Acceptance [WMatsui fanfic]

Chapter 4

Since that Saturday evening Jurina went to The Blue Moon to apologize, she came back to see Gekikara every week-end. Her evenings at the club followed an impeccable routine: same table, same drink and same time of arrival. While taking sips of her bottle of Kirin, her eyes would follow inattentively the girls' performances on stage, none of them never managing to compete in her mind with the one she always longed to see.

The moment Gekikara stepped on stage, everything evaporated around her. Her eyes glued on the enchanting stripper, she watched her shows with undivided attention, relishing every bit and second of them. After witnessing so many of her performances, she couldn't possibly miss out the gradual improvements in her technique. The girl, who was only a beginner a few months ago, had now nothing to envy of the more experienced strippers of the club.

Albeit the fact Jurina considered herself as one of her regulars by now, she was well conscious she was far from her best client. It was no secret strippers earned the most when they managed to bring a customer in one of those VIP rooms upstairs, and Jurina never allowed such a thing to happen with her. Needless to say, Gekikara tried to persuade her anew when she came back the second week.

Jurina didn't hold it against her for trying – it was how she made a living, after all – but never gave in, no matter how very convincing the clever stripper proved to be with her subtle touches and charming smiles that never left her indifferent. After the second refusal, Gekikara understood insisting was of no use, and she never brought up the subject anymore.

If truth be told, Jurina feared the stripper wouldn't take lightly another rejection – concluding she was wasting her time with her – and would decide to shift her attention to other more lucrative prospects. To her relief, it didn't alter their relationship in the slightest, as Gekikara still kept coming back to see her after that.

At first, Jurina was the one to take the initiative of addressing a waitress and informing her of her desire to see Gekikara. Without fail, the stripper would come to her table as soon as she was available. Little by little, their routine changed. After a month, she didn't need to request Gekikara's presence anymore, as the stripper would somehow always notice her entering the club, and naturally join her without even her asking.

Each time Gekikara was requested for a private session and had to unexpectedly leave her side, Jurina never protested, always nodding back at her with a smile of understanding. As soon as she was gone, another reality emerged. The immediate void she felt at her absence betrayed her emotions, and she cursed herself more than once for the way she felt deep inside.

She never behaved in such a way with Akane. Not once did Jurina feel bothered when the latter had to cut short their conversation to join another client, understanding perfectly well that – not only she wasn't her only customer – she also had a job to do. When Gekikara was concerned, she was being unusually irrational. No matter how hard she tried to suppress those feelings, they unfortunately never went away.

From the start, she knew she should have put some good distance with Gekikara. Her better judgment had warned her not to come back to the club. More than once. But she hadn't listened, walking through that door again and again. As days transformed into weeks and weeks became months, her interest for the beautiful long, dark-haired stripper still hadn't diminished.

Gekikara had a strong, magnetic effect on her.

One that she found utterly impossible to resist.

**********

It had now been almost two months since Jurina started coming again to The Blue Moon on a regular basis. That Saturday evening in particular, her attention was entirely monopolized by a disturbing scene happening a few tables away between Gekikara and an athletic Japanese man with straight, short blond hair. Generally, when the stripper was occupied with another client, Jurina only checked the guy briefly to make sure he was behaving decently, before looking away once she judged him harmless.