“What do you usually think about?”
“Me? Well…” Scooping up a palmful of hot-spring water, I considered the question for a moment. “When I zone out, I’m usually miles away, thinking about the rest of the planet—like all the whales swimming in the ocean, or unexplored forests full of animals I’ve never even heard of. It’s a weird feeling, you know?”
The act was akin to gazing out at the horizon. There was a whole world out there that I’d never discover for myself, yet I was still connected to it. That thought filled me with the strangest sensation—one that paired nicely with the warmth of a good bath.
“Hoo hoo,” Yashiro chuckled, sounding not entirely unlike an owl. “I fear I do not quite understand!”
“Not surprised.” Given that I only had a vague understanding of her, I didn’t really expect her to get me either. “I just enjoy contemplating those kinds of things, that’s all.” It allowed me to draw my mind away from minutiae of my everyday life and turn inward, focusing all the way to my fingertips. That wasn’t the kind of experience I presumed other people would understand.
“In that case, allow me to contemplate them as well.” She faced forward, mouth agape, and I suspected she wasn’t actually using a single brain cell.
“You’d probably have more fun thinking about dinner.”
“That does sound nice.”
She was quiet for a moment, suggesting she had indeed turned her thoughts to her next meal. Now I had to wonder what my parents would cook tonight.
“Is Adachi-san not coming?”
I whipped my head around to look at her. How would she know Adachi was here, unless…? “Did you…?”
“Yes? Did I what?”
“…You’re amazing.”
“Yay,” she rejoiced lazily. Her hands shot into the air, the motion sending waves of water crashing into me.
Resting one hand on my shoulder, I focused on the reality in front of me. “She’s…waiting for me.”
“Then you had better return to her soon.”
“Yeah…”
It surely wasn’t her intention, but Yashiro had a way of always giving me exactly the encouragement I needed at the strangest times. Weird kid, I thought with a chuckle. Was she clueless or omniscient? Which was it?
“Hm?” When I glanced over at Yashiro, I noticed that her hair was suddenly braided up again, so I reached over and made the butterfly wings flap.
After our long soak, the steaming-hot Yashiro sat holding the ice cream I’d bought her from the lobby kiosk. “You know, I think I like this hot spring thing.”
“You just like the ice cream, don’t you?”
“Ho ho ho!”
Together, we devoured our treats. I could feel the chill of the ice cream seep all the way to my collarbones. Meanwhile, I gazed absently around the lobby, noting the various activities available. Wait. Really? I didn’t know they had that here.
“Well, I should go…” I knew Adachi was waiting for me—but was I supposed to just leave Yashiro here?
“In that case, I shall return home, as it is snack time.”
“You just had a snack.”
“The more, the merrier, as they say!” With that, the greedy little goblin took off running. At the end of the hall, she stopped and glanced at me over her shoulder. “Absolutely no peeking.”
“Who are we, Orpheus and Eurydice…?”
“Farewell!”
Waving goodbye, she disappeared around the corner. She went down a hall containing nothing but private rooms—yet I knew that if I tried to follow her, she’d already be gone, so I simply had to accept that she didn’t play by the same rules.
Truth be told, it would’ve been a little awkward if she’d tried to tag along when I went back to the room. Was she being considerate on purpose…?
“Nah, not likely.”
The thought of that didn’t sit well with me, anyway. She was a free spirit, and I didn’t want her to be constrained by… I didn’t know. Social cues? Eh, whatever. I gave up trying to use my melted brain and instead skipped on warm toes all the way back to the room where Adachi was waiting. Outside the door, I started doing shoulder rolls.
“Here we go,” I whispered on a whim to psych myself up, then walked in briskly. “I’m baaack!”
Inside, I found a very energetic Adachi with her arms raised in the air. “I! WON’T! BACK—oh.”
“Uh…am I interrupting?” Maybe I should’ve done a few more shoulder rolls. Then again, I didn’t want to risk dislocating anything.
Adachi was kneeling on the floor beside a tidy futon and blanket, waiting for me. She really likes to kneel, doesn’t she? When I imagined her laying the bed out in a flustered tizzy, it nearly made me laugh.
Bashfully, she lowered her arms back to her sides.
“The water’s great here,” I informed her as I sat down.
She nodded slightly—so stiff that I practically heard her creak. She was as crispy as a potato chip, while I was soggy from the hot spring. Those two things didn’t sound like they’d even remotely go together.
“Thanks again, by the way.” For bringing me here. Despite saying that, I’d paid for a portion of the trip myself, since I obviously couldn’t in good conscience let her shoulder the entire burden. “Did your dizziness go away?”
She nodded again, this time so vigorously that I feared it might cause a relapse.
“Cool. You should try the spring later.”
“Uh…okay.”
Hearing her voice was such a relief. When she shifted position, though, every motion was tense and labored, as if her whole body were coated in glue. The only exception was her eyes, which gleamed with fiery passion.
“Let’s…go together,” she suggested.
“You want me to go back? Not that I mind…” I had a feeling that Yashiro wouldn’t barge in this time. “Wait—we haven’t had dinner yet.”
I shot a confused glance at the bed, and Adachi’s face gently exploded; it was so red, I half-wondered if that ruddiness would spread to her hair next.
“Shimamura!”
The force of her voice swept over me. “Yes?”
“I don’t—!”
“Keep your voice down.” We don’t want noise complaints.
“I don’t! Want to! Do that stuff! Okay?!” Her statement came out in bits and pieces, and although she was wilting rapidly—like an unwatered plant—the upturned gaze directed toward me held firm.
That was a hell of a confession to make at full volume, and I wasn’t really sure how to respond. “You don’t?”
“I mean, I do—no, I don’t! Well…kind of…?”
She looked to me as if for help, but how would I know the answer to that? She must also have sensed that her pleading gaze was a misstep, because she leaned forward, grinding the heels of her hands into her thighs. The metaphorical gears at last seemed to be turning in her mind.
“What I truly want isn’t…that stuff specifically, but…”
“All right.” As she struggled to find her words, I decided I’d hear her out for as long as it took.
“It’s just…I love you…”
“Aw, thanks.” She probably said it twice a day at this point, if not more.
“And when I touch you, I get this warm feeling like my skin’s burning that makes me want you close to me… I want to feel you, and hold you, and squeeze you, and bury my face in you… And that feeling just gets stronger and stronger until I want to touch your hips, and the insides of your elbows, and…” Before the last drops of her heart could spill, however, she snapped to her senses. “God, what am I saying?”
She hung her head in self-loathing. I could tell that she thought she was confusing me by being an emotional mess—but in that, she was only half-right, since I understood her just fine. Strange, wasn’t it? Feelings like love were normally invisible to the human eye, yet she had a way of putting hers right where I could see it clear as day. I’d once talked to someone about that, though I couldn’t recall who.
That, more than anything else, was probably why I…
“I know I said this before we left, but…” I reached out and touched her wrist; it was as scalding as the hot spring. “I like the heat, Adachi.”
For that reason, I was pretty sure I’d always want Adachi to touch me…and I’d want to respond in kind, so I did.
“Actually, while I was gone, I found something for us to do together.”
“Huh?!” She flinched, mouth agape, fingers quivering.
“Come on.”
Grasping her hand, I pulled her to her feet and dragged her away—an uncommon occurrence, come to think of it. We walked down the hall, past the ukiyo-e woodblock print of the cormorant fishermen, peeking quickly into the post-bath rest area as we followed the signs to our destination. Sure enough, there they were: a pair of blue ping-pong tables framed by windows with mustard-yellow curtains.
“Can you believe there’re hot-spring resorts with ping-pong of all things?”
That corner was neatly labeled HOT-SPRING PING-PONG, though the handwritten sign was old and faded. On each table, a pair of paddles lay side by side. I grabbed a blue one and waved it toward Adachi as she stood there, staring back dazedly.
“Now I get it,” she mumbled—but with all the hair-twirling and face-palming, I wasn’t quite sure what she was getting, so to speak.
Meanwhile, I looked around at the empty chairs in the corner and at the unoccupied table next to ours, noting that the area was relatively clean, despite the marked absence of other guests.
“Disappointed?” I asked Adachi.
Personally, I’d thought this would make for a fun trip down memory lane. As for whatever Adachi had in mind, well…we could do that stuff later. Right now, I wanted more of an emotional connection.
She shook her head aggressively, like a dog after a bath. “No, I…I’ll take you on!”
“Who are you, and what have you done with Adachi…?”
Although visibly flustered, she nevertheless ran around to the other side of the table.
“Nostalgic, isn’t it?” I remarked after a moment.
Her eyes darted. “Um…not really.”
At that, I realized that she was right. The time we’d spent in the gym loft wasn’t that far back in the rearview mirror. Maybe the feelings we’d shared back then would always be with us in the passenger seat. After all, that was where we’d gotten our start.
“I’ll serve,” I decided, moving into position.
“Okay.” She nodded.
Seeing her hold her paddle in her left hand, I almost hallucinated that the room’s temperature was starting to climb. I aimed at the right side of the ball and swung my paddle.
Thock!
It connected at a low angle, my arm having traced a smooth arc through the air. The ball bounced, weaved, and passed just over the net, grazing the edge of my dear opponent’s side of the table before rolling off to the corner of the room.