Chapter Eleven - Phones

"Why are you on your phone at dinner?" Mom was displeased as per the usual. I had spent years putting together the puzzle of my parents' moods. There were still pieces missing and times when I flat-out guessed wrong, but for the most part they'd become predictable.

"Because I'm an ungrateful cretin who is ill mannered, insolent and possesses an unpleasant temperament." I didn't look up from the screen doing its slow walk back to life. I'd done my chores when I got home, leaving my phone to charge in my room as I did. Even still the battery was only half charged. Whether it was the battery, or the phone was immaterial, the reality was one of the two of them were problem children.

"I-"she seemed taken aback, unsure how to proceed. She looked to my dad for help.

"So long as you're aware," dad muttered, reading the paper while shoveling dinner into his mouth. "Knowledge is power, you know." The obligatory notifications I'd missed scrolled down my screen like electronic messages in a bottle. Twelve missed text messages. I frowned slightly and activated the unnecessarily complex lock screen combination.

"You…" mom was flailing. "…eat your food." Victory was mine once again. Socially experimenting on one's parents wasn't a bad way to spend your time, I decided. I glanced through the messages I'd missed and was surprised to find all but one from Aria.

What ru doing?

RU still asleep?

Cmon K-chan!

Wake up!

RU mad?

I didn't do anything!

Y aren't you answering?

U hate me!

Do u hate me?

OMFG!!! U do hate me!

Please call or text me anytime! I'm dying! Literally!

Honestly, the fact she didn't type the whole word bothered me. My sister abbreviated her texts as well and mocked me for not doing so but it was just as easy and more proper to just spell out the whole word.

Sorry, my phone battery died, and I was out with Emi most of the day. Sorry!!!

I texted her back, ignoring the look of disgust my mom shot my way. I checked my game and noticed two new friend requests: one from EmiIsAGoddessSoWorshipHer1 and the other from TTTanuki9. The game needed to cap the character limit of usernames, I sighed as I approved both requests.

Almost immediately a message flashed across the chat channel at the bottom of the screen from TTTanuki, along with a mail message saying I'd gotten a gift from a friend. I tapped the mail button first and beheld, in all its glory, Astrid's icon. It was almost as if a Goddess had descended from on high to grace my inbox. I closed my eyes in rapture as a choir of angels sang; only to be replaced by the raspy anger of my mom's voice.

"You're still on your phone," she pointed out. What difference does it make? I asked myself. No one's saying anything. I mean, hell, Dad's reading the paper. The only difference between what I'm doing and what he's doing is that my stuff is at least interesting.

"I'm asking Mizuki about the homework due tomorrow," I lied. "One more minute."

"She's asking about the homework, Yoko," My dad muttered, turning the page.

"One more minute," my mom groused, muttering under her breath as she stabbed at dinner.

I thanked Saki profusely for the gift, though I had to admit to a certain amount of curiosity about the name I brushed it aside. She could name herself chunkymcfatstuffs as far as I was concerned. She'd given me Astrid. Most things could be forgiven with that sort of gift. Sure, I was cheap, but not cheap enough to refuse the gift. Under the withering glare of my mother, I hurriedly promised to play with Saki and Emi later and put my phone face down on the table.

"Sorry," I mumbled with no actual remorse. My mom stared at me for a long moment before sighing while my dad simply nodded, making gross "mmm" sounds as he chewed.

"Where were you today?" Aria's disembodied voice asked from the phone. I had finished dinner and doing the dishes and was lying on my bed, legs in the air as I stretched my back and thighs. For some reason, ever since I was a kid, I'd found the position of lying flat on my back with my legs pointing skyward terribly relaxing. It was like all the stress from the day collected in my toes and by pointing them skyward the stress would drain away. I wiggled my toes and the tension slipped away.

"Sorry about that," I sighed, my relaxation level skyrocketing. "My stupid phone was dead, and Emi kidnapped me."

"I'm jealous," Aria huffed. "I wanted to do something with you today, but I guess Emi's more important.

"She's not more important but I have known her longer," I pointed out, a grin spreading across my face. Strangely enough it actually kind of felt good to have someone be jealous. Provided, of course, the jealousy didn't end with them sending me a severed head in the mail or something.

"You are a cruel, cold woman."

"You're only realizing this, now?" I quipped. Unfortunately, I couldn't exactly say she was wrong. My sister pointed out to me many times that I was cruel. I didn't see myself as cruel but more as a realist.

"By the way," Aria said without segue," I dreamt of you last night." A vision of Aria's finger slipping into me from my self-love session the night before sprang to my mind and I blushed. My head swam with the remembered feelings and I grew moist, my throat contracting in the process.

"You did?" I squeaked. "What about?"

"Do you really want me to tell you?" She purred. I nodded dumbly before realizing she couldn't hear a nod.

"S-Sure," I managed.

"Hmmm, maybe I'll tell you tomorrow," I could sense the grin spread across her face.

"What if I die in my sleep or get hit by Truck Kun on the way to school tomorrow?" I pouted.

"Then you'll just have to haunt me to get closure, I guess. Besides, this will give you motivation to not die, right?"

"And I'm the cruel one?" I snorted.

"I'm learning!" She giggled, the sound tinkling across the distance.

When was the first time I masturbated? I thought after we'd hung up as I lay in bed in the dark. My fingers slipped beneath the fabric of my panties and through the neatly trimmed pubic hair at the apex of my thighs. My index finger slipped over my hardening clit and my body jolted as if I'd touched a live wire. Ah, yes, I thought, that had been the start of things.

I had been 8 and had accidentally touched myself several times and realized it felt really good but hadn't pursued the matter further. That fateful day I had been taking a bath and was admonished by my mother through the bathroom door to clean myself well since I was going on an audition later that day. I recall grumbling angrily while cleaning myself. I hated auditions. I hated acting placid and demure. The clothes were of no interest to me, the poses, the lights, the music, the attention; none of it mattered to me in the least. In my pre-adolescent rage, I had begun cleaning my vulva rather forcefully. The cloth brushed against my clit and my whole body jerked in shock.

I was scared, fascinated and excited all at the same time and I continued "washing" myself roughly, the motion caused me to gasp and before I knew it, I had found a new favorite hobby. I slipped my fingers down my slit, dipping the tip inside my tight lips. I was extremely wet and turned on. I closed my eyes and Aria's large breasts, and slender body quickly sprang to mind. I remembered the feel of her hands on my ass cheeks at the party and grew wetter still. My clit twitched as my palm brushed against it tantalizingly causing the muscles in my thighs to jerk spasmodically each time. I imagined my tongue slipping between her full lips and pictured touching her and soon found myself riding the wave of my orgasm as it crashed and roiled through my body.

Eight years, I thought, breathing heavily following my second orgasm. I had been masturbating for half of my life at this point and no matter how good, it had never been like this. I rolled onto my side in exhaustion and sighed. Would I ever get to live out my fantasies? Did it even matter? For now, I was content with my new fantasy lover.

"Good morning, Senpai!" Saki enthused, waving her hand in the air excitedly. I finished putting my shoes in the locker and waved in return. She was impossibly deft as she weaved expertly between the throngs of people crowding in the entryway. I saw her doom before she did and tried my best to warn her but was too late. Emi intercepted her with a surprise attack as she passed the third-year shoe lockers and glomped onto her. Saki was even smaller than Emi, though she probably weighed a bit more, but her extra kilos couldn't counter Emi's momentum. Looking vaguely like two boats locked together after a devastating collision they staggered toward the outer door. I moved quickly to intercept them before disaster struck and was able to steady them before anything tragic happened.

"That was fun!" Emi enthused, disentangling herself from the shell-shocked younger girl. "We totally almost went through the front window Saki-chan!"

"Th-that was dangerous, Senpai!" Saki managed.

"You can't be doing these things to unprepared people, Emi," I scolded, momentarily forgetting my arm was still wrapped around Saki's shoulders protectively.

"Pfft!" Emi waved her hand dismissively. "I've got to be me!"

"Are you ok, Saki-chan?" I glanced down at her to find her wide, almost anime-sized eyes staring into mine.

"Senpai," she whispered dreamily.

"See? You terrified her! She's shaking!" I chastised a thoroughly unimpressed Emi.

"I-it's not f-fear i-"Saki's mouth shut with an audible snap and her face grew red from her chin to her hairline.

"People must always be prepared for the Emi-monster to strike from the shadows like a ninja!" Emi raised her fist triumphantly in the air.

"Sorry about Emi, Saki-chan," I apologized. "She's an idiot." Saki shook her head as if to say an apology wasn't necessary. I let her go and hefted my backpack higher onto my shoulder, shaking my head in wonder as Emi paraded through the crowds like a conquering hero. A moment later Saki followed us into the hall.

"Where's Emi?" Mizuki asked, pulling a chair up to the tables we'd pushed together for lunch. The weather outside had reverted to what I referred to as the "Tottori special". The wind howled off the sea, carrying with it huge droplets of water that didn't quite count as rain but soaked everything with a sticky sheen of salt water. In other words, it was a typical Tottori day in the fall.

"She's getting bread from the cafeteria," I kicked and scowled at Yuto and he slunk backwards like a beaten dog. That's right, I thought, 3-meter distance for you, you wretched cretin. "Which reminds me, why did you ditch me this morning?"

"I didn't ditch you! I left you a message yesterday to let you know I was going into work with my mom to help with the prep work for her party today!" Mizuki sniffed. "It's not my fault you never listen to your messages!" Mizuki's mom worked as a wedding planner part time and her "specialty" was cringy bachelorette parties with weird furry fetish-looking themes. I saw a few of the photos on her website once and wished I could have deleted the site of frolicking, fur-clad people from my memory. I supposed there was a kink for all kinds but yiffing was a bit too extreme for me.

"I…can't disagree," I finally managed, unable to argue.

"Kasumin!" the cry echoed through the classroom as Emi flung herself onto me from behind. Her fingers squeezed my boobs, and I felt my face blush fiercely. "Ooh! You're getting some heft up top there, K-chan!"

"Knock it off!" I protested, trying to shrug out of her grasp. Emi giggled and rushed to her seat, plopping down. "That's sexual harassment, you know!"

"Its fine," Emi waved her hand away, looking behind me and patting the chair settled between her and I.

"It is not fine," I muttered, straightening my sweater while I glared at Yuto who had watched the entire exchange in wide-eyed wonder like the closet pervert he was.

"G-Good afternoon, senpais," a tremulous voice whispered from behind me. Saki had made her class 3 debut, apparently.

"Sit! Sit!" Emi encouraged her, patting the chair once again. Saki moved around from behind me and sat on the indicated chair. Looking at her in the light, she was truly an adorable creature. It took all of my willpower to keep myself from booping her nose.

"Hi!" Mizuki enthused, waving the hand which was not clutching her sandwich in greeting. "I'm Mizuki! This is Yuto!" Yuto waved hesitantly from his seat some distance away from the table.

"H-Hi!" Saki stuttered, her dimples flashing on her round cheeks as she smiled in greeting.

"Oh! Mizuchi!" Emi exclaimed loudly, tearing the package of her bread open and biting into the golden loaf. "We started playing this awesome game! There are these Valkyrie that kill monsters and wear like no clothes while doing it! It's epic!" At least I was relatively sure that's what she said. Her mouth was pretty full, and the words bled together as she spoke.

"I see," Mizuki nodded, plainly not seeing at all. "New game, yes, yes."

"You should play it with us! Kasumin and Saki-chan are playing it, too. We're going to start a clan together and go to war against other clans and take all their women hostage and force them to serve us! There's going to totally be some Hentai Stockton Syndrome going on!"

"That's Stockholm Syndrome and enslaving the populace isn't an option in the game," I corrected her.

"Whaaat?" Emi cried, breadcrumbs puffing from her mouth to land on the desks where she deftly brushed them onto the floor with her sleeves.

"Y-you can't take people hostage, Emi Senpai," Saki said gently, as if trying to lessen the blow of correcting her elder.

"What a gyp!" Emi pouted, taking another big bite of the bread. "Anyway, we're still going to start a clan and take the war to the unwashed masses with our stable of hot and meaty Norse warriors!" If there was one thing Emi had in abundance was enthusiasm. She fumbled around in her pocket and brought her phone out, tapping through several screens before showing the screen showing a broad cartoon Norse warrior carrying a huge sword on her back to Mizuki. "This is Helga! I have no idea what she does, but she is thick AF and carries that huge sword! Impressive, right? Right?" Mizuki bent a bit closer to look at the picture on Emi's screen.

"Mmm, yeah!" Mizuki agreed. "She's…er…thick AF for sure."

"Mizuchi is in! We are so going to rule Thedara!" Emi clenched her fist enthusiastically, shoving the rest of the bread into her mouth. "Beware peasants! We are War Bunnies and we've come for your daughters!"

"I never agreed to this," I pointed out. Emi brushed away my concerns with a wave of her hand.

"War Bunnies…Assemble!" Emi was thoroughly engrossed in whatever dreams of conquest her mind had seized on and couldn't be talked down at this point. I sighed in resignation.

"Ah, what do we have here?" I heard a soft voice from behind me. I turned to find Aria staring at us with a grin on her face. Suddenly she caught sight of Saki sitting next to me and her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "More importantly…who do we have here?"