HtH84 – Eclair Goes To The Hot Spring
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Eclair relaxes at the Miko Shrine. She meets an unexpected guest.
The girl dipped her toe into the hot water, then backed out again.
She had repeated this movement for a while now.
Pacing on pebbles at water's edge, she took a deep breath...
... and gently lowered herself into the hot spring water.
Wincing a bit, the water which stops just above her shoulders warm her weary heart.
Only then, does Eclair let out a sigh of relief...
"Fuhihihi... so there was a place like this after all."
The girl gets a bit more comfortable, and starts blowing bubbles in the water!
It is a slightly cloudy night, the stars are hiding amongst the clouds, with only the shattered moon out.
When Hikari told her about the hot spring at the local Miko Shrine, Eclair only half-believed in its existence. How could such a convenient thing be so close to our theatre house, yet nobody talks about it? Then again, most of the girls didn't have a reason to come here, did they?
The row of red Tori Gates which lead up the cliff overlooks the lightly splashing ocean below. It feels like she had stepped into another world, one separate from the theatre house, Bitsborough, her role, and all her worries.
By now, all the girls at the house must be fast asleep, right?
It had been one thing after another after they returned home.
The girl closes her eyes, and sets her arms and head on the pebbled poolside, paddling a bit.
(playful clear water splashes behind Eclair)
When she did, thoughts of the last year come back to her.
The way Lumi smiled when the stage lights first came on.
The sound of Piaccta laughing too loudly at nothing.
Warmth diffuses through the girl's body.
For a moment, the tension in her shoulders dissipate with the rising steam.
Somewhere in the park forest, a nocturne bird hoots out into the night.
Here, she was not being asked to do anything.
She was not asked to become anything.
She could simply be.
So she did.
She yawns a little, drifting off,
the soft 'toks' of bamboo hitting marble stone her only guide...
...
...
...
Nearby, the sound of a cypress sliding door tiptoes through the steam.
She slips so naturally into the pool, nary a ripple is felt by her addition.
"This placé is nice, isn't it?"
The playful sing-songy voice coming from across the pool is familiar, so Eclair doesn't flinch.
"Oh, it's just you."
Parting the foggy scene, Eclair can make out the silhouette of a girl in blue pigtails, half-submerged in the water as well.
This person of course, is Anno. [L]
To be honest, Eclair barely knows why she exists.
Yukino is a courtesan, while Henrietta performs on a travelling wrestling show.
Anno is simply... here.
She never shows up at dinner, barely does her role as Hikari's mentor, and yet, her presence is felt in the house. Little things like night snacks disappearing from the fridge, or the occasional sound of mischief skipping down the hallway.
"I like this place," Anno stretches from under the water, "it's a nice place to let out all~~~ my worries~"
When her senior says that, Eclair slides a little more into the water, blowing bubbles a little slower now.
She nods in silence in the water, tips of her short brown hair floating atop the surface. Did Anno know? She didn't seem to take much interest in the running of the house and was content to do her own thing.
What should she say?
What could she say?
When the seasons changed, Eclair became the dramaturg.
She sinks a little deeper into the water.
The surface stills.
…
Something about tonight feels like a question she hasn’t answered yet.
Throughout the last year, she had changed.
So should the house change as well?
The power to make a difference lay in her hands now.
What should we keep, and what should we move forwards from?
These are hardly things Eclair can ask her senior to concern herself with.
Could she really rely on the girl with blue pigtails now amusing herself by waving a stick with white paper stuck at the end? (Where did she get it anyway?)
"When I was a kid, I didn't really like riding horses. My family was really into horsiés, though! Teehee~"
As if on a whimsey, Anno suddenly breaks into a story. Eclair, still half-submerged in the water watches the rhythmic swaying of the paper trails on her stick,
"So I went on a long long journey, to find a way to move around that is both comfy and fast~"
"Did you find it? The thing you were looking for?"
Anno gives a shake of her shoulders with an awfully familiar rhythm.
"I went up into the mountains,
found some sorceresses who reached for the sky,
it was a good time,
but unfortunatély!
Airships are not quite my thing!
So I let it go, but kept the designs in my heart.
Perhaps I could make something of my own design~
A way to travél, even for someone like me~
(shakes head) Mmm, nyo. For all the people like me! (laugh)
Not a carriage,
not an airship,
but something that connected the continenté~"
Eclair silently listens to Anno when she tells her small, short story.
It certainly had the character of the person telling it, part-riddle, part-mystery, and all true at the same time.
She didn't say it, but it almost felt as if... that great project had finally come to an end.
"Good for you, senior."
"I know, right~?" A mischievous wink is passed through the fog.
Whatever Anno had been up to, she must have been working on it all this while at the theatre house.
Curiously, she had decided to reveal this to Eclair.
But why?
There was finality in her words, but much more of a cheeky criminal confessing a crime.
Perhaps she was overthinking it.
There was no special meaning to her story, was there?
Still, listening to Anno's story made her sleepy.
Between the strange construction noises before the new year and the excitement of Lantern Rite, our tired little dramaturg did not manage to quite connect the dots.
So she left it at that.
Just a little longer, and she would return from the hot spring.
The gentle 'tok' of bamboo hitting marble repeats.
...
...
An unknown amount of time passes,
and once more, the night becomes still,
the only evidence of a visitor--- ripples from the other side of the pool.
Characters
[L] Anno - Just Anno. A cheeky and mischievous girl who likes keeping secrets and animating furniture with magick.
We are trying something different! This is a simul-posting at the same time as the Scribblehub release! Go check out the entire series at this link!
