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Ch. 37: Tip of the iceberg

"Wake up, sunshine!"

"Nnnghhh… Ah! Shut the curtains dammit! It's too bright!"

"I said… Wake up!" A sudden and sharp rap came down on Suika's skull. And by Yuugi's standards, a rap had the force of cracking concrete.

"OW! ! !" Suika sprang up, tearing with pain and threw Yuugi a punch in the gut ten times the force of the received rap.

"Ooof!" Yuugi doubled over, her pained face brought down to Suika's eye level much to the satisfaction of the smaller Oni.

Morning, Oni style.

"Yawn~… What time is it anyway?" Suika asked, annoyed. The curtains were still wide open, letting in abundant amount of unwanted sunlight. It was a beautiful day outside, what with the blue sky and the sparse, springy clouds, the gently warm sunlight. The air was cool, and the leaves of the trees surrounding the resort were already crisp yellows and oranges.

Perfect weather for sleeping in, Suika grumbled inside.

"Wh-What time? Suika, it's late enough!" Yuugi had by now recovered and placed her hands on her hips. "Come on! We're only staying here for a few days, let us at least make the most of it! I hear the first of the season's foods have just arrived, and I'm hungry!"

"Then go then! No one's stopping you!" Suika said to Yuugi and drew the covers of her bed over her head.

"… Sigh… No choice I guess…" Yuugi was not one for blackmail but... Heh… She had learnt to expect pleasant amusements if she played that card.

"Sorry for the wait," Suika heard Yuugi open the door of their room and speak to someone standing outside. "But it seems she refuses to get up and go out with you."

"Wh-What? B-But!" a light and pouty voice came from opposite the door. "But she promised me last night she would accompany me!"

Suika screwed her eyes shut. Argh… Whoever it was outside was being really noisy…

"That's just the way it is, sorry," came Yuugi's apologetic voice. "Guess you're just gonna have to go with Parsee and me instead today, Kogasa…"

Kogasa…

Kogasa…?

KOGASA? !

Suika tried desperately to pull down the edges of her covers securely as equally light and pouty footsteps made their way swiftly from the door to the edge of her bed. But alas, the Oni's strength was no match for the pursuer's tenacity. With a smooth "Fwip!" the covers yielded to the karakasa's grip and slid out of Suika's hands and off her body with absolutely no intention to resist, betraying their apprehensive charge underneath them.

No reason to sacrifice themselves for Suika, right?

"K-Kogasa!" Suika looked up meekly to see an annoyed looking Kogasa standing there her arms crossed and her lips pursed. "H-Hi! I mean, good morning! I was just getting up!"

"… Good morning," Kogasa's greeted curtly, "Yuugi-san was just telling me how you didn't want to get up."

"Ahhh, Kogasa… Sorry about that," Suika sat up and gave a sheepish grin. "It's just that I was really tired from staying up last night with you and all that…" she rubbed the back of her head and yawned without thinking.

"A-Ah…" came Kogasa's voice. Suika rubbed her eyes and gave a good look at Kogasa. Eh? Kogasa's annoyed expression had been replaced with embarrassment, and she when she spoke, she addressed Suika's blanket.

"A-Ah… Last night…" Kogasa twiddled her fingers nervously. Suika stared at the conflict Kogasa's fingers were having with each other, then slowly started to realize the burning in her cheeks. Th-That's right… L-Last night…

"Ah! Well… I-I guess it's my fault isn't it?" Kogasa asked Suika's blanket.

"Y-Your fault?" Suika echoed to Kogasa's feet.

"Y-Yeah… I mean… I kept you up and awake, so… so naturally you'd be tired and want to sleep in," Kogasa anxiously and conveniently misunderstood Suika.

"N-No! Not at all! I-I'm not tired!" Suika honestly and guiltily replied. "I'm not tired at-"

"But…! But I hope you'll forgive me," Kogasa looked up from Suika's blankets brightly and held both her hands, "I might just want to inconvenience you like that again, because I really enjoyed our time together last night!" Kogasa smiled.

"K-Kogasa…" Suika's throat went dry and her blood started to pool in her head. Sh-She! Why does she always do this to- Damn! She's cute!

"Ahem..."

Kogasa and Suika were snapped back to reality and turned their heads to see Yuugi, grinning widely, leaning across the entire doorway with a smaller, daintier figure, the source of the sound, standing under her. Parsee had her arms crossed and a somewhat restrained look of mild interest on her face, like a casual watcher of some sort of soap opera.

"Oh, don't mind us, Suika," Parsee glanced away at the walls of the room, her pale lips quivering ever so slightly to stay straight. "Just thought I'd remind you that it's pretty close to ten in the morning now."

"O-Oh! Right! I'll just-"

"If you hurry, you'd make it just in time with Kogasa down to the café at the corner. I hear their having a breakfast promotion for couples for the autumn season," and with that, Parsee walked out of the room with a swish of her blonde hair and a smirk starting to break free across her face. Yuugi gave the dumbstruck Suika and scarlet faced Kogasa a mischievous look, then followed after Parsee and, just beyond the door but far from out of the duo's earshot, started laughing heartily.

Kogasa stood still, blushing and pulling at the hem of her blouse so hard that it was threatening to rip off. Suika was red faced too, but for completely different emotions.

"Y-You jerks!" And a pillow came rocketing out of the door after the long gone shadows of Yuugi and Parsee.

"So… What would you like to do?" Kogasa asked nonchalantly.

"Eh? Well, we are at the hot springs…" Suika gave some thought, "I was thinking one good afternoon soak, followed by a walk around in the forest? The weather's nice and the season's turning… Ooh! Or we could even have sake outdoors! I wonder what the others think…"

"Ah- I see…" Kogasa continued nonchalantly. "Yes… Autumn festivities would be nice… But ah… But don't you want to eat something first? I mean…"

"Eat something before going into the bath?" Suika asked. "I don't know… Personally, I think it feels much better to eat after the bath but…"

"W-Well, I suppose you're right," Kogasa kept up nonchalantly, "But… Maybe something light…?"

"Hmmm?" Suika gave Kogasa a glance as she and Kogasa were walking down a corridor towards the smaller hot spring they had used the day before. Suika was already dressed in a yukata and ready to slip it off for the bath. "Are you hungry, Kogasa?" she asked.

"Um… No," Kogasa murmured truthfully, "But ah! But I was just thinking maybe you were…" she grabbed on to Suika's sleeve and insisted most nonchalantly.

Suika stopped walking for a moment and gave a raised eyebrow at all the "nonchalantly" adjectives tagged to everything Kogasa was saying in the last few sentences.

"… Kogasa, you're trying to steer me somewhere, aren't you?"

"No, not at all!" Kogasa answered a little too brightly and eagerly.

"… We'll go have a dip in the hot spring first, then go eat in that café, okay?" Suika sweat-dropped and started walking off again, Kogasa anxiously trailing her, all pretext of being "nonchalant" thrown to the autumn wind.

"But! But the promotion-"

"We'll relax first, then eat."

"But! But if we don't make it in time-"

"We'll have lunch then."

"I-I'm hungry now!"

"But I'm not."

"But I am!"

"I thought you said you weren't just a minute ago?"

"Yes but I just got hungry!"

"Within the last minute…?"

"Y-Yes!"

… Suika stared at Kogasa, her eyes wide with amusement. Kogasa, under the pressure of Suika's stare, started to fidget nervously and embarrassedly on the spot.

"Right… Now you're just outright lying…" Suika grinned at Kogasa being silly.

"… I… I'm horrible at this sort of thing, aren't I?" Kogasa asked, depressed.

"… Sigh… Haha… Yes, yes you are," Suika chuckled, gave Kogasa a pet on the head and started to lead the way towards the hot springs. "Don't worry! We'll still have lunch together, alright? It's not like we need a promotion to eat together or something…" she said airily.

"R-Right!" Kogasa immediately perked up considerably, and followed after Suika. The pair made it only a few steps forward however before a newly familiar familiar's voice came calling.

"Hello girls!" the voice meowed out, followed closely by Orin as she suddenly prowled around the corner into their view.

"H-Hello Rin-san," Kogasa greeted her soon to be senior in work.

"Nah, nah! That won't do! Call me Orin!" Orin insisted, "No need to be so stiff and stuffy around me!" she flashed Kogasa a smile.

"Hello Kaenbyou," Suika said coldly. Kogasa started at Suika's rudeness, but Orin merely feigned a pained heart, doubling over with her hands over the left side of her bosom while looking at Suika through one closed eye with a mock wincing expression.

"Ouch! Aw… Did I do anything to offend handsome here?" Orin nosed up to Suika, who leaned away uncomfortably, "Maybe I teased the little Oni and her friends a little too much?"

"Um… Rin-san?"

"It's Orin, Kogasa-"

"Rin-san, could you please step away from her?" Kogasa repeated with the same stuffy formality. Orin merely smirked.

"Ah… My bad, my bad…" Orin stepped away with hands raised in defeat, "Let's not let relationships between us sour, eh? Nothing worse than a bad triangle-"

"Th-There is no triangle!" Kogasa exclaimed while Suika looked at Orin unamused.

"A platonic triangle, that is…"

"There is no such thing-"

"Like a harem, except less explicit-"

"If you're finished, can we go now?" Suika cut in, thoroughly annoyed. Safe to say, she did not really like Orin and her flirtatious behaviour. And if this was the person that Satori had put in-charge of Kogasa, then she might consider not agreeing with letting Kogasa stay at- Wait a minute? A-Am I considering taking her back with me?

"Suika?"

"H-Huh?"

"Suika!" Suika snapped out of her thoughts at Kogasa's urging.

"Are you okay? You were sort of spacing out," Kogasa asked worriedly.

"N-Nah, I'm fine!" Suika, for some reason, found it difficult to meet Kogasa's face, "A-Any way…" Suika turned to Orin, "What are you doing here?"

"What? Me? What are you talking about? I live and work here-"

"That's not what I meant," Suika elaborated. "What I mean is, just exactly what do you do here anyway? Satori said you're Number Two, but since she's around, doesn't that mean you have absolutely no business-"

"H-How rude!" Orin exclaimed, and for the first time the pair saw a tinge of real annoyance colour her face. "I'm Satori-sama's right hand and proud of the task she gives me!" Orin declared with surprising fierceness and loyalty. "There's plenty to be done around here! Keeping the resort running smooth requires a lot of work, and most of it is accomplished in the background, which guests don't see!" Orin crossed her arms, looked away and genuinely huffed.

"W-Woah! Sorry there!" Suika actually felt a little guilty, but Orin ignored her and went on.

"But… But it's Satori-sama who really has it tough here…" Orin was now looking pensive, her expression one of deep concern for her master, who now occupied her thoughts. Looking up with at the pair, Orin continued, "You two may not realize it, or even appreciate it, but Satori-sama has a lot of pets working under her, and she takes great care of each and every single one personally," she said, her right hand gripping her left arm tenderly, as if to emulate someone else's touch.

"And then there's the guests, of course," Orin looked the other way now, and her frown deepened, "Satori-sama always tries to keep them satisfied and meet their expectations too. I mean, think about it," Orin glanced back to Suika and Kogasa, "During your stay last night, was there any one time the employees here responded to your needs in more than a few minutes?"

Suika and Kogasa gave some thought, and it was true. Be it the bath, or the eateries, the service was even swift. They did not even need to really beckon for service, they just merely wished or thought and… Thought… Wait a min- Suika and Kogasa glanced up with shock.

"That's right," Orin smiled, guessing the two's conclusions from their expressions. "Satori is always trying to listen in to the needs of her customers. Oh, she respects privacy of course, so she only hears what she needs to… But so long as a customer even thinks about anything they may want of us, Satori despatches a pet to deal with the customer."

"Wow… Really?"

"Yup, Suika. Buuut…" Orin smiled sadly, "She's always really, really tired because of this, even if she doesn't show it…"

"D-Does she really have to do this?" Kogasa asked, a hand to her mouth that could not hide her astonishment.

"Well… The resort's doing so well partly because of this… Word spreads about our excellent service, see? But yeah…" Orin sighed, "I sometimes wonder if she's overworking herself. Of course, knowing Satori-sama, she's a little bit compulsive, a workaholic at times… I've told her to rest countless times but…" Orin placed her hands on her hips and sighed again.

"Thank you Orin. It's the care and concern all of you show me that keeps me going," came a serene voice from behind them.

The trio jumped and turned around to see the very person they were talking about, a small smile etched on her face.

"S-Satori-sama!" Orin cried out.

"I'm constantly receiving so many loving thoughts from my pets that it tires me out more, actually…" Satori simply stated, to which Orin ashamedly rubbed the back of her head grinned. "But now is not the time for a heart-to-heart with me, Orin," she continued, suddenly sounding a lot more business-like.

"What? What is it, Satori-sama?" Orin, sensing a change in her master's tone, snapped to attention as well.

"You were talking about my tendency to listen in to the thoughts of my customers, weren't you?" Satori said quietly and not without worry.

"Well... It appears that the entire resort is in an uproar at the moment."