Transition and Restart, book two: The Billion Dollar Empress

Chapter five, 2016, extended stay, part two

He tip toed past the men's entrance to the family bath. If my parents saw me now they'd laugh until they died. Yukio didn't care about that, but the thought of Kyoko feeling awkward made him feel awkward as well.

In the end it all degenerated into a dare game, and now he could hear her sandals tapping the floor behind him. None of them spoke. Speaking was bad. Even breathing too loudly was bad.

What am I doing here?

He pushed the curtains aside and rushed into the locker room. Small and all too open. In an attempt to defuse the situation he poured himself a cup of tea and sauntered over to an open window. Yukio leaned out and pretended to look into the evening darkness.

There were sounds from inside the room, but he remained hanging out the window. When the sounds stopped he dared backing inside again.

His heart jolted when he saw Kyoko sitting on a bench with a large towel around her. "Why? Why are you still here?"

She smiled. "I'd... I like to watch the view." And the smile turned into a mischievous grin.

"You'd like to..." Oh man! I'm blushing from shoulders all the way up. "I... I..." Deflated he sat down on another bench.

Without a word she rose and headed for the window. Yukio saw her copy his pretence from just moments earlier and quickly went to a bench, undressed and draped himself in a towel of his own.

You're showing a lot more skin than you think. He stood admiring her back when she looked over her shoulder to see if he was done.

"Should we," Kyoko asked.

Yukio looked down and studied his feet. "Uhum." Crap, I can't even look at her face. He felt her brushing past him and then he heard the door opening to the bath. Still mute he followed her as it was about to close.

The indoor bath was empty, but he heard voices from outside. Thanks for small favours, he thought and grabbed a stool. He put it down as far away from Kyoko as possible and turned his back to her. I really want to sneak a look, but I shouldn't.

As he rinsed and shampooed the motions became familiar, and when he showered away any residue of soap he had almost forgotten that he wasn't alone. When he stood and picked up his stool he was rudely reminded he wasn't. Still sitting on hers Kyoko stared at him. She had wrapped herself in her towel. A smile played on her face, but she looked more thoughtful than flustered.

For a moment Yukio thought of diving for his towel in panic, but there was no reason any longer. She had seen everything anyway. "Join the others?" he said and tried to sound nonchalant, but even he could hear how the words came squeaking out.

Kyoko took a deep breath, and then she seemed to have come to a resolution of sorts. "Yes, why don't we?" She led the way and as she opened the door she waved a greeting to their four friends and loosened her towel.

Yukio stared in fascination as it slid to the ground. With a few quick steps she was in the water and sank all the way under the surface. Her head popped back up just as he entered the pool.

Urufu flipped him an ironic two-finger salute from where he sat and immediately turned his attention back to Noriko. "And there was even more snot. Had to change T-shirt after."

"Was not!" Kuri shouted and splashed water over them both. She demonstratively turned her back to him and both Noriko and Ryu burst out in laughter.

"What's with the snot?" Yukio asked and was rewarded with a fountain of water from Kuri. "Come on, get a grip!" he protested and pushed water in her direction.