Hisaki supported Rinna as she climbed the stone steps from the poolside one step at a time.
Her legs were as weak as if filled with lead; each step required several times more effort than usual.
The muscles in her calves trembled slightly. The feeling of cold water filling her kneecaps had returned, the chill creeping up along the bone seams, forming a strange contrast with the surrounding heat.
Her slippers made soft patting sounds on the stone slabs. Behind her and Hisaki, two rows of wet footprints remained.
Water droplets dripped all the way from the hems of their two towels, leaving a winding trail of wet marks on the gray stone floor.
In the changing room, the warm scent of hinoki wood was especially pronounced, steamed by the heat from the shower area.
On the wooden hooks on the wall, two folded yukata still hung—one was cherry pink with a gray-purple obi, the other was pure black with a hidden pattern of spider lilies.
Cold. Hisaki helped Rinna sit on the small wooden stool in the changing room.
The stool had been splashed with hot water, so it was slightly warm to sit on, carrying the fresh scent of wood.
Rinna leaned her back against the wall. The wooden planks on the wall had been steamed by the hot spring’s heat all night, so they felt warm to the touch, not icy like ordinary walls.
She lowered her head, her gaze falling on the wood grain on the floor. The concentric annual rings, illuminated by the warm yellow light, looked like ripples, spreading layer by layer into the distance.
Hisaki walked to the wall and took down Rinna’s yukata.
The cherry-pink fabric glowed with a faint warmth under the light. The pattern of cherry blossom petals was cut into segments by the fold creases, but once unfolded, it connected again into a continuous design.
She then picked up the gray-purple obi, placed it on top of the yukata, turned around, and walked back to Rinna.
“Rinna, come on, slowly raise your arms.”
Hisaki knelt on one knee in front of her and carefully draped the yukata over her shoulders, sliding the sleeves over her arms.
Her movements were as slow as dressing a newborn baby—afraid that too much friction from the fabric would irritate the skin, afraid that raising her arms would strain her unwell body, afraid that every detail might not be done well enough.
Rinna extended her arms and put on the yukata.
The sleeves were wide, the hem long, just reaching above her ankles.
The cherry-pink fabric complemented her cheeks, slightly flushed from the hot spring, and her white hair, wet and clinging to her shoulders.
She looked softer than usual, as if the hot spring had brought out another side of her from within her winter clothes.
That inner side of the sickly girl, usually tightly wrapped in winter layers.
Hisaki wrapped the obi around her waist and tied a new knot.
This knot was looser than before, leaving more room, afraid to constrict Rinna’s abdomen.
Rinna looked down at her knot-tying movements. Hisaki’s fingers were nimble. The gray-purple obi looped around her fingers, passed through another loop, and finally formed a neat knot at Rinna’s waist.
The arc it made was clean and crisp, as if she had practiced it many times.
“Your underwear and school uniform can stay here. Someone will come to wash them. They’ll be delivered tomorrow morning.”
Hisaki stood up, quickly put on her own black yukata, and tied the obi loosely. The hidden pattern of spider lilies flashed on the hem.
“Come on, let’s go back to the room.”
Hisaki helped Rinna again, and the two walked out of the changing room, retracing their steps back along the path they had come.
Rinna looked at the garden brushed by the night wind. The thoughts that had dissolved in the hot spring moments ago had now shrunk into a small core, cold and hard in her chest.
She wanted to speak, but had no energy to form words.
***
At 8:37 PM, Hisaki helped Rinna back to the room.
The sound of the sliding door opening was especially clear in the quiet hallway. The wooden frame slid along the track, making a uniform, low rumble, then stopped abruptly.
In the fifteen-tatami space, the desk lamp on the low table was still on. The warm yellow light cast a soft circle on the tatami.
The two pillows on the bed—one large, one small—were still placed side by side at the headboard. The white sheets bore the impressions of their afternoon rest; shallow creases under the light looked like a patch of cloud that hadn’t fully dispersed.
Rinna walked to the bed, sat down, and then collapsed.
Each movement was more than twice as slow as usual. Lying on her side made her feel slightly better; the dizziness lessened a little, but her heart was still fast and irregular, as if something heavy was pressing on her chest.
Hisaki pulled a small medical kit from under the table. Inside were all the common medicines she had prepared for Rinna in advance.
She opened the lid. Blood supplement oral liquid, multivitamin tablets, heart care tablets, calming medicine, stomach-nourishing tablets… All the bottles were lined up on the tatami.
“Time to take your medicine… Wait, let me get some water.”
With that, Hisaki quickly walked to the small table in the corner of the room, picked up the thermos, and poured half a glass of warm water into a clean glass.
The sound of water was especially clear in the quiet room.
Rinna struggled to prop herself up halfway on the bed. Hisaki immediately came to support her, letting her lean against the headboard.
She reached for the small bottle of blood supplement oral liquid. It was a small brown glass bottle. She unscrewed the cap, and the medicinal smell instantly spread on her tongue.
Then the multivitamin tablet, then the heart care tablet, then the calming medicine, then the stomach-nourishing tablet… One after another, she swallowed them with warm water.
Her throat was a bit tight from the dizziness. When she swallowed the pills, she could feel them slowly sliding down her esophagus. Each swallow required several times more effort than usual.
With the last mouthful of water, she washed the remaining medicinal taste from her mouth into her stomach.
It was done.
Rinna was completely drained.
She handed the glass in her hand to Hisaki. Their fingers touched. Rinna’s hand was ice-cold… Even though she had just come out of the hot spring, her fingers had already returned to that chilly state.
The little warmth accumulated from soaking in the hot spring had dissipated completely during the walk from the changing room to the bedroom.
When Hisaki took the glass, her fingertips paused on Rinna’s fingers for a moment, as if she wanted to warm those cold knuckles with her own body heat.
Rinna fell back. Her white hair spread out on the pillow, still wet.
She had no strength to blow-dry her hair, no strength to change into pajamas, no strength even to pull up the blanket.
Lying on the mattress, her body sank into the just-right softness. The scent of igusa rush came up from the edge of the mattress, mixed with the smell of gardenia flower laundry detergent from the sheets.
The dizziness was still there, her heart hadn’t fully recovered, but the gravity supporting her body was caught by the mattress. The soreness in her limbs shifted from “unbearable” to “endurable with eyes closed.”
Then she closed her eyes.
Hisaki stood by the bed, looking down at her.
The desk lamp’s light came from the low table, falling on Rinna’s face, outlining a soft edge around her profile.
Rinna’s eyes were closed, her eyelashes resting quietly. The slight flush that the hot spring had brought to her cheeks had faded, replaced by her usual pale porcelain color.
The color of her lips was also lighter than usual. Her lips were slightly parted, and her breathing was very light, so light that the rise and fall of her chest was almost invisible.
Her white hair was spread wetly on the pillow, the ends still wet, leaving a dark damp patch on the pillowcase.
Hisaki’s gaze lingered on Rinna’s face for a long time.
‘Her heart felt as if someone had squeezed it.’
‘She had made a mistake.’
‘She clearly knew Rinna couldn’t soak too long. Before the bath, she had even specifically said, “Rinna can’t soak too long, or there will be a reverse effect.” But she still forgot. Or rather, she didn’t forget—she selectively ignored it.’
‘She was too happy.’
‘It had been too long since she had last bathed with Rinna. Too long since she had sat quietly beside Rinna, listening to the insect sounds, watching the moonlight scatter on the water surface, feeling the slight warmth of Rinna’s body temperature transmitted through the hot spring water.’
‘Rinna agreed to stay overnight. Rinna undressed in front of her. Rinna let her wash her back and hair.’
‘Rinna held her in the hot spring… She was too immersed in all of this, so immersed that she forgot to watch the time, so immersed that she forgot the rules she had set for herself.’
‘Because of her own selfishness, she might have made Rinna’s body even worse.’
‘Stinging. Rinna’s frail body might be her fault… This thought pierced into Hisaki’s head like a needle, sharp and merciless.’
‘She looked at Rinna’s face—that face made even paler than usual by the dizziness. The guilt in her chest surged like a tide, rising past her throat, past her eyes.’
‘But she didn’t cry. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to cry, but crying was useless now.’
‘Hisaki took a deep breath and forced back the heat that was about to spill from her eyes. Now was not the time to stand there blaming herself.’
Her gaze landed on Rinna’s wet hair. Sleeping with wet hair would give her a cold.