1.44: The Best TherapySomething soft… on my back.

  I felt restrained. Arms trapped. Something warm and plush molded around me as if it refused to let me escape. My eyes fluttered open, burning a little, and I blinked until the bleariness cleared. The first thing I saw was “Godzil vs. Mothra.” Not the movie… one of my own shirts. Someone was wearing it. Whoever they were, they had a ft… I leaned back slightly and tilted my head upward.

  R–Rui?!

  She was asleep, her small face rexed, shes soft like moth wings resting on her cheeks. My heart thudded faster and faster as I stared at her. How could an oni’s face be so gentle?

  Something much softer pressed into my back. It felt warm. Supple. Hugging me like an electric futon.

  I forced my head to turn, straining.

  Ume.

  Her long hair… dark, glossy, loosened from its usual style spilled over my pillow like bck silk. She was drooling lightly, pressing against me, her lips parted, one fang poking adorably over her lower lip as she cuddled an arm tightly around my waist… as if she were ciming me in her sleep.

  W–why?!

  I flushed violently and tried to cmp a hand over my nose… expecting a geyser, but her arm was locked around mine, keeping me trapped firmly against her chest.

  Thankfully, my nose wasn’t bleeding.

  Yet.

  SQUISH.

  I froze as something unmistakably soft molded against my spine.

  If I moved, even a millimeter, Rui might wake up and…

  My imagination short-circuited. The two girls. One pressed to my front. One to my back. Warm, soft, their breaths patterning against me like gentle waves.

  I tried not to think dirty thoughts.

  I failed instantly.

  Because that’s when reality punched me in the chest.

  REIKO!!!

  My breath hitched, and fresh tears welled up. But the warmth sandwiching me from both sides softened the sharp edges of grief. Tears rolled silently down onto the futon.

  Drip.Drip.Drip.

  The sound was like soft rain tapping gently against my apartment's roof.

  My eyes slipped closed as I tried to sink back into sleep, like those long, numbing days when depression buried me.

  CRASH!!!

  “Eeeeeek!” Rui shot upright, her hair fring like a startled cat’s. “What’s going on?!”

  My eyes flew open just as Ume continued to snuggle… even harder if possible into my back, mumbling something unintelligible.

  Rui rushed to the sliding door and peeked out. A low whistling sound pulsed through the entire apartment.

  “A fsh flood storm,” she whispered, trembling.

  “A-are you okay?” I asked softly, squirming as Ume unconsciously nuzzled against me.

  “I’m fine,” Rui lied. “I need to use the bathroom. Going. Now.” She darted off.

  BOOM!

  “KYAAAAAAA!” Rui screamed again as she ran down the hall.

  “Nnnhhh… R-RuiRui?” Ume mumbled, half-asleep, her drool soaking through the back of my shirt. I gnced downward.

  I was wearing one of my clean shirts with my Tekku-branded shorts. They… had changed my clothes.

  They saw me naked!

  Blood nearly erupted from my face.

  “Yaiiii!” I squeaked pathetically.

  “Susumu? What’s going on?” Ume yawned and stretched before letting go of me. She pushed upright, rubbing her eyes—causing her breasts to bounce under the fabric of—

  Another of my shirts.

  She was wearing my shirt too.

  My Tekku 5 stretched beautifully over her chest. It was the cssic “girlfriend wearing her boyfriend’s clothes” look… softly baggy everywhere except where her curves filled it stunningly. Rui was somehow cuter in one of my shirts. I couldn’t exactly put my finger on why.

  But Ume… while she looked young like Rui, she had the figure to sell her age, unlike Rui, which gave her a clear adult charm.

  There’s something deeply holy about seeing a vampire’s unbelievable breasts testing the esticity of one of my shirts.

  Ayaiyaiyaiyaiyaiyai!!!

  My thoughts got dirtier when I realized the outline of her nipples were faintly visible through the cotton.

  "Oh… a storm…” Ume said zily as she arched her back, stretching. The fabric lifted slightly over her hips.

  Oh Kami. Thank you. You haven’t forsaken me after all!

  I squeezed my eyes shut, trying not to combust on the spot.

  “Mnnn… you said you don’t have very much to eat, right?” Ume asked.

  “Y–yeah… sorry… I don’t even have bread now. The st bread I had was… well… a little moldy,” I confessed, mortified.

  “Oh my… you’re far too adorable, Susumu,” Ume giggled. “It makes me want to take good care of you! Hmmm… you have an umbrel, right?”

  “I… I do… in the genkan closet. Why?”

  “I’m going shopping!” she decred brightly.

  “In this weather, really?” I asked, blinking myself back into consciousness. My vision sharpened…

  … and my brain detonated.

  Ume had thrown off my shirt right here in front of me.

  She was completely naked.

  Her bare hips twisted as she wriggled back into the dress she’d worn st night, her perfect, pale backside wiggling right in front of me, framed by the soft morning light pushing through the storm-darkened clouds.

  U-Ume-chan!!

  My entire soul short-circuited.

  I passed out again.

  “Idiot! WAKE UP!” Rui screamed, her voice cracking with panic. “You’re supposed to comfort a girl in need!”She was sobbing. Actual, trembling sobs. “D-darn it! Where’s Ume-chan?! I want her!” she wailed.

  I peeled my eyes open. My skull throbbed like a construction crew had drilled into it. “Oh, kami… it hurts…”

  BOOM.

  CRASH.

  “Don’t talk about hurting! Do something about this!” Rui shouted.

  “About… what? Is something wrong?” I mumbled stupidly.

  BOOM.

  RATTLE.

  “KYAAAAA!!” Rui shrieked, diving under the bnket and pressing herself against me. “Nooooo! No no no no noooo!”

  “W–You’re afraid of storms?” I whispered, staring at the trembling lump pressed against my chest.

  “No! No—just FIX it!” Rui yelped, shaking uncontrolbly.

  BOOM.

  “Rui, I… I’m not Thor Odinson…” I said weakly.

  “Don’t YOU DARE joke at a time like this, you BAKA!” she screeched from under the futon, her eyes bzing at me from beneath the edge of the cover.

  CRASH!

  “Yaiiiii!” she squeaked again, hiding fully beneath the bnket.

  This was the same oni who’d yelled at kami, fought yokai, and probably terrorized criminals for fun.

  And she was absolutely falling apart over a little thunder.

  My heart melted. I couldn’t help it.

  I hesitantly wrapped my arms around her. She was shaking violently, her little body curling up against me, desperate for warmth and safety.

  “Um… it’s okay,” I murmured softly. “It’ll pass. Storms always do. We’ll be fine… I’m right here.”

  THUD.

  “N-no!!! What if there’s a tsunami?! A hurricane?! What if a meteorite falls?!” Rui cried, clutching my shirt like it was a lifeline.

  Th–that’s… astronomically unreasonable…

  “You suck at comforting people, Susumu!” Rui accused. “You’re a FAILURE of a human being!”

  “Ouch… rough…” I muttered under my breath. “What do you want me to do? Punch the thunder?”

  “I don’t care WHAT you do, just FIX it!”

  “I can’t fix the weather…” I blushed harder and hugged her a little tighter. “But if Ume were here, she’d definitely kiss you and make it all better instantly.”

  Rui froze. Then squirmed.

  “…Where IS she?” she demanded.

  I stiffened, the st image of Ume’s bare backside fshing in my mind like a cursed, yet divine revetion.

  Rui noticed the look in my face immediately.Her pupils dited.Her fists tightened.

  “ARE YOU HIDING SOMETHING?! DID SOMETHING HAPPEN TO HER?!” she howled and pounded on my chest with her fists. It was like being gently tapped by marshmallows…she was too terrified to hit with any real strength. She clearly didn’t mean it.

  I forced myself to focus on the more logical and safer memory instead of the holy one.

  “Oh… she went shopping,” I finally said.

  Rui blinked. Once. Twice. Then her shoulders sagged.

  “In THIS weather…? Oh. Right. She’s normal for a vampire. They love gloomy, dramatic, human-hiding-indoors weather.”She sniffled, wiping her face. “She’ll be fine. Whatever she makes… it’ll be really special.”

  Her voice softened, almost musical. Thinking about Ume’s cooking seemed to soothe her, little by little.

  I let out a tiny ugh——and my blood froze.

  My voice. It was kind of a giggle.

  “Um… M-my voice… is higher pitched…” I choked.

  “You JUST noticed?” Rui snorted, wiping her tears with the back of her hand. “Moron. Yes, it’s hers too. No… I shouldn’t joke. It’s really fucked up, but here we are.” Rui exhaled, controlling her emotions. “Here’s something you can do for me, Susumu. Something only you can do now. Just talk to me gently. Softly. I… liked her voice.”

  Me too.

  My heart twisted. Tears began dripping again without my permission.

  “Well… um… how about the Tokyo Swallows?” I whispered, my voice trembling as I tried to imitate soft, gentle chatter. “They pyed really well this year… They had…”

  And I rambled on and on about baseball… about the st game I’d watched on my crappy television. I remembered that Rui didn’t hate baseball. After all, her office was decorated. I was probably telling her stuff she already knew. So I kept bthering on about what I knew, letting my voice become the soft, steady sound she needed as the storm raged around us.

  Relwing