Before we get this thing started... I just wanted to say, thank you for 8k reads! Never in my mind did I think so many people would read this story (as let's all admit, it's pretty garbage) but thank you!

"Are you blind?!" Mari yelled from the other side, "This is obviously the girls' bath!"

"It's not! I checked the sign like three times!" I protested.

"Jesus, I knew you were stupid but I didn't know you couldn't read!" Hanamaru sighed.

"No I swear to God it says men's!" I reported.

"Swear to God all you want this is obviously the girls'!" You responded.

I threw on my clothes again and walked to the front desk.

"Hi, how can I help you?" the lady there asked.

"Um, I just wanted to know if the bath leading to the boy's changing area is the boys bath or the girls bath." I told her.

"This inn only has one bath, a mixed bath." 

Thank you universe... I thought as I walked back to the dressing room to tell them what I found out. Before I reached the door I swear I heard someone say, "Your welcome." to me.

"Oi!" I alerted them, "They said it was a mixed bath." 

"EH?!?! PERVERT!" more buckets were thrown in the direction of the changing room. 

"How does that even make sense?!" I said confused. 

"You definitely were thinking of something lewd!" Riko accused.

"Why does that even cross your mind?!" I shook my head.

Kanan answered, "Well number one, you've had a history of barging into a place where a guy shouldn't be." 

I'm pretty sure Hanamaru sink under the water, but I swear I didn't look!

"Number two you're a boy teenager... and I think two is enough." she concluded.

"This conversation is obviously going nowhere." I said grabbing my stuff, "I'll just take a bath when you're done." 

"Don't even think about leaving!" Chika called out.

"Wait," I paused, "You're telling me that being right here makes me a pervert, but when I try to leave I can't?" This was making my head hurt. I'm right in this situation, right?

"What if some other guys come into the bath?" Ruby asked.

They had a point, what's the worst that could happen? Rape.

 "Okay okay okay," I said, "I'll stay just hurry up!" 

"Kay!" they called back.

I still think this is stupid, there's nine of them, they could take on any guy that comes in here-

"Are you going in?" A deep voice asked.

I looked up, "You've got to be kidding me," I muttered. This dude was absolute gigantic. He was maybe six foot eleven, probably close to two hundred fifty pounds. Basically a body builder.

"Uh, well you see there's one problem." I told him as he raised an eyebrow, "There are currently nine high school girls, friends of mine, taking a bath there so..."

He nodded, "Oh I see, well there are some dudes coming in here that are a little smaller than me, but way bigger than you. And they wouldn't ever listen to a guy like you, so I'll stay right here to make sure nothing weird happens okay?"

I nodded, "Thank you." 

The big dude told all of the other dudes what was happening and they all just waited. Honestly I think if this were an anime I would have been beaten up by now. But nope we all just waited until they said they were done. 

And then we all took a bath together...

After that I walked into the room, everyone was already passed out. And there was only one spot left on the floor. I tried to get comfy but there's one problem. All nine of them are rough sleepers. Everyone time I came close to falling asleep someone would steal my blanket...

In the end I just gave up and slept in the corner all by myself, almost freezing. The next day I was supposed to hang out with my fellow second years. Mainly to help Chika snap out of whatever was wrong.

We ate breakfast and then started outside. There was dew on the ground as the sun started to rise. Rock climbing wasn't that hard, especially since we weren't climbing the big mountains. 

But obviously something was still on Chika's mind as she was not focused at all. Falling off a ton of times. The other two were alright, You was the most athletic out of them, Riko was the smartest and took her time, and Chika was the idiot...

We kept encouraging Chika as best as we could, but she would always just put up a fake smile and then thank us. Then proceed to keep failing. Something was definitely up.

The four of us arrived at the final "mountain" and I'll be honest, it was a pretty steep climb. 

"You sure you want to do this?" I asked Chika.

"Hmm? Oh yeah, sure I don't want to take the fun from you all." she smiled.

"Okay, but you don't have to do this-" 

"I said I'll do it already!" she said quickly. "Sorry." 

"It's fine, just forget it." I told her as we started to climb.

You and Riko were already ahead and Chika was behind me. The mikan-head seemed to actually be trying now. Like she had just found the solution to her problem. 

We were halfway up the climb and Chika was starting to act a bit normal now. She didn't look confused or sad or whatever expression she was making earlier. 

"Did you have like a revelation or something?" I questioned.

She nodded, "Actually Shizuko I lik-" before she could finish the sentence she lost her grip and started falling. 

"Chika!" I reached out but she was already falling.

"Chika-chan!" the two other girls yelled.

She said she was alright, but there were scrapes and cuts on her. And she had sprained her ankle. Poor Chika, it always seems like she's the injured one. 

Riko and You said that they were going to find help, so I stayed with Chika. "Does anything else hurt?" 

"The parts that are bleeding don't hurt that much." she said, "It's mainly my leg." 

I took a look, her right leg was swelling, "We need to get some ice, they've been gone too long." 

There was a path that you could take down from the rock climbing area. But then it'd be another two mile walk back to the inn. 

"Get on," I told her, here comes part two of me carrying Chika. "How many mikans have you been eating?" 

"Mean! It's not my fault they taste good!" she protested.

"Just cause they taste good, doesn't mean you should eat a lot of them." 

"Well they're fruits so they're healthy!" she responded.

"Too much of a good thing is never a good thing." 

"It is if it's mikans!" 

"Like they say, it's hard to win an argument against a smart person, but even harder against a stupid person." I reminded her.

"It is hard to win against you, cause you're stupid!" she replied.

I shook my head and smiled, "You realize I'm the one that's carrying you right?" 

"I do, but I know you won't throw me off." 

"And why's that?" 

"Because you care about me." she grinned.

"Hmm... nope." I laughed, then realized something, "What were you going to say to me while we were climbing?" 

She started to turn red, "Um... it's kind of embarrassing." 

"The other two aren't here so you can say it." 

"Fine," she finally said. "You've been probably wondering what's been on my mind this whole time."

I nodded and waited for her to continue, "Well, I am worried about the move, but it's something else." she took a deep breath, "I've been waiting to say this for a long time so here I go."

"I like you Shizuko."

Finally a freaking confession. Thank the Lord, I somehow made it to the part where she confesses. There'll be two other confessions in the next chapter, try to guess who they are... (it's not another second year...) 

Anyways thanks for reading! Yeah I kind of suck at confessions and falling in love and stuff, which is stupid because I only write romance stories... 

Hope you all enjoyed! I love you all! Merry Christmas! Next chapter may come out tomorrow! Probably Wednesday though... 

Be safe! Mask up! Don't be stupid! (can I just have this as my quote?)

-Kazuya