The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Pt. 03

Authors Notes: This is part three of what is now looking like a five part series. I would advise any new readers to read parts one and two first to get a better understanding of the characters in this story. I realized writing this chapter that despite Alex being the main protagonist, this story is really about Hoshiko and Akira and how they represent two different approaches to repressed sexuality. I appreciate the positive feedback and constructive criticism on Part 2 and look forward to taking feedback and incorporating that into the next chapter of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Akira woke to the sounds of birds singing. Normally she would set an alarm on Saturdays so she could be up early to study or run errands, but this weekend she decided to treat herself and sleep in. After all, she had just finished her last final of the semester the day before and could use some well-deserved sleep. She grabbed her phone and sleepily scrolled through her social media apps for a few minutes before getting out of bed with a stretch. The oversized t-shirt she had worn to bed flirted across her thighs and threatened to show more of her tiny body as she extended both her hands overhead with a soft groan. Akira shuffled out of her room and smiled at Hoshiko who was sitting in the kitchen drinking a breakfast smoothie.

"Good morning! How did you sleep?" Hoshiko asked sweetly, speaking in Japanese.

"Good, happy finals are over," Akira responded. She had worked incredibly hard all semester and finals week was no exception, pulling late nights every day to make sure she was as prepared as possible for her tests.

"I made you a smoothie, you seemed pretty run down yesterday when you got home," Hoshiko said, getting up from her stool and gliding over to the fridge to retrieve the extra drink. "Are you still feeling up for tonight?"

Akira sipped her smoothie and furrowed her brows in confusion before she remembered. Last week Hoshiko had invited Akira to a party tonight that was hosted by one of the many fraternities on campus, and she had begrudgingly agreed. Looking back Akira regretted accepting the invite, all she wanted to do tonight was sleep and maybe throw on a show. She looked at Hoshikos hopeful smile and tried to think of an excuse fast.

"Oh, well yes but I don't have anything to wear...," She trailed off, hoping her friend would accept her lame excuse and change the subject.

"And that's why we're going shopping!" Hoshiko exclaimed with a smile, "Finish your drink and get dressed, I want to help you pick out an outfit."

Akira gritted her teeth and forced a smile back. Hoshiko was like a damn golden retriever puppy when she got excited, and Akira didn't want to burst her bubble. Truth be told, Akira really didn't want to go shopping due to a nagging insecurity. Hoshiko had long slender legs, massive perky breasts, and model like facial features, she could rock any outfit or style while effortlessly looking amazing, and she knew it. Akira on the other hand was petite with a lowercase 'p' only being 4'10" tall and weighing less than 100 lbs. While still pretty, there was nothing about her that stood out physically and she had never really grown confident with her own appearances. While Hoshiko could wear bold outfits and receive attention regardless, Akira stuck to basic oversized t-shirts and baggy pants as a sort of fashion safety blanket.

"Alright I'll be ready in 30 minutes," Akira said, rolling her eyes with a smile as Hoshiko did a little happy dance in response. Hoshiko knew Akira was reluctant to try anything new, but she was determined to out of her comfort zone in the best way for tonight's party.

*****

"Absolutely not!" Akira protested as Hoshiko entered the changing room holding up a small black mini dress in her hands hopefully. They had been at the mall for what felt like hours, and while Hoshiko had found an outfit in the first 20 minutes, Akira had shot down every single piece of clothing Hoshiko had suggested. Crop tops made her feel even flatter than she was, faux leather pants were too flashy, skirts made her feel too exposed, blouses didn't quite fit right, and she was nowhere near confident enough to rock a bralette alone as a top.

"Just try it on!" Hoshiko insisted. "We're not leaving until we find something you like today."

"Fine, but I'm going to look like fukkā," Akira said before pushing Hoshiko out of the changing room and undressing.

"Hey you only study abroad in America once," Hoshiko said optimistically from the changing room hallway. "Besides it won't kill you to leave the house and wear something a little different for a change, it'll be fun!"

"We'll see about that," Akira said bluntly. She looked in the mirror at her naked body and let out a small disappointed sigh. She cupped her small boobs together in her hands, trying to give herself some resemblance of cleavage. She had fit the perfect "impossibly small" beauty standards in japan, but ever since she had moved to America she couldn't help but feel insecure about her lack of curves. Her fingers lingered for a moment on her dark brown nipples which were erect from the cold air conditioning blasting in the changing room and she shuddered. What Akira's breasts lacked in size she definitely made up for in sensitivity and shape. Her nipples were slightly larger than you'd expect considering her small frame, but she always thought it suited her and actually made her modest breasts look larger than they actually were. She had learned early on that her nipples were incredibly sensitive. One time she had orgasmed from just playing with them alone.

She took one more glance at her naked body in the mirror before begrudgingly putting the dress on. A smile broke out on Akiras face as she turned around and saw how well the dress accentuated her petite figure. The dress was short, with just a couple inches of fabric extending past her ass onto her thighs, but the fabric was tight enough to give a sense of security unlike a flowy skirt. Hugging her tight in all the right places, and even tighter in all the wrong ones, she somehow managed to look more petite and curvier all at the same time. She ran her hands from her thighs, grazing her fingertips across her impossibly narrow waist, before gently cupping her breasts. A devilish shudder ran through her spine as her innocent smile turned into a smirk.

"Hoshiko, I think we found it!" Akira called out in delight. She stepped outside of the changing room to get Hoshiko's opinion.

"Wow...," Hoshiko trailed off as her mouth hung slightly agape.

"What's the matter? Oh no does it not look good?" Akira asked in concern.

"No not that, it's just... you look really hot Akira," Hoshiko said with a mischievous grin.

The girls purchased the dress and went to pick up some boba, Hoshiko giggling with excitement that she was finally getting her friend to experience new things. Maybe it was the novelty of finally seeing her friend in something other than baggy plain clothes, but she meant it when she said Akira looked hot. Hoshiko had never seen her as anything but the diligent student, and she was excited to see what tonight would tempt out of Akira.

*****

The girls started getting ready around 8.30pm, with the expectation that Alex would meet them at their dorm to pregame in the next hour or so. Akira and Hoshiko were sipping on Sakke and getting ready in their respective bathrooms, while Japanese pop star Risa Oribes' recent single played from the speakers in the kitchen, filling the apartment with a happy upbeat tone.

"So, are you and Alex going to ditch me as soon as we get to the party?" Akira shouted through her open bathroom door semi sarcastically. Deep down she was anxious about going to her first big house party, and her question was asked as a form of reassurance that her friend wasn't going to abandon her.

"Of course not Akira! I'll make sure I'm with you the entire time ok?" Hoshiko yelled across the living room warmly. She truly didn't want this to be a bad experience for Akira and was going to do everything she could to make sure she had a good time.

Hoshiko was putting the finishing touches on her makeup as she heard a knock on the door. "That must be Alex!" She bounced over to the shared living room kitchen space and let him in, giving him a big hug and playfully snatching the bottle of whiskey out of his hands. He was looking handsome as ever, wearing a basic oversized black T shirt that hung off his broad shoulders, jeans, and white converse shoes.

"Damn Hoshiko you look great," Alex said looking her up and down. His friend - or was she a friend with benefits now? Alex never knew how to classify her in his own mind - was wearing black heels, tight jeans that hugged her slender legs, a black pushup bra covered only by a sheer see through black halter top. Her long black hair was down and framed her gorgeous face that was beaming as she looked at Alex. "Looking like a model as usual," Alex declared giving her a quick peck on the cheek.

"Shots?" Hoshiko asked, already making her way into the kitchen to pour shots of the whisky Alex had brought. "Akira! Come out here and take a shot with us!"

Akira nervously gave herself one last look in her bathroom mirror. She knew this would be the last moment she had to herself, likely for the rest of the night. She was wearing the tight black mini dress from the store, a generic Japanese sneaker brand that resembled Nike Air Maxes, and had thrown her hair up into a messy top bun. She had even borrowed some of Hoshikos makeup and with a few tries, had applied a wing tip to her eyeliner, a look she had never tried before but secretly loved how sexy it made her feel. Taking a deep breath, she wheeled herself around and walked out into the living area.

"Akira! You look so good!" Hoshiko squealed.

"Yea Akira you look awesome!" Alex chimed in agreement. He had never really spoken to her before, but he knew how close of a friend she was to Hoshiko and didn't want her to feel like she was third wheeling tonight. "Come grab a shot!"

Akira approached the table but was quickly intercepted by Hoshiko.

"Wait a minute, let me fix this," Hoshiko said, stooping slightly to be eye level with her small friend. She reached up and fiddled with Akiras hairline for a minute, pulling out two "slut strands" of hair to frame Akiras round face. "There, that's perfect!" Hoshiko said slyly.

The trio took their drinks, and raising their glasses tipped them back. The girls both made a face in disgust at the strong whisky after burn. Alex just laughed. "C'mon guys that was a light pour! Going to be a lot more where that came from."

*****

The loud steady bass of a Spotify EDM mix reverberated through the dimly lit house. The trio had arrived only an hour or so ago, but drinks had been flowing steadily and everyone was getting a good buzz. Alex was standing in the kitchen bantering with a few of his buddies from the boxing club, but he was sure to keep an eye on both Hoshiko and Akira across the living room. They had found a gaggle of girls from one of their classes and were sitting on the couch laughing and chatting.

"Yo Alex, so what's up with you and Hoshiko? Yall a thing yet?" Asked Darnell, one of Alex's boxing teammates. Darnell had a similar build as Alex, except he was a bit taller and had a slightly less muscular frame, and the two had immediately become favorite sparing partners upon joining the boxing club.

Darnell's girlfriend Ashley, a bubbly blonde who seemed to epitomize the term pawg, chimed in from her seat on the kitchen island, "Yea Alex seems like you two have been hanging out a lot lately?"

Alex took a sip of his vodka concoction before responding, "I don't know man, I think we both kinda like what we're doing right now..."

"So fucking?" Ashley quipped back.

"Ayyyy," Laughed Darnell, "Bruh I can't blame you though she's got a hell of a rack on her."

"Excuse me!" Ashley gave her boyfriend a playful smack on the shoulder, "You're an ass man stay in your lane!"

Darnell threw his hands up in innocence. "Hey I'm just sayin! You know I'm all about your cakes babe," Darnell said before giving Ashley a quick kiss and giving the side of her ass a slap.

"I mean we do have some pretty good chemistry there," Alex laughed as he took another sip of vodka.

"Well you better keep an eye on her," Ashley warned, "There's like zero Asian girls at this party and you know she's going to attract some attention in that top."

As if on cue, a couple of frat looking bros, approached the group of girls on the couch. One wore a blue polo and sat next to Hoshiko, positioning himself awkwardly on the arm rest of the couch while the other, wearing an obnoxious orange polo, sat next to Akira on the ottoman. The boy next to Akira offered her an already opened beer, which she accepted as she had been fostering a near empty red solo cup for a while now. Clearly having an animated conversation with each other, or perhaps they were attempting to tell some funny anecdote to impress the girls, the two polos carried on dominating the unheard conversation. Based on body language, the girls seemed unimpressed but tolerant of their presence, at least for now.

"Alex you better get over there and save them," Ashley said, following Alex's watchful eyes to observe the scene behind her.

"Yea you got Mr. Steal Yo Girl's over there man," Darnell chimed in, "C'mon babe we need to go find an empty bathroom or something. I'm drunk and you haven't given me head in like three days."

"Yes sir you don't have to tell me twice," Ashley happily stated as she hopped off the table and took Darnell's hand.

"Ight bruh we might dip here in a bit but let me know if you need anything, I'll see you at noon tomorrow for some bag work yea?" Devon said as he dapped up Alex with his free hand.

"Yea sure thing man. I'm going to go try and get the girls to dance a little anyways. Have fun you two leave room for the holy spirit," Alex joked as Devon made a mock blowjob motion over his shoulder as Ashley lead him out of the kitchen and into the crowd of people.

Alex downed his drink and headed over to the girls.

"Hey what's up nerds, you guys want to go dance?" Alex offered with a hand extended to each of the girls.

Hoshiko gave Alex a "thank you" look with her eyes before responding with an enthusiastic, "Sure! Akira come one let's dance!"

"Hoshiko, I don't know I don't really dance..." Akira trailed off, speaking in Japanese directly to Hoshiko.

"C'mon just feel the music!" Hoshiko retorted encouragingly in Japanese, "Finish the drink Kyle gave you and let's go."

"Ok ok," Akira responded. She chugged as much of the drink as she could before Hoshiko grabbed her hand to lead her to the dance floor in the frat houses basement.

"Ok we'll come find you guys later then!" The boy in the orange polo shouted through the party noise as the trio disappeared into the crowd. His friend smacked his arm playfully as they both snickered.

What an odd thing to say Alex thought to himself as he tried his best not to slip and fall going down the stairs. Once in the basement Alex pushed his way through the crowd to an open section near the wall and began vibing to the music. Hoshiko joined him in dancing, with Akira awkwardly nodding her head to the beat. As song after song played, Hoshiko felt herself slowly getting more comfortable with dancing. The strobing lights of the basement, the loud pulsating music, and the feeling on anonymity that the mass of bodies packed into the tight space caused Hoshiko to feel freer than she may have otherwise felt. It didn't hurt that the alcohol was in full effect either, for everyone in the trio.

Hoshiko turned around and started grinding her hips against Alex. Sneaking a glance at Akira to make sure she was ok - she was standing near the wall a few feet away seemingly in her own little world - Hoshiko turned and gave Alex a seductive grin. As expected, his eyes met hers with that familiar, hungry look. His meaty hands teased the exposed skin on her waist and stomach, idly tracing shapes with his fingers as the two began grinding with an increasing rhythmic pattern. Hoshiko reached one hand behind her and gave Alex's growing bulge a quick squeeze, signaling that she was aware of the affect she had on him in that drunken moment and that she wanted much more than grinding later tonight. Alex responded by forcefully grabbing a handful of her massive breasts for a gruff squeeze in retaliation. The ending of their night seemed to be sealed with that metaphorical handshake, and with that Alex grabbed the nape of Hoshikos neck, spun her around, and gave her a deep tongue filled kiss, catching her mouth partially open from the silent gasp she released in shock.

The two continued to make out, riding the high of the music and alcohol and their own electrifying touch with one another. It wasn't until Alex felt a forceful slap on his own ass that he disengaged with Hoshiko and looked around. He was greeted by Darnell's smiling face. His teammate was standing within arm's reach, and had jokingly smacked Alex's butt as a way to say what's up. Ashley was happily bent over in front of her boyfriend and was twerking on him, giving Alex a quick nod and a smile in acknowledgement.

"Yo where's your other friend?" Darnell shouted above the blasting music.

"Akira?" Alex responded before looking at the empty space of wall that Akira had been occupying. "Shit."

While losing someone at a party isn't an emergency, Alex's mind immediately connected the dots. The open drink, Akira being in her own world, the ominous comment from one of the polos.

"Darnell keep an eye on Hoshiko I gotta go find Akira," Alex yelled over the music before darting upstairs.

Shit shit shit... If anything happens to Akira... Alex's mind was racing as he practically sprinted from room to room looking for her. By chance he glanced outside and noticed the same obnoxious orange polo as before. Bingo. Nimbly darting through the packed party like a gazelle but with the full force and rage of a rhino, Alex barreled outside onto the front lawn.

"Where the FUCK do you think you're going with her??" Alex bellowed to the orange polo boy. Alex saw Akira supporting herself on his arm, clearly too drunk to stand on her own and feeling the effects of whatever the boy had spiked her beer with earlier.

"Fuck you man," The orange polo was notably shaken, but was still hoping to leave with his prize as he worked to support the stumbling Akira to his waiting Uber.

Alex closed the distance and snatched Akira out of his feeble grasp.

"Hey man get your own bitch," the Orange Polo snapped in response. Then fueled by copious amounts of liquid courage shot back, "Ill fuck you up."

Alex was hesitant to get into a fight now. On one hand, his amateur training and being in significantly better shape than the orange polo gave him no reason to believe he couldn't win, but on the other this party was bound to get busted sooner or later by the cops and he didn't need a drunken brawl on his record.

The Orange Polo raised his fists and with a sneer growing on his soft face spat, "You really want to take on both of us?"

Both of us? Alex thought before a fist out of nowhere smashed into the right side of his face from behind.

*SMACK*

Alex stumbled at the blow, as Akira fell to the floor. Collecting himself, Alex looked in the direction and saw the other boy that was wearing the blue polo while chatting with Hoshiko and Akira earlier had delivered the cheap shot.

"Oh shit fight!" someone from in the house shouted as Alex got in his own boxing stance and faced his two assailants. A small crowd spilled out of the house as Alex dodged another punch.

Moving in semi circles, Alex managed to keep both boys in front of him.