Kitahara Inn, Nightfall
After a leisurely stroll through the inn's small game room—where he'd watched a group of lively female university students engaged in a spirited table tennis match—Kasumigaoka Touji estimated his sister's bath time was winding down. Deciding to head back, he retraced his steps through the quiet, wooden corridors.
He ascended to the second floor, slid open the door to room 202, and was greeted by a sight that made him pause.
Kasumigaoka Utaha was kneeling gracefully on the freshly laid futon. She had changed into the inn-provided yukata—a beautiful blue-purple garment sprinkled with delicate cherry blossom patterns. Her phone was in her hand, and she looked up at his entrance with a flicker of surprise in her wine-red eyes.
"Ah, Nii-san. Where did you wander off to? I was just about to message you." She set her phone down on the tatami with a soft click.
"Just checked out the game room. Watched some people play ping pong," he replied casually, stepping fully into the room and letting the door slide shut behind him.
His gaze, however, lingered on her. He couldn't help but take a more appreciative look.
Perhaps to keep her hair from getting damp in the steamy baths, her usual waterfall of dark hair was tied up in a neat, charming bun at the nape of her neck. The style revealed the elegant, snow-white line of her slender neck, a vulnerable and alluring contrast.
The blue-purple yukata, tied securely with its obi sash, conformed perfectly to the soft, dramatic curves of her body. It sculpted an outline of elegant, feminine grace, making her seem both refined and, in the intimate setting of their room, subtly provocative. The fabric's hue seemed to make the skin of her face and neck glow even paler, like fine porcelain. Her cheeks held the faint, warm blush of someone freshly bathed, looking so tender one might imagine pinching them would release dewdrops.
"Do I look good?" she asked, breaking his silent appraisal. A slender, pale hand rose to rest delicately against her faintly pink lips. Her eyes, those captivating wine-red pools, crinkled into amused, knowing crescents.
"Very good looking," he confirmed with a firm nod. He placed a hand on his hip, his expression turning businesslike. "Now, about that split you promised. Let's see it."
Utaha-san naturally hadn't forgotten their "agreement," but…
"How am I supposed to do the splits in a yukata?" she protested, patting the fabric covering her plush thighs. "The skirt is too restrictive, I can't even open my legs properly."
"Then change your clothes. Or just take the yukata off," he suggested, as if it were the most logical solution in the world.
"Changing is too much trouble. And taking it off…" she trailed off, her expression morphing into one of exaggerated vulnerability. She hugged herself with one arm, using the other to brace against the futon as she leaned back, emphasizing the full, tempting curve of her hips. "…carries such a risk of exposure. What if someone suddenly barges in? Does Nii-san want his precious onee-san to be seen naked by a stranger?"
She perfected the look of being weak, pitiful, and utterly helpless.
Touji-kun's eye twitched. He squinted at her performance, then muttered under his breath with genuine frustration, "This darn inn…!"
It was true. The doors at the Kitahara Inn didn't have locks. Not a single one. In Touji-kun's opinion, the fact that this establishment hadn't gone bankrupt yet was a miracle, attributable solely to the quality of its three private hot springs. Any other place operating with such a glaring lack of basic privacy, he felt, wouldn't last a single day in the modern hospitality industry.
Watching the vexed look flash across his face, Kasumigaoka Utaha couldn't suppress a sly, triumphant smile. Seizing the moment, she rose fluidly from the futon and launched herself into his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck in a clinging embrace.
"Here, let me compensate Nii-san this way instead~ Am I nice and fragrant?" she murmured, nuzzling against him.
"Fragrant?" He sniffed theatrically. Her skin and hair carried the distinct, lingering mineral scent of the sulfur spring—a pungent, earthy aroma often likened to rotten eggs. He pretended to recoil, turning his face away. "You and Mom went to the sulfur spring, didn't you? Was it crowded?"
"Mhmm, it was alright. There were about seven of us total, including us… but the pool is quite large, and it has rock formations inside, so it didn't feel cramped," she answered offhandedly. Seeing his reaction only fueled her mischievous energy, and she clung to him even tighter, like a particularly stubborn and attractive piece of adhesive plaster.
"Well, if you're going to be like this…" Touji-kun decided two could play at this game, and began to retaliate in kind.
The two quickly devolved into a playful, entangled struggle on the tatami. Laughter was stifled, movements were hushed. The ever-present, un-lockable door was a potent inhibitor, forcing a degree of restraint upon them—after all, it was still too early in the evening, and certain… conveniences were not yet opportune.
****
Time: Almost 10:00 PM
Kasumigaoka Utaha, still in her yukata, had finally settled under the thick, comfortable futon quilts. A pillow was propped behind her as she scrolled through her phone, the soft glow illuminating her features.
Touji-kun, having changed into a simple robe, was retrieving his toiletries from the closet. As he passed the futon, he gave the prominent, quilt-covered curve of her backside a light, teasing kick.
"Hey!" she protested, looking over her shoulder.
"Put the phone away. You'll ruin your eyesight," he said, his face a perfect mask of brotherly concern.
"I'm holding it pretty far away already," she muttered, but didn't stop. She did, however, obediently extend her arms to hold the device even further from her face.
Shaking his head with a smile, Touji-kun pulled the inn's provided toiletries bag from the closet. He slung it over his shoulder. "Utaha, I'm heading to the baths."
"Okay, have a good soak~" she replied, her attention drifting back to her screen. Out of habit, she glanced at the time display.
9:59 PM.
By the time he walked over, it would be exactly ten o'clock. The men's time for the sulfur spring.
****
The Hot Spring Annex, Surrounded by Bamboo Grove
The inn's hot spring facility was a separate structure nestled in a tranquil bamboo grove on the west side of the property. The night air was cool and crisp, carrying the faint, clean scent of minerals and damp earth. The only sounds were the rustle of bamboo leaves and the clack-clack of his own wooden geta sandals on the stone path.
Touji-kun pushed open the sliding door marked for the sulfur spring's changing room. It was empty, silent. He found an empty locker, undressed, and wrapped a small towel around his waist. With his toiletries in hand, he entered the adjacent shower area.
The routine was meditative: brush teeth, rinse body, scrub thoroughly. The anticipation of sinking into the famed, therapeutic waters was building. Finally clean, he pushed open the heavy wooden door that led to the open-air bath.
He stepped out into the night.
The scene that greeted him was not the empty, starry-soaked tranquility he had envisioned.
The moon hung bright in a clear sky, stars twinkling above. Steamy mist curled from the dark, mineral-rich water of the rocky pool. And in the center of that pool, half-obscured by tendrils of vapor, was a figure.
A young woman. Her hair was pinned up in a sophisticated, slightly damp bun. Her skin, visible above the waterline, seemed to glow pearlescent in the moonlight. The lines of her shoulders and the suggestion of her figure beneath the water were undeniably, breathtakingly attractive.
Their eyes met across the mist.
Time froze.
The woman's expression—initially one of relaxed solitude—morphed instantly into wide-eyed, jaw-slackened shock.
Then, in perfect, horrified unison, they both yanked their small towels up in a futile attempt at coverage.
Compared to Touji-kun, who had at least entered with purpose, Kojima Kana-sensei was thrown into utter disarray. The modest towel was woefully inadequate for the task. In a panic, she simply sank deeper into the water until it covered her shoulders, clutching the towel to her chest like a lifeline.
Her face, now pale, was a storm cloud of mortification and rising fury. She fixed Kasumigaoka Touji with a glare that could have flash-frozen the entire hot spring. Her voice, when it came, was low, flat, and carried the terrifying, silent pressure of a volcano before eruption.
"Kasumigaoka-san…" she began, each syllable dripping with ice. "Why. Are. You. Here?"
A palpable wave of oppressive, teacherly Conqueror's Haki seemed to radiate from the center of the pool.
Touji-kun, standing frozen at the pool's edge, felt his heart lurch. Then, his own sense of sheer, absurd injustice boiled over.
"I was about to ask you the same thing, Kojima-sensei!" he blurted out, his own voice a mix of shock and complaint. "Didn't you say you were attending a wedding?! Unless… is your classmate getting married here?!"
This is unbelievable! A ghost story!Have I been somehow cosmically linked to Kojima-sensei these past two days?!Running into her in a hot spring pool of all places… this is beyond outrageous!
Although, he had to admit, a treacherous part of his brain replayed the initial, fleeting image…Sensei's figure… is really something else.
"..."
This is unbelievable! A ghost story!Have I been somehow cosmically linked to Kasumigaoka-san these past two days?!Running into him in a place like this…!
Kojima Kana's mind reeled with equal parts horror and disbelief.
And then, a sudden, unbidden memory surfaced: the omikuji fortune slip she had drawn at the New Year's shrine visit. It had stated, quite clearly, that she would "encounter the man who could walk beside her for life in a most unexpected place."
Her eyes, wide with a new kind of shock, locked onto the stunned figure of her student standing by the pool.This setting… is certainly "unexpected"… Could it be…?
She shook her head violently, as if to physically dispel the thought.No. Impossible. Absolutely not.You have to remember—I am his teacher!
"..."
Yet, even as she thought it, the image of a certain someone standing there, bold as anything, was now irrevocably seared into Kojima Kana's mind…