"Thank you all for coming to see us. We hope to see you again soon."
Kurumu clapped with the rest of the crowd as the woman in the blue coveralls bowed to them. The grinning woman had a cap drawn over her short, black locks and wore a white blouse beneath those coveralls. Her clothes were spattered with moisture from the show she had narrated.
Having been allowed to stand at the glass railing with mommy, Kurumu's clothes were also damp from the event. Those dolphins could jump pretty high and had seemed overly excited to see the crowd. She wished they would have let her pet one but the staff had safety rules to follow.
Kurumu also wished she had worn a bra. She was so used to wearing her casual clothes without one that it had slipped her mind. Every guy in the audience knew she was going without since half her back was bared wearing this pink halter top. She could also feel all the attention on her rump garbed in these tight, white denim jeans. It was frankly annoying when all she wanted to do was enjoy the show. She had to wonder if any of these men had noticed the dolphins with two succubi standing in the front.
An arm slipped around the small of her back to rest on her side. Kurumu smiled at mommy whom was wearing a lavender sundress with a thin, white jacket over it to protect her from the sun. Mommy had pulled all her hair up in knot which was hidden beneath the wide brimmed, straw hat resting upon her head. A black purse dangled on mommy's left side from rounded cords held at her elbow.
"Ready to go?"
"Maybe. There's still a crowd."
It was the first Sunday of summer break and the city of Niigata was full of people. It was more crowded than her visit to Kofu and the situation was much worse. Back then, she had been traveling with a mixed group which included Yukari and Chouda. With her company being a sexy mother whom was getting as much attention as her, they had already been propositioned four times on the way to Niigata's Marinepia and once after watching the staff feed the sea lions.
Kurumu blushed as her stomach protested, causing mommy to giggle and give her a squeeze.
"Shall we get some lunch?"
Kurumu shivered as she felt lustful thoughts upon her.
"Would the two of you ladies want to eat with us?"
Mommy let go of her, turning slightly to address the two young men whom had come up on Kurumu's right. They were both easily ten centimeters taller than mommy, whom was about that much taller than Kurumu. The taller of this duo had an indigo polo and tan, cargo shorts which ended at his hairy calves. The other was wearing faded blue jeans and a white shirt with a circle logo of a paw about a baseball for the Seibu Lions. She had heard that the Lions were the team which had won the 2004 championship.
"I don't know if my daughter would agree to that."
"Daughter? Surely you're joking."
"I had her when I was young and time has been kind to me."
The taller guy of the pair laughed heartily.
"Very kind. I would not have guessed you to be that much older than me."
Mommy laughed pleasantly, bumping her shoulder against Kurumu's.
"You are being too kind. I would guess my daughter is closer to your age."
"Probably true. I am hoping the little lady is at least in high school."
"Yea. Considering she's…"
The guy let his sentiment trail off, realizing it would be rude to voice his lecherous thoughts.
"She turns sixteen this week."
The taller one chuckled again, clapping his friend's shoulder.
"Old enough to get a couple college boys in trouble. My offer still stands. I'll even treat you both."
At least it was not an offer to make a movie. Oddly mommy admitting their relationship had not deterred that lecher near Niigata station.
"What about me?"
"Unless you become a pretty chick in the next few minutes, you're on your own."
Mommy giggled, shaking her head.
"I could not let you do that. Though I'm fine with the company."
"I'm serious. It's no trouble at all."
"I think I've had my fair share of generosity today. I am capable of funding our own meal."
That was true. One man had surrendered his seat to them on the morning train and the guy in the ticket booth had let them both in on the reduced student pricing, despite mommy protesting that only Kurumu was a student. The guy had actually argued with mommy about not being able to show proof that she was not Kurumu's sister. The supervisor had come over to let her know that they did not serve alcohol on the premises so there was little point lying about her age.
"So what's the verdict, little lady? Are you willing to eat with us?"
Kurumu sighed, glancing at the other guy whom was lusting harder on her. She was careful not to meet his gaze as she was certain he might do something stupid with any accidental encouragement.
"I guess."
She was hungry. Mommy had hurried her out the door without breakfast so that they could catch the eight thirty train from Kanose station. At least the two hour morning walk had been tolerable without the sun beating down on them. Mommy had promised to buy her a jacket and hat to lessen the nuisance of sunburn, which still was an issue even with the superior regeneration of a monster.
"I'm Hasegawa Shinji and this guy is Takahashi Seishiro. We're both twenty two and I'll be graduating soon with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. This loser is in the agriculture program."
"Somebody has to keep this nation fed."
"Speaking of which, we should be heading out."
Kurumu grabbed the long sleeve of mommy's jacket, smiling at her before starting their walk. Behind where they had been standing were tiered rows of concrete benches. These rows were divided in three sections, each with a slightly different angle to view the dolphin pool. The row on her farthest left had a path in the back which winded its way down to where the keepers had been feeding the sea lions. The row on the right had doors in the back which went back inside the main aquarium building.
As they stepped up in the first row, Kurumu felt a slight chill from slipping out of the midday sun. The benches were all covered by a domed, steel canopy. Kurumu absently covered her left nipple with her free hand since it suddenly decided to be erect in the cooler shade. She was thankful the young men ahead of them had yet to notice.
"So may I know the names of the gracious young ladies whom shall be dining with us?"
"Kurono Ageha and my daughter is Kurumu."
"What high school do you attend?"
Kurumu almost responded since it was a question about something she cared for. But she realized her answer would only confuse these two. She shifted her grip more to the center of her halter top, letting her wrist cover the protrusion without it being as obvious what she was doing. They ascended more of these concrete benches well behind the rest of the crowd.
"We live outside of the city, so it won't be a school you're familiar with."
"But a lot of towns outside of the city have to come here for high school."
"I have her enrolled in a private boarding school. She's only back for summer break."
"She's rather shy."
Mommy laughed pleasantly as they finally reached the last level of benches. There was a small walk to the doors which still had people lined up for departure. The two young men took their place at the back of this line which was moving steadily.
"We don't come to the city often and crowds frighten her."
"I see. So what brings you to the aquarium?"
"An old promise. And you?"
"Takahashi here had a date lined up but the girl canceled on him this morning. I'm taking her place."
"A crummy substitute but the tickets were only good for this weekend."
Kurumu smiled as they stepped inside the air conditioned building and walked down the small flight of steps. Her clothes were damper than she had realized as a sudden shiver coursed through her body. She let go of mommy's sleeve to rub her arms as they meandered through the large room.
"And do you have a girlfriend?"
"Mother."
"It's a polite question."
The tall guy grinned, with a slight shake of his head.
"So she can speak. Any college plans?"
Kurumu glanced aside with her arms crossed about her chest.
"I don't know. I'll probably go to whichever college my boyfriend goes to."
Takahashi chuckled, clapping the other guy's shoulder.
"Shot down."
"That's nice. I wish I could have afforded to bring my high school sweetheart along. Work hard to get in that college with him, because most people can't withstand long distance relationships."
"Does this mean you are single, Mr. Hasegawa?"
The tall guy laughed jovially.
"Presently I am, Mrs. Kurono."
"Don't mistake his status as some sad thing. This guy goes on dates all the time."
"Dates and girlfriends are different things. It would be nice to have a steady girl again, but it never seems to feel right."
"You are young and have time."
Kurumu tensed at that comment, considering mommy had condoned her having a baby with Tsukune. She shook her head as they came into a wide corridor which had a stairway down to the lower level and an elevator. There were doors on the right for the Umin One restaurant and another set of double doors at the end of this hall.
"So is there a Mr. Kurono?"
"Dude, man."
Mommy giggled at the exchange as they came to a slow crawl at the end of the line which went through the doors to the restaurant. From the chatter inside, it sounded as busy as the school cafeteria.
"You flatter me. Truly. But I think my daughter would dislike me having a boyfriend your age."
"I imagine you must be asked often."
"More than I care to recall."
"Man, this place is still packed. I thought it would die down."
"We'll probably have to sit in the additional dining area."
Kurumu stepped inside the restaurant and she felt a bunch of unwanted attention directed at her. She glanced at her chest to reassure herself nothing had happened, but it simply was a matter of being in a place where idle men had nothing better to do than ogle the pair of buxom women whom strolled in. It did not help matters that both of them had bluish hair while most normal women had black. They stood out like a pair of high school deviants.
"Maybe we should hit a vending machine."
Hasegawa laughed, shaking his head and gesturing to the register.
"The line isn't that long."
Kurumu lowered her hands to grab mommy by the sleeve and tug. The situation only worsened when it became dreadfully apparent that her nipples were as hard as rocks and lecherous thoughts assaulted her from every direction, including from the two young men.
"Please, mother. Please."
Mommy smiled politely.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Hasegawa and Mr. Takahashi. It was a pleasure speaking with you."
"No problem."
Kurumu shuddered as she walked with mommy back out into the hall. She grabbed mommy by the arm and leaned in, making their way over to the stairs. She sighed, feeling a little better.
"Shall we see the rest of the exhibits?"
"I'm still hungry."
Mommy huffed as they descended the stairs together.
"Me too, but it was a little intense in there."
"And you were okay with that?"
"You should have worn a bra."
Kurumu shrugged, mommy having pointed this out earlier on the train. The first train ride which had taken an hour had not been that crowded until the last few stops right before they made the transfer at Niitsu station. At that point, it was standing room only in the new train until some guy whom admired her attire had happily given up his spot and picked up his suitcase so they both could sit down. He had flirted the whole half hour with mommy after learning Kurumu's age.
Niigata station had surprised Kurumu. She had not expected a train station to have a small shopping mall built around it. If mommy had not been dead set on taking her to the aquarium, Kurumu would not have minded looking around the place more to see what all there was to buy.
"Why here?"
Mommy paused as they reached the landing for the first floor.
"Why did you want to take me to the aquarium?"
Mommy smiled as she guided Kurumu over to the next flight of stairs and started down to the basement.
"An old promise."
"What promise?"
"You used to be so fascinated with the ocean when we lived in Yonago. I kept thinking that maybe being born from an Undine gave you a natural desire for it."
"I don't think I've talked about the ocean in years."
Mommy giggled as they reached the next landing.
"The heart never forgets what it loves. I knew you would enjoy this."
Kurumu smiled, knowing she could not deny that. That walk after the station had been annoying mostly because of the heat and having no idea where mommy was taking them to. Mommy had guided her down a wide road flanked by tall buildings which crossed the river. On the other side of the river there had been more tall buildings and all Kurumu could think about was how much bigger this place felt than Kofu, though they were in the heart of Niigata. She had no idea how far they had ventured into Kofu.
Eventually the road had thinned out and they had walked through some forest before coming upon a road with an ocean view. It had felt good seeing the ocean. There was no real explanation for it. And then mommy had steered her off to the right. It had not taken long to arrive at this place, though it had been too late to catch the first dolphin show. So to kill time, they had visited the sea lions whom luckily were being fed by the handlers.
"You still haven't said what you promised."
Mommy grinned as they reached the bottom of the stairs. She draped an arm over Kurumu's shoulder as they walked out into the hallway beyond.
"I promised to take you to an aquarium, silly girl."
"What? When?"
"Oh, ages ago."
The elevator and bathrooms were on the left as mommy guided her to the right down a path which flanked a huge tank full of fish and amphibians. A little further ahead was a path which looked like it would cut through the tank. The room was dark but somewhat illuminated by lights within the tank.
"I don't remember asking for that."
"We used to go to the ocean often. One day you asked where all the animals and fish were and when I explained we would have to go to an aquarium to see stuff like that… it was all you talked about for months. The nearest aquarium was Kinosaki Marine world which was a four hour train ride one way."
"That's why you buy a car."
Mommy laughed as they walked inside the tunnel, slowing their steps. A couple passed by them, holding hands. Kurumu took in a deep breath as she dawdled forward, looking overhead and appreciating the sight of all this life swimming about. She felt a sense of peace.
"The train tickets for the aquarium were more than twice the cost of the ones I bought for our trips to the Tottori sand dunes. You loved that so much that we went twice."
Kurumu sighed, stopping mommy's slow pace. She remembered the dunes which flanked the ocean. She remembered being happy to be away from Yonago. School had never been enjoyable for her.
"This was before we moved to Kengamine."
"Yes."
"I don't try to remember that much before Hino and Kengamine, mom. That all feels so far away and irrelevant. It's only glimpses of things we repeated. Like the trips to the bathhouse and my walk to school. I buried the memories of those dunes like I did most of my memories of Yonago."
"But we didn't even spend a year in Hino. You would barely talk to anybody."
"It was a new school. And small. I didn't belong."
"But you were happier in Yonago. It was just that one boy."
Kurumu forced a smile, not wanting to remember specifics to challenge mommy's truth.
"I don't remember asking you to take me to a silly aquarium."
Mommy smiled, reaching up to caress Kurumu's cheek.
"Some promises are more important to those that make them, than those they are given to. You'll understand this more when you have a child of your own."
Kurumu sighed again, turning aside to resume their slow walk beneath the enormous fish tank.
"So how is that going to happen?"
"I believe you've figured that much out."
Kurumu smirked at the amused delivery of that response. Noting there were other people about, she spoke quietly while walking close beside mommy the rest of the way through the tunnel.
"I meant how is this deal with Mrs. Shuzen going to result in fixing me?"
"So you remembered that."
"Why wouldn't I? You told me in your last letter which came with all my stuff only two weeks ago."
"We should go shopping. I noticed when I was packing up your things for the move how old your clothes were. Most of it was older than your junior high days."
Kurumu glanced at mommy, shaking her head at the sudden change of subject. There was not much to see on this side of the tank. A curved wall was on her right and it looked like there was a dark passage off to the left. She shrugged as she bumped against mommy's side.
"That's because I took everything that was recent. I'll be lucky to fit in half the crap you sent me, since most of it is pre tits."
"Don't be silly. You've had your breasts since your wings sprouted."
Kurumu rolled her eyes, knowing mommy should know better than to voice that in public.
"There's a difference between an A and an E, mom. You should have thrown my old clothes out."
"I couldn't do that."
The dark passage continued with large fish tanks built in the side of the walls. Lights within these tanks bathed the path in a bluish glow as they progressed. They were probably supposed to read these signs posted at each tank like the other guests, but Kurumu was content with admiring the environment.
"So… is it like a surgery or something?"
Mommy smiled as they wandered slowly down the path.
"It's not a difficult process. Apparently Fairy Tale has been sterilizing succubi for decades, so they have several doctors able to reverse the process if they have a donor."
"Really? When I talked with Ms. Sasayaki, she knew nothing about our kind."
"Isn't that the science teacher whom worked in the hospital? Well… we are somewhat of a rare species and I don't know if Fairy Tale shares this information."
Kurumu nodded as they made a turn in the path. All the tanks were on her right as they slowly made their way down the passage.
"What exactly did you promise her? I mean… I already know you agreed to work for her a long time ago once I was old enough to take care of myself."
Mommy laughed softly, waving a hand dismissively.
"Honestly I had forgotten about that arrangement."
Kurumu smirked, electing not to comment on mommy's promise priorities.
"The only thing Mrs. Shuzen demanded from me was to stay by your side this summer since I would need to come work for her immediately."
"That's it? Nothing special for me to have this operation?"
"She had me fill out some paperwork to transfer your guardianship to her household."
"What?"
"It's nothing serious. You are technically capable of declaring yourself an emancipated adult, if you wish, but I think you would prefer not to juggle work and school."
Kurumu grimaced, glancing at the fish in the tanks.
"Why would she ask you to do that?"
"I think she wants you to feel more indebted to her family so you will serve her in the future."
"It sort of sounds like I was sold to her."
"Don't say that. It's not like you are my property or that I will cease being your mother. I still intend to keep caring for you, though it will be through Mrs. Shuzen instead of directly."
Kurumu sighed as they came to the end of the wraparound path. They were in a large, dark room which had glass pillars filled with fish in front of the curved wall she had seen earlier. She spied another passage at the far left corner of the room.
"I guess I also made a promise to serve Kokoa."
Mommy laughed as she grabbed Kurumu by the arm and directed her towards the far path.
"I don't know about you, but I'm starving."
"I think there were some vending machines near the gift shop."
They wandered into the next passage which was lined with tanks on the right side. The exhibit's sign declared this was the ecosystem of the Shinano River.
"I have no idea where that is, but we will be eating a huge early dinner if we don't find one."
Grinning, Kurumu wholeheartedly agreed.
"That was the best chicken I have eaten in over a year."
Kurumu chuckled as she carried their tray over to the garbage can. She did not remember eating at a KFC before, but this American food was surprisingly good. Mommy said she used to buy the KFC bucket for Christmas dinner but had stopped after Kurumu randomly bawled over eating the cute chickens when she was six. For over a year, mommy had avoided buying any farm animal meats. While Kurumu had forgotten what had initiated the phase, she did recall being ashamed of herself for not telling mommy she could stop because the school lunch program had not catered to her picky palate.
"Did we ever eat out? I don't have any memories of eating anywhere but at our kitchen table."
Kurumu emptied the tray in the trash can before setting the red basket and brown tray aside. Mommy grinned as she grabbed her by the arm and tugged her towards the exit to the mall.
"Not often. I used to be real bad about ordering delivery since it was so easy to get a free meal."
"When did you have a cellphone?"
Mommy giggled as they stepped out into the open foyer of the mall. The glass doors opening out to the street were off to the right and the escalator going up was on their left. People were milling about in every direction, most paying them no attention but there were always a few men whom would take notice of a pair of buxom, blue haired beauties.
"It was a landline, silly girl."
Kurumu smiled as they drifted towards the escalator. They had arrived at the DeKKY 401 mall a half hour ago, Kurumu quickly understanding mommy's plan. This mall had a theater and it was playing Star Wars. She had expected a theater to be their first stop.
"You're the silly one. Charming delivery boys into handing over free meals. I hope you felt no obligation to give them something for their troubles."
Mommy clucked her tongue, wagging a finger.
"That would be stealing, my dear. Though I had to stop because you were getting old enough to question what I was doing with the young man."
"That wasn't an invitation to ruin my childhood memories."
"I certainly hope you don't remember any of that."
Kurumu smiled softly as they stepped onto the escalator, not wanting to voice her recollection of the first time she had seen a man's penis or of mommy kneeling in the kitchen. She grabbed the black railing and let the device carry her up, thinking of the issues she had complained about in junior high.
"I remember asking you what a whore was after my teacher called you one."
Mommy pouted.
"That was unfortunate, but it was the only way to enroll you in a public school like you wanted. We don't have any papers proving our citizenship."
"Have you ever thought about applying for them?"
"That was impossible without alerting Fairy Tale to our presence. On the bright side, we will both be registered citizens soon. One of the perks of being employed by Fairy Tale is that they will give me an official identity and I'm sure you will get one too."
Kurumu smiled softly as unwanted thoughts about her childhood surfaced. She had never questioned why her mother was nice to so many men. She had thought her life was normal until she learned from other school kids that not having a daddy was bad. Different was bad.
"We should have dyed our hair black again."
"Don't fret over that. It's just for the day."
Kurumu stepped off the escalator. Across the wide hall was what looked to be an arcade and off to the right was the sign for the United Cinemas. Both seemed quite congested as Kurumu crossed her arms.
"You sent me to school with blue hair."
"It was only that one time and it never happened again."
Years ago she would level that accusation with much more emotion. She sighed at the familiar rebuttal.
"It's okay. I just… never had friends. Not in Yonago or Hino. I kept thinking that if you married again, then maybe people would like me. I wouldn't be that girl with the whore mother none of the teachers liked."
"Some teachers liked me."
"I meant women teachers."
Mommy draped her arm over Kurumu's shoulder and tugged her in closer as they stepped through the threshold of the cinema. There were posters for the movies showing and soon to be released. Kurumu's attention drifted over to the lines for the counters which divided this room from the rest of the theater. She grimaced at an intensified lick of desire approaching her from behind, letting her attention drop back to the carpeted floor.
"Does it ever tire you out?"
Mommy frowned as they settled in at the back of the line.
"What do you mean?"
"The male attention. You must feel it too."
"I'm surprised you aren't used to it by now."
Kurumu sighed, feeling like this was not something she wanted to get used to. She hated this ability to feel desire upon her because her body responded so favorably to it, regardless of the source. It felt good to be lusted after which made her feel like a whore. It made her wish Tsukune was nearby.
"It's different at school."
"Oh? How so?"
"I don't know. Just different. I mean… half of them are virgins, so it feels different."
"I would think that would make things worse."
Kurumu would have argued but the man behind them had stepped in closer. She glanced over her shoulder, noting his white polo and khaki pants. He was a middle aged man older than mommy. And he wanted to have sex with her. That was much worse than a high school boy.
"Sir, could you give us more space?"
Mommy grinned at the man, meeting his embarrassed gaze without concern. The man rubbed the back of his neck, allowing them to advance a couple steps without him on their heels.
"Thank you."
Kurumu shivered as the lick of desire promptly returned, but with less enthusiasm. She stepped in closer to mommy's side, keeping her voice low.
"Did you charm him?"
"Maybe."
"You looked in his eyes."
"You worry too much."
"You worry too little. What if you encouraged something?"
"Don't be silly. I'd have to want something to encourage it."
Kurumu pouted as they neared the young man working the ticket booth. She was no stranger to redirecting unwanted attention aside but she always worried about making matters worse. Impulsive thoughts could lead to kissing and more if things got out of hand.
Kurumu had noticed throughout the day that mommy rarely averted her gaze. She wondered if mother had always been this confident. She certainly could not recall any moments of shy or coy behavior. Every memory felt full of grins, hugs and heartfelt apologies. Mommy never cried or got angry.
It had been nearly an hour walk from the aquarium to this mall. As the congestion in the streets and sidewalks were much worse after noon, Kurumu had held mommy's hand to avoid getting separated. For the most part, Kurumu had kept her eyes on the sidewalk with only an occasional glance up at the buildings around them. One landmark she had taken note of was the hospital they had passed by after crossing the bridge. It had been across the street from some random stretch of forest the humans had preserved. There had been a car dealership after that, but mommy had told her not to be silly, claiming it would take years of train trips to equal the purchase of a vehicle, not even including the maintenance.
"Two tickets to see Star Wars. The four fifteen show."
Kurumu glanced up, noting the clock indicated it was only a few minutes shy of four.
"Mom. This is a two hour movie. Will we be okay?"
"Eleven hundred yen."
Mommy nodded, fishing some bills out of her purse to hand over to the young man.
"What about the train?"
Mommy laughed, shaking her head as she took the tickets from the young man.
"Enjoy the show."
Mommy grabbed Kurumu by the arm, taking her through the small passage between the counters. On the other side was the concessions and restrooms.
"You are worrying too much, my love. I've spent several days in the city familiarizing myself with the area. The station is less than an hour walk from here and there is an evening train that departs at eight which will take us all the way back to Kanose station."
Kurumu grimaced as she noted the dark corridor at the end of this open area which must flank the ten auditoriums the theater boasted.
"I have a bad feeling about this."
Mommy giggled, letting go of her arm and gesturing to the concessions.
"You can save the movie references for after the film. Would you like some popcorn?"
"Seriously? How are you still hungry?"
"Popcorn is like air. It's not food."
"I'll pass."
"Candy? Soda?"
Kurumu grabbed mommy by the jacket and tugged her in the direction of the auditoriums.
"Don't waste your money on that stuff. It's always more expensive than if you bought it outside."
"But it's all part of the experience."
"I'm fine with the bare minimum experience."
Mommy pouted, freeing her arm to pat Kurumu's head.
"I hope you're not such a prude with your boyfriend."
"Mother!"
Mommy grinned mischievously as they walked by the doors of the first auditoriums.
"You should learn to fully enjoy things when they are offered. It's not like I lack the money."
Kurumu frowned as they made their way further down the corridor to the auditorium playing their movie. She was slightly worried about their finances but was not about to discuss that in the presence of all these people.
"Well… you plan to buy some things for me later and I'd rather you not waste any here."
"So stingy. I take it you don't want any souvenirs."
Kurumu rolled her eyes, seeing less of a point to picking up something here than the aquarium. Of course mommy had ignored her and picked her up a little dolphin keychain with the aquarium's mark on it. At least it had not cost more than six hundred yen.
"We can do that at the station before we go home."
Kurumu was mildly curious what stores this mall had, but she would rather spend any free time they might have after this movie in the shops by the train station. Spying the number of their auditorium which also had the Star Wars paraphernalia like one of the other auditoriums they had passed, Kurumu gestured for the doors.
"You didn't watch this already, right?"
"This will be my first time."
Kurumu smirked at mommy's feigned blush, shaking her head as she pushed through the black, swing door. Ignoring the trash cans, Kurumu veered off to the left before the narrow passage banked to the right. The small path was flanked by the wall and descending tiers of concrete for the upper seat rows.
It was not a long walk before she saw the black handrail for those tiers and then the path cut across the spacious room. With them being early and as the movie had been playing in theaters for some time, the auditorium was mostly vacant. This path started to ramp down to the lower seat rows.
"Where do you want to sit?"
Kurumu shrugged as she wandered into the wide row which was reserved for those with handicaps. She absently thought of Nerume, wondering what that girl was doing. She had mentioned her family was too big and poor to afford things like the movies.
"Somewhere in the center, I guess."
"Three rows up?"
Kurumu smiled, recalling that had always been mommy's preference.
"Sure."
Kurumu wandered over to the railing, walking up the wide steps which flanked the upper rows of seats. Reaching the prescribed row, Kurumu cut across the empty aisle towards the middle. Looking at the blank white screen off to her left, she judged about what spot was right before taking her seat.
"It feels like forever since we've been to a cinema."
Kurumu grinned as mommy settled in beside her.
"We went last spring break for Return of the King."
"Was that only a year ago? It feels so much longer."
"I've had a lot of moments like that recently. Like when we were pushing Tora how to fly and me realizing I had only started my lessons with Takada shortly after our last trip to the cinema."
"Have we been making at least one trip to the cinema every year?"
Kurumu paused, wondering if that was true. Last year had been Return of the King and they had seen the Two Towers the year before that. It was fairly easy to remember because each movie had been released in Kengamine right before spring break.
"I know we saw a movie before every year of junior high. I know we also saw the other Star Wars movie, but only one was during Kengamine. The first one came out the year before we moved to Kengamine."
"Now that I do remember. It's good that we're keeping up a pattern."
"I'm pretty sure those were the only movies we saw in Kengamine. You're missing two years."
"We used to go two or three times a year before we moved to Hino."
Kurumu supposed that was true, knowing she had seen at least one of the old Batman movies in a theater. She had seen several movies simply because the other kids at school would talk about them. Like that movie of the big ship sinking in the ocean and the one where aliens destroyed most of the major cities. There was also some weird one where a bunch of guys blew up an asteroid that would destroy the Earth if they did nothing about it. Oh, and the dinosaurs, though that had terrified her. She had been scared for months after mommy watched that one with her.
"I guess things will be different now with you signing your parental rights over."
"It was not like we would see that much of each other outside of school breaks. I can still write to you as often as I did before and you better not go silent on me."
"I'm just worried. I have no idea what sort of work you will be doing. It might be dangerous."
"Do you think they'll make me a secret agent with a codename? Mission impossible?"
"Shut up."
"Maybe I could be like one of those Bond girls."
"Bond?"
"Bond. James Bond."
Kurumu frowned, knowing mommy was amused with something.
"Okay. They probably won't have you do anything dangerous since you're too stupid for serious stuff."
"Yes. It is more likely I'll be some harmless secretary with the occasional task of lifting the spirits of my employer in the methods I'm most skilled at."
"Mother."
Mommy grinned with a shrug.
"I'm sorry, dear, but I have no clue what Mrs. Shuzen hopes for me to do. No point worrying over it."
Kurumu sighed, noting there were more people filtering into the auditorium. With the lights dimmed, not many could see them detailed enough to warrant lustful reactions.
"So you never worry about meeting a guy's gaze?"
"Not in particular. I don't know if this is because my charm is weaker or that you lack control."
"You've never had an accident?"
Mommy smiled, draping her arm over Kurumu's shoulders and tugging her in closer.
"I suspect you are far more sexually curious than I ever was."
"What?"
"You can blame that on the Tengu family whom raised me. My adopted parents did not have sex. Poppa fertilized her eggs the old way, so it was not something romantic."
"But you matured like I did so you knew you weren't a Tengu. You even charmed your father."
Mommy pouted.
"Being molested by my stepfather is not a recipe for thinking sex is good. I went to Yokai Academy mostly ignorant of the joys of sex."
"I'm sorry."
"My body's reaction to your father was so good at breaking my reservations against sex. I was naturally drawn to him, much like you are to that yummy boyfriend of yours."
"Do you enjoy sex now?"
"It's okay at times, though having it associated with monetary gain has greatly diminished the charm."
"That's your own fault. I'm sure you could have managed a different sort of job."
Mommy sighed, drawing away to sit back in her chair.
"Maybe so, though it is easy work. It's not like men are difficult to please. I don't even have to undress for half of them."
"Huh?"
"You'd be surprised with how many men can be sated with fellatio. Do it right and they won't have the strength to stand for a second round. Quite useful when I'm not interested in having sex with the guy."
"That was more information than I wanted to know."
"I'm sure if you stop thinking about sex, you'll realize you can look boys in the eye without worry."
"That's hard to say when guys seem to want to fuck me all the time. I'm not even looking at them and I can feel their desires, so it has nothing to do with me projecting onto them."
"That's a passing fancy, dear. It's biological and most men have the good sense to suppress it. There's no reason for you to encourage it by thinking men will lose all reason just because you might charm them."
Kurumu sighed with thoughts of Nagare and Saizou.
"Well… some men aren't reasonable."
"That might be true, but you're depriving yourself a normal life with your boyfriend if you're dodging his eyes afraid of your charm. I'm guessing the few times you've had sex with him was with the lights off."
Kurumu smiled as the topic naturally changed to her sexual relationship with Tsukune.
"We've done it outside of the bedroom."
"Oh? And here I worried you would become a missionary style, lights off only girl."
"Missionary? Is that something religious?"
"That's when you're facing your partner. There's this common belief that this is the proper way to make love since it is regarded as the most personal."
Kurumu frowned, not disagreeing with the notion that having sex facing each other would be better.
"Well… we've done that maybe once or twice."
Sort of like hugging with her head over his shoulder so there was no worry of her gaze.
"Oh my. That just won't do."
"If I look in his eyes, we'll kiss. That's a fact."
Mommy smiled, lowering her gaze to her hands in her lap.
"Right. It's been so long that I forgot."
"I would like to do it the way you say, but that's not safe."
"I'm sorry. It's a mistake to push you forward in this relationship. Maybe after he becomes immune to your kiss, you can think about that."
Kurumu chuckled, reaching over to give mommy's arm a playful shake.
"My friends have been telling me stuff like that for weeks. I'm content to keep things where they are with the occasional thing if he's in the mood."
The lights dimmed and the screen flickered to life. The first thing up was some advertisement which had Kurumu smile as she settled back in her seat. She remembered these things. The theaters in Kengamine and Mononoke lacked these introductory ads, since they were all for human companies.
"We should do this more often."
Kurumu glanced aside at mommy whom regarded her with a wistful grin.
"Well… you aren't getting out of Christmas."
"I'll be sure to buy us a bucket of chicken."
Kurumu yawned grandly as she shuffled through the woods. With a glance at her wrist, she confirmed it was a quarter after eleven. If they had not been on the last leg of their journey, she would have thrown caution aside and flown home. She doubted any humans were around this area this late at night.
Sensing a slight slip, Kurumu readjusted the thin strap on her shoulder. She wished this leather band was longer so she could wear it over her head and shoulders like her schoolbag. Each end of this band was fished through a silver ring and clipped on itself with a shiny brass button. The interlocked silver rings ended with the final loop fished through the lavender handbag mommy had bought for her in one of the shops in the station. It was technically her first purse, since she hardly counted the hand me down tote mommy had given her back in junior high which had been ruined by jealous girls.
Mommy had promptly put her new bag to use, buying a couple souvenirs in the station. The handbag had also included a small wallet, which she had slipped a recently acquired photo of herself and mommy into. After the movie, which had been decent though somewhat predictable, mommy had insisted using the photo sticker booth in the arcade to at least have a memory of their time in the mall. Aware of how few pictures she had of mommy, Kurumu had pretended like it was a huge bother but easily relented.
"I am so tired."
Kurumu snorted at mommy's whimper. Mommy yawned as she trudged along in Kurumu's shadow, barely keeping up with Kurumu's slow progress.
"I still think you should have bought a car."
"Even if I knew how to drive, I couldn't get a license."
"You can get your license after you start working for Fairy Tale. Then we wouldn't lose half our day walking around like a couple of homeless vagrants."
Sadly this was not an exaggeration. With the walk to and from the station taking nearly two hours by itself, they had easily been on their feet at least six hours today, if not seven. Considering they had left around six thirty this morning, it practically was half the day. It was not like she regarded the three hours spent on trains as quality time with mommy.
"Even if I had a car, we would still need to drive. And then there's the cost of parking and gas."
"You have to pay to park?"
"Well… some places. I didn't check."
"I'm pretty sure the cost of gas and parking would be less than the train tickets. And we would save so much time that we could have shopped for bras like we talked about."
"We can do that after your birthday."
"I guess. Though it will probably have to be special ordered so who knows when we would be able to pick things up. Earlier would have been better."
"But you had fun, right?"
Kurumu smiled at mommy.
"Yea. It was a good day."
While the city experience had been far more unpleasant than her day trip in Kofu, she had found a few things of interest. Mommy had picked her up an inexpensive prefectural map dated June of this year at the station. She also had the current railway map, which had been free. It was cool to finally get some idea where all these places were, since she had been fairly clueless about the Niigata prefecture. It had her wonder where Yokai Academy was hidden and all the other monster communities.
It had not been that detailed of a map, dividing the prefecture up into areas which she already knew were a mix of cities and districts. She knew their home was in the Higashikanbara district but she had never heard of some of these other ones like the Minamikanbara and Nakakanbara districts south of Gosen, which had only been on her mind because she knew her train passed through it. She was mildly curious where Chirasu was, wondering if showing this map to Fukai would help the girl point it out.
She had also been unable to locate the Tainai district which had the Uchimori and Hateshinai villages. Then again, Yukari had said Hateshinai could be declared as part of Yamagata since the village was on the border of Oguni. She wished the map had shown the bordering prefectures, since that might have helped her figure where the brat lived.
Kurumu knew the Higashikanbara district bordered Fukushima and that Yamagata was further north. That meant Tainai had to be north of her, and there had not been that many choices. The farthest north region had been Murakami which had been easily twice the size of the other areas. Shibata had been shown north of Higashikanbara, which kind of had Kurumu wonder why the Tainai bus had been after hers instead of the Shibata bus.
Between Shibata and Murakami had been two districts, one of which probably had Tainai. She had heard of the Iwafune district, aware that it contained the Atsuen and Moegara communities. The other had been the Kitakanbara district, which only had a small slice of the border. She figured she could ask Yukari about this when she saw her tomorrow.
"That's odd."
Kurumu glanced up from the dirt at mommy's comment. Through the thinning woods, Kurumu noticed the lights of their cabin were on.
"Did you leave the generator on?"
Mommy laughed, shaking her head.
"Even if I had bothered to start that thing up this morning, a full tank of gas will only keep it running for ten hours. I wonder whom our guest is."
Kurumu grimaced as they reached the edge of the clearing. She absently grabbed the trunk of the nearest tree, glancing about for signs of danger.
"Does anyone from Hekitawa ever visit you?"
"Once or twice, though I can't imagine anyone ever firing up my generator and waiting for my return. The elder of the community has never wasted more than a half hour of his time with me."
"Do you think a human stumbled on this place?"
"If so, I guess we will have to kindly ask them to leave."
Mommy strolled out into the open, causing Kurumu to cringe.
"Wait! Mother!"
Realizing mommy was ignoring her hissed warnings, Kurumu skulked away from the tree while keeping a wary eye on the cabin.
"We should enter through the back."
Mommy huffed, shaking her head as she stepped up on the porch.
"Don't be ridiculous. This is our home so there's no reason to sneak in like a pair of thieves."
"But it could be dangerous."
"Nobody is going to hurt a beautiful woman with her daughter. Have faith in my charms."
Kurumu wished she could, knowing there were some men immune to hers. Then again, mommy was much more confident than Kurumu, so maybe mommy could charm anyone. Steeling her nerves, she stepped on the porch as mommy tugged open the front door.
A blaring screech and blinding light greeted them. Kurumu staggered as she was tackled to the porch floor. It took her a moment to realize mommy had thrown herself on top of her.
"Get off!"
She struggled to push mommy away, but she was held in a tight grip which allowed no leverage. Her legs were also painfully twisted beneath her, making her first priority to get them straight. Whimpering with frustration, she forced her hands between them to push on mommy's midsection.
"Who is out there?"
Kurumu paused. The voice had been amplified to speak over the alarm but was unmistakable.
"Shut that off, Yukari!"
The bright light diminished back to the normal glow and the alarm ceased.
"It's about time you returned. I presume this woman on top of you is your mother."
Mommy lifted up on her knees, rubbing at her eyes having taken the brunt of the light. Kurumu had some shadow spots in her vision but could see the young witch lingering in the doorway. Yukari was dressed in her silky white chemise with the panda heads and a pair of white slippers.
"This is Ageha, my mother."
Mommy stumbled up on her feet, rubbing her eyes with one hand. She held the other out to the wall, unaware that Yukari was at least a couple paces away.
"It's nice to meet you, Ms. Sendou Yukari. My daughter speaks highly of you."
Yukari glanced at the offered hand but seemed content to remain where she stood.
"You two are coming home rather late. Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting for you?"
"I am so sorry. Let me go and make you some tea."
Mommy stumbled towards the door, feeling the wall with her right hand for guidance. She staggered and her hand went through the open door before mommy pitched inside rather unceremoniously. Yukari glanced at the groaning woman with a blank expression.
"I'm fine, Mrs. Kurono. That spell was meant to blind an intruder for several minutes, so I don't think it will be safe for you to use a stove."
Kurumu picked herself off the porch, shaking her head.
"Little brat. You knew we would come back."
"What else was I to do? This residence lacks any form of security."
"I deeply apologize, Ms. Sendou. I had no idea you would be coming over today."
"Why are you here today? I thought you were coming tomorrow."
Yukari huffed, crossing her arms about her chest.
"Don't be stupid. We agreed to be at Tsukune's home on your birthday. That would not be possible if I waited for tomorrow with the train schedules."
"We should come inside and talk on the couch. As soon as I can find it."
Kurumu laughed at mommy's murmured remark.
"Let me help you there."
"That would be nice."
Kurumu walked by Yukari to help her crawling mother up off the floor. She noted a blue futon had been rolled out on the floor next to the couch. As Yukari closed the door, Kurumu guided mommy over to the couch, helping her into a seated position. Mommy grabbed the right arm of the couch and smiled as Kurumu sat down next to her.
"Thank you dear."
Kurumu grinned as Yukari wandered over to sit in the small space on Kurumu's left.
"So you rode a train here?"
"Of course."
"How did you find this place?"
"I gave your daughter a ribbon which I could track. She left it in your bedroom."
"Where are your parents?"
"Back at home."
Kurumu chuckled at mommy's frown.
"I'm surprised you're here by yourself."
"I can ride a train by myself."
"Those trains could have been crowded with scary humans."
Yukari sighed heavily, relaxing back in her seat.
"I had no choice. If I told my parents what I had planned, they would have refused to let me come. And bringing Rubi along seemed more detrimental than beneficial."
"Won't Rubi tell them?"
"I told her she would be punished more if she waited a few days to tell the truth."
Kurumu grimaced, not wanting to think about Rubi's odd fetish for punishment.
"Are you saying that you've run away from home, Ms. Sendou?"
"Temporarily. I will have to come back for all the dumb doctor appointments they have scheduled for me over the summer. I have a dental checkup on Monday and my family doctor will be seeing me on Tuesday. They also have a gynecologist check scheduled for me on Thursday but I'm done with that nonsense. I don't have a disease and I'm not pregnant, so that's daddy being stupid and a doctor taking advantage of him being overly cautious."
"Why would you be pregnant?"
Yukari paused and Kurumu managed a smile.
"I don't know if I said it or not, but things were really bad with those monstrel kids."
"I'm so sorry. For some reason I thought it was your crippled friend whom was raped."
"No, that's okay. It would make more sense for them to rape a girl my age than Yukari."
"She's a cute, little blur. Her parents must be very worried."
"They've been smothering me ever since it happened. I was thrilled to come back to school for exams."
"So how long have you been waiting around?"
"I don't honestly know since your residence lacks clocks and I don't have a watch. I got off the train around six thirty and spent a few minutes in the grocery store to buy some snacks in case I arrived after your dinner time. I did not expect the walk here to be so long."
"Tell me about it. It almost takes us two hours so it probably took you a little more since you're shorter."
"I'm so sorry you came to an empty home."
"I'm sorry that I trespassed. But when I realized you weren't home and that I could easily get inside, I decided it was safer for me to wait inside. When I became tired, I decided to put down an alarmed barrier to wake me if anyone crossed it. What were the two of you doing?"
"Mother was showing me around Niigata. We stopped at the aquarium and saw the Star Wars movie."
"I've never been to an aquarium before. I understand it's a zoo for fish."
"I guess that's accurate. We've been out of the house all day."
"I slipped out of my house after lunch to catch the train at two to Niigata. For some reason I had to switch trains in Shibata, which was a little scary but it all worked out since it kept me from needlessly going into the city. A nice man said I could take a train to Niitsu station instead to get to Kanose."
"How did you know which station to get off on?"
"Your mother's letter said Hekitawa was by Kanose so I presumed that was your closest train station."
Kurumu frowned at the girl.
"Have you ever ridden a train before?"
"No. Why?"
"I didn't think you had. That's pretty remarkable that you didn't get lost."
"It's not that difficult for a genius like myself."
"Kurumu would have been lost without me."
"Don't you brag when you admitted you got yourself lost the first day you tried to navigate the trains."
Mommy pouted.
"And here I was trying to make you feel better about your confusion."
"Are you saying you made that up about getting lost?"
"Well… no."
Yukari yawned, covering her mouth.
"Are you wanting to go back to sleep?"
"We can talk more if you want."
"Well… I'm tired so I'm fine with doing our talking tomorrow. You can share the bed with me."
"Where is your mother sleeping?"
"The couch."
"Why?"
"You don't want to know."