Pizza just tastes better when eaten with good company.

It’s not an opinion, but a fact.  What’s also a fact is that two girls who burned a lot of calories shopping can easily devour an entire medium half cheese and half mushroom pizza and most of a cold and refreshing cola.

As we ate lunch together, we were also both keeping an eye on what people were wearing and commenting about what looked cool or stylish or even absolutely ridiculous.  Since I wasn’t a fashionista yet, I gave my own personal opinion on what I saw and thought, and based on that, Saiyuri would agree or just giggle.

My final grade from her was promising, but needs work. 

I figured it would be something like that.  I have no doubt it was because of the one girl I couldn’t take my eyes off of who was standing in line at the ice cream store.  She was tall.  I mean way tall.

She was easily 185cm (6’) and wearing an oversized pink hoodie with cat ears, complete with fuzzy lining!  Her pants were the loosely fitting cotton type which went all the way down to her… boots?

“Those high-tops are killing me!”  Saiyuri laughed. “Definitely a home project pair.”

They weren’t actually boots but high-top sneakers, according to the woman across from me who was not a pizza crust eater.  The shoes were white originally but it looks like they were attacked passionately with a pink highlighting marker, and then had hand-drawn designs penned on them afterwards.  Sadly, even while wearing glasses I couldn’t make out exactly what those designs were.  This was mostly seen from a side profile that was positioned away from me.  So it wasn’t until she got her ice cream and faced forward that I was able to get a better look at her front.

Where my face was more on the round side, her’s was more ovular, with a visible smattering of freckles below her eyes.  She had longer hair than me as well, which was separated and french braided coming out of the hoodie to drape below her collar over a black line art of an oversized but cute cat.  She seemed to be very… pink.  The waffle cone with two scoops of strawberry flavored ice cream she was enjoying tremendously only further attested to that.  

A tall girl isn’t such a rare sight out in the sticks.  Country girls are hardy women, but she stuck out like a sore thumb in this crowd.  Even sitting down she was still taller than most women and men here.

I had wondered if she would be joining her friends, as she looked to be of high school age, but she was sitting and eating alone.

Maybe she was just waiting for someone?

I wouldn’t get the chance to find out.  We had finished our pizza and colas, and Saiyuri was now well fed, rested, and ready to move on to the most important part of the trip in the first place, finding suitable makeup for me to wear!

We worked our way to Matsumoto Kiyoshi, a rather prevalent chain of makeup shops which happened to have an outlet here.  To Saiyuri who swore that makeup was an intrinsic part of a woman’s apparel, and a sentiment the new me also agreed with, without having to travel a great distance to a more specialized store, this was one step below heaven, and good enough for us both.

Entering into the store, I was accosted by the sheer number of products for the modern woman on the go. Everywhere I looked was something I’d never known I needed, until I saw it and the voice inside my head asked me how I ever lived without it!

Facial scrubs, deep-pore cleansing seaweed masks, lotion that was supposed to make your skin softer to the touch, sweet smelling body sprays, low-end perfumes, hair coloring kits, a bigger selection of hair brushes, ties and clips then Me% had, though less… trendy.  A wall with hundreds of differing colors of fingernail polish and many of them hardly distinguishable even to someone with a trained eye!  Mascaras, blushes, eyeliner, eyebrow pencils, hair straightening irons, hair curling irons, hair trainers for only a partial curl in places that you can set in your hair overnight!

Why did Tono never have any of this good stuff!?

I can tell you that the time we spent there was not wasted for even a second.  The bill was huge.  About twenty thousand yen in all, but we had two bags full of stuff that Sayuri said would make me look dazzling, and I couldn’t wait to go back to the apartment and have her give me a hands on tutorial on how to apply it all!

It was a pity we ate pizza for lunch, because we could have had a delivery instead and relaxed on the couch together with facial masks making us unreasonably pretty while we watched television together.

I was in a state of high tension from all the excitement I felt on my first foray, and it almost made me forget something important.

I had a need for some daily necessities, and a few other things around the apartment as well, which I felt were missing.  Namely a broom, so I could sweep the cobwebs I saw away.

Our trip to the mall was done, but a side trip to a supermarket got me some personal supplies and a few extra cleaning supplies for the household, as well as some food for dinner.

“Since we’re close by, want to see what your new school looks like from the outside?”

There was a one week vacation from the end of the last term until the entrance ceremony for the beginning of the new one.  I was going from a middle schooler to a high schooler, and my school was hardly comparable to what I was told to expect from a big city school.

Saiyuri drove us there and parked right in front of a metal gate which was closed.  There was a large L-shaped building behind it, which was three stories tall like the apartment complex we lived in, but much taller, and easily double the size.  There was a nice courtyard out front, and I was told that behind the building were a number of sports facilities, such as a soccer field, baseball field, tennis courts, and a track.  There were others but she said she’d leave a little mystery for me to enjoy finding out what.

Soccer and Baseball were popular.  For baseball there was no team closer to Tono than the Tohoku Rakuten (formerly Sendai) Golden Eagles, which were based out of Miyagi far south of us.  So we just rooted for them as if they were our home team.  For soccer, Iwate prefecture had the Cranes which were hosted right over in nearby Morioka.

Though I say nearby, it was still a couple of hours drive away.

For the rest like Tennis or Track… I only knew of one star tennis player that ever caught my eye, and it was Osaka Naomi.  She was supposed to be in the Olympics, representing Japan.  Outside of that, sports weren’t really my thing.  As I’ve said before, my love is romance novels.

“So, what do you think, kiddo?” She said as she wrapped an arm around and gave me a short squeeze.  “Ready for the grand adventure in your life known as high school?”

“You know it!  I’m gonna rock this place so hard!” I said confidently, or at least enthusiastically.  I at least hoped not to embarrass myself too badly from the start.  My goal was to make five friends on the first day.

It would have been nice if the delinquent girl I talked to in the bookstore, and the tall girl wearing pink also went here, but I wasn’t even sure how old they were, or if they went to a regular public co-ed school.

“I’ll also be here if you need anything.  I’m sure Kaede already told you, but I’m part of the faculty here.”

“Sacchan, are you going to be my teacher at some point?”

“It’s possible.  I’m an English teacher, so it’s likely you’ll either have me or Utsusemi-sensei.  I doubt you’d get Morinaga-sensei since she deals almost exclusively with the third years or the advanced classes.  How’s your English by the way, Hanapi?”

“Eet izu nooto beri guudo?”

Saiyuri just chuckled.

“We’ll work on it at home when it’s time, don’t worry about it for now.”

I breathed a sigh of relief.  I mean, I knew the alphabet and stuff, but never really had someone to converse in it with, so of course it would be terrible!

Now that I think about it, that’s one thing I had in common with Mazona from Comatose Countess.  She wasn’t so good in English either!

Now if only I had a cute little step-sister to relax with after doing schoolwork.

Saiyuri failed me there.  She was single as far as I knew, and there were no signs of life growing inside of her.  From the state of the room I was in, not even dust where a poster would have hung on the wall.  It did prompt me to ask her, though.

“Sacchan, you don’t have any children or anything, do you?”

She shook her head and shrugged.

“The closest thing would be you, kiddo.  It was never in the stars for me, I think.” She said and it looked as if she was remembering something as she said it.  “But that’s alright, If I get lucky I might meet someone who has one.  You never know how life will go until you live it.”

It was advice I think I was still a little immature to get.  For me, I still had so much life ahead of me, and there wasn’t anything I didn’t think I could really accomplish if I set my mind to it.

“Anywhere else you want to go, Hanapi?”

I couldn’t come up with anywhere, so we ended up returning to the apartment complex.  After unloading everything from the car and making it upstairs to 315, I brought most of the stuff into my room, save for the stuff from the supermarket.

Saiyuri helped me lay out my cosmetics on the dresser in my room, and said we’d get to it later.  She wanted to take a nap first.  I was still brimming with energy, so I decided to finish cleaning the house the rest of the way, and did so after putting the groceries away and planning dinner for later.

I got stuck in a daydream at some point and thought about the fun shopping date I had with Saiyuri.  She left the door to her room open, so I peeped in to see if she was asleep.

“Sacchan?  Are you asleep?” I called out softly to her.

“Just relaxing, Hanapi.  My legs are aching a bit, that’s all.” She said, as she was lying face down into a pillow and stripped down to just her underwear.

“Would… um, you… like me to massage your feet or legs or whatever part hurts?”

“Mmm… that would be nice, but I don’t want to trouble you.”

“U~un, It’s no trouble at all!  I’m good at this kind of stuff.  When I was younger mom liked me to walk all over her back, and she’d make all kinds of Ooh’s and Aah’s.  I had to stop though when I got to be around ten years old.  I think I was just too heavy for her.  But the trade off there was that I learned how to use my hands to massage.  I’m pretty confident in it!”

“Then, if you’re going to say that much, everything from my butt down needs your tender loving care.”

“Right, leave it to me!”

I ran out of her room real fast and into my own.  I was still wearing that outfit I bought from Blue Blue, so I quickly swapped out into one of the T-shirts I had brought.  The reason for doing so was so that I didn’t get the sleeves covered in the skin care lotion we ended up buying at the cosmetics store.  Fishing it out of one of the bags, I returned to her room.

“Sacchan, I’m gonna use the skin smoothing lotion we bought, okay?”

“Mmh… I don’t even care if you use a paint scraper if it means you can help the throbbing go away~”

I giggled.  Maybe because I was still young and energetic it was really me who was pulling her along while we shopped?  I’ll have to be more considerate to her in the future.

I took the bottle and flipped the top of the lid and squirted a little into my hand then put it on the floor next to me.  I let it warm up in my hands a little first, and then began to apply my hands to her foot, coating one from ankle to toe in the moisturising max and gently using my thumbs to press in on her arches, slowly yet firmly.

“Mmmmmmhh〜”

Saiyuki made a sweet sound as I carefully kneaded the underside of her foot.  Her foot seemed to be almost the same size as mine was.  my fingers went from the middle of her foot, to the heel and then over to her toes, sliding my fingers between the tiny gaps and even pulling on them a little, causing the occasional pop!  

I had spied her toenails which weren’t polished and wondered if we could do that as an activity later? I think she’d look nice with a rich dark color in a red or purple shade, maybe even a glossy black.  For me, I wonder what color she would pick?  Probably blue, but I wouldn’t mind another color instead.  Something to complement my blue outfits perhaps?

Reaching for the bottle again, I continued the treatment on the other foot, then slowly added more as my durable hands fought some minor cramping as I worked out the kinks around her ankles and up her calves.  

I’m sure it was an unnecessary feeling, but she kept making soft sounds as I worked out the tension as I proceeded higher and higher until I was at the top of her thighs.

My heart was beating fast for some reason I couldn’t explain, but, I… I wanted… to go further.  Even from behind, her body was breathtaking, and even if she wasn’t in need of it… I wanted to touch her body more.  I should be relaxed, this was just a simple massage.  

Why… was I getting so worked up?

I couldn’t bring myself to ask her to let me continue up her back and to her shoulders.  I felt like… maybe she would think I was strange.  I just wanted to enjoy the softness she made available to me a bit longer.  

I gave up though.  Instead I stared at her lower back and sighed. She rolled over at that minute to give me a soft smile.  

“Got a minute?”  She asked as she slid over and patted the bed next to her for me to join.  “You look like something’s troubling you.  Want to talk about it?”

I sat down on the bed.  “It’s nothing, Sacchan.” I lied.  It was something, but what it was, I didn’t have the words for.

“If you say so, then I’ll trust you… but you are a young girl just a little out of her element still, and I’m here to be your support.  I at least hoped our little adventure today helped prove that a little.”

I let my body fall backwards onto the bed and the soft and warm pillow she was just using absorbed the impact.

Pomf~

I took a deep inhale, and then exhaled completely, deflating next to her.  “Sacchan… why did you agree to host me?”

“Wasn’t it obvious?  Kaede and I go way back, I’d do just about anything for her if she asked me to.”

“Mom… told you I am weird, right?”

“Weird?  Sweetie, you aren’t weird at all.”

“I feel weird though… sometimes even think weird too.” I admitted, thinking about the two girls I saw today.  And how it felt to hold Saiyuri’s hand in public as we traversed the mall.

“I’ll listen if you want to talk, but I won’t ever say you are weird.  You’re a young girl on her way to being a young woman, and I’m sure you’re still figuring parts of yourself out. It’s not easy, and it’s certainly not going to get any easier with Kaede so far away now.  I don’t even know if I’m equipped for the job to act as her stand-in, but over the years I have dealt with a lot of interesting young women who all went on to do great things, and some of them probably thought they were weird too.  So, shoot, kiddo.  I’m listening.”

She didn’t talk down to me condescendingly, which was something I  needed from her.  She was right about mom though.  Mom was the one who knew me best.  Probably better than Yumi.

“Did she tell you about my hobby?”

“That you’re a total basket case for romance novels?  Yes.”

I groaned.

“There’s nothing wrong with that Hanapi.”

“I know, but there’s a bit more to it than that.” I sighed, holding my hand up in the air and focusing only on it.  “Sacchan… have you ever thought about how soft a woman’s hand is?”

“Mmhmm.  All the time.”

I turned my head quickly to see her laying on her side, her head propped up on her arm and giving me a smile.

“Surprised?”

I nodded.

She reached out with her other hand and took hold of mine, just like at the mall, sliding her fingers between my own and squeezing lightly.  The slippery lotion was still all over my palm, and made the warmth of her hand more noticeable.

“W-what if it’s not just… a hand that I think about… being soft?”

“Certainly there are many other places that are soft to touch.  Care to elaborate?”

“W-well… umm… Like the arms, from below the shoulder… the sides of the midsection… or possibly… the butt?”

Saiyuri only giggled.

“I see, so Hanabi’s at the age where she’s thinking about butts, huh?”

“N-no!  It was just a random thought, that’s all…”

I was panicking a little.  This was a subject I couldn’t talk with Yumi about since her reaction, and I… didn’t know how to approach mom about it.  How I held Sosuke’s hand and didn’t really feel anything from it.  Nothing heart pounding at all.  But right now, with Saiyuri holding my hand, it was just… beating.  I could even hear it clearly with my ears!

But she was just all smiles towards me.

“Kaede had a soft butt, you know?”

“Eeh?”

“Kukuku~  Ah, your reaction is priceless!  I wish I had my phone out so I could snap a picture!”

She was laughing now.  What was my face like, I wonder?  Saiyuri touched my mom’s butt before?  Well, I mean, I’ve stepped on it a few times when I was younger, so it’s not like I don’t sort of know what it’s like…

“Grab the lotion, kiddo.  Now that you got the kinks in my legs worked out and you’ve had a couple minutes to rest, you got another half to do.  If you’re up for it.”

Was… this an invitation to… touch her further?

“Just so you know, Kaede used to make me massage her all the time too.  Back when we attended college and shared the same place.”

Oh.  That’s why she knows.   For a minute I thought... 

“However, the best way to deal with something that you wonder about, is to just jump right in and find out the answer to the question on your mind.”

“Which is…?”

She rolled over onto her stomach and reached behind her.  She slid two fingers on each side of the back of her panties and slid them close together, exposing a fleshy roundness.

“Is Sacchan’s butt soft?”

I leaned over and grabbed the bottle of lotion.  My hand trembled a little bit, because my nerves went into overdrive.  I had to use two hands to hold it steady, and pointing the tip down, I squirted a little bit of it onto one half of that bubble of exposed flesh.

“EEP!” She squeaked.

“Eh?  What did I do?”

“Nothing, it was just suddenly cold.”

Ah, I messed up.  I should have warmed it up in my hands first!  I’m such a dummy!

“Only one way to fix it now, Hanapi.”

The main question she presented to me had two answers.  

The first answer only beget a hundred more questions I wasn’t at all prepared to have ever asked myself.  

As for the second answer…

...to the matter of Saiyuri’s butt... 

...what I found out was…

...it just so happened to be...

...exquisitely soft.