The Hidden World

It took Yuki exactly one minute to reach the hotel that he would be staying in. Since he was already in Guild Central, he was very close to begin with. When he arrived, he saw that most of the others students were there already and that they were waiting in front of the hotel. After Yuki came two more people.

“Okay, everyone is here,” Mabel said. “Let’s go inside and I’ll will show you all the rooms that you will be staying in.”

She turned and walked into the hotel, the students following her. The inside of the hotel was very neat and clean. There were two receptionists that stood behind a counter, a male and female, and they waved the group along. Mabel nodded toward them and went of the flight of stairs the led to the second floor. She stopped and pointed at a door.

“That will be the room the boys will be staying in,” she announced. Then she pointed at another room across the floor, opposite of the boys. “That will be the girls’ room. I will be staying in the room past that. Any questions?”

The students shook their heads.

“Great,” Mabel said, clapping her hands. “Now, you all don’t have to sleep just yet. You have two hours before I’m going to make you go to bed. So you are all free to just chat with each other and mess around for the next two hours or so but please do so quietly. There are people that actually want to sleep.”

Again the students nodded but this time some laughs accompanied it.

“Yuki, you can follow me. The rest of you can go,” she finished.

Yuki went over to her and walked with her to the room at the end of the hall while the other students wandering around, some going to their room and others opting to just start their chatting in the hallway. Mabel opened the door and revealed a spacious room with two large beds.

“You can pick whatever one you want to sleep on,” she said. “I don’t have a preference. I don’t even need a bed.”

“I don’t really need one either,” Yuki replied. “But I’ll take the one on the left.”

He went to and sat on it, feeling the texture of the fabric covers and the softness of the bed.

‘I don’t really have luggage except for some clothes. I’ll put that away later once I get it from the porter.’

He stood up and stretched.

‘A bath would be nice. I also need to meet back up with Akira. I wonder how things are going.’

“I don’t see a bathroom in here,” Yuki said out loud. “Does that mean that there is a communal bath or something like that?”

“Yes, that is correct,” Mabel answered. “There is a ‘hot spring’ and by hot spring I really mean just some large pools that are heated and filtered for everyone to use. They aren’t real hot springs which is unfortunate. I haven’t been to one in years.”

“Where is it?”

“Oh, you want to take a bath. It’s on the first floor,” she said. “The entrance has a nice sign over it that says ‘hot springs’ that leads to the jacuzzi. I think there will be three rooms that you can pick from to put your things away and get ready for your bath.”

Yuki nodded and went down to first floor, walking past a number of students that were wandering about the hotel. He went to the porter that was still standing near the entrance of the hotel.

“Can I have my bag?” Yuki asked.

“Of course, ma’am,” the porter replied politely, grabbing a duffel bag that laid beside him. “Here you go.”

Yuki nodded and took the bag. He turned and scanned the room briefly before he found a plain wooden door directly in the back of the floor that had a sign that read “Hot Springs” over it.

‘Oh, it’s exactly like Mabel said.’

He walked over towards it and opened the door. Behind the door were three rooms. One was labeled male, the other female, and the third one was mixed.

‘I guess I have to go to the mixed one at this point.’

Yuki sighed entered the mixed room. He placed his bag inside one of the many lockers in the room and took off his clothes. Then he wrapped himself in a towel and went out to the glorified hot tub outside. When he went outside, he saw that around the steaming pool were wooden fences. That probably meant that there were three separate pools for everyone to go to.

‘Well, no one is here so that’s good.’

He slipped into the water and went to the back of the pool where he leaned back and floated gently. He let out a soft yawn and stretched his arms.

‘This is nice.’

As he floated there, peacefully, his mind began to wander and eventually stopped thinking altogether. He could hear the soft movements of the soothing water around him and the chatter of people in the other pools. Soon those noises began to fade and a soft melody replaced them. Yuki latched onto this new sound followed it, trying to make out the words being said. His mind drew closer and closer to it, the whispers and murmurs getting stronger.

[Yuki? Are you there?]

Akira’s voice broke through Yuki’s mind and he looked around, momentarily confused.

‘Yes, what it is?’

[Oh, I’m going to be returning soon,] she said. [I was wondering what you were doing and where you were.]

‘Well, I’m at the hotel currently but I’m just floating around in the hot spring that isn’t actually a hot spring.’

[I see. Well, Erica and I are almost done. I’ll fill you in more when I return.]

‘Alright, I’ll see you soon,’ Yuki thought. She disconnected and Yuki returned his attention to his surroundings. ‘Is someone coming in?’

Through the steam of the water, Yuki saw the cover that blocked the entrance to the dressing room lift up and a figure walk in. The figure was clearly female and one that looked familiar.

“Is someone here?” Yuna’s voice called out.

“Yes,” Yuki replied.

“Yuki?”

“Yes.”

“Do you mind if I join you?” she asked.

“Not particularly,” he said. “But why are you in this pool?”

Yuki heard a splash and felt the water ripple.

“People were making me uncomfortable,” she explained. “I was in the female one but they kept staring at me and whispering so I left and went to this one. Why are you here?”

Yuki could see her clearly now, her head and neck the only visible above the water, the top of her breast bobbing up and down at times.

“A couple of reasons, one of which is similar to yours,” Yuki said. “I didn’t want to be around other people. The other reason is more weird.”

“Oh. So you don’t like people staring at you?”

“Nope. Unless I’m trying to attract their attention I would rather have them not see me at all.”

Yuna stopped beside Yuki and turned her head towards him.

“What’s the other reason?” she asked.

“Do I not look like a girl?”

Yuna paused for a moment and glanced over Yuki before turning away, a bit red.

“Yes, I actually feel as if I’m in a hot spring with another girl,” she said. “Which is weird since I’ve already put you as a guy.”

‘She feels embarrassed being around a girl more than a guy. Interesting.’

“Exactly,” Yuki said out loud. “And the other guys will think that as well and being stared at by boys that may or may not be having perverted thoughts does not appeal to me. And I can’t just go into the girls bath because, well, that will cause a load of other problems.”

“I see,” Yuna said, nodding. Ripples moved through the water.

“Do you not like it when girls talk about you?” Yuki asked nonchalantly.

“It’s not that I don’t like them talking about me. It’s more that I prefer if I’m not there when they’re talking about me,” she explained. “I don’t want to be there if they say anything bad about me.”

“How about guys?”

“I could care less about guys,” she laughed. “Their opinions wouldn’t be as important to me than a girl’s. A girl would be the one that would be able to judge me the best since she would be the one that would understand me best.”

“I take it you’ve heard some of the comments of the guys in our class.”

“Of course, they aren’t very secretive about their thoughts,” Yuna said. “All they care about is the outside.”

‘That is true,’ Yuki thought. ‘For most of them appearances are the things that attract them. The inside is what makes people stay. But girls aren’t that different when it comes to guys.’

“Well, now it’s just the two of us,” he said.

“Yes it is.”

They fell quiet and Yuki gazed off into space. From the corner of his eye, he saw Yuna moving. When he glanced over, he saw her scrubbing herself with a sponge that she brought with her.

‘I should clean myself as well. That was the reason why I can in here.’

Yuki flipped through his mental catalog of spells within his mind and selected one that would cleanse his body. Support magic wasn’t limited to just combat; it also had practical applications in life and homelife.

‘I would be an excellent housewife,’ he thought as he casted a simple cleaning spell.

A spell circle flickered for a bit and mana went about Yuki’s body as it removed the thin layer of dirt and sweat that stuck to his body. Then the mana deposited it to the surrounds—in this case the water—and then dissipated.

“What was that spell just now?” Yuna asked in a curious tone.

“Just a little self-cleansing spell, it’s nothing big,” Yuki said. “I can also clean your room and wash your clothes.”

“So you could be my maid?”

“Basically. If you paid me enough.”

[Yuki, Erica and I are done. I’ll be coming back now,] Akira notified him.

‘Good to know,’ Yuki sent back.

“I’ll be going to bed now,” Yuki said, standing up and stretching his slender arms up in the air. His lower half was still submerged under the steaming water. “See you.”

He turned toward Yuna and saw that she was looking away from him.

“What are you doing?”

Yuna looked back, her face more than a little red.

“Ah, no nothing. I forgot,” she replied.

“Forgot what?”

“It’s nothing,” she insisted, waving at him. “See you later.”

Yuki shrugged and walked out of the pool, wrapping himself in the towel as he did so. Then he changed into his night clothes and went back to his room, duffel bag over his shoulder. When he got to the room that he would be sharing with Mabel, he noticed that it was empty.

‘Maybe Mabel went to the baths after all,’ he thought as he deposited his bag onto the floor next to the bed that he would be using.

[Yuki, what floor are you?] Akira asked.

‘Second floor in the left wing of the hotel. How are you going to get in?’

[I have my ways,] she replied.

A minute later, Yuki heard knocking on the door and he opened it to see no one standing there. He yawned and stretched his right arm as he glanced around, looking as if he was searching for something. Then he closed his door.

“My invisibility spell?” Yuki asked.

“An improved version,” a voice said behind him. “It also can mask your aura unless you let it run free and it can mute sounds. I omitted the sound part so I can knock.”

“Mind teaching me?” Yuki said, turning around to face Akira.

“It runs off of the same principle as your invisibility spell,” she said. “You just manipulate the space around you so that sound waves are disrupted and that your mana signature is disrupted. I can show you the altered spell tomorrow. Along with some other things.”

“So how did the guild idea go?”

“Pretty well, if I’m being honest. I’ll fill you in more tomorrow morning. I need to hide.”

“Okay,” Yuki said. Akira glowed and then was sucked into his arm. “I haven’t really thought about this, but can I do the same thing that you do when you hide?”

[That I haven't thought about either. In theory, yes,] Akira responded. [Why?]

‘Nothing, just wondering. I’m going to bed now,’ he said.

He went to the bed furthest from the door and slipped into the sheets.

[Good night, Yuki,] Akira said.

‘Good night, Akira,’ he replied.