"Tamaki! Tamaki!" Mitsuri was frantically poking him. "Wake up!"

"What? What's…happening?" said Tamaki sleepily.

"We're going on a date today! Remember? Come on, get up!"

Tamaki sat up slowly, Mitsuri tumbling off his chest. She sat up as well. "Hot springs! Yay!"

"Make sure you pack accordingly," yawned Tamaki. What time is it? Two? Three?

"Don't worry, I'll pack everything now!" Mitsuri jumped out of bed and skipped off to pack things.

So energetic. Tamaki shuffled out of bed slowly and stretched. As he stepped outside of his room, Mitsuri was already sitting in the courtyard with two bags packed.

"How did you get ready so fast?" he asked in disbelief.

Mitsuri giggled. "You're so slow!"

"Yeah, yeah. Did you make sure to pack bathing suits?"

She nodded. "I think this is yours, right?" She held up a pair of blue swim trunks.

"Yeah. Where is the hot spring you wanna go to?"

"Do you know the swordsmith village?"

"Yeah." Isn't that place super secretive? I don't think they're going to be happy with us going there on a whim.

"I heard they have really nice hot springs there! They can really help with…" she paused, thinking. "I don't remember."

"So you wanna go there?" Tamaki frowned. I'm gonna have to figure out a way to arrange this, it's gonna be difficult…

"Yup. All we need to do is ask a kakushi, and they'll take us there!" She skipped off in excitement. "Hurry up!"

"So why exactly do you need to go to the swordsmith village?" The kakushi asked them.

"Uhh…well…you see…" began Tamaki slowly.

"He's taking me there on a date!" blurted Mitsuri happily.

Tamaki's eyes widened. No! First of all, you're not supposed to tell people that we're together! Second of all, they're not going to let us go if that's the reason!

The kakushi's response shocked Tamaki. "Okay. I'll call for another kakushi, and we'll take you there."

So…they're okay with that? Wow.

Tamaki and Mitsuri were both blindfolded, their ears and noses plugged, and were instructed to climb onto a kakushi's back for transport.

"This is for safety reasons," explained the kakushi. "We want to minimize the knowledge about this village in order to avoid demon attacks."

And so, they were taken to the swordsmith village. When they arrived there, Tamaki tugged off his blindfold. Huh. Not as different from when I was here as a tsuguko.

Mitsuri, on the other hand, was extremely excited. "Wow!" she gushed in surprise. "It's so cool!" She raced off towards the village, asking a swordsmith where the hot springs were. He pointed in a direction, and Mitsuri ran in the direction that he indicated.

"Hey, wait a moment!" Tamaki called after her, but it was of no use as she was already out of earshot. Tamaki sighed and followed her.

When he finally got there, Mitsuri had already set down their bags and pulled out a towel from hers.

Tamaki rummaged through his own bag and took out his towel and swim shorts. Great. Everything was packed. "Good job packing, Mitsuri," he said.

She blushed. "Th-thanks!"

"Alright, I'm gonna go change behind that rock over there. When I'm done, I'll step out and you can go."

She nodded in affirmation, and he walked behind the rock, stripping off his kimono and changing into his swim trunks.

"Okay, I'm done." Tamaki placed his clothing on top of his bag as Mitsuri went behind the rock.

After a brief moment, Mitsuri stepped out from behind the rock, wrapped in her towel. "It's so cold," she complained, shivering.

"Hey, didn't you say you were gonna bring a bathing suit?" asked Tamaki, blushing. She doesn't seem to have a bathing suit on. Don't want another nosebleed incident.

Mitsuri sat down at the edge of the spring next to Tamaki, dipping her toes in. "I forgot."

"Then wear your underwear and something to cover your upper body," said Tamaki.

"But it's a hot spring! They're meant to be bathed in without clothes on! And, I'm going to be so uncomfortable in my underwear and a shirt! They're going to get soaked in water!"

"Just do it."

Mitsuri rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him. "Bleh. No."

"Then you can't go in the same spring as me."

"Why not?" Mitsuri asked.

"I…uhhh…" began Tamaki, but Mitsuri pressed a finger to his lips.

"Shhh. That's not a reason, silly." She tugged her towel looser.

"M-Mitsuri, it's not…proper to share a hot spring without any clothes on w-when we're not even married!" Tamaki stuttered in explanation.

Mitsuri tugged the towel off and flung it to the ground. "Hurry up and propose to me then!" She slid down into the water next to him.

A spray of blood exploded from Tamaki's nose, and he felt his body heat up. His face turned an extreme shade of scarlet. "M-Mitsuri…" She's not wearing anything!

"What? Y-you don't want to get married?" She recoiled slightly, a little hurt.

"N-no, it's too early! We can't-" Tamaki was shut up as Mitsuri wrapped her arms around him and pressed against him contentedly.

And so, it was with a heavily bloodied nose and an embarrassed, grumpy expression on his face that Tamaki lay there with Mitsuri, both naked and soaking in the hot water.

A few minutes of silence ensued, and then Tamaki shook Mitsuri by the shoulder. "Hey."

Her eyes fluttered open, from being asleep. "Can I sit on your lap?" she whispered softly.

"No!" said Tamaki indignantly. "You can't-"

She ignored his protests, shifting her position so that she was sitting on his lap, facing him. She leaned forwards, lying on his chest. "Comfy," she murmured softly.

Tamaki sighed. Why doesn't she listen to what I say?

"Hug me please," she said.

His face already red, Tamaki blushed even more. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Hug me."

Tamaki hesitantly obeyed, placing his arms around Mitsuri's bare back. Smooth. She smiled happily and closed her eyes slowly.

For about a half an hour, Tamaki sat there sheepishly as a sleeping Mitsuri lay on top of him, wrapped in his arms.

"Hey." He poked her affectionately after a while. "Get up. You're gonna get all wrinkly from being in water for too long."

She sat up. "Okay, okay. But the hot springs are great, right?"

"Yeah," agreed Tamaki. "Now hurry up and get dressed."

She climbed out of the spring, her body dripping with water. Taking the towel, she wrapped it around herself and dried herself off.

Tamaki followed her, taking his own towel and wrapping it around himself.

"You know, if you took off your shorts I bet you woulda had a better time," said Mitsuri.

Tamaki blushed. "No! We were in the same spring, there's no way I would have done th-"

He was cut off as Mitsuri flung her arms around him and kissed him on the mouth.

She pulled away, giggling as he blushed red. "I love you," she whispered.

"I love you too," said Tamaki. He was too relaxed, and therefore unprepared for when she suddenly pulled her towel off, exposing her body again.

Blood erupted from both of Tamaki's nostrils, and he stumbled backwards, tripping into the hot spring and landing with a splash.

Mitsuri was doubled over with laughter. "Ahahhhahahaha! Not only did you get all embarrassed, but you also fell! Tamaki, you're so funny!"

Tamaki spat water out of his mouth. Blood was still flowing freely from his nose. "Sometimes I wonder what happened to the shy, timid side of you. Honestly, I think I prefer that more."

Mitsuri quickly stopped laughing. "D-does that mean you…don't l-like me?" Her eyes began to tear up.

"No, no, no! That's not what I meant, I was being sarcastic! Of course I love you, Mitsuri!"

Instantaneously, her tears disappeared, and a smile reappeared on her face. "Hehehe, thanks!"

Tamaki made sure to hide behind the rock when he changed back into his kimono. He tied it tightly with the scarf and stepped out. "Alright, your turn."

Mitsuri, with the towel around her because of Tamaki's urging, stepped behind the rock and began to change.

After they packed everything up, the kakushi took them back out of the swordsmith village. The sun was now beginning to set.

Mitsuri's stomach rumbled. "I'm hungry."

"Yeah, I am too. Wanna get some food?" Tamaki placed his arm around her and pulled her close to him. She squealed with delight and pressed against him. "Of course!"

"Okay, okay, let's go to a restaurant then."

Mitsuri hungrily stuffed dango sticks into her mouth, barely chewing the dumplings before swallowing them.

"Ow!" she suddenly said, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "Tamaki! I poked myself in the mouth with the stick!" she wailed, throwing her arms around his torso and burying her face in his chest.

Tamaki sighed, hugging her comfortingly. "It's just a small little poke, Mitsuri, it's not that big of a deal. You should eat slower."

She sniffed. "But the food's so good." She pulled away from him, successfully comforted.

"Whatever." Tamaki took a dango stick and ate the dumplings off of it.

Mitsuri rested her head against Tamaki's shoulder. "H-hey, can I ask you something?"

"Hmmm?" Tamaki noticed that Mitsuri was blushing now.

She pressed her index fingers together, like she often did when she was about to say something that would make him embarrassed.

"Umm…d-do you think…that my b-body is attractive?" She hid her face with the sleeves of her kimono.

Huh? Tamaki's face heated up. "D-do I have to be honest?" he asked sheepishly. "The answer is a little…embarrassing for me."

"Please be honest," said Mitsuri, gathering the courage to peek out from behind her sleeves.

"Alright. Y-yeah, your body is really attractive."

"Well then…if th-that's the case, then…what's your favorite p-part of my body?" Once again, Mitsuri hid her face behind her sleeves.

An answer immediately popped into the perverted side of Tamaki's brain, but the sensible side remained in control. Oh, come on! Is she trying to embarrass me or something? "Why are you asking me these questions?" He tried to divert the conversation to something else so he wouldn't have to answer her question.

"I just wanna know," said Mitsuri, her voice muffled by the cloth of her sleeves. "You get a lot of stares from beautiful women with attractive bodies, and I wanted to ask you if you found me beautiful enough."

Tamaki pulled her into a hug. "Stop self-doubting yourself. You think I'd be getting nosebleeds from looking at your body if you weren't attractive? And as for your looks, you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen." He smiled at her reassuringly.

She blinked. "You didn't answer my question."

Tamaki facepalmed. She saw through my diversion! "Breasts," he murmured, aware of a huge blush on his face.

"Why do you like them?" asked Mitsuri, a sly smirk appearing on her face.

"Quit asking me these questions!"

"Okay then." Mitsuri pulled something out of her pocket. It was the camera she had gotten a while ago after killing a demon that had it.

"Wow, you still have that?" Tamaki was a little surprised to see that she still had it and it still worked.

"Let's take a picture! Smile!" She held the camera up to their faces.

Tamaki placed his arm around her shoulder, and she leaned in. Click. The photo slid out of the slot.

Mitsuri examined it. "It's perfect," she concluded. "I wanna take one every year. Let's make it a tradition!"

"Alright." That'll be pretty fun, to be honest. It will be interesting to see how we grow over the years. "Lemme see the photo."

Mitsuri handed the photo to him, and he looked at it closely. She's right. It is perfect. Their eyes were forever open, faces forever smiling lovingly at the thought of one another. Mitsuri was just as beautiful as in real life, perhaps even more so due to her pretty smile.

"It's great, isn't it?" Mitsuri pressed against him happily, once again leaning her head against his shoulder.

"Yeah," agreed Tamaki. "You look so pretty in it."

"I do?" Mitsuri closed her eyes. "Thanks," she said warmly.

"Hey, don't fall asleep! We still have a whole night ahead of us, what happened to all your excitement earlier today?" Tamaki said jokingly.

Mitsuri yawned. "I'm suddenly very tired. I think I need a kiss to make me motivated to get up. But who will give me this kiss?" Mitsuri paused, glancing at him. "That's your cue," she whispered.

"Alright, alright." Tamaki leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. "Happy now?"

"Lips," pouted Mitsuri.

"Okay." Tamaki obeyed, kissing her on the mouth and enjoying the sweet flavor of her tongue as it met his own.

She jumped up, rejuvenated. "I wanna go to the beach!"

"Mitsuri, we talked about this," said Tamaki.

"Well then get over your fear, you scaredy-cat!" Mitsuri stuck her tongue out at him.

She got me there. "It's not that simple," explained Tamaki. "Fears can be triggered by an old childhood memory almost long-forgotten but still hidden in the depths of one's mind. Sometimes you can't just simply conquer your fear, and the ones that you can conquer by facing them are limited."

She frowned. "Sounds like excuses to me."

Tamaki sighed, realizing she was right. "Okay, I'll come with you. But I'm not going too far into the water. It's getting late anyways."

Mitsuri giggled. "Yay!"

"You wanna stop by the house and get your bathing suit?"

Tamaki and Mitsuri walked together in the streets, having finished their food.

"No," replied Mitsuri.

"Come on, it's not that far away. I can fast travel and get it for you if you want," Tamaki pressed further.

She shook her head sideways.

"I don't want you swimming without clothes," argued Tamaki. "I get that it's your choice, but seriously."

"Why not?" asked Mitsuri.

It's late, there's gonna be no one there, so that rules that out as an excuse. "Well…it's cold, and there's a lot of sand…and salty?" Tamaki tried to think of reasons, hiding his obvious first one in his head.

"It'll get warmer as I get used to the water, and I don't mind the sand. The salt is dissolved in the water, silly." She countered every single one of his poorly thought-up reasons easily.

"I'll get embarrassed!" blurted out Tamaki. "You're gonna kill me from blood loss today!"

Mitsuri blinked. "Huh?"

Tamaki facepalmed. "Never mind, whatever. Let's go."

"Mitsuri, it's not too late, I can still get your bathing suit."

Tamaki tried one last-ditch attempt to get her to wear her bathing suit. They were at the beach now, the same one that they had gone to on the mission with the shark demon. Tamaki had already changed into his swim shorts, and stood on the sands with Mitsuri, who had not yet changed out of her kimono.

She shook her head. "No." She began to tug the sash on her kimono open.

Deep breaths, Tamaki, deep breaths. Use your breathing to stop the nosebleeds.

Her kimono slid down her shoulders and she turned around, blushing. "Wh-why are you looking?"

A trickle of blood was starting to drip down from Tamaki's nose. "I'm sorry!" He quickly turned away, wiping the blood.

"Tamaki, I meant that as a joke, you can look."

No. Don't look. You're gonna get a big nosebleed. Tamaki's internal thoughts fought with each other, the perverted side wanting to turn around and look and the sensible side telling him not to.

Maybe my breathing can help me not get a nosebleed. It was kinda working before, should I try it? The perverted side won by that reason, and he felt himself slowly turning to look.

"Y-you r-r-ready?" stammered Tamaki, trying extremely hard not to look below Mitsuri's neck and completely aware that there was nothing covering what was there.

Mitsuri gave him a thumbs up. "Yep!"

Tamaki was aware of his entire body shaking as he followed her closer to the water from a little bit of fear and the fact that she was completely unclothed.

Mitsuri tilted her head to the side. "Tamaki, you look really nervous. Do you need a hug?" She spread out her arms, and a trickle of blood began to run from Tamaki's left nostril as he desperately tried to take his eyes off her now-bouncing breasts. I hate physics.

Mitsuri wrapped her arms around him. "Hey, if you're scared, then remember that I'm with you. It always works for me!"

"O-okay," said Tamaki, the edges of his mouth upturning into a perverted grin. Stop that! You look so dumb!

She smiled back at him. "Here, hold my hand. I'll walk with you."

As his hand connected with hers, Tamaki felt a spark jolt through his fingers and then throughout the entirety of his body.

Mitsuri giggled happily, tugging on his arm. "Come on!" She began to jog, splashing up water from her feet and pulling Tamaki behind her like a magnet. His eyes ran along her entire body, analyzing the way her hips moved, the way her body moved so fluidly.

Mitsuri frowned at him. "Tamaki, are you looking at my bottom?"

Tamaki found himself blushing again. "N-no!"

"Okay." She smiled. "It's okay if you look."

While distracted by Mitsuri, he wasn't aware that the water was now up to his upper abs. Tamaki nearly jumped and panic rose in his chest as a small wave washed over them. The water was relatively calm.

Mitsuri sensed his fear. "Tamaki, there's nothing to be afraid of. What exactly is it that scares you?"

G-good question… Tamaki thought hard and something surfaced in his mind. Images of giant tsunamis and sinking into the deep, dark depths of the ocean made him gulp. "Uhhh…I think it's the thought of drowning out here, with no one to help you," he said.

Mitsuri blinked, processing the information, and then stepped forwards, wrapping her arms around him.

"I'm here," she whispered. "Don't worry, I'll save you if something happens."

Tamaki's eyes glanced up to the sky. Night had fallen, and there was a beautiful view of stars shimmering in the darkness. The moon is indeed beautiful tonight.

Mitsuri noticed him looking upwards and joined him in enjoying the night sky. "Wow. Don't you remember the first day we met? There was a sky just like this one!" she breathed softly.

Tamaki chuckled, the fear of the water they stood in completely erased from his mind. "Yeah." He held her closer, the scent of roses washing over him.

She buried her head in his chest. "We should head back," she mumbled.

Tamaki nodded, and Mitsuri pulled away from him. The moment she broke contact, Tamaki felt fear rush back into his body.

"M-Mitsuri…" he stammered, "c-could you…hold my hand?" Tamaki's face heated up and flushed red. I feel so dumb asking this question.

Mitsuri nodded without hesitation, taking his hand into hers and leading him back to the sand.

Once back on dry land, Tamaki exhaled with relief. It wasn't that bad. Get a grip on yourself, Tamaki!

"Can we go home now?" asked Mitsuri.

What was the point of going to the beach then, if we only spent a few minutes out on the ocean? "Why did we come here, if you're only gonna walk out into the ocean?"

"I just wanted to help you get over your fear. So, did you feel any better?"

"I…think I did. And it's thanks to you." Tamaki smiled happily.

"Yay!" Mitsuri jumped up and down with excitement, and Tamaki hurriedly averted his eyes from her breasts as they bounced up and down.

"Alright," he said, turning away from the ocean. "Let's go home."

To be continued…

Next chapter releasing 5/7/23