Butterflies [Nino Nakano x Male Reader]

Chapter 42 - Bell of Vows

Y/N POV: 

"Do you wanna tell me why 'I didn't want' to go in the mixed bath?" Fuutarou asked.

We left the hot spring a while later, but not without having him question me about my plan.

"You don't really strike me as the sort of guy who'd willingly go to the mixed bath unless there was a pretty good reason, and as harsh as that may sound, hanging out with the quints is not a good reason."

"That is true. I wouldn't go out of my own volition. That said, I'm still pretty curious to know why you were so against me going."

"Can I get dressed first?"

I forgot to mention, but we had just arrived at the changing room.

"Oh, sure."

I retrieved my clothes and began to dress up.

"To put it simply, Nino didn't want Itsuki to see me... well shirtless."

"Why Itsuki specifically? Didn't some of the others go into a hot spring with you before?"

"Well, yes."

"So...?"

"I dunno. You know how tsun can be sometimes. Maybe she's jealous of Itsuki, so to not stir any conflict between them, I opted to go in the male section."

"Couldn't you just have said that to them?"

"And just outright expose Itsuki to the others?"

"They probably already know at this point considering the scene Nino caused."

"I guess that might be true, but in case it isn't, I'd prefer to not be the one to fuck it up."

He shrugged. "That's fair. Do you have any other plans with the others?"

"I'm fairly sure that tsun has something in her mind. But until then... I guess I'll just fuck around the hotel a little bit."

"And I think I'm gonna take a nap. I'm feeling very reinvigorated after this bath. Might as well double down on relaxing them."

"When you put it that way, I'm kinda tempted to sleep a little bit too."

"Nothing's stopping you."

"Yeah... but I still have a few hours of battery in me. I think I'll just find a nice shade of a tree in the courtyard and catch up on some reading until tsun finds me."

"I have a feeling that won't take long," he said mid-yawn. "Enjoy your reading."

And that's exactly what I did. Right after getting dressed, I went to the courtyard and sat down by the same tree I had seen Itsuki at. It was around 4 PM, and the weather felt very pleasant. Compared to the hecticness of the past weeks, this place really feels like a piece of heaven. The only thing I was missing was my angel...

Holy shit, that was cringe.

Well, to relieve myself from the pain induced by my previous mental statement, I opened the kindle app on my phone and went to town on whatever was open at the time.

An hour and a half went by gradually I began to notice a presence beside me.

"What is it with people watching me read?"

"It's because it's the only time I can consistently sneak up on you without you noticing. This time, it took you..." out of my peripheral vision, I saw Nino checking the time on her phone, "...seven minutes."