Chapter Text
Side story for: My Girlfriend Almost Got Me Killed, so We had Wild Sex
I sat there nursing my drink in Sappoo’s, a maid café, more accurately, lesbian club. Alcohol always makes my mood worse, but it helps deal with what was going to happen next. Which one of the tachi would decide that they would try their luck with the gorgeous, morose femme?
I looked at the drink again. Maybe I should have gotten a tarantula. Couple of those, and I wouldn’t feel any pain.
That is when I looked up and saw a gaggle of underage slummers come in. One of them caught my eye. “Wow,” I thought. “She’s new. Nice, too.”
Suddenly, a voice spoke next to my ear, “Magoko-san, she’s the one. It’s fate. Your fate.”
Looking behind me, I was startled. A girl dressed in out-of-style clubbing clothes stood behind me, staring intently at me. Pain was written across her face. I avoided her eyes and didn’t look down. I already knew she had no feet, and it was dangerous to look into their eyes.
This was the first time the yuurei (ghost) at Sappoo’s had spoken to me. Like most yuurei, she was obsessed with just one thing. In her case, it was finding someone: an ex-lover, a girl she never confessed to, a rival. I would never know who she was searching for.
“What?” She was harmless like most yuurei, just a lost soul, so I felt comfortable asking.
She had lost interest in me, though, and her eyes clouded over as she returned to scanning the room for someone who never came.
I, too, lost interest in her and returned to looking at the newcomer. I wondered if she dyed her hair orange or if she was naturally ginger? She dressed in a simple, classy frock and did her hair in a French braid. Aside from the hair, she didn’t seem to fit in with her companions, a group of precocious college kids led by a nasty piece of work, Tanya-san.
I had let Tanya-san pick me up once. She was terrible in bed, with no interest in anything but her own pleasure. Then she tried to blackmail me into joining her clique by threatening to reveal I was a lesbian. It didn’t work. Everyone knows I’m a lesbian.
At least she didn’t hit me or called me a whore, like Ayaka-san used to.
I sat watching the ginger-haired woman. I was right; she wasn’t one of Tanya-san’s regulars. She was nervous and wary, trying to appear cool. And she didn’t know how to drink. She was downing Singapore Slings way too fast and Tanya-san was making sure she didn’t run dry.
Dear Tanya-san, she had tried that on me too, but I’d had enough problems with alcohol to know better.
I looked down and smiled wryly at my Sake-chan. I shouldn’t even be having that. But I was lonely tonight. A little alcohol made the casual dates easier. I didn’t mind the rough handling some of the tachi gave me after a few of them. Thinking about it made me want another cigarette. I had already smoked one before coming in, but I smoked more when I was nervous.
I didn’t want to lose sight of the woman with the French braid. She was cute, and I liked her right away. I didn’t need a yuurei to tell me she was special. So, I didn’t want to step outside to smoke. Instead, I tried distracting myself by writing haiku in my head.
The best I could come up with was:
Autumn leaves
Cascading waterfall
A girl’s hair
It wasn’t very good, and the craving gnawed at my gut.
I rose to go get my smoke when I heard, “Doomed, poor Magoko-chan.” An icy hand fell on my shoulder.
I considered starting a chant to drive it away, but decided not to. It was trying to help me, one cursed creature trying to help another. I turned instead to ask it whom it was looking for, thinking maybe I could return the favor, but it had already lost interest in me and was drifting off.
I returned my attention to the woman. Tanya-san had moved her chair closer to the woman and was holding one of her hands. I was pleased to note the other woman looked uncomfortable.
There was the move; Tanya-san’s other hand disappeared under the table. Undoubtedly, it now rested on the woman’s leg.
Time to play the Romeo. I wasn’t used to the role, but if I was going to do anything, I needed to do it now. So I walked over to their table and pulled out the chair on the other side of the woman and said, “Excuse me, I know it’s rude to just invite myself, but it looked like you needed a little help. Is she bothering you? I saw her trying to get you drunk.”
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Story by Nara Moore
Twitter/X:@nara_moore
Mastodon: sakurajima.moe
WordPress: Josei Yuri and Paranormal Romance
Art by Mai-sensei
Twitter: @Maiisheree