'Ichika no Yu' is located a little less than ten minutes by car from both Sako's house and my house.
The large public bath has a jacuzzi, an open-air bath, and a sauna. In the tatami resting space, there are manga books. In the dining area, you can eat udon, soba, or curry on the floor mats, and if you pay, you can even get a massage. It is a very typical super sento facility.
Including washing up, I finished in about thirty minutes and headed to the resting space, which was also our meeting spot.
By the way, Sakohasu-mama went back home after dropping us off and was supposed to come pick us up as soon as Sako contacted her that she was out.
It seemed to be a consideration that it would be awkward for me to be at the bath with a friend's mother. Well, it would be awkward for me if I had to go in with Sakohasu-papa too...
Normally, I would be listening to music while waiting, but since I didn't bring my headphones, I took a manga from the bookshelf.
By the way, the title was 'Sa-do'. I wonder if saunas are really that good...
Just as I finished reading the first chapter, a palm swayed in front of my face.
When I looked up, Azuma, whose cheeks were flushed from the heat, bowed her fingertips with a "Yah-ho."
"Oh, you're early."
"I'm a crow, after all."
"A crow...?"
"I mean a crow's bath."
"Ah, I see."
While saying that, Azuma sat down in what's called 'onee-san style' on the opposite side of the table.
"More importantly, look at this."
"Hm?"
A can with a white and light blue label was placed on the table.
"They had canned Calpis...!"
"Oh...! Seriously...!"
It shouldn't have been a big deal to me, but since I knew it was a huge surprise for the Seishun Rebellion club leader, I widened my eyes with the same level of excitement.
"Man, they have plastic bottles, but being able to drink a Cal-can after a bath is amazing...!"
"Cal-can..."
I don't know much about that, but wasn't that cat food or something...?
"So, where are Sako and Yuzu? The sauna?"
"Hey, putting my sister aside, it's creepy that you're tracking Sakohasu's movements inside the bath..."
Azuma-san looked genuinely repulsed.
"No, I'm only tracking my sister. When we come as a family, my mother and Yuzu always go in the sauna, so I'm always made to wait. If Sako isn't out yet, I just thought she was being dragged along by Yuzu."
"Hmm? Well, that's exactly right. I didn't think you were a Sauner, Konuma. I thought you were the type to say 'I'm feeling refreshed!' or something."
"No, wouldn't my heart stop if I went into a cold bath? I think that's the one thing I'll never understand in my life..."
I am interested, though. Enough to read 'Sa-do'...
"Azuma, you look like you'd like saunas too."
"No way, I get dizzy easily. I haven't been able to stay in baths for long since I was a kid."
"Heh. Is that just your constitution?"
"Instead of constitution, well... I'm just a tiny bit bad with ghosts, right?"
When she said that, I remembered Azuma during the test of courage at the training camp.
"Just a tiny bit...?"
"Don't make that annoying face...! Anyway, that's why baths are scary. Because of that, I got into the habit of getting in and out quickly. Well, maybe it is my constitution too. Sometimes I get nosebleeds."
"Ah, just like at the training camp."
I was about to say that she apparently collapsed in the girls' bath, but that was definitely creepy, so I held back.
"...It's nothing."
"Ah, that was Amane's fault!"
Even so, it seemed I couldn't deceive her with that much, and Azuma waved her hands in front of her chest.
"Do you know? Amane's body is incredibly beautiful, you know? ...Ah, you don't have to tell me if you know or not."
Azuma really didn't seem to want to read my mind, so she covered her own eyes with both hands. I've seen Yotsuba do this pose in 'Yotsuba&!'.
"...Ah, I feel like a nosebleed is coming."
"Did you remember it...?!"
"It was projected on the screen behind my eyelids..."
"You don't need to use your poetic power there... Forget it, forget it. Take your hands off."
"Ugh...!"
Azuma slowly... opened her fingers and peeked at my face fearfully.
"What, so you don't know..."
"Ah, yeah..."
...Hmm, this is awkward. Is it less awkward than knowing? Or more?
"Ah—... so, did you decide on the practice menu today?"
"Ah, yeah. It's really cliché, but I'm planning to practice with a metronome after all."
"Well, that's how it goes..."
If you try to take an instrument seriously beyond a certain point, this is what 99% of people are told.
"I guess it's that thing about making the metronome sound disappear..."
"What's that?"
But Azuma tilted her head, seemingly unaware of the methodology I mentioned.
"Oh, maybe that's only for percussion? If you hit the practice pad at the exact same tempo as the metronome, the sound of the metronome completely disappears. I practiced hard in middle school to make that happen."
"Heh, that's interesting."
"That's why for metronomes, rather than the electronic ones that go 'beep beep', it's better to have something that goes 'click click'. When it's 'beep beep', the sound is wider, so the strike zone feels broader, I guess."
"Hmm."
Even though my explanation was full of onomatopoeia like 'beep' and 'click', Azuma was listening with honest admiration.
"Actually, Maika-bucho might have said that too."
"Whoa, then it's definitely correct."
"Hey, did you become a believer of Maika-bucho now...?"
She gave me a dead-eyed look. No, that's not it, it's not like that. It might be for a short time, but I decided to study under that person...
"Well, it'll just be normal practice, but I can only do what I can do if I practice."
"That's what's amazing about you, Azuma..."
Naturally, to be able to do 'what you can do if you practice', you have to actually practice.
Usually, that becomes painful, and people make excuses to skip it.
In the end, maybe tomorrow's lesson from Kanno-san is meant to make me realize that. Or rather, that's probably what practice is all about in the end.
Just as I was psyching myself up to work hard too,
"Fuooh..." "Takuto..."
A dazed-looking Yuzu and Sako came out.
"I feel so refreshed..."
"I'm totono'd, Takkun..."
Saying that, Sako and Yuzu sprawled out on the tatami mats.
"Yurisuke—..."
Sako crawled over while saying that and rested her head on Azuma's lap.
"Whoa, Sakohasu. What's up?"
Azuma smiled, naturally stroking Sako's blonde hair.
"Yurisuke is soft..."
"O-Oh... Hey, is that something I should be happy about?"
"Of course..."
Sako closed her eyes while speaking.
"Eh, are you going to sleep?"
"I won't sleep. I'll work really hard tonight."
"I see, I see."
Sako snapped her eyes open, and Azuma smiled softly again.
While the Sako-Yuri moment was happening across from me, a head landed on my leg too.
"Hey Yuzu, don't get 'totono'd' on your brother's lap... Besides, your hair is wet."
"What a noisy pillow..."
"I'm not a pillow."
I didn't want my clothes to get wet, so I folded the bath towel Yuzu had and placed the drier side down between Yuzu's head and my leg.
"...Somehow, you're quite an older brother, aren't you, Konuma?"
Azuma was smiling with her chin resting on her hand.
"No, it's not that I'm an older brother, it's that this thing is a little sister."
"What kind of mysterious logic is that? That's funny."
After laughing for a bit, she changed her expression again and whispered.
"Maybe that's why..."