Episode 3: “The Steamy Hot Spring Romance Case Files ③ ~The Tied Obi~”
While Akira and Miyuki-san were in the restroom, a little incident occurred. You see, my old man started talking about the room assignments…
“We couldn’t get a reservation for a four-person room, so we’ll be split into two rooms. And, as for the assignments—”
“Me and the old man, and Miyuki-san and Akira, right?” It was the most obvious and natural arrangement. Separated by gender, parent-child pairs—I thought that was the common-sense way to do things, but—
“Nah, it’s obviously gonna be me and Miyuki-san, right?”
“…Hold on a sec. Does that mean I’m in the same room as Akira?”
—Going against the current on purpose. That’s Majima family quality for you. To begin with, this old man who’s supposed to be steering the family ship has his directions all wrong. Heading west instead of east… is he planning on discovering a new continent or something?
“What’s wrong, Ryouta? You don’t want to share a room with Akira?”
“No, it’s not that I don’t want to, but…”
“Then there’s no problem, right? You two get along, don’t you?”
—I can’t exactly say that we get along so well that it’s bound to cause nothing but problems. This old man, for all his talk about me being dense, doesn’t see a single thing about the situation between the siblings in his own home. There’s a saying, “ignorance is bliss,” and it seems that to my old man’s eyes, Akira and I really do just look like brother and sister who get along well. In that sense, he really is, just a little, a sorry excuse for a father.
Is his approval of me and Akira rooming together a sign of his trust in me? No, no, that doesn’t feel quite right either.
“Aww yeah, I’ve been wanting to come to a hot spring with Miyuki-san~. It’s like a second honeymoon.”
—I see. In other words, this old man only has eyes for Miyuki-san. …That sappy, lovesick look on his face is seriously pissing me off.
But well, I’m not about to let him have his way. If I end up in the same room as Akira—I can’t shake the feeling that something, or rather, lots of things, would go very, very wrong. So, I decided to throw a subtle jab.
“What a shame… I was kinda hoping we could have some father-son time, just the two of us for once…”
“Eh…?”
“You don’t wanna share a room with me? Dad…”
“Ryouta…”
It seems my little performance, honed by the drama club, was enough to move my old man’s heart. …Not that I feel that way in the slightest, but I had to do what I had to do. Moved by my words, my old man’s lips began to tremble—
“What are you saying at your age, a second-year in high school? You got a father complex? So that’s why you’re not interested in the girls in the drama club. I’m not into that stuff, you know…”
“Hey, what’s with that look…”
—I take it all back. Maybe I should start my rebellious phase right this instant.
“We’re a guy and girl at that age, y’know!? What if something happens… I mean, I won’t let it happen! But still, sharing a room is gonna be awkward, right!?”
I snapped back at him, but my old man was perfectly calm.
“You say at that age,’ but you spent three whole weeks thinking Akira was your little brother, didn’t you?”
“Ugh…”
“That means you never saw Akira as a girl from the very beginning, right?”
“Hagh…”
—Well, that was, y’know, back then… I fully acknowledge that she’s a beautiful girl now, but that’s not the point. That’s not the point here, old man…
“So, knowing you, I’m sure nothing weird will happen even if you’re in the same room with Akira, right?”
—Right, ‘knowing me’… A son with a solid track record of safety and reliability. My parents have no idea that I’m fighting a nightly battle against “a certain something”…
＊ ＊ ＊
Just as my old man and I were having that conversation, Akira and Miyuki-san returned.
“Sorry for the wait~”
As soon as Miyuki-san spoke to my old man, the topic of room assignments came up.
“—Oh my, so Akira and Ryouta-kun are in the same room?”
My heart skipped a beat for a second, but Miyuki-san herself didn’t seem particularly bothered. Am I really the only one overthinking this?
Meanwhile, Akira said to our parents in a dissatisfied tone, “Ehh, the same room as Aniki~…” but her act was completely see-through. When she turned to look at me, at an angle our parents couldn’t see, she was desperately trying to suppress a grin that threatened to break across her face.
“You don’t want to be in the same room as Ryouta-kun, Akira?” Miyuki-san asked, and Akira looked at me with an expression that screamed, Like that could ever be true.
“I mean, Aniki probably snores, and he’s got no tact~…”
—Then what’s with that smirk you’re trying to hold back?
It seemed like it would be best to change the room assignments somehow—but just then, Miyuki-san raised her hand and declared, “Alright.”
“Then how about I sleep with Ryouta-kun?”
“““Ehhhh──────!?”“”
Akira, my old man, and I all stared at Miyuki-san in shock.
“Is it that surprising? The truth is, I’ve always wanted to try sleeping side-by-side with my son~♪”
It is that surprising. A son and his stepmother? No, that’s… I mean, come on, that’s just… Miyuki-san is the type of person to casually say things like this—things that seem innocent on the surface, but could be quite serious depending on how you take them. I know she doesn’t mean anything by it, but the three of us besides Miyuki-san knew very well that this was the least viable option.
My old man, especially, was pathetically flustered.
“No, but, Miyuki-san… Ryouta is a boy at that age, so I think he’s pretty sensitive about that sort of thing…?”
“Hey! That’s totally different from what you said a minute ago!”
As I bit back at my old man, Akira also chimed in, “I’d be in the same room as Taichi-san!?”
“Ah, that’s what would happen, wouldn’t it~”
“Absolutely not! No way in hell!”
“Eh, Akira!?”
Being so thoroughly shot down seemed to have hit my old man pretty hard. …Serves him right.
After that, I suggested we split by gender, but Akira was stubborn, insisting that she “didn’t want to disturb the couple’s private time.” My old man, still dejected, had no energy left to offer an opinion, and Miyuki-san just watched the whole thing unfold with a gentle smile.
And so, in the end, the room assignments were settled on: married couple together, kids together. In other words, I—
“…I’m in the same room as Aniki~, ehehe ♪”
—ended up sleeping in the same room, with our parents’ full consent, as this mischievous little sister who was whispering right beside me. That’s how it all went down…
＊ ＊ ＊
“Woooow! What a gorgeous room~~!”
The moment we entered the room on the second floor of the main building, marked with a nameplate reading ‘Tsubaki’, Akira started bouncing around the room. Apparently, Akira has stayed at hotels before, but this is her first time at a hot spring inn, and she’s practically bubbling over with excitement. It’s quite a heartwarming sight, but I have bigger things to worry about.
“Look, look! Isn’t this indirect lighting so stylish? I’ve always wanted to stay in a room like this!”
It certainly is a lovely room. A modern Japanese interior with atmospheric lighting, a slightly oversized LCD TV, and two semi-double beds. The interior is quite elaborate, a bit luxurious for a couple of students, but—isn’t the atmosphere a little too nice? Isn’t this the kind of room that couples or young newlyweds stay in…?
—No, no, we’re siblings. As her older brother, I absolutely will not be swayed by the atmosphere of this room and my stepsister’s cuteness.
“Aniki! This bed’s so fluffy!”
“Hey, hey, you’re gonna stir up dust…”
After bouncing on the comfortable-looking bed, Akira’s interest shifted to the view outside the window.
“Look, look! The view’s so pretty~! The mountains are all red~! It looks like monkeys might pop out!”
“Careful, you don’t fall out.”
Leaning out the window to admire the scenery, Akira looks just like an innocent little brother. But the way she immediately comes over and hugs me, saying, “I’m so happy,” feels more like a little sister… no, this feels quite different from how a sister would act, doesn’t it?
“Yay, I’m in the same room as Aniki~♪”
“H-Hey… Don’t get too carried away, okay?”
“But I’m just so happy to be all alone with you, Aniki ♪”
“If Dad and the others hear you…”
“It’s fine. They’re all the way in the annex anyway~”
—That’s right. Our parents’ room isn’t next door in the main building, but in a separate building called ‘Hisagi’. In other words, what Akira calls “fine” is, for me, decidedly not fine at all.
“Aniki, is your heart pounding from being all alone with me?”
“Well, it’s more like the pounding of anxiety, yeah…”
“Anxiety? What could you possibly be anxious about, I wonder?” Akira said with a mischievous tone, then started rubbing her face against my chest, going “nuzzle nuzzle~♪”
This mischievous nuzzling-hug combo is so devastatingly effective that it instantly drains my rationality gauge. If I try to forcefully pry her off, she just clings to me like a koala, so there’s nothing I can do. She knows exactly what she’s doing, which makes her even more of a pain—just then, there was a knock at the door, followed by a woman’s voice saying, “Excuse me.”
Akira instantly pulled away from me and hurriedly straightened her slightly mussed hair and clothes.
—If you’re capable of that kind of embarrassment, then please go a little easier on me…
As I was watching Akira, exasperated, the door opened quietly. The person who appeared was the kimono-clad woman who had shown us to our room. She appeared to be about twenty or so, possibly a college student, but she had a calm and beautiful aura about her. It seemed she had finished showing our parents to their room in the annex and had now come here to explain the inn’s facilities.
“Allow me to properly introduce myself. Thank you for coming all this way today. My name is Okami, and I’ll be your attendant.”
“Hm?” “Eh?”
Akira and I looked at each other at the same time.
“Ah, um… Are you the okami-san?”
When I asked, she replied, “No, I’m an attendant.”
“So you mean you’re an attendant, not the okami-san?”
“No, I am Okami, but I’m also an attendant…”
“Um, so you’re an attendant… eh? Okami-san?”
“No, no, Okami is my family name. It’s written with ‘oka’ for hill and ‘mi’ for look. My job is being an attendant… I apologize for the confusion…”
[T/N: The attendant’s family name, Okami (岡見), sounds the same as the word for an inn’s proprietress, ‘okami’ (女将), creating the confusion.]
“Ah, no—”
—I see. How confusing.
After Okami-san, the attendant finished her general explanation of the inn, the conversation shifted to the topic of the outdoor baths.
“—Here are the tickets for the outdoor baths.”
What she handed us were lanyard-style pass tickets to hang around our necks. Apparently, the system involves scanning the printed barcode at a machine by the entrance to the outdoor baths. Hearing that we could use all seven outdoor baths for free as many times as we wanted, I was getting a little excited when Akira quietly spoke up.
“Um, are there any mixed baths?”
“What are you asking…” I said with exasperation, but she shot back, “Aren’t you curious?”
It’d be a lie to say I’m not, but why are you asking while turning bright red?
“There are no mixed outdoor baths, but the indoor bath ‘Tsuribana’ is a private bath, so if you wish to bathe together, please flip the sign on the door to ‘Occupied’—”
“Ah—no, we’re siblings, so we won’t be bathing together. Ahaha…”
I laughed it off, but Akira was puffing out her cheeks in dissatisfaction.
“And here I was, hoping to wash someone’s back for them~”
“Nah, I’ll pass.”
“I only said ‘someone,’ you know?”
“Tch…!? A-Anyway, we are not getting in together!”
“Oh my? But you were the one who wanted to get in with me before, weren’t you? ‘Wash my back for me~’ you said.”
“That was to get closer to my little brother!”
“Well, you actually ended up in the bath with your little sister in the end, though~”
“And don’t bring that up again, you…—”
I froze. It was because I noticed Okami-san turning bright red, a look of “Oh, my” written all over her face…
“Ah~, sorry, please pretend you didn’t hear that!”
Okami-san’s eyes darted nervously around.
“I was wondering about this for a little while, but you two are brother and sister… right?”
“Ah, yes. I’m Majima Ryouta. And this is—”
“Himeno Akira.”
—Ah, she just said Himeno on purpose, didn’t she?
“Eh…? Majima-sama and Himeno-sama… eh? You’re siblings, but you have different last names, and mixed bathing… eh? Eh?”
—I see. This has gotten complicated.
“There are some… family circumstances involved…” Feeling a bit flustered, I tried to clear up Okami-san’s misunderstanding. The person I thought was my stepbrother, whose back I had washed, turned out to be my stepsister—even as I’m saying it myself, I’m not quite sure what I’m talking about… But saying it out loud brings this wave of shame and regret. I wonder if there’ll ever come a day when I can laugh about this…
“—So that’s the situation. Please keep this between us.”
“So that’s what it was. And here I was, not knowing anything, having such a terrible misunderstanding…”
“So you understand now…”
“I won’t breathe a word of this to anyone, so please rest easy—”
But my relief was short-lived—
“—That the older brother made a woman out of his younger sister in the bath… I couldn’t possibly go around saying something like that…”
—I see. So that’s the conclusion she jumped to… Okami-san, her face completely red, seemed to have latched onto yet another misunderstanding.
“Um, I think that’s definitely, absolutely not it…”
“Aniki, what does ‘made a woman’ mean? I’ve been a girl from the very start, though…”
“Hm? Well, that’s what it means. …Probably.”
—This is getting complicated, so let me summarize. One more person now knows Akira’s and my secret. She’s Okami-san, the attendant. The pronunciation is just a little different, so I’ll have to be careful…
＊ ＊ ＊
After making us tea, Okami-san said, “Please make yourselves at home and relax,” and left with a somewhat knowing smile. Akira and I sit in seiza on the tatami mats, facing each other across the table in awkward silence. After taking a sip of tea and catching our breath, we finally looked at each other.
“Akira, about what just happened—”
“I know, so don’t say it.”
Seeing Akira’s sulky face, I let out a sigh. Even though we both got carried away, we ended up spilling our sibling secret to a complete stranger. Akira seemed to be reflecting on that too, but she was still puffing out her cheeks.
“What’ve you been mad about this whole time?”
“That you don’t see me as a girl, Aniki.”
“That’s pretty direct… I do, I do see you that way. I’m very conscious of it.”
“Then couldn’t you enjoy being with me a little more?”
“I always have fun when I’m with you, Akira.”
“That’s as siblings, right? —I mean, you didn’t have to keep desperately going on about me being your ‘sister’ to Okami-san like that…”
In short, Akira seems to be sulking because I kept emphasizing that she was my sister in front of Okami-san. We are siblings, so that’s only natural, but apparently that’s not what she means.
“It’s not about enjoying things like we normally do—since we came to a place like this, it’s about enjoying the extraordinary, or like, something more… something like…—” Akira fidgeted, looking embarrassed.
Guessing what Akira was trying to say, I felt my own face heat up.
“—More… like a couple…”
“Yeah, no, that’s not happening…”
My back started to feel all tingly. Since a trip is for enjoying the extraordinary, it seems Akira wants not our everyday sibling relationship, but an extraordinary relationship as lovers.
—Wait a minute, I feel like we don’t act much like siblings normally either… Let’s not think too deeply about it.
“So, just asking, but what exactly does ‘acting like a couple’ involve?”
“Um, may I come over there?”
“Eh, ah, yes. Please…”
We both became stiff and red-faced as our knees touched. It’s so embarrassing I can’t even look her in the eye properly. After a frustrating moment of silence, Akira quietly offered her head.
“First, please pat my head.”
“Eh, ah, okay—is this good?”
I pat her head as told, but it feels different from usual, and for some reason, I feel shy.
“Then, next, a kiss—”
“Rejected!”
“Then at least give me a hug.”
“W-Well, if it’s just that, I guess—”
I gently wrapped my arms around Akira’s body and pulled her closer. It’s difficult while still in seiza, but Akira leaned forward, putting her weight on me. Akira wrapped her arms around my body, too.
“How’s this…”
“It’s wonderful…”
“Um, that way of speaking you’ve had for a while now, can you do something about it?”
I had completely fallen into Akira’s pace. The things we always do feel different from usual, and my rhythm has been completely thrown off. I don’t know if it’s because of Akira’s clothes, the way she’s talking, or the atmosphere of this room, but for now, this is not good for my heart.
“Your heart is beating so fast, Aniki.”
“W-Well, of course it is…”
“I’m so happy. You’re getting all flustered because of me, right?”
“Well, yeah.”
“My heart is pounding too, you know? Want to listen?”
“No, I’m good.”
“………………”
“Um, Akira? My legs are starting to go numb…”
“………………”
“Umm… Please say something!”
Silence in this situation is the most agonizing thing.
—When is the right time to let go? Please don’t look at me with those teary eyes.
As I was thinking that, after just a few tens of seconds, or maybe a few minutes—my phone suddenly rang. —It was Nishiyama.
“…Are you going to answer it?”
“Ah, yeah—”
Akira had a pained expression on her face, so I felt a pang of guilt as I answered the phone.
“—Ah, it’s me, it’s me!”
“If this is a scam call, I’m hanging up—”
“Hey! It’s not one of those ‘It’s me’ scams! It’s the drama club president, Nishiyama Kazusa~!”
“I know, but what is it? I’m not wiring you any money.”
“I told you, that’s not it~!”
Thanks to Nishiyama, I was able to relax quite a bit.
“So, what do you want?”
“Senpai, what are you up to right now?”
“Eh, ah—”
—There’s no way I can say, ‘I’m hugging Akira.’
“Well, you know, just chilling in my room…”
“Ooh, so you’re having a nice time with Akira-chan, are you~?”
“N-No… Akira and I are in separate rooms!”
The moment I told a lie, Akira squeezed my arm tightly. When I looked, she had a reproachful expression. It was as if she were trying to say, ‘Why would you lie?’
“Hmm. Well, that’s fine, but I tried calling Akira-chan and couldn’t get through.”
“H-Heh~… You needed something from her?”
“It’s for you too, Majima-senpai. How about we all go to the outdoor baths now?”
“The outdoor baths, huh…”
—Perfect. Nice timing, Nishiyama.
“Ah, but if you two want to be all lovey-dovey—”
“I’m going! I’m going right now! Just wait a sec!”
“Oh, really? Then please change into your yukata. We’ll be waiting in the lobby downstairs~—”
When the call ended, Akira looked up at my face, pouting.
“You lied, Aniki~”
“It can’t be helped in this situation…”
“We’re siblings, so you should have just said we were in the same room~”
“That kind of reasoning won’t work on them right now, you know that right?”
They’re the ones who treat me like an ‘out-of-spec siscon’ (well, one of them, at least). If they found out we were sharing a room, who knows what they’d say…
“Listen up, Akira. The fact that we’re in the same room is a secret between us, got it?”
“Doesn’t that make it sound more suspicious?”
“It’s not suspicious. This is to protect our peaceful daily lives.”
“Mmm, okay, but~… —Ah!” Akira seemed to have realized something and grinned mischievously. “We have another little secret between us now, don’t we, Aniki.”
“That way of putting it… You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”
“Having a secret no one can know about is… hehe ♪”
“F-Forget about that, here’s the message from Nishiyama—”
The moment I told her we were going to the outdoor baths, Akira’s face turned beet red.
“Eh!? I have to get in with Kazusa-chan and the others!?”
“Yeah, but… Ah! I see…” Akira has never shown her skin to anyone besides Miyuki-san and Takeru-san. Apparently, even on her school trip, she filled the tub in her hotel room and bathed separately. Now, all of a sudden, the hurdle of getting into a hot spring seems to have been raised sky-high. Will she be okay?
“Akira, what do you want to do?”
“Y-Yeah… I’m a little… not so confident…” Akira looked down at her own modest chest.
How am I supposed to support her here…
“Come to think of it, you were worried about me before, right, Aniki?”
“We’ll have family trips to hot springs, and high school trips too. You won’t always be able to have a private bath. If you don’t get some experience bathing with others somewhere, you might have trouble in the future, you know?”
“Well, I guess I did say that, but…”
“This might be my chance to use the experience of bathing with you, Aniki!”
“It’s the way you phrase things! And you don’t need to make a fist pump!”
I was pretty overwhelmed by her like that, but we decided to change into our yukatas. However, we had never changed together in the same room before. Akira seemed to have started taking off her clothes, too—
swish… rustle, rustle… swish… fwoosh…—
With everything that’s happened up until now, even the sound of rustling clothes is intensely stimulating. I put on my yukata as if to shake off my worldly desires, tied the obi tightly, and took a deep breath so Akira wouldn’t hear, trying to calm my mind.
“Akira, are you done?”
“Aniki, how do you tie this obi thing?”
“What, have you never worn a yukata before?”
“I have a few times. But Mom always helped me put it on.”
“It’s not that difficult.”
“Then, Aniki, teach me how to tie it.”
“Alright… H m?”
If she’s asking me to teach her, that means—
“Please. Kazusa-chan and the others are waiting, right?”
—I should probably check, just in case.
“You’re wearing the top part properly, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Alright, got it… Then I’m turning around—”
When I turned around, Akira was holding her yukata in place, her cheeks flushed. Trying my best not to look too much in her direction, I picked up the obi from the bed, and as I knelt in front of Akira, I noticed something.
“Akira, if you look closely, this is wrapped the wrong way.”
“The wrong way?”
“Normally, it’s the right side first, meaning the right flap goes against your body on the inside. The l eft side first is for the deceased. If you wear it like that, you’ll be taken to the afterlife, you know?”
“Eehh!?”
“So here, hurry up and fix it. I’ll turn my back—”
After confirming that the yukata was wrapped correctly, I immediately started on the obi. I also explained how to tie it, so she could do it herself in the future.
“—And then, you do this at the end. How is it, not too tight?”
“Yeah, it’s perfect! Thanks, Aniki ♪”
Akira did a little spin in the yukata she had just put on.
“Looks pretty good.”
“How do I look?”
“Eh, ah… You look cute, really…”
“Ehehehe ♪ I got a ‘cute’ from Aniki ♪”
After that, we grabbed our haori jackets and the things we needed for the hot springs and left the room.
＊ ＊ ＊
“Ah, there they are! You’re so slow, you two~!”
When we got to the lobby, Nishiyama and the others were waiting for us in their yukatas, chatting happily. Besides Nishiyama, it was just Hinata and Ito. The other three had gone on ahead to the outdoor baths.
“Ryouta-senpai and Akira both look great in yukatas! Siblings in yukatas are so adorable~!” Hinata’s words made both me and Akira feel a little embarrassed. But—
“They look more like a couple than siblings, don’t you think~? Mfufufu~”
—Nishiyama had to ruin everything. …This girl, really, I want to make her cry for real someday.
Then Hinata noticed something and said, “Huh, Akira?”
“Can I see for a second? —Ah, this, the way the obi is tied is the men’s style.”
““Eh!?””
Akira and I were surprised—and at the same time, Akira shot a glare at me. While Hinata was retying Akira’s obi with practiced hands, Akira secretly turned to me and, instead of saying it out loud, conveyed with her eyes, ‘Aniki~! Do you want me to be a boy that badly!?’
‘It wasn’t on purpose!’ I replied with my expression, but, ‘You’re getting a stee~rn punishment for this later!’ she conveyed with her eyes again.
However, that wasn’t the end of it…
“—There, all done.” Hinata finished retying Akira’s obi beautifully and smiled gently.
“Thank you, Hinata-chan.”
“No problem. —But still, Akira, you really are close with Ryouta-senpai, aren’t you?”
“Eh? Why?”
“Because the way it was tied was the same as Ryouta-senpai’s.”
““Hauh!?””
Not wearing my haori jacket had come back to bite me. Akira looked at me in a panic, but I was also frozen by the sudden turn of events.
“It’s interesting that siblings tie their obi the same way. You’re in separate rooms, right?”
“Y-Yeah, separate rooms! The knot was just, you know! We were in a hurry, so it was a coincidence, I guess~…”
“I see, so it was a coincidence? I thought maybe Ryouta-senpai had taught you beforehand.” Hinata smiled sweetly, but neither Akira nor I were in a situation where we could smile back. Our faces were twitching.
“N-No, Aniki, didn’t, teach me, no, yeah!”
“Well, just so you know, for a kaku-obi, you can just tie it in a simple ribbon knot, okay?”
“Heeh~, is that so? I had no idea~…”
“The way yours was tied just now is called ‘otoko-musubi’—is that something you can do by coincidence, in a hurry, without being taught by anyone?” Hinata probably said it without any ill intent, but Akira and I were both shaken.
“Tch—!? W-Well, that’s, you see~…”
“Someone tied it for you—I think that’s the more natural conclusion, don’t you think~?”
Akira’s eyes pleaded, ‘Help me, Aniki!’ High school detective Ueda Hinata’s brilliant deduction had left both me and Akira completely cornered.
What should I say? Wow, what a great deduction. You should become a novelist or something, ahaha—wait, that’s a total culprit line…
“I see! So that’s it—” Hinata looked back and forth between our flustered faces, and then, “—The fact that you tied it the same way even by coincidence is proof that your hearts are connected ♪” she blushed at the wonderful coincidence (?).
It seems her excitement won out just a step before she reached the truth. What a good kid she is…
