Sasaki-sensei [Haise x Reader]

Part 11: Onsen

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at a 24 hour convenience store. Haise bought some stuff to take care of the bunny we rescued. It was all blurry for me because my mind was distracted the whole time. If your crush told you that he'd be there to protect you all the time, what would that mean??

When we arrived at the hotel, Haise offered to keep the bunny with him. He said he'd read more and make sure the cute little thing was okay.

"Um... Thank you for saving me back there," I told him just before I was about to get into my room.

"I was partly responsible for what happened," he replied with a nervous smile.

"I still think it's fun though..."

"Me too." The moonlight shone on Haise as he bent down a little until his face was close to mine, and planted a little kiss on my cheek. "Good night--," he said my name.

I could feel my face getting really hot, as with my back and my chest. Like a piece of machinery drowned in water, I was pretty sure I experienced short-circuit and failed to "human". I just stood there in awe with red face while Haise waved bye and went into his room.

I copied his actions and got back into my own room-- only to find that stupid kid Sougo sitting on my bed. I almost forgotten that I left him there to sleep off his tipsiness. Apparently he's up.

"Where have you been? You missed your curfew, you need to be punished," he sounded much more conscious now.

"You're the one who needs to be punished! What were you thinking, drinking during school trip?"

"My friend gave me some whiskey-flavored chocolate."

"I never heard of someone getting drunk from chocolates except in anime."

"......," Sougo clicked his tongue, "I forgot you know health science and stuff."

"You're lucky no other teachers saw you."

"What about your friend in the next room?"

"W-what about him?" I got embarrassed again at the mention of this 'friend'.

"He saw me and he knew I was here."

"H-Haise is not the type who would snitch." I turned down my voice when saying his name, aware that we're just separated by a wall.

"'Haise'? Oh, you're on first name basis now?"

"It's not your business, now go back to your room. I want to sleep too," Somehow I felt really shy.

Sougo stared at me for a moment, then got up on his feet. "I'll let you off this time," he walked to the door.

"Sougo, we've been through this: you're not my mom."

He glanced at me again before leaving, "Just be careful, you trust people too easily. I didn't raise you to be this naïve."

On second thought, this guy could be my mom.

I couldn't fall asleep that night, obviously. Thanks to my elated mood and my overwhelmed heart pumping fast everytime I remembered about Haise. It's almost midnight; I decided to have a soak in the onsen. There shouldn't be anyone else bathing at this hour, so I didn't have to be self-conscious of being almost naked.

As with typical onsen baths, this one separated men and women pools (although only by a humble bamboo wall). Bathers were also prohibited from wearing any clothing; they provided a small towel you could use in the pool. It was really small though, you couldn't even wrap it around yourself.

As I predicted, there's nobody in the women's bath. Yay! I got into the water; it's quite warm despite being an outdoor pool.

The bath helped to relax my body and mind. For a short time, I forgot about everything and just focused on the nice feeling of the water temperature and fresh air.

I heard splashes coming from the other side of the wall between me and the men's bath. I kept still, trying to figure out the source of the noise. I could hear someone talking.

"Don't you ever wonder if the women's bath is the same with men's?"

Someone replied but the voice was too soft for me to make out the words.

"Nah... I heard they have that lion-head water sprinkle thing on the pool."

There's nothing like that here! Where did you hear that gossip?

"Maybe we can check, there must be a little hole somewhere among those bamboo shoots."

Oh no, I should make them aware that someone's in here, so they don't peek.

I made some big movements to make the water splashed noisily.

"Hey, someone's in there. At this hour? Hm... Maybe it's just local monkeys playing with water."

I'm not a monkey!

"Start a conversation, Sougo, it might be one of your girl friends."

Sougo??

"Ginpachi-sensei, I don't have a girlfriend," Sougo's voice was audible this time.

"Whatever, talk anyway! You're still young but you're so boring. Onsen is that, you know, heart racing while you imagine what's over this wall... trying to talk to the girls at that side, then they get embarrassed because having conversation while you're naked is so ecchi~~"

How can someone like this be a teacher?? But now that he said it, I realize that he's right... Aaa now I can't even talk to them anymore, because it would feel perverted.

"Oy, is anyone there?" Sougo increased his voice volume. I supposed he's not happy being labelled 'boring' by the perm-head teacher.

You fell right into his trap, Sougo!

"No reply," Sougo told him.

"Maybe you didn't ask politely. Girls don't like rude boys... maybe that's why you don't have any girlfriends," Ginpachi-sensei said mockingly. "Well, we know someone who speaks proper polite. Right, Sasaki-kun? It's your turn to talk now. Say something too, no girls would ignore your sweet voice."

Sa-sasaki-kun?!

"N-no, I think you'll make the other person uncomfortable if we do this."

I recognized that sympathetic voice too well.

Haise is also there with those two!