Dicks

It was midafternoon when Itsuki, Haruto, and Setsuna met up at Shinjuku Station to purchase some express tickets and hop into an Odakyu Romance Car train. It wasn’t long until the vast cityscape that usually surrounded them was replaced by humble farms and fields as they sat in their seats and enjoyed the box lunches they’d bought at the station.

“…You can get this far into the country an hour away from Shinjuku?” Itsuki asked.

“Don’t call this the country.” Haruto chuckled.

The view out the window cycled between bucolic farmland and the occasional regional town before the train reached Hakone-Yumoto Station. They walked through it, passing by the mounds of souvenir shops, and emerged outside, taking a quick browse through the EVA store before strolling to their hotel.

Itsuki was busily snapping pictures of the hot-spring town vibe as they kept going, a bounce in his step. “Hmm… Maybe I should use a town like this as a setting in the next All About.”

“Sure must be nice to have a series set in modern Japan,” mused Haruto, a little jealous. “You can take advantage of all your vacation experiences.”

“Where do you get material for a fantasy novel?” Setsuna asked.

“Well, I’d really like to fly to Europe for research, but I browse through a lot of books and websites and Google Earth for towns that look medieval enough. That, and fantasy movies, and anime, and games. Travel shows are good, too.”

“That’s pretty much what I do when writing fantasy.” Itsuki nodded. “But we can wing it a lot, writing in text. How does an illustrator like you handle that? You’re pretty good at backgrounds, too.”

Itsuki’s Genesis Sisters of the New World series, with illustrations handled by Setsuna, was set in a world that fused elements from fantasy and near-future sci-fi, but Setsuna never seemed to have trouble molding the vague images in Itsuki’s mind into beautiful works of art. His illustrations had an overwhelming sense of photorealism, even as they portrayed cities that existed nowhere on Earth. Seeing them after submitting his first draft for the first volume helped build world details in his mind, vastly improving the story in future revisions. If Setsuna’s art wasn’t available before the book’s release, it would have suffered for it, potentially even leaving the illustrations as the only selling point. That would have tanked sales for the second volume for sure.

“Backgrounds?” he breezily replied. “Ahh, I pretty much draw whatever.”

“Whatever…?”

“I don’t think about it too much. It’s like, I read the story and think I bet it’s kinda like this, and then I draw it.”

“…Thanks for the non-explanation.” Itsuki gave up trying to understand.

“That’s genius for you,” Haruto wryly commented.

After checking in, the three promptly headed for the hot spring.

“I can’t wait to get into that open-air bath!” Setsuna half shouted as he tore his clothes off. He was small in size, but his muscles were supple and toned. And when the lower half of his body entered Haruto’s line of sight, Haruto couldn’t help but gasp a little.

“Holy—!”

“Okay, guys, I’ll see you out there!”

“Uh, yeah…”

Haruto continued staring at Setsuna as he walked out of the changing room, humming the whole way.

“………Hey, Itsuki.”

“…Yeah,” Itsuki said, knowing full well what stopped Haruto in his tracks.

“…Am I crazy, or does Setsuna have a huge dick?”

“…You think so, too?”

Itsuki had experienced an identical sort of shock the last time he joined Setsuna at a hot spring. He didn’t spend much time looking at other people’s dicks, but even compared to those of his classmates in the locker room and fellow guests in changing rooms like these, Setsuna’s dick clearly stood out from the pack.

“……”

“……”

The two silently removed their clothes, eventually stripping down to their underwear. Then they stopped.

“…So, uh, Itsuki, how big is your dick?”

“Uh…normal, I think.”

“Oh… I, um, I think I’m normal, too…”

They both seemed to have difficulty reaching down to their undies, each stealing furtive glances at the other’s crotch.

“…Well, my dick’s not quite as long as other people’s, but I’m already kind of short, so I can’t do much about that.”

Itsuki was already making excuses.

“Oh, I dunno about that,” Haruto countered. “I don’t think dick size corresponds to how big you are overall! I mean, look at Setsuna!”

“Urgh…”

They stole glances at each other again.

“…Dick check on three?”

“…Sounds good.” Itsuki nodded, mentally preparing.

“One, two—!”

They both lowered their underwear at Haruto’s count—and immediately sized each other up.

“……”

“……”

…After some intense penile scrutiny, the two seemed to measure out roughly the same.

Haruto gave Itsuki a grave look.

“What do you think? Wanna compare them…?”

“…Let’s not,” replied Itsuki, just as grave. “No matter who wins, I think we’ll just feel empty afterward.”

“Yeah… Not like we’re any competition for Setsuna…”

They sighed in unison, wrapped towels around their waists, and heavily plodded over to the open-air bath, taking in the lovely, free-flowing natural spring as their minds remained locked on the subject of dicks.