A/N: This is to be a fairly light-hearted chapter that has far less setup compared to previous chapters. Think of it as the calm before whatever comes next, because with this group there is always a next.
Having sat down on the temple steps as I wait for the others to finally get bored of the temple (which, at this point, felt like a personal endurance challenge), and as I look down the steps, I spot something curious.
A young couple is running up the steps of the temple, obviously both are foreigners. Nobody runs up that many steps for fun, so they clearly had somewhere to be. Soon I hear the woman call out, "Kiritsugu, wait up!"
... Have I heard that name before? It tugged at me like a song faded from memory.
.
.
.
meh, unlikely.
The headache that usually comes with digging through the man's memories was already threatening to start. As I am about to get lost in my memories, I hear the man call out to his white-haired lady, "Iri-"
Now, unlike before, yesterday was particularly calm. No chasing, no kitsune, no armed samurai, and nobody asking me to explain a hole in a wall.
This was thankfully because we had gone to an onsen town.... Everyone had silently agreed that the trip needed a day of peace.
I was actually quite happy about this because the week had been a bit too exciting for my mental age. It was to the point that I would have complained about back pain if I wasn't a child.
Being the youngest member of the group with an adult brain means you notice every ache, and I was starting to feel all of them.
Surprisingly, this time Sven's family had actually chosen a different hot spring inn compared to us because a potential business arrangement was going down over there. I assumed it was the kind of deal with a lot of handshakes and very little explanation. Sven waved at us from the car with the resigned look of a kid who knew he was about to sit through a very long dinner.
Once having settled into our rooms (Petunia checked three times that they were actually ours), one of the buildings beside the onsen we had chosen had a family restaurant that was recommended by a local we (I) asked after walking around.
The place was nice, the food was good and cheap, plus, due to the unconventional timing, there weren't that many patrons. The owner kept refilling our tea like it was a competitive sport.
While this was happening, Shorekeeper had decided to give me an impromptu lesson on the next bit of psychology.
She delivered the announcement like a professor who had been waiting all semester for this exact moment. Now, why had I already jumped from Electrical Engineering? Was it because I was a genius?
No.
Not in any way.
I was just way too much of a dumbass, and so, to give me a break from the Smith charts, SK had temporarily switched to psychology and the annoyance that is Freud. Apparently, the fastest way to stop me from crying over impedance matching was to hand me something I could argue with, and Freud is nothing if not argued with.
He didn't. It's apocryphal.<
<...I will be updating my lesson plan.>
So what does it mean when I dream about Smith charts?<
My favorite of the food was probably the teriyaki-sauced beef, cause, well, meat. Sweet, glossy, and just salty enough that I almost forgot there was a lecture going on.
Humorously enough, SK was actually sitting at another table enjoying her own meal, as the food was genuinely good. She had a small, very serious frown on her face while she chose which dish to try next.
It took us about 2–3 hours for the meal, mainly because most of the time we were talking, plus, as we ordered a lot, the owner didn't really care and straight-up preferred we stayed longer. By the end, I think he considered us part of the furniture.
Anyway.
The walk back was quiet, and the evening air had cooled just enough to make the idea of hot water sound even better. Once we had finished our outing, we left for the onsen building to finally enjoy the hot springs. Vernon, Dudley, and I were somehow the only people on the men's side of the cavern. It felt a little odd, but I wasn't going to complain about having a cavern to ourselves.
As I found out later, on Petunia's side there were quite a few more people.
This was probably one of the most enjoyable parts of the trip, as even Vernon couldn't force himself to seem grumpy as he usually does. For a few minutes, he even closed his eyes and sighed, which I'm fairly sure counts as a personal record.
Dudley as well was much milder and less hyper, which was surprising, as I'd expected the opposite. He mostly sat there with a dazed, contented look, like a cat in a sunbeam.
After leaving the baths, we had gone inside and ended up playing cards for several hours. I ended up winning roughly 30% of the time, Vernon 24%, Dudley 26%, and Petunia 20% of the time. Nobody was keeping score on paper, but I'd like to think my adult-brain maths was more reliable than anyone else's memory of who actually won. Vernon accused the deck of being rigged at least twice.
I was actually surprised when Petunia had chosen several times to team up with me against Vernon, though, given the chance, she defended Dudley as much as she could. It felt strangely like a truce, one I did not want to jinx by pointing out.
The next day, once awoken (by the door banging open before I had even opened my eyes), I was met with the 'new' Dursleys having a mental breakdown. From Vernon and Petunia arguing and yelling to Dudley sitting in the corner and staring off into space, it took me a damn moment to realize the issue. Vernon kept turning side to side in front of the mirror, Petunia kept looking at her own reflection and then at her hands, and Dudley hadn't blinked in what felt like a full minute.
EVERYONE was PHYSICALLY FIT. EVERYONE. Even Dudley, who a day earlier had considered stairs a moral injury. I had a very strong feeling this was going to be a long morning, afternoon, and evening.
The next thing I find is a small pink fox sitting on the windowsill, slightly laughing at the madness inside.
Once she noticed that I was staring at her, she dropped down and curled up in my lap as I was sitting up after waking.
Unfortunately, we didn't really have much time to stay here, as while we did have a week where we would outright stay at an onsen, this was not that week.
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A/N: Read gooderer.