Chapter 2: Ani Mai

1 March 2016

“Master Wan Tu! You came!”

I looked at the little Asian doll in front of me. Not yet, but I definitely want to. There was no question that she was talking to me. She was standing directly in front of me. In my personal space. Well, just about everything in Japan was like that. I only barely top out at six feet tall and I could still see over the heads of just about everyone on the island. I’d just stepped off the train from Narita to Odawara via Tokyo. Three-and-a-half hours and a train change in Tokyo, mostly standing. I was amazed that the girl spoke to me in English. It was the first English I’d heard since I left the airport.

I suppose I should explain some things before I jump into the middle of the story like this. I’ve always wanted to travel. I love it. While wintering in Hawaii this year, I got a feather up my ass and decided I’d just keep going west around the world. Alone.

I’ve been alone since the end of my last marriage a few years ago and I’m still looking for my next future ex-wife. Yeah, sometimes life sucks but sometimes you find a girl who will, too. Unfortunately, I’d had a dry spell for a while. I bought an ‘around the world’ airline ticket to take me from Honolulu to Bangkok, Bangkok to Athens, and Amsterdam back to my Pacific Northwest origin. I figured I’d just take the train across Europe. The bonus, though, was that I could arrange a layover in any of the cities where I had to change planes. Hence my week in Japan.

I’m a writer and at the end of my last marriage I woke up to the realization that I could write anywhere. Duh! So why was I stuck in a basement in Seattle? ‘Sold the house. Closed the shop. Bought a ticket for the West Coast.’ Thanks, Billy Joel. My ticket was a truck and travel trailer. I started traveling. Maybe I’ll talk about my travels around the U.S. some other time. This story starts after I’d already been on the road for two years.

To extend my travel around the world, all I needed was my computer and cell phone. The cell phone was worthless for phone calls. Who would I call in a country where I didn’t know anyone and couldn’t speak the language? But you can buy prepaid SIMs with at least 100mb of data usage in almost any airport in the world. It’s hard to use 100mb of bandwidth on a cell phone in a week if you aren’t watching movies and downloading music. That hundred megs bought me use of Google maps on my phone and that was how I was managing to navigate through Japan. I’d rented a room sight unseen and had programmed the location on my phone so it could guide me through streets where I couldn’t read the signs.

I spent Wednesday night in Honolulu because it was a lot cheaper to book one-way from the Big Island than to include the trip in the ticket around the world. Go figure. Thursday morning first thing I was at the airport with my backpack, my Panama hat jammed on my head, and my passport in hand. The JAL flight took off at nine a.m. and landed in Tokyo at one p.m. Four hours. Cool, huh. Except nine hours had elapsed and it was the next day. Stupid International Date Line! I lost leap year! So March 1, 2016 found me in Japan.

I plugged in the coordinates as soon as I had a SIM for my phone and followed the step by step directions to a train, paid the fare, and stood in the packed coach to the station in Tokyo.

You might think you are booking a flight to Tokyo when you fly from the U.S. to Japan, but I’ve never had a flight that landed at Haneda International Airport. They all land at Narita, an hour east of Tokyo. And it’s three miles to the train station, so getting a taxi to the train station took almost as long as the train ride to Tokyo.

I planned to be in Japan for almost a week, mostly down on the southeast coast where I could just spend my time staring up at Mount Fuji, recovering from jetlag, and doing some writing. I’d found a Rent-a-Bed room for $40 a night that had sliding panels opening up onto a view of Mount Fuji. I planned to sit there gazing while I finished my latest story for SOL. I stepped off the train in Odawara hot, sweaty, tired, and hungry—and three steps from the train I ran into this ... Well, under it all, it was obviously a woman.

“Master Wan Tu! You came!”

Oh, god! Not yet, but I definitely want to. This vision was not the tiniest Asian I’d ever met. I’d guess about 5’3”. She was no smaller than many Western women I’ve known. Her costume, though ... That’s all I could call it. I know the first thing you are thinking is Japan = Geisha. Wrong. Try Japan = Catwoman. I don’t mean the character that is a foil for Batman. I mean a woman dressed as one of the sexiest looking pussies I’d ever seen.

She had ears! Okay, that wasn’t the first thing I noticed. She was up close and I was looking down at her and she had cleavage. Lots of it. And below that her navel. And her sword. And her collar and chain. And her tail. Oh yes. There was leather clothing involved. A little warrior outfit. Very little. Let’s get back to her ears.

I’m not unfamiliar with costuming and makeup. I spent a lot of time getting a couple of theater degrees years ago. A wasted effort, but informative, nonetheless. I’d studied with a master in the makeup arena. We’d even done animal costumes for Reynard the Fox, a kids’ show that involved a lot of colorful costumes and animal makeup. These ears were masterfully done. I couldn’t see how they were attached. Her shoulder-length jet black hair grew naturally around them, it seemed. The fur on them must have been made from her own hair. The match was perfect. I found myself reaching to pet them automatically and snatched my hand back. She grinned at me.

“As much as I would like to be the person you are waiting for, I’m afraid you are mistaken. I am not who you think I am,” I confessed. It hurt to let this opportunity pass by. I just wanted to sit someplace and have her curl up in my lap so I could pet her. All over. I definitely wanted to pet this pussy.

“You are funny, Master. I have been waiting all day for the gaijin giant with a beard and a big hat. I have your picture.” She held out a printout and I had to chuckle. It was a cartoon. That Japanese style they call Manga. Sure enough, I was in the picture ... or at least a representation that could be taken for me. I’ve already mentioned that I wear a broad-brimmed Panama hat. I’m traveling where the weather is warm and my hair is a little thin on top. I wore cream-colored drawstring pants for comfort while flying. I had a tropics-weight white shirt, worn untucked, and in case of a sudden chill, I had a lightweight linen jacket over my shoulder. The cartoon image the girl showed me was an uncanny likeness, though I didn’t wear open sandals when I was flying.

There was more in the drawing than my so-called likeness. Next to my character was a striking likeness of the girl in front of me. As I carried a bag over my shoulder, I also held her leash. She looked feral in the cartoon, ready to pounce but restrained by the leash. Above my picture were the English words ‘Master Wan Tu.’ Above the girl-cat was written ‘Ani Mai.’ I handed her back the picture.

“I appreciate your interest, but I am really not the person you expected,” I said.

“Don’t you want to play with me?” she asked. She looked crestfallen.

“Of course I do,” I responded quickly. Maybe too quickly. “But I have to tell you, I am not a wealthy man. I’m a traveler, but I can’t afford...”

“You said it wouldn’t cost me anything extra to be with you. I brought enough money only to pay my own expenses.”

“Oh.” Clever. I was so out of my depth. “I didn’t mean to imply that you had to pay anything. Only that I am in the same boat. I can’t afford any extravagance, including ... uh ... paying for company.”

Her eyes got big and beneath her makeup I could see her blush.

“You really aren’t him, are you!” she said. She took a deep breath and looked me in the eye. “That means he is not coming. And I so hoped to have a fun weekend LARPing. It’s a big gathering. We would have so much fun.”

“LARPing?” Where had I heard that term?

“Live Action Role Playing,” she explained. “We all have characters and there is an adventure. Probably a quest. We’ll make alliances and have enemies and try not to be captured and ... Would you consider being my master for the games?”

OH! At least now I had some kind of context. And it appeared that I already had the needed costume. Plus, spending time in the company of Ani Mai? The writing I planned to do this weekend could wait.

“If you will consider teaching me anything I need to know in order to play, it sounds like fun and I’d be happy to participate. When does this all begin?”

“Right now!” she said happily. She held out the end of her leash. “Master Wan Tu, will you consent to be my master and guide, protecting me from evil and using me to smite your enemies? By accepting my leash, you make me yours for the duration.”

“I have no great skills and no weapons,” I said, “but such as I have is at your disposal.” I accepted the end of the leash and watched a peculiar change come over her. She had been innocent and playful—even a little frightened—but as soon as I took the leash, her stance changed. She seemed to become more centered and alert, almost ready for battle. I wondered if the swords she wore were props or real.

“I am your weapon, Master,” she said. “And your guide. Point me where you wish to go and I will find it.”

I pulled out the cell phone and called up my map and address to show her. She smiled.

“I know where this is. Let us find your tatami and then find you food.” I hoisted my pack and followed my new pet.

My host did not seem to be at all surprised to see me with a woman costumed as a cat on a leash. She led me to a room and slipped out of her geta sandals before sliding the screens aside and entering. Ani Mai held me back and knelt to untie my hiking shoes and remove them before slipping out of her own geta and following me into the small room. It was a simple room with bamboo mats on the floor. The single bed was just a mattress or pad about six inches thick in the center of the room. A low, black lacquered table sat against the wall with two sort-of chairs facing the open screens. I say ‘sort-of chairs’ because they were really just a cushion that sat on an L-shaped frame with no legs so there was a back to lean against, but still sit on the floor. Rather ingenious, I thought. Against the other wall was a wicker chest where Ani Mai immediately helped me put my pack. She dropped her shoulder bag next to it.

“Mr. Aroslav-san, I did not realize you were here for the games, but welcome you. Would you like a cushion for Neko-chan? Or will she sleep at your feet?”

“I ... we ... are you sleeping here, Ani Mai-san?” I stumbled. Ani Mai sank to a crouch, not quite down on her knees.

“If it pleases my master, I would sleep on a cushion between him and the door,” Ani Mai said softly.

“Thank you, Ito-san,” I said to my host. “I guess she will need a sleeping cushion. Please excuse my hesitance as I am not completely familiar with customs or with the game.”

“I think you have a good instructor,” she laughed. “Such a ferocious-looking Neko-chan. I would offer the kitty some milk, but I think she would prefer raw meat.” Her laughter went with her as she retreated. I stood looking out the screens at the view of Mount Fuji. It was breathtaking. I realized I still had the leash in my hand and that Ani Mai was still kneeling/crouching at my side.

“Um ... Ani Mai-san, I can’t just keep hold of your leash all the time. What am I supposed to do?” I asked. She giggled.

“I show you, Master,” she said. “If you loop the leash around my neck, there is a clip here that turns it into a necklace. When I wear it like this, I can move around in the room or even go on errands for you.”

“I really don’t want you to act as a servant,” I said.

“It would be my pleasure,” she answered. “It’s all part of the game. Let me show you this, as well. There are three positions for the leash. The first you are familiar with. You hold the leash and I go wherever you go and am never more than a step away from you. I am your pet and your protector. When you clip the leash as a necklace, I am free to roam as long as I attend your needs. When you unclip the leash from my collar, I am a hunter. Much of our time on the quest will be with me off the leash and prowling around. In that mode I am free to attack our enemies.”

“Are you sure you want such a novice as your companion on this adventure?” I asked.

“I am finding your company stimulating already,” she smiled. “May I unpack for you?”

“Um ... I guess so. Are you sure?”

“You’d better stand very near to me and watch to be sure things are cared for the way you wish and that I don’t get into trouble,” she said. Yes. Very near. I swear the girl made a complete circuit around me, brushing against me the entire way and then kneeling to unpack my bag. Uncertain what else to do, I found myself actually petting the back of her head as I watched her work. Occasionally, she would pause to rub her cheek against my hand or knee. I was sure she purred.

I chose to leave Ani Mai’s leash in its necklace position when we went out to eat dinner. She insisted that I maintain my cosplay when we went out because other players would be gathering in the town and we might encounter them. I did, at her encouraging, switch to my sandals. I chose to bathe after we’d been out and before I went to bed, which seemed to please my little cat. She directed me to a very nice little restaurant and ordered food in rapid Japanese. I had no idea what I was getting to eat, but it was tasty and it didn’t cost more than ¥3,000. Ani insisted that we split that amount as it was the agreement under which she had come to Odawara.

As soon as we were back to ‘our’ room, Ani disappeared into the bathroom. The bathroom was about the same size as my sleeping chamber and I had discovered that it also had screens that would open onto the beautiful vista. That side of the home was completely sheltered from prying eyes, so there was an illusion of openness while having protected privacy. I heard the water running and assumed Ani was taking the first turn at cleaning up for the night. I popped open my laptop to find out everything about LARPing that I could. I didn’t get far before Ani was next to me.

Her leather costume was gone and she was wrapped in a simple white robe. The cat costume was sexy as hell with the amount of skin it bared, but when she moved across the room in that robe, I could tell there was nothing but Ani under it.

“Your bath is ready, Master,” she said softly.

“Oh! For me? Thank you, Ani-san.” I hoisted myself off of the little cushion chair and stood to go into the bathroom. Ani followed me. “Um ... thank you,” I repeated, expecting her to leave. Instead she began undressing me. I wasn’t wearing much clothing. Shirt, slacks, and briefs were removed rapidly while I was still trying to figure out what was going on. She folded my clothes neatly and held my hand as I stepped into the tub.

The water was great! Since I’m a nudist when I’m on the U.S. mainland, it didn’t bother me that much to be naked in the same room as a woman, but Ani was moving with the same catlike grace and sensuality that she had exhibited all day and when I looked at her, my thoughts were not conducive to relaxing. Ani stood to face me and dropped her robe as well. Holy shit!

I’d been looking down her cleavage on and off ever since I met the girl. Now I was looking at the full round mounds that created it, complete with their dark areolae and hard nipples. And down farther, the cleft peeking through her well-trimmed pubic hair. Her heavy collar and leash were gone, but in their place she wore a long gold chain, draped and hooked exactly like the leash had been. Her tail was gone, but the ears remained.

“Let me bathe you, Master,” she said. I wasn’t about to object. There was a small stool in the tub that I sat on while she leaned into me and washed my hair, my back, and my pits. She had a little bucket she used to pour water over me to rinse. All the time she worked efficiently to cleanse me, her bare breasts were brushing against my back and my arms. I was sure at one point I felt the heat of her sex against my shoulder.

I was featuring a prominent attraction when she took my hand and helped me out of the bath and under the spray of a shower to rinse. She used the detachable showerhead to make sure I was fully rinsed. She neither focused on my erection nor shied away from it as her hands stripped the water from my skin and then welcomed me into a warm and fluffy towel to dry. I moved to return the gesture, but she simply pushed me away as she pulled on her light robe. She wasn’t all that wet, but the moisture drew the fabric close to her body, clinging to her erect nipples and her round bottom.

She didn’t give me a robe, but led me naked to my sleeping mat where she directed me to lie on my stomach. I noticed that another mat had been prepared next to mine, though this one was a much smaller oval cushion with a light blanket on it. It suddenly struck me how much it looked like a ... pet bed.

“You can’t mean to tell me you intend to sleep on that!” I said as I settled down where she directed me.

“Where else would your faithful pussy be?” she asked with a giggle. Before I could answer, her hands started moving on my back. Oh, god! Heaven! I had no idea I had so many knotted muscles, but with a combination of rubbing and pressure, I was soon relaxing into my very comfortable mattress. I saw her robe pool on the floor just in front of my face before she stretched her body out fully on top of mine. The pressure felt good. Her naked breasts felt wonderful. I was ready to roll over and see if I could get the other side pressed against her when she lifted her body and I felt her tiny feet in the small of my back as she stood. She carefully placed one foot in front of the other as she straightened my spine. I felt every crack of my joints and while she was still practically dancing on my shoulders, I fell asleep.

My eyes opened with the dawn. The silk screens drawn across the doors and windows filtered the early morning sunlight but did little to block it out. I felt like I’d slept for days and was filled with energy. I rolled onto my back and bumped into Ani Mai. I jumped back, hoping I hadn’t disturbed her sleep. Her little bed had been drawn up close to mine and she was curled up with the light blanket covering her legs and hips. As I looked at her, my eyes naturally came to rest on her generous bosom. I didn’t have a lot of experience with Asian women, but it struck me that she was a little more bountiful up top than most of the Japanese women I’d seen. Of course, I hadn’t been quite as open about staring at the others as I was at these. They were perfectly round and inviting. Ani’s skin was a couple shades darker than mine and her areolae and nipples a little darker yet. The large area, about the width of two fingers, I thought, was capped by thick nipples that stood out in the cool morning air.

I’d been so intent on my visual stimulus that I hadn’t seen her hand move, but I felt it on my hand. She pulled me up to place a hand directly on her right breast where I reflexively squeezed just a little and felt the nub harden even more. I looked up to her face and her eyelids open only a slit.

“Boys always need to check to see if they are real,” she said. “Can you tell?” I squeezed again. They were real.

“You shouldn’t really let me feel up your breasts,” I croaked. “I might get the wrong idea.”

“Or the right idea,” she smiled. She pushed my hand away after I’d circled and touched her nipple. “You’ll have to test the other one later.” She jumped up and I watched her bare ass disappear into the bathroom. My hand automatically drifted to my stiff cock, but I decided against more than a couple little tugs. Who knew what the day might bring. I’d already had more tit in my hand than I had in a long time.

“We should stretch,” she said when she came out of the bathroom. She had a tiny pair of pink panties on, but was still topless. She’d removed her gold chain and once again wore the leather collar and leash. “I want to be dressed before Ito-san comes with breakfast. It won’t make a difference for you, but she kind of likes girls more than I’m comfortable with.”

“You knew Ito before I arrived, I take it,” I said.

“She is a friend of my mother’s. They often take part in the games. I don’t think she planned to play this weekend, though. Maybe as innkeeper.” We stretched and I followed her moves. My erection certainly wasn’t flagging. She noticed and giggled. “Do you fight with that bo-staff?” she asked.

“No. It’s strictly made for love.”

“Well, you’d better go in and shower and dress. Maybe you should exercise it in there before Ito-san gets here with breakfast.”

I showered and dressed, but didn’t do any other exercises. When I came out of the bathroom, our beds had been neatly made up and pushed aside. Ito was, indeed, placing bowls of food on our little table. Ani was fully arrayed in her leather warrior outfit, including the cat’s tail. I realized it was actually part of the skirt. Very clever. She had not armed herself yet.

Ito made several comments and suggestions regarding our costumes and wanted to see Ani’s drawings. She disappeared while we were eating, but before we were finished came back with a satchel like the one in the drawing. It was filled with food and water for our day of play. Ani and I thanked her profusely. Before we left the room, I unclipped the leash from its necklace position and held it in my hand. Ani dropped into character immediately and led me out into the morning sun.

LARPing. Well, I was on this adventure for new experiences. I wasn’t going to chicken out now. There were close to 100 of us in the forested park at the foot of Mount Fuji.

If you’re not familiar with the area, going to Mount Fuji is just like going to Mount Rainier or Denali, or what have you. You don’t really go to the mountain. It’s huge and rugged. Climbing it is not a game. But there is a lot of parkland between Odawara and the mountain, fifty miles away. We boarded a bus chartered for the event at the train station. In the two hours it took us to drive to Lake Yamanaka, we stopped at nearly every village and hotel along the way to pick up more gamers.

And what a variety. As hard as it is to say, Ani’s was not the sexiest of the costumes, nor the only one that exposed acres of skin. For either men or women. Ani explained that for a lot of Cos-players, it was an opportunity to dress in ways they would never dare in real life. The sexier the better. There were a lot of warriors dressed in leathers. For many of them, the ‘armor’ only covered the parts they would be arrested for exposing in the conservative country. Like Ani, women who were dressed in such daring costumes were accompanied by men or, in some cases, other women who were responsible for them. But not all men were the masters. Some women, dressed in diaphanous gowns, held the leashes of men dressed as monsters, warriors, and ferocious beasts.

Fantasy armor is exactly that. A fantasy. I was raised on vintage Sci-Fi and loved the fantasy art of Boris Vallejo or the Hungarian duo, Zoltan Boris and Gabor Szikszai. I could never figure out, though, how their Amazonian warrior women kept those little patches of leather attached to their nipples with the entire rest of the breast exposed, or what good the armor was supposed to do in the first place. Well, most of the armor on these characters could have walked off the cover of one of those old Sci-Fi Fantasy mags.

There were, of course, also a fair number of standard characters—elves, dwarfs, clerics, minstrels, Samurai, and others. The ride on the bus gave us the opportunity to get to know some of our counterparts and Ani deftly organized allies and explorer groups as we got acquainted. She kept me informed and translated conversations rapidly when no English was being spoken.

At the launch point, we met the game master who distributed the packets with instructions for the quest. These included a GPS download with various caches marked on it. Wouldn’t GPS have changed the adventure in Lord of the Rings! Nonetheless, at least that was something I felt capable of handling, unlike all the fantasy gaming.

And then we were off. A hundred meters from the start, I unclipped Ani’s leash and she became a prowling predator, stalking around me and searching for enemies and obstructions as I followed the GPS toward our first cache. Ani was very good at prowling and spotting people while I crashed through the forest. She even stole us a snack, though I was sure they had been intentionally left for the gamers. We made a few captures. I was captured and Ani immediately captured my captor and released me. I found her engaged in a sword fight with an orc, and according to the rules of engagement, I was able to add ‘power’ to her strikes and the orc fell back in retreat.

“We make a good team,” she said as we sat in a safe zone where bento boxes had been prepared for the players. “We have half our talismans and your power has increased to double what it was when we started. I love you!” She punctuated her declaration with a sudden kiss that left me speechless. Then we were off for the second part of the day.

We didn’t win the game. In fact, I’m not sure how they determined the winners. We collected all our talismans. We even captured some enemies. Mostly, I followed Ani Mai’s sweet little butt in her leather armor with her swishing tail, and read off GPS coordinates or negotiated the release of captives. The bus ride back to the city was loud and boisterous with people reliving the recent campaign—mostly in Japanese.

“How is it that you speak English so well?” I asked Ani as we joined the crowd at a tiny restaurant. We kicked off our sandals outside and sat on the floor around low tables. I offered to refasten her leash into a necklace, but she told me that I should only do that when we were alone. She laughed at me.

“That would be because I went to DeKalb High School in Illinois and graduated from Brandeis University with a degree in East Asian Studies,” she said. “Brandeis is where I started LARPing. We’d go up into the Berkshires for a weekend and play fantasy games.”

“What does one do with a degree in East Asian Studies?” I asked.

“Well, this particular person works mostly in sports. There is a huge exchange of professional athletes between the U.S. and Japan, especially in baseball. But that isn’t the only sport, or the only country involved. My job is to prepare Japanese athletes for life in America and to help American, Brazilian, German, and Canadian athletes adjust to life in Japan. It can be quite rewarding,” she said. Wow!

We enjoyed our dinner and I led Ani home.

There was no hesitation this time. As soon as I’d attached the lead end of the leash in necklace fashion, Ani stripped out of her clothes and headed for the bathroom. A short time later she summoned me for my bath. Once again, she had set the leather collar and leash aside and wore the gold necklace. She still had her cat ears on. Clever. She made sure I could tell she no longer wore the tail. The view was outstanding.

It usually takes more than just seeing a pretty woman to get a rise out of me. Really. If I got an erection every time I saw a beautiful woman, I would way exceed the four-hour limit. On the other hand, a beautiful, naked woman undressing me and crawling into the bath behind me to gently scrub my back and wash my hair while her bare breasts poke holes in my shoulders is definitely enough. She got me out of the tub and into the shower to rinse, then wrapped me in a fluffy towel. She led me back to my bed and flopped on her stomach in the middle of it. She handed me her bottle of oil.

“Your turn,” she said. “I’ve been crouching and prowling all day and my back is sore.”

In case you are young, inexperienced, or just stupid, let me say that you should never turn down the opportunity to oil and massage a naked girl’s back. That is just a general rule.

I knelt beside her and oiled my hands. Starting at her neck I rubbed at the knots in her muscles and watched her relax.

A Long Time Ago: First Massage

When I was in grad school, I went through a phase of learning to become a masseur. I read every book on the subject I could find. Massage for Beginners. Sensual Massage. Body Relaxation Techniques. They were all fuel for my fingers. And there was never a lack of subjects to experiment on in the Theater Department. I’d just wander around the pit (our theater lounge) around dinner time. Lots of people would show up with snacks or dinner before they had to go to shops and rehearsals. I’d just circulate around the room and give shoulder and neck rubs. I sometimes think I should have made that my career in theater instead of playwriting.

I treated everyone equally. I mean, actors, costumers, designers, techs. Male and female. Gay and straight. Grad and undergrad. Most of our interactions were non-verbal. One person would be under my fingertips while another looked on, moaned, and pointed to her shoulders. There were some damned beautiful people in that pit. And don’t think the beautiful ones were all actors. Some of the techs were just plain hot.