The steam curled lazily around Momo as she sank deeper into the water, shoulders relaxing for the first time in weeks. Hirata was safe on the other side of the wall in the boy's bath, probably splashing around like a carp.
Finally... Peace...
"Ah!" a bright voice, "You,oh, you're adorable! You look exactly like the girl my son described!"
Momo nearly drowned. She looked up to see a woman in her thirties, beautiful, her skin glowing like the hot spring was her personal skincare commercial.
"M-me? No, no, no! That's impossible!" Momo waved her hands frantically. "My boyfriend is—he's, um—tall, handsome, cold, two-faced—"
The woman clasped her hands together. "That's him!"
"Eh!?"
"Tell me, what's his name?"
Momo's soul shriveled. "…Y-Yozora."
The woman's entire face lit up. "Oh! Yozora is my son!"
Momo's jaw hit the water.
Two things instantly short-circuited her brain:
1. Yozora was seventeen. This woman looked like she'd get carded trying to buy beer.
2. They looked nothing alike. Nene was soft, sweet, and pure. Yozora was… a shark in human skin.
"W-wait," Momo stammered. "Is… is he adopted?"
Nene giggled sweetly, covering her mouth. "No, dear. His father just has… very dominant genes. Yozora resembles him instead."
On the other side of the wall, there was a sudden, unmistakable *sneeze.*
Momo's entire spine locked.
He was here.