Hajime and the Little Devil's Tail

(This story takes place in an alternate Hope's Peak Academy where no **** has occurred. All characters that appear are over eighteen regardless of the original canon. This is the only author's note.)

A sweltering summer day beat down on two students sitting in a courtyard, perched on a bench with their lunches finished alongside them and matching models of game consoles in their hands. They weren't dating, despite any appearances to the contrary. In fact, they weren't even classmates. The young woman, Chiaki Nanami, was one of the students hand-picked from across Japan to attend Hope's Peak Academy with the title of Ultimate Gamer. The young man, Hajime Hinata, was a student of the school's general Reserve Course, with the title of... no title at all. In terms of their statuses, they were an odd pair: students in the Reserve Course weren't even allowed onto the main grounds of the Academy, crammed into a mostly mundane neighboring building with little more than an odd glimpse out the window to remind them of the faint glimmer of hope they might one day transfer into the main program. That meant their relationship was only possible because Chiaki tended to wander outside the main grounds and into the shared courtyard during lunchtime.

Speaking of their relationship... what was it, exactly? Hajime wondered that as he allowed his green eyes to wander from the screen he was supposed to be focusing on to the girl he was sharing a bench with. In contrast to his own lacking focus, Chiaki's posture, with her knees pulled up to her chest to act as a rest for her handheld and her neck craned slightly forwards towards the screen, was totally locked-in. In spite of that, her face had a typical heavy-lidded expression, one that could be read as either relaxed or sleepy. Her round pink eyes didn't meet his, and she didn't seem to notice as he scanned her from the tips of her nearly-pink, curved-out bob to toes of her pastel pink Mary Janes. Ordinarily, her uniform would be covered by a dark green hoodie, but the hot weather offered a rare look at her white button-up short-sleeved shirt. Considering how thoroughly she outclassed him in gaming skills, Hajime couldn't take any responsibility for the sweat that was slightly sticking that white shirt to her pale skin, but he could quietly enjoy it. In fact... Was it sticking to her chest, too? The young man was respectful enough not to stare, but his brown hair antenna nearly shot up as he imagined how the light fabric would look clinging tight to his friend's notable rack.

Just as Hajime was beginning to wonder if he was going to give into temptation and find an excuse to look more directly, a shadow came over him. As if caught in the act, Hajime jerked his head towards whoever was casting it.

There, standing with a hand over her mouth that failed to conceal her giggle, was Hiyoko Saionji. She was one of Chiaki's classmates, admitted to Hope's Peak as the Ultimate Traditional Dancer. Hajime had met her before... Well, more accurately, he'd had a number of run-ins with her, enough to get to know her well enough. She was... a friend? Was that right? With how Hiyoko pinballed between crying and sneering, calling him a **** in one breath and confiding him in the next, he really had no idea where he stood with her. That said, seeing her here was unusual because Hiyoko almost never ate lunch outside of the main Academy building. She considered the Reserve Course students peons, servants, or insects, and frequently said as much herself.

When Hajime had first met her, she was much shorter; since then, she'd hit a growth spurt. Hajime figured that was probably lamented by her main fan group, who seemed to see her former small stature as part of her appeal. Now, she was average height for the girls in her class and, while generally a bit more slender, had a bust to match Chiaki's. Her attitude hadn't changed too much, however, and the sneer on her face was as classic Hiyoko as the orange, floral-printed kimono she wore, even in this heat.

Something was different, though... Something in her eyes, the way she looked down on him.

Before Hajime could tie down what that was or consider why she was here bothering him at lunch, Hiyoko broke the silence. "I'm sorry, Hajime, am I ruining your focus? Not that you looked very focused... Well, focused on something, maybe! Yep, I toootally get why a predictable guy like you would leave your shitty building's lousy AC to sweat your ass off in this heat."

Hajime wanted to defend himself, but he couldn't. Hiyoko had been pretty much on the money. Still, he didn't want her talking like that in front of Chiaki, who... was not listening. She only just seemed to realize that Hiyoko had arrived. The gamer tilted her head up and rubbed her eyes with the back of one hand. "Mm... Hiyoko? Sorry, I didn't see you show up. But I've got time to talk. Hajime could use a break, I think... Were you really playing seriously a second ago?" she asked him, turning and facing him with a slight, disapproving pout. "You're not going to be able to enjoy a competitive game if you don't put your heart into it."

"S-sorry!" the young man apologized, scratching at the back of his short hair and feeling self conscious of his own sweat.

"Oh, that's okay," she replied, seeming a little surprised at his effusive apology. "Hiyoko, what's up?"

Hiyoko seemed to be watching Hajime with some unidentified special interest. When Chiaki addressed her directly, however, Hiyoko turned to her with a wide smile that couldn't look sincere to anyone who'd know her for longer than an hour. "Yeah, yeah! I was looking for you, Chiaki, not Mr. Drab Drooly Dimwit over here. Are you still looking to host that Girls' Gaming Night? From the last time we talked?"

Chiaki's sleepy eyes suddenly starred up as she leaned forward. "Oh yeah? Sure am! I want to host a get-together for everyone in our dorm who doesn't normally play video games."

"Sounds fun! I decided I'm into it, so I wanted to come tell you. Hey, who else is gonna be there?"

"... Not too sure yet. I want to keep it small so we all get our turns. You have any idea?"

"Hmm... Who do I know who'd want to do a gaming session in your room? Packed between our shoulders, the two of us totally distracted by the game, not paying any attention to what that person did with their eyes, or even their hands? I know!" Her eyes suddenly shot towards the young man on the bench like a predator spotting prey. Her lips curled into a sneer, but not her usual one. Very briefly, her tongue slid across her lips. "Hajime would love to join Girls' Gaming Night! Wouldn't you, ****?"

Both Hajime and Chiaki seemed surprised by that, although it registered twice as powerfully on the young man it was directed towards. "C-c'mon, Hiyoko. I get jerking me around, but Chiaki's trying to set up a fun event for you. Can't you answer her seriously?" Hajime gulped, understanding he was risking one of Hiyoko's characteristic mood swings.

The dancer did complain, but she smiled disarmingly. "You're not gonna join us for a sweaty gamer sesh?! Hajime, you... you big dummy! You huge wuss!" For a moment, she was back to normal, leaning towards him and glaring with her fists on her hips. "What is this, huuuh? You think you're a white knight or something? Protecting Chiaki's innocence?! Newsflash, shitstain- Chiaki's totally on board with it! She'd love to have you in her room. Wouldn't you, Chiaki?"

Hajime was prepared to turn to Chiaki and tell her she didn't have to take Hiyoko seriously, that he completely understood and it wouldn't hurt his feelings to be invited to a girls-only gaming event. As he started to, however, his eyes were pulled back to Hiyoko. Not her face, which now wore her a wide, satisfied grin. His eyes were pulled to something behind her. At first, he thought he was seeing some dangling piece of fabric that had been tucked into the back of her sash. Now he could see that wasn't the case. It was a tail, tipped in a spade-like point, extending from somewhere behind Hiyoko. It had been hidden by her body before. Now, it had slipped from behind her to point at Chiaki. It straightened at a hard, ninety-degree angle and began to glow, brightest pink at the tip.

It looked like a weapon pointed as his friend. Hajime looked at Chiaki, unsure of what to expect.

...

As if unconcerned with the tail pointed at her, Chiaki was stretching her arms behind her head. She was giving quite a yawn, one that entailed opening her mouth wide and sticking her pink tongue out evocatively; thrusting her unguarded chest forward in a way that emphasized the way it stuck to a pixel-patterned pastel-pink bra, completing the formerly speculative image Hajime had been nursing of how her white shirt would look stuck to her huge tits; the noise that came from her throat sounded a bit less like her characteristic tiredness and more like a moan. She held the stretching pose while facing Hiyoko, wearing her usual smile. "It's fine if Hajime tags along... I think."

"It is~?!" Hiyoko asked with mock surprise.

"It is?!" Hajime asked with very genuine surprise.

"Sure," she added, making a show of closing her heavy eyelids and rolling her neck as if working out a kink. "I think it's fine for you to do whatever you like... Take a nice, long look at the girls..." she paused for another big yawn. "... Girls' dorm, I mean. I'm sure everyone will be just fine with it..." Her pink eyes opened and curled with her smile at Hajime's jaw-on-the-floor gaping. "As long as you don't get caught."

The young man picked up his jaw and shut it so hard, it clenched his teeth. "I wasn't- I mean, I wouldn't-" Hajime was flushing, trying to come up with something to say, but he was struggling under the dual **** of two busty beauties snickering at his reaction. He tried to change the subject. "H-Hiyoko, what's with the tail?"

"Huh? What tail?" Hiyoko asked, running her hand across the smooth length of the appendage in question, still fixed and pointing at Chiaki. "Is the heat getting to you? Or are you... What the heck, Hajime?! Are you talking about my butt? I mean, I know you're always looking at the tight fit of my kimono... the smooth silhouette it gives that cute, curvy bubble of mine... but this is sexual harassment!"

Chiaki seemed to be pouting a bit, finally breaking her performative stretch to lean towards her gaming partner. "Hiyoko's right, Hajime. You've been acting a little funny for a while now. It's the heat, I bet..." She pressed a bit closer, invading his personal space. As Hajime watched, she climbed up onto her hands and knees on the bench, forcing him to press into the arm next to him to give her room. "It's hard to ignore you when you're looking this hot. Geez... I'm all hot, too, actually." Still locking eyes with him with a spaced-out expression, she tugged at the collar of her shirt, pulling it down and towards her own cleavage in an apparent effort to air it out. "I can't even focus on gaming. Then again, maybe I was getting a little too sweaty with it, huh?"

"Huh...?" Hajime repeated back to her. This was sexual harassment, like Hiyoko had said, but not from him! "Chiaki, what are you... You can see Hiyoko's tail too, right?"

The gamer frowned, furrowing her brow and backing off. "You're way too concerned about Hiyoko's tail, I think... Well, it's not that I don't get it."

"Right?!" Hajime nodded vigorously. "It isn't normal, is it?!"

"No, it isn't normal... to think about a girl's butt so much that you want to spank it," Chiaki replied, sighing and looking somehow resigned. "When it comes to Hiyoko, though, I'm not surprised you feel that way."

"Eeew, creepy!" Hiyoko interrupted, although she was giggling. "Wow, Hajime, I'm not sure I feel safe with the idea of being in the room with just the three of us. You've totally got pervy predator vibes... I think we need one more girl to stack the odds in our favor. Who's gonna be your plus one?"

The young man felt himself being pulled along helplessly by the flow of the conversation. Whatever was going on, it seemed like neither Chiaki nor Hiyoko herself was going to cop to the fact that the dancer had sprouted some kind of magic demon tail, and pointing it out seemed to just be driving their denial. Instead, he tried to think of how to answer their question honestly, trying to think of which girl he knew that he could invite. He ought to give it serious thought and come up with an answer that made sense, one they couldn't twist into another teasing point. "... How about Akane?"

The two girls looked at each other, nodded, then looked back to Hajime.

"That makes sense, I guess," Chiaki commented quietly. "Yep... Your head is about where I figured."

Hiyoko snickered. "Riiight? For some reason, I figured you were gonna pick Sonia, but that'd be too brave, wouldn't it? Ol' Dull-as-Dishwater Hajime's gotta pick the biggest boobs in the class, no matter what kinda animal woman they're attached to. So typical!"

"W-why would I care about... Akane doesn't know anything about gaming. That's why I'm inviting her! This is about gaming for non-gamers, isn't it?!" Hajime defended himself.

"Well, so I thought," Chiaki replied, staring down at her own chest moodily. "The way you're making choices, though... You really want to be in a small dorm room with busty girls, huh?" Chiaki held up a finger as though it was a point of serious discussion. She pressed uncomfortably close-in once more.

Then, something even stranger happened, something that made Hajime want to rub his eyes to make sure they were working. He would have, if he didn't think doing so would make him look like even more of a cartoon pervert.

Hiyoko's tail glowed even brighter, bright enough that it was hard to look at in the harsh sunlight of the day.

Hajime hardly noticed. That wasn't what was making his eyes pop. It was Chiaki's boobs. They had already been distracting, but Hajime was sure they had gotten bigger. The top button of her uniform shirt had popped in response to her sudden movement, barely missing his ear as it whizzed by.

He finally managed to tear his eyes up from the spectacle and put them back on the strange, catty smile of his close friend, the one he'd shared quiet and platonic lunches with for a semester before Hiyoko's strange tail had made an appearance. "I knew it, Hajime... You're not focused on gaming at all today, are you? Well... better get focused before our playdate tonight."

The young man felt like he was going crazy. Was he? He couldn't resist any longer.

He had to try and grab that tail! Hajime hopped to his feet suddenly and made a swipe for Hiyoko...

... Who nimbly dodged backwards with the graceful twirl of a dancer. "Kyaaa! Did you just grab for my sash, creep?! That's it, I'm outta here! Enjoy your dirt lunch and your stinky, sweaty nerd stuff. Oh, but..." she paused, turning from where she'd been running to give Hajime a threatening grin. "Don't be late, okay? Something tells me that the longer you take to show up, the more restless I'm gonna get... If I get restless, I might make it everyone's problem, not just yours and Chiaki's. Get the point?" she teased, her magical tail jabbing at the air beside her. "Don't wuss out!"

Hajime watched her leave with a dry throat. He understood exactly what she meant, although he didn't know why. If he didn't show up to that meeting on time, Hiyoko would probably use that same magic on every girl he knew. The mild-mannered Reserve Course student didn't think he could take it. Speaking of which, he turned back to Chiaki...

She was unbothered and back to her game, knees to her chest and eyes on the prize. Other than the way she was missing a button and packing extra plumpness in pleasant places, she looked like she hadn't moved since the encounter before.

The young man questioned her, relieved for once to find her giving distracted answers from within "the zone." It was better than having her turn every sentence into an innuendo or a jab at his hormones, but the answers weren't what he was hoping for. Yes, she was still inviting him to her girls-only session in her girls-only dorm, even if she wasn't being promiscuous about it. No, she hadn't noticed a tail on Hiyoko. When the young man realized Chiaki seemed genuinely bugged about his fixation on the imaginary tail he'd seen, he decided to drop it and politely excuse himself, which Chiaki allowed.

"Oh, but Hajime. If you're inviting Akane..." she paused her game and turned her attention to him now, seriously.

"Y-yeah?" he replied, forcing a grin and dreading some new condition thrown out to get a rise out of him.

"... You're buying the snacks," she finished, then returned to her game.

"... Yeah."

With the summer sun set on what proved to be an uneventful day of classes for Chiaki, the gamer had met up with Hiyoko to go ahead and start preparing for their game night. Setting aside the food, Chiaki would otherwise be hosting; as such, she needed to make a bit of last minute effort in cleaning. A frown crossed her face as she scanned her room, wishing she had asked Hiyoko to wait outside. She almost never had friends over, and it was still a mess. In fact, her clothes were lying around on the floor. Considering she was having a boy over-

Then again, she figured nobody would care. Hiyoko wasn't making any fuss about it, and Chiaki found it hard to imagine Akane kept her room any cleaner. And Hajime... for some reason, she was sure Hajime wouldn't care.

She felt Hiyoko's eyes on her. The blonde glanced away and whistled innocently. Something was strange about her today. Chiaki guessed it was just the environment: it was unusual to see Hiyoko hanging out with friends. Well, that was the point of the invite, after all.

Chiaki cleared her throat. "I've got a little bit to do to get ready. Since I'm hosting and Hajime's bringing snacks and Akane's helping Hajime get here... Hiyoko, why don't you start picking out some games you want to play tonight? I've got all kinds of stuff at that entertainment center over there. I'll be right back in a sec."

"Sure thing! I think you'll be surprised how good I am at guessing what Hajime's into," Hiyoko giggled without explanation.

The hostess smiled, reassured. "Well, I'll count on you then. Be right back." Chiaki wasn't making a big deal out of it, but the truth was that before she hosted a game night, she needed to freshen up. It had been an unusually sweaty day. She wished she had time to take a shower, but just a change of clothes and some basic hygiene-

Actually, she figured she had time for a quick hop in and hop out. Hiyoko would keep the other two entertained until she was done.

"Yo!" A shout accompanied the front door of the dorm room being kicked open as Akane Owari, the Ultimate Gymnast, announced herself. The tall and tan athlete was dressed in her usual white barely-buttoned button-up and short red skirt. Between the heat of the day and her exercise, beads of sweat could be seen all over her exposed skin and wild, dark brown hair. "I heard there's a party in here! That mean there's a cake?!"

Hiyoko scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Commoners like you have really dumb ideas about parties, huh? Get your ass in here. And no, there's not any snacks. Unless the guest of honor brought some. Hajime?"

The young man in question had been tucked under one of Akane's arms as she ran with him effortlessly, attempting to get him to the party without being seen. Amazingly, he thought it had worked; while the noise and speed of her running should have alerted everyone on the floor, he had a feeling everyone was avoiding a good look in order to keep themselves out of whatever trouble she was into. In any case, there was another problem... "Akane... I told you, the snacks you ate when I invited you were for everyone, for the whole night."

"Huuuh?! Oh, wait, I get it! You mean other than the pizza you're gonna order, right?" Akane set him down and slapped him on the back. "No biggie, I can wait a sec!"

Hajime nearly fell onto his face from the gymnast's carelessly hard strike. "P-pizza, sure."

"I'll take three, with extra meat!"

"... We'll order later, okay?" Hajime had more pressing concerns than his wallet at the moment, although that was on the list. The first concern... Yes, this wasn't a dream and it wasn't a prank (or, at least, not the kind of prank he was worried about). The door he'd passed through had clearly put him in Chiaki's room, her actual room. That was evident from the girly decor that matched her soft appearance, the large number of consoles at the gaming center... and the articles of clothing bundled on the floor. Hajime noted something pink in the pile and averted his gaze.

Where he looked next didn't offer much relief. His eyes set on the door to the bathroom at the rear of the apartment. "Chiaki is..."

"Yep!" Hiyoko answered him cheerily. "She said she needed a shower. You like your girls fresh and clean, don't you?"

"Like I care!" the young man snapped back, already feeling exhausted.

The third important thing in the room had finally made an appearance... a dark, familiar tail had snuck from behind Hiyoko once again, pointing directly at him. "Heeey, ****, I'm asking you a question! Would it kill you to answer seriously? Do you prefer a fresh, soft girl that smells like soap, or a dirty, sweaty woman who smells like a monkey?"

Too late, Hajime realized that tail hadn't been pointing at him. "Oh no..." he turned around, intending to run or intercept what was coming, only to find himself immediately caught in a powerful pair of arms.

Akane had grabbed him in an embrace, smothering his face into her huge boobs as she growled back at Hiyoko. "Are you tryin' to pick a fight?! This guy didn't bitch or moan a bit bein' carried here like a flour sack under my armpit!" She let Hajime back a bit so she could grin down into his face. "You like a woman that smells like a woman, don'tcha? Hehe! I owe ya one for all the grub, so take a big whiff if that's what you're into!"

Hiyoko laughed cruelly at the scene she'd caused. "Hee hee hee! Yeah! Take a big whiff, freak!"

Hajime wanted to protest, but between Akane's strength and her eye-watering musk, he genuinely felt like he was about to pass out. When the brutish woman finally released him, he gasped for air. "Not you, too! Hiyoko, this has gone far enough. I'm not going to stay here and be your plaything for a whole night."

His tailed tormentor was looking away as if she either hadn't heard him or wasn't worried. "Oh hey! The shower's stopped." As Hajime watched with unease, Hiyoko's tail pointed that way, as if calling his attention to a show.

Chiaki toweled the moisture off of her pale skin, humming quietly to herself as she began to dress back...

Or so she thought. She realized she hadn't brought the first bit of a change of clothes. She'd have to call out for Hiyoko-

"No, that's no good. I'm supposed to be hosting, and it's just us two, right? It's okay if I poke my head out for a moment."

Actually, she could make it to her dresser and back in ten seconds, she figured. So, she wrapped a pink bath towel around herself. She had to confess, it was a bit skimpier than she'd pictured it in her head, as if she had more chest to cover than she'd imagined. Glancing down at her own impressive rack, she could see a valley of cleavage and an ordinarily well-hidden beauty mark. Still, she reminded herself, there was no need to be self-conscious about her breasts. She quietly grabbed the knob, pushed the door open, then stepped out into her dorm room, still humming a tune...

... Only to see Hiyoko, Hajime, and Akane already looking her way, as if they'd expected her to make this mistake.

Chiaki was pretty easy-going and not terribly self-aware, but a faux pas like this was still enough to begin bringing color into her face. Her ordinarily heavy-lidded eyes popped slightly with a deer-in-the-headlights look. She had to speedrun her way back to the bathroom-

"No. I'm the hostess. It'll be super embarrassing if I reveal I made a mistake like that. Isn't it better if I just carry on with it, like I meant to do it? This is my room. I should be comfortable with it. But Hajime-"

She looked at Hajime, who was failing to tear his eyes from her nearly naked body. It was embarrassing, but she realized that the important thing was to make Hajime comfortable in this situation so the session to come wouldn't be awkward. She tried to think of a relaxing icebreaker (or, at least, that was what her brain was telling her the next lines out of her mouth were).

"Making yourself at home, huh, Hajime? There's a lot to see in a girl's room... but maybe there are just a couple of things that have your attention?" She gave him a small smile, not bothering to hide her towel-clad form at all as she made her way to her dresser as casually as possible. Obviously, she needed to hurry and grab her usual clothes-

Except, wouldn't Hajime be more comfortable if he saw she was dressing casually? She could probably afford to get a little more comfortable than usual. With that in mind, she grabbed some particular clothes, ones she wouldn't remember buying if she thought about it a little harder. She didn't want Hajime to think she was in a rush, either, so she took her time, leaning into her closet as if to show she was totally fine with an audience. The towel was just long enough... Just enough so that leaning forward like this wouldn't expose something she didn't mean to.

With her clothes finally in hand, she turned, giving her guest a totally friendly and good-natured wink as she strut back into her bathroom and shut the door.

As she slung off the towel and began pulling her adventurous choice of underwear up her soft, bare legs, wiggling to pinch her plump behind into them, she thought about Hajime's face. "He didn't say a word... Guess I'm going to have to work harder to make him comfortable, huh? Well, that's no problem. He ought to get cozier when we get to the games, I think."

---

Hajime found himself in a beanbag chair in a dark room, sitting snugly next to his frenemy. Hiyoko had suggested Chiaki and Akane enjoy the first rounds of games since Hajime still wasn't feeling well. Hajime didn't know what Hiyoko had planned, but he was sure that at least had to be better than all four of them playing together. Maybe, with a second to focus alone with Hiyoko, he'd have time to come to some kind of understanding with her?

Almost immediately, it was clear that wasn't what Hiyoko had in mind.

For starters, the first game only had two players because it was Dance Dance Revolution, and the beanbag chairs were uncomfortably close to the action on the dance pads Hiyoko had pulled out and set up. Hiyoko had given a cheeky apology, assuring them she'd sit it out since she'd have too much of a natural advantage as the Ultimate Traditional Dancer. So, she and Hajime had a nice worm's eye view to an intense showdown between Chiaki, a gaming prodigy, and Akane, a physical beast.

Obviously, this was less of a natural, hot-blooded contest and more of a show for Hajime's torment/benefit. That much had been obvious when Chiaki had exited her bathroom in a long tee shirt, complete with an unidentifiable video game advertisement and incomplete of any apparent pants. The shirt was baggy, hanging like a curtain from the shelf of her incredible chest; it was surely as comfortable for a long gaming session as it was completely inappropriate to be parading around in with a male guest present. The fact that he was seeing a supported chest and not breasts freely bouncing beneath it was a good sign, at least, but it didn't change the fact that he'd looked.

Then, there was Akane. At Chiaki's insistence and, unbeknownst to those two, Hiyoko's tail's further insistence, Akane had made herself as comfortable as possible. Against Hajime's vocal protests, she'd decided that meant she'd join Chiaki in her skirtlessness. For anyone else, it would be hard to imagine, but for Akane, it was sometimes a surprise she wore clothes at all. The wild woman's shirt was too small for her to begin with, and her plain white panties were indecently stained with sweat, making the shape of all of her business all too apparent. Damp patches stuck tight to her dark skin, showing the tone through the flimsy fabric.

Neither of the two of them had any idea about Hiyoko's tail, and the young man had given up trying to convince them it existed. He could feel it, however, as it joined one of Hiyoko's hands in holding his face still and forward. As a healthy young man, he could probably overpower her and get himself free if it was just an issue of physical strength... However, it was a matter of willpower.

"GET UP AND MOVE"

The console shouted the ironic command at him. There would be no getting up and there would be no moving for him. The television set displaying the game's video was entirely eclipsed by the form of two female bodies working up a sweat. Specifically, bare legs and hot asses filled Hajime's vision. Flecks of sweat flew from both girls and onto the young man seated behind them, who seemed somehow both the main point and a distant afterthought for their performance.

Akane was every bit the monster Hajime thought of her as when it came to this kind of contest. She didn't seem to have any intuition for gaming, but when it came to rhythm and stamina, she was a natural, and her eyes were set forward as if in a trance. Even glancing at her this way was too much stimulation for the young man behind her. She was completely focused on the dance and completely defenseless. Her clothes seemed strained against her powerful movement and amazonian strength; if they didn't burst apart, they were sure to at least displace at some point. So, in order to avoid being caught looking at some wardrobe malfunction, he'd decided to turn his head to Chiaki...

That was almost worse. When Hajime thought of Chiaki, he tended to imagine her rooted in one place, gaming or napping. Was the magic of Hiyoko's tail making this possible? She was somehow keeping pace with Akane. Hajime knew it wouldn't mean much to Akane, but he'd seen Chiaki's records on the song selection: she'd already aced the hardest version of this song playing solo. Therefore, it looked like, as long as it was a game, Chiaki would dominate in it. Her focused eyes were set in her usual trance, which made it all the more bizarre to see her soft, girlish body whirling around the pad to keep up with Akane. With every double-footed hop, her baggy shirt flew up unguarded, and Hajime was able to see that the panties she was wearing now didn't go with the bra she was wearing earlier at all. She'd changed into a special pair for him?!

"Hey, Hajime!" Hiyoko spoke into his ear, pressing her body against his as she kept him locked in place. "Aren't they going a little too hard? Well... not like you aren't going hard, too!" she giggled with a devilish grin. "Mm, but I think tryhards in games are disgusting. If you've got enough points to clear the song... there's no harm in playing around a little, right?"

"N-no, what are you talking about? You really can't see how hard this song is? Even Chiaki's put all her focus into it."

"Yeah? You're paying a lot of attention to Chiaki's focus, aren't you? You've had your eyes on her big focus for a while now. Mm hmm, I get it, but I don't really get it! Maybe it's not close enough? Or not big enough? What do you think, ****?"

Hajime didn't answer. He felt the heat growing where Hiyoko's tail was pressed against the side of his face, and he had a bad feeling he knew what was coming next...

Akane turned in place, managing to keep her legs moving to the rhythm despite playing the game for the first time. At the same time, she shut her eyes as if getting into the music. That seemed to be an excuse for her not to see how her own breasts were starting to strain the poor single button that kept her shirt together. Suddenly, it popped off and shot across Chiaki's room. Akane's already scandalous body was now barely hidden by the shirt hanging over each breast, sliding dangerously with every shake of her shoulders and clearly growing larger under the effect of Hiyoko's magic.

Chiaki kept her eyes on the screen, but she no longer seemed to be playing to win. As Hiyoko's tail turned her way, the gamer let her legs go still and tanked a string of missed notes in order to plant her feet. There was no other way to interpret what she did next; she was twerking right in Hajime's direction, planting her hands on her knees and letting her baggy shirt flap with the repetitive movement. Her tight, specially-chosen panties flitted in and out of view as she performed. Then, the unbelievable spectacle got even more crazy. As if Hajime had complained that he wasn't getting a good enough look, Chiaki's already eye-catching behind seemed to jump out towards him. Evidently, Hiyoko could make an ass grow as easily as a pair of breasts. Once it grew, it was no longer possible for Hajime to miss the eye-popping details of the garment: it was patterned after an old gaming controller with buttons and a pad, but more importantly, it had "PLAY WITH ME" printed across the seat. The coverage was decent (growing less-so as it tried to creep into the cheeks growing larger around it), but the message was clear.

The song came to an end. Both girls caught their breath. Somehow, Chiaki had managed to win, even throwing the last part of the stage in her effort to throw it back. She wiped sweat off her forehead, carelessly reaching down to hike up her gamer shirt and use it to towel off, either unaware or uncaring that it fully revealed her panties. "Sorry... I couldn't take it easy on you... I wanted... to show off a little. I guess."

Akane clicked her teeth. "Much as I want a rematch... What's Hajime's deal? You don't like playin' with girls, huh?" She grinned his way again, defaulting to the same friendly, clueless and defenseless grin that seemed to accompany her Hiyoko-inspired teasing.

"Oh, I'm sure he likes playing with girls," Chiaki corrected her classmate matter-of-factly. "It's just... Hajime probably has other hobbies. Is that it? Maybe you've got other hobbies besides gaming?" She turned her soft smile to Hajime, but her eyes looked down on him, as if he was the opponent she'd just beaten. "Maybe something you like to watch? Maybe... something you like to read?"

Hajime looked sweaty and breathless as if he'd just lost, himself. "N-no, um... I didn't see anything."

"Didn't see anything? After I worked so hard to show you..." Chiaki pouted. "The game, I mean."

"The game! Right, you two should rest. In fact, uh, I'll play a game! A game by myself. That's okay, right? Show me your favorite single player game and we'll enjoy it together."

Finally, he'd figured it out! A way he'd be able to just drag out an ordinary gaming experience.

"And I'll have to concentrate, okay? I'm gonna need to concentrate, so y'know... you three can entertain each other. By yourselves. Okay?"

Chiaki listened to him thoughtfully. For a moment, she looked normal again, in spite of her provocative shirt and increasingly hard-to-ignore curves. "Okay. You're my guest, and we'll do it your way. Super Mario Bros. sounds good, right?"

"Yeah, that's perfect. There's nothing sexy about Mario. I mean-!" he gasped, aware of his slip.

All three of the girls laughed to different degrees, but Chiaki spoke first. "Okay, Hajime. You can play, and we'll only backseat you a little bit. But you're going to play until you clear it, right?"

"Of course!"

Of course.

Night had long since fallen outside. Hajime wasn't any kind of special gamer, but he was at a late world castle, trying to line up Mario's jump with the top of the flagpole. He had gotten his wish, playing Mario Bros in a long endurance run with his three friends.

Friends who were all too eager to help him, both back-seating and front-seating.

In front of him, Hiyoko had taken a position which somehow hadn't been objected to by anyone but Hajime himself. The blonde had backed her backside nearly right up to Hajime's lap. Unseen by any of the others, her tail was swishing in front of his field of view, then down to flick playfully against the tent of his pants. Her eyes shone in the dark room as she peered back over the curve of her cute bottom. "Aren't you excited, Hajime? This is the end! It's right in front of you. Isn't it exciting, huh, isn't it? Don'tcha feel like you could just reach out and grab it?"

Akane, meanwhile, was on her knees behind him, resting with her enormous breasts essentially bare and pressed onto the top of his head, as if she was trying to give a boob job to his hair antenna. Even out of sight, the softness of her boobs and volume of her voice was impossible to ignore. "Heeey, are you really gonna be able to do this, Hajime? It looks like it's gotten really hard! Ain'tcha under a lotta pressure right now? But I really wanna see fireworks!"

The fireworks she was referring to were something Chiaki had let slip earlier. Supposedly, if he got the top of this flagpole in the game, fireworks would shoot out of the castle. Akane had gotten worked up about it, almost like a kid.

Chiaki seemed excited about it, too: she was clinging tightly to Hajime's arm and leaning into his space, so that it was impossible to ignore the softness of her pillowy breast bearing against him through her shirt. Had she lost her bra somewhere during the night? Hajime was no longer surprised by that kind of development, but that didn't mean he wasn't being driven crazy by it. Meanwhile, she whispered to him as if trying to keep her conversation private; with the volume of the other two's teasing, it'd be impossible to make out if she wasn't so close. "This is my favorite part. I love grabbing the tip of that tall pole and sliding my way down that thick shaft. Then, you go in the castle, you get the princess, and you show her fireworks. You work hard and you get 100% completion. You'd like to get the princess and get to 100% completion with her, wouldn't you, Hajime?~"

With Hiyoko's ass in his lap, Akane's chest on his head, and Chiaki's breath in his ear, Hajime had had enough. All night, he'd tried to ask Hiyoko what she was playing at, what her end goal in all this was. She'd only played dumb and grinned at him with a toothy smile that said that reaction was exactly what she wanted.

But now, he was at his limit. He'd spent all night trying to be responsible, not to get pulled into some regrettable circumstance brought on by Hiyoko. He couldn't even go to the bathroom for relief: imagining how Hiyoko would get her kicks at the idea of him excusing himself to jerk off in Chiaki's toilet and solve his problem was too much.

He jumped and got the flag. Then, before anyone could react, or giggle, or rub on him, or laugh at him, he cleared his throat loudly. "Okay! We did it, thanks everyone. It's late. Great party! Time to go home."

Akane whined immediately. "What?! What about the pizzas?! I thought this was an all night party!"

Chiaki nodded. "I'm sorry, Hajime. I let the time get away from me, but it really is too late to leave right now. I don't mind accommodating you, though... You're a gentleman, right? So even if the four of us have to share a bed... and even if we don't have pajamas, and even if it's a little hot tonight... you'll be okay with it, right?"

"Yeah! Don't even think about leavin', Hajime!" Akane closed in on him with her arms raised, ready to pounce.

And so, Hajime found himself lying in the Ultimate Gamer's bed. They'd goaded him until he stripped down to his underwear. The only merciful part of all this was that Akane seemed to be exhausted and Chiaki was naturally almost narcoleptic. Once they'd gotten comfortable, pressed on top of him like a cute girl sandwich with extra marshmallows, both of them had immediately drifted off with no further funny business. As different as they were, they slept surprisingly similarly; both dressed in, apparently, only thin shirts and panties, both with incredibly soft bodies, and both drooling onto Hajime's chest obliviously.

Hajime was still wide awake. So was Hiyoko, perched on top of him in the middle of it all, smiling down at him with her tail swishing catlike behind her. Even she was in her underwear now, a flower-patterned orange and yellow pair that seemed inappropriately innocent. She was pretty well-proportioned, but compared to the other two, she was practically a twig or a feather. She had been this way for almost twenty minutes now. She might have been waiting for Hajime to fall asleep, or maybe to finally start crying. Occasionally, she'd rub one of her bare legs against Hajime's boxer-clad boner, making sure he never started to relax.

Finally, wincing, the young man tried one more time. "Can I just ask... why? Why me? Why this?"

Hiyoko giggled again. Her eyes still had that meanness, but also, maybe something like fondness? "Cuz you're like this, you weirdo. Y'think if I'd done this with that loser Kazuichi or that creep Teruteru, either of them would've gone the whole night without trying something? Instead, you've gotta be the good guy... You've gotta spend the whole night respecting boundaries and being a gentleman, all while your poor little guy swells up like he's about to pop..." Still laughing at him, she got up. He couldn't turn to see her, but he could see she was putting on her kimono to leave. "You still don't get it, do ya, ya thick-headed clown?"

She leaned over his confused face and gave him a quick peck on the forehead, then snickered as if it had been a joke. He heard her skip off. "It's cuz you're cute! Night-night! Oh right, this magic runs out at midnight. Have fun dealing with this when I'm not around in the morning. Buh bye!"

...

Listening to the door open and close, Hajime remained pinned in place both by the weight of two women and his own thoughts.

His eyes traveled upward, as if he was trying to look at that spot on his forehead.

To his own surprise, he found himself blushing. In spite of a snoring, stacked hottie on either arm, he found himself thinking about how Hiyoko had spent a whole day teasing him with some inexplicable magic powers, just to end things like that. "So, what... She's into me? And this is how she shows it? What the heck... I knew she was awkward, but this is taking it to another level... It's got to be the tail affecting her, too. Doesn't it?"

Hajime shut his eyes and didn't sleep.