We're alone now, she and I. My darling Shion.

Patience, Keichi, patience. Am I under any manner of time constraint? No, of course not. I have so much time. So much time to make her mine and enjoy her. Why rush things? I dislike acting prematurely. Even back in my days in Tokyo, when I would hunt…ah hah hah…such fun.

Hunting requires patience, you know. Patience, silence, and instinct. You don't have to be "trained" to move and act quietly, you know. You already know how. Deep down. Look deeper than the everyday, and you'll find it: the knowledge of how to move, how to hunt, how to kill. That's what I found when I hunted them.

Hm, what? Ah, yes, I'm getting to that.

This is not unlike that kind of hunting. The prey is here with me. The stalkchasekill takes place in the mind now. Well, mostly in the mind. Ah hah hah hah…mostly. And so I should take my time and enjoy the hunt. It will make the end all the more glorious.

"Keichi?" she says, drawing me out of reverie with that innocent questioning tone. Her eyes shimmer in the lamplight with nervousness and anticipation I really hope I don't look too vapid right now "What do you want to do? It's getting late."

"Well," I say and slide a bit closer to her. It is a movement akin to slithering, now that I think on it. Serpentine imagery…how appropriately phallic. I put my hand over hers and obersve the tugging at the corners of her lips. "Why not play a game?"

A certain ineffable thrill seems to show itself in her eyes. If I had to guess, I would say that Shion has fantasized about being on the receiving end of a punishment game for a long time.

Ah, I must confess something. I love playing games with my friends dearly. I love games in general. But sometimes I feel that they simply do not play the way I do. The girls do not seem to draw upon the same…how shall I put this…this same level of the visceral that I attempt to emulate. The human form with its frailties will not serve many purposes, and indeed for the vicissitudes of a really enjoyable game, certain pre-human aspects must be called upon in order to succeed.

They are just not as animalistic as I can be. Their thought processes are those of normal people, and as such have none of the cunning of a predator.

Of course, I doubt they have experienced the thrill of a hunt the way I have. So it's only to be expected. Where was I?

Her hands clench a little beneath my own, and in her face I see the signs I'd dreamed of: fear and want for the same thing. "What kind of game?"

"I beat Mion the other day. Let's see how good you are at hide and seek."

"But…Keichi, I don't know your house like you do! You'll know where to look!"



"Well, then, I'll make it fair. I'll wear a blindfold."

"A blindfold? Will you be able to find anything like that, Keichi?"

"It'll make things even. And we'll see how good you are."

"And how can I win?"

"You win if I go…twenty minutes without finding you."

"And what does the winner get?"

Smiles. "It's a punishment game. The winner decides."

"Okay."

So much said in a single word! An entire contract of lust! Allow me to extrapolate for your benefit.

"I think I know what you're thinking, and how you plan on doing it. I understand that you've got some kind of failsafe or loophole that'll let you find me even with a blindfold. I realize I'm going to lose. I realize you've played this game before, and I don't mean hide and seek. I understand my role here, and I think it's perfect for me. I understand your role, and you're perfect for it. We already know the conclusion of this game, but let's play it out to add to the gravity of the situation. We already know we're going to end up caressing each other in the darkness and then fucking like we're about to drop dead and I want that just as much as you. I want you so badly it hurts. Now let's get on with this psychodrama so we can get to telling each other how thirsty for each other we are."

…No? Didn't catch that? Someday you'll know how to read a girl like I can. If you're lucky.

"I'll wait for a minute before I come looking for you, okay?"

I take off my shirt and tie it around my eyes. I sit apart from her, cross-legged, and begin to count. I hear her walk out of the room hurriedly around second five.

Sooner than I'd hoped, it was second sixty. "Shion!" I shout to the house "Ready or not, here I come!"

I mentioned looking toward instinct earlier, yes? Here is another instinct I have honed. When someone disturbs an animal's territory, a place the animal has familiarized itself with completely, it can recognize even the slightest disturbances and find the intruder.

You don't believe me? Think I'm making it up? Well, I suppose I can't prove it to you now, so either you believe me or you don't.

I very softly place a finger on the coffee table next to me. It's still. Shion has stopped moving around, wherever she is. I put my hands down in front of me and raised myself, so that I'm on all fours. 

This posture aids me in sensing motion and smells, and it might disconcert Shion into giving herself away.

I crawl into the kitchen and sniff the air. Lobster, naturally, and the swill Rena had brought. There aren't many places to hide in the kitchen, aside from on a countertop. I stand and run a hand over the counters, just in case. Nothing. I get back down and make my way into the stairwell.

I know how many stairs there are. There are twelve. The seventh one has a crack in the middle of it. Also, I happen to know the walls are rather hollow. I place an ear next to the wall on my right. I hold my breath and let the silence come over me.

But there is no silence.

And it's not just my heart beating, I hear Shion breathing through the wall.

How fitting. The same trick that caught Mion. It's only to be expected, really. Shion wants to be caught, and she knows how I caught Mion, so she makes sure to give herself away in some way she knows I'll fall for.

Ah, but there is a catch. All I could hear was breathing echoed in a wall. I know which room she's in, and that she's close to a wall. She's in my parents' bedroom. I crawl inside quietly.

I know every room of my house by heart. I can tell when something has been disturbed. Now, for instance, I can tell that the rug has been pulled up in one spot of the room, something that tends to happen when the closet door is opened and closed. How predictable.

I inch closer to the closet. As I do, I hear an intake of breath. When I am perhaps a foot away, an aroma forces its way into my mind. Sweat. Sweat and something I don't recognize. Perfume I didn't notice before? Seems unlikely. The fabric of her clothes, the thin sweater and pleated skirt, it's become damp with the sweat she's exuding, fear fear of me and my prowess at finding what attempts to hide? It frightens me too, sometimes. Briefly.

"Found you" and open the closet door and lunge forward and she yells as my forehead collides just lightly with her chin and my face with ah yes they are indeed lovely.

"How did you find me?" she asks not trying to move me away from her body. "Can you see through the blindfold?"

"Of course not. You were in my house. I can find anyone here no matter where they hide."

"I guess you won." She says. The finality is like a symphony to me. I did win, didn't I?

I remove the shirt from around my eyes and get up. I help her up too and she brushes her skirt off. "So, your punishment."

"What is it?" she says and tries to keep the fear out of her voice, to no avail.



"Well, I thought about it" and I have "and the punishment game is actually another game. You know Chicken?"

"You mean who will chicken out first? Yeah"

"Well, come with me"

I take her by the hand and lead her to my room. It's clean. In fact, only one item draws attention to itself in misplacement, which is exactly the way I intended it. She sees and as soon as she enters the room and disbelief is written on her face. "You want to"

"Could you stand over by my closet?"

And she goes and turns to face me and looks frightened. "Is that yours?"

I pick up the item and turn it on. A whirring sound as it warms up, or whatever the proper term is. "Family heirloom, you might say. And this is part of the game."

"So"

"Stand just like that."

"I"

"It's a game" and it is and she stands normally. "Smile" and she smiles and I lift the camera and take her picture. "Put your right hand on your hip and look at the window" and she does and the flash goes off as I take another shot "Now put both hands on your hips, part your legs a bit more, and look angry" and she does but if she ever looked at me that way I'd know anger was certainly not the emotion she was feeling

"This is weird Keichi" starting to panic eh? You should be

"It's just a game, you have to play by the rules"

Why isn't she calling chicken and getting out? Obviously because she likes it. You don't need to doctorate in psychology to see that.

"Try and look scared" and this is the shot I really want and it's pretty easy for her to look scared because she is and I can already tell it's a nice picture "Lean against the wall and put your hands behind your head"

"Like this?" she asks and does it perfectly her breasts are made prominent in this shot not being hidden behind her arms

"Great" and take another "Take off your shirt"

"My" and that's quite the blush "Keichi you want me to take off my shirt"



"Yes"

"But that's"

"It's what"

"Wrong?"

Wrong? Wrong? Wrong. Where have I heard that word before? Ah…the memory comes unbidden.

You're sick, you're a sick twisted little monster. No one could ever love you you're hardly human is that really how you think normal people act human beings don't do that you sick fuck oh god what happened to you oh god there are more how did you hide this for so long how long how long pain how long has this been going on oh god these pictures this is sick don't you understand that sick and wrong

That's where. "Sick and wrong." A phrase used to describe so many of my actions, I fear that it has lost all significance to me. Wrong. And over something as trifling as removing an article of clothing.

You're the one who's wrong what's wrong is letting beauty go ignored pain what's wrong is stifling an artist pain what's sick is whatever you don't agree with so I think you're the sick one here it's not as though anyone's been hurt except me thanks to you so you've caused another pain and I haven't who's the sick one now

People can be so…tenacious about their little "right and wrong" nonsense. They never see it any way but their own. I can accept other people's views so long as I don't have to abide by them, but they…ah, they talk a nice game about acceptance but I've seen them flinch and cringe and wince and gasp and shudder and scream yes scream.

"It's just a game"

"…" A reply? Too soft to hear

"What?"

"Okay"

And she removes her shirt it's a thin white sweater and now I'm faced with her bare arms and ample breasts covered only by a white bra her skin is milky white like sweet cream perhaps she can see the hunger on my face she looks away from me down at the ground and stands against the wall "Is this okay"

In response I take a picture and then a few more "Great" move around a few different angles she turns her face to try and avoid me at all costs "Look at me" she cringes and a bit more in my direction "Look at me Shion" and she looks directly into the camera and her hands aren't shaking anymore she puts one on her stomach and the other on her left breast and looks directly into the camera and says "Is this okay" and I take another picture and say "Lift up your skirt"



She blanches as expected and I can see the emotions darting across her face the sweat collecting not only on her forehead but also dripping down her smooth and supple legs and her hands start to move her hands start to move slowly but surely down to the pleats of her skirt and she grabs for the hems and I say "Okay, I give in"

She freezes and looks to me in some bizarre mix of sorrow and libido "You what?"

"I was only joking around, there's not even any film in here. I kinda wanted to see if you'd freak out." When she doesn't move right way I continue (though I never thought I'd say it) "You should put your shirt back on" and she does.

She leaves a few minutes later, unable to look me in the eye. When she leaves she is still sweating profusely. It is summer, after all.

I got my pictures. There was film in the camera, honestly. I'll get them developed tomorrow. I decided to savor the hunt. But she was going to do it. I know she would have.