"Are you sure, Lady Lily?"
"Yeah!" Lily replied. "I'm already clean, so it's not like there's any harm done. If anything happens, I'll just head back to my tub."
Yugiri and Lady Sakura shared a look. "Very well," Yugiri agreed. She stepped from the small tub and into the larger one. She and Lady Sakura both averted their gaze as Lady Lily stepped out.
Lily grabbed her towel and chirped, "Okay, I'm ready!"
Both of her friends hesitantly looked to her to find her towel sufficiently covering her. Lily walked around the side of the tub and sat on the edge. Sakura and Yugiri waded over as well, and sat down in the water. Cautiously, Lily dipped her feet in. Her body froze up for a moment, but after a little while, she relaxed. She wasn't getting all the way in. This would be fine.
To try easing the tension, Ai and Junko joined them. "I wanted to talk about some of the steps for Flag," Ai said conversationally. "Specifically the ending steps."
"Is something wrong with them?" Sakura asked.
"Not necessarily," Ai told her. "I like them a lot. It's a great way to end our shows. It's just that, if we change them sometimes, it might give our show endings a little more variety."
"I think they're pretty cute as they are," Lily murmured.
Ai chuckled. "We can still keep it cute, Lily. I'm just saying, shouldn't we have varying levels of cute?"
Lily pouted at her and Junko and Sakura laughed. "Well, I'm sure if we went over some of the moves and tried a few new things out, we might find something that'll stick," Junko pointed out. "And changing them up every now and then will keep interest."
The conversation continued on that way. All of the older girls kept it as mundane as possible so that attention wasn't drawn to Lily. Saki and Tae threw in their opinions whenever there was a break between them trying to dunk each other under. For only having dipped her feet in, Lily was feeling a lot better being over here and included than just talking over in her bathtub.
"We should head in," Ai sighed, covering a yawn. "I've no doubt he's probably going to wake us up early again. The last thing we need is him berating us for 'being lazy'."
"Even though we don't need sleep, it is still nice to get some rest," Junko murmured, standing. Lily stood along with them and waited for everyone to grab their towels before they all made their way back to the house.
As everyone else settled in for bed, Lily pretended to be asleep. She listened to her friends' breaths even out and slowly sat up. It looked like all of them were out. Okay. Slipping from her blankets as quietly as she could, Lily crept out of the room. In her absence, she missed Junko, Sakura, and Yugiri all lifting their heads.
"Do you think she'll be okay?" Sakura asked.
"She is already dead," Junko pointed out. "So, it's not like she can drown or anything."
Yugiri gave a soft chuckle. "Honestly, I can't tell who's more afraid of her getting into the big tub, her for fear of us judging her, or us for fear of making her uncomfortable."
"I guess we have been going a little far," Sakura sighed. "I just… don't want her feeling like we're forcing her to go faster. She deserves to do things at her own pace without feeling rushed."
"Well then," Junko said. "I think this is something she should do alone. We'll wait for her to return. If she doesn't by sunrise, we'll go make sure she's alright."
"Sounds good," Sakura agreed, Yugiri nodding as well.
Meanwhile, Lily slipped out to the bath house. Even though she had already showered earlier, she still thought it would be good to do it again, just in case. As she showered, she thought over how she was going to do this. The big bathtub was empty now, so it shouldn't be a big deal. The problem was what it represented. If she could get in while alone, then that would be a big step toward getting in with everyone else.
Lily took a deep breath and turned off her shower. She could do this. It was just her and the bathtub. There was no one else around and this was an enclosed space. Taking measured breaths, she approached the bath. She started by dipping her feet in like she did earlier. That helped ease the tension a little. Okay, more of her legs.
Bit by bit, Lily slid into the bathtub, keeping her breathing even the whole time. She thought of how fun it was to talk to the others earlier. She thought of how nice it was to sit in the bath next to Yugiri and talk to Sakura. She focused on these until she was finally submerged in the bath water.
After a while, she relaxed against the wall of the tub. It wasn't so bad, at least while she was alone. The bath did feel a little lonely without the sounds of Saki and Tae playing around. But if she did this every night, eventually, she might be able to do it with the others around.
Lily nodded to herself and climbed from the tub. With a system in place, it would be easier to get used to the big bath. She'd be able to be with her friends in no time!
We're almost at the end of this trip, everyone! Thank you for accompanying me on this journey. See you soon for the last chapter!
Remember, sneak peeks and updates are available on my tumblr, gothalbinoangel-fanfiction. Where you can also ask questions. I just opened up commissions, too!