Chapter 38: Techniques.
Translated and Edited by: luccayn.
Common Honorifics:
-san: A polite suffix, but not excessively formal.
-kun: A common suffix among friends and younger people.
-chan: A common suffix among people you’re close with, mostly used for feminine nicknames and girls, since it’s cutesy and childlike.
-senpai: A common suffix and noun used to address or refer to one’s older or more senior colleagues in a school, workplace, dojo, or sports club.
“Ugh, why~!”
We’ve been at the karaoke for five hours now. While Saki enthusiastically belted out another song, I sipped on some melon soda, contemplating what to do.
“Well, it’s just a machine giving me a number, is all,” she argued.
It ran deeper than I thought. Apparently, losing a few points despite her best efforts was quite the shock.
“That’s not it,” she said, unprompted.
“Hey, don’t read my mind.”
She looked up, having read my mind as if the most natural thing in the world.
“Akito, you’re not very knowledgeable about singing, right?”
“Pretty much, yeah.”
Three songs in and my vocal chords were spent. So, I decided to just trace to songs she sung before me.
“How can you just perfectly copy something I sang once, score higher than me, and just to add insult to injury, have a wider range?! It just makes me feel like every part of me is denied!”
“Sorry, it’s just your performance was an amazing example. That’s why I scored so high.”
“Don’t just compliment me like that!” She blushed. “I mean, can a woman who’s been thoroughly beaten up still hold her head high?”
Now emotionally unstable, she buried her head in her hands. When she put it that way, I do think I went too far… Plus, she did challenge me many times with her fair share of determination.
“Well, I gained some confidence thanks to you. I still don’t know if I’ll sing well on stage, but the oppressive feeling is gone.”
“Ugh,” her sigh was more of a groan. “Well, that’s a relief. Now, gimme a reward for my hard work.”
“What would you like?”
“Let’s start with…”
“Nope. Don’t even.”
“I didn’t even say anything…”
I should prevent any explicit actions in advance. Especially when we’re out here, in public. Speaking of which, I won the karaoke competition, so I had a reward in tow. But since I didn’t have anything in mind, I just asked her to cover my part of the fees as a prize.
Needless to say, she gave me a “Boring~” in response. It would be troublesome if she expected something strange from me, though. But I digress. Saki’s currently contemplating her reward, so if she decides on something too lewd, I’ll just put a stop to it.
“Well, how about I give you a massage?”
“Wow, that’s normal,” my eyes widened a bit.
“Guess i need to make you reconsider your perception of me…”
Something that simple was no problem.
“Thanks to that vixen, my workload has gone through the roof. My shoulders are stiff because of it, too,” she squeezed as if to show me.
“Well, if it’s just that, I can do as much as you want.”
“Really? No complaints?”
“Sure by me.”
“In that case, let’s not waste a second. Let’s go.”
“Now, let’s get ready.”
“Get ready?”
Upon arriving home, she suddenly started saying some wild things. Was a massage something you had to prepare for?
“I’ll prepare in the loft, so wait a bit.”
“Sure, sure.”
With that, she quickly scampered off up the stairs and into the quaint garret. Meanwhile, I was left idle, so I started to prepare the bath in advance.
“Akito, I’m ready~”
“One moment.”
For something that required preparation, it was over quite quickly. I climbed up to the loft. “Saki, sorry for… the… wait…”
“Mhm. Sorry for making you wait, too. So, shall we begin?”
She lay face down on the futon, her upper body completely bare but with what mattered being hidden from sight. I balked, looked away, and said, “Please put on some clothes…”
“Nope~! There was no rule about what clothes I should or should not wear during the reward discussion. Besides, it’s quite hot in here, and I want a thorough massage. There’s no other way.”
Loyal to her desires, as always… Honestly, I just wanted to slap myself for thinking her request would be easy for a second.
“C’mon, do it quickly.”
“No, it’s impossible! At least put on some underwear!”
“Fine, fine.”
“Huh?”
She accepted my complaints a bit too easily, only for me to hear clothes ruffling from behind.
“Look. I did as you asked.”
I turned around. She wasn’t lying, per se, but whatever she wore barely covered anything. Wait, did she just pull a door-in-the-face¹ on me?! What the hell?! And I fell for it like some little duckie!
“…Can you just put more clothes on?” I pleaded.
“Nope! I did what you asked me to do, and I just can’t do any more. Now, don’t keep me waiting.”
“Ugh…”
Cursing myself for falling for her tricks again, I complied.
“…Any specific requests?”
“I’d like you to focus on my shoulders.”
“Gotcha.”
Then, I finally laid my eyes on her pristine, silky skin. She was so beautiful, that I hesitated to lay a finger on her for a moment.
“Start~ Already~!”
“I know, I know.”
Pulling through, I touched her shoulder. Then, I put some strength into it.
“Mm,” she voiced.
“Let me know if it hurts.”
“Mm, ‘kay. Ooh~ A little more on the neck, mm, please. Can you do that?”
“Here?”
“Ahn. There, there~”
I rubbed wherever on her shoulder she wanted me to. The fact she seemed to feel good made it worthwhile to me.
“Ah~♡ There, there~♡ Don’t stop~♡”
“…”
“Ah, ah, that’s good! Akito is attacking all of my nice spots~♡”
“…”
“Oh~ no~! I can’t take it anymore~♡”
“Hey, Saki.”
“What~?”
“Can you tone your voice down? Just a bit.” I just couldn’t concentrate on this massage, her trying hard to m*an and all. It was just too much for my little heart.
“Sa-Saying something like that, Ah~! Akito’s a-attack is, uh~, t-too precise, and, um, it makes my voice, ah~! Come out~♡”
It all felt awkward due to her, um, noises, paired with me touching her skin. Too awkward.
“…You’re not doing this on purpose, are you?” She was Saki after all. This could be her idea, 100%.
“I didn’t, ah~♡! I didn’t do it on purpose!”
Judging by her appearance, it seemed I was doing a good job. She looked comfortable.
“W-Where did you learn this technique?”
“Ah, I used to do this on Mikiko-san.”
“Huh?!”
She suddenly raised her voice and I freaked out. She told me to keep going though, not raising herself from where she lay. And I began to explain.
“Mikiko-san had demanded this of me about twice a week.”
“Oh?”
“I was grateful for her being my mother, so I studied a lot to provide some comfort.”
“…”
Come to think of it, Mikiko — who always complained to me about every little thing — used to be quiet during these massages. I wonder why.
“So you learned massage techniques to please that old, annoying witch?”
“Hmm? Well, yeah.”
“Hmph.”
“Saki?”
It seemed she got upset. She even stopped making some noises despite my constant massage.
“Akito…” About five minutes later, she spoke up.
“Hmm?”
And then, she turned to me.
“From now on, only give these massages to me. Ugh, just talking about that woman turns me off… Hey, are we having a serious conversation here or what?”
She had turned to me in her underwear — if it could be called that. However, she’d been lying face down for a while, so things had inevitably shifted. In other words…
“I can see it!”
“Wha?!” She blushed for a moment due to the embarrassing situation. “No, just look at it! Look!”
“Stop playing with me!”
And so, Saki’s massage came to an end, and I felt tired as a runner who just finished a marathon. I just hoped for another day off tomorrow.
1 — The door-in-the-face technique is a compliance method commonly studied in social psychology. The persuader attempts to convince the respondent to comply by making a large request that the respondent will most likely turn down, much like a metaphorical slamming of a door in the persuader’s face. The respondent is then more likely to agree to a second, more reasonable request, than if that same request is made in isolation. (Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Door-in-the-face_technique)
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