That was why Iroha and I were in the shrine this evening.
“They didn’t suspect a thing.”
“Course not!” Iroha grinned, flashing me a peace sign.
Everything went off without a hitch on our end, so Sumire and the others should have had plenty of time to take care of searching the house. Iroha, my top actress, had played her role perfectly. She was a total star. Thanks to the kimono, her body was totally hidden, but on top of that she managed to recreate Sumire’s speech and movements with flawless accuracy.
Our main issue had been the difference in their heights. Sumire was taller than Iroha, and I had needed to figure out how to recreate that. Luckily, we managed to come up with a solution.
“These shoes are impossible to walk in!” Iroha pulled up her kimono and kicked off the tall platform sandals she’d been wearing. They were among the stuff Sumire had brought for the beach. Her rationale for bringing them was something about scaring off surfer boys. I doubted they’d be any help with that, but they were definitely coming in handy now.
“Hiking sure is tough!”
“You just don’t get enough exercise. I know it seems like a pain now, but you’re not gonna be young forever. You should work out more.”
“I don’t wanna hear that from a guy like you who’s glued to his desk all day every day! Don’t come cryin’ to me when you get yourself a slipped disc.”
“That’s why I read up on pressure points. Trust me, I got this health stuff covered.”
“Great, if you’re so fit, you can piggyback me down the mountain again.”
“You wanna be babied again, huh?”
“S-Sorry, sir, I didn’t mean anything by it, sir! I can’t go through that humiliation again!”
As usual, our conversation devolved into nonsense. Nothing changed, even under the threat of the Ceremony of Knots. We bounced off each other, and the conversation was so effortless I never had to work my brain too hard. It was idiocy at its finest. That was why I was sure that, no matter what happened tonight, our fates couldn’t be linked.
Or so I thought.
Iroha started to make her way further into the shrine. “This thing is way too heavy. I’m gonna pull it off and get some sl—”
“Iroha? Why’re you freezing u...p?” I followed after her. And then I spotted what it was that stopped her in her tracks.
The entire plan had gone off without a hitch so far.
In front of us was a bigger wrench in the works than I could ever have imagined. I opened my mouth, but no words came out.
The space in front of us was bathed in a peach-pink, lurid light. Some weird, new-agey music started to play as a silver ball hung and rotated from the ceiling. The ball caught and reflected the pink light, giving the entire room a sleazy makeover. Enshrined in the room’s center was a brand new double bed. There was a tissue box on the pillow. Inside it were four square packets which read, “0.01 millimeters.” Hopefully they were mints or something.
Anyway, I think you’re smart enough to get the picture without me having to go into any more detail. I was done keeping my mouth shut too.
“What is this, a love hotel?”
That was exactly what it looked like from every angle. What was a love hotel doing inside a traditional shrine in the mountains? It wasn’t just me who thought that was crazy, right?
“Senpai, check this out! All of these condoms have holes in them!”
“Okay, now that’s beyond a joke! And what are you doing checking them the second you walk in here?!”
“W-Well, it’s important to check the condition of your contraception! N-Not that I thought we were gonna use it!”
“If you’re so embarrassed about it, you shouldn’t have touched them in the first place!” I looked at them. “Hey, you’re right. All the packets have holes in them. Like they’ve been stabbed with a toothpick or a needle or something.”
I came in here expecting something, but this really took the cake (and ate it too).
The Ceremony of Knots had a one hundred percent rate of couples getting together, so I knew there had to be some kind of trick behind it. That was why I was confident enough to use the ceremony as part of the plan. I was expecting something, so we could be prepared to fight whatever it was when we got here. Only, I wasn’t expecting it to be something so...extreme. It was basically telling us to copulate. I say “telling,” I mean “shouting from the rooftops.”
The lack of subtlety was enough to give me a headache...and maybe turn me on just a little bit. Wait, no! Scurry back to thy cave, Satan!
“Okay, let’s just calm down a second. I’m gonna go and sit over there.”
“All right...”
I made my way to the other side of the bed. Iroha was unusually quiet. She was probably embarrassed. There wasn’t much space in this shrine to start with, and the bed took up most of it. Walking here was hard.
“Wh-What?!”
“Huh? Whoa!”
I got onto the bed to go over to the other side, only to find that the mattress was way softer and fluffier than it looked. I had no idea beds could be this bouncy. It had to be twice as springy as my bed at home. The second I put my foot on there, I fell forward. I reached out my hands on reflex, and they caught Iroha’s shoulder.
The bed squeaked audibly as my back crashed into it. The softness was like a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it made me trip, but on the other, its sweet, sweet softness prevented any pain.
“Ngh! Sorry, Iroha. I just—Gah!” I forced my eyes open. What I saw caused me to squeal.
Iroha’s face was right there. Close enough for me to feel her breath. The traditional scent used for her kimono mingled with the modern sweetness of her shampoo. Through my clothes, I could feel her heat where our bodies were pressed together, like she was my personal hot-water bottle. Though she was lying on top of me, her weight on me wasn’t enough to be unpleasant. Instead, it was comforting.
“Um... Senpai?”
“S-Sorry. I didn’t mean to, uh... Wait, I’ll fix it!” I scrambled to get out from underneath her, but as I did, her weight seemed to amplify on top of me.
“H-Hey, Iroha?”
“Senpai. Don’t tell me you’re getting flustered?”
“Wh—”
Iroha’s face was pressed against my chest. She put her ear to it, looking up at me with a soft, questioning gaze.
Don’t look at me like that! Of course I’m flustered! This is nerve-wracking!
I knew she couldn’t hear my thoughts, but the thumping of my heart seemed to answer her for me.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure, but get off me first, or I—”
I’m going to get excited.
I couldn’t tell her that, so I cut myself off.
Iroha was clinging to my clothes, letting more of her weight press against me. Her face was still there, right against my chest. I couldn’t remember looking at her from such a close distance before. Whenever she teased me, it seemed to come from behind me. I’d never seen the expression on her face when she held on to me like this.
“You only came up here with me to carry out the plan. Did you ever think, for even a second, that you might not mind going through the ceremony with me?”
I didn’t know how to respond when she looked at me like that. Was that how she always looked when she held me? Or was it just because of the atmosphere of the room?
When she teased and bullied, she always had this smirk on her face. I thought that was the face she made when she was enjoying the other party’s confusion. Right now, the look on her face reminded me of how Mashiro had looked at me when we went to that restaurant.
“I don’t believe in all the superstitious stuff. But you chose to take part in this ceremony with me, even after knowing that the couples involved are guaranteed to end up together. Isn’t that, like, an indirect way of saying you like me?”
“What about you?” I managed to choke out, still unable to hold down the thumping of my heart. Asking her a question in return avoided me having to answer hers. It was a cowardly move.
✦ ✦ ✦
I knew it was cowardly, but I didn’t have the courage to do anything else.
“I don’t mind going through this with you,” she murmured.
“Huh?”
She was usually so loud and obnoxious. Why was she suddenly whispering like that? Her voice sounded frail somehow. Delicate.
“If I didn’t want to, I wouldn’t have gone along with your plan.”
“Iroha...”
What did she mean by that?
Does Iroha like me?
That question had been crossing my mind a lot lately. I always felt like her incessant teasing was proof that she didn’t, but then I remembered how abusive Mashiro used to get with me, and she liked me. Even if Iroha didn’t act like she liked me, maybe she did. Maybe something like that wasn’t confined to the realm of romantic comedies after all. And if she did...
Then what?
I wish my heart would just slow down for a second!
It wouldn’t stop pounding and roaring in my ears. It was making it hard to get things straight in my head.
Dammit. Why was I getting so flustered about everything anyway? Even if Iroha did like me, she wasn’t my type at all. She was hyper, loud, and just plain annoying. Despite all that, she never turned her back on me, no matter how unpleasant my life choices might have seemed to other people.
Why was this all coming to the forefront at a time like this? In a steamy room with no escape, where the two of us were completely alone? When our bodies were pressed together and it was hard to tell whose breath and whose heartbeat was whose? Why?
Why are you looking at me so sweetly? Why are you blushing right up to your ears?
“What if I said I wanted to let the magic of the ceremony take over?” Iroha asked bashfully. Nothing in her expression irritated me as it usually would. It was just...sweet. It was like a mesmerizing shot of sugary temptation, right to my heart. It dried out my mouth and lodged a lump in my throat.
Dawn was still a long way off.