Girl Next Door

Chapter Thirty-Five

Kyosuke turned around to face Risa.

She was up to her chest in the hot water of the bath, so that enough of her breasts were submerged and obscured from Kyosuke's view, but he could still see some of it, and covered his nose to staunch the bleeding. Risa then covered her chest with her arms, blushing. A short awkward silence came between them as they sat there in the bath together.

"W-What was it you wanted to talk about...?" asked Kyosuke.

Risa gave him a reluctant look.

"Um, well, I..." she spoke. "I just want to apologize for earlier."

"For what...?" asked Kyosuke, confused.

"You know... If I acted a little out of line while I was... you know," Risa replied sheepishly.

"Oh..." said Kyosuke, looking at her with concern.

"Damn, I feel like I've been violated and sexually harrassed," said Risa in an gruff manner.

Kyosuke was shocked at her sudden statement just now.

 "W-What?!" he asked.

"Sorry, I just..." replied Risa in a calmer voice, "When I drink, I feel like people around me are taking advantage of me while I'm drunk."

"Oh," said Kyosuke. He gave a sigh.

Another awkward silence between the two. The Risa spoke.

"A-Actually, there is another thing I would like to talk to you about."

"What is it...?" asked Kyosuke wonderingly.

Risa paused for a moment before speaking again.

"It's about the baseball game... It's coming up, right?"

"Yeah," replied Kyosuke. "Once we get back, we'll start practicing."

"About that, um..." said Risa with a worried look.

"What is it, Risa?" asked Kyosuke.

"D-Do you really think it's okay for me to join the team...?" asked Risa, eyes glistening.

"Of course," said Kyosuke with a smile. "You deserve to be on the team. You did great on the tryouts."

"That's not what I meant," said Risa softly, looking down at her reflection on the water. "I mean, I'm the only girl on the team."

"Yeah, so?" said Kyosuke.

"Well..." said Risa, before giving a sigh, "it feels as if I'm the odd one out. I mean, the rest of the team may treat me as a member, but I'll always be the only girl on the team."

Kyosuke looked at her with concern. "Risa..."

"I'm worried I might just embarrass you, worse, I might just get in the way of everyone," said Risa, who looked as if she were on the verge of tears.

"Don't say that," said Kyosuke. Though he wanted to go near her to comfort her, he was still uncomfortable at the prospect of him and Risa being in the same bath together.

Risa looked at Kyosuke, her eyes glistening as if she were about to cry. "Kyosuke..."

"Risa, don't ever, ever feel that way about yourself," said Kyosuke softly. "You're a member of the team. And you're special."

Risa gasped and blushed slightly. "S-S-Special...?"

"No, no!" said Kyosuke, waving his hands out at Risa. "What I mean is, you're the special member of the team because we don't have any better batters than you out there. And you saved the team from being abolished. You have me and the team to be grateful for that, Risa."