(68) Nostalgic Times

24/SEP/35MT

“Hmmmm…” I mumble a light groan and slowly open my eyes. My body feels light and hot, pressing against soft subtle bumps everywhere. A brand new day with new challenges and new experiences awaits me, with two duels back to back to cheerlead for and a probable after-party again.

‘I missed looking forward to a day. Back then, things were just the same regardless of it was Easter, Christmas of any other holidays. Either I would spend the day on an MMO or just have to go to work.’

But before I can fully get started, there’s already a challenge to overcome. I’m completely entangled with my three club mates. There’s not a single part of me that’s not being groped sexually, breasts, thighs and butt and I’m not one to talk as my hands are also in precarious places…

‘Ahh, the woes of a vibrant sex life, boo-oh, poor little me.’ I think sarcastically, a deep smile forming on my lips in the meantime.

Still, I’m not complaining about what I have with these three, but right now, this is actually a problem.

I try my best to unwind my hands and arms from their ‘resting places’ and, using the sweat that built up with the four of us sleeping in a pile, I undo all the knots, setting myself free at last.

After freeing myself, I shimmy away from the pile and get up from the four beds we put together to support this, not that we use more than two for sleeping. The rest of the space was for… other activities. If you catch my drift.

I look back at the pile and think. ‘That’s way more comfortable than it looks, especially with all the soft boobs and asses to work as pillows… I better not get myself turned on before I shower. That would delay some activities…’

It’s not like I have a jammed packed day today, actually save for the two matches at 6PM and 7PM prospectively. My schedule is completely empty, a rare sight for me… Oh, and my ‘father’ wants to video chat today… ‘Could’ve sworn I elected to forget about that, but now it came back… Great.’

So all in all, a possible 8 out of 10 day ahead.

I shake my head and trudge to the bathroom, naked, of course, and step into the tub, deciding to capitalize on being the first to wake up and taking a proper bath.

Using a nearby touch screen, I set my desired water temperature and level. The tub quickly fills up to my specifications and I step inside, the water being perfect to relax my nerves. With only another simple action that could make me even more relaxed…

—

After making use of a shower head in a way that any sanitation professional would disapprove of, I finished up my bath and got dressed in a pair of form fitting custom-built panties and bra, which I bought yesterday when I had the chance to get measured professionally. Normally, these took quite a while to get made, but that store had a machine which made them to order in less than 20 minutes.

I walk out of the bathroom and into the much more lively living room. The rest of the girls are already up, with Haruna doing some stretching exercises to roll out muscle knots or massage some sore spots.

Meanwhile, Naeko is sitting on the bed, massaging Nanako’s back.

“MMMM! There! More pressureeeee pleaseeeeeeee.” Nanako moans when Naeko presses a spot on her lower neck.

Naeko clicks her tongue. “Tch, tch, tch. Sorry, dear, but if I did, it would hurt your spine. Don’t want that now, do we?” She looks around the room and spots me. “Well, wakey, wakey, I guess you had a little fun in the shower?”

There’s no way I’m going to get embarrassed at that after what I did with her last night, so I just furrow my brow and seek. “How do know that?”

“You took half an hour just for a bath.” Haruna shoots back, turning to me with a teasing smirk. “Come on Yuumi, we’re all girls here, you’re not fooling anyone.”

An eye roll escapes me. I’m not about to get riled up again so soon after dealing with it, so I shelve what I was about to say and go grab some clothes from the closet instead. ‘Hmm, I need to wear my uniform until the match, and then it will be almost night-time. What a drag. I wanted to try out some of the outfits I bought.’

Begrudgingly, I grab the uniform and mini-skirt with black tights I got used to wearing in the last two months. These were the first ‘girly’ clothes I’ve ever worn, and they beam a simple but refined aura around my figure, even if those two adjectives may not be that appropriate to describe me. After all, refined is just another way of saying ‘Stuffy’.

I finish dressing up by pulling the skirt up and putting on the sneakers. When I look back at the girls, I find Nanako went to take a bath, with Haruna and Naeko now both doing stretches.

Naeko glances at me and asks. “You in a hurry? It’s not even 1PM yet, way too early for lunch.”

I shrug and respond. “Not really, just wanted to hang out with Yasuna, Mia, and Aiko today. It’s Aiko’s and Mia’s last matches before they duel with each other, and I haven’t talked with them since we started practicing for our routines. I have some catching up to do. If it’s alright, I’ll have lunch with them today.”

Naeko shrugs, replying. “Go right ahead. They’re also your friends.”

I glance at Haruna, hitting for her response, and she also nods.

After telling them both where I’m going, I exit the room to meet up with my former roommates where we planned yesterday, at the hotel lobby for the duelist hotel.

“Alright, see ya later in the changing room.” I say before closing the door behind me.

—

I trudged through the vivacious station, even at this hour, and made my way to the hotel where the duelists for the tournament get housed, not far away from our own hotel, almost next door actually, but I could tell just from the decorations this is a fancier establishment. That’s not to say it looks luxurious or pretentious, just nicer in a contemporary way, larger open spaces, higher ceilings, warmer lights, etc.

The lobby is still automated with no staff behind the counter, but compared to the corridor of a lobby in the hotel I’m staying at, this one actually has some sofas and tables to hang out at.

It’s at one of those tables where I spot Mia… Strangely, by herself. ‘Did Aiko and Yasuna sleep in today? Well, at least it’s not me again. Don’t want to get a reputation for showing up late.’

I walk up to the desk and greet Mia. “Hey yo! Mornin’, how are you doing?”

She looks up from her phone and greats with a smile. “Oh, good morning Yuumi, I’m feeling great! Just a little confused why I’m the only one here. You told Yasuna and Aiko to show up, right?”

Taking a seat on a nearby sofa chair, I furrow my brow and respond. “I sent it to our group chat, and everyone said they’d be coming.” I look around the lobby before turning to Mia again. “So yeah? Why are we the only ones here? Did they sleep in?”

Mia looks off to the side and shrugs. “Mm, maybe? It’s just that Yasuna is normally the first to rise.”

I blink a few times in bewilderment before saying. “What? Back when we roomed together, she was always the LAST to get up. Do you still remember our first day of classes?”

She snickers, holding up a hand to hide her mouth. “Hehe. Yes, she woke up late all the time at the academy, but after she started winning duels and getting recognized, she really cleaned up her act. You saw her at the action duel classes, right?”

“Well, her classes didn’t always line up with mine… But now that you mention it, it looked like she was getting more energetic as the weeks passed, not that I believed she could even do that but hey, self-esteem does wonders to a person. Did Aiko also get more confident? She crushed a lot of strong duelist at the academy.”

“Hmm, kinda, but Yasuna took up most of our duel requests, mostly from bullies, but also from some guys that she thought had malicious intentions with their challenges.” She looks off to the side, placing her elbow on the table and supporting her head with her hand. “I got enough wins to raise my elo to 800. Aiko is also at that level and while I didn’t see Yasuna’s ranking, she was complaining about having to move dorms if she kept the duels up. Regardless, I don’t think Aiko cares about her ranking…” Mia straightens up, still looking to the lobby, and continues. “Still, if you want to know, you should ask her. Good morning, sleepyheads!”

I glance to the lobby as well and spot Yasuna walking over to our table with Aiko in tow.

Yasuna sports a stupid smile on her face and confidently walks over to us. Her uniform still being the one from action duel class with a white t-shirt and bike shorts partially covered by a red mini-skirt.

“Yo! Mia! Yuumi! Good morning!” She greats in high spirits.

Aiko waves to us and offers. “Good morning, you two. Sorry, we’re a bit late.”

I notice light-dark circles under Aiko’s eyes and ask. “Good morning. Aiko, did you sleep well last night? You look tired.”

Aiko sits next to Mia — With Yasuna sitting next to me — and replies. “Oh, yeah… I’m just a little nervous from today’s match.”

Weirdly, Yasuna lets out a haughty laugh and declares. “Ha, ha, ha, don’t worry Aiko, I’ll go easy on you today.”

We all turn to Yasuna, confused by what she means.

“What are talking about? Aiko’s match today is with the Angelico Institute.” I say.

“W-What? Today is the final, right? Me against Aiko?”

….

“AHAHAHHAHAHAHHA!” Mia breaks up laughing.

Me and Aiko follow her lead close by.

—

“I still can’t believe you spent all-night practicing to defeat Aiko when you’re matched up against the AGVA, aha hah! Wasn’t their first lost against normal pendulum? Stiff competition, you’re going up against there!” I pile on while we four walk to the food court to get a bite for lunch.

We spent a good hour catching up with each other in the hotel lobby, talking about our experiences in the tournament so far. That’s where I learned that there are a lot of benefits from being a duelist in the tournament. Apparently, they have access to free massage parlors, spas, hairstylists, and a majestic after party buffet dinner/lunch after every match is done for the day. Also, Mia specifically has been approached by a bunch of brands offering marketing deals. Good for her, I say.

Yasuna lets out an exasperated sigh. “Aff, you’re really not letting this go, huh? What’s so bad about extra training, anyway? You know how complex my deck is.”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong, I’m 100 percent for you studying more. Synchron is a very complex deck to pilot and I salute you for running it.” I quickly try to correct that misunderstanding. “It’s just that… Well, you know the AGVA, right? Weakest in the tournament, couldn’t deal with a fucking shitty swarming deck? Hell, I would wager you could even beat them even if you didn’t synchro summon… Actually forget that, don’t do something that stupid. It’s one thing to know your opponent is weak, and another to underestimate them even then.”

Yasuna shakes her head and replies. “I don’t intend to go easy on them. I’ll just end the duel quickly so I can go back to training for the final against Aiko.”

Before Aiko can respond to that, a shout echoes out around the corridor we’re walking through. “ALRIGHT! THAT’S ENOUGH!”

I hear stomping behind me and turn around to find a quite tall guy with short blond hair stomping his way over to us. He’s wearing a uniform similar to the other schools, but I don’t quite recognize the symbols and colors for any institution in particular, though, considering what he just said and what Yasuna and I were talking about it’s easy to guess where he’s from.

The guy stops close to us and yells. “Who do you girls think you are? Talking about the prestigious Apple Gaming Academy like that! Hunf! I’ll let you know our academy is at the top of the test scores charts around the Dragoon City special development district! Where the most elite of the Dragoon City decision makers call home!” After doing his whole melodramatic shtick, he leans in on Yasuna and declares. “So, if I were you, fair lady, I would be more careful about talking about our academy in that manner.”

“Oh, yeah?” I step towards the guy and taunt. “Then where’s your win record to prove that?”

He turns to me and scoffs. “Hunf! Shoo, filthy cheerleader! Not even good enough to take part, but you still think you’re worthy of attention! Go shake your naughty bits somewhere else.”

—

No, I, in fact, didn’t cave that guy’s pretty face in, but not for a lack of motivation. It’s just that the other three grabbed me preemptively and ran out of there. I could probably overpower Mia and Aiko, but Yasuna is a different story.

We’re now in sitting at a table at the food court. I went to grab some hot slices at a fast food pizza ‘restaurant,’ it was just a bunch of touch terminals with pick up spots next to them cut into a solid wall that had a bunch of other restaurants next to it, the only distinguishing feature being the color of the wall and a sign above.

I grab one of the thick slices and bite into it, flavors of hot peperoni, fake mozzarella and processed tomato sauce hit my taste buds, followed by an oily, thick and chewy bread base. I wouldn’t call it a good pizza, but with so many additives it would be a scientific marvel for it not to taste good, it’s also weirdly moreish.

I gulp down the piece of the slice and ask. “Yasuna, could you do me a favor?”

She swallows the bit of burger she was munching on, following it down with a sip of soda. “Sure, what do you need?”

Putting on my best fake smile, I tell her. “Crush that little shit. Make him suffer if you can get away with it.”