“Unghhh, oh my god, yes,” I groaned out as the hands worked the muscles in my back. I wasn’t even sure who was rubbing me down. At one point while Niku and I were getting situated, I saw that the attendant who showed her into the little locker room was doing her massage, so I assumed it might have been the girl who offered, uh... extra services.

  Whatever, I didn’t care. She offered a service; I declined, and she left gracefully. Though, the whole thing was a sort of odd. The sect representative or merchant, or whatever, told me the name of a seedier place, and he made it obvious that they would offer that sort of thing there. I thought that since he said this place catered to cultivators, such a thing wouldn’t have happened. Ah well, she wasn’t pushy about it.

  “Ungggggh, yeah, get my arms and hands good.” I groaned when she started on my upper body. I could feel myself drooling onto the pillow I had to lean on.

  As loud and unseemly as I was, Niku was the opposite. She barely made a sound as laid over there on the other side of the room. It was almost to the point that I wasn’t sure if she wasn’t enjoying it, and I cracked open an eye here or there to look and make sure she was even still in the room. She was. She just lay there under her sheet and on her pillow, unmoving as the woman worked her body and massaged her.

  The room we were in was very serene and Zen. The plain white room had just enough room to hold us, with a small table in the corner with different oils and such for the people to use on us. It was also kind of warm, so much so with the warmed oils I felt myself start to sweat a little. It didn’t really seem to affect anything though, and the girl massaging me went on like a good little soldier.

  Other than the table, it had the table, bed, things, me and Niku laid on with a little fountain in between our heads that offered a little ambiance. In addition to the water sounds, there was music playing somewhere close by. There was a woodwind of some kind and then also a shamisen-sounding weapon. They played a slow, relaxing tune that, with the massage and warmth, had me practically melting on the bed table thing.

  Like every other massage I ever had, this one was over too soon. One woman rang a small bell, and I almost whined.

  “Alright, go ahead and relax for a moment and then get ready for your bath,” one of them said. It was the one who offered extra services. I wondered for a second if Niku’s attendant offered something similar. I furrowed my brow and then grinned at the thought of it.

  “Nice,” I said under my breath.

  Niku made a confused noise that was muffled by her pillow.

  “Nothing, I was just thinking,” I said as I groaned and sat up. I let the sheet fall around my waist, and I looked down at myself. The dad gut I once had was gone, and for the first time in my life, I had abs. There was even a bit of a six-pack starting to form on my stomach area, and my eyebrows raised.

  “Yeah, being a cultivator does have its perks,” Niku said, and I realized she had finally sat up and was staring at my chest.

  I almost put a hand over it since she seemed to grow a sort of hungry look in her eye, but I reminded myself I never got this kind of treatment before back home, so eh, I let it ride. All I said was, “Yeah, I guess so. How are you feeling?”

  She nodded and held the sheet over her body. “I’m good. That was very nice. The oil all over isn’t the greatest. I could definitely use that bath.”

  What skin she had showing was very sheen and glistening, and my mouth went dry again. Though that might also have been from all the drooling during the massage. I looked back down at my chest and abs, man, who’d guess that I’d have abs? I ran my hand across them and did indeed feel all the oil they had. “Yeah, let’s go find the baths. Uh, are you sure you want to bathe together?”

  Niku got a confused look and stared at me. “Why wouldn’t we?”

  “Uh, I mean, well… you and me naked in the same bath.”

  Niku started laughing, and she held up a hand and shook her head. “No, no, Maikeru.”

  I stopped and stared at her with a raised eyebrow. “What?”

  “There are different tubs. They’re a little smaller but big enough for each one of us. They’re side by side so we each get our own little space and can preserve our modesty,” she gave me a bit of an abashed look.

  “What, what’s wrong?”

  She shook her head and smirked. “Nothing, just didn’t think you’d think I’d do-”

  Now it was my turn to stop her. “No, no. I mean, that’s why I was so confused about everything. I don’t know how things are done. I thought it was weird but…” and I trailed off and shrugged.

  She smirked and nodded as she stood and held the sheet to her body. “Close your eyes, please, so I can put on my robe.”

  I did, and once she was dressed, I got in my robe. She didn’t need to close her eyes since I could just tie the sheet around my waist and put it on and then take the sheet off. When we were both ready, we opened the door to the room and found the ladies standing in the hallway waiting for us. I was right; the girl who propositioned me was the one who massaged me. She seemed to stare at me with a brief grin.

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  “Oh, hello,” I said, a bit surprised to see them.

  They bowed and said in unison. “Cultivators. If you’ll follow us, we’ll take you to your baths.”

  “Okie dokie.”

  Niku gave me a weird look and a bit of a snort.

  “What?”

  We walked out of the room and followed the women. They didn’t look back at us; instead, they just led us through the hallway at a slow pace. While the room we got massages in was warmer, the hallways were set a little cooler. Now, as we progressed towards what I assumed was a bathing area the hallways grew warm again. Not just warm, but a little humid.

  Niku shook her head. “You have the weirdest expressions.”

  I shrugged as we walked into a large room. It was like a high school pool area except so much nicer. Smooth stone walls and runes carved everywhere did whatever it was they were designed to do. There were a few people lounging in robes besides the large, and there were some in the bath. Men and women both lounged on the sides and conversed together.

  I gaped. The hell was the point of the different locker rooms and stuff if everyone was gonna nude up together?

  “Master Cultivator,” my massage lady said. The hell was her name? Had I been properly introduced?

  I furrowed my brow and looked over at her. “You can just call me Maikeru.”

  Her eyes went wide, and she shook her head, and Niku nudged me and gave me a small head shake as well.

  “No, sorry, sir, but I cannot. It would be too familiar. Too improper,” the woman explained.

  I closed my eyes and groaned inwardly but nodded. Yeah, that tracks from what I knew about Japan in general, let alone ancient Japan. Why would Japanese Fantasy Land be any different?

  When I looked back at her, it was her and her associate. Were these girls disciples of the Okami? They were both motioning towards private rooms off of the main large room.

  “Follow me, please.” One of them said and then led us over to a room at the end.

  They opened the door, and I followed Niku inside. Like she told me before, it had two smaller baths next to each other. This must be for people like us. New companions or possible companions who wanted a more intimate setting but because of modesty and the implications they couldn’t just hop in the pool together.

  Off to the side, there was a towel rack with more runes on it, and the room was a little warm again, like the massage room was. On one side of the room, there was a privacy screen. Guess they played by the honor system and one person would just have to close their eyes while the other undressed. Well, I was nothing if not an honorable fellow, maybe.

  Our attendants left us with a “If you need anything, ring the bell and we shall come. When you are finished, ring the bell and then we shall have tea.” Then they closed the door and left.

  Man, tea time too? This was far more involved than I thought it would be. I got the feeling it wouldn’t be just a cup of tea but a tea ceremony. I turned my back to the privacy screen as Niku rushed over behind it. It only took her a minute, and she chose the bath closer to the screen. When she gave me the all clear, it was my turn. She must have been honorable as well because after I hung my robe up and walked over to my bath she had her back turned towards me.

  I groaned as I sank into the warm water. “My goodness, this feels great.”

  She opened her eyes and leaned against the edge of her little whirlpool to look at me. The baths were about the size of the whirlpools back on earth and apparently there was a way to make them bubble. She explained that’s what all the runes were. Some to make sure the water stays heated, some to make sure the water keeps clean, and then some to make it bubble.

  “Though, I guess you might have a way to do that yourself,” she said and watched me.

  I nodded and agreed. “Let’s not try it though. I might end up doing something crazy.”

  She chuckled and nodded along before she laid back in her own bath.

  We passed the time making small talk. Mostly talking about her father and Sunjin. She asked me more about Earth and my family and all of that. She was surprised I didn’t have a girlfriend or, well, companion back home.

  “You’re a sweet guy,” she told me.

  “You’re not too bad yourself,” I replied and got water splashed over at me.

  I laughed, and some time went by. On the edge of the baths, there were soaps and scented concoctions and oils for the water to smell. I opted out of those and just grabbed the washcloth and wet it with some of the warm water and put it on my forehead when I leaned back once more. I smelled some mint when Niku used it in her bath, and we spent some time in silence.

  “You seemed to really like that massage,” Niku said after a bit.

  I shrugged a little, though I knew she wasn’t looking at me. She was leaning back and had her eyes covered as well. “Yeah. The girl did pretty good work. She was stronger than she looked. Did you not like yours, you were pretty quiet.”

  “Yes, you were very loud.” Was all she said.

  Uh-oh.

  I peeked from under the washcloth, and she leaned up and stared at me with a serious expression. “Yeah, sorry I couldn’t help it. I’ve been sleeping on a wooden bed or riding on a rough bench since I’ve been here.”

  She nodded along and what happened next was not something I expected.

  “Well, you do deserve to be taken care of,” she said and stood from her bath.

  I gaped and went to cover my eyes with my hands. “Are we leaving?”

  “No,” she said shortly, and I listened to her climb out of her bath and move the couple of feet to mine, and before I realized it, she was climbing into the bath with me.

  Once I figured she was safely in the water so I wouldn’t really be able to see anything unless I looked and I opened my eyes. She grabbed the washcloth and some of the fancy soap that was left and moved towards me.

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