Later that night, I had been awoken by the sound of a street racket. Apparently Gin forgot to close the windows. Though it wasn't a bustling street, the echoes of the townsfolk walking by below could still wake a person if the windows were open enough. Feeling a little dry mouth, I stepped onto the cold, wooden floor and went across the hall to the bathroom for a drink of water.
But I never made it to the bathroom. Something else had caught my attention. While the door to Gin's room was no doubt blocked by whatever useless clutter he had lying around, the door to Kagura's room was slightly open. I knew exactly what was drawing me in. As I approached the door, I lightly tapped it, pausing as it squeaked aloud. I waited for someone or something to come out at me, asking me what the noise was (even though what woke me up was no louder). But as I actually stepped into the room, I could see why nothing happened.
Kagura wasn't just asleep. She was practically in a coma. If it wasn't for her moaning and snoring, I would have thought she was dead. Gin had told me about something similar one time where after complaining all night she couldn't sleep, she just conked out on him for almost a whole day. The room was rather small for someone so rambunctious, and it actually smelled clean and breezy for a girl whose diet consisted mainly of seaweed. And even though she was a girl, she was no sleeping beauty. Her posture was anything but graceful. Like the rest of the Odd Jobs crew, Kagura slept in a futon on the floor. Unfortunately, she was just as messy too. The left side of her face was buried in the pillow with the other exposed to the air. A stream of drool left her mouth, down her bottom lip, and onto her pillow. Her arms were spread out (with her left hand in a bag of chips) and her back was arched with her butt standing straight up in the air. And of course, her bare soles were outside the futon.
Man, I know Kagura wasn't a girly girl, but I had no idea she was such a slob. Because she still snored, I was assured she was out cold. Looking both ways twice (and also behind) just to make sure no one had seen me, I got on my knees and quietly crawled towards Kagura. I could feel my own heartbeat echoing outside my head as I inched closer to Kagura's soles. As I finally reached her soles, nearly everything around me went silent...Kagura's snoring, the breeze beating up against the window, even the creaking noises I myself had made. And this time, she wasn't able to torture me or blackmail me as she pleased. Now, it was all on my terms.
I lowered my head so that my nose touched the heel of Kagura's soles and inhaled. Given that not only did she (like many people) sweat in the summer weather, but also that she consistently wore black flats all day, I was not surprised that her feet smelled rank. It wasn't much better in between her toes either. This much I knew from my earlier humiliation that day. I worked up enough nerve to draw my tongue out from my mouth, and in one quick instant, licked her sole from the tip of her big toe to her heel. I tasted the sweat that had settled in the pores of her soles throughout the day, as well as whatever dirt she collected in her shoe. The big toe on her left foot twitched slightly, followed by a snort, but did not bother me. Moving downward, I put her big toe into my mouth, sucking out the salty sweat that it had collected throughout the day. Almost like sucking on a lollipop, albeit one that was salty and tasted like dirt. After licking off the sweat and also some of her unpainted toenail, I licked in between her toes, cleaning up whatever had been collected in there throughout the whole day, mainly toejam and small crumbs of potato chips.
And out of nowhere, I heard the door slam across the hall. And from there, I had heard loud, heavy footsteps coming towards the door. I quickly hid in the nearest hiding spot possible, which was the tiny wardrobe far away from the futon Kagura slept in. I had feared Gin would come in and that would have made two people to know my little secret. To my relief, however, it was Sadaharu, coming in to sleep with his owner and master Kagura. Well, the good news is that I wouldn't be busted by Gin. The bad news, though, is that Sadaharu had completely settled himself in, so I would not get any more foot action in that night. I figured it would be best to try again another time.
I quietly opened the wardrobe and snuck out of the room, not realizing a hidden camera had been carefully placed on one of the shelves in Kagura's room, catching every moment that played out.