Destination Wedding (2/6)
Destination Wedding, 2/6
The box of dog collars had sat unopened on Keiko's living room table for almost a full week now. She was flying down to Okinawa in the morning, and her suitcase was packed despite Jack's best efforts to climb in the bag and come along. She sat on her loveseat and stared at the TV, scratching under Jack's chin as he purred contentedly at her side.
It had been a good long while since she'd left Jack behind for so many days in a row. This year her parents and her brother had come up to Tokyo from Kobe for the holiday, so she was being extra affectionate to the kitty in advance of his loneliness. Her neighbor had her spare key and was kind enough to check in on Jack, feed him, clean his litter pan, and pick up her mail while she was gone. But she'd still miss him. He was her constant companion, stretching out at her side while she stayed up later than she should have on her laptop working on Tsubaki.
But now Tsubaki was gone. She'd spent the last few days helping Toma get the new girl on the account up to speed while she packed up her cubicle and moved. She'd gotten bumped down three floors, and she'd be sitting in a smaller, more densely packed cluster of cubes with the other new faces on Puppy Play. Nerima-san already seemed to dislike her because of how quickly Yuriko-san had latched onto her. As the account director, he probably thought he was more deserving of a free trip to Okinawa.
Oh well, she told herself. It was the nature of the business. Sometimes the clients didn't like you, and sometimes your colleagues didn't. Advertising wasn't a business for people with a thin skin.
Yuriko did expect her to be working to some extent on this trip, which Keiko appreciated. She didn't know Yuriko at all, much less any of her friends who'd also be in attendance. The thought of being around a professional dominatrix for an entire week was scary enough - were her friends big on that lifestyle too? Were they all going to be walking around the hotel with whips and chains? Were they going to expect Keiko to do the same?
She chuckled, shaking her head as Jack continued to purr. Stop, Keiko. She had to stop judging what Yuriko did. The woman had put her trust in Keiko to get Puppy Play off the ground and had been generous enough to invite her to Okinawa. The woman's entire existence didn't revolve around her sex life.
She pulled the box off the table finally and opened it, pulling out one of the puppy headbands. "It's cute," she decided, flicking at one of the fuzzy brown ears. Though she supposed the cuteness wasn't the point. Obedience and submission were. She peered over at Jack, who was stretched out, his fluffy tail curled up underneath him in complete contentment. Well, cats were different. Obedience wasn't in their programming.
Keiko put the headband on, digging through the rest of the box. The items were decently made. The collars were a sturdy leather, and even the spikes had been properly adhered to the material. She poked the edge of one, finding it wasn't as sharp as it looked. What would they do for the ads? Would they have to enlist some AV stars to wear the gear for the creative?
It was for couples, Yuriko had said again and again. They'd need men and women both to don the collars, hold the leashes. At least Keiko wouldn't have to be there for any photo shoots. That was for the creative team to accomplish. Keiko's task, on the other hand, was to better understand the people who might use the Puppy Play gear. Though Yuriko expected 99% of her items to be advertised through fetish websites, it was up to Keiko to figure out where others might be reached.
She tried to think of some of her married friends and what they might like to do. Every time she met up with her classmates from back home, it seemed like another one was getting married, having a baby. "What about you, Kitagawa? When are we going to hear about you?" they asked. Keiko slid the headband off, setting it back in the box.
This was going to be the big problem. She wasn't married. She wasn't in a committed relationship and hadn't been in a very long time. What did she know about couples? What did she know about what happened behind closed bedroom doors these days? How could she say "spice things up with some pet gear" without turning people off?
Jack seemed to sense her frustration, hopping off the loveseat and heading for his water dish. Keiko set the box back on the table with a sigh before thinking better of it. What if her neighbor poked around while she was coming by to feed the cat? She picked the box up and carried it to her bedroom closet, shutting the collars and leashes inside.
Instead she grabbed her laptop from the living room and flopped down on her bed. She navigated her way to Mistress Yuri's website. She hadn't taken a real good look yet. Instead of her cheerful smile, Yuriko was smirking seductively in each photo. In one, she was dressed in a corset top and a patent leather miniskirt, a thigh-high boot resting on the middle of a man's back (the man's face was blurred). In another there was simply a close-up of her red-polished and well-manicured fingernails, her hands tightly clutching a riding crop.
Keiko's heartbeat sped up as she clicked through the site, finding a list of "Services" that Mistress Yuri was willing to provide. Bondage and restraint. Spankings. Flogging. Pet Play. Role Play. On and on it went, though Yuriko had been telling the truth. None of it involved sex acts. She merely stated what she would and would not do and listed contact numbers and basic pricing information.
This was the same woman who'd so happily invited Keiko to her wedding, who spoke to her like they were already old friends. She closed her laptop, feeling like a voyeur and trying to ignore the long-dormant urges that seemed to be bubbling up inside. It had been so long, and now she was walking into a lion's den.
--
The taxi had picked him up on time, but it didn't much matter. By the time he got to Haneda it was pouring and his 7:30 flight had just been bumped to noon. He checked his bags anyhow, going through security in a bit of a huff. Sho had expected this, but it still irked him whenever his perfectly planned itinerary fell through. The terminal was full of unhappy passengers, and he made his way to the gate.
He'd been planning to take a bus north from Naha, but even if his plane left at noon he wouldn't get down to Okinawa until about 2:00 PM. And then it would be another hour plus on the bus. He sighed, sitting down in one of the chairs at the gate. The lit up board across from him read "JAL to Naha - delayed, now leaving at 12:00 PM." Things hadn't changed for the better since he'd checked in.
At least he had his laptop bag with him, and he could get started on his work. As the morning continued on, the rain started to let up. But did it affect his flight? Of course not. Flights in the terminal around him that had been scheduled later in the morning set for Osaka and for Sapporo were leaving on time. And still his gate said "delayed, now leaving at 12:00 PM."
Other passengers found their way to his gate, looking just as frustrated as Sho felt as he angrily punched the laptop keys, editing his spreadsheets. It was nearly 11:00 when his cell phone rang. He pulled it out, seeing "Ninomiya Kazunari" on the caller ID. Great. He was already late for his free vacation, and Nino was probably getting anxious about his precious reservation fees.
"Hello?"
A woman answered, a voice Sho didn't recognize. But it was a light, airy voice, as though every word she said was meant to be a joke. "Hello, is this Sakurai-san?"
"Yes, who is this?"
"Hello from Okinawa, this is Yoshitaka!"
Ah, the infamous Yuriko at long last. "Yoshitaka-san, I'm so sorry," he said, trying to keep his voice down to not disturb anyone else waiting at the gate. "I should be there by now, but my flight was delayed because of bad weather."
"Oh, it's no trouble," she said easily. "And we know. We've been on a flight tracker site all morning. Technology is certainly amazing, isn't it?"
"Yeah it is."
She giggled, but it wasn't the charming giggle of a young woman her age. It was a giggle that was laughing at his misfortune. The perfect match for Nino, Sho thought darkly. "Don't worry about a thing. We're going to have Aiba-kun come pick you up in Naha so you're not standing around waiting for a bus."
"Aiba-kun?"
"You didn't even tell him about Aiba-kun?" Yuriko said, obviously talking to Nino. Sho heard muttering on the line, but then Yuriko's voice returned to its normal volume. "Aiba-kun is a darling, and you'll totally recognize him at the terminal when you arrive. He's Aiba Masaki from TV!"
Sho couldn't believe it. Aiba Masaki was a well-known celebrity in Tokyo, a popular TV chef who aspired to be a comedian, telling bad jokes while making mabo tofu for an adoring audience. And the guy was friends with Nino? "Well, thank you. Are you absolutely sure? I don't have a problem taking the bus."
"Oh, Aiba-kun rented a convertible down here. He'll want to show it off, don't worry! So please look for him, okay?"
"Thank you, Yoshitaka-san, I will." That at least took one worry away, having to sit on a bus with all his luggage after his already irritating morning. And he'd get to meet a celebrity.
"Now I need a favor from you, Sakurai-san!" Nino and his fiancee seemed to enjoy asking people for favors.
"Name it."
"I need you to find the most beautiful woman waiting at your gate."
"Huh?" Sho said, looking up, eyes darting around the other rows of seats, mostly angry tourists and old couples in matching Hawaiian shirts impatiently waiting for 12:00 to arrive. "What do you mean?"
Yuriko laughed again. "Because that woman is going to be on your flight to Naha, and you'll have to make sure she finds Aiba-kun too. She's my wedding guest, and I will hold you personally responsible for getting her here, okay?"
"Wait just a moment, what's her name?"
"Well that takes some of the fun away, doesn't it? Remember, Sakurai-san, the most beautiful. Accept no substitutes! See you in Naha, bye bye!"
And with that the line went dead.
--
Keiko had walked up and down the terminal for an hour, but it was no use. She couldn't find one outlet to plug in her phone charger. It was the one thing she'd forgotten to do the night before, and now her phone was dead. She'd had no way to call down to Yuriko and apologize. Her flight was already delayed over four hours, and she couldn't even get in touch. Of course, she could have asked another passenger to borrow their phone but she definitely didn't have the courage to do that. Everybody in the terminal was already walking around like a storm cloud was hovering over their heads. And besides, Yuriko's number was programmed into her phone. She didn't feel like asking someone to visit Mistress Yuri's website on their iPhone to get one of her contact numbers.
She shoved her phone back in her purse and headed for her own gate. It was just after 11:00 so ideally they'd be able to board in half an hour or so. And not a minute too soon. She'd hardly gotten any sleep, and then she'd woken up at 4:00. Maybe she could nap on the plane.
She knew she looked terrible, too. She'd left out a pair of jeans and a blouse to change into to save time in the morning, but she'd woken to the sound of Jack expressing his irritation with her, a fresh hairball on her jeans. That was his way of telling her to have a nice trip without him, the devil cat. She'd opted instead for yoga pants and a soft t-shirt under her jacket. Her hair was back in a loose ponytail, and she'd gone with her glasses instead of contacts. All in all, she looked like a slob, but all that would change once she got to the hotel and switched into one of the outfits packed in her bag. But after four hours in the terminal and another three hours of travel ahead, she kind of wished she'd put in a little more effort.
Everyone at the gate, despite their frustration with the weather and the airline, was dressed like they were on their way to paradise. Businessmen in suits heading down for conventions, a few families in jeans and bright t-shirts. Keiko looked for an empty seat to settle in, pushing her glasses back up her nose. She took a book out of her bag and got ready to wait out the rest of the delay, but it was hard to concentrate because of the man currently walking around the gate area with a confused look on his face.
He was older than her, but not too much, with a round, handsome face and dark hair with fringe angled across his forehead. His best feature was his mouth, full lips set in a distressed and adorable pout. He was in khaki slacks and a trenchcoat, a laptop bag slung over his shoulder as he went from aisle to aisle looking for something or someone. Keiko slid down in her seat, holding her book up. In the terminal full of families and middle-aged businessmen he was the one bright spot, a good-looking guy who was dreadfully lost.
Don't come over here, Keiko thought, the words in her book blurring. Oh please don't come over here.
He kept staring, to the point of rudeness, at most of the women at the gate. Had he lost his wife? His girlfriend? He looked like he wanted to ask a question, but every time he got close he seemed to stop himself, stepping back to look around again. Just what on earth was he doing? But then he turned, caught sight of her, and she hurriedly looked back down at her book.
Great, just great. She could hear him stepping over people's carry-on bags, murmuring apologies in a low voice. There was a woman sitting in the seat beside her, make-up perfect and hair dyed an attractive brown. She was dressed from head to toe in designer clothes, and she was wearing an expensive pair of Christian Louboutin pumps as she tapped away on her phone. Keiko shrank a bit in her seat. Maybe it was some idol girl or something, and Trenchcoat Guy was the hapless manager. He certainly had a manager-type look to him.
She tried to look at her book as the guy finally made it to their aisle. She'd read the same sentence four times when she heard him clear his throat. "Um, excuse me? I'm really sorry to interrupt you."
She looked to her left, waiting for Designer Girl to look up from her phone, only to realize that he wasn't talking to the other girl. He was addressing her.
She looked up, pushing her glasses up her nose one more time. Oh god, oh god, oh god. He was looking right at her. And then he smiled, a kind of shy, toothy smile.
"Are you going to the Ninomiya and Yoshitaka wedding? In Onna?"
Okay, he definitely wasn't an idol manager. She closed her book, slipping the bookmark inside it, trying to keep calm. "Yes I am. And you are?"
He sighed in obvious relief, looking ready to collapse. What was wrong with him? She moved her carry-on bag out of the seat beside her, and he sank into it immediately, setting down his bag. He chuckled to himself quietly before finally speaking again. "I'm Sakurai Sho, a guest of the groom. I just got off the phone with Yoshitaka-san, and she told me to find you."
"Forgive me for trying to hide from you," she apologized quietly, inclining her head. "She did mention that I wouldn't be the only one flying down this morning. I'm Kitagawa Keiko, a guest of the bride."
He smiled at her warmly, despite how silly she probably looked. At the very least, she now had an ally on this trip. But at the very worst, the handsome guy with a very ring-less left hand was now seeing her dressed at her utter laziest. "It's nice to meet you. Yoshitaka-san is aware of our delay, and she's having someone meet us at the airport to drive us to the hotel."
She sent a prayer of gratitude Yuriko-san's way. They were barely acquainted, and she was already looking after Keiko so kindly. And then even more surprising, Sakurai-san explained that they were to be picked up at the airport in a convertible by that celebrity chef, Aiba Masaki. Dentsu had even done a campaign with him earlier in the year for Calphalon pots and pans. And now she was going to be escorted around Okinawa by him.
"I suppose today's the start of one interesting week," she said.
"Let's hope so."
--
To Sho's dismay, he and Kitagawa-san were not seated beside each other on the plane. She was up near the front of the coach section while Nino had stuck Sho in the back next to the bathroom. Every time the door opened he got a fresh whiff of the pungent chemical smell from the toilet inside.
He'd made a complete ass of himself at the gate, stumbling around and staring at all those women. He was surprised nobody had reported him. Yoshitaka-san sure was an interesting person. The most beautiful woman at the gate, though, she'd ordered. And Sho had found her.
There'd been plenty of women there, but he'd been drawn to her as soon as he'd spotted her. She was dressed in what Sho thought of as quasi-Ninomiya chic in her sweats, but she had a small, sweet face even if she hadn't smiled too much and despite not being very tall, she had legs for days. But that didn't much matter, Sho told himself as yet another person exited the plane bathroom, ruining Sho's sense of smell once again.
It didn't matter because this was just a wedding, and he'd probably never see her again.
They hadn't had much time to chat before boarding, but they'd already managed to exchange business cards. That had made Sho's heart beat the slightest bit faster. Someone besides himself who brought business cards along on a leisure trip? He smiled at the thought, pulling out the card from his jacket pocket. Kitagawa Keiko, Strategic Planning. Dentsu. The dominant advertising agency in Japan. Beauty and brains then, Sho decided, slipping the card back into his pocket. He doubted that she was as impressed with his Lead Accountant business card for a firm nobody had really heard of.
Sho had confessed that he'd been a last minute addition to the wedding roster, and to his surprise, Kitagawa-san admitted the same. But before they could explain more, it had been time to board. Sitting alone in the terminal with a book, it seemed that at least she didn't have a plus one.
The plane finally began its descent into Naha Airport, Sho grateful the next step of his journey could finally begin. Upon landing, there was the usual annoying bustle with the overhead compartments, the already grumpy passengers mumbling to themselves as they reached up and pulled their carry-ons out of the bins. It was a slow and miserable wait at the rear of the plane, and Sho was finally able to grab his bag and begin the long walk to the front.
To his surprise, Kitagawa-san was waiting for him just inside the accordion-like gate that connected the plane to the terminal building. He slid his bag over his shoulder, nodding in greeting. "Looks like we made it," he said.
She nodded in return, a very small smile on her face. She looked exhausted, but it was a cute kind of exhausted, Sho had to admit. Tired eyes, hair a little mussed. He tried to shake the thoughts away. They had to get their bags. They stood side by side quietly when they reached the baggage claim, the bags whirring around on the metal track.
Hers came by first and when he stepped forward to try and help her, she shook her head quickly and decisively, making him back off instantly. She hoisted the bag with little trouble, standing it up at her side. She was the type who didn't require or expect any help. Sho held back a grin as he waited for his own bags, but Kitagawa-san didn't bother to hide her amusement when he pulled not one but two bags off the carousel. But she didn't have a comment. Her eyes had said enough.
They walked together through the terminal to the ground transportation pick-up area, and already Sho could feel the change in the weather. It had been rainy and cool in Tokyo now that spring had just about arrived, but the thermostat in Naha read a pleasant 21 degrees Celsius, and Sho was quick to take off his jacket. As they went through a set of double doors, they were greeted by the sight of several limo drivers waiting to pick up passengers as well as a few tour group guides. Surely a celebrity wouldn't make himself known, especially someone as popular as Aiba-san.
Kitagawa-san elbowed Sho a moment later. "To the left, with the baseball cap."
He turned. Even with the cap pulled low over his eyes, there was no mistaking that smile. All of Tokyo loved Aiba Masaki's smile, even if some of the dishes he cooked on his show were rather questionable. They walked over, seeing that both of their names had been scrawled hastily onto a piece of paper Aiba held in his hands.
"Keiko-san and Sho-san, I presume?" Aiba said quietly as they approached.
Keiko nodded. "It's nice to meet you. Thank you for coming to get us, it's much appreciated."
To avoid attention, Aiba weaved them through the crowd, dodging luggage carts and clueless tourists with the obvious skill of a celebrity used to losing the paparazzi. They made it to the parking lot, buckling themselves into Aiba's rented convertible. Unlike the weather misery of the morning, it was bright and sunny down here, and Sho's mood improved greatly. He sat in back, insisting that Kitagawa-san take the front. It wasn't every day a celebrity gave you a driving tour of Okinawa's main island.
For someone with so many admirers, Aiba Masaki seemed like a fairly normal person away from television. He was Nino's best man for the wedding, telling them how Nino would sleep until 3:00 PM every day if Aiba wasn't around to make him live a little. The bachelor party, he assured Sho, would be one for the ages. He drove north from the airport, taking them past the Naha city limits and onto the island's main highway.
"How did you and Ninomiya-san meet?" Sho inquired, raising his voice to be heard over the highway noise.
"We were neighbors!" Aiba explained cheerfully, his baseball cap flung haphazardly in the backseat beside Sho, his wavy brown hair swaying in the wind. "As kids. Everybody said we wouldn't amount to anything, but look at us now. I'm on TV and he's marrying Mistress Yuri!"
Sho leaned forward, seatbelt stretching as he set his hand on the back of Kitagawa-san's seat. "Pardon me?"
Aiba looked over at Kitagawa-san, who seemed to shrink down in her seat, looking out at the towns just off the highway. "You mean you didn't know?" Aiba asked, dumbfounded. "She's only the most famous..."
--
Keiko felt rather embarrassed for poor Sho-san as they pulled into the parking lot at the Kafuu Resort Condo Hotel after their long car ride. Not that Keiko knew all that much about Mistress Yuri, but Aiba had been more than happy to fill in the gaps in their knowledge on the way.
Used to the TV production crews censoring him if necessary, Aiba went into great detail about Mistress Yuri's services, her fame in the BDSM world and her rumored celebrity clients. Then to Keiko and Sho-san's equal horror, he'd blathered on about "Nino" and Yuriko's active and unconventional bedroom activities. As Nino's best friend, Keiko thought Aiba would have been better off keeping some of these things to himself.
But instead, Sho now knew that his friend, whose wedding he was here to attend, was completely and happily submissive to his fiancee in the bedroom and had no qualms about "rolling over and playing dead" for her.
They got out of the car, Aiba insisting on carrying her bags into the hotel. Sho trailed behind them, dragging his two suitcases with the most confused expression on his face. Keiko would have laughed if she wasn't finding herself in the same crazy situation. Aiba let them know about a welcome dinner that would be taking place that evening in the hotel's restaurant, but otherwise they could get settled in on their own.
She thanked Aiba again, and he headed off for a round of golf with some of the other guests of Nino's, though Keiko hadn't really caught their names. She'd been too busy trying to remain calm as Aiba had spent at least five minutes of the car ride detailing the "sex swing" that Nino and Yuriko had had shipped down to Okinawa for the week, if only because they "couldn't bear to be without it."
She and Sho received their room keys and headed for the elevator banks, alone again.
It was only when they were inside and the doors had closed that Sho spoke. "So I'm beginning to think I'm out of my league down here," he mumbled, watching as the elevator rose slowly to the top floor, all reserved by one Ninomiya Kazunari, millionaire sex swing owner. "How about you?"
She clung to the handle of her suitcase, trying not to laugh. "I actually...I work for Yuriko-san. She's our newest client. I'm helping her promote her new line."
"Line of what?" Sho asked, his face flushed completely, adorably red.
"Umm..." Now that they were by themselves, two strangers without the easygoing Aiba-san to blurt out whatever he felt like, it was difficult to get words out. "Adult toys."
"Oh?" Sho mumbled.
The doors opened, and she pulled her bag along. She would be in room 1226, which seemed to be at the very end of the hall. The sound of Sho's suitcases rolling as well seemed to indicate that he was going the same way. "It's um, it's not something I have a lot of experience with," she said, looking anywhere but at Sho's face behind her. They were both adults, so why was this so difficult to explain? "That's not to say I've never...well, I mean, um...I used to do account planning for shampoo, so this is all very new to me, you see."
"Right," Sho said.
"Right," she replied, making it to her door. She pulled out her card key, noticing that Sho had stopped at the room next door. "Oh, neighbors then?"
"Good," Sho said, "It'll be nice to have someone next door who isn't like..." He paused, scratching at his hair. "I mean, not that there's anything wrong with what they're into. Um, unless you're also into...oh god, I need to stop talking..."
"I'm not," she blurted out a little louder than she intended, waving her hand in front of her face furiously. "Into that. It's all a little too much..." Were these words really coming out of her mouth? Was she really explaining to a relative stranger that she'd be a fine neighbor because she didn't have a sex swing or a bunch of whips in her suitcase? Really?
She heard the little beep of Sho-san's own key card. He smiled, still obviously mortified from the car ride over. "I'll see you at the dinner tonight."
"See you then," she said, opening the door and pulling her bags inside before she made a fool of herself any more.
Honestly, it was all Aiba-san's fault. Attractive celebrity or no, he'd turned the entire car ride into a lurid, detailed overview of her hosts' sex life. How could she even go down for dinner? How could she keep a straight face when she met Ninomiya-san, having already seen a picture of him stripped to his underwear with a dog food bowl in his mouth? How on earth had she found herself in this situation?
And then there was a loud knock, and she jumped, accidentally tipping over her suitcase. It wasn't the door behind her. She heard a muffled "Kitagawa-san?" and then another more insistent knock. The entryway to the luxurious hotel room (more of a suite than a mere room) led to a bathroom on the left and then a bedroom on the right. She kept following the knocking until she made it to the kitchen and living room area, finding a door just beside the TV stand. It was an adjoining room!
She undid the lock on this other door, pulling it open to find Sho standing there sheepishly, holding a door of his own. "Hi neighbor," he said awkwardly, and she could see inside to a mirror image of her own suite. "I think Yuriko-san mixed up our rooms. Just a moment."
She waited, only to feel the temptation to slam the door immediately in his face when he returned. Because he was holding a large gift basket wrapped in clear cellophane topped with a big red bow and a card reading "Welcome Keiko-chan!" He held it out to her gingerly, as if he was ashamed to be holding it. "I'm sorry," he said, though there was no reason for him to be apologizing.
Keiko took the basket, eyeing the contents in horror. And this was just the stuff she could see immediately. Inside there was a large jar labeled "Body Chocolate," a bright pink blindfold and fuzzy handcuffs, and the absolute worst, of course, was the box with the enormous penis-shaped vibrator on it labeled "My New Boyfriend - True to life texture, Better than life sensations!"
She made a panicked squeak in fright, hurriedly rushing off to put it out of Sho's sight, only to cry out in surprise at the gift basket that she hadn't noticed on her own kitchen counter.
"Everything okay?" Sho called, sounding amused.
She set down her welcome basket and picked up the one that read "Welcome Sho-kun!" It was filled to the brim with condom wrappers in every color of the rainbow and she hurried to the door before she peeked at anything else.
Sho's face froze when she thrust the basket out at him.
"Take it," she mumbled, jostling it a bit. Oh please take it already, she begged him with her eyes.
His hands were shaking and the blush that had only just left his face returned a thousandfold as he took the basket from her, their fingers brushing lightly. "I'll have to have a word with Nino," he said.
They stood there again, eyeing each other, both so embarrassed they could barely function. "See you at dinner," she managed to say.
"See you," he replied, inclining his head and closing the door.
Keiko closed her own adjoining door, wishing she could go right out of the hotel and board a plane straight back to Tokyo. Here she was completely unattached in romantic Okinawa, surrounded by people with sex on the brain, her hotel room one locked door away from a cute, seemingly single guy and she had a vibrating penis in a box on her counter.
Despite her own reservations, she took the bow off of the welcome basket. How many people had seen this? How many people had seen the "Welcome Keiko-chan!" card and now knew that she had all this stuff in her room? How the hell did she bill something like this against Yuriko's account? She took out the jar of chocolate, figuring she could just rip off the label and bring it home to dip some fruit in. At least it wouldn't go to waste then. She took out the "My New Boyfriend" and the packet of batteries Yuriko-san had been thoughtful enough to supply. That was staying in the box, thank you very much.
Yuriko had decorated the bottom of the basket with a colorful layer of yet more condoms, and Keiko dug around underneath them to find a small, folded piece of paper. "Claim me at the front desk," Yuriko had written in small, neat handwriting. No more, Keiko vowed. No more humiliation at the hands of her employer. She left the note on the counter and instead started to unpack.
Despite the naughty goods now littering the kitchen area, it was a gorgeous room. There was a sliding glass door leading to a balcony with a beautiful ocean view, and it appeared to be connected with Sho-san's balcony next door. There was the separate bedroom, and Keiko smiled at the sight of the large king-sized bed that took up most of the room. A luxury indeed, seeing as how she only had a double bed at home and that itself left her bedroom a tight fit.
She flopped down on the mattress, wanting to sleep through the week with the sound of the ocean waves crashing into the shore. But that was not to be. If there was already a gift basket of inappropriateness, she could only imagine what else Yuriko and her friends had in mind to pass the time. After letting herself relax until it was time to get ready for dinner, she made herself get up, taking a nice long shower. She felt instantly better, changing from her sweats into a navy blue spaghetti-strap sundress, something she never made time to wear in Tokyo. She spent most of her time in business suits for work, and it felt good to let her hair down, slide her feet into a pair of chunky sandals. She exchanged her glasses for her contacts and finished things off with her favorite lipstick.
There, she decided, looking at herself in the mirror. She was ready for Okinawa, ready for anything. Well, she thought, spying the "My New Boyfriend" on the kitchen counter. Not quite anything.
--
He didn't know which room was Nino's, and he didn't dare knock on anyone else's on the floor. Sho took the elevator down to the lobby, the desire to give Nino a smack for the stupid "gift basket" keeping him on edge. One hundred and fifty condoms (he'd had the time to count). Some scented and/or flavored. Some extra large. Some that glowed in the dark. Some with One Piece characters on the packets - just what every horny man needed, Chopper's face on his dick.
Knowing Nino and knowing the two minutes of Yuriko-san he'd experienced on the phone that morning, he was pretty certain that the gift basket room mix-up hadn't really been a mix-up. Those two rascals had wanted to get a reaction, and Sho felt awful for Kitagawa-san, who was clearly not aware of a person like Nino's idea of fun. She probably had the lowest opinion of Sho a woman could possibly have, having to hand over the basket full of potential sex.
He felt rested at least, spending the late afternoon watching a soccer match with the ocean stretching off as far as the eye could see outside the sliding glass doors. It seemed he was sharing a balcony with Keiko, another planned occurrence, Sho suspected.
This dinner would probably be just another part of Sho's day that would bring him great embarrassment. People like Nino and his dominatrix fiancee (another thing Sho was struggling to digest), people like the chatty Aiba Masaki, they seemed to have no shame in discussing their sexual activities. Aiba wouldn't have known about Nino's sex swing if Nino himself hadn't told him. Sho just wasn't like that. He was no virgin, obviously, but it was just something he didn't talk about. To Sho, what happened in the bedroom stayed in the bedroom. It was something between him and a partner, the end.
There was a man Sho hadn't seen before standing outside the hotel's restaurant, a good looking guy with broad shoulders and suspicious eyes. He saw Sho approaching, seeming to look down on Sho's polo shirt, khakis, and loafers with disdain. He, of course, was dressed to the nines in some bizarre floral print suit, a ruffled purple silk shirt on underneath it. He looked like he'd come straight from the runway at Fashion Week, not that Sho knew anything about Fashion Week.
"You must be Sakurai," the guy said bluntly. "Come on, it's this way."
Sho merely bit his tongue, deciding not to complain to this guy about his gift basket. "I'm Matsumoto Jun," the guy said. "I'm in the wedding party."
"Nino's friend?"
"No."
Fun guy, Sho thought darkly as Matsumoto Jun, wedding party member, led him through the restaurant to a private room in the back. It was a low-lit room with a fish tank taking up an entire wall and a long dining table with at least twenty-five seats, most occupied by people dressed as impeccably as Matsumoto and some in rather bizarre, almost fetish-looking attire. Sho finally spotted Nino at the very center, pouring out some sake for a pretty, dark-haired woman at his side. She looked fairly young, so Sho presumed it was the infamous Yuriko.
Matsumoto cleared his throat. "Found him."
While most of the guests were perusing menus, ignoring Sho's arrival, Nino got to his feet. Sho wasn't surprised to find that he was unchanged from always, clad in a Legend of Zelda t-shirt and a pair of board shorts. He approached with his arms out, enveloping Sho in a hug.
"You didn't drown in Tokyo!" Nino cried. "I'm so glad you're here." He lowered his voice. "I'm surrounded by lunatics."
Matsumoto ignored Nino's comment, heading across the private room to sit at the side of a rather elegant-looking woman in a leather bustier top. "That's Jun-kun," Nino explained. "I only had Aiba to stand for me on my side and since Yuriko wanted two bridesmaids, I had to let one of her friends be with me. He's a good guy, Jun-kun though. Don't let that face of his fool you, he's a softie."
Sho kind of doubted that based on the guy's serious face, but he was a guest, and he didn't exactly have any sway over Nino's wedding party choices. "Can we talk?" Sho asked nervously, but Nino ignored him.
"Let me bring you over."
He linked arms with Sho, dragging him across the room to meet his fiancee. She had a small, enigmatic face, her hair piled up messily on her head. Sho swallowed, remembering what Aiba-san had explained in the car. The woman before him gave spankings for a living and was apparently the best at it. "Yuriko, this is the man who saved my wallet, Sakurai Sho-san."
Where Sho expected a polite nod or a smile, Yuriko got to her feet and went for him, going straight for his chest and giving one of his nipples an unexpected squeeze through his shirt. He yelped in shock, earning laughter from the guests gathered around the table.
But after that, she did a complete 180, wrapping her arms around him. "I'm so glad you could come. Nino adores you."
Nino himself saw nothing embarrassing about this admission, sitting back down to chat with Aiba-san. Yuriko pulled him along by the wrist, tugging him down to the end of the table. There was one open seat remaining, and he spied a very different-looking Kitagawa-san sitting next to the empty chair. He'd been charmed by her unpretentious looks earlier that day, and now he was slightly stunned to find her with her long hair down, wearing a dress that seemed a little tame compared to the other women gathered around the table. But, Sho thought, it suited her perfectly. Her glasses were gone, and even in the low light she was beautiful.
Yuriko elbowed him. "You're staring."
Keiko laughed, not seeming to have heard Yuriko. "I already explained about the gift basket mix-up. They've all had a good laugh at our expense."
Sho left Yuriko's side, moving around the table to sit down beside Keiko. There were open bottles of champagne dotting the table, and Keiko went right ahead and started pouring some into the empty glass at Sho's place setting. From the more relaxed mannerisms she now had on display, it seemed to Sho that Keiko-san had already had a few herself.
With Sho at the very end of the table, he was kind of limited in his socializing. But that didn't much matter as Yuriko dominated the table. With Nino and Aiba knocking back drinks without paying much attention, Yuriko went around naming all of the guests she'd invited and thanking them for coming. As far as Sho could understand, most of the table's occupants worked for the infamous "Puppy Play" line or at the Snake and Earring Club in Tokyo where Yuriko was otherwise gainfully employed. Most of her clients met her there for their...sessions. Sho didn't have any other way to describe it.
And so there was a mixture of other men and women in Yuriko's line of work, including the maid of honor, who just so happened to be Matsumoto Jun's bustier top girlfriend, Shibasaki Kou. Kou-san was apparently Yuriko's senpai, and Sho was instantly afraid of her. Despite Matsumoto's cool indifference when he and Sho had met, he was putty in the hands of Kou-san, who fed him by hand and patted him on the head like a dog to the amusement of the whole table.
Well, the whole table save for Sho and Keiko, who ordered the same thing and mostly ate in silence. The table was full of people who either worked in an S&M club or patronized them, and they all knew one another intimately (in more ways than one, Sho suspected of many of them). Nino only had Aiba as an ally, but then Aiba kept turning to kiss the pretty blonde on his other side in between taking shots.
"His girlfriend," Keiko pointed out, pouring more champagne out for Sho even though his glass was still halfway full. "Rola-san. You know, from TV?"
Sho worked a lot and didn't make much time for TV. But he did watch Keiko's expression change over the course of the meal. She apparently knew who Rola-san was, and meeting her in person had changed her impression of her significantly. Even from across the table, Rola-san was a non-stop giggler, puffing out her cheeks in shock like a little girl whenever Yuriko and her friends tried to ask her about her sexual history. Aiba was so drunk he didn't even seem to hear his girlfriend admitting she'd lost her virginity at age 15 to the 27 year old friend of her cousin (giggle, cheek puff, longer giggle).
"Interesting table conversation," Sho mumbled, spearing his last piece of asparagus with his fork.
There'd be a whole week with these people. Who knew what kind of personal information they'd try to get out of him? Just because they were open and happy with discussing their sex lives, Sho certainly was not.
"Keiko-chan!" Yuriko called as their dessert plates were being brought around, finally seeming to sense the dark, quiet aura at their end of the table. "Did you pick up your other gift yet?"
Sho watched Keiko's face flush, and not just from the alcohol. "Oh, not yet," Keiko said, eyes transfixed on the fish tank wall, looking anywhere but at Yuriko. "But thank you, I'll be sure to get it."
Yuriko got up from her seat, carrying her plate of brownies with her. She gestured for Sho to move and he made to get out of his seat, but Yuriko shoved him back down, instead sitting right in his lap side-saddle so she could talk to Keiko.
Sho, completely trapped, could only sit there and make panicked eyes at Nino, who only pointed at him and laughed before going back to his conversation with one of Yuriko's other colleagues. Well, Yuriko certainly was friendly.
She lowered her voice, speaking to Keiko in between munches of brownie. She didn't seem to mind if Sho overheard since in her dominatrix mind he was just a chair right now. "I only wanted to welcome you with something fun," she was explaining. "Please don't feel obligated to keep any of it. There's plenty of people at this table who would happily take it off your hands."
Keiko's fingers seemed to be itching to grab the champagne bottle before her. Maybe more alcohol would fix this crazy dinner. Sho couldn't blame her. "You really didn't have to get me anything, honestly. Thank you for your continued kindness."
Sho had to pee, and his bladder was sending him signals all the more now that he had an unwelcome guest sitting on him. An unwelcome guest who just so happened to be his friend's bride! Yuriko seemed perfectly comfortable sitting on him, like it was something she did all the time. "Let's go to the concierge together and pick it up. I just know you'll love it."
"Oh?" Keiko murmured. "We don't...we don't have to do that tonight..."
"Nonsense!" Yuriko insisted. "You're going to need it for the bachelorette party anyhow!"
Sho, despite himself, couldn't help being the slightest bit intrigued. During the car ride, Aiba hadn't spilled word one about the bachelor party. He wondered what the ladies would be getting up to.
"If you insist then," Keiko said agreeably. Sho had to hand it to her. In spite of her obvious embarrassment, she seemed to be getting along with everyone far better than Sho was.
Yuriko scooted off of him, shoving the plate of brownies at him. "Eat these. It's chocolate with a jalapeno kick!"
Sho's stomach flipped at both the brownie's ingredients as well as at the terse command. He accepted the plate meekly, almost inclined to bow his head and say "right away, ma'am." What a woman.
He watched Yuriko link arms with Keiko, pulling them along and out of the room as the others finished up their desserts and lit their after-dinner cigarettes. He saw Keiko look back over her shoulder at him, eyes terrified, as he took his first tentative bite of the dangerous brownie.
Part Three
The box of dog collars had sat unopened on Keiko's living room table for almost a full week now. She was flying down to Okinawa in the morning, and her suitcase was packed despite Jack's best efforts to climb in the bag and come along. She sat on her loveseat and stared at the TV, scratching under Jack's chin as he purred contentedly at her side.
It had been a good long while since she'd left Jack behind for so many days in a row. This year her parents and her brother had come up to Tokyo from Kobe for the holiday, so she was being extra affectionate to the kitty in advance of his loneliness. Her neighbor had her spare key and was kind enough to check in on Jack, feed him, clean his litter pan, and pick up her mail while she was gone. But she'd still miss him. He was her constant companion, stretching out at her side while she stayed up later than she should have on her laptop working on Tsubaki.
But now Tsubaki was gone. She'd spent the last few days helping Toma get the new girl on the account up to speed while she packed up her cubicle and moved. She'd gotten bumped down three floors, and she'd be sitting in a smaller, more densely packed cluster of cubes with the other new faces on Puppy Play. Nerima-san already seemed to dislike her because of how quickly Yuriko-san had latched onto her. As the account director, he probably thought he was more deserving of a free trip to Okinawa.
Oh well, she told herself. It was the nature of the business. Sometimes the clients didn't like you, and sometimes your colleagues didn't. Advertising wasn't a business for people with a thin skin.
Yuriko did expect her to be working to some extent on this trip, which Keiko appreciated. She didn't know Yuriko at all, much less any of her friends who'd also be in attendance. The thought of being around a professional dominatrix for an entire week was scary enough - were her friends big on that lifestyle too? Were they all going to be walking around the hotel with whips and chains? Were they going to expect Keiko to do the same?
She chuckled, shaking her head as Jack continued to purr. Stop, Keiko. She had to stop judging what Yuriko did. The woman had put her trust in Keiko to get Puppy Play off the ground and had been generous enough to invite her to Okinawa. The woman's entire existence didn't revolve around her sex life.
She pulled the box off the table finally and opened it, pulling out one of the puppy headbands. "It's cute," she decided, flicking at one of the fuzzy brown ears. Though she supposed the cuteness wasn't the point. Obedience and submission were. She peered over at Jack, who was stretched out, his fluffy tail curled up underneath him in complete contentment. Well, cats were different. Obedience wasn't in their programming.
Keiko put the headband on, digging through the rest of the box. The items were decently made. The collars were a sturdy leather, and even the spikes had been properly adhered to the material. She poked the edge of one, finding it wasn't as sharp as it looked. What would they do for the ads? Would they have to enlist some AV stars to wear the gear for the creative?
It was for couples, Yuriko had said again and again. They'd need men and women both to don the collars, hold the leashes. At least Keiko wouldn't have to be there for any photo shoots. That was for the creative team to accomplish. Keiko's task, on the other hand, was to better understand the people who might use the Puppy Play gear. Though Yuriko expected 99% of her items to be advertised through fetish websites, it was up to Keiko to figure out where others might be reached.
She tried to think of some of her married friends and what they might like to do. Every time she met up with her classmates from back home, it seemed like another one was getting married, having a baby. "What about you, Kitagawa? When are we going to hear about you?" they asked. Keiko slid the headband off, setting it back in the box.
This was going to be the big problem. She wasn't married. She wasn't in a committed relationship and hadn't been in a very long time. What did she know about couples? What did she know about what happened behind closed bedroom doors these days? How could she say "spice things up with some pet gear" without turning people off?
Jack seemed to sense her frustration, hopping off the loveseat and heading for his water dish. Keiko set the box back on the table with a sigh before thinking better of it. What if her neighbor poked around while she was coming by to feed the cat? She picked the box up and carried it to her bedroom closet, shutting the collars and leashes inside.
Instead she grabbed her laptop from the living room and flopped down on her bed. She navigated her way to Mistress Yuri's website. She hadn't taken a real good look yet. Instead of her cheerful smile, Yuriko was smirking seductively in each photo. In one, she was dressed in a corset top and a patent leather miniskirt, a thigh-high boot resting on the middle of a man's back (the man's face was blurred). In another there was simply a close-up of her red-polished and well-manicured fingernails, her hands tightly clutching a riding crop.
Keiko's heartbeat sped up as she clicked through the site, finding a list of "Services" that Mistress Yuri was willing to provide. Bondage and restraint. Spankings. Flogging. Pet Play. Role Play. On and on it went, though Yuriko had been telling the truth. None of it involved sex acts. She merely stated what she would and would not do and listed contact numbers and basic pricing information.
This was the same woman who'd so happily invited Keiko to her wedding, who spoke to her like they were already old friends. She closed her laptop, feeling like a voyeur and trying to ignore the long-dormant urges that seemed to be bubbling up inside. It had been so long, and now she was walking into a lion's den.
--
The taxi had picked him up on time, but it didn't much matter. By the time he got to Haneda it was pouring and his 7:30 flight had just been bumped to noon. He checked his bags anyhow, going through security in a bit of a huff. Sho had expected this, but it still irked him whenever his perfectly planned itinerary fell through. The terminal was full of unhappy passengers, and he made his way to the gate.
He'd been planning to take a bus north from Naha, but even if his plane left at noon he wouldn't get down to Okinawa until about 2:00 PM. And then it would be another hour plus on the bus. He sighed, sitting down in one of the chairs at the gate. The lit up board across from him read "JAL to Naha - delayed, now leaving at 12:00 PM." Things hadn't changed for the better since he'd checked in.
At least he had his laptop bag with him, and he could get started on his work. As the morning continued on, the rain started to let up. But did it affect his flight? Of course not. Flights in the terminal around him that had been scheduled later in the morning set for Osaka and for Sapporo were leaving on time. And still his gate said "delayed, now leaving at 12:00 PM."
Other passengers found their way to his gate, looking just as frustrated as Sho felt as he angrily punched the laptop keys, editing his spreadsheets. It was nearly 11:00 when his cell phone rang. He pulled it out, seeing "Ninomiya Kazunari" on the caller ID. Great. He was already late for his free vacation, and Nino was probably getting anxious about his precious reservation fees.
"Hello?"
A woman answered, a voice Sho didn't recognize. But it was a light, airy voice, as though every word she said was meant to be a joke. "Hello, is this Sakurai-san?"
"Yes, who is this?"
"Hello from Okinawa, this is Yoshitaka!"
Ah, the infamous Yuriko at long last. "Yoshitaka-san, I'm so sorry," he said, trying to keep his voice down to not disturb anyone else waiting at the gate. "I should be there by now, but my flight was delayed because of bad weather."
"Oh, it's no trouble," she said easily. "And we know. We've been on a flight tracker site all morning. Technology is certainly amazing, isn't it?"
"Yeah it is."
She giggled, but it wasn't the charming giggle of a young woman her age. It was a giggle that was laughing at his misfortune. The perfect match for Nino, Sho thought darkly. "Don't worry about a thing. We're going to have Aiba-kun come pick you up in Naha so you're not standing around waiting for a bus."
"Aiba-kun?"
"You didn't even tell him about Aiba-kun?" Yuriko said, obviously talking to Nino. Sho heard muttering on the line, but then Yuriko's voice returned to its normal volume. "Aiba-kun is a darling, and you'll totally recognize him at the terminal when you arrive. He's Aiba Masaki from TV!"
Sho couldn't believe it. Aiba Masaki was a well-known celebrity in Tokyo, a popular TV chef who aspired to be a comedian, telling bad jokes while making mabo tofu for an adoring audience. And the guy was friends with Nino? "Well, thank you. Are you absolutely sure? I don't have a problem taking the bus."
"Oh, Aiba-kun rented a convertible down here. He'll want to show it off, don't worry! So please look for him, okay?"
"Thank you, Yoshitaka-san, I will." That at least took one worry away, having to sit on a bus with all his luggage after his already irritating morning. And he'd get to meet a celebrity.
"Now I need a favor from you, Sakurai-san!" Nino and his fiancee seemed to enjoy asking people for favors.
"Name it."
"I need you to find the most beautiful woman waiting at your gate."
"Huh?" Sho said, looking up, eyes darting around the other rows of seats, mostly angry tourists and old couples in matching Hawaiian shirts impatiently waiting for 12:00 to arrive. "What do you mean?"
Yuriko laughed again. "Because that woman is going to be on your flight to Naha, and you'll have to make sure she finds Aiba-kun too. She's my wedding guest, and I will hold you personally responsible for getting her here, okay?"
"Wait just a moment, what's her name?"
"Well that takes some of the fun away, doesn't it? Remember, Sakurai-san, the most beautiful. Accept no substitutes! See you in Naha, bye bye!"
And with that the line went dead.
--
Keiko had walked up and down the terminal for an hour, but it was no use. She couldn't find one outlet to plug in her phone charger. It was the one thing she'd forgotten to do the night before, and now her phone was dead. She'd had no way to call down to Yuriko and apologize. Her flight was already delayed over four hours, and she couldn't even get in touch. Of course, she could have asked another passenger to borrow their phone but she definitely didn't have the courage to do that. Everybody in the terminal was already walking around like a storm cloud was hovering over their heads. And besides, Yuriko's number was programmed into her phone. She didn't feel like asking someone to visit Mistress Yuri's website on their iPhone to get one of her contact numbers.
She shoved her phone back in her purse and headed for her own gate. It was just after 11:00 so ideally they'd be able to board in half an hour or so. And not a minute too soon. She'd hardly gotten any sleep, and then she'd woken up at 4:00. Maybe she could nap on the plane.
She knew she looked terrible, too. She'd left out a pair of jeans and a blouse to change into to save time in the morning, but she'd woken to the sound of Jack expressing his irritation with her, a fresh hairball on her jeans. That was his way of telling her to have a nice trip without him, the devil cat. She'd opted instead for yoga pants and a soft t-shirt under her jacket. Her hair was back in a loose ponytail, and she'd gone with her glasses instead of contacts. All in all, she looked like a slob, but all that would change once she got to the hotel and switched into one of the outfits packed in her bag. But after four hours in the terminal and another three hours of travel ahead, she kind of wished she'd put in a little more effort.
Everyone at the gate, despite their frustration with the weather and the airline, was dressed like they were on their way to paradise. Businessmen in suits heading down for conventions, a few families in jeans and bright t-shirts. Keiko looked for an empty seat to settle in, pushing her glasses back up her nose. She took a book out of her bag and got ready to wait out the rest of the delay, but it was hard to concentrate because of the man currently walking around the gate area with a confused look on his face.
He was older than her, but not too much, with a round, handsome face and dark hair with fringe angled across his forehead. His best feature was his mouth, full lips set in a distressed and adorable pout. He was in khaki slacks and a trenchcoat, a laptop bag slung over his shoulder as he went from aisle to aisle looking for something or someone. Keiko slid down in her seat, holding her book up. In the terminal full of families and middle-aged businessmen he was the one bright spot, a good-looking guy who was dreadfully lost.
Don't come over here, Keiko thought, the words in her book blurring. Oh please don't come over here.
He kept staring, to the point of rudeness, at most of the women at the gate. Had he lost his wife? His girlfriend? He looked like he wanted to ask a question, but every time he got close he seemed to stop himself, stepping back to look around again. Just what on earth was he doing? But then he turned, caught sight of her, and she hurriedly looked back down at her book.
Great, just great. She could hear him stepping over people's carry-on bags, murmuring apologies in a low voice. There was a woman sitting in the seat beside her, make-up perfect and hair dyed an attractive brown. She was dressed from head to toe in designer clothes, and she was wearing an expensive pair of Christian Louboutin pumps as she tapped away on her phone. Keiko shrank a bit in her seat. Maybe it was some idol girl or something, and Trenchcoat Guy was the hapless manager. He certainly had a manager-type look to him.
She tried to look at her book as the guy finally made it to their aisle. She'd read the same sentence four times when she heard him clear his throat. "Um, excuse me? I'm really sorry to interrupt you."
She looked to her left, waiting for Designer Girl to look up from her phone, only to realize that he wasn't talking to the other girl. He was addressing her.
She looked up, pushing her glasses up her nose one more time. Oh god, oh god, oh god. He was looking right at her. And then he smiled, a kind of shy, toothy smile.
"Are you going to the Ninomiya and Yoshitaka wedding? In Onna?"
Okay, he definitely wasn't an idol manager. She closed her book, slipping the bookmark inside it, trying to keep calm. "Yes I am. And you are?"
He sighed in obvious relief, looking ready to collapse. What was wrong with him? She moved her carry-on bag out of the seat beside her, and he sank into it immediately, setting down his bag. He chuckled to himself quietly before finally speaking again. "I'm Sakurai Sho, a guest of the groom. I just got off the phone with Yoshitaka-san, and she told me to find you."
"Forgive me for trying to hide from you," she apologized quietly, inclining her head. "She did mention that I wouldn't be the only one flying down this morning. I'm Kitagawa Keiko, a guest of the bride."
He smiled at her warmly, despite how silly she probably looked. At the very least, she now had an ally on this trip. But at the very worst, the handsome guy with a very ring-less left hand was now seeing her dressed at her utter laziest. "It's nice to meet you. Yoshitaka-san is aware of our delay, and she's having someone meet us at the airport to drive us to the hotel."
She sent a prayer of gratitude Yuriko-san's way. They were barely acquainted, and she was already looking after Keiko so kindly. And then even more surprising, Sakurai-san explained that they were to be picked up at the airport in a convertible by that celebrity chef, Aiba Masaki. Dentsu had even done a campaign with him earlier in the year for Calphalon pots and pans. And now she was going to be escorted around Okinawa by him.
"I suppose today's the start of one interesting week," she said.
"Let's hope so."
--
To Sho's dismay, he and Kitagawa-san were not seated beside each other on the plane. She was up near the front of the coach section while Nino had stuck Sho in the back next to the bathroom. Every time the door opened he got a fresh whiff of the pungent chemical smell from the toilet inside.
He'd made a complete ass of himself at the gate, stumbling around and staring at all those women. He was surprised nobody had reported him. Yoshitaka-san sure was an interesting person. The most beautiful woman at the gate, though, she'd ordered. And Sho had found her.
There'd been plenty of women there, but he'd been drawn to her as soon as he'd spotted her. She was dressed in what Sho thought of as quasi-Ninomiya chic in her sweats, but she had a small, sweet face even if she hadn't smiled too much and despite not being very tall, she had legs for days. But that didn't much matter, Sho told himself as yet another person exited the plane bathroom, ruining Sho's sense of smell once again.
It didn't matter because this was just a wedding, and he'd probably never see her again.
They hadn't had much time to chat before boarding, but they'd already managed to exchange business cards. That had made Sho's heart beat the slightest bit faster. Someone besides himself who brought business cards along on a leisure trip? He smiled at the thought, pulling out the card from his jacket pocket. Kitagawa Keiko, Strategic Planning. Dentsu. The dominant advertising agency in Japan. Beauty and brains then, Sho decided, slipping the card back into his pocket. He doubted that she was as impressed with his Lead Accountant business card for a firm nobody had really heard of.
Sho had confessed that he'd been a last minute addition to the wedding roster, and to his surprise, Kitagawa-san admitted the same. But before they could explain more, it had been time to board. Sitting alone in the terminal with a book, it seemed that at least she didn't have a plus one.
The plane finally began its descent into Naha Airport, Sho grateful the next step of his journey could finally begin. Upon landing, there was the usual annoying bustle with the overhead compartments, the already grumpy passengers mumbling to themselves as they reached up and pulled their carry-ons out of the bins. It was a slow and miserable wait at the rear of the plane, and Sho was finally able to grab his bag and begin the long walk to the front.
To his surprise, Kitagawa-san was waiting for him just inside the accordion-like gate that connected the plane to the terminal building. He slid his bag over his shoulder, nodding in greeting. "Looks like we made it," he said.
She nodded in return, a very small smile on her face. She looked exhausted, but it was a cute kind of exhausted, Sho had to admit. Tired eyes, hair a little mussed. He tried to shake the thoughts away. They had to get their bags. They stood side by side quietly when they reached the baggage claim, the bags whirring around on the metal track.
Hers came by first and when he stepped forward to try and help her, she shook her head quickly and decisively, making him back off instantly. She hoisted the bag with little trouble, standing it up at her side. She was the type who didn't require or expect any help. Sho held back a grin as he waited for his own bags, but Kitagawa-san didn't bother to hide her amusement when he pulled not one but two bags off the carousel. But she didn't have a comment. Her eyes had said enough.
They walked together through the terminal to the ground transportation pick-up area, and already Sho could feel the change in the weather. It had been rainy and cool in Tokyo now that spring had just about arrived, but the thermostat in Naha read a pleasant 21 degrees Celsius, and Sho was quick to take off his jacket. As they went through a set of double doors, they were greeted by the sight of several limo drivers waiting to pick up passengers as well as a few tour group guides. Surely a celebrity wouldn't make himself known, especially someone as popular as Aiba-san.
Kitagawa-san elbowed Sho a moment later. "To the left, with the baseball cap."
He turned. Even with the cap pulled low over his eyes, there was no mistaking that smile. All of Tokyo loved Aiba Masaki's smile, even if some of the dishes he cooked on his show were rather questionable. They walked over, seeing that both of their names had been scrawled hastily onto a piece of paper Aiba held in his hands.
"Keiko-san and Sho-san, I presume?" Aiba said quietly as they approached.
Keiko nodded. "It's nice to meet you. Thank you for coming to get us, it's much appreciated."
To avoid attention, Aiba weaved them through the crowd, dodging luggage carts and clueless tourists with the obvious skill of a celebrity used to losing the paparazzi. They made it to the parking lot, buckling themselves into Aiba's rented convertible. Unlike the weather misery of the morning, it was bright and sunny down here, and Sho's mood improved greatly. He sat in back, insisting that Kitagawa-san take the front. It wasn't every day a celebrity gave you a driving tour of Okinawa's main island.
For someone with so many admirers, Aiba Masaki seemed like a fairly normal person away from television. He was Nino's best man for the wedding, telling them how Nino would sleep until 3:00 PM every day if Aiba wasn't around to make him live a little. The bachelor party, he assured Sho, would be one for the ages. He drove north from the airport, taking them past the Naha city limits and onto the island's main highway.
"How did you and Ninomiya-san meet?" Sho inquired, raising his voice to be heard over the highway noise.
"We were neighbors!" Aiba explained cheerfully, his baseball cap flung haphazardly in the backseat beside Sho, his wavy brown hair swaying in the wind. "As kids. Everybody said we wouldn't amount to anything, but look at us now. I'm on TV and he's marrying Mistress Yuri!"
Sho leaned forward, seatbelt stretching as he set his hand on the back of Kitagawa-san's seat. "Pardon me?"
Aiba looked over at Kitagawa-san, who seemed to shrink down in her seat, looking out at the towns just off the highway. "You mean you didn't know?" Aiba asked, dumbfounded. "She's only the most famous..."
--
Keiko felt rather embarrassed for poor Sho-san as they pulled into the parking lot at the Kafuu Resort Condo Hotel after their long car ride. Not that Keiko knew all that much about Mistress Yuri, but Aiba had been more than happy to fill in the gaps in their knowledge on the way.
Used to the TV production crews censoring him if necessary, Aiba went into great detail about Mistress Yuri's services, her fame in the BDSM world and her rumored celebrity clients. Then to Keiko and Sho-san's equal horror, he'd blathered on about "Nino" and Yuriko's active and unconventional bedroom activities. As Nino's best friend, Keiko thought Aiba would have been better off keeping some of these things to himself.
But instead, Sho now knew that his friend, whose wedding he was here to attend, was completely and happily submissive to his fiancee in the bedroom and had no qualms about "rolling over and playing dead" for her.
They got out of the car, Aiba insisting on carrying her bags into the hotel. Sho trailed behind them, dragging his two suitcases with the most confused expression on his face. Keiko would have laughed if she wasn't finding herself in the same crazy situation. Aiba let them know about a welcome dinner that would be taking place that evening in the hotel's restaurant, but otherwise they could get settled in on their own.
She thanked Aiba again, and he headed off for a round of golf with some of the other guests of Nino's, though Keiko hadn't really caught their names. She'd been too busy trying to remain calm as Aiba had spent at least five minutes of the car ride detailing the "sex swing" that Nino and Yuriko had had shipped down to Okinawa for the week, if only because they "couldn't bear to be without it."
She and Sho received their room keys and headed for the elevator banks, alone again.
It was only when they were inside and the doors had closed that Sho spoke. "So I'm beginning to think I'm out of my league down here," he mumbled, watching as the elevator rose slowly to the top floor, all reserved by one Ninomiya Kazunari, millionaire sex swing owner. "How about you?"
She clung to the handle of her suitcase, trying not to laugh. "I actually...I work for Yuriko-san. She's our newest client. I'm helping her promote her new line."
"Line of what?" Sho asked, his face flushed completely, adorably red.
"Umm..." Now that they were by themselves, two strangers without the easygoing Aiba-san to blurt out whatever he felt like, it was difficult to get words out. "Adult toys."
"Oh?" Sho mumbled.
The doors opened, and she pulled her bag along. She would be in room 1226, which seemed to be at the very end of the hall. The sound of Sho's suitcases rolling as well seemed to indicate that he was going the same way. "It's um, it's not something I have a lot of experience with," she said, looking anywhere but at Sho's face behind her. They were both adults, so why was this so difficult to explain? "That's not to say I've never...well, I mean, um...I used to do account planning for shampoo, so this is all very new to me, you see."
"Right," Sho said.
"Right," she replied, making it to her door. She pulled out her card key, noticing that Sho had stopped at the room next door. "Oh, neighbors then?"
"Good," Sho said, "It'll be nice to have someone next door who isn't like..." He paused, scratching at his hair. "I mean, not that there's anything wrong with what they're into. Um, unless you're also into...oh god, I need to stop talking..."
"I'm not," she blurted out a little louder than she intended, waving her hand in front of her face furiously. "Into that. It's all a little too much..." Were these words really coming out of her mouth? Was she really explaining to a relative stranger that she'd be a fine neighbor because she didn't have a sex swing or a bunch of whips in her suitcase? Really?
She heard the little beep of Sho-san's own key card. He smiled, still obviously mortified from the car ride over. "I'll see you at the dinner tonight."
"See you then," she said, opening the door and pulling her bags inside before she made a fool of herself any more.
Honestly, it was all Aiba-san's fault. Attractive celebrity or no, he'd turned the entire car ride into a lurid, detailed overview of her hosts' sex life. How could she even go down for dinner? How could she keep a straight face when she met Ninomiya-san, having already seen a picture of him stripped to his underwear with a dog food bowl in his mouth? How on earth had she found herself in this situation?
And then there was a loud knock, and she jumped, accidentally tipping over her suitcase. It wasn't the door behind her. She heard a muffled "Kitagawa-san?" and then another more insistent knock. The entryway to the luxurious hotel room (more of a suite than a mere room) led to a bathroom on the left and then a bedroom on the right. She kept following the knocking until she made it to the kitchen and living room area, finding a door just beside the TV stand. It was an adjoining room!
She undid the lock on this other door, pulling it open to find Sho standing there sheepishly, holding a door of his own. "Hi neighbor," he said awkwardly, and she could see inside to a mirror image of her own suite. "I think Yuriko-san mixed up our rooms. Just a moment."
She waited, only to feel the temptation to slam the door immediately in his face when he returned. Because he was holding a large gift basket wrapped in clear cellophane topped with a big red bow and a card reading "Welcome Keiko-chan!" He held it out to her gingerly, as if he was ashamed to be holding it. "I'm sorry," he said, though there was no reason for him to be apologizing.
Keiko took the basket, eyeing the contents in horror. And this was just the stuff she could see immediately. Inside there was a large jar labeled "Body Chocolate," a bright pink blindfold and fuzzy handcuffs, and the absolute worst, of course, was the box with the enormous penis-shaped vibrator on it labeled "My New Boyfriend - True to life texture, Better than life sensations!"
She made a panicked squeak in fright, hurriedly rushing off to put it out of Sho's sight, only to cry out in surprise at the gift basket that she hadn't noticed on her own kitchen counter.
"Everything okay?" Sho called, sounding amused.
She set down her welcome basket and picked up the one that read "Welcome Sho-kun!" It was filled to the brim with condom wrappers in every color of the rainbow and she hurried to the door before she peeked at anything else.
Sho's face froze when she thrust the basket out at him.
"Take it," she mumbled, jostling it a bit. Oh please take it already, she begged him with her eyes.
His hands were shaking and the blush that had only just left his face returned a thousandfold as he took the basket from her, their fingers brushing lightly. "I'll have to have a word with Nino," he said.
They stood there again, eyeing each other, both so embarrassed they could barely function. "See you at dinner," she managed to say.
"See you," he replied, inclining his head and closing the door.
Keiko closed her own adjoining door, wishing she could go right out of the hotel and board a plane straight back to Tokyo. Here she was completely unattached in romantic Okinawa, surrounded by people with sex on the brain, her hotel room one locked door away from a cute, seemingly single guy and she had a vibrating penis in a box on her counter.
Despite her own reservations, she took the bow off of the welcome basket. How many people had seen this? How many people had seen the "Welcome Keiko-chan!" card and now knew that she had all this stuff in her room? How the hell did she bill something like this against Yuriko's account? She took out the jar of chocolate, figuring she could just rip off the label and bring it home to dip some fruit in. At least it wouldn't go to waste then. She took out the "My New Boyfriend" and the packet of batteries Yuriko-san had been thoughtful enough to supply. That was staying in the box, thank you very much.
Yuriko had decorated the bottom of the basket with a colorful layer of yet more condoms, and Keiko dug around underneath them to find a small, folded piece of paper. "Claim me at the front desk," Yuriko had written in small, neat handwriting. No more, Keiko vowed. No more humiliation at the hands of her employer. She left the note on the counter and instead started to unpack.
Despite the naughty goods now littering the kitchen area, it was a gorgeous room. There was a sliding glass door leading to a balcony with a beautiful ocean view, and it appeared to be connected with Sho-san's balcony next door. There was the separate bedroom, and Keiko smiled at the sight of the large king-sized bed that took up most of the room. A luxury indeed, seeing as how she only had a double bed at home and that itself left her bedroom a tight fit.
She flopped down on the mattress, wanting to sleep through the week with the sound of the ocean waves crashing into the shore. But that was not to be. If there was already a gift basket of inappropriateness, she could only imagine what else Yuriko and her friends had in mind to pass the time. After letting herself relax until it was time to get ready for dinner, she made herself get up, taking a nice long shower. She felt instantly better, changing from her sweats into a navy blue spaghetti-strap sundress, something she never made time to wear in Tokyo. She spent most of her time in business suits for work, and it felt good to let her hair down, slide her feet into a pair of chunky sandals. She exchanged her glasses for her contacts and finished things off with her favorite lipstick.
There, she decided, looking at herself in the mirror. She was ready for Okinawa, ready for anything. Well, she thought, spying the "My New Boyfriend" on the kitchen counter. Not quite anything.
--
He didn't know which room was Nino's, and he didn't dare knock on anyone else's on the floor. Sho took the elevator down to the lobby, the desire to give Nino a smack for the stupid "gift basket" keeping him on edge. One hundred and fifty condoms (he'd had the time to count). Some scented and/or flavored. Some extra large. Some that glowed in the dark. Some with One Piece characters on the packets - just what every horny man needed, Chopper's face on his dick.
Knowing Nino and knowing the two minutes of Yuriko-san he'd experienced on the phone that morning, he was pretty certain that the gift basket room mix-up hadn't really been a mix-up. Those two rascals had wanted to get a reaction, and Sho felt awful for Kitagawa-san, who was clearly not aware of a person like Nino's idea of fun. She probably had the lowest opinion of Sho a woman could possibly have, having to hand over the basket full of potential sex.
He felt rested at least, spending the late afternoon watching a soccer match with the ocean stretching off as far as the eye could see outside the sliding glass doors. It seemed he was sharing a balcony with Keiko, another planned occurrence, Sho suspected.
This dinner would probably be just another part of Sho's day that would bring him great embarrassment. People like Nino and his dominatrix fiancee (another thing Sho was struggling to digest), people like the chatty Aiba Masaki, they seemed to have no shame in discussing their sexual activities. Aiba wouldn't have known about Nino's sex swing if Nino himself hadn't told him. Sho just wasn't like that. He was no virgin, obviously, but it was just something he didn't talk about. To Sho, what happened in the bedroom stayed in the bedroom. It was something between him and a partner, the end.
There was a man Sho hadn't seen before standing outside the hotel's restaurant, a good looking guy with broad shoulders and suspicious eyes. He saw Sho approaching, seeming to look down on Sho's polo shirt, khakis, and loafers with disdain. He, of course, was dressed to the nines in some bizarre floral print suit, a ruffled purple silk shirt on underneath it. He looked like he'd come straight from the runway at Fashion Week, not that Sho knew anything about Fashion Week.
"You must be Sakurai," the guy said bluntly. "Come on, it's this way."
Sho merely bit his tongue, deciding not to complain to this guy about his gift basket. "I'm Matsumoto Jun," the guy said. "I'm in the wedding party."
"Nino's friend?"
"No."
Fun guy, Sho thought darkly as Matsumoto Jun, wedding party member, led him through the restaurant to a private room in the back. It was a low-lit room with a fish tank taking up an entire wall and a long dining table with at least twenty-five seats, most occupied by people dressed as impeccably as Matsumoto and some in rather bizarre, almost fetish-looking attire. Sho finally spotted Nino at the very center, pouring out some sake for a pretty, dark-haired woman at his side. She looked fairly young, so Sho presumed it was the infamous Yuriko.
Matsumoto cleared his throat. "Found him."
While most of the guests were perusing menus, ignoring Sho's arrival, Nino got to his feet. Sho wasn't surprised to find that he was unchanged from always, clad in a Legend of Zelda t-shirt and a pair of board shorts. He approached with his arms out, enveloping Sho in a hug.
"You didn't drown in Tokyo!" Nino cried. "I'm so glad you're here." He lowered his voice. "I'm surrounded by lunatics."
Matsumoto ignored Nino's comment, heading across the private room to sit at the side of a rather elegant-looking woman in a leather bustier top. "That's Jun-kun," Nino explained. "I only had Aiba to stand for me on my side and since Yuriko wanted two bridesmaids, I had to let one of her friends be with me. He's a good guy, Jun-kun though. Don't let that face of his fool you, he's a softie."
Sho kind of doubted that based on the guy's serious face, but he was a guest, and he didn't exactly have any sway over Nino's wedding party choices. "Can we talk?" Sho asked nervously, but Nino ignored him.
"Let me bring you over."
He linked arms with Sho, dragging him across the room to meet his fiancee. She had a small, enigmatic face, her hair piled up messily on her head. Sho swallowed, remembering what Aiba-san had explained in the car. The woman before him gave spankings for a living and was apparently the best at it. "Yuriko, this is the man who saved my wallet, Sakurai Sho-san."
Where Sho expected a polite nod or a smile, Yuriko got to her feet and went for him, going straight for his chest and giving one of his nipples an unexpected squeeze through his shirt. He yelped in shock, earning laughter from the guests gathered around the table.
But after that, she did a complete 180, wrapping her arms around him. "I'm so glad you could come. Nino adores you."
Nino himself saw nothing embarrassing about this admission, sitting back down to chat with Aiba-san. Yuriko pulled him along by the wrist, tugging him down to the end of the table. There was one open seat remaining, and he spied a very different-looking Kitagawa-san sitting next to the empty chair. He'd been charmed by her unpretentious looks earlier that day, and now he was slightly stunned to find her with her long hair down, wearing a dress that seemed a little tame compared to the other women gathered around the table. But, Sho thought, it suited her perfectly. Her glasses were gone, and even in the low light she was beautiful.
Yuriko elbowed him. "You're staring."
Keiko laughed, not seeming to have heard Yuriko. "I already explained about the gift basket mix-up. They've all had a good laugh at our expense."
Sho left Yuriko's side, moving around the table to sit down beside Keiko. There were open bottles of champagne dotting the table, and Keiko went right ahead and started pouring some into the empty glass at Sho's place setting. From the more relaxed mannerisms she now had on display, it seemed to Sho that Keiko-san had already had a few herself.
With Sho at the very end of the table, he was kind of limited in his socializing. But that didn't much matter as Yuriko dominated the table. With Nino and Aiba knocking back drinks without paying much attention, Yuriko went around naming all of the guests she'd invited and thanking them for coming. As far as Sho could understand, most of the table's occupants worked for the infamous "Puppy Play" line or at the Snake and Earring Club in Tokyo where Yuriko was otherwise gainfully employed. Most of her clients met her there for their...sessions. Sho didn't have any other way to describe it.
And so there was a mixture of other men and women in Yuriko's line of work, including the maid of honor, who just so happened to be Matsumoto Jun's bustier top girlfriend, Shibasaki Kou. Kou-san was apparently Yuriko's senpai, and Sho was instantly afraid of her. Despite Matsumoto's cool indifference when he and Sho had met, he was putty in the hands of Kou-san, who fed him by hand and patted him on the head like a dog to the amusement of the whole table.
Well, the whole table save for Sho and Keiko, who ordered the same thing and mostly ate in silence. The table was full of people who either worked in an S&M club or patronized them, and they all knew one another intimately (in more ways than one, Sho suspected of many of them). Nino only had Aiba as an ally, but then Aiba kept turning to kiss the pretty blonde on his other side in between taking shots.
"His girlfriend," Keiko pointed out, pouring more champagne out for Sho even though his glass was still halfway full. "Rola-san. You know, from TV?"
Sho worked a lot and didn't make much time for TV. But he did watch Keiko's expression change over the course of the meal. She apparently knew who Rola-san was, and meeting her in person had changed her impression of her significantly. Even from across the table, Rola-san was a non-stop giggler, puffing out her cheeks in shock like a little girl whenever Yuriko and her friends tried to ask her about her sexual history. Aiba was so drunk he didn't even seem to hear his girlfriend admitting she'd lost her virginity at age 15 to the 27 year old friend of her cousin (giggle, cheek puff, longer giggle).
"Interesting table conversation," Sho mumbled, spearing his last piece of asparagus with his fork.
There'd be a whole week with these people. Who knew what kind of personal information they'd try to get out of him? Just because they were open and happy with discussing their sex lives, Sho certainly was not.
"Keiko-chan!" Yuriko called as their dessert plates were being brought around, finally seeming to sense the dark, quiet aura at their end of the table. "Did you pick up your other gift yet?"
Sho watched Keiko's face flush, and not just from the alcohol. "Oh, not yet," Keiko said, eyes transfixed on the fish tank wall, looking anywhere but at Yuriko. "But thank you, I'll be sure to get it."
Yuriko got up from her seat, carrying her plate of brownies with her. She gestured for Sho to move and he made to get out of his seat, but Yuriko shoved him back down, instead sitting right in his lap side-saddle so she could talk to Keiko.
Sho, completely trapped, could only sit there and make panicked eyes at Nino, who only pointed at him and laughed before going back to his conversation with one of Yuriko's other colleagues. Well, Yuriko certainly was friendly.
She lowered her voice, speaking to Keiko in between munches of brownie. She didn't seem to mind if Sho overheard since in her dominatrix mind he was just a chair right now. "I only wanted to welcome you with something fun," she was explaining. "Please don't feel obligated to keep any of it. There's plenty of people at this table who would happily take it off your hands."
Keiko's fingers seemed to be itching to grab the champagne bottle before her. Maybe more alcohol would fix this crazy dinner. Sho couldn't blame her. "You really didn't have to get me anything, honestly. Thank you for your continued kindness."
Sho had to pee, and his bladder was sending him signals all the more now that he had an unwelcome guest sitting on him. An unwelcome guest who just so happened to be his friend's bride! Yuriko seemed perfectly comfortable sitting on him, like it was something she did all the time. "Let's go to the concierge together and pick it up. I just know you'll love it."
"Oh?" Keiko murmured. "We don't...we don't have to do that tonight..."
"Nonsense!" Yuriko insisted. "You're going to need it for the bachelorette party anyhow!"
Sho, despite himself, couldn't help being the slightest bit intrigued. During the car ride, Aiba hadn't spilled word one about the bachelor party. He wondered what the ladies would be getting up to.
"If you insist then," Keiko said agreeably. Sho had to hand it to her. In spite of her obvious embarrassment, she seemed to be getting along with everyone far better than Sho was.
Yuriko scooted off of him, shoving the plate of brownies at him. "Eat these. It's chocolate with a jalapeno kick!"
Sho's stomach flipped at both the brownie's ingredients as well as at the terse command. He accepted the plate meekly, almost inclined to bow his head and say "right away, ma'am." What a woman.
He watched Yuriko link arms with Keiko, pulling them along and out of the room as the others finished up their desserts and lit their after-dinner cigarettes. He saw Keiko look back over her shoulder at him, eyes terrified, as he took his first tentative bite of the dangerous brownie.
Part Three