[y'all want some uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Ishin?]
It's not often that Aoyagi gets to enjoy a bath in a nice bathhouse at a reasonable hour. He usually just comes in the middle of the night because the place is deserted. But sometimes, just sometimes, the combination of Shinsengumi money burning a hole in his pocket and the stress of having to feed his fellow troops to earn that paycheck line up just right and the second he can get away with shutting the kitchen for the night he puts out the fire and runs like hell to catch a nice hot bath.
Look, do you have any idea how much these animals can eat? You try feeding a pack of ravenous Mibu Wolves and see how much sanity you've got left by the time dinner's over. Sure, it helps that this Saito guy that's just joined up can cook a little and grows some veggies and brings some eggs and fish and stuff in once in a while but goddamn.
Anyway, he said fuck this shit I'm out, grabbed his money, ran to this nice bathhouse, slammed a whole ryo on the counter for an hour of private bathtime, and now he's just letting his cares soak away without having to worry about who might see what's under his clothes.
He thinks he hears some conversation out front, the attendant talking, then a woman's voice (he thinks) saying something he can't quite make out. He ignores it. It's not his problem.
It's not his problem, he thinks, until he hears someone walk in on his private bathtime. His first instinct is to cover up, and he goes as far as sinking neck-deep into the water before he opens his eyes to glare daggers at whoever just walked in. "I dunno if the guy out front told ya," he starts, "but I paid a whole-ass ryo for an hour in private. Wait yer turn."
"Oh, that's fine!" Same voice, but now Aoyagi recognizes it.
Oh. Okay. It's that Sonno Joui asshole. Great. Awesome. Just what he needed tonight.
