The wheels roll along the stone pathway. Fortunately, it's a well-maintained path so there are hardly any bumps. Resulting in a comfortable ride with hardly any discomfort. "Thanks for inviting us out, Isami." I say, looking over my shoulder at Isami pushing my wheelchair. "Heh. You can say that again." she says with a proud smile on her face.
"Oh?" I raise an eyebrow. Seeing my gremlin neighbor act like this has given me an idea. "Then can you lend me your ear for a second? I have something to tell you." I say.
"Huh? Sure." Isami lowers her head, and I bring my lips veeerry~ close to her ear. "You're so cute when you act all smug, Isami~" I whisper. My warm breath tickling her cool ear.
"Ugeh!?" an embarrassing noise escaped Isami, recoiling from my little attack. She turns to me with flushed cheeks. Her mouth opening and closing as she tries to come up with a comeback. "That's-"
But before she could think of one, the sound of whispering reached her ears. She looks around, and see people staring at us. Curious eyes scanning our group of three. "Hiek..!" Isami shrieked in a low voice, shrinking from the attention.
"Okay. Move along, you two." Mom says, pushing both me and Isami. The wheelchair beginning to move again.
I glance at Isami from the corner of my eye. Mumbling to herself, "I'm not cute... I'm a tough girl..."
'Heh~ Denying it like that only makes you cuter, you know?' I thought to myself. My lips curled into a small smile.
"Y'know, Isami, I was really surprised when you invited us out to the shrine. I figured you would just stay at home."
At my words, Isami flinched. "Hahah- Staying at home on New Year's day? That's something only a complete shut-in would do! And I'm not a shut-in." she says, trying her best to look confident, but the twitching of her lips is a dead giveaway. But still. I have to give her credit for not just going out, but even invited a boy (me) to come along. That is certainly something worthy of praise.
'How should I reward her, though? What would a closet perv like Isami like?' I thought about what I could do for her, and curse my wretched imagination for almost instantly coming up with a debauched one. 'Nope. No fucking way am I giving her a footjob or anything related to feet." I thought.
"I blame the internet and Hideo Kojima for my stupid brain to even think of such a thing!' I yelled internally. Even though the latter party likely doesn't exist in this parallel world.
'Or maybe there's a female Hideo-' But before I could finish that thought, we had finally arrived at the local shrine grounds. And I can't be thinking of feet when I'm at such a place now can I?
"Even though it's not a temple, there are still so many people." I say to myself. Looking around, the shrine is as crowded as a market. Yet, even though there's this many people around, it's hardly disorderly. People are respecting each other's spaces, and keeping their voices low so as not to disturb those praying at the front.
"Looks like we came at a good time. The line is shorter than I remember 7 years ago." Mom said. And I couldn't help but be shocked when she mentioned how long it was since her last shrine visit. Which is mostly past Andy's fault for refusing to do New Year's prayer with mom ever since he entered that "woman-hater" phase. 'Hopefully we don't get punished because of this.'
Without stalling, we joined the line for the prayer box up front. Unlike in other cultures, the people in front won't let us cut the line just because I'm in a wheelchair. Though, they did give us more space than normal. 'The Japanese value orderliness, so it makes sense.'
And I'm not actually disabled, so I have no right to complain. Fortunately, just like mom said, the wait wasn't long because of the short queue. So it didn't take more than 10 minutes to reach the prayer box.
Though, there is just one problem...
'Stairs...'
It's that the shrine building itself is elevated, and to reach it, one must go up three steps. Normally, this wouldn't be something I'd even think about, but with my legs like this, I can't ascend them like I usually do.
'That means...' I gaze to my right. Mom is standing to my side with her wallet in hand. Her fingers dig inside and take out exactly three 5-yen coins.
She puts her wallet back in her pocket, then turns to me and Isami. "Here you are, Andy, Isozaki-san." mom says, handing us each a 5-yen coin. For the last coin, she dropped it into her coat's pocket.
"Thank you, mama." I say, receiving the coin with my right hand. "T-Thank you, ma'am." Isami says, hesitantly taking the coin with both hands like she's a peasant receiving a reward from a noble.
"Alright." Mom says. Crouching down, she reached out with both hands. One slid behind me, while the other went under my thighs. "Hold on to mama, Andy." she says with a smile. I nod briefly, and obediently wrap my arms around my mother's neck. The 5-yen coin secured inside my fist.
"Hmp-" With a quick exhale, mom lifted me up from the wheelchair. Holding me in a prince carry, she ascends the stairs. Being in her arms, I can feel every shift that comes from her climb. Every step instilled a fear of falling into me, and I instinctively clung closer to mom.
Meanwhile, I can hear the whispers of the other visitors behind us. Their curious eyes staring at me and mom. 'So embarrassing...' I thought. My cheeks growing warm.
"Here we are, Andy." mom says. Having arrived at the prayer box at last. "You can pray now. Mama won't ever let you fall." mom says with a reassuring smile on her face. 'I've been working out, but I'm still light to someone like mama...' I thought.
Beside us, Isami dropped her coin into the box. The coin clacked against the wood inside twice before crashing into the pile of coins below. She bowed her head twice, then clapped her hands twice as well.
Following her example, I dropped the 5-yen coin into the prayer box. The coin clacked once against the wood before landing on the coin pile. Careful not to fall, I bow twice before clapping my hands together twice. Producing two crisp sounds.
'Please let mama live a long and healthy life. She deserves it for taking care of me all this time. And please give Isami more courage as well. She really needs it. Otherwise, she might die alone and a virgin.'
["What about you?"]
'I don't need anything. I'm satisfied with my current lif-' I stop. My eyes fly open once I realized something. 'That- I don't recognize that voice.'
I look around. There's nobody near us. 'Whose voice did I hear? Or did I make that up?'
"Andy? Is something the matter?" Mom asks. Wondering why I'm suddenly looking around. "... It's nothing. I just thought I heard something."
'I swear a heard guy's voice just now...' I thought, recalling that memory. Or rather, I'm trying to. 'I'm sure it was a guy's voice... I think? Or was it really just my own voice?' The more I kept trying to remember, the more faded the memory gets. Like trying to grasp at fog with bare hands.
'I give up. There's no point in trying to remember. It was probably just my own voice.' I concluded. There's no point in pursuing something that isn't important.
"Are you done praying, Andy?" mom asks. I turn my gaze to look at her. Her lavender eyes staring back at me. "Mhm." I nod. "You can put me down now, mama."
"Alright." mom says. She turns around with me in her arms. Carefully, she goes down the three steps. Like one fall could mean death. Not for her, but for me. 'I'm not that fragile, am I?' I thought.
Once we got down, mom placed me back into my wheelchair. "Mama will be right back, Andy." she says. Her tone is warm and affection as always. She then glances at Isami. "Look after Andy for me, Isozaki-san." mom says, her tone shifted to a more formal one. Starkly different from the one she just used with me.
"I will, ma'am! Don't you worry!" Isami replied. Tapping her chest with her fist. A faint, fleshy thud echoed briefly as a result. Satisfied, mom turned around and went back up the steps.
Now, I could just wait patiently until mom finishes, but why would I? When I have such a wonderful source of entertainment standing right beside me.
"Hey, Isami. I have a question."
"Huh? What is it-"
"Are you a virgin?"
"PFFT- WHAT?!?"
"Heheh..."
"Don't "heheh" me!" Isami said outloud. Her face flushed with embarrassment. Likely a sign that she really is a virgin.
'This is fun. I get why Nagatoro teased Senpai-kun so often.' I thought. Recalling a certain anime.
Behind us, I can feel the stares of everyone in line. Alongside some whispers that I can't quite make out.
"So, are you actually a virgin?" I ask again, playing into the teasing archetype I've seen in anime. Putting on a face I hope is similar to Nagatoro's. "Wha- That- That's...?!" Isami stepped back. Her face growing redder by the second.
'Heheh. Tomato gremlin. ♥'
For a few seconds, Isami's mouth open and close repeatedly. She then swallowed her spit and says, "S-So what of it?! I'm tight down there, so I'm confident I can make any guy happy if I get the chance!"
".........." I blink. Once, twice, thrice. "Huh..?"
'Did- Did she really say that out loud in public??'
And the answer is unfortunately yes. She really did say out loud in public that she has a tight pussy, and that she can make any guy cum.
'I knew she was an oddball, but I never expected this...'
Perhaps finally realizing what she just said, Isami went wide-eyed. "Wait- I didn't mean- Forget what I said-"
Grip!
Before Isami could finish her plea, a hand reached out and gripped her shoulder with great strength. She didn't look to see who it was, because she already knew who it belonged to. 'I'm so dead.'
"I-so-za-ki-san..!!!"
"Hieeee!! Ma'am, I can explain!!"
'Woops. I need to stop mama before she actually murders Isami.'
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