Witch Academy (5)
"Hey, hey..."
"Hehe. Cali looking flustered is just too cute."
"Don't mess with me. I got genuinely startled thinking something was actually there."
Only after I said that did Nia finally pull away from me. Still, joking aside, she admitted she'd been stunned by the fallout from this latest work.
Was it really something to be that shocked about?
"The biggest thing is the boost to Siwoo the artist's own recognition. Even Father entrusting the Academy uniforms to you didn't move the needle like this."
"Ah, yeah, I confirmed that effect myself. Of course the numbers got inflated because people had to buy the same thing, but those extras will just end up as recruitment gifts anyway."
"...You really do have a sharp mind for this kind of political maneuvering."
"Don't call it political maneuvering. Call it business sense."
She made it sound like I'd pulled off something incredible. In the end, I just figured the reason my work wasn't popular with men was an advertising problem — and that assessment turned out to be dead-on.
The fact that my work had become more popular with women in this world, practically their exclusive domain, was only because drawing itself was the province of mages, and mages were mostly women. Fundamentally, my comics had always been drawn with a male audience in mind.
"By the way, about Mana cross-dressing in the story. Was I the model for that?"
"Someone who conceals their gender to achieve a greater cause, then apologizes and comes clean at the end, and everyone kindly forgives them. That's a pretty good picture, isn't it?"
"I knew it..."
Honestly, I'd agonized over that ending. The final conclusion itself was similar, but the original draft included a stretch of noise and hardship. The people waiting for the ending would have found that stretch exhausting, though, so cutting it for a pure happy ending felt cleaner.
Explaining with logical reasons why there was no need to exclude only men might have done more to dismantle the idea that certain professions belonged to one gender. But the goal of this particular work was to strip away the aversion to concealing one's gender, so I'd figured this was enough.
"Most people will probably have a lot less resistance to gender concealment because of this. Cross-dressing is already in fashion."
"Yeah. Thanks to that, it's not just women's clothes for men anymore — men's clothes for women have started getting added too. There are even ones with a little bulge for the underwear and everything."
"Ah, that's a bit..."
"Hehe. Want me to show you my panties?"
"Stop!"
But Nia didn't stop even after hearing me. She yanked her pants straight down — and what appeared wasn't the bulging underwear she'd just described, but the black panties we'd picked out together on a shopping trip. They were so thin that the heart shape formed by her white pubic hair showed through perfectly.
"Holy shit..."
"Hehe. Surprised? I said I'd show you my panties. I never said I was wearing the men's ones."
"...Yeah. Don't wear those going forward."
There had been a period when I'd kept almost reacting to her even while thinking of her as a guy. Seeing her in something like that would leave a bad taste in more ways than one.
"I won't. Those things are so annoying that the second your pants come off, they come off with them. Totally pointless."
"Stop with the detailed explanations too...!"
Anyway, thanks to this work, both female and male cross-dressing had caught on as trends. From Nia's perspective, the mere fact that the perception itself had shifted into something people could understand already counted as a success.
My works were frequently praised for treating it as natural that women could hold any profession or position. Just the fact that this one had broadened the audience for comics so more men could encounter that worldview seemed, to her, more than worthwhile.
"Yeah. And because of the subject matter, whenever there's a job that only a specific gender is supposed to do, more people have started questioning whether that reason is actually justified."
"...Seriously?"
"Why?"
I mean, that would be great if it were true, but I never expected the effect to go this far. Had the ending I'd changed at the last minute landed better with people than I thought? I'd worried the pure happy ending might get me roasted, but from everything I was hearing, it seemed like the right call.
"You planned all of this, didn't you?"
"How am I supposed to predict every single reaction people will have? I just think it'd be nice if things went a certain way."
If my predictions were that good, I wouldn't keep running into situations that veered so far from what I expected. This time especially, the overall fallout was way more intense than I'd imagined. Still, better than completely unforeseen disasters exploding in my face, right?
"Anyway, thanks to Witch Academy, I feel so much lighter. At this rate, I might even be able to reveal that I'm a girl someday."
"That's good to hear."
"Siwoo — no, Cali — you're truly amazing. You're making things happen that I never even dreamed of."
"...You can say that, but I don't even understand why everything's going so well myself."
As long as the results were good, that was something to be grateful for. And then Nia said that while I was helping her like this, she still wasn't at a stage where she could do anything for me in return, and she was sorry about that.
If I'd deliberately drawn the work she wanted purely for that purpose, maybe I'd have felt a little of that. But looking back, I'd just drawn what I wanted to draw, so I had no complaints at all.
"So while I was reading the comic, I realized something. If that's the case, then I should at least repay you with my body."
"...What?"
Having said that, Nia suddenly pulled out a gift box and held it out to me. I was still thinking that "repay with my body" sounded completely insane when she ambushed me with a present. So this was a material reward, then...
"What is this?"
"When Nia wants it, use that to blow off some stress. I figured that much was the least I should do."
"What even is it?"
"You know~ ♡"
It was a dog collar with a leash attached. Looking at the size, it would fit perfectly around Nia's neck, and underneath it was the wig she used. I couldn't understand what she expected me to do with this.
"It was in Witch Academy, remember?"
"...Don't tell me you want to reenact what Mana did with Ami?"
"Until the truth comes out in this world, it's fine if Cali monopolizes my girl form, right?"
"I don't think that kind of monopoly is the kind of monopoly you mean..."
The moment I heard Nia's explanation, an image flashed into my head of her wearing a dog collar and getting fucked like a dog by me. This girl was actually insane...
What kind of bastard in this world would put a collar on the next emperor?
"......."
That bastard was me.
I put the wig on her so she looked closer to Niar than Nia, stripped off every scrap of clothing until she was completely naked, fastened the dog collar around her neck, and took the leash handle in my hand. If I joked about taking her for a walk in the dorm courtyard like this, I'd genuinely get murdered, right?
"L-like this?"
When I carefully tugged the leash, Nia crawled after me on all fours, completely naked. The feeling of treating a person like a dog sent a massive rush of taboo thrill through me, and my body trembled.
Holy shit. A beautiful girl-puppy was moving to follow my leash? How was I supposed to hold back?
"C-Cali?"
"Come this way."
"H-huh!? W-wait a second. Cali, your expression just got kind of weird..."
"Aren't you coming?"
"Eep!?"
It felt like a switch had flipped. I started speaking to her in ways I never would have normally, handling her as if she were truly my slave or pet. Wow. This feeling was so incredible I couldn't even put it into words...
"Spread your legs and pee."
"C-Cali!?"
"Ah-ah. You need to aim your pee properly."
"W-wha?"
As I went completely off the rails and started reenacting the exact scene from the comic, Nia was flustered — but she was still quietly following my orders. Even so, lifting one leg to pee in the bathroom seemed to give her some resistance. She hesitated for quite a while before slowly raising her leg.
"Nnh... ♡"
Ssssshh. Ssssssshhh.
Nia's face flushed deep red as she hung her head in embarrassment, and a stream of urine poured from the urethra nestled between her heart-shaped pubic hair. The slight shiver running through her from the sensation of relieving herself looked incredibly lewd and alluring.
"Good girl. Well done."
After she finished peeing, I slowly stroked her hair and praised her. The subtle expression on her face — a mix of shame and pleasure — was enough to drown anyone in lust. How did she make a face that arousing?
"Alright. You've peed, so next is something every pet absolutely has to do for their master."
"Y-yes... ♡"
I presented my cock — already rock-hard from the sight I'd just witnessed — to Nia. She pressed the tip of her nose right up against the head and sniffed, inhaling the scent. The way she followed the comic's content without needing any explanation was genuinely moving. She'd really read it carefully, hadn't she?
"Have you marked Master's scent properly?"
"Awooo... ♡"
"Good. You can eat now."
"Haum...!"
The moment my permission dropped, she lunged at my cock and started sucking with wet, eager sounds. I was impressed. For something supposedly learned just from reading a comic, the quality was ridiculous. Were geniuses just geniuses at learning dirty things too? Incredible.
"Ugh...!"
And separate from that, the fellatio skills she'd honed by sucking me off so often came crashing down on my cock. Already thoroughly warmed up by everything I'd just seen, I hit a wave of intense pleasure at high speed. Overwhelmed by that fierce sensation, I instinctively yanked hard on the leash and drove my cock all the way into the back of her throat — and in that position, I started pouring out a thick load of cum.
"Ghk, gahhk...! Guhk! Uurk...!"
"S-sorry! I couldn't help it."
Whether that was the cause or not, Nia teared up as she coughed up semen. Only then did it feel like a bucket of cold water had been dumped over the runaway state of mind I'd been in, and my senses snapped back.