Toshi was laughing.

 

 

 

 

When they had finished blasting the soap off each other, it was a bit of an awakening to Toshi. This might have been the first time since coming to reverse world he was truly playful and carefree. Harou smirked and hung up his hose, "You laughing? It's like seeing a unicorn." Harou pointed at Toshi as he nodded slowly and gave a confirming wink, "I told you that you needed a break."

 

Toshi's usual serious expression returned as he hung up his shower head in turn, "Hey! I know how to have..." His voice trailed off as the girls caught his eye.

 

Harou was walking over to the water, heading straight to where the two girls were lurking in the fog. They both were acting casual so hard they were sweating. Harou called back, "Fun? No. No, you don't. You are way too serious and you need to lighten up." Harou slipped into the water.

 

Toshi looked to the water and the two young women who were trying so hard to get a look at a naked guy without appearing to be looking, just like he had tried so many years ago to get a glimpse in the mirror version of this place. He turned to look at the exit. Part of him was yelling about the responsible choice.

 

Water went flying as Toshi jumped into the water, making a big splash next to Harou.

 

Harou sputtered as he splashed water back. There was a brief water fight before they settled down. Harou wiped water from his face and shook his head for a second before asking a simple question, that wasn't simple at all, "Feeling better?"

 

Toshi nodded as he leaned back and disappeared under the water. As he rose back up, he shook his head to send water droplets flying as he too wiped water from his face, "Yeah. I'm... I dunno. I just can't relax lately. I'm always... on." He leaned his head back against a rock low in the water  and stretched out, inadvertently floating the full length of his body up to the surface in the process, "I really can't stand all the drama late-"

 

Toshi heard a squeak.

 

He lifted his head to look down through his knees as their fellow patrons of the aquatic relaxation facility. The two girls were blatantly staring directly at Toshi's crotch. Asai appeared to be the one who let out the squeak. Judging by the intensity of her expression, Toshi was worried she might be about to have a heart attack.

 

Harou spoke first, "Hey, Girls..." His words broke the spell they two were under and they briefly flailed about to reposition themselves and project a far more 'causal' tone to their body language.

 

They failed.

 

With faces beet red, they feared the jig was up. Both cringed in anticipation of a verbal thrashing for so blatantly staring. Yes, this was a mixed hot spring, but there were rules one followed in polite society

 

Mita was the one to bite the bullet, "Ah-ye... ye-ye-ye-yes?"

 

Harou just smiled, "Where did you come from? Are you on a trip? You're not from this area, right?"

 

Toshi sat up to send his crotch back down to the bottom, ~That was a bit much.~ He berated himself, ~I keep forgetting myself. I don't want to lead these girls on. I'm here to ogle them, not the other way... around?~ His thoughts trailed off as he tried to square that circle.

 

Harou's attempt to strike up a conversation left the two girls somewhat stunned, as they seemed to have expected accusations or hostility instead. Initiating the conversation was a bit awkward, with both girls struggling to respond. Asai, in particular, found it difficult to contribute to the conversation, often just nodding or making inarticulate sounds while her attention remained fixed on Toshi. Which was becoming increasingly intense as if she wanted to fuck him right then and there.

 

Mita tried to sound casual as she spoke, "Ye... yeah. We came here for the rafting tour. We came to try river rafting. On the river. We took a raft here."

 

Toshi felt sorry for them.

 

There was a part of him wondering, ~Was I this bad? How would I have reacted if I was hanging with my old roommate and two girls started talking to us?" He looked from one to the other, then settled on the girl with black hair, ~I'd be the one who couldn't string a sentence together. Damn. It's like looking in a mirror.~

 

Harou was doing a good job keeping the conversation going. Toshi saw no need to add anything. Instead he drifted closer to Asai and did something he never even thought to try before. He extended a leg towards Asai while smiling at her friend Mita. The ambient sounds of the bath and the subtle play of water and mist added an unusual intimacy to the situation. At that moment, it felt as if the four of them were isolated from the rest of the world, a private bubble in time.

 

Asai jumped at first contact with a squeak.

 

Mita glanced in her direction, "You okay?"

 

Asai nodded energetically and spoke in a rather high-pitched voice, "I'm fine!" She glanced toward Toshi who made a point of looking as uninterested as possible. For a moment, she looked like she wasn't sure if she was hallucinating or not, as Toshi stroked her thigh with his toes.

 

Asai had no idea how to react. She froze up as Toshi's toes went up and down her leg. If she was having problems talking before, Toshi's toes had rendered her completely mute my this point. Frozen would have been the word of choice to describe her as Toshi slipped his foot under her leg to stroke her inner thigh, the whole time making it appear as if he was as pure as freshly driven snow. Finally, she moved, reaching down to touch Toshi's foot. As she felt her fingertips brush his toes, he abruptly pulled away. Inwardly she cursed herself for having rushed things when he pushed off the rock behind to float over next to her.

 

"You okay?" Toshi asked as he bumped shoulders with her, then drifted away a few inches. He looked at her with what appeared to be an innocent expression of concern, although Asai clearly knew that he was anything but innocent.

 

The conversation stopped as Harou looked over with curiosity. Mita looked over as well, with a glare that screamed, 'DO NOT SCREW THIS UP'.

 

Asai glanced around at all the eyes on her and forced a smile, "Oh! Yes! I'm fine! Just... ya know... enjoying the water." She waved her arms in the water to drive the point home, "Very wet."

 

Toshi dug deep and called upon his skill at the art of forced expression, Face-Fu. Normally he used the phony grin of steel, but this called for a different technique. The clueless himbo. With eyes wide and a look of simple curiosity, he looked Asai in the eye and asked, "Do you get wet often?"

 

Inwardly, Toshi reveled in Asai's resulting coughing fit. 

 

Harou blinked at the double entendre and mentally gave Toshi a high-five. However, he decided to have mercy on Asai and changed the topic, "You both got a break, huh? How's college been treating you?"

 

Asai's recovered, but the question seemed to take the wind out of her sails, "It... it's been rough. A lot of pressure to be number one in class. I've been doing well, but I haven't had any free time. I-"

 

Mita cut Asai off, "That's why we decided to take this trip. Relax a little before finals, you know? Honestly, it's in the bag. There's no way we're not going to be top of our class."

 

Toshi remembered that was something he was told when he was looking for advice when dating in college. 'Never tell a girl that things are going bad. Girls date winners. If you are doing badly in school, you are a loser and they'll move on to someone else. You are trying to get laid, not looking for sympathy'."

 

Mita started talking up Harou, moving on while trying to impress him, but Toshi couldn't focus on her words. All he could do was see a version of himself in Asai and it filled him with a great deal of pity. It took so long to get a girlfriend in his old life because he was so busy with school. After that trying to establish himself at his job took over his life. Little wonder it was just easier to turtle up to push everyone away.

 

Asai looked like she thought she said the wrong thing and it was getting to her. He knew the type. Obsessing about every mistake because there is no forgiveness in this world. The world doesn't give you second chances. Toshi sat there in the water, thinking, before he pushed with his feet to move behind Asai. She turned to follow him, but Toshi shook his head as he pointed at Harou, "Face that way." He said as he placed his hands on her shoulders, "Relax."

 

Asai's reactions to Toshi's expert massage were quite apparent. Her eyes rolled up into her head as Toshi started to ripple massage her neck, shifting his hands from one side to the other and back again. Her body seemed to melt up under his touch. Her friend, Mita, couldn't help but watch, her eyes darting between the two with a trace of envy.

 

Toshi wasn't good-looking enough to date in college, but he was good-looking enough to be allowed to give a back rub. Many a year stuck in the friend zone gave him ample opportunity to ply this trade. As he grabbed Asai's shoulders and pulled them back he put his knee to the middle of her back. He was rewarded with a loud popping sound as well a noise from her lips that could best be described as 'obscene'.

 

The conversation had ground to a halt as Harou and Mita both stared. Mita was staring with green-eyed envy because her friend was having MUCH more fun than she was. Harou, on the other hand, was staring because of the way Toshi was pulling back Asai's shoulders was making her thrust her chest in Harou's direction and he could not help but enjoy the view.

 

Harou mentally gave his friend yet another high-five, ~I bow to the master and thank you for this blessing!~

 

Mita cleared her throat, "Uh, Asai?"

 

Harou picked up on Mita's tone and interjected, "Hey Toshi, is that fair?" He gestured to the heavy-chested blond next to him, "I bet her back hurts far more than Asai's."

 

Toshi furrowed his eyebrows for a second, then raised them both up high, "AH." He thought to himself, ~Bastard. You could be the one to rub HER back and I'D be the one to enjoy the view, but fine.~ He gave Harou a smirk, "You are quite right, how rude of me." There was only a hint of bitterness to his words.

 

Asai looked quite sad when Toshi stopped and circled behind Mita. Mita, on the other hand, was thrown off her groove by this, "Uhh... well, yeah but..."

 

Toshi cracked his knuckles, gave his fingers a wiggle in the air then began a deep tissue massage on either side of her neck. Mita let out a low moan as any objection disappeared. After a minute, he grabbed her shoulders and pulled back to begin rolling them, "Damn, you do have some serious knots." He commented as he paused to press his elbow directly into her shoulder blades. The reaction was to let out a little 'yelp' and arch her back quite suddenly and energetically. The result was the transference of a substantial amount of kinetic energy into a localized wave pattern. In other words...

 

Big boobies are bouncy!

 

Harou eyes practically shot out of his head. If this was a cartoon, it would have been accompanied by a loud 'AH-WOOGA' sound. Inwardly, Harou imagined that he and Toshi were at a massive conference hall that was standing room only. The man at the podium was addressing the absolutely silent crowd, awaiting the coming announcement with abated breath, "And the award for Wingman of the Century goes to..." A gold leaf-trimmed envelope was presented to him on top of a velvet pillow. The only sound to be heard was the tearing of paper as the seal was broken.

"In a unanimous decision... KIMOTO TOSHI!"

The crowd leaped to their feet as the auditorium was filled with thunderous applause!

 

Asai didn't miss Harou's reaction, either. Now that she had a moment to think, she noticed that both of these guys were rather focused on their chests. Harou, especially, ~Me... Men really do like big tits, I guess~ She frowned slightly as she glanced down, ~Bu... but mine are around average... I'm not completely flat...~ She let out a soft 'ugh' sound as she hunched her shoulders forward in defeat.

 

Toshi noticed her reaction and tilted his head to the side to give her a wink of encouragement.

 

Asai instantly sat back up straight. She thought about what was going on, then decided to make a move, "Ah... Say... since... Since the chatting is nice, why don't we continue it in... our room?" She gave a head nod to her friend.

 

The death glare Mita gave her roommate threatened to freeze the entire spring. A second later she turned to Harou with a look of despair as she thought that the mood had been ruined and that this encounter had come to an end.

 

Harou didn't say anything and just leaned to the side to look at Toshi.

 

Toshi froze as it became crystal clear where this was headed. He glanced at Asai who just stared back. Toshi was conflicted about all this. Out here, you could flirt to his heart's content. Back in their room, such things would turn really serious, really quickly. On the other hand, he didn't want to be the wet blanket that ruined the fun. Toshi defaulted to a noncommittal shrug.

 

Harou looked off into the distance while scratching his chin, "In your room? Hmmmm... Ok, no problem." He looked at Toshi, "We'll meet them there later, okay?" Toshi nodded in agreement as he heard Asai rattle off a room number. As everyone got up, Toshi delayed getting up so he could watch the two girls leave. As he admired the sway in their step, he realized that he hadn't had sex with Naora in over two weeks. He quickly grabbed a towel to cover himself before it became obvious to everyone else as well. As he hurried into the men's locker room, he knew that a visit to those two would never remain limited to just a friendly conversation.

 

 

 

 

 

That's when the guilt started to set in.