17 - Kirumi Tojo - Versus Floating Hands

It had been a long day.

Of course, the Ultimate Maid, Kirumi Tojo, was no stranger to a long day of work, but the day's work had been unusually tiring. Spotting Kaito for his weightlifting... Searching the entire greenhouse for one of Gonta's missing bugs... Playing an hour-long school-wide round of hide and seek with Kokichi in a game that seemed intended to purely waste time and effort from her busy schedule... None of it was in the same league as the worst tasks she'd taken on, but she had to admit, she'd gotten soft in the service of the students of Hope's Peak Academy.

She supposed part of that was her fault: as much as she wanted to be relied on by the others for duties, there were those who wanted to treat her as an ordinary peer. She couldn't say she minded that, necessarily, but it meant those considerate students didn't utilize her as much as they might otherwise. It had been a while since she'd had such a workout.

As such, walking to the school auditorium, there was a barely perceptible skip in her ordinarily composed gait, and a small, pleased smile on her face. She'd managed to get a lot done that day, and the bit of sweat she discretely dabbed from her forehead was just a sign of productivity. She only had one more important task to take care of before her hard-earned break.

She didn't think it would be a big task relative to everything else she'd done that day, but she was still looking forward to it. Seeing the smile on her master's face would be the perfect cap on a perfect day of duty. So, she worked to hide her anticipation and remain professional as she called out into the auditorium. "Himiko, I've arrived. My apologies for the delay... Kokichi's request came first, and predicting the completion time of his requests is, unfortunately and perhaps by design, beyond even me. It will be my pleasure to serve you-"

"Oh...? Kirumi?" Himiko's pointy hat emerged from the curtain before the rest of her red-bobbed head. "I bet you worked hard, nyeh. Me too! I don't even need you here, so why don't you take five? That way, you can be totally unspoiled for my magic show spectacular tomorrow, along with everybody else!"

Far from relieved, Kirumi was shocked. There were props all over the stage. There was an elaborate curtain setup in the middle. There were tools, as if things had been measured and cut.

The maid knew Himiko was supposed to be the Ultimate Magician, but... ninety-five percent of the time, the redhead seemed to be engaged in the important task of resting and recharging mana. To earn her title, Kirumi supposed the "mage" had worked hard, but she honestly couldn't imagine it. No, why should she have to imagine it? Himiko was the one who had begged for her help the day earlier... Now, there was nothing left to be done?

Kirumi tried to hide her disappointment and remain professional. "Excellent. I see I was concerned over nothing. You are worthy of your title, after all."

"Nyeh... The way you said that is kinda bugging me," Himiko noted, pouting and not bothering to hide her own feelings. "Set up like this is no big deal for a real mage. Cuz of my magic, y'know?"

"Yes..." Kirumi didn't know about the "real magic" Himiko swore by, but she couldn't deny there was a certain magic in rolling up one's sleeves for work one was passionate about. "How about the clean-up, then? It'd be my great pleasure to offer you a hand."

"Nope! You work too hard all the time, nyeh... It makes me tired just thinking about," the mage replied, either not noticing or not caring how she was repeatedly taking the wind out of the maid's sails. "Besides, I don't need an extra hand... I've already got two! Ta-da!"

When Himiko stepped out of the curtain and gestured her hands towards it, Kirumi thought she understood. Someone was here with Himiko that had been helping her; that would be much easier to imagine than picturing the mage doing it herself.

Still, even that mental image would have been easier to swallow than the truth of it.

The person who emerged from the curtains was... nobody. Indeed, there was no body at all. A pair of formal white gloves emerged. For a moment, Kirumi thought of cleaning supplies because of her own work, before realizing they were clearly the kind a stage magician might wear. They were waving to her in a friendly gesture as if an invisible person was wearing them, but that invisible person would have to be quite the magician, indeed. To her well-trained eyes, they were floating in midair.

Any other student might have screamed or gasped, but Kirumi's shock only showed in a momentary pop of her eyes before her rational mind started filling in blanks. They were obviously robotic. She didn't want to be uncharitable, but... Himiko had obviously begged one of the Academy's many geniuses until one of them had made them to get the whining young woman off their backs. Still, she had a duty to Himiko as a maid to entertain her fantasy of-

"My new familiars!" Himiko declared dramatically, waving her already out-stretched arms with what, to her, was an incredible amount of excited energy. "I bet you're dyin' to know how I magicked these up my new perfect servants, aren't you?"

The perfect servant's eyebrows twitched, but she simply nodded. "Yes. Please, explain to your satisfaction."

"So, I was walking around town the other day, looking for a magic store, when suddenly, I felt a mystic energy pulling me like a magnet. Except for magic. Are you picturing it? The magic magnet?"

Kirumi tried to focus on the mage's words as the gloves floated over to her, clasping her own dark gloves and giving her hands big shakes. If there was anyone in them, she would have criticized them as overly enthusiastic. "Yes, of course. Like a magnetic pull only those attuned to magic can feel. To any others, like myself, it would be perfectly still and ordinary."

"You're great with words, nyeh! That's it, exactly. So I followed this magic magnet and there was a store I'd never seen before, even though I've walked that street a hundred times. Looking where I'm going and everything, nyeh. I can tell looking in the window that it's got all kinds of creepy antiques, an owner with a monocle and a big coat, all that kind of stuff that screams-"

"Sketchy. Dangerous. Illegal," Kirumi offered in her own head.

"-'Magic!'" Himiko continued obliviously. "So, long story short, I went in. I saw all kinds of stuff like a wishing rock, a monkey paw, somebody's grandpa's magic amulet he was gonna gift them when they turned eighteen as long as they didn't tell their mother and their sister about it. Boring stuff like that. What I felt the magic from, though, was these gloves. All that other stuff was probably fake, and I think the creepy owner guy knew it, but he didn't know he'd gotten a real-deal mystic artifact with these gloves! I got 'em for a steal, nyeh."

Kirumi began trying to pry her hands from the strangely clingy gloves. They had all of the weight of something with a male adult's hands in them, and strength to match. More concerningly for Kirumi, they had begun inappropriately brushing her hands with the thumbs, the handshake equivalent of "playing footsie." "So, these magic gloves... How do you control them?" Kirumi asked. She was less interested in where they came from and more interested in what they did and how they did it.

"Kukuku..." Himiko wore a smug smile and shook her finger. "A mage doesn't strictly 'control' her familiar, per se. However, because of the binding contract between us, the gloves only do things I want for them to do. So..." The mage paused, and Kirumi realized with horror that this was probably the hardest the lazy young woman had thought about this question since buying these impossible artifacts from a sketchy, impossible magic store. "I dunno. I tell 'em what I want, and they do it, nyeh... Or, uh, sometimes I don't tell 'em what I want, and they do it anyway. Kinda like you, huh?"

The maid kept her comment to herself as she shook her hand more violently. The gloves finally relented and floated back to a position behind Himiko. Still, as Kirumi watched, their behavior didn't grow any less alarming. It became impossible to focus on the master's words as the familiars behind her head began pantomiming an opening-and-closing gabbing motion and a spinning "cuckoo" gesture next to her ear.

"I think it's because of a bond of respect for my effort as a mage and my kindness for rescuing them, and maybe my potential as the ultimate master of magic!" Himiko proudly puffed out her chest.

The respectful gloves behind Himiko pointed to the area alongside her chest while making gestures of pinching, thumbs-downing, and dismissive waving. Then, they pointed in Kirumi's direction. They began an open-palmed trace of an hourglass figure, followed by two enthusiastic thumbs ups, followed by a grabbing gesture which could only have been "honking."

Kirumi cleared her throat, keeping her disgusted eyes on the gloves. As much as she didn't want to think of them as actual magic, addressing their threat practically might require flexibility. "Himiko, my apologies, but these new familiars of yours seem anything but trustworthy or respectable. I do not claim to be practiced in the mystic arts as you, yourself, certainly are, but I consider myself a fair judge of character due to my past experience meeting the needs of clients around the globe. Now, living garments are admittedly a different scenario, but you need only look for yourself to see the clear indicators of their lecherous intent."

Himiko raised an eyebrow. Lazily, she turned her head to see... the gloves helping to clean up the stage, grabbing a dustpan and broom to sweep some sawdust into a pan, just like proper servants.

Still, Himiko was supposed to be a master of magic, wasn't she? If, somehow, there really was magic at play, she should be able to detect the malevolent energy coming off of these things, shouldn't she? Kirumi allowed herself to think that.

Himiko nodded as if in confirmation. "I get it, nyeh. I'm lucky you came here, Kirumi! Otherwise, I might never have seen-"

"Oh, no. Don't blame yourself," Kirumi interrupted, holding up a hand and smiling.

"- the Ultimate Maid, jealous over a pair of gloves! Nyahaha! I guess you're only a human after all, huh?"

"..." Kirumi was silent, her tone professional and her gaze level. She spoke only after Himiko's laugh at her expense had died down. "I beg your pardon?"

"No, s-sorry, uh... I'm not trying to be a jerk," Himiko apologized, wringing her hands. "I get you're proud to be a maid, taking care of duties and all serving us and all. But these gloves are friendly, like all the living furniture in a princess movie. I've spent a day with them, and I haven't seen 'em even point at me funny."

Kirumi gulped, trying to think of how to broach this topic without offending her classmate. "Himiko, have you considered... is it possible you're not... to their preference? So to speak? Because I assure you, as your classmate, servant, and friend, the gloves are engaging in a most juvenile prank as we speak. They are..." She bit her lip, unsure of how to proceed.

Himiko still didn't look like she was buying it. "You're never like this, nyeh. It's kinda exhausting... They're what? Spit it out."

"They appear to be... that is, a motion where one is gripped down, as if holding a computer mouse, while the other... repeatedly swats an object next to it. It does not take much imagination to recognize this gesture for what it is."

"... I'm an innocent girl, so I'm afraid you're gonna have to help me out. Cuz you're more worldly and all."

"... As you command. It's a gesture of gripping one cheek of a woman's buttocks from behind while paddling the other with an air of macho swagger."

When Himiko turned as red as her hair, then whirled around to catch the gloves in the act, they were clasped together passively. The gesture called to mind an innocent whistle and rocking of the feet, despite the lack of either.

The mage turned back, befuddled, and gulped. She seemed to be trying to give it hard thought.

As a maid who anticipates her master's every need without even asking, Kirumi was able to read the thoughts going through Himiko's head as they occurred at slow pace:

Pensive. "Kirumi doesn't joke around. There's no way she'd lie about the gloves."

Apologetic. "I don't want Kirumi to be mad at me..."

Smiling. "Plus, she's a useful person to have around."

Pensive. "But these gloves are even more useful. They'll be with me 24/7, unlike Kirumi. Also, they're actual magic."

Relaxed. Relieved. Smug. Delusional. "I was probably right after all. Kirumi's just jealous that my new gloves are so handy. That makes sense."

When Himiko spoke again, it was with a tone Kirumi easily recognized. It was the kind of emotion she, herself, had been holding just a moment ago, humoring someone's falsehood for the sake of not offending them. Only, Himiko was neither as practiced nor as careful in concealing her emotions, so her voice dripped with obvious malarkey as she tried to calm her friend down. "Okie dokie. I get it. The mean gloves are, uh, doing rude stuff while I'm not looking, huh? That makes so much sense. You're so valid, nyeh."

"Excuse me?" Kirumi sighed.

"No, it's okay, I get it! How about this? Since you want to help, you can protect me from the big, scary pervert gloves while I put the finishing touches on my act. If you're here, they won't try anything with me."

... Himiko wasn't thinking about it right, but she had a point. The gloves didn't seem that interested in Himiko as anything more than a target to make fun of. Kirumi was fairly confident that she had their interest... or, at least, her tall and glamorous figure did. The maid had a duty to her master to protect her, at least until she could find an opportunity to get a camera on them and film their mischief. Or destroy them... Was destroying them an option? Were they sentient beings she had to respect the lives of? She was outside of her broad field of experience on this one.

"Of course. Certainly," Kirumi confirmed with a bow. She couldn't summon a thankful smile like she wanted right now, her stern eyes fixed on the malevolent familiars rubbing their palms together in excitement out of their master's eye. "Please tell me every detail of how your next act will be performed, and I will help in any way I can."

"Uh, a magician never reveals her secrets... A-and neither does a mage!" Himiko caught herself. "So the most important thing my assistant has to do is hold that rope there. You stand on stage where the audience can see you, and you pull. You've gotta pull it to that white line there, then you stand still for exactly ten minutes... nyeh. It's tough, but you've got pretty strong arms, right?"

"If I may interject... Perhaps the gloves can help with that, and you can provide me with a different task? From the handshake I experienced a moment ago, I am aware that the grip strength of your familiars is quite... vigorous. I am confident they can handle that part more efficiently than I. For my part, I will be relieved to see them occupied."

"Nyeh... well, there aren't that many tasks, but okay. You can tie up my hands. Familiars, hoist the crate! Now, before you bind me, I'm gonna put on my gear. Bound and deprived of my senses, be amazed as I shed my shackles and escape from certain ****!"

Kirumi gulped. She hated to raise her voice to a master she served, and even more to reject an order, but she had to try and get through to Himiko. "Begging your pardon, I strongly recommend against this order! I do not understand the trick- er, that is, the act completely. You mentioned a crate and 'certain ****'. I feel this act may compromise your safety-"

"What?!" Himiko shouted back. She'd already put on what she referred to as "gear." It was an eyeless helmet with some sort of built-in ear muffs. She must have bought it intending to make it totally clear that she couldn't see or hear out of it. The jet-black color called to mind a different purpose Kirumi would comment on, if that were anywhere close to her top priority at the moment.

"Begging your pardon again, I said-"

"What?! I can't hear you!"

"Don't do this!!" Kirumi shouted firmly next to the red-head's ear.

"I can't hear you. I'm just gonna do it, okay? That's an order! Kirumi, bind my arms behind my back. Familiar, hold that rope for ten minutes after the curtains close. Oh, and one more thing. If anyone else shows up, make sure they don't see the act! Cuz it's supposed to be a big surprise, nyeh."

That was a clear order. The duty-minded maid couldn't just turn her back on it. Besides, once the ten minute period started, Kirumi could just bury her impulse to clean up around the stage and give the gloves her full attention. She reassured herself of that as the gloves began pulling the rope...

An enormous crate began to rise from the curtains, hoisted by the pulley. Upon seeing the size of it, Kirumi felt a rare reflexive relief that she hadn't been **** to hoist it. It was big enough to put any doubt out of the audience's mind that it could land in the circle between the curtain with any space for the magician to escape. Kirumi reminded herself that Himiko was an expert magician who intended to escape from this somehow... There were all kinds of tricks one could use to make a crate appear to be girl-flatteningly heavy but actually totally harmless.

"We're starting!" Himiko shouted as she closed the curtain.

Kirumi heard the other young woman engaged in a struggle. Ten minutes had been allotted... maybe this escape attempt was less of a gimmick than the maid had imagined. Still, she had an important duty to carry out in the meantime. She turned to the gloves, which had just finished getting the rope to the maximum height, and cleared her throat. "Now, I must address you alone. I do not know if you are independently sentient or controlled by some malevolent entity, but you have given me no reason to trust you and, until you do so, I will not treat you as a human I serve. As a maid, I will protect the sanctity of Himiko's illusion per her wish, and my own dignity as is my standard. I am prepared to monitor you constantly and harshly as I must. However, if you are a magician's familiar, you are a type of servant, and I ask you to respect your master's terms perfectly.. Will you commit yourself to this act out of respect for my station and your master's efforts?"

Of course, as silent gloves occupied holding a rope, there wasn't much the pair could do to give Kirumi a response. Still, they did what they could, rapping the fingers of one glove against the taut pulley rope as if in contemplation. That allowed the woman a brief moment to respect the strength they must have, maintaining it with a single hand.

Any thought of respect was blasted from her mind, however, as they made a far more easy-to-interpret gesture: releasing the rope.

With a small cry and a face pale white in shock, Kirumi leapt into action, literally. She hopped up from the floor of the stage with impressive height and speed, all necessary to grab the rapidly lifting rope. It had all been an instinct, the instinct of a perfect servant dedicated to the duty of protecting her master.

Unfortunately, her master's faith had been misplaced in two ways today, ways which she was lucky hadn't quickly turned her into a blind and deaf pancake. First, she had foolishly trusted a pair of magic gloves that she had picked up at a shady shop and couldn't communicate with to hoist a huge crate for ten minutes while she stood under it. Second, she apparently originally meant for Kirumi to hoist that crate herself. Kirumi was amazing, a true miracle worker, but she was still just a young woman. She didn't have secret muscle mass hiding under the long sleeves of her dress.

All of this meant that, unfortunately for her, she was unable to fully stop the crate's falling inertia without a good foothold to start with. The impact of her sudden application of weight did seem to be pulling her back to the floor, but only for a moment. Her descent slowed, and she found herself suspended a full person's height off the floor, staring at the crate opposite her. She wasn't so high that she couldn't land safely if she let go, but...

...? Kirumi's mind quickly put together that this made no sense. For this balance to be achieved, the crate could be no heavier than she, herself, was. If it was just the weight of a young woman, maybe it was okay to let it fall from half the intended height?

"No... Shameful," Kirumi chided herself. "What kind of perfect servant allows themselves to think 'my master will surely survive?' I have no guarantee that I've fully understood the trick to its weight, either. Instead, I must resolve this perfectly with my own safety as an afterthought... even if it means suffering this indignity." Indeed, it was shameful. The apparently eyeless glove seemed to have some way of seeing and hearing her, so it was easy to imagine them pointing and laughing, or possibly even shifting below to get a look up her skirt. Even juvenile delinquency such as that was possible for her to imagine.

What wasn't possible for her to imagine, as a maid who'd kept her jobs strictly dignified and clean, turning down and protecting herself from any number of perverse requests from would-be employers, was what the gloves actually meant to do with her suspended body. That only became clear when she felt them grabbing her dangling thighs and giving them an unsubtle squeeze.

"What? N-no... Unhand me!" Clenching her teeth, Kirumi started flailing her legs in the air as if trying to kick off an animal. When that didn't seem to dislodge the powerful grip at all, she instead began trying more surgical kicks at where she felt the gloves had handholds.

The gloves seemed to be playing with her. When she targeted one spot with one leg, the free glove would move that leg out of the way, causing her foot to sail past and imbue her as a pendulum with wild **** swinging with dizzying momentum through the air above the stage. As the crate swung in time with her, she quickly decided this was not an effective or safe way to deal with the problem.

Not that she'd get a moment to think of an alternative. Before she knew it, the gloves were scaling her. It probably wasn't the mountain-climbing effort they were making it seem like, considering they floated freely. Instead, it was more likely that they were savoring every inch of her long, healthy legs as they made their way up and up...

Kirumi tried not to panic, using their showboating to her advantage. This gave her a second to think. How could she free herself without sacrificing Himiko's safety or her own dignity? Would she have to call for help? "No, Himiko demanded that no one should see her surprise before tomorrow. I can't risk anyone seeing the conclusion..." There was a small part of her she wouldn't admit to herself: she didn't want to risk anyone who she intended to continue to serve as a flawless maid seeing her very flawed predicament.

That was when she felt fingers digging into the space between her tights and her hips. Then, with enough **** to briefly disrupt the balance between maid and crate, those tights were yanked down her legs. Even though her skirt wasn't displaced, anyone would be able to see the tights pooled around her ankles and peeks at her pale flesh just above.

And now the gloves were scaling again.

Kirumi had suffered enough indignity. Few students at the Academy had seen her truly angry. Not even Kokichi, who called her "Mom" against her protests and constantly tried to get her goat, had heard her raise her voice to anything but stern. Now, as she clenched her teeth and a shadow fell over her eyes, she spoke to the gloves with a tone forceful enough that it would make any ordinary prankster stop in their tracks. "Cease this foolishness this instant! I do not know if you are man, woman, machine, or magic beast, but find your wits immediately! I am a woman of honor, not a plaything for you to touch as you please or a toy for you to bat around!"

The gloves were climbing again. This time, faster. She felt their silky surface tickling at her bare skin.

"I am not joking! I am entrusted with as many duties as there are citizens of Japan. To... defile me in this way... is to make a mockery of the service I provide to every man, woman, and child! Have you no honor?! If you have no honor or principles, you are nothing but a tool! A wretched, unwanted tool, sold at a discount at a bargain sale. I implore you to at least serve a higher purpose as a tool than the unsightly lechery you are currently...!"

Now there were fingers and thumbs in the lining of her ornate, high-coverage, purple-and-black colored panties.

Her voice caught in her throat. Her mind raced. It counted how long this had been going on... It couldn't have been more than a couple of minutes, she realized with horror. When she spoke again, it was in a calm tone again. "... My apologies. I am unused to this sort of treatment, and I spoke rashly. I am certain... you are among the finer of the wares available at the sale my master purchased you from. And I am sure your ways are known only to you, and are not the debauchery I've claimed them to me. Now, if you would simply... prove that upstanding character, by-- Eeeek!!"

The maid let out a very uncharacteristic yelp as her panties were yanked downward. This time, she clenched her knees, finding it somehow important that she at least didn't let that garment fall from her completely.

The gloves seemed to notice. Giving up the charade of needing to hold onto her, one began to **** her knocking knees apart as the other worked to finish stripping her panties from her. Kirumi was losing the strength for this kind of fight, and before it could even buy her much time, the gloves yanked them off a long with the pooled tights at Kirumi's heels. They allowed the leggings to drift lazily to the floor.

As for the panties... with wide eyes showing even behind her long bangs, Kirumi watched as her undergarment was lifted in front of her face, stretched out by the far-apart gloves. She saw them turn to pinch the panties and play with them for reasons beyond her comprehension, until soon, she understood: they'd been trying to come to a decision of what to do with them.

Finally, one snapped its fingers. The two stretched the pair and placed it over the top of Kirumi's maid headband and short, silver locks. Her jaw was dropped open in disbelief as the band of her own high-coverage panties cut off her vision, covering her eyes completely.

The maid's mind was no longer working as the sharp tool it ought to be, as if her own elastic was cutting off circulation to her brain. Five minutes. Surely it had been five minutes?! All she could try to do was accurately track the time and beg for more of it. "Aha... Haha... This is... most hilarious. I see, yes. My demeanor was uncomfortably stuffy, was it? Y-yes, um... I have offended you. For that I apologize. I can, um, appreciate a good joke as well, and I hold no grudge against you. Yes, I see the humor! To subject an ordinarily dignified servant such as me to such ridicule is, indeed, quite- aha? Ahahaha?!"

Kirumi realized with dismay what their next plan was. One of the hands had been using that time she'd supposedly bought to complete the baring of her feet, pulling her heels off to send them clattering onto the stage. The other had snaked its way into the waist of her skirt from below, finding her ribs. There, the gloves had begun a two-fronted ****, tracing paths along her soles and her sides and testing what got the best reaction. It was a bit tough and not quite scientific, testing two avenues at once, but the results were more or less what they seemed to be going for.

"Ahaha?! Ahahaha... N-no, please, Ihehee hmhmhngh!!!" Kirumi did her best to try and stifle her laughter. This was no longer a matter of someone seeing Himiko's trick; now, the maid was determined that no one was going to walk in and see her predicament. She clenched her teeth almost painfully tightly, allowing the tears running down her face, staining her head-panties and ruining her eyeliner to be the evidence of her struggle. Her please didn't seem to be falling on ears, regardless. In protest, she continued to thrash her legs wildly, trying to make her feet a harder target.

The rope and her master were starting to feel like distant priorities. She could just let it fall slowly, right? Even if Himiko was injured... Even if Himiko died... Were someone to come in and see this happening, it would be an incident! It would be the end of Kirumi's career as a maid! All of Japan would suffer! And Kirumi couldn't... She couldn't...

She couldn't!!

The maid's tight grin of determination suddenly split in laughter she could no longer control, her ordinarily steely eyes curling up to the ceiling as undignified guffaws leaked out of her. "Hahahahahaha, oh, please, p-p-puhlease nohohoho s-stahahahaheee!!! No muhohohoooo..... I c-canaahaaaahahahaa! M-my butt! My butt!!"

The gloves stopped, as though she'd said a magic word. To the extent they had a "view," they could pretty clearly see Kirumi's butt. They didn't understand what she was getting at.

"There are just... a couple of minutes l-left... D-don't you want to play with my butt...? This could be your... o-only chance..."

Kirumi tried her best to return herself to an even expression as she desperately negotiated. It was painful to do, almost shattering her pride, but... She could imagine being groped and spanked by these horrible hands. It was terrible, but it had to be better than more tickling. She felt like she was being executed, **** to hold onto a rope while her sides ached with laughter. If giving the gloves a new target was how she got out of it, that was what she'd do.

Then, later, she'd burn them. She'd throw them in a wood chipper. She'd tie them up and beat them like a pinata, then throw them in a piranha tank, if she could manage to find one.

The thought gave her a small grin, even as her face grew red from the unfamiliar, exploratory feeling of strong, male hands poking and prodding her behind. This was mortifying, but it was a parameter she could brace for. She found that if she predicted their actions, the impact decreased. If they began to squeeze, she'd stifle her whimpers. If they began to spank, she'd brace herself for the impact.

There were only so many things a pair of hands could do to a woman's ass, weren't there? She prepared herself for all of them. She prepared herself for everything a man might do.

Except the gloves weren't men, and they had a plan for her that wasn't strictly a man's appreciation of a woman's behind.

She prepared herself for everything except for the feeling of a fully extended male index finger inserting itself into her tight asshole. Dignity was forgotten as Kirumi let out a theater-rattling "hnnnnngh!?" Her tongue and her spit shot from her pursed and parted lips, her eyes screwed up behind a veil of her own underwear. Needless to say, the dignified maid had never taken anything up the ass, and if she had, it wouldn't have been a man's finger or in a condition anything like this. Feeling like some fundamental dignity had shattered in a way that would never recover, Kirumi didn't even bother to pull her tongue back in as a stupid smile crossed her lips at a single thought. One minute... She only had to hold on for less than a minute...

But she couldn't, she realized as her smile fell into a slack-jawed frown. What would the hands do to her in the remaining minute that would be even worse than what she had already experienced?!

"I g-give up. You win. S-spare me any more for a moment... s-spare Himiko... a-and I'll become your servant. I'm quite a... g-good servant. I'll... let you do whatever, okay? Just let me... c-catch my breath, please...!!"

She bit her lip as silence greeted her request. She thought this must be what blindfolded **** felt like, never knowing when the next hit would come, completely blind while bracing for an impact you couldn't predict. So, shock registered in her runny eyes when the veil was pulled from her and she saw a thumbs up being flashed in front of her.

And from that point, Kirumi worked fast.

---

Somehow, Himiko emerged from a fallen prop crate totally unharmed and unmolested, her hands free and spread wide, a big smile on her uncovered face. "Tadaaaa! Applause, applause!"

Kirumi, standing on her stage in her bare feet and with her face suspiciously wiped clean of any running makeup, clapped with strangely bulky dark gloves. "Excellent, Himiko. I'm sure the audience will be thrilled.

Himiko was so elated at her success, she didn't notice any of the small changes in Kirumi's appearance. Instead, she puffed out her chest proudly and allowed herself to bask in the praise, clapping that seemed to go on and on until it became a little silly. When HImiko opened her eyes and cleared her throat, Kirumi was still clapping with a fixed grin on her face. "Uh... you okay? I get it... I'm pretty amazing, nyeh."

"Yes, I, um... It's simply hard to control my praise and admiration," Kirumi declared, sighing with relief as her hands finally stopped. "You look absolutely exhausted. Why not go and get some rest? I shall clean up promptly and make full preparations for your show tomorrow."

"Rest sounds pretty good, nyeh..." Himiko rubbed at her eyes. "But I'll just let my familiars handle the cleanup-"

"Ah, well, I'm sorry to say, they disappeared after the performance. Such a shame, they were such devoted servants," Kirumi declared, almost through clenched teeth. "But not to worry. I'll see it completed. You just go and rest."

"They're gone?! Seriously? Nyeh... Oh well. I'm gonna miss 'em, but nothing's gonna throw off my good mood after that."

"I wouldn't worry about it. I have a feeling they're very close at hand... As close as my own hands, you might say," Kirumi declared with pleading eyes, even winking her one visible eye at her classmate in **** Morse code. For whatever reason, she moved one of her overstuffed gloves to her own behind and gave it a less-than-subtle pinch.

"... Sounds like you had a nice bonding experience with them while I was out!" Himiko declared with an ignorant smile. "I'm gonna take you up on your offer, but I hate to make you do everything. Anything I can do for you in return?"

Kirumi gave Himiko a strained smile in response. "Ah, there was... a book on dispelling curses and warding malevolent entities I had intended to borrow from Korekiyo. I wonder if you could-" Suddenly, the maid clapped one hand over her own mouth and flashed an okay sign with her other.

Himiko raised an eyebrow. "Could what? You want me to borrow it for you, nyeh? I don't really wanna talk to that creepy guy, but for you..."

The maid's own mouth-covering hand seemed to shake her head "no," vigorously enough to create a tear in the fine, dark fabric and allow a glimpse of white below, while the other hand dismissively waved Himiko off.

"Welp, let me know if you need anything else! I owe you one, Kirumi!" Himiko turned and happily shirked the responsibility, skipping off the stage and out of the auditorium.

"Y-you certainly do!!" Kirumi shouted after her clueless classmate, having her mouth uncovered at the last minute.

Unseen by Himiko, the maid's own hands flashed double V's for victory. The trickster gloves might enjoy their private maid for the rest of the day now that they'd broken down her resistance, but they had no intention of sticking around long enough to let her find a way to counterattack... After all, they had an entire Academy of unsuspecting students who could use a friendly, helpful pair of hands.