I'd gone to sleep that night thinking about Nicholas Guo against my will. It was just my luck that he ended up being Hikoboshi. What kind of sick joke was this? My divine punishment? So bothered and frustrated, I forgot to sneak into Miyamori's room after Tetsu had fallen asleep. The NTL app was definitely going to start a round at some point during Tanabata. There would be far too many men for it not to happen. I had hoped to stay with my husband or usual partners, so that the game didn't compel me to be intimate with a stranger.
If only I rejected being Orihime.
Unfortunately, it was too late to back out now. The town was counting on me. Mr. Shiraishi was counting on me. I didn't want to let anyone down.
My body started heating up. All the sex I'd been having only resulted in me wanting more. I was having a hard time sating my own drive.
"Tetsu?" I shook him gently. "Are you up?"
"Mmm…" Tetsu turned to face me, half-conscious.
"Do you think we can do a quick one?" I asked and reached down to stroke his inner thigh.
"But I'm so tired… maybe… tomo…" He drifted back to sleep before even finishing his sentence.
When I brushed a hand over his penis, he was softer than a pillow. I chewed on my thumb. Tetsu's breathing grew deep, a sign that no amount of shaking except for a fire alarm would wake him. I wasn't going to get any sleep at this rate and got up, slipped on a black negligee, and walked out of my room.
Miyamori didn't answer as I knocked on his door. But it wasn't locked. I let myself in to find the man sprawled out messily on his futon. He wore a pair of shorts that had rolled up to his upper thighs, likely from moving around while asleep. Because of that, I saw his erect dick sticking out. I swallowed hard. Would I f desperate? No. I was desperate.
Putting the rational side of me away, I tugged the shorts down, gripped his throbbing cock, and lowered myself onto it.
"Yes…" I let out a delightful sigh as the erect rod slid into me.
My pussy was so wet, I effortlessly bounced up and down Miyamori's dick. The man turned his head side to side, then stirred to consciousness.
"Now, this is a sight… Ooohh…" Miyamori reached up to grab a handful of my breasts through the negligee. "You just couldn't hold back?"
"No, I can't… Nnnh… I want it so bad!" I moaned, grinding our hips together.
"You're such a naughty girl!" He pinched my nipples and tugged them.
An intense orgasm rippled through me. It knocked the wind from my lungs. I shuddered and twitched on top of Miyamori, whose hands continued to feel me up as if I belonged to him. Maybe I did. Once, I belonged to one man. Now, to several. I acted on the whims of my desires without even needing the NTL app to compel me.
Miyamori flipped me over. He slapped his bare cock against my pussy a few times, then pushed it back in. The thickness of his member filled me to the brim.
"Fuck me!" I pleaded.
"Don't have to tell me twice. Hehe! This married pussy of yours is mine to use whenever I want!" Miyamori pistoned into me with newfound vigor.
We had sex well into the night. However, the difference in our ages became apparent quickly. Much like Jiro Shiraishi, despite their enthusiasm, neither were able to last very long. At least, not long enough to match me.
"Are you done already? You used to be hard for so much longer," I said, giving him fellatio in hopes of inducing another erection.
"I'm spent… I just… I'm going to close my eyes for a bit…" Miyamori panted.
No matter how much I licked, the man wasn't getting hard anymore. It took some time on the toilet to let all of Miyamori's cum flow out of me. I checked the Partners System in the meantime. Satoshi and Shiraishi were at home as expected, most likely dead asleep by now. Principal Minoru Iwata's dot no longer showed anywhere on the map. He wasn't even listed in the system.
If the principal had still been here, I wondered what would have happened to me? I might still be his sex slave. Recalling those memories left me craving for a time I once hated. How I had changed.
I looked at myself in the mirror. Mostly naked, with strips of the negligee still clinging to me. My chestnut brown hair was disheveled, stuck against my face and shoulders from sweat. Nipples sensitive and pulsing such that the slightest touch could drive me up a wall. Fresh cum smeared against my chin, breasts, and butt.
"I shouldn't go back like this," I muttered, then went to run a bath.
Another perk of living in Principal Iwata's house was the modern tub and shower combination. A flip of the switch near the door turned on the ventilation fan. No need to open the window to air out the bathroom.
I climbed into the tub, submerging myself in the steaming hot water. Lately, I'd been spending more time on the NTL app. A quick look at Glimpse showed my videos still garnering many views, likes, and comments. It was so intoxicating. To this day, the video of Miyamori fucking me in front of my drunk sleeping husband still had the most engagement.
The back of my mind was telling me not to, but curiosity got the better of me. I opened up my inbox. Countless more private messages had racked up over time, too many to be worth looking through.
One username was particularly persistent. Blackbull4asians. Whoever they were sent a message a day. I opened it and was greeted by pictures of his dick. All of the pictures were of different angles of his genitals or holding it in one hand. I looked at my own hand and wondered if I could even get my fingers around it. So girthy and veiny. Larger than anything I'd ever seen. Skin black like obsidian. Unfortunately, no face. Probably to protect his identity.
A thought came to me that made my heart race with thrill. I held my phone above me, snapped a picture of myself below the neck, and hovered over the send button. For a few minutes, I considered deleting the photo and blocking the person entirely. A spark deep down that yearned for excitement hit send.
"I did it. I sent a complete stranger a nude photo of myself," I said, submerging just enough to blow bubbles.
It was late now. I recalled the person mentioning that he was in Japan. He might be asleep and wouldn't see it until morning. I wondered if he would masturbate while looking at my picture?
My fingers were starting to get pruney. I drained the tub and dried myself before returning to bed beside Tetsu. My husband was still fast asleep, snoring every once in a while. I slipped into bed and faced away from him, phone still in hand.
In the morning, Tetsu had already gone.
"Oh, no. I overslept?!" I snapped upright and checked the clock.
Nine in the morning. I sighed into both hands. All because I stayed up to have sex with Miyamori and bathed for longer than intended. The minimum I could have done was get up early in the morning to make my husband breakfast. I couldn't even do that anymore.
No sense griping over it now. I grabbed my phone, put on a shirt and shorts, and walked out of the room. It didn't sound like Miyamori was home either. He must have already left, too. I entered the kitchen to the faint smell of grilled salmon and eggs. A plate of breakfast rested on the dinner table with a note next to it.
Tetsu's handwriting!
I read it out loud, "You looked tired, so I didn't want to wake you. Practicing for the stageplay probably took a lot out of you. Today's my turn to make breakfast for you!"
Both the salmon and eggs appeared a little overcooked. I took a seat and scooped some into my mouth. And too much salt. Yet I scarfed down every last bit of food on the plate.
For all of Tetsu's kindness, I'd only betray him in return. What kind of wife was I? Sneaking off to have sex with other men and pretending to be their lovers. I wanted to cry, but I had no tears to shed. Only a biting pain inside my chest. The second I stood up, my knees gave out. I squatted on the ground as weeks of built-up shame crashed into me at once.
It wouldn't take back all I'd done, but maybe… just maybe if I silenced the app once and for all, things might go back to normal. There was still a chance to fix this. I freshened up and made my way to Maruyama's place.
"Maruyama! Hey!" I knocked on his front door.
"Sheesh. You have a phone. Could've called first." Maruyama opened the door, rubbing his eyes.
"I want you to do to my phone what you did to Akemi's," I said.
Maruyama blinked a few times and let me in. We went to his room, and when I handed him my phone, he connected it to his computer via cable. A screen of indecipherable text and gibberish popped up. Code, he called it. He ran a program that started automatically writing code, which was supposed to be something like DNA for software and computers.
"And done." Maruyama returned my phone to me.
"Just like that?" I gasped.
"After fiddling with it the first time, the second time is just a matter of copying and pasting. Now that app or whatever it is that's bothering you won't anymore. What is it anyway? Akemi won't tell me," he said.
"It's… It's just an annoying game that pesters you to keep playing. Since we can't get rid of it from our phones, we wanted it to stop."
Fortunately, Maruyama didn't press further. His mind seemed to be elsewhere. He relaxed into his seat and started closing programs on his computer.
"Anyway, thanks. I'll leave you to it," I said.
"Hey, Marika?" Maruyama called out.
"Yes?" I turned around, but he didn't have the courtesy to look away from his computer.
"You think Akemi is still into that Sato guy? Do I stand a chance?" he asked.
"I don't know. I've never seen him or met him. Akemi rarely brings him up. You've liked her for a long time, right? Have you thought of maybe… moving on?"
Maruyama took his hands off his keyboard and sighed. The interest was one-sided. Akemi had always only seen him as a friend. Some of us once thought her lack of interest in men might mean she was interested in women instead. As it turned out, she just hadn't found a man to like yet. At least until Sato, the personal trainer who lived in Osaka.
"I just really like Akemi. I can't imagine myself being with anyone else." Maruyama sighed.
"What brought this on anyway? I remember you telling me and Tetsu that you were going to bury those feelings after she rejected you," I recalled.
"Akemi came by yesterday afternoon to buy a DVD player. Then she brought up that she invited Sato to Tanabata. Before, the guy seemed like an illusion. Maybe I held out hope that Akemi made him up so her mom stopped pestering her about finding a partner. Now? It's dawning on me that might actually be real. If he's a cool, great guy, then that's it for me." His shoulders drooped.
"Not everything is meant to be. Akemi found someone. You're bound to find someone else. Maybe you'll meet a nice woman from another village during Tanabata!"
"Yeah, maybe. Thanks, Marika. I feel a bit better. Tetsu's lucky to have you." He smiled.
They were meant to be kind words but cut me deep instead. I left Maruyama's house feeling renewed. Whatever he did to Akemi's phone must be working for her, since she hadn't complained about the NTL app since. It must work for me, too.
On my way home, I turned on my phone and opened the NTL app. The digital avatar and AI assistant Saya greeted me stiffly from the bottom right corner of the screen. I panicked at first. However, she didn't speak with her usual energetic nature. That angelic appearance had all but nearly vanished. Only the tips of her wings remained pure white. She mostly looked like a succubus now, donning horns, wings, and a tail.
[Hello, Marika. How may I help you today?] Saya asked.
"Nothing. I'm fine," I said.
Saya bowed cordially and returned to her statue-like standing position. Monotonous and boring, like a robot should be. For the rest of the day, I went about my routine without the itching thought that the NTL app would start a game.
I felt like a new me. Even as Mr. Shiraishi watched me practice the dance for Orihime, I faced no urge to be intimate with him. The other women and I exchanged the latest gossip. An hour past noon, Akemi and I took our breaks. She grabbed a soda pop for the both of us from the storehouse fridge, and we took a seat on a bench outside.
"I swear, if I have to hear about the impotence of another old woman's husband, I'm going to rip my hair out." Akemi clicked her tongue.
"Oh. But you were laughing so hard back there," I said.
"Only to be nice. That's not gossip. That's just too much info. Togetsu doesn't even have gossip to share. How sad is that?" She sighed and took a sip from the can. "I'm leaving after Tanabata."
"What?!"
"You're the only one I've told. I invited Sato to come visit, but we're going to leave the morning after. I'm going to bring my mom, too. There's no way she can survive on her own here. He's willing to help me take care of her. I just can't stay here anymore, Marika. It's too suffocating."
We sat there in silence. I wasn't sure what to say to that sudden revelation. Congratulations? Have fun? Safe travels? My best friend was going to leave, and I couldn't muster the words to say anything.
"To… Osaka, right?" I asked.
"Yeah." Akemi nodded. "Sato's got a nice house in the city. Not as big as yours, but modern and cozy. We were planning this for weeks. Sorry about… not saying anything to you."
"It's alright. I'm happy for you." I mustered a smile.
Akemi put a hand on my arm and offered a reassuring squeeze.
"Well, we still have a bit of time before I go. Can't wait to introduce you and Tetsu to Sato! You guys are gonna love him." Akemi jumped to her feet and stretched both arms.
"Heading back already?" I asked.
"Yeah. Figured the sooner we finish making these decorations, the less I have to hear those ancient things talk," she said.
As Akemi went ahead, I stayed for a few moments longer contemplating. The rest of my life in Togetsu might turn out like those women, too. With my son gone and friend soon to leave, too, I was losing another thread that made this town less bleak.