Hot Water (Part 1)
by BrDPirateMan

You know, I was clueless.

I honestly didn't know what was going through Eri's mind when she suggested that we all go to a hot spring to wind down. Being a citizen of Japan I was familiar with public spas, but I had never actually been to one so the mere thought of visiting the Teppeki Spring Inn was enough to conjure all kinds of weird ideas.

Envisioning the girl of my dreams frolicking in a steaming pool without a single shred of clothing on her was… well, let's just say that the one good thing that can be said about this was that I was a perfectly normal and healthy young man. I mean, to have such urges is something that has been imprinted in our genes since the dawn of man.

It wouldn't be all that bad, I figured, if we could have access to isolated baths. There had to be a separate bath for men and one for women.

Right?

XOXOXOXOXO

The whole mess started one seemingly normal, boring, uneventful Tuesday, after school hours. I was having lunch at a fast-food restaurant with Shiki, my cute bespectacled friend, whom I liked a lot; Eri, her fashionable bosom buddy; Beat, the skateboard-wielding joker; and last but not least, his sister Rhyme who was sensitive and mature despite being the youngest in our close-knit group of friends.

Eri was all bright-eyed and smiling innocently when she gave it to us direct. "You know, after our exams, we should all go to an onsen."

We just stared at her like she had dropped a bomb.

"An onsen?" gulped Shiki, fidgeting with her large circular glasses. "A Japanese hot spring?" Like Shiki said, onsen is Japanese for a public spa, usually located near a natural source of geothermic heat to make the water nice and toasty.

"Yeah," Eri squealed, "wouldn't that be the perfect place to relax and release all that tension from studying? I've always wanted to do that, you know. But I never found the time… or the chance."

"But you know, aren't hot springs a bit…" I was searching for the right word, my brain suddenly stuck in a freeze. Then I found it. "…uh, risqué?"

Eri narrowed her eyes at me, her lips curled into a smile. "Ooh… Looks like lil ol' Neku is having some disagreeable thoughts riiiiight here." She poked my forehead with one slender finger cheekily. Shiki was eyeing me a little suspiciously.

"N-No!" I protested, trying to save myself, though my red face gave me away easily. How could a normal guy like me not think of something like that? "It's just… well, I don't know if it's okay…" Beat was looking pointedly away from everyone, apparently trying to push all his fantasies to the back of his mind. Wait, he was the same as me. Why didn't Eri tease him either?

In any case, Eri continued. "So, like I was saying, it'd be great if we could go to an onsen. What do you guys say?"

Beat stammered, "Well, uh, maybe we should think about it first. I mean, Eri, yo! This is kinda sudden, you dig?"

"Beat is right," agreed Rhyme. "We need time to think this through. We'll give you an answer soon enough."

She frowned at the Bito siblings, obviously cross. "Oh, grow some backbones, you guys!" she sighed, exasperated. "This kinda stuff is so common here in Japan. Like, what's wrong with showing a little skin?"

"That's easy for you to say," I retorted, half in jest, "seeing as you're the one who shows the most skin among us!"

"What? I…" Eri realized I was referring to her revealing crop top and mini-skirt ensemble. "Sh-Shut up!" She punched me in the arm. I forgot that she really liked this outfit of hers; she had designed it and Shiki had made it. It would be unwise to make fun of it in any way. She didn't mind constructive criticism, but what I said wasn't it. Nobody looks down on the work of the dynamic fashionista duo and gets away with it, 'nuff said.

As I rubbed where she had hit me, she folded her arms and huffed, "My mind is set." Uh-oh, I hated it when she said those four words. When Eri set her mind on doing something, nothing in the world could convince her to make a change of plans. The apocalypse could be close at hand and we'd all have twenty seconds left to live, but she'd still want to go along with her plans. Never mind if Cthulhu was right behind her. Screw Cthulhu, she would say.

"We are going to the hot springs, and that's final," Eri declared. "Now I just need your approval on this and we're set."

"What approval?" I roared, frustrated at this crazy girl. "You practically forced us!"

"So, make your decision now," said Eri, completely ignoring my ranting and raving. "I'm waiting…"

"What, right now?" Shiki spluttered, incredulous.

"Yes, now."

Rhyme tried to talk sense into Eri. "Eri, look, this isn't something we should rush."

Too late. Eri was still adamant about it. The rock could not be moved. "But every time we say we should think about it, we end up procrastinating and nothing gets done. We should spend more time having fun and less time mulling over things that should be decided in an instant, like dating or giving a speech in front of an audience."

"Y-You sure are impulsive, Eri," I said. Not to mention foolhardy… What, dating was something to be decided in an instant?

"Well," said Shiki hesitantly, "I guess if you're coming along, that'd be fine. I'm scared to go to an onsen alone…"

"Awesome! That makes two of us!" Eri grabbed her hands and pressed them in her own. "I knew I could count on you!" Yeah, right.

Beat and Rhyme glanced at each other and seemed to be engaged in some sort of secretive, whispery conversation. I couldn't make head or tail of what they were saying, but I hoped that they had the guts and collective strength to counter Eri.

To my dismay, they agreed to go. "Should be okay with us, yo," said Beat. Rhyme simply nodded. What!

Eri turned her attention to her last victim. Her eyes had this frightening look… as though she was a lioness giving her prey one final toothy smile before gobbling it up. "Neku…?" she drawled on each syllable of my name annoyingly.

Maybe Shiki, Beat and Rhyme had lost, but I hadn't. I still had some fight left in me.

"I'm not going along with that silly plan of yours, Eri," I said, arms folded in a brave show of defiance. "Sorry, but that's finaaaAAUGAGAGAH!"

Dammit! I knew it was a bad idea to go against Eri, but I didn't think it would be this bad. The girl was pinching me in the ribs! My grunts of pain, which I tried to muffle through gritted teeth, were still very much audible to my friends and in fact everyone in the fast food restaurant. About two dozen eyes, filled with alarm, looked my way. Embarrassment became the word of the day.

And to top it all off, Eri had this angelic smile plastered on her face, enough to disarm the toughest of men. Above the tabletop she was the picture of innocence, but below she was a devil, inflicting great hurt on me, her crime unseen and hidden. She had this to say, smilingly of course, "Hmmm? Did you say something, Neku? I didn't quite hear you."

"Nothing!" I cried, begging her to stop the torture, my face contorting in all sorts of bizarre ways. "Gladly I hot spring agree to go you with!"

As my friends were busy trying to decipher the jumble of words that had come out of my mouth, Eri chuckled, "I don't understand gibberish, Neku, but I'll take that as a yes. Whee! I love you guys. Drinks are on me!... as long as I have enough cash." She checked her purse. "Um, I only have 1000 yen left, so uh… please be a bit thrifty. But you know, it's the thought that counts! Ohohoho!"

Beat just grumbled to himself and buried his head in his beanie, while the rest of us sighed and I tended to my aching rib. I'm sure everyone must have been thinking the same thing. How did we get into this mess?

XOXOXOXOXO

Time waits for no man. Exams were soon over and done with. Shiki and I seemed to do pretty well, Eri was safe, and Beat just managed to scrape through. Tests were a necessary (unnecessary?) evil. After the last one, I did feel that perhaps relaxing in a hot spring wouldn't be a bad idea… as long as it wasn't a mortifying experience.

Too bad fate wasn't kind to me, as it would turn out.

Still, while we were chugging down the road in the rickety school bus one day after classes were over, it was incredibly exciting envisioning how Shiki would look like wearing a bathrobe… It only took milliseconds for that mental image to become ten times more titillating, as she appeared before my mind's eye soaking in the steaming water wearing her birthday suit. I could almost see the water droplets running down her smooth neck, trickling down her bare shoulders…

My eyes were closed during my daydreams, and it was only when Shiki bopped me on the head with Mr Mew that I woke up.

"Neku!" she snapped, an eyebrow arched in puzzlement and a little bit of disgust. "What's with that goofy smile on your face? It's creepy."

With my mind still fuzzy I cranked out a hurried answer. "Ah, it's nothing! I was thinking about you in your birthday su – uh, NO! I mean, I was just wondering when you celebrate your birthday. Yeah."

Shiki's gaze did not waver, although her cheeks were starting to show a bit of colour. "My birthday?" she asked cautiously. "Why would you want to know about my birthday anyway?"

Curses. I was stuck. "Well, ah, that is because… uh…"

"That's because he likes you, Shiki," said a voice coming from the seat in front of us. The person who said that was none other than Eri, who has spun round in her seat to face us, arms folded on the headrest and her head perched on her hand. She flashed a naughty smile at both of us.

"Did I hit the bull's-eye, Neku?" she giggled, having fun watching my face reddening along with Shiki's.

"H-Hey, what goes on in my mind is none of your business!" I countered, wishing that the redness on my cheeks wasn't so painfully obvious.

"Hmmm, you know, Shiki, I bet he's dreaming up all sorts of things about the girl sitting next to him," giggled Eri.

The girl next to me? For a second or two Shiki and I couldn't figure it out. Then I realized that the only girl who fit that description was Shiki…

And apparently, she figured it out too. Eri was chuckling harder as Shiki began spouting denials, "What in the world are you going on about? That's stupid." Stupid? My affection for her was so great… and she shrugged it off as "stupid"? Ouch!

"Haha… Enough about Neku for now. What about you, Shiki?" teased Eri, persistent as ever. "What have you been thinking about Neku lately? Considering that our onsen trip is gonna be in two weeks' time, your imagination must have been in overdrive… Hee hee."

"What?" spluttered Shiki, causing some of the students to look our way. "I'm not like this sicko. Don't lump me in together with him!" She jabbed a finger into my arm. "If anyone's wrapped up in perverted thoughts, it's just him. He's on his own." And with that she pouted and glared pointedly out the window, away from me. Ouch again!

But my sharp eye discerned a deeper redness on her facial skin. Hmmm… What could it mean? This was interesting…

"Hey, Shiki, just ignore her, yeah?" I tried in vain to laugh the whole matter off. "She's just pulling our leg." But Shiki didn't move a single muscle. "Oh, come on, don't ignore me like this… What have I got to do with anything?" She still didn't budge.

Thanks so much, Eri, I thought gloomily, shooting daggers at the instigator of our little rift. She simply rubbed the back of her head, mouthing a "sorry" my way before plopping back in her seat and giggling stupidly to herself. She was just being playful… She didn't mean any harm, but I guess Shiki was very sensitive with matters like this.

Or could it be that she really was thinking about me too?

XOXOXOXOXO

The day had finally come and all five of us found ourselves inside the lobby of the inn with the onsen. "We're here at last!" whooped Eri.

Yay, said the cynical thought in my mind.

She had us all checked-in and our belongings left behind in our rooms in record time. I had to admit she was fast when it came to getting things done. Especially when said things were her brainchild.

We regrouped in the corridor just outside our rooms, where the wooden floor was warm to the touch. For a bunch of guys who initially didn't want to come on this trip, we sure looked cheery. It had been a long while since we spent our holidays together – all five of us – and the prospects were quite exciting.

It was clear that Eri was bursting to say something. What was that strange, slightly evil glint in her eye? Whatever she wanted to share with us was either a very bright idea, or a completely crazy and stupid one. I had the distinct feeling that it was the latter.

"So we're all here at Teppeki Spring Inn," she declared with a slightly haughty tone in her voice, as though she was planning something big and was about to tell us. "Two days and two nights in this place… Don't you think it'll be a lot of fun?"

I cut straight to the core of the matter, uninterested in her theatrics. "Um, is there something on your mind? Something you wish to say? Out with it."

"Wow, way to dampen the atmosphere," mumbled Eri in irritation, the excited look on her face waning slightly. But she quickly bounced back. "Oh well, let's go hit the spa right now. I'm sure everyone's tired from the long journey. What about it?"

"Sounds good to me," said Rhyme.

"Same here, so how about we all go together!" said Eri with a huge grin. Behind that goofy smile I detected a very heavy air of evilness...

"Aight, I'm gettin' tired anyway," said Beat, wiping his brow. "Yo Rhyme, you go with Shiki and Eri. Phones and I will be in the men's section."

That was when the Cheshire Cat grin on Eri's face only got wider. And creepier.

"There's no men's section."

"What?" I sputtered, confused. "What kind of inn doesn't have a men's section?"

"Um, this one?" replied Eri, who was chuckling softly at our reactions.

"Yo, that ain't fair, man!" said Beat, positively annoyed. "You sayin' only women can use the spa? Why didn't you –"

"I never said that," came the cheeky reply. It was just like Eri to keep us in suspense but this conversation was quickly becoming tiresome.

Shiki was thinking things through. As Beat pounded Eri with more useless questions, her eyes widened in realization. She finally understood what was going on. With startling quickness her face glowed a decidedly healthy shade of pink. But why?

"Hey, Eri," muttered Shiki meekly, "You're not joking, right…?"

"About what?"

"A-Are we seriously going to bathe in the mixed section?"

All eyes snapped to the bespectacled girl.

"Shiki," I said so softly it couldn't have been more than a whisper, "What mixed section?"

"I think what Eri's been trying to say," said Shiki, glasses misting up from her own rising body heat, "is that this particular inn has neither a men's section nor a women's one. There's only one mixed section."

Eri clapped her hand on her friend's shoulder. "Bingo! You get a gold star."

Everyone went silent at that last piece of information. The whole corridor became so quiet, the only sounds we could hear was the rippling of water from the hot spring. And if I wasn't mistaken, I thought I heard the sound of my brain snapping.

"What!" I cried out in utter and total shock.

"BWAAAH!" came Beat's reply, as he cringed in that comical coiled-snake posture of his.

I half-expected Rhyme to follow suit with an outburst just like us, but she had more control over her emotions, such was the simple but distinguished younger Bito sibling. Her mouth was hanging open but not a single intelligible thing came out.

"Wh-Why didn't you say anything about this, Eri!" I squawked, not caring that my question ended with an exclamation mark instead of a question mark. Didn't "mixed section" mean the area where both men and women could bathe together? Wasn't this "mixed section" the source of many a horror story about sexual harassment and double entendres? How could Eri neglect to tell us all about it?

"Aww, Neku, you didn't ask," pouted Eri, pretending to look hurt, "and if I told you guys Teppeki Spring Inn had only a mixed section, you wouldn't come for sure. Besides, I already told you the name of the inn we'll be staying at." She flashed a wide, playfully wicked grin. "It's your fault for not doing your research in the first place. Hee hee!"

What she said was right. I couldn't argue with her on those grounds. But still… I wanted to strangle her. Must… resist… killing… urges… From the way Eri was smirking and stifling her giggles, I could tell she was enjoying this... That she-devil… what was the purpose of doing this? What could she gain?

"What? Neku, don't look at me with that icy glare of yours! Wouldn't it be fun for all of us to share a bath together?" Ignoring me again, she announced, "C'mon! Grow up, you guys. There's nothing to be afraid of. So what you are guys waiting for! Don't be shy!"

"We've known one another for a good while now, and even if it's just us, Eri," stammered Rhyme, blushing so hard I thought she would faint, "it's still not right."

"Eh, maybe I'll pass, yo," said Beat, scratching the back of his head.

"I'll be inside my room resting," said Shiki, turning to leave.

"But… Wait! Aren't you guys going to come with me?" Shocked that everyone was drifting back and that her grand plan was falling to pieces, she was starting to sound a little desperate.

"Sorry, Eri," said Shiki, "but I'm not really in the mood for a bath after all."

The same could be said about me. It was Eri's fault for ruining everything. "Yeah, I mean, this is unexpected, you know. I don't feel like it."

"You guys wouldn't come with me to the hot springs? Seriously?" The pink-haired demoness' voice dropped to a quiet and defeated murmur. "You… You guys are no fun."

No fun, she said? She was the one who ruined all the fun in the first place! How could she expect us to have fun when there was no more fun to be had? Did she seriously like to have fun making fun things un-fun?

"Look, Eri," sighed Rhyme, in an exasperated tone she rarely used, "we just need to think about this. We never knew Teppeki Spring Inn had just a mixed section for the outdoor bath. So we're going to just mull over it for awhile."

"Though if you want to go by yourself, be my guest," I said, hardly mincing my words.

And almost immediately, I regretted what I said.

Eri's eyes were downcast and set in a depressed face. Her shoulders were shivering slightly, as though she was struggling to stop herself from – could it be? – crying? "H-How… How could all of you be so mean?"

I was taken aback by her unexpected words. "What?"

"I organized this trip so the five of us could have fun together…" she sniffled, the words coming out shaky and unstable. "But why is this happening? Why are we drifting apart?"

"Drifting apart?" Shiki said, confused and worried that her best friend was reduced to tears. "H-Hey, Eri, look, just because the rest of us don't want to bathe now doesn't mean we don't want to –"

"No! Don't… Don't say anything!" Eri choked, turning away and facing her back towards us. We could only stare at her from behind as she continued, "You… You hate me… don't you?"

Beat was clutching his shoulder, his mind probably racing to find the right words to calm her down. "Yo, man, why'd we hate you? You our friend, yo."

"But, but… I forced you guys to come on this trip, didn't I? You're probably mad at me, so you… you… didn't want to…" She couldn't finish her sentence. She was already sobbing. Suddenly I felt bad for her. So maybe she was annoying at times, but perhaps we were being too harsh on her. And yes, she did organize the whole trip, so for us to not participate in the activities she had planned for us was indeed kind of mean. As she carried on weeping, we looked at one another, at a complete loss of what to do to put her heart at ease.

At that point, there was only one thing I could think of to stop her tears, but I wouldn't like it one bit…

"It's okay though," she said, "I'm sorry. I can't force you, after all. I'll… I'll just go by myself…" She sniffed and hid her face in her sleeve.

"Wait, Eri," I said, swallowing hard at what I was going to say and do, and for good reason too. "I'll go with you to the outdoor bath, if you like."

Following that, the first person to say anything was Shiki, exclaiming immediately with a too-loud "HUH?" Yes, Shiki, I knew that sharing the same bath with her would turn out to be arguably the sleaziest thing ever, but it would hurt my pride as a man to leave her crying with no one to comfort her. Beat and Rhyme, on the other hand, were too flabbergasted to add anything to the already awkward and stilted conversation.

Without looking my way, Eri said, "You will?"

"Well, uh, yeah," I mumbled, embarrassed. "I mean, that's what you wanted, right?"

"Why… That's the nicest thing you've said so far," she said, a small smile forming on her lips. "I just wanted someone to accompany me. Having a bath alone is no fun…" She grasped my arm gently with her hand and gave it a light squeeze to express her gratitude. "Thanks."

"Ah, well, don't mention it," I blurted, face turning red from the mere thought of sitting in the bath next to an unclothed Eri. She was beautiful and had a nice body, but I hasten to add that I preferred Shiki anytime! Needless to say, I wished it was my bespectacled gal pal whom I was sharing the bath with, but if she didn't want to come, then realizing that fantastical dream would have to wait.

Or would it?

"D-Don't take it the wrong way though, Eri!" I warned to clear up any misunderstandings, "I mean, I'm not used to onsens…" Shiki had this dark look on her face... she looked like she was glaring daggers at me for some reason, and I gulped. Was there something disagreeable about the way I was handling this situation? Without realizing it, my speech picked up so much speed that it ended up all chopped up and blended. "…and this is pretty weird for me and…"

"I'm going with you too, Eri," Shiki cut in, her voice firm.

"Huh?"

"Neku, I'm sorry. You're a great person," said Shiki, "but I'm just worried about Eri being alone with a guy. I need to… uh, see that everything is in order."

But I was totally trustworthy! What did Shiki think I'd do, grope her best friend? There was simply no way I'd do that. Besides, if I wanted to grope anyone, it would be Shi – uh, well, let's forget about that for now… Didn't she know me well enough from the Reapers' Game to trust me? Didn't Mr Hanekoma say to "trust your partner"? What happened to that trust? Wow, great. Suddenly I felt like a criminal on around-the-clock surveillance.

"So I'm coming along, Eri," said Shiki, scooting up beside me, "that is, if you don't mind."

Eri gazed at her friend, still rubbing tears out of her eyes. "O-Okay…"

"Wait, what?" Beat cried, "Phones is alone in the bath with two girls…? That sounds suspicious, yo!" His sister nodded in agreement. "Sorry, guys, but Rhyme and I are gonna hafta check up on you guys."

"So we're to accompany you, I'm afraid," coughed Rhyme. She was genuinely apologetic. Because although any girl would disagree with me, ruining a guy's wildest fantasies was cruel. Okay, maybe no one in their right minds would think it was cruel.

"Huh. Looks like the whole gang is in on this," muttered Shiki. "Well, that's fine as long as nothing weird happens."

"D-Do you really have to come?" asked Eri.

"Why not, yo!" said Beat. "We can't be sure what Phones here is up to! We're gonna stay in the pool with you!"

I was more than a little miffed at what he said. "Hey!"

"Then it's settled," said Shiki.

"Are you guys for real?" Eri looked a little uneasy.

"Yeah, why? That's okay with you, right?"

Eri sniffed. "Uh-huh… Of course it's okay…"

But then in the next second her face lit up and all traces of her tears mysteriously vanished. Her trademark cheeky devilish grin returned. "It's okay because everyone's coming at last! I'm so glad you guys finally came around. Now we can all have fun in the outdoor bath together!"

Eri's laughter reverberated through the corridor. Beat's jaw dropped to the floor. For that matter, so did all of ours. Except Eri's.

"Y-You…" Shiki stammered, "Eri, you…"

I finished for her. "You tricked us!"

"Tricked? That's so rude of you," sniggered Eri, who was laughing so hard that she was clutching onto her stomach and propping herself up against the nearby wall with one hand. "But yeah, you've been had! Oh, this is too good! I can't believe you fell for that! Hahaha!

"I'll be waiting for you in the outdoor bath," she chirped, skipping away. "Don't you bail out now! You made your promise just seconds ago!" She turned the corner of the hallway and all that we saw of her was a strawberry-coloured wisp as she flitted out of sight

Shiki was glancing at all of us in turn, speechless. Beat was bug-eyed, unable to think of any way to get around our crazy little situation. Normally Rhyme had some good ideas, but even she was stumped.

As for me, all I could do was glare at the floor, incensed by the tight spot we had found ourselves in. "We were manipulated by her… just like that… I… I can't…"

I nearly jumped when I saw Shiki's eyes looking right at me. Eyes of hellfire. Under the shadow of Beat's beanie, two orbs glowed bright with the same livid colour. And Rhyme had black smoke billowing out of the top of her head.

It didn't take chicken brains to figure out that they were mad. At me.

"Um, guys?"

Shiki lunged at me and grabbed my throat with both hands. "This is all your fault!"

"It's because a' you that we in this mess!" Beat growled, waiting for Shiki to finish, probably so he could give me a good noogie. Oh no.

And Rhyme even said, "You shouldn't have believed that Eri! You had to be so gullible and be such a gentleman but look what happened!"

"But you guys fell for her act too!" I gurgled, trying to pry Shiki's fingers away.

And she let go of one hand to punch me in the ribs. "Shut up!"