The next morning, as we were getting ready to leave the dorms, Naruyo stood in front of Sakari and said "Check." Sakari frowned and growled, but finally lifted up her skirt to show that the rope was still tied there. Naruyo smiled and turned to leave the building.
After she left, I turned to Matsuko and gathered my courage. "Matsuko-san, tonight.. could we play a game together?"
"Woah, she jumped right to the top, how bold!" Hinari commentated from the side and drained a lot of the tension out of the moment, but I was thankful for that.
Matsuko got that glint in her eye again, but smiled and put her hand on my head. "Of course, Ko-chan, I'll tie you up any time you want. Just be wary, I don't like to untie people very much." Her statement somehow seemed very threatening even though she said it with a smile. I tried not to focus on that part and held in my excitement until after school.
* * *
"Um... same rules as last time? We'll each use one rope, and 15 minutes to escape. Whoever is faster wins. If you don't mind, I'll go first." I tried to hold my nerves down, but I somehow felt like I was standing in front of a dragon instead of a person.
"And the stakes? How about this? If you win, I'll grant you one wish, whatever you want, no matter how big. If I win, you are on your own to escape, you can't ask for help." Matsuko then turned around and held her wrists out to me. I held the rope firmly, then started what I had planned.
A few minutes later, I tied the last knot, and stood back. Matsuko was tied exactly like Sakari was the night before, with the exception of not being arched, as I wasn't strong enough to force her legs and shoulders off the ground. I turned and bowed to Naruyo "Sorry.. I copied your idea, I hope you don't mind" Naruyo looked on kindly though.
"Fine plan. Good execution." She smiled and nodded. But she also had a bit of a look of pity. Before I could figure out what that was about, Matsuko spoke up. "I'm starting now, okay?" She didn't even seem uncomfortable unlike Sakari who was already at her limits before even starting her escape.
I watched closely, but the more I did, the more I couldn't believe my eyes. With just a few twists of her elbows, the ropes around them slipped off down towards her wrists, which left a lot more slack for her wrists. With a few more tugs and twists, one wrist came free, and then the other. With a smooth roll, she was sitting up and releasing her ankles from my ropes. With a flourish she jumped to her feet, pushed the crotch rope off her hips to the floor and smiled effortlessly. "...38 seconds." Hinari said as she stopped the timer on her phone. "She's quite amazing, as usual."
I stood stunned at the results of my attempt to tie up Matsuko. "That's.. impossible.." I couldn't even formulate a response past that until I was enveloped by a hug. She wasn't even sweating, what a monster. "Well, Ko-chan, don't feel that bad, if you were tying up Sakari, she'd be on the ground crying and begging for mercy right now, just like she was last night." Sakari stood up to protest but Hinari pushed her back down onto the couch and shook her head.
"Honestly, I'm really excited right now, I knew you were something special from the moment I saw you. Now, are you ready? It's my turn." She went over to pick up the rope and came back to me, smiling the whole time. "Here I go, Ko-chan." She reached for me, and what happened next was too quick for me to process.
In one second and a blur of ropes, it was over. When my vision cleared Matsuko was standing in front of me, and reached out with one hand to catch my tutu that was falling from the air. With the other arm she caught both of my gloves and boots. It was then that I felt the air that was swept up and realized I was now naked. And my attempt to cover myself didn't work, because I couldn't move my arms at all.
"Ah--T-t-his!" I kneeled down while blushing and shrieked at the same time, but kneeling down caused the rope between my legs to pull back and forth, causing me to let out a little moan as I knelt. Finally I forced myself to examine my current situation, but I still couldn't believe it.
My torso was tied up with a perfect torso harness, and my arms were held behind my back in the same position I normally hold them in, right between my shoulder blades, but this time, I couldn't release them from that position at all. Shifting around a bit, I could tell that my arms were cinched tightly to my back in several places, and part of the harness went between my legs, keeping it all securely tied. My legs were free, but even with free legs it wouldn't help me get free.
"No matter how many times I see it, I still haven't got a clue how she does it." Hinari sighed with amazement as she watched the whole process. "Well, you probably have an idea now why she's never been kidnapped, right?" She was right... How could you possibly hold someone down with those escaping skills? "Ah, well, you should be happy she went so easy on you. You still might escape before school tomorrow if it's just this much."
This was... going easy? What would it mean if she was serious then? As I stared blankly at Matsuko, she came over and picked me up and carried me over to the couch and placed me on her lap. "Of course I have to go easy on our cute little Ko-chan. She just got here, we can't make her cry just yet. Of course, if she asks me nicely, maybe I'll give her a sneak peak of what I can do" She hugged me close and gave me a little kiss on the cheek, which made me blush even more. My target of idol worship currently had me on her lap, and I was naked and tied up tightly. I could barely think about anything right now other than burying my face into her neck and trying to ignore the rest of the room.
"Naruyo, could you take her tutu back to her room? I don't think she'll be needing it anymore tonight. The rest of you, remember, you aren't allowed to help her even if she asks for help. Her penalty is escaping without help. Now, I think you should start your escape, shouldn't you, Ko-chan?" She pulled me away from her chest and held me at arms length, just staring at me all over. "How adorable, I'll never get tired of watching." She lifted me to my feet and gave me a little push away from the couch.
Escape.. it seemed so far away right now. I started to reach around with my hands, but I couldn't feel any knots within reach. "It won't be that easy, Ko-chan. The knot you want is down here." I felt a poke between my elbows, and I knew I was in trouble. There's no way I could ever reach that position on my own. "Better start thinking about how to reach that knot. It's also ok if you cut yourself out, I've got plenty more rope where that came from. Of course, cutting yourself out isn't exactly easy in your position either." She watched me fumble around with my bound arms, and especially, my breasts as they bounced around freely.
I might have been suppressing it somewhere, but I finally realized in my mind that I was currently naked and giving a free show to the entire rest of the council, and blushed even deeper red. "This...this..." I ran off up the stairs to my room as everyone watched on.
"Ah, she finally snapped. Disappointing." Asami grunted and lost interest, heading towards her room.
Hinari spoke up as she was walking away. "If you're so disappointed, maybe we should make things more interesting? How about a bet on whether she can escape before tomorrow or not?"
Asami turned back around. "What will the stakes be? I have no time for pointless bets"
Hinari laughed "Stakes, huh? You need a little excitement in your life, I guess. How about this? If she escapes before tomorrow, then I win. If she comes down here naked and bound, then you win. The loser must wear a pair of vibrating nipple rings for a day."
Asami thought about it for a minute, then smiled. "Deal. But neither of us can interfere with her."
Hinari smiled. "Fine."
As the deal was set, the chandelier lit up and created magical collars that sealed their participation.
* * *
I finally regained my composure once I got back into my room. I wasn't in a better situation, considering I was still tied up and naked, but at least I could think straight again. I tried quickly to wriggle my arms out of their bindings, but I knew after a minute or two that it would be futile. Everything was cinched too good to be slipped out of without untying any knots.
Next, I moved onto trying to use the corner of my desk to try and push the ropes over my shoulders or somehow dislodge something that way, but it, too, was too tight. I had to find something I could use to poke at the knot between my elbows. I started testing every single knob and corner I could find, anywhere in my room.
* * *
Three hours later, I laid on my bed. Tired, sweaty, completely exhausted, still quite naked, and bound exactly as I was when I lost the challenge. I even tried to use my feet, but I wasn't flexible enough to reach between my elbows with my feet. "I can't believe she tied me up this perfectly in under a second... How is it even possible..." I grumbled to myself for the thirty-fourth time, but it did nothing but soothe my frustration.
"This is impossible. I have to cut myself out like Matsuko said." I got to my feet, and gathered my determination to go outside even if I would be seen again by the others. I opened the door easily enough and headed for the kitchen. I started to fumble around with the drawers, which was not easy when you have to kneel down almost all the way to the floor to open them.
After a few tries I finally found the silverware drawer, only to find that all the knives were gone. I let out an audible cry of distress as I realized my last resort was going to be a failure as well. I quickly rushed past Asami who was just entering the kitchen with a sneer on her face and back to my room, before slamming the door.
Finally, I gave up my last resistance and just laid there on my bed, quickly drifting off to sleep.
* * *
I was shaken out of my sleep suddenly, but I immediately heard a quiet "shh" sound in my ear. I turned my head and saw someone staring down at me. She put her hand over my mouth and held a finger up to her mouth with her other hand. I nodded and she got off the bed and helped me sit up. Then I heard her walk over to the table and move something, then tap on something underneath it, before slowly leaving the room without a sound.
With a bit of confusion, I got out of bed and went over to the table on my toes. I found there was a plate and silverware that was sitting right there, previously covered up by some hastily discarded books. I silently thanked whoever snuck into my room for their saving grace, and grabbed the knife off the plate.
With a knife in hand, it wasn't incredibly difficult to dismantle the elaborate harness Matsuko trapped me in. Within ten minutes, I was free, if still naked and sweaty, and there was a pile of ropes on the floor in front of me. With a deep sigh, I grabbed a towel from the rack nearby and wiped myself down, and then climbed back into bed. I could at least get half a night of sleep still.
* * *
The next morning, I got ready for school as usual, but when I came down, I was greeted by some commotion. "Ha, that's it, I win," Hinari laughed and looked provocatively at Asami across the table. "There's no way. You must have cheated. She was completely helpless until we all went to sleep." "Proof? She's obviously freed herself considering she's already dressed for school."
Asami glared at me accusingly. "Ok, Kogamo, spill it, how did you free yourself from Matsuko's harness? Did you get help? You know Matsuko's punishment included no outside help." If looks could kill, I think I might have died on the spot.
"Um... I cut myself free with a knife I had in my room. I have to say, Matsuko's harness is really hard to escape, I stood no chance without the knife," I replied without any lies.
"Where did you get that knife? You know we aren't allowed to keep weapons in the dorm, right? This is an important matter!" Asami seemed more desperate as the conversation developed.
"Give it up Asami, I found this on the desk in her room, it's clear this is how she escaped." Matsuko came into the kitchen and placed a plate with a fork and knife on it into the sink. "She must have forgotten to bring her dishes back two nights ago. Lucky girl though, she seemed to be in trouble up until the point we turned off the lights. She must have forgotten about the plate until later last night or this morning."
"That's impossible. I saw her running to the kitchen to look for a knife before we went to bed. She couldn't find one then, so where did this knife come from?" Asami ranted at Matsuko, who just sneered back at her.
"Um… It was buried under some books on my table. I bumped into the table trying to escape and knocked the books off, and that's when I found the plate." I slightly altered the truth to protect my savior.
"That's...You're taking her side... You all..." Asami grumbled and growled, but a few seconds later, magic circles appeared on both hers and Hinari's necks. Hinari's shattered and disappeared, while Asami's turned into glowing tattoos and sank into her skin.
"You'll be needing these, then." Hinari tried to resist laughing while she shoved a small box across the table to Asami. Asami tried to resist, but the magic forced her to open the box, revealing a pair of small shiny hoops inside. She picked one up, then reached up underneath her shirt, rustled around for a second, then brought her arm out without the ring. She repeated the process again before closing the box and glaring at Hinari. "Happy?"
"Of course. You can take them off tomorrow night. I hope they shine one single ray of enjoyment into your sad little life." Hinari smiled happily, grabbed her bag and headed for the door of the dorm. Asami stomped off after her.
"...Did they bet on whether I would escape overnight or not?" I turned to ask Matsuko, though I had basically figured out what happened.
"Sure did, and the loser would have to wear vibrating nipple rings until tomorrow night. Of course, I know Hinari visited you last night, but reminding you of the knife already in your room is not really helping you escape directly, is it? If, instead, Asami had actually found your dirty plate when she was hiding all the knives in the dorm, you would have come down here cutely tied and naked, and Asami would have been reminding you of that fact for a long time. You should probably do something nice for Hinari later, huh?"
"On a different note, I see your little experience didn't change that arm habit of yours. Not that I'm particularly trying to change it, that is." Matsuko smiled and patted my head. "I do have one question I'm curious about though. After I stripped you last night, I noticed that the entire time, even when you ran off to your room, you were always on your tiptoes. Why was that?"
"Ah, that... It seems that after spending the last few months wearing ballet boots all day every day, I find I can't easily flatten my feet anymore. My feet seem stuck in that position, but since Naruyo added ballet boots to all of my outfits already, I think I'll be okay. It does mean I have to prance around on my toes when I'm without my boots though. Kind of embarrassing in retrospect. Anyhow, I need to go, I have some stuff to check on before class. Thank you for the lesson yesterday, My Lady." I smiled and gave a little curtsy to Matsuko before running off to get to school.
Matsuko seemed struck speechless again by the sequence of events. She muttered to herself "She seems to be collecting more and more strange habits and afflictions lately. I wonder how things will turn out in the end."