Iori Rinko sighed sadly as she continued to wash the dishes on a warm summer evening. Well, dish would be a more appropriate word to use, as she had to eat all by herself for dinner tonight. Her son Iori Sei was out on a date with his girlfriend China Kousaka, and she couldn't help but feel a bit lonely without him or his father in the house.

She supposed that this was something to be happy about, as the two did take things rather slow in their relationship, just sticking to the off date ever couple weeks or so. Still, them not being around the house often, even for Gunpla battle wasn't entirely satisfying for her. She missed the World Tournament a few months ago where she would continuously "ship" her son and China together and give China advice on what to do regarding their relationship, when the two of them were still adorably shy to even act remotely romantic with each other. The two would get so flustered at even the slightest teasing that it almost made Iori's heart explode from the cuteness. The memory made a small smile appear on Rinko's face as she thought of it.

But the more she did think about them, the more she realized she didn't know what the two were up to when they went out. Sei never went into that many details when he came back. Iori frowned at the thought as she put away the dishes and plopped down on the couch, pouting to herself. She wanted to see that shyness again. If not that, at least a few steps forward in their relationship!

She was lonely, she wanted to know more about their relationship, and she wanted to tease them again. Those thoughts all culminated together in her head to form an idea. An idea that made Rinko's face gain a blank expression when she first thought of it. It seemed absurd at first, but at the same time so cute…Yes. That blank expression turned into a smile, which became a very large grin. A grin so large that it would have unnerved anyone who would have looked at her at that moment if other people were present in the room. Whatever thoughts may have floated in her mind that night had drifted away for the idea she came up with just now, as she immediately began plotting a scheme.

Whether Sei and China liked it or not, they were going to show her just how much their relationship has improved.

"Ah…I don't think I can eat another bite for a few days!"

"I told you you shouldn't have eaten from the dessert menu!"

"I couldn't help it! They looked so good!"

Sei and China smiled at each other sweetly as they continued to walk home from their date. Well, Sei had insisted they called it a hang-out, since he wasn't too comfortable using the term around her yet, but China knew otherwise. They had planned to go see a movie together after eating, but the tickets for the picture they wanted to see were all sold out, and there wasn't anything else there that caught their interest. So they decided to do what they (well, what Sei) did best, and that was Gunpla battle! Still, that didn't expect Sei from feeling a bit guilty at not pre-ordering the tickets.

"Hey China…" He uttered. "Sorry about the movie. I know you really wanted to see it." China blushed at that response.

"It's all right...we can watch it together some other time!" She waved her hands with a dismissive smile, trying to convince him there wasn't a problem. "Besides, I have been wanting to try practicing at Gunpla battle again with you." She added. It may not have been the most romantic choice for her that evening, but it certainly was a fun one! Sei chuckled warmly and agreed with her, thinking that a nice good battle would be a suitable replacement activity for tonight. The two continued their playful banter when an upbeat tune started emanating from Sei's pocket.

"Oh! That's the…" China replied, trying her best to figure out what the song was. She was spending more time watching other Gundam shows in her spare time, and wanted to impress Sei with her knowledge. Well, what little knowledge she had so far, anyway. "I know that tune…that's…a song from Gundam SEED!" She said while pointing his finger at him. Sei blushed and lowered his head at China's answer as he picked up his cell phone.

"It's actually from Gundam Wing, China." Sei replied as he answered the call. "Hello?"

"Ah! Sei! I'm just checking in! Are you and China about to see the movie?" Replied Rinko on the other line.

"Actually no Mom, we're headed to our place now. We couldn't get tickets." Sei replied. There was a sudden dead silence on the other line. "Mom? You there?" He asked.

"What? Oh yes. That's a shame Sei. So are you dropping China off and coming home right away?" She asked. There was a strange change in tone in her voice that Sei picked up on when she asked that. It almost seemed like she became agitated.

"N-no…both of us are coming to the store to play a little bit of Gunpla battle instead." Sei told her, slightly confused at the change in his mother's tone. There was dead silence on the line again.

"I…see…well I look forward to seeing the both of you! Come home safely!" Rinko uttered quickly before hanging up. Sei could have sworn he heard a loud slamming noise as she did so, as if she hung up as fast as she possibly could have. He stared at the Star Build Strike wallpapered smartphone menu screen in confusion. What was that all about?

"Iori-kun? Is something wrong?" China asked, a look of slight concern appearing on her face.

"No. Well, at least I don't think so. Mom acted a bit weird there for a second." Sei replied as the two continued walking towards the store again. "She started talking really fast all of a sudden and hung up on me."

"I see." China tilted her head with curiosity. Sei's mother certainly had some…erratic tendencies to her. She thought as she remembered the times during the qualifiers and the World Tournament. She also assumed that this was just another one of those tendencies and decided to wait until she and Sei got to the store before asking any more questions. About thirty minutes later, they reached their destination, where the two's confusion had only grown.

There were no lights on from inside the house. At all. The house was completely dark. Sei expected the store to be closed at this hour, but their usually were at least a few lights on when Rinko was doing some after-hours cleaning. The two looked at each other before walking in the door.

"Hey Mom! We're back!" Sei exclaimed into the dark store. Silence was what greeted him. He felt his finger across the walls to look for the light switch. Once he found it, he pressed it to illuminate the room.

No response.

"What the heck?" Sei exclaimed, starting to get worried as he flipped the switch up and down. "The power's out!"

"That's strange." China replied. There can't be an outage…there were lights on for other houses nearby." She said.

"What's going on here? Hey Mom?! Something's wrong with the lights!" Sei shouted into the pitch-black, being met with no answer once again. His worry was starting to grow, but he tried to put on a brave face for China. "This is so weird…I hope Mom's okay." Sei remarked when a small pink light suddenly emanated in the room. Sei looked over to its source, China.

"My phone has a flashlight app." She said, smiling at him. "Hey Sei! Send me a text to check this out!" She said cheerfully, not as unnerved as Sei was.

"Uh…right now? Okay…" Sei responded and took out his phone and did so.

"TRANS-AM!" Shouted a voice from China's phone as she smiled sweetly at him.

"I've been watching Gundam 00 lately and thought it'd be fun given the colour of my phone's light." She remarked as Sei chuckled softly at the familiar text-tone. He was glad she was there to lighten the mood. "I'm sure your mom is all right. This is Rinko-san we're talking about!"

"Heh, thanks China." Sei replied as the two continued to walk through the store, with China's phone being their only small source of light. China held it up in front of her, shining it on the various shelves of assorted Gunpla, making sure not to bump into anything. Her other hand was tightly gripping Sei's left hand, much to his embarrassment. He was glad China couldn't see the blush on his face, as she was too busy looking ahead alongside him. He had to admit to himself, he was slightly afraid right now, but that fear was somewhat mitigated with China right beside him. Every instinct of his body wanted to tell her that, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it.

Sei shook that thought out of his head and went back to speculating what the problem could be. It was possible that his mother had fallen asleep without noticing the outage in the house, or that the power went out beforehand and she went out to try and fix it before they got home. He put his money on the latter, he thought as the two of them reached the door leading to the main household. Sei and China took a look at each other and nodded as China slowly opened the door.

Once again, darkness was what greeted them. Even China's small phone light wasn't enough to illuminate the room ahead far enough to see anything. Nervously, China let go of Sei's hand stepped ahead into the room.

"R-Rinko-san? Sei and I are home, is something wrong with the pow-AAAH!"

"C-china!" Sei shouted as his friend was suddenly pulled into the darkness by an unknown force. Her phone flew out of her hands and onto the floor. In a matter of seconds, all Sei could hear was muffling from his friend before silence ruled the house once again.

Sei immediately panicked and started thinking the worse. Not thinking about anything else, he immediately ran into the room, calling her name. "China?! CHINA! What happened?! Where are you?!"

No answer. Just pure silence and darkness. Sei began sweating and his fear began skyrocketing. It was like something out of a horror movie. He looked around at the darkness and looked around desperately for any sign of China's attacker. His mind was racing and his heart was pounding as he frantically turned his head all over, fearing for his friend. Then it happened.

A pair of hands had clamped over his mouth with a cloth, startling Sei as he jumped and began trying to pull away, but his attacker held a strong grip. He could feel tears leaking out of his eyes as he realized what was happening. This was a kidnapping. He screamed into the cloth as he struggled in the grip of his attacker, but that proved to be a fatal mistake as he had breathed in the strange smell of the cloth, and a few seconds later Sei collapsed, unconscious.

"kun…Iori-kun! Wake up! Please!"

"Mmm…nuh…uh…" Sei murmured as the world slowly started to come into focus around him.

"Iori-kun! Oh thank goodness!" China replied with relief as Sei's vision finally became clear. He turned to look at the source of the voice, and mentally breathed a sigh of relief seeing China safe. What he wasn't relieved of however, was how China was positioned. She was tied down to a chair on Sei's left, with her legs strapped down to a table in front of her. Her arms were held behind her back, with her hands tied together with rope.

"C-China…w-what happened?" Sei asked before realizing that he was positioned in the exact same way next to her. His socked feet jut out in front of him in full display on the table.

"I don't know! I only woke up a few minutes ago before you did! W-where are we?" China panicked, that bravery she had earlier going into the store completely vanishing as she struggled in her binds.

Sei on the other hand, looked around the room. It wasn't a particularly large room. Aside from the chairs and tables they were tied to, there were some boxes arranged beside them. One of them was open, and Sei managed to get a glimpse of the HG 1/144 Master Gundam that was inside it, when it hit him.

"This…this is our storage room in the basement!" Sei exclaimed, mentally hitting himself for not realizing it earlier, having been here before. It looked slightly different at first from Sei's position, along with the chairs and table set up here. One the one hand, Sei was relieved to learn they were still inside the store, but on the other hand, the worry of what happened to his mother grew exponentially. Whoever had attacked them must have gotten her to.

A million of scenarios ran through Sei's mind. Was there a rival Gunpla store somewhere that wanted the Iori's out of business? Did a rival from the World Tournament come to enact some sort of revenge upon him and his family? Could it be the work of the Gunpla mafia, who surely must have been angered by the work of his father at the World Tournament?

"Iori-kun…" China uttered softly, causing him to look back at her. He then tried to steel himself. Whatever happened, he had to be strong for China's sake. He couldn't bring himself to cower in front of her. A fire lit in his eyes as he went back to trying to get out of his binds.

"Don't worry China. We'll get out of this. I won't let something like this unnerve the best Gunpla builder in the world!" He stated confidently, causing China to smile warmly, although still with a nervous look on her face as the mood was lightened. Though it only lasted for a moment before another voice entered the room.

"My my…always Gunpla on the brain with you!"

Sei gulped as the familiar voice came from the other side of the closed door in front of them. When it opened, Sei almost didn't know whether to feel relieved or worried. His mother Rinko had walked into the room, putting her hands on her hips and looking at the two of them with a cheeky smile. China beamed as soon as she saw her face.

"Rinko-san! Thank goodness! Can you please help us! We're stuck!" China asked, happy to see the woman's face after all that fear she had felt earlier. She had woken up earlier than Sei did, being all alone in the small room, worried that he might not wake up. But now that she was here, they were as good as free, right?

Sei wasn't convinced yet. "Mom, what the heck happened? The power was out and somebody had grabbed China and me in the dark and then we woke up here and-h-hey! What are you doing?" Sei cried out as his mother began slowly pulling his socks off, exposing his bare soles while smiling her usual innocent smile at him.

"R-Rinko-san?" China questioned as she blushed as she saw Sei's bare feet. She ended up looking at them for a few seconds before feeling her own socks being pulled off as well. Before she knew it, Rinko had bared her feet alongside her son, leaving the two even more confused than they were before. "W-what is going on here? W-why are you taking off our socks Rinko-san?" China pleaded softly, getting nervous once again.

"Oh, there's no need to worry you two. We're just…going to play a little game." Rinko snickered cutely as she stepped back away from the table, getting a clear look at the tied-up couple.

Sei immediately frowned angrily when she said that. "Wait…you did this to us?!" Rinko nodded. "W-what the heck is this for! Let us go! What do you mean game?!" He yelled at her, trying to get out of his binds even harder now. He shut up and stopped moving when Rinko gently slammed both of her hands on the table, eyeing the both of them with a sneer.

"Listen, you guys have been dating ever since the World Tournament finished, and I've known next to zilch about your relationship!" She sneered at Sei as she teasingly grabbed his left big toe and wiggled it gently. "You barely tell me anything of what you two do and how close you two get! Honestly, keep your mother in the loop, would you?!" Rinko added, rolling her eyes.

Sei winced as his mother grabbed his toe. "W-well, t-that's our business!" He said nervously, curling the rest of his toes. "If you wanted to know you just could have asked!" China nodded.

"Yes Rinko-san. Me and Sei are getting along fine in our relationship. But what does that have to do with tying us up and…" She stared at her exposed feet and Sei's feet, blushing once again at this embarrassing situation. "Taking off our socks…?" She finished her sentence, partially curling her right foot over her left as much as her binds would allow.

"You see, that's the game, China-chan!" Rinko clapped her hands cheerfully. "I'm going to ask the two of you some questions about your relationship. If I think you're lying or I don't like the answer…" She stopped mid-sentence and without warning, began trailing her index finger on Sei's right foot.

This caused Sei's face to twitch and stifle out a chuckle before quickly holding his breath as Rinko's fingers made contact with his right sole. It didn't take a genius for both he and China to put two and two together.

"You're…going to tickle us?" China asked nervously, the blush on her face burning even redder than before.

"Correct-a-mundo, China-chan!" Rinko snickered, lifting her hands up and giving China a thumbs up. At this point, Sei let out his breath and began stuttering, becoming slightly panicked and embarrassed as well.

"M-m-moooooom!" He whined, his face turning even redder. "C-Come on! Don't do this! We'll tell you everything you want to know about our relationship but not like this!" He tried to bargain, but he knew his mother's mind was made up when he saw the smirk on her face and her wagging index finger indicating that the answer was a straight-up no. When his energetic mother had an idea she liked he knew there was no stopping her. Sei gulped as he looked at China, who looked just as anxious as he did, before looking back at Rinko.

They knew they were ticklish in one area or another, but never before had they had to endure it tied up like this with no way to defend themselves! They squirmed in their binds and curled their toes. If they wanted to get out of this, they had no other option but to play Rinko's game.

"Now…I think it's time I get started!" Rinko said slowly, chuckling sweetly to herself. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a deck of cue cards from her pocket and drew one of them. "First question! Have you two kissed?" She asked as she tapped her fingers on the desk near their feet.

By now China's face looked so red from embarrassment you could put leaves on her head and call her a tomato. She shuffled in her seat as much as her restraints would allow and looked down.

"W-W-well…once…yes…" She mumbled. Rinko beamed and leaned down, putting her hands on her cheek and looking dreamily at them.

"Ooooh! Already at first base are we?" Rinko sneered as she stared at the two of them, her wiggling fingers held just above China's feet. "How was it? A peck on the cheek? A passionate embrace?! Come on, give me the deets!" She then began moving her fingers over China's heels, stroking it up through her foot's arch before pulling it off at the pad.

While the motion was light, China found herself biting her lip trying to stifle the giggles emanating from her mouth at the touch, she quickly spoke in the hopes she would be satisfied with her answer.

"I-i-it was just a simple peck on the cheek! Nothing more!" China stammered as she struggled to maintain her composure with Rinko's fingers looking ready to go nuts. To her dismay, Rinko's face gained an expression akin to a pouty child being told he wouldn't be getting the toy he wanted for Christmas. But miraculously, China didn't get tickled.

Instead, Rinko went over and began scribbling her fingers all over Sei's soles with fast, quick taps. The reaction was immediate in sending Sei into a fit of giggles, not expecting his mother to go for him with China's after.

"Whahahahahahahah! Whhyhyhyhyhyhy mehehehehehehe?!" Sei cried out in his laughter as Rinko's fingers dug at the underside of his toes and the tips of his pads.

"Because I don't think YOU are taking this relationship seriously enough young man!" Rinko replied like she was scolding him. China couldn't help but break out a small smile when she saw Sei laughing like that. Not only were his feet cute, but seeing him get tickled there was really cute too. It was only a momentary relief however, as she remembered she was still in the same boat as him. After a few seconds of tickling Sei's feet, Rinko stopped and drew another card. "Next question, how often have you two been playing Gunpla Battle or building gunpla together?"

This time, Sei was the one to answer. "Uh Mom, we do it all the time. After school, on the weekends, sometimes I show her some techniques building Gunpla before class star-AHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA!" Sei trailed off as Rinko began tickling his soles again.

"Not what I wanted to hear mister! You can't expect a relationship to blossom when you've got Gunpla constantly on brain!" Rinko scolded, Sei's laughter making him unable to for a cohesive answer which led to him just shaking his head back and forth.

"Rinko-san…to be fair I've been really wanting to get better myself, as I haven't really been into Gunpla for quite some time and-EEP!" China immediately shut her mouth and bit her lower lop as Rinko's fingers suddenly made way to her soles and began making those slow teasing motions on them again. She squirmed in the chair, trying desperately to fend off Rinko's pesky fingers but it was to no avail.

"That goes for you too China-chan! As good as it is to get more involved in Gunpla like us you can't have it be a major priority when it comes to your relationship with my son!" Rinko replied as the up and down stroking motions on her soles got faster and faster.

"But…But…But it isn't! Heheheheeheehehehehe!" China's composure broke as she began belting out laughter to the ceiling. "Stahahahahahahahap!" Rinko only obeyed that command after a minute had passed, upon which she drew another card.

"Now…what movies have the two of you seen together?" This time, Rinko put her hands on her hips instead of on the table near their feet. Sei gulped regardless. The last movie they saw together was the Gundam SEED movie. After being years in development hell, the movie had finally come out last month and Sei REALLY wanted to see it. China did as well, with her having recently gotten into the show.

Unfortunately for them, after the last question they thought their feet would end up being due for another tickling if they told her that. They needed another convincing answer to give her quickly. Luckily for Sei, China appeared to have come up with one.

"We…we saw Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale!" China blurted out. If Sei's hands were free he would have face palmed at that answer. He didn't even like the Sword Art Online TV series and his mother knew that as well! A pit formed in his and China's stomach when they saw the unimpressed look on Rinko's face. China began to regret answering at all when she felt Rinko's fingers assaulting her soles, treating the pads and arches of her feet like they were a dance floor. She became unable to hold her laughter in anymore.

"NAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA! NO NO NO NO NO!" China wailed, shaking violently as she tried to desperately wriggle her arms and legs free against the tight bindings. Tears began to stream down her eyes from laughing so hard. Her head shook back and forth so fast her glasses ended up falling off them and her hair became a mess. Her feet and toes tried to uselessly dodge the onslaught of Rinko's tickle attack, as the Gunpla Builder Champion's mother was done simply teasing them. "PLEHEHEHEHEHEEHEHASE STAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAP!" She begged.

"Tsk tsk tsk China-chan. You should know it is unruly of a lady to lie like that!" Rinko muttered mockingly over the girl's laughter. "My son would never go watch a film starring that egregious overrated anime pairing, right Sei?" Rinko asked, to which Sei quickly nodded his head yes. His mother was really into this game of hers and he did NOT want to make her angry.

"KYAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA NOHOHOHOH MORE! I CAHAHAHAHAHAN'T TAHAHAHAHAHAKE IHIHIHIHIHIHIHIT!" China continued to scream in her laughter as Rinko continued to tickle her feet, going in between and underneath her toes.

"Are you going to tell me the truth now?" Rinko asked.

"YEHEHEHEHEHEHESS!"

"Are you suuuuure you're going to tell me the truth?" Rinko sneered as she kept it up.

"YES YES! AHAHAHAHAHAH I PROHOHOHOHMISE I PROHOHOHOHOHOMISE!" China shouted out as her laughter became even louder.

"M-Mom! She gets it! Cut it out already!" Sei pleaded, wanting his mother to stop as well. As cute as China looked getting tickled to him was, he didn't want it to go on this much. Looking at her son, Rinko complied and pulled her hands away, leaving an exasperated China to catch her breath.

"Hah…hah…Rinko-san…please…no more tickling…hah…hah…" China mumbled, her face stained with tears streaming down them from laughing so hard. Her bare feet twitching and quivering from the leftover sensation. Sei grit his teeth. She had clearly had enough. He anxiously looked at his own bare feet strut out in front of him. As much as he hated this, he was going to have to take the blunt of the tickling from now on in this crazy game. He stared at his mother with resolute determination as he answered the question.

"The last movie we saw was the Gundam SEED movie." Sei replied, closing his eyes and bracing for another tickling. But it never came. Instead he heard a clapping noise, and re-opened his eyes, seeing Rinko smile sweetly at him.

"Thank you for telling the truth Sei!" Rinko replied charmingly, like a teacher praising a student. "Now, for the next question!" She said as she drew another card. Sei didn't take his eyes off his mother as China continued to catch her breath. He gulped when he saw Rinko's face as she was looking at the card. There was a spark in her eyes that was only there when she was really into whatever ideas she had for their relationship. That was made crystal clear when Rinko read the card.

"What are you two planning on naming my grandchildren?"

"H-HUH?!" Sei said, shocked. Even China lifted her head after hearing that. As if on cue, their faces turned a dark shade of red from the sheer embarrassment of it all. "M-m-MOM! We're not even…y-y-you, I don't…how can you…we…but…" Sei only managed to utter out a scrambling of words, not even knowing how to answer that with a straight face.

"Rinko-san…" China muttered softly. "T-that's…can you please ask a different question?" She regretted opening her mouth when she saw Rinko sneering towards her and wiggling her fingers. "Uh, I mean, well uh, Sei! You know right? You decided a few days ago, right?!" She panicked, urging him to come up with something, anything to keep this crazy woman from tickling her again! Sei noticed and immediately composed himself.

"Y-yeah! It was…uh…Kira! That was it!" Sei shot out, him having Gundam SEED still on the brain from thinking about the movie. Rinko just furrowed her eyebrows at him, not looking impressed. He began stuttering and added more answers. "A-a-a-and if we have a girl we can name her Kagali! Are…are those good?" Sei asked meekly as sweat continued to drip down his head from his anxiety.

The room remained silent for about a minute before Rinko turned around and walked out of the room. Sei and China awkwardly looked at each other after she left.

"Where do you think she's going?" China asked.

"I don't know…but I've got a bad feeling about this…" Sei replied, staring at the door.

"Did you really have to use more Gundam names? You couldn't have gone with something more…common?" China inquired. Whatever reason Rinko left the room, it probably wasn't because she was impressed with their answer. "Like maybe Josuke or Jotaro? Something like that!"

"I couldn't help it! I could only think about Gundam SEED after the topic of the movie came up!" Sei argued. He went back to trying to wriggle out of his restraints, but only succeeded in wearing out his arms against the rope and his legs against the leather. He stopped moving once he saw the doorknob turning and saw his mother walk in again. This time she was holding a small bag in her hand, with that expression of discontent still on her face.

"Sei, Sei Sei Sei Sei." Rinko repeated his name over and over. "You can't go to that kind of extreme when it comes to your love for Gundam!" Rinko smirked as she opened the bag and stuck her hand inside it. What she pulled out made Sei's eyes widen and made his stomach churn.

It was a hairbrush.

"Mom…no…" Sei muttered in shock, shaking his head. To his horror, Rinko only nodded back with an "innocent" smile. Panic immediately filled his brain as Rinko began inching the brush closer and closer to his soles, slowly. All the while grinning at him like a crazy clown. Whatever mental shields he set up had been torn down in that moment as Sei turned into an unnerving mess of blubbering and began struggling in his seat even harder than he did before. "NO! Please please not that! I'll do anything! J-just get it away! Not the feEEEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEET AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! NOOOOOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!"

Sei let out a bloodcurdling scream of laughter as the brush's bristles made contact with his soles, brushing them back and forth in a continuous motion. The blue-haired boy was instantly reduced to a mess of hysterical, broken laughter as the bristles taunted every inch of his bare feet. His toes splayed and his feet violently shook. Tears streamed from his eyes as he hopped in place, but only managed to shake the chair he was tied to. His head shook back and forth even faster than it had before.

"STAHAHAHAHP! STOP STOP STOP STOP STAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAP!" He managed to yell out through his laughter.

"I'll stop when you learn to focus on your love more on China than Gundam!" Rinko told him over his laughing, not stopping her tickling with the brush.

China could only watch the scene with a look of horror, confusion, and embarrassment. At the same time however, she honestly couldn't lie to herself that she enjoyed seeing Sei tickled on his feet. But certainly not to this kind of extreme. She went back to trying to wriggle out of the bonds when she noticed something move above her. Her eyes widened. One of the ropes was loosening! She glanced over to Rinko, who was still tickling the daylights out of Sei, too busy to notice anything. This was her chance! She thought as she gently wiggled her hands more above her, trying to feel a weak point in the ropes as she listened to the banter between mother and son.

"I PROHOHOHOHOHOHOMISE I WOOHOHOHOHON'T FOHOHOHOCUSE ON GUHUHUNPLPA MOOHOHOHOHORE THAHAHAHAN HER!" Sei continued to wail at the top of his lungs. "I SWEAHAHAHAHAHR! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Oh you better! Because it can't be the only thing the two of you talk about for the rest of your lives!" Rinko scolded as she made the brush go for his heels, making him laugh so hard he couldn't even formulate words anymore. This went on for two minutes before Rinko finally showed some mercy, putting the brush down and leaving Sei as an exasperated wreck.

His hair had been messed up, ruffled from shaking his head so hard. His body drenched in sweat from all the jumping around in his seat and the energy put into his laughter. His lungs felt like he had just run a marathon. He was panting so hard he couldn't even speak at that moment. His feet were practically vibrating from the leftover tingling feeling he felt on his soles.

"Hah…hah…mom…hah…hah…"

"All right, I think that just about does it for this question. Now, time for the next one!" Rinko exclaimed, much to Sei's shock. He had just regained enough energy to speak by then and was about to speak up, when China did so instead.

"No, that's quite enough Rinko-san."

Rinko looked to Sei's side and was shocked to find that China had managed to undo the binds on her arms and feet while she was tickling Sei. She was standing up next to the chair as she looked at her with a stern look of resolution. "While I'm sorry our relationship may not go exactly how you want it, and that we may not be around together near you around the house often, I don't think any of that justifies you doing this!" She angrily declared, folding her arms.

Rinko was taken aback by China's anger for a moment. She had never once seen the girl talk like that before. But then Rinko noticed China's eyes. They were pointed slightly downwards, towards her son's feet. Rinko's smug smile soon returned to her face.

"Well, maybe I did go a little overboard here and there, but I still say this little game of ours managed to get some productive results!" She replied. This only made China angrier.

"Results?! What are you talking about?"

"You don't think I noticed the way you were looking while we were having our fun?" Rinko replied, pointing to Sei's feet once again. Sei looked at his mother, then back at China in confusion. He was hoping that the latter was going to help her get out of this so they could get some good revenge on Rinko for this tickle torture.

But China only blushed at Rinko's words as she took another look at her boyfriend's feet, then at his face.

"Well, seeing him laugh like that is pretty cute, I'll admit, but I still don't think that-HEY! Where are you going?" She yelled as she saw Rinko heading out the door.

"Oh, I figured the two of you have earned some alone time together." Rinko replied, smiling sweetly at her. "As for the game, I'd call you the winner China!" Rinko added as she turned around and walked out of the room, leaving the tied-up Gunpla champion and his girlfriend alone in the room together.

Having regained his strength fully, Sei spoke up.

"What does she mean by that?" He inquired nervously as he looked at China, who looked outside the storage room then at Sei's face, then at his feet. He knew immediately what was on her mind and began pleading again. "China no! Come on! Haven't I been tickled enough? Let me out already!"

"Sei…" China mumbled, the urge she had gained ever since she heard him laugh in this room growing ever stronger as of this moment. "You were pretty cute when you laughed…" She uttered as Sei's jaw just dropped. She was really going to do it wasn't she? He opened his mouth to speak, but stopped when he saw her face.

She was trying to keep her eyes off him, while twiddling her thumbs. Her face retaining that tint of red from the embarrassment. Sei sighed and turned his head away as well.

"F-fine. But you have to let me have a turn too!" He exclaimed, to which China beamed.

"Deal!"

As laughter filled the storage room that night. Rinko, who was eavesdropping from the stairs smiled. She mentally gave herself a thumbs up, thinking their relationship had advanced quite a bit from this little experience. She continued to walk up the stairs, making a mental note to keep her guard up, as she expected the two of them to be plotting a revenge scheme on her soon.

But then again, she thought. That too would be another fun bonding experience for them.

Hello! I hope you enjoyed my first tickle story on this site! If you did and would like to see more, by all means send me your ideas! I'm all ears. :)