Benten sat on the smooth white bench in the changing room outside Oyuki’s big bathing room wrapped in a towel as she brushed her hair.
“Are you sure you don’t need me to call you a locksmith?” Oyuki asked as she walked into the room, dressed in her casual one-piece style outfit.
Benten scowled in annoyance. “I can get into my house just fine!” she declared, reaching out one hand to her where her chain was lying on the bench and gave it a little pat. “I’m just waiting till my home bath gets fixed.”
“I’m always happy to have you visit me,” Oyuki responded in her eternally calm tone. “I’m just puzzled that you chose to visit me rather than Lum.”
“What, you’re my friend too! Just ‘cause I’m visiting you doesn’t mean I’m avoiding Lum!” Benten responded defensively. “And I’m not avoiding her. I’m just. . . giving her a little space to think about things.” Benten concluded quietly.
“Is there something particular she needs to think about?” Oyuki asked.
“Ehhh,” Benten responded uncertainty. “Well, I’m not sure you’d be. . .” Benten trailed off, then raised a hand as she continued, “I mean, it’s about Ataru, and . . . Sex and . . .”
“Why does everyone assume they can’t talk to me about sex?” Oyuki responded with a sigh and a shake of her head. “No one ever asks me if I’d like to join them in a threesome.”
Benten fell backward off the bench. Leaping back to her feet she stepped up to Oyuki with the declaration, “What the hell?! You already know?”
“Know what?” Oyuki calmly asked. She considered Benten’s twitching eyes for a moment, then raised a hand to her face in thought. “Is whatever might be confusing Lum something involving some sort of threesome then? With one of the girls on earth? Or maybe. . .”
“Me,” Benten sighed in response. “I, offered to pretend to play along with a big threesome plan to make it easier for Ataru to do the nasty with Lum without being scared off by commitment and such.”
Oyuki looked a Benten for a moment. “Were you successful?”
“Well, we had a great double date that. . . But I wound up going way farther than I’d planned.” Benten scratched the back of her head. “Way way farther.”
Oyuki stared at Benten for a moment. “Oh my.” She looked slightly away, one finger raised to her lips. “Was he good?”
“Wha? Well, well yeah, it felt good. Really good,” Benten concluded with grin and a slight blush. “And well, the next morning Lum asked me if I wanted more and I said yes,” she continued, her blush deepening as she talked.
“My, so you’ll be having many more such encounters with Ataru in the future?” Oyuki asked quietly.
“Well, maybe. . . I mean as if Lum changes her mind I won’t push it. . .”
“Do you think Lum would object to a foursome sometime?” Oyuki asked. Her voice no different than it would be if she was asking for a cup of tea.
Benten’s jaw dropped and she stared at Oyuki. She kept staring, slowly raising one hand point a quivering finger toward the snow princess.
“I’ve always found his passion very intriguing,” Oyuki continued with her usual small calm smile. “If there’s a chance to experience that passion firsthand with the support of my closest friends, that’s something I would certainly want.”
Shutaro Mendo sat at his desk staring angrily at a bunch of photos in his hands. “May I ask why it took so long to bring me these pictures?” he yelled at the heavy-set figure standing to one side, dressed in a standard black suit and black sunglasses.
“They needed to be developed before you could see them.” The Mendo underling responded simply.
“And why did that take so long?” Mendo asked angrily.
“The photography division didn’t say,” the underling responded, again, simply.
“Whatever that delay was, why didn’t you call me to tell me that Ataru was on a date with Lum and some other girl!” Mendo yelled angrily.
“You asked for photos,” the agent responded in a confused tone.
“Why am I surrounded by idiots?” Shutaro asked the heavens. The heavens could have responded with ‘like attracts like’ but he wouldn’t have actually listened to them.
“Brother, how ungracious of you.” A feminine voice intoned from the doors as they opened wide.
“Ryoko,” Shutaro declared in a very guarded tone. “What brings you here?”
Ryoko immediately raised her hand to her forehead in a very theatrical pose of surprise and sorrow. “Oh brother! How could you be so cruel, to treat my caring concern with such suspicion! You’re such a monster!” she faux-sobbed as she pulled a wooden hammer from behind her back and swung it at Shutaro’s head.
Shutaro raised his hands and caught the hammer. For a moment he and Ryoko stared at each other over it.
“You’ve learned to read my moves,” Ryoko said quietly, her eyes narrowed with no trace of her usual innocent act.
“Heh, you’ve got nothing that can surprise me anymore,” Shutaro responded quietly.
Abruptly one of Ryoko’s Kuroko henchmen stepped up and whispered something in her ear. Dropping her hammer she turned, toward the black clad figure with a quick surprised “Oh?” She leaned in toward the Kuroko again, and after a few moments of listening rose and proclaimed in a shocked tone, “Lord Moroboshi did that? Oh my!”
“Moroboshi?” Shutaro asked, staring at Ryoko as she quickly walked out of the room. “What about Moroboshi!” he yelled as she charged out the door after her.
Ryoko looked back at Shutaro, watching as the large bell hidden overhead fell trapping him under it. She smiled and quietly laughed as the cries of “It’s dark, I’m cramped, I’m scared!” began to filter through the metal.
Still smiling she turned and walked down the hallway flanked by her Kuroko. “Yes, nothing gets under dear big brother’s skin like Lord Moroboshi. I think it’s been too long since I’ve found a reason to spend time with him.” She held out her hand and a Kuroko gave her the photos Mendo’s underling had delivered to him. She flipped through a few and looked thoughtfully at the picture of Ataru walking arm in arm with his alien girlfriend and another girl she didn’t recognize.
Sat Jan 20 20:59:19 2018