Amazon |
"NANPAKAI."
Translation: "Pick-Up Cluib."Japanese Title: 「軟派会。」
Published: December 28th, 2012
Price: $2.99
Era: Present
Time Period: September, 2012
Editor: Lindsay York
Cover Photo: Ben Heys
Paperback: Not Available
Blurb:
As a belated birthday present, Aiko's girlfriend Reina takes her to the largest lesbian nightclub in town. Rowdy, drunk women aren't exactly on Aiko's list of "great birthday gifts" however, until she discovers the club's dirty little secret - it's actually a "nanpakai," or a place for picking up women for some quick, casual fun centered around exhibitionism. With the mission to become a seductress for one night, Aiko sets her sights on an out-of-towner. Will their encounter be the envy of every other woman watching, or will Aiko discover she's not cut out for the life of a nanpa?
Excerpt:
After
stopping halfway across the room to smooth out blouse, skirt, and voluminous
hair, Aiko straightened her back and reclaimed the confident image of a reba on the prowl. There were empty
spots in the back rooms after all, and she needed to fill them both for her
girlfriend’s and her own rising needs.
The closer she came to her unknowing
target, the more those needs increased. Coming off such a lovely kiss from
Reina, Aiko realized the slow stimulation of the night had created a tingle in
her stomach and a numbness in her breasts. One look from this woman would be
enough to make Aiko go for a hat-trick between her legs.
Unlike Mina, this woman noticed her
a few seconds before she arrived. Their eyes met in the darkness of the
nightclub. A tiny smirk grew on her high cheekbones; she pocketed her cell
phone in her blazer.
“Can I help you?” she asked with a
rich tenor. “You look a little lost.”
Aiko had to steel herself against
this woman’s charms. I’m the one doing
the seducing, not her. Although the thought of letting this gorgeous woman
with reddish-brown hair and sparkling eyes do whatever she wanted was
appealing. Instead, Aiko reminded herself of her promise to Reina, and
maintained a coy countenance. “I was going to ask you the same thing.”
Bemusement clouded the woman’s once
eager expression, but she didn’t flinch, nor did she look like she wanted go
somewhere else. “Is is that obvious I’m not from around here?” she asked.
“Please, have a seat.”
The tiny two-person table forced
Aiko to sit opposite the woman, her shoulder bumping into the wall. She put
Reina’s beer on the table and attempted to mimic the woman’s casual stance by
crossing her legs and leaning into the chair. “Let’s just say you seem the type
I would have seen around here before.” Aiko didn’t interact with many butches
because of Reina’s tendencies for femmes, but she would have definitely
recalled a looker like this one. There’s
something mischievous about her smile. When Reina smirked like that it was
because she knew something Aiko didn’t – this was genuine pleasure for the
situation.
“It’s not my first time to this
neighborhood, no.” The woman flicked her empty glass. “But I don’t live around
here, so maybe that’s why our paths have unfortunately not crossed before.”
“Where are you from?”
The woman reached an alluring hand
for Aiko. She stiffened, prepared to be groped from across the table, and
decided she was okay with that thought. Here’s
your show, Reina.
But the woman’s hand diverted for
the beer bottle and scraped the label. Aiko laughed. “Ah, Sapporo?” She turned
the bottle towards herself. “That far away?” How could this amiable woman be
from Japan’s northernmost city? I bet
she’s the queen tachi of the Sapporo
lesbian scene.
“My job brings me here sometimes.
I’m only here through the weekend.”
Aiko imagined that whatever business
this woman had included a suite in a grand Tokyo hotel overlooking the bay,
where room service was outrageous but the walls were soundproof. Tingles
scurried across her skin as she further imagined being in that room with this
woman, because clearly that was the
oncoming invitation. “Oh, I’ve lived here my whole life. I’ve been coming to
this neighborhood for over twenty years now.” She hoped she didn’t age herself.
“Twenty years, eh?” Her thin, brown
eyebrows danced in calculations. “That’s how long I’ve been wearing clothes
like these.”
Beer entered Aiko’s mouth as she
tipped the Sapporo blend past her lips. She set it down with a gentle ting, her
eyes never once leaving the woman’s large hands. “My name is Aiko. Pleasure to
welcome you to my city.”
Teeth as white as the one light in the room accepted Aiko’s welcome. “You can call me Jun. Nice to see you drinking my beer.”
It’s
Reina’s favorite brand. Aiko had been buying her cases of it for fifteen
years. “Jun, huh? My mother’s name is Junko.” The irony could give an anemic a
headache.
“Small world.”
Jun pulled a cigarette from her
other pocket – Aiko saw her chance. She whipped Reina’s lighter from her purse
and produced a spark with a flick of the nimble wrist. Jun wavered between
staring at Aiko’s chivalry and pulling out her own lighter. The cigarette
balanced upon her lips. Eventually she leaned forward and accepted a light.
“So tell me,” Jun said behind a
smoke ring, “what’s a lovely lady like you doing by herself in a place like
this? I mean, I’m from out of town, so I don’t know many people. But if you’ve
been here for twenty years, then you’re either a pariah or up to something.”
Aiko laughed. “I assure you, I have
no bad reputation you should fear. I’m just…” she struggled for an appropriate
word, one that would neither offend nor give away her history as one-half of
Ni-chome’s most notorious couple. “I’m picky.”
“Picky, eh?”
A fleeting look told Aiko that her
girlfriend was still in place, watching them with continued interest. Yes, picky. She had gone through a dozen
boyfriends before meeting Reina and discovering her Sapphic destiny. Since then
not a single person could compare to her Reina…although many, like maybe Jun,
tried.
“Since you’re from out of town,”
Aiko said, bouncing a foot beneath the table, “I’d like to know how you found
out about this place. It’s quite special, you know.”
“Oh? I’d always heard of it. It’s
the biggest club for… certain women, is it not?”
“Last I heard. But the bars are so
much more popular.” Or at least Aiko preferred them and their familiarity.
Jun shrugged. “I know this place has been around forever.”
“Yes, that’s true. It also has a
certain reputation, you know.”
“So I’ve heard.” Jun’s mouth parted
into a devilish smile.
Aiko eased her foot forward and discovered
the tip of Jun’s knee; she was met with a deeper look and one careful smoke
ring. The way Jun’s lips turned into a perfect O taunted Aiko for a kiss. “Have
you heard what people call this kind of club?”
A brilliant pause.
“I’ve heard it called a nanpakai.”
Jun tilted forward into the table,
into Aiko’s foot. “Are you a nanpa,
Aiko-san?”
I
will be soon. “Are you, Jun-san?”
She picked up her glass
and coaxed out the last drop; the tip of her boot grazed Aiko’s foot. “I may
have been called that once or twice.”
BUY:
EbookAmazon - UK - CA - DE - FR - IT - ES - JP - BR
No comments:
Post a Comment