Learning_About_Myself.12

THE MEGUMI STORIES 06/12
BY MEGUMI KATO AND FRIENDS

VOLUME 06: LEARNING ABOUT MYSELF
BY SAYAKA ONODERA AND BOB WILLIAMS

FINAL REVISED EDITION

Part 12

CHAPTER XII

A Family Conference

"What a wonderful woman!" I said to Reina as we 
travelled home on the subway. I had begged to be 
allowed to keep my ropes and clamps on under my dress, 
and she had reluctantly agreed, extracting my promise 
to take them off and get back into my school uniform 
ready for my mother's return the moment we got home.

"Yes. She's had a great influence on our business. She 
started as just another sex starlet, like you will, but 
now she's running a big group of studios and promoting 
its products here and all over the United States. We're 
all a bit jealous of her, but proud of her too."

"Why are you jealous? Just because she is so 
successful?"

"Well, she married the man who then took over the 
company. We don't all have that luck! And he's an 
incredibly sexy man who makes her very happy. That's 
lucky too."

"Will she really employ me, do you think?"

"Oh yes. She said she would, so she will. So long as 
you are sensible and don't upset her. Once you're 
sixteen, in some of her associate companies, as she 
said. Work hard, and at eighteen you'll be making 
videos for Marucho. Lucky you."

"Do you work for Marucho, Reina?"

"Sometimes. I prefer to be freelance. You get more 
variety that way."

I wondered if she meant more variety of work or of 
fucking, but thought it best not to ask.

"Of course, being freelance means I need a really 
reliable agent," she went on, "someone who can 
negotiate fair contracts for me and make sure I get 
paid - and keep most of what I am paid."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, there are people who think they are entitled to 
claim a share of a girl's earnings in the sex industry. 
And I _don't_ mean the Tax Agency! A good agent can 
protect you against that, or at least do a deal for 
you. I prefer to pay my dues to ... well, to people 
like that ... in kind, if you see what I mean." She 
giggled in her delightfully girlish way. "Performing at 
one of their great events can be huge fun, or if I'm 
very lucky being ordered to look after a really big 
shot, hung like a horse and covered in tattoos ... oh, 
yes!" For a moment she seemed lost in happy memories, 
lips parted and eyes sparkling. "But if you are part of 
the Marucho empire they'll look after you and keep you 
safe. They're too big and too well-connected to be 
bullied. Especially with Mr Otani in charge."

What a lot there was to learn about my new profession, 
I thought! I would have liked to ask more, but we were 
nearly home.

I was delighted to see my mother again when she arrived 
from the station an hour after our return. It had been 
an exciting two weeks for me, but when the sliding door 
from the street opened and there she was stepping out 
of her shoes in the entrance hall and into the slippers 
I had ready for her I realised how much I had missed 
her. After her long journey she was more than ready for 
some tea, and then Reina and I prepared dinner while 
she took her bath. Of course she wanted to know that I 
had behaved well and given Reina no trouble, and Reina 
confirmed briefly that I had been good.

"But I would like to talk to you about Saa-chan's 
future before I leave tonight," she added.

"Yes, I suppose that would be a good idea," said my 
mother wearily. "Go to your room and get started on 
your homework, Sayaka. But Reina, keep it short, if you 
can: I'm very tired and I must make an early start at 
the office tomorrow."

So I never had the tender farewell with my beautiful 
cousin Reina that I had been half hoping for. Of course 
she wouldn't be staying the night: there was hardly 
room for three in our little house, and - I thought 
sadly - she was probably looking forward to getting 
back to the modern comforts of her apartment. She just 
looked in as I worked to wave farewell; then my mother 
came in to say good-night. She was too tired to tell me 
what Reina had suggested, she said: it would have to 
wait till the following evening.

So I passed the next day in a very anxious state. How 
much had Reina told my mother about my hopes and 
dreams? What a pity we had not been able to have a 
private word together so that I would know how to 
support whatever she had said! Was my mother at all 
sympathetic or was she about to put a stop to my plans? 
Worrying about all this I was unusually inattentive at 
school and was criticised by the teachers.

When I returned home there had been a change in my 
small room. A new chest with three drawers had been 
squeezed in against the wall: there was just room for 
it between my desk and the sliding doors of the 
built-in closet where I kept my clothes and stowed my 
_futon_. Someone - my mother, no doubt - had decorated 
it with a woven cloth and a small vase of flowers on 
the top.

"Thank you for my new chest!" I said at once.

"I thought you needed something like that," said my 
mother with a tired smile. "You're old enough now to 
have new clothes for, you know, when you go out. And 
you need somewhere for your personal things ... that's 
your private storage space. Keep it tidy! No one else 
will look in there."

I thanked her again, more formally this time. It was as 
if I had graduated to a new stage of my life, allowed 
to have privacy for the exciting new things that were 
happening to me. Would it be safe to keep sexual 
equipment like whips and clamps and ropes there? I 
supposed so: my mother had said no one would pry. I 
owed it to Reina, I was sure: she must have told her I 
needed something like that and was old enough to 
deserve it. What else had she persuaded my mother to 
accept about the changes which had come to me so 
recently? I was about to find out.

"Now, Sayaka," said my mother as we sat over dinner 
that night, "I'm glad Reina is so pleased with you. She 
said you behaved well, were no trouble, did your 
homework and so on."

I said nothing. There was more to come, I knew.

"She has some ideas about what you should do when you 
leave school. I don't know if they'll work out. Of 
course, she's in the entertainment business. Quite 
successful in making movies and so on, I understand. 
And she seems to think you have a talent for that sort 
of work yourself."

"Yes, mummy. She was very good to me. And it does sound 
exciting!"

"Well, I don't want to stop you doing what you want to 
do. If it's something you really do want. But you must 
understand that it's a very risky business. Lots of 
girls want to get into it, but only a few are 
successful."

"Reina's been successful," I objected.

"And even those who are successful - it doesn't last 
long, you know."

"But I think I'd like to try, mummy. I mean, if I could 
do it, but never even tried, that would be a shame, 
wouldn't it?"

"Yes. I was like you when I left school. I started 
doing what Reina has done. It was fun, and exciting. I 
might have done quite well, I suppose, but, like I 
said, it didn't last long. I met your father, and you 
came along, and, well - in the end I got a steady job 
instead."

For a moment I was shocked. Was my mother telling me 
that she too had worked in the sex business? I knew of 
course that I had been born only a few months after my 
parents had married. So my mother had worked as - 
whatever girls worked as all those years ago, had met 
my father, become pregnant, decided to keep me and 
married him. Then I thought: it's ridiculous to be 
shocked at this revelation about my mother. I am 
planning - longing - to do just what she did, and more. 
And thousands and thousands of Japanese girls start 
their adult lives working in the sex industry, even if 
only briefly and only on the fringes as hostesses or 
bath-girls. So that was what my mother had done in her 
day. But I still did not know whether she had decided 
to allow me to work towards my dream. I tried a little 
diversion.

"Why did daddy leave? Were you very sad when he did?"

"Oh, I was upset at the time. But it was for the best. 
He was a very handsome man. All the girls were after 
him. And he wasn't a family man. He tried for a while 
to be a good father to you but it didn't work out. So 
he went off, and I got a steady job, as you know."

Of course, I thought privately to myself, I'll be 
careful. I won't get pregnant. That's easy nowadays. 
But I didn't say that to my mother.

"What we - you and I - planned for you," she was 
saying, "was that you stay at school at least till the 
summer break next year, when you'll be getting on for 
seventeen. Then when you've left, you do a secretarial 
course. And after that, we try to find you a safe 
office job."

"Yes, mummy. That was what we planned. Before Reina 
..."

She gave me a tired smile.

"One thing that has changed - one other thing, apart 
from Reina putting ideas in your head - is that there 
will be a little money from Grandfather Isobe. Not 
much, and it will be a while before everything is 
settled and the taxes are paid. Of course most of what 
he had went on getting him into the old people's home. 
He was happy there, I think ..."

"I'm glad."

"But it does change things, a little," she resumed. "It 
means that if you really want to try for success in the 
entertainment business there'll be money to keep you 
going until you start to earn."

"Oh, thank you! That's wonderful!"

"However," said my mother looking at me severely, "I 
still want you to do a secretarial course. Maybe only 
part-time. Then if your dream doesn't work out - and 
for most girls it doesn't, you know - you'll still have 
a qualification. Do you agree?"

"Yes," I said. What else could I say?

"And you will work hard, won't you? With sincerity and 
commitment to those who employ you?"

"Yes, of course!"

She stretched and hid a yawn. I moved quickly round and 
started massaging her shoulders for her.

"One thing about the entertainment industry," she said, 
rather vaguely between yawns, "is that a girl does 
learn things ... techniques ... how to please men ... 
you know, a boss, senior colleagues, maybe a husband 
one day ..."

I said nothing. I was too busy working out what she 
meant. She seemed to be saying that by working in a 
strip-club, a bath-house, an AV movie studio a girl 
would acquire the sexual skills that men appreciated 
and that would be useful to her later. The same kind of 
thing as learning tea ceremony or taking classes in one 
of the _ikebana_ flower arranging schools. But before I 
could probe further my mother sat up straight and began 
to speak more clearly.

"There's one other thing I have to tell you. I'm sorry, 
but we won't be going on holiday to Hokkaido this 
summer."

"Oh ..."

"They didn't exactly say in the office today that I had 
to regard my absence the last two weeks as my annual 
leave, but it's obvious that that's the way it will be. 
Are you very disappointed?"

I thought for a moment. I was, of course. I had been 
looking forward to it. But that was in one of my lives 
and I had not considered how it would conflict with my 
other life. I would be busy - I hoped I would be busy - 
all through the summer with my assisted dating. I had 
promised Kato-san, and Reina, and even the man at the 
agency, to pursue that opportunity fully.

"Well, yes ... but no, it doesn't matter. Of course you 
must show your commitment to the company, mummy."

"Thank you, dear. I'm glad you see it that way."

Mentioning my mother's commitment to her employers had 
made me see that I too was committed to mine. I must 
not fail to work hard and show sincerity. It suddenly 
occurred to me: in doing that, I shall be living up to 
my mother's expectations. My work and hers were very 
different, but that wasn't the point: the sincerity and 
commitment were what mattered.

Thinking about it all in bed later - I could hardly 
sleep for excitement - I understood that my mother knew 
more than I imagined about the career I was dreaming 
of. After all, she had been there herself, all those 
years ago, even if only briefly. But so long as she 
could refer to it as the "entertainment business" and 
had no need to know exactly what work I would be 
required to do, what kind of establishments I would be 
sent out to work in and what kind of movies I hoped to 
make, there was no need for her to be shocked or upset. 
It suddenly occurred to me that my new friend Bob 
Williams would describe this sensible arrangement as 
"very Japanese".

Thinking of him reminded me of the beautiful experience 
I had enjoyed in his secret room the day before. I 
slipped out of my flannel pyjamas. Stroking my breasts 
with one hand and sliding the other down to my crotch, 
I began to masturbate as I remembered it in all its 
delightful detail, the multiple lashes swirling round 
me with their loving kisses; and then at last drifted 
off to sleep, and to happy dreams.


[Next in Part 13: Chapter XIII: My First Client]


For complete series so far see 
/files/Authors/Bob_Williams