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Between Yukari, Okuu and the others, we've given Suika and Kogasa quite the bit of free time, haven't we? I wonder what they're doing…
... Hopefully Suika hasn't let her guard down...
Ch. 45: The customer is king!
"I'm thinking of having beer again this evening!" Yuugi stretched her arms above her head eagerly as she headed towards the bar for drinks.
"You've been having beer a lot recently, haven't you?" Parsee, who was walking to her right, commented. Following shortly behind them was Satori. All three, dressed in easy-breathing woollen robes for the season, had just recently left a certain ancient guest at the hot springs for refreshment.
"Yup! It sure is a nice change from having sake all the time!" Yuugi chirped.
"I'm surprised you like it, Yuugi-san," Satori said, "I'd have thought you Oni would find its alcohol content a little too weak for your palate."
"Eh?" Yuugi glanced backwards at Satori quizzically. "It had alcohol in it? I thought it was just some alcohol-flavoured soft drink," she scratched her cheek.
Parsee and Satori gave each other a "Should have known" look.
"W-Well! It was foamy and bubbly and all- H-Hey~…" Yuugi let out a low whistle as she stared ahead.
"Hmmm?" Parsee and Satori followed Yuugi's gaze, and were greeted by the lovely shape of a soft, blue yukata on softer curves, the large obi tightly hugging a slender waist like a Christmas ribbon complete with a large, butterfly-like bow.
Tatara Kogasa, the unexpectedly early Christmas gift, bearing a tray with a heavenly jug of sake, looking utterly angelic.
"Well, well! Look who's looking absolutely fabulous!" Yuugi complimented Kogasa heartily, "And… Look who's looking like royalty!" she turned to the person seated next to Kogasa.
And next to the sake bearing angel was a two-horned, smallish figure lying back in a wicker chair, dressed in what appeared to be an overly large robe over an ill fitting sweat shirt and trousers. The belt of the robe was loosely done, and the entire messy bog of fabric seemed to be sucking in the wearer, yet somehow it made Ibuki Suika look like a decadent king lying about a lavishly cushioned throne. It did not help that she was seated next to a patio table laden with a feast of finger foods. It did not help that Kogasa had the appearance of being her personnel attendant. And it certainly did not help that Suika was laughing heartily and looking at Kogasa with a sloppy expression, a glass of sloshing sake held in a wildly waving hand.
In fact, Suika had the implicating appearance of beingpampered by Kogasa. And enjoying it.
"… Hu… Huh? ! Hyah! ! !" Suika, rousing slowly and majestically, was suddenly aware of the presence of the incoming trio, and immediately jumped to a start. "A-Ack! ! !" she fumbled about red-faced like a person caught in the act of something guilty as she struggled to get out of her throne of robes, "Y-Yuugi! Parsee! You guys…!"
"Hnnn…? Relax Suika…" Parsee smirked as Yuugi struggled to stifle her laughter, "Nothing wrong with getting pampered by Kogasa…"
At this, Suika floundered about even more, "N-No! That's not it! Kogasa wasn't-"
"Eh?" Kogasa looked at Suika downheartedly, "I… I wasn't pampering you properly?"
… Suika flopped back down into her throne in defeat as Parsee's smirk fully ripened and Yuugi roared out with laughter. Satori looked on with a knowing smile.
"Well, Suika-san," Satori addressed Suika politely with an inclined head, "You were only playing your part in this role play, so really, you're doing it just right, Suika-san…" she praised the honoured guest. Whether it was mockingly or not, it was extremely hard to tell.
"Eh?" Parsee and Yuugi's expressions were immediately replaced with confusion. "R-Role play?"
"Th-Th-That's right!" Suika immediately seized the opportunity to defend her earlier decadency, "Satori asked me to simulate a typical customer Kogasa might be serving in her future employment at this resort!" she explained hurriedly, "I-It wasn't as if I was letting her pamper me by choice!"
"A-Ah… I see…" Parsee gave Kogasa a once-over. Now that she looked closely, the blue yukata Kogasa was wearing was the standard staff yukata… "This is a so-called try-out, right?"
"Mmm! That's right!" Kogasa nodded.
"And Suika's pretending to be your customer, correct?" Parsee asked as she glanced towards the two-horned Oni.
"Y-Yeah! That's what I was telling you!" Suika quickly answered for Kogasa.
Parsee scrutinised Suika with her deep emerald eyes. All too evidently, Suika was still guilty about being caught enjoying Kogasa's service, as Suika was breaking into cold sweat under her stare. She then looked at Yuugi, who met her eyes, and for a brief moment sparks flew between them. It was then that the odd couple of Oni and bridge princess realized that they did share one true love with each other. And that was…
Suika… They absolutelymust tease the hell out of her.
"Hmmm… Yuugi-san…" Parsee put her arms behind her back as she craned her head up towards the much taller woman in an innocent manner, "What do you think, Yuugi-san? Do you think Suika's playing the part well enough? The part of a customer, I mean," she turned her lovely emerald eyes towards Suika as if to evaluate her.
"E-Eh? M-Me? Playing the part well enough… What do you-"
"Ahhh, Parsee-san… If you were to ask my honest opinion…" Yuugi, quickly following up on Parsee's act, strode over between Kogasa and Suika with her arms behind her as well, as if inspecting the pair, "Suika-san was not good. Not good at all…"
"Hey, you guys… Just what are you-"
"As I thought, Yuugi-san…" Parsee strode over to Suika's other side, so now the two-horned Oni, who had been unconsciously backing up into her throne of fabric, was pinned in between the hellish couple. "Such a cute attendant like Kogasa-chan… Don't you know how many people would be jealous of you, Suika-san…?" Parsee glanced up at Yuugi. The two were circling Suika now, like sharks about a stranded survivor.
"I know I would be jealous," Yuugi smirked back at Parsee, "But ah… That's not the infuriating thing, is it, Parsee-san?"
"O-Oi…! You guys better stop whatever-"
"No… no it's not, Yuugi-san," Parsee was tracing a hand along the back of Suika's wicker chair, causing chills to rise along the stranded Oni's spine.
"Yeah… It's the fact that you have special privileges with her, don't you?" Yuugi was passing by so close to Suika now, causing the smaller Oni to retract deeper into her chair.
"P-Privileges? !-"
"If you wanted to, you could ask anything you want of her, right, Suika?" Yuugi clapped a hand on Suika's shoulder. Suika jumped.
"For example, you could request a full body massage…" Parsee laid a hand on Suika's other shoulder. Suika shivered.
"Along with champagne," Yuugi's voice made Suika cringe.
"Maybe in a candle-lit room…" Parsee's hissed words were boring straight into Suika's brain.
All this time, Kogasa watched on awkwardly. Suika's expression, of her being cornered in such a vulnerable manner, was utterly pitiful, and yet Kogasa found herself a little unwilling to intervene. Half of her was enjoying it, to be honest, and the other half was just plain terrified of the devilish combo that was Parsee and Yuugi.
A third half of her was daydreaming about fulfilling er… requests from an imaginary and much more daring Suika.
"S-Satori-san…" she shook her head free of tabooed thoughts and turned towards Satori, "A-Aren't they going a bit too far?" she pleaded for help.
Satori's eyebrows arched upwards with tranquil surprise at Kogasa's appeal, then smiled kindly and decided to land a hand to her future employee. She decided to ignore the little accidental peek into Kogasa's daydreams…
"Alright… That's enough teasing, ladies," Satori stepped forwards and said simply, and Yuugi and Parsee yielded with a shrug as they stepped away from Suika, their faces carrying satisfied smirks.
"Suika-san is not the type of person to make such unbecoming requests from my employee," Satori said.
Suika sighed a huge sigh of relief, "Hah…! Thank you Satori-"
"She has fully agreed with company policy to reserve her romantic advances towards outsideof working hours," continued the mind reader in a brisk, business-like voice.
"Gah! S-Satori! You… jerk…!" Suika fell off her throne onto the floor defeated as the three trolls stood around, admiring their spoils.
"T'ch… C-Couldn't you all -hic!- you all have just let me relax?" Suika grumbled as she sat at the same patio table. Her one wicker chair was now joined by three others, her one glass of sake now four, and the feast of finger foods was fast vanishing. The fault mainly lay with Yuugi though, as Parsee and Satori did not do much eating. Kogasa, although invited to join in by Satori and the others, politely refused. Instead, she stood attentively at the side, like a true attendant of the resort, her arms held together at her front.
Suika's cheeks were flushed and heated and her eyes blood shot. She was evidently getting a little tipsy from all the alcohol she had consumed earlier, which probably did nothing to help stabilize her mood.
"Oh, lighten up Suika," Yuugi said, "You're still pissed about what happened just now? That was so long ago…" she licked her finger tips after finishing off the last of the barbecued wings.
Suika huffed absentmindedly and turned away, her expression one of annoyance.
"It's getting chilly isn't it?" Parsee remarked on a different note as she pulled the collar of her robes up a little, an evening gust having briefly kicked up.
"Maybe we should head back inside?" Yuugi suggested, "The season is getting colder, we'd probably be better indoors more often…"
Satori sat silently sipping her sake, her gaze steadily fixed on Suika before her. The little Oni was still wearing an annoyed expression, but it seemed distant and unrelated to her three companions at the table. Suika did not even seem to realize Satori was staring at her. Satori did not bother to even read Suika's mind for answers however; it was all too evident what was the cause of Suika's irritation. Tracing the invisible straight line from Suika's eyes, Satori found her own gaze settling upon the karakasa standing attentively by their table.
Taking another sip from her sake, Satori contended with staying silent. This was Suika's personal problem. And in any case…
"Hey…" Parsee and Yuugi looked up at Suika as she suddenly uttered the word.
… There was this all too obvious giant thought bubble emanating from Suika's mind. And it gave every indication that the chibi Oni would not stay silent for long.
"… Aren't… aren't you cold in that?" Suika asked of Kogasa, her expression moody.
"E-Eh?" Maybe it was precisely because Suika's face looked so cloudy that Kogasa cringed a little. "I-I'm fine, Suika," she replied with a nervous smile.
A shadow crossed Suika's face. I-It looks like Suika's remained unconvinced…
"N-No, I'm really fine!" Kogasa held up her hands defensively, still nervously smiling, "I'm wearing two layers, you see! The one underneath is woollen undergarments-"
"You've been standing around for so long too," Suika remained moodily fixated on Kogasa. Yuugi and Parsee were by this time nervously staring at Suika as well, who only had eyes for the karakasa. And… and it seems she's getting more and more irritated for some reason…
"No, this is fine! I-It's part of the job, i-isn't that right, Satori-san?" Kogasa turned to Satori for a second time today for help.
"Eh~ Indeed it is," Satori simply said. She did not look up from her sake, and she did not feel the need to elaborate further.
"…" Suika momentarily broke her gaze on Kogasa, bringing the poor girl a moment of respite as she grabbed another glass of sake to drink, which she did so with a vengeance. Kogasa could only look helplessly at Satori, and her primary thought was: DidIdosomethingwrong?
Satori, catching Kogasa's helpless glance, looked away with a sigh before biting her lower lip in amusement. No, Kogasa-chan, it's the exact opposite… You're getting everythingright, that's what's annoying her… Satori thought as she turned to discreetly observe Suika once more. Suika was attacking yet another glass of sake. She was drinking not out of thirst, but out of her moodiness, which made her more moody and contributed to the stormy cycle.
"Ah…" Yuugi, her seat creaking under her solid frame as she squirmed uneasily, did not like the uneasy atmosphere one bit. "Ah… H-Hey! How about we all-" before she could try to break the ice however, Suika had suddenly tottered to her feet.
"Eh? Suika?" Yuugi said, surprised, Parsee next to her looking similarly so.
"I'm… heading indoors…" Suika slurred a little before turning to Kogasa, her copper red eyes still coloured with irritation, "And… you! You're… you're supposed to- hic! … Supposed to be my pretend attendant today… Right?" she demanded.
"A-Ah! O-Of course!" Kogasa immediately caught Suika's drift, and she moved to follow Suika, who had turned without a word and marched straight (or at least, as best as she could) towards the interior of the resort. Yuugi and Parsee, unsure what to make of the situation, half got up to follow them, but…
"Stay."
"Eh?" they turned to look at Satori, who had uttered the word softly. It was not an order however. It was a gentle request. Served with a knowing smile and lightly garnished with mischief.
"Stay," Satori repeated her invitation, "We had a fine batch of grape wine delivered to us this morning," she leaned back into her chair serenely, "We could spend a few hours tasting a couple of bottles first before following them."
Yuugi and Parsee looked at each other, than at the long disappeared shadows of Suika and Kogasa. So… Satori wants them to have a little privacy for now, huh…? Well then…
"We'd be delighted to!" Yuugi and Parsee answered Satori's invitation with a grin, and they rejoined the mind reader at the table.
"Buut~! We're strictly giving them only a couple of hours~!"
"Heh… Fine with me, just make sure you get the the timing right…"