Charlee and I are ordered to hit the pole

Charlee knew the way to the exercise room where the Princess had said to go once we got dressed, but she wasn't in a big hurry to get there, still seeming hesitant after her confession earlier. I reminded her that A, I was going to remain her friend no matter what I learned about her, and B, the Princess was not the kind of person either one of us wanted to keep waiting, but it didn't really speed her up. Unfortunately, this was not the kind of situation where I wanted to take in the surroundings and make notes about the setting like a proper detective. It was instead one where I hoped to rid myself of this place as quickly as possible and promptly forget everything about it.

... Well, not everything in this place was all bad. Charlee in tight exercise gear was a sight for horny eyes-- sorry, sore eyes, that's how that expression goes. As she walked in front, absent any need to look for details or clues, I found my eyes stuck upon the smooth, bare curve running from beneath the hem of her little white t-shirt down to the tantalizingly thin, taut spandex covering her shapely bottom. To my surprise, another pretty nice sight was waiting for me as my friend spread both arms to the sides, throwing open the double doors leading into the shockingly pink exercise room.

My ears were immediately assuaged by music that sounded more like it belonged to a neon-lit dance club than inside a gym-- I said that the scene was a pretty nice sight, not particularly nice audio. At the center of the room, what I could only describe as a floor-to-roof stripper pole had been constructed. I didn't even want to begin imagining Genkei or any of his meat-headed macho-man friends using it, but I also got the impression that they were usually spectators to its usage. That impression was aided by the figure currently holding to the pole with one hand over her head and the other crossed behind it, swishing her eye-catching hips back and forth to the music's established rhythm, with a curtain of elegant black hair following her motions in broad swipes. The Princess, to my amazement, was entertaining the entire gym with a musical pole-dance!

To that point, she'd even taken off her hoodie, wearing instead a black sports top that showed off her toned biceps and glorious, rippling abs, as well as a nice bust size that was probably a size larger than Charlee's. Just as importantly, the missing lower end of her hoodie meant that the front of her yoga pants was showing, and while her futa parts weren't aroused, they still cut a notable outline against the lap.

Surrounding the pole were enthusiastic males, clapping their hands in excitement and cat-calling, only to be fixed by disgusted glares from the Princess in their direction. They appeared as wolfish grins and glistening, sweaty muscles from the shadows, as most of the light in the room was cast by a pink spotlight thrown upon the central pole. Most of the men were dressed about as poorly as Genkei and most of them were about as over-muscular as well. Only the presence of the futanari tag-wrestling champion convinced me that I was safe in a place like this... That said, I was actually in the mood to find a seat and enjoy the show myself. Watching a Princess-quality pole-dance would be a pretty nice on-the-job bonus. It would be disrespectful not to watch, when you think about it! What kind of dancer doesn't want to be watched?

I'd learn the answer to that question within the very next minute, as the Princess let go of the pole and hit pause and the low-tape-deck playing her music. "I got them warmed up for you-- consider this a gift from your benevolent superior. I shall reset the music and the two of you will work on the crowd together. There is just one pole, as you can see, so you must share it. I expect a modicum of coordination. And Ms. Hojo-- you can consider this a training exercise to hone your sense of teamwork. That tag battle yesterday was more like a handicap match. I expect to show some better chemistry with your old friend," the lady of royalty scolded me, while stepping aside and grabbing a sweat towel. With it, she began to rub down the length of her gorgeous black locks. "Get on it. The sooner you finish, the sooner we can all leave this dark monument to ineffective muscle training."

Ineffective? Had she taken a look at the clientele here?! Instead of asking that, I posed another question that was too frustrating for me to ignore: why the heck did these guys want us to do the dancing while all of them sat on their butts? It's a gym for their exercise, right? What does us pole-dancing accomplish?!

"Motivation is a key component of exercise effectiveness; even I must see the wisdom in that part of Big Body's routine. For instance, when I exercise, I seek to maintain my dominance over all of earth's creatures. When these worms exercise, they do so with the promise that if they maintain certain quotas, Genkei Big Body will foot the bill on hiring ODD to perform these kinds of services, which they may spectate. Without our work here, they'd all be just worthlessly puny specimens of men, just like our boss," she scoffed. "They've still got a long way to go before they reach my own standard."

I wanted to point out that most of them had arms twice the size of the Princess's and looked like they were sculpted out of marble; the Princess had an impressive body, but there was only so far I could take my praise before I would be lying outright.

Charlee placed one hand upon my shoulder and smiled to reassure me. "Follow my lead, Katsumi. Let's go face-to-face; that way, you can follow my movements better. Have you ever done any dancing before?" she asked, then shook her head and chuckled. "On second thought, I really don't have to be a detective nor an interrogator to answer that question, do I? Not to worry-- I've done this more times than I can count. If you can match my timing, we can get through it together."

I thought that Charlee might be over-estimating my physical coordination by a significant factor, especially given that the Princess was apparently her usual dance partner. Still, the Princess had made a good point a moment ago: if we just wrapped up a quick dance number, we'd be out of here, collecting a vastly overqualified paycheck at the cost of our dignity. I nodded my head and then clasped one hand to the pole, well under where Charlee's was so as to avoid an accidental, heart-fluttering touch of our hands. To the side, the Princess hit the button on the tape-deck to start the music over.

Charlee's keen blue eyes locked onto mine as her body began to snake back and forth towards the pole, as though she were slowly humping it. At the start, I held hers, but soon, the motion made it impossible for me to avoid looking downward, first to her bare, undulating abdomen, then, of course, to her groin. In no time at all, she'd already gained a bit of an erection. The audience might have a hard time seeing it, but I could see that her futa-parts were semi-hard and rising, rubbing up against the cold steel of the pole through that thin layer of spandex and whatever she had underneath. With my bulging eyes hidden behind my nerd glasses, I tried in vain to match that S motion she was making; mine was more of a Z. Nervously, I thrust my hips back and forth towards the pole. Our dicks were all but touching, caressing the pole not quite in unison. The closer our rhythms matched, the more it was like we were directly bumping uglies... or, well, we would be, if I wasn't nearly a head shorter than my friend.

"Ooooh! Variety really is nice! It's kind of sweet to see a shortie who's never done this thing before go at it," Genkei remarked from the shadows, while clapping his over-sized mitts excitedly.

His praise didn't excite me, but all sorts of other things did; the feeling that my hands and Charlee's were nearly touching, and worse, our dicks were one mis-aimed thrust away from touching together, all while those gorgeous, weirdly aroused eyes of hers kept focused on my stupefied face. Could she really be turned on at a time like this? I was basically humping a steel pole with jerky motions like a robot, while wearing my huge, unfashionable glasses and already breathing heavily, unused to even the slightest degree of exercise. My brown hair flicked sweat onto my white t-shirt, annoyingly causing it to become partially transparent, but revealing very little that anyone would care about. I watched for the same to happen to Charlee, but she was annoyingly sweat-free so far.

"A decent start, but you must know the nature of this show. Ms. Hawthorne, quit stalling," the Princess instructed in an impatient bark of command.

Charlee smiled a bit wider and nodded, seeming happy to be given the instruction. For the first time, I was **** to consider her relationship with the Princess a little more carefully. One couldn't stand being around the Princess as often as she was-- especially not doing this sort of thing-- without an affinity for being ordered around by the woman. Did Charlee actually enjoy being bossed around by the other woman? It felt like I still wasn't understanding the full picture, but I did begin to theorize part of the reason she backed out of joining a real detective **** was due to a preference of being on the receiving end of orders and interrogation.

I waited to see the next part of the act with held breath, every bit as horny and anticipating as the gym's usual clients...