Awakening - Chapter 221

After exiting the airport, looking at the somewhat pale Naoko, Lei Yin could not help but a bit worry, “Are you exhausted?”

Naoko smiled and shook her head, and then said: “I am okay, just having some air sickness, I’ll be fine in just a while.”

Lei Yin was not assured, so he said: “Let’s sit in the lounge for a minute, and then we can ride the bus to the hotel.”

“No, I am really fine.”

“Behave.” With that, with right hand carrying the luggage and left hand holding her slender waist, Lei Yin walked to the airport lounge with Naoko.

Feeling the thoughtfulness of her sweetheart, Naoko’s heart was both touched and filled with sweetness. She leaned her head on his shoulder while putting her arms around his waist.

At this time the man responsible for the reception noticed that Naoko walked away instead of walking to his side, so he immediately ran over and said: “Miss Hase, our bus will soon arrive, please come with me, okay?”

Before Naoko could answer, Lei Yin said to him: “My girlfriend is a bit uncomfortable, I want to take her to the lounge to take a break. After a moment, we will go to the hotel, you don’t have to wait for us.”

“Are you okay, miss Naoko?” That man really saw her pale face.

“Thank you for your concern, Mr. Maruyama, I just need to rest for a bit.” Naoko politely answered him.

“If so, then we will go first, if there’s anything then please contact me.”

“Thank you, Mr. Maruyama.”

When Maruyama returned to the gathering point, a 35-36-year-old man asked him: “Mr. Maruyama, what happens to Miss Hase?”

“It’s like this Mr. Iketsu, Miss Hase Naoko does not feel well, so she wants to go to the airport lounge to take a break. After a minute, they will go by car to the hotel to meet with us.”

“It turns out to be so.” Iketsu looked up at the figure that just walked into the lounge.

Then, came the voice of a young man from the side, “Sure enough, a beautiful woman’s body is relatively weak. Tsk, unexpectedly, this recently very popular female columnist ‘Shimizu’ (Clear water) is very beautiful. If I knew, I’d go after her.” This was a tall lanky man who wore glasses.

“It’s not too late. What’s wrong, are you afraid? Oh, this is not like your character at all, Murai.” A buxom woman interrupted from the side.

“Who says I am afraid? But, what you said make sense, in any case, she just has a boyfriend and not yet married. Besides, her boyfriend is very average.” Murai who wore glasses said while touching his chin.

“How come the car has not come yet? I am really tired of waiting.” A 40-something, heavily makeup woman complained from the side.

“Miss Aso, please wait a moment, it should come very soon.” Maruyama, who was responsible for the reception, immediately said with a smile.

“Every year it’s like this, can’t you improve your work efficiency a little bit?” The woman surnamed Aso very impatiently said.

“I am sorry, next time we will pay attention to it.”

“You say that same thing every year, but it’s still the same.”

Maruyama had to keep apologizing.

“Forget it. Let me ask you, this year why would you include that woman, who does not have a qualification as a writer and who just put a few articles in the magazine, with us?” Aso asked.

“Do you mean miss Hase?”

“Still trying to be stupid, in addition to her who else?”

“It’s like this, Miss Hase Naoko’s essays in the magazine column are getting more and more popular with women readers, so our president decided to invite her to attend this meeting.”

Aso sneered. “Humph, she’s nothing more than a newcomer who just made her debut, I want to see how long she can stay popular.”

Hearing this conversation, standing not far away, Akagi Miho whispered to Iketsu and Murai: “That woman is really here. I really admire her cheekiness. She’s already forty years old, yet every year she still participates in the young writer’s conference.”

“There’s nothing we can do, she is the wife of the former president, so the current president has to give her some face.” Murai spread out his hands and said. “I heard that the former president divorced her. Is this true?” Iketsu butted in.

“Who knows, but with that grass-is-always-greener-on-the-other-side personality of that old goat, it is not impossible. In those days, that old guy really liked to grope me, but fortunately, he retired early because of that matter.” Akagi Miho gleefully said.

Watching Akagi Miho’s plump figure, Murai could not help but swallow a bit of his saliva.

Finally, the bus came to pick them up, so this group of more than 20 popular or semi-popular young writers from Tokyo entered the bus one by one.

When the Autumn came, the weather began to turn cold. The Young Writers Association has arranged a very special place for their accommodations not far from Nagoya, in a hotel in Gifu County where there was an Onsen next to it.

Regarding this arrangement, most people were very satisfied, only Aso who complained about not staying in a proper hotel instead of an old-fashioned one.

After more than twenty minutes of rest in the airport lounge, Naoko said to Lei Yin: “Lei, I’m fine now.”

Seeing her face has returned to normal, Lei Yin, feeling relieved, took her out of the airport to go by bus.

On the bus to the hotel, Naoko leaned on his shoulder and said: “Lei, I am really happy.”

Lei Yin bowed and kissed her forehead, “If you think those people are too noisy, we’ll move to another hotel. Anyway, there’re plenty of hotels here.”

Naoko did not speak, just quietly looking at him. After a while, with blushing cheeks, she suddenly extended her neck and kissed his lips, and then she withdrew her head back into his arms.

Lei Yin smiled and gently stroked her hair on the back of her neck.

The City of Gero in Gifu Prefecture was famous for its onsens. They rode the bus from Nagoya all the way to the north for two hours until they reach Gero, their destination.

Using the address given by Maruyama who was in charge of the reception, Lei Yin directly took Naoko to their hotel.

This was a medium sized old style hotel, with antique-style design and some old wooden decor on the doorway, showing this hotel was at least decades old.

After walking in, and after negotiating their stay with the hotel servicewoman, she immediately brought them to their booked double room.

Although the Association of Young Writers was willing to pay for the tickets, along with the accommodations, Lei Yin did not want to owe to any of them, so he paid for his and Naoko’s tickets, as well as the hotel room. And because he did not like too much noise, he deliberately booked a relatively quiet room.

“Take a good night’s rest first. I’ll wake you up when we’re going to eat.” After putting the luggage, Lei Yin said to Naoko.

“Where are you going?” Coming to this new environment, Naoko did not want to be separated from Lei Yin even for a minute.

“Fool, I am not going anywhere, just go to sleep.”

“Lei, sleep with me, okay?” She pleaded softly in his arms.

Lei Yin has no other choice but to pick her up to the bed, take off his coat and then lie next to her.

Seeing that he has agreed her request, Naoko very happily clung to her waist.

After he covered the bed sheet over her body, Lei Yin said in her ear: “You, are getting more and more spoiled.”

Naoko stifled a smile as she lay her face on his chest.

After comfortably sleeping for the night, Naoko, her whole person, became radiant and more beautiful and alluring. When she walked to the hotel’s dining area with Lei Yin, all the men stared at her.

“Do you mind if we sit here?” When Lei Yin and Naoko was having their meals, the buxom Akagi Miho and the glasses Murai came over.

“Hello Miss Akagi, Mr. Murai.” Naoko politely greeted them.

“Miss Hase, I am your loyal reader. You’re the best writer that I have ever seen to write essays about women.” Akagi Miho sat next to Naoko, acting as if they were best friends. Seeing her sat down, Murai also took a seat.

“You flatter me, compared to your series of novels, I am simply nothing.” Naoko modestly replied.

At this time, Murai interrupted: “Although I am risking a ridicule from miss Hase, I actually like what you wrote in the women’s column, even though I am a man.”

“You flatter me, Mr. Murai.”

“I wonder if you have any thoughts of writing a novel? Based on your literary talent, it should be popular.” Murai continued to try to flatter her.

“For now, I don’t have any thoughts about that.”

“I know many friends from the publishing world. If you ever wanted to publish a novel, you can always look for me. This is my business card, if you ever need anything, just call me anytime.” Murai handed over a business card.

“Thank you.” Naoko did not know how to deal with his excessive enthusiasm.

“Naoko, your food is getting cold.” Lei Yin placed a piece of food to her bowl. He also used this a pretext to fend off the man who continued to ask questions.

Seeing that the one who interrupted was, justifiably, the boyfriend, although Murai was a bit angry, there was nothing he can do.

“If I may ask, what line of work are you in, Mr. Gennai?” Akagi Miho turned to look at Lei Yin and asked.

Lei Yin casually answered: “Sometimes I play in the stock market, so you can call me a freelancer.”

“It is a rare profession, but it should be a little easier than us writers. For us, we are always being forced to finish the manuscript by a bunch of people who are basically no different than debt collectors. When you don’t have any selling point anymore, not only you don’t have the retirement pension, you also can’t apply for unemployment insurance. We usually stay up late, but not only we don’t have overtime pay, even on holidays, we need to sit inside our workroom, self-abusing ourselves. Moreover, after painstakingly wrote our work, we also have to accept those smug and self-righteous but never publish any work, those people who called themselves critics to point fingers at us.” Akagi Miho was getting more and more excited until finally she simply called the waiter to bring her another glass of red wine.

“Tell me, don’t you think that we writers are miserable?” After a round of complaining, Akagi Miho, while drinking, patted Lei Yin on the shoulder.

Regarding this mature woman, Lei Yin felt a bit funny.

Seeing that Naoko, while looking at Akagi Miho, has a trace of sympathy look, Murai dryly coughed and said to this talkative peer of him, “Miho, you’re drinking too much.”

“Bah, do you think I am like you who can’t handle alcohol? Do you guys know what happens the last time I went drinking with this guy? Two. He just drank two glass of wine and he immediately fell, in the presence of other people, no less. All the people that day saw it. Don’t you guys think that he lost his face there?” Akagi Miho said as she patted the table, laughing.

Seeing that this woman saying an embarrassing thing about him in front of this beautiful girl, Murai can’t help but angry out of shame and immediately went over, wanting to pull her away, “Miho, you’re drunk. I am sorry, my friend is drunk, I need to take her back.”

“Let go of me, I am not drunk. Do you think everyone is so lame like you? Miss Hase, let’s take a dip in the onsen.” With that, she tried to pull Naoko to go with her.

“Miss Akagi, you should take a rest.” Watching her reek-of-alcohol look, quickly urged.

“Don’t worry, I am a good drinker, even better than many men. Let’s go. While we’re there, we can talk about women things.” Akagi continued to pull her.

Naoko had no way to refuse, so he can only say to Lei Yin: “Masashi, I am going to go with miss Akagi, please wait for me in the room, okay?”

Lei Yin nodded his head, “If you need something, call me on the phone.”

“I know.” Naoko walked away with Akagi Miho.

At this time, most of the people have left the dining room. After eating two mouthfuls, Lei Yin went back to the room.

In the women-only spa locker room, Naoko was changing into the bathrobe. After she finished changing and turned around, she saw Akagi Miho strangely staring at her without blinking.

“What is it, Miss Akagi?” Naoko asked, somewhat puzzled.

“It’s nothing. Let’s go.” With that, she led her to the Onsen.

No one else was in this hot spring, the surrounding was very quiet.

After trying the water temperature by hand, Akagi Miho took off her bathrobe and placed it on the wooden basin. Then she went inside the Onsen naked. After she went down, Naoko took off her bathrobe and followed her.

Gero Onsen was referred to as Japan’s three famous Onsen. Because, in addition to its clean water that was free of impurities, it was also because it can be used as the treatment for some rheumatic diseases, sports injuries, and has a special curative effect on neuralgia and other diseases.

Although she has none of these illnesses, when her whole body soaked in the Onsen, Naoko still felt very comfortable.

Akagi Miho stretched herself in the water and said: “Looks like the arrangement of this gathering is pretty good.”

Naoko Ask: “Miss Akagi, how many times have you attended this gathering?”

“Five times including this. When I participate this gathering for the first time, I was dying of excitement, thinking that I was really valued. But later on, after participating for several times, I learn that it’s just a sympathy-type welfare.”

Naoko smiled despite herself.

At this time, Akagi Miho suddenly said: “Miss Hase, let me help you massage your shoulders, my technique is really good.”

“How can this be? There is no need.”

“No need to be polite, you can reciprocate it later. Come on, relax.” With that, she went to Naoko’s side, put her hands on her shoulders and slowly massage them.

Seeing how insistent she was, Naoko cannot help but relent.

After a while, Akagi Miho said: “Miss Hase, your body is really good, this is the first time I see such a beautiful body. Your body is so beautiful that even I, as a woman, can’t help but move.”

Hearing her straightforward praise, Naoko cannot help but redden, “You flatter me, Miss Akagi, your figure is also very good.”

“I really mean it, I rarely compliment other people’s figure. You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.”

“You overpraise me.”

Naoko found that Akagi Miho’s hand slowly moved from her shoulders down to her armpits, and was about to move forward.

“Miss Hase, can I ask you a question?”

“What is it?” Naoko was surprised to find Akagi Miho’s hand really moved forward toward her chest while her other hand slowly moved downward her lower abdomen.

“Can your boyfriend satisfy you like this?” Akagi Miho’s hand continued to move down.

“Miss Akagi, please let go of me,” Naoko said in a panic.

“Miss Hase, relax, I’ll give you a joy that no man can give. You should know, there are some things that only a woman can understand.” While speaking, her hand never stop moving downward.

But at this time, Naoko forcefully jerked her hands away and immediately went to the other side of the Onsen, and then looked at her in full alert.

“Miss Akagi, please control yourself.”

Seeing that she broke free from her, Akagi Miho was a bit disappointed.

After a while, she said to Naoko: “Miss Hase, do not be nervous. I won’t force myself on other people. Since you don’t like it, I won’t touch you again.”

Although she said that, Naoko did not dare to get close to her again. If her bathrobe was not in the direction of Akagi Miho, she would have left this Onsen as soon as possible.

Seeing how nervous she was, Akagi Miho said with a smile: “Actually, I just want you to experience some of the things that you have never experienced before, but I never thought your reaction would be so big. Rest assured, since I said won’t touch again then I won’t mess around anymore.”

After deeply glancing at her, Naoko said: “Miss Akagi, this behavior is wrong.”

“I am not really a lesbian, I just occasionally do that kind of thing with other women. Because I saw that you’re the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, I couldn’t help myself. It seems like you really like your boyfriend because your reaction is the biggest among the women that I came across.”

“Beside him, I will absolutely not let anyone touch me, even women.”

“Humph, what good are those men? They’re just animals who are lustful for a beauty; When you have no value or is no longer beautiful, they will get rid of you like a trash.” Akagi Miho said with a sneer.

Glancing at her, Naoko said: “Although I don’t know why would you have this idea, he is definitely not like that. I am sorry, I have to go, please move aside.”

Akagi Miho smiled and very graciously stepped aside.

Seeing the path cleared, Naoko immediately went over to pick her bathrobe, put it on, and went to the locker room in a hurry.

Seeing her somewhat ‘run away in panic’ appearance, Akagi Miho smiled a bit and then buried her head in the water.

When she returned to her room, she saw Lei Yin watching TV, so she immediately ran over to him.

Holding her in his arms, Lei Yin asked in a low voice: “What happened?”

Looking up with eyes full of concern, Naoko slowly told him everything.

After she finished, Lei Yin frowned.

“Lei, please don’t hurt her, I can see that she’s just a pitiful woman.” Naoko watched her sweetheart’s face with worry.

Seeing her eyes, Lei Yin gently stroked her hair, “Don’t worry, I won’t do anything to her.”

Hearing his words, Naoko felt slightly relieved, “Lei, I was really scared just now. I used to listen about it, but this is the first time I encountered such a person.”

“It’s all right now.” Lei Yin softly said in her ear to comfort her.

“Lei…” Naoko deeply buried her head in his arms.