(part 1)

Grinning, Chidori waved and trotted up to the corner where her friend was waiting.

"Merry Christmas," Akiha called out with a little giggle. Chidori returned the Holiday greeting and the two girls started their walk to school together, joining with the flow of students in identical uniforms that was gradually growing less sparse as they approached the high school. "Did you have a good time with Takagi-san the other day?" Akiha continued.

"Well of course. It was totally romantic and everything," Chidori replied. She'd only been with Takagi for a few months, but he had put a real effort into their special Christmas Eve date.

"Did he give you that? It looks pretty fancy," Akiha motioned at the hairclip holding back Chidori's hime cut. It was black and shiny, set with a row of deep green stones.

"Uh-uh. He got me a necklace, but I thought it was way too flashy to wear to school. This is from Uncle Jojo." She turned her head to let Akiha get a better look at the jewelry.

"Oh yeah, that's your uncle who went overseas. Wasn't he an archeologist or something? And what does this writing here say?" Akiha asked, peering at the letters engraved in the polished black surface.

"I can't tell. It looks almost like English but not quite, and I don't even recognize the second character. Uncle Jojo likes strange foreign things, so I was thinking about asking Kirika about it later today. Oh, and it says something else on the other side, but those characters are even weirder. Here, look," Chidori stopped walking and lifted her hair so that Akiha could look at the underside of the clip, turning so that it caught the sunlight.

Akiha examined the strange and unfamiliar characters, saying, "this side is all shiny. Is it silver? Or do you think it's just..." then she was cut off by the rumbling noise of a subway passing under the street.

Standing there and waiting for the noise to subside, something at the edge of Chidori's vision caught her attention, and she turned to look ahead down the street to where a pair of girls that looked like first-years were walking together. Her mouth popped open with an inaudible gasp of surprise at what she saw there: one of the two girls had carelessly stepped onto the corner of a subway grate, and the updraft was blowing her uniform's skirt way up past her hips and completely revealing her cute little light blue panties. Behind her, a group of boys were staring at the sight, and one of them was trying to pull his phone out in time to take a picture. He wasn't fast enough, though, and a heartbeat later the girl stepped off the subway grate and her skirt settled back into place.

Chidori closed her mouth as the surprise passed, but her pulse was still racing. That poor girl! And those awful boys! Thank goodness they didn't manage to get a picture. She looked again, to see how the girl in the light blue panties and her friend would react, but they were still staring at the second girl's phone, clearly engrossed in something or other, and hadn't even noticed the little surprise subway-grate-panty-flash. And worst of all, they were headed straight for another subway grate!

At this rate, those two first-year girls were both going to walk right over that grate in just a few seconds and give those boys a double dose of panty-flash. And that one with the phone had it out and at the ready now. What was Chidori going to do!

The sunlight gleamed on her hairpin in a way that looked as though it ought to be audible, and in the same moment Chidori made her decision.

"I gotta save her!"

The thought flickered through Chidori's mind like a lightning bolt, shocking her into action, and she took off running. The boys gave a brief shout of surprise as she shoved past them, which she ignored, focused as she was on reaching the two girls before it was too late. She tried to call out to them between breaths, but her voice was drowned completely by the mighty roar of the subway. She focused anew on running, her vision locked on the fluttering fabric of the girls' skirts and her mind on reaching them in time to stop those skirts from taking flight.

Just in time she reached out and grabbed one girl's shoulder, drawing a little exclamation of surprise that was hardly audible even at this distance. But even as she stopped her friend kept walking, still completely oblivious to her own imminent exposure. Chidori tried to reach across to grab the other girl's shoulder too, but she was too far away, so instead she leaped out past them both, twisting to land in front of the pair with her hands held out in an unmistakable "Stop!" gesture. It worked, and the second girl stopped just short of the updraft, so near to the updraft that the edge of her skirt ruffled restlessly but not quite near enough for it to rise up.

Chidori gave a sigh of relief and lowered her hands before she saw the looks on the girls' faces. They looked very surprised, which was perfectly understandable, but they also looked alarmed and they were both blushing, and most strangely of all they were looking down. Chidori felt a surge of dread rise as something awful occurred to her. She slowly looked down herself, only to freeze at exactly the sight she was afraid of. She was standing right on the subway grate, the updraft was still blowing as strong as before, and her skirt was billowing freely high above her waist, leaving her cute blue-and-purple shimapan completely exposed.

Horrified and all but immobilized by shock, she raised her head and snapped her eyes forward to look past the girls at the cluster of boys behind them. They were staring right at her with big goofy grins, and two of them had their phones pointed at her. Behind them, Akiha was wide-eyed with her hands over her mouth, looking on in horror at Chidori's horrible accident.

After long seconds Chidori's shock passed enough for her to push down the front of her skirt and cover her panties. A moment later the subway completed its passage, the wind stopped, and her uniform settled back into place. Her whole face felt hot as she blushed bright red with helpless embarrassment, and for one more second there was only stunned silence. Her hairpin, meanwhile, sparkled and twinkled like a starry sky, but nobody there could see it.

Akiha broke the silence, crying out, "Oh no! Chidori! Are you... are you..." as she rushed over to try to help. Drawing up alongside the two gaping first-years, she quickly realized that it was much too late for that, since the disaster was over and the boys had already seen everything. So instead, she whirled about and turned her attention on them, shouting "You!" in voice as stern and piercing as that of any teacher. "Just what exactly do you think you're..." she trailed off, however, upon seeing that the boys had already scattered like a group of rats at the first syllable of her accusation, each one disappearing in a different direction.

"Umm... th- thanks! Thanks for, um... h- helping. You really saved us, senpai," the girl on the left offered with equal parts gratitude and sympathy. She had clearly worked out what happened and why. Seeing that her words did little to assuage Chidori's embarrassment, she continued, "And um... it could be worse, you know?" with a nervous little laugh. "I mean... um, at least you're wearing normal panties, and not anything too embarrassing. L-like with goofy pink hearts... or a tiny little thong..."

At that moment, the girl on the right gave a big gasp, and the three others looked at her in time to see her glance straight down and blush, turning not quite as red as Chidori. The significance of the girl's sudden surge of embarrassment was just beginning to dawn on Chidori when the girl on the left put it into words. "Mioko-chan... are you... did you... are you wearing a..." The meaning of her words was clear enough to everybody, but she didn't stop there. "Did Eiko dare you to wear that thong to school again!?"

Eiko hadn't dared her to wear it this time, as it turned out, but Mioko was wearing it anyway, as she stammeringly explained while the four of them resumed their walk to school. "It's just... see, since I still had it and everything. After the last time I mean... and since it turned out just fine back then I just... I thought it would be a waste to never wear it again, you know? And besides, it's... it's, um... kinda comfy..."

The other girls just stared at Mioko for a few seconds before Natsumi spoke up again. "Thank you so, so, SO much Chidori-senpai! If you hadn't stopped us then we... and then she... I mean, it's bad enough what happened to you and me but... but if that happened to Mioko-chan too then those boys totally would have seen her whole... um... I mean..." she trailed off, belatedly noticing the way Mioko was quivering with embarrassment and blushing so hard that her face was briefly even brighter than her long reddish-brown hair. Mioko was the one who'd been walking on the right earlier, and who'd narrowly avoided flashing anybody thanks to Chidori's intervention. Her friend Natsumi had short black hair and had already been informed by Akiha, once they all introduced themselves, that she accidentally flashed her panties without even noticing. She was taking the news pretty well, considering, possibly because it wasn't nearly as embarrassing as what happened to Chidori only moments later.

Chidori herself had also needed Akiha to inform her of the full catastrophic extent of that panty-flash. Specifically, the way that she'd run right over the first subway grate on her way to stop Natsumi and Mioko from stepping on the second, completely heedless of the way her skirt lifted right up to expose the back of her shimapan even before she exposed the front. "But still," Akiha pointed out to comfort her friend, "you did the right thing!"

They all knew what she meant by that. As bad as it was for those boys to get to see Chidori's panties, it would have been far FAR worse if they got to see Mioko's panties instead. Based on Natsumi's unnecessarily and uncomfortably detailed description, the thong she was wearing was so teeny-tiny that from behind she might as well have been wearing no panties at all, and if Chidori hadn't come to the rescue she would have accidentally flashed her entire practically bare butt! All four of them just had to shudder at the thought.

Eventually they arrived at the school gates, where Chidori and Akiha parted ways with their kouhai. Once they'd left, Akiha sighed and said with an air of regret, "I'm just sorry I didn't realize what was happening sooner. If I'd just noticed what those boys were doing in time I could have confiscated their phones on behalf of the student council." As the student council secretary, Akiha might not technically have had the authority to punish those boys for being perverts while not on school grounds, but she definitely had the force of personality to make up for it. Akiha could be really scary when she wanted to. "I mean, they still would have seen... what they saw, b- but I could have at least deleted the video before anyone else saw it. Maybe if I can figure out their names I'll try to track them down later and do something about it. Let's talk about it some more after class, okay?"

With that business out of the way, she tried to take Chidori's mind off the morning's embarrassment by changing the subject. "Oh, and maybe later we can talk to Kirika-senpai about what that writing on your hairpin says." With that, she headed off to her first class in building B, leaving her friend standing at the entrance to the main building.

With a sigh, Chidori passed through the doors and entered the hallway, which was quickly becoming crowded as her fellow students streamed in and hurried to class or stood around chatting or chatted on their way to class. She found herself contemplating what was going to happen to her next. Those boys had totally seen her panties, and even if Akiha did somehow manage to confiscate their phones before the embarrassing images reached anyone else's eyes they were sure to talk about it, and the embarrassing story would be all over the school for weeks. Just like before, she could only comfort herself by repeating over and over the thought that it could have been way worse, which inevitably brought to mind Mioko and her very unfortunate choice of underwear. The thought of doing something as risky as wearing a thong to school was bad enough, and after what happened just now it made her shudder yet again.

At that moment, Chidori's thoughts were interrupted by the faint but distinct sound of a rising disturbance behind her, and she turned around to see what it was. The hallway was getting even more crowded now, and at least a dozen students occupied the short distance between her and the main doors. She noticed right away that every one of those students looked surprised at something, and she noticed next that they all seemed to be looking at the same thing. Following the line of the crowd's collective gaze, Chidori's eyes reached the door of the girls' room directly across the hall from where she stood, and the girl who was standing in front of that door, tapping at her phone.

That girl was a perfect kogal stereotype: dark tanned skin, long and curly bleached hair, gaudy glittering lipstick and eyeshadow and fingernails. All done up like that it was no wonder she was drawing the attention of everyone around her, although their surprise reaction did seem to be a bit odd. Chidori was about to turn back around when the gal started to walk away, suddenly revealing to Chidori what was really drawing everyone's attention: her butt. It was plump and perky and just as tanned as the rest of her, and worst of all it was completely exposed. The kogal was wearing a tiny little bright pink thong, and she had apparently tucked the back of her skirt into its little pink waistband. With her underwear covering almost none of them and her skirt covering even less, the careless girl's well-toned buttocks were completely uncovered as they flexed and jiggled with every step she took and drew more and more attention as she walked down the crowded corridor. With her attention occupied by the phone in her hand and her ears occupied by a set of sparkly earbuds, the poor exposed kogal remained completely oblivious to the spectacular show she was giving everybody in sight, even as the hallway behind her filled with exclamations of surprise and the bright flashes of camera phones going off.

Chidori's mouth dropped and her eyes popped wide open as soon as she saw it all, and after a moment of shock she sprang into action. Her hairpin, already twinkling in the fluorescent light from above, gave a quick shine and a soft ping as the thought "I gotta save her!" once again flashed through her mind.

She started toward the girl at the center of the attention, but the crowd between them was thick enough that she had to shoulder her way past gawking students with every step, making such slow progress that she was hardly catching up at all. She could try to hurry somehow, but with the memory of what happened to her at the subway grate was still fresh in her mind, she didn't want to do anything reckless like that again. Instead she cupped her hands to her mouth and called out, "Hey!... uh, Kogal!" It didn't quite work. Her shout drew some attention from farther down the hallway, where the crowd had yet to notice the general commotion or the way the kogal was carelessly exposing her rear end, but the music pumping into that kogal's ears rendered her completely deaf to the warning, and Chidori's heart sank as the exposed gal marched along, turning more and more heads and exposing herself to more and more eyes by the second.

Unable to get any closer or to think of anything else but desperate to help the poor girl somehow, Chidori called out again, louder, "Heeeyy!! Your Skirt!!!" That word turned even more heads turned from even farther down the hall at the mention of that word, and Kogal finally raised her eyes and stopped in her tracks. Grasping at this ray of hope, Chidori took a deep breath and shouted with all her might, "Heeeeeeeeyyyyyy!" This time it worked. Practically everybody in sight was staring their way by now, but Chidori smiled as the gal at last reach up to pluck out one earbud and look around.

"Over here," she called once more, and this time the girl looked over her shoulder and saw Chidori's quick wave. With her attention secured Chidori pushed foward a few steps, "Your... your... skirt," she started, still gasping slightly and fumbling for words to explain the embarrassing situation without attracting even more attention and making it even more embarrassing. "I, um, I think, um, you might want to, um-"

"Huh? My what?" the Kogal shot back with a twang of annoyance, reaching up to flip her hair with one hand and placing the other on her hip. The gesture of well-practiced disdain along with her sour expression and the irritation in her voice gave Chidori pause for a moment.

"I-it's... your skirt! It's, um... you really ought to-" she managed to stammer, still off-balance from Kogal's unexpected reaction on top of the whole bizarre situation, before she was cut off.

"Now look here, missy!" Kogal spat, turning to point at Chidori in a flamboyantly dramatic fashion. Chidori was already looking, and more importantly everybody else was too, so when Kogal turned around and pointed her exposed butt right at the half of the hallway that hadn't seen it yet, they all got to see it at once. Chidori winced, which Kogal mistook for a sign of weakness as she pressed the attack. "If you got a problem with like the way I dress or whatever then you can go ahead and take it to the Principal." Every word dripped with disdain, and she punctuated the suggestion with a dismissive snicker. "'Course, I dunno if he'd appreciate it much. That old dude's already tried to chew me out over some stupid crap like that a buncha times," she strode forward as she spoke, walking with a confident sway of her hips that seemed to be getting the crowd behind her more and more excited with every step. Chidori quailed before the sheer contempt in the gal's voice, along with the mental image of what those swaying hips must look like from behind right now.

"I got great legs, and I know it," Kogal continued, bending to stroke her glittering fingernails down her smooth, toned thighs and giving a sharp pointed glance at Chidori's slightly less slender legs, all with the little thin smile of a snake staring down at a cornered rat. "and if I wanna wear a tiny little miniskirt that shows off my legs..." for emphasis she brushed both hands over her skirt, starting at the front and moving around to the sides, "then I'm gonna show off my..." then she stopped, with her mouth open in mid-sentence and her hands behind her back, frozen at the moment that they touched skin instead of fabric and thus discovered what everyone else in sight had already seen. "my..." she repeated in a little squeak, her eyes going wide and her hands falling limp at her sides as she looked up and at last realzed just why so many eyes and so many camera lenses were pointed right at her. Chidori could only watch with horrified sympathy as the awful crushing truth dawned on the other girl's face like a crimson sunrise of embarrassment, and she concluded with a plaintive squeal, "my butt!"

At that moment another voice cut through the clamor, and a figure shoved its way through the gawking crowd that surrounded the two girls. "Eiko-chan! Is that you? I... What's going on?" It was Mioko, from earlier. She burst past the last rank of onlookers directly behind Eiko and drew up with a gasp of surprise at the sight that greeted her, placing her hands on her cheeks as she stared right along with everyone else at Eiko's thong and everything it didn't cover. "Oh no! Eiko! What happened to your skirt!?"

Eiko made no reply but only stood there, motionless aside from the slight trembling that was beginning to take hold of her knees and the tears welling in her eyes. "Oh no!" Mioko repeated, quickly glancing at the crowd of staring faces and then back to what they were staring at. "H- here, just let me fix- eep!" Mioko bent and reached down to finally free the back of Eiko's skirt from where it was trapped by the waistband of Eiko's thong, only to be cut off with a squeal when Eiko's trembling legs gave out.

There was a soft thump, and then it was Chidori's turn to gasp once again at the sight before her eyes. When Eiko fell, she went straight down and landed on her butt. But her sudden descent dragged Mioko down too, and Mioko had toppled forward to land with her face on the floor and her rear end sticking up in the air, and worst of all with her skirt draped uselessly over her lower back, totally revealing her bright green thong. Just like Natsumi said earlier, it was every bit as colorful and every bit as tiny as Eiko's, and there was a renewed commotion and another surge of camera flashes as everyone that had been staring at Eiko's butt suddenly got to see Mioko's butt too. For a few seconds Chidori was too stunned to do anything but stare right along with them, and once she recovered she knelt to tug Mioko's skirt back into place. Mioko, meanwhile, got Eiko's skirt back into place, then dragged her to her feet and away down the hall, muttering something soothing about getting to the nurse's office where she could be alone for a while to calm down. The crowd of onlookers, realzing the show was over, began to disperse. Chidori was left behind to lean back against the wall, drained.

"I couldn't do anything..." she muttered. "I couldn't save her... I couldn't save either of them... I just couldn't help at all..." She knew it wasn't her fault. She knew perfectly well that Eiko had nothing to blame but her own carelessness and her own risky choice of underwear for exposing her butt to dozens and dozens of students. And she knew perfectly well that Mioko had nothing to blame but Eiko's sudden collapse and her own equally risky choice of underwear for accidentally exposing her butt when she tried to help. But after watching the whole totally embarrassing thing and especially after her own embarrassment earlier, Chidori just couldn't help feeling sorry for both of them. "If only I could have done something..." she muttered again.

The clip in her hair was shining steadily now, but just as bright as before. Struggling to push her sorrow and guilt aside, Chidori took a deep breath and got to her feet. "There's gotta be something I can do. Maybe it's not too late to contain the damage somehow. Thinking back now, she remembered that Akiha mentioned something earlier about tracking down those boys who took the pictures of her panties on the way to school. What happened to her earlier didn't seem nearly as important anymore, compared to what happened to Eiko and Mioko just now, but if Akiha could do something about the pictures of her then maybe she could do something about the pictures of them too. If there was even a chance of destroying the visual evidence and keeping their embarrassment to a minimum, she had to at least try it. Akiha said to see her after class, but with how many people saw what happened to the girls just now and with just how much of the girls they saw, the story and the pictures were just sure to be all over school by then and it would be way too late. Fortunately, the student council office was just a short distance away, so if she hurried there right now she could still get there in time to make a difference.

Buoyed somewhat by that thought, Chidori pulled herself together and set off at a brisk trot. She tried to think of a plan on the way, but every time she tried to concentrate she could only picture the awful sight she'd just witnessed of poor Eiko walking down the hall, with her cute perky butt bouncing and jiggling for everybody to see and Eiko herself completely oblivious to it. She could only shudder at the thought of what things would be like for Eiko's once everybody at school found out about it, let alone what she'd have to go through if the they all saw the pictures... or even worse, a video! She was trying to push the image from her mind for what seemed like the thousandth time when she at last reached the student council room, slid the door open and hurried inside.

"...just setting up the whole big "Birth of Venus" background when we got there, and Izumo-sensei told her to start changing right away so she took her skin-colored bikini costume and went behind the big curtain thingy we always set up in front of the supply closet for getting changed, and then she asked if..." the voice sounded sort of familiar, but Chidori couldn't quite place it until she walked around the file cabinets to where Akiha's desk was and saw Natsumi, the girl from earlier, gearing up for what was clearly going to be a lengthy story. Akiha, sitting at the desk, looked up with apprehension at Chidori's arrival.

"Oh, Chidori-san, it's just you," Akiha exclaimed, her expression quickly changing to relief as she saw who it was. "I was afraid you were another... um... well anyway, if it's not an emergency I'll just be a second, ok? I'm real sorry, it's just that it's totally been one disaster after another all morning!"

"Huh?" Chidori blinked in confusion. "Disaster? You mean you already heard?" she could only think that the disaster Akiha was referring to was the same one she herself had just witnessed. "A- about what happened to Eiko and-"

"It's like I was just telling her! Sakaki-senpai was right in the middle of getting changed and I guess Kyoko-san must have bumped into the stand for the curtain or something because all of a sudden it totally fell over and everybody saw everything!" There was a soft whimpering from the other side of the room, and Chidori looked that way to see Sakaki huddled in a chair in the corner, staring down at the floor and trembling slightly as Natsumi's description brought the horrible memory flooding cruelly back. Natsumi didn't seem to notice this, and continued, "Sakaki totally froze just like that with her panties halfway down her legs and everyone staring right at her, and then when a couple girls started laughing she shrieked and ran out into the hall, so I grabbed her clothes and followed her and there were all these people taking pictures and stuff so I-"

"Alright, Natsumi-san, I think I get the idea," Akiha quickly interrupted. Just like earlier, Natsumi seemed to be talking a lot faster than she was thinking, and Sakaki didn't need to repeat her whole ordeal from another perspective. "Anyway, for now don't you think it might be best if you take her to the nurse's office so she can lie down for a bit? I'll do what I can to deal with the situation properly, but in the meantime it seems like-"

"Oh!" Natsumi exclaimed immediately, as if the idea hadn't even occurred to her before now. "Good idea! I'll take her there right away! I probably should have thought of that earlier, it's just after I got her into the bathroom and got her dressed again I didn't know what to do next, and all these people were standing around outside and I saw the student council office just down the hall and so I just thought you'd know what to..." then she caught herself and repeated "Anyway, I'll take her there right away!"

Natsumi set about getting Sakaki back on her feet and guiding her out the door, and Chidori felt her heart twist as she got a better look at the girl's tear-streaked face. Sakaki was a fourth-year, and she was tall and slender and graceful and always so sweet to everybody, and from what Natsumi said what just happened to her must have been unbelievably awful! "Ohhhh... that's even worse than what happened to Eiko..." she moaned once the other two had left.

"I'll say," Akiha slumped into her chair, looking drained. "At least Aiko-san had her towel on the whole time. And I'm sure everyone's attention was on Shizuoka-senpai anyway, so even if-" she caught herself and looked up in alarm. "Wait... did you say Eiko? Not Aiko, from the swim team?" Chidori nodded apprehensively, and Akiha moaned with despair.

She described all about what happened with Eiko's skirt in the hallway and how she ended up showing her butt to everybody there, and how Mioko tried to help and ended up showing her butt too. She tried not to go into quite as much uncomfortable detail as Natsumi did a moment ago, and she didn't bother to mention her own ineffectual attempt to help.

"Oh no..." Akiha moaned again, "that's... that's the fifth one so far. This can't be a coincidence..." At Chidori's look of wordless shock, she explained, "Shizuoka from the disciplinary committee was the first one, right after she finished practicing with the swim team. She said they were just getting in the showers when she heard a scream, and she just grabbed her shinai and ran right outside without thinking, and everybody from class 3-2 was there setting up in the gym and they all saw her... apparently the big scoreboard fell and almost landed on Chiaki-chan. Nobody was hurt or anything, but Shizuoka-senpai said as soon as she came out and saw everybody there she totally couldn't move until Aiko came out and wrapped a towel around her.

"Oh no!" Chidori managed at last, picturing the slim and athletic third-year Shizuoka dripping wet and completely naked in front of a whole class. That was way worse than what happened to Eiko and Mioko in the hall... and it might be even worse than what happened to Sakaki in art class.

"Like I said, there's no way that all of this is a coincidence. Somebody must have planned it somehow. I just can't figure out who! I mean, who could even set this sort of thing up? I guess the scoreboard and that curtain in the art room could have been sabotaged or something, but how would anyone predict exactly when they'd fall over? And I can't even think of a way someone could have made something like that to Eiko-san's skirt, not to mention what happened to the Calligraphy club..." Akiha gave a dejected sigh and seemed to collapse into her chair yet again. "Shizuoka-senpai wanted to personally discipline everybody who saw what happened to her, but I convinced her that wouldn't help so she went off to sulk instead. I mean, she said nobody took a picture of it or anything, so the only thing we could do is try to make sure nobody tells anyone what they saw, and it's probably too late for that already. Anyway, I'm more worried about how poor Sakaki-san must be feeling right now. And Eiko-san too, come to think of it, since she's just a first-year after all. If only there was something we could do for them, you know? I mean, we can't very well make people forget what they saw, but that doesn't mean they need to be all cruel about it and everything. If only..."

"That's it!" Chidori suddenly exclaimed, her eyes twinkling with a sudden surge of insight, "We can still help everyone!" Akiha looked up at her, confused by her friend's seemingly baseless optimism. "See, the people in the gym didn't have a chance to get any pictures, but the people in the hall and outside the art classroom did! So if the disciplinary committee wants to discipline somebody, they can get to work confiscating everybody's cameras and stuff. And that way everybody who didn't take any naughty pictures will hear about how we're cracking down on the ones that did and they won't want to make trouble by talking about what they saw! And most important, if there's any other disasters today there won't be a bunch of cameras all over the place!"

Akiha took a few seconds to think it over, then agreed that it was probably the best plan they had to work with just now. Chidori smiled with relief at finally finding a way to dispel her feelings of helplessness and guilt, and didn't notice at all the slight feeling of warmth at the back of her head.

The first step was to let Shizuoka know the plan, but Shizuoka wasn't answering her phone, so Chidori went to find her. The sooner they got this plan started, the better their chances of getting things under control long enough to try to figure out what the heck was actually going on before it was too late, not to mention saving Eiko and Mioko and Sakaki and who knows how many others from an even worse embarrassment than what they'd already endured.

The disciplinary committee headquarters was right around the corner, so she went to check there first, just in case Shizuoka was busy or her phone wasn't working or something. She arrived to find Kana, the head of the library club and also a member of the disciplinary committee, already standing at the door and looking in at the empty room.

"Nobody... hmph," Kana declared, then slid the door shut and turned, her deep green ponytail swishing as her stern sharp eyes fixed Chidori with her usual piercing glare. "Chidori-kun," she said by way of greeting, "You are here for Shizuoka-taichou as well, I presume."

Chidori nodded, "Uh-huh. I was just talking to Akiha-chan and we decided to ask the disciplinary committee to start confiscating cameras and phones and stuff before anyone else... um... have you heard about it? About what's going on I mean?"

"Of course I have. Come along then," Kana whirled about and suddenly started away. Chidori hurried after her, trotting to catch up with the other girl's long quick strides. "Shizuoka-taichou has already conferred with me regarding this morning's improbable spate of prurient incidents. That is why I too am seeking her out at this time - she instructed me to inform her at once should I witness any more lascivious behavior. Fortunately, I have an idea of where she may be found." Chidori trotted to keep up with the other girl's rapid steps even as she struggled to keep up with what she was saying. "I expect she will approve of the student council's decision to commence confiscating mobile phones, as she seems quite eager to take direct action in this matter. Given that Akiha has informed you of what transpired earlier, I trust you will readily apprehend her reasons." They were leaving the main administration building now and crossing to the next building over, where the gym and most of the athletics clubs' rooms were. Chidori saw two PE classes warming up on the track nearby and briefly wondered if anyone out there had heard about what was going on today yet. Then with a pang of dread she wondered if anyone out there had experienced firsthand what was going on today, and decided she was better off trying not to think about it.

"Good. It sounds like we've found her," Kana announced as they entered and approached the first door on the left, where a muffled, vaguely rhythmic thumping could be heard. "Taichou!" she called out, throwing the door open with a clatter. Chidori, trailing a few steps behind, came up beside her and saw Shizuoka inside wearing a kendo helmet and gloves, her personalized shinai still pointed at the battered training dummy in front of her. This was the room where the Kendo club met when they couldn't use the gym, the one they'd appropriated after the ballet club lost most of its members and disbanded last spring. One side of the room still had a barre affixed to the wall below a row of mirrors, while the other was carpeted with worn-out tatami and had a few equipment racks and training dummies. Shizuoka lifted her helmet's mask and fixed Kana with the kind of look that could have sent any of the wannabe delinquent boys in school running away scared. Chidori shrank back slightly before the armored girl's eyes, but Kana didn't even twitch.

"Officer Kana. You've something to report, I trust," she said with a quick nod as she leaned her sword against the wall and started swiftly removing her gloves.

"Quite. I observed a pair of boys behaving voyeuristically toward one of my library volunteers, whose undergarments were visible and in a state of some disarray," Kana commenced her summary of the event in the same steady, deadpan voice that a train conductor might use to describe the regular schedule... or a military officer to relate a battlefield report. Chidori was always a little uncomfortable with the way the disciplinary committee acted, especially how Shizuoka addressed the other members as 'officer' and made them call her 'captain'. Akiha had once told her that making everyone nervous was part of the disciplinary committee's job, to make sure students didn't get careless about the rules.

"They took notice of her as soon as she entered the library," Kana continued. "She was wearing a sweater over her standard winter uniform, presumably due to the cold outside, which she removed upon entering the library, presumably due to the warmth inside. In removing it, she inadvertently lifted the rear portion of her skirt sufficiently to entirely reveal the seat of her undergarments. Without being sufficiently familiar with the girl in question to speculate as to her state of mind, I can can only attribute the incident to carelessness." Chidori winced in sympathy at this dispassionate description of such an embarrassing accident. "The sight appeared to excite her observers, who immediately hastened to produce mobile devices in order to photograph it. Their intent now unmistakable, and the use of mobile phones in the library being strictly prohibited, I confiscated both devices and escorted the pair to the faculty office, where I remanded the pair into Kaori-sensei's custodey and requested that she keep them there until you could arrive." With that she produced a plastic baggie that contained two fairly advanced-looking cell phones. "I have not attempted to inspect the contents."

"Yes, excellent work, officer," Shizuoka declared as she finished removing her helmet, rearrangd her long black ponytail and set about returning her kendo gear to its rack. I'll speak with Kaori-sensei and then take the whole matter back to that Akiha. Perhaps she won't be so reluctant to act once she hears a little more about what the trash has been up to." The ferocious look that crossed her face as she said it made Chidori flinch slightly. Akiha had told her once that Shizuoka and her disciplinary committee wouldn't be satisfied until they could catch every boy that ever did anything perverted and lock them all up. "And tell the girl I'd like to speak with her, too. That business with her skirt might seem like carelessness normally, but I've seen far too much of that sort of thing happening today for it to be a coincidence. Maybe she can tell us something useful."

"Yes Taichou, I concur. Before you leave, I believe this person has something of immediate interest to tell you," Kana suggested with a wave of her hand toward Chidori, and Shizuoka seemed to notice her standing nervously in the doorway for the first time.

"Yes!" Chidori started. "Um... we've, uh, decided... that is... we thought it would be a good idea to start taking away all the camera phones in school, in case all the, uh... stuff that's happening... uh, keeps happening." She tried to sound as formal and self-assured as Kana did a moment before, but nervous and unprepared as she was it seemed to have the opposite effect.

Shizuoka looked down for a moment, her lips pursed in a thoughtful expression. "Yes... that kind of proactive approach would protect most of the students, at least for a while. I suppose we can deal with the perpetrators later, once the danger is minimized." She sounded disappointed, and Chidori recalled what Akiha said about how Shizuoka had wanted to "personally discipline" everyone who saw what happened to her in the gym earlier. It seemed that Shizuoka was less interested in protecting other girls from embarrassment than she was in avenging her own embarrassment.

"Taichou, stay back!" Chidori turned to see Kana coming at her with a fierce and determined look. She had enough time to stumble backward a step and then Kana was on her, with one arm around her neck and the other hand gripping her hair. She tried to scream, but the chokehold was so tight she couldn't even breathe.

"She is subdued. Orders, Taichou?" Chidori couldn't see Kana's face, but twisting her head she could see Shizuoka, standing well away and reaching for her shinai with a look of alarm and astonishment.

That changed at once to fierce determination, and then the shinai was pointed in Chidori's face. "What is that!?" she demanded, and Chidori could only gape back in uncomprehension, gasping for breath now that the arm at her throat was loosening so she could answer. "There!" Shizuoka repeated, pointing now toward the mirrors on the wall. Still bewildered, Chidori looked that way and saw herself in the mirror, slumped in Kana's grasp. But what caught her eye was the hairclip at the back of her own head.

It was glowing.

Bright orange-red light the color of a guttering candle or a smoldering chunk of coal shimmered on the black surface, like a reflection on the surface of rippling water. A reflection of something big... something moving. The light seemed to twist as she looked at it, gathering together until it almost had a shape, then sliding apart again. And whenever the light crossed behind the three green stones, they seemed to look like eyes, staring right back at her. She trembled, her eyes going wide at the sight, and she made a tiny terrified squeak.

"She doesn't know anything," Shizuoka announced, apparently satisfied by Chidori's reaction. She pursed her lips in thought, then looked back at kana. "Get that off her first. Then we can figure out what it is and what it might have to do with this." Kana nodded and started to remove the black glowing thing from Chidori's hair, only to recoil with a start. She tried again, gripping the hairclip with both hands to yank it off or wrench it open, and there was a strange sizzling sound.

"That's enough," Shizuoka declared. Kana grunted in pain and released her grip, gasping through gritted teeth. A wisp of smoke rose from her fingers, and Chidori felt queasy as she smelled what had to be burning skin. The hairpin hadn't even budged. Shizuoka glanced around quickly "Come on, we can use the drinking fountain in the hall. Carry her."

Kana moved immediately to obey, picking Chidori up as she did, and they all rushed out into the hallway. Before she could do anything more than squeak in surprise, Chidori was being placed back on her feet with her head against the metal rim of a drinking fountain, with Shizuoka and Kana leaning over her and getting to work. She heard another sizzle and suddenly she was very glad that she couldn't see what they were doing from this position. After just a few seconds there was a sharp snap, followed by a clatter on the floor behind her.

Kana sank to her knees, gasping, and Chidori felt her hair slide down over her shoulder. It was just a little wet and didn't seem to be burnt or otherwise damaged, and most importantly it was free of whatever that thing was. With a little moan of relief she collapsed on the floor, tears welling in her eyes. Shizuoka was kneeling and peering down at the hairclip where it had fallen. From here it looked perfectly ordinary once again, black and shiny and not glowing or shimmering or sparkling at all. After a few seconds to confirm that it wasn't going to do anything else but sit there quietly, Shizuoka quickly scooped up the hairpin in the plastic baggie from earlier, careful not to touch the thing herself.

"Come on then, we've got to hurry and get some answers," Shizuoka ordered, rising again and putting away the two phones that had previously occupied the baggie and helping Kana to her feet. "Take her, too," she indicated Chidori with a glance before starting off. Kana helped Chidori up in turn, and then the three of them were hurrying back to the main building and down the hallways. Chidori hardly had time to catch her breath, let alone wonder where they were going or how Shizuoka intended to get her answers, but she wasn't about to question the captain's decision at this point. In what seemed like no time they were at the library.

Shizuoka pushed through the doors, with Kana and Chidori close behind her. A large group of students at the study tables looked up as they entered, but Shizuoka and Kana didn't even seem to notice as they headed straight for where Kirika sat behind the librarian's desk. After a quick nervous glance toward that cluster of tables, Chidori trotted after them.

"We need to know what this is right away," Shizuoka ordered as soon as Kirika looked up from her computer screen, holding up the hairclip in its baggie. Kirika pushed her glasses up a bit and obediently leaned over to peer at it, frowning in concentration.

"It seems to be made of onyx. The green stones may be peridot, but gems of that size would normally be faceted. They could also be tinted glass," she intoned, her face impassive. "Do you know where it comes from?"

Shizuoka glanced sharply at Chidori, who gave a start and began to sputter, "Oh! It... um, it's from my uncle Jojo, and he's an archeologist... uh, somewhere overseas... I think it was in... um..." she struggled for several seconds to recall, then it came back to her, "Oh yeah! Oman. I remember because it sounds like... um, anyway, that's where he was last I heard, but it was a couple months ago..."

If Kirika was irritated at this vague answer, she didn't show it, but merely nodded and turned back to the computer. "I will start with presuming it originates in that area or elsewhere on the Arabian Peninsula. The writing on the obverse is Greek, which would indicate an approximate age if it is indeed Arabic in origin. Shall I translate it?"

"Might as well," Shizuoka suggested. Kana and I should remain here, at least until the others arrive. You should remain as well, Chidori-kun. She may have further questions." With that, Shizuoka laid the hairpin on the desk and turned to march back to the tables where most of the gathered students were still looking at Kirika's desk and trying to figure out what was going on, to ask what they were doing here. Kana, meanwhile, took up a position by the desk, scanning the rows of shelves as if analyzing potential avenues of attack.

After a few seconds, Chidori realized something she'd forgotten to mention earlier. "Oh, that's right. There's some writing on the other side too. I mean I think it's writing. I can't tell what language it is or anything, and it doesn't look like any writing I've ever seen." Kirika looked up at this and nodded, then carefully turned the baggie over and peered at the hairclip's silvery side.

"Hebrew," she declared, her face still impassive. "That means little more by itself, but it could help estimate the object's age. Hebrew and Greek only coexisted in that region at certain periods of history..."

Then the door burst open, and Chidori turned to see Akiha rush in, with Natsumi and Mioko close behind. "Chidori-san! Are you okay? We came as soon as we- Oh! Senpai!" Seeing Shizuoka, Akiha drew up with a start and addressed the taller girl in a more even tone, "I... ah... we came as soon as we received your text. I see that you have the situation largely under control, then?"

Meanwhile, Mioko and Natsumi trotted over to talk to Chidori. "Are you okay?" Natsumi began, "The text that Akiha-senpai got just said something about an emergency. We were talking in the nurse's office, see, since she came over to check on Sakaki and Eiko everybody there after Miyu... I mean after President Mitsuka got back. Anyway we didn't know what was going on or anything but Mioko and I wanted to help out any way we can so we all came straight here, since Shizuoka-senpai said it was an emergency and if she says it's an emergency then it's just gotta be..." she was really getting rolling now, and at the mention of Mioko's name Chidori glanced away to where the other first-year was standing next to Akiha and Shizuoka at the tables with the big group of students. They seemed to be asking what everyone was doing here, and Chidori was just about to look back when she happened to see something that made her eyes pop wide open.

The clasp of Mioko's skirt had come undone somehow, loosening the waistband enough to let it slowly slide down her hips. It was already riding very low, and it seemed to be slipping even lower by the second. But before Chidori could even gasp in surprise at the sight, she saw something else that made her eyes pop even wider.

Akiha's skirt and Shizuoka's skirt were both coming undone too, both of the clasps sliding open all by themselves right before her eyes. Akiha was still talking to the students at the tables, and neither one had noticed anything was wrong.

"Like I said, Morooka-sensei just told us to come down to the library and do whatever," a girl with dyed auburn hair sitting on top of the nearest table explained with a hint of annoyance, "And he actually used the words 'just do whatever', so I'm pretty sure we're doing exactly where we're supposed to. And he won't be happy if we just show up back at class now, ya know?"

"Yeah, and he's so hung over there's no way he could try to teach anything anyway," one of the boys sitting nearby added with a snicker.

Akiha just sighed at that, "Well I suppose we can talk to Morooka-sensei about it later, but in the meantime why don't you use the library study rooms instead of just sitting out here. I'm not trying to cause any unnecessary inconvenience, but there are other people trying to use the library just now, so if you could please..." she went on, sounding reasonable and looking perfectly calm, even as her skirt descended alarmingly. All three girls' skirts were slipping down now, slowly but steadily and just far enough to let the waistband of each girl's panties peek into view one by one - first the bright green of Mioko's thong, then the pure and proper white of Shizuoka's, and finally Akiha's surprisingly mature black.

That sight shocked Chidori into action. If those skirts slipped down any more they'd be too low to stay up at all, and that meant any second now they were going to fall right off and leave all three girls standing there with their panties exposed right in front of everybody. She couldn't just let that happen... but she especially couldn't let it happen to Akiha! Propelled by the need to save her friend, along with the guilt of having failed to save Eiko earlier, she sprang into action and darted over and reached out and caught Akiha's skirt before it could slip any lower and expose any more.

She smiled in relief at having made it in time, even as Akiha started to turn her head in surprise. Then there was a squeal from behind her, along with, "Mio! Your skirt!" and she turned her head just in time to see Natsumi spring into action, reaching out to catch Mioko's skirt and save her friend like Chidori saved Akiha. But as soon as she took the first step, her own skirt came loose and fell down, reaching her knees just in time to get caught there as Natsumi took a second step. She squealed again and flailed helplessly for a moment and toppled over, landing with a big thud thud, her face on the floor and her rear end sticking up in the air.

Chidori and Akiha gasped, staring along with everyone else at Natsumi's completely exposed cute little panties, and Mioko exclaimed, "Oh no! Natsumi! What ha-" as she turned around. The sudden motion of turning was all it took to dislodge her skirt's precarious purchase upon her hips, and it too came loose and fell right off, reaching her knees and getting caught as she took the first step toward her friend. She too flailed helplessly, her words of concern disappearing in a squeak as she fell, hit the floor with another thud and came to rest in the same position as Natsumi.

Chidori gasped again, even louder, while Akiha clapped her hands to her mouth in horror at the sight. Mioko's rear end was sticking up in the air just like Natsumi's, and it was pointed right at the tables where everyone was sitting. And with almost all of the back of her little green thong was wedged deep between her bountiful buttocks, hidden from view and not covering anything at all, Mioko's plump and perky butt was completely exposed all over again. Just looking at her like that Chidori was overwhelmed with embarrassment for the poor girl.

For a moment everything was silent as everyone stared at Mioko's butt, still jiggling slightly from the impact. Natsumi was the first to break the silence, with a little whine of "Owwie..." as she raised her head. Mioko raised her head with the same "Owwie...", and started to brush away the red curtain of her hair that had fallen over her face when she fell. The motion set her butt jiggling anew, and that seemed to break the audience's shock. There was a clamor of dozens of voices as girls expressed sympathy and boys expressed excitement and the urgency of taking a picture right away, until Shizuoka's shout cut through it all.

"Get out!" the captain bellowed, reaching for her shinai, "All of you get out of here!! RIGHT NOW!!!" She waved the weapon at the crowd of students and pointed it toward the library door, not noticing at all the way the motion made her skirt slip. "I don't care where you go or what you tell that drunk geezer Morokin! Just get the hell out!!" The objects of her tirade, however, definitely noticed when Shizuoka's skirt descended enough to reveal a glimpse of her pure white panties. The sight seemed to undercut her authority, because instead of fleeing before her fury they sat and watched in apprehension or eager anticipation at what was about to happen. But before Shizuoka's skirt could join Natsumi's and Mioko's skirts in falling off completely, Akiha also noticed it and reached out in a flash to grab the waistband just in time to save Shizuoka from ending up with her underwear on display too.

The class was already running for the doors when Chidori looked back up, leaving the three of them behind looking like some sort of miniature conga line, with Chidori holding up Akiha's skirt and Akiha holding up Shizuoka's skirt while Shizuoka stomped to the doors and slammed and locked them. Then there was silence once again, and Akiha cried out in despair, "What the heck is going on around here today!"

"I may have found something," Kirika called out in reply, her calm and even voice in stark contrast to the commotion of a few minutes earlier. It was like a magnificent gleaming ray of hope, and everyone hurried over to look at what she had found, after pausing to help Mioko and Natsumi to their feet.

"That's right. I've translated the inscription," she pointed at the screen before adjusting her glasses slightly. Chidori's face fell. She didn't see any way that knowing what it said would help anything right away. Kirika went on, "The same word seems to be on both sides, although their pronunciations diverge significantly and the Hebrew on the reverse is written in a script which is not used in modern variants. It is a personal name. Presuming that both are original to the artifact, that should allow us to estimate both its time and place of origin as one in which Greek and Hebrew were simultaneously in use-."

"Is that all?" Shizuoka cut her off with a hint of annoyance. She seemed to have been hoping for something more immediately helpful too.

"Before pursuing that avenue of inquiry, I did also attempt to discern where and when it was unearthed by way of searching the records of recent archeological finds for artifacts matching its description. The results were of little use themselves. However, a depiction of..." she went on like that, even though Akiha and Shizuoka had already lost interest.

"Here, let's take a look at what happened to our skirts," Akiha suggested, taking the others away back to the tables. "We might be able to figure out something like that." Chidori wasn't listening, however. She was staring at the screen, where Kirika was quickly and methodically typing out her findings as she described them. Something on the screen seemed very important, although she couldn't tell why. After some moments of scanning her eyes settled upon three lines written in three different languages with three different scripts.

Αστιν
ושתי‎
ワシュティ

She stared at the lines, feeling a strange recognition even though the characters of the first two lines might as easily have been the scratches on a scuffed floor as writing for all she could tell. The third was clearly a foreign word written in katakana, and it seemed the most important of all. She looked even more intently at it, and felt her lips moving to form the sounds, "Vuah-shu-tee..." She was saying it wrong. She tried again, "Vah-sh-"

"No," Kirika interrupted her ongoing explanation, glancing up briefly. "The transliteration is somewhat imprecise in this instance. "Here. The English rendering may be helpful." With a series of brisk keystrokes she added a fourth word, and this time Chidori recognized the characters from years of English lessons.

"What is it? Did you find something else?" Akiha called over. Chidori didn't look up. She was staring at the words, her eyes glazing over and her expression turning blank.

"Vv-... V-... Va-..." she started, still staring at the screen with glazed eyes, her heart pounding for some reason. It didn't feel wrong this time. The foreign sounds were still strange, but now they felt right in her mouth somehow, and her lips seemed to know just how to move to make them. She looked down at the hairclip in its baggie on the desk, and the writing upon it. She still didn't know what it meant, but she knew she was going to say it.

"Vashti"

There was a loud crack, the hairclip jerked, and the baggie ripped open suddenly like tissue paper. Akiha called out Chidori's name in alarm and Kirika jumped to her feet, her chair clattering to the ground. Chidori just watched the chunk of onyx rise into the air and turn to face her. The three gems seemed to be glowing, and when they flickered they looked just like three eyes, looking back at her.

There was another crack, louder, like the sound of something hard breaking, and the gems glowed even brighter. Akiha and Mioko came running over, followed by Shizuoka. They all stared at the hairpin.

A third crack then, and a plume of pale smoke spewed from the hairpin and up into the air, gathering into a cloud above the empty part of the room between the tables and the big curtained windows. Everyone else backed away from it until they were all up against the far walls. Chidori didn't move.

The gathering cloud of smoke began to glow, first deep dull blue, then red, then orange shot through with strands of green, shifting and turning brighter as it grew larger and larger. Within seconds it reached from the floor to the ceiling, a mass of writhing color. The plume stopped, the cloud pulsed once, then contracted, and with a bright flash there she was.

"Wow! Finally!" the ecstatic shout was followed by a joyous wave of giggles. At first Chidori couldn't believe what she was seeing. A huge, naked woman with multicolored skin floating in midair right in front of her. She blinked, but the huge woman was still there, she was still giggling madly, and her skin was still swirling with a crazed blend of colors like a drunken rainbow. She stretched, squeezing her eyes shut with a long, breathy moan and sticking her arms up to the ceiling and her legs out in front of her on either side of the librarian's desk. She was still naked too.

Extremely naked.

"Mmph! Well now, what have we got here?" the bizarre woman exclaimed, crossing her legs and leaning forward with a huge grin to stare at Chidori with an eager, piercing gaze. Chidori's gaze, meanwhile, was fixed upon a pair of breasts even bigger than the kind you usually only see in anime that air after midnight on AT-X. "It seems my master is once again a sweet and proper young lady," she observed with a soft chuckle. "So! What would you ask of me, master?" This was followed by a fresh round of giggling.

After a few more seconds Chidori finally overcame her astonishment long enough to speak up, crying out plaintively,

"Who... wh-what are you!?" Chidori's voice trembled with fear, and she had to put a hand on the desk to steady herself.

"What, isn't it obvious enough? I'm a Jinni." The towering figure laughed again, her huge breasts jiggling like balloons in a storm, then continued, "And before you ask, I don't grant wishes or anything, that's just a silly story. I mean, I appreciate being let out and all, and if you need a little favor or two that's fine. Just give me a chance to get some of my power back first, okay? I was stuck in that thing for hundreds and hundreds of years after all, practically starving, and I've only been awake for a few hours." Her laughter faded, but the way she gestured as she spoke kept her breasts bouncing and swinging and swaying nonstop, as if they couldn't stand to be still for even a moment. "Of course, that shouldn't take long with so many proper young ladies all around." She let out a great dreamy sigh, "So much modesty ... so much embarrassment..."

Hearing the way the Jinni trailed off, her voice dripping with shameless desire, Chidori suddenly realized something. But before she could open her mouth, Natsumi burst out, "It was you! Wasn't it! You made Mioko's skirt fall off in front of everyone!" She pointed at Mioko, who turned bright red at the mention of the incident, but Natsumi kept going. "And... um... and mine... A- and I'll bet you made the curtain fall down when Sakaki-san was changing, and you made Eiko-chan's skirt get stuck too! All so you could laugh at us!"

Jinni just giggled at the stream of accusation, turning around and reaching over to ruffle Natsumi's hair with a gentle coo, "Now now, you don't need to be so mad about it, little lady. I'm sure none of them minded seeing your adorable panties." That left her plump, round bottom hovering before Chidori's eyes like a pair of smooth and impossibly colorful melons, flexing gently every time she moved. "And I can assure you, amusement was never what I'm after. As for your other friends, I never did a thing to that flashy trollop's clothes," she insisted with yet another giggle. "The silly girl was ever so careless, all I had to do was let her get a bit distracted and she never even noticed anything was wrong. And as for the pure maiden who got talked into modeling, she took her clothes off all by herself. The curtain just needed a tiny little push." She sighed, grinning and clearly savoring the memory. "And the maiden overflowed with delicious embarrassment..."

"How could you!" Chidori cried in indignation at this glib summary of the morning's horrible incidents. "They never did anything to you! That's... that's just cruel!" Jinni turned around again, looking honestly perplexed at the accusation.

"Cruel? But I hardly even did anything to them. And nobody was hurt, after all." She gave a sheepish shrug, "Okay, maybe I got a little carried away with all those skirts just now, but with so many adorably modest little cuties right in front of me, I simply couldn't resist," she waved a hand to indicate the surrounding girls, then grew serious. "And besides, it was you who woke me up after hundreds of years of and brought me here among these delightfully modest young maidens. To have such a splendid banquet of embarrassment laid out before me after all that starvation and not be allowed even the tiniest taste... that would be far more cruel, don't you agree?"

"Huh? I... well I... I didn't think that..." Chidori sputtered, unable to respond to her own accusation being turned around on her like that.

"And I never asked for this either, you know. It's not like I mind or anything, but still, it was that Vashti and her pet mages who bound me into that trinket and gave me this insatiable hunger. So you can hardly blame me for indulging myself a bit, right?" The Jinni looked around at the girls' confused faces. "Oh, I suppose you're not familiar with Queen Vashti after all? I just thought that since you said her name to summon me... well, I suppose I might as well tell you the whole story, then." She floated over to the library tables and plopped herself down right in the middle of the nearest one, beckoning everybody over. "Come on now, gather round. You too, little librarian girl."

They all still wanted answers, and none of them were about to turn down the opportunity for an explanation, so the girls slowly shuffled over and took their seats at the table, including Kirika, who emerged from her hiding place behind the desk with a wary look. Only Kana was nowhere to be seen.

"Now then, a long time ago there was a beautiful young queen named Vashti," the Jinni began, resting her chin in her cupped hands and her elbows upon her knees. This left her audience blushing furiously as they all tried not to stare at what lay between her wide-open legs. "She was sweet and dutiful and ever so eager to please her great and noble king. But she was also a proper young lady, trained ever since she was a little girl to be soft-spoken and demure like a true noblewoman should, and above all she was trained to always be as modest as could be. And that turned out to be a bit of a problem, because that king of hers was quite a bit older and prone to drinking heavily, and whenever he got drunk he would ask his queen to take off all her clothes and dance for him. Now like I said Vashti really wanted to please her king, and she did the best she could, but even so, dancing naked like that was just horribly embarrassing for her. So she asked her court magicians for help, and they found me."

"I was in a bottle in one of the old treasure vaults at the time, you see. King Solomon hunted down and bound all of us Jinn that he could find with his magic seal and stuck us in rings or bottles or whatever, and somewhere along the line my bottle was stolen or given away or something and it ended up in Queen Vashti's vault hundreds of years later. So anyway, her mages took me out of that bottle and used their magic to stick me in one of the queen's trinkets, so that when she had to do her naked dancing I could drain away all her embarrassment, and they made it so I needed her embarrassment, too. At first I was a bit irritated at having to clean up some silly girl's mess like that, but Vashti was just so sweet and kind to me, and her embarrassment was so delicious that soon I actually started to care about her a little."

"Well, after that everything was just fine for a while. The king got what he wanted, the queen wanted to give it to him, and I had a nice easy ride helping her do it. And it was even better when the king had guests and he wanted to show off his beautiful little Vashti for them. Because dancing naked for a bunch of strangers was hundreds of times more embarrassing than just dancing naked for her beloved old king, and that meant I got a totally magnificent feast. And if only it wasn't for those nasty jealous little jerks things could have gone on just like that for years."

"Because see, even though Vashti was sweet and dutiful and everything, some of the king's advisors wanted to get rid of her and make the king choose a new queen. So one day, when there was an enormous feast with lots and lots of important nobles and all kinds of other guests there, one of the king's advisors stole my hairclip and hid it. And when the king got drunk and sent for his queen to come and dance for everyone like always, she couldn't find me. And poor Vashti knew that without me there was just absolutely no way she could bring herself to dance naked in front of all those people. When she refused to come out for him the king was so angry and his wise men told him to find a new queen, and that's just what he did. I don't really know what happened after that since they stuck me back in some vault or other, but it must have been just awful."

"The Book of Esther," Kirika murmured. She had been listening quietly with a pensive expression while the rest of the girls alternated between rapt curiosity and sympathetic horror at the tale of ancient embarrassment and compromised modesty. At the Jinni's curious look, she elaborated, "This story of yours is recorded in- well, certain elements of the story seem to correspond to one recorded in the Book of Esther in the Judeo-Christian Bible. There the king is named Ahasuerus, usually identified with Xerxes I of the Achaemenid Empire, which places it around 500 BC. The entire story is recited as part of the Jewish holiday of Purim. As I recall, Ahasuerus selects Esther for his next Queen, and she proceeds to use guile and clever maneuvering to foil a plot against the empire's Jewish population."

Jinni just shrugged, "Well I think the name Esther sounds familiar, but like I said I was already sealed up and put away by then. Without any more embarrassment to drain I had to go to sleep or else I'd completely wither away. I think somebody dug me up at least a few times after that, but I never actually woke up until just today," Bending down with a big grin, she cradled Chidori's face in her hands, "when this pure and properly modest little lady had a cute little accident that exposed her cute little panties."

Another wave of giggles followed, until Akiha spoke up, "That's... um... that's quite a... remarkable story. But, um... you have to understand, you've caused quite a bit of commotion today. You can't simply go around doing as you please, or there'll be all sorts of trouble..."

"Oh, don't worry about that," Jinni interrupted with a dismissive wave. "I'm sure the shy model and the flashy tart will be just fine. And anyway, I was still half-asleep then, so I did all that stuff pretty much just by reflex. I can be more careful about finding embarrassment to drain from now on. And if someone gets suspicious anyway and tries to investigate, I'll simply make them forget all about it. Of course, I'll need to get a lot more of my power back before I can do that on a major scale, but it shouldn't take more than a year or two."

"Well that's, um... that's fine and all, and I appreciate your consideration," Akiha began, shivering with dread at the thought of having to put up a string of bizarre disasters like this morning's for a whole year, yet trying to be as tactful as she could, "but, ah, wouldn't it be better if you didn't have to seek out embarrassment anymore? You mentioned that it was the hairpin's magic which causes you to hunger for it, so perhaps if someone found a way to get rid of that hairpin you could simply leave us in peace?"

"Don't be silly, little girl," the Jinni scolded, "without that trinket I'd have to go back to my bottle again, and I don't even know where it might have ended up after all these years. No, I think I'll stay right where I am, thank you. Draining embarrassment is just so much fun, and there's a practically limitless supply to be had everywhere I turn. And such a wondrous variety, too! Every girl's embarrassment has a different taste, you know. And I'm gonna sample as many of them as I possibly can." Her big broad smile seemed to turn predatory as she said all this, until Chidori thought she looked like a hawk gazing down at a wide open field packed with plump and juicy rabbits.

Only those rabbits were Chidori's friends and classmates. She couldn't just let them suffer to feed this supernatural creature's hunger. She just had to do something!

Jinni looked vaguely bemused by Chidori's outburst. She quickly continued, "Please! Please don't hurt anybody else! Th- the girls here... they never did anything to you. They don't deserve to suffer just because of what happened to you way back then! Please! There has to be another way!"

"Hurt? Suffer?" Jinni leaned forward toward Chidori again, looking slightly puzzled. "But I just told you, nobody's been hurt. I haven't done anything to anyone besides cause a little embarrassment. And if embarrassment leads to suffering for some girls, they only have their own modesty to blame for such a thing." Her tone brightened, "So if you think about it like that, I'm doing everybody a favor by helping these uptight little ladies to forget about their silly, useless modesty," she concluded with a big grin.

Chidori was horrified at what Jinni was saying. "Modesty isn't useless! Or silly! It's... it's... it's not something you can just forget about like that!"

Jinni shrugged once again, "I'm sure that many would agree with you, but that doesn't mean that I have to agree as well. What about Vashti, after all? If not for that foolish, prideful modesty of hers, she never would have needed my help. She could have been perfectly happy dancing naked for her king and the whole court and anyone else she wanted to and it wouldn't have caused any kind of problem at all."

"But... that's... that was hundreds of years ago! Things are different now!" She might not know much about ancient history or stories from foreigners' bibles or anything like that, but Chidori didn't even want to think about a woman who could just dance naked in front of strangers and be perfectly fine with it. "People here aren't like that. We don't want to be embarrassed. And we don't want to get rid of modesty! I don't want to be cruel or anything, and if... if you really can't survive without embarrassment then I'm not asking you to starve yourself or anything. But... what if there's something else you can use instead to survive without embarrassing anyone? Or... or maybe somebody could get rid of whatever it is that sealed you in the first place so you can go home!" She knew she was grasping at the slenderest of hopes, but it was all she could think of. "Please... just give it a try, okay?"

"Try?" Jinni's smile grew sad, and the swirling color on her skin seemed to slow down a bit, "I spent hundreds of years trying. I tried to escape from Solomon's bottle. I tried to escape from Vashti too at first, and When I started to like Vashti I tried to help her. But I couldn't." The smile disappeared. "I couldn't escape from anyone and I couldn't help anyone, and now here I am. If I thought there was any kind of way to escape now I'd try it again. And if you think you can help me escape Solomon's bondage or find a way to get around the rules of Vashti's bondage then you can try too. But I can already tell you don't know anything about magic. I haven't even felt any magic at all since I woke up here. So you can try whatever you want, but I'm not gonna sit around waiting for a miracle."

"Well... we might not have magic or anything, but... we have all kinds of stuff that people didn't have way back then. I'm sure somebody really smart can find a way to help you so you don't have to hurt-... I- I mean, so you can survive without causing any more commotion."

"Hmph, I suppose I can appreciate you optimism at least," Jinni remarked with a snicker. "But even if you manage to find someone who can do such a thing it's sure to take a while, and in the meantime I intend to enjoy myself. Now if you're still worried about me drawing too much attention, I suppose I can try to be more subtle about things from now on. After all, it's not as if I want people poking around and trying to-"

She was cut off, then, by a mighty wordless shout from Shizuoka as the girl lunged toward the librarian's desk. Chidori and Jinni turned in surprise just in time to see Shizuoka's shinai come down in an overhead smash to strike the hairpin where it lay on the floor beside the desk. There was a loud crack, and Jinni cried out in pain. Shizuoka raised her weapon again, but before she could bring it down Jinni's hand lashed out, crossing the room in a flash to catch the wooden blade and the forearm holding it, lift Shizuoka off her feet and throw her toward the windows as easily as a child throwing a doll.

"Break it!" Shizuoka yelled, "Smash that thing!" That was all she got out before Jinni's huge hand came down again and pinned her to the floor.

"Oh, you've got some guts, little lady," Jinni growled in a voice like the rumbling of thunder. Her colors had gone all red and orange, shot through with wavy lines of black, and her eyes were two glowing red pits. "That actually hurt a little bit. You've got to pay for it now, of course," she grinned, showing a row of shining silvery teeth that definitely weren't there earlier, and lifted Shizuoka in the air by one leg. Then she ripped down the curtains from the big bay window with a flick of her fingers and dangled Shizuoka in front of it. The girl only glared back stony defiance until Jinni turned her to face out the window, then she gasped and her eyes went wide.

The PE class was still outside on the track, just a short distance away, and dozens of shocked faces were staring in the window at the disciplinary committee president, currently hanging upside-down. Shizuoka squealed and struggled to hold her skirt in place, her defiance vanishing in an instant.

"Oh no you don't, girl," Jinni scolded with a deep and mirthless chuckle, then plucked the skirt right off Shizuoka's body as if it was made of tissue paper and pinned her arms behind her back with two fingers. "You've still got to pay me back. I'm sure you're no good at dancing, but your audience is right there so the least you can do is take it off for them." She took a deep breath, then chuckled again. "Hmmm, not bad. Yours has a rich, heavy taste. I'm sure it'll be nice and filling, at least."

Meanwhile, Chidori had just overcome her shock and was trying to stand up, but only managed to stumble over the chair and fall to the ground in a heap. She was about to get up when she saw that the hairpin was lying right in front of her. There was a small chip in the black stone on one side, and a wisp of what looked like steam curled from it. Shizuoka's command seemed to echo in her mind as she looked at the thing, mingling with the girl's horrified squeals.

"Let her go! Right now!" Chidori shouted, gripping the hairclip tightly and trying to steady her quivering voice.

Jinni didn't even look at her. "What are you talking about? This naughty little thing tried to hurt me. A bit of punishment is simply what she deserves for such a thing." She tugged gently at the back of Shizuoka's blouse, pulling it taut across her chest for a few moments before the top button popped off. "And if her punishment can repay me as well, that's even better." One by one the rest of the buttons popped open, each one drawing a tiny helpless squeak from Shizuoka, until her blouse was fully open and hanging from her shoulders, revealing a tightly bound sarashi beneath. "Oh? What's this?" Jinni remarked with another snicker and leaning close to examine her captive's underwear, "It seems someone has a little secret. We simply can't have that, now can we." Stroking the long strip of cloth with a single fingernail that suddenly seemed to be razor-sharp, she gave a burst of cackling laughter, and Shizuoka's helpless squealing began to turn frantic.

Once again Chidori mustered her determination and yelled, "I said let her go! Or else I... I'll smash it!" trying to sound as determined as she could. This time Jinni glanced her way, and Chidori raised the hairpin above her head in a way that she hoped looked threatening.

For a few seconds the two just stared at each other, Jinni's claw paused in the act of slicing open Shizuoka's sarashi, and Chidori allowed herself a surge of hope at the thought that she'd found a way to take control of the situation. But then Jinni asked, "With what?", and Chidori was suddenly struck by the fairly major flaw in her impulsive plan. "It's made of stone and metal, remember?" Jinni continued, snickering, "I don't think those soft little hands of yours can do much to it."

Chidori's determination and bravery crumbled, and she looked around for something that might be capable of damaging the lump of onyx and silver she was holding enough to make a credible threat. Her eyes fell on Shizuoka's shinai lying next to the librarian's desk, and she dashed over to grab it. But as she reached down there was a great gust of wind, and the sword went sliding away past the rows of bookshelves.

"Oh, nice try, little girl," Jinni commented, "but I can't very well just let you misbehave like that." Chidori started toward the shinai again, but Jinni waved her hand and a second gust of wind, far stronger than the first, sent her flying backwards with a squeal. The hairpin slipped from her grasp as she landed, bouncing across the floor and right into Jinni's waiting palm. Chidori's heart fell at the sight of her hopes vanishing, and she quailed before the huge grinning face that towered over her. "So please, just sit right there and watch carefully."

With that, Jinni gave the sarashi that bound Shizuoka's chest a single careful pluck that parted one strip of fabric cleanly, and Chidori could only watch in helpless horror as the whole garment began to unravel, slowly coming undone right before her eyes. Her horror rapidly turned to fascination when she saw Shizuoka's breasts began to gradually expand, slipping free from their containment and returning to their true size. With that tightly-wound strip of cloth loosening, the breasts that it had held bound seemed to be eagerly seeking their release. That forced the wrappings to slide open faster and faster, until with a great mighty bounce Shizuoka's long-suppressed boobs burst out, bouncing majestically for all to see. They were big and soft and firm and round, topped with deep brown pointy nipples that seemed to be standing proud and celebrating their newfound freedom.

Chidori stared at the awful sight, and the crowd outside stared at the magnificent view, while Jinni just stared at Chidori, her eyes once again clear. "See? The prideful tomboy was secretly a G-cup all along," she cooed, gently stroking one of the soft curves and setting them both into a slow and rhythmic swaying motion. Shizuoka was still and silent now, too overwhelmed to even struggle or squeak anymore as she stared helplessly out the window at her audience. "And from the looks of things they really wanted to be set free, don't you think?" Jinni chuckled softly once again, watching Chidori's expression fill with sympathy, then righteous fury.

"How could you!" Chidori cried out, tears glistening in her eyes. "That's just awful! She... she didn't... no matter what she did to you, how could you possibly be so cruel!" She curled up, sobbing, her fury collapsing as quickly as it arose into crushing sorrow. Jinni just watched this display of empathy without responding.

Then, after several seconds she leaned down, her smile dimming. "You care about her, don't you. You care about all these girls," she remarked solemnly, waving her hand to indicate the rest of the girls in the room, "and all the others too," with another, larger wave she indicated the whole school, or possibly the entire world outside. "And you want me to let this one go, do you?"

Chidori's sobs had faded to sniffling now, and at the direct question she raised her head and exclaimed, "Of course!" without hesitation. "Of course I want you to let her go. Please! Sh-she was just trying to protect everyone. She doesn't deserve something like this."

"Protect?" Jinni mused, leaning back again. "Maybe, but that's not all. Mostly she wanted revenge. I could feel it all as soon as she attacked. As if it was all my fault that she accidentally exposed herself earlier, and she wanted me to suffer for it. Not everyone is as sweet and kind as you are, little girl. That's why I had to punish her. I had to make her suffer so much that she would never even think about revenge again." She turned to look again at Shizuoka and the crowd outside the window. "I was planning to slowly peel off those cute little panties and dangle her a little bit longer, then maybe strap her to the rooftop for the rest of the day." She shrugged and continued, "I'd have to do something about everybody's memories afterwards, of course, but she's charged me up more than enough for something like that by now. Still, it would be a lot of work..."

With that she floated over to the tables and tenderly laid Shizuoka atop one of them, all the while watching Chidori's confused reaction. "There," she said softly, grinning once again. "That naughty little tomboy's embarrassment was nice and filling and all, but she's just so serious about her precious modesty that it's way too rich and heavy to really enjoy a whole lot at once. Sorta like having a whole chocolate fudge cake, you know? So I'll let her go if you like, and I'll even make sure that her audience out there doesn't remember anything." Her smile was turning playful now, and a mischievous glimmer entered her eyes as she floated back toward Chidori and continued. "Of course, that's gonna take some effort, and afterwards I think I might just need another little refill. So that's why I hope that you really meant what you said earlier."

"What I said...?" Chidori was confused by the Jinni's sudden change of heart and becoming very suspicious at where she was going with this.

"About finding a way for me to survive without embarrassing anyone." She drew up before Chidori and hovered there, crossing her legs once again. "You see, that wonderful kindness of yours reminds me of her so much, and I really was happy when I was with her and I could help her, and I really wouldn't mind doing it again. So that's why I was wondering..." she grinned even more and leaned forward to ask, "how would you like to be my new Vashti?"

At first Chidori could only stammer, "Your... Vashti? But she... wasn't she..." Her mind filled once again with images of the ancient queen dancing naked. "You mean you want me to... to... to do what she did...?" She paled at the thought, but Jinni only giggled at her.

"No, no, don't be silly. There's no need for something so drastic. That was simply what caused her embarrassment, so I took her embarrassment away. All I'm asking you to do is wear the hairpin, and when something happens to cause you embarrassment, I'll take your embarrassment away. That way you don't have to be embarrassed by anything, and I don't have to embarrass anyone else either, just like you wanted."

For several seconds Chidori was silent, trying to come to grips with the Jinni's request. She glanced over at the table where Shizuoka lay, still motionless and with a vacant expression while Akiha tried to cover her chest and mutter something soft and comforting. Chidori shuddered at the awful sight. If saying yes right now meant that she could keep anyone else from having to go through what poor Shizuoka just did and ending up like that, then she simply couldn't refuse. but then again, she was still pretty suspicious after seeing what the Jinni was capable of. "How do I know I can trust you? How can I be sure you won't just decide to do whatever you want no matter what you say?"

Jinni tilted her head, "Well, you can trust whatever you like. I'm not asking you to just take my word for it. How about this, if you say yes, I'll make sure everybody forgets all about what I did to the tomboy just now, including her. That way she can have her precious modesty back, and nobody ever has to know what happened and she'll be just fine. And if there's something else you'd like me to do just go ahead and say it, ok?"

Chidori looked over at the table again. If there was a way for her to undo the horrible embarrassment that Shizuoka had just suffered, then she really couldn't refuse. But still, she had to be careful. "Alright, I'll do it," she said, mustering up her courage once again, "but first you have to promise me something..."

"You have to clean up everything you've done today. Not just what happened to Shizuoka-senpai, I want you to do something about all the embarrassment you caused everybody else too," Chidori ordered the Jinni, doing her best to sound stern and unyielding.

"Is that all? Certainly! I'll get rid of all their embarrassment and all their embarrassing memories, and I'll make everybody else forget about their embarrassment too. It might take some time, but that shouldn't be a problem, right?" She continued eagerly, without waiting for a response, "Let's see, I can start with the violent tomboy there like I said. Then the klutz and the chatterbox since they're right here... then there's the flashy tart... and the shy model... let's see, were there any others...?" It took Chidori a moment to connect these brief and colorful descriptions with names, then another moment to think back and remember all the other incidents Akiha had described earlier.

"There were plenty of others! Don't tell me you've forgotten already!" she scolded.

"Come on, I was still half-asleep then, like I told you. Look, if you think you can remember everyone that got embarrassed today, just show me who they are and I'll take care of the rest, ok?"

"Well, alright... but I'm not doing anything else for you or letting you do anything to me until we're totally finished. Got it?"

"Yes, master," the Jinni replied with yet another giggle.

So they got to work, starting with Shizuoka and her audience. Jinni simply placed her hand on the windowpane to make the crowd outside forget what they'd seen, then waved at Shizuoka to make her forget what she showed them. Next she fixed everyone's damaged skirts before making herself invisible and following Chidori and Akiha to Morooka's classroom, where Morooka's class was having a study period while Morooka slept off his hangover. Taking care of their memories was simple and easy as well, but Class 3-2, which had witnessed Shizuoka burst out of the gym showers completely naked, posed a bit of a problem, since that class had already ended. Akiha checked the class roster, along with those for Izumo-sensei's art class, which had seen Sakaki naked after the curtain fell down while she was changing, and of course the Calligraphy club. Tracking down all of them took most of the rest of the day, and that still left everyone who was standing outside the art class and saw Sakaki panic and run out the door naked, and everyone who was in the main hallway and saw what happened to Eiko's skirt and what happened to Mioko when she tried to help.

The task seemed all but insurmountable until Jinni suggested that she could start by dealing with Sakaki and Eiko's memories, and use what she found there to identify everybody who saw the two incidents. After that things went much quicker as, with no further need of the girls to guide her, Jinni could simply fly around the school by herself to complete the task while everyone waited in the student council office. Even so, by the time she returned and assured them all that she'd finally found the last of the offending memories, the school day was almost over.

"So, if there's nothing else you need from me, all you have to do now is put this back on," Jinni cheerfully proclaimed, producing Chidori's hairpin. "that's how it works, see. While you're wearing it I can drain away all your embarrassment just like I used to with Vashti, instead of just skimming off a little bit of it like I did earlier today." Chidori looked down at the proferred trinked with some apprehension. Sensing her unease, Jinni continued reassuringly, "Oh, and you don't have to worry about getting burned or anything like that soldier girl from before. That was because of the seal, and since you broke that seal it's perfectly safe now. They weren't real burns either, you see, just a sort of phantom burning sensation."

Chidori had almost forgotten about all that, and anyway it wasn't what she was anxious about. "Will you... will you promise not to embarrass anyone else if I put this on?"

"Of course, master. As long as I'm with you I won't need anyone else. And if we happen to see something embarrassing happen to anyone else, I'll even do what I can to make it less embarrassing, if that's what you want."

"Alright..." Chidori agreed with a nod, then took a deep breath. She accepted the hairpin and reached behind her head, telling herself once again that this was the best way she had to protect everyone, and put it on.

"There now, that looks simply lovely," Jinni proclaimed, now with an odd echo to her voice, and the hairpin shifted slightly as if someone was straightening it. Chidori spun around with a start, but there was nobody there. "Oh, don't be so surprised. I'm in here now, that's all." The hairpin jiggled again, and this time Chidori realized it was straightening itself. "Don't worry, nobody else can hear me. It might take a bit of getting used to, so I'll try not to talk too much and distract you in public or anything." Her voice was echoing in the exact way that voices echo when they're talking in someone's head.

With that last big step out of the way andthe school day now over Chidori said goodbye to Akiha, who offered what encouragement she could. That drew a little chuckle from Jinni. Chidori was just trying to decide whether she should skip cheerleading practice when Jinni interrupted, "Ooh, cheerleading? What's that like? It sounds fun!" Startled by the intrusion, Chidori found herself thinking about how she'd been talked into joining the school's small cheerleading squad when it formed to cheer for the recently formed American Football club. "Wow, that really is fun! Don't skip it! You shouldn't act like anything's wrong or people might get suspicious or something. And yes, I can read your thoughts. How do you think I knew so much stuff about this world when I just woke up, anyway? Not to mention how I've been speaking your language this whole time. Did you think I was translating with magic or something? I mean, I could translate with magic if I wanted to, but I'm not because I don't need to. And quit acting so surprised by everything already!" As she made her way to cheerleading practice, Chidori was really hoping that the Jinni would keep her word about not talking while she was in public.

When she got to practice and changed into the cheerleading uniform, Chidori realized that it would at least be a good way to make sure Jinni would keep her promise about not embarrassing anyone else. And as it turned out, she did. Practice went just fine, and nothing strange or embarrassing happened the whole time. There was a group of boys hanging out on the bleachers, trying to pretend they weren't just there to watch the girls practice even though they were practically drooling at every little glimpse of cheerleading panties, but that was perfectly normal. By the time she headed home afterwards Chidori was actually cheering up, starting to think that maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all, when Jinni spoke up again. "That's right! After all, everyone gets a bit embarrassed once in a while, and sometimes you just have to ignore it. Like those boys back there. I made it easier for you to ignore them, right?"

Chidori had to admit that ignoring their lecherous stares was a bit easier than usual today, although when she thought about them staring at her now it still made her pretty uncomfortable. Trying to put it out of her mind, she got home and went upstairs to her room to take off her sweaty cheerleading uniform and have a nice relaxing shower. She was in the middle of drying off afterwards when her phone rang, so she wrapped the towel around herself and trotted back to her room to answer it.

It was her friend Nabiki, just calling to catch up and chat for a little while. Chidori plopped down on the bed, finally able to forget about the day's overwhelming troubles and just chat happily. Soon she started to feel a bit hungry and went downstairs for a snack, still chatting and still wearing her towel. Eventually Nabiki said she had to go and hung up, so Chidori started back upstairs, only to catch herself when she heard her brother Shuu's voice from the other room.

"It's right in here, just let me set it up."

"Cool. You mind if I get something to eat?" that was Suguru, one of Shuu's friends from junior high.

"Sure, the kitchen's right through there. You guys can help yourselves."

"Thanks dude."

"Yeah, thanks."

Both of those were different voices, which Chidori couldn't immediately place. What she could figure out was bad enough, however: Shuu had brought at least three friends over, and from the sound of things at least one of them was about to come into the kitchen. She had to get back upstairs and get changed, but with those boys between her and the stairs, getting there would mean walking right past all of them. Clutching her towel and trying to ignore the faint giggling at the back of her mind, Chidori frantically tried to decide what to do.

She just couldn't let them see her like this. But what else could she do? There was no way she could reach the stairs without walking right past those boys, and any second now one of them was going to come in here. Tugging ineffectually at her towel, Chidori looked around frantically for a way out, or at least for a way to cover herself a little bit better. But the only other scrap of fabric in sight was the hand towel beside the kitchen sink, and the only other way out of the kitchen was the door to the back yard. Driven by the sound of approaching footsteps she hurried over to it, her panic-addled mind quickly coming up with a plan to circle around to the front door and get to the stairs without the boys seeing her.

Once she was outside with the door safely shut behind her, Chidori leaned against the wall to catch her breath. A moment later a gentle breeze blew, and she shivered at the uncomfortable feeling of cool air suddenly stroking her slightly damp crotch. With a wince and a small whine she muttered, "Why did I have to pick such a tiny towel...?", tugging at the lower edge of the makeshift garment. But no matter how she tugged the fluffy peach fabric was barely long enough to reach her thighs, and if the wind picked up even a little bit it was just sure to start fluttering even higher and reveal practically everything. So she settled for clutching the towel to her chest and her thighs and trotted down the little gravel path that led from the back yard to the front, doing her best to ignore the discomfort of the gravel on her bare feet and the cool air on everything else.

Rounding the corner, Chidori started out across the lawn toward the front door, only to let out a surprised squeak as the wind caught an upper corner of her towel and yanked it right out of her unprepared grasp. She frantically glanced up and down the street, somehwat relieved that there was nobody in sight even as she struggled to cover herself. The wind was much stronger here in the front yard, and she had to clutch her towel against her chest with both hands to keep it from being ripped away completely. That left her unable to keep the stiff breeze from lifting the towel's lower edge, which immediately rose up and began to billow freely about her waist just as she feared, leaving everything underneath completely exposed. Part of her wanted to retreat around the corner, but knew she couldn't just stay outside like this. So she forced herself to ignore her exposed lower regions and focus on getting inside as fast as possible.

She dashed across the lawn, blushing fiercely and telling herself over and over that there was nobody watching. She was almost at the door when she remembered the houses across the street and suddenly realized that anyone who happened to look out their window just now would see her running around outside practically naked, and the thought made her squeal and try to grab at the fluttering towel to pull it back into place. That, however, had the exact opposite effect, as a third corner of the towel promptly slipped from her grasp, and suddenly Chidori was running around outside totally naked, with her wide-open towel streaming behind her like a big peach-colored flag.

She reached the door then, spent a few more fruitless seconds trying to grab hold of the towel and cover herself at least a little bit better. Finally deciding it was useless, she instead threw the door open and dashed inside, suddenly profoundly grateful that nobody in the house never bothered to lock the door. Shivering and panting with mingled anxiety and exertion she wrapped the towel around herself once again, tucking it as tightly as she could before peeking carefully around the corner toward the stairs.

She could hear voices from the other room, but nobody between her and the staircase. For the moment at least it seemed like the coast was clear, so she hurried over to the stairs and started to climb, eagerly to reach the safety of her room at last and get herself dressed. But then someone suddenly appeared at the top of the stairs, and Chidori had to stop short with another little squeak.

"Chidori-neesan? Is that you?" Shuu asked. He was carrying something big and bulky and it seemed that he couldn't see her. "Sorry, could you just let me through. This is kinda heavy." He started down the stairs, and they weren't wide enough for Chidori to slide past him, so she had to back up, and just as she reached the bottom again she heard another voice.

"You got it Shu? Or do you need some help with- whoa..." She spun around just in time to see Keiji, another of Shuu's friends, come around the corner behind her and stop short at the unexpected sight of a towel-clad girl. A moment later Suguru and a boy she didn't recognize appeared as well. They all stood there staring at her with big goofy grins, and Chidori could only huddle in the corner and struggle uselessly to cover herself a little bit better.

"Did you just get home or something? I didn't see you when we got back," Shuu asked mildly as he reached the bottom of the stairs and carried his cargo into the next room to lay it on the table. He was the only one who had yet to notice how his sister was dressed.

"I... well you see... that's..." Chidori muttered. She wasn't exactly eager to describe how she'd found herself trapped in the kitchen wearing only a towel, and she really wasn't eager to describe how she'd ended up running around outside wearing only a towel while attempting to avoid being seen in it. She was fumbling for a way to avoid describing any of it and slip past the boys to get upstairs when she happened to see what Shuu had just brought downstairs. "Hey, that's mine!" she exclaimed, pointing at her video game console where it sat on the living room table.

"Oh yeah, that," Suguru piped up, still grinning and without removing his eyes from Chidori's chest. "See, I got Gulch Racer 5 the other day so Shuu invited us all to come over and play it. You don't mind do you?"

"I was gonna ask and all," Shuu added as he took the console's wires behind the TV to plug them in, "but when we got back I couldn't find you so I figured you weren't home yet."

"You can play too if you like. Shuu was just telling us about how good you were at Gulch Racer 4."

"Uh-huh. You'll probably be real good at this one too, since it hasn't changed much. And anyway that's only fair, since it's your system and all. Come on, whaddaya say?"

"Well I... Um..." Chidori stammered. Then she heard the music, and she looked past the three boys to where the TV was showing the Gulch Racer 5 title screen and playing the familiar series theme song, and her face lit up. "I call player 1!" she declared merrily, without any trace of the anxiety of a moment before. And with that she pushed right past them, picked up her chosen controller and plopped down on the couch.

Just like Keiji said, this new Gulch Racer really wasn't much different from the last one. Chidori's old favorite driver was still there, and the controls were only slightly changed. Suguru gave her a little challenge at first, but once she learned the new tracks she was beating her brother and all three of his friends easily almost every time. After a few hours she noticed it was getting dark and decided that she should get dressed and start studying before her parents got home, so she excused herself and headed upstairs to her room. Shutting the door behind her, she tossed the towel on her bed and opened her closet to pick something to wear.

"Now that was simply wonderful." Chidori turned at the voice and saw Jinni, lounging on the window seat and grinning. It was definitely Jinni sitting there, but she looked completely different from the last time Chidori saw her. She wasn't huge anymore, for one thing. Her skin wasn't rainbow-colored anymore, and she wasn't even naked. Now she was normal-sized woman with normal skin-colored skin, and she was wearing what would have looked like normal clothes if they weren't quite so skimpy: a really tiny sleeveless crop-top that didn't quite reach her bellybutton, and an extremely tiny pleated miniskirt that barely reached her thighs. With the way the skirt was fluttering constantly as if being blown around by a stiff breeze it was really obvious that she wasn't wearing anything at all underneath it, and with the way the top clung to her big round breasts and let her firm, pointy nipples poke through it was even more obvious that she wasn't wearing anything at all underneath it either. Seeing Chidori's surprised stare, Jinni continued, "I've even got enough power to whip up this nice little body now. Isn't it lovely?" Beaming, she lifted a slender, toned leg and stroked it with one hand, while the other hand cupped a soft, firm breast, lifted it, then let go and allowed it to bounce and jiggle freely. "And I really appreciate your help, you know. I never could have accomplished this so soon without you."

"Huh?" Chidori blinked, blushing at the indecent sight as she turned toward the closet. "Wh- what do you mean? I didn't do anything," she protested, which only sent Jinni into a wave of giggles. Growing annoyed and suspicious, Chidori turned back around, put her hands on her hips and said, "You better not have been running around embarrassing anyone else since I put your hairpin back on, because we had a deal. Unless... was it you making all that wind that blew my towel around when I was outside? Because that was-"

"Oh, no, no. I didn't embarrass anybody," Jinni quickly interrupted the stream of accusations, her giggles subsiding, "and it was a perfectly ordinary wind that uncovered you just now. I mean it would have been a nice tasty snack, of course, if you got caught running around like that, but it was just a waste with nobody there to appreciate it. What I meant is after that, when you gave me a magnificent feast all by yourself."

Jinni continued giggling then, and Chidori was getting confused and even more annoyed. "What are you talking about? I told you I didn't do any-" this time her protest was cut short, however, by a sudden flood of memories. She remembered sitting down eager to play, perched on the edge of the couch in a way that allowed the towel draped over her chest to part, the fabric hanging to either side of her hips and leaving her entire lower body completely uncovered before the leering eyes of the boys.

"I... I didn't..." she murmured again, her face brightening at the memory. She remembered winning, and getting so excited after each victorious race that she would bounce up and down where she sat, paying no attention at all to the way her excited bouncing caused her tightly tucked towel to gradually loosen. She remembered the feeling of the fabric she had so carefully secured sliding open little by little, until after a particularly exciting win and a particularly vigorous bounce it finally came undone and fell off, leaving her completely naked.

"I just couldn't..." she complained of her own behavior, even as the memory replayed in her mind of how she simply sighed in annoyance and lifted her fallen towel back into place, tucking it haphazardly and with no particular effort to secure the garment nearly as well as she had before, and the inevitable result. Again and again she recalled her towel coming loose and falling right off after even a little bit of bouncing. A few times it even happened right in the middle of a race, causing the boys to instantly lose their focus and stare transfixed at her exposed breasts while she cruised to an effortless victory.

"But I would never..." Chidori murmured, blushing brightly in a voice no more than just a squeak. Yet even as she said it she was struck by the worst memory of all. The way she leaned back in contentment to relax after a long and unusually contested race, stretching her legs and resting one foot on the coffee table, and the way the boys' gazes promptly dropped between her parted thighs.

"I... I wouldn't... I couldn't... There's just no way that I would ever... just let them... see.." Chidori moaned, sinking onto her bed and curling up with her legs clenched together and her hands over her breasts as the rush of memory finally overwhelmed her.

"But you did let them see. And they did see," Jinni announced, grinning as big and brightly as ever. "They saw everything, and you didn't even mind at all."

"But how!" Chidori cried in plaintive disbelief, "How could I do something like that?"

"Well isn't it obvious?" Jinni cocked her head with amusement, "It's just like we agreed. I took away your embarrassment. And it was simply wonderful," she continued, just as excited as before, "I never would have thought that you'd serve me such a magnificent feast so soon. It was absolutely splendid." For a few seconds Chidori simply stared at her in uncomprehending silence, until Jinni gave a little sigh and explained, "You agreed to be my new Vashti, remember? Vashti wanted to obey her king and make him happy, but she was too embarrassed to dance naked in front of everybody, so I made her stop being embarrassed, and then she could dance naked just fine and everyone was happy. And you wanted to play that video game just now, but you were too embarrassed to stay there in front of those boys wearing nothing but your towel, so I made you stop being embarrassed, and then you had fun with them and now everyone's happy. Right?"

Chidori wasn't happy. She may have agreed to let Jinni take her embarrassment away, but she certainly hadn't expected to end up completely forgetting her modesty and letting herself be seen naked like she did just now! Her shocked disbelief quickly turning into anger, she stood up with her hands on her hips to make a perfectly reasonable demand.

"That's not what I agreed to!" Chidori exclaimed. "And it's not what you said either! You said you wouldn't make me get naked in front of anybody! I remember asking about that, and you said-"

"I said there was no need for it," Jinni replied calmly. "And I didn't make you do anything. All I did was take away your embarrassment, just like I said I would, and everything that happened after that you did all by yourself."

"But... but I... I would never! I just... I couldn't possibly!"

"Maybe not normally, but that's just because you'd be too embarrassed. Once you weren't embarrassed anymore you did exactly what you wanted to. And I never said that I'd keep you from getting naked if that's what you wanted to do."

"But it's... I didn't want..." Chidori's protests trailed off, her conviction fading away. "I never thought that... that I would just..." Thinking back now, she was forced to silently admit that without embarrassment to remind her, she hadn't even given modesty the slightest thought. Mustering what remained of her indignation, she burst out, "You've got to warn me next time!"

"Hmm? Warn you?" Jinni tilted her head with a quizzical expression. "Well, I supposed I could do something like that if you'd prefer. But why? It wasn't embarrassing then, so why is it a problem now?"

"There's more to it than that! Modesty isn't just about embarrassment, it's... it's not just..." Chidori trailed off, trying to come up with a way to put her problem with the situation into words. "I don't want people getting the wrong idea about me!" she cried at last.

That required more explanation, and soon Chidori was trying to explain why letting her brother's friends see as much of her as they just did might cause trouble for her. Afterward, Jinni admitted that she might not quite have anticipated all the effects that her deal with Chidori might have, and she even offered to do something about the boys' memories so that they wouldn't cause Chidori any problems. Chidori, for her part, admitted that she hadn't given too much thought to the potential consequences of having her embarrassment drained either. The two of them agreed to try to discuss the matter better in the future, and when Chidori went to bed she was once again feeling fairly comfortable with the arrangement.

The next morning Chidori walked to school just like always, and she met Akiha at the corner just like always, and Akiha waved to her and called out cheerfully just like always, but what she said today was something very unusual.

"Wow, they got even bigger!" The direction of her friend's gaze and the way she was staring made Chidori shiver uncomfortably, but then she heard Jinni's voice in her head again.

"See? It's just like I said. As far as everyone else is concerned, you're simply having a sudden growth spurt." It was what she said earlier that morning, in the course of the argument that ensued when Chidori woke up and noticed what had changed overnight: her breasts, which were now absolutely enormous.

"Surprise!" Jinni had declared as soon as Chidori sat up in bed and looked down, her eyes popping wide open at the sight. She ran to the mirror then, still staring in disbelief, as Jinni prattled on about her 'surprise', "...and then I remembered when I was punishing the violent brute with the sword and the little pang of envy that you felt when you saw her bosom burst free and I knew just what to do! It wasn't easy to make them this big, you know. I spent all night trying to get just the right balance of-"

Chidori interrupted her then, and that's when the argument started. Chidori's first complaint was that everybody would notice, but Jinni just told her that she already thought of that and she could make everyone think they'd already been growing for weeks. Then Chidori said none of her bras would fit now, and Jinni pointed out that wasn't a problem because she made them so firm and buoyant that they didn't need any support at all. Then Chidori started to complain that her uniform might not even fit, but when she went to put it on it turned out that it still did, even though it was really tight and it took her a few minutes of straining to get the third button fastened. Chidori still wasn't exactly happy about the situation, but by then it was time to leave, and Jinni said that she said if Chidori didn't change her mind about her brand new boobs by the end of the day, she'd change them back to their old size and make everybody forget all about the whole thing.

So now here she was, trying not to squirm as Akiha stared, grinning and marveling at at the size of her magically-enhanced bust. "You don't mind if I feel them again, right?" she burst out after several seconds. without waiting for a response, she slipped behind Chidori's back and reached around her with both hands. Chidori could only squeak in surprise and whimper in ineffectual protest as her best friend gave her nice big breasts a nice big squeeze. "Mmmm, they're so soft..." she purred, "and since none of your bras fit anymore I'll bet they bounce and jiggle all the time, huh? But they're so firm that I'll bet you don't even need a bra anyway, huh? Unless... are they real heavy? If they're too heavy they might give you backaches or something..." With that she switched from squeezing Chidori's breasts to cupping them gently from beneath, and tried lifting them slowly and carefully. "Hmm... they do feel pretty heavy, but they're not sagging at all. I guess that means you should be ok, right?

Jinni's joyous, bubbly giggling echoed in Chidori's mind. "See? It's like I said: just the right balance of softness and firmness and weight and buoyancy. They'll bounce and jiggle all you could possibly want, but they'll never sag, and they certainly won't leave you aching or anything like that. Isn't it wonderful? I just know you're gonna absolutely love them."

Chidori didn't respond to that, occupied as she was with trying to fend off Akiha's continued fondling. Eventually she managed to sputter something about how they needed to hurry and get to school, and the other girl reluctantly agreed and disengaged. She kept staring, however, remarking again and again as they walked along about the way Chidori's breasts bounced and jiggled with every step, or how her nipples strained against the taut fabric of her blouse as if they were struggling to get free. Soon Chidori was blushing and squirming uncomfortably once again.

Her discomfort only grew worse when they got to school. Heads turned and mouths dropped open as she came bouncing through the courtyard, boys and girls alike staring in shameless fascination. Chidori did her best to ignore it, but she could feel her blush growing brighter and brighter as she crossed to the main building. And inside it was even worse, the crowded hallways forming a veritable gauntlet for her to walk through. The feeling of dozens and dozens of eyes crawling over her chest was almost like being groped all over again. By the time she at last reached the classroom door she was trembling helplessly, and had to take a moment to calm herself before going inside. Taking several deep breaths, she told herself that once she sat down at her desk her oversized breasts might not be quite so obvious, and that tomorrow everything would be back to normal and nobody would remember any of this.

After calming down a bit she opened the door and stepped inside, relieved that for once nobody turned to stare at her chest, as most of the class seemed to already be staring at the curtain at the far end of the room, where Izumo-sensei's voice could be heard. "Come now dear, there's no need to be so nervous. Try to remember, we are all here for the sake of art. So please, I just know you'll feel much more comfortable once you come out and get started." She stepped out from behind the curtain, gently pulling somebody along with her. Izumo-sensei was a solidly built middle-aged woman with a warm and pleasant manner, and just now she had that warmth turned all the way up in her attempt to coax whoever else was behind that curtain to come on out.

"But I... I can't... I just can't! Please..." Chidori recognized that voice. It was Sakaki, and she sounded almost as distraught now as she looked yesterday, after her 'incident'. "Please, if I could at least keep my... my underwear... Like you said I could..."

"But dear, that was the special costume underwear that I showed you. What you have on now simply won't do at all," Izumo-sensei's gentle but relentless tugging brought Sakaki stumbling partly into view, and it seemed that she was indeed wearing only her underwear. "Come on now, you'll feel better in a moment. It's always the first time that's the hardest."

"It's... it's in my locker!" Sakaki cried frantically, "I must have left it in my locker. I'm just sure that's it! Please, if you could just let me go get it then I could... I..." she trailed off as she caught sight of the class staring at her, then began to whimper softly and tried to cover herself with her hands.

"But there's no time for that now, dear. Class is about to start in just a moment, and by the time you get dressed and find your locker it'll be too late. We mustn't keep everyone waiting, you know." With Sakaki now standing in full view of the class and no longer struggling against her grasp, Izumo-sensei turned her attention to removing her reluctant model's underwear.

Chidori was stunned. From what she'd heard about it yesterday, she had managed to piece together that Sakaki agreed to model for Izumo-sensei's art class, but she never would have imagined that the art teacher might expect her volunteer model to pose completely naked! It was a horrifying thought. And Sakaki herself seemed to be just as surprised and far more horrified. She was blushing right down to her toes and shaking like a leaf in front of the class full of staring art students, still whimpering incoherently and reflexively clutching at her lacy white bra as the teacher gently undid the clasp at her back. Once that was open the lady slipped her deft fingers into Sakaki's lacy white panties and began to slide them down her legs, all the while still smiling as if nothing was wrong at all. When Sakaki moved her hands to clutch at her panties, Izumo-sensei instantly returned her attention to the girl's bra, managing to slip the straps from her shoulders before Sakaki could move to stop her.

The result of all this was as obvious as it was inevitable. Sakaki would be stripped naked in moments, and Chidori just couldn't let that happen. Thinking quickly, she stepped forward and...

"Excuse me!" Chidori called out. "I... ah, I'm sorry to interrupt. I just, um..." Izumo-sensei looked up at the interruption, allowing Sakaki a chance to undo some of the teacher's work by simultaneously tugging her bra and her panties back into place. Chidori, meanwhile, struggled to come up with a story that would create the distraction she needed. She was trying to decide whether to say she needed help setting up her canvas or that the principal or the student council or somebody wanted to see Izumo-sensei right away when the teacher herself spoke up.

"Venus..." she breathed, releasing her grip on Sakaki and allowing the shivering girl to bolt for safety behind the curtain. Chidori was relieved to see Sakaki escape her imminent exposure, but she was also a bit uncomfortable with the way Izumo-sensei was looking at her. The teacher stepped forward and continued, her voice breathless with excitement, "Oh, it's perfect. You're simply perfect." In a flash the woman was upon her, taking her by the hands, and before Chidori quite knew what was going on she was being led behind the curtain herself while Izumo-sensei kept right on talking. "To think that the perfect Venus would appear just in time to model for us. Oh, this will be simply splendid. I just know my little budding artists will produce truly beautiful work With such a magnificent model as you. You will pose for us, won't you? Oh, you must! You simply have to!"

"Wait, you mean... you want me... to model? For the art class?" Chidori asked in confusion.

"Of course! You would be the perfect Venus! We're painting a scene inspired by the Birth of Venus - the one by Botticelli, you know? The original depicts the goddess of beauty and love emerging from the sea in all her glory, rendered as a Renaissance ideal of beauty. So our version shall depict our own ideal of beauty - a Venus of Yamato. And you... you are that Venus. Your gorgeous long black hair... your flawless pale smooth skin... your body at once so slender and so toned and lush... you are the very image of Yamato beauty!" Izumo-sensei's face beamed and her voice was filled with reverent wonder.

Chidori felt herself blushing at the woman's glowing praise. "I- um... you really think so?" she asked bashfully, and at sensei's warm smile and heartfelt nod she blushed even more. "Well, if you really think I'd be the best, I guess I could give it a try... at least for- wait!" she suddenly cried, catching herself on the very point of agreeing as her eyes feel on Sakaki, now huddled in the corner behind the curtain along with them, and the sight snapped her back to her senses. "If I pose for the class, would I have to pose in my... um, without any... um, I mean... naked?" her blush deepened again as she breathed that last word, this time with embarrassment instead of pride.

"Of course, dear!" Izumo-sensei exclaimed, totally oblivious to Chidori's discomfort. "A goddess has no need to conceal her beauty. And such beauty as yours simply mustn't be concealed. It would be a crime against art itself!

"Um, sensei... does that mean... do you mean... that I don't have to model today after all?" Sakaki asked in a hopeful little squeak from where she sat huddled in the corner clutching her clothes against herself.

"Hmm? Oh, certainly dear. You can take your seat," Izumo-sensei replied, sparing the girl a brief glance over her shoulder and a dismissive wave before she turned her attention back to Chidori. "Now we'll need to rethink your pose. Old Botticelli used a classical contrapposto with a few modifications to better display and accentuate his model's attributes, you see. So we're going to have to make our own modifications to properly display your attributes. Start by getting undressed while I find the sample print..." she bustled off toward the back of the classroom while Chidori stood there, somewhat overwhelmed.

"Thank you so much Chidori," Sakaki squeaked then, looking up at her with an expression of earnest gratitude. "If you hadn't got here just in time then I would have had to... in front of the whole... and everybody would have seen..." she trailed off, blushing just as brightly as before. "W- well anyway, thank you so much for volunteering," she murmured again, starting to slip her uniform back on now that her underwear was securely in place.

Chidori wanted to protest that she never volunteered for anything, but between Sakaki's gratitude and the memory of how miserable she looked after what happened yesterday she couldn't bring herself to say it. If she didn't model naked, then poor Sakaki would have to model naked instead, and snatching away the girl's salvation like that would just be too cruel. Even so, she protested mentally, "But... but I can't just get naked in front of everybody!"

"Why not?" came the response in her head, surprising her. "That's what you did yesterday. Quite a few times as I recall," Jinni's voice bubbled with laughter, "and if you did it before, you can do it again, right?"

"But... but that was different!" she protested again, starting to blush yet again at the embarrassing memory.

"Well of course it was. This is for art!" Jinni exclaimed mentally. "And how could anyone think badly of you for nobly and selflessly displaying your magnificent body for the sake of the fine arts?"

"Still... that doesn't... I can't just... I just can't..." Chidori kept on complaining. Izumo-sensei had said something to Sakaki earlier about everyone being here 'for the sake of art', but thinking about it that way didn't help her feel better now any more than it had helped Sakaki then. Art class or not, the thought of standing there in front of everyone while they stared at her naked body was just so unbearably embarrassing that just imagining it made her shiver.

Sensing this, Jinni continued, "Oh, I know you feel that way now, but that's just because of your silly modesty, and I can take care of that for you no problem. All you have to do is ask, and you won't be embarrassed at all."

For long moments Chidori struggled with the dilemma. What Jinni was saying made sense and all, but even so she really didn't want to get naked in the middle of class. Even if Jinni took away her embarrassment just like yesterday, she would still have to deal with the memories afterward, just like she was still trying to deal with the memory of what happened yesterday. But then again, maybe this new memory would make the old one less bad in comparison. And this time she could always just tell herself that it was for the sake of art, which might help at least a little. And then there was Sakaki.

Thinking about Sakaki was the most compelling motivation of all. Because no matter how bad posing naked in front of the whole art class would be for Chidori, it would definitely be far, far worse for poor Sakaki, since without Jinni to help her she would just have to suffer through the incredible embarrassment all by herself. And Chidori just couldn't let that happen, not when she had a way to stop it. With a sigh, she resigned herself to surrendering whatever remained of her modesty and made up her mind. That was when Izumo-sensei returned.

"Oh, you're not undressed yet. Are you having trouble?" she gently inquired, setting down the large easel with the print on it at the front of the class along with a low felt-covered pedestal. "Here, I'll help you out. We wouldn't want to make the whole class wait, now would we." Without waiting for a response, the teacher reached out for Chidori's chest.

Her fingertips touched the third button of Chidori's top, the one right where the fabric was stretched the tightest, and at that first little touch the button burst open like it was spring-loaded. This caused Chidori to let out a little squeak and hop backwards in surprise, which in turn caused her breasts to bounce and wobble and jiggle every bit as vivaciously as they had all day. Izumo-sensei grinned as she watched the spectacle through Chidori's wide open 'boob window'. "Magnificent," she breathed. In a flash she stepped forward and undid the rest of the buttons as well, opening Chidori's blouse wide and allowing her bountiful bust to burst free. "Absolutely magnificent." Chidori was beginning to suspect that she was discovering the real reason Izumo-sensei had been so excited to see her and so quick to make her a new model.

Giggling anew, Jinni spoke up to confirm her suspicions, "Well of course that's why, silly. You didn't think she somehow looked at you and didn't even notice them, did you?" more giggles, then, "I mean, she meant it about your beautiful hair and your skin and your figure and everything, but as far as she's concerned the most important part of the Venus by far is that she's absolutely got to have a pair of nice big boobs. Just as I expected."

Chidori wanted to ask what she meant by that last bit, but Izumo-sensei already had her by the hands and was tugging her gently but steadily out from behind the curtain. "Now let's see how you handle that, and you can take the rest off once you get used to it, okay? I wouldn't want to push you too far too fast..." she kept talking, but Chidori didn't hear anything else, because at that moment she emerged to see the entire class staring at her, and time seemed to stop.

Her eyes widened, her skin turned bright red, and she froze. All those eyes looking at her... looking at her chest... looking at her totally naked breasts... it felt like their eyes were squeezing her, just like in the hall earlier only ten thousand times worse. She wanted to scream, but her voice couldn't make anything but a tiny squeak. She wanted to run, but her legs couldn't do anything besides tremble. She wanted to cover herself, but Izumo-sensei was still holding her hands and they couldn't do anything besides squirm. She could only stand there shaking, staring back into the sea of faces. All the boys had shameless perverted looks, like they were trying to grope her with their eyes. And the girls had a constantly shifting mix of awe and jealousy and resentment all jumbled up together. It was overwhelming, an absolutely unbearable crushing wave of embarrassment, and she simply couldn't stand it. "Please..." she thought, her mind desperately reaching out for anything that might relieve the haze and the pressure, "Please help me!"

No sooner did the words form in her mind than her anguish began to recede. She felt her body slowly relax, her shivering abated, and she managed to smile. The faces staring at her didn't look perverted anymore, or jealous or anything like that either. They were just art students now, dozens of eager budding artists waiting patiently for their model to take her place so that they could capture her beauty. She smiled at the idea, faced the class and said shyly, "This is my first time, so please be patient with me," she gave a small bow. "I promise to do my best."

"Are you ready to begin then? Good, good. Now just take your place right here," Izumo-sensei purred, leading her model to the pedestal. "Look at the sample print and try to get a feel for the pose. Go ahead and finish disrobing whenever you feel comfortable enough." Chidori obediently stepped onto the pedestal and started examining the painting. She started to imitate the way the white woman in the picture was standing on the seashell, placing one hand on her chest and the other on her thigh. That was when she remembered she was still half-dressed and reached down to undo her skirt.

The garment dropped to the ground and she kicked it aside without a moment's hesitation. She slipped her panties off next, then plopped down on the soft felt to remove her shoes and carefully slide her knee socks down her legs. Chidori made no effort to hide anything, and paid no attention at all to the dozens of eyes that were staring at her secret place. When she stood back up she was totally naked, yet still as calm and relaxed as ever.

She started to pose again, with one hand half-covering her breast just like before, and she was trying to decide on the proper placement for the other hand when Izumo-sensei got her attention again. "That's good, but... your hair," she murmured thoughtfully, "we've got to find a way to properly display that lovely hair of yours."

Chidori reached back for her hair, still trying to copy the white Venus. Her smooth wavy hair was bright orange and long enough to fall past her waist, and she was holding it in front of her thighs with the end just barely covering what was between them. Chidori pulled her hair over her shoulder to do the same, only to find that it didn't reach. "Oh, it's too short..." she exclaimed, fingering the tips of the long black strands where they brushed against her bellybutton.

"Nonsense, dear," Izumo-sensei gently chided, "Your hair is just perfect. That color, that glossy sheen. Even the length is just right for a Yamato beauty," she purred, gathering up Chidori's hair to stroke it lovingly, her hands lightly brushing Chidori's breasts in the process. Then, stepping behind the pedestal, she pulled Chidori's hair back and smoothed it out in a lustrous black curtain. "There now, hold it up just like that." Chidori obligingly lifted her arms behind her head, arching her back and causing her chest to stick way out as she did so.

"Wonderful," Izumo-sensei exclaimed. "Now I'll just make a few more adjustments. As long as you don't mind of course?"

"Oh no, please go right ahead," Chidori agreed cheerfully, and Izumo-sensei did just that, starting with Chidori's breasts. She cupped them and squeezed them, drawing a soft startled gasp. Her squeezing was much firmer and deeper than Akiha's earlier, and she finished with a quick pinch and a little twist that made Chidori's nipples stiffen and stand straight up. With her model's chest properly adjusted, Izumo-sensei twisted Chidori's hips into position, pulled one leg forward, then set about carefully arranging her toes while Chidori struggled to keep still and hold back laughter at the feeling of gentle fingers on her very ticklish feet. When she was done all of Chidori's best attributes were on full display: her cute little toes, her firm and lightly flexed calves, the gentle curve of her hips, her smooth tummy, her glossy hair... and most of all, most prominent and most spectacular, her huge full round breasts.

"Magnificent... superb... absolutely splendid..." Izumo-sensei cooed, gently stroking the little fuzzy patch perched atop Chidori's most private place until the fine hair became lush and feathery. That spot alone remained concealed, just barely covered by the way her thigh was angled, and the bit of black fluff that decorated it seemed to call attention to what was shyly hiding just below.

When she was at last satisfied, Izumo-sensei stepped back and told the class to begin, and then there was nothing left for Chidori to do but stand still and hold her pose. Her legs slowly grew stiff and her arms grew tired, but looking at all the eager artists working hard to capture her beauty strengthened her resolve, and she managed to last until the bell rang. Izumo-sensei congratulated her again, helped rub some of the stiffness out of her weary limbs, and invited her to examine what the class had painted. Agreeing eagerly, Chidori trotted over and began to walk among the students as they put their supplies away, stopping to lean over the shoulder of one boy in the front row for a better look at his work.

When she had enough, Chidori went back behind the curtain to get dressed again, and Sakaki came over to say how grateful she was and help her get her top buttoned. Then they left and headed down the hall together, and Sakaki thanked her one more time before heading toward her next class. Chidori was waving goodbye when she happened to notice a group of boys staring at her with their mouths wide open. At first she thought they were watching her waving, but then she realized they were actually watching her boobs jiggling, and she blushed and turned away.

Forcing herself not to think about what just happened in art class, Chidori decided that she should probably try to do something about her whole situation before anything else like that happened. "Maybe later I'll..."

Kirika seemed to know the most about what was going on yesterday, so she was probably the best bet for figuring out what to do about it today. Of course, first Chidori had to get through class. She didn't expect that to be difficult or anything, but it was definitely going to be pretty uncomfortable, as she quickly discovered when she got to class and everybody there turned all at once to stare at her chest. Trying not to blush too much or bounce too much, she hurried to take her seat.

"You can't really blame them, you know," Jinni remarked in her usual merry bubbling giggle, "you are quite a sight today. Of course, if it's too embarrassing for you, all you have to do is ask and I'd be perfectly happy to take care of that for you." The eager purring in her voice told Chidori exactly how happy she would be, and it was a tempting offer. The eyes of her classmates were squeezing her breasts just like before, and without Jinni's help she would just have to sit here and endure their mass visual groping for who knows how long, and it wasn't like she was real likely to do anything even more embarrassing like she did yesterday at home. But at the thought of what she did then and how much she let those boys see, she suddenly decided that even a small chance of something like that happening again was a risk she just couldn't take. So she summoned up her courage and got ready for a very uncomfortable class.

Fortunately, it wasn't quite as bad as she was afraid of. Chidori's seat was in the second row, so most of the classroom was behind her and out of her sight. She caught a few more boys staring at her every time she turned her head, but over time the squeezing sensation seemed to relax and she grew less and less uncomfortable, and by the time class ended and she stepped out into the hall to be suddenly confronted with a fresh wave of stares, she didn't even blush. The next class was easier, and afterwards she was comfortable enough to stay behind and clean up. Unfortunately, when she raised her arms to erase the top line on the chalkboard, the stretching caused the third button on her top to pop open all by itself, with a sharp noise that drew fresh stares from everybody, and this time she did blush as she struggled to get her boob window closed again.

But for the most part things got much better, and at lunch when Chidori got to the library and Kirika looked up at her and calmly observed, "They have grown even larger," she hardly even cringed at all. Fortunately however, beyond that remark Kirika didn't seem to be particularly fixated on Chidori's huge tits, and when Chidori asked her how the research was coming along she answered readily. "I have found quite a bit, although I imagine that little of it will be of immediate use. I began by investigating the ancient king Solomon, particularly his reputed association with various types of supernatural affairs. As it turns out there is a substantial body of information on the topic, most of it originating in Arabic sources. While all of the surviving accounts which specifically mention supernatural creatures seem to focus rather unduly upon extracting some sort of lesson regarding proper morality or the appropriate relationship between the mundane and divine realms, I did find a number of depictions of the 'Seal of Solomon' which may be of further interest. The simplest of these is widely known and used, but there are others as well, which could potentially represent a way for us to-" Kirika's long and detailed explanation was cut off suddenly as the library door opened.

"There you are!" Akiha exclaimed, her eyes glittering as she hurried through the door and toward Chidori. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming straight to the library? I thought we were going to meet at the student council office again. Oh well, this is better anyway." Chidori saw her and began to respond, but she only managed a startled squeak when, instead of drawing up in front of the desk to talk, Akiha walked right over and grabbed Chidori's breasts with both hands. "Ohhh..." She sighed, and her face blossomed with sheer delight, "I've been waiting so long to touch them again. I just couldn't stand to wait another second." Chidori tried to sputter a protest, but Akiha didn't even seem to notice. "What do you think, senpai?" she asked eagerly, suddenly standing behind Chidori, cupping her breasts and jiggling them gently in Kirika's face. "I'd say they're at least 110 cm, maybe even more."

Kirika nodded agreement, "Oh yes, a bit more than that. I would estimate 118 cm at a minimum. May I examine them?" Akiha pulled her left hand away, and without waiting for any other sign of agreement Kirika reached out, popped open Chidori's third button with no more than a brush of one finger, and slipped her hand inside Chidori's top to give Chidori's breast a quick firm squeeze. Chidori squeaked again, but before she could react Kirika's hand was already withdrawing. The seated girl nodded once again, her face still as calm and impassive as ever. "Yes, definitely larger. At least 120 cm."

"Really? Wow..." Akiha intoned, staring down over Chidori's shoulder, and for a few seconds all three girls stood there gazing through Chidori's wide-open boob window. Akiha continued, "I guess we just gotta find out for sure!" With that she produced a tape measure from somewhere. Chidori's eyes widened as she realized what her friend had in mind, and she sputtered again, but Akiha had the next two buttons open before she managed something coherent enough to give the other girl pause.

"Wait! W- what if... what if somebody comes in..." she looked toward the door with unfeigned apprehension. "What if somebody... sees?" If somebody happened to come through the library door right now and saw the student council secretary gleefully groping her topless friend it was sure to be a huge mess.

"Hmm, you're right," Akiha muttered, letting up her assault on Chidori's chest long enough for Chidori to clutch her top against herself and begin to fumble at the buttons. "We need to go somewhere more private. Any suggestions, senpai?"

Kirika nodded, still as expressionless as ever, and pointed down a nearby row of bookshelves. "There. I will make sure you are not disturbed." Immediately Akiha took off in that direction, calling a quick thanks over her shoulder. Chidori could only continue to sputter and clutch at her top as her friend pulled her into the little reading room and closed the door. Once inside Akiha became even more aggressive, and in moments Chidori's top was lying forgotten on the table. She continued her ineffectual protests as Akiha stood behind her and got her tape measure out again, and eventually managed to mention the research she had been planning to do.

"Oh, you mean about the whole Jinni thing? Don't worry about it, just leave that to Kirika-senpai. I'm sure she'll find out everything there is to find in no time. Now hold still." She tightened the tape measure across Chidori's nipples, and Chidori let out another little squeak. After a few more careful measurements Akiha announced with barely contained elation, "She was right. 125 cm, and a lovely G-cup." For a few seconds both girls stared down at them, Chidori struggling to get her head around the meaning of that ridiculously big number and Akiha beaming with blatant shameless desire until she just couldn't contain herself any longer and her hands pounced.

Chidori squeaked again, and this time the sound turned into a breathy startled squeal. Because where Akiha's hands were merely exploring before, now they were enjoying themselves. They squeezed and groped and stroked and fondled, fingers sinking deep into the bountiful softness one moment and caressing the smooth firm curves the next, and generally playing with Chidori's boobs in every possible way. "They're magnificent..." Akiha breathed. "So gorgeous... and so squishy soft... so silky smooth... so buoyant and firm... so full and round... They're just perfect. It must have taken lots and lots of work to get everything just right."

Chidori looked up in surprise at that remark, but before she could say anything the response came, "Oh, it totally did. I worked so hard on them." Jinni's voice seemed to come from all directions at once, resounding off the walls and giggling just like always. "I'm really glad that everybody likes them."

"Well of course everybody likes them," Akiha replied with a snicker of her own, "a pair like this is a work of art. Who wouldn't like them? Have you shown Takagi-san yet?" Chidori gave a slight start at the mention of that name. Observing this, Akiha continued, "I guess not. Still, I'm sure he'll love them too. Especially once he gets to touch them for himself." Chidori shuddered, suddenly very grateful that Takagi went to a different school so she wouldn't have to risk that happening today.

Then she realized something. "Wait a minute... how did you know Jinni had anything to do with my... with them," she cast a suspicious glare at the far wall for lack of anything better to glare at. "I thought everybody was supposed to think I was just having a growth spurt."

Two sets of chuckling met her question, and Akiha was the one who replied, "Come on now, I'm not stupid enough to believe a story like that, especially after I saw what she can do to people's memories yesterday." Looking at that same point on the far wall, she continued, "Still, it's a good thing you took the trouble of making up that story, or else we'd have some explaining to do to everybody else. Oh, and thanks for letting me know you can talk while you're in the hairpin. I'll let Kirika-senpai know later, she was wondering about that.

For now, however, Akiha was busy. She kept right on playing with Chidori's boobs until the end of lunch, then she helped Chidori put her top back on and get it buttoned before they left, waving goodbye at the library doors as if they'd spent the time doing nothing more unusual than study together. The rest of the day passed quickly for Chidori, as visual groping turned out to be quite a bit easier to take after having endured a lengthy and vigorous physical groping. Her last class of the day was gym, and upon entering the locker room she was somewhat puzzled to see lots of unfamiliar faces, as well as two which were more familiar but still unexpected.

"Oh! Hi, Chidori-senpai," Natsumi called out, turning to face her with a friendly smile. Mioko, next to her, turned and smiled as well. They were in the middle of changing, and both were wearing only underwear: cute light green stripes for Natsumi and startlingly mature pure black for Mioko, Chidori couldn't help noticing. She looked away quickly, and the two first years explained that the renovations on the old athletics building were taking longer than expected, so their gym class would be combined with Chidori's second-year class for a little while. "At least the new building has plenty of room for both classes at once," Natsumi concluded with a chuckle. They continued changing then, and again Chidori quickly looked away from Natsumi's small yet firm and perky bare breasts as the girl casually removed her bra. She instead found herself looking at Mioko's bare butt just as the other girl casually removed her panties, and this time she couldn't look away quite so quickly.

Mioko's butt was so round and plump and smooth and the way it jiggled when she moved was so striking that Chidori could only gaze in fascination for several seconds. Then she caught herself and jerked her head away, blushing and hoping that Mioko hadn't noticed the direction of her stare. After a few more seconds she again risked a careful glance in that direction and was relieved to see Mioko calmly putting her underwear away in her locker, while Natsumi had finished changing and was carefully adjusting the string of her light blue bikini top. Chidori blinked in confusion at that, until she remembered.

"Oh yeah, swimming starts today doesn't it?" She vaguely remembered hearing about that last week, but with all the excitement of yesterday and today she'd completely forgotten until just now.

"Uh-huh," Natsumi replied absently, peering over one shoulder, then the other at her handiwork before turning toward Chidori with sudden concern. "Uh-oh, you didn't forget to bring your swimsuit, did you? I heard last year some third-year girl forgot her swimsuit and Fuyumi-sensei made her-"

"No!" Chidori hurriedly cut her off. She had already heard some fourth-hand rumors about Fuyumi-sensei and she did not want to let Natsumi get started and breathlessly relate all the embarrassing details. "It's right here," she said, moving the few steps to her own locker, quite thankful that she had planned ahead and brought her swimsuit to school last week to make sure she wouldn't forget. "See?" Retrieving the standard-issue deep blue school swimsuit, she placed it on the bench and began removing her shoes. Natsumi just stared silently for a few seconds, shifting her eyes from Chidori down to her swimsuit and back up to Chidori again before she spoke.

"Um..." the first-year started, "are you, uh... sure that's yours?" she inquired hesitantly, pointing down at the swimsuit. Chidori just looked back at her in confusion for a few seconds until Natsumi continued. "Because... um..." she trailed off, and Chidori slowly realized what she meant. She looked down as if to confirm it for herself, and her face fell at the sight of her swimsuit along with her breasts.

"Oh no..." she breathed as the awful truth dawned on her. There was no way that her swimsuit would fit her now: her breasts were simply way too big! Even if she somehow managed to stuff them inside and get the straps over her shoulders, the mental image of what it would look like made her shudder with embarrassment. There was absolutely no way she could get through a whole class like that. A familiar giggling sounded in the back of her mind, but she didn't have a chance to think about it before Mioko overheard them and came over.

"Hmm? What's the matter?" the second girl inquired with innocent concern. Then she saw Chidori, her swimsuit, and her expression. "Oh..." she continued, looking back and forth just the way her friend did a moment earlier, then suddenly seeming to comprehend. "Oh!" she exclaimed with an expression of alarm, which Chidori looked up and returned with one of apprehension. Mioko, evidently sharing that apprehension, concluded with a quite concise, "Uh-oh."

"Well it... it fit just fine before!" Chidori cried in protest. It fit fine when she brought it to school last week, and just yesterday it would have fit as well as it had when she started wearing it in junior high three years ago, but there was no need to go into details like that just now. Natsumi quickly and generously offered to let Chidori wear her own swimsuit, a tiny light blue bikini, while she wore Chidori's school swimsuit. Chidori was grateful, of course, but still she hesitated to accept. Even on Natsumi that bikini looked really skimpy, and on Chidori it was sure to be unbelievably skimpy. It was better than trying to wear what she brought, of course, but even so she found herself looking around in the hopes of finding something better. And she did.

Mioko's swimsuit was a tight sporty one-piece that clung perfectly to every curve and covered her chest all the way up to her neck, and even with the big cutouts at her midriff and the sides of her hips it seemed like it would offer more coverage than Natsumi's bikini. On the other hand, however, if she wore the bikini then Fuyumi-sensei might see how skimpy it was and decide to let her skip gym today. For that matter, if she simply explained her predicament to Fuyumi-sensei she might let her skip gym today anyway. That was what any reasonable teacher would do in a situation like this, after all.

After taking a few moments to calm herself, Chidori made up her mind to...

"Thanks, but I think I'll just find sensei and explain," Chidori announced. "I'm sure she'll understand." With a determined nod Chidori started toward Fuyumi-sensei's office.

"Are you sure?" Natsumi protested, following after her. "That's not what she did last year..."

"I- huh?" something about Natsumi's nervous tone made Chidori's determination falter.

"With the third-year, like I was saying. I mean, that's what I heard anyway. See, it was the first day of swimming and she forgot her swimsuit, so she asked Fuyumi-sensei if she could be excused from gym class, but sensei told her-"

"Um, you know what, why don't you tell me about that later, ok? Chidori really didn't think the best time to hear all about what happened to some girl who asked to be excused from Fuyumi-sensei's gym class was right before she had to ask the same thing herself. "Oh, and could you, um... wait for me here? Just in case I mean." If sensei said no, she might have to take Natsumi up on her offer and end up swimming in a tiny little bikini after all. Mioko's swimsuit was less skimpy, but Mioko was nowhere in sight, which meant she was probably already on her way to the pool and it was too late to ask her.

Natsumi immediately understood and nodded. Chidori trotted down the hall to the gym teacher's office, knocked, waited for the muffled response of "come in," and did so. Fuyumi-sensei, seated at her desk, looked up with a stern gaze and said in a sharp tone, "Chidori-kun. What is it?"

"I... um..." Chidori started, then paused, took a deep breath and tried to smile. "I have a problem with my, um, my swimsuit. It's, um... it doesn't quite fit." She held it up to demonstrate what a huge understatement that was.

Fuyumi-sensei looked at it, her features stony and unreadable, then looked back at Chidori before asking "Have you tried it?"

For a second Chidori was speechless. She looked at the swimsuit, then looked down at her chest. Sure enough, the swimsuit was just the same size as it was before, and her breasts were just as big as ever, clearly way too big to fit.

"It'll be very tight, I'm sure, but you can't be sure it won't fit without trying," Fuyumi-sensei continued, seeing the look on Chidori's face. "Here, I'll help." She stood up, and Chidori saw that the gym teacher knew what she was talking about. She was wearing a swimsuit too, one so tight that the elastic was digging into her skin in a way that looked extremely uncomfortable. "It's a water polo suit," she explained, again guessing what Chidori was thinking at a glance. "They're supposed to be very tight, but it's not too bad once you get used to it. Yours shouldn't be any different." She circled around the desk, stepped toward Chidori and went straight for that third button, which popped right open at her touch, and just like that Chidori was being stripped all over again.

She gave a few halfhearted protests at first, which were ignored, and quickly realized she was better off trying to get this over with as fast as she could. It wasn't nearly as uncomfortable as her last stripping, possibly because she was starting to get used to it. It also didn't take nearly as long, possibly because Fuyumi-sensei didn't spend the whole time murmuring praise for her magnificent body like Izumo-sensei did. Her firm, deft hands made short work of Chidori's top, which fluttered to the floor, followed quickly by her skirt. Chidori swiftly pulled down her panties before Fuyumi-sensei could touch them, while the teacher slipped off her shoes and socks, and with that her stripping was complete. Now totally naked, Chidori stepped into the swimsuit and pulled it up to her chest, where it predictably got stuck. She gave it a few dutiful tugs, which accomplished nothing besides making her boobs bounce and jiggle vigorously, then looked up at the gym teacher and said plaintively, "See? It won't fit."

Fuyumi-sensei pursed her lips. "Well of course it won't fit if you don't know how to make it fit. Here," she declared, and with no further warning she suddenly slipped around behind Chidori and grabbed her breasts. She lifted them and squished them together, squeezing way harder than Akiha did earlier, until Chidori let out a little squeal. Then she cradled them with one arm while she pulled the swimsuit's straps over Chidori's shoulders with the other. Once the straps were in place she reached down again, squeezing and squishing Chidori's breasts even harder than before to cram them into the swimsuit. Chidori squeaked and squirmed and moaned, but Fuyumi-sensei kept at it, and when she was at last satisfied she stepped back and concluded with, "There, that looks good enough. How do you like it."

Still gasping for breath to recover from her most extensive fondling yet, Chidori looked down and immediately decided that she didn't like it at all. The swimsuit was covering her nipples, but even with the stretchy material stretched to the very limit it was just barely big enough to cover that much, and it was squishing her breasts so much that they bulged and spilled out in a spectacular blossom of cleavage and sideboob.

"I can't... I can't possibly..." she started. The mere thought of letting everybody see her like this was almost too embarrassing to bear.

Fuyumi-sensei just shrugged. "I know it's uncomfortable, but like I said, you'll get used to it."

"That's not the problem!" Chidori complained. "I can't let everybody see me like this! I... It's... they... I just can't!"

This time the teacher gave an exasperated sigh. "Oh, fine. If you really can't stand it I won't force you. Just pick up your clothes and get back to the locker room to change." Filled with a rush of gratitude and relief, Chidori smiled and hurried to collect her clothing that was scattered on the floor. But as Fuyumi-sensei turned toward the door she continued, "you can simply wear your underwear instead."

Chidori froze, sputtering, "Huh? B-but... but... my what?"

"Your underwear," the teacher repeated, apparently oblivious to the rising panic in Chidori's voice. She opened the door and called back over her shoulder, "Go get your bra from your locker. You can swim in your bra and panties. That ought to be less uncomfortable at least," before stepping into the hall and walking away.

"In my... but I don't have... I mean I didn't..." she sputtered again, rushing to the door to call after the departing teacher and explain that she couldn't do that because she didn't wear a bra today. But as soon as she was through the door she saw them, and then she couldn't say anything.

Fuyumi-sensei's office was located between the boys' locker room and the girls' locker room, off the hallway with the door to the old pool at one end and the door to the new pool at the other end. All the boys in the combined gym class had finished changing now, and were standing around in the hall waiting for their teacher to arrive and unlock the pool area. Chidori didn't really know or care why they were there, however. All she knew was that the previously empty hallway was full of boys, and all of them were staring at her tits.

She froze again, her skin flushing bright just like before and the words 'but I didn't wear a bra today' dying on her lips. But having caught herself in time to avoid making that embarrassing admission, she was nonetheless overwhelmed by the embarrassment of all those eyes gazing at her semi-covered chest. After a few long seconds she mustered the presence of mind to lift the bundle of clothes she was holding and cover herself a little better, and a few seconds after that she came to her senses and started back down the hall toward the girls' locker room, all thought of getting sensei's attention fled before the far more urgent need to get away from all those boys.

She tried her best to ignore them, but the feeling of dozens of eyes crawling all over her was just too embarrassing to be suppressed. It wasn't nearly as bad as art class, of course, but it was way worse than just walking through the halls in her uniform. At last she approached the locker room door, trembling with every step, and reached out for the handle. But before she could touch it the door burst open in front of her, making her stumble back against the opposite wall. That sudden movement was more than her ill-fitting swimsuit could take, and as she hit the wall her barely-contained bust popped out, bouncing and swaying freely for a long moment while Chidori stood stunned and immobilized before she dropped to the ground, squealing anew and frantically covering herself.

"Chidori! Oh no!" Natsumi cried in surprise and alarm as she emerged from the locker room and knelt to help, but Chidori could hardly even hear her, let alone respond. She could only crouch there, whimpering in anguish until Natsumi gently got her to her feet and guided her the last few steps to safety. With the door safely closed behind them, they sat down together on the nearest bench until Chidori was able to calm down a little.

"... but still I just can't believe sensei actually made you wear it anyway," Natsumi was saying. "I thought that she'd at least let you wear your underwear instead. That's what she made Aki-senpai do last year when she forgot her swimsuit. I mean I only heard about it afterwards and all but apparently she said swimming in her underwear wasn't really any worse than swimming in a bikini. The real problem was afterwards when she had to walk home and-"

With a gasp Chidori looked up from her halfhearted efforts to stuff her breasts back into her swimsuit and exclaimed, "That's it! That's what I can wear!"

Natsumi blinked in confusion, "Huh? You mean your underwear? But I thought sensei made you..."

"No, a bikini!" Chidori continued undeterred, "Your bikini! Like you said earlier!"

Remembering her offer from earlier, Natsumi happily went through with it now, and the two girls quickly undressed and exchanged swimsuits. Natsumi slipped into Chidori's school swimsuit with no difficulty, while Chidori put on the bottom half of Natsumi's bikini. It fit fine, although she had to retie the strings that fastened it at either side. The top, needless to say, posed a bit more difficulty. It was strapless and bandeau-style, consisting of a strip of material with strings that tied behind the back. Natsumi helped tie it for her while Chidori tugged carefully at the fabric in the front, but despite her efforts it just wasn't wide enough to cover more than a small fraction of her breasts. Still, it wasn't nearly as bad as the alternative. Her breasts weren't being squished any worse than they had all day and they weren't bulging too badly, and it didn't feel like they were about to pop out at any moment. By the time Fuyumi-sensei arrived at the door and called everybody out to the pool to warm up Chidori had calmed down and was almost pleased with the solution she'd found.

They all filed down the hall to the pool (fortunately all the boys were gone by now) and Fuyumi-sensei lined everybody up by the side of the pool to stretch. Chidori was aware of a few pointed stares directed at her mostly-covered chest and she caught a couple girls giving her nasty looks, but she reminded herself that at least the boys weren't here to stare at her too since they were all at the other pool, and anyway it wouldn't be so bad once she was in the water.

But when she sat down to start doing toe-touches she saw something else. There was somebody standing over by the far end of the pool. She only noticed from the corner of her eye at first and didn't think much of it, but there was something about the way that person was standing that got her attention, and after another few toe-touches she looked again. It was a boy, which surprised her for a second until she realized he wasn't actually in the pool area. He was on the other side of the pool area's big glass wall. That wasn't really unusual or anything, since she vaguely remembered hearing that some of the school's delinquents liked to hang out over there around the bleachers and the main athletic field, but there was still something strange that she couldn't quite put her finger on. It was only when Chidori looked for a third time that it finally hit her: that guy was staring at her... and not just that, he was staring at her tits!

She felt her skin flush slightly, all at once becoming acutely aware of the way that reaching for her toes again and again was making her totally unrestrained breasts sway and jiggle. She could feel his eyes on her now, and she wanted to cover herself, but she couldn't just stop doing stretches until it was time to stop. She tried to ignore the feeling and ignore the guy, which worked for a little while until found herself wondering if he was still there and if he was still staring at her. So when they finished the toe-touches and switched to the next stretch she glanced that way again, and this time she saw five guys.

They were all just standing there and staring, and now it was even more obvious than before that they were staring at her tits. She jerked her head away, trying to ignore them again, but now she was blushing even more and the feeling of their eyes squeezing her was just making it worse and worse. She really wanted to just hurry and get in the water where they couldn't see her, but Fuyumi-sensei seemed to be really intent on making sure everybody did enough stretching and she showed no sign of stopping anytime soon. The next time Chidori looked at the boys there were even more of them staring at her.

"What's going on?" she thought, trying to keep herself from trembling. "Where are they all coming from? Did... did that first guy tell all his buddies to come over just to look at me or something?"

The silent response was immediate. "Hmm, maybe," Jinni's familiar voice in her head was as playful as ever. "Or maybe they always hang out here, and today you just happened to give them something interesting to look at." A spate of giggles followed, and then, "Of course if you're too embarrassed, you know all you have to do is ask and I'll take care of it for you..." Chidori had to think about that. It was pretty embarrassing, and at this rate it was going to get more embarrassing pretty fast if the crowd out there kept growing, but it couldn't be that much longer before sensei let them get in the water, and besides that she still remembered what happened yesterday. "Oh come on, don't worry about that. I took care of the problem afterward, didn't I? And anyway, it worked out just fine earlier today, right?"

Chidori had to admit that Jinni didn't cause any problems when she asked for help in art class earlier, but she was still a bit nervous about asking for more help like that when she didn't absolutely need it. But then again, she didn't want to be too distrustful either. After another glance toward her audience, she took a deep breath and decided...

Biting her lip, Chidori looked up at the staring boys, then looked down at her swaying breasts. It was embarrassing for them to see her like this, but at least she wasn't naked. She thought about art class earlier, and she thought about the boys that always stood around to watch cheerleading practice. She usually just ignored them, and if she could ignore an audience staring at her in a cheerleading uniform, there was no reason she couldn't ignore an audience staring at her in a bikini too. "Thanks, but I think I can manage for a little while," she thought, trying to add a bit more confidence than what she felt.

"Suit yourself," the reply was accompanied by a sort of mental shrug. "Still, if you change your mind, just say the word."

Chidori pursed her lips at the soft but disconcerting mental chuckle which followed, and thought back, "thanks, I'll remember." For now she just steadied her nerves and looked down, trying her best to ignore all the boys that were staring at her and telling herself that it couldn't be too much longer now until Fuyumi-sensei let them get in the water and she would be out of sight.

She was right about that, and after a little while Fuyumi-sensei called for everybody to line up at the edge of the pool. Chidori smiled with relief and relaxed for a moment, but only until she caught sight the crowd again. It was even bigger now, and it seemed like all the boys who weren't in their own gym class must be standing there watching the girls' gym class. She reflexively tried to cover her breasts with her hands, but decided that it only made her stand out even more and instead just adjusted her top and her swim cap and went back to trying to ignore her audience. It was a big relief when she finally hopped in the water and started doing the warmup laps with everyone else.

Now she could relax, she told herself, trying to forget about the boys and hoping they would get bored without anything interesting to look at and leave before class was over and it was time to get out of the pool. She wondered if boys always stood around by the pool to watch swim practice just like they stood around to watch cheerleading practice, and with a surge of sympathy wondered if that might have something to do with why the swim team practiced in the mornings when they were less likely to have an audience.

She let her mind wander like that, realizing that this was just about the first time since she left for school that she didn't have to worry about anybody staring at her boobs. That little measure of privacy was a nice relief after the day's events, and she savored it. She relaxed, focused on the steady rhythm of her stroke, and allowed herself to slowly forget all about the boys outside and what happened in the hall and the library and art class before that. It was nice, but it didn't last long.

After only a little while Fuyumi-sensei called for everybody to get out of the pool and line up at the far end, where the diving blocks were set up. Still relaxed, Chidori calmly finished her lap and climbed out of the water. She was trying to figure out where to line up when something strange got her attention. Everybody was getting really quiet, and when she looked around to figure out why she saw they were all looking at her. Then she saw the boys.

They were still there, just on the other side of the glass and now much closer than before. There were just as many of them as before, and they were staring just like before too... staring at her. She had a really nasty thought then, an idea so awful her mind refused to let it completely take shape beyond a vague yet absolutely urgent need to check and confirm that what she was afraid of couldn't possibly be true. Slowly, hesitantly, she looked down, and what she saw made her freeze, the color vanishing from her face as if she'd turned to stone.

It was exactly what she was afraid of. Her breasts, dripping wet from the pool and as big and full and round as ever, were completely, totally naked. She wanted to scream and cover herself and run away, somewhere that wasn't filled with people staring at her, but her mouth was hanging open and her legs could only tremble uselessly. She just stood there like that with her chest exposed for all to see, until her trembling legs finally folded and she dropped to the floor and curled up. Eventually she heard someone shouting and it felt like things were about to get even worse somehow, and that was when she said the word.

The next thing she knew Fuyumi-sensei was standing over her and saying something about being totally careless and pointed over toward the middle of the pool. Chidori looked that way and saw her bikini top floating on the water's surface. "Oh! There it is. Thanks, sensei." She got up, smiling, then turned and hopped back in the water and swam over to retrieve her lost top. She started to put it on right there while treading water, but Fuyumi-sensei yelled for her to come back and get out of the way so they could start relay practice, so Chidori swam back to the edge of the pool and climbed back out, still topless and still smiling. She started to put her bikini top back on again, but noticed that everyone was lining up under sensei's instruction and instead moved to get in the nearest line first. Then she saw Natsumi and Mioko getting in a different line and trotted over to them, bouncing with ever step and not even sparing a glance for the boys watching her attentively through the glass.

"Hey guys," she greeted the two first-years. Natsumi took a step back at her approach, and Chidori gratefully stepped into line behind Mioko. "Sensei's right, that was totally careless of me!" Chidori exclaimed with a bashful grin, starting once again to position the bikini top over her nipples. "I really should have known better. I mean, with a top like this anybody could have totally seen that coming, ya know? Oh, thanks." Natsumi, behind her, was helping to retie the bikini's strings while Chidori held it steady and continued blithely talking about what had happened to it just now. "Still, it could be worse," she giggled, "at least the bottom didn't fall off too!" Mioko was about to say something in response, it was her turn and she had to get ready to dive. Chidori kept giggling softly for a few more moments, until Natsumi finished her work.

As soon as the knot was tied and Chidori's bikini top was securely fastened it was like a switch had been thrown. Her giggles stopped abruptly and she gasped, as if becoming aware all at once of something very unpleasant. She slowly turned to peek over her shoulder at the wall where the boys were standing, saw that they were still there, and turned back with a distressed expression. Before the retroactive embarrassment could fully sink in, however, it was her turn to ascend the diving block. She took her diving stance, standing above everybody's heads and reaching down to place her toes and fingertips at the edge of the block. Then something else unpleasant occurred to her and she reached back to feel her bikini bottoms. Just as she was afraid of, they had slipped deep between her buttocks, leaving nearly her entire butt exposed. She quickly tugged the material back into place, trying really hard not to think about how much everybody behind her had just seen as soon as she bent over, especially all the boys. That just made her think about how much they had all seen already, but before she could start trying not to think about that Fuyumi-sensei blew her whistle again and Chidori dived into the water.

When she finished her lap and got back out again Natsumi was holding the bikini top, having helpfully fished it out of the water. Chidori took it, thanked Natsumi, got back in line, giggled and chatted about her carelessness again, and only then started to put her top back on. Just like before, by the time it was tied and her embarrassment returned it was almost time for her to dive again. The same thing happened the next time, and after the third time she realized there was no way the flimsy bikini top was going to stay on when she dived in and hit the water, so the next time she tried to hold onto it with one hand. When she got out after that the bikini top was in her hand instead of Natsumi's, but otherwise it was just like all the other times.

After a few more dives and a few more laps Fuyumi-sensei announced that class was over and everybody headed back to the locker rooms. Once in that relative privacy, Chidori finally stopped magically switching between embarrassed and unembarrassed and instead found herself moving in a daze as she tried to come to grips with everything that just happened. She showered and changed, vaguely aware of Natsumi and Mioko trying to comfort her. At some point she heard Natsumi complain about how Fuyumi-sensei always treated her gym class as a sort of backdoor tryouts for the swim team, which was apparently why they spent it diving and doing laps.

Afterwards, once again in her uniform, Chidori started home. Her dazed state was fading now, replaced by a morose air as the full impact of the day's events sank in. Before she was more than a block from school a familiar voice cut through her thoughts, "Come on, cheer up. You don't have to look so down just because of a little embarrassment." Chidori winced slightly at the intrusion, then gave an irritated sigh.

"There's nothing little about it," she mumbled, looking at the ground. "They all saw... everybody saw my..." she trailed off, belatedly noticing something strange. This time the voice wasn't in her head. She looked up, saw Jinni standing there and sputtered, "What... what... what are you...?"

"Well, I thought I'd walk home with you. I've got plenty of power for this body now, and dressed like this it won't stand out too much." She had on a uniform from Chidori's school instead of the ridiculous clothes from yesterday, although Chidori was pretty sure she would still stand out with the top two buttons undone so that her cleavage was on display and her nipples just barely covered. She had no chance to voice that concern, however, as Jinni continued beaming, "Besides, it's the least I could do after such a wonderful day. I mean what happened in art class would have been plenty all by itself, but then there was your little friend in the library, and gym class on top of that. It was just magnificent. At this rate I-"

"Stop it!" Chidori cried, cutting her off. "Don't... don't talk about it like that! It's not wonderful or magnificent or anything, it's horrible! Don't you even care?" her hands balled into fists and tears welled in her eyes as she glared and shouted at Jinni. "Don't you care about how awful it is... letting everybody see... and then... knowing that... they all saw..." her voice trembled just thinking about it, all the overwhelming humiliation of the day's events rushing back in a veritable torrent that washed over her and poured out in this incoherent tirade.

The helpless anger in Chidori's voice seemed to somehow make an impression on Jinni, and for once she actually looked a little taken aback. "Well, I offered, you know," she started mildly, "I offered to take away your embarrassment. I always offer to. If you'd just-"

"That isn't it!" Chidori cut her off again, sniffing and struggling to fight back the tears. "That only helps at first! Afterwards... it... it's still..." her expression turned piteous and pleading, "there's more to embarrassment than just embarrassment! I still keep thinking about it afterwards... about how I let everybody see... And I still have to look at everybody who... who saw me like that... and know that they saw... and wonder what they're thinking about me. It's... it's even worse than the embarrassment by itself in some ways, having to go through all that afterwards." The anger was quickly ebbing from her now and she felt a sudden surge of helplessness, struck by the bizarre impossibility of trying to explain the whole idea of shame to a being who was totally and utterly shameless.

But Jinni looked down, growing thoughtful, and after some moments muttered, "Vashti never said anything like that. She never felt anything like the way you do, I won't believe it. She liked dancing naked for her king and everybody else, and she loved it when they looked at her and she loved it when they called her beautiful. And she never felt bad about it afterwards at all."

Chidori looked up and shrugged. "Vashti... that was a long time ago, and on the other side of the world. I guess it must have been different for her."

Jinni pursed her lips and gave a sigh, "Well then, what would you like to do? I'm not about to let you out of our deal, but I'd rather you didn't feel all horrible about it either. Have you got a better idea, then?"

"Well I..." Chidori tried to think, but it was so sudden, and besides, they were still standing in public where anybody might see or overhear them. Instead she took a deep breath to collect her thoughts and told Jinni, "Why don't we talk it over..."

"Come on, we've got to deal with this right away," Chidori announced, her mouth set in a hard line. She turned around and marched back to the nearest classroom building, Jinni following behind her with a shrug. She looked for an empty classroom, but eventually settled for an unoccupied stall in the nearest girls' room. Chidori sat down in the cramped but thankfully private space, looked up at Jinni and took another deep breath. "We've got to do something about this," she began in a fierce and resolute whisper. "I'm not trying to go back on the deal or anything, and I don't even mind putting up with a little embarrassment. I mean, everybody gets embarrassed sometimes, and if you have to feed on my embarrassment then that's fine, but not like what happened today!" Jinni looked like she wanted to say something, but Chidori was on a roll. "I just can't keep letting everybody see my... my..." she clutched her hands to her chest in a subconscious indication of the word she couldn't seem to get out, then instead finished, "see me naked like that. Even if you make it so I'm not embarrassed right away, it still feels awful thinking about it afterwards, and on top of that I keep making things even worse when you do it and I just can't take it anymore so you've got to- What is it?"

Jinni still seemed to want to interject something, and when prompted like that she tilted her head and asked, "Why are you whispering?" it took a few moments for Chidori to realize she hadn't actually spoken. Feeling slightly foolish, she left the bathroom, careful to make sure nobody saw the two of them emerging together, and they resumed the walk home. Anybody watching them would have seen only a pair of extremely well-endowed schoolgirls walking together in silence.

"So like I was saying, you've got to stop doing that so much," Chidori thought, continuing her whispered speech telepathically. "From now on, just let me stay embarrassed unless I actually ask for your help," She gave a determined nod, putting as much conviction into the mental demand as she could.

"Are you sure?" the undercurrent of concern was somehow far more clear than in any spoken question. "What if you freeze up again like at the pool? If I hadn't made you unembarrassed just then you might have stood there topless in front of everybody for who knows how long." Chidori felt her determination evaporate as the awful memory came back.

"Well... m-maybe not if that happens... but even then, make sure you only do enough so that I can move again, okay? I don't want a repeat of what happened after that, or what happened at home yesterday, or... um, anything else like-"

"Oh, like what happened in art class!" Jinni burst in. "Especially right at the end. Yeah, that was a real surprise." Chidori stopped where she was then, her face turning red as that memory she had somehow managed not to think about all day suddenly threatened to come rushing back. Jinni stopped walking too, but she still continued, "I never thought you'd just bend over like that right in the middle of the room and show everybody your cute little butt and your cute little p-"

"Exactly!" Chidori cut in before Jinni could finish that last word and call back the unbearable memory fully. "That sort of thing is exactly why you've got to stop it and make sure nothing like that happens again!" fighting to keep down the edge of rising hysteria, she powered ahead without waiting for a reply, "and do something about these too," she indicated her breasts by cupping them with both hands, quite forgetting how remarkably strange the gesture would look to anyone who happened to be watching. "They caused all sorts of problems today and I want them back to normal."

"Aww, what for?" Jinni affected a forlorn look at this last demand. "Everybody else just loves your big beautiful boobs. I was sure you'd love them too."

"Everybody!?" Chidori gave a disdainful huff. "All the boys, you mean. I'm sure they just loved it, staring at me all day like that," she shivered, remembering the feeling of all those eager eyes fixed on her, "Did you think I'd enjoy it or something? Having all those boys staring at my..."

"Your tits," Jinni interrupted, seizing on Chidori's hesitation as she searched for a less uncomfortable word. "Your boobs. Your titties, your sweater puppies, your melons, your jugs, your mammaries, your big beautiful bouncy boobies! Go ahead and say it," she giggled wildly for a brief moment, "You don't need to get all embarrassed over which word to use."

"My bust," Chidori finished the least embarrassing way she could think of, trying not to blush at the series of much more colorful terms. "And I don't care how much the boys loved staring at them. I'm not the sort of girl that likes that kind of attention. I can't stand being stared at like that. And anyway, that's-"

"Well what about your friend?" Jinni interrupted again, "She just loved them too, and you didn't seem to mind her staring at them. And feeling them. And squeezing and measuring and fondling and groping them."

"That... she... um..." this time Chidori couldn't keep from blushing. "Akiha was just curious, that's all. And anyway, that's not even the worst of the problems they caused. I mean it was bad enough, but on top of that my uniform barely fits, and I had to borrow a bikini that wouldn't stay on and ended up flashing everybody at the pool. And then there's what happened in art class. That was the worst part of all"

"Really? But I thought that was the part you liked best," Jinni reflected in evidently genuine puzzlement.

"What!?" Chidori exclaimed with a veritable mental blastwave of indignation. "What are you talking about? It was totally awful! Why would I like anything about that!? I never would have agreed to do such a thing except it was the only way to save Sakaki-senpai!"

"That's just what I mean. You posed naked to save your shy little model friend from having to pose naked. And you never could have done it without your brand new big gorgeous tits. Remember how that artiste of a teacher asked you to model for her as soon as she saw them?"

"Huh? Well yeah, she got excited when she saw me I guess. But then that means... you mean... my bust size is the reason I was able to save Sakaki-senpai?" Chidori hadn't even considered that possibility, and it put her inflated breasts in a new and very different light.

"Exactly. Without your nice big tits that teacher wouldn't have asked you to model, and then that other girl would have had to model instead," Jinni pointed out with no small degree of relief, which Chidori was a bit too preoccupied to pick up on. "And you can do it tomorrow too, but only if you still have your big juicy tits. Otherwise..." she trailed off as ominously as she could, and this time Chidori did pick up the implication.

"Otherwise poor Sakaki-senpai..." Chidori flashed back to the memory of the other girl's intense gratitude upon being rescued from her nude modeling fate, then to her earlier helpless terror while she was being stripped. "I can't let that happen to her. I just can't. I've gotta save her."

"Of course. Just like you did today. I knew you'd do the right thing, you're so kind and compassionate, so loving and selfless." Jinni's gushing praise was clearly designed to semi-subtly nudge Chidori toward that very selflessness. "I knew it all along, as soon as I saw the artiste and the model."

"I guess... if it's the only way..." Chidori gazed down at her oversized boobs. She really didn't want to have to keep putting up with the troublesome things, but she just couldn't stand the thought of letting Sakaki suffer. Not if there was anything she could do to stop it. "I guess... I just don't have a choice..."

Even as she admitted it, Jinni continued to gush, "I knew as soon as I saw her plan to use her little model that Birth of Venus scene that you'd never just stand by and let something like that happen. Once I made up her mind that the painting had to be perfectly authentic then all that was left to do was give you what you needed to stop it. So I did my part, and you did yours, and it all worked out flawlessly thanks to your beautiful big soft bouncy-"

"Wait," Chidori stopped in her tracks, her head snapping up as something suddenly got her attention. "What was that? Made up her mind...?"

"Hmm?" Jinni froze for a second, her smile disappearing momentarily only to come back again even bigger. "Oh, that. Your teacher was trying to decide about the painting. She wanted everything to be as authentic as it could possibly be, but at first she wasn't quite sure just how authentic she could make it." She laughed again, but this time it seemed somehow more nervous than before.

"Authentic..." Chidori repeated, slowly trying to work out out what that word really meant. "You mean... like what kind of model to paint...?"

"That's right! The model." Jinni's nervousness turned once again to relief, and Chidori was beginning to detect a pattern. "You saw the painting she showed you. That lady in it had long straight hair, pale skin, slender legs, just like your friend. That's what-"

"And she was naked," that cold, blunt statement made Jinni freeze again, and Chidori was becoming increasingly certain she was on the right track. "The lady in the original painting was naked. Is that the kind of 'authenticity' sensei was trying to decide on? Whether or not to make Sakaki-senpai pose naked?"

"That's..." Jinni paused, looking quite nervous now, and as she searched for an answer she seemed to be searching for an escape. "Well, it's... um... I suppose that's..."

"And you made up her mind for her!" The force of the accusation made Jinni freeze once more, and this time her smile vanished completely, her eyes going wide as she realized she was caught. "It's true, isn't it?" Chidori continued, now that she had everything pieced together. "You made sure that sensei would force her model- I mean force Sakaki-senpai to pose naked, all so I'd have to take her place and pose naked myself to save her!"

"Well... I... um... I didn't give her the idea or anything," Jinni tried to prevaricate, smiling weakly. "She really did want everything to be totally authentic, and she really really wanted to use a nude model, she just wasn't sure she could get away with it. She was on the fence about it, all she needed was that last little push to make up her mind. That's all I did, just give her that tiny little push." Chidori just glared at her, quite unmoved by these excuses. "And besides, I was just doing what I promised to do yesterday."

"What!?" Chidori snapped, still glaring, "What are you talking about? You promised not to embarrass anybody!"

"And I also promised that if we saw something embarrassing happen I'd try to make it less embarrassing, remember? And that's just what happened: I saw a shy girl who was about to be totally embarrassed when she had to to pose for the art class, and I made sure that she didn't have to." Chidori still looked skeptical, so Jinni continued, "Really! You don't know what she was thinking like I do. She wanted to be an art model so badly that she volunteered without thinking it through. She never even thought she might end up having to pose in just some skimpy flesh-toned costume underwear, let alone if she had to pose naked! And she really is extremely modest. Even if I didn't do anything and she didn't end up posing naked she still would have been totally embarrassed by what she had to do."

"But... but that's not... that wasn't what I thought you meant!" She was really getting angry now, and she really wasn't in the mood for arguing about semantics and weasel words. "I don't care what you thought you were promising yesterday, you've got to stop it! I don't want to have to pose nude in art class again tomorrow, and I don't want Sakaki to have to pose nude either. I don't want anybody to have to pose nude at all! Got it? So just undo whatever it was you did to make sensei start using nude models and let art class get back to normal. And do something about these, too!" she once again indicated her chest.

Jinni sighed and lifted her hands in submission. "Alright, fine, fine. I'll let your teacher do whatever she wants. And if you really can't stand the attention and the way everybody was staring at you today, I'll make sure that tomorrow your boobies are a perfectly normal size. Will that be alright?"

"It'll do. For now," Chidori kept her expression as stern as she could. They were almost home now, and she spent the last of the trip trying not to display her relief or satisfaction at having extracted a promise that tomorrow wouldn't be a repeat of what she had to endure today. At last she reached her own front door and stepped inside, looking forward to getting changed and having a little time to herself.

She was kneeling and slipping off her shoes when she heard someone call out, "Oh, hi! Welcome back," and she jerked to her feet in surprise. It wasn't a voice she recognized, although it seemed familiar from somewhere. Looking up, she recognized her brother's friend Keiji, from yesterday. He was staring at her with a big goofy grin, and behind him were Suguru and two other boys she hadn't met before. They all had the same expression and they were all looking at her in the same way, and she felt herself starting to blush. Then she realized that they were looking at her boobs, which were bouncing and jiggling from the way she stood up so fast, and she blushed even more.

She wanted to cover herself and she wanted to demand to know what they were doing here, but before she could do either one Jinni slipped up beside her. "Oh, hi! Chidori, you didn't tell me you were expecting company," she bubbled, putting on a big friendly grin. "Nice to meet you, I'm Jen," she trotted over to Keiji, her chest jiggling merrily with every movement in a way that just had to be intentional. She introduced herself to each of the boys, leaning forward as she did so and waving her cleavage in their faces for a few seconds, all the while pretending not to notice the show she was giving them.

Once all the boys had managed to sputter their names (the other two were Masao and Noboru, it turned out) Jinni turned back toward Chidori, who was still standing by the door. "Come on, we should get upstairs and change into something comfortable," she suggested, then turned toward the boys again, "I hope you don't mind waiting. we already had a shower after gym just now, so it won't take too long." After a few moments one of the boys managed to stop imagining Chidori and 'Jen' in the shower together long enough to murmur that that was just fine, while all of them gazed at 'Jen' and the way her boobs swung and swayed when she turned like that. "Okay, come on Chidori," Jinni called with a giggle as she started up the stairs, four pairs of eyes trying as hard as they could to look up her skirt. After a second Chidori started up after her, mostly to get away from the staring boys, while trying really hard not to look under that same skirt.

As soon as they were alone in Chidori's room with the door shut behind them she burst out, "What's going on? What are those boys doing here again? And why are you talking to them? I thought you were trying not to let other people know about you. And what-" there was an edge of rising hysteria in her voice.

"Now now, relax," Jinni interrupted, her smile turning warm and comforting to soothe that confusion and apprehension. "They came to visit again because they had a good time yesterday. And I introduced myself so I can have a good time too. It should be safe enough now, since I've got enough power to stay in this body for a while. So come on, let's get dressed. I hope you've got something appropriate around here," she trotted over to the closet, and the way she giggled when she said that last part made Chidori's confusion start to resolve into suspicion.

"Appropriate..." she repeated nervously, "what do you mean...? Appropriate for what?"

"For you, of course. Didn't I tell you yesterday?" she opened the closet and started searching for something there. "Maybe I didn't. We were talking about a lot of stuff."

"Tell me what? What's going on?" Chidori's suspicion was quickly turning into alarm.

"You know how after what happened yesterday I said I'd take care of things so those boys wouldn't cause problems for you," Jinni explained patiently, still rummaging in the closet.

"Right... you said you'd do something about their memories..." she recalled warily, turning right back to suspicion again. "Didn't you make them all forget about how they saw my-... um, about what they saw?"

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Pub: 08 Nov 2021 18:24 UTC

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