A Fitting Costume
It was the evening of the next day—or perhaps the evening after that. It was dark outside. In any case, Hanayuki opened her eyes late. Perhaps because she was so utterly exhausted, she had fallen asleep while Jihun was bathing her. His touch had been gentle, meticulously stroking every inch of her skin as if massaging her. When he carefully massaged her scalp with his fingertips, it had felt so good that her eyes kept rolling back. Eventually, she had drifted off.
She was alone on the bed. Hanayuki listened quietly. The house was silent. It seemed Jihun had gone out. Or perhaps he had gone to work. By the way, what the hell does that bastard do for a living anyway...? She had never heard him mention it. Regardless, he was definitely a lunatic.
Is this my chance to escape...? The house was empty. The thought that she might actually be able to get out made Hanayuki hesitate for a moment. There was no one home, and thanks to the rigorous "training" Jihun had put her through yesterday—or the day before—she had grown somewhat accustomed to crawling around with her severed limbs.
...Who am I kidding? Escape in this state? But she quickly abandoned the idea. With her arms and legs chopped off, even if she managed to get outside, she had no idea how far she could possibly flee. And if she got caught... "Ugh...!" Hanayuki mimicked the motion of hugging herself with her nonexistent arms. She pictured Jihun's ecstatic face as he repeatedly mashed the button on the remote.
Next time... I'll escape next time. She would have to escape eventually, but she convinced herself that now—at least for now—was not the time. Hanayuki let out a sigh and buried herself in the bed. The plush mattress, the soft, high-end sheets, and the smooth touch of the silk negligee wrapping around her body felt incredibly pleasant.
In her hazy state, Hanayuki looked around. Because she had no limbs, her range of motion was severely limited; just looking around strained her neck. Dark brown wooden posts stood at each corner of the bed. It was a luxurious canopy bed, the kind you would find in a so-called "princess's house." The wallpaper and the entire furniture interior were styled in a soothing beige. The tones of each piece of decor varied slightly, creating a harmonious look that was neither boring nor cluttered. A few decorative plush dolls and porcelain ornaments sat atop the furniture. It was the literal embodiment of an "ideal girl's room," as if a man had squeezed every drop of his imagination to create it. Or rather, it was a massive dollhouse—a princess's room—prepared for a limbless doll meant for sexual gratification.
Amidst all this, something highly discordant caught her eye. Are those all... Hanayuki's merchandise filled the display cabinet to the brim. Hanayuki's signature color was light blue. A wave of light blue in the middle of this calm, beige room felt incredibly out of place. I guess he really does love me a lot.
She had left the sales and marketing of her merchandise entirely to her agency's staff. She didn't know what otakus liked anyway, nor did she care to find out. However, she knew exactly how terrible the price-to-performance ratio of her merchandise was because of the complaints that had set her stream chats and social media ablaze:
"He even has that." It was a figurine of herself—or rather, of Hanayuki. The price was probably... "Around three hundred dollars...?" It was a monstrosity straight from hell, with disproportionate limbs and eyes, nose, and mouth that seemed to drift apart. At the time of its release, this limited-edition Hanayuki bikini figurine was considered an outrage that mocked consumers; now, it remained as an internet meme.
"To think he actually bought this garbage." He's completely out of his mind. For some reason, Hanayuki let out a faint chuckle. Perhaps because she had rolled her body around to look at her surroundings, or perhaps because the bed was just too comfortable, she began to feel drowsy.
"Yaaawn!" Hanayuki let out a loud yawn and stretched with all her might. Her stubby, short, severed limbs—resembling those of a cute teddy bear—extended up and down. She yawned so hard that a tiny tear welled up in the corner of her eye. Instinctively, Hanayuki tried to bring her nonexistent hand to her eye, only to realize. "Ah."
"Haha... Hahaha..." In the quiet, empty house, her dry, shuddering laughter echoed for a long time.
After a while, the *beep, beep, beep* of the digital door lock echoed. Perhaps because Jihun was too excited, he fumbled the buttons a few times—*beep, beep-beep, beep*—before the door finally clicked open. The bustling sound of delivery boxes being dragged inside followed. The tearing of packing tape and the rustling of cardboard echoed, and then— "Hanayuki-tan!" Jihun walked in with a massive grin plastered across his face.
"Ah... Ahhh." Hanayuki shrank back instantly at the sight of him. Feeling as though she ought to sit up and greet him, she wriggled her body, flailing her stubby, plush-doll-like limbs. "Ah... Ahhh..." But without a center of gravity, she couldn't manage to lift herself up. "W-Welcome back." Left with no choice, Hanayuki stammered out her greeting while remaining flat on her back.
"You don't have to get up." Jihun smiled warmly. Then, "Fix your face," he commanded, his expression instantly turning ice-cold as he issued the threat.
"Welcome home, Habung-i!" Hanayuki stretched her stubby, severed arms as wide as they could go, as if trying to embrace him, and welcomed him with a radiant smile.
"Yep! Good girl for greeting me so well!" Jihun stroked Hanayuki's head with a satisfied expression. "Oops." Perhaps he had stroked her too hard, because her wig tilted slightly to one side. Beneath the shifted wig, her natural black hair was revealed, matted and greasy from being pressed down. Jihun pressed his nose against her exposed real hair, taking a deep, sniffing breath as if kissing a lover's forehead.
"..." It was the so-called crown smell—a concentrated mix of body odor, sweat, and pheromones, a strangely fermented stench that was somehow also an aroma. Jihun closed his eyes, savoring the scent, and muttered a crude joke. "Ah, fuck, I feel like I need to grab a bowl of rice."
"It must be uncomfortable, right?" I really should just shave her head. He seriously contemplated it again. Unaware of Jihun's thoughts, Hanayuki forced a bright smile. "No! Hanayuki is totally fine! Hanayuki's hair is always like this anyway!"
"I brought you a present today!" Jihun smiled brightly as he set down what he was holding. It was a feast of costumes that compiled the ultimate "otaku fantasies"—a maid outfit, a school swimsuit, a vibrant fictional school uniform straight out of an anime, a full-body latex suit, a competitive swimsuit, and more.
"These are..." "Hanayuki-tan, you're an otaku too, so you like this kind of stuff, right?" "Yep! Hanayuki loves this kind of stuff too!" In reality, she loathed it. Hanayuki was obviously not an otaku. She had merely pretended to be one behind her virtual avatar to cater to her viewers.
She hadn't minded when her ex-boyfriends (mostly tattooed thugs) had dug up these kinds of outfits to make her roleplay or do outdoor exhibitionism and go commando. But to Hanayuki, those alpha-male bad boys and the outcast otakus who watched VTubers were worlds apart. Even if they demanded the same things, the former was a healthy sexual preference, while the latter was the creepy, insidious delusion of pathetic losers. Hanayuki hid her disgust as best as she could and answered cheerfully.
"And..." Jihun rummaged through the delivery box. "This!" A familiar outfit was tossed onto the bed. "This is..." Hanayuki's eyes widened. She recognized it instantly. The base color was her signature light blue. It was a fusion design, blending a traditional yukata with frills and Western-style details. It was, without a doubt, the exact outfit her virtual avatar wore.
"You wore this yourself once, didn't you? It was so fucking hot." She had indeed worn it as a cosplay during a "Red Pill" stream where she kept her face hidden. She had complained to her agency staff about the design, which left her cleavage completely exposed, asking how she could possibly wear such a thing. But they had forced her into it anyway, citing poor view counts lately.
She didn't care about spreading her legs to show off her pussy or letting out ugly moans in all sorts of degrading positions in front of her tattooed bad-boy boyfriends. But the delusional comments from the otakus had been so repulsive they made her skin crawl. The sexual desire of outcast men was utterly sickening. However, if she acted out of line now like she used to, her spinal cord would be fried to a crisp.
"Hanayuki is so happy that Habung-i thinks she's hot!" Hanayuki forced the brightest smile she could muster.
A short while later, Jihun dressed Hanayuki in the outfit matching her avatar, lifted her up in a bridal carry, and carried her to another room. "It's a bit late... but streams are usually late anyway, so it doesn't really matter, right?" Jihun asked Hanayuki as he set up the computer equipment piece by piece.
"Yep, it doesn't matter at all! Hanayuki absolutely loves streaming!" Hanayuki's gaze drifted toward the computer, which was flashing with bright LED lights. She had never cared about computers in the first place, and showing interest in them felt too nerdy, so she had left all technical management to her agency's staff. She had heard that running a VTuber avatar, playing games, and streaming all at once required a pretty expensive PC. However, this computer looked exceptionally high-end, far more expensive than the equipment she had used for her own broadcasts.
What on earth does he mean by streaming? What kind of broadcast is he going to make me do...? Hanayuki waited, her heart pounding with anxiety. Regardless of her dread, Jihun continued his preparations. After a moment, "Let's see... Okay, is this good?" Jihun finished the setup and lifted Hanayuki. Holding her in his arms, he sat her on his lap, much like placing a young child or a doll on one's knees.
"Hanayuki-tan, look at the monitor." At Jihun's instruction, "Y-Yeah." Hanayuki reluctantly looked at the screen, her anxiety mounting. On the monitor was Hanayuki. Though she looked slightly different.
"Since I don't have the license... I couldn't use the exact same avatar. I had to outsource it to another company to make it look as close as possible. What do you think?" Jihun asked, stroking the head of Hanayuki as she sat on his lap.
"...I love it." Honestly, she couldn't tell the difference. She had absolutely no idea what distinguished one big-eyed anime character from another, but she answered to keep him pleased.
"I knew you'd like it!" Jihun was genuinely delighted. "Make some faces for me." "..." Hanayuki changed her expressions as Jihun instructed. She smiled, frowned, and stuck out her tongue. Her new avatar mirrored her expressions with astonishing accuracy. Beside her, Jihun rambled on with complicated jargon about "new face-tracking technology" and "using an incredibly expensive LiDAR sensor and webcam simultaneously." But the bottom line was this: He wants me to use this avatar—which tracks expressions with terrifying precision—to live-stream the exact moment my hymen is ruptured.