Love Hina - Volume 1 - Chapter 1.2

PART I:

CHAPTER 2: LEGEND OF THE HINATA HOUSE TREASURE! 
 
-ah-ah-CHOO! 
Shinobu watched me sneeze, a worried expression on her sweet face. “Are you okay?” she asked. 
Not really. I had been left out on the lawn for some time. Even though summer wasn’t over, my body was thrown out of whack from being naked, wet, and exposed to the open air. 
Now I lay in my room, helpless, certain I was coming down with a cold. 
The only girl who spoke to me on a regular basis was Shinobu Maehara. She attended the junior high school nearby. She was somewhat shy and a little nervous, but man, when it came to household matters like laundry and cooking, she was a real pro. She made the Hinata House feel like a home. Shinobu was definitely the type you’d want to bring home to meet Mother. 
At first, she was a little wary of me, but now she was kind to me. She smiled easily now. I came to think of her like a baby sister. 
“Shinobu, did you hear anything?” 
“About what?” She couldn’t look me directly in the eyes; she seemed so flustered. 
“Do you know what Kitsune and the others are up to?” 
She shook her head emphatically. “I don’t know anything about the secret treasure hidden somewhere in the Hinata House!” she blurted out, then clasped her hand over her mouth. 
“Treasure?” I repeated. 
She bit her lip and looked extremely regretful. “Kitsune and the girls said it.” She leaned forward and whispered, “There is a hidden treasure on these grounds!” 
 
“That’s impossible,” I told her gently. “If there was anything buried here, this old inn would have been torn down years ago to get to it.” 
Honestly, I had no clue what all the fuss was about. Grandma Hinata was vacationing around the world, so she had to have some sort of fortune, I supposed. But these old buildings and the idea of “treasure” just didn’t mix. 
“Anyway, what does treasure have to do with me?” I asked. 
“I don’t know,” Shinobu said, shrugging. “They didn’t tell me anything other than not to tell you.” 
This was mighty puzzling. “I wonder if they thought I’d take it away from them or something? Are they trying to seduce me so I’ll let them keep it?” 
Shinobu looked at me like I was a specimen under a microscope. “Did Kitsune do something odd to you, Keitaro?” 
 
“Yeah! She stared at my naked butt, for one!” 
Shinobu flushed. She wrung out the damp towel in her hands. Water droplets splashed on the tatami floor. “You showed her your . . . your . . .” 
“I didn’t show it to her. She looked at it all by herself!” 
“No way! That’s just so filthy!” Shinobu screwed up her face until she looked like a little pink raisin. “I didn’t know you and Kitsune had the kind of relationship where you’d show each other your ...” 
“We don’t, ” I scolded. “Don’t get any funny ideas, Shinobu.” I reached out to pat her on her knee, but she inched back. She leaned so far back that I could see her panties (pink, with teddy bears on them). 
“Keitaro?” Shinobu looked at me, worried again. 
I felt something warm drip down my upper lip. I had a nosebleed! 
“You’re not doing so well, Keitaro.” 
“No, I’m all right,” I insisted. “Perfectly fine!” Oh, man, I’m going to hell for thinking bad, bad thoughts. 
“Oh dear,” Shinobu said. “I must have said something troubling to you! It’s all very shocking.” 
 
Shocking,? What was she talking about? “Why?” 
She blushed beet-red and flailed her arms a bit, looking adorably flustered. “You and Kitsune, I mean... Naru probably didn’t like that, so she flipped the tub ...” 
I shook my head. “Naw, Naru just got pissed that I exposed myself to her, is all.” 
She frowned. “I don’t think that’s the case.” 
Man, I really don’t get girls. I had no clue what Shinobu was talking about. Why would Naru care if I showed my body to Kitsune? 
Something caught my eye. I crawled slowly toward Shinobu to get a better look. 
“No, Keitaro!” She backed away. “What if someone walked in? Your body . She froze, looking horrified. 
I hugged Shinobu and said, “Please scoot over.” 
She lunged to the side, and I stepped forward to examine a black spot on the wall. At first I thought it was a bug, but it was too shiny. It was a tiny camera lens!  
 
Shinobu and I spent the next half-hour debugging my room. There were over a dozen CCD cameras—each one had Suu’s trademark on it, so there was no doubt in my mind who was the culprit. 
But why would she want to spy on me? This was the sort of thing perverts put in the stalls of womens restrooms, or the paparazzi use to get pictures of famous stars. I knew that Kitsune, whose room was next to mine, had poked a hole in the wall to check me out while I studied with Naru, so I figured she was up to something. But I had no idea if she dragged Suu and Sara in on the spying scheme. 
Then again, maybe I’d turned into a stud, and hidden videos of me had become a must-see Internet item . . . Keitaro Uncovered! Keitaro After Dark! Keitaro Gets a Naru Punch! 
Um, okay, maybe not. Maybe I should just ask what was going on. 
I left the room in search of Kitsune, but only got about three feet before I stopped short. A long, sharp blade gleamed under the hallway lights. 
“Urashima. Quit sniveling and accept my challenge to a duel!” 
 
 
I recognized this blade—it was the sacred sword of the Hinata House, Shisui. Motoko Aoyama wielded it. She was a one-of-a-kind character, extremely unique even among the girls at the Hinata House. She carried a katana replica, and wore ceremonial Japanese clothing (actually, she wore the hakama, the traditional samurai outfit) all the time, except when she went to school. And she hated men. Or at least, she hated me. I was the only man at the Hinata House, and so I did the math. 
She would resolve even the most minor incident with her sword, no questions asked, and no quarter given. Rumor had it that Motoko had studied the shin mei ryu, the secret sword fighting style. She could do serious damage, no doubt about it. 
From what I could see, Motoko was as tall and slender as a supermodel. She had long, jet-black hair (a rarity these days) and a pretty, angelic face. If she’d allow it, guys would fall all over themselves for a girl like her. But she insisted that she was studying the ways of sword, and therefore she refused all worldly pleasures, including love relationships. Especially love relationships. 
 
 
Last time we went to the beach, Motoko stopped being so formal, and opened up to me a little. But now . . . well, I was one of those wimpy males she despised the most, anyway. 
When Motoko pointed a real katana (not a replica, like she used for practice) at me, wimpy male that I was, I obliged her request to go to the large drying room upstairs. (Unlike the small drying room that doubled as the mens bath, this was a bigger room at the other end of the hall.) 
Motoko stood next to some sheets and towels that were hung up to dry; they wavered gently in the breeze. I stood next to the doorway, so that I could run for my life, should the need arise. 
“Urashima.” 
I shivered. “Did I piss you off? Let me tell you, the thing with Suu and Sara was not my fault! They attacked me! And Kitsune? I had no idea what she was up to . . .” 
 
Yeah. I was babbling. You try keeping your cool when Motoko points a katana at you. 
“Urashima!” she yelled loudly. 
I shut up. 
“I have no wish to waste lives,” she said harshly. “So take your clothes off,” she mumbled. 
“. . . Huh?” 
She swore under her breath. “Just do as I say and take off your clothes. All of them!” 
I frowned. “What’s wrong, Motoko? I’m not hiding anything . . .” 
“Don’t make me say it again, Urashima.” 
I whimpered. “But I’m catching a cold . . .” 
“Take them off.” She waved her sword around. She was so wound up I worried she might explode. 
What’s a man to do? 
“Okay, okay! Sheesh. Everything, right?” I unbuttoned my shirt. 
Motoko stared at me the whole time, which was mortifying. I unzipped my pants and dropped them unceremoniously to the floor. Finally, she looked away. 
“Hurry up. What’s taking you so long?” she hissed. 
 
“I’m done,” I said. 
Technically, I wasn’t completely naked. I didn’t take my underwear off, and my feet were freezing so I kept my socks on, but I was ready to die of embarrassment. 
Mo toko rolled her eyes. “How dare you show that to me! 
I frantically ran behind the sheets, shouting, “But you insisted I take my clothes off!” 
“Zctnma ken!” 
I gulped. Zanma ken was a technique used to dispel demons, wasn’t it? “Is my body some sort of monstrosity?” 
SWASH! 
Motoko swung her sword, slicing the sheets to shreds. I freaked out. 
“Calm down, Motoko, calm down!” I slipped 
behind more sheets, but Motoko drew nearer with each swing, reducing all the linens in her path to white confetti. 
I was cornered. The only place I had yet to go was the roof, but Motoko would kill me before I could ever reach it. 
“Get a hold of yourself! Are you seriously trying to kill me?!” I bellowed. 
Motoko had a blank, hollow expression. It didn’t matter what I said, she wasn’t listening to a word of it. She had demanded I remove my clothing, but she couldn’t stand the sight of me, and just lost it. 
I had to find a way to snap her out of it, but words were no good, so ... I distracted her by throwing my underwear at her. 
“Ura . .. shi. .. ma . .. What... ?” Motoko froze. As if she were a puppet on a string, her left hand jerked up and removed my underwear from her face. She inspected them, and then turned purple and screamed, “URASHIMA!!!” 
I’d never seen anyone so furious. 
She rushed toward me, her sword swinging down— suddenly a shadow passed between us. Someone stood in front of me. 
 
 
“Narusegawa?” I squeaked. 
For a second, I thought Naru had come to save me, but she immediately turned around and cried, “Die, you perverted scum!” 
She whacked me a good one. Once again, I flew into the sky. 
 
Later, Naru actually took pity on me. We sat in Shinobu’s room, eating some manju (sweet bean cakes) that Shinobu had prepared. Without a doubt, Shinobu was the best cook in the house, and 1 was starving, what with all the energy Ld used up the last few days just trying to survive. 
As we munched, Naru grilled me mercilessly. 
 
“And then what did Motoko say?” 
I shrugged. “She refuses to come out of her room. I heard her reciting some sutras.” 
“Well, that makes sense, since she saw that thing.” Naru sighed. 
“What do you mean ‘that thing?’ ” 
“You know. That thing is that thing. I sure didn’t expect to have to see that thing twice in one day.” She shuddered. 
Oh. That thing. “You jumped into those situations all by yourself! For all I know, you were trying to see my thing!” 
She wrinkled her delicate nose. “Knock it off! Why would I want to see your filthy naked body anyway?” 
“Then ...” I scratched my head. “Then, why did you come? First you walked in on me with Suu and Sara, and then later with Kitsune and Motoko. Why?” 
Naru paused. She exchanged glances with Shinobu, then turned back to me and glared. “Because those girls were all in danger!” 
I folded my arms and sighed. 
 
“If I let a horny animal like you all alone with those girls, naked like that, who knows what kind of trouble they’d be in!” she said. 
I wasn’t about to argue that, technically speaking, / was the one in danger, with my butt hanging in the breeze each time. I figured Naru was trying to preserve the peace and protect the other girls. She didn’t care if anyone saw my naked body. I guess I sorta hoped she’d be a little jealous and possessive of me, but that was just a silly fantasy. 
Shinobu looked like she wanted to say something, but she just shook her head and asked, “Why do you think everyone’s acting so strange lately?” 
That’s the reason the three of us had gathered in Shinobu’s room—to figure out what had gotten into Suu, Sara, Kitsune, and Motoko. Even as we wondered, Suu and Sara lurked just outside Shinobu’s window, waiting to pounce on me. It was starting to get really creepy. 

“First I thought Suu and Sara were just messing with me, but if Kitsune and Mo toko are involved, it goes deeper. The objective always seems to be—” 
“Your naked body,” Naru finished, disgusted. 
“You don’t have to say it like that,” I told her. “I have no clue what they want with me.” 
“I can’t imagine,” Naru muttered. 
“So, you’re saying you wouldn’t want to look at my naked body, Narusegawa?” 
“No way!” 
I was frustrated, but there didn’t seem to be any recourse, so I reached for another one of Shinobu’s manju. Unfortunately, Naru had the same idea, and she snatched it up first and took a big bite. 
“Aw, that was mine,” I complained. 
“Hush,” Naru said. “You hear that?” 
We all went quiet, listening intently. Voices were whispering just outside. 
“I’ve had enough,” I said loudly, like a bad actor. “I’m going to take a walk outside!” 
“Why are you raising your voice like that?” Naru asked, frowning. 

I winked at her. “Let’s go for a walk, you guys.” I pulled both girls out into the hallway and acted like we were walking away, then quickly hid behind the door. Shinobu and Naru caught on, and stayed quiet. 
Less than ten seconds later, the window opened. Suu and Sara snuck in. Sara carefully looked around, but Suu, in typical Suu-fashion, went straight for the manju. “There’s almost none left!” 
“Forget that,” Sara said. “We have to follow them!” “No need,” I said, emerging from my hiding place. Sara pulled Suu up short. “Oh no! We gotta go!” “But. . . manju!”Suu pouted. 
“Suu,” I said pleasantly. “I’ll give you some manju, but first, you have to tell me what you’re up to.” 

Suu’s eyes lit up at my promise, but she hesitated. “Kitsune warned us not to tell you . . .” 
“I’ll give you as much manju as you want!” 

“Deal!” Suu, predictably, switched sides without hesitation. 
“Oh. I didn’t think that would work,” Shinobu whispered. “Well done, Keitaro!” 
Naru huffed. “It’s not hard for him to think on her level.” 
We traded seven manju cakes in all, to learn that the Hinata teahouse was at the root of this whole mess. So the three of us decided to get to the bottom of everything by speaking to the teashop owner—my aunt Haruka. 
 
“Well,, supposedly we had an incoming phone call.” Haruka held a cigarette between her fingers as she casually explained. 
Aunt Haruka was pretty cool, and usually nice to me. Sometimes she acted like a referee between the girls and me. 
 
“Yesterday, I left the store for a while and had Kitsune cover the phone, and that’s when Grandma called.” 
“Grandma Hinata?” I asked. 
“Yeah,” she said. “Anyway, Grandma mistook Kitsune s voice for mine and told her something. Kitsune got all excited and starting yelling words like ‘treasure’ and ‘riches’ and ‘important thing’ . . . She had kind of a crazy look in her eyes.” 
“Treasure?” Naru and Shinobu repeated simultaneously. 
I was astounded. Grandma Hinata started this crazy treasure rumor? That was just so weird. 
“What’s all this about?” I asked, folding my arms. What did Grandma say to Kitsune, exactly? 
Haruka just looked at me like I’d grown two heads. 
“Do you know what she was talking about?” I pressed her. 

“How the heck should I know?” She shrugged. “If there really was treasure, she’d have told me by now.” 
Knowing Aunt Haruka, I’m sure Grandma would have been hesitant to share assets with her, since Haruka had a tendency to make dangerous investments. But I chose to sip the coffee she’d given us, instead of voice my thoughts. 
I gulped. The coffee tasted really strange. 
“Is something wrong, Keitaro?” Shinobu asked. 
“Kaaaaah!” I said, coughing. I felt like I was breathing fire. Sweat gushed off me in torrents. My stomach started convulsing wildly, burbling ominously. 
I jumped up and ran to the bathroom. I barely made it to the toilet in time. I ripped off my clothes, but still felt feverish. My tummy made weird boogly boogly noises. 
In the midst of my agony, I had the funny feeling someone was watching me . . . 
“Tsk, tsk. Gotcha!” 
I looked up. Kitsune was braced up on the ceiling like a ninja. She jumped down nimbly and kicked my clothes into the corner. 
 
 
“Did you make that coffee, Kitsune?” I asked, pained. 
“No, but I tossed in tons of hot peppers and laxatives, along with Suu’s medicine,” she said simply. “I figured if I made you hot and sick, you’d take off your clothes whether you wanted to or not!” 
I grimaced, covering myself. “Are you trying to kill me?!” 
She waved her hand. “Oh, you’ll be all right.” 
“What makes you think that?” I asked through gritted teeth. 
Kitsune ignored me, lifting up my legs to get a look at the soles of my feet. 
“What the hell are you looking for?” I demanded. 
“Well, you know,” she said absently, inspecting me closely. “It’s like I said, I love you so much, I can’t hold back anymore.” 

It was such an obvious lie, but I was stupid enough to wish it were true. I guess most guys would feel the same. 
“I want to know every inch of your body,” Kitsune purred. “So, Keitaro, do you have any tattoos?” 
I rolled my eyes. “No!” 
“Hm.” She cocked her head to the side. “I’ve heard about a white powder tattoo that only shows when you’re in a hot bath. But I don’t think that’s it.” 
“What are you babbling about?” I asked tiredly. 
Kitsune’s arms wrapped around my knees like two slithering snakes. She forced my legs open and pressed her face close to my thing. I flushed, embarrassed. 
“That’s so funny. Where is it?” she mumbled. “Oh, hey, maybe you need to get hotter. What makes you hot? What if I do this?” 
She straddled me, grabbing the back of my neck and pushing my face into her cleavage. Her soft bosom and heady perfume were, I have to say, heavenly. 
“How’s that? Are you getting hotter? Maybe it’ll show up now.” 
“What the hell?” I said, but my voice was muffled and it came out more like, “Whuddahellmmph!” 
 
Kitsune wriggled. “Quit talking! It’s really ticklish— and I’ll get hot too!” 
She bounced up and down playfully, but for me, it was just excruciating. I yanked my face away, gasping for air, and said, “I have no idea what’s going on!” 
“Like that makes a difference!” she said, grabbing my head and pushing it farther into her cleavage. I was going to choke to death (and I have to admit that it would have been a happy way to go) but I wasn’t ready to die just yet. 
Kitsune continued to purr and coo. “Say, Keitaro, you know about your grandmother’s call, don’t you?” 
“Mphmagamcalmmph?” It was really hard to hear, my head half-buried in her bosom like that. 
“Your grandmother said she forgot a really important treasure that she’d hidden long ago. She asked me to find it, so I asked her where it was.” 
Kitsune moved my head around, rubbing against me. It was torture, I tell you. 
“She said it was ‘Kei taro’s secret but then Haruka came back, and I was so startled that I accidentally hung up the phone!” 
Suddenly, someone knocked loudly on the door. I heard Naru say, “Hey, Kitsune, are you in there?” 
“Hold on, I’m almost finished,” Kitsune cheerfully called back. 
She continued to move my head around as she said, “Your grandmother’s treasure was a secret, and she hid it somewhere inside the Hinata House. But she forgot to take it with her on her trip. And since the treasure is your secret, I figure its whereabouts have to be written on your body somewhere!” 
I finally managed to escape her clutches and raised my head to gulp in some air. 
She pouted. “You didn’t have to stop!” 
I huffed. “What do you mean, my secret?” I had no recollection of anyone writing anything on my body, ever. Granted, my memory wasn’t the best, but that’s not exactly something I’d be likely to forget. 
 
Kitsune bounced up and down on my lap, her breasts jiggling right in front of my face. “Let’s find the treasure together! If it belonged to Grandma Hinata, then it must be really valuable! How about we split the fortune, and run off to a foreign country!” 
I wasn’t really interested in treasure. I kinda liked living like a bum at the Hinata House. If I was going to fantasize about running off to an exotic place (like New York, Shanghai, or Rio de Janeiro) I’d only want to go with one other person. I could see it all so clearly—an expensive, lavish apartment. I’d sit on a plush sofa, in my silk smoking jacket, a glass of warm brandy in my hand. Naru would sit down next to me. We’d gaze out of the large windows at the gorgeous landscape. She’d be wearing a glamorous, low-cut dress. I’d slip off her spaghetti shoulder straps, and then lean down and . . . 
Okay, I had to stop. Fantasizing about sleeping - with Naru while Kitsune straddled my lap and Naru banged on the door just outside was a life-threatening situation. 
I forced myself to calm down. “Living in a foreign country might be nice.” 
“I know, right?” Kitsune winked at me. She pulled me close . . . 
CRACK! 
Naru had punched a hole in the wall, big enough to stick her head in. Her face was red, and she looked ready to kill me. 
“What might be nice?!” Naru yelled. 
I tried to wriggle out of Kitsune’s grasp, but she just held me tighter. 
“Don’t bother us now, Naru, it’s just about to get better!” Kitsune giggled. 
There I was, my pants around my ankles, Kitsune sutured to my waist, and Naru about to kill us all. 
Suddenly Aunt Haruka came up behind Naru and said, “Whatever. But who’s gonna pay for the damage to the wall?”  
 
Naru and Kitsune both froze. 
Just then, my stomach rumbled loudly, and I cramped up something fierce. “I think you’d all better leave!” Wisely, the girls fled. 
 
A little while later, we reconvened in the teashop, my embarrassment now—pardon the pun—behind me. We chatted about what to do with Grandmas strange request. Kitsune was convinced there was a map to whatever “really important thing” Grandma had hidden somewhere on my body. 
Shinobu offered, “If you want to find the treasure, Keitaro, I’ll help.” (But help meant that she had to check out my entire body.) 

Haruka made the logical suggestion, “What if we just call Grandma again?” She got up and went to place an international call, but there was no answer. She tried several different numbers, but no luck. 
“Hey, Keitaro, if you find the treasure, I get dibs too,” she said, as if Grandma had passed away and we were divvying up parts of the estate. (Money makes people evil, for sure.) “I read in an historical novel that a tattoo can appear when a person dies.” 
I wondered if she would really kill me? 
Naru glared balefully. I could sympathize— anyone who had to see my naked body that many times in one day would be upset. But since .none of it was my fault, I thought she needed to chill out a little. I tried to talk to her, but she was deep in thought and ignored me. 
She told Shinobu and Aunt Haruka that she was leaving, and then stood up and made her way back to the Hinata House. 
I chased after her. “Narusegawa. Hey, Narusegawa!” I finally caught up to her. “What should we do? Do you really think there’s any treasure? I think Kitsune misunderstood. But if there is a fortune, that would be great! I could be a millionaire! If that happens, let’s go somewhere fun!” 

Naru turned around. “I guess going to Todai would just be ridiculous, if that were the case.” 
I sobered. “No, it’s not. I was just saying all that stuff ’cause I know it’ll never happen.” 
Naru sighed. “Come on.” She grabbed my arm and headed toward the cafeteria. 
“Where are we going? Can’t we talk in your room?” 
“Just come on!” 
Naru pushed me all the way to the cafeteria, then locked the door behind us. All our rooms were built in the traditional Japanese style, so we didn’t have any locks. Motoko and Naru installed simple locks when they moved in, however, and the cafeteria doors were altered when the inn became a dorm, because knives and natural gas and other dangerous stuff was kept here. 
She turned the lock, and kept her back to me. I didn’t know what to do, so I leaned against a chair and waited. But several tense moments passed, so I said, “Narusegawa? Are you okay?” 
“Strip,” she commanded. 
I couldn’t believe my ears. “What? You . . . Now?” . 
“I said strip!” 
My overactive imagination once again got the best of me. I pictured Naru saying that to me, then throwing herself into my arms. Except she was wearing a wedding veil, garter belts, and sexy lingerie, as if this was our honeymoon . . . 
All my memories of Naru flashed before my eyes at that moment—the time we stayed in the same lodge during the Kyoto trip—when we first met in front of Tokyo University on that snowy Christmas day—the first time we kissed, at the beach (okay, so that was accidental, but it still flashed before my eyes) and then finally—the vision of Naru’s beautiful, creamy skin, which I got to glimpse all those coundess times I entered the women’s bath by mistake . . . 
 
Everything had been heading in this direction . . . 
I grabbed my pants, then pretended to hesitate. “But Naru, why are you in such a hurry? There’s no ambiance in the cafeteria.” 
“You don’t need any ambiance.” 
I was shocked. So, she was just after my body? You don’t need my heart, Narusegawa? I don’t want that kind of relationship, then . Yet, I still kept removing my pants. 
“Narusegawa,” I said, gulping, “this is actually my first time.” 
“This is my first time too, looking at a guy completely naked.” 
Naru was sooooo cute! “I’ll do my best,” I promised. 
“You don’t need to do a thing.” 
What? You’re going to lead me the whole way through? Huh, could be kinky. 
“Are you ready?” Naru turned around. She had put her glasses on. I was a bit disappointed, because she’s much hotter when she doesn’t wear them. 
As she approached, I asked, “Shouldn’t you remove your glasses?” 
 
She cocked her head. “But I cant see clearly without them.” 
Oh, you want to see my face when we .. . You want to look into my eyes and ... I placed my hands on her shoulders and thought, No accident this time. This will be a real kiss. 
I closed my eyes and went to hug her gently. But my arms grasped thin air. Naru had squatted down and was looking intently at my thighs. 
“Narusegawa?” 
“There doesn’t seem to be anything unusual there,” she said, as if she were inspecting a Petri dish. She frowned. “Never mind.” 
“But. . . Huh?!” 
Naru looked up, and I finally caught on. She was simply looking for the treasure map, like everyone else. 
“Uh, you don’t have to look for the map, Naru,” I said quickly, trying to cover my blunder. 
 
Naru remained emotionless as she examined my legs. I was glad I hadn’t removed my underwear yet. 
“You want to find the treasure, right?” she asked. “Since you can’t find it yourself, I’ll do it for you.” 
I shook my head. “It’s okay. We don’t even know if it really exists.” 
Naru frowned. “What do you want to do? Ask Kitsune or Motoko to check for it? Or Suu or Shinobu?” 
“I don’t know!” I flailed my arms. I didn’t like this at all. I had imagined a thousand possible scenarios with Naru kneeling at my feet, and none of them were like this. I couldn’t stand the fact that Naru could do this and remain so detached. I picked up my pants from off of the floor and forcefully stuck my right leg in. 
Naru tried to stop me. “I haven’t finished.” 
“Yes, you have. Forget it.” 
“Why? Why can’t it be me?” She looked like she was ready to cry. 
“I don’t want anyone to check out my body!” 
“Do you hate me looking at you?” 

I sighed. “Do you want the treasure that badly?” 
Naru’s entire expression changed. She just shut down. I had no clue what she was thinking. But if all she wanted was the treasure, then I would be hurt. 
“I don’t need any stupid treasure,” Naru spat out. 
I folded my arms. “Oh, is that so? But you were checking me out real good.” 
“You bastard!” Naru raised her fist. 
I yelped and braced for a Naru Punch, but it never came. When I opened my eyes again, I saw that Naru had lowered her fist. 
Slowly, I reached for the rest of my clothes and put them back on. Suddenly, the door shook violently. It sounded like grinding metal ... A sword tip poked through the crack. 
SNAP! The lock broke, the door flew open, and Motoko barged in, Shinobu at her heels. 
“What’s going on?” I asked. 
 
“I sensed you were troubling Naru, and I see now that I was correct!” Motoko replied, blushing an angry red. 
“No, no,” Shinobu quickly countered. “I just wanted to start cooking dinner, but the doors were locked, so I asked Motoko to open them.” She smiled, looking at Naru and I. “Nothing bad happened, right, Keitaro?” 
I quickly nodded, but Naru just stepped outside without a word. Great, now they’ll all get the wrong idea, I thought. Luckily, Shinobu and Motoko let it drop and left to prepare dinner. 
I finished dressing, wondering how many times my clothes were going to come off today. 
Eventually, Motoko murmured, “I apologize, Urashima.” 
I’m sure Motoko couldn’t stand the uproar over the Hinata House treasure hunt, and she just wanted to find the “important thing” as soon as possible so people would stop talking about it and life could return to normal. Typically, Motoko needed order and discipline in her life. 
“Besides,” she said, her cheeks still red, “I’m sure it’s gross to have people keep checking you out like that.”