Secluded Hot Spring

Minori’s face lit up in excitement.

“Is that what I think it is?”

“Yes indeed. It's a geothermal hot spring.”

In the middle of the secluded grassy landscape just beyond a spectacular mountain range lay a stone ring in the ground filled with crystal clear mineral water. A gentle cloud of steam hovered over them from the warmth of the hot spring meeting with the crisp air of the area. It was radiating just the right amount of heat from the earth’s geothermal energy below.

“This will be perfect. It’s just what my body needs.”

“You and I both.”

Minori tilted her as she looked over at him with her eyes widened.

“Wait a minute.”

“What’s wrong?”

“You don't plan on getting in with me do you?”

“Well yeah of course. What else did you expect me to do while you took a dip?”

“I don’t know, maybe go and enjoy another one.”

“No way this is the only one around here and even if there was one close by what would be the fun in us being separated from one another?”

“Haru! I don't know what you thought this part of the trip would turn into, but it's not happening.”

“No it's not like that at all. You act like there aren’t mixed bath onsens back at home.”

“Yeah I know but this was just so sudden. You should have at least warned me.”

“I’m sorry Minori. But we can just keep our towels on and I promise not to do anything that will make you feel uncomfortable.”

“… Ok as long as you stay on the opposite side from me.”

“That works for me.”

He uses her brush to conjure up a small wooden shed a few meters from the hot spring.

“This can serve as a locker room so you can change a bit more comfortably.”

“Are you going to build one for yourself or do you want to use it first?”

“No worries, I just grabbed a towel. I’ll get changed out here and go in while you’re in the locker room.”

“Thanks for being so reasonable, Haru.”

She smiles as she walks away and into the shed. Once the door closes behind her, Haru quickly gets undressed, places his clothes neatly off to the side and slips into the hot spring with his towel across his waist. He lets out a long exhale as the water starts to warm his body and the fog clouded his vision.

“This feels amazing, Minori. You’re going to love it.”

The door to the shed slowly begins to open. The silhouette of Minori’s perfect figure was all he could make out even with the fog and her towel in the way. She slowly walked over.

“I’m going to step in but can you look away while I do? “

“Yeah that’s no problem.”

He looks away as she steps in. Now sitting opposite from each other Minori couldn’t help but blush.

“Ok you can look now, just don't be weird about it.”

“I won't, I already promised you.”

“You were right, I do love this. My body already feels so relaxed and I just stepped in.”

“Yeah I don’t know what temperature this is at but I hope I can recreate this experience another time.”

“She pulls out her brush and conjures a thermometer.”

“It's exactly one hundred and four degrees fahrenheit. No wonder why we’re enjoying it.”

A puff of black suddenly appears right in front of Minori. When Haru looks over his jaw drops from shock. Her towel had slipped completely into the water without her.

“Ahh! Don’t look! Close your eyes!”

She pulls the soaked towel from the water back up across her body and faces away from him.

“But why is your—”

“I don’t know, just please look away.”

“I’m sorry that just really caught me off guard.”

Minori’s chest had been stripped of its flesh, nothing more than a bare ribcage.

“I can’t believe you just saw me like that.”

“Well at least it wasn’t your naked body that I saw.”

A puff of black smoke appeared under the towel as her body resorted to normal.

“What are you talking about? You saw the deepest part of my body. I couldn’t have been any more naked than that.”

“I don’t know if I’d count your bare bones as you being naked, no one is that flat chested.”

“Ugh! Please stop talking about it. It’s way too embarrassing. Just forget what you saw and let's talk about something else.”

They now sat facing away from each other as the sun slowly fell into the horizon of the night sky.

“So Minori am I living up to my part of the pact that we made when we first met? You know the part about keeping you entertained and making your heart race.”

“Well you should already know since I’m still here traveling with you, but yes I am enjoying myself.”

“That makes me happy to hear.”

“I hate to bring up such a topic but with your time coming up soon I just want to know how you are keeping up with all of these adventures of ours under your condition?”

“I don’t want to talk about it too much, but honestly the affliction of my heart isn’t holding me back in the slightest. Spending this time with you has lived up to everything I could have wanted in my final days.”

“Oh Haru…”

Minori’s face, now a rosy pink, turned her head to look over at Haru from the corner of her eye.

“Minori! Look up at the sky over there!”

The night sky was now illuminated by tranquil rivers of vibrant light. As it gracefully flowed across the mountain range its color transitioned through the spectrum of the rainbow which only added to its natural beauty.

“Oh what a breathtaking sight.”

“It sure is.”

“So Haru, what’s left for us to do together?”

“Just a few more things. I'd like us to ride a hot air balloon and go to a festival together before my time is up.”

Minori smiles up at the sky.

“That sounds lovely, I can't wait.”