YNoMH? (BL)

20

Chapter 20: Center of the World (7)

They soaked in the bath until they were ready to get out, cooled off in the room, and dozed until evening.

"I should get going for dinner." Ushio was lying down next to Kei and started to get up. "Since I'm here with a group, they're strict with the meal times."

"What did the other guys do today?"

"Fishing and biking around the ravine. I told them that I wasn't feeling well and didn't go."

Thinking how Ushio stayed behind by himself waiting for him instead of going out with his friends, Kei finally felt awful for imposing on him. He really didn't know why he had to come when Ushio had probably looked forward to this trip.

"Don't worry about it," Ushio said lightly, reading Kei's expression. "I did plenty of fishing, even caught myself a big one."

"Are you talking about me?"

"Well, you did splash and flounder about like a deflowered maiden."1

"Shut up and go!"

Kei was having dinner brought up to his room, and he didn't want the attendant finding them together either. He really couldn't relax when he was outside. Kei followed Ushio to the door, and Ushio pulled him in for a hug at the entryway. They exchanged a long kiss.

"...I'll come again later at night."

"Around what time?"

"I don't think it'll be too late. Everyone should be exhausted from going out all day, and they'll probably fall down drunk in no time."

Ushio then brushed his lips against Kei's ear and whispered, "So wait for me."

"...Okay."

"It feels a little like a secret rendezvous. I kinda like it."

Kei had thought the same thing, but he was too embarrassed to say it out loud. Instead, he pushed Ushio out the door.

After about an hour, the attendant arrived to lay out a gorgeous spread of dishes, an amount of food far too much for Kei to finish by himself, and an autograph sheet and pen were offered to him like it was a part of the meal service. Kei refused the offer of a personal server as he sat down at the low table to sample all of the dishes. Due to an unexpected bout of exercise, he had become quite hungry, and he had to admit that it wasn't so bad spending an evening flipping through the shows on prime time as he indulged in an extravagant meal.

Kei finished his dinner for one, and after the attendant came to clean up the table, he sat down in an armchair by the window to finally take in the view. However, it was dark outside, and unlike Tokyo, there were no traces of artificial lighting. If he concentrated hard enough, he could make out the silhouettes of mountains against the starry night sky. It was a moonless night. The trip was extremely costly, but Kei thought that it was well worth it in the end. He was able to enjoy a nice soak in the bath, eat a delicious meal, laze around doing nothing, and forget all about work.

Kei sat back to sink deeply into the armchair and closed his eyes, when all of a sudden, a loud boom came from the outside. It sounded far away, and Kei thought that it was thunder at first. He frantically righted himself up to turn around and examined the view outside. There was a red light that wasn't there before, and it illuminated the grove of trees near a bridge upstream of the river. A cloud of black smoke drifted up towards the sky.

Was it a fire? Kei hopped out of the chair as he pondered what had happened. He might as well see with his own eyes what it was.

"Whoa—!"