“You know a lot about it,” Isuzu observed.
“Well! I heard from Tricen...”
“You... discuss such things?”
“No!” Seiya flailed awkwardly. “We just happened to run into each other!”
“Well... I wasn’t being accusatory,” she said. “It just didn’t sound like you...”
“Not like me... huh?” he mumbled. “I guess it wouldn’t...”
They ate the edamame. They ate the fries. For some reason, Isuzu’s words had snapped him to his senses; sure, maybe they were in a love hotel. But all they were doing was sitting on a sofa, eating snacks. The room was well lit, and it wasn’t as if they’d never been alone in a room together before. How was this any different from them sitting on the sofa in the office together, eating their lunches side-by-side? It was true that Isuzu had just gotten out of the bath, that she was probably naked under her robe, and that she smelled vaguely of shampoo...
She looked sexy. Really sexy. But Seiya’s good sense was much too tenacious, so that wasn’t enough to make him lose his reason. He had the same desires any man did, but his amazing self-discipline let him keep them on strict lockdown. Now that he thought about it, he couldn’t even imagine how things were supposed to “happen” between them. In this brightly-lit room? he thought scornfully. Am I supposed to put my arm around her shoulders? I couldn’t do that. And I’m not even feeling the slightest hint of desire. My fear of the unknown greatly outstrips it.
Would she make a move, then? Teasingly, like when Tiramii was wearing the gulley suit? That also seemed implausible... which meant that nothing was going to happen. Nothing at all. Seiya felt a strange mix of embarrassment and relief.
“This is awful,” said Isuzu, interrupting his train of thought.
“What?”
“The fries,” she specified.
“Ah... yes,” Seiya agreed, “they’re quite bad.” Then, he stood up and pointed to the king-sized bed. “Okay, I’m going to wash up,” he said. “You can lie down if you want.”
Isuzu still seemed a little bit unsettled when she saw how confident he’d become all of a sudden. “What about you?” she asked, growing suspicious.
“I’ll sleep on the sofa.”
“But—”
“I’m not budging on this,” he said flippantly, heading for the vending machine. “Screw gender equality; I’ll sleep on the sofa. Oh, and...”
“Yes?”
“That weird vending machine... it apparently sells changes of clothes,” Seiya said evasively, cautiously avoiding the use of the word ‘underwear.’
Isuzu said she wanted to brush her teeth, so Seiya bought some men’s underwear from the vending machine while he waited.
When she came out, he went in.
He found her suit in there, placed on a hanger to dry; she probably thought it would de-wrinkle more easily here, in the bathroom. He hung up his own soaked t-shirt to dry next to it.
Taking a hot shower made him feel like a dead man returning to life. There were lots of towels available, and tons of amenities— He felt impressed all over again. It was a shame that the shampoo and conditioner were no-name brands, but he was in no position to complain.
He was intrigued by the large jacuzzi bathtub, but it would take over thirty minutes to fill, so he let it go. Instead, Seiya wiped himself down, dried his hair, brushed his teeth, and looked in the mirror. The slim, perfectly balanced body. The slight wildness of his tousled hair. Even naked, I’m irresistible, he told himself. This was one of his usual rituals, and the fact that he could engage in it was proof of how much he had relaxed.
Seiya put a bathrobe on over his newly-purchased underwear, and then left the bathroom. The room’s main lights were off; the only illumination came from the foot-level lights and the standing lamp.
Ah, she’s already asleep... he realized, stumbling a little through the unfamiliar dark room.
Isuzu was on the sofa, fast asleep, bundled up in a sheet she had pulled from the bed.
Come on, dammit... He’d said he would sleep on the sofa. Why did she have to be so stubborn?
“Hey, Sento,” he said. “Go to the bed.” Isuzu said nothing. Maybe she was just that tired—she showed no response to his verbal prodding.
“Sento. Wake up.” He nudged her shoulder this time. She finally sat up.
“Mm...” she mumbled.
“Go to the bed.”
“But...”
“It’s fine. Go on.” He knelt down next to the sofa to try to sit her up. He shouldn’t have done it.
Until that moment, Seiya had been genuinely relaxed. The strange awkwardness had lifted, and he’d been planning to go right to bed. There shouldn’t have been any more room to slip. It was dark inside the room; the bright lighting that had helped them keep their wits about them before was gone. And in that moment, their faces were closer than they’d been since they first entered the hotel.
She was looking up at him, glassy-eyed. Her lips, pursed and full, opened slightly, as if in thirst.
His body acted instinctively. Their lips met—as if it was inevitable, as if they had been drawn together. Soft, yet firm, with a slight taste of toothpaste... She didn’t move away.
As the tips of their tongues met, his finely honed reason vanished. Something hot was forming deep in his body. He shifted his weight over her. Hard to breathe, he thought, Gotta stop for just a second...
Their eyes met.
Is she afraid? he wondered. But she’s not running away...
Isuzu wrapped her arms around him. She wasn’t refusing him; she wasn’t stopping. Their lips met again, this time, harder and greedier.
“W... Wait...” Isuzu said then, her voice pained.
Telling me to wait? Seiya thought plaintively, Now?
“It’s too... cramped here...” she panted.
It was indeed hard to move on the sofa. Seiya nodded silently, and pulled her with him; she didn’t resist. She stood up, then lay down on the bed as instructed. On that big, soft bed... His vision had finally adjusted to the dark, and he could see her eyes now, wet with tears.