The day Aiko and Reina move into their own home together is supposed to be a joyous occasion. However, with Reina working five to six days a week, Aiko the budding housewife finds solitude tough to handle. She jumps headlong into making friends at the nearest lesbian get-together but meets one person not interested: Reina’s bitter ex-girlfriend, who fills her emotional void with activism and her love for all-female musicals.
While Aiko establishes herself as the queen of domesticity, Reina is nominated for a promotion at work. She soon discovers that being a woman in the professional world is rife with injustice, and begins to resent her gender and the way society treats it. With her ex-girlfriend now hanging around, it is a cold reminder as to what happens when Reina becomes a thorn in other women’s families.
Living together will give Aiko and Reina challenges never dreamed of before, yet it gives them the chance to build a life together, other women notwithstanding. Their first trial is to navigate the first few months of coming out, disappointment, glamorous show tunes, and a dark cloud of kataomoi, or “unrequited love,” hanging over the city.
“KATAOMOI.” takes place from July - Oct. 1997.
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“You
know, I’ve been thinking.” Seeing the tenderness on her girlfriend’s visage
made Reina weak like this. “About what you said the other day…wanting to stay
home to take care of the house…” She nuzzled Aiko’s cheek. “If I get this promotion,
which I should, I’ll be making enough money to support us both and save on the side. Maybe it won’t be
so hard on us if you don’t get a part-time job.”
Eyes glittering, Aiko bit her bottom
lip to contain her elation. “Truly?” Her voice fluctuated between an awed
whisper and a loving tone. “Oh! Thank you!” She clobbered into Reina’s body,
squeezing the breath out of her and crushing her ribs. “I will do my best to be
a productive person here at home! I’ll make our favorite foods every day and make
sure you have everything you need to do well at work!”
Reina scoffed – and yet, looking at
Aiko’s frivolity gave her pride. “You make it sound like you are a housewife
now…”
“Well, I am! In a way.” Aiko
released her death grip. “Nee, why is
it so different just because we’re both women?”
“I suppose it’s not, really.” And
with that, Reina kissed her.
The ache in her muscles melted away,
only to be replaced with a new ache: the throbbing torture of yearning. When
she slipped her tongue into Aiko’s mouth, her girlfriend responded with a smack
to the rear. “You naughty girl! My mother will be here soon!”
That was almost enough to kill
Reina’s libido. But she had tasted Aiko’s lips, smelled her skin, and rubbed
her face against her hair. Sex was inevitable now. “There’s time for a
quickie.” She licked Aiko’s cheek as if it were ice cream.
“Maybe…” The skin beneath Reina’s
tongue turned as pink as Aiko’s T-shirt. “If we’re really quick…”
Give
me five minutes, my tongue and my fingers, and I’ll have you screaming into
your pillow again. Quickies weren’t the most fun, but they got the job
done. At the very least, Reina would be tranquil enough to get through a visit
from Junko.
She attempted to lift Aiko off the
floor – that only resulted in lifting her T-shirt, and soon they fell into each
other’s arms, kissing, biting, and clawing one another like rabid wolves. The
best part about the oncoming lovemaking was that their union couldn’t produce
the child Reina swore she still heard screeching at the train station a ten
minute walk away.
Ai-chan.
She swore her girlfriend’s sigh had
her name on it.
Lips curled together; tongues ducked
into each other’s mouths. Hands roamed where they willed, including beneath the
hem of Aiko’s skirt and the cusp of Reina’s shirt. Soon. In a second they could pry apart long enough to ascend the
stairs and roll together in bed until…
A shout, not from a toddler, dumped
upon their heated embrace.
Reina’s first thought as she and
Aiko disengaged was that the little girl on the bicycle had been in an
accident. But after she finished pulling down her T-shirt she saw the horror on
Aiko’s face and followed her gape out the wide front window.
Where she met Junko’s equally
horrified mien.
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