12

“You do? Even if I ***** you in a place like this?” Noda looked around him. “Well, it’s a dream and it probably won’t matter anyway … But what will you do if Inui and Osanai start ***** and interfering? Even during the day, they sometimes ***** you with their PT equipment.”

“In that case I’ll stand guard,” Konakawa said decisively. If I see so much as a shadow of those two, I’ll threaten them, make them switch off.

Forgive me, Toshimi. Noda knew all about Konakawa’s burning desire for Paprika; he felt sincerely sorry. Paprika likewise. Please forgive us. Right in front of you like this. Especially when we’ve ***** once before.

Hey, come on. It’s OK. We sleep together, we share the same dreams, we feel everything as one. Our thoughts, emotions, sensations. Our ***. Don’t worry. I’m sure to feel your *** too.

It was no longer a hotel lobby, but a tatami-floored room with no furniture. It’s the room we used for sewing classes in my old high school. A boy called ***** attacked me here after school one day. I often dream about it, thought Paprika. Konakawa opened the door and went out into the corridor. There, he stood guard outside the sewing classroom, where a highly inappropriate after-school activity was getting underway. Paprika lay on the floor and embraced Noda from below. The heat that lingered over the tatami mats was the moist warmth of suppressed adolescence. A grove of trees blocked the window. Now you know why I’m trying to look as cheap as possible. So thought Paprika. Yes. As shameful as possible. They were already naked. Foreplay. Paprika deliberately raised her voice in a wholly unbecoming way. She felt ashamed of that in front of Noda and Konakawa. This isn’t the real me.

It’s all right. I understand. That’s why I’m feeling … so aroused.

Honestly, I’m not really … this cheap. I’m only doing it to make you … more excited.

I know. I am already. I’m excited. Suddenly, thrusting more rapidly in straight lines. Rising passion. Ah. Paprika. I can’t, hold it back, anymore. I can’t, hold it, back. Noda moaned in distress and ejaculated. The three awoke more or less simultaneously, Konakawa last of all.

Atsuko must have shouted something in her sleep. She sat bolt upright in bed, under the astonished gaze of Morita and Ube. They’d already removed the DC Minis from Noda and Konakawa.

“Oh dear,” said Atsuko, blushing to think that her behavior in the dream might have been visible on the monitor.

“Ah. Excellent!” exclaimed Ube. “You all woke up together.”

Morita too displayed nothing but relief that the three had all woken safely. “How did you manage it?”

Morita and Ube had no idea what sort of dream they’d had, since all three of their viewpoints had been jumbled up together on the screen. Atsuko was mightily relieved to know that. Noda did his best to maintain his dignity in front of the officers; there was nothing in his demeanor to suggest he’d woken by climaxing just a few seconds earlier. If anything, it was Konakawa who was unable to look his subordinates in the face. He himself had reached a considerable state of excitement, and this appeared to have woken him.

“Well, let’s just say it was an emergency measure,” said Noda with a laugh, meaning a measure you could barely dream of. “It’s nothing we could explain really. Better not to ask.”

“Actually, there were several calls from the Institute while you were asleep,” Morita started, keen to get a worrying subject off his chest. “Apparently Mr. Himuro’s parents have come looking for him, being concerned over his whereabouts. And Miss Kakimoto’s family are coming to Tokyo for the same reason. Doctor Osanai had to invite them to the hospital, since he’s in charge of her case and he could hardly just ignore them. But Himuro’s parents were told to meet Doctor Tokita and talk to him about it. Himuro’s mother has called here twice already. What would you advise?”

“I’ll talk to them,” said Konakawa. “First, I think Doctor Chiba needs something to eat.”

Both he and Noda had been almost painfully aware of Atsuko’s hunger in the dream.