Up until the day before, Kishiko had gone years without having a proper meal at a table. Most of her masters had forced her to eat off the floor, and if she was lucky, she might even get a bowl. The food consisted of scraps and leftovers from those who ate at the house, while those who had cattle would probably just feed her the same thing they fed them.

That being said, it truly felt like a miracle. Eating real food, on a real table, served on a real plate…wearing normal clothes…she could feel her humanity absorbing back into her soul.

Kishiko had once had luxury meals for breakfast back when she was a Celestia. It had been a massive departure from the simple bread breakfast she usually had back home, and she was certain she’d never eat something tastier again. But after all her terrible experiences since, she’d realized she wasn’t entirely right. That was because the simple buttered bread she was having now felt hundreds of times better than any luxury meal ever did. It was both heavenly and nostalgic.

With her brain filled with bliss, she chewed on her bread before glancing over to her right. Misaki sat there, elegantly holding her piece of buttered bread, lifting it to her mouth in a smooth motion and gently biting down. Compared to her, Kishiko was eating the bread like some beast, but she couldn’t help it.

Once she swallowed, Kishiko turned to Misaki. “Hey,” she started, her face warming up as she looked for the words to say. Even if it was a little embarrassing, she wanted to get to the bottom of something. “Did…Did that guy force himself on you last night?” she finally got out.

If she were to believe Starlin, then no, he did nothing of the such, but she couldn’t simply take him up on his word. He may be acting nice, but at the end of the day he had still bought them as slaves for very little reason…apparently.

Misaki glanced at her, those blue eyes deeper and hollower than the sea. After a few seconds, she looked back to her bread, taking another precise bite and eventually swallowing. “You mean our master?”

Kishiko grimaced. “Y-Yeah, that guy.”

“Then please refrain from calling him something as demeaning as ‘that guy’.”

“…but he can call us ‘slaves’?”

“That’s what we are.”

“And he’s a guy!” she exasperatedly said.

To be fair, he’d never actually called them slaves at any point, that she was aware of, so the comparison wasn’t entirely the same, but it was close enough.

This girl really is something else…

Kishiko sighed. “Fine, I won’t call him that.” She resigned. “Then did he or not?”

“He did not.”

“I see.”

She turned away.

Her answer was clear and concise. No two ways of interpreting that. Of course, the possibility that Starlin had forced her to answer that wasn’t out of the question, but that’d be needless skepticism that’d go nowhere. At least between Starlin and Misaki, she’d rather trust her.

Plus, Misaki did jump at him the moment they arrived back home. Could it have been Misaki’s idea for them to have sex?

As the question ran through her mind, the twins across the table joyously exclaimed, ““This is really good!!”” Their cute tails straightened in delight as they continuously into their bread with their tiny teeth.

Right, those two…

Out of the four girls, those two were the most attached to Starlin. It was suspicious to be sure, but she’d been present when the girls started getting friendly with him, so she couldn’t very well blame that on him. She could think up a few ways he could’ve manipulated them, but as far as she could tell, they were genuinely affectionate towards him.

For some reason.

But that being the case, could Starlin have done something with them too?

“Hey, you two.”

The twins turned toward her, bread in mouth.

“Has that—um, I mean, has Kaelor made a move on either of you?” she hesitantly asked. With how innocent they appeared, it was a hard topic to breach, but there was no other way around it. It was the only way to get answers.

But why do I care? The question suddenly crossed her mind.

Did it really matter if he’d slept with any of them? He had bought them. They belonged to him. Just because he was treating them nicely, it didn’t mean he always would. Moreover, this could be a tactic of his so they could lower their guards.

So why was she so hung up on it?

A part of her already knew the answer, but she simply didn’t want to speak it into existence. For if she did, she didn’t know if she’d be able to hold back everything that’d been bubbling up inside of her the last couple of years.

The twins cutely craned their heads to the side, like confused puppies. ““Made…a move?””

Are they really that clueless?

She’d heard they came from a church, so maybe that had something to do with their innocence about the matter. Although she wasn’t that religious herself, she knew that there were some quite strict churches out there.

If that was the case, she’d have to push further…although saying anything further to them felt oddly embarrassing. More so that when she asked Misaki.

“I mean…has he—um, did he…” she stammered.

“Has master had sex with either of you—that’s what she’s asking.” Misaki suddenly cut in, a lack of shame in her voice.

Kishiko’s heart dropped at Misaki’s bold and straightforward approach.

““Sex?””

Misaki nodded. “Yes.”

““What is sex?””

She put down her piece of bread as she explained. “Sex is when a man puts his genitals, penis, into a woman’s genitals, vagina. Although the primary function is for reproduction, many also do it simply for pleasure.”

The twin’s eyes were wide with surprise. ““People really do that?””

“Yes. It’s an activity all men and women partake in.”

Kishiko was stunned silent. Her face was flushed all the way down to her neck as her eyes shifted back and forth between the two parties. They spoke of it like it was the most natural thing to do.

“W-W-Wait—” she outstretched her arms, severing the conversation on the spot. “You can’t just…” she trailed off.

“Is there a problem?” Misaki asked.

“Well…”

“Do you not think they should know now rather than later? It’s something they should always be prepared for as slaves. Our master may ask that from them at a moment’s notice.”

It was about then that she realized it had been a mistake to have seen his sister in those girls. She was witnessing their pure minds be tainted by this elf woman. Kishiko could’ve stopped her, but it was far too late for that now.

““Have you two done sex?”” The sudden question from the twins jolted Kishiko to straighten her back. The girls' gazes turned towards Misaki and Kishiko.

“I have. I did it with Master last night.” She took a bite of her bread.

““Really?!”” they asked, their mouths agape. Misaki simply nodded.

They both then turned to Kishiko.

“Um…” was all that escaped her lips. Unlike the mature-looking Misaki, Kishiko was entirely inexperienced with both sex and relationships in general. In her attempts to become a Celestia, she’d forgone all kinds of relationships, romantic especially. It was a little embarrassing to admit that in front of Misaki. Mumbling, she answered, “…I haven’t.”

Misaki twitched. “You’re still a virgin? That’s impressive. That makes a lot more sense.”

What is that supposed to mean? Was the immediate thing that came to mind, but she quickly realized that there wasn’t a thing Misaki said that was wrong. If it wasn’t for her powers, she would’ve lost her virginity a long time ago, unwillingly that is.

Gritting her teeth, she swallowed any retort.

““Oh…”” the twins let out. Immediately they turned back to Misaki. Guess they had realized who they needed to talk to for this kind of conversation. ““Does master like doing sex?””

“All men do.” She quickly answered.

““Should we do sex with him too?””

“If he wants to.”

““Ooh””

As soon as their conversation ended, footsteps echoed from the stairway behind the twins. The moment Starlin stepped on the first floor, their eyes glittered and they jumped from their seats. They ran towards him and grappled back onto his arms like they’d done many times up till now.

““Master! Let’s do sex!””

“W-What?!” Starlin let out.

 

***

 

Calling it whiplash would be underselling it. Their cute faces looking up to me as they asked to have sex with me…a weaker man wouldn’t been knocked out on the spot. Thankfully, I regained my composure a few seconds later and I looked at the other two girls at the nearby table.

Kishiko had her hand outstretched, her face reddened. Misaki was finishing up her piece of bread, not paying the slightest bit of attention to me.

Whatever had gone down while I was upstairs wasn’t entirely clear. But first things first, I had to respond to the twins.

“What’s with the sudden interest?” I tried stalling as I thought up what to do.

“Misaki was telling us how all men like that, she did!” Shiari said

“We thought you’d like it too, so we want to do it with you!” Hikari added.

Both girls’ eyes glowed. I momentarily questioned what made them decide whether or not to speak at the same time, but I quickly pushed it back as I caught on to a certain part of what they said.

Misaki told them?!

Well, it only made sense, but it was kind of odd for her who looks so serious to talk so openly about that. Or maybe it was because of how serious she was that she’d do something like that. Who knows?

“Um…I don’t know, but I don’t really feel like it right now.” That was all I could do to reject their advancements. Not only did I really feel like I shouldn’t be doing that with them this early after buying them, but I had to go out to shop for some stuff after breakfast, so I literally didn’t have time.

““Aww—but you did sex with Misaki, why not us? Do you not like us as much, master?””

So she really told them everything!

“No, no, no, that’s not it! I’m just very busy right now and…” and that was it really, but I doubted they’d back down with that alone.

My heart was beating hard. With their chests pressed against my arm, their visible cleavage from my angle, their cute face, soft-looking lips…

As I began to feel blood rushing down below, a knock came at the door.

I quickly snapped out of the moment.

All five of us turned to the door as two more knocks came through.

I wasn’t expecting anybody today, and I didn’t usually get visitors, so who could it be? While I wondered that, I asked the twins to sit down, which they obediently did, and I made my way to the far end of the house.

Once I was a meter away, I caught faint whispers from the other side of the door.

“Is he still not back…? I thought for sure today…” a little grumble cut the sentence short.

Oh, I see.

With a smile, I quickly undid the lock and creaked the other open just enough so I could see outside. “What’s up, Kasey? Need something?” I leaned against the doorframe as I stared into the eyes of the person standing outside my house.

It was a boy. He was about chest height to me and had cute slightly pointy ears sticking out the top of his head. While they looked similar to the cat people, he was actually a part of the beast people, who looked similar but with clear differences.

He wore baggy clothes that hid his frame, and he had a small bag that hung just above his chest. His facial features were rounded and cute, almost like a little kid. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think they were, but in fact, Kasey was my age.

“Mr. Starlin! You’re back!” he exclaimed. His puffy tail wagged side to side. A few tears pooled up in the corner of his eyes.

“What’s with the reaction? I was only gone for a few days.”

The boy cleared the tears as he beamed a smile. “It’s nothing.” He shook his head. “Um…do you have some time right now?”

My palms began to sweat. I was on friendly terms with Kasey. He’s the only friend I ever made after I graduated middle school and stopped my academic journey. But because of that, I wasn’t in any rush to show him how pathetic I’d become.

Not many people looked down upon those who bought slaves. It was a normal part of life and something that helped the overall stature of the world. It allowed products to be cheaper and to get to the hands of consumers that much faster.

But the one thing that more people looked down upon regarding slaves was sex slaves. When people thought about those who bought sex slaves, sleazy old men or snobby nobles were the first thing that came to mind. Unless you had some kind of power, you weren’t seen too kindly. Which matched my description aptly.

Even if I only had one sex slave, which I hadn’t bought for those purposes, it’s not like I could explain away the other girls in any other way. I had no need for slaves. I didn’t run a field, farm, or anything of the like. Nobody would believe me if I said I just wanted them for company…even that sounds suspicious.

“…is it something we can talk about outside?” I asked, quickly turning to the girls behind me and mouthing ‘I’ll be right back’. “I was just about to head out to buy some stuff.”

The boy thought it over for a moment then nodded. “That’ll work…as long as I stay at your side, I should be fine.”

What does that mean?

Without saying anything else, I left my home.

 

 ***

 

They were alone now.

With nothing to do, seemingly free reign over the house, and nothing stopping them from leaving, a part of Kishiko wondered why they didn’t do just that? Yes, they’d be on the run every waking moment, but at least they wouldn’t be under the servitude of anyone.

But as she looked at the other girls sitting nearby, none of them seemed to be thinking the same.

With a sigh, Kishiko stood.

“Thanks for the meal,” she murmured. In a louder tone, she said, “I’m going back to my room.”

““Okay!”” the twins exclaimed as they chowed down on another piece of bread.

Just as she was about to step onto the stairs, she stopped. Hesitantly, she spoke up. “Misaki. Can you come with me for a moment?” Without waiting or turning to make sure she heard her, Kishiko continued up the stairs.