Is This Real? || Akatsuki no Yona / Yona of the Dawn

~ Chapter 27 ~

"It's my first time being in an inn this beautiful." Yona comments as she looks around the small spring, covering her chest with a towel.

"There's an even more luxurious well established inn in Shisen. This is probably a rare opportunity for you, so tell me if you want anything." Lili tells the two of us and Tetora giggles.

"It's so unusual for Lady Lili to invite some friends over!"

"We're not friends." Lili says stubbornly, sinking into the water.

"Anyway, what is with those bruises?" Tetora exclaims, looking at every scratch on Yona's body. "Really! What a thing to do to a woman's body!"

"She's learning the sword, so you'd have to expect a bruise or two." I shrug.

"The sword?"

"Oh my, and with a small body like yours."

"I'm still bad at it, though." Yona says nonchalantly and Lili speaks up.

"You have such strong men with you. What need do you have in taking up the sword?" She asks. Yona takes a moment before answering Lili's question.

"They're all... trying to shield me. Eyre too. I don't want to drag you guys down." She directs her last sentence at me and I smile fondly.

"It's fine! Let them protect you. Eyre, you should do the same. I'm rather envious."

"Tetora, your true colors are showing." Ayura says and I laugh.

"But... I want to be acknowledged..." Yona trails off, looking down with a faint blush.

"By the one you love?" Tetora asks and I chuckle.

"No, it's Hak."

"Ah, him? Not bad."

"N-no!"

"That won't do. You must be lying if it isn't somebody like him."

"I said, 'No'!"

Lili interrupts the three of us.

"But didn't he go to the red light district?" I flinch and look to the side as silence overtakes everyone of us.

I think I'll just get out...

I rise out of the water and take a step out, walking back inside the building. I take a towel, dry myself, and grab one of the complimentary kimonos. I shrug the kimono on before walking back to the room. From there, I just open the window and rest my guitar on my leg.

A few minutes after Tetora and I arrived at the inn, Yona, Ayura, Lili, Yun, Shin-ah, and Zeno arrived with the tents and my duffel bag. Yona had the guitar in her hand and both Ayura and Tetora told us that they would leave all of our belongings inside the room they had rented out.

My gaze turns to the strings as I randomly strum them, not making any particular tune. My fingers run up and down the neck and I stare out the window. My attention is ripped away from the outside when the doors slide open and in walk Lili, Ayura, and Tetora. I smile and set the guitar down.

"Hi. You guys here for something?" I ask and Yona nods, walking over to Yun's bag that is laid next to my duffel bag.

"Yeah. Just wanted to grab my sword." I nod my head and stand from the floor, following after the four. The five of us walk to the outside of the building, where Yona begins swinging her sword. We all sit by, watching her.

"You really are learning how to swing a sword. You look weak though." Lili says and Yona blushes a bit.

"Isn't that cute." Tetora gushes, clasping her hands together.