Sakie was having a very strange dream. It started with Takahashi-sensei ringing her up, which was promising, but then he just talked about boring school stuff and the weather. She was having trouble thinking straight, and had a little trouble following what he was saying- something about snow and asking if she had much food in the house?

"What I have," she said cheerfully, "Is a lot of beer." There'd been a special at the supermarket by the train station and she'd brought back as much as she could carry. She'd somewhat regretted this on the walk home: there'd been a remarkable amount of snow on the road, and more falling, so it had been difficult to walk or see her way. But now she had beer, and comfy pyjamas, and a very effective space heater, and everything was right with the world.

"Can you go out and get more food? You should probably get some water too."

"Hmmm..." She tried standing up. "Nope. I'm just going to lay down here and drink some more beer. That's got water and nutrients."

He told her very firmly not to drink any more beer, and she giggled, and then he asked for directions to her house.

"Are you coming to visit me? It's a long, long way."

"Actually, I'm sort of in the area. See you soon, Satou-sensei. And no beer!"

"You always say that," she said, "And I never listen."

"Satou-"

There was a beep and her phone suddenly showed the "no service" warning. Weird. She dropped it on the ground and rolled over to get another beer.

By the time Takahashi-sensei arrived she'd forgotten he was coming. She had some trouble opening the door, and for a while she just leaned against her doorway and stared at him, standing in her garden knee-deep in snow, carrying a ridiculous number of bags. This was definitely a dream. She'd only seen snow like this during a childhood trip to Hokkaido. And there was no way he'd ever really come to her house, life wasn't that kind.

"Sorry," he said. "I know it's pretty weird showing up like this. I was hoping to beat the snow, but it was a lot further to walk than I was expecting, and then it was too late to turn back..."

"You're shivering," she said in surprise. His cheeks were chapped and his nose had gone all red, he looked freezing. Even if this was a dream, she didn't want to see him get hurt. "Come inside!"

"Just for a little bit," he said. "Until the weather clears. I need to get home before-" He was interrupted by a cold wind scattering thick clumps of snow into his face.

She pulled him in and shut the door.

He put the bags down and she tried to pick one up, but it was too heavy, and she just wobbled and stumbled forward. He reached out to stop her from falling, and she fell happily against his chest.

"Um," he said. "Satou-sensei, if you could not-"

"It was so nice of you to come," she said, leaning against him. Why had she never done this before? His chest was broad and strong and she could hear his heart thundering in his chest, even through his thick coat. "You feel really nice." She sniffed at his chest. "You smell nice too."

"Th-thank you. Now if I could just-"

She looked up at him. She could see all the little individual hairs on his chin, and the way his Adam's apple bobbed up and down when he spoke. "This dream is so realistic..."

"It's not a dream," he said. "You're drunk."

"I don't think so," she said, running one finger up his neck under his jacket. "I only get to touch you in my dreams. And fantasies haha."

He stared at her with wide eyes and his voice got a little croaky. "Uh...?" Normally by this point he'd have taken control, but instead he coughed and took a step back. She stepped forward to follow. "I...I am quite sure. This definitely isn't a dream." He gently lifted her hand off his skin with a gloved hand. "You're just...very, very drunk."

"Yes," she said, putting her hand back. "I am super duper drunk. I'm being very irresponsible. You should punish me."

"Punish..."

She only got a few sentences into describing exactly how he should punish her before he grabbed her forcefully. This was more like it!

"Satou-sensei," he said. "I need you to sit over here, stay very still, and stop talking."

She sat. "And then?"

"And then I'll put away this food, and make you something to eat before you say something you regret."

"That's not much of a punishment." She pouted but he just smiled back.

"You haven't tasted my cooking."

He started poking through her kitchen, and then stood there staring inside her fridge with a frown.

"What's wrong with my fridge?"

"It's full of food."

"Yes?"

"And you have water and other supplies in your cupboard."

"Of course!" she said. "What if I get trapped by bad weather? It's a long way to the nearest shops!"

He sighed, closed the fridge door, and softly banged his head against it. "I am such an idiot."

"No, Takahashi-sensei, don't say that! You're super smart!"

"That's debatable," he said with a grimace. "Have you had dinner?"

"Oh!" she said. "No, I think I forgot to! And I have a guest, I should get up and cook you-" She tried standing up but wobbled and fell down again.

"Sit," he said, and she sat. He really was very commanding. That and she wasn't sure she could stand again right now. "How do you feel about fried rice," he asked.

"I love it!" said Sakie.

"Great," said Takahashi-sensei. She watched drowsily as he started chopping and frying, his big hands careful and precise.

"You know, Takahashi-sensei," she said, "I never fantasised about you cooking for me before. But this is pretty sexy."

He just smiled thinly and kept cooking. Eventually she got bored and started to nod off.

She was awoken a moment later by a stifled curse. "Takahashi-sensei?"

"I'm fine!" He turned on the tap and put his hand under the water. "Just burned myself a little. But if you could try to stay awake while I'm cooking that would be helpful."

"Did you have a dream inside my dream?"

He coughed. "Something like that."

"That's kind of funny..." But since he'd asked her to stay awake she did her best to do so. Soon she found herself facing a plate piled high with fried rice, and a tall glass of water.

"This is a lot of fried rice."

"It will help slow down your body metabolising the alcohol in your system," said Takahashi-sensei. "Eat up."

"Ok." She sat up as straight as she could at the table, and only dropped a few mouthfuls of rice down her front. She frowned. "This isn't very good."

He laughed. "I did warn you."

But once she started eating she realised how hungry she was, and soon the plate was clean. Takahashi-sensei insisted she drink all her water, too, and refused to let her have any more beer. The more she ate and sat and didn't drink, the clearer her head became. She was still a bit drunk, but certain truths were no longer as comfortably distant.

As she finished the second glass of water he'd given her, she looked up at Takahashi-sensei, standing in her kitchen washing her dishes, and the warm glow of sexy fantasy slowly and painfully faded into the cold facts of reality.

"Takahashi-sensei," she said, in a small voice. "This isn't a dream, is it?"

"Sorry."

"Ahhhhhhh." She flopped backwards onto the floor and curled into a ball. "I'm very very sorry! I was so..." Immoral. Perverted. Disgusting. "...so unprofessional! Please, please forget I said...any of that..." Just thinking about the things she'd said made her face so warm she felt like she'd been burned.

He just laughed at her. But it wasn't a mean laugh. "It's ok, we all say dumb things when we're drunk."

"But I touched you. That was...that was a terrible thing to do! And so irresponsible!" Any other man would have taken advantage. And even Takahashi-sensei must have his limits, part of her felt sure that this would finally be too much for even his self control, and it would all be her own fault. Another part of her thought that might not be so bad, but she wanted anything that happened between them to be based on sincere affection, not coerced desire.

"You weren't drinking out in public," he said. "That would be irresponsible. But you have to be so tight-laced all the time, it's not surprising you want to let go when when you're in private. I'm sorry I invaded your privacy like this."

"But you were just trying to take care of me, because I..." She tilted her head. Their earlier conversation was still pretty fuzzy. "Why are you here?"

He sighed. "I misunderstood what you said and thought you weren't prepared for the snow." He gestured towards the bags of cans and bottles of water he'd brought with him. "So now I guess you're extra prepared."

"Oh!" she said. "Well, more is always good, right? And you can take most of it back with you when you go."

"Mmm," he said. "About that. This is no ordinary snow storm." He paused, and in the silence she could hear the cold winds screaming outside. "There was an incident involving a demi-human from Finland, it's actually interesting the way he-anyway. If the weather report I read before my phone lost service is right, I don't think I'll be able to leave tonight."

An icy ball of guilt and anxiety settled in Sakie's chest, much colder than the snow outside, and just as paralysing.


For the most part, Tetsuo admired the old-fashioned minimalism of Satou-sensei's home. It wasn't what he would have imagined, but had felt entirely right when he'd seen it: the cosy little wooden house nestled far from the world amongst overgrown trees, the low table and soft looking tatami, the carefully stocked kitchen. It had a surprisingly empty feel, for such a small house: there were barely any decorations or personal items, asides from a stuffed bear in a corner and a few piles of books beside the tv. It felt beautiful, but humble and lonely, rather like Satou-sensei herself.

Wait, no, stop thinking about beautiful she is.

Thankfully she'd put on some less revealing clothing after sobering up, but the vision of her in soft, form-revealing sleepwear was burned into his brain. So was the feeling of her pressed against him, and the way her voice had sounded when she'd talked about- stop thinking about it, she was drunk. And now he was wearing her clothes, squeezed into what was intended to be a loose nightgown but on him was more like a long, tight t-shirt, and unable to escape the faint, enticing spice of her scent.

"Are you comfortable?" she asked.

"Very!" said Tetsuo, trying to adjust the sleeves so they stopped cutting off circulation to his arms. "Sorry again about this. I realise this must be your worst nightmare. Are you sure you don't want me to sleep in the bathroom?" This was all his fault for being an overprotective dumbass who hadn't trusted another adult to take care of herself. The least he could do was minimise the inevitable awkwardness.

"No, you'd freeze without a heater!" she said, which was probably true. "And my worst nightmare would be...being trapped with someone I couldn't trust." She gave a sad smile that made Tetsuo feel like the world's biggest perv, and also angry at a world that had made her have to always worry about being alone with men. "But with you, I know nothing bad is going to happen." She sighed. "Not to me, anyway."

"It's just a few dreams," he said. "I'll be fine. I've actually been curious to know what they're like."

"Oh," she said. "Well then, um...I hope you gather some useful data." She smiled awkwardly. She was always so endearingly patient with his curiosity about her nature.

"Haha, thanks. Good night, Satou-sensei."

"Good night, Takahashi-sensei."

She turned out the light.

He adjusted himself as well as he could on her tiny spare futon, but it fit him as badly as spare futons usually did. Still, it had been an exhausting day: first worrying she'd be trapped with no food, then the long trek through the snow, and then all the awkwardness afterwards. And he really was curious about these succubus dreams. All the books described them in such dramatic terms. Even the brief vision he'd experienced while cooking dinner had been intense: no specific images he could remember, just an overwhelming all-encompassing desire. It was pretty awkward knowing Satou-sensei would know he was having a dream like that in the same room as her, but she'd be asleep too. And asides from that, wasn't much of human endeavour devoted to finding new and exciting sexual experiences? Here he was about to have one for free, with no risk or expense. He burrowed under the blankets, resigned himself to having cold feet, and drifted off to sleep.

He woke a few hours later into the same dark room. He thought back on his dreams- there'd been something about a flying horse, and a part where he was drowning, and another where he suddenly found himself in the middle of a college statistics exam. None of it had been especially erotic. Maybe the whole succubus dream thing was a myth? But Satou-sensei had seemed pretty certain about it. Maybe it just hadn't happened to kick in for him this time. He felt a little disappointed.

As he woke up a little more he realised the room wasn't entirely dark. Turning his head he saw Satou-sensei in bed, on the other side of the room, lit by the glow of her phone.

"Satou-sensei," he said, then realised she was wearing headphones. "Satou-sensei," he repeated, louder.

She let out a cute little squeak and dropped her phone. "Takahashi-sensei! Why are you awake?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing. Have you been staying up so I don't get any weird dreams?" The other alternative was that she was too nervous to sleep with him around, which would be even worse.

She laughed awkwardly. "Maybe. I'm really not comfortable making you experience that, and I can sleep after you leave."

"That may not be for a day or more," he said. "You need to sleep. And if you fall asleep tomorrow during the day, it'll be even weirder for me than if I have the dreams now while I'm sleeping."

"I guess," she said, reluctantly, but her voice was rough with fatigue. What time was it? How long had she been awake at this point? And she must be hungover by now, too. She was always so careful of others, and never careful enough of herself. "Are you sure?"

"Very sure. Go to sleep!"

"Ok," she said. "Good night, Takahashi-sensei. I hope your dreams aren't too bad."

"Same to you, Satou-sensei."


Sakie woke to the sound of someone calling her name.

"Five more minutes," she muttered. She had a killer headache and really didn't feel like waking up.

A second later she remembered that she lived alone, and she turned with terror towards the sound of rustling fabric coming from the same direction as the voice. A second after that she remembered why Takahashi-sensei was in her bedroom, and terror turned to embarrassment and guilt. This was mixed with certain other emotions by the sight of Takahashi-sense rapidly trying to pull down his nightgown (her nightgown) and untangle his legs from where they'd gotten mixed up with the bedding. He had very nice legs: long, muscular, and with a covering of hair that made you want to- She forced herself to look up at his face. "Takahashi-sensei? Did you say something?"

"N-no," he said. "Sorry. I was just...uh...dreaming." Sakie knew from personal experience that it took a lot to make Takahashi-sensei blush. But apparently being discovered humping Sakie's spare futon while calling her name would do it. It was certainly enough to make her blush. He'd dreamed of her? Oh god, how excruciating. And hot. It was excruciatingly hot, and she was not going to stare at his legs, or think about what he must have been imagining them doing, because that would be weird and bad.

"I'll just make breakfast," she said, standing up, suddenly very awake.

"That sounds great," he said, still a little pink but almost back to his usual calm, smiling self. "Can I help?"

"No, no," she said, "You made dinner! It's my turn to cook!" And if he got up to help, he'd pass near her, and she'd see his legs again, and she wasn't sure she was up to to either of those things right now.

"Ok," he said. "Sorry about the mess in the kitchen, I couldn't figure out where to put the clean dishes so I just left them out."

"You cleaned all the dirty dishes," she said, in wonder, looking at the neatly lined up plates and cookware.

"Yes, is that ok?"

"Yes! Thank you so much! I'd been putting them off haha." He was so wonderful she wanted to cry. But since that would just make things even more awkward she just went into the bathroom to wash her face while she waited for the rice to start cooking.

She stared at herself in the mirror. Her face looked pale and grey and her head hurt like crazy. She heard a thumping noise and realised Takahashi-sensei had must have snuck into the bathroom earlier to put his futon cover in the washing machine. She let out a long low groan. She had messed this all up so badly.

And even though she trusted Takahashi-sensei, even though he had been supernaturally patient, a part of her was very aware of the fact that she was trapped, alone, in a house with a man who had experienced the full force of her aphrodisiac effect. If there was one thing she'd learned the ten years since her succubus nature manifested, it was that she had to be constantly vigilant, because any man affected by her, no matter how nice on the surface, could turn awful when he got her alone.

Yet...she liked him, didn't she? If they were dating, they'd be alone like this too, and he'd be just as affected. Wasn't this what she wanted?

"Hangover that bad, huh?" laughed Takahashi-sensei from the other room.

"Mmm," said Sakie. She walked back into the kitchen and opened the fridge. "Do you like bacon and eggs?"

"That sounds great," said Takahashi-sensei.

She stood by the stove and and watched the pan's contents bubble. She did this every morning, but now she was cooking for two. She plated the bacon and eggs more carefully than usual, and set out a few plates of side dishes to go with the rice. That looked nice, didn't it? Takahashi-sensei was smiling, which felt pretty good. And then she went to sit and realised she had the only cushion.

"Oh no," she said. "I don't usually have guests. They came as a set, I know I have some extras somewhere..."

"It's fine, your tatami are really soft," he said.

"But you're the guest," she said.

"But you cooked breakfast."

"But...you..." She felt like she was going to cry. Takahashi-sensei looked up at her, standing there with too many plates in her hands, and his smile fell slightly.

"If it matters to you I'll take the cushion," he said.

"Thank you," she said, and sat down at last. She kneeled on the mat and picked at her breakfast. "Takahashi-sensei..."

"Mmm?" He looked at her across the table, his mouth full of food she'd cooked for him. She'd fantasised about this too, a few times, but this wasn't exactly what she'd had in mind.

"I know I said this last night. But I'm really, really sorry for how I behaved. That was totally inappropriate."

He winced and and quickly swallowed the food in his mouth. "Ah," he said. "I was hoping you'd forget all that. Don't worry, I know that was just the alcohol talking."

"I hope I haven't lost your respect." Please don't think I'm the kind of girl everyone expects a succubus to be. Even if I kind of am.

"Satou-sensei...of course not. Everyone says weird things when they're drunk."

"Really? Even though you know I'm...thinking gross things about you all the time?" She'd tried to stop, but it made her so happy, and he was so hot.

"I...that's..." He looked surprised. Wait, had he genuinely believed it was just the alcohol talking? Damn it!

"I mean..." she said, trying to backtrack. "Not that I actually..."

"Well, it's flattering that you, uh..." he coughed. "But yes, I still respect you. It's not like I don't...that is, everyone has thoughts like that. Well, most people." His voice took on the warm, energetic tone it got when he was talking about science. "Did you know seventy five percent of women have rape fantasies?" Oh god. She really, really liked Takahashi-sensei, and his enthusiasm for science was endearing, but sometimes he could stand to be a little more...circumspect.

"Seventy- no, I didn't. But-"

"They're a bit less common for men. My understanding is that it's a way for women feel in control, since you're made to feel so powerless with regards to sex in our society. Is that how it works for you? Considering how trouble sex has caused in your life, it would make sense."

"Uh," she said. "I never really...thought about it..." Takahashi-sensei, I don't want to discuss why I have ravishment fantasies about you with you. Even if it was nice that he didn't judge her for it.

"I wonder if they're more or less common for succubi in general."

"Um. I don't know," she said.

"I was thinking-" He stopped. "Ah...sorry, I got carried away, this probably isn't something you want to discuss over breakfast."

"Not...really," she said. "Well, not...not about my...my, um...about me in particular. But the general topic is interesting."

"Really?"

"Mmm. I hadn't really thought about how being a succubus could be a little like being a man, in some ways. Socially speaking."

"Oh?"

"If it's about control then, um... I think other succubi feel more in control than I do. Some of them, anyway. They think of their powers as a way to control other people, not something that controls them."

"Oh, I hadn't meant it like that, but...you're right. Maybe that's why you're seen with so much mistrust. Men don't like having their sexual power challenged."

"Well...nobody likes having their free will taken away. I think it's understandable that they resent that." Did he resent her for it too, under his veneer of calm acceptance?

"Hmm," said Takahashi-sensei. "But it's not like you can help being the way you are. And, how can I put this..." He waved his chopsticks in the air as he talked. "I know you would never actually try to seduce me, or anyone else. But at this point, I think I've experienced a level of your aphrodisiac effect that's about equivalent to an intentional seduction. And I still have my free will."

He did, didn't he? And it wasn't just him. Takahashi-sensei was the first man she'd met who'd convincingly acted normal when affected by her, but plenty of others had resisted. Ukagi-san, for example, reacted with exaggerated horror any time they accidentally touched. Most other men stared uncomfortably, or said something awkward, but those who actually tried to touch her were thankfully in the minority.

"Well, it doesn't work the same on everyone. If a man is, um, not very inclined to sexual thoughts or...uh, gay...not that you are! Or that it would be bad if you were! But it varies..."

"Hmm?" said Takahashi-sensei. "No, I'm not gay or asexual. I think my attraction to women is about average."

"O-oh," said Sakie. She had to repress her happy smile. He was attracted to her! He was just nice about it!

"And it's not like men don't make the same excuses with other women too," he said. "'Oh, she was so pretty I couldn't help myself' and all that. Maybe the real issue here isn't how attractive you are, but how bad men tend to be at dealing with their own attractions."

It would certainly be comforting to think that. Then she could straight-forwardly resent all the men who'd harassed her, instead of feeling partly responsible.

"That's definitely part of the problem," said Sakie. "I've heard of men claiming human girls are succubi to try and get away with...with all sorts of things. But this gets back to our fundamental disagreement about whether the attraction men feel towards succubi is basically the same as the sort they feel towards other women."

He smiled. "You're still disagreeing with me about that, huh?"

She tapped her chest. "I am an actual succubus."

He tapped his own chest. "And I am an actual man."

"Haha, true." Even if he didn't match her experience of what men were usually like.

The conversation got less awkward after that. They moved from human biological urges to biology in general, and Takahashi-sensei explained why he'd been in the area in the first place: checking out a local farm as a potential site for a field trip.

"I bet the students would love that!" said Sakie. "I hope you get approval. The school never approves my proposals for field trips."

Takahashi-sensei blinked at her. "There are math field trips?"

"I know it's a little unusual. But my students are always asking 'how is this useful in real life?'. So I thought we could go to a factory or a building site and look at how they use math and statistics to optimise production and so on. If possible I'd like to find somewhere that does free samples of food, I remember those were always my favourite field trips when I was at school."

"Well then..." said Takahashi-sensei. He paused for dramatic effect. "How about a farm?" He smiled. "We could do a joint trip, that way it would be easier to justify the cost to the school. Everyone would be learning math and biology."

"Oh!" said Sakie. "That's a great idea. Farms even have food!"

"And my students always complain whenever I use any math. Even though math is a very important part of biology! If it was a math class too, that might shut them up."

"Ha," said Sakie. "I'm not sure anything can stop students complaining about learning math."

"Maybe not," said Takahashi-sensei. He rubbed the back of his neck. "I must admit, I didn't always pay a lot of attention to it back in high-school. But it's a fascinating subject. I wish I understood it better."

"Really?" He liked math? He really was the perfect man.

"Absolutely," he said. "Evolution is statistics, genes can be modelled with algebra, the brain is like a computer...we're all equations made solid. It's why I wish I understood physics better too."

"Well I wish I understood biology better! I'm a biological organism, after all. And my biology is very...very relevant to my life. But I never paid much attention to it in school either."

He smiled. "If you ever have any questions I'll do my best to explain."

Her brain helpfully offered a dirty teacher-student fantasy involving him that she did her best to ignore.

"Thank you," she said. "And, um, the same for you, with math. Though I'm just a high-school teacher, I don't know if I would understand how to model genes and all those other things."

"I'm just a high-school teacher too. None of us understands everything, but when we put our bits of knowledge together sometimes we can learn something new."

"Then I'm happy to share all the knowledge I have."

He smiled. "Thank you, Satou-sensei."