Chapter 1: I'll Just Keep 'em Closed For Now

Emi Nagumi is the name of a fifteen-year-old girl who lives with her dad. For the past six years, she has not seen her mom. She wonders every day how she is doing and what she is up to. But her dad forbids her from making contact with her. All she remembers from her mom are all the girl talks and girly trips they would take around the streets in Tokyo. Emi loved her mom so much and wanted to see her again. She wanted to show her how much she had grown since their last encounter. She wants to tell her mom everything she has learned, everything she has done, and all of the friends she used to have in Junior High, that is right, "used to".

Emi became a shut-in at the age of 12 during the second or third month of her first year in Junior high. She became a first-year in her Junior High around April of 2019, then only a few months later she became a shut-in and never went to school or talked to anyone, especially her father. Even though she stayed inside a lot and didn't go to school, Emi was still one of the smartest girls at school, of course, she didn't know that. She studied on her own and did her homework, based on things she had found online. And because of this, her dad, one day, had told her to take a practice exam for an acceptance form to a school in Japan, she obeyed her dad and took the practice exam. She intelligibly passed the exam with a 98 percent, she viewed this score as room for improvement, so she got right back to studying afterward. Her dad was thrilled. And to continue that, we begin the blinded life of Emi Nagumi and her, forever, sealed eyes, or so we expect.

"Wait… You.. want me to go to… a school?" Emi's voice was hoarse from not using it often.

"Yes. I feel like it would be an amazing opportunity for you, they have a soccer club and basketball club which you would be able to sign up for, and even make a lot of male friends, too," Her dad had rambled.

"I.. don't really enjoy playing… sports," Emi replied as she looked down at her bare feet.

Emi's hair was messy and a dark shade of brown that could easily be mistaken for black. Her body was small and slender, she had long skinny legs and soft, thick thighs. Her skin was pure white and had a silky cream resemblance as one touched it. She never had gone outside much so there was no point in making her clothes dirty, so she had worn the same pink sweatshirt, that was little, she had bought before she had started Junior High. Of course, it had been a couple of years since she had started Junior High—but she really liked her sweatshirt, so she never took it off since her last day of school—so let's just say that one look at her body would make any man pause and stare at her body proportions that were easily noticed.

"Emi, we have had this talk plenty of times before," her dad sighed heavily. He picked up his hand and rubbed his eyes stressfully.

Emi stayed silent, scared of the reply she was going to get before she even finished her next sentence. So she just kept her closed eyes fixed down at her feet.

"Emi, well, you're going to school starting April, that's final," Her dad left the door open and stomped off, back to what he was doing with his girlfriend.

"You… could at least close… it on your way out," Emi stood up and struggled to walk towards the door, "I have to pee anyway, so it's fine," she walked past the door and she pushed on it causing it to move a few centimeters. She crept down the hall, footsteps as quiet as a mouse. She rested her left arm, wrist to elbow, on the wall as her other arm just carried her breasts and occasionally went down to cover up her upper legs, which was comically too close to a gift for the teenage boys.

Emi, poorly, struggled to make it to her bathroom which was just a few feet down the hallway, with a lot of effort and breaths, she had managed to make it to the restroom. Emi's house wasn't all that big but wasn't small either. She had a pretty normal Japanese apartment, just with a few extra rooms and a long hall. The house's walls were painted a light shade of yellow that had a light faint of white behind it. The wall was smooth but hid some bumps of old dried paint lurking around the area. This very house was the same house she had moved into the day right after she left her mom. The plan was to let Emi stay with her dad while her mom went on a vacation break to her parents' residence, but long story short, her time with her mom was delayed and delayed and delayed. It was delayed for so long that Emi even forgot the reason she had begun to live with her dad. Yet, after years, she still wishes to see her mom once more. One of the most important memories she had with her mom was the one when they said goodbye and never spoke another word to each other afterward.

* * *

Emi was just nine years of age. She had short hair that would rest sluggishly on her shoulders. Her hair was a light shade of brown that had strips of a darker brown evenly spaced around the origin of the hair strands. She had nicely cut bangs that would cover most of her forehead. While her hair was straight and pretty. She had big eyes and smooth, clear skin. Her skin then was a lot healthier-looking and it made her pop out. Her skin and hair in the present day were a lot more messy or pale. Emi's hair, now, was a lot messier and all over the place, it was also very long since she hasn't cut it in a while. Her height then was around a foot or two lower than her height at the moment. Her skin then was a lot shinier but less pale. Maybe being stuck inside all day for a year and more has killed off her skin's color. As a little girl, she sure did like to dress up. She enjoyed wearing dresses and skirts that went all the way down to her knees. Which leads to the very morning that Emi held dear to her heart.

"Mommy, so we really are going to Tokyo today?!" Emi jumped up and down. Her hair waved around like a jumbled mess. As she kept on bouncing on her feet, her pink, overly big, pajamas were scurrying on her skin. Around the hood part of the pajamas, some ears resembled a rabbit's, those were stitched on neatly by her mother. The bright white light crawled in from the window and lit up the bathroom, and even bounced off of Emi's hair.

It appeared that Emi's mother, Hiroko, was already prepared for their perfect day together. She had on a white dress shirt that covered most of her body, it cropped off around a few centimeters over her belly button, but was more than long enough on her arms. It went all the way down to half her hands and stopped. Unless she folded it back up to her wrists, they would be like that for the rest of the day. Thankfully, on top of her white dress shirt, she had a tight black sweatshirt that she adored. It well covered her stomach that was exposed and even went down to below her waist. She grabbed the collar part of the white dress shirt and overlapped it on top of the black sweatshirt. It was all neatly hugged together, just the way Hiroko liked it. Getting all of this prepared made her smile, with a blush, and closed but sparkling eyes. Next down the line, there was one of her favorite tight wrap-around skirts that clung onto her thick, soft thighs. Her thighs were more than big enough to be used as a pillow, not to mention the squishiness and smooth texture that accompanied everything else that was already there to offer. This lap pillow was to kill for, and it would leave anyone, whoever laid on it, pleased. Emi would soon develop this in the near future. But she already mostly has in the present day. Now at the end of her outfit, she planned on slipping on some boots that were not fancy nor at-home-lazy. To Hiroko, it seemed like the perfect balance for her nearly not matching outfit, but what worked for her made it on her priority list. The boots were not long but not short, it went over her ankles because otherwise they wouldn't be called boots. It had a small amount of fur that was brown at the tip and black at the base. Alongside the dark shades of fur, the dark brown laces, that would tie it all together, hugged the shoe up to the top.

"Yep! But let's not tell your dad about this one," Hiroko went down in a squatting position to be just a little shorter than Emi was. Her hair was long and silky, the left side of her hair was neatly tucked behind her ear. As she said her response, she lightly tapped her pointer finger on her soft, plumped lips, followed by a wink in her right eye.

"Oh ok, mommy. I promise I won't tell him," Emi clenched her fist with a cheeky smile that made her brows narrow. "But wait, mommy. Will you be helping me with getting dressed?" Emi cutely tilted her head to her right, as she did, her bangs rolled down and followed her lead, nearly covering up her eye. Her hands were behind her back and her left leg was slightly bent as she rested her foot on her tippy-toes. Then she took a glance down at her clothes which just consisted of her bunny pajamas and half a pair of white slippers. She must have been too tired to have even noticed that she didn't put her left slipper on.

"Nope! You're starting to become a grown woman. And a woman always has to be extra prepared before the world around her. Otherwise, she'll be in deep trouble. A woman's mind is her strongest trump card, and she needs to use it wisely. So start building up yours right now!" Hiroko gave her daughter some advice, as a mother should. As soon as she said, "Nope!", she twirled around with her fingerー the same finger that was making contact with her lips just moments agoーand pointed it up towards the ceiling. She closed her eyes and smiled charmfully.

"Oh... Yes, mommy! I can do that," Emi flung her hands up to the air with a grin.

"Ah yes! My young daughter is going to become big and confident one day, just like me!" Hiroko laughed chaotically for extended seconds. As she continued, her hands were throbbing with evil, looking gestures, nearly dropping her makeup supplies. "Nowー Your mother shall continue to apply her makeup," Hiroko went back to applying mascara to her eyelashes. Followed by a few dabs of eyeshadow that stretched across her eyelids.

Hiroko's favorite eyeshadow was the light-lavender-colored one she had owned. She used it for nearly every single occasion. From parties to eating out, or even just going to the supermarket. It's a wonder how she had been conserving it for as long as she had been since junior high. Her age could be said but let's keep in mind that, that would be a very rude thing to do to a lady, so age will not be announced yet.

"Wait... so mommy. If I'm starting to be a grown woman shouldn't I be able to put on some makeー" Emi stretched a grin that would lead a cold sweat down anyone's back, of course, except her mother's. As she grinned her brows narrowed again and pointed diagonally as if she were pouting angrily, but then before she could even finish her sentence, she was interrupted.

"WHAT. ARE YOU CRAZY! Like I'd ever let you use my makeup. You're still my baby girl, you know that right? I love you just the way you are, you are already pretty enough for anybody in this big world, ok?" Hiroko hugged her little girl and sounded very sentimental at the end of her short speech.

"Yes. I was just kidding around mommy," Emi grinned as she fooled her very own mother.

Hiroko quickly stood back up and magically had her makeup equipment back in her hands and continued rubbing her favorite eyeshadow back on her eyes. She grew her smile back and closed her eyes once again, happy to know that Emi saw herself as beautiful, just as her mother saw her.

"Oh my. You really gave me quite a scare there, Emi. I'm glad you think you are beautiful because you seem so similar to my appearance as a little girl," Hiroko said in her calm and soothing voice.

"Yes, mommy. You are beautiful and I get that from you. Thank you very much, mommy," Emi had her eyes barely open, and that look on her face made her very adorable in that very instant.

Hiroko nearly teared up to the words her daughter had produced. But she refrained from doing so. She didn't want to mess up her makeup.

"E-Emi. You're so sweet! I am so lucky to have a daughter like you!" She wept, while at the same moment kept her tears from making contact with her face.

Hiroko seemed so funny at that moment that Emi couldn't help herself and laughed.

"Alright mommy, hurry. I'll be getting dressed now," Emi walked off back to her room. She gave herself a little spin and started marching back to her room, she was very clearly excited for their adventurous expedition today in Tokyo.

Hiroko smiled, her tears gone, and finally finished up her makeup. She looked at herself in the mirror and made eye contact with her lips. They were blank so she went to grab her lipstick, as she did, she couldn't stop shaking. Her body was trembling all over since the second her daughter left the room.

"It'll be alright. I'm alright. We're alright," Hiroko took deep breaths. She grabbed the glass of water she had near her makeup station. She hesitated to pick it up with the struggling condition she was in. Slowly, Hiroko cuddled the glass with her delicate hands. She was able to last a few seconds until her hand gave out and dropped the glass onto the table. Hiroko, hastily, jumped up and grabbed a rag that was hanging on the wall. She snatched it and pounded it to the table, with tears falling down her face. But this time she didn't care if it messed up her makeup. The tears she produced were more important than how her makeup was. "We'll be fine.." She struggled to keep her moaning to a quiet volume. Luckily, she managed to keep the water from messing up her clothes. But her makeup began to smother around the corners of her eyes. The black mascara mixed with the tears and flowed down her face, as dark as the night. It left a stained sliver of gray, wet trails on her cheeks. These tears marked the last time she would cry; the last time she would be with her daughter.