Lemon Incest c5

It wasn’t her cell phone ringing though– it was her home phone. Reflexively, Misao glanced at the watch on her wrist; it was a bad habit of hers. It wasn’t something that came about because of her profession, but just something that had become a routine of hers before she’d even realized it.

“Misao-chan– I’m surprised! I thought you wouldn’t be home.”

“Tonight? Not particularly. Why do you ask?”

She could tell that behind Mio’s words was a faint sign of embarrassment, which wasn’t like her. Misao wondered if something had happened to her, but she didn’t ask.

Mio said that she would be over in ten minutes and hung up.

Whenever she had dinner at home, she tried to make sure she made her meals from scratch. Since she ate out on a practically everyday basis, she couldn’t get into the mood to have readily prepared meals when she had her meals at home.

“Could this smell be…Gorgonzola cheese?”

“You’re really something, Misao-chan. You not only work but you make sure to cook meals for yourself like this. I guess they were talking about you when they came up with the term ‘Super Woman,’ huh?”

“I couldn’t do that in a million years. Whenever I eat at home, it’s usually something I bought in the neighbourhood.”

“I know. Not only that, but I drink and smoke. I probably won’t be able to live that long.”

Mio replied, “coffee” with a smile on her face as she took out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from her pocket, along with the keychain that held her house keys which she placed with a loud rattle on the dining table.

“I won’t stay long; I’m sorry to barge in on you out of the blue. Maybe you had some hot date planned?”

“Oh, well that’s no fun. Maybe the truth is though that there’s a certain someone in your bedroom?”

“Maybe I will.”

Misao had told her about Kusuda. She didn’t go into details, but her relationship with him wasn’t something she wanted to particularly hide, and there was a part of her that wanted to tell Mio.

That, coincidentally, matched what it was like for an actress acting out a love story on the stage. One suddenly begins to crave an audience; it didn’t matter if that audience consisted of only one person… as long as that person was willing to continue to watch that love story unfold.

As Misao poured a cup of coffee for Mio, she studied her. It was rare for Mio to suddenly come visiting her apartment on a whim like this. Whenever she came, it was generally when she had a problem or when she was itching to tell her about something that had happened.

Any way she thought of it, she didn’t think it could be something to do with Muda or some other problem. If it was something new that had happened, then it couldn’t be anything other than something involving that young man. She thought it was strange that her mind would be so insistent on this.

“I saw him,” Mio whispered as she exhaled.

“Last night… I saw him.”

“You know who I’m talking about. Iwasaki Shougo.”

“Were you the one to ask to meet‘?” Misao asked.

Misao formed a smile. “What’s wrong with seeing him again? It’s not as if he’s some suspicious person. I’m glad you changed your mind. So, how was it?”

“Since you talked for four hours, that must’ve meant you had quite the conversation?”

“So how was it drinking with your younger brother?”

“Yeah, I figured. But if it was fun, then that’s all that matters. You should get together again without thinking too deeply about things.”

“Since it’s probably the case that you bear no bitterness about the incident…and there’s no need for you to. That incident doesn’t even really matter anymore. I reunited you two on the grounds that all that was put in the past. And well, if need be, I guess you could talk about the topic of how fate works in mysterious ways.”

For a brief moment, Misao she grasped for appropriate words of reply, but she could find none. When she continued to stay silent, Mio repeated what she had said.

Misao grimaced in an exaggerated manner, “That’s so like you to crack a joke like that.”

“What do you mean?”

Misao laughed saying, “Don’t be ridiculous” but she could feel her smile was a bit forced. “If I only judged you from what you just told me, I’d take you to be some woman who can’t live without a man. The kind of woman who goes searching night after night for some man.”

“I’m not saying that. I’m just saying that if there’s someone that strikes your fancy, you should set it in a way so that he makes the first move.”

“Are you saying that in seriousness?”

In that moment, Misao’s cell phone began to ring from inside the shoulder bag resting on the kitchen counter. It was a standard ring tone. She didn’t have it set to a special ring tone. She had tried struggling through a manual book, but she still couldn’t figure out how to change it, and she had given up after getting a headache. Ever since, she had left it as it was.

Misao took out her cell phone and glanced at the display. Kusuda Katsuhiko’s name flashed on the screen.

Mio slightly raised an eyebrow and lifted her chin in a joking manner before she tilted her head up to the ceiling and exhaled a puff of smoke.

“I left early today. I’m at my apartment.”

Her feelings of wanting to continue to chat with Mio and of wanting to see Kusuda for the first time in a while were evenly matched. That being said, she didn’t have such a happy-go-lucky idea that if that’s the case then the three of them should meet together; they had to protect their own territories. If you thought of things only thinking of yourself, then in the end, any joy ends up being halved.

“I’ll catch a taxi because I’ve had a bit to drink.”

Mio had already begun to stand up by the time Misao put her cell phone back into her bag. “Since it seems I’m in the way, I’ll head back to my apartment.”

“I’ll pass. Don’t worry about me– it’s fine. I just wanted to tell you what happened yesterday.”

Mio had her back turned to her when Misao asked: “How’s Muda-san doing?” The moment that question left her lips, she realized what a ridiculous one it was.

Mio slipped on soft, leather red flats at the entrance hall and in a light-hearted move like that a young girl would make, she turned to Misao and replied: “He’s fine.”

To Misao, it sounded as if she had said it in the same tone as one would say it was raining two nights ago. She said it in a dry, emotionless manner. It had been a while since Mio had spoken of him in such a manner.

Be that as it may, Misao still wasn’t quite sure why Mio would continue a relationship that spanned so many years.

This could also be because she was lonely. Because there was no one to secure her in life, perhaps she was holding onto someone she could have a safe sexual relationships with for the time being.

“You told Muda-san about Shougo, didn’t you?”

“What did he say?”

Misao laughed, “And what did you say?”

With that, Mio gave a light-hearted “Bye” and reached out for the doorknob. “See you. Say hi to Kusuda-sensei for me.”

She cleared the coffee cup that was on the dining table and gulped down the coffee left in her cup. She then headed to the mirror in her bedroom to quickly reapply a thin layer of lipstick.

Although she felt that that kind of thought was vulgar and wanton, she couldn’t help it. For Kusuda to come to her apartment, that was the kind of thing that would happen; it was nothing more or less than that.

Even now, there were times that snippets of the conversations that she had had with Shimada Keiichi, who had passed away, would abruptly come to surface. When that memory came to her, she would remember down to the very last detail— everything from the scene where the conversation took place, the atmosphere, down to her own very actions and feelings.

That was what she had loved about him. Even when he said something that didn’t match her views or that made her feel disappointed, the way he was always so direct and honest about everything always put her at ease. She honestly believed that it was that honest and straightforward demeanour of his that allowed their relationship to last as long as it did.

One day, Keiichi asked this to her. It was sunset in the middle of summer. Keiichi had asked her to come and they were at a small hotel in Tateshina spending the night. The evening of the night before they had set off from Tokyo, and they had spent all of the next day at the hotel.

“Not really, no.” Misao replied honestly. “It’s true.”

“I know though that as long as Mio-chan is in your care, I’m come second to her. But you see, I’m fine with being number two. I can’t say I wouldn’t be sad if I fell to number three though.”

“Well, I guess that would be more fair.”

Misao chuckled quietly. “You have too many hanger-ons. If you ended up choosing one from among them, I’m sure the others would complain and there would be some kind of revolt.”

Misao wondered how old he was when he had told her this. It must have been when he was forty or forty one. Somewhere around there, perhaps? If memory served her right, Mio was still in junior high when this had happened.

“What do you mean?”

She didn’t think what he said was a lie. He wasn’t someone who lied. However, it was said so sudden that she found it hard to believe, and because of it, she couldn’t help but become drunk on his words.

“The way it is now,” she said. “That’s enough for me. I don’t need anything more.”

“When that time comes, you’ll be an old man too.”

Their mingling laughter was carried away by the wind and disappeared beyond the trees. The cry of the cicadas became fierce and descended upon them in a wave.

However, that blissful dream-like illusion came to an abrupt end. It was June eight years ago. On the night of a particularly hard downpour during the rainy season, the car that Keiichi had been driving slipped on the road due to the rain, and crashed into the wall of an expressway.

Misao immediately rejected that answer. For the most part, she knew the women who were around him. There were numerous women who had chased after him and who lived their lives deriving joy from being treated kindly. Even more than that though, there were those who had hoped that if all things went well that he would ask them to marry him.

There was also not a trace of suspicion inside of her that Keiichi only saw her as the aunt of his sole daughter who he doted on… either that or that she was just a convenient person who made him feel at ease.

For Keiichi, Mio was always number one and everyone else after that was on the same level. And among the line of women that were on that level, if you were to ask what her role was, it would be to put him at ease and become someone he could rely on. If she were to say what was certain, then that would be the only thing that she could say for sure.

After Keiichi’s death, there wasn’t one man she had been with who she hadn’t compared to him. There were times she had developed feelings reminiscent to that of love, and there were even times she was sure that those feelings were none other than love.

Keiichi was a constant presence by her physical body and in the deep recesses of her feelings. Even if she acted out a semblance of a relationship by going out to dinner, going for drinks and going on a short trip with the new man in her life, never once did she experience that quiet overflow of warmth.

If it couldn’t be Keiichi, it didn’t matter to her who it was. It could be A, B, or C– they were all the same to Misao. There was no bringing back the dead. Similar to how Keiichi saw all the women besides Mio as being on the same level, Misao also saw every man except Keiichi as being on the same level.

It was like cruising on a boat, and one day, deciding to switch to a different boat on a whim to be carried off in a different direction— the boat of love would also quietly be swept in a different direction. It took Misao now to realize that was what their love was like.

She walked towards the entrance hall to make sure that the door wasn’t locked. Soon afterward, the entrance hall chime began to ring. When she said in a quiet voice through the interphone that the door was open, the door quietly opened.

One time, she had asked him why he would put the door chain in place when it wasn’t even his apartment. He replied that it was because he didn’t want anyone coming in. He also added that if a burglar got it in his mind to break in, that it wouldn’t take him even a minute to unlock the door.

“What’s wrong?” He asked.

“You seem to have your head in the clouds today.”

This was when he showed his first smile. He stepped out of his shoes and changed into slippers before stepping into the hallway and wrapping her in an embrace.

It took her a while to realize that he was talking about the day when she had reunited Mio and Shougo. She felt Kusuda’s warmth around her waist, and the moment she felt that warmth, he leaned down for a kiss.

“No.”

“Did you have some kind of gathering?”

His breathing was already irregular. He undid the shoulder tie of the white long-sleeve sweater she was wearing. His lips moved from her neck to her breast.

“It must be because it’s been a while.”

His body was big. His height was well over 180 centimetres. He lifted her up in one swift move, and carried her into her bedroom.

“It’s because you’re so strong. If anyone else lifted me up, they’d probably say I’m heavy.”

“I’m just saying.”

He was laughing as he began to take off the clothes she was wearing. Even through his laughter though, Misao could see the lust that was hidden behind his gaze. She found it so amusing that a forty seven year old man would look at a fifty year old women with lust blazing in his eyes that she couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Nothing.”

“I’m not. It’s just… I was thinking how back in my twenties, I probably would have never imagined what I would be like when I was fifty.”

“Even if you’re just saying that to be polite, I’m flattered.”

Kusuda caressed her breast with one hand, and with the other, undid the hook of her bra. He covered his lips with hers. It seemed as if he was trying to silence her.

He didn’t respond to her words anymore. Perhaps it was because he was aroused, but he continued his slightly rough caresses. His uneven breathing filled the quiet space.

In the darkness, she kept her eyes wide open. She accepted his advances with her eyes open, and as she always did, she fought to keep from saying out loud Keiichi’s name amidst the throes of passion.

Chapter end