2.39: Leveling and Fueling UpWe changed quickly in the changing room, toweling off until our skin was dry and leaving only our hair damp. We got back into the complementary hostel yukatas and left with our bags in hand. Outside, Yuna detoured toward a milk vending machine tucked against the wall.

  “Remember to stay hydrated after a hot bath,” she said calmly. “Everyone make sure to get some.” She swiped an IC card over the sensor and pressed the button for strawberry milk. It fell from the interior with a loud rattling noise. Then she gnced at me. “Would you like one too, Sumire-chan?”

  I nodded, smiling. “Thanks! Chocote, please.”

  Everyone gave her a look and some even pouted.

  Yuna tilted her head, considering for half a second. “Well… I suppose I’ll treat everyone, if you all insist on giving me puppy eyes. Does anyone else want one?”

  “Yeah! Thanks!” Riko fshed a grateful grin at Yuna. “Choco for me too.”

  “I love strawberries too,” Megumi said immediately.

  “That’s probably why your hair’s so pink.” Hinata giggled. “All the strawberries went to pigment it.”

  “Probably!” Megumi admitted. “I could never get enough of it since kindergarten.”

  “Choco for me,” Aoi asked.

  “I’ll have matcha… if you don’t mind,” Hinata added softly, blushing.

  “Good choice! A very refined choice for a dy,” Yuna grinned. She scanned her card again, selecting several buttons in quick succession. One by one, cartons thudded into the tray. She handed them out, matching fvors without any hesitation.

  Good memory! I’d have struggled a little to remember who got what!

  We lingered there, standing shoulder to shoulder with the other girls and boys milling around the corridor, and an assortment of others staying here, some pausing at the vending machine like us. Rexed, we sipped our milk as the post-bath warmth slowly settled deeper into our bodies.

  I hadn’t realized how much I needed to drink something.

  “Keep this up and your breasts might reach an E or F cup,” Megumi decred after taking a long drink. “So yummy!”

  “Who wants that?” Aoi-chan ughed, shaking her head. “Big breasts just mean more back pain when you’re older and then they start sagging.”

  “Before old age even if they’re heavy enough and your posture is bad,” Yuna added, nodding matter-of-factly.

  I winced. That really didn’t sound appealing at all.

  “But the bigger they are, the better your chances of nding a good husband,” Hinata muttered, sipping her matcha milk.

  “Pft.” Riko snorted. “There are plenty of men who like ftter chests, you know? Not that I care what men want.” She flicked her finger dismissively. “So don’t go changing yourself just to please a bunch of pigs even if you like them.”

  I whistled softly.

  “Still sensitive about the pervs peeping at us?” I asked.

  “Kinda,” Riko admitted. “But I never liked guys much anyway, except maybe for hanging out now and again and talking about sports.” She lifted a finger and wagged it. “But mark my words, give them a centimeter and they try to take a meter. Hang out a little, and suddenly they’re in love and you’re dealing with confessions.”

  “Yeah,” Aoi-chan said, nodding with a crooked smile.

  “Maybe I should try that,” Hinata murmured, her cheeks pink.

  “Me too,” Megumi said, tilting her head. “Is it really that easy to get a boyfriend?”

  “Hell if I know,” Riko ughed. “But that’s how it goes.”

  I nodded quietly.

  For once, that little voice inside me agreed. Confessions could be really awkward.

  Later that night in our room, we headed to our futons, with one exception. When I was snugly ensconced in the cozy pajamas that I’d packed and tucked myself into my futon, I was just about to turn off the reading mp near mine, something pawed at my bnket and tugged it aside.

  I gasped as a warm body slipped in against me.

  Her lovely steel blue eyes met mine in the dim light undercovers.

  Aoi-chan!

  I blushed and wrapped an arm around her the same way I did with my pillow at home, instinctively snuggling closer. She returned the gesture, drawing me in without hesitation.

  She put her arm around me and rested her palm on my backside very familiarly.

  That touch made me feel warmer, a heavy sensation stirring below my waist. A feeling of pressure that wouldn’t go away.

  On impulse, I leaned and found her lips with mine, pulling the futon’s bnket over our heads as we kissed quietly, lingeringly, our bodies tangling together beneath the covers, quickly getting sweaty.

  DOKI-DOKI BADUMP

  We stayed like that for a long while, kissing to our hearts contentment. If anyone noticed, I didn’t care. As we rubbed against each other, making out, chest to chest, our arms wrapped tightly around each other, we eventually drifted off to sleep.

  I was beyond words filled with happiness, feeling like something that I’d been missing for my whole life had been found.

  Please let these precious days go on forever, Kami-sama…

  The first morning at Shirasuna started with Aoi-chan breathing against my stomach. She’d slipped lower during the night. I blushed the moment I registered that she was down there.

  For a split second, I thought I’d been eaten by a yōkai.

  DOKI-DOKI BADUMP

  And that ‘yōkai’ was Aoi-chan.

  The sensation resolved into warmth, the faint tickle of her hair against my stomach. I cracked one eye open.

  Aoi’s arm was draped across my waist, her forehead pressed lightly below my breasts. Her breath rose and fell in a slow, even rhythm, almost teasing in its steadiness.

  My cheeks burned.

  I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, flicking away the crust that always formed overnight.

  We finally did it…

  …

  We slept together in the same futon! Kyaaaaaa!

  I vividly remembered our kissing. It was the most passionate ever, and it was the first time Aoi-chan hadn’t been the one to initiate it. I was changing in ways that felt thrilling and terrifying at the same time. I’d always been afraid to act on my feelings, always so bashful, always holding myself back.

  Muted conversations drifted through the dark while the lights were still out. I didn’t care what was being said. I noticed that at some point, someone had turned off my mp for us and I wondered who it had been.

  On the futon to my right, the one Aoi-chan would have occupied if she hadn’t crawled into mine, Riko y ft on her back on it, her hands folded neatly over her stomach, her bnket rumpled down to her waist. She looked like she was posing for a magazine shoot even while unconscious, except for the thin trail of drool slipping from the corner of her mouth, part of her torso exposed.

  Cute. I smiled. She has a nice sleeping face.

  On my left, where Riko had originally set up, Yuna was curled up like a napping kitten, her hair spilling over half her face, her mouth slightly open. Her bnket was a complete mess, much worse than Riko’s. At some point she must have half-kicked it down toward the foot of her futon.

  They called us 2-B’s Madonnas, Megumi and Hinata included. It was funny how we’d all ended up together like this. Riko was undeniably pretty, even if she didn’t seem to care much about skincare or even smelling nice. Yuna, though, was the perfect image of a Madonna… elegant and very composed. And Aoi-chan…

  Aoi-chan was the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen, even though she was completely hidden from sight at the moment.

  Maybe I was biased.

  Megumi had an energetic, cute vibe. She wore a small smile as she twitched in her sleep, ever the deredere, her mid-length pink partially shrouding her face. Maybe she’s having a nice dream.

  Hinata looked shy even while asleep. All I could see was the back of her head. She was curled up in a fetal pose, her nose almost touching her pajama-covered chest.

  The room was dim, the sun not yet fully above the ocean outside our window. Only a thin strip of pale light slipped through the curtains.

  My heart beat a little too fast.

  I’m in a room full of beautiful girls. Aoi-chan is using me like a bodypillow too… Maybe she thinks about me at night, too… wishing I was ying with her.

  I rested my hands on her back, smiling with my eyes closed, shifting slightly trying to stretch without disturbing her… but she still stirred, cautious as I was trying to be. Aoi murmured something in her sleep.

  It was my name.

  “Susu… nnnn…”

  I froze, blushing hard, wondering what kind of dream she was having. Susu…I loved when she called me that. It was so cute and intimate.

  Her arm tightened around my waist as she slipped lower, her fingers brushing along the curve of my bottom as her face nudged lower and lower to snuggle her face against my thighs. Her warm breath seeped through the thin fabric of my pajama bottoms.

  My vision went hazy.

  Even asleep, she was taking us a step further than I’d expected, even after st night’s sweltering kisses under our covers.

  DOKI-DOKI… BADUMP

  A sound came from Riko’s futon. Her eyelids fluttered open, smooth and unhurried. She turned her head and looked at me, her gaze nding squarely on my face.

  I blushed unconsciously, meeting her eyes, suddenly wanting to hide. She gnced down at the lump in our bnket where Aoi was.

  Riko smiled faintly, knowingly.

  “Good morning,” she whispered. “I won’t say anything to anyone.” She lifted a finger to her lips.

  “G-good morning,” I whispered back, mortified at having been caught, even though she wasn’t really doing anything except for breathing on me. “A— Anyway, it’s not what you think—”

  “Sure, sure, sure.” Her eyes flicked back to the lump in my cover. “Looks like Aoi-san is being very honest in her sleep,” Riko murmured.

  I wanted to melt straight into the futon. I nodded anyway.

  “Um…”

  “I’m not judging,” Riko said, yawning. “On the contrary, I’m enjoying the sight. Even if it kind of pisses me off. I’m so jealous.”

  Aoi made a faint sound against my crotch. The futon rustled, and I felt her move. She squirmed and climbed up my body, and wrapped an arm around my waist. She blinked herself awake, her eyes hazy at first, then sharpening as she realized where she was.

  “Mmmm. Something smelled… so good.”

  I looked away immediately, my legs pressed together tightly, my ears burning.

  “I wonder what you smelled,” Riko said dryly. “Maybe rose bodywash. Or some other flower.”

  Ahhhhhh… RIKO!

  Aoi flushed. “Oh… don’t tease, idiot.”

  “Well… I… um…” I whispered, just as red. I wanted to mention that I’d enjoyed her holding me that way… But definitely not in front of everyone! The way she slept against me had opened a whole new world of possibilities. I resolved, quietly, to make some discreet web searches ter.

  “You were positively radiant, Sumire-chan,” Riko said with a grin. “I could’ve stared at your face all day.”

  I gasped. “Baka Riko…”

  She smirked.

  From the other side of me, Yuna’s sleepy voice drifted up. “Did something interesting happen…? There’s a curious scent in the air. Should I be taking notes…?”

  She peeled her hair off her face, squinting at us.

  “Nope. Nothing,” Aoi and I chorused.

  “Hehe… interesting,” Yuna murmured, clearly cataloguing our reactions.

  Riko sat up, stretching with nguid grace. “You all make very noisy sleepers. So much muttering.”

  “You were snorting in your sleep, Riko-chan,” Yuna ughed.

  “Sounds like me,” Riko shrugged, snorting.

  The awkwardness dissolved into sleepy ughter.

  A pillow smacked me in the face.

  “Good morning, Japan!” Megumi crowed.

  The room buzzed to life filled with the rustling of our clothes being put on, toothbrush cups cttering, our voices overpping. We spent some time brushing our hair, sharing the rge mirror and an assignment of other things. A couple of us used the toilet while the rest of us cleaned up. That made my ears turn pink.

  “It’s not a big deal,” Aoi said. “Girls sometimes go to the bathroom together.”

  “Even when they…?” I blushed.

  Megumi nodded. “This is something you should already have known about, you tomboy,” she gently teased me.

  “I’m not Riko!” I compined.

  “What’s wrong with me?” Riko pouted.

  “Nothing!” I waved my hands quickly.

  “Sumire’s no tomboy. She’s just shy and awkward and probably always has been.” Aoi winked at me and patted my hair, making more work for me.

  I quickly ran the brush through my hair a few more times, pouting.

  By the time we reached the breakfast buffet downstairs, my earlier mortifications had softened into a warm, fluttery feeling in my chest.

  “Uwaaah,” I groaned, staring at the spread of food. “I wonder what’s in those warmers.” I recognized a few things like the rice cooker and a chef handing someone their omelette. The air smelled like a lot of things, savory, sweet and more recognizable notes like coffee and green tea.

  “Probably the same stuff they serve everywhere,” Aoi said.

  There were trays of grilled fish, the omelette station that I’d noticed, kurobuta sausages, shredded cabbage, fruit, miso soup, porridge, natto, toast, rice, pickled vegetables, tofu, yam, fish roe, whole eggs, roasted pork belly, cereal, yogurt, coffee, green tea, juice, and milk.

  My stomach rumbled.

  “Let’s fuel up the right way!” Aoi said. “We’ve got more training today.”

  “Can we focus more on attacks than footwork? Maybe some fancy counters?” I asked hopefully.

  Aoi thought it over, then nodded. “I’ve probably been too conservative. You’re ready… but if your footing slips, I’ll drill the basics into you again.”

  My jaw dropped. “Y-yes, Aoi-sama.” I saluted for comedic effect.

  She giggled and pyfully swatted my backside.

  We lined up at the omelette station together, ughing, our ptes filling quickly.

  When Megumi teased me about tofu, telling me about all the estrogen there was in it and what that supposedly did for breast growth.

  “My boobs are big enough!” I yelped.

  When the boys whispered about 2-Bs Madonnas at a table near ours, I blushed. And when Aoi slid her arm behind my back and cimed me without a word, my heart nearly burst.

  Despite the teasing, the jealousy and the tangled emotions, I felt full and bright, wanted and loved.

  Somehow, this chaotic little universe was revolving around me.

  It was terrifying and wonderful.

  Relwing