CHAPTER 27: Aftercare / Speak Your Mind, Puppy
“You look fucked up,” Mitsuko says. She sits atop my stomach, making it hard to breathe. She frequently does consent checks with me, making sure I am ok. She inspects me like a pet, because I am… These thoughts have become reactionary. Each conversation with Mitsuko brings along a whispered suggestion, a seed planted in my mind, a brand new trigger that she never leaves untrained…
“Good boy,” she says as I obediently bare my neck to her. She tilts my head side to side, gliding her nails gently across my bruised flesh. “Holy shit… Are you sure you’re ok?” she asks again, seemingly in denial.
“I’m ok.” My eye does not hurt, despite the bruise. My neck is extremely sore already from her chokehold. She doesn’t seem convinced, especially as I wince from her touch.
“We can’t let my mom see you like this… Or anyone at school. Fuck. Maybe you can call in sick?”
“I would need a doctor’s note for that,” I reply.
“My mom is a doctor. But that would mean we’d have to show her… what I did to you… She was already mad about your eye. Oh, and your knees. I can’t believe she noticed that.”
“Same…” How did she notice? The light discoloration of my knees? Just a slight purple, nothing too insane. It took me a day to notice it myself, but her mom caught it instantly. Mitsuko sees my troubled expression.
“Speak your mind, puppy…”
“How did she know?”
Mitsuko hesitates first, but seals our new closeness with a confession. “When I was little, I used to make this guy kneel for me during recess. His parents called the school when they saw the marks on his knees. He snitched and told them what happened and I got in trouble. Expelled for bullying. So yeah, I was a bitch back then and still am.”
Jealousy worms its way through my eyes. I rebuttal the thoughts, knowing it was so long ago and that this is a new day, a new world and I’m grateful to be beneath Mitsuko.
“You remember what I said? That I never felt like this before? It’s true. I know it’s hard to believe, but I’ve… never been with anyone. Nothing serious, anyway.”
The puzzle pieces are coming together. I made a stupid face as my eyes peered wide open. Mitsuko covers my eyes, but not before I noticed a blush on her cheeks. “You’re such an idiot. I hate you, you know that, right?”
I smile. Mitsuko gives my sight back and sighs. “You’re lucky that I’m mean to you. It’s how I’ve always been. I don’t know how to flirt any other way. You noticed it, right? I don’t say much at school. That’s because I don’t really… enjoy my place in the ‘hierarchy’. I’ve always been really popular. I don’t know why. What do you think?”
“You’re beautiful, a master of archery, you’re funny, confident, you—”
“Ok, shut up,” she covers my mouth this time. Appreciation spread across her face. She uncovers my mouth and kisses me on the lips deeply. I might cry tears of joy again. She inspects my bruises with an unsettling pain in her eyes… “Fuck… Are you sure you’re ok?” she repeats like a looping monologue. I continue to assure her I am.
The gray sun leaks through Mitsuko’s window. We’re surprised by how time has skipped a beat. She gets off my stomach—with the pressure released my lungs greedily fill my diaphragm with air. Mitsuko paces back and forth, looking in the mirror with worry.
“I… I’m going to go talk to my mom. What do you think?”
“You’re going to tell her what happened?” I ask.
Mitsuko shrugs. “A loose version I don’t know how she’ll react, but... I’d rather do it like this than get the school involved.”
“I can say I fell on my way to school… I won’t tell anyone, I promise.”
Mitsuko lets out her deep belly laugh. It’s a glorious sound and sight. Mitsuko patters her bare feet toward me and traces the finger-shaped bruises on the front of my throat, the scratches, the multitude of hickeys, the bite marks…
“Ok. If they even notice, tell the school you fell. But not yet. We’re going to let you recover for a few days—if my mom allows it. Are you good with that?”
I nod eagerly. Even if I’m not to stay at Mitsuko’s house during my recovery period, who wouldn’t take the opportunity to ditch school? Bebop Academy can wait. And my Zenith is waiting for me at the pod; I could login to Digital Sin Online and chat with ‘Maya’. This is a win-win-win situation no matter what. But still, the threshold guardian awaits—Mitsuko’s mom. I’m terrified of what could occur.
Mitsuko steadies herself in the mirror. She changes her panties and skirt that ooze her scent. “I’ll be back. Oh, almost forgot. Go to the living room. I’m not allowed to have dorks in my room. And wash up in the bathroom again—I can still smell myself on you.” Mitsuko winks.
Before Mitsuko leaves, she stops and looks me up and down.
“Hey… you can say no if it’s too much, but… if you have the strength… will you kneel for me?” Mitsuko asks sweetly. My brain melts as my knees touch the floor. She closes the distance and rests my chin on her pleated skirt. Her eyes are full of possession, pride, endearment…
“You look adorable like this. You know that?”
I’m already shivering. She purrs sympathetically, brushing her fingers through my hair.
“I bet you’ve been wanting to kiss my feet all night, right?”
I nod my head with a whimper. I feel utterly pathetic, but those blue eyes of hers make me feel safe to be like this. It’s ok to let myself go, to be totally exposed in front of the one person I trust the most.
“I was going to let you, but then my mom came home. Go ahead, pet…”
My hands touch the ground and I kneel down, like drinking rainwater from the floor… I kiss the tops of her feet once and lean away.
“I didn’t tell you to stop. Jeez, you really do need a lot more training, don’t you?”
I lean in and take a sneaky whiff of her scent. My whole body vibrates as the lustrous aroma pricks my neurons. I kiss each toe one at a time. She touches my chin with her foot and lifts my gaze upward. Her teeth show as she giggles.
“Fuck. You’re so sweet, you know that? Oh!” Mitsuko loses her balance. I catch her, still on my knees. “Thanks… um… We’re running out of time! Go to the living room, kay?!” Mitsuko nervously skips away to her moms room.
