I will Tell you my Feelings!! Utakata X Hotaru (TeacherXStudent)

Chapter 2

Sinking herself into the warm tub, she sighed silently when the heat smoothed out her cramping muscles and shivered into the water to make herself comfortable.

It had been a while since they had actually been able to stop at a decently well-furnished inn. Traveling through the Wave Country was actually much harder than she would have liked it to be, and for most of the nights, the master and student found themselves sleeping under the stars.

Of course, Utakata-sama didn't care for living with modern conveniences and had no complaint for it, but after a long while, Hotaru grimaced with each passing day they resorted to resting their head on grass, which was often rough and free to roam in for small itch-causing insects.

Rubbing some soap over her arms, she was surprised to find that she actually missed the chemical feel of the lather on her skin—there was just something lacking about hard water that didn't make her feel completely clean, something she discovered through the weeks of traveling.

Dunking the slippery arm into the bath and moving on to her opposite arm, she spotted a stray soap bubble stranded at the corner of the tub. Not thinking very much of it at first, she continued to soap the rest of her body until realizing that other bubbles had floated over to that corner, beginning to create a colony at the edge of porcelain by her left foot.

It never occurred to her until that moment that bubbles looked the same, no matter what situation.

Any combination of soap and water would result in a fragile prison of air, swirls of light averting into rainbow waves on its surface.

She rose slightly, sitting up, feeling her now dampened hair fall heavily to her bared shoulders. Taking a drop of soap between her two palms and massaging it together, she watched the friction of her movements create small pockets of bubbles between her fingers. Holding out one hand into the air, she made a circle out of her fist, a soapy film stretching over her rounded fingers and thumb.

Her marine eyes watched the clear sheet glitter in the light for a moment before she puckered her lips and gave out a small puff of air into her hand. A proto-bubble flopped through the film but quickly bounced back—she hadn't given out enough air to let it take flight.

So she tried again, more direct with her efforts. Slowly a rather large ball of soap lifted from the other end of her fist and wafted into the steam-filled air.

She pondered for a moment and then repeated the same motion with her other lathered hand, this time creating two smaller bubbles out of a single breath.

The three of them popped, and she scooped a bit more soap to recycle the process, turning bubble-making into a zen-like meditation.

A bubble that was just about to lift from her hand decided instead to stick to her pinky and she stretched her hand out wide, palm up to study the clingy creation.

It was a half bubble, the crescent that wasn't film, her fair hand. She whistled at it gently, letting the surface waver, threatening to pop.

A strong knock at the wooden door startled both her and the bubble.

"Hotaru," called her sensei's firm voice. "What's taking you so long? We have to go soon."

She shook her head to herself—not wanting to escape this simple luxury of life.

"Making bubbles," she chirped, and then blew the clear pearl off her hand to watch it wobble into the air.

Exasperated—she could hear the groan in his voice—he murmured, "What am I going to do with you?"

She didn't hesitate to answer.

"Join me."

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