A Man's True Desire

Akihiro slowly walked up to Ayane and stood right in front of her, as he looked her in the eye with a serious gaze.

Ayane wasn’t expecting this at all. She was taken aback. She didn’t expect Akihiro to ever do it, at least not so publicly in front of the inn.

But since Natsume was involved in it, anything could be possible. She still wasn’t mentally prepared for it. Her cheeks turned rosy red as she got nervous. She looked at Akihiro but couldn’t maintain eye contact and averted her eyes.

“Ayane, I...” Akihiro stuttured.

Ayane’s heart was thumping so hard that she could feel it all over her body. She began to worry.

‘Can he hear it? What if he hears it? Stay calm, stay calm!’

She got even more nervous and looked here and there as she started to feel the flutter of the butterflies in her stomach.

“Ayane...I- Whenever I think of you...I get headaches.”, Akihiro completed.

“WHAT!?” Ayane was taken aback. Natsume began laughing like a maniac, rolling on the floor as he grabbed his stomach. Her red cheeks were now even redder but with embarrassment. She turned around and ran into the inn, vowing to kill Natsume one day.

Natsume was still rolling on the floor laughing while Akihiro stood there, perplexed.

“Hahaha, that was so funny!! oh my god!”

“How was that funny?” Akihiro asked sincerely but eventually gave up when he realized that Natsume just wouldn’t stop laughing. He ignored Natsume’s laughter and walked towards his room.

Akihiro continued to just stare at the ceiling, thinking about himself and how he felt, when suddenly the door opened. Mizouchi entered the room and informed Akihiro that it was time for them to take a bath.

Most ‘Ryokans’ always had their own private hot spring, commonly called ‘Onsen’. People would wash their bodies and then relax in the naturally heated water that gushed out from under the ground. This was a common cultural practice followed religiously in Japan.

Mizouchi quickly brought Akihiro to the room where all the other guys of the class were present. It seemed to be as if they were having a very important meeting.

“I’ve brought Aki-kun,” Mizouchi said. As usual, something had to be fishy, especially if Natsume was the one leading the boys.

“Aki-kun, do you remember me telling you to listen to your body? Listen to it. What is it telling you to do? YES, THAT’S IT. THE TIME HAS COME!”, Natsume said with a huge smirk on his face.

“What’s going on?” Akihiro asked, completely clueless about what was happening.

Another classmate interrupted, “A man’s greatest desire! We have a chance right now! If we cannot accomplish it now, we may never get a chance again!”

Natsume nodded in agreement. “I see, you’re a man of culture as well.”

Akihiro was still completely confused. His face seemed like a question mark as he looked around, watching his classmates talk like soldiers going to war. Mizouchi leaned close to him and whispered, “They just want to peek while the girls are in the ‘Onsen’.”

“Oh, now it makes sense…” Akihiro muttered.

Natsume continued to lead his fellow classmates as if they were going into war. “This is our only chance. We either succeed or we die trying! This is our only chance. MY SOLDIERS, RAGE! MY SOLDIERS, SCREAM! MY SOLDIERS, FIGHT!”

The roaring of the boys could be heard from miles away. The battle cry of these students was so loud that the walls began to shake.

“Why the hell are you all screaming?” Ayane shouted as she barged into the room, breaking the door open. The rest of the girls had also reached the same place by then, wondering what had happened.

“They were excited to peek while the girls used the ‘Onsen’.” Akihiro said, straightforwardly like a robot.

“OHH IS THAT TRUE?” Ayane asked as she glared at Natsume. The heat from her fury could be felt by every boy sitting in that room. The rage she radiated would have probably put the devil to shame. The boys couldn’t move their legs anymore as they were frozen to the spot.

“I.. err..” Natsume wasn’t able to think of any excuses. They were completely busted.

Ayane cracked her knuckles and walked up to Natsume, glaring at him. Natsume felt as if he was burning in the fires of hell.

“AKI KUN, I THOUGHT YOU COULD FEEL EMOTIONS!! WHY WOULD YOU BETRAY YOUR BIGGEST DESIRE??” Natsume screamed dramatically as he was dragged out of the room.

Natsume was not to be seen for the next few hours.

In the evening, after having visited various famous tourist spots like the Nijo Castle, Ginkakuji temple, Arashiyama bamboo forest etc, the students had ‘free time’ again in their schedules

Ayane entered the room which was being shared by Natsume, Akihiro and Mizouchi. They continued to talk and laugh together when suddenly Natsume remembered something. He immediately grabbed his bag.

“Damn I completely forgot, while roaming around the city I bought a few fancy chocolates and some apples, haha. Which one do you all want?” Natsume asked as he took out the apples and the chocolates from his bag.

Mizouchi and Akihiro refused both, but Ayane couldn’t stop drooling at the sight of the special imported high-quality Swiss chocolates.

“Haha, just say you want it if you want it. Here!” Natsume said as he gave her a few chocolates and took an apple for himself.

Within seconds, Ayane had finished the chocolates.

“These taste weirdly different…..” Ayane said drowsily.

“HAHAHAHAHAHA, those are Rum chocolates.” Natsume laughed wickedly.

It was clearly evident to both Mizouchi and Akihiro that Ayane had gotten drunk over only a few rum chocolates.

“Her tolerance is so low??” Mizouchi asked as he genuinely seemed surprised.

“Just as planned,” Natsume said as he bit into the apple with an evil grin on his face.

Ayane’s cheeks were completely red. She clumsily moved around, knocking a few bags off the desk. She then turned her attention towards Akihiro.

“Aki-kunnn….Do you think of me all the time? Does your head hurt when you think of me?” Ayane said as she pulled his collar and got extremely close to Akihiro’s face.

“Oi Natsume, why did you trick her?” Mizouchi asked.

“A writer will do anything for reference material. This is divine inspiration for my new work!” Natsume said as he let out an evil laugh.

“AKI-KUN! Look at me! Tell me!” Ayane said as she held Akihiro’s face which had turned a little red.

“I.. umm.. yea” Akihiro stuttured. He was too flustered to be able to think of any words to form a sentence anymore. His brain went completely blank as he temporarily lost all his thinking capability.

“AKI KUN, LOOK AT ME! Why are you looking away? Do I not look pretty?” she asked.

“I.. err.. you look pretty.” Akihiro stuttered as his face turned deep red. Natsume continued to laugh hysterically in the background while Mizouchi remained confused.

“Hehe, Aki-kun. You look handsome too. I love your eyes.” Ayane said as she brought her face dangerously close to his face. Her eyes were only a few centimetres away from his.

“Ahem!” Mizouchi cleared his throat. “Here! drink some water and go back to your room!”, he said as he handed over the glass to Ayane.

“Oi oi oi oi wait, wait! It’s just starting to get even more interesting and you want to end it?” Natsume protested.

“Yes! It’s going to be lights out any moment now, she should be back in her room.” Mizouchi replied as he dragged the drunk Ayane out of their room.

“Aww, I wanted to have more fun though!” Natsume whined.

----

A few hours later, while everyone had slept, Natsume was still wide awake, using his phone. Suddenly he received a text from Ayane.

-Ayane68 : You idiot! Did you literally intoxicate me!! Next time I see you, I’m gonna kill you! Also, please ask Akihiro to meet me at the terrace. If he doesn’t show up, I’ll kill you again!

Natsume laughed, “How many times is she gonna kill me, huh?”

He woke Akihiro up and informed him that Ayane was waiting for him on the terrace. Akihiro agreeing to go to the terrace didn’t surprise Natsume anymore.

“Was she the one who changed him?”, Natsume muttered to himself as he watched Akihiro sneak out of the room.

Akihiro walked up to the terrace and found Ayane standing by the railing, as she gazed at the blanket of stars that stretched to infinity. Her face looked peaceful, lit by the ethereal moonlight. The night’s cold breeze tossed her hair around as she pushed it aside. Akihiro couldn’t stop staring at her. She looked more beautiful than ever. He felt a completely unusual desire stir up his blood, as his head felt a sharp pain. Just then Ayane looked back and noticed him.

“Oh Kimura-san, you are here. I just called you here to apologise for my actions. I don’t remember what happened exactly, I just remember it was something very embarrassing.”

“Oh, no worries.” Akihiro reassured her.

“What did I do when I was drunk?” Ayane asked.

Akihiro stood next to her, leaning on the railing as he told Ayane everything she did while she was drunk.

“Oh my god!! This is so embarrassing!” Ayane said as she covered her face with her hands. “Ugh I hate Natsume, he always keeps doing things like this!”

She sat down on the floor, resting her back against the wall as she continued to cover her face.

“Like?” Akihiro asked as he sat down next to Ayane, looking at the dark blue sky embedded with glittering stars.

“Agh, okay so one time, me and Natsume were walking by the pool in school. I took a few drops of water and splashed it on him. He told me to stop or else he would push me into the pool. I thought he was joking because he said it playfully and so I told him to push me if he could. And you won’t believe it! He actually pushed me into the pool!! Like oh my god!!”

Ayane looked towards Akihiro in shock as she saw an image that burnt itself into her eyes forever. Natsume, who was hiding in the corner, trying to listen to their conversation was also completely surprised.

This was the first time they had seen Akihiro laugh.