Roadtrip // Kubokai

Hot n' Wet

Kyoto is one of the largest cities in Japan. With that being said, most of it's area is covered by modern infrastructure such as long and wide roads, skyscrapers and many other buildings, making it also one of the loudest and most visited cities in the country. To have a peaceful and quiet moment, Kaidou took his boyfriend out of the downtown, until they found a perfect spot to spend their morning. They bought coffee in a near cafe and went to a big park, where they could enjoy their drinks, while slowly walking around the avenues and chatting. 

"Do you think they received my message? I'm not sure if that lady gave it to them" 

"Maybe. She seemed quite nice and excited. What I would assume is that the napkin could possibly not survive all the way to their house" 

"You're right. I should have thought about it better. I really want them to know that I care" 

Kuboyasu's heart was aching, when he remained silent. The urge to just tell Kaidou about everything that happened two nights ago was getting stronger. He knew he would be relieved if he just said the truth, but on the other hand, he couldn't imagine the sense of guilt he would experience, if he saw Shun devastated after hearing that his grandfather didn't care about him. For now, he just wanted him to be happy, and by that, he had no other choice but to lie again. 

"We'll see" he tried to change the topic of the conversation as quick as possible "We should probably be heading back soon, get ready for the day"

"Right" Kaidou nodded and finished drinking his coffee. They left the park and decided to go back to the hotel my foot.

"Hey look over there" Kuboyasu dunched him gently and pointed his finger at a place on the other side of the street.

"Kinoko World" Shun read the sign, written in English "Is that a mushroom store? Mixing Japanese and English words... sounds like a tourist trap to me"

"That's what I thought! How odd!"

"Right? The only tourist trap I would expect to see here is trapping tourists and sending them back to their country"

"Yeah, they hate foreigners here"

"Yeah" Kaidou agreed.

"Yeah" Kuboyasu repeated and looked around "This one time I'm lucky to be Japanese. At least they will let us everywhere"

"Oh! Speaking of it" Shun looked him in deeply the eyes, and asked a very important question "You don't have any tattoos, don't you?"

"No?" Kuboyasu was confused "Why?"

"That's good! I-I mean... I just wanted to know if you didn't get yourself any tattoos when you were younger. You know... so they would let us in later"

"I get in now! No, it's fine! I was a delinquent, not the Yakuza member. But that's a good observation. I completely forgot how conservative some of the onsen owners are"

Onsens are known as one of the most popular attractions in Kyoto. Outside the city center, there are many onsens and sentos, but most of them are very strict about letting people with tattoos. In fact, the entirety of Japan is known for having a bad opinion about any kind of tattoos, as it's associated with the Japanese equivalent of mafia. Young people are slowly losing this belief, but many older people - who also happen to be the owners of the onsens - still believe that even a person with a small tattoo of a cat can be potentially dangerous.

"I actually wanted to get a tattoo once" Kuboyasu remembered one of his old memories "But I was broke as hell and nobody would do it for free"

While they were going back to the hotel, Aren continued to tell more stories of his past. This also reminded him of a one thing he wanted to ask Kaidou. He planned to do it this or next evening. He needed a time and place, where they could be alone and there would be no chance of somebody interrupting them. Suddenly, shivers went down his spine. He realized how afraid he was to ask Shun about the actual truth behind his bandages. But he knew it would be good for both of them to do it. Especially since they were already in a relationship.