Chereads / Shrine Maiden / Chapter 10 - Under the Fireworks

Chapter 10 - Under the Fireworks

I would have liked to have things go back to normal when my parents returned from their trip, but the festival coming up was going to be anything but normal. Most mornings that week dad and I would get up early to go up to the shrine and help the festival people with setting up their tents and booths. Dad refused to chop down any of the trees that surrounded the shrine, so a lot of tents were pitched amongst the trees with hanging lanterns strung along the lower branches. It gave the whole shrine a mystical feeling in the evenings as the sun went down and all the colored lights hung in the mist of the forest like little spirits coming to watch the festival. Booths began to line the shrine's courtyard where carnival games would be rigged together and stuffed animals of all kinds will be hung from the awnings in anticipation of little kids trying to win them.

On Tuesday I got the chance to go into town with dad since he needed a few things. I brought my bag with me, hiding the rolls of large yen notes safely inside, and asked dad to drop me off at lunch with Echiko. Luckily she was free to meet with me for a quick bite despite my last minute message to her. Telling dad that I would just walk home when I was done in town so he didn't have to wait for me, my plan seemed to be going smoothly so far. Echiko seemed to be happy for a chance to go out. I only half listened to her rant, missing Shunji because he was always willing to go out of his way to see her, and irritated that her mom wasn't letting her go into the city every day of the summer to visit Kisho. My mind was fairly absorbed in what I needed to do at the bank when Echiko finally caught my attention.

"... but I figured I could always message Toin and see if he wanted to hang out." Echiko wasn't looking at me, slightly distracted herself as she was daydreaming about doing something with the boy I liked. I hadn't told her about the walks to my house that Toin and I had, or about making out with him in the rain.

I hesitated, I didn't believe Echiko would try to steal him from me if she knew that I liked him, but I wasn't about to fuel her gossip. "Have you two hung out at all since school got out?" I could feel my heart rate quickening. I hadn't practiced my breathing that I did for swimming lately, though more because I was enjoying the rush as exciting things happened. I wasn't sure what it was with the question… did I want Toin to be fooling around with other girls? Was I just hoping that he would hold out for me?

"Well, I sent him a couple of nudes a week or so ago, got back a very nice picture in return. But whenever I ask if he is free to meet up he always says that he is busy. That seems usual though, even when I did see him, it was always running into him somewhere and convincing him to go with me somewhere more private." Echiko squirmed in her seat a bit as she thought about those places. "Speaking of which, we need another karaoke date."

"I know Ami wants to have a sleepover soon. I told her it would be impossible this week with getting everything ready for the festival." I poked a bit at the salad on my plate, not hungry enough to finish it. "When you send nudes to a boy, what exactly do you do?"

Echiko just gave me a curious look for a few moments as if she didn't understand the question. "Are you trying to send a boy pictures of yourself? I saw that one you took before. It's really not that difficult. You can either take a selfie like you did, preferably in front of a mirror or something so you can see how you look before you take a picture. Otherwise you could always prop it up on something and set a timer. That's how I get pictures of me in bed." She began to flip through her phone until she found what she was looking for. Turning it around to show me, a picture of Echiko laying on her bed naked with her fingers running through the thin bush of hair between her legs, her breasts wet with saliva as she intentionally left her mouth open and tongue hanging out.

I rolled my eyes at her, "Is that look really necessary? It is so unrealistic."

"Oh come on, boys love it. They immediately get hard and treat you like a goddess when you go over the top like that for them." She went back to looking at her own pictures for a second, a sly look on her face before I heard the tiny chirp of her phone sending a message to someone. "And when they get a picture of you like that and can't just have you then and there, it drives them wild. Trust me, it works every time."

We finished up our lunch without my curiosity sated. I told Echiko I had an errand to run for the shrine, something that easily made her lose interest in hanging out further. With her on the way home I started to make my way to the bank in town. It wasn't very large and mostly just dealt with the smaller needs of the community, most people used banks in the city for savings accounts and such. The automatic doors slid open as I approached the modern building and walked into the cool air conditioned foyer. Only one bank teller was standing at the counter with a fairly bored expression on his face, the rest of the main room empty.

He raised an eyebrow as I walked up to the counter, clearing my throat before asking, "Would I be able to get some notes traded for something smaller? I only have notes for ten thousand yen and I could use some that are easier for spending." I retrieved the roll of notes from my bag, pulling off the rubber band and trying to flatten the notes on the counter. "I don't really need to deposit anything."

The man just nodded his head understandingly, "We get this kind of thing all the time, a grandparent gives someone a large note." His eyes drifted over the counter to where I was flattening the roll out. "My my, how many grandparents do you have?"

I grinned sheepishly, "Not that many I assure you, it is just money from the shrine…"

"Oh yeah," The man cut me off, "You're Tetsuya's daughter, right? The Okada family? Years ago your family had an account here but it sounded like Tetsuya switched you all over to one of the city banks."

"Um… yeah, which isn't the easiest to get to on short notice, so I was hoping to get these exchanged here. We… uh… need to get some things for the upcoming festival and it would be a lot easier with smaller notes. I have twenty of them here." I felt uneasy lying like that, but the whole point was to help the shrine. And it wasn't like we weren't spending money on getting things ready for the festival.

The bank teller just watched me throughout my explanation, an inquisitive look on his face. "Well, if you say so. It's still a lot of money for a teenager to be walking around town with. Is your dad waiting outside to give you a ride home?"

I shook my head a little faster than I should have, "No, he dropped me off and I'll probably just walk home." The man was opening his register and withdrawing notes, counting out a lot of smaller notes. "Um, if it's easier, we could just do half today and the rest if we need it." He seemed relieved to hear that, counting out the change for ten of the notes. He counted out what I gave him before sliding the large stack of paper over to me.

"I can give Tetsuya a call if you'd like, have him swing back by to get you. You really shouldn't be walking home with that much money in your bag. I know it is a small town, but you never know what kind of drifters might be lurking out there." I couldn't tell if he was being protective or condescending, almost like he was treating me like a child.

"No, it will be fine, really. I walk home all the time, nothing different about today." I just tried to give my more reassuring smile as I put the smaller notes in my bag and zipped it shut. "Thank you sir, I'll tell my dad hi for you." Although that was another lie, there was no way I could tell dad why I was at the bank exchanging money.

Back outside, the day was bright and sunny, but everywhere I looked I could see shadows. It was like something the man said had brought out a fear that wasn't there before. I knew a lot of people in town, but almost every face seemed foreign to me as I walked past them down the street. By the time I made it home and closed the door behind me, I was practically panting with worry that someone might have tried robbing me.

-

Over the rest of the week I kept most of the money safe in my room, bringing a few thousand yen at a time up to the shrine to drop off in the donation box. Each evening my father would collect it, commenting at dinner how the festival must be bringing in more visitors since the donations were so good. It was hard not to squirm in place every time he mentioned it, my conscience bringing me back to the man who watched me masturbate in front of him. I was glad I didn't have homework for the rest of the summer because my mind was constantly on other things.

Every evening I had tried taking pictures of myself but was deleting every one of them. The first night I tried just getting naked and laid on my bed in different poses. I hated every pose I took a picture of and it felt like none of them were good enough, especially the ones that actually showed nudity. The next night I tried wearing underwear, but it still wasn't the same. Thursday night I was trying just about anything I could find in my closet. My school uniform made me look like an amateur porn star that was trying too hard. My lingerie didn't seem right either, better for appearance than practicality. Finally on Friday I was beginning to feel mopey, wishing I had something to send to Toin to make him interested in seeing me at the festival. Having pulled almost everything out of my closet and getting them messy, I ended up doing a lot of laundry. While waiting for the washer I sat on my bed and just stared at my nearly empty closet. Besides my shrine outfit, the only thing left hanging there was my yukata robe for the festival. It was red with soft pink cherry blossom petals all over the bottom section. Taking it from the hanger I let the fabric run over my skin, the soft silk cool to the touch besides the warm August evening.

I made sure my door was locked like I did each night, not wanting one of my parents to walk in on me in a position where I couldn't explain what I was doing. I let my pajamas slide off of me, setting out my yukata on the bed so I could put it on correctly. The festival was in two days and I really didn't want to go through all the effort to doll myself up twice. I left my geta in the closet and threw the sash back onto the hanger, just taking the robe to drape over me. Without anything to tie it together, the robe wanted to hang loosely on me and exposed a line of skin all the way from my neck to my slit. I had already found a good angle for my phone the other night so that it captured my whole body on the bed. Placing my phone and setting the timer to take a few pictures after thirty seconds, I got myself into place. The robe covered my breasts while revealing that I was wearing nothing underneath. My long black hair was messy and lay haphazardly across my pillow. I let the robe hike up a bit to reveal most of my long legs. The only thing exposed was my wet slit, bare and eager for me to touch it. Resisting the urge to plunge a finger deep inside of me, I prepared for the pictures about to be taken by using a hand to cover my secret place, the other hand above my head and an expression of heavy breathing on my face. I let my lips part, my eyes weak and watering a bit, my chest rising just slightly to make sure my breasts were pushing against the robe's silk. I could hear my phone taking the pictures in quick succession. When it was finally done, I covered myself quickly, feeling a little ashamed of what I did despite being so eager to see how they turned out.

The pictures were better than I was expecting, akin to something from the cover of a boy's magazine. I selected the best one, deleted the others, and pushed myself to send it to Toin while I was still in the moment. I knew I was going to regret sending something so revealing like that, but I had spent all week trying to take a picture, so I knew deep down it was what I wanted. I typed up a quick message for him to accompany the picture, "I hope you see me at the festival on Sunday." I barely had time to take my yukata off and hang it back up before I found myself jumping back into bed naked and letting my hands explore my body. Some time much later in the night, my phone chirped with a reply from Toin, but I couldn't pull myself out of bed to check. I just let myself lay there in the wet mess I had made on my sheets.

-

The next day was incredibly busy. The shrine was closed off to the public while the rest of the festival was set up. Food carts and carnival games were wheeled and carried up the stairs to the shrine grounds where all the tents were already set up. The lanterns and ornaments that have been in the family for generations were all removed so that newer decorations could be added to the buildings to celebrate the Obon festival properly. Deeper into the trees, a couple festival workers were carrying boxes of fireworks to a clearing near the lake where they would set up for the evening show. It was amazing to see our shrine converted to a festival ground in less than a week.

I was too nervous to read the message Toin sent me. The last thing I wanted was for him to have said that he wasn't going to make it or wasn't interested in me. Remembering what Echiko had said, I was curious if his reply was going to include a picture of himself, or at least part of him. In the end my fears got the better of me and I just left my phone on the nightstand.

The following morning I woke up late in anticipation of staying up for the fireworks and festivities to end. Dad had already gotten up and opened the festival to the public. As I made myself some lunch I could see cars already starting to line themselves along the side of the road because the parking for the shrine had filled immediately. People I had never seen, likely from Okayama, walked down the road to reach the entrance to the festival.

I raced back upstairs, the crowd of people creating an excitement in me that I wasn't expecting. I had only been to a few festivals when I was younger but it was so different having it be just outside our door. I was sure Echiko would be proud of how long I took to get ready, spending much longer in the shower than normal as I made sure my legs were silky smooth. Makeup took a lot longer than I expected too, putting in much more effort than usual to make everything perfect. I chose a pink lipstick that matched the flower blossoms on my yukata, with just a dusting of red eye shadow to make the dark mascara stand out even more. Despite the picture I took for Toin, I didn't intend to be naked under my robe. I pulled out the corset lingerie that I had worn only a week ago when I masturbated in front of a stranger. By the time I slid the thong into place, I was already wet hoping that Toin's fingers might replace my own later tonight.

All in all it was two hours later by the time I had everything perfect and made my way downstairs. The rest of the family was already up at the shrine. I checked to make sure dad had taken his keyring before locking the door behind me on my way out.

The parking lot was a rainbow of color as it seemed like everyone was dressed up in some way. Yukatas of all colors walked like jeweled fish swimming up the stream that was the stairway to the shrine. I kept an eye out for anyone I knew, but I figured I wasn't going to run into anyone just in the short walk up to the shrine.

As I flowed with the river of people approaching the shrine, I gave myself a chance to move to the side and let people pass me. I could see the last gate before the shrine grounds and I wanted to stop for a moment before proceeding in. I knew I didn't have my usual shrine outfit on, but even just in a yukata I felt that there was still something about walking into the festival that I should still show my reverence to the place. Giving myself a second to breathe and touch the solid timber of the gate, I stepped forward back into the crowd and the many lights of the festival. With so many tents everywhere and the trees so high, even the sunny afternoon seemed dim and in need of the vibrant atmosphere.

It was a while until I ran into someone I knew. Ami had shown up in her normal clothes, long pants and a light sweatshirt. She was in the middle of the pop gun carnival game, a few targets already knocked down as she lined up her last shot. When the final target fell with the others we both began to cheer, which caused her to jump back in alarm as she realized I was standing right next to her. "Holy shi…zu, why did you sneak up on me like that?" She gave a quick look around at all the kids running by, holding her tongue so she didn't swear. The game attendant handed her a hedgehog plushie, fake blush marks attached to the soft exterior of the stuffed toy. She thanked the attendant before turning to me with the prize, "Here Shizu, you take it."

I frowned slightly at the hedgehog, "This is a kid's toy, what am I supposed to do with it?"

"I don't know. Hug it? Sleep next to it? Always remember that I won it for you?" We both laughed at that. Since I knew the last thing Ami wanted was to carry the toy around, I took it from her to set inside the maintenance shed. I could always grab it later, but it was way too early to start carrying stuff around.

Ami and I walked around for a while. She was really good at a lot of the carnival games but ended up giving most of the prizes to kids walking by or simply refusing them when the attendant handed them to her. As it got close to dinner time we made our way over to the food stalls. We ran into Echiko, wearing a slightly too small yukata that showed some cleavage, her excuse, "Well I really couldn't find any new ones that I liked and this one still mostly fit."

Truth be told, most of the evening went by in a flash. I always kept an eye out for Toin, but I was so busy with Ami and Echiko that the hours flew by. It was with any luck that I noticed the sun setting and knew the fireworks would be starting soon. Turning to Echiko I finally asked, "Have you seen Toin anywhere? I kind of wanted to watch the fireworks with him."

The grin on her face told me I would hear about this for years. "Really? Toin? I'm surprised you didn't say anything sooner Shizu, you could have been off frolicking with him instead of tagging along with us." Ami pouted at that in an overly dramatic fashion. "I actually walked up with Toin and had just said goodbye when I ran into you two. He should be here somewhere." She stood up on her toes, trying to look over the crowd of people before finally pointing. "There he is, the gray yukata over by the railing of the main building."

I looked over towards the shrine building, scanning along the walkway that bordered the buildings until I spotted him. I could hear the softening of voices around me, people being hushed in anticipation of the fireworks about to start. I pushed my way through the crowd, thankful that Toin wasn't moving much from the spot. My breathing was heavy and I could feel something wet between my legs with each step, my thong no longer holding back my desire that now dripped down my leg. The lights began to dim, the fake colored lanterns being the first to blink out before the various strands of white lights followed in suit. Just before the last of the lights flickered out, I reached Toin, startling him slightly as I grabbed his hand from behind. He spun around but his shocked face quickly turned into a grin, even as the last of the lights went out and it was hard to see him anymore. I leaned in close to where he was, whispering, "I need you."

Taking him by the hand, I led him behind the shrine buildings in the darkness, an easy enough thing to do with the lights on after all the years I had been up here. The fireworks began to go off as we reached the backside of one of the buildings, deserted as everyone else was in the courtyard. As lights sparkled in the air above us, I let Toin's hands grab hold of me. I was glad I didn't have to say any more or ask him to do it, I just wanted him to touch every inch of me.

He pulled the sash loose on my yukata, letting the thin robe fall from my shoulders and expose my lingerie underneath. Even from the shifting lights of the show above us, the trail of my own juices down my thighs showed that it was no coincidence we were in this position. I nearly screamed in delight as his hand quickly moved to my soaked thong and slid his fingers around the fabric. I wasn't sure what to expect, it wasn't like when I touched myself, but it certainly wasn't bad. One of his fingers had quickly found its way inside of me, soon followed by a second when he realized just how wet I was.

"Toin, please kiss me." I pleaded with him, eager for him to give me more. Time barely passed between my question and his lips on mine, his tongue in my mouth, hot and wet. I guided his other hand to my corset, letting him play with my breasts through the fabric.

Between each kiss Toin would pull away to look at me for a second before kissing me again, each merging of our mouths paired with a thrust of his fingers inside of me and an involuntary whimper against his lips. Each color of the fireworks brought a different palette to Toin, almost as if they accented different expressions as he looked at me. Hunger. Lust. Dominance. A dark red flash in the sky cast a desperate need inside of me for release, wanting Toin to make me orgasm in front of him. I could hear his voice, extremely quiet in the still air between explosions above us, "Shizu, will you be mine, whenever I want you? Will you do whatever I want? Will you be a good girl for me?" Part of me felt lost in a trance, so hungry for what Toin could provide that I didn't care what it took to achieve it.

I felt desperate, panting and whimpering with his fingers inside of me. "Yes Toin, anything. Just please make me cum." I could feel a pressure building up in me, wanting to relieve itself as my orgasm was building. One of his hands squeezed my breast firmly, his fingers pinching my nipple. I could feel his fingers reaching deep inside of me. In the quiet night air, I could even hear the sound of liquid running down my leg and onto the wooden boards of the walkway. I bit my lip hard to conceal my scream of pleasure as I came on Toin's fingers, finally letting out my squeals of delight as the fireworks ended and the crowd cheered nearby. I didn't care if someone could hear the screams, I needed to let it out.

Toin held me like that for a minute or so, the volume in the courtyard picking back up as the fireworks show was over and people began to leave for the night. He slowly pulled his fingers out of me, lifting them to his mouth and tasting the juices that clung to his fingers. "You taste amazing Shizu. I'm so glad you are going to be mine." His hand on my breast slowly slid up my chest and to my neck, not snuggly, but forming a grip around my throat until a fresh whimper escaped me. His mouth found mine for a last kiss, parting so he could say, "I own you now."

My brain could barely process what he said, but I knew I liked hearing it, my soaking slit already wanting more at those words. "Yes… anything…"

Without another word, Toin let go of me, turning away and walking back around the building to join the exiting crowd. I slumped against the wall of the building, my yukata still hanging off of me to expose my lewd and wet body underneath. It was going to be a few minutes before I could walk home.