Spa Date

After everything he had been through, a spa was a nice reward. He was glad that they were able to do everything available to them. First off, was getting a back massage along with the others.

"Oh, it's just so nice to get those knots out." Hine said, really enjoying her annual massage.

"You know it." he spoke much more relaxed than how he was feeling this entire trip. The Summer heat, having to run in said heat, carrying that taxi. If he was some shonen main character, that would've been a fun training arc. Too bad he wasn't going to see any results from it.

"Yeah…" Erina was feeling very sleepy from this. If she was allowed to, she would just pass out right at this moment.

"So what else do they have at this spa?" He got up when he finished his massage.

"I know they've got waxing." Erina explained her plan. "I gotta get that done, that way I can have my body for the beach, and Yogi." She left to go to the room where that was done. Hine had other plans for Arata.

"Say, the others got they're own places they want to go, but I got someplace for you." He trusted her, and he didn't really know this place, so he came with her.

"So what are we doing then?" He asked her.

"A young man like yourself ought to take care of your skin." She answered. "So what better way than with a facial?" His face could always use a nice cleaning. He never cared about how he looked, but he also wanted to keep his skin healthy at least.

"Thanks. I probably wouldn't have thought of this, but it is a pretty good idea." She was glad he liked the idea. Plus, it would give her the chance to talk privately with him again.

Getting the facial was not something he was used to. Feeling the cold cream sent shivers down his spine. Arata was no professional, so he wasn't actually sure how any of this worked. All he could do was just accept that it was going to.

"I hope you're enjoying this." She asked him, once the workers left to give them some time with the treatment.

"Of course I'm enjoying this." He responded. "And I don't just mean right now. I know I might sound like I've complained a lot, but I'm happy we're taking this vacation."

"That's good to hear." It was nice to spend more time with him. Usually when he was tending to her garden, there were days when he'd want to focus more on that, than talk with her. Hine was glad he accepted her offer. "And that includes the others?"

"You already know why I'm even hanging out with them. It's not like I'm actually friends with any of them." She was certain that wasn't an entirely true sentence. He may not have noticed it himself, but she could see the changes from him ever since he got blackmailed.

"A shame, but I do think you should consider their feelings more often. After all, you're all still young."

"What are you talking about?" It seemed like a weird thing to bring up right now.

"You know that young girl that's known Yogi for a while now. Akiba, I believe her name was." Of course he did, what stuck out more to him was that Hine almost always referred to people by first name, regardless of her relationship to them.

"Of course I do. I sat next to her during our bus trip."

"That's kind of the problem."

"Huh?"

"You know, she talked to me about that." So that's what was bothering her when he tried asking. She took issue with the seating arrangement he created. Knowing that now, he was a little glad she didn't speak up to him. "I know she tried to frame it about how she has known him for years."

"Well that's true. Except as I'm sure you know, it isn't that simple."

"Yes I'm not blind to the fact of how many ladies have fallen for that boy." He never gave her full details on the group itself. However, given that he was even stuck in this predicament. She could ascertain that Erina wasn't alone in what she felt. "More on the point, I could tell that girl wasn't happy."

"I'm sure she wasn't. And I'm sure you already know what I had in mind when I made that seating arrangement." Talking about it with her, it made him feel bad. Even though it was what he thought was his best course of action.

"Yes, I just wanted to tell you that you should think about how your actions affect others." She told him.

"What am I supposed to do? If I can't help Erina, then I'm exposed. You even told me that, now you're saying that I need to think for the other girls' sake?" This was becoming an impossible situation for him.

"You're right…" She couldn't deny that statement. "I think that you should think about what's important for you then." He didn't respond to that. Mainly because workers had returned to complete the treatment, and also to think about what she said. Arata had no idea what the answer to that question was.

Once their facials were finished, it was time for the last part of this treatment. A hot spring bath. This was something that Arata was waiting for this entire time. He was certain that Erina would enjoy it too, since she mentioned not having taken a bath yet. After his physical labor, he could do with a wash.

As he was getting undressed with Gouzaburou, he was wondering what Yogi and the others were doing. Probably getting breakfast, or what would be called brunch at this time. They had agreed to meet at the beach when he was finished. Erina being with him instead was probably a blessing for some of them.

"I have to say." He said to Gouzaburou. "This is definitely the best spa I've ever been to." In reality, this was the only one he had ever been to. Though, the quality looked a lot better than the local ones around town.

"I'd wager and say this is the best in all of Japan." He claimed. "You can be the judge of that when we get out to the onsen bath."

"Yeah, so is it the same with the ladies, or are there differences between the baths?" He was wondering about Erina. Sure the other ladies had been here before, but was she enjoying this as much as him?

"Ha, trust me. You'll see when we get out there." Something about the way he said that triggered warning signs to Arata. He calmed himself, since this was probably just some boisterous talk from an old man.

They left the men's changing room and entered the bathhouse. Having never been in one before, The intense heat was almost unbearable. The steam limited vision, and whatever herbs or fragrances they used made it difficult for him to open his eyes. With time, he was going to get used to it, just that it was hard to see for the time being.

The old man already hopped into the bath, but he scanned the room for somewhere to wash his hair first. Spotting the area with showers, he moved over and found himself a seat.

He heard more splashes of water behind him, not unexpected for others to be coming in. A figure walked past him, seating themselves one seat over to get themselves clean. He wasn't worried about some guy near him while he was cleaning himself, but he didn't look over to respect their privacy.

Thing were actually pretty normal at this point. Arata had no clue what Gouzaburou talking about. He made it sound like it'd be obvious, but nothing stood out to him. Of course, it wasn't like he could see much past his hand, unless that's what the old man meant.

"Ahhh, I got soap in my eyes." The figure spoke. The voice was much higher than he'd figure a man's would sound. It must've been a rather young boy, except it also sounded very familiar to him.

The ruffling got Arata's attention, he turned over to look towards them. He couldn't see much, over than their silhouette moving their arms trying to find something. He looked down, seeing their towel had fallen to the ground. They were probably trying to find it to wipe their face.

"Oh hey." Arata leaned himself over, using the seat between them as support, and picked up the towel. "You dropped this." He handed it over As they wiped their face, that was when the figure came into view for him. Except it wasn't just some random person he was talking to.

"A-arata?!" It was Erina, wearing nothing but her bath towel. She saw him as soon she wiped her eyes. This caught him off guard, his hand slipped. Causing him to fall over in his seat. The pair screamed in unison.

"W-what are you doing here? This is the men's bathhouse!" He yelled at her. She was the last person he'd expect to see here.

"Men's? No, this is the women's bathhouse!" She yelled right back at him. She took her water bucket and splashed its contents on him. He countered by doing the same, dousing her with his own water bucket.

their arguing would've continued further, until laughter entered their ears. Arata turned over, it was Gouzaburou, but who were the others? He tried his best to focus his vision to where he saw the man, then it became clear.

"W-what are you all doing here?" All of the elder were in the bath, enjoying this show.

"I'm sorry, it's just too funny." Was all the response he got at first. They were laughing at this too much to form a proper sentence.

"You see..." Hine was the first to get back to normal. "This is actually one of those unisex onsen bathhouses." Arata never realized that things like that existed in real life. He just thought it was one of those ways to put in uncomfortable situations for a story's protagonist.

"You've got to be kidding me." To try and avoid any more embarrassing moments, he was now in the bath, on the complete opposite side of the seniors. Erina did something similar, placing herself and him between a large rock that sat in the bath.

"What's wrong you two? You were so happy to be here not too long ago." Asazuku teased them.

"You know what's wrong with this." He said, hardly able to keep his feeling of embarrassment inside. At least he could just blame the heat for his red face. It was a bit upsetting to him. They looked as though they enjoyed making him squirm.

"I thought the two of you were more mature than that." Monju said, scolding him.

"We probably should've told you two." Hine apologized. "This place usually normally get elders, couples, or both, so most people here aren't so modest anymore." She explained. That didn't make either of them more comfortable about this situation.

Arata couldn't get it out of his head how close the two were. Not just close, but the fact that they were both naked. He didn't want to think what the others would say if they found out.

Erina was freaking out on the inside. Just the fact that he saw her as he did. At least she wasn't exposed, she'd much rather a certain other boy see all that.

"Wait a second." Arata was about to relax when something else stuck into his head. "What time is it?" He asked them.

"Well judging when we got in, to how long we've been in here." Asazuku added up the math. "I believe it should be about noon."

"Noon?!" The teens yelled in unison.

"Oh no, we're gonna be late." Said Arata. "Um, I'd hate to force you-"

"Oh just go without us." Hine assured him. "We've got other places we're going to. We'll just take the train down from here."

"The train?"

"Oh yeah, the taxi isn't the only way to get here. There's a rail station just nearby, so you can use that to get to the beach pretty quickly." He couldn't believe he had to walk all the way up here, when they could've enjoyed a much easier ride. Not that it mattered now.

"All right then, come on Erina let's get going." He didn't stop to think. Arata rushed out of the water, pulling her along with him. She barely held onto her towel to keep her decency as they ran unsafely.

"Arata, wait… Hold on this is the men's…"