107 – Culture Festival (Part 2)
107 – Culture Festival (Part 2)
"You're looking perfectly fine even after all we did," I said to Kana as we three walked to school.
"Yeah, I'm not sure. Maybe you guys didn't actually drain all that much from me?" he wondered out loud.
As long as he wasn't in pain. I always felt guilty rendering him in such a state, but that didn't appear to be the case this time.
"What do you guys wanna do first today?" Mio asked as she ate ice cream in one hand and texted into her phone with the other. "We got Hana's play at noon, so we should probably do all the shit we wanna do before then."
"We'll just start at the courtyard first to see what people set up, hit up the back of the school, then the classes after," I suggested.
We'd seen most of this yesterday, but a lot of stalls, booths, and events were set up right through the school gates. Many of them were left up so students wouldn't need to set everything up again today.
It sucked that this was going to be Mio's first and last year of culture festival in high school, but I heard college always went all out. Despite this being my third time and experiencing many of the same things, this was already better than the last two combined already.
My first was mostly spent awkwardly partaking in events. I avoided it all together in my second year because of the poor first time. It was different now because I had people I wanted to spend it with this year. Mio was partially to thank for that.
When I got to class, eager to be over with the morning school traditions so we could go play, Rika stopped us for a favor.
"D-Do we seriously have to do this?" I asked, holding the sexy nurse costume Yuriha had tailored for us.
"Well, I won't force you! But you three were really popular yesterday, and having you advertise as you walk around the campus could attract a lot of people," Rika explained.
"I'm in, but do we get a portion of the cut?" Mio asked, rubbing her index and thumb together.
I elbowed her in the ribs. "Don't turn our class cafe into your profit schemes."
We would essentially still be working even though a free day was promised to us. At the same time, just wearing a costume shouldn't be too bad.
"Fine," I said. "But I get to choose what I wear."
"Great!" The class rep gave us each a small stack of flyers to hand out.
Kana elected not to change into anything and stayed in the school uniform, too embarrassed to do so outside of the comforts of our classroom where he had an excuse to dress up. I chose what was most natural to me— my succubus outfit, including the black skirt to avoid the student council president's wrath.
"Hmm. I kinda want something different," Mio said. She changed into the nurse costume and allowed her succubus features to emerge. "Much better."
We ran out of flyers by the time we exited the school building. Word of mouth about a third year class' cosplay cafe with former Isekai Gohan employees spread quickly. Everyone went looking for it, and those same people were disappointed that Mio and I wouldn't be working. Even so, many still went to visit for the experience.
Culture festival was just as packed as the day before. Many stalls and booths were set up for game events with prizes you could win. Others were selling food and handcrafted goods. Student organizations like the art club did face paintings and caricatures, literary club conducted book trades, athletic clubs did mini-games associated with their sports, and more I'd yet to see.
"What's that over there?" Mio pointed to a dunk tank game where someone had just fallen into the water.
After giving her the explanation, she took a sudden interest in the game.
"Hmm… Sounds like fun. Why don't we give it a try?" Mio suggested.
She and Kana somehow managed to convince me to get into the dunk tank. It wasn't until I sat my ass on the seat with toes dipping into the water did I realize this was a bad idea.
"I changed my mind; I want out!" I exclaimed, clutching the chain-link fence that surrounded me.
"Kahahaha! No pussying out now!" Mio cackled. She then cupped her hands over her mouth and shouted to the people passing by the game. "Who wants to see a succubus get WET?"
"MIO, DAMN IT!"
The damage was done. Now that it was made loudly known, people began to flock to the dunk tank to watch me get soaked. Of course, most of them were guys hoping for a wardrobe malfunction.
As people began to line up and pay for a chance to dunk me into the waters, Mio shook hands with the club members who set up the event and collected a chunk of change from them.
"Stop profiting off my misery!" I yelled.
"You like being watched, people like watching you, and I like getting paid. I see this as an absolute win for everyone." Mio winked.
When I turned my eyes to Kana for help, he merely shrugged his shoulders and got in line.
"Sorry. We never really played much at the culture festival in the last two years. I don't want to waste a chance to dunk you," he said.
I had no allies here. What I did have was magic.
In order to knock me down, they needed to hit a bullseye on the red target. Everytime someone threw their ball at the target, I conjured a very small gust of wind to blow it slightly off mark. If it wasn't for Selene drilling all those magic lessons into me, this would have been over on the first throw.
I recognized the next person up to throw as the captain of the baseball team. His pitches were good enough to take the team to Koshien all three years of his high school career.
He took the standard pitcher's stance and threw a powerful straight. Even so, it was no match for my magic. I blew it just off to the side so that it barely touched the bullseye.
The baseball team's ace stared at his own hand in confusion.
"You're getting rusty!" His fellow teammates ribbed him over the miss.
Mio caught on what I was doing, and whispered something into the event organizers' ears.
One of them then rewrote a rule on the signpost.
"New rule! Pay double and get to throw at HALF the distance!" they announced.
"I see how it is, Mio." I glared.
"It's war now, baby!"
Through my own luck and skill, I prevented every single throw even with the advantageous distance they were given. My freedom was at the end of the line which was capped off so I wouldn't be here the entire day.
However, I should have known it wouldn't be that easy with the last person in line. Because the final participant was Mio herself. She repeatedly tossed the ball up and caught it as it came down, grinning from ear to ear.
"Like that dodgeball game we had way back then. Except this time, I ain't the one losing," my foe declared.
Right then, the true meaning of her words dawned on me. An electrifying sensation ran up my spine and traveled down between my legs, knocking the wind out of me. That succubitch was tightening her aura around me to stimulate my pussy.
"T-Two can play at that…" I said, constricting my own aura around her.
Mio squeezed her trembling legs shut as the effects took hold of her.
"Heh… You're getting weak, punk. I've always been better…" Tightening her grip on the ball, she winded her arm for a throw.
The closer Mio's aura brought me to an orgasm, the harder it became to focus. My face was red, breath shallow, and the people watching from the sidelines were looking really tasty about now.
Thunk!
At the corner of my eye, the ball bounced off the bullseye. "Shit—!"
I swallowed a mouthful of water on the way down, then came back up in a fury.
"That's not fair. I wasn't ready!" I yelled at her.
"Oh, you seem pretty ready to me." Mio giggled, pointed two fingers at me.
I glanced down to see my nipples staring back up at me. The corset part of my outfit had lowered enough that my breasts were hanging out for all to see.
"Uuu… I'll get you back for this…" Muttering under my breath, I covered my chest with one hand and climbed out the back of the tank.
A hundred people just saw my tits, and I had to pretend to be embarrassed. Mio was right. My exhibitionist tendencies were really growing on me.
She was the reason that fetish of mine started developing to begin with!
My frustration subsided as a towel fell on top of my head and covered my eyes.
"Hold still and let me dry your hair. Gotta be careful so no one's realizing I'm using magic," Mio said.
The two of us hung by a tree behind the dunk tank. She used a combination of fire and wind to create something like a blow dryer underneath the towel. Her fingernails gently scratched my scalp, sending me to a higher dimension of bliss.
"Where did Kana go?" I asked, shutting my eyes to enjoy being spoiled by Mio that wasn't sexual for once.
"After missing his shot, he went to line up at the home ecs club's takoyaki stand," she said.
Then as if on cue, Kana came back with a tray of octopus balls in each hand.
"Looks like you ended up in the water," Kana remarked with an amused smile.
"Oh, look. The wife brought us lunch," I teased.
He went bright red. "F-Forget about that dream already!"
The three of us sat on a bench to eat takoyaki together. They had a satisfying crunch to it right before biting into the piece of octopus.
"This is heaven." I sighed blissfully.
"You can say that again. Takoyaki doesn't get better than this," Kana said as he stuffed another ball into his mouth.
"You wanna bet?" Mio suddenly asked.
"Nooo…" I warned her. "Let's not turn this moment into a sexual opportunity."
Mio checked her phone and alerted us that it was getting close to noon. We finished up the food, then headed straight to the auditorium where the play was being held. There was no line as seating was first come first serve. Kana's keen eyes found three seats, the third row from the front.
To be perfectly honest, I expected the play to be a disaster. It was Hana we were talking about. Imagine our surprise that the play turned out to be a lot of fun. The fantasy world adaptation of a classic story with Hana ad-libbing the supporting role of Mercutio made for a chaotic mess.
The real problem came when a sudden intermission was declared right before the climactic scene where Romeo and Juliet die.
"Damn, what the fuck. They just off'd my boy Paris like that and went to intermission?" Mio was about ready to flip a table.
"Of all the characters in the play, he's the one you're rooting for?" Kana squinted.
"Man's got his priorities right unlike Romeo. Rich, hot, wants to put a baby in Juliet," she said, putting a surprisingly simple yet compelling argument.
I was about to give my two-cents when Hana appeared above me.
"Oi!"
"Holy shit?!" I nearly fell out of my seat.
"Shhh! I'm invisible!" Hana put a finger to her mouth. "I need yours and Mio's help. Our Romeo and Juliet suddenly came down with food poisoning. They're barfing all over the place too much to finish the play."
"Count me in!" Mio said.
"D-Don't you have substitutes? Why us?" I asked quietly.
"Pleeeaaaassee! Neither of you guys have a lot of lines left. We can even have someone whisper the lines off-stage," she begged.
Unable to fight against my better nature to refuse someone asking for help, I agreed. After explaining to Kana what was going on, Mio suspiciously handed her camera to him and Hana to the back of the stage.
"Thank you guys sooo much!" Director Takagi groveled on the floor before our feet.
As stagehands dressed me as Romeo and Mio as Juliet, we were given a brief explanation of what was supposed to happen. In short, I was to drink poison and die after saying my lines. Mio would then awaken, pretend to kiss me, and stab herself with a toy dagger on my person.
With time running short and the audience growing impatient, we ran to our places for the final scene. Mio lied on top of a coffin, pretending to be dead. As Juliet, she was put in a temporary catatonic state and I, as Romeo, mistook her for being truly dead.
The curtains slowly drew open. Spotlights from above beamed down a single light on us.
For Mio to lie so still almost made me think she really was dead. If something like that ever happened, I wouldn't be able to handle it. Thinking this way put me in a grieving mood. The audience I was part of earlier and laughing our asses off to Hana's antics, were now so silent that you could hear a pin drop.
"Oh, Juliet. That your presence alone brightens this crypt—"
"Pfft…" Mio let out a giggle, then quickly shut up.
I pretended to stroke her cheek, but pinched instead.
"...Is a testament to your beauty," I continued. "I come to you now, my love."
I drank the vial filled with water and fell to the ground dead. A moment later, Mio awakened and became distraught over my death by the poison. All she had to do was say her lines, peck me on the lips, and die.
"Ah. Even in death, you're still a total hottie. If only we shagged a lot more," she said, completely making up her lines.
As I laid there expecting her to kiss me already, she went in for more than a touch on the lips. She held me and shoved her tongue into my mouth. Her tail invaded my crotch to massage my clit, masturbating me in front of hundreds of people. It was getting difficult to pretend to be unconscious.
"Wow! They're so passionate!"
"They kind of look different. Did they swap actors?"
"Romeo's french-kissing Juliet like crazy."
While the audience watched the two of us swapping spit on stage, none the wiser it was me and Mio, I tried to push her off me to no avail. Although it was less likely that my strength failed me, and more that the excitement of being watched got my loins riled up.
She let my limp body drop to the ground like a sack of potatoes, high enough that my head bounced. A few members of the audience gasped. Finally, Mio grabbed the dagger from my waist and stabbed herself…
Only to fall directly on top of me.
The lights dimmed and curtains slowly drew closed applause rang across the auditorium.
We somehow made it through the play without arousing any suspicions. The crowd continued to applaud long after the curtains had drawn.
The drama club president ran across the stage from the other wing, tears streaming down his face and all smiles at our job well done.
"Seriously, thank you so much! We couldn't have finished the play without you," he said.
"Don't mention it… Really, don't." I sighed.
Hana and Mio high-fived each other with both hands.
"Maaaaan, if you were Romeo the whole way through, we could've had a bromance going!" she exclaimed.
As the stage crew and fellow actors crowded around us to express thanks, Takagi shoved them all aside to get a word in with Hana.
"Your Mercutio was phenomenal! Please, your talent for acting? Sublime. As a first-year student, I must insist you join the drama club next year and the year after!" he insisted, gripping her hands with stars in his eyes.
"Nah," Hana replied instantly. "Acting is cool and all, but it ain't my color. A bird shouldn't be caged. She should be allowed to fly free across the endless blue!"
She said all this while slowly making her way towards the exit. Everyone watched with a mixture of appallment and confusion at her attempt to sound profound. Except Takagi, of course. He watched the star of his show slip through his hands.
As soon as Hana reached the door, she bid us goodbye. "So long, suckers! Next time you see me, I'll be a master haiku poet!"
"Has she always been like that in Elza?" I quietly asked Mio.
"I'd stake my tail that it's your world that influenced her," she answered.
As the culture festival was winding down and many people were going home, the three of us wandered out behind the school building where the bonfire was held. There were only couples around, or students preparing to confess to their crush under an available tree. Some were already dancing together, while others simply enjoyed the fire from a distance.
Some firefighters and faculty stood by in case something happened. We already couldn't get closer than thirty feet to the bonfire, blocked off by a waist-high fence.
"Now ain't that a sight." Mio whistled sharply and walked as close as she was allowed.
As I watched other people dancing, I agonized over who I wanted to be with. Of course, Kana and Mio were both important people to me. If possible, I'd like to be with both of them.
Kana bumped me forward.
"If you want to ask her to dance, I don't mind. Besides, we've spent two culture festivals with each other already. This is your first time with Mio," he said, urging me to go.
"Do you really mean it?" I asked.
He nodded and gave me another push forward.
Taking the courage Kana had given me, I walked up next to Mio and took a deep breath.
"D-Do you want to dance? You have to hold back from kissing me though! People think we're cousins, and it'll get weird!" I reminded her.
"Heh. Isn't that what we got magic for?" she asked with a smirk. "But alright. Just once, I'll save the horny for later."