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After a long day of work…
There’s one way to unwind…
A nice hot soak!
That has been Sojo’s routine ever since he could remember. Soaking at the bathhouse brings him inner peace and enough energy to face the next day with renewed vigor.
Today was no different. He just got done with a… heated… discussion with a gang over some experimental weapons they bought from him recently. Apparently, they didn’t like that some of them overloaded and stopped working. What part of ‘experimental’ was unclear to those numbskulls? Instead of letting Sojo figure out the issue and make them upgraded ones with a discounted price, they opted to blame him for the failure of their most recent raid and ordered to kill him on the spot. Typical. Well, tough luck. That gang was no more, and Sojo was dripping with blood that’s not his own.
“Huff…huff… I need to… wash this off…” he said to a room full of corpses. “I should get going before the police show up.”
And so he went. By the time he reached his destination, the smell of iron on him became overpowering. He needed that bath, and fast. He entered the bathhouse, glanced at the counter and saw a strange sight. The warm hearted granny that usually greeted him with the most radiant smile was replaced by by a 30-something year-old white haired man with the most intense scowl on his scarred face. He barely moved a step before a bundle of green and white ran past him straight to the counter. Ah… today is one of those days… Sojo thought.
“Natsuki!” The strange man yelled, and the receptionist visibly groaned, “I’ve been looking for you all day!” The scowl on the face of the man named Natsuki kept getting deeper with every word, “I—”
“You know, cutting in line like this and disturbing others is very unsightly,” Sojo interrupted.
At that, he turned to him, smiled, and said “Ah, sorry. Didn’t see ya there. Please go ahead.”
But Sojo didn’t hear a word he said, for he could recognize this face anywhere. Soft features, striking red makeup, dark green hair. It totally matched the photos he’d seen plastered all over Japan for years.
Immediately, he ran to the man’s side and held both hands in his. His eyes sparkled as he almost squealed “U-Uruha Yoji? One of the enchanted blade bearers?! It’s an honor to meet you! And at one of my favorite bathhouses at that.”
“Ummm do I know you from somewhere..?” Uruha questioned.
“You don’t know me, but there isn’t anyone in Japan who doesn’t know you. One of the very few wielders of Rokuhira Kunishige’s masterpieces. I have so many questions for you! How was he like? Why were you chosen? What is it like wielding it??” His face got uncomfortably close with each consecutive question, and he was still holding Uruha’s hands all the while with an iron grip.
Uruha was intrigued by him, as it's been a long time since anyone has asked him about Rokuhira or the blades. Only one problem: Every time he'd want to open his mouth to answer, he could feel a death glare prickling him from the direction of the counter.
After the fifth question in a row, a very firm clearing of the throat interrupted their important discussion. What the hell? How dare he? Doesn’t he realize the person he is in presence with? Sojo glared at him, but Natsuki didn’t falter. The stare he was giving both him and Uruha could kill an elephant.
“If you want to make small talk, I suggest you do that inside the baths, not at my counter while there’s a line behind you.”
Sojo looked behind him and sure enough, a few people have already started lining up behind them. How rude of me… to disrespect the sacred bathhouse with my unsightly behavior. “Let’s go, Uruha-san, for we have much to discuss inside!”
As Sojo was pulling Uruha into the baths, he could see the disappointed look on his face in the direction of Natsuki. I guess even someone as great as him can get annoyed by ill-mannered receptionists like that guy.
No matter, because today was going to be the best day of his life. He got to have a relaxing bath at one of his favorite bathhouses (with a sauna to boot!) with one of the closest people to his idol. Sharing this sacred experience with someone of this calibre was sure to make the next day, nay, the next year the most productive he’s ever been.
After washing up, they both got into the shared bath. Phew… the water temperature is perfect. With the relaxing steam surrounding them, and the quietness of the people around, it felt awkward to begin conversation. Instead, Sojo kept glancing at the swordsman next to him, taking in his features; the many scars hidden by his many cloaks, his red eyeshadow that -for some reason- didn’t get smeared even with water, his unreadable expression, as if he was thinking about something very important, and -most importantly- that face. How did he look this young? According to the books, this man has been a swordsman for at least 10 years at that point, if not more.
After a few patrons left, the bathhouse was empty. That’s when Sojo asked the question that’d been plaguing his mind the most. “Uruha-san, what did you think of Rokuhira-san while you were working together?”
At that, Uruha’s eyes suddenly lit up, “Rokuhira-san… no one has asked me him in quite a while! What I would give to work with him again. Wielding Kumeyuri was the greatest honor of my life. I hope he’s doing well, wherever he is.” There was this strange, dreamy look to him as he spoke. A very far cry from the quiet serious air he was giving not long ago. Sojo was ecstatic. Finally, someone that appreciates Rokuhira as much as he does!
Sojo was ecstatic. Finally, someone that appreciated Rokuhira as much as he did! Feeling confident, he started a rapid fire round of questions:
“How did he look like as he was forging the blades? Serious? Determined?
What was the idea behind each blade?
Did he enjoy the company of the sword bearers, or was he a lone wolf?"
Uruha being Uruha, met his rapid fire questions with his own rapid fire responses:
"He looked so unusually cool when he forged the blades, like a completely different person!
Each blade was given a purpose as it was forged, and the full extent of the abilities was revealed as we were using them!
He enjoyed our company, and we enjoyed his!"
Each enthusiastic question was met with an equally enthusiastic response.
Over…
And over…
And over…
.
.
.
"Weird… very weird… It's too quiet…” thought a certain silver haired man who was definitely not bored out of his mind.
Although Natsuki was outside of the baths, he could hear the two weirdos talking nonsense from the moment they entered until 15 minutes ago. Was he worried about them? Not really. He didn’t care for that sword nut. As for Uruha, he's never liked that guy. Not since he's taken what's rightfully Natsuki's. But no matter what his feelings were, he couldn’t allow these freaks to get injured -or worse, die- on his watch.
The only reason he's even tolerating dealing with patrons all day was because one of the Kamunabi officers asked him to fill in for his grandma because she was tired that day. When he asked why him in particular, he was just met with "Well, you're the most reliable guy I know. Granny hasn't taken a day off -not even once- for the past ten years," with tears in his eyes. How could he say no to that?! He'd just be a disrespectful asshole with no regards to the elderly. He never said yes to a request so fast in his life. Under his watch, this day will be the best day the bathhouse has seen in its entire lifetime!
Or so he thought. Everything was going smoothly until those two doofuses showed up and ruined the visitor flow AND decided to be as annoying and loud as possible, which got him a few complaints. Every time he’d go give them a piece of his mind, they would quiet down for exactly ten minutes before getting annoying again. What’s so impressive about Uruha anyway? Why is that guy so obsessed with him? Ugh, he felt sick just thinking about it. Well, now they’re quiet, and he's still wondering if he should check on them or not. Natsuki looked at the clock. It's almost closing time. Every other patron has already left. They've been here for hours talking about God-knows-what, and this sudden quietness was becoming more suspicious by the minute.
He decided to bite the bullet and go check on them. He didn’t know what to expect when he went there, but it was surely nothing even remotely similar to the sight in front of him. He froze, taking in every detail of the weirdness in front of him.
Uruha -in all his naked glory- suspended in the air, using only Sojo’s palm at his chest for support so that he doesn’t fall on his face. Sojo (also naked, of course) seemed to be muttering something to himself as he’s standing while struggling for balance, and Uruha was just… swimming? In the air? What are these bizarre movements? “What are you doing…?” Was all he could muster. It’s such an unnerving sight, and Natsuki just wanted some modicum of explanation to not lose his mind then and there.
“Ah! Natsuki!” The first idiot beamed, “This fellow was telling me he’s strong enough to wield an enchanted blade, so I suggested he show me his skills, and now we’re here.”
“What do you think, Uruha-san? Be completely honest with me.” The other idiot asked.
“Impressive!” He replied while still making those… eerie… movements. “Keep it up for a few more years and you might reach the level of some of the people that were with me during selection. Though, I don’t think you’d be on the same level of someone like Natsuki for a very long time,” he said thoughtfully, then looked at the man in question and smiled warmly.
Although Natsuki was petrified up to that moment, he snapped out of it the moment he heard his name. Was Uruha praising him for once?
No.
He was making fun of him as usual. How dare he compare Natsuki to this… this… wacko?!?!
“Get out.”
“Wha__”
“I said. Get out of my sight! Both of you! And never EVER show yourself here ever again!”
At first, Uruha didn’t take him seriously because, well, it’s Natsuki. He’s always angry. This time was different. Uruha has never dressed himself so fast in his life, and neither did Sojo. In the next 60 seconds, they were both washed up, dressed, had their fruit milk bottles in hand and waiting at the counter to pay the receptionist, AKA the angriest man alive right now.
After checking out, Sojo took both of Uruha’s hands in his and said “I am so glad I got to meet you today, Uruha-san. This is fate. Fate, I tell you!” With tears in his eyes.
Uruha returned the sentiment, with his own tears to boot, “same here, brother! Finally, someone that appreciates Rokuhira-san the same way I do.”
Natsuki rolled his eyes. Before the sappiness reached its peak, Natsuki pointed to the clock, “It’s almost 10. We’re closing. I need to tidy up the place, so leave.”
At that, both Uruha and Sojo went out of the bathhouse. They exchanged phone numbers through tears and snot, and promised to meet again. They waved goodbye, and Sojo went on his merry way.
As Sojo was walking back home, he thought back to his day. When he came to this bathhouse this morning, he didn’t expect his day to turn from his unluckiest to his luckiest in mere hours. He got have quite a relaxing bath, got to meet one of his idols (who happens to also be a fan of his ultimate idol!), and even got to drink his beloved ice-cold fruit milk afterwards! Ahhh this really is the best day I’ve had in my life, he thought. His mind has been refreshed for at least the next year. Bathhouses truly are a great experience, he thought.
.
.
.
“Phew, finally done.” As Natsuki looked at the clock, he saw that it has already hit 11:30. It took longer for him to clean than he thought, but at least granny won’t have to work too hard to set up the bathhouse in the morning. As he was leaving, he was greeted by a familiar cloaked being. Natsuki groaned. “Why are you still here?” Natsuki asked exasperatedly.
Uruha looked at him happily and said, “ah, good work Natsuki. I actually came to this bathhouse to talk to you about something, but I got distracted with Sojo.”
Natsuki tried very hard to erase that unsightly sight from his memory. “Please. Don’t mention that guy again.” Then Natsuki added, “you could’ve at least helped me with cleaning if you were going to stay that long outside.”
“I didn’t want to disturb you, haha. I know how particular you are with these things, and I probably wouldn’t have done a good job anyway.”
“Actually, you’re right. Good thing you didn’t. Anyway, what did you want to talk about, and more importantly, how did you find me in the first place?”
“Do you think anything stays secret in the Kamunabi headquarters? All I needed to do was ask a few people about you and boom, I found this place,” Uruha said playfully. “As for why I’m here… Ummm,” Uruha got surprisingly timid, “I wanted to ask if you’d like to spar with me sometime this week, and maybe have dinner later?”
“What?” Natsuki was confused. Uruha came all this way, stayed until closing time, just to ask for a sparring session? “Why?”
“What, why?” Uruha continued, “sparring with you is fun, and I wanna get closer to you. I know we’ve never been on the best of terms, and I wanna fix that.”
Natsuki couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “There’s no fixing that. Especially not after today.”
“Just give me a chance! I’ll make it up to you! And if granny needs someone to help her next time, I can cover for you as an apology! Don’t you want to go into the baths? It was quite relaxing in there.”
Natsuki thought about it. It’s not a bad offer really. A sparring session with someone who Natsuki has to begrudgingly admit is strong, dinner, and also a potential helper in case granny got sick again, with a chance to try the bathhouse to boot. Though he’s scared to think how Uruha would handle any customer facing job, let alone an entire bathhouse, part of him is curious of how it might go.
“…Sure.” Natsuki said.
Uruha smiled from ear to ear. “Wahh, thanks Nats__”
“__But,” Natsuki interrupted, “blacklist that guy from entering again. He gives me goosebumps,” he said as he was trying to shoo away the thoughts of Sojo carrying Uruha like some trophy with one hand.
“Oooooh someone’s jealous,” Uruha smirked.
“I’m not. Don’t start, or else I’ll take back my offer.”
“Okay, okay. Sheeeesh I can’t joke with you about anything.”
“Yeah, and I plan to keep it that way, hmph.”
As they continued to bicker on their way home, they both thought back on their day. Uruha had a lot of fun with Sojo, but it wouldn’t have been half as rejuvenating if it weren’t in such a fancy bathhouse. He also got to see Natsuki be a customer service worker for a change. As for Natsuki, he spent most of his time attending to various patrons, so he couldn’t help but look back on how their faces looked so relaxed after they got out of the baths. He had to admit that Uruha looked more refreshed as well and bit more glowy after his soak.
They both had a similar thought. Bathhouses truly are a great experience. Thank you granny.