Scene 12

 

In the middle of the night

 

Heavy breathing of one girl was heard then quickly inhaling and exhaling repetitively right away, This girl was Rian. When her round eyes were opened, she could now see two girls in the room strangely staring back at her. She was frustrated, but was dying to know who they were. She was fascinated by ink black hair and azure blue twin tail. Thereby, rather than asking a question whether who they are, she started circling around both of them seeing how their beautiful hair was like and tried to touch them while she was at it. Kaori and Yuri were confused and did not know how to react to her actions. So they stood still, until she got over with her overjoying over seeing their hair. However, all of a sudden, there was a scream coming from outside. All three of them turned around to face where the sound was coming from, but they had no idea where the scream was coming from since there were dozens of rooms in the guild. This scream was actually from the bathroom.

 

Bathroom, was filled with steamy fog made by hot boiling water in the large bathtub. Mirrors and soap holders were left and right as though it was like onsen. floor and ceiling were not surprisingly painted with white, but on each four walls surrounding the bathroom, there were beautiful flowers and trees drawn on them making them look like a garden as a whole. And finally, in the bathtub, there was Junpei dipped his whole body inside the water revealing only his face. As he listened to the water rushing down the silver pipe which was making water spilling out of the tub. And so scream occurred just around here. The closed door was opened just to find naked Sonya holding a towel covering her shoulder down. Truth be told, Sonya purposely walked into the bathroom knowing he was here. She seemed like she was up to something. One thing she found interesting was he didn't react to Sonya being naked. There was no sign of ashamed, no blushing, and no sign of guilt. He didn't even face the other way. Right when she saw Sonya put her foot in the bathroom, he raised his voice.

 

"Umm, how did you get in here, I am pretty sure I locked the door."

 

At first, she thought he was really dense not reacting to female's naked body, but she wanted to know why. So without Junpei's permission, she got into the tub throwing out her towel away. He just stared into her eyes while she making herself comfortable straightening out her long scarlet hair behind her shoulders. Her peachy soft skin was now dominated by boiled water. As the water streamed her body, she asked out of curiosity.

 

"So, be honest with me. What is your secret? Don't you find girls attractive? Are you really gay like Kaori said?"

 

"Nope, sorry to say this, but I am going to head out. Strange place to bring up the subject though, no? People are vulnerable when they are exposed, You should quit asking that question, you'll never get the answer from me. Everyone has a secret that they won't share to anyone, not even to dearest friends and this applies to you too."

 

When Junpei turned around facing Sonya for the last time, she got the chills for the first time. She was the type who talked and made it to a joke or replied with sarcasm, but seriousness in his eyes, she felt something different about him. However, when he was about to grab the door knob, the door was pulled by someone. He saw glimpse of pink hair pushed back by the stiffened air and soon spotted Nora wearing nothing, but a towel around her waist.

 

Now this was the situation where Yuri and others heard scream.

 

"Ahhh! Why are you in here? I came in because I saw Sonya's cloth,why the hell are you doing in here, you pervert!"

 

Nora slapped him in the face jumping into conclusion. When his face went the opposite direction , he lifted up his hand to point at his cloth.

 

"Wai, wait a moment, so you are saying that you came inside even though you knew someone was inside?!"

 

"Hey!"

 

Sonya tried to explain the situation, but Nora ignored her.

 

"Wait, a sec, Sonya."

 

Then she turned her face toward Junpei again and started blabbering again.

 

"I mean, is it so hard to knock when you see clothing outside and think maybe someone might be inside already?"

 

"Hey."

 

Sonya's voice came once again.

 

"Can you believe this, Sonya? He isn't even saying sorry!"

 

"Nora! He came in here in the first place, I came even knowing that he was here, geez, Can't you give that kid a break? Give him the chance to talk, Sheesh, Nora, you are slightly becoming like Yuri."

 

Nora was so humiliated and embarrassed, she couldn't move an inch. Junpei just went around her and quietly closed the door behind him.

 

Now that two separate perspectives match, The scenario comes back to original perspective, which took place in the lab hearing the scream. Kaori gradually felt the nearby startled auras, which was of course bathroom. They quickly ran up the stairs and opened the door that led to room before the bathroom, which was change room. Inside the room, there were three lines of five five stacked cases where the cloths were supposed to store inside. floor and ceiling was made out of yellowish woods. The room was almost wide as the bath room itself. When Yuri and Rian saw Junpei trying to change, Yuri shouted.

 

"What the hell happened here? We heard someone screaming! Were you? Did you? Urgh.."

 

She wasn't sure of the situation so she passed him and approached toward the bath room door. When she opened, they saw Nora and Sonya chilling in the hot boiled water. They turned around to find Yuri with puzzled face. They were enjoying their time. If he were to be in here, she knew that Nora would go on about how he was a pervert, but she didn't. She shut the door right away looking dumbfounded and turned back to Junpei again. She was still suspicious though.

 

When Junpei was fully dressed, Yuri looked straight into his eyes until he looked the other way due to guilt. She was merely trying to test him, but, he didn't look away. He too looked back where she was at. In this short awkward moment, Rian finally added conversation.

 

"Umm, ah, hmm, where have you gone all this time? I was worried about you. umm, umm."

 

She was going call his name, but she didn't exactly know what his name was nor did she know him. He was just another student in her school who happened to come across in the nursing room.

 

"Aono Junpei, my name is Aono Junpei, you can call me Junpei."

 

At the sametime, he wondered why she couldn't see him before. She was able to see him in the Human world and he was able to see her in here He had no idea why she couldn't able to see him.

 

"Ah Junpei kun, sorry for my late introduction. My name is Rian Livingwood. I am glad to see you are doing fine."

 

She approached him gradually reaching her hand out to him to make what it seemed to be a handshake. However, when Junpei let his hand out, she suddenly gave him a hug with a smile. The hug was short yet it somehow it gave Junpei a relief and comfort that got rid of all the stress he had. Then she raised her voice as though they became friend already.

 

"Nice to meet you Junpei, I look forward to spending time with you."

 

On the other side, Yuri and Sonya made a despondent face as they saw how friendly Rian was.