The Secrets of Ether

Chapter 1: Dissonance (Part 2)

When Setsuna returned to her room, Yelena was sitting at her desk reading.

"Sorry I took longer than usual today Yelena".

Yelena sighed and smiled at Setsuna.

"It's because you ate too much!" The two girls both laughed.

"Anyway," Yelena said, "You took so long that I started reading my book. Let me finish this chapter and we can head out to the bathhouse."

The bathhouse was on the outer edge of the courtyard. Yelena was hesitant to go outside at night by herself, so she always waited for one of the other girls to go with her. "Bad things happen in the dark..." she would always say.

Setsuna stepped into her small closet and grabbed her shower bag. The essentials were already in the bag from the previous night, she just needed a fresh towel. She grabbed a thick, black towel off the towel rack in the back of her closet. This will do nicely, Setsuna thought.

She then snuck a quick glance at Yelena, who was too engrossed in reading her romance novel to notice Setsuna look towards her. Seeing that the coast was clear, Setsuna grabbed a kodachi and a black stealth suit from her closet as well. She hid them inside of the folded towel and stuffed the towel in her shower bag.

"Alright, Finished!" Yelena closed her book and sprang out of her chair. "C'mon, let's go!"

Setsuna checked her bag one more time to make sure that her stealth suit wasn't visible, then headed to the door.

"You have your keys, right Yelena?"

"Right here!" Yelena replied, jangling her keychain. "I don't want to get locked out the building again." The two girls then left their room and proceeded to the bathhouse.

The bathhouse was pitch black when the two arrived. Yelena flipped the light switch but only one of the five overhead lights started to flicker.

"Oh yeah, the lights are out" she said, a hint of irritation in her voice.

"It's a full moon tonight, we can use the moonlight to see," Setsuna replied.

The bathhouse had three sections. The changing area at the front entrance had lockers to store personal items. Past the locker room, the bathhouse was divided into two halves: five shower stalls on the right and one huge bathtub on the left. Each stall had two curtains; one to separate the stall from the rest of the bath house, and another about ten feet in the stall for the actual shower. A window on the far wall with wooden shutters allowed for some natural light to come in when opened.

Yelena let out a sigh. "We should have come earlier, Setsuna!"

"I was training." Setsuna replied. "One of us needs to be able to fight reliably, right? Since you can't, I have to be strong enough for both of us."

Yelena shrugged off her friend's concern.

"Please, Setsuna. I know I'm not in danger when I'm with you. You could reach me before any enemy could. Besides, we don't really do much anyway!"

Setsuna looked down and away from Yelena as she replied.

"You give me too much credit Yelena."

She felt her facial expression change to a wince. She quickly pulled herself together and looked Yelena in the eyes.

"We're constantly surrounded by danger. I can't always protect you."

Yelena smiled.

"You're sweet to worry about me Setsuna, but I'll be fine, alright?"

"If you say so..."

Setsuna pulled her shirt over her head. Although she was taking it off to get in the shower, it also conveniently served to hide her blushing face; it was the first time anyone had called her "sweet". It made her happy until she thought, "If you really knew why I was here though..."

Yelena continued speaking.

"Anyway, if you weren't so weird about being seen naked we could get in the bath together! You're worse than Margot!"

Setsuna let out a deep breath and retorted.

"Easy for you to say. I don't exactly have your figure..."

Yelena rolled her eyes and began to take off her bra.

"Your figure is fine," she insisted.

While Setsuna was womanly in her own right, she was still a girl next to the voluptuous Yelena Sergeyevna. Setsuna struggled to stay focused on Yelena's eyes rather than her exquisite physique. Yelena, suspecting nothing, kept talking.

"Well I don't want you to feel uncomfortable, so I guess we'll just go to separate showers." After she slid her panties off, she added, "You should be more comfortable in your own skin. You're cute, you just need body confidence. You could learn a thing or two from Miss Amelia."

"My wanting to shower alone has nothing to do with body confidence," Setsuna thought. "You make me feel... odd. I don't think it's sexual, and yet I just want to be near you all the time... I don't know what the cause of this unfamiliar desire is, but I doubt bathing together will make things any less confusing. Besides, I have something I need to take care of."

Setsuna gave Yelena an excuse.

"I just don't like being naked around others so casually is all. I'm not embarrassed or anything Yelena."

After a deep sigh, Setsuna added,

"Also, please don't ever suggest I follow Amelia's example again. That would be... nasty, to say the least."

Indeed, while the 37-year-old maid was quite comfortable with all 228 pounds of herself, she loved to get around and was far from a role model. Yelena laughed.

"Hahaha, OK, OK! I'm sorry!"

Setsuna couldn't help but laugh as well.

"Alright, I'll forgive you this time!" Setsuna's smile was genuine.

Of the five showers, only the second and fifth stalls consistently had hot water. Yelena went into the second stall while Setsuna would use the fifth stall by the window. After opening the oak shutters covering the window, Setsuna went in her shower stall. She closed the stall curtain and pulled the stealth suit out from the bottom of her bag. She placed the bag next to her on the bench as she sat down. Setsuna waited until she heard Yelena turn on her shower before proceeding to turn on hers.

However, she didn't get in the shower.

Knowing that Yelena would be preoccupied in the shower for a good thirty minutes, Setsuna closed the shower curtain and began to put on the stealth suit. Her heart felt heavy as she closed up the skintight suit.

"You're my only friend Yelena," Setsuna thought. "You're so kind and trusting. I'm sorry..."

Setsuna felt herself starting to get misty eyed.

"If you knew why I was here, would you still call me your friend? Could we still laugh together? Certainly not."

Setsuna grabbed her kodachi from out of her shower bag. She then began to merge with the darkness on the floor until all that was visible was the opaque silhouette of a woman holding a blade, poised to kill...