Furukawa Inn

A few weeks ago, when I had suggested going on a trip to celebrate Inaba's upcoming graduation, everyone had seemed thrilled with the idea. The clubroom had been abuzz with excitement for several days afterwards. But soon enough, reality had started to settle in. None of us had any clue where we should actually go. I had started to doubt we would ever decide on something. That was until Inaba came to the clubroom one afternoon with a suggestion of her own, a place she knew over in the next town.

And now here the five of us were, standing outside of a large building, a nearby sign marking it as the ‘Furukawa Inn'.

“This place is huge,” Iwasaki gasped, “how did you find it Inaba-senpai?”

“Well,” she replied, scratching her cheek, “it actually belongs to my family on my mother's side. My aunt is the current owner.”

“Wait really? No way!”

“Yeah, I used to come here all the time when I was younger. Some of my earliest memories were of me taking a dip in the Inn's open air baths.”

While we were still trying to take in the size of the place, an older woman, dressed up in an elegant kimono, stepped out the front doors to greet us. She introduced herself as Furukawa Noriko. Despite not sharing a name, it was obvious to all of us that this was Inaba's aunt. She looked just like our senpai, except she was taller and more mature looking. Their personalities, however, couldn't have been any further apart.

“It's been so long since I last saw you, Miyu-chan! My, how you've grown,” she said, pulling Inaba into a hug.

Inaba's face turned a bright shade of red as her aunt began to fuss over her. When she finally released her, Furukawa turned her attention to the rest of us.

“Oh, when you said you were coming with friends, I wasn't expecting quite so many, especially not a pair of strapping young men?”

She gave me and Shinohara a once-over, before turning back to Inaba.

“Which one of them do you have your eye on, hmm?”

“N-neither of them!” She stammered.

Furukawa giggled to herself, before leading us inside.

“And now you know why I havent come since I was young…” Inaba leaned in and grumbled to us as we followed Furukawa into the main lobby.

After we had been given a tour of the premises, we vacated to our rooms to drop off our luggage. Between us all, we had booked two rooms, with Shinohara and I piling into the smaller of the two, and the three girls claiming the other.

“Pretty sweet place, don't you think?” Shinohara exclaimed gleefully.

“Yeah, no kidding,” I replied as I dropped my bag in the corner of the room.

Shinohara threw himself onto his futon, his arms spread wide.

“I'm dying to check out those baths, too!” He said.

“Well, why don't we?” I suggested.

***

I lowered myself into the hot water, a sigh escaping my lips as the warmth enveloped me.

"Damn, I think I could get used to this."

Shinohara lowered himself in beside me, sinking low enough that the water had reached his chin.

"Yeah," I agreed, laying my head back and letting the heat soak into me.

We sat there in silence for a while, simply enjoying the relaxing sensation. Shinohara was the first to break the silence.

“So, how's things going with Naka-chan, did you take any of my advice?” He asked, his voice slightly muffled by the water.

I lifted my head, opening my eyes.

“Things are going great, actually. We've even been on a few dates.”

I heard a soft splashing sound as Shinohara shifted slightly in the bath. "Oh yeah? Have you kissed her yet?”

“You know,” I said, evading the question, “you seem awfully obsessed with my love life for someone who can't make any progress in his own.”

“Ha! Low blow.”

He let out a hearty laugh, but his smile slowly faded and his expression turned serious.

"Actually, I've been thinking a lot about that lately.”

“Huh?”

“I'm tired of it all, of pretending, of hiding it all away. I want to tell her. I want to hear her answer, whatever it might be.”

“Are you sure? You've been holding onto this for forever, why now?”

He fell quiet for a moment, staring off into the distance.

“I don't know. But when you suggested we all go on a trip, the first thing that came into my head was ‘this is my chance’. So, I made a promise to myself, right there and then. That before these two days are over, I'll confess everything to Inaba-senpai.”

Inaba had just exited the ladies baths, leaving Iwasaki and Nakamura behind. The pair had said they wanted to soak for a little while longer, so Inaba had left them to it and gone on ahead. Once she had finished drying herself, Inaba slipped into one of the green yukata that were reserved for guests and made her way down the hall.

Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, she thought to herself as she walked. She'd definitely made the right decision to recommend the Inn, even if it meant that she had agreed to work part-time as recompense. She hoped that her aunt would at least let her work alongside the kitchen staff. That wouldn't be so bad, she thought, it'd make for some good work experience at least.

“Ah, Senpai. Hey!”

She'd bumped into Shinohara. She noted that his hair was still a little wet. He must have just been in the baths himself.

“Enjoying yourself?” She asked him.

“Er, yeah, it's great. Um, could we talk, if you have a moment?”

Shinohara seemed to be acting…oddly. Like he was nervous, or something. That was so very unlike him, Inaba had never seen him like this before.

“I'm free at the moment, what's up?”

“Well, you see…”

“Ah, Miyu-chan, there you are!”

Her aunt had just appeared from around the corner. As she turned to face Furukawa, she heard Shinohara let out a deep exhale from behind her.

“I know it's a pain, but could I ask for your help with something?” Her aunt pleaded.

“Oh sure, I guess. Sorry Shinohara-kun, could it wait til later?”

“Y-yeah, it was nothing really,” he grumbled.

Was it really nothing? Inaba couldn't help but feel like he was agitated over something. It wouldn't hurt to seek him out again once she was done helping Furukawa. Whatever it was that was bothering him seemed like it was important.

***

After we were all settled in, we met up in the evening to eat dinner together. I had sat down between Ayane and Shinohara, who had already gotten into a lengthy discussion over the quality of the baths. It seemed like everyone had been enjoying themselves so far. The food was amazing, too. We had all started to dig in once it was served to us, and it wasn't long before everyone had cleared their plates. As we were finishing up, Shinohara suddenly rose up from his seat.

“What we all need now is some good ol' entertainment!” He declared.

Ayane looked at him dubiously.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” she groaned.

Shinohara did seem oddly eager about this. I snuck a glance towards Inaba, wondering if this was somehow part of his plan to confess. It had to be right? But looking around at the girls, none of them seemed all that keen with the idea. This wasn't good. At this rate, Shinohara's suggestion would be flat out rejected. I couldn't let that happen.

“M-maybe it could be fun,” I blurted out, “we should hear him out at least?”

Ayane eyed me curiously, trying to figure out my intentions, before shrugging her shoulders in defeat.

“Fine. Go on then, let's hear it”

“Ufufufu,” Shinohara snickered back, mischievously.

And with that, he bundled out of the room. Those of us that were left looked nervously at each other, wondering exactly what his plans for us all were. I just hoped that I wouldn't regret my decision to side with him…

A moment later, we heard a noise coming from somewhere down the hall, and Shinohara reappeared, holding out a bowl that had been filled with some torn up scraps of paper.

“I thought we could all play the king's game,” he said.