Mermaid Bones

Ningyo no Hone (Mermaid’s Bones) Bathhouse

I, Tsutomu, and Izayoi reached the bathhouse, situated about ten minutes away from Yuuhikaigan Ryokan. This bathhouse had an ocean view, and in the evenings, you could see the sun set behind Mount Fuji. It’s a great place, with private onsens available.

One thing though: I question the original owner’s tastes in names. How did that person come up with such an unsettling name for a bathhouse? I know that mermaids could make you immortal, but that name just gave me an image of an old witch sprinkling ashes from mermaid bones into the baths.

Tateyama was not a city famous for hot springs, but I heard that this bath house offered scented baths. That’s good enough.

“Here we are. Let’s head in.” Tsutomu went to the door, but I stopped him.

“Hey, can we just take a moment to appreciate how…unsettling this building looks?”

“Once you mention it…”

“Did you seriously not notice until now?”

This bathhouse was sort of a hidden gem (hidden so well even locals don’t know about it). Only people living around its vicinity would know of it.

Tsutomu gazed at the two-storied traditional building, painted all in blue. The bathhouse’s sign hung at the entrance, surrounded by decorations such as fake bamboo plants and a tapestry of a Japanese ningyo or mermaid. It was a monkey with a fish’s tail begging for its life. On the roof was a large white plate thing that looked like a full moon. I could not believe this strange structure was located in my quiet seaside town.

“Nii-nii…!”

I turned around, and saw Akame in her fluffy rabbit hoodie. She wore a pair of yellow rabbit slippers.

“Akame…? What’re you…oh, right.” I forgot she worked at a bathhouse. So this is where she worked.

“That’s your little sister? Oh my lord! Let’s exchange families!” Tsutomu said jokingly, putting an arm around my shoulders.

“Nice to meet you. My name is Izayoi Shou. You can call me Shou.” Izayoi, who had been quiet this whole time, introduced herself like a normal human being.

“My name is Yakou Akame… Wait, no… Kazakiri Akame. Nice to meet you.” Akame bowed, and the rabbit ears on her hoodie flopped. It felt weird to hear my surname attached to this girl’s name.

“Oh, right, and this guy’s name is Ono—”

“Ono Tsutomu, little princess! I’m your big bro Yuuya’s best friend. If he’s being a jerk to you, you can come to me for help any time.” Tsutomu patted her head. She stared at him, wide-eyed.

“Don’t be fooled by this Oh-No Tsutomu. He cares about nothing but card games.” Izayoi crossed her arms.

“Alright, alright, weebs, time to stop. Akame-chan needs to get to work.” I stopped them when Akame looked at me like she needed help. “We should also get ourselves cleaned up before it’s too late into the night.”

All of us entered the bathhouse together. Akame said her greeting and went to get changed. Despite having just moved here, she seemed very familiar with how things work. How young was she when she started working part time? Is that even legal?

After Akame went, I took a good look at the person sitting at the front desk. And I gawked at him.

“Welcome. How may I help you today?”

He was a man with lustrous blonde hair reminiscent of a shampoo commercial. A warm smile tugged at his lips. He was so good-looking, I thought for a moment that he could be related to that handsome elf from Lord of the Wings.

I handed him the coupons for the bathhouse. Shou, with trembling hands, took his hand and led it to the coupon. She was blushing so hard, her face was as red as a tomato.

“Thank you for that, Shou-chan. You’re such a great help.” He traced his fingers along the surface of the coupon, feeling a sticker on one corner. “Three guests, I assume? Please go ahead.”

I wanted to ask how he knew that it was Izayoi, but words would not come out. I guess I still felt nervous around foreigners, even if said foreigner spoke fluent Japanese.

Inside the bathhouse, there was a large room with a ping pong table, a row of gachapon machines, and a vending machine. I tapped Izayoi’s shoulder.

“Who was that just now?”

“That was the current owner, Hyakuya Lain. I heard that his father named him Rein (tinkling of jewels) in remembrance of his late mother.”

“So, it’s actually a Japanese name?” I scratched my head.

“Yes. But people assume it’s not, so…”

“You know a lot about the guy. This is the first time I’ve seen him, honestly.” Tsutomu chimed in.

“I’m not surprised. Anyway, he cannot see, so somebody else usually takes care of the guests. Sometimes, that person is me. But, the bathhouse has been short-staffed recently, so he does the job himself.” Izayoi explained.

“Oh, so you’re a regular.”

“Actually…I’m usually here just to see Lain-san. He’s so…beautiful.”

Well, that’s…certainly the first time I’ve seen this side of her.

“Uh-huh. Let’s just leave Izayoi be.” Tsutomu went ahead to the baths.

Some people had the habit of comparing their ooh-la-la’s with others in the bathhouse. Unfortunately, Ono Tsutomu was one such person. I became his first victim of the day, so I gave his face a good punch.

They had various baths here: a jacuzzi, a cold water bath, a rose-scented bath, a lavender-scented bath, and a chocolate-scented bath. We went into the ramen-scented bath. I had no clue how the owner managed to get bath salts that smelled like ramen, but I’m starting to like him.

“Hey, what are those old geezers doing?” Tsutomu gestured to a bunch of old men, sitting in a row next to the showers, like patients waiting to see the doctor. They were just wasting their time sitting around.

“Like hell I’d know. Should we get a closer look?”

We moved to the chocolate-scented bath.

“Somebody’s coming.” Tsutomu pointed to a small figure coming towards the door, and when that figure entered…

“What the f—”

Tsutomu put a hand over my mouth before I could shout, and turned my head the other way. It was Akame, in a blue polka dot dress.

Tsutomu dragged me to the rose bath, which was the furthest from the group of old men.

“What the fuck, man?” I whispered.

“I heard some rumors that this bathhouse had a girl rubbing people’s backs as a free service. I didn’t believe it. Not until now.” He bit his lips. “And I didn’t think it’d be your sister.”

“...What should I do? This looks illegal. Wait, right, I have to get Akame out of here!”

There was no one else in here except for us and the group of old men, and Akame.

“Sit, Yuuya! Think up a plan first. Those guys could be yakuza!” Tsutomu pulled me back into the bath.

“What kind of plan, then? That’s my sister there. She’s not the best, but she’s still a girl. This is so wrong!”

“Amazing as always, Akame-chan.” An old man said.

“Don’t forget to take your tip from the usual spot.” Another said.

“Thank you.” Akame replied.

Somebody please tell me that I’m dreaming.

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I actually have character portraits drawn for almost every character in this novel. It seems Honeyfeed doesn't have an insert image option aside from the showcase?

Hmm how am I gonna insert illustrations then...