Heh. The classic flustered backpedal, I see. Her face was getting awfully flushed now too, despite her hand being the only part of her that was submerged. But I figured I should at least give her the courtesy of a genuine answer, so I thought it through.
Obviously, I felt like it was fair to call Akira my friend at this point—and I was pretty sure she considered me one of hers as well. But if she was asking how I felt about her on top of that, then that was a different question. She was an attractive girl, and maybe there were even some budding romantic feelings there too. But I couldn’t just say I thought of her as my girlfriend or something, and I was pretty sure there was a more apt word to describe our relationship anyway. Partners? That was pretty close, though also easily misinterpreted. So if I had to word it in a way that was a bit more specific than that, then…
“I guess I think of you as, like…my comrade-in-arms, if that makes sense?” I said.
“What, like a war comrade…?” Akira replied. “And what are we fighting against, huh?”
“Not sure… Reality, maybe?”
Akira’s eyes went wide as though I’d caught her unawares—but she quickly collected herself and nodded in understanding.
“I see, I see… Interesting take, I suppose,” she said. “But, hmmm… Yeah, sorry, no. Don’t think I can give you more than, like, a D average for that one.”
Ouch. She was a pretty harsh grader.
“Sorry, Teach. What was the answer you were looking for?”
“Figure it out for yourself, dumbass,” she said, splashing me with bathwater.
We ended up spending about three days in the Nasu Onsen village, just taking our time wandering around and checking out all the various establishments. Once we’d had our fill of hot springs, though, we headed back out to the highway and continued south to the city of Utsunomiya—which I was visiting now for the first time in my life, despite it not being all that far from Tokyo. The whole city felt pretty laid-back and tranquil, perhaps owing to the large river that ran straight through the heart of town, dividing it in two. Just walking down the avenue and looking at all the fancy buildings and condominiums along the riverfront was pretty picturesque. But our quiet stroll was eventually interrupted when Akira noticed something of interest and let out a gasp of excitement.
“Hey, look!” she said. “There’s a skating rink up ahead!”
I turned my gaze in the direction she was pointing, and sure enough, there was a large signboard that read UTSUNOMIYA ICE ARENA hanging off one of the buildings.
“Wanna go check it out?” Akira asked, despite already walking off in that direction. Seemed like she was really in the mood to go ice skating. Though, come to think of it, she’d told me before that they used to go ice skating during gym class, hadn’t she? Maybe it was just her northern blood crying out for a little taste of home.
When we got to the skating rink, it didn’t look any different from a normal gymnasium on the outside. Upon walking into the building, we were met with some ticket machines and a reception counter, behind which were some shelves full of ice skates that were apparently available to rent.
“Tell me what size you wear,” said Akira. “I’ll go grab you a pair.”
I told her my shoe size, and she hopped over the counter and started perusing the shelves. In almost no time, she hopped back over with two pairs of ice skates in her hands. Either this was a testament to what an efficient thief she’d become over the course of this trip or it just went to show how excited she was to do this with me.
With our skates in hand, we headed out into the skating area—where we were immediately greeted by a bone-chilling wave of frigid air, like someone had opened the door to a massive refrigerator. I was a little surprised just how cold it was. Most of the other patrons in the skating rink this Tuesday morning were families, and most had very little kids. Akira sat down on a bench near the rink and started putting on her ice skates. I followed suit, watching her to see how to properly lace them up.
“They feel nice and tight?” she asked.
“Yeah, I think so,” I said.
“Lemme see.”
Akira leaned over from where she sat to examine my handiwork. I caught a fleeting glimpse of her bra as she did—though I quickly got flustered and averted my gaze.
“Yeah, seems good enough to me,” she said. “C’mon, let’s go.”
Akira stepped out onto the rink and immediately began effortlessly skating around. Meanwhile, I slowly hobbled my way out onto the ice on uncertain feet, gripping the low wall of the rink the entire time. But after getting out there, I realized that it felt surprisingly easy to stay upright on my own, so I tried letting go of the railing.
“Whoa, what the…?!”
H-holy crap! It’s, like, twice as slippery as I was expecting!
I scraped the blades of my skates against the ice as I clung to the wall again for dear life. I definitely needed more practice before I could do this on my own.
“Come over this way a little more, why don’tcha?” Akira called out from the center of the rink. She was standing perfectly still on the ice like it was the easiest thing ever.
“N-no way, I can’t do it,” I said. “It’s way too slippery.”
“Nah, you’re just tensing up too much. Try letting your momentum do most of the work.”
“I dunno if that’s such a good idea, but okay…”
I figured I could give it another shot. I gently pushed off the wall, letting myself float light as a cloud over the ice, like Akira said. I definitely felt more stable standing up this way—except now I had no way of stopping myself.
“H-hey, wait!” I yelled. “I’m not even doing anything, but I’m still sliding forward! Is this place on an incline or something?!”
“Obviously not, you dork. You’re always gonna move forward as long as your center of gravity is behind you.”
“Wait, really? But how does that make any sense?”
“Or, hang on—was it the front? Dang, now I forget…”