Ken couldn't remember the exact moment he knew he had a crush on Stephanie Ono. It had snuck up on him, the way a drizzle slowly turns into a downpour. Before he’d even realized it, he’d become deeply infatuated with her–the kind of crush so strong you can’t sleep, or eat, or sometimes even breathe, for fear that averting your thoughts from the person for just an instant might cause them to disappear.

He did, however, remember the exact moment she said no. No, she didn’t like him back. No, she didn’t want to go out “for real.” Oh and by the way, she’s transferring out next semester, didn’t she tell you? Also no? Oops.

But despite the rejection, and despite her absence from Kaneko, only Ken’s sessions with Amy had succeeded in taking his mind off of Steph for any meaningful length of time. And thank goodness for that. He didn’t want to admit it, but maybe his mom’s idea of hiring a tutor had been a good one.

Ken watched the small line that was forming at the cafe’s entrance from his cozy booth inside. Next to him, people shuffled through the aisle toward their seats, and all around him lively conversation filled the space. Steph was five minutes late, but that didn’t surprise him; what surprised him was that she’d sounded so eager to meet up over text. They’d hardly talked since he’d confessed his feelings to her. ‘Hey babe?’ Really? Hopefully dating would make more sense in college.

Ken ordered a coffee when the waitress checked on him, mostly out of obligation. He didn’t normally drink the stuff, but maybe the jitters would help mask his nerves.

Ten minutes. Ken sipped his coffee gingerly and recoiled. Way too hot. With nothing else to do he reached into his pocket for his phone, and in the process his hand brushed over Amy's business card. Amy would never be late to a brunch date, he thought absently.

Ken pulled out the small piece of card stock and studied it. He'd been too embarrassed to ask her for another tutoring session after accidentally seeing her panties the other day. How could he? Call up one of the most popular girls in the school and say, 'please princess, can I perv on you again?' Yeah, right.

But she'd sounded so sincere. What had she said to him? "If you need me again, you can give me a call. Any time." And for all he knew, Steph wouldn't even show up.

Thirteen minutes. Steph wasn't coming. Not like it would be the first time. Ken typed out a message to Amy.

> Hey Amy, it's Ken. I've got an exam next week I’ve been having trouble studying for. Could we schedule another tutoring session soon?

That didn't sound too desperate, right? His thumb shook as it hovered over the Send button.

He’d almost gathered up the nerve to press down when a voice pierced through the din of the cafe. "Oh my god hi bestieee!" Ken barely had time to stash his phone away and stand before the pretty girl in front of him pulled him into a hug. Ken said a strained hello, and Steph draped her purse over the back of the booth, smoothed her knee-length skirt beneath her, and sat down across from him. She wore a flatteringly tight sweater, tucked in behind a belt that Ken recognized as designer, a big change from the oversized school uniform and loose t-shirts she used to wear. Stephanie Ono had transferred to an all-girls' school for idol trainees, so maybe that had prompted her change in wardrobe. "How's my favorite techie doing?"

"Pretty good," Ken said over a sip of coffee, trying to sound nonchalant. He hated the word 'techie,' but he pushed down his annoyance and updated her on life at Kaneko. Other than the drama club recruiting more members in her absence and the school’s culture festival on the horizon, not much had changed, and Ken quickly ran out of news to report.

“So what about you?” Ken asked as a waitress wrote down her drink order. “How's your new school?"

"Ohmygod it's crazy." Steph made an exasperated hand gesture. "This is my first weekend off in a month. All the singing and dance and acting lessons are on top of regular school, so I have like zero free time ever."

"Damn."

“Seriously it’s like, even more strict than Kaneko. You literally have to sign a contract that says you’re not gonna date for the first two years you’re there cause they want you to be like, as seiso as possible.”

Ken laughed despite himself. “You’re the most seiso girl I know, if that makes you feel any better.” This wasn’t strictly true–he had, after all, just met Amy Matsumura–but it felt good to be able to make a joke with his former crush again. She laughed along with him, and for a moment he thought this brunch wouldn’t end up being so bad. Then she opened her mouth again. “Just don’t tell them about all those practice dates we went on, okay? Or I’ll be in big trouble.”

“Practice dates?” Coffee churned around angrily in Ken’s stomach. “Those–um–” Those were real dates!

“Yeah, you know, like when you took me downtown and we went to that art gallery? That was like, so adult of us!”

“I thought–” Ken started, but the words caught in his throat, as if the dark liquid had formed a black hole in his gut that pulled them toward it. We went out and you rejected me, he wanted to say.

“Don’t you think it was like, such good experience?” Steph said, unbothered by his hesitation. “You know, for when we meet someone we actually like?”

Ken’s fists balled up under the table, whether out of anxiety or anger he couldn’t tell. “But I did–um–” Steph stared back at him in mild confusion. Did she really not remember, or was she fucking with him? Ken struggled to get another word out for a split second, unsure of what to say. Part of him wanted to protest, to raise his voice loud enough that the whole cafe could hear him.

As the coffee in his gut held onto the rest of his words, Steph’s phone vibrated, almost mercifully. “Sorry, um–hold on.” She began to tap at it, brow furrowed in confusion.

Ken took another sip of his drink and waited, while Steph covered her mouth and giggled at something. Ken forced himself to relax his fists as he watched Steph’s button nose scrunch up in laughter.

He'd once thought of Steph as the type of beautiful where you felt like you were the only person in the world who noticed, as if it were some kind of secret she shared with only you. But now he almost–no, he didn’t hate her. He hated that he liked her–that he had liked her, and that she seemed to have so easily forgotten all about it.

Amy would never ignore Ken to stare at her phone. In fact, Ken wasn't even sure she had a phone. Ken thought about pulling his out and sending that text he’d written. Sure, he’d regret it if–more like when–Amy didn’t respond, but right now his desire to get back at Steph for ignoring him outweighed his fear of rejection.

A long moment passed. Screw it. Ken unlocked his phone and jammed his thumb onto the Send icon.

“Shit,” Stephanie said, rubbing her forehead, and Ken looked up, panicked. Had she seen him send the text? No, of course not. She was still engrossed in her own phone. “Dammit.”

“What’s up?”

Steph let out a frustrated sigh and placed her phone on the table with a clatter. “That was my agent. I have to be back this afternoon for practice. Which meeeans… I have to go.”

“Oh. Like right now?”

“Like twenty minutes ago.” Steph pouted at him like he was a puppy she’d chosen not to adopt. “Ken I am SO sorry. I promise I’ll make it up to you I am just super busy. Next time?”

Ken felt a twinge of nausea. “Yeah uh, I guess.” He tried to add a hint of incredulity, but Steph didn’t appear to notice as she picked up her things.

“Byeee!” she said, waving while sipping her latte.

Right as she began to leave the booth, Ken’s phone rang. His heart leapt into his chest when he read Amy’s name on the caller ID. He’d been so stressed out he hadn’t considered the possibility that Amy might actually call him back. He nearly dropped his phone under the booth then recovered it, took a breath, and answered.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Ken?” Two words were all it took to chase away the unpleasant thoughts of Ken’s coffee date. He’d probably be riveted listening to Amy read a phone book.

“Yeah. Yeah, it’s me. Amy?”

“My phone is hard to text with, so I called you instead. I hope that’s okay.”

“Of course.” Basically everything she did was perfect, so why wouldn’t it be? Outside, Steph walked by his window and gave him a big wave, but he barely noticed, his attention completely captured by his tutor. “Yeah, I’ve been having trouble–”

“Right, right. One moment.” Only now did Ken notice Amy sounded detached, like she wasn’t entirely paying attention. “Sorry if I’m a little quiet, I’m just finishing up my morning appointments in the library. When would you like to schedule a session for?”

“Well I have an exam coming up this week, and I have a lot of work to do before then, so ideally as soon as possible.” Ken braced himself, half expecting to receive a second platonic rejection in as many minutes.

“Hm, so eager,” Amy said absently, and Ken felt himself blush. “I thought you were busy this weekend.”

“N-no, wait, did I say that?”

“Um…” Amy’s voice faltered, but only for a split second. “Yes, who was it you told me you were going to see? Tell me…”

Ken only had an instant to consider whether he actually had told her about Steph before Amy’s voice coated his mind, dripping over his thoughts like warm honey. He responded reflexively, in a dull monotone. “Stephanie Ono. She’s… a friend of mine who transferred out. But she left.”

“Ah…” The interest in Amy’s voice rose. “A friend.”

“Yeah.”

“Hmm…” If Ken had been paying attention, he might have noticed Amy pause for a moment, as if weighing whether or not she wanted to ask more. “Let me check my schedule.” Through the phone, Ken heard his tutor flipping through papers. Across the room he caught a waitress’s eye; he still hadn’t ordered any food yet, and his stomach was threatening to gurgle the way Amy’s had the other day. He held up a finger, signaling he still needed a minute.

“Full, full, full…” Amy sighed in frustration. “Looks like the only time I’ve got is… could you come in today? Wait, no that doesn’t work either. Darnit.”

“Honestly you don’t even have to tutor me or anything, I’ll just sit there and do my work. I just need to–” he switched to a stage whisper–”get out for a bit. You know?” He was begging now. Not good.

“Ken, I’d really love to see you again, I’m just so busy. I’ve got like twenty minutes to grab lunch, and then I have a ton of work to do before my afternoon tutoring appointments, and then–”

“I could bring you lunch if you want.”

“--what?” Amy’s voice caught in her mouth.

“Yeah, I’m actually at a cafe right now. What would you like?”

Ken felt a sense of triumph flagging down the waitress and placing an order for takeout. Amy had insisted on paying him back, and his phone vibrated with a notification that he’d received the exact amount as he stepped back out into the winter air. His thoughts buzzed with so much excitement he didn’t even notice the line of customers shuffling past him as the cafe staff replaced his booth with a new party.

—

The student council room lay forbiddingly at the end of a long hallway on the second floor. Ken peered through the small window in the door to find what could have passed for an unused classroom, albeit a much cleaner one, with a nice carpet instead of hardwood flooring. At a countertop on one side of the room Amy leaned over her laptop, hair slightly unkempt as she typed away furiously. Her ass stuck out towards him in her signature short skirt, and Ken couldn’t help but admire the way her blazer clung to her thin waist, highlighting her curves.

“Aaand done!” She declared with a triumphant keystroke as Ken opened the door. “With that essay.”

“Busy weekend?”

“As usual. Ken you’re a lifesaver for this, seriously.” She turned toward him and, before he realized what was happening, gave him a tight hug. Ken smiled dazedly, savoring the feeling of her chest pressed against his.

Amy let go and held Ken at arm’s length for a moment. “Don’t tell anyone I let you eat in here though, okay? Otherwise everyone is gonna try paying me in meals and I’ll never get any privacy.”

“Hey–my lips are sealed.”

They heated their food up briefly in the club room’s microwave–another student council privilege, Ken supposed–and Ken tried to keep up as Amy quickly scarfed hers down. Then she led him to the library, where she’d left her books.

The halls of Kaneko were practically deserted, but Amy’s gait bordered on a strut, full of importance and authority. If she weren’t wearing her school uniform, one might have mistaken her for the principal. Ken trailed a half step behind, almost in awe at the way her long hair seemed to billow behind her, as if the sheer force of her personality was causing the movement.

Chloe sat at the information desk again, and Ken waved to her as they passed. Chloe began to do the same until she noticed his company and contorted her face into a look of disbelief. Ken smiled sheepishly and kept walking.

“Friend of yours?” Amy whispered, oblivious to Chloe’s side of the exchange.

“Yeah,” Ken replied.

“She sends me my schedule every week.” Amy said approvingly. “She’s nice, I like her.” If Ken hadn’t known Chloe so well, he might have found the comment a bit condescending.

“Yeah. Uh, me too. We’ve been friends for a long time. Before Kaneko.”

After passing several tables full of students cramming for their Monday exams, the two arrived at a door to a group study room, which Amy unlocked and entered. Most of Kaneko’s group study rooms had windows, but this one, an anomaly in the floor plan, sat almost recessed, sandwiched between two larger ones that were already occupied. Only trusted senior tutors had keys to this one, and that didn’t stop it from gaining a reputation as a hookup spot–if you could snag someone’s key. Amy closed the door behind them.

“Ah,” she sighed. “Here we go.”

On the table in front of her lay what had to be at least a dozen textbooks spread out neatly around a single notebook, the way a warlock might arrange a summoning circle.

“Wow,” Ken said, taking a seat.

“Yep.” Amy stretched her arms, and Ken couldn’t help but notice her figure again. “Group study room 2 is like my own personal tower in a castle.” Somehow, Ken suspected Amy wasn’t oblivious to her ‘princess’ moniker.

“How many classes do you take?”

“Only a couple extra. I kind of finished all the math classes, so they had to make a few up for me. In the fall I took some at a nearby college, but I wanted to take it easy for my last semester here.”

This was taking it easy? Ken suddenly felt very small. “What do you mean, make them up?”

“Like independent studies. I’m doing one on fractals with Mrs. Furukawa as my advisor, wanna see?”

“Uh–sure!”

Amy grabbed her laptop and placed it in front of Ken, the only empty space remaining on the table. The fans reluctantly whirred to life as it slowly booted back up. “What about you? What’s got you so desperate?”

She stared at him, her eyes wide in curiosity, inches away from Ken’s face. Part of him wanted to tell Amy everything about his unreciprocated crush, but he managed to resist the urge. “I… didn’t finish a couple of classes last semester. So even though technically I’m passing math now, the administration said I have to complete those to graduate.” Amy tilted her head in consideration and stared at him for a moment, her long hair falling off of her shoulder. “Sorry for not telling you earlier.”

“Huh,” she replied. “That’s cool, actually.”

“Eh?” Now it was Ken’s turn to be confused.

“It’s like a redo, so you can learn even more!”

“Y-you’re not mad at me for not telling you?”

“Of course not.” Amy took his hand in both of hers and stared directly into his eyes, almost like she were proposing. “Ken, I don’t care how much you have to do. As long as you focus for me during our sessions, I promise I’ll always be here to help you. Okay?”

Ken melted at the sincerity in her voice. “Wow….” Did I say that out loud? He didn’t care. He just wanted to relax into Amy’s beautiful eyes forever. “Uh–it’s just, nobody’s ever reacted like that before.”

Amy smiled. “Oh… Well I’m glad I could be your first!” She giggled, and Ken could feel the heat in his cheeks. “Oh! Looks like it’s ready.” A few seconds and a series of mouse clicks later Amy had opened an application showing a bright, colorful design superimposed on a graph.

“Have you ever seen this before?” Amy asked.

“It looks a little familiar, I dunno.”

“So this is called the Mandelbrot Set. It’s a famous fractal.”

“Looks trippy.”

“Right?” Amy’s voice was full of excitement. “I really wanted to do a project on it cause it looks so cool. And it turns out it’s actually really elegant. Do you know complex numbers work?”

For the next few minutes Amy walked Ken through the formula behind the Mandelbrot Set, and by the end of it Ken felt like he was actually learning something. Then she pressed a button and the screen slowly zoomed in on the fractal. The animation looked almost psychedelic, full of differently-colored circles and ever-expanding swirling patterns.

“You made this whole thing?” Ken asked, impressed.

“Just the program, not the math behind it,” Amy said. She put an arm over his shoulder and leaned against him so she could see the screen. Ken had to admit he could get used to feeling her body against his. “Isn’t it pretty?”

“Yeah…”

“You can move the mouse to change where the screen zooms in,” Amy said. “And even though the patterns look similar, you’ll find they never quite repeat. So even though you can choose which section to explore, you don’t really have any control over where you’re going. That’s the funny thing about math, isn't it?”

Ken nodded wordlessly.

“That for all its natural beauty–” Amy nuzzled up against Ken, and his posture softened into her touch–”sometimes it feels like you can never quite get to the bottom of it. It’s like, the deeper you go, the more there is to see. Don’t you think?”

Ken tilted his head just a little in agreement. On the edge of Ken’s awareness he noticed that Amy was no longer staring at the fractal with him, but he let her soothing voice muffle the thought and take him deeper.

“And you can continue to go deeper into the fractal, in whichever direction you’d like, not knowing where it leads but just following along attentively. That’s it. Just sink into the fractal for me. All your focus on the fractal now, staring so deeply into it. Just staring and sinking, staring and sinking. Allow yourself to be captivated by all the pretty little patterns as you sink even deeper. Like it’s the most natural thing in the world to let your thoughts dissolve away into all the little swirls and spirals. Deeper and deeper, and maybe feeling your mouse hand growing very, very heavy as you sink down for me. No need to control it, no need to move anything. So heavy it falls to your side and you let the fractal take you deeper all on its own.”

Ken barely even noticed his hand going limp, completely mesmerized by the fractal at Amy’s direction. She continued speaking softly and rhythmically into his ear. “And finding that heaviness starting to spread into the rest of your body as you stare and sink for me. So very heavy. So very relaxed. Relax for me. Relax for me. Relax for me.”

Ken felt a familiar heaviness taking over his body as he sank down into Amy’s hypnotic words.

“Eyes closing now, imagining the fractal in your mind’s eye, keeping it in your thoughts as my words speak directly to your subconscious. Can you still hear me, Ken?”

“Yes…” Ken’s voice sounded detached, as if the fractal had spirited his mind somewhere far away.

“Do you like it when I talk to you like this?” Amy’s voice played a pure, blissful melody inside his head.

“Yes…”

“I’m so, so glad you came back to me.” Amy squeezed his hand a little in her fingers. “I know it’s easy to become distracted these days. By other people… by other thoughts… And that’s why it’s important that you practice focusing with me, and that we continue having regular sessions like this. Because I can help you. I can take care of everything. Only me. And all you need to do in return is exactly what I say. Doesn’t that sound nice?”

“Yes…” Ken’s eyelids began to flutter as he sank fully into the hypnotic trance.

“Wonderful,” Amy said sweetly. “Now as part of our practice, I’m going to teach you a couple words you will respond to. You know how you react when I say ‘relax for me?’” Ken slumped further forward in his chair, and Amy caught his shoulder before he could fall into her laptop.

“Oh, you do,” she cooed, gently massaging his shoulder. “Good boy. These are some of my favorite words to say, so I’d like you to pay extra special attention to them, okay?” Ken didn’t respond, too disoriented from Amy’s manipulation.

The words flowed gently from Amy’s lips into Ken’s head as the daze overtook him. ‘Awake’ would bring him out of trance, swiftly but gently. ‘Sleep’ would drop him back down, even faster than ‘relax for me.’ Amy’s voice was calm and nurturing as she repeated the trigger words several times to reinforce them in Ken’s subconscious. Then, she counted up to ten to bring him out of trance.

“...And, awake.”

Ken opened his eyes. “Sorry, what were we talking about?”

Amy gave him a smile full of warmth and understanding. “It’s okay, that’s what practice is for. We were talking about fractals.”

“Oh, yeah.” Ken blinked a couple times and stretched his eyebrows.

“Can you think of another example of a fractal?” Amy asked. “Maybe one that you can see from where you’re sitting?”

Ken’s thoughts ground to a halt as Amy stared at him expectantly. Big and expressive, her eyes glinted with an almost supernatural beauty under the light of the single overhead. Ken had never held eye contact with her for this long before, for fear of being weird. But right now he sat transfixed. What had she just asked him? Right, fractals. Crap. He couldn’t just sit there dumbfounded; he had to think of something. And the only word that came to mind was…

“Eyes?” Ken said, almost out of desperation.

Amy nodded. “Very good, Ken. And what makes eyes an example of a fractal?”

Ken gaped at her. He hadn’t expected to be right, and every second he stared he felt the words slipping from his mind. “The, uh, patterns around the iris,” he replied.

“Describe them for me.” Amy pushed her sideswept bangs away from her face.

It was too difficult. How could he possibly express the detail, the depth within them? “So… beautiful…” All the other words had fallen away.

—

Amy turned slightly toward the overhead. Her friend Misa had shown her this trick when taking pictures; it was supposed to make the light reflect off your eyes better.

“If you’re having trouble,” she said, taking Ken’s hand in hers again, “maybe you could stare a little deeper.”

“Yes…” Ken said. He leaned toward her slowly. His mouth hung slightly open, and Amy felt a familiar excitement run through her.

“Deeper…” The idea of having this much power over someone turned Amy on. Well, it didn’t turn her on–that would be silly. “And deeper…” But Ken’s reverence as he looked into her eyes made her feel special, in a way that most attention she received from guys didn’t. And she liked that. “And sleep!” Amy pulled on Ken’s hand, and his torso slumped over.

“Sinking nice and deep for me once again.” Amy rubbed Ken’s back rhythmically. “Feeling so good, and so relaxed, thinking about all the wonderful fractal patterns I’ve shown you. And I can show you even more, as long as you do exactly what I say. You like doing what I say, because I make you feel good. And the better you feel, the more you think about me. How much you want to please me. How much you want me. The thoughts become so strong that even the ones you try to keep hidden, you start to find they might… spill out… at any moment. That you can’t keep them in. You’ll find yourself becoming distracted by me more and more easily. Daydreaming about me during your spare moments… wanting to be near me… it’s only natural. It’s just as natural as the patterns you see looking deep into my eyes. Those nice, relaxing fractals you can sink into so easily with just a little practice.”

Ken’s phone vibrated in his pocket, but this time Amy didn’t panic. She kept her tone steady as she gently fished it out, her free hand moving up to caress his shoulders and neck. It shook again in her hand but Ken didn’t stir, and with some fumbling Amy managed to tap on the notification.

> From: Ray

> Hey

> Hangout at my house? Tech crew etc. Except Chloe, she’s at work

Amy felt a little guilty keeping him from his friends, but Ken had wanted to study, hadn’t he? She pressed the side buttons at random until it seemed to turn off, then stashed it on the table between two of her books.

“...Stay with me, Ken. Practicing feels so good when you’re with me.”

She guided Ken’s shoulders upward and began to count again.

“One… so why don’t we practice some more.

“Two… remembering the last time I brought you out of this state.

“Three… nice and gently returning to reality.” Amy counted Ken back up softly, monitoring his face as his eyes slowly opened in comprehension.

“And, awake.” Amy held Ken’s shoulder upright, to make sure he wouldn’t fall out of his chair.

Ken grunted a little as his senses came back to him. “Sorry, what were we doing?” His lids sagged just a little, as if he knew Amy planned to drop him into trance again.

Amy laughed warmly. “We’re practicing, silly.”

“Practicing?”

“Yes, practicing. Can you still see the fractal if I point right… here?” She drew her free hand up to her chest, then traced a finger down the curve of her breasts, which jiggled slightly at the pressure.

“Yes…”

“Good boy. Staring so deeply into the curvy, pretty fractal. Loving its shape, and the way it moves. Seeing it in your mind’s eye… sinking back down into it… and… sleep!” Amy shook Ken’s shoulder and he dropped almost instantly, shoulders supported only by the vice president’s steady grip.

“My words will always do this to you. You will always be open to them. You love the way I make you feel. Needing more of me. Yearning for it. Beginning to lose interest in other girls as your desire for me eclipses your thoughts about anyone else.” Amy continued to reinforce the suggestions, murmuring in a soothing monotone that easily slipped into Ken’s subconscious.

Amy could feel herself getting carried away. When her friends had told her she should find a hobby this semester, this definitely wasn’t what they’d meant. But something she couldn’t quite explain stirred inside her every time she dropped Ken into trance. And if he continued to go along with it, what was the harm?

Amy jostled Ken’s shoulder once again. “...Awake.” She didn’t bother counting him up this time, confident that the trigger had fully implanted itself. His eyes flashed with only a small glimmer of recognition, and Amy positioned her legs in front of him, obscuring his view of anything else in the room.

“What do you see, Ken?”

“Ah…”

“Tell me.”

“Your skirt.”

“No,” she corrected him, like a teacher trying to stay patient, “you see the fractal.” Then Amy began to smooth her skirt over her legs, alternating between scrunching up the fabric and straightening it flat over her thighs. “You see it when you look at my skirt… and when I show you my thighs… and even though your eyelids are so very heavy… you find you can just barely keep them open as you sleep for me, so you can continue to enjoy how nice it looks.” With every cycle of smoothing and folding Amy drew the fabric up slightly higher, teasing Ken with more and more tantalizing glimpses of thigh skin.

“Just doing whatever feels natural as you sleep for me, doing whatever feels good. Maybe imagine how my hands would feel on your own lap. Delicate fingers caressing those sensitive areas…” Amy smoothed her skirt so tightly over her crotch it threatened to create a cameltoe. She began to moan softly as she teased him, observing the tent in Ken’s pants. He was already hard, but she wanted him to be aching. She began rubbing her smooth legs together in a subtle, rhythmic motion, and Ken squirmed in his chair, desperate for more stimulation.

“Ohhh~ And do you know what the best part is?” Amy said conspiratorially. “This time–” she plunged a hand downward to rub her pussy over her clothes–”I’m not wearing any underwear.”

Ken’s pants twitched, and then his entire body trembled. Amy smiled expectantly, watching Ken’s erection through his pants as it threatened to erupt at any moment. “Don’t hold back, ok?” she whispered.

Then Ken’s eyes opened wide, and embarrassment washed over his face. “I–I have to go to the bathroom!” he stammered.

“Oh! Uh… ok!” Amy said tentatively as Ken left the room in a rush, hunched over.

–

Chloe looked up from her seat at the information desk to see Ken hobbling towards the bathroom. Something about his posture was off. She squinted. What the hell is he doing?

Ken was up to something. You didn’t just waltz into the library next to Amy Matsumura like it was no big deal. Nobody did. She knew a few students–boys, mostly–who’d been on Amy’s waitlist for almost a year.

Chloe didn’t particularly like Amy–mostly because Chloe didn’t “like” anyone–but she had a certain respect for the vice president’s popularity–as a tutor, of course. Social popularity was for posers, Chloe thought as she watched Ken stumble into the bathroom. If he wanted to make a fool out of himself in front of one of the popular girls, it served him right. Hmph. Chloe couldn’t care less.

—

Amy sat for a second in shock. Her research hadn’t mentioned anything about subjects waking from trance spontaneously. Was he going to run and tell someone she’d been brainwashing him? Mild panic set in for a moment, but Amy managed to calm herself down. She hadn’t touched him. She hadn’t forced him to do anything. He’d obeyed because he wanted to. Because he liked her. And she…

A familiar feeling stirred between Amy’s legs. No no no, I’m not– she slid a finger under the waistband of her skirt reluctantly, moving it down past her panties–she'd lied about going commando for dramatic effect–and gingerly touched her slit.

Squish.

Shit. She wasn’t just wet–rubbing her thighs together had spread her juices practically everywhere, thoroughly soaking her panties and even staining her upper thigh. Amy slid her fingers back up to her clit and began to gently play with it. She’d never been this turned on before. She knew it was unladylike, especially for someone in a position of authority. But then again, who was going to stop her? She was Amy Matsumura, vice president of the student fucking council. A small moan escaped her lips, and she rubbed herself faster.

—

Relief flooded through Ken as Amy let him back into the group study room. Jerking off in the bathroom, if uncomfortable, had worked: even the sight of Amy licking her lips didn’t faze him like it would have five minutes ago. Seriously, why is she even doing that? He was finally ready to get some work done, with or without an understanding of that crazy fractal Amy had been showing him.

“Ah, that’s better. Guess I really had to go. Hey uh, when did we schedule our next tutoring session for again?”

Amy smirked. They hadn’t actually set a date for it, but she’d read in her research that a properly fractionated hypnotic subject would believe practically anything you told them. “It’s tomorrow night. Your place.”

Ken’s eyes gained a dreamy expression for a moment. “Perfect.”

Amy shut her laptop and sat down carefully in front of her unreasonably large pile of books. “Now, time to get to work.”