Elise (2)

"So the research I've been doing with Professor Lim Sol ran a little behind."

"I see."

"...Yeah."

Elise looked bored by any reasonable standard. And she'd been the one to start the conversation, too. Either way, after talking it through, using Elise as a ticket to France didn't look like it was going to work. The Iris Guild had rules of its own, and I couldn't ask her to break them just for my sake.

Elise looked like she was hitting her limit, so I decided it was time to move things along.

"Well... shall we get to the massage? You're all ready, right?"

"Ah, yeah. I'm ready. I already showered, too."

"...Good."

So she'd ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠even showered. She was taking this massage very seriously.

"Alright then... I'll step outside for a bit. Get yourself set up?"

"Okay. I'll call you when I'm ready."

I picked up the bag I'd brought and stepped out of the room. After closing the door, I listened to the rustling from inside and unzipped it.

"...Wonder if I even needed to bring all this."

The bag was packed with massage supplies. Mana stone powder, oils, the works — all so I could look like I was actually doing a job. Whether any of it would help the mood was another question entirely.

Elise undressed slowly.

The massage table she'd bought for this day was soft beneath her. She'd ordered it in a waterproof finish so that sweat — or anything else — wouldn't leave her feeling clammy afterward.

The two holes cut into the surface were for her chest. The last time ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she'd lain face-down for a massage, the pressure on her breasts had been genuinely uncomfortable. This one had been custom-built to her measurements. It would be fine.

She slipped off her underwear as well and set it on the floor. She'd already shown him her bare skin once, so the reluctance wasn't there anymore — and Hoyeon had told her the treatment worked better the more his hands touched bare skin. Of course... bare skin had felt good, too.

The freshness of mana flooding through circuits as they widened. The warmth of his hands against her back. The heat that started in her lower belly and spread through her entire body. The climax that left every nerve standing on end, her body no longer hers to command.

If Hoyeon's hands were on her, she could do this.

Showing him her front, though — that was still too much. That was a place a woman needed real resolve to offer.

If Hoyeon touched me there... it would probably feel good.

Elise shook her head hard, chasing the strange thought away. Not yet. Not yet. That was something you showed someone you truly liked. Even Elise, whose parents had given her a thoroughly warped idea of romance, knew that much.

She set every last scrap of cloth on the floor and lay down on the table. Built to her body, it held her comfortably. She draped the towel she'd prepared over her hips, then called for him.

"Come in."

"Coming in, miss."

Hoyeon opened the door the instant he heard her voice. He gritted his teeth, ignored the press of Scarlet's mana radiating from the ceiling, and looked at Elise.

She was already in position, stretched out on the massage table. Skin so white it hadn't a single blemish. Blonde hair spilled over one shoulder in a neat, gleaming fall. I met those red eyes watching me and let a small smile touch my mouth.

"Hey."

"...Hey."

So that's what those holes were for. Her chest.

"That's how you use the holes, then."

"...Lying face-down on a normal bed is uncomfortable. Because of my chest."

Elise kept her head turned to the side, one eye cracked open as she talked to him.

Uncomfortable because of her chest, if she lies face-down.

Think about that sentence for half a second and it gets filthy.

Hoyeon stepped closer and scattered the mana stone powder from his bag in a rough circle around her body.

"We'll start right away. Close your eyes."

"Mm."

A flicker of anticipation showed in Elise's eyes, faint but unmistakable.

Something caught against Hoyeon's foot as he approached the table. He looked down. Her clothes were still lying on the floor, and the warmth of her body lingered in the fabric against his instep. She'd only just taken them off.

How eager had she been, to forget even to put her clothes away before lying down?

He gathered them up from an angle she couldn't see and set them on the desk. Then he clapped his hands once, as if nothing had happened.

"Relax your body."

"Okay."

Elise let the tension drain out of her and closed her eyes.

I came prepared, you know. In my own way.

Hoyeon took a scented candle from the bag.

"What's that?"

Elise had opened her eyes at the rustling.

"A candle that helps with the massage. We're doing this properly starting today."

"Mmh."

In truth, it was a Garden Picnic candle he'd bought online because the listing said it put your mind at ease. The scent itself didn't matter. The atmosphere did. He'd put in the effort to look like he knew what he was doing.

The fragrance spread through the room in a soft haze, and Elise closed her eyes again.

"Starting now."

With those words, Hoyeon set his hands slowly on the pale expanse of her back.

"Nnh..."

A slender breath slipped from Elise's lips at the merest contact. At the same time, threads of mana unspooled from his fingertips and sank into her mana circuits.

"Kkhh... nnh... haah."

A pleasant kind of pain. That was how Elise wanted to describe the feeling of her circuits being opened. The pain itself was proof that her Congenital Mana Disorder was being treated — a technique no other masseur could reproduce, something that belonged to Hoyeon alone. And the sensation arrived as a pleasure entirely separate from anything sexual.

"It doesn't hurt, does it?"

"Nnh... I'm fine. It's really good."

While Elise worked to get used to the pain, a new strand of mana reached down from Hoyeon's hands toward her lower abdomen.

"Haaah... nnhh..."

The mana burrowed into her sex and began to settle into place. Until now he had moved slowly, giving her time to adjust. Today he seated himself faster. He intended to make some progress.

"Hhk, nnh... haaah...♡ nnh!"

The languid, melting cry that left her own mouth startled Elise so badly she clamped her lips shut.

"Does this spot feel nice?"

Hoyeon worked her back with hand movements he'd more or less picked up from watching videos. External stimulation barely mattered. What he needed to focus on was the mana moving inside her.

"Nnh, hh... haaah..."

She had already grown used to the pain of her circuits widening. The heat blooming in her lower belly was another matter. Because of her Congenital Mana Disorder, Elise could barely sense the mana in her own body — so the thought that Hoyeon was using it to stimulate her pussy never even occurred to her. There wasn't a mage alive who could control mana with that kind of precision. Only Hoyeon could, thanks to his Mana Sensitivity.

Which meant Elise had no choice but to pin the cause of this arousal on him.

"Haaah... nnh... haah..."

"You ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠alright? Want me to slow down?"

"No, no. I'm fine. Keep... haah, keep going."

The mana clinging to her womb began to tremble, faintly. The mana wrapped around her pussy followed his control and started stimulating her with exquisite precision.

A soft tap. Another. Then a wet sound, lewd and unmistakable. The scent of a female in heat began to rise, though the candle filling the room managed to mask most of it.

Watching Elise's body twitch, Hoyeon teased her further.

"I'm going to keep pressing around your back, so if I hit a good spot, tell me. Makes the massage easier."

He talked as he fed more mana into her. The current gliding along the surface of her body focused itself on her clit.

"There, there... nnhh! G-good. It's good...!"

Elise was thoroughly aroused, and she felt wonderful. Her body answered as if it had been waiting for this massage and nothing else — because every time Hoyeon's fingertips touched her back, an unnatural rush of pleasure stacked itself in her lower belly.

"Here?"

"Yeah, y-yeah...! Hh, haah, haaah... nnhh...!"

What a back massage had to do with the stimulation she felt between her legs, Elise couldn't begin to guess. She simply gave her body over to the pleasure as it came. Soon the sensation that had been building in little spurts burst, and pleasure flooded through her from head to toe.

"Haah, haaah... hh, nnhh..."

A faint trembling in her womb and the attention on her clit had been enough to bring her to climax. And yet a nameless frustration filled her chest to the brim. The stimulation just now had been the same as last time. It had felt incredible, of course — but she knew it could feel better. If having her back touched did this much, how good would it be if he touched her somewhere else?

Saying that out loud, though, was another matter. Women were a difficult species. Look cheap once and you became a cheap woman for good.

Hoyeon watched her reactions, stroking the back that still shivered under his palm, and checked the status window.

She just has to say it.

Elise wanted a stronger stimulus. Everything so far had been a demo, if he was being honest. His mana hadn't gone inside her pussy. She'd come like this and she was still a virgin. All she had to do was ask him to touch her somewhere else and the problem would solve itself.

Women really were difficult.

"Your legs are seriously beautiful, though. Model-tier."

Once Elise had recovered somewhat from the climax, Hoyeon started talking again, kneading her back in slow, firm presses.

First, praise the other person. A famous piece of wisdom. Follow it and nothing in the world stays stuck.

"...Thanks."

Elise knew perfectly well it was lip service. It still felt good. Nobody disliked being complimented by an attractive member of the opposite sex.

Now I give her something stronger...

She wanted more. He ought to give it to her. The method itself was simple — increase the mana and push it deeper. But maybe there was a different way to approach this.

Hoyeon grabbed the towel covering Elise's ass and flung it aside. Sweat-slick skin met the open air, and heat seemed to roll off her in a wave.

"Nnhh... huh?"

Cool air against a body still resting from climax made Elise jolt. The room was kept at a comfortable temperature, but her ass had been trapped under the towel, flushed and running hot. A moment later she realized the towel that had been covering her was gone.

Flustered, she looked at Hoyeon and opened her mouth.

"What... what are you doing right now?"

"Hm? I'm going to massage you. I can't just do your back forever. Don't like it? I'll stop."

"..."

She'd covered her ass with a towel, yes — but she couldn't keep having only her back done forever. Come to think of it, she hadn't said today's session was back-only.

I should have said something beforehand. That's on me, too.

Lifting the towel off her ass was not, in any ordinary sense, a normal thing to do. Elise lined up the reasons it was fine for Hoyeon to massage her there anyway, all by herself. She didn't want to admit it, but she had wanted this.

No. Elise never admitted it, not even at the end.

That's right. I should have said something from the start. Hoyeon told me we'd do this properly starting today.

The conclusion, then, was that the fault was hers for not speaking clearly. With her thoughts arranged, Elise opened her mouth.

"No.... Just do it."