Last Christmas, I went back to Japan for a couple of weeks. Originally, my boyfriend Ryosuke was supposed to come with me. He made a whole bunch of reservations for inns he was going to take me to, but then his boss told him they needed him over the Christmas rush, so he couldn’t come. I asked around, and my cousin Namie was free, so I invited her to come along in Ryosuke’s place.
Some people say Namie and I look a bit similar. She wears her black hair long, and fluffs it out like a perm. I’m kind of curious, and always keep a close eye on things, but Namie is perhaps less attentive, more off in her own world. She is really good-looking though, almost like an idol, Atsuko Maeda or someone like that. At her wedding, she looked gorgeous–so pure and innocent–in her white wedding dress. After the wedding, I got talking with her about men and sex. I’m no expert, but anyway, I gave her my take on how to get things started with her new hubby, Ryoichi.
The day of our trip the two of us met at Fujisawa station, and took the train west from there. We both looked like skiers. I had on ski pants, a beige toque, a slick red and white coat, futuristic goggles. She was in jeans, but had on a ski jacket and mirror sunglasses.
In the train, I asked her how things were going with Ryoichi, but she just giggled, and blushed, and wouldn’t tell me anything. Apparently though, things were going well, and she thanked me for my advice. Anyway, I was glad to see her looking so happy.
Our first stop was Shuuzenji, one of the springs Ryosuke and I had visited our last trip. The spring, Tokkonoyu is right in the center of town, but enclosed in an old fashioned wooden otabisho, cabana(?), sort of like a little temple or something. Mid-day, I wanted to go in, but once we stripped naked, this tour bus came, and we had to cover up, and seek refuge in one of the restaurants nearby. The shop owner, a woman, thought it was so funny that we’d gotten caught. I guess not many woman go in during the day.
We then caught a bus south to Yugashima, and stayed at an inn called Yumotokan where the famous author Yasunari Kawabata wrote his stories. It seemed nice. I messaged Ryosuke thanking him for making all these reservations.
In our room, I changed out of my ski wear into a hoodie. Namie made me wrap a towel around my waist. Namie put on one of the inn’s yukatas (cotton robes) with a hakama (coat) over top. We went out the back of the inn, and walked down these stairs to the hot springs in the valley below. The whole area was so beautiful, greens and greys, the rocks, forest, and babbling brook.
The bath itself was quite out in the open. We could see the suspension bridge we’d come in on, up the valley a bit, but no sign of people at first. I stripped naked, and went in. Namie wanted to keep her towel on, but I told her I thought the inn didn’t want people bringing towels into the water, something about stuff in the towels making it harder to clean the bath afterwards. I wanted to take some pictures, but I’d left my camera in our room, so I pulled my hoodie and towel back on, and ran up to get it.
In the hallway, I passed a well-dressed man and a woman who said hi to me. Were they married or perhaps lovers here for a secret tryst? I quickly got my camera, but I was worried this couple might head down to the baths too. I rushed back down to the bath, stripped naked, and gave my camera to Namie, so she could take some pictures of me. Unfortunately, she spotted someone up on the suspension bridge watching us. I told her not to worry about them, and got her to take a few pictures of me standing naked in the bath, and even convinced her to let me take her picture too.
Unfortunately, just then, the couple I’d seen earlier came down the stairs. I froze when I heard them, but it took a moment for Namie to realize they were here. They looked pretty shocked to see us both naked. I bit my lip, and peered back at them all nervous now.
“Oh, sorry. We didn’t mean to disturb you,” the man apologized, his eyes wide. He peered down at my lily-white behind, and then over at Namie’s grapefruit-sized breasts. I felt a tingle run up my spine, but Namie slid back down into the water, blushing bright red. We both glanced around for our towels. Mine was over in the changing hut next to where they were standing. Namie’s was lying on the edge of the bath, so I picked it up, and threw it to her.
“Oh my!” the women tittered, scandalized by my daring. I reached down, and covered my breasts with my arm, but I was so excited by then. I got up out of the bath, and made straight for my towel, flashing them in the process. My whole body was tingling with excitement.
“Oh, I’m sorry. We didn’t mean to chase you off,” the man said.
“No, that’s all right. We were just leaving.”
I pulled my towel out while the two of them stood there gawking at me. Namie got up too, trying to cover her front with her towel. Namie looked at me gravely, but there was little we could do now. They’d caught us red-handed. I glanced over, and the man was staring down lustfully at my bare behind. I pulled on my hoodie, but my towel was all wet by then. I wrapped it around my waist, but it was practically see-through. The man continued to eye me. I walked around to shield Namie, but the tension was incredible. I don’t know why I was getting so excited, but I was.
Once Namie was ready, we hurried past them, up the hill. When I glanced back, the man was still watching, and the women was babbling away. Whoever they were, they seemed to get a big kick out of catching us naked.
Once we were safe inside, I broke out laughing. Namie looked at me strange for a second, and then started laughing too.
“Wow! That was something,” she giggled. She looked happy though, relieved maybe that we’d gotten away with it. I guess she thought something bad would happen, but nothing did. We saw the couple later that evening. They seemed more self-conscious about it than I did. I just smiled, and bowed as we passed them in the hallway.
The next morning, Namie and I took a bus south to Dogashima on the coast, where we had reservations at the Dogashima Komatsu View Hotel. It was a nice place, one of the fanciest hotels I’ve stayed in. The inside was brightly lit, and everything looked so new. In the elevator, there was a sign telling where all the baths are.
“It looks like none of them are co-ed,” Namie noted. That was a bit weird because Ryosuke always picks out inns with co-ed baths, so we can go in together. Why did he choose this place? The sign said that for women, there was an indoor bath on the main floor, and two outdoor baths out behind the hotel, one right on the shore of the inlet. We went up to our room, and changed into these brown yukatas they had laid out for us. We brought a couple of towels too, and set out.
To get to the outdoor baths, you had to go past the reception desk, out the front entrance, and then walk around the building to the back. The first bath was sort of half way down the cliff. Just at the exit to the change rooms, there was a winding stairway leading down to the other bath. There was a beautiful view of the ocean stretching out in front of us and a little tree covered island not far off shore.
“Wow!” Namie exclaimed. It was so beautiful. Off to the left and right, you could see the roads heading north and south along the coast, and behind us, just above, there were trees blocking the view from our hotel. Namie looked at me kind of nervously. She gestured toward this multi-story hotel just off to the left.
“Do you suppose they can see us?”
“No,” I said, trying to reassure her. It was fairly close though.
We followed the stairs down further, and soon found the other bath. As I suspected, there was no one there. It was kind of shaded under this overhang with a wooden fence on the far side, but it was right on the ocean. There were a couple of fishing boats anchored out in the inlet. Namie scrunched up her face. I looked out straining to see.
“There’s no one on the boats,” I pronounced. “Fishermen must use them in the summer.”
Namie squinted out at them, and she couldn’t see anyone either. It was a beautiful day out really–not a cloud in the sky.
The change rooms were up by the other bath, so we walked back up. I looked around again at the roads and the other hotel, a little bit worried that someone might be watching. Namie looked worried too, but I mused that it should be OK. Actually, I wasn’t so sure, but anyway, I wanted to try. I went into the change room, and got undressed. Namie soon caught up, and started changing too. I smiled at her, happy to try another bath.
I felt a bit nervous when I walked out naked to the entrance. We ended up crouching down, so that the people on the highway or in the other hotel wouldn’t notice us. There were handheld shower heads on the deck, so we quickly showered off, and rushed to get in the bath. It was deliciously warm. After we’d soaked there for a while, I said,
“Let’s go down to the other bath.”
I got out, and headed over to the stairs naked, but Namie balked.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
OK, maybe it was a bit crazy to wander around naked. There were all these cars going by on the highway, and standing out here in the open they could probably see me. I was too excited to worry about that though. I was here to have fun!
“Come on! Let’s go,” I said, motioning for her to follow. I took the rubber band off my wrist, and tied my long black hair back in a ponytail. I looked over at the hotel wondering if they could see me. I felt so charged up. This was great!
Namie finally got out of the bath, and wrapped her towel around her.
“Aren’t you going to bring your towel?” she asked anxiously. I glanced at it, but I didn’t really want to cover up. This was too much fun.
“That’s OK. Just leave it,” I giggled.
Namie gave me a dirty look, but anyway, she followed me down the stairs. I was actually kind of proud of myself for being so daring. There were hundreds of people driving by, and who knows how many more in the hotel. Even so, I felt nervous. There were high bamboo fences, so no one could see us most of the way down, but we couldn’t really see where we were going till we got to the bottom. When I first stepped out, I felt this sudden rush of embarrassment. The fishing boats were still there, and we could hear men’s voices. I suddenly realized that the fence along the left side was all that was separating us from the men’s bath. Even worse, the posts of the fence were spaced a bit apart from each other, so you could see through.
Namie took off her towel, and slid into the water. I knew I should probably hide too, but I was wondering who all was in the men’s bath. Namie kept gesturing for me to get down, but I waded into the pool, and padded over towards the fence. There were men there, three that I could see, maybe in their thirties. They were sitting deep in the water, so all I could see was their heads, but they looked pretty handsome. Suddenly, they stopped talking, and looked over this way. I hid in the water wondering if they’d seen me. Namie glared at me, upset.
“Hello,” one’s voice rang out. “Is there anybody over there?” They had seen us. I felt a shiver run up my spine as our eyes met. Namie was gesturing for me to keep quiet, but I couldn’t hold back my curiosity.
“Hello,” I called back. “How’s the water over there?”
“Nice and warm,” one called back. “Would you like to come over, and join us?”
Namie shook her head no. I thought the whole situation was kind of funny though–all five us sitting here naked. I decided to tease them a bit.
“I don’t know. The woman’s bath is nice enough. Is that one any better?”
“Why don’t you come over, and find out?”
Who knows if they were serious, but anyway, Namie was freaking out, so I let it go.
“Maybe next time,” I said.
“Or we could come over there?” The one who talked the most stood up, and waded over to get his towel. I could see his rear end, quite muscular. Namie was starting to freak out, so I moved back from the fence, and got ready to get out too.
“No, no. Don’t bother.” I got up out of the bath, motioning to Namie that we should go. The three of them were peeking through the slats trying to get a look at me. I was getting all excited, but anyway, once Namie got her towel on, we made a dash for it back up the stairs. I don’t think they were really planning on coming over, but it was probably better not to risk it. Once Namie caught up, she yelled at me for teasing them,
“What on earth were you doing? There were right there.”
“Relax. I don’t think they could see, really,” I told her.
We went back to our room, had supper, chatted a bit, and then went to sleep. The room was warm, so I slept in the nude. I woke up while it was still dark out my mouth dry. I got up, and flipped on the light, accidentally waking up Namie.
“What? What’s wrong?” she asked drowsily.
“Aren’t you thirsty?” I asked.
“I guess. What time is it?”
“Check your smartphone,” I suggested.
“6:30 a.m.”
“I just want to see if I can find something to drink.” I picked up my key, and walked to the door, but all of a sudden Namie started yelling at me, all excited.
“Whoa! Whoa! Stop!”
“What?”
“You can’t go out like that!”
I looked down, finally realizing that I was naked. Oops! I knew I was forgetting something. Namie got up, and threw my yukata at me. Sheepishly, I pulled it on, and fished out one of the white towels the hotel provided.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“I was just going to see if the baths are open yet.”
“Probably not until later.” Namie got up, retied her yukata, and came to the door. “I’m not letting you go out there alone. There’s no telling what you might do.”
I laughed. It was true I was already wondering if I could maybe fool around a bit. It was still early.
We both slid on some slippers, and headed out. The halls were so quiet. There didn’t seem to be any drink machines on our floor, so we ended up going downstairs to the lobby. There was a light on in the office behind the front desk, but we couldn’t see anyone. We finally found a drink machine, bought some barley tea, and sat down on the sofas in the lounge next to the entrance.
“So peaceful, isn’t it?” I noted.
“Mmm,” Namie nodded, smiling sleepily. I glanced over at the front desk again.
“Do you suppose anyone is up?” I asked, curious. It was eerily quiet. I went over to the counter, and called softly, “Hello, is anyone there?” There was no answer. I thought I could hear someone snoring. “The night clerk must have fallen asleep.”
I peeked out the front entrance. I could see snow on the ground and a car or two parked off to the side, but no sign of any people. It looked cold outside, but it was nice and warm here. I felt restless though. I wanted to do something. I glanced over at Namie, then went over, and joined her in the lounge.
“Are you having a good time?” I asked, more awake now.
“Um… yeah… I am,” she nodded.
“You must think I’m pretty crazy, huh?”
Namie looked at me for a moment, and then smiled.
“You seem a lot wilder now than before. Does your mom know you do these things?”
“Oh, don’t you dare tell her! She’d have a fit, I swear.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t,” Namie assured me. She paused, and then went on. “My mom still talks about that time you were running around our house bottomless. She thought that was so funny!” Her mom is my Aunt Sachi.
“Yeah, your mom is a real live-wire,” I laughed. “It was half her fault you know, the first time.”
“She’s always liked racy jokes. Hideki too.” Hideki is Namie’s younger brother.
“What about you?” I asked. She laughed.
“You’ve talked me into doing some pretty crazy things this vacation.”
“So it’s my fault, is it?”
“Honestly, Emi! I don’t know how you do it.”
“So a few people have seen us. We’re never going to see any of them again.”
“So what you’re saying is it’s alright to flash people as long as you don’t see the people again?”
“That’s not what I said.”
“Almost!” I sat up straight, and glanced over at the front desk. We’d been sitting here for quite a while, and no one had come along. I was feeling hot. I reached down, and undid the belt of my yukata.
“Do you still have your smartphone?” I asked.
“Emi! What are you doing?” Namie seemed alarmed.
“I just thinking… maybe I could go for a little walk,” I grinned. I stood up, and motioned for her to video me with her phone. She looked a bit doubtful, but got it out, and starting filming. I pulled my yukata back, letting it fall off my shoulders down onto the couch. I was now standing here stark naked in the front lobby of this swanky hotel. I probably looked so out of place, this one naked beauty in an otherwise normal hotel.
Namie was having a complete bird, but I motioned for her to keep it down, and focus. I was trying to act brave, but to tell you the truth, I was crazy nervous by then. The desk clerk was in the little room just over there, hopefully still asleep. I was pretty sure breakfast wasn’t until 8 a.m., but maybe the kitchen staff might come down earlier to get things ready. Thinking about it now, it was a terribly risky thing to do. Someone could have come along at any moment. Even so, I did want to try, just take a look around, and see what happens.
I had on my slippers, and I brought my towel, just in case I needed to cover up, but I’d forgotten my lucky necklace up in my room. Another problem, which I maybe didn’t realize at first, was there were lights everywhere, big globe lights in the lounge, gaslight boxes in the entrance and over by the front desk.
“You look insanely indecent,” Namie mumbled, voicing her complaints.
“Shh!” I shushed her, bringing my finger to my lips. I looked down at my naked body. It was true my orange-pink skin was literally glowing in the bright light. My breasts had perked right up from the excitement. I rubbed the black fur of my bush. I could feel this pulsing growing stronger in my nether regions. I had to be careful though not to come. It’s so hard to keep control, once I get like this, all excited I mean.
Another problem was I didn’t understand the layout. The stairs we’d come down on were back past the entrance and the front desk around the corner. There was a slatted wooden door back at the end of the lounge, but I wasn’t sure if that was for the men’s indoor bath… or maybe the two baths switched, women to men, based on what time it was. We couldn’t hear the showers going, so maybe there was no one there. I was afraid of getting caught, so I headed down that way, Namie close behind filming. Suddenly, this light came on, scaring the daylights out of me. It turned out it was one of those motion sensor lights by a magazine shelf. Thank heavens. I thought someone had come, and caught me standing out here stark naked right in the middle of the lounge.
I went into the bath, and just quickly spritzed myself, partly trying to calm down. When I came out, I jumped when I thought I saw someone! It was just Namie. Phew! That was close. I nodded for her to film some more. Namie looked nervous, but she did her best.
I kept peering around corners trying to see if anyone was coming, but I slowly made my way out all the way until I was standing right in view of the glass front doors and the snowy world outside. Still no people. I don’t know what I was doing, but I kind of stopped here by the doors, peering out, just kind of taking it all in, tempting fate a bit. Namie motioned for me to get moving, so I went back past the front desk, and found the other bath. No one in this one either. I guess I shouldn’t dally. People will be getting up soon.
I came back out to the entrance way again, but Namie signaled we should go upstairs, so I came back, and climbed the stairwell with her filming my behind. I didn’t want to just give up now, so once she reached the second floor, I went back down, just for one last look. I still couldn’t see the front desk clerk, but this was getting dangerous, so I finally gave in, and walked back up to our room.
“Wow! That was amazing!” I shouted so happy to have gotten away with it.
“Settle down, will you?”
The sun was coming up, so I slid open the shoji and windows, and basked in the feeling of the cool morning air on my naked skin. We could see houses with lights on, but there were no people on the snowy streets. I don’t know if anyone saw me, but maybe not. It was pretty thrilling even so.
“What are you going to do with this video?” Namie asked.
“Probably nothing. I just kind of wanted a record, a memento of the occasion.”
That next morning, we took a long train ride to our last stop, Gero hot spring in Gifu prefecture far to the west. I knew that Gero is famous for its hot springs, but it wasn’t at all like I expected. It’s not that big a city I guess, but it has a sort of big city feel with lots of tallish grey concrete buildings around the train station, sort of like Manhattan in New York. We walked down across this bridge over a river, and found our hotel. It was a cheaper place, sort of like a cross between a business hotel and a youth hostel.
An older man at the front counter gave Namie and me our keys. We took this really small elevator upstairs, and in the hall on the way to our room, there were quite a few guys sitting in their doorways chatting. They quietened down when we walked by, but once we were inside our room, they let out this great whooping yell. Namie looked at me a bit surprised. Clearly, we were a hit. I guess not many girls stay in this kind of hotel.
We looked around our room, but there didn’t seem to be any yukatas for us to wear. I wanted to take a bath, but it was too late to go looking for the outdoor bath. We decided to try the indoor women’s bath in the hotel. I pulled on a pair of pink bloomers (stretchy booty shorts) and a soft white crop hoodie. Namie changed into her purple velour track suit she uses like p.j.’s. Not the sexiest look, but what can you do? When we stepped out into the hall, one of the guys called over to us.
“Where are you two lovelies from?” He was slender, had a bit of a tan, and hair styled and spiked with product. His voice had a thick Kansai accent. He reminded me of a comedian Matsumoto–sort of confident, cocky, a bit sarcastic maybe.
“California,” I joked. I did live in California, but was born in Tokyo.
“Tokyo,” Namie said. She’s from Enoshima, a beach resort south of Tokyo, but anyway, close enough.
“You’re American? You don’t look American,” he joked back. He got up, and came this way. Namie tugged on my sleeve, not wanting to get involved. “Aren’t Americans supposed to be blonde with blue eyes?”
“There are people like me too,” I teased back. Namie finally took my arm, and pulled me away, but we almost tripped over a guy in horn rim glasses lying on the floor behind us. I covered my breasts worried he could see up the front of my short top.
“Oops,” he said.
“I’m Kazu, and that’s Tomohiro,” the comedian said pointing at his friend. For some reason, Namie was kind of spooked by all this, so she dragged me off toward the stairwell. “Hey, at least tell us your names,” Kazu called after us.
“Maybe later,” I called back as Namie pulled me through the door.
“What do you think you’re doing? Don’t talk to them,” Namie scolded me.
“What? I thought they were kind of cute.”
“You already have a boyfriend.”
“Relax. I was just curious. You have to admit they’re some of the friendliest people we’ve met so far this trip.”
She didn’t say anything, but anyway, we went off to look for the bath. We couldn’t find any signs saying which floor the women’s bath was on, so we went back down to the front desk. Unfortunately, the old man told us that it was late, so he’d already turned off the hot water in the women’s bath.
“Is the men’s bath still on?” I asked.
“Yeah, but there are a bunch of students here tonight, so that wouldn’t do. I’ll tell you what. I’ll refund you 500 yen, and you can go use the sentou down the street.” A sentou is a traditional bath house. There aren’t so many of these days, but still a few.
Namie and I looked at each other. Neither of us wanted to go back outside, but the guy insisted that was the only way. We reluctantly took the money, and headed back upstairs.
“Hey, what happened?” Kazu asked when he saw us.
“The women’s baths are closed, so he wants us to go out to the sentou.”
“Use the men’s one. We don’t mind.”
I looked at Namie, but she just scowled.
“Thanks, but no thanks.”
“No, no, I’m serious,” Kazu insisted. “Most of us go to the same university. I can just ask the other guys to clear out till you’re done.”
I looked at Namie again. It would be a pain changing, and going all the way outside into the snow in the middle of the night. Namie didn’t seem keen, but I finally convinced her to try. We waited outside the bath while Kazu and Tomohiro gathered up their classmates, and got them to clear out. At first, they grumbled a bit, but when they saw us they brightened up. One guy bowed, and motioned for us to go in.
“It’s all yours, ladies.”
Namie and I went in. She kept looking at the door to see if they were trying to peek in.
“They are still there just outside the door!” she balked.
“Relax. It’ll be OK I think. They seem like alright guys.”
Kazu reminded me of some of the Japanese guys I’d met in Oceanview, the same kind of helpful take-charge personality.
Anyway, Namie and I finally got undressed. She still looked unsettled, but I nodded that it would be alright. We went in, and sat down on the stools to shower off. The bath wasn’t nearly as nice as the last place we’d been, but the water was warm, and it was clean enough. We quickly showered, and got in the tub. Namie lay back, and let out a deep sigh.
“It’s been a long day,” she said.
“Are you thirsty?” I asked.
“No, I’m OK.”
“I’m kind of thirsty. I’ll just dash out, and grab something. I’ll be right back.”
Namie looked worried about what I was going to do, but she didn’t get up this time.
“Be careful,” she called after me. My body was too wet for me to put on my clothes, so I picked up my towel, and wrapped it around me. It wasn’t quite long enough to tie in a knot. Hmm. Maybe I can pin the two ends with my arm. The towel seemed wide enough to cover my pussy, but just barely.
I picked up my wallet, and tiptoed over to the door, my heart beating away pitter pat. Kazu and Tomohiro were relaxing on a bench just across the hall, next to the drink machine.
“Umm,” I called out. “Do you mind if I grab a drink?”
They both straightened up when they saw me, standing in the doorway dripping wet in just my short towel. I knew I was taking a terrible chance, but I was still a bit worked up from all these things we’d been doing.
“Um, why no. G-g-go ahead,” Kazu stammered, his voice getting higher. I found his nervousness kind of cute.
I took a deep breath, walked over to the machine, and struggled to get some change out without dropping my towel. Kazu quickly rushed to my aid. I slid a 100 yen coin into the machine, but I didn’t have any tens, so Kazu fished out his wallet, and put two in for me. Grateful, I gave him a shy smile. I pushed the button for honey and lemon, but when the can came down the chute, I realized that I couldn’t bend over without flashing them my bare bottom.
“Could you…?” I asked Kazu, nodding at the opening. He leaned over, fished the can out, and handed it to me. I went to go back to the change room, but Kazu called out.
“Hey, why don’t you come join us?”
Tomohiro stood up offering me a space on the bench. I knew I shouldn’t, but they were both being so chivalrous. I sat down jumping a little at the feeling of the cold plastic on my bare behind. My towel had come apart, exposing my hip all the way up my side. I kept adjusting it trying to keep from flashing them. It was Kazu who broke the awkward silence.
“Those are interesting slippers. Where did you get them?”
I leaned forward to look at them. They were pink and furry with a hello kitty design.
“Do you like them? I think I must have bought these ones in Fujisawa or somewhere,” I told them.
“Is that where you live?”
“No, I told you. I’m studying in the States in California.”
They seemed strangely impressed by this for some reason. I guess they thought it would be cool to learn another language, study abroad. They told me about their school and the exam they were studying for. They seemed pretty laid-back considering, not fazed by me sitting here in my way too small towel. I asked them about what they were doing here, and wanted to hear more, but Namie appeared at the door of the baths, hair dripping wet, but dressed in her track suit.
“Emi, c’mon back!” she beckoned. I sat up, kind of losing the back of my towel. Kazu didn’t blink, but I still rushed to put down my drink, and pull my towel back around my bare behind. Tomohiro kind of scrunched up his lips, but they were trying so hard to play it cool, even though I was sitting here practically naked. They seemed like good guys.
“Anyway, maybe talk to you later?” I suggested, scampering off to the change room.
“Yeah, sure.”
Once I was safely back in the change room, I let the towel fall. Namie was all pissed again, but I told her,
“Don’t worry. It was fine. They seem nice.”
She just made a face, and rolled her eyes. I take it she doesn’t flirt with guys much anymore now that she’s married.
Anyway, we bathed a bit more, dried off, and got dressed. Kazu and Tomohiro were still waiting when we came out.
“Sorry,” I apologized to them.
“Yeah, no worries,” Kazu said cheerfully. “Come chat with us.”
Namie shook her head no. I bowed good night, and gave Kazu a wink. Namie tucked in early, but I went back out, and joined them again. They were here studying for a psych exam with one of their upper class men. They asked about the States, and seemed fascinated by my stories. They both said they’d be planning on going abroad to study. I’m not sure if they meant it, but anyway, they seemed quite taken with me. Eventually, though, it was getting late, so I said good night, and headed back to our room.
The next morning, we found Kazu and Tomohiro lounging around in the front lobby. They invited us to breakfast, and took us down to a local eatery they’d found. Namie still seemed wary, but when she found out they were prepping for exams, she shared some of her strategies. I was surprised because I never realized she took school that seriously. Eventually, the conversation turned to Gero.
“Do you know anything about the hot springs here?” I asked.
“There’s one down by the river,” Kazu told us.
“We were thinking of going down, and taking a look,” I mused. Namie looked at me, not so keen on them coming.
“OK, we’ll take you down,” Kazu burbled happily. Tomohiro nodded.
“Don’t you have to study?” Namie asked.
“Nah, we’ve been studying all week.”
Namie still didn’t look keen on having them join us, but anyway, they led the way, and we followed. Of course, I felt nervous about bathing with these two guys we barely knew, but I was wondering what they look like naked. Kazu was kind of skinny, but he had a nice tan. Tomohiro was quiet, but I bit more muscular. Apparently, they played soccer.
Outside, it was sunny, but still pretty brisk. There was less snow here than in Izu. We saw a few people and cars on the main street, but once we got down to the river, there didn’t seem to be too many people around. Standing on the bridge, I finally caught sight of a pool down on the flood plain below.
“Is that it?” I asked pointing.
“Yep,” Kazu nodded. We climbed down the bank to take a closer look. The bath looked nice enough, smooth stones with steam rising from the water, but it was right out in the open with no walls at all, not even a partition to change behind.
“Do people actually use this bath?” Namie protested. I kneeled down, and checked the water.
“It’s warm,” I noted. I started looking around. Across the river was a ten-story office building. I couldn’t see any of the lights on, but in some of the other buildings further down, there were some signs of life. Namie wandered away, not so interested in the bath. Kazu and Tomohiro looked nervous, but were maybe willing to try.
“Well?” I said to Namie.
“What? You want to bathe here? Did you bring a bathing suit or something?”
I shook my head no.
“Are there any other hot springs nearby?”
“There are some in the hotels, but I think you might have to be a guest to use them,” Kazu said. Namie fished out a guidebook, and started leafing through. I didn’t know anything about other places, but I was positive that this was the place Ryosuke had intended to bring me. This was just like him–an outdoor bath way out in the open in the middle of town. I undid my scarf, and took it off. They all looked surprised that I was stripping here with all these buildings around. I turned my back on the boys, took off my backpack and coat, and set them down on the rocks.
For all my bravado though, I have to admit I was kind of scared. Some of the buildings near us seemed to be hotels. It was hard to tell if anyone was watching or not. I decided not to think about it, and unzipped my boots, and slid them off. The stones were so cold on my stocking feet. I glanced back at the boys, and they were just standing there staring at me.
“Let’s just go back to the indoor one,” Namie implored.
“That wasn’t a spring. That was just tap water,” I retorted.
“Then let’s go find a spring.”
“We’re here now. Let’s try,” I suggested. “The water is nice and warm.”
Kazu looked at Tomohiro. There was a long silence. Then finally, Kazu stood up, and took off his jacket.
“What the hell? Why not? You only live once.”
I smiled at him, and started taking off my sweater. Namie was still dragging her feet, but she knew I wanted to do this. As I got my sweater off, I started to wish that they did have a changing hut. The town was surprisingly quiet, but every once in a while, a car drove across the bridge not so far from us. I guess it really didn’t matter though. With a bath way out in the open like this, people are bound to see you no matter what you do.
“Emi!” Namie shouted, trying to get me to stop.
“Hundreds of people bathe here, don’t they?” I asked. Namie came closer, and whispered in my ear.
“I don’t think this is such a good idea. I mean we barely know these guys.”
I pulled her off to the side, away from the boys.
“Oh, come on. Just try. I talked with them for a long time last night. They seem like nice guys. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
Namie didn’t look convinced at all. She sat down on one of the rocks with her back to us.
“You guys go in. I’ll stand guard.”
Kazu and Tomohiro were down to their shorts, but I wasn’t so keen on going in without Namie.
“Namie, come on. I can’t do this without you.”
“Then get back dressed.”
“No. Please? For me? Pretty please.”
She glanced over at me, her eyes still suspicious.
“Why is this so important to you?”
“You’ve got to admit you’ve had fun this week.” I glanced back at the guys. They were still in their shorts, squatting down to keep warm. “Look at them. Do they look dangerous to you?”
She finally looked over, and laughed.
“I guess not, but Emi! For heaven’s sake, look at this place. Those buildings could be filled with people.”
“Who have probably seen it all before. Relax. Come on. It’ll be fun.”
Namie looked over at the guys and back at me.
“You’re crazy. You do know that, don’t you?” She stood up, and took off her scarf. I wasn’t sure, but I took that to be a yes. The guys were holding their towels in front of them, and slipping off their shorts. As I suspected, Tomohiro had a great body, not huge, but nice biceps. They both slid into the bath, and set their towels down on the edge, looking at us expectantly.
“The water’s beautiful,” Kazu squeaked. Namie was kind of hiding behind me. I was glad that the boys had stripped, but actually, I was a bit worried. Cars kept coming along the bridge, and we could see people in the distance. “Aren’t you girls coming in?” Kazu asked.
I sniffed, and took a deep breath. I’ve been to nude beaches before. I’ve been skinny-dipping. I was miles from home, miles from anyone I knew. Namie may complain, but she’s getting more used to this, getting naked all the time. I can do this, I told myself.
I unbuckled my belt, and undid the top button on my jeans. Namie was staring at me, this panicked look on her face. I nodded for her to get undressed too, and then pulled down my jeans. The boys smirked at the sight of my bare legs. I turned my back to them, and then pulled down my panties, getting more and more excited.
I pulled off my blouse, my t-shirt and my bra. The morning air was so cold, but I honestly didn’t care. I was just so thrilled at being naked out here in the middle of town. I couldn’t see anyone on the bridge at first, but I felt like I was being watched. I walked over to the edge of the bath, and stood there a moment. Kazu and Tomo looked up at me with this look of wonder in their eyes.
I looked back at Namie, but she was just standing there, afraid I guess. I hurried back to her, and helped her take off her coat.
“Hurry up. I’m freezing,” I said.
Back up on the bridge, I did see some people coming this way. Namie was freaking, covering her mouth as she looked up at them. I felt embarrassed, mortified, but I kept on pulling off her clothes. I was shivering but more from excitement than the cold.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“I’m fine. Let’s just get in the bath.”
I finally got her to take her underwear off. Namie raised her eyebrows high, perhaps feeling the same arousal that was nipping at me. I scurried over to the bath, and waded in. Namie was right behind me holding her towel in front of her.
Kazu kept warbling, his voice shooting high, nervous I guess now that we all were naked. Tomohiro was calmer trying to crack jokes to break the tension. I thought they were kind of funny, but Namie just turned away trying not to look at them. Tomohiro slipped up out of the water sitting on the edge. We could see his penis quite erect now, but I didn’t want to stare. Namie laughed nervously, and kept looking away.
The thought had crossed my mind that Tomohiro in particular wanted to sleep with us, or fool around or something. To tell you the truth, I was kind of horny, but Namie and I had already checked out of the hotel, and we had to catch a train back to Fujisawa fairly soon. We couldn’t really do anything right here out in the open anyway. I looked at Tomohiro trying to convey to him we were going to have to take a rain check. I’m not sure if he understood, but he seemed cool with whatever. Kazu seemed rather more in awe of me in particular, and was just sitting there watching, waiting to see what would happen. It was a really weird situation.
I hid my body in the water at first, looking around trying to judge whether the people on the bridge could see us. The bridge was maybe 10 or 15 yards away, so I guess they could see us, but not that clearly. The flood plain was wide enough I don’t think the people in the buildings could see all that well unless they had binoculars. I was still trying to figure out how you are supposed to act. Kazu kept talking, and trying to be funny to put us at ease. I don’t think he is a pick up artist really. He seemed so surprised that Namie and I had even agreed to strip down, and get naked in front of them.
I gathered up my courage, and stood up, showing the two guys my breasts and bush. They smiled, but continued to natter away, seemingly unsure of what I was doing. I turned away, but the people on the bridge didn’t seem that worried either. I actually got up out of the pool, and walked closer to the bridge, but no one apart from Namie seemed that upset.
A really old guy came down, and joined us in the bath, but he didn’t seem too worried about us young’uns. Kazu and Tomohiro watched as I waded down to this pile of rocks that had the fountain where the hot spring water came out, climbed up, and took a drink. The water tasted great, but that just might be because I was so excited. A middle-aged woman stopped on the bridge to look at me, but then walked on. I was beginning to think maybe I’d been worrying too much, except this dangerous looking guy in a blue jacket came walking along the concrete right near us, so I hid down in the water. He and his friends seemed quite curious about me, so I waited until they moved on.
The old man moved away to the other bath, so eventually, I stood back up. A funny guy on the bridge saw me standing here naked, and yelled out to me,
“Brilliant! Excellent!”
I waved to him, and he waved back. He seemed pretty excited to see my body. I waded around naked in front of Kazu and Tomohiro, watching their reaction. Tomohiro had this evil glint in his eye, but Kazu was more like “Wow!” Some workmen came walking along the river bank near us, and this time I didn’t cover up. They walked past, but kept turning around to look at me.
“Maybe we’d better go,” Namie finally said. I was just starting to enjoy myself, being out here naked in the middle of this busy town. All these people wandering by, cheering me, or checking me out… but she was probably right. We had a long train ride ahead. I got out of the bath, and grabbed my towel, drying off. Namie came out, and we both got dressed.
Once we were all back dressed, we went to the train station, and bought some lunch. I exchanged messenger info with Kazu and Tomohiro, and wished them well with their exams. I could tell they really wanted to see us again, but Namie is married, and I had to go back to the States. On the train back, Namie seemed pretty cheery.
“What are you grinning about?” I asked.
“I don’t know. I guess it was kind of fun. Thanks for inviting me.”
I smiled back. Maybe the two of us are more alike than I thought.
Emi Tsuruta