Chapter Seven - Debauched

“So, did you write your rejection letters?” Mizuki asked me, turning the page of the magazine she was reading. I looked up from painting my nails to find her looking at me.

“Well, only two had names attached, the last was anonymous,” I said, returning to my nails. I had read about smoky nails online and was trying to duplicate the technique but without much success. Rather than a mysterious, calming look my nails simply looked dull and foolish. I cocked my head to one side, followed by twisting my hand to see if it helped. It did not.

“Rejection letters?” Aria asked from where she and Emi were playing some fighting game on Mizuki’s game system.

“Oh, yeah,” Emi said before I could reply. “One thing you should know about Kasumi is she has a talent where everyone falls in love with her.”

“That’s not even a thing you can have a talent for in the first place. And in the second place it’s totally not true, “I snapped, wiping the colors off with polish and drying them, certain I’d made a mistake on the base coat.

“Actually,” Mizuki smirked at me. “It is completely true. She’s had more people confess to her than have ever even talked to me.” I shook my hand to dry it and rolled my eyes.

“Again,” I said to Aria. “That is not true.”

“She’s been confessed to like a hundred times,” Emi said.

“Well, it’s not that surprising, right?” Aria said.

“That’s true,” Emi nodded. “It’s her curse to be beautiful.”

“Stop it,” I grumbled.

“Have other girls confessed to her?” Aria asked leaning forward with interest.

“I’m right here, you know,” I said.

“Oh, tons of girls!” Emi enthused.

“Did she think it was weird when they did?” Aria asked Emi.

“I’m right here!” I repeated louder.

“I don’t think she did,” Emi answered thoughtfully. “Did you think it was weird when another girl confessed to you?”

“Oh, so now you talk to me!” I sighed. “No, I didn’t think it was weird. It’s not like its ancient history. That sort of thing happens, now, and it’s not a big deal, right?”

“You didn’t think it was, like, gross or unnatural or anything?” Aria pressed, the look on her face strangely earnest.

“Of course not,” I replied with a shrug. “Why would I? I mean love is love, right?”

“Yeah, that’s true. Have you accepted any confessions, Kasumi-chan?” Aria asked me.

“Nope, not a one,” Mizuki replied before I could. “But she always writes them a nice letter to let them down easily.”

“She’s a romantic at heart,” Emi said, nodding again.

“I can answer for myself, you know” I huffed in agitation.

“So, have there been a lot of girls?” Aria asked, leaning forward slightly, her bright yellow pajamas with a large white baby chicken on them crinkling as she bent over.

“Girls, boys, you name it!” Mizuki said. “More girls than boys, come to think of it. Especially since you cut your hair, right, Kasumi?”

“Let me answer the question my- “I began in exasperation.

“Although you were really pretty with long hair, I think shorter hair suits you better,” Emi interrupted. “It makes you cuter. Like a kitten.”

“Definitely like a kitten,” Mizuki nodded sagely before I could say anything.

“Oh! I love kittens!” Aria enthused, clapping her hands. I stared at each in turn as the conversation rapidly spun into a tangent.

“Aren’t they just adorable!” Emi squealed.

“I love them!” Mizuki enthused. “They mew so sweetly and smell so nice and just kind of stagger around since they can’t walk properly, yet!” She imitated a kitten almost flawlessly and Aria giggled.

“Hey! Speaking of cats!” Emi giggled to herself. “Do you guys have it, yet, or is there something wrong with me.”

“I can’t have a cat,” Mizuki said, shaking her head. “Sora would have a seizure. He doesn’t like other animals.”

“I’ve just got the one cat,” I said. Chibi had been just like the kittens they described, meek and sweet and clumsy and so very tiny. She was now obese and lazy, spending her time either sunning herself on the windowsill or face down in the food bowl. How quick the innocence of youth gave way to the gluttony of adulthood I thought sadly.

“No, I’m talking about this!” Emi said, standing and lifting her shirt up to her chin. I stared at her, aghast at her nudity. Mizuki’s mouth dropped open, the jaw breaker she’d been sucking on falling unheeded to roll onto the floor. Aria leaned toward Emi slightly.

“Uh,” Mizuki muttered.

“What am I looking at?” I mumbled.

“Emi naked,” Aria answered, plainly not feeling awkward in the least at Emi’s sudden burst of exhibitionism.

“Why?” I replied.

“What does this have to do with cats?” Mizuki finally managed. Suddenly her face blushed deeply, and she giggled. “Oh, I get it. Wouldn’t that be a Sphynx, though?” I stared at Mizuki in horror.

“Oh, nice wax job,” Aria said admiringly.

“It’s not a wax job! That’s the issue! Do you guys have your public hair, yet?” Emi asked, looking down over her thin body anxiously. “I haven’t gotten mine!” I stared at her, subconsciously pressing my shirt down tighter between my thighs.

“Yep,” Mizuki replied. “I got it when I was like 11 or something.”

“Me, too,” Aria said. “About the same time, too. Weird, right?”

“How about you, Kasumi?” Mizuki looked to me. I glanced up at Emi’s hopeful face and shrugged.

“Not me,” I lied. “But I’m not really worried about it, you know? I’ll get it when I get it. Just like you, right, Emi?” Emi breathed a sigh of relief and smiled broadly.

“Yeah! And when we get it it will be luxurious! Right?” I laughed in spite of myself at Emi’s fierce determination.

“Pubic hair for the ages, definitely,” I grinned at her. Emi puffed up proudly.

“People will beg us to paint our pubic hair and paintings will be hanging in the Museum of Art in Tokyo! People will walk by and be all ‘Oh my god! That pubic hair is amazing! Mine is so drab in comparison!” Emi looked star-eyed into the distance, the scene already playing out in her imagination.

“I-I’m not sure I want someone painting my pubic hair,” I muttered.

“It’ll be fun! We’ll do it together!” Emi grinned. “Two for the price of one! That sort of thing!”

“Maybe we can all grow luxurious pubic hair and be pubic hair models!” Mizuki gasped in excitement.

“Is that even a thing?” I asked in confusion.

“It will be!” Emi crowed triumphantly. “We four will be in demand the world over! People will be calling us up and be all ‘we need your pubic hair in Venice on Monday! Please! It’s for world peace!’” We all giggled uncontrollably at the idea.

“Wow! Yours is so cute!” Mizuki enthused, leaning forward further to get closer to Emi until she was within centimeters. “I’ve never seen someone else’s before.” Emi turned toward her slightly.

“Is it? Aren’t they all the same?” Emi asked, looking down at herself.

“I don’t think so,” Mizuki shook her head. “It’s been awhile since I looked at mine but it’s not like yours. Yours is tiny and cute! It’s like a little line, huh? Isn’t it cute, Kasumi?”

“Oh, uh, y-yeah,” I stuttered, blushing slightly.

“We should compare!” Emi enthused, clenching her fists as if she’d just had the best idea in the history of rational thought.

“Ok!” Mizuki agreed with a grin, reaching for her pajama bottoms. I glanced down and grimaced.

“Uh, I’ll pass,” I muttered. I wasn’t particularly embarrassed or, more to the point, I wouldn’t be particularly embarrassed normally, but it would be rather difficult to explain my lie earlier and the fact I wasn’t too comfortable around Aria, yet, made it a nonstarter.

“Yeah, me, too,” Aria said, blushing.

“Aww,” Emi whined. “You two are no fun. Oh! I let me get those magazines I brought!”

“You actually had some?” Mizuki asked in surprise.

“Of course!” Emi pouted, letting her shirt down so she could rummage through her bag. “How else are we going to get debauched?”

I was more than a little concerned about what magazines she actually had, now. I mean, how do you top the debauchery of standing in the living room with your shirt around your chin while three other girls stare at your naked body? I figured that was pretty high on the debauchery scale. Of course, I wasn’t exactly clear what that sort of scale would look like. Was it on a scale of one to ten or was it more extensive with lots of varying grades? Did it go to 100 or even higher? Was it color-coded so you could easily ascertain your level of debauchery and discuss it with others? ‘Oh, I’m currently at a yellow, what are you sitting at?’ ‘Funny you ask, Yui, I’m sitting at a fire engine red. Looks like I’ll be starring in an AV film with a midget clown this weekend!’ ‘Weren’t your parents midget clowns?’ ‘Why yes, they were, in fact! OhHoHoHo!’

To say I was a bit disappointed and, at the same time, relieved, when Emi pulled out a stack of lingerie magazines would be an understatement. Was lingerie even risqué anymore? I mean, they were everywhere. You couldn’t go to a bus stop without seeing lingerie it seemed. Even here, at the end of the world, ads for women in skimpy, lacy undergarments were everywhere. Still, it was better than what my mind had conjured up when I found out she did actually have the magazines.

“These magazines are pretty tame, aren’t they?” Mizuki gave voice to my thoughts as she thumbed through a Victoria’s Secret catalog.

“Yeah, the only secret Victoria’s keeping these days is that she’s old,” Aria giggled, the rest of us joining in immediately.

“I haven’t brought out the others, yet,” Emi smirked, patting the front pouch of her bag. I looked at her bag suspiciously. Emi unzipped the pouch and pulled several ratty, tattered books from the recesses within. With the reverence of one holding the original Dead Sea scrolls she placed the magazines on the ground between us and sat back with a heavy sigh. “I found them in my grandma’s neighbor’s trash. Behold!” I looked down and blinked at the pile of adult magazines sitting limply on the ground.

“These are gross,” Mizuki sniffed, poking one gingerly with her finger before withdrawing it quickly in disgust.

“Well, they were in the trash, after all,” Emi replied defensively. “But now we can be debauched!”

“Does anyone still read porn mags? I thought everyone just went online and watched it there,” Aria asked, looking at the magazines dubiously.

“I’ve got parental controls on everything,” Emi sighed.

“Same,” Mizuki supplied.

“So we have magazines, now!” Emi enthused, staring at the pile of books with pride. She opened one and turned the page until a rather attractive woman posed provocatively with her hands barely covering her large breasts could be seen. “Wow! Her boobs are huge! They’re like…Aria size boobs!”

“My boobs aren’t that big,” Aria blushed, glancing over at me. “Those are like…silicone or something. No one’s boobs are that big.”

“That’s not true!” Emi argued. “We had a teacher in middle school whose boobs were that big! Remember Mrs. Aki?”

“Oh, yeah,” Mizuki agreed. “Her boobs were huge. Like…” Mizuki held her hands out far from her chest. “Bazaam! Huge! Remember, Kasumi?”

“Oh, yeah!” I laughed. “Remember how whenever she bent over the boys would always lean forward to try to see down her shirt?”

“Right? Talk about feeling flat-chested, huh?” Mizuki chuckled.

“I am flat-chested!” Emi protested.

“No, you’re not,” I soothed her. “We saw your boobs earlier. They were nice, right?”

“Oh, yeah, very nice!” Mizuki encouraged her.

“I like smaller boobs best!” Aria said before realizing what she’d said. “I mean…big ones, uh, hurt your back, right?” I wonder, I thought, if that’s really what she meant.

“Ok! So! Game time!” Emi crowed, standing proudly, and holding her hand out dramatically, pointing into the distance. “This is for maximum debaucheryhoodness!”

“That is so not even a word,” I rolled my eyes.

“It doesn’t matter! We said we were going to get debauched and now it’s come to it! Truth or dare!”

“Ugh,” Mizuki groaned, rolling her eyes. “I hate truth or dare.”

“It’s because you always pick truth and do boring things. Pick dare this time!” Emi protested.

“I picked dare once last time and you dared me to run around outside naked like a dog,” Mizuki pointed out to her.

“I thought that was a pretty good dare, though,” Emi puffed her cheeks defensively.

“We were at your house in town, Emi,” I pointed out to her. “She would have had to go onto the street and would have been arrested and put in jail for like, two years or something.” Aria chuckled before clearing her throat and looking serious.

“Ok, ok, I won’t dare anything like that anymore! But let’s play!” Emi pleaded.

“How about the king game?” Mizuki asked. I rolled my eyes.

“What? That’s worse than truth or dare!”I protested.

“I’d rather play the king game than truth or dare,” Mizuki said.

“Isn’t it, like, roughly the same thing?” Emi asked.

“Pretty much,” I replied. “But the king game takes way more preparation.”

“Well, we don’t have anything else to do!” Mizuki said.

“Yeah! How else can be reach debaucheryhoodness?” Emi said.

“Et tu, Emi?” I fixed her with a withering gaze.

“What’s the king game?” Aria asked. Oh, great, here it comes, I thought to myself as Emi brightened fiercely.

“Let me tell you!” Emi enthused. “We get some popsicle sticks and write king on one and numbers on the other. Each person draws a stick- “

“Do we have popsicle sticks?” I interrupted.

“I don’t,” Mizuki replied. Emi rolled her eyes in frustration.

“Fine, not popsicle sticks. Like…pieces of paper or something,” Emi said. “Anyway, we write king on one piece and numbers up to three on the others. Each person picks a stick-“

“Paper,” Mizuki interrupted her.

“We seriously have no popsicle sticks?” Emi asked. “Like popsicles we can eat or something? It’s the only way I know how to play.”

“It plays the same either way,” I pointed out.

“It’s just not the same, though,” Emi pouted.

“I don’t know, let me go check,” Mizuki finally said, climbing to her feet and heading toward the kitchen.

“Anyway,” Emi continued. “We all pick one stick or paper or whatever, and whoever is the king gets to tell whoever has the number they pick to do something!”

“Yeah, that’s really close to truth or dare,” Aria mentioned.

“But you don’t have to listen to Mizuki say ‘truth’ every time,” Emi said.

“I heard that!” Mizuki called from the kitchen. “We’ve got popsicles!”

“I want lime!” I called.

“Lime for me, too!” Aria said.

“Cherry!” Emi cried. A moment later Mizuki appeared, carrying four wrapped items.

“We all get grape since that’s all we have left,” Mizuki said, passing them out.

“Ugh, I hate grape,” Emi pouted.

“Same,” I muttered, glaring at the package.

“I don’t mind grape,” Aria said with a smile. Emi and I handed our popsicles over to Aria.

“Ok, ladies,” Emi declared, holding aloft four sticks. “Choose your weapons!” We all picked one.

“I am the king!” Mizuki crowed, holding her Popsicle stick aloft like a scepter and waving it around. “I am in charge!”

“Oh, your great and mighty majesty!” Emi bowed low. “What is your decree?”

“Don’t encourage her,” I muttered. Aria chuckled.

“Number three and number two have to hug!” Mizuki exclaimed, raising her hands into the air triumphantly. I glanced down at my number. Not me! I thought. As soon as Aria stood Emi leapt into her arms gleefully. Aria was unprepared for Emi’s sudden onslaught and went down in a tumble of arms and legs.

“Ow,” Emi declared. “You’re not as good at this as Kasumi is.” Aria giggled.

“Well,” Aria said, “she’s a lot stronger than I am!”

“That hug sucked,” Mizuki pouted. “But I guess it works.”

“We did the best we could!” Emi protested.

“Next time I’ll be ready! Just watch me!” Aria declared bravely. I shook my head sadly. No one could ever prepare for Emi’s full-frontal assault. You could only hope to weather the storm.

“I guess that works,” Mizuki shrugged, putting her stick down on the table. We shuffled the popsicle sticks and redrew. I was king this time.

“I’m king,” I declared. The other three bowed low mockingly. “Ok…number one and two have to hold hands and stare into each other’s eyes lovingly.” Mizuki and Emi stood up and, grinning, held each other’s hands, staring at each other while trying not to laugh.

“I’m telling Yuto you’re cheating on him with me!” Emi purred.

“You will not!” Mizuki gasped.

“Yuto’s already cheating on Mizuki with that stupid lizard,” I giggled. “Mizuki’s just trading up with you, Emi!”

“Mean!” Mizuki exclaimed.

“I love you, Mizuki,” Emi whispered seductively. “Run away with me to the onsen. Be mine forever!”

“Only if you’ll have my child, Emi,” Mizuki replied breathlessly.

“Fetch the turkey baster!” Emi called. We all collapsed into laughter.

“Number one and two must dirty dance!” Mizuki cried. I looked down at my stick and rolled my eyes. I was number two. Aria was, apparently, number one. Aria climbed to her feet and held out her hand to me.

“Nobody puts baby in a corner!” She growled in English and then laughed.

“What does that even mean?” I giggled. “What is ‘dirty dance’?”

“It’s from a movie. My aunt and I watch it sometimes,” Mizuki replied with a shrug.

“How’d you know about it?” I asked Aria.

“Oh, I’ve seen it a few times,” Aria said, smiling in a way that told me it had been more than a few times. Had everyone but me seen this thing?

“Now dance! The king has declared it to be so!” Mizuki crowed. I shrugged just as Aria was in full on playful mode and plowed into me, grabbing my butt with both of her hands and swaying lewdly from side to side, grinding her hips against mine. My eyes flew wide as her fingertips found the crevice between my cheeks. With no underwear beneath my shirt her fingers dipped into the crack farther than otherwise would have been possible and I gasped in response.

“Wow,” Emi breathed. “Maybe I should watch that movie.” Mizuki leered at us from her seat, proud of finding something so suggestive to order. I stood awkwardly for a moment before grabbing Aria’s butt in my hands, dragging her closer still to me, slipping one leg between hers and moving in time with her hips. Aria had a genuinely nice butt, I thought absently. What kind of butt? Without actually seeing it I would guess a round butt. I had read a magazine a few months ago that was discussing butt shapes. Evidently my butt was heart-shaped, but Aria’s was definitely round. Gah! Why in the hell was I thinking about her butt?

I felt myself flush as Aria’s thigh brushed against mine, pushing my shirt up in the front, partially exposing me. Our hips swayed together, my breasts pressed against hers, our nipples rubbing achingly together. I stared into Aria’s eyes and saw a strange, smoldering look reflected in their blue depths. Her lips had parted, and her face was red. I felt my nipples grow harder of their own volition and begin to poke through my shirt. I began to get tingly in my lower belly and felt a strange heat spread through me that I had only felt when touching myself.

Her leg pressed a bit higher, and I closed my eyes with a sigh. I was becoming lightheaded and my whole body seemed to be flushed a brilliant red, like I’d just gotten out of the bath again. Was something wrong with me? I thought. Am I going to pass out? God help me it feels good, though. Like…good, good. My breath was coming in gasps and it was like my brain had short-circuited and the only thoughts were unimaginably lewd. Perhaps I had, after all, hit debaucheryhoodness.

I was both relieved and disappointed when Mizuki declared we had spent enough time dancing. Aria met my eyes for a long moment; her fingers slipping across my butt caused me to shiver slightly as we slowly disentangled from each other. I glanced away and our connection was broken.

“That was so hot,” Emi breathed. “I got all squishy from watching.”

“Heh,” I chuckled, my balance suspect at best as I staggered slightly. I waved my hand dismissively, trying to play the whole episode off. I sat down heavily before I could fall and leaned forward, being certain my shirt fluffed out enough to hide my extremely hard nipples. I couldn’t even look at Aria; just thinking about her caused my face to flush dangerously. I’m probably getting sick, I decided. Yes. Definitely getting sick. Probably. Maybe.