Like Yesterday
A wet, shuddering rush spilled out of me. My body flinched and trembled of its own accord, seized by a pleasure that was familiar and yet impossible to put into words, rolling through me like a wave.
My gaze sank slowly toward the floor, as if something were dragging it down. And then I saw it. The warm, heavy fluid that had spilled between my knees was spreading shamefully across the floor, slick and gleaming as it went.
In that instant, I heard my heart drop inside my ears. My breath caught until my throat tickled, and my eyelids fluttered.
...That's impossible... There wasn't even any stimulation...
The insides of my thighs burned with an unpleasant heat, and an unnameable shiver climbed my spine. The sensation of climax. I wanted to deny it, but the faint warmth rising from what had spread across the floor whispered that what I had felt was unmistakable.
There had been no direct stimulation between my legs. I had merely had my throat used. I had merely heard his breathing and his voice...
"Ahh..."
A small moan slipped out as I hung my head. My hands trembled too much to brace against the floor, and my head swayed from side to side of its own will. Shame and confusion and an inexplicable heat tore through my mind.
"Sera."
His voice cut through the chaos in my head, and I lifted my face toward him as if I had been given a command.
Kyle's gaze brushed between my knees. It lasted only a moment, but it was thick with blatant confirmation and satisfaction. Then his eyes caught mine again — a gaze that was sharp and yet burning, impossible to escape. It felt as though he had me by the nape of the neck. My chest hammered wildly, and my breathing turned ragged.
The moment those words landed, something seared through my chest. I was a woman now, of course... but it felt as though even the last scrap of masculinity I had shoved into a corner had been cut away without mercy. That sense of loss settled deep in my belly, accompanied by a tremor I couldn't name.
"Ah... n-no... I, that's..."
I tried to make excuses without thinking, but my throat clenched and the words shattered and scattered.
"I didn't think you'd enjoy using your mouth this much..."
The instant his words seeped into my ears, something hot and heavy wrapped around my entire body again. I could only part my lips and let out a trembling breath.
"Because you're a woman... right?"
Kyle asked, brushing his thumb across my lips. The motion wasn't rough, and yet it carried a strangely irresistible force.
"..."
He caught my lower lip with the thumb that had been brushing my mouth and tugged it down, just slightly. That faint contact held my gaze in place. In the end, very slowly, I nodded.
A sharp crack split through my ears — a sound I was certain I had heard somewhere before. For a moment my heart seemed to stop and my mind went blank... but I couldn't tell what it meant. All I knew for certain was that my breath had grown short and my cheeks were burning.
Only my ragged breathing and the heavy stain spreading across the floor remained in the room.
The next morning, Kyle and Sera continued their meal in an awkward silence. Freshly cooled bread, crumbled bacon, and a steaming mug sat on the table, but the only thing filling the space was the occasional scrape of fork against knife.
Then Kyle's gaze drifted slowly toward Sera. Just above the line of her throat, a white bandage stood out plainly. The corner of his mouth curved, ever so slightly.
He understood at once that the bandage was not covering a simple wound. It had been placed there to hide something.
Yesterday's scene rose in his mind. The nape of her neck trembling lightly in his grip. The moment their breath had tangled, hot and close. The mark he had bitten into her so firmly.
Underneath that...
The thought sent an unnameable satisfaction spreading deep through his chest. The mark left on that pale throat felt like proof that Sera was his.
But then the other fact settled in — that the bandage was a screen, something meant to keep the mark from being seen. Kyle's brow drew together, just a fraction. Between the satisfaction, a petty irritation quietly lifted its head. The mere existence of something covering his mark needled at him.
"You shouldn't cover it. I think it'd look prettier that way."
His voice was low, but spite clung to it. In his field of vision, that white bandage was an eyesore and nothing else.
"..."
Sera's hand, which had been lifting her spoon, went still. The memories she had been so carefully pushing down came flooding back at a single sentence from Kyle.
The heavy pressure that still lingered on her throat. The body heat that had been close enough to choke her, and the rough breath that had grazed her ear. The soft, wet press of his tongue working into her, and his teeth leaving their fierce imprint. And — the version of herself from yesterday who had been a woman, accepting that moment without even realizing it.
His breath hunting along her neck, and every sensation of that night, came flooding back as vividly as if they were happening again.
She swallowed.
"Nnh..."
The moment she swallowed, Sera felt a faint pain rise from inside her throat. Her hand went to her neck before she could stop it. That heavy sensation brought yesterday back in full — the hot shaft that had filled her mouth, the deep stimulation that had left her unable even to breathe. At the memory of that climax, Sera's entire body shuddered unconsciously.
She drew a breath, but couldn't let it out again. It felt as though his trace still lingered all the way down her throat.
In that moment, Kyle's gaze deepened. He missed none of it — not the way she touched her neck without thinking, not the way she swallowed. Every small motion.
She remembers.
The corner of his mouth curved, just barely. That reaction itself was proof that yesterday still lived inside her. Satisfaction spread through his chest, slowly but with absolute certainty. It felt as though he had her bound with a chain no one else could see. And the way she was trying so hard to keep her composure... only made her all the more endearing.
Sera dropped her gaze to the table for no good reason and busied herself breaking the remaining scraps of bread into smaller pieces. Watching her, Kyle let out a quiet laugh, then pushed back his chair, stood, and went into the other room. A moment later he came back out with something in his hand.
A soft click.
What he held was a slender choker. The black, smooth leather caught the light with a muted sheen, and a silver ring no larger than a fingernail hung at its center. It looked like the kind of thing that would be cold against the skin at first, then quickly take on body heat. A faint pattern engraved along the edge of the ring drew the eye in a way that was hard to explain.
"What is this?"
When Sera asked carefully, Kyle set it down in front of her as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
His voice was low, but it carried a resonance that sank strangely into her ears. For a moment Sera felt as though she couldn't breathe. It was as if those few words had reached someplace deep inside her.
"When I want to feel like a woman... what do you..."
Sera's words trailed off, but she could feel her own cheeks growing hot.
Kyle didn't bother adding an explanation. He only pushed the choker a little closer to her and added, briefly:
At those two words, Sera reflexively recalled the stinging pain that still lingered on her neck. And the moment she caught herself swallowing hard, she could no longer look him in the eye.
Sera carefully lifted the choker into her hands. The leather was softer than she had expected, but there was an unnameable weight to it. The instinct that this could not possibly be a mere accessory crept over her, slow and certain.
She spent a long time stroking that smooth texture with her fingertips, feeling both the anxiety that something would change the moment she fastened it... and an expectation she couldn't name.
Sera kept fidgeting with the choker between her fingers, still avoiding his eyes. Kyle watched her for a moment, then spoke as if it were nothing.
"Come out with me today."
Sera blinked and lifted her head.
"Where...?"
"To buy clothes."
Kyle answered shortly, then pushed his chair back and stood. His expression was as solid as a man who had already made up his mind.
"Why?"
When Sera asked carefully, he let a smile linger for a moment.
"Yesterday's clothes... you can't wear them anymore."
Kyle's gaze traveled slowly over Sera's shoulders and the line of her throat. In that instant, the sensation of the thin nightgown's buttons being torn away rose so vividly that her shoulders flinched on their own. Just as he said, she was wearing a thin short-sleeved shirt now, not the nightclothes she had been in before.
"I-I'm fine... I have other clothes—"
"Because I have a feeling I'll be tearing a lot more of them from now on."
Kyle's voice cut across hers. Sera's eyes went wide. He was looking at her with a face full of mischief. At his blatant remark, Sera swallowed and dipped her head slightly. The tips of her ears and her cheeks slowly flushed red.
Kyle didn't miss that reaction. His smile deepened, as if he had found a toy he rather liked. Faced with that unreadable smile, Sera found she couldn't swallow another bite, even though most of her meal was still left.
After breakfast, Sera returned to her room. The choker Kyle had given her was in her hand. She closed the door, leaned her back against it, and stood there for a long time.
The room was still. The sounds from outside grew more and more distant.
She slowly lifted the choker. The leather caught the light and gleamed softly, and the ring at its center looked like an eye staring straight at her.
She stood before the mirror and brought it to her throat. The cold leather touched her skin, and her heart quickened, just slightly. Her fingertips found the buckle.
"If I just... put it on..."
Sera whispered it like she was talking to herself. But strangely, a fear that she would lose something the moment she closed the buckle sank its teeth into her chest.
At the same time, yesterday's memories rose with vivid clarity. His breath grazing along her throat. The sensation of pressure. And... the mark left on the nape of her neck.
She swallowed. Her throat ached again, a dull, lingering sting.
Strength gathered in her fingertips and then released, over and over. In the end, Sera couldn't bring herself to fasten the choker around her neck. She only clutched it tight in her palm.
As if, for now... it was not yet that moment.