Chapter Text
When Lucy sat at the table Naomi and Kyôka were already occupying, letting a deep sigh to start her lunch break, both girls stared at her with an intent which already anticipated they had something to tell her.
Something good, while at it.
“So, Lucy-chan,” Naomi promptly started out, straight to the point. “do you have the weekend free in like two weeks?”
“Hm.” She answered first, mentally checking how busy the cafe tended to be at that time of the year before properly continuing. “I could be, yeah. Why, what’s happening then?” Whatever it was, given how Naomi had started smiling wide and Kyôka let out a delighted ‘Oh’, must surely be good.
“Yosano-sensei’s been saying for a while it’s a shame the boys got an onsen trip and we couldn’t, since it was a favor and the president could only get one room available, and all that stuff-- anyway, now it’s her and Haruno-san’s turn to call in a favor, and we’re the ones having a weekend onsen trip!” Naomi announced, clapping once finishing. Well, not finishing, because more was coming; why would she be telling her if not? “And with ‘we’ I mean us four Agency girls, but also Aya-chan and you, if you wanna.”
“Aya-chan already said yes.” Kyôka added.
Lucy fell silent for a moment, to fully process all the information she had just been given. And, once it had been done, an excited gasp escaped her mouth with little to no resistance from her part.
“Of course, count me in!”
That weekend in particular had been picked for a very specific and relevant reason which made it the best for such a plan: Aya wouldn’t have class on Friday, which meant they could set course early in the morning, return on Sunday with time to get a proper night’s sleep (mainly to appease Kunikida, who would rather have the girl back home at a decent hour on the eve of a school (and work) day), and being able to have not one but two nights to spend there.
And, so far, everything was going according to plan.
The actual main traveling part came and went rather fast, actually, since Lucy quickly dozed off a little after getting on the train and didn’t wake up until Kyôka nudged her signaling it soon would be time to get up and out. Then, the only thing left to do was walk a little, get on a bus that would take them to their final destination, and walk a bit again.
“Thanks for inviting me, by the way.” Lucy said, as she caught up to Yosano’s side.
“Ah, gladly.” The doctor swiftly replied, smiling wide. “You don’t have to be part of the Agency to be part of the group, y’know?”
“Maybe, but I’ll be part of both one day, heh.” Aya barged in, proud as one could be and doing everything but toning it down. Sweet.
“I’d have sworn you were already.” Lucy added, only half-joking. “Though I guess Kunikida-san ain’t approving, other requirements met or not until you’re at least Kyôka-chan and Kenji-kun’s age, I guess.”
“And you guess right.” Both Yosano and Aya replied, the first one amused and the second a tad bit disappointed.
“To be fair towards Kunikida-san, fourteen is still a bit too young to be working under normal circumstances.” Haruno then said, which didn’t seem to satisfy Aya.
“Yosano-sensei was working at eleven, and Naomi-chan’s still a student and she’s already a member…”
“Yosano-sensei wasn’t working under normal circumstances.” Was Yosano’s quick rebuttal, and Naomi followed suit.
“Besides, Jun and I are finishing school soon.” Was Naomi’s addition.
As the conversation went on, Aya seemed to reluctantly agree to everyone’s points, and Lucy couldn’t help but just smile; she knew better at that point than to try and underestimate Aya, but all of them were right when insisting on her waiting a bit so she could have the most normal childhood experience possible. Emphasis on ‘possible’, given all that had happened, but still.
Similarly to what had happened to the boys’ group, at least from what she knew, they were given one single room for all six of them to share. Which wasn’t a problem since it was rather big. And since Lucy used to be with almost twice the amount of kids in a room not much more spacious than that back at the orphanage, it seemed almost a palace to her. Not as much as Anne’s Room, but that was a given since one couldn’t compare a normal room to a space that literally catered to every single one of her likes.
(Speaking of which, thanks to Anne’s Room none of them needed to actually carry their luggage, even when a small weekend trip meant they hadn’t brought much stuff to begin with.)
Also, going back to similarities and differences between their hangout and the boys’…
“A shame we don’t have a bath for ourselves.” Naomi said, sighing a little. “But, let’s look at it from the bright side, ladies.”
“Bright side?” Lucy, at least, didn’t see any with the information she had.
“We don’t have to clean it up ourselves before we go back home.” Yosano informed, enlightening her.
“Oh, bright side indeed.”
Though, truth be told, she wouldn’t have minded having said arrangement at all either. Quite the opposite; Lucy was a tad bit nervous about being in a public bath where a decent amount of people would be, and having it be just the Agency women and Aya with her would have eased her worries a decent amount.
“So, about the plannings.” Haruno then said, taking her mind off the bath issue for a little while. “There’s this festival tomorrow,” She remembered Yosano mentioning it to her once they had that weekend set to go, and everyone had brought the perfect clothes for the occasion, obviously; Lucy owned no yukata until then, but the rest had been ‘adamant’ in getting her one, something to which she agreed quickly and excitedly. “and we may be all set, but if anyone wants to buy something else we can still go shopping today.”
“And properly preparing is for tomorrow too, but we can do our nails tonight!” Naomi added, with an expression that meant she may have some ideas already, for her and for the others.
“After bathing?” Aya asked, and so the brief period of time not thinking about that ended for Lucy.
“Speaking about that… I’ve heard you don’t gotta get fully naked and so, right? Like, I can wear a towel and all.”
“Yes.” Kyôka swiftly replied, and Lucy had to gather all her self-restraint in order not to let out a deep relieved sigh. “There will be enough people doing that you won’t stand out, plus.” That addition came almost as fast, making her wonder if the girl in front of her had ever found herself in the same position Lucy was right now in. She, of course, found no answer, but it would be somewhat revealed to her soon enough anyway.
“Lucy-chan?” Aya calling out to her came right at the same time she tugged on her sleeve, softly but with a little of insistence. “Can you reach the yellow flower hairpin for me?”
“Oh, of course.” Said and done; Lucy lost no time in doing what she was asked to.
It was a very pretty hairpin, too, in a soft tone of yellow and having a very soft fabric form the flower itself. So much that, after handing out that one to Aya, she started looking through the same model in the other colors available: lilac, pink, blue, red, green… Or, at least, that was what the labels said; that was how she had located the one her young friend wanted in the first place.
Hm.
“So. You mind if we match, kinda?” Lucy asked shortly after. “I’m getting a different color, though, and I’m gonna need your help now, too.”
“Ah, ‘course. Shoot.”
“Cool, thanks.” Taking a few hairpins, she repeated the process now to show them to the girl for a very much needed feedback. “I know what colors they’re supposed to be, but they look almost the same to me. Do they look too bright?”
Aya tilted her head, looking at the accessories, then nodded. And smirked.
“Color thing, huh? I think you’re not the only one, by the way.” She was probably the only one from their group there, but at least Aya had the decency not to say it.
Naomi, though, didn’t follow her footsteps.
“Like Atsushi-kun…” She said, almost sing-songed, and Lucy’s face flushed in record time. “His type and Lucy-chan’s are different, though.” Naomi then continued, in Aya’s direction, as if she wasn’t having a bit of a crisis right then and there.
“Did you have to…?” Lucy started out, interrupting herself because she knew Naomi already; of course she had to.
The hairpin she picked ended up being the pink one, which apparently was light enough it would look good on her hair. And matching wasn’t something exclusively of her and Aya, since everyone else ended up taking one: Kyôka picked red, Yosano lilac, Naomi blue, and Haruno green.
Accessories aside, most of their shopping trip was dedicated to getting snacks for both nights and the trip back home. Though it was more likely they would need to restock for the trip back home. Anyway, with everything already in their hands, it soon was time to return to the onsen. Which meant bath time was the next activity for the day, and despite how comfortable she felt with these women, Lucy’s nervousness still started to flare up.
To the point that, when the six of them were already changing, said nervousness might be getting to higher levels than she had anticipated.
“So… about how common it is to enter there with a towel and so…”
“You’re worried.” Kyôka wasn’t asking, and so Lucy simply stared at her for a second, then sighed.
“Yeah, I am.” Was the first thing she replied with, as if it wasn’t absolutely goddamn obvious. “Y’know, being with you girls makes it easier, but still I don’t have what most ladies inside this bath are gonna expect to see when seeing another woman naked, and I don’t wanna deal with shit. In general, obvi, but even less now, when we’re here to have fun and all.”
“I get it.” Kyôka quickly answered, nodding. “I was nervous at first too.” Lucy didn’t need further explanation about that; she had known for a while how that girl usually spoke, and those words could only mean they had that in common.
“If someone dares to give you a hard time, which I sure hope doesn’t happen…” Yosano then chimed in, smiling in a reassuring manner which also had a sinister undertone to it. Not directed to her, though, and she was aware. In fact, that was a great addition to the reassurance that worked greatly, and so did the doctor’s next words. “Well, let’s just say we’re all backing you up, sweetie.”
“Exactly!” Naomi and Aya added, the former waving her shirt in the air before proceeding to fold it.
“We’ve dealt with dangerous cases and very rude clients,” Haruno also said. “That’d be nothing, believe it.”
Once they were all inside the warm water after washing up and everything was going smoothly, Lucy allowed herself to completely relax.
“A shame you cannot swim here, dontcha think?” Aya said no longer after getting in herself, still splashing her hands against the water a little. “If we’re doin’ this more times, can we go to the beach? With or without the guys.”
“I’d say ‘with’ the guys, if you don’t mind. I miss Jun already…” Naomi replied, making Lucy giggle a little. “Besides, you’d see someone shirtless and--” And all of a sudden, Lucy wasn’t giggling anymore, when Naomi looked at her while saying that, for… reasons. Reasons that led her to put a hand over her friend’s mouth before she could finish speaking.
Though it was too late, since the image had already been planted in her mind and she was blushing even more furiously than when Naomi had teased her similarly back at the shop.
But that was different!
Mentioning Atsushi and Lucy were in similar situations when it came to not seeing color in the usual way was one thing, even if such a comment had been completely unnecessary. And making her think about that… Oh, that was something else entirely. Sure, it wouldn’t be the first time Lucy would be seeing Atsushi showing off skin, but the moment he had let Lucy know they had the same type of scars (and therefore, same type of painful pasts) didn’t count, and that other occasion when his dumb idea had left the two of them naked… NO. She didn’t want to think about that at all, it would only make things worse.
She needed a distraction as soon as possible, and that came in the form of Yosano continuing the conversation where Aya had left it off (or rather, started out) instead of saying something about Naomi’s comment.
“You’d see Kunikida-kun in full mama hen mode, by the way.” She said, snickering. “I mean, you haven’t seen the whole extent of it until you’ve seen him on any kind of trip, even a small one.” After that, Yosano giggled. “You can really tell he was a teacher before he was a detective, damn.”
“I can already tell, with how strict he’s with my homework.” Aya added. “But at least he has actual feedback when correctin’ it, not like--” She let out a brief sigh. “Y’know, nevermind. His explainin’ can still get confusin’ and all.”
“I can give you a hand when we get back.” Yosano told her, and the girl’s entire face lit up in awe.
“Yosano-sensei, ever the lifesaver.” Naomi said, instead of going back to her attempt at teasing Lucy, something she appreciated.
“I’d like to make sandcastles if we go to the beach.” Was Kyôka’s input, and Haruno enthusiastically agreed.
“Me too, it’s been years since I haven’t.”
“Same!” It didn’t take too long for Aya to join the sandcastle topic, and she was nowhere near finished talking about beach plans in general. Not surprisingly, though. “You think I could get Bracchan to join, or he’d refuse ‘cause he could get redder than mine and Lucy-chan’s hair?”
Lucy instantly let out a roaring laughter, and the rest followed suit shortly after.
“Coming back to future plans… I’d like to get you all to meet Lou, if both you and her are up to it.” Lucy said when they were already back in their shared room, bath and dinner done, meaning the next activity was simply passing time before actually sleeping.
“Yeah, why not?” Yosano was the first to reply, to which Haruno quickly nodded.
“No problem.”
“Sure.” Kyôka added.
“That’s your Guild friend, right?” Aya then asked… which prompted Naomi to tease Lucy a third time.
“Well, not just her friend, right?” And so, she blushed yet again. It was getting… it was difficult to describe, but long story short: if Naomi wasn’t her friend, she would already be plotting retaliation against her.
(Lies; she was plotting retaliation against her, but it wouldn’t be really serious.)
“So, the Guild one indeed.” Aya, meanwhile, seemed satisfied after getting the information she wanted. “Fine by me, obvi.”
There was no need for Naomi to offer more of a verbal confirmation, so that was basically set. Well, not completely since she would have to actually ask Louisa and see if she would actually be willing to meet a bunch of people at once, but another important step had just gotten covered still.
Also, once again Yosano was her savior in terms of changing the topic and therefore preventing Naomi from teasing Lucy further.
“By the way, who wants to get her nails done for tomorrow?” She asked, and after sharing a brief glance, both her and Haruno reached for their respective bags, bringing out a big bunch of nail polish bottles, one of polish remover and a pack of cotton disks to help clean out mistakes and/or extra stains.
Obviously enough, the response was unanimous excitement.