A New Normal

Shuichi woke up in his bed cocooned within his soft covers, the aches of his body slowly reminding him of what he had done the night before. Searching through his bed, he tried to find Peko’s hand, but he ultimately found nothing but the warm imprint on the bed she had left. For a brief moment he wondered if she had abandoned him, but the smell of freshly cooked food emanating from the kitchen reminded him that loyalty was one trait that Peko Pekoyama certainly did not lack.

Groggily pulling on some clothes, he poked his head out the bedroom door and into the main living area. To his surprise, however, Peko wasn’t the one preparing breakfast. Instead, she was there in the living room practicing her sword fighting technique with a shinai : a bamboo practice sword. Despite the bluntness of the weapon, Shuichi nevertheless felt a bit nervous at how quickly she was thrusting and how wide the arcs of her swings were. Praying silently that her prowess would ensure she wasn’t going to hit anything in his apartment, he looked toward the kitchen for the source of the sound of frying eggs. It turned out to be none other than Edith, in her full maid outfit, happily working away at his stove. She noticed him staring through the doorway and smiled.

“Ah, that’s right… she’s my ‘servant’ now too…” Shuichi thought to himself. “This is definitely going to take some getting used to…”

“Good morning, Master Shuichi!” Edith greeted cheerfully. “I’m taking the liberty of making us all some omelet rice. Truth be told it’s a bit cliché, but I’ve heard a couple of my employees down at Paramour say that they’ve had a surge in requests for it, and I figured this would be a good excuse to get some more practice in.”

Peko, who had been concentrating on her form, turned around to greet Shuichi as well.

“Good morning, Master. Earlier this morning I took care of several chores under Edith’s supervision, like emptying the garbage and dusting the shelves. I was just taking a breather to stretch and focus on my swordplay.” Peko said, bowing deeply to him.

There was a moment of silence before Shuichi realized that the two expected a response from him.

“Ah! Yes, well… good job you two! Excellent work!” he replied the way he imagined a boss would when praising a subordinate. In truth, he’d never really been ‘in charge’ of anyone before, let alone two people. Sure, this was technically all just informal play, but they both seemed to take it so seriously. “But, uh, this really wasn’t necessary you know. I’ve been doing this on my own for years now.”

“Nonsense; like I said, this is an excuse to get extra practice in for work, and besides that I think it’s fun!” Edith rebutted.

“And of course, I swore an oath to you and my other Master. This is simply one of the many ways in which I will serve you,” said Peko.

“Sigh… I get the feeling that trying to dissuade either of you would be pretty pointless, wouldn’t it?” Shuichi asked. The two girls nodded. “Well, as unasked-for as all that was… thank you.”

He sat down and began to eat, the invigorating taste of the omelet washing over his taste buds and instantly putting a smile on his face. “Wow! This is incredible, Edith! Great job!”

“Thank you, Master.” Edith gave a proud curtsy. “There is a reason why guests at our cafes always tip the most for my treats~”

Shuichi swallowed his food uncomfortably at that. “Yeah, about that… I would pay you both if I could, really. It’s just… since I had to give back that suitcase, I’ve had less money in my bank account than most kids have in their piggy banks. But I’ll pay you both eventually, honest!”

“If you wish to have more money, I would be willing to prostitute myself on your behalf,” Peko offered.

“What!? No! There’s no way I could ask you to do that! Plus… it’d defeat the point of paying you if you were the one getting the money in the first place,” Shuichi pointed out. “It’s okay, though, I just gotta last another week until my next paycheck, and I’ll be fine, really.”

“If you insist,” Peko replied. “Shall I warm up the shower for you then?”

“No, it’ll be faster and cheaper just to take a cold one.” Shuichi continued to eat his breakfast as he took out his phone with his spare hand and began scrolling through the latest financial reports in the news.

“Hmm? Looking into investment opportunities?” asked Peko. “Is that like window-shopping when you can’t afford anything?”

“Oh, I’m just… looking for tips for my own financial presentation report that I’ll finally be giving today. It’s mostly done, but it won’t be good enough just to give the state of the company, after all. I’ll need to give suggestions on how to improve, both in the short term and the long term. If I don’t do well, my own financial situation... will probably get a lot worse,” Shuichi said, trying not to sound too worked up over the possibility.

“I think that whatever happens, you’ll do just fine! And even if things do go south, you’ve got two lovely servants here who are more than happy to help you settle into a new job if you need it! For a reasonable fee, I would even be happy to help you move to a new apartment if the need arose~” Edith said with a small wink at the end.

“I appreciate the thought, but…” Shuichi thought back to how his life had changed over the last few weeks. “It’s hard to believe I’m saying this, but… I don’t want to lose my job. I want to stay where I am.”

“Tch… you are torn, it seems. Between what you want and what you can do.” Peko put away her sword. “I know this conflict very well. There will not be an easy answer in the end, but… I will still do my best to support you however I can.”

“Thank you, Peko.” Shuichi finished his breakfast and stood up. “I’ll finish getting ready then. I’ll meet you down at my convertible, okay, Peko?”

“Very well, sir. I will see you again soon.” Peko bowed, gathered her things and left the room, leaving Shuichi to find out if cold showers really were as uncomfortable as he remembered they were.

It turned out that they were even worse than he recalled, but the discomfort only encouraged him to finish faster. He then went down to his car and drove to work, the sun shining across the horizon as he went. It felt a little bit strange to drive to work with someone else, but Shuichi reminded himself that when at the office she was just his coworker, ‘Dahlia’, and nothing else.

He tried to get to his new office as quickly as he could, but he was intercepted by a familiar face before he could make it to his computer.

“Hey, hey! Shuichi! There you are, my man!” Kaito walked up to Shuichi and put an arm around his shoulder. “I heard you got a promotion, and a fancy new office to boot! Nice! I always knew you had it in ya!”

“Er, thank you, Kaito; that means a lot to me,” Shuichi said, very reluctantly accepting the praise. “I am not sure it could call it a true promotion, though, especially since my pay’s still the same.”

“Pfft, so? A private office is still a private office!” Kaito said, letting Shuichi go. “And it’s not like you're that hard-up for cash, after all!”

“Right, right… of course…” Shuichi felt his heart sink again. “A-anyways, I really need to finish my presentation, so I’ll talk to you later.”

“Good luck, Shuichi! I’ll see you at lunch, okay?” he said as Shuichi went inside. “Good to see you too, Dahlia.”

“Mr. Momota.” ‘Dahlia’ bowed to Kaito and shut the door behind her. “I’ll bring up the presentation slides now, Shuichi. Please, feel free to use me as practice.”

“Sure, just… give me a minute.” Shuichi sat down and began to make the last edits to his slide show, but… for some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. It was as if there was something gnawing at the back of his mind, preventing him from focusing no matter how hard he tried.

No; it was not a mysterious ****. Shuichi wanted to deny it, but he knew what was causing this discomfort. It was a question, an insecurity, one that had plagued him ever since the previous night. He had pushed it to the back of his mind, but there was no ignoring it now. He needed closure, but… there was only one person he could think of who might be able to give it to him. Someone who was an expert in the area, and who wouldn’t judge him for wondering what he did.

Taking out his cell phone, he texted Kaede Akamatsu.

“Hey there, Kae,” his text read. “How’s it going?”

“Pretty good, I’d say,” came the reply. “Why do you ask? You want to meet up or something?”

“No, actually. I just had a question about…” He hesitated before typing the next part. “Sex. Is it okay if I asked you?”

“Well, I’m not a Sex-Ed teacher, but I like to think I know about as much as anyone on the subject,” Kaede texted back. “So go ahead; shoot.”

“I was wondering… if you have anal sex with a woman, and you’re on the… receiving end of the anal… does that make you gay?” Shuichi finally brought himself to ask.

It took a minute or so for Kaede to reply, but it wasn’t because she was thinking of an answer. Instead, it was because Kaede was laughing her ass off on her bed in her apartment.

“Hey! Miss Mini-Milk!” Miu shouted angrily from the kitchen. “I’m trying to brainstorm over here! What’s so goddamn funny?!”

“Sorry, sorry… it’s just, I saw a funny news story,” Kaede lied, wiping away a tear. “Don’t worry about it.”

Finally, the response came, after what felt like a torturous wait. “Don’t worry, Shuichi. It’s not gay if it’s a girl fucking you in the ass.”

Shuichi audibly sighed in relief.

“Phew. Thanks, Kae. That makes me feel a lot better,” he texted back.

“No problem! Though, it wouldn’t be a problem if you were somehow into guys. In fact, that could make your sex life a lot more fun and interesting. Like, there’s this one cute guy I know with green hair who I think you’d hit it off with really well if you gave him a shot!” Kaede added.

“Uh… thanks, but I’m good,” Shuichi replied.

“You sure? I could send you pictures if you want. Maybe even a dick-pic if he’s feeling generous!” said Kaede.

That question was all the motivation Shuichi needed to put down his phone and start focusing on his work again.