yet."

Eri knew I was joking and played along; she could recognize my deadpan comedy style from a hundred kilometers away. But I was about to be outsmarted like always. "Oh my," she gasped in mock shock, "that's pretty pricey, isn't it? The economy's fallen on hard times, though, and I'm kind of… financially-challenged at the moment."

"Them's the breaks… but you still gotta pay up."

"Then this is a right pickle we're in. My cash is low and I don't have a credit card either." She licked her lips. "Will you accept my body then, Mr Sakuraba?"

I knew it would come to this… "Er… c-c-come again? !"

"You're so naïve," she growled. "Did you think I wouldn't have… alternative methods of payment? Hmmm?"

"Uh, ahaha… I think joke time's over, Eri. H-Hey, don't go unbuttoning your shirt! ! ! What're you trying to do, rape me? !"

"Why, that's a splendid idea, Mr Sakuraba!" Uh-oh. The duvet cushioned me when she pushed me down onto the floor, and before my dazed self could recover, she was already towering above me on all fours with her shirt hanging wide open. "You better prepare yourself because you're not getting any sleep tonight."

Then she remembered something, and I was saved. "Oh, I'd been meaning to take a shower."

"Y-Yeah, go on already," I mumbled, quite shocked from her act. "Towels are in the usual place."

It was nothing short of a miracle that she didn't continue to tease me, although she did snigger aplenty before she was satisfied and finally got off of me. Without another word, she slipped inside the bathroom and disappeared. I thought I could still hear her voice from inside, giggling away. Gotta hand it to her that she got me real good this time. Seriously, though! That was one heck of a performance. I don't know where she gets the courage to tease a guy like she did…

And yet, it's part of what makes her so interesting. That carefree attitude of hers betrayed a surprisingly tender and caring personality. Her ways drew me towards her… made me yearn for her affection… made me want her.

The words of my friends at WildKat popped up inside my head… specifically Kariya's.

The next time you drop by, we want to hear a good story! Well, we're not really rushing you or anything, but you shouldn't take too long, either.

But when will I ever get my chance to confess? I didn't want things to end up awkward between the two of us just because I chose the wrong time to say the magic words. Yeah… if, for example, I had confessed to her while she was in the midst of poking fun at me, with her bra winking at me behind an… undone shirt… then it would… then it would have been… uh… whoa, her bra… it… it was…

…It was… white, wasn't it?

When my memory confirmed this to be correct, it went without saying that my nose become a fountain of blood that just flowed and flowed and flowed…

XOXOXOXOXO

Tonight's a no-go, then. But I believed in both myself and that one day the perfect time would come. I was impatient, but I had to persevere. I just needed to keep things going all nice and smooth between us, and then strike at the right moment. Sorry, Uzuki… there's a certain way to doing things. Hurrying things along too early wouldn't do me any good.

Speaking of hurrying… Eri was still in the bath, and it had been at least half an hour by now. What's with her?

I could hear the sounds of splashing water as I rapped on the bathroom door. "Eri, what's taking you so long?"

"Oh! Sorry!" she called. "I couldn't help it, Neku. There's nothing quite like a hot shower on a cold day! It's really soothing, so getting out of the bath early is no fun at all… but I guess I must have lost track of time."

"Don't hog all the hot water to yourself! I want to take a shower too, so make it quick and come out soon."

"Aww… okay…"

I was waiting in front of the bathroom door with fresh clothes in hand when it opened, and out poured this gigantic cloud of steam. The heat slammed me in the face like a sledgehammer and knocked the air out of my lungs. J-Just how much hot water did she use? !

Eri emerged majestically from within the steam and sounded very contented. "Ahhh…! That felt good!"

My eyes popped out a mile. Eri had a habit of coming out of the shower wearing only her underwear, and it was something I was fairly used to by now, but…

…why wasn't she wearing any? ! There was the towel hanging round her neck and over her breasts, but other than that… nothing. The steam obscured her naked figure somewhat, but not by much.

I stammered through torrents of nasal bleeding, "E-Eri? Wh-What happened to your clothes? Why… Why aren't you wearing them? !"

Nudity was no cause of concern for her; she just laughed it off. "Ahahaha! My bad. You see… while I was bathing, there was so much steam that it got into the clothes I brought into the bathroom, and they got all damp and soggy. No one wants to wear wet stuff, you know that. Um, Neku? Oh goodness… You're bleeding like the dickens!"

Thump.

"Eek! Neku? ! Speak to me! Say something!"

Just my luck to faint and collapse in a heap on the floor. The last thing I saw before my vision clouded over was her bending over me, shouting in my face with concern. In her panic, the towel had slid off from her neck, but there was no guilty pleasure to be had. She was getting too blurry for me to see anything…

…She really was some girl.