| Message in a bottle ~ Taylor Swift |

Maki-san is like an oasis. Every time I feel like I've reached her, she is even further away. I can't say that I'm not excited or at least curious about the BDSM stuff but... why is this the only way to her heart?

It's a fresh new week and it seems like my dream is on its way to becoming real. I can't believe Akane sensei actually invited me to join her dance club and she's willing to supervise me herself.

The day is unnecessarily long. Classes drag on for hours, the whole duration of which I spend bouncing my legs under the table. When Ieiri sensei comes to class, we barely meet eyes, pretending like I didn't just see her getting drunk out of her mind and she didn't see me making out with Maki-san.

Some people from my Cell Biology class come over during lunch to talk to me and I try my best to remember their names when I see them again in the lab. I claim the microscope at the end of their table and they smile and bow in a synchronized manner. Creepy!

"Hey, can I ask you a question, Niji-san?" The girl beside me turns to me. Her name, I think, is Chihiro.

"Yes, of course, Chihiro-san." I wait for her reaction but there's none. Phew!

"Yuki-san and I were coming back from the library yesterday, in the evening," she says, staring at the notebook in front of her. "And we saw you getting on somebody's bike. Was that... your boyfriend?" Chihiro-san whispers the last bit like I've committed a crime by having a partner.

My eyes go wide for a second before I chuckle. "No, that's my..."

Shit! Wait. What if she's homophobic?

"No, just a friend," I tell her, fidgeting with my pencil case.

"Oh." She smiles. "You were so dressed up, we thought you were going out on a date. You were looking really cute though, Niji-san."

I giggle. "Thanks."

We're doing DNA extraction and there's a lot of waiting involved. During cooling and thawing processes and, centrifugation. I pick up my phone during one such break and text Maki-san.

N: Hi! How's your day going?

M: Hey! I was just about to text you too.

N: Thinking about me?

M: Always, baby.

M: Just finished a watercolor project. I think you might have inspired it. Wanna see?

N: Of course.

M: [image]

Oh my God!

It's the painting of a baby pink colored tutu with embroidered sakura blossoms. The shading and blending are so perfectly done I can see the sheerness of the fabric. The ballerina's waist is visible too and it's not the usual cinched waist but a fat waist. With the spilling love handles in their full glory. And somehow, it looks very graceful. Is that how I look?

The centrifuge's timer goes off and I have to pocket my phone. I continue with the procedure until the end of the class. By the time it's over, I and everybody else are yawning and stretching our necks and shoulders from being bent over the microscope for so long. Needless to say, we're not sure if we saw DNA.

I'm talking to Chihiro-san and Yuki-san again as we're walking toward our lockers, folding our lab coats under our arms.

"That looks like a dangerous person, right?" Yuki-san points.

I look up and an unexpected face brightens up my whole mien. Maki-san is leaning against the lockers, brushing her fingers through her hair, her eyes scanning the faces of all my classmates returning from the laboratory. She is wearing the most casual pair of black sweatpants and a white tank top with paint stains across it.

I think what Yuki-san finds dangerous is her scars, covering her whole hands like sleeves. I find them gorgeous.

Maki-san's eyes find mine and she smiles her signature half smile, half smirk that she does when she wants me to become a blushing puddle. She waves at me, surprising my new friends. Suddenly, I don't care if they're homophobic.

"Oh, you know... them, Niji-san?" Chihiro-san asks.

"Yeah, she's my girlfriend," I say before padding away from them.

"What are you doing here?" I ask Maki-san. Very conveniently, she's standing just beside my locker, so I unlock it to collect my bag.

"You didn't say anything about the painting so I wasn't sure if I left you speechless or if you didn't like it and you were just being polite."

I chuckle. "Sorry, I had to get back to my lab work. But yeah, you did leave me speechless. It's beautiful."

"Thank you," she says, looking behind me. "Your friends seem curious."

I turn and the girls are standing right there. "Oh, hi! Ummm... This is Maki-san. Maki Zenin. She's the person you guys saw on the bike. We're... dating. And, Maki-san, these are Chihiro-san and Yuki-san. They're my friends from class."

"Nice to meet you." Maki-san straightens up. The girls were about to bow and leave, but Maki-san produces her hand to shake, confusing them.

"You're... Mai senpai's sister, right?" Yuki-san asks, shaking her hand. She looks so cartoonishly tiny in front of Maki-san that I want to laugh.

"Ah, yes!" Maki-san sighs, adding nothing more.

"Okay, we'll leave you two lovebirds alone." Chihiro-san giggles, dragging Yuki-san away.

"Oh, that reminds me," I say, shutting my locker door, "I think we should take Mai senpai out for a treat."

"Why?"

"Because..." We start walking together. "Because she did us a favor last Friday. And... we might need more such... favors in the future, I think."

Maki-san hums. "So you wanna bribe her?"

"Not bribe. Just... I just feel like we owe her. And it's fine if you don't agree. I can take her out myself. I know you two have a strained relationship."

"Oh, I wonder what gave it away." She sounds... a little mean.

Maki-san walks me back to my dorm building and wordlessly, we decide it'd be great if she comes upstairs. It is great. Short-lived, however.

We kiss like the young lovers that we are. With no regard to changing out of the clothes that we've been in the whole day, pinned to the bed, fingers in each other's hair, moaning in each other's mouth. It's just when I'm feeling my insides clench with the anticipation of what Maki-san is about to do to me, that there's a sharp rap on the door.

"Fuck," Maki-san whispers, her breath hot over my face. She jumps off the bed and I fix the buttons of my shirt before she opens the door.

It's Lulu-san.

"Oh, it's you!" She says, looking at Maki-san. "Oh, you guys are going at it, are you? Would you mind keeping it a little hush hush? I can hear you through the wall. And it's making me a tad bit uncomfortable."

"Of course," I say, immediately, "we're sorry, Lulu-san."

"Put on your earphones then," Maki-san challenges her.

Maki-san's face is tight, jaws clenched and chin jutted a little. She doesn't frown and maybe that's why she assumes nobody can tell how she's feeling. But she always has this face on when somebody barges into our conversation or our time together.

Like when we met Yuuji-san and Megumi-san at the breakfast place, and when I was speaking with Lulu-san during the Freshers' festival, and when I was pulling myself away from her during our dinner at Crimson. It's cute when she does it.

She's like a kid trapped in an adult's body, trying to comply with the adult's way of thinking.

"Ugh..." Lulu-san looks from Maki-san to me and then back to her. "I have a quiz tomorrow, mate. A whole unit. I'd be considerate if I were you."

"We understand, Lulu-san." I try to act as a buffer. "We'll be careful. All the best for the quiz, okay?"

I shut the door between us before Maki-san can say another word. And boy is she mad!

Maki-san's chin is even more jutted as she looks at me. So I do what any utterly smitten girlfriend would do. I step on my tiptoes and drop a big, mushy kiss on her lips.

She sighs as I pull back. "I actually have to go," she says, moving past me to where she had dropped her bag.

I put my back against the wardrobe and watch her move to the mirror to fix her hair. "Are you disappointed in me?" I ask.

She scoffs and takes a step forward in my direction. "I might be. What shall we do about it?"

This Maki-san is intimidating. Scary. She sounds like a night of heavy rain and thunder. I'd hide away in my room if I were of sane mind but... I think I want to see how drenched I can get before catching a cold.

"Are you... thinking of punishing me?" I ask, my insides clenching at the thought. Both with the excitement and the dread.

What will it be? Spanking? Orgasm denial?

Maki-san puts one hand on my waist and pulls me close. She brings her face closer to mine, as close as two people need to be to kiss. But she doesn't kiss me.

"I really have to go today. I'm working tonight. We can meet Mai on Wednesday or Thursday. But you're the one who has to invite her."

"Yeah, sure." I blurt out in her face.

She proceeds to leave but I have more questions.

"You work?"

Maki-san chuckles. "How else would I afford an apartment? I don't have rich parents like my sister."

Something has definitely happened. Something other than me bringing up Mai senpai and not letting her finish her argument. And it has set her off. Maybe she came to me to find some peace and I gave her more trouble.

"What do you do?" I ask, trying to distract her.

"I'm a freelance photographer. My clients are mostly make-up artists and their models."

She attempts to leave again but I take her hand. By some witchcraft or wizardry, a gust of bravery washes over me and I pin Maki-san up against the door. Or at least, I try.

I press my mouth to hers and kiss her fervently. One lip at a time, holding her face between my hands. I want to touch her arms but I don't know what she wants. I want to rip her clothes off but I don't know if she'd like that. By the time we part, we're starving for breath and each other.

Maki-san has a thin smile on her face and she squeezes my arm. "I really have to go," she says curtly, "text me about the Mai thing, okay?" And she disappears behind the door.

Is this the punishment?

---------------------------------

It's fifteen minutes to seven when I walk into Auditorium 1 of the Katsushika Block. There's a practice session going on for a hip-hop dance group and I round them to go to the changing rooms.

There's nobody there so I quickly undress and put on my leotard, leggings, and ballet slippers. For a really long time, I sit with my phone in my hand, waiting for the other dancers to arrive. I refresh the invitations page but the timing or location doesn't seem to have been changed.

An "all the best" message from my mother pops up on my screen, making me smile. I decide to go back outside to take a look.

The hip-hop dance group is sitting in a corner, sipping water, some of them straight-up lying on the floor. Some more people - nine to be exact, as I count them - are standing in a neat line with their hands on their waists or behind their backs. And in front of them is a man, tall, well-built, introducing himself.

I spot Akane sensei standing beside him and panic. I rush to stand beside the boy at the end of the line, and the man who was speaking smiles at me.

"Looks like you dressed up." He chuckles. "Today is just an orientation. We'll not be practicing today."

"Please try to be on time," Akane sensei adds.

"I was... waiting in the changing room," I try to reason but give up when I see sensei's disgruntled face. I bow deeply, apologizing.

Shit!

The man introduces himself as the supervisor for western dance groups. He lists his expectations from the dancers he has selected and ends his speech by dividing them into two groups. These people take a step forward and I realize it's only me and one other person in a non-western category.

Akane sensei takes over after him. She addresses the two of us.

"Utahime sensei could not be here today," she says. Her voice is like a birdsong. I have only ever seen her dance and accept awards but she rarely gives speeches.

"So... for Amane-san," she points at the other person. "Your kabuki classes will be held on Wednesdays, from six to seven, in the evening. If there isn't anything else that you would like to discuss with me, who, again, is not your supervisor, you may go back to... class or your room."

Amane-san bows and leaves without a word, leaving me alone with Akane sensei and the band of hip-hop dancers who are somehow still exhausted.

I find myself chewing on my lower lip as Akane sensei fidgets with her pen or paper or something. I look into the mirror I'm standing beside. I have a dancer's posture, and I try to keep my belly tucked in as much as I can. But a girl gotta breathe, right?

"Ah yes! You. Ballerina," she starts without looking at me. I have to step forward to hear her more clearly. "Good... good performance at the Freshers'. We were all... enthralled."

"Thank you," I say, bowing again.

"Although I will admit that choosing to invite you was a more group decision than... my own personal choice."

Crash goes my heart!

"You seem to have amassed quite the following in the past week," Akane sensei continues, still refusing to look up for any longer than three seconds. "As I'm sure you must have noticed on your... social... websites. And I was persuaded by the point put forth by my colleagues... that you'd be a good representative of the dance club as well as a good... enough addition to the team."

What? Sure, I've gained a ton of new followers on Instagram after that performance but that can't be... that can't be the only reason...

"We have ballet classes on Tuesdays from seven-thirty and Thursdays from seven. In the evening, of course. And sometimes, we meet on Saturdays and Sundays in the morning, from six-thirty. As you must have been told before by other instructors, you have to try to maintain a... healthy... shape for performing. So... we'll provide you with a... umm... diet regiment that you'll be expected to follow strictly."

"Are you already done?" The man comes back and walks across the hardwood floor. I don't know why but he politely touches my shoulder and smiles before moving past me. Like a consolation.

"Just getting... umm... Gushiken-san here to look at the diet regiment." Akane sensei fumbles through her papers. "Now, I'm sure you'll find Jordan-san more likable when you find out he's the one who added the mandatory slice of chocolate cake in the evening."

"A sweet girl like her deserves her share of sweetness," Jordan sensei comments. He shifts his gaze just when I meet it, pronouncing the uneasy feeling I'm having in the pit of my stomach. He adds, "I'm sure Utahime-san wouldn't disagree."

Utahime? Where have I heard the name before?

"I'm sorry I'm having a hard time following here." I proceed toward the two and I'm pretty sure I saw Akane sensei flinch and take a step back. "You want me to eat chocolate cake? What..." I giggle, nervously. "What kind of a diet regiment would that be?"

"Something that works for both of us," Jordan sensei says. "See, your charm is in being..."

"Fat?" I finish his sentence.

"Plus size," he corrects me. "And we want to maintain that."

"He wishes to maintain that," Akane sensei interjects. "I want... you to be able to dance. Which you can't do, as long as you're..."

"Fat?"

She doesn't correct me.

It is almost seven-thirty. I change into my regular slippers and put on my hoodie in the dressing room, now busy with other ballerinas.

As I walk out of the studio, Jordan sensei making sure I return his good night wave, I bump into someone. I look up to see Sarah senpai.

She looks away immediately and walks into the studio. It's actually refreshing to see her without also getting bullied. Although I believe my quota of getting bullied is filled for today.

I step out into the night and immediately pull the hoodie tighter around me. None of what happened today went even remotely the way I thought it would.

I need a drink. Or two. Or maybe half a bottle.

I take out my phone and dial a number. I think I want to call Maki-san but when the person on the other side picks up, it's somebody unexpected.

I was not planning on making the two dance instructors this evil. But at 3:00 AM, it just happened. Let me know your thoughts.

A/n: If you liked this chapter, please consider leaving a vote and commenting about what you liked or what you'd like to see in the next chapters.