Sleeping Together

"You wouldn't happen to know anything interesting about your neighbour, Akashi?"

"No..."

Subaru resisted the urge to move as Minami's darkened skin wavered under the rippled water, as she slipped over and touched his submerged lower legs and stopped to gently float above his feet.

"I know you've been spending some time after school with Kei..."

She gave a slightly knowing grin as she pressed Subaru for details.

"I've had my eye on you both... So what is it?"

"Well I do have my medical condition... so he's been helping me about, from time to time..."

Minami nodded along and seemed to accept the explanation.

"He is quite kind... isn't he? But there's nothing... special going on is there?"

"Uh, no."

Subaru didn't dare look away, and give her a reason to suspect deception, as he lied again.

"Alright."

Minami stretched her arms overhead, jutting her chest even more.

"Mm... he really is such a gentleman..."

She looked off with her smile.

"Yeah."

"You swear you don't know any other details, like; does he talk about other girls?"

She caught him looking curiously at her.

"No... nothing like that at all."

Subaru did his best to stay calm, as she looked convinced and moved on.

"So was it the hot springs that drew you here today?"

"Yeah."

"Such an odd time though..."

Minami bobbed on the water.

"There was an opening... so I took the opportunity."

He lied once more, having practiced a similar scenario, just in case.

"Tell me about it, this place is certainly hard to get a room in nowadays."

Minami relaxed back, and went as low as her chin for a moment.

"Any plans for yourself? For the rest of the afternoon I mean..."

Kei hadn't given any details on what she wanted to do, and Subaru hadn't given it much thought either.

"Nothing in particular."

"Then... perhaps I'll see you at the dinner this place provides... can I save you a seat then?"

"Uh..."

Is it right to abandon Kei... she did bring me along after all... but having dinner with a visiting stranger rather than a classmate is suspicious, so...

She gradually slipped away, but then waited for a response, which Subaru gave reluctantly.

"Alright, I'll be there."

"I'll set that up for us then. Dinner starts around seven, so I'll see you there. You can't have come all this way just to be all by yourself now."

She turned with some satisfaction and swayed out of the water with each step out, as she spoke, before getting a fresh towel and giving her dark skin a little rub over, getting most of the clingiest water droplets off her almost completely smooth surface.

"I'll be waiting for you then. So, see you later..."

Even with her covering towel, all be it now wet, her front 'peaks' clearly showed, while her gentle slopes and thin waist seemed to emphasise her fuller shape, as she casually and elegantly strolled along the baths side, then away.

Subaru remained behind a while and listened, till he couldn't hear any sounds, apart from the sloshing water, before he made his own hasty dash to get into the yukata again.

Eventually finding Kei, who wasn't in their tatami floored room, and was instead spending a little time in the private gardens, so Subaru clacked out with the provided wooden shoes and sat with her and explained what was going on, and she agreed that it was probably the most suitable direction to take, not that she appeared to like it.

She also wanted to keep away from the other girl, just in case her 'resemblance' to 'her cousin' brought more questions, as that had been her explanation for her fleeing the open bath earlier, so decided to arrive late and put some distance between them as well.

After a little chat with Minami following the excellent meal, that everyone had been offered in the wide room, where most of the other guests hah assembled, Subaru noticed Kei picking at her own plates, alone in the corner, and still sitting there as most started to go.

Seeing Minami off, Subaru decided to wait in the old style lobby, till Kei finally emerged, but while she wanted another small walk, Subaru was particularly tired from everything that had already happened, so they returned to their room - to find another problem.

"What the fresh hell..."

Kei stormed off immediately after seeing the one, and only, double futon neatly spread out in their room.

Subaru caught up to her, complaining to the staff member at the desk, but after some words, back and forth, she returned with much annoyance and her forehead in her hand.

"We'll apparently have to manage... somehow."

She sighed and they returned to their room.

"This is definitely our barrier - No crossing this at all, understood."

She threw a spare pillow to the centre of the flat bedding and brought her fists to her hips.

"I totally agree..."

Subaru did his best to match her annoyance, but she was still quite ticked off, so much that she apparently needed to vent and soon left by herself.

"I'm taking that walk."

She stormed away, and Subaru took the opportunity to get into his pyjamas - a simple t-shirt and shorts combo, then put the pillow under the blanket and lay beside it, on the fairly wide and spacious thin mattress.

She was gone a while, but messaged she'd be back soon, before making a much calmer entrance, to find Subaru almost a sleep in just the dim lamp light.

She lightly stepped in and flicked the light off, as Subaru silently blinked his eyes open, and was just about to ask if she was feeling better, when she started to disrobe near the windows.

Taking her yukata off, the thin fabric slid down her back as the light from beyond her slightly highlighted her small curves, as Kei exposed her body, waist, and then hips to the palely illuminated windows.

Has she been naked under that yukata...? All this time... since the baths...!?

The rest of it slipped away, and surely enough she wore no underwear at all, with all her fine skin slightly glowing from the partial moonlight, she stood facing the window for a few seconds, before taking a deep breath and flicking the pink gown away.

Subaru quickly shut his eyes before she turned and ducked under the thick sheet, and then settled.

"Even though..."

Kei stopped and started again, as Subaru opened his eyes again, seeing her look blankly to the ceiling above.

"This place is really nice isn't it?"

"Yeah."

They lay together in the bed.

"Sorry -"

Both started an apology, but stopped.

"I should have thought things through better... and maybe asked for a later day... and a different room..."

Kei said quietly before Subaru.

"You couldn't have known, and about Tetsuko being here... I'm sorry for spending all that time with her instead of..."

"No, you've been a huge help today, so don't apologise for that."

She shuffled her body about again as she glanced at him beside her.

"Are you comfortable?"

"Yeah... it's nothing."

Should I offer her something to wear - No... That'll let her know that I know she's totally nude...

Subaru likewise shuffled a little too, before catching her looking at him again.

"I... really appreciate all your help today, I mean it."

She continued to look past the lump of the pillow barrier between them with appreciation.

"Yeah, I know the feeling..."

Kei smiled a little.

"Yeah. I hope you still will help me out... in the future..."

"Same here."

Subaru smiled back; as they let the room go quiet.