CHAPTER XV

Yamanoshita, the legendary hot spring resort of Sada’s time, was bouncing even in this age. There were rich men and women from all around Honchu Province here, as well as pilgrims and ailing men and women who had come to seek healing in the mineral springs. Doctors and faith healers alike called this place home and lived in friendly competition with one another. Souvenirs, trinkets, and all sundry goods were for sale in this town, the Macaque’s Den being but one of these many establishments. Palanquins and carriages ferried well-to-do patrons to and from the springs, inns, and other buildings, while the commoners walked.

A particular couple walked the together by the springs, which pooled in various natural and artificial places that bounded the city on one side. His clothes were rugged like those of a journeyman, his hair plastered to his head by oil. A very odd piece of jewelry he wore: what appeared to be two glass pieces were set in bronze, connected in the middle by an arch that sat upon his nose, and held to his head by brass shafts that wrapped around his head and behind his ears. Her blue and silver robes were very fine, if a little dusty, but she looked as though she was comfortable with it. Her long hair may have been matted and dirty also, but hard to tell as it was tied back. They inspected the hot spring complex from to find a suitable location. High baths, built up by mineral deposits and occasionally walls, fed into lower baths and because of this, these baths were blocked from the unwashed masses, only those of good birth and lined pocket permitted. At the bottom were many larger pools, a bath filled with some common patrons, but also with lepers, paralytics, hunchbacks, and patients all manner of pox and pustules. A low screen had been placed to keep the ailing separate from the healthy, but the couple refused to enter even the “healthy” side, which the man said looked like a bisque of infirmity—though the people were strained out, all the flavor and aroma of their illness still filtered through the screen. Nearby was another natural pool. A colossal rock had been placed in the middle of it by a passing glacier, and the sexes were separated on each side of it by another, taller screen. Two vendors were set up behind counters—one on the men’s side and one on the women’s—selling refreshments. The entrance to this bath was walled off in stone with a portal built into it, gated. A man sat on a stool inside the portal. He was dressed like a common working-class fellow and was leaning against the bar that held the gate shut, his hair permanently flattened by the constant humidity and his brown eyes glazed.

The couple stopped and noted a locked wooden box outside the gate, with the words “One Mon” written on it. The man looked at the woman, who nodded in approval. Bowing to the gatekeeper, the man produced a gi and spoke.

“Excuse me, but may you change my gi into mon, that we may enter here?”

The gatekeeper sat up, suddenly alert and polite. “Of course. Entry is one mon a head, as my good sir and madam can see, and any form of refreshment one may desire within may be purchased at one’s leisure. Madam’s baths are beyond that screen, my good sir’s are on this side. Now if good sir would render the coin to change…”

The man gave the gi to the gatekeeper, adding, “Please, just call me Sadakatsu.”

Giving out twelve copper mon coins to Sada, the gatekeeper said, “Very well, Messer Sadakatsu. Kindly place two mon into the box there for madam and yourself, and have a relaxing time.”

Sada did as suggested as the gatekeeper removed the bar and opened the gate for him and Ayame.

When they were inside and away from the gatekeeper, Ayame said, “Thanks for bringing me here. I can’t wait to take a nice, long soak here and finally get cleaned up. I hope you have fun too!”

Sada smiled and handed her three mon. “Don’t spend it all in one place, now,” he said jokingly.

The two parted company as Ayame went to the far side of the screen while Sada made his way to the wall, where there were shelves holding bathers’ clothes on the top and washbasins and stools on the bottom. Sada placed his satchel onto the top shelf and undressed, neatly folding each item and placing it beside the satchel. He tilted the satchel down onto his folded clothes and pulled out the bar of soap he had taken with him. Picking up a basin and a stool, he approached the water’s edge and filled the basin. He stepped back a safe distance, sat on the stool and proceeded to clean himself off, reluctantly using the soap to wash his hair as well as his body. My scalp will just have to deal with it, he thought to himself. Refreshed to be clean, he jumped into the water, which he immediately regretted doing, and showed it when he surfaced by letting out a most unpleasant shriek. The hot spring was, surprisingly, very hot.

By and by he became accustomed to the heat, and considered becoming accustomed to more of the ways of these times. Still a little awkward at hot springs, he finally got out of the water and made his way to the vendor’s counter in the back. Several small boards were hung on the wall to form a menu. Some items looked satisfying, like egg over rice, hishio, and kinpira, while others looked intimidating—blood sausage, roasted radish with crab brain dressing, and what appeared to be, though Sada didn’t want to believe it, roasted finches. After some deliberation, Sada summoned the vendor and asked, “Pray, chef, a plate of kinpira and rice here. Have you anything for me to drink?”

“Of course,” the vendor said, “we have wines in red and white, a couple beers, and mead.”

Sada was confused. “Mead?”

“Fermented drink, made from honey. Mead.”

“Oh. Have you anything that is not fermented?”

The owner shook his head. No tea, no coffee, no juices here. Sada was slightly disappointed. Since the drinking age (in his own time at least) was eighteen, he was unable to develop the taste for alcohol that would now prove useful. As of yet the only time he drank was at church, and that could barely count anyway. Deciding to go along with custom, he supposed that the mead would be the best choice, so he asked for that.

“Of course,” the vendor replied. He reached under the counter and produced a flask of mead, surmounted by an upturned cup, before turning around to pull some kinpira onto a plate and fetching Sada a pair of chopsticks. He gave it to him and noted, “Sweet against salty and sour—an excellent combination indeed! This will be one mon.”

Sada nodded and dropped a coin onto the counter as the vendor took the cup from the flask and poured him some of the mead. He thanked the vendor and picked up the cup to take a drink. Very quickly Sada set the cup back down, shuddering and grimacing. How could anything made from honey taste so foul? The flask was indeed labeled mead, but Sada’s tongue said it would more appropriately be labeled drunken diabetic piss. Of course, he didn’t want to look a neophyte in these times, so he mustered a smile and, when he had suppressed the urge to throw the drink back up onto the counter, said, “…Just how I like it.”

The vendor simply said, “I’m glad,” and poured Sada another round. Hopefully the kinpira wouldn’t disappoint. Picking up his chopsticks, he took a bite of the kinpira. At least there’s something I can count on to taste right, he thought. He sipped his mead after that, trying to accustom himself slowly, still shuddering after every sip.

When he had finished the kinpira, he thanked the vendor and decided to get back in the water again. Feeling audacious, he leapt up, tucked his legs underneath him, and gave a shout as he cannonballed into the water with a great splash, which unfortunately scalded the head of a rather large, imposing fellow who had clearly visited his drunken diabetic friend a few too many times. Hot water ran down his bald head and his massive shoulders, and he twitched as he turned around to see who had splashed him. His eyes narrowed as he waded toward Sada, his head almost steaming on its own. Sada felt suddenly appreciative, amid his fear, that the water was hotter than his own body temperature.

“The hell you do?” The big man pushed Sada forcefully on the shoulder.

“N-nothing! I had no intention of—” Sada stammered as the big man continuously walked ever closer, backing Sada into the partitioning screen.

“I think you did! What you gonna do about it, kid,” the big man bellowed as he gave Sada another push on the shoulder, causing him to stumble and fall backward into the screen, bringing about twelve feet of it down with him.

Several shocked women on the other side gasped and shrieked as Sada came with a crash and a splash through the screen. As he surfaced, he shook the water from his face and opened his eyes. His mind had not yet processed what happened, but that was soon remedied when he realized he was looking at a certain young lady with shimmering green eyes who was covering herself with one arm and rearing back to slap him with the other.

“Sada, how could you,” Ayame shouted as she slapped his face with the full flat of her hand. She then waved her arm over the water toward Sada and the broken screen, and a wave followed, unceremoniously washing Sada back into the men’s side.

The big man who had pushed Sada was now nowhere to be found.