Angels X Goddesses

The machine beeped as Takeda Tatsuo scanned the goods that were brought onto his counter. He was trying his best but couldn't stop the nervous shaking of his hands.

Diligently, he processed an item at a time and stopped abruptly when he got hold of a pack of beer. His heart skipped a beat when he realized he would need to talk to the customer.

He braced himself. "D-dear cu-customer s-sorry to in—convenience you... but I need your ID." He finished with a barely audible whisper.

"Heh? Say what? My ID? won't need it. I'm a major, mister~"

"S-sorry, it's the house rules." He whispered again.

"You know, mister, I'm a big girl now. No cap. And how would you tell otherwise if you keep staring at your hands, hmm?"

The corner store's employee winced at the audible gulp he made and was about to turn a blind eye to the girl's age until he heard it. The moan. "Look at me, mister." He shivered at the sultry voice.

He leveled his gaze slowly but steadily, hidden behind glasses and long, straight hair. His eyes finally met the schoolgirl's stare after pausing a little too long on her ample chest, which let anyone who dared have a good look at her tan breasts, badly covered by the unbuttoned shirt.

His lungs took in a deep breath as she tantalizingly bit her cherry lip. "Do I look like a minor to you, mister?" The gyaru slowly approached and leaned on the counter, her arms crossed under them. "If you answer correctly, something might happen."

Takeda-san couldn't get a better look. His mouth trembled, failing to find his voice. Sweats began to form on his brows, and ashamed, he went back to the packaging.

"I-It'll cost you 2,000 yen, umm... miss."

The Gal smiled at the appellation. "You are such a cutie, mister." She reached for her wallet in her handbag and halted when an idea struck her. The toothy smile she wore widened, and with a pitiful voice, she acted. "Mister... I don't have any money on me. Can you—"

"Yes! Take them. You don't need to pay."

She was baffled. "... Like seriously?"

"Yeah... I don't mind..."

"You sure? It won't cause you trouble?"

"No... It's on me. So, D-don't worry!"

Mirth flashed in the girl's eyes as she gave a good look at the ticklish middle aged man, whose cheeks were still red from the earlier outburst. "Thank you, mister, but I will feel bad if I accept them just like that... I know! I'll repay you with a treat!"

After making sure there were no other souls inside the convenience store whose lights were pushing against the dark night outside, she took a popsicle in the plastic bag and sat herself on the counter, her bare left thigh showing for him to see.

"Enjoy yourself."

Tatsuo stood rock-hard as she saw the blond, underage girl give slow, sensual licks to the frozen candy. He was mesmerized by her dark eyes, which were intently looking at him, and was not far from buckling on his knees when she slowly lifted her short skirt, revealing a soft white.

The sexual tension shot through the roof when she took the sweating popsicle inside her mouth and titled her head backward before thrusting it in and out. As her hand went back and forth, she would either stick her tongue out for him to see everything or would press her lips against the candy, letting the gargling of her throat feed his mind.

Eventually, the popsicle began to thin, and minutes later, only little bits of ice cream were left on the stick. The girl got up and giggled at the man's dreamy look.

"... Thank you... Truly." He uttered, gratified.

But the girl was not yet finished.

She took what was left of the candy and pushed it against his lips before tenderly sliding the stick against his tongue. She stopped when her pretty fingers kissed his mouth.

"Now you have your treat! I hope you liked the show. Thanks again, mister, and take care!" She grabbed the plastic bag and left the store, but not before giving him a sway of her hips.

Tatsuo gathered himself and looked away from where the girl had sat with the next customer. After serving the old man, he pulled the stick out and gave it a loving look.

He was forty that year, and it was his first French kiss. Kind of.

Three hours later, the first rays of dawn filtered through the glass doors of the store. His shift had ended, but he was forced to wait until eight past thirty before taking off his staff vest.

He wanted to share a piece of his mind with the insensible and carefree youth who replaced him behind the counter but chose not to. Again.

The walk home was peaceful. His body was not tired, and the morning air was sweeter than usual. Was the stick he was rolling against his tongue to blame? It sure didn't bother him, though.

The lanky man's housing was down two streets. He succesfully eluded his mean landlord lady and vanished behind his apartment doors. The place was tiny—barely 100 square feet. not surprising given that he lived in Tokyo on the minimum wage.

The room was dark, despite the sun above. He didn't draw his thick curtains, which were blocking the morning's rays, didn't even switch on the ceiling lamp but went directly to his little baby, his setup, an Alienware Aurora R14 Ryzen.

He sat in his gaming chair, turned on the PC, pulled down his pants, brought the tissue and lube closer, then opened that X file and made himself comfortable when his Waifus's nudes filled the screen.

The session was the best he'd had in a while.

As he sat exhausted with that bittersweet ache, he began to think, as he always does after a good nutting. He thought of everything and nothing: of his life and future prospects, of his parents and friends he didn't have, of women and family.

The surrounding darkness and silence became too heavy, and to forget that he was all alone, he did like many others and went to Twitch to look for that feeling of belonging shared by streamers and their chat.

He was fortunate; his favorite streamer was online—a young woman in her twenties with pink dyed hair. It was Cutyfox, one of the most influential e-girls in Tokyo.

The forty-year-old Otaku put on his headphones and, for the next few hours, forgot about his worries.

This was the life of Takeda Tatsuo.

He would pass most of the day sleeping, drawing, or lazing about on his computer, and when nine came, he would leave the comfort of his room to work his night shift at the convenience store.

The routine would repeat itself day after day. It was as simple as that. House - work - house - work - house and between them were the occasional mom's calls that he still hesitated to pick up at his age.

One might have thought Takeda-san would live this way until the end if it hadn't been for the change that day. He was on Twitch, following one of Cutyfox's Hot Tubs, when he heard her say,

"UwU. So Chat! I have a surprise for you! Sorry, 'Whos_Your_Buddha', but I'm not taking off my top. Geez, you guys act like horny teenagers at times.

"If you remember, two or three months ago I announced that I'd go on a date with one of my loyal Tier 3 viewers, and since then, many of you have been actively subscribing! Thank you for all the love; I really appreciate it! — Hihi! 'Just_A_Man' you are such a perv; ok, another one then. UwU.

"Now, about the date, it was difficult to choose among you all, and I did my best to keep it as random as possible, so if you're not the one, don't hate, kay?

"Ready? I will now reveal the lucky viewer. It's... 'LoveSeeker415'!!! Congratulations to him! Wow, the chat is on fire! I can't read that fast! Well, I'll just message him privately later. Guys, did you forget? Don't hate! Look, I'll give you a treat, so be nice?"

Tatsuo's left hand began to move faster as the cosplaying girl began to stick her wet tongue in a masterful ahegao face, and clapping sounds made themselves heard in the quiet room when she turned around to look for a hair clip that had 'hazardly' fallen in the tub.

With the milk spilled, blood began to go back up to his head, and his eyes widened when he realized who was 'LoveSeeker415'. It was his username, it was him.

He couldn't believe it, and despite replaying the sequence a number of times, he still didn't believe his ears. It was a DM from Cutyfox that he received at his job later in the day that forced him to accept reality.

She was asking where he was living and if Friday night was a good time for the date. The huge simp that Tatsuo was had basically screamed through the electronic keyboard of his smartphone.

[YES!!! FRIDAY IS GOOD TIME!]

[Nice! We will meet up at eight in Akihabara. I hope you are as excited as I am.]

[I'm super excited! I'm one of your biggest fans, Cuty-Chan. You don't know how grateful I am for giving me this opportunity. I will try my best to give you a memorable date!]

[Aw~ Thank you so much, Tatsuo-kun. Now I so badly want Friday to be tomorrow! I'm sure we will have plenty of fun.]

He had chitchatted some more with his idol and cooed when she wished him strength at his nightly job with a cute pic, a selfie of herself only for him. He changed his phone's wallpaper.

When the first rays of the following day—Wednesday— came with more shine to them, he knew the day would be a good one. He just couldn't be bothered, neither by his late coworker nor by his boss's son, who, despite being half his age, had scolded him like a child while giving him names -Lazy, hikikomori, Guang Gun- when he asked for a leave on Friday.

Not even his landlord lady, who had flexed her own son on him while pitying his mother, could dampen his good mood.

After a midday nap, Tatsuo stood in front of his mirror, which reflected a socially awkward man with messy stubble around his mouth and hairs long enough to make him pass as a girl from behind.

"This won't do," he realized. The date was too important for him to go like that. He needed to step up his game. So he went to get himself a haircut.

"What would it be, mate?" asked the barber as he finished with his preparations.

"I want that haircut everyone is having nowadays. The d-drip thing?"

He smiled amiably at his customer's embarrassed eyes. "You probably wanted to say a fade cut. We can do this. And for that stubble? I can trim it into a circle. You good with that? Let's begin then."

The man took his scissors, and as he started cutting the black, dirty hairs, he tried to strike up a conversation. "So who's the date?"

"Huh?"

"Haha, a man will only have a makeover for either a job interview or a woman. I bet on the latter. I guessed right?"

"Y-yeah."

"So, how is she?"

"She... She's... She's like an angel."

"Wow! That good?"

Tatsuo nodded. "I'm not good at expressing myself, but it's like... I don't know... Whenever I see her, it lights up my days. She is sweet, kind, and caring. Her laughter always eases the lines on my face, and sometimes when she talks to... me, I become the most blessed man in this world. Just thinking of meeting her up, hearing her voice, and seeing her beautiful smile is enough to make me happy."

"And you just said you don't know how to express yourself. You love her, right?"

"I... I can't allow myself to feel that way... It'll just hurt later."

"Why? Isn't she having a date with you? You totally have your chances, buddy."

Tatsuo kept quiet, unable to tell the outgoing barber that the date was made possible because he won a lottery. The cut proceeded, and an hour later, he finally got to admire his new look. He sat there speechless, unsure if the person he was seeing was truly him.

"See that man there?" asked the coiffeur, putting one arm around him and pointing to the mirror with the other. "He will go to that date, give the girl the time of her life, and bring her heart back. Understood?"

"I... don't believe... So."

"I said, he will go to that date. Give the girl the time of her life. And bring her heart back. Understood?!"

"... Yes"

"Un.der.stood!?"

"Yes."

"I didn't hear it!"

"YES!"

"That's the spirit, playboy."

Takeda couldn't be more pumped. He left the barbershop and went to buy himself new clothes: a black shirt, a black belt, checkered gray trousers, and black leather shoes. He even bought a gold-tone watch, the cheapest available, at the insistence of the employee who helped him choose. He would have taken a second set of clothes to please the young lady if it weren't for his credit card, which was crying in pain.

The next day, Thursday, he sat in front of his mirror and talked for hours with himself. He did this to learn how to hold someone's gaze and not end up a stuttering mess. He also practiced his manners since the rules had changed with modern times. He wasn't sure if it was still acceptable to pull a chair for a girl or if it was considered rude. You never know with feminism.

Finally, Friday came. Tatsuo wore his new clothes, put on perfume, and straightened his hair. As he saw himself in the mirror, he felt like a functioning member of society. He was about to leave his room when his attention was drawn to his computer screen. He turned around and saw curvy figures staring at him.

"I know... I vowed to only have you in my life, but today I feel like something might happen... a kind of threshold. I need to take this step if I want things to definitely change." He approached them and got on his knees before bending into a dogeza.

"Without you, my beautiful goddesses, I would have already put a rope around my neck. You have done so much to keep my sanity intact and guard me against the madness of this modern society.

"Chuni, Han, you encouraged me to exercise daily and eat healthily. If it weren't for you, I would be an obese man drowning in burgers and instant noodles.

"Lily, you always made sure to kick my ass out of this room at least once every day, and you kicked it again into that convenience store when they looked for an applicant.

"And you, Nana, you always filled this place with life when loneliness gnawed at me. You motivated me to carry on with my drawing, and even if I'm only doing one-shots and doujins right now, I know I will go big one day.

"... Lust, you have been like a second mother to me, but you are still my waifu. If today I'm not wearing last week's pants, it's because of you. Heck! All my pants are clean! And as you can see, my room is spotless.

"Maria... I just don't have the words, and I think I might never find them. Thank you."

He left his prosternation but stayed on his knees. "I know... Lately I've been looking at... real girls when I swore to only look at you, but... you are celestials that I can only admire from below, unreachable and existing in another plane.

"I... I want a f-family of my own, and in this life we won't be able to... Sorry. Cuty-Chan, of course, will not be that second half, but rather a debut. Please understand me."

Tatsuo met their gazes and, for the first time in a while, heard their voices and felt their presences. He smiled at their encouragement and chuckled at the realization. "Maybe I'm already mad... Yeah... mad about each of you."

He got up and left for Akihabara after parting kisses.