As she spoke, Poo was getting back into her clothes with the speed of a soldier under orders.
“Self Defence Force, eh? Oh well, too bad,” sighed Daikichi, without any clear idea of just what was too bad. He gave up trying to hold her back, and turned to Mitsuyo. A chill had descended on the entertainment, and Mitsuyo had also slipped her breasts back into her bra.
“Come on, let’s keep hitting it!” Daikichi said to her, tossing back his beer.
“You oughta head down and hit it at Mt. Fuji yourself, Daikichi.”
“But they say Self Defence Force guys don’t make it with the girls.”
“Well you certainly wouldn’t. But the SDF are pretty cool, you know. They’re great when there’s an earthquake or a typhoon. If it’s a toss-up between an SDF guy and a policeman, I’d take the SDF guy. There are a lot of creepy policemen, and they use dirty tactics. And I’ve had run-ins with them before. You take good care of that man, Poo.”
“Sure thing.”
Poo, Calpis, and Takako checked to see they had everything on, then all turned to Kita and thanked him politely. “It’s been fun,” said Kita. He stayed sitting on the bed to see them off, but for some reason they didn’t go straight out. Poo and Takako glanced at each other and grinned. Kita waited, wondering if he ought to say something more.
“Would you have the fare?’ said Mitsuyo. The three of them immediately shook their heads as if by agreement, and smiled at him.
Kita realized they were after money. “How much?” he said. Takako said four thousand yen, and Poo asked for six thousand.
“I see,” said Kita, “two thousand more if you take off your skirt.” Then he followed up by asking how much a taxi cost if you’d taken off your bra.
Takako turned to Poo for confirmation, and held up one finger, indicating a ten thousand yen note. Poo nodded. “And panties is twelve,” she said.
Calpis instantly turned to his girlfriend, Takako. “You’re talking about selling your body?” he asked.
“Don’t be stupid,” Takako said, and Poo went on, “Being naked is different from having sex.”
“Women have it good, don’t they. There’s a price on breasts and a price on pubic hair.” Daikichi spoke into the echo on the mike.
Mitsuyo seized the mike from him. “There are guys who like guys like you! Five hundred yen a go,” she yelled.
“Yuck! I’d rather join the SDF than sell myself to a man.”
“Idiot. Selling yourself to the nation’s just the same as selling yourself to a man.” Mitsuyo knocked Daikichi on the head with the mike. The echo filled the room. Daikichi grabbed the mike back from her, held it to his mouth, and did a skilful imitation of a helicopter, a bazooka and a pistol shot.
“Hey, when did you learn that? Teach me how to do it,” said Calpis, in genuine admiration of Daikichi’s talents. The praise went to Daikichi’s head, and he proceeded to grip the mike and produce a further rendition of a wild battle.
“Hey Daikichi, you look like you’re performing fellatio.” Zombie had been silent all this while, but now she held her hand to her mouth and giggled.
“No way! Right, I’m off too. I’ll head on home on the last train, all on my ownsome.” Daikichi flung the mike onto the bed, thrust his fat legs back into his baggy jeans, and slung his sweater round his shoulders.
Kita passed a ten thousand yen note to Poo. “Divide it between you,” he said.
“Thanks,” said Poo. “Well Kita, let’s do it again some time,” and she put out her hand. The other three did likewise, adding things like “Stay alive till we meet again, won’t you,” and “Hope you have a really cool death,” and “Give us another meal some time please,” and out they went.
The second hand was just a fraction past eleven. During the time it took for the gap to widen to an inch or so, the sudden silence oppressed Kita, thrust by others into the position of being left alone with two women in their underwear. He climbed back into the black wool trousers he’d carefully folded to avoid wrinkles and lay down on the bed. Zombie followed his lead, and reached for her checked wrap-around skirt.
“You going home?” Kita looked from Zombie’s face to Mitsuyo’s.
“You won’t kill yourself tonight, will you? You’re just going to sleep, aren’t you?” Zombie inquired in a bright, breezy voice.
“Yep, that’s the plan. Quite a bit’s happened today. That first guy I met was the problem. He goes and spreads the news around, and then he goes and introduces me to Mitsuyo.”
“What, you mean that was bad? But you’re the one who rang me, remember. I just came along because it was work, you know.”
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m really glad I met everyone. You in particular, Mitsuyo. And you too, Zombie. That story of the four failed suicide attempts was very useful, thanks.”
“I see. You mean, you haven’t tried to kill yourself before?” Zombie spoke casually. She wasn’t setting herself up as superior.
“Given that I’m going to do it, I don’t want to make a mess of it,” Kita said meekly.
Zombie nodded deeply. “Good luck,” she said encouragingly.
“OK, all those rowdy ones have gone, so why don’t we take a bath?” suggested Mitsuyo. Zombie and Kita both assented. All three found themselves looking forward to soaking in a warm spa bath and relaxing. The two girls showed no sign of planning to leave. Did this mean he had to buy them both for the night? Both of them suddenly looked like prostitutes to Kita. Without hesitating, both Zombie and Mitsuyo stripped to nothing, and began by jumping into the pool—though this “pool” was actually about the size of a storage closet. Kita watched them through the transparent synthetic glass screen as they joked about, playing at synchronized swimming together. Mitsuyo waved to him from the water, so Kita took off his clothes, climbed the diving ladder, and plunged in between the two mermaid heads.
The mermaids had pale skin, and appeared considerably slimmer under water than they did on land. Their hair and their public hair rocked gently like waterweed. Their four breasts floated about like jellyfish, flattening, swelling, twisting.
Mitsuyo suggested they have a competition to see who could stay underwater longest. They all sank together. Beneath the surface all was quiet. Breath held, Kita looked at the two pale, meditative faces of the girls, their cheeks bulging like squirrels. From time to time a few bubbles would go dancing up to the surface. The sound seemed to Kita like the mermaids’ murmuring voices, chattering on about this and that. The sudden humour of this made Kita suddenly expel his breath in a laugh, and pop out of the water. Mitsuyo and Zombie both poked their faces up after him.
“OK, let’s bet something this time,” said Mitsuyo breathlessly, looking around for agreement. She apparently assumed she’d be likely to win at holding her breath.
“What will you two bet?” asked Kita. Zombie replied she didn’t have anything to bet.
“How about your body?” This development struck Kita as only natural, considering that he was cavorting in the water with two stark naked girls.
“You’ve got great tits, Mitsuyo, and you’ve been in films and everything, but I’m pretty much flat-chested, and, well, I’ve never done it for money before… Poo would’ve been good. She’s prepared to sell herself for her SDF guy, after all.”
“She can be full-on once she gets an idea into her head. And she’s so rebellious. She’s anti-school, anti-society. She really hates the way it’s just irresponsible dirty old men who lead our society. Says she sells herself to these lechers and pays what she gets as tribute money to the SDF. It’s helping protect the nation, is what she tells herself. It’s pretty weird, but the way Poo sees things I guess there’s some justice in the idea.”