The Problems With Prototypes

Otimtim\'s, twenty minutes later...

\"Sugoi! They\'re all so beautiful!!\"

The four teenage Sexaroids dispatched from the Tower to start up new lives with Satomi and Tariko stand in line of review between the counter and the main doors, patiently awaiting the first orders from their new co-owner. They are dressed in slacks and button shirts, all specially tailored to hide their true body shape -- especially their crotch -- from outside attention. They also have name tags buttoned on their shirts, they bearing both their given name and a fake family name to help with their disguise whenever they needed to travel around incognito. Satomi stands in front of them, giving them a careful look over to see if anything might be wrong with these four synthetic teenagers before she put them to work. Behihe che counter, Rui gazes admiringly at the newcomers, her mind already producing tons of images as her libido and her imagination start to run wild concerning what might be lurking under the Sexaroids\' clothing.

Rei -- known in the general public as Ayanami Rei -- stands at Satomi\'s eye level. Quite slender, she is blessed with shaggy electic blue hair cut off at the base of her chin, bangs covering her forehead, ears and parts of her cheeks. Her eyes are a burning shade of chestnut which would appear to be crimson from a distance. She had a cool, calm, quiet demeanour, her voice soft and seductive. No doubt, she was meant to serve as an emotional rock for her organic lover to cling on to when trouble loomed on the horizon.

Asuka -- also known as Asuka Langley -- is the total opposite of her beloved sister. The same height as Rei, she is blessed with mixed Caucasian-Oriental features, bright blue eyes and flaming red-gold hair styled in twin high ponytails that stretched to the base of her shoulder blades. Her voice is flecked with a faint German accent; she was no doubt designed with a buyer who\'d prefer a more racially \"exotic\" lover. Her attitude immediately reminded Satomi of Tendou Akane; Asuka was the best and she damned hell KNEW it!

Maya -- Ibuki Maya to those who don\'t know the truth about her -- is an older-looking woman, appearing to be Satomi\'s age. She had been purpose-built by Akagi Ritsuko as a part-time personal laboratory assistant. She is well-versed in computers and all the equipment that was used to create her kind of android. Part of her task here would be to serve as a front-line \"medic\" in case her sisters required help. She is a tomboyish woman with brown eyes and dark brown hair centre-parted and cut square at the neck. Of all four, Satomi realizes that Maya would most likely be recognized or at least suspected to be a hermaphroite by her customers. *Best keep this one close at hand.*

Hikari -- in public, she went by Horaki Hikari -- is a traditional Japanese housewife in the making. The same physical age as Rei and Asuka, Hikari is a girl with freckles dotting her face under her wide brown eyes. Her hair, also brown, is centre-parted like Maya\'s, yet grown out to be tied in flowing side pigtails that reached past the tops of her shoulder blades. She had already been well programmed in various cooking and housekeeping chores before being sent to Otimtim\'s, requiring little in the way of upgrades before leaving the Tower.

\"That they are, Rui-chan,\" Satomi nods pleasantly. \"Okay, we\'ll do it this way. Maya-chan, you\'ll be at the cashier and help me behind the counter. Hikari-chan, I\'ll want you in the kitchen as often as possible, but if you\'re needed out here on the floor, you\'ll be brought out to serve as a waitress. Rei-chan, Asuka-chan, you\'ll both work as floor staff with Rui-chan. Okay?\"

\"Hai!!\" the four Sexaroids chant as one.

\"Alright, then,\" Satomi sighs. \"There\'s one basic house-rule here if Tariko didn\'t tell you this already: there is NO SEX allowed in this restaurant. I don\'t mind kissing and a little fondling, but if you see clothes starting to come off or people reaching into skirts and pants to get at their lover\'s pussies, tell me right away and I\'ll come deal with it. Any problems with that, girls?\"

The newcomers exchange looks, then one holds up a hand. \"Well...\"

\"What is it, Maya-chan?\"

\"Well, instead of being so firm about it, Satomi-sama, why can\'t we just escort them to another part of this building to allow them to express themselves in a more private setting?\" Maya muses. \"I don\'t like the idea of treating people roughly just because they get horny.\"

\"Maya, Satomi-sama is our owner now,\" Rei closes her eyes. \"We must obey her instructions.\"

\"But still...\"

Satomi chuckles. \"Relax, Maya-chan. I know you girls don\'t want to hurt anyone. That says a lot about you all. At the same time, there are a few love hotels within five minutes\' walk of here. The owners of those places have helped me a lot while I\'ve been running this place. My \'no sex\' rule is meant as a way of paying them back for their kindness. Like I said, let me handle situations like that. Okay?\"

\"Hai!\" the four android teens chime as one.

\"Um...\"

\"Hikari-chan?\"

The freckled girl takes a deep breath. \"When can we have sex with each other, Satomi-sama?\"

Satomi blinks. \"Eh?!\"

\"Gomen nasai,\" Maya flusters. \"It should\'ve been explained more fully to you, Satomi-sama. You see, we need to engage in sexual intercourse at least once a day. It\'s meant to help us keep our emotional needs fulfilled. If we don\'t...\"

\"We start to get really depressed or cranky,\" Asuka finishes.

The owner of Otimtim\'s takes that in, then chuckles. \"Damn! It\'s no wonder they call you girls \'Sexaroids!\'\" she covers her mouth politely, then she takes a breath before nodding. \"Alright, here\'s what we\'ll do. I want you girls to make love to each other two times a day. Once in the morning after you wake up, then once in the evening after we close for the night and before you go to bed. Okay?\"

\"Hai!!\" the four android teens nod.

\"Alright, then!\" Satomi nods, pointing to the door leading to the upper floors. \"Get upstairs and get your things moved into the rooms I set aside for you, then I want you back down here by four o\'clock sharp so we can open up for the afternoon and evening crowd. If you girls do feel the need to answer the call of Sappho before coming down here to work, handle it as quick as you can, okay?!\"

\"Hai!!\" they chant again.

Rui watches them race off, a delighted leer crossing her face, then she jolts on seeing Satomi gaze knowingly at her. \"A-ah!!\" the younger woman straightens herself, flustering embarrassingly, then she jolts on hearing a chuckle escape her employer. \"Eh?\"

\"Which one?\"

\"Eh?!\"

\"Which one?\" Satomi nods to the doorway.

Rui blinks, then flusters. \"Maya...\"

\"Go to it, then.\"

The younger woman\'s jaw hits the counter top. \"Huh?!!\"

\"Go upstairs and have fun! You\'ve got needs, Rui-chan!!\" Satomi waves upstairs. \"Go on!\"

Stunned that Satomi was willing to let her do THAT with one of the new android helpers, Rui stutters for a moment, then braces herself. \"H-h-HAI!!!\" she snaps, then makes a beeline for the upper floors, the door clattering shut behind her.

Satomi watches her go, then chuckles. \"Some people...\"

* * *

Osaka, Shin-oosaka JR station, later...

\"We can take this train, Mom. There are no stops between here and Kokura.\"

Yui scans the schedule mounted on the wall to see what Shinji has in mind, then nods. \"Alright. Let\'s go get the tickets.\"

The Ikaris quickly get in the queue. Having missed the last Shinkansen that could\'ve connected them directly to stops in Kyuushuu, Yui and Shinji had been forced to take one of the direct Tokyo-Shin-oosaka trains, then switch over to another train for the Shin-oosaka-Kokura part of their journey. Gazing at the crowd around them, Yui smiles on seeing younger girls giving Shinji very appraising looks. The younger Ikari wears a stylish button blouse and designer slacks, a pullover sweater slung cape-like over her shoulders. Even more, Shinji had tied her hair in a ponytail with a silk ribbon. Result: one very devastatingly sexy android teenager. *Maybe I should\'ve insisted on making Shichanchan a fully-female android, especially with the way some of these girls are looking at her,* the scientist muses to herself. Even with her more \"mannish\" clothing, Shinji could be easily mistaken for a full-form female. If people found out the truth, however...

\"Oba-chan?! Shinji-chan?! Is that you?!\"

Yui and Shinji spin around to see a beauiful, waifish girl the latter\'s physical \"age\" in a billowing white sleeveless dress gazing wide-eyed at them from nearby. \"Mana-chan?!!\" Shinji exclaims, then seeing the other girl grin, throws open her arms as Kirishima Mana gives her a warm glomp, the impact nearly knocking off Mana\'s wide-brimmed white hat from her forehead. \"What are you doing here?!\"

\"To see you, silly!!\" Mana chuckles, giving her old lover a playful bat on the nose with her finger, then she leans up to whisper in Shinji\'s ear, \"Mou! What are you doing letting strange girls make off with your activation key, Shinji-chan?!\"

Shinji jolts, then stares wide-eyed at her former beta tester. \"How\'d you know?!\"

Mana shrugs, wrapping one of her arms around Shinji\'s. \"Mom called Misato-san. She told her what happened. Lucky for me, you had to change trains here in Osaka, so I could come see you and make sure you don\'t get into even more trouble!\"

\"Ah, r-right!\" Shinji chuckles.

\"Do you want to come with us, Mana-chan?\" Yui wonders.We\'We\'re going to Kokura for the night, then we\'ll be heading back to Tokyo.\"

\"Sure!\" Mana, who lived in nearby Kyoto, perks, then nods.

Taking a quick chance to glance around them, Yui is quick to notice the many knowing smiles crossing the faces of those who had seen Mana and Shinji reunite. Such a change from the days before the Virus, when even a simple hug and kiss was seen as too expressive for the citizens of a nation where the preservation of *wa* -- social harmony -- was an overwhelming concern regardless of personal social status. And it was a welcome change in Yui\'s eyes. Trying to maintain the social \"status quo\" at all costs, regardless of the emotional hell some had been put through because of that, was one sure-fire recipe to lead a nation into endemic stagnation. Regardless of the total dearth of men, regardless of people now having sex drives that just didn\'t know the word \"quit,\" the Virus\' coming had done Japan a lot of good.

As the queue advances to the ticket counters, a young woman on rollerblaskatskates up, a collection box in hand. \"Sumimasen,\" she stops beside Yui. \"Would you please contribute to the Kansai Special District Relief Fund?\" she holds up her box.

Yui slips in a 10,000 yen note, Shinji and Mana giving her 5,000 yen each. \"Arigatou gozaimasu,\" the girl bows, then skates off.

Yui watches her. \"Women of a Special District\" was the term used in lieu of a word many were still loathe to mention in public: burakumin. They, descendants of those who performed the \"dirty\" trades in Tokugawa days, were only now starting to merge with their mother society. Spearheaded by a drive to \"share the wealth\" which came as an outgrowth of the Virus\' enhancement of a woman\'s motherly qualities, the Special District Relief Funds helped finance an effort to ensure the living standards of burakumin would be on par with the national average. It was a plan rocked with controversy. The eldest of Japan\'s women, who had been restored to the full vitality of health by the Virus just like everyone else, still held onto their prejudices despite the fact that they could as easily be attracted to a pretty woman with burakumin ancestry as they could to anyone else. And burakumin weren\'t the only \"special\" beneficiaries the Virus\' coming had aided. There was now a concerted drive to do everything possible to preserve the culture and language of Japan\'s \"first people,\" the Ainu.

Most of all, a heady spirit of reconcilliation had descent on relations between the peoples of Japan and the United Democratic Republic of Korea. Koreans born in Japan, descendants of slave laborers brought over during the 1910-45 occupation, had been granted their full civil rights ten years ago. The Korean language was mandatory study in junior high and high school. Japanese students happily took the hydrofoils from Shimonoseki, Kitakyuushuu and Fukuoka to Pusan, Ulsan and Kwang\'yang on \"truth-finding tours,\" trips that -- though filled with lots of orgies; girls being girls, of course! -- also helped the visitors learn about their own history from an outsider\'s perspective, not to mention practice their language skills when they were in fragrante delicto with a lovely Korean lass.

Cheju-do, the tropical island off Korea\'s southwest coast, was as much a popular destination for Japanese tourists as for Koreans; natives of the of of the Morning Calm reciprocated by travelling to Okinawa and its neighbouring islands. Even more, Cheju-do\'s famed \"sea women,\" experienced divers who scraped the seafloor close to their island for shellfish and the like, were teaching a new generation their timeless trade who hailed from both Korea AND Japan. The body of water separating Korea from Japan now had the name \"East Sea\" (Tonghae in Korean, Tookai in Japanese) in lieu of \"Sea of Japan.\" The Liancourt Rocks (Tok-do in Korean, Take-shima in Japanese) were now affirmed as belonging to Korea, though the lighthouse there was jointly manned by the U.D.K. Coast Guard and the Maritime Safety Agency to ensure fishing fleets from both nations didn\'t suffer a bad accident. Korea\'s many \"comfort women,\" sexual slaves to the Imperial Army before 1945 -- they having more than enough reasons to hate anything Japanese! -- had been properly and fully compensated by the government for the hideous abuses heaped on them in the past. Even the Empress herself these days revelled in having ancestors from Korea\'s ancient Paekje Kingdom.

\"Shinji-chan?\"

\"Hai, Mom, what is it?\" Shinji gazes on Yui.

\"Did Moroboshi-san tell you where else she was going on her business trip?\"

\"Eh?!\" Mana\'s eyes go wide, then she looks nowhere irticrticular. \"Moroboshi...?\" she whispers as the name comes to her, then she spins on Yui. \"You mean...?\" her voice floods with excitement, she gripping Shinji\'s arm tightly. \"Moroboshi Tariko?! THAT Moroboshi?!\"

\"Hai, the very same!\" Yui chuckles.

Shinji laughs embarrassingly. \"Well, Ta-chan said she\'d be going to Fukuoka, then across to Pusan.\"

Mana perks. \"\'Ta-chan?!\'\" her voice rises ominously, making Shinji balk as panic surging through, th, then the android teen finds her head shifted so she cothenthen gaze into Mana\'s eyes. \"Was it good?\" the latter leers knowingly.

\"Ah...! Ha...! H-hai, it was...\" Shinji stutters before she is swamped by a kiss from her old tester.

\"Good! I want to meet her,\" Mana declares as her free hand slips into her pocket to gently wrap around a black key...

* * *

Nerima...

\"You girls fully moved in?\"

Rei and Asuka look up from their beds, surprising Satomi with misty eyes. \"Eh?!\" the owner of Otimtim\'s walks in to kneel between the two android teens, automatically squeezing their hands in comfort. \"What\'s wrong?! You girls alright?!\"

Asuka sniffs, then wipes her eyes. \"Gomen nasai, Satomi-sama,\" she sniffs again. \"We didn\'t mean to distress you, but...\"

\"It just dawned on us that this is the first time we\'ve engaged in an exercise without our other lover,\" fin finishes.

\"\'Other lover\'...?\" Satomi blinks, then stares at the picture on the nightstand dividing the two Sexaroids\' beds. Rei and Asuka with a tomboyish girl their age, possessing dark brown hair wrapped in a thick French braid and eyes the same shade as Asuka\'s. Taking the picture in hand to examine it more closely, the silver-haired woman then asks, \"Another Sexaroid?\"

\"The prototype of our particular model,\" Rei sighs. \"Her name is Shinji. Ikari Shinji as she\'d be called in public. Her \'mother,\' so to speak, is Ikari Yui, one of the chief scientists in the project that created us all. She...\" she pauses, squeezing her eyes shut.

\"Everything we\'ve done in pairs or group work, we\'ve always done it with Shinji-chan,\" Asuka explains. \"Even when we went out into the public with a beta tester in a one-on-one situation, we\'d always go back to the lab and there she\'d be.\"

\"Every time she deactivated me, she always said, \'I love you, Rei-chan.\'\"

\"Me, too...\"

Sensing them both about to break down and cry, Satomi gazes at them, then sighs. \"C\'mon,\" she rises.

\"Eh?!\" the Sexaroids gazes curiously at her.

\"Come with me.\"

A pause, then both chime, \"Hai!\"

They follow their new co-owner into Satomi\'s and Tariko\'s own bedroom, which came equipped with a small recreation space. A side door led into a bathroom with all the amenities one could ask for, including a jacuzzi unit that was just as good as aditaditional furo. Satomi beckons Rei and Asuka to sit on a couch, then once the Sexaroids appear comfortable, reaches for her shirt. The two android teens watch wide-eyed as their owner strips down for them, revealling a very perky body with C-cup breasts and a trimmed patch of dark silver-grey hair over her womanhood. Satomi then gives them a suggestive look, one Rei and Asuka had seen too many times with their previous beta testers, not to mention their own sisters. With the fullfully coriographed moves one might expect of professional strippers, both Sexaroids slip off their clothes, then move to recline themselves against their owner, their now-erect cocks lying on Satomi\'s thighs. Quickly realizing what sort of fun Rui must now be having with Maya -- and most likely Hikari as well -- the owner of Otimtim\'s gently draws her arms around her android charges. \"You both want to make love to me, don\'t you?\" she gently shifts their heads to lean against her shoulders.

\"Of course we do, Satomi-sama,\" Rei reaches up to gently run a hand over Satomi\'s breast. \"It is what we are built for and you are our owner now. Please don\'t think of having sex with us as a \'betrayal\' of your relationship with Tariko-sama.\"

\"Tariko-sama told us that we were to give you all the comfort and companionship we could, Satomi-sama,\" Asuka adds, she gently rubbing the coffee shop owner\'s well-toned stomach, her index fr trr tracing Satomi\'s navel. \"And that\'s what we\'ll do, Satomi-sama.\"

\"Are you displeased by our being here, Satomi-sama?\" Rei asks.

Satomi takes a deep breath. \"Okay, first of all, girls, let\'s drop the whole \'Satomi-sama\' bit, PLEASE! Every time I hear someone call me that, it makes my damn skin crawl. Could you girls PLEASE be more informal?!\"

Asuka and Rei blink, then grin. \"Gomen, Sa-chan,\" the former leans up to kiss her owner\'s cheek.

\"We didn\'t realize it bothered you this much, Satomi,\" the latter replicates her sister\'s action on Satomi\'s other cheek.

\"That\'s better,\" Satomi chuckles. \"And no, girls, I\'m not the least bit displeased by your being here. It sure as heck took me by surprise that a company like Genome would trust someone like ME with androids like yourself, regardless of how Tariko factored into your creation. But I\'m not bothered by it at all. As a matter of fact, I\'m very happy that you\'re here. Business at Otimtim\'s has been picking up a lot since I took over running this place from Oji-chanfriefriends, so I can use the help. And...\" she pauses, then gives her android companions a warm squeeze with her arms, \"...yes, I will want to have a few good romps in the hay with you girls in due time, okay?!\"

\"Okay!\" Asuka grins.

\"Still...\"

\"What is it, Rei-chan?\" Satomi gazes on the blue-haired teen.

\"I can sense that your level of arousal at our presence is a lot less than what a normal girl\'s would be,\" Rei gazes on Satomi\'s pubic hair, quick to detect the dryness in those dark strands. \"Is this because of your friendship with Morisato Ryuunosuke, Satomi?\"

\"You mean, am I used to having naked herms press their love sticks against my body because I\'ve have loads of fun with Ryuunosuke-chan beforehand?\" Satomi chuckles, then nods. \"Yes, Rei-chan, I\'ve made love to Ryuunosuke-chan a few times in the past. Mostly, those times\'ve happened whenever Tariko\'s been off on her longer trips overseas and Ryuunosuke-chan was particularly pissed off at her old fiancee for screwing around with other girls behind her back. But...\" an amused smile then crosses her face, \"...I think that now that Ryuunosuke-chan\'s together with Lum-chan and Miyaki Shinobu is now well into my friend\'s past, things\'ll go very well for her from now on.\"

\"I\'d love to meet Lum-,\" ,\" Rei muses, then blinks. \"Do you think she\'ll like those like Asuka and I, Satomi?\"

\"Probably,\" Satomi shrugs. \"They\'ve probably got androids on her home planet since they are advanced enough to send warp-capable starships all the way here to Earth.\" She pauses as something comes to her, then holds up a finger in emphasis. \"Also, whenever Ryuunosuke-chan and Lum-chan come to visit, not to mention their friends, Ran-chan and Benten-chan, you\'re to treat them ESPECIALLY nice, girls. They sacrificed a lot when they came here, allowing themselves to be infected by the Virus and all that. Chances are, they\'ll be here for quite some time to come. So I want them all to feel as comfortable as possible whenever they come to visit the shop, alright?\"

\"Hai!\" both Sexar rea readily nod.

Silence falls as they remain where they are, enjoying the warmth of each person\'s body pressed against another\'s, then Satomi turns to gently kiss Rei\'s forehead. \"You girls really miss Shinji-chan, don\'t you?\" she whispers.

Hearing their beloved sister\'s name, both Sexaroids tense, then nod. \"Hai,\" Asuka closes her eyes, slowly breathing out.

\"I feel as if elements of my basic programming have been torn out of my mind, leaving nothing behind to replace them,\" Rei admits.

\"Just because Shinji-chan isn\'t here with you girls now doesn\'t mean that she loves you any less, you know.\"

Both younger women gaze on their owner. \"You sure?\" Asuka sniffs.

\"Hai, I\'m more than sure,\" Satomi nods, then takes a deep breath. \"Let me tell you a little story, okay...

\"I was pretty much orphaned before the Virus hit,\" the owner of Otimtim\'s gazes on the ceiling. \"I wasn\'t even a year old when my dad was killed and my mother disappeared. My uncle, Kurokawa Juuichirou, adopted me at the time. Then the Virus hit. Oji-chan died soon enough and I was sent off to an orphanage. There, I met two other Virus orphans, Fujinami Ryuunosuke and Moroboshi Tariko. We became inseparable for the next two years. We played together, slept together, ate together, went to nursery school together...! We did EVERYTHING together, girls. The people running the orphanage at the time claimed that one would need a bomb to try to separate us. Then...\"

\"Ryuunosuke-san and Tariko-chan were adopted and you were forced to stay behind,\" Asuka notes.

\"Hai,\" Satomi nods. \"Because my mother had disappeared and there was no death certificate issued for her -- it was still way too soon for the laws at the time to officially acknowledge her as \'deceased\' -- no one could adopt me like Ryuunosuke-chan\'s mother did, much less make me her ward like Haruka-obachan did with Tariko. And it hurt me when they were taken away, girls. It hurt me a lot. There were times that I locked myself in my room, hugging my teddy bear while I cried. I missed them THAT much. I felt at the time that my whole life had come to an end. What was the fun of doing anything then when I couldn\'t do it with Tariko and Ryuunosuke-chan? Then...\"

\"What?\" Rei prompts.

\"Then Tariko started to visit me as much as she could, even when she started to go to private school with Ryooko-chan. Being Haruka-obachan\'s ward gave her the ability to visit me as often as she could. I later found out that Tariko had asked Oba-chan to get her people to try to learn what happened to my mother. If Mom was confirmed as dead, then Haruka-obachan could\'ve adopted me as her ward as well and Tariko and I would be together again. But until Mom\'s fate could be confirmed either which way, I had to stay at the orphanage.\"

\"What did happen to your mom, Sa-chan?\" Asuka asks.

\"She suffered near-total amnesia because of the car wreck that killed my dad,\" Satomi closes her eyes. \"Oba-chan\'s people finally traced her down to a Yakuza group operating in Sendai. She\'d pretty much become the family slut when all the wiseguys started to die out and the dragon women took over running their group. Mom\'s...\" a faint shudder races through her, one the Sexaroids are quick to detect. \"She\'s being cared for now in a mental health home. Oba-chan made all the arrangements. But the doctors\'ve all said that it might be impossible for Mom to ever recover her memories from before the accident. I...\" she lowers her head. \"I don\'t visit her now. It\'s not because I hate her in any way, of course. But it\'s pretty hard for me to go visit someone who\'s completely forgotten that she gave birth to me.\"

\"I guess it would be,\" Rei sympathetically nods, wrapping her arms around Satomi\'s waist.

\"Yeah,\" Satomi breathes out. \"Well, when I turned fourteen, Oba-chan arranged for me to take over control of Otimtim\'s. Oji-chan willed it to me before he died. That\'s when Tariko was starting up with Love Destiny Enterprises. We came back together again and we\'ve pretty much stayed together since. So...\" she gazes on Rei, then Asuka. \"I want you girls to remember this. Just because you\'re now separated from Shinji-chan doesn\'t mean you\'ll never see her again. She\'s still at the Tower. And I bet that deep down, she\'s happy that both of you, not to mention Maya-chan and Hikari-chan, are going to be spending time doing what you were built to do among the general public. I\'m sure Tariko\'s probably thought about this, too. When she comes back, I\'ll talk to her, then we\'ll go to your creators at Genome and see if we can arrange for Shinji-chan to come here to be with you. Sounds okay?\" she gazes on her charges.

\"Hai!!\" both Sexaroids chime, impish smiles crossing her face.

The three then perk on hearing a door chime echo from below. \"Oh, damn, that must be Miho!\" Satomi slides out from between Asuka and Rei, then moves to slip on an opaque housecoat that just goes to mid-thigh. \"Get yourselves dressed before you come down, okay, girls?\"

\"Who\'s Miho, Sa-chan?!\" Asuka asks.

\"Daughter of the owner of a flower shop a block from here. She brings in the flowers to decorate my place.\"

Both Sexaroids nod understandingly as Satomi ties her housecoat down, then slips on a pair of sandals before heading back into Otimtim\'s. Waiting by the counter now is a girl the coffee shop owner\'s age, though shorter and somewhat less developed in the bustline than Satomi. With brown eyes that matched the shade of Tariko\'s own orbs, Suzuki Miho has long, curly pink-platinum hair she ties in two buns over her ears. She also often wears a decorative ribbon around her head with a bow right over her forehead. At present, she is in her usual work clothes: a white-trimmed red button blouse, orange thigh-length skirt with an apron draped over her. Beside her is a small push-cart now laiden with a rainbow of beautiful flowers. \"Konnichi wa, Satomi-chan!\" Miho grins. \"How\'s the new girl turning out?\"

\"How\'d you know that, Miho-chan?\" Satomi wonders as she and Miho start unloading the flowers.

\"Kumiko-san and Kozue-san told me about her when they cay afy after they had coffee here. Is it true that girl comes from Animal Mansion over in the east side of the city?\" Miho asks as she places a pot of tulips by one window booth.

\"Hai, it is,\" Satomi puts some marigolds beside another booth. \"Rui-chan\'s got loads of potential, but she still has to get used to not being the block slut anymore. You can probably hear her right now,\" she nods upstairs.

Miho stops, canting her ears to pick up the faint sounds of lovemaking drifting from the second floor. \"Who\'s she with?\"

\"Oh, a couple new girls I hired on to help out here.\"

\"It\'s about time,\" Miho smirks.

Soon enough, the new flowers are all in place. With that, Satomi moves to sit on a stool by the cashier as Miho wheels the push cart outside, then comes back in. \"So I take it that you\'d like your usual form of payment, Miho-chan?\" she grins knowingly.

Miho\'s cheeks cr. r. The young floral shop worker often accepted an hour of very intensive sex with the owner of Otimtim\'s as payment for delivering the flowers and helping set them up. The flowers themselves were paid for when they were ordered through Satomi\'s corporate bank account. \"Gomen ne, Satomi-chan. I\'d love to do it right now, but I\'ve got to get back to the shop right away.\"

\"Oh? Why?\"

\"Ijuuin-san\'s coming by soon to pick up twenty-four long-stemmed pink roses.\"

Satomi perks. Ijuuin Ras tas the elder daughter of the matriarch of one of Japan\'s richest families. Currently, she was a third year high school student at Kirameki High School, a private institution located in Nerima\'s east end. In many ways, the Ijuuins were the equals of the Mendous when it came to political and economic influence. Both Rei and her younger sister Mei were frequent customers at Otimtim\'s. Satomi knew that Rei was currently dating Kirameki\'s most beautiful student, Kagami Mira. Mei, who went to Hibiniko High, a private school in the west end of Toshima-ku close to the border with Nerima, was going steady with schoolmate Minaduki Kotoko. \"Oh, my! I guess things between Rei-san and Mira-san are picking up!\" Satomi chuckles, then blinks on seeing the surprised look cross Miho\'s face. \"What?!\"

\"Didn\'t you hear?!\"

\"Hear what?!\"

\"Ijuuin-san and Kagami-san broke up!\"

Satomi blinks, then sighs. \"Well, that\'s not so surprising, you know...\"

\"I know, I know. But wait until you hear who it is that Ijuuin-san\'s after now!\"

\"Who?!\"

\"Fujisaki Shiori.\"

Silence.

\"SHIORI?!!\" Satomi exclaims, her jaw hitting the floor in disbelief. \"Miho, everyone in all of Tokyo knows that woman\'s no girl\'s land!! Yeah, she\'ll get laid by any girl who wants to do it with her, but she\'s still in mourning over her...\"

\"...childhood friend Takami Naoto, one of the last boys to die because of the Virus,\" Miho finishes. \"Hai, hai, I know! I even warned Ijuuin-san that she doesn\'t stand a virgin\'s chance in Kabuki-chou to get anywhere near to forming a relationship with Shiori-chan!\" The florist then takes a deep breath. \"But she\'s determined to it it more than a one night stand, Satomi-chan. I wish her luck!\"

\"So do I!\" Satomi chuckles, covering her face as the idea of the tall, tomboyish, blonde, brown-eyed Ijuuin Rei actually becoming a girlfriend to the very beautiful, chestnut-eyed, crimson-haired Fujisaki Shiori. \"Geez, next thing you\'ll know is that Kamagishi Akari over at Akimena High School\'s willing to let go of the memory of HER childhood friend Fujita Hiroyuki and go steady with someone!\"

\"Actually...\"

Satomi stops, she giving Miho a wary look. \"Who...?\"

\"Kurusugawa Serika.\"

More silence.

\"No -- fucking -- WAY!!\" Satomi declares.

\"Does FOUR dozen amethyst roses say anything to you about Kurusugawa-san\'s desire, Satomi-chan?\" Miho\'s eyebrow arches.

The owner of Otimtim\'s shakes her head. \"Impossible! Serika coming together with Akari-chan has even LESS chance of happening than Ijuuin Rei coming together with Fujisaki Shiori! There\'s not a time that Akari-chan doesn\'t come in here after getting laid by someone and she\'s on the verge of TEARS because she feels she just betrayed her love to a boy who died when they were only SIX! Even the two times I\'VE done it with Akari-chan\'s resulted in her bawling her eyes out because she promised Hiroyuki-kun she\'d stay loyal to him!!\"

Miho nods. \"Yeah, Shiori-chan was the same way the one time I ate her out. But still...\"

\"What?\"

\"Well, after it happened and we were laying together, Shiori-chan told me that she was haunted by visions of Naoto-kun having become a girl and growing up somewhere where people wouldn\'t have known \'she\' had been born a boy! Weird, huh?!\"

Satomi blinks, then looks nowhere in particular. \"Odd...\"

\"What?\" Miho wonders.

\"The first time I did Akari-chan, she told me the same sort of thing about Hiroyuki-kun.\"

The florist perks. \"That IS peculiar!\" she notes, then notices the time. \"Oh, damn! I gotta go!! Gomen, Satomi-chan!\"

\"Come back after work tonight, Miho-chan!\" Satomi calls out as Miho races off. \"I\'ve got a special treat for you tonight!!\"

\"Hai!!\" the other woman waves...

* * *