Her Otherworldly Smile (Kyo⨯OC; Yuki⨯OC)

「Chapter 20」

—White Day Presents (at a Hotsprings)—
—Skylar—

Momiji's bouncing around the charter bus, talking about the mountain as we drive up it. Me, Aly, and Tohru are sitting across from him, watching as he leaps over Kyo and Yuki, landing on his feet in front of a small TV mounted on the wall.

"And the weather's so great today!" he cheers.

"It is," Tohru agrees, smiling.

I lean my head on Aly's shoulder as the two of them start talking about how green everything looks. "Today's gonna be pretty uneventful, huh?"

She rolls her eyes. "We're in a manga, and you think it's uneventful. How like you."

"You know what I mean~" I whine.

"We need a day to breathe," she says. "You need a day to breathe—you're still recovering from a fever, and we've got quite the workload when we get back, so just enjoy some peace and quiet."

"Quiet makes me uneasy," I grumble, childishly kicking my heel against the carpeted floor.

Aly sighs, moving my head off of her shoulder with her hand. "You've been pushing yourself ridiculously hard ever since you got into that argument with Shigure," she says. "Take a day to just exist, Skylar."

I make a face, and she swats at me as the bus comes to a stop.

"We're here!" Momiji celebrates, hopping up and down.

Aly smiles at him, completely covering up whatever annoyance she has at me, and stands up. I follow her lead, pausing to stretch as the others get off, and sigh as soon as they're all out of earshot.

I guess I am too tired to keep up with Momiji, so maybe Aly's right: maybe I should just enjoy the trip~

Yawning, I hop off of the bus, joining the others in front of a huge, Japanese-styled inn.

Aside from the size, it looks a lot like Shigure's house with a few upgrades: the wrap around porch has a heavier roof above it, as well as some outside hallways. The garden is more extravagant than Shigure's house, too, with taller trees and more colorful flowers gathered in every corner possible, but other than that, it looks pretty similar.

"It's so pretty!" Tohru breathes, and Aly nods.

"I'll be back tomorrow morning to pick you up, Momiji, sir," the bus driver says, bowing.

"Okay~" Momiji chirps, waving at him.

The man bows again and gets on the bus, riding off.

"A White Day present to a Hot Spring, and a private bus ride... I feel like... like... like a princess!" Tohru says, clearly touched.

"Princess Tohru!" Momiji grins. "You're the princess, and I'm your prince~"

Kyo shakes his head, and I chuckle: he and Yuki look like they're in so much pain right now.

Suddenly, a woman appears in the doorway. Her hair is in a messy updo, strings of it in her face, and the pretty, pale green kimono she's wearing is getting dirt on it as she slides down the door paneling.

"W-welcome... to... my humble... inn," she ghosts out in an airy, tired voice.

Everyone stares at her with blank expressions, surprised.

"She's the concubine~" Momiji explains.

Yuki sighs. "I believe you mean concierge," he corrects.