Volume 12 - Grand Opening, Chapter 89 - Crunch Time

The sight of Froze crying and standing defenseless in the hot spring was just too much. She looked like a sad, lost puppy. Yuisu sprinted to the edge of the water and took off her heavy winter coat, then beckoned for the depressed fenrir to get out of the pool. "You'll catch a cold standing in the freezing air like that. Let's get you inside."

With a weak nod, Froze complied. She stepped out of the spring and allowed Yuisu to wrap her in the coat. Her fluffy blue and white tail stuck out of the bottom along with her dripping-wet legs.

Froze put on a fake smile. "Thanks. I don't know what came over me, but I'm all good now." She started toward the gate on her own.

Haru's golden eyes saw right through that lie. She glared at Froze and said, "No you're not 'all good'. Something's bothering you, and you need to let us help you."

Froze glared back, not wanting to accept her own weakness. The two predators were locked in a battle of wills, but Froze's was weaker. After a moment, she broke eye contact and let out a long sigh. "Okay. Can we talk in my room? I don't want the other girls to see me right now."

"Of course," Yuisu assured her as they left the spring and made their way toward the far cabin. As they passed the other cabins, faces peered out the windows at them. The other guests mostly looked relieved that the unnerving howling had finally stopped.

The cabin was still unlocked from when she wandered out naked, so Froze opened the door and stepped inside. The kitchenette was empty and dark and there was no light coming from under the far bedroom door either. Froze's roommate must have been quite the heavy sleeper.

Froze beelined into her room, leaving the door open. "Come on in. You already saw me naked and crying like a baby, so I guess it won't matter if you see me getting dressed, eh?"

Yuisu and Haru followed her in, but they looked away as Froze took off the borrowed coat and pulled on some simple black underwear and a long t-shirt. She used another shirt as a towel to dry the cold, damp fur on her feet and calves, then tossed it in a hamper in the corner.

Finally, she crawled onto the bed and sat down cross-legged. She patted a blue-furred paw on the bed and said, "Sit down. I guess I have a story to tell."

Haru sat on the bed and leaned against the wall with her wings behind her head. Yuisu sat on the edge near Froze. She wanted to be close in case Froze needed a shoulder to cry on.

Froze took a deep breath and began, "As you already know, Kehp and I started dating during our visit here. Well, thanks to the success of that International Exchange Program we participated in, the Canadian Interspecies Exchange Program released us from needing hosts. We even moved in together and got a little house in the wilderness."

"That's wonderful!" Yuisu said with a smile. She was happy to hear that their relationship had grown, but she was also worried about what was still to come in Froze's story.

Froze slouched a little and said, "Kehp is really passionate about human-liminal relations now, and the Exchange Program was hiring specialists with experience…"

Haru nodded. She knew where this was going because she'd seen it before, when Japanese Exchange Program employees came recruiting in the raptor harpy kingdom.

"Kehp got a job with them, as a Liminal Ambassador. She really loves it!" Froze said, trying to be upbeat. "She travels to liminal lands that haven't integrated with the rest of the world yet, and she encourages them to open up a little."

Froze paused, then said, "But she's away from home a lot. For weeks at a time." Froze let out a little whimper. "At first it was fine. I'd go hunting or take online classes to keep myself busy. But she'll be gone two whole months this time."

Her soft magenta eyes looked from Yuisu to Haru and back. "I was so lonely… I don't know many people, and I don't even have a Coordinator to check in with anymore. I got so grumpy and frustrated and I couldn't sleep. Finally I just had to get out of that house, yah know?"

She gestured at Yuisu and said, "So I called you. I came to the only place where…" She scrunched up her face, reluctant to actually say what came next. "…where I have friends."

Yuisu blinked back sympathetic tears. Are we really her only friends? No wonder she's so lonely. Yuisu put a hand on Froze's knee. "I think that was the right move. We can help you work through—" A sudden yawn overtook her. When it ended, Yuisu smiled and apologized, "Sorry about that. It's way past my bedtime." She didn't have a watch, but she was pretty sure it was after 3AM.

Froze crawled on all fours off of the bed, inadvertently flashing her panties at Yuisu. Then she stood up, faced Yuisu and Haru, and said, "No, I need to apologize. I'm sorry for waking everyone up with my howling. I just miss Kehp so, so much…" Her voice cracked and she took a second to catch her breath. At barely a whisper, she added, "I never knew love could hurt this bad."

Yuisu stood and pulled Froze into a warm hug. "It's okay, Froze. You're with friends now."

After the hug, Froze said, "I think now that I've got some of that off my chest, I'll be able to sleep." With one ear perked up and the other flopped down, she shyly asked, "But can I talk to you more tomorrow?"

"Of course!" Haru and Yuisu said in unison.

Lethe leaned back in a frighteningly expensive leather chair and kicked her sneaker-clad feet up onto an an even pricier mahogany desk. Her sinfully short skirt and cleavage-baring blouse looked very out of place in the fancy office. Her long blonde side-ponytail in particular looked more at home in a high school hallway.

Behind the reclining succubus, there was a brilliant view of the Tokyo skyline, illuminated by the midday sun, and in front of her was a little placard that read, 'Lethe Alighieri, Attorney at Law'.

"Hey, Jo-chan, how's it goin'?" Lethe spoke casually into a phone as she twirled the cord around one finger. Her arrow-tipped tail flicked through the air in a matching circle pattern.

"Lethe? Is that you? This is unexpected but beyond pleasant! I'm doing great. How are you?" The man had a deep, weathered voice that sounded like a long life well-lived. 'Jo-chan' was clearly an older man, despite Lethe's diminutive nickname for him.

"I'm just wonderful! Just got back from a visit to a hot spring resort that a friend of mine operates, and I'm feeling, like, totally fine."

In a husky tone, he replied, "Ooh, a hot spring with you in it sounds divine."

Lethe smiled. "Oh, you flirt. You know you don't gotta flatter me, Jo-chan. I've known you since you were in high school, and you know I adore you."

He chuckled and said, "I know it's been decades since I discovered it, but I still have a hard time believing that my favorite teacher was a succubus in disguise."

"But you kept it secret all that time. That's why I adore you, Jotaro. You're the most trustworthy man I know."

"Now who's the flatterer?" Jotaro joked. "So, what's the occasion for the call, Lethe?"

"Right to business, huh? Well, I actually have an unusual request for you," Lethe answered. "I need a venue to hold a convention in Tokyo."

"Ah, so this is about my event booking operations." Straightforward and to the point, he asked, "When and how big?"

"We were thinking a weekend in April or May, and it's got the potential to grow pretty big, and would benefit from open space regardless. It's a pop-culture convention with a focus on liminals, so we'll need to accommodate some big species."

Jotaro thought for a moment, humming to himself as he went through his mental inventory of all the event centers he leased. "Hmm, alright, I think I got one. I had an event cancel on me just last week, and I'm having trouble filling that venue on such short notice, especially in the rainy season."

Lethe wasn't too worried about the rain. The con would be indoors, and they could hire in some liminals with weather-controlling abilities if needed. "So what venue is it?"

"Tokyo Big Sight. Just the Conference Tower, since I've got some boring trade shows going on in the East and West Halls. You'll have 55,000 square feet, and I guess you can use the outdoor areas around and under it too, if it doesn't rain. Does that work for you?"

Lethe's eyes lit up. She knew that distinctive building with its strange upside-down pyramid structure, and even though she wasn't into the anime or manga scenes, she knew it was the site of Comiket, the biggest doujinshi convention in the world. That association could really help ComicMon's publicity.

"Yeah, that should be more than big enough. How much do you want for the weekend?"

Jotaro gave Lethe an excellent deal, since she was filling a cancellation that would have otherwise gone to waste, and as a favor to an old friend. They chatted for a bit longer, working out a lot of the details, then Lethe gently suggested that they wrap things up. "Thanks so very much, Jotaro. I've got a lot of other preparations to do, not to mention one actual court case to work on. Talk to you soon?"

"Of course. Though I wouldn't mind a visit in person, or maybe one of your sweet dreams?" Jotaro suggested, only half-serious.

"How about both? We'll make an evening of it and we can reminisce about old times," she replied in a sultry tone.

Jotaro coughed in surprise, then said, "I'd love that! Tell me a time and a place and I'm there."

"I'll call you when I've picked one out. Seeya then, Jo-chan."

Lethe leaned forward and returned the phone to its cradle. Then she pulled a folder labeled 'ComicMon' from her filing cabinet and jotted down all the specifics about the venue deal. Her tongue stuck out of the corner of her mouth as she wrote, making her look even more youthful than normal. Lethe planned on typing it all up later to email to Mara and Chione, but she still preferred good old-fashioned paper for taking notes.

Not bad for a morning's work, she thought. I wonder how Mara and Chione are holding up?

"Hello? Is this the Tokyo Special Event Organization Department?" Chione asked with her phone in the crook of her neck and a phonebook open on her lap. Her eyes were tired and red, with dark bags underneath. She wore a knee-length plaid skirt and a white button-up shirt, but it was untucked and wrinkled.

A very disinterested man's voice replied, "Yeah, that's us."

"That's just great! I've been trying to reach you all morning." Even when exhausted, Chione managed to stay chipper and friendly.

"Yeah, we were on lunch," he said unapologetically.

From 9am to noon? she thought incredulously, but she didn't let it show in her voice. "No problem, I understand. I'm sure you're a very busy man, but I'd like to ask just the teensiest favor."

Either from her politeness or flattery, the man seemed to open up a bit. "Yeah, what can I do for you, miss?"

Chione kept applying both, just in case. She was trying out all the flirty tricks that Mimi had used to get her way in school, and the approach had been working so far. In her sweetest voice, she asked, "Could you please confirm that you received a fax about an event called ComicMon from the Interspecies Exchange Program offices? It would simply make my day, sir."

When she mentioned the Exchange Program, the man's tone turned serious and he rattled off a very rehearsed-sounding line, "Extraspecies programs do not fall under Tokyo's municipal open-records policies. I'll need proof of your identity before I can reveal whether or not I received any such fax."

Chione leaned her head back and rolled her eyes. She was starting to wonder whether bringing in the Exchange Program for grant funding was worth all the extra bureaucracy. She answered with a well practiced line of her own, "My name is Chione de Sully, and I'm an Interspecies Exchange Program homestay underneath Exchange Program Coordinator Agent Will. If you find my file in the Exchange Program database, you can confirm that this call is from the cellphone number on file."

"Huh, alright, miss…" he replied cautiously as he typed away at a loud clicky keyboard. Now that he knew she was in the extraspecies program, he was likely wondering what kind of monster he was talking to. The word 'gargoyle' tended to conjure images of grotesque and spooky statues, so Chione purposely hadn't mentioned it. However, she knew that her photo in the program database was a cute one, and she hoped that might help win him over.

After a moment, his voice was friendly again. "Alright, Chione, your information checks out. Yeah, I got a fax from them. Looks like it's got all the forms in order too, for once. Last time when they requested a special permit for some Liminal Awareness Parade, they messed the forms all up."

"Perfect! Can I ask your name, so I know who to thank for such excellent service?" she said. She though but didn't say, And who to ask for if I call back, so I don't have to go through all that again?

Chione could practically hear his cheeks blushing as he answered, "Uh, it's Arata."

"Thank you, Arata. You've been just wonderful." She was channeling her inner Mimi and being a little flirtier than she was comfortable with, especially with a man. "I'm sure you'll continue to be amazing when you process that fax for me. Goodbye!"

"O-of course! Goodbye!" he blurted, flustered by Chione's flattery.

Chione peeled the phone from her cheek and hung up. She turned and looked across the plushie-filled bedroom to see how Mara was doing. The little arachne had a spreadsheet open on her computer and was scanning through it with six tired eyes. She was wearing a dark blue tank top, matching arm-covers, and a frilly blue skirt, and she looked almost as disheveled as Chione did.

Chione said, "Special Events received the fax and it seems in order. You can check that off the list."

"Got it," Mara said flatly. She typed a note in the document, then spun her desk chair around to look at Chione.

Chione's eyes widened when she saw how tired Mara looked. "You don't look so good, Mara."

"Speak for yourself. You look like a zombie," Mara snarked.

Chione giggle weakly. "Well, imagine how much worse off we'd be if Lethe wasn't helping us out."

A shiver ran from the tip of Mara's abdomen to the ends of her legs and up to her head. "Yeah, no thanks. That would have been a nightmare." Mara blinked sleepily, then said, "Seriously though, you need sleep. I guess I do too. We've been at this for like"—She paused and counted off on her fingers—"…twenty hours."

Chione nodded feebly. "Yeah. But my bed's so far awayyy," she whined.

Mara hopped off her chair and started pulling off her arm covers as she approached her bed. Then she pulled her frilly skirt off over her head. Underneath it, she was wearing sky blue panties that were simple and comfortable. She tugged the skirt around her pigtails and threw it on the floor, then she looked at Chione and suggested, "Just sleep here. The bed is huge and Tsuen's at work anyway."

"That sounds nice," Chione replied. It never even crossed her tired mind that she'd be sleeping with another woman, one who also had a girlfriend of her own. She was only concerned with getting some actual rest.

Still wearing her shirt and skirt, Chione just crawled onto the big empty bed and flopped down on her belly. Mara climbed up as well and turned around in a circle, kneading the bed with her pointy legs. Once she had it in a comfortable state, she curled up in a pink ball next to Chione.

Within seconds, they were both fast asleep, snuggled up together adorably.