Chapter one, 2017, flashes of summer, segment ten

During the life he left behind Ulf took his first real girlfriend to his bed after some hesitation, or rather she took him to his bed. He’d been far too awkward to understand the repeated invites she gave him, so in the end, during a late evening alone with each other, she took to the offensive in a way even he wasn’t able to misunderstand.

Now was different.

While he and Christina had shared their bodies on a few occasions it was still a matter of adults in teenager bodies, or at least as much adults as their bodies allowed.

Noriko, however, was very much still a child. At least in his eyes. Ulf was thoroughly grateful she hadn’t tried anything in that direction. Spending the moments before they entered the pool together was bad enough, but she defused it by walking away before she took off her clothes.

It wasn’t like he wasn’t interested at all. She was cute, and he didn’t really have any body type preferences. Had he been the age he looked he probably would have tried something bad. Or good, depending on how you looked at it.

As it was he wasn’t ready for either love or making love, and Noriko deserved the full attention of the man who shared that sensation for the first time with her.

So in the end he was grateful for the pool as well. It was very much the same as a sauna during his university days back home. After a while the conversation drew most of his attention, and he felt his misgivings fade away as he enjoyed how she handled different topics in a way that lay far beyond her years.

Ulf enjoyed talking with Noriko. Problem being he had enjoyed talking with Christina as well since she quickly dispelled any notions he held of her being all looks. He’d been guilty of some severe preconceptions about beauty and brains.

Still, Noriko was different. She gave him a run for his money. Her mind moved so quickly he needed all of his experience to catch up, and only by playing a dirty game of steering conversations where experience mattered more than pure brains did he manage to keep up.

They talked and laughed, and talked some more. After a while he forgot neither of them wore any clothes, and from the way she Noriko acted, so did she.

A little too much time in the pool it turned out.

Dizzy from heat and fatigue Ulf left the water, grabbed his towel and got rid of the worst of the water. Then he draped himself with a yukata, not even bothering with the obi, and checked that Noriko didn’t fall asleep in the pool or anything equally stupid and dangerous.

He needn’t have worried. She stood, towel in her hair, with water dripping down her body in the light of their room and almost only a pitch black night as background.

Whatever lit the terrace was more for setting the mood than anything else, and Ulf was rudely reminded that this was, after all, not the same as sharing a sauna back home with friends.

Small breasts, narrow hips and yet a body that had decided to grow into adulthood, and all framed by her thin arms and a white towel furiously dancing around in her hair.

Ulf looked down in embarrassment but his body had already reacted, and he pulled the yukata tighter around himself and quickly took a few steps in the direction if the water boiler.

Damn. I’m getting turned on. Shit! I’m a creep after all.

“Could you pour one for me as well?”

Ulf refused to turn around and meet her face. From her voice he could hear that she was oblivious to how his mood had changed. “Sure, green or black?” he said with a voice you could curdle milk with.

“Sorry, I didn’t get that.”

“Black, sure I’ll get you one,” Ulf said and pretended he had misunderstood what Noriko said.

“Urufu?”

There was no way he could show her his expression now. Instead he fidgeted with two cups, teabags and spoons.

“Urufu, did something happen?”

“Nothing,” he murmured.

Quick steps behind him almost had him turn around anyway. Then two small hand tilted his head backwards where he sat on the tatami mats. He looked up and met Noriko’s worried eyes.

It was at that time he realised she could see a lot more than just his face, and when she suddenly let go of his head and leapt backwards he knew she had.

“I’m sorry.”

“I didn’t...”

Shame got the better of him, and he knew he was being unfair even before the words left his mouth. “You did. Wasn’t this exactly what you planned from the start?”

To his surprise her indrawn breath wasn’t followed by a scathing reply. Her words lay hanging in the air for a few seconds before they were voiced.

“I didn’t expect… no… yes I did, or rather hoped.” Then some more silence. “I don’t think I knew what to do if everything went as I planned.”

And there it was. In several aspects she was most definitely still a child.

“Urufu, thank you,” came the unexpected continuation of her thoughts. “You proved I can affect you.”

“Bloody hell, any cute girl probably could,” Ulf admitted.

“Urufu, thank you, or at least your body for noticing me as a woman.”

What could he say to that?

“Urufu. I’ll give you the space you want. At least until next term starts.”

“Huh?”

She sat down behind him, and once again those two small hands found their way to him. This time as a hug. “You want to come to some kind of conclusion with Kuri. I won’t pester you.”

Ulf let out a sigh of relief.

“On one condition.”

That night Noriko proved to him how shameless she could be when she wanted, and it took all his willpower not to act on the sensation of her body next to his. Every time she moved where she lay half atop him she must have felt exactly what his body wanted to do rather than sleep.