Volume 5 - Slime Time, Chapter 26 - Slippery Slopes

“Ahhhh. This is the life!” Yuisu declared as she sunk deeper into the pool until her chin touched the water. She leaned back against the edge of pool, using her hair bun as a pillow. The night sky above the mountains was crystal clear and free of the light pollution that affected much of Japan. Thousands upon thousands of stars sparkled through the wafting steam that rose from the hot spring.

Haru stretched her arms wide, causing her her large breasts to bounce at the surface of the water. “You said it, Yuisu. It’d be perfect if only this little pest wasn’t here,” she said as she teasingly rested a wing on top of Mara’s head.

“Hey!” Mara was indignant. “Yui invited me and Tsuen. You can get your freaky hot spring alone time with Yui some other night.”

Tsuen’s brown ears twitched at the mention of her name, but she didn’t bother to turn and look. She was very relaxed, with her head resting on her crossed arms. Her body was submerged and her chest was against a smooth boulder at the edge of the pool.

Overall, the hot spring was a resounding success. The covered wooden walkway was perfect for getting to and from the hot spring, even while barefoot or during inclement weather, and a tall fence around the spring gave privacy and protection from the wind.

Within the fence, the pool was a crescent shape, about ten by fifteen feet, and some parts got as deep as five feet. The pool was ringed by natural rocks and boulders and occasional lamps for lighting, and there was a sturdy wooden deck on the walkway side. The spring’s fresh hot water ran along an adjustable channel before pouring into the deep end of the pool. Overflow water flowed over the downhill side of the pool and continued down the mountainside naturally, like it had before the construction.

During a quiet moment, Tsuen suddenly let out an adorable EEP! and said, “Someone just pinched my rump!” She glared accusingly at Mara.

Before Mara could say anything in her defense, Haru squawked when something gave her breast a firm squeeze. “Whoa! Was that you, Yuisu?”

“Nope! Something just grabbed me too!” Yuisu jumped up, sending her breasts bouncing, and turned to climb out of the pool. “I think there’s something in the water!”

The other three girls quickly followed suit, scrambling out of the water and into the cool night air. Panting and confused, they all gathered near the fence gate. Suddenly, Tsuen cried out in alarm, and started backing away from the others.

Through barely contained panic, she asked, “Mara, when did you get so… busty?”

Mara immediately looked down at her chest. Where her nearly-nonexistent boobs should have been, there were two huge, semitransparent pink breasts, complete with nipples. She shook herself and they jiggled naturally. The she poked one with a finger, and a gelatinous face emerged from her artificial cleavage, mere inches from her face. Mara screamed, loudly.

It seemed to have been the right move, as the gelatinous pink goo peeled off of her body in a hurry. The blob pooled together on the wooden platform, then coalesced into a humanoid form. It gradually gained more and more definition, until it a pale pink woman stood before them.

She had big dark pink eyes and long flowing ‘hair’ that turned yellow towards the ends. She was very voluptuous and she was practically spilling out of the top of her dark pink and white lace trim dress. She was quite dressed up, even wearing an elaborate necklace and a European-styled crown. However, all of those seemed to be just extensions of her body, rather than real cloth and metal.

She glanced at each of the girls, but when it was clear that they were all completely speechless, she took the initiative. “Greetings, common folk. I am called Quess, and as you can see, I am a Queen Slime.” She spoke in a haughty tone and gestured grandly. “I rule an underground kingdom of slimes, but a great misfortune befell me. A walkway collapsed and I plummeted into an underground river, where I was tossed about for days.” She pouted her lips and blinked her big shiny eyes as she continued her story. “I wandered the underground networks until I somehow found a volcanic chasm that lead to the surface, to this very hot spring.”

Haru blinked at her, unimpressed. “Uh huh. That’s all very interesting, but it’s chilly out here. Can you wait until we have some clothes on before you tell us any more of your life story?”

Shivering, Yuisu nodded. “Quess, was it? Let’s all go inside and talk there, okay?”

Quess raised her chin and looked down her nose at the four dripping wet and naked women for a long moment, then she nodded and said, “Very well. That arrangement pleases me. Let us enter your domicile, though it will likely be drab and unbefitting of my status.”

Even Tsuen raised an eyebrow at Quess’s presumptuous attitude, but they went inside without further comment.

“So, as I have so clearly explained, you must simply provide haven for me at this quaint home of yours until such a time as my loyal slime servants locate and rescue me.”

Yuisu, sitting across from Quess at the table, nodded, “I gathered all that, but I really do think I should let my Cultural Exchange Coordinator handle this. I’ll call Agent Will and—”

“That will not be necessary,” Quess cut her off with surprising forcefulness. “As Queen of a sovereign nation, I have diplomatic immunity and I am above the sway of your paltry Cultural Exchange Program. In fact, involving them will only complicate matters and inhibit my underlings from properly retrieving me from this backwater land.”

Haru glanced at Yuisu. She can’t possibly believe this slime, can she?

Yuisu either didn’t notice or chose not to acknowledge Haru’s glance. She nodded at Quess. “If you insist, that’s fine. You can stay in the guest room as long as you need.” Yuisu pointed at the phone. “Do you need to contact your, uh, slime servants?”

Quess dismissively waved a translucent hand. “Nay. Your human communications cannot reach the subterranean slime kingdom. Surely they are already on my trail, and will be arriving posthaste. I have the utmost faith in my subjects.”

“Eeek!” Tsuen suddenly cried out and stood up from where she had been kneeling next to Quess. A long pink and yellow tendril slipped out of Tsuen’s shirt and quickly retracted. She turned to Quess with a scowl on her face. “Did you just grope me?”

Quess denied it. “What? Of course not. I am a Queen! I wouldn’t stoop to such baseness.”

“Bullshit,” Haru called her out. “I saw your hair tentacle thing pulling out from Tsuen’s shirt! And we all know you grabbed us in the hot spring!”

Quess raised her palms defensively and some of her hair tendrils changed into hand shapes and mimicked the gesture. “Very well, very well. My tendrils may have sought out nutrients on their own, but I assure you that was only because I was in such poor shape following my harrowing journey!”

She stood up suddenly, causing her considerable breasts to jiggle and sway like Jello. “On that note, I am in need of rest. I shall take my leave for the night!” She half-walked, half-oozed on her unformed feet to the guest bedroom, leaving the others sharing confused glances.

Once Quess had closed the door behind her, Yuisu stood and silently beckoned the girls to follow her to the living room. They quietly followed her, and they all settled down on the couch and chairs, far out of earshot of the guest room.

Haru had been holding back for long enough. “You can’t possibly believe a thing she said, can you?”

“I’m willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, Haru,” Yuisu said calmly.

Tsuen folded her arms across her chest and shivered. “I don’t feel very safe with her around. I don’t think her grabbing habit is as innocent as she’d like us to believe…”

Mara climbed onto the couch next to Tsuen and put an arm around her. “Yeah! Only I get to grope Tsuen!” she joked.

“Ahem,” Yuisu cleared her throat. “In any case, just lock your doors tonight, and let me know if Quess causes you any trouble. I’ll call Agent Will first thing in the morning.”

“You have reached the voicemail of”—the robotic voice cut out and a man’s voice replaced it—“Agent Will.” The voice switched back to the robot and continued, “If you’d like to leave a message, do so after the beep…” BEEP!

Yuisu held back a sigh. Of course Agent Will wouldn’t be available today of all days. “Hi, Agent Will. It’s Yuisu. I’ve got a situation at my house that you should probably see in person. Give me a call back, or actually, just drive straight here as soon as you can. Bye.”

Yuisu snuck back to the living room, where the other girls were effectively distracting Quess by asking about her life as a Queen.

“We have all the finest luxuries in the subterranean slime kingdom, imported via our secret cave networks from all over the world!”

Haru raised a wing and asked, “Does your kingdom have a name? Other than ‘subterranean slime kingdom’, I mean.”

Quess paused in thought for a second, then said. “Oh yes, but it is difficult to say in human language. I guess it’d sound like…” Her lips opened into an ‘O’ shape and she made a strangely erotic slurping, sucking sound with her mouth and tongue for several seconds, then ended with a deep swallow. Afterwards, she looked at each girl in turn with a satisfied smile, as if looking for their reactions.

A shiver went down Tsuen’s spine and she shifted uncomfortably. Mara certainly made sexual references occasionally, but Quess was on another level entirely. Whenever she wasn’t focused on acting like royalty, she seemed to exude a powerful sexual aura.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Yuisu said from the hallway, “but Haru has to get to work, and I believe Mara and Tsuen have an appointment at the gym to keep?” She raised her eyebrows nodded cryptically at Tsuen. “Don’t you?”

Tsuen got the hint. “Oh yeah, I can’t believe I forgot. Let’s go, Mara. Grab your gym clothes and your purse!”

The three liminals scattered to get ready to go, leaving Yuisu alone in the room with Quess. Now that I’ve got her one on one, maybe I can figure out what her real story is…