A Pirate's Crush

6. R & R

Underneath a colorful, darkening dusk sky, Dunkerque and I arrived at a tall wooden fence attached to the Sakura dorms. We came wearing our swimsuits under some casual clothes, bringing with us a basket of sweets, a couple bottles of wine, and a couple towels. We could faintly hear rumbling water and a shower on the other side.

The fence itself was about three-quarters the height of the ground-floor walls, and had no holes to peek through except the diamond-patterned lattice on top.

"This looks like the photo Zuikaku sent," I said.

The gate had a lattice pattern much lower and more accessible than the walls. Taking a peek, we could see Shoukaku already in the hot tub with her head turned up and eyes closed. Zuikaku was nearby, rinsing off in what looked like a showering station. Both were in their respective swimsuits, Shoukaku wearing a white bikini and Zuikaku wearing a red one.

"Oh my, this is much more elaborate than I expected," Dunkerque said. "I suppose we just knock?"

Dunkerque raised her hand and gently knocked.

"Bonjour! " she called. "It's Dunkerque and Jean Bart!"

"Ooh, coming!" Zuikaku said.

We watched as Zuikaku finished rinsing off before walking briskly to the gate. After the turn of a lock, it opened.

"Come on in!" Zuikaku greeted, smiling big.

We walked inside and my body was embraced by the soothing warmth of steam.

Damn... this is way more than what I thought a "bathing kit" would be. This looked like something the dorm architects designed themselves. The flooring was made of smooth auburn wood, the perimeter of which surrounded by green bushes and enough cylindrical path lights to keep the area illuminated even at dusk. Opposite of the fence gate was a small wooden pavilion housing a couple showering stations with detachable heads. Next to that was a small table with towels and a small wireless speaker playing some easy music. In the middle of the wood floor was the bath itself. I say bath, but it was more like a large hot tub. A large circular tub taking up almost half the area with stone walls, blue tile flooring, a metal rail with a staircase leading into the rumbling water. I could see some built-in seating through the bubbles, on which Shoukaku was sitting.

The gate closed, which made Shoukaku open her eyes. She smiled when she saw us.

"Dunkerque! Jean Bart!" Shoukaku said, waving. "So glad you could make it!"

"Bonjour!" Dunkerque said, taking a big sniff of the rich steam. "Goodness me, it's like a spa in here."

"If we're going to pamper ourselves, we might as well go all out, right?" Shoukaku said.

"Seems pretty extravagant for a 'bathing kit'," I commented.

"That's what we thought," Zuikaku said. "To be fair, some of the décor wasn't part of the kit."

"Well, it's beautifully built," Dunkerque said.

"Thank you, though we had the manjuus help out as well," Shoukaku said. "Ooh, what's in the basket?"

"More than enough macarons and crullers for everyone," Dunkerque said with a smile. "And Jeanie has some wine."

"Aw, hell yeah!" Zuikaku cheered. "Well, what're ya waiting for? Rinse off and hop in!"

"Don't need to tell me twice," I said.

We set the treat basket and wine bottles down on another table within arm's reach of the pool and disrobed into our swimsuits—Dunkerque into her purple bikini and me into my black bikini. We set our clothes down on the table by the showering station alongside the sisters' clothes. Even the showers looked professionally installed.