Chapter Nine - Inkling

“Compare notes,” I murmured to myself, stepping out of the bath and toweling myself off. “What the hell does that mean?” Water streamed in rivulets down the walls from the steam and I glanced toward the watery reflection in the mirror. How was I supposed to compare notes on a vagina? I draped the towel around me and padded to my room, closing, and locking the door behind me.

The day had been an unmitigated disaster. I slept through my alarm and had to make my hasty apologies and rush home to get ready for work. Once there I found my hakama had been taken from the wash and thrown into a basket, most likely a parting shot from Jun, and now smelled like wet dog covered in oil. Forced to wear my rather tattered backup I had rushed out of the house, forgetting my ribbons only to arrive late, and been punished by manning the charm shop.

It was the worst of the worst job at the temple, even worse than the candy shop, which was saying something. Everyone wanted an explanation of which charms did what. I didn’t know what each charm did. Honestly, I had no idea if they did anything at all. I still bought them just in case, but trying to sell something you had no clue the purpose of was never pleasant.

The weather had started out stiflingly muggy and by the time I’d left the temple it had begun to rain. The weathergirl had lied once again and seemed to be plotting against me. Thus, having survived the day with no help from the gods I found myself in my current situation.

If anyone in my family entered my room at this juncture, I was relatively certain my life would effectively be over. No, I corrected myself. Relativity was not remotely involved. My life would be over. I would be on my way to a hidden lewd girl gulag in Hokkaido by dawn to never return. I sat with my legs splayed lewdly open, a mirror between my knees staring at my exposed vagina. I peered closer and cocked my head slightly to the side, eyes flicking between my phone screen and my most private part now shamelessly revealed.

“Compare notes,” I muttered again, feeling alternately like a pervert and a fool. “What the hell is it supposed to look like, anyway?” I peered at myself again then back at my phone. So, I have an “innie” vagina, I thought with interest. I wasn’t aware more than one type existed and now I was drowning in far too much information.

I had taken physiology in primary school and we had brushed over the parts of female anatomy. ‘This is your vagina, here are your ovaries, the whole system does this’ and so on, but it had all been clinical and boring and I recalled staring at the ceiling many times during class hoping against hope for the hour to end.

Now, confronted with parts I had never seen, I was somewhat overwhelmed. I had masturbated quite frequently. In fact, it was one of my favorite past times if I was honest but had never actually seen the parts I had been touching. I spread myself open gently with my fingers and reveled at the familiar rush of warmth in my belly. Oh, I thought, this is quite lewd indeed.

I wonder what Aria looked like, I thought, shuddering as my finger brushed over my swollen labia. My breath caught in my throat and my whole body reacted as a bolt of fire tore through every nerve. My hips began to move of their own volition. Was Aria’s vagina like mine or was hers an ‘outie’? I pressed my thumb tighter against my clitoris and dipped one finger into myself, shocked at how wet I had grown. My eyes stayed fixated on my movements, staring at my exposed privates while my mind began to envision Aria naked.

As my ministrations became more focused and desperate, I closed my eyes and leaned back on one arm, my fingers and rocking hips carrying me closer to my climax. Aria’s body sprawled before my mind’s eye, glistening with sweat in the flickering firelight of my fantasy. My breath grew ragged, catching in my lungs as her lips closed over my nipples, sucking the pink tip into her mouth.

“Oooh, fffuck,” I whimpered through clenched teeth, the words dragged from my throat. Her teeth nibbled on the sensitive skin and my whole body spasmed, my hips thrust hard against my fingers and I bit down tight against my lips to keep my voice from coming out too loud as my orgasm washed over me like a wave. Lights burst in front of my tightly closed eyes and it felt like my body was simultaneously on fire and being shocked at the same time. My arm no longer supported me, my muscles turned to jelly, and I was vaguely aware that I had fallen backward rather hard.

The orgasm still raged through me, second after second the mind-numbing intensity continued, frightening me with its ferocity. Finally, the waves began to roll back, and I was left quivering on the floor. My lungs burned and my legs and hips shook of their own volition, still reeling from the aftershocks of the earthquake triggered by my orgasm. When my mind dragged itself back from whatever amazing and terrible abyss it had been perched on, I became conscious of the fact I was lying in a pool of my own wetness. I draped my arm over my eyes and lay still, trying to make my breathing and heartbeat slow to their normal pace.

Before I was really aware of why, I realized I was crying. Not the satisfied whimpers of an amazing orgasm overwhelming my trembling body, but the tragic, everything was a mess sobs that erupted from the pit of your soul. All of the niggling fears and suspicions I’d always ignored came rushing back and drowned me in a flood of emotion.

I’d never put a face or body to my fantasies. It had always been a formless lover performing an erotic ballet in the dancing firelight, a formless sweetheart bringing me up and over the brink of ecstasy. Now she had taken on a face and body and, in fact, sex, for the first time.

Confused feelings and memories half-recalled drown my consciousness as I lay nude on the floor; a mirror forgotten between my legs, my arms flung over my face and cried.

“Onee-chan!” The door rocked in its hinges with the force of the blows my sister rained upon it and I shot straight up in bed as if by cannon.

“Huh, now, wha?” I nearly screamed in my confusion. My head throbbed in agony from the long night of crying and the sudden shouting and noise did me no favors.

“Emi’s here, onee-chan!” Mio called. The door shuddered again, and the knob turned furiously. “Why is your door locked?”

“I was masticating,” I replied, staggering out of bed, making certain I had actually got dressed before falling asleep the night before. To my relief I had, though the mirror still lying on the floor brought back a flood of memories, causing my headache to surge again like a rabid dog straining against its leash.

“Ew! Gross!” Mio yelled in horror. I opened the door to find Mio standing in her nightgown, staring at me with wide, disgusted eyes.

“Don’t act so high and mighty, princess,” I smirked at her. “You do it, too!” Mio suddenly averted her eyes guiltily and my lips curled in a wicked smile. My little sister was a pervert like me, I thought. Strangely enough, the knowledge brought me great joy.

“I-I do not!” Mio exclaimed defensively, smacking my arm with her hands repeatedly.

“Oh, so you don’t eat?” I sniggered, flicking her forehead with my finger. “I said masticate, perv, that means to chew.” Mio’s hand snapped up to her head in surprise. Her eyes narrowed mischievously, and she turned and ran back down the hallway.

“Mooom!” She called as she ran. “Kasumi is talking nerdy to me, called me a name and hit me!”

“Kasumi!” My mom screeched at me from the living room. “Don’t do those things to your sister!”

“She’s lying!” I called back, not at all surprised at Mio’s treachery. I found Emi sitting cross-legged on the stairs holding the lovingly purring Chibi who appeared even less like her namesake than the day before if at all possible. At this point she was topping out at well over 10 kilos and seemed more like a grey cannonball than a cat. Emi had taken out several shrimp-flavored crackers and was letting Chibi take bites from them.

“Goood Morning, Kasumi-chan!” Emi enthused. “Chibi is quite extensive today as usual!”

“Don’t bother trying to make her feel better,” I sighed, staring down at the grey lump with disdain. “She’s fat and you’re not helping matters feeding her crackers.”

“But she likes them! Don’t you, Chibi? Don’t you love the crackers Emi brings you?” Emi scratched Chibi under her chin, causing the cat to close her eyes blissfully.

“So…you came over to feed my cat?” I finally asked after it became obvious that Emi’s attention had become fixated completely on Chibi.

“Huh?” Emi stared up at me and blinked. “Oh! Oh! No! I wanted to see if you wanted to come with me to the bookstore. My grandma gave me some gift cards and I wanted to use them.” Hmm, I thought, there were two new manga I wanted to buy. Unfortunately, I was currently dead broke after my recent Gacha pull spending spree trying to get the just-released and insanely overpowered Valkyrie, Astrid. “I’ll buy you a new manga.” I glanced down sharply at her, my greed rising up like a leviathan from the sea. “And lunch!”

“Give me five minutes,” I said and rushed off. I would be a fool to turn down such an offer, I reasoned. I felt rather like I was taking advantage of Emi’s generosity but, by the same token, I wasn’t bullying her or making her do something she didn’t want so I was sure it was fine.

“You could have called me, you know,” I told Emi, watching as she retrieved her sandal for the third time from a particularly deep mud puddle.

“I tried to call!” Emi protested, dragging the errant shoe from the puddle with a squelchy plurp sound. I fished my phone from my small bag and tapped the screen impotently.

“I see,” I replied, pressing the power button futilely. The screen flickered to life for a moment before closing again with an apologetic flourish, as if to say ‘Sorry you suck at the basics of life! I’m out!’

“Why didn’t you call Mizuki, then?” Emi gave up on shoes entirely and hooked the sandals with her fingers, grimacing every time the mud from the trail squished between her toes.

“I tried that, too! She’s cleaning Fan Fan’s tank or something with Yuto,” Emi sighed. “Why doesn’t he get rid of that thing? It’s nasty!”

“Because he’s a moron,” I replied. Emi nodded sadly before brightening sharply.

“Oh! My cousin’s friend is going to join us for today!”

“Ok,” I shrugged, eyes glued to the trail so I could sidestep the particularly unpleasant mud puddles. All of which I knew by heart after years of walking the same twisted stretch of ground.

“She’s a really good girl,” Emi enthused, obviously happy as she began to swing her sandals and purse happily as she went, oblivious of the mud droplets flying all about her. I stepped a couple of paces away from her and remained silent. “She volunteers at the hospital playing checkers with old people or something. Isn’t that diligent?”

“Very,” I replied in the affirmative.

“She goes to our school, but I’ve never seen her before, I don’t think,” Emi continued. “Oh, that reminds me! Will you help me with my math?”

“How could your cousin’s friend remind you of me helping you with math?” I asked, trying, and failing to follow the leap of logic. Emi shrugged and peered at me hopefully.

“Hmmm,” I tapped my finger against my chin before smiling warmly. “No!” Emi’s face fell and she scowled and puffed out her cheeks in frustration.

“Why not?” She asked, sidling closer to me. “I’ll buy you two manga!”

“No, I hate math, you’ll have to do it on your own,” I shook my head, waiting patiently as Emi bounced energetically in a puddle of water on the main street to clean off her feet before dropping her sandals in to clean them off as well.

“Three and all you can drink at lunch!” Emi sweetened the pot considerably. Emi sensed me weaken and smiled brightly.

“Fine. But you have to help,” I said, holding up a finger. My greed, it appeared, knew no bounds. “Otherwise, it won’t be in your handwriting and we’ll both be busted.”

“Boo!” Emi sighed. “That doesn’t sound fair at all!”

“It’s your own fault for being lazy, you know,” I lectured her as we left the muddy path to my house behind and headed toward the center of town, Emi’s sandals spurting water with every step. “You knew you had homework and you chose not to do it in a timely manner.”

“Jeez, mom, okay!” Emi sniffed in mock disgust. “You’re very cruel to me.”

“I’m just trying to teach you the proper way of things,” I teased her. “You’ll thank me when finals roll around, you know.”

“Oh! Wise and mighty empress of maturity and late homework!” Emi cried, grabbing my arm in mock gratitude. “Please show this unwashed girl the proper way of things! Teach me the final technique to allow me to rise above my station and stand at your side!” I glanced around nervously at the people who had stopped to stare at us.

“Ok, I get it! I was kidding! Knock it off already!” I tried to pry her from my arm which only made her cling tighter.

“I love you! Teach me your ways!” Emi was enjoying herself far too much.

“L-Let’s just go!” I muttered, half-dragging her down the street toward the book shop, trying my best to ignore the looks of those we passed on the way.