As the sun began cresting over the horizon, letting people know that the day was transitioning from A.M. to P.M., a lone figure was making his way up the staircase towards the Hinata House dormitories.  While he was an inhabitant of Hinata City, he didn’t venture out and around town too often.  He had only visited Hinata House once or twice over the last few years, and that was only on matters of business, which was the same reason for his visitation in this particular instance.

The lone figure in question was bald-headed, middle-aged, and had lived in Hinata City for a number of years.  His profession was centered on the world of gambling and serving as a bookie to a limited clientele of locals who lived in Hinata and the surrounding area, taking a small cut of the proceeds whenever they scored a win.  The way he saw it, it was only fair for him to get a slice of the action whenever he had to cash in a winning ticket on behalf of his clients, especially whenever he had a hot tip on the odds of any bet.

In fact, the very reason he was making his way up towards Hinata House was because he was making a visit to one of his clients, otherwise he would have stayed at home.  Normally, he wouldn’t bother to visit, especially at such a place that was fairly out-of-the-way within the broader Hinata City metropolitan area.  However, the client he talked to over the phone just a few hours ago was rather insistent on him coming up to the dormitories to collect and cash in on this ticket on her behalf.

Now some might ponder as to whether or not this person could simply take advantage of his client’s trusting nature and keep all the money for himself upon cashing the ticket.  After all, if the client simply gave him the ticket, what’s not to say that he could simply act as though the ticket was his and keep all the money for himself upon cashing it?  After all, what was stopping him from doing such a thing?

As corny an idea as it may seem, the simple answer was honor.  While it was certainly a trait that some men may not adhere to, it was still one that some still felt was worthy of abiding by, even when it came to matters of money.  In this case, that belief held true.

The man making his way up the staircase towards the front door of the Hinata dormitories - a man who went by the name Shinji - was a relatively honorable man when it came to such matters of money, as tempting as it was to be greedy and make off with the whole lot of loot from such an arrangement.  It was that sense of honor he had that got him such a closely-knit clientele of fellow gamblers.  After all, if you’re perceived as greedy and money-grubbing, people might be reluctant to trust you, at least when it comes to matters involving gambling.

As Shinji finished making his way up the long stone staircase and neared the front entrance of the Hinata House dorms, he was greeted by a pair of individuals, one male and one female.  The two of them were clearly foreign, given their dark skin tone and rather exotic style of dress.  If Shinji were to guess, he’d wager they were from India or some neighboring country.

“Hello there,” said the female, “can we help you, sir?”

“Yeah, I’m here to meet with someone,” began Shinji.  “One of the residents here.  She goes by the name Kitsune.  Fox-eyed, short hair, in her twenties.  That ring a bell?”

“If I may ask, what business do you have with her, good sir?” inquired the male foreigner.

“She’s a client of mine, in a way of putting things,” replied Shinji,  “I’m her bookie and I manage her winnings…whenever she DOES win anyway.”  he finished with a chuckle.

“I see…If you’ll just wait here a moment, I’ll go and inform the woman of your arrival.  Oh, I don’t believe I got your name, sir.” replied the male foreigner.

“It’s Shinji.  Just give her my name and she’ll know it’s me.” said Shinji.

The male foreigner took his leave and headed inside the dorms to go fetch Kitsune, leaving Shinji with the female counterpart to keep him company (and an eye on him) while he waited.

“So…” began Shinji, trying to break the ice, “are you from around here?”

“Actually, I just arrived here yesterday,” answered the woman, “my fellow countrymen and I came here via aircraft to assist with chores here at the dorms.”

“Where do you hail from, if you don’t mind my asking?” inquired Shinji.

“The Kingdom of Molmol.” replied the woman.

“Molmol?  Can’t say I’ve heard of it.” said a somewhat confused Shinji.

“It’s a small island kingdom in the southeastern end of the Indian Ocean.  We normally don’t make global headlines and we tend to keep to ourselves for the most part.  So it’s understandable that many people wouldn’t know about it.” explained the woman.

“So, you guys are the staff here then?” continued Shinji.

“For the time being,” replied the woman.  “We’re here to assist in any capacity we can, as servants of our queen, Her Majesty Amalla Su, her sister Princess Kaolla Su, and the other residents here at Hinata.”

“Kaolla…Su,” pondered Shinji aloud.  “I think I may have heard Kitsune bring up that name in passing, now that I think about it.  Anyways, how are the ladies doing here?”

“They’re…fine, sir.” replied the woman, thinking carefully on how to describe what the Hinata women were going through.  “Their situation is somewhat…unique I should say, but they are in good health and good spirits as far as I can tell.”

“How do you mean?” asked Shinji with a cocked eyebrow.

“It’s perhaps better that you see for yourself rather than have me describe it to you, sir.” answered the woman in a rather ‘to-the-point’ tone of voice.  “Otherwise, you’d think I was simply making things up and saying something that wasn’t true.”

“Well okay then,” Shinji commented, not sure as to what the Molmolian girl was referring to exactly.

A moment later, the front door opened and the male Molmolian from earlier reappeared, gesturing for Shinji to enter.  He followed behind the attendant as the dark-skinned man led him towards what he assumed to be Kitsune’s bedroom.  Eventually, the two of them had indeed arrived at Kitsune’s bedroom door.  The attendant knocked on it to signal whoever was inside of their presence before speaking.

“Lady Kitsune,” said the Molmolian gentleman, “your guest has arrived.  Are you ready to receive him?”

“Yeah, I’m ready,” answered Kitsune.  “Bring him on in.”  The attendant turned to face Shinji before speaking once more.

“Now I should inform you of something,” said the Molmolian in a stern tone of voice.  “Miss Kitsune and all of the female residents here have undergone a rather profound change over the past few days.  I advise that you don’t make a scene while you are here, and to also inform you that you are not to tell anybody outside of Hinata House about what you saw here.  Is that understood?”

Taken aback by the sudden seriousness which was being conveyed, Shinji simply stared like a deer in the headlights before replying.

“Ummm…okay then.  Scout’s honor and all that.” said Shinji as he raised his right hand as if he were taking an oath at that very moment.

“That’s good to hear,” replied the attendant.  “It is not my wish to alarm or intimidate you with what I just said.  It’s just that the situation as it currently stands requires discretion.  We do not wish to draw undue attention at this time under these circumstances as they develop, that is all.  And rest assured, if you are a man of your word, you have nothing to fear.  And if you aren’t a man of your word, we’ll know that as well…and take the necessary steps to address the matter accordingly.”  The last part came off as rather ominous.

‘Geez, what is with this guy?’ thought Shinji.  ‘He makes it sound like I’m walking into some kind of top-secret government facility or something like that.  Better not kid around about this kind of stuff.’

With that, the attendant left Shinji alone outside of Kitsune’s door.  The man knocked on it to announce his presence.

“Kitsune, I assume you’re decent.  Can I come in?” asked Shinji.

“Yeah, just…try not to freak out once ya enter, okay?” replied a somewhat worried Kitsune, given the shakiness in her voice.

“Okay then,” replied Shinji, shaking his head from side-to-side as he proceeded to slide open the door.  Whatever Kitsune and the others were talking about, it was rather odd at how they would dance around the topic.  Whatever, it couldn’t be that big a deal right?

Wrong.

Upon entering the room, Shinji was greeted by the sight of Mitsune Konno sitting on her bed, with the blanket wrapped around her torso as best as she could do so.  What seemed out of place was that the bed appeared rather undersized relative to Kitsune, as if she were sitting in a bed meant for a small child.  However, the bed was a standard queen-sized frame.  It wasn’t the bed that was small, but the woman sitting on it who was big.  Even sitting on the bed, Kitsune was taller than Shinji.

Shinji was of a fairly average build overall.  He stood a solid 5’9” and had a somewhat lean figure.  Yet in that very moment, he couldn’t help but feel rather small standing in the presence of this woman who he could clearly tell had a solid foot or more in height over him. And this was a woman who not so long ago was less than five-and-a-half feet in height.

“Hey there, Shinji,” began Kitsune, “thanks for comin’.  Wanna drink?”  Shinji just stood there for a moment, still in a state of disbelief at seeing Kitsune having turned into an outright amazon before him.  Blinking rapidly and shaking his head to get his mind clear, he responded.

“Uhh, yeah sure.  What do ya have?” asked Shinji.

“Got a bottle of sake and a few cans of beer left,” said Kitsune.

“Beer’s fine,” replied Shinji.

Kitsune proceeded to take one of the cans, gesturing that she was about to gently toss it towards Shinji.  He held his hands open, giving her the go-ahead to lob him a beer can.  He caught it, cracked it open, and took a few good chugs of it, finishing half the can in a few seconds.  Now that he had some alcohol in his system to help mellow him out a bit, he could proceed with further conversation…at least without things feeling too awkward anyway.

“So,” began Shinji, “you wanted me to come here for some lottery ticket, if I understand it right?”

“Yeah,” said Kitsune as she leaned over towards her nightstand by her bed.  On said nightstand was the winning ticket she had.  Holding it gingerly in her hands, Kitsune stared at it briefly before stretching her arm out towards Shinji, gesturing to him to take it off her hands (no pun intended).

Shinji took the lottery ticket, all the while marveling at just how long Kitsune’s fingers were, as well as how defined her bicep was.  He never took the woman for an outdoorsy kind of person or somebody who worked out, but Kitsune was definitely in rather fine physical form from what he could tell.  There was of course also the rather generous swell of her bosom just underneath the blankets.  Shinji knew that Kitsune was rather “gifted” when it came to breast size, but he could have sworn that it looked as though she had gone up a few cup sizes, even relative to her newly enlarged body.

Deciding to focus his attention on the ticket before being caught staring too long at Kitsune’s figure, Shinji examined the slip to make sure the numbers all matched and that it wasn’t a forgery of some sort.

“You’re sure that it’s a winner?” asked Shinji.

“I wouldn’t have brought ya all the way up here if it weren’t,” replied Kitsune.  “I checked it three times over in the last hour just to make sure I weren’t seein’ things or gettin’ my hopes up.  It’s the real deal, Shinji.”

“And I’m guessing the reason you want me to cash it in is…” Shinji’s insinuation wasn’t lost on Kitsune.

“Shinji, look at me,” said Kitsune gesturing to her entire body.  She decided to stand up for good measure just to prove her point.

As her feet hit the ground with a distinct thud, Kitsune stood up, and up…and UP.  Standing before Shinji in all of her 7 foot, 9 inch glory, the foxy-eyed large-bosomed beauty had cast the man in her shadow.  With her two foot advantage in height, the woman outright towered over her guest.  The top of Shinji’s head was basically level with the top of Kitsune’s generous bosom.  Looking forward gave the man a spectacular view of Kitsune’s cleavage laying just behind the bed covers she had wrapped around her frame.

“I’d be drawin’ a LOT of attention goin’ out right now, wouldn’t ya agree?” asked Kitsune.  “I mean, how many folk run into a woman who’s more than seven feet tall?  I don’t really have anythin’ that’ll fit me proper, so I’d stick out like a sore thumb for more than just my height and…other things.”  Kitsune muttered that last part, staring down at her breasts and feeling just a tad bit self-conscious about her own bosom being on display in front of a man, even if that man was a trusted associate.

“Got it,” replied Shinji.  “So you want me to cash the ticket in your place then.  Understood.”  With that, Shinji slipped the ticket into the vest pocket of the jacket he was wearing.

“Ain’t ya gonna set terms about percentage an’ all that?” asked Kitsune with a cocked eyebrow.  It was the kind of thing to be expected when it came to money matters, especially since she was asking somebody to cash a ticket on her behalf.

There was a momentary pause before Shinji spoke up.

“Tell you what, I’ll take one million yen as my cut and the rest is yours.  Sound good?” asked Shinji.

[*As of this writing, one million yen is a bit over $8600]

“Only a million?” asked a rather shocked Kitsune.  She figured that Shinji would ask for a higher percentage of the profits, at least a solid ten percent or more.  Only going with a million was hardly anything in the grand scheme of things.

“Tell me yer jokin’ here,” said Kitsune.  “Ya mean ta tell me that yer fine with ONLY a million yen outta more than a hundred million yen in jackpot money.  I mean, that ain’t even one percent of the whole pot.  This is 116 million yen total, and 1 million is all ya want?”

“Well Kitsune, two things to bear in mind,” replied Shinji.

“I’m all ears,” Kitsune responded, curious as to what her bookie was about to say.

“First off, the ticket is yours, not mine.  So if I were a man of honor - which I like to think of myself as such, more or less - then it would be wrong of me to take any bigger a cut than 1 million out of that jackpot, even if I am the one going into town to cash it in.”

“Yer tellin’ me that you ain’t tempted by that kinda money bein’ yours?” asked Kitsune, figuring that Shinji must have been pulling her leg.  Hell, he could be lying right now and have no intention of giving her ANY of the money once he cashed the ticket in.

“Of course I’d LIKE to have that money be mine,” replied Shinji, “but I probably wouldn’t sleep well afterwards at pulling such a dirty trick as taking a friend’s winnings all for myself.  Believe it or not, I DO in fact have a conscience, Kitsune.  Not every bookie and gambler is a greedy cheat.  Some of us do honor our commitments and play fair, as rare as that might seem.  And as for the second reason…”

“Go on…” replied Kitsune.

“You’re not the only client I have when it comes to gambling arrangements.  I do maintain regular business with other people, both in and out of Hinata City.  It’s not as if you’re my chief income flow, you know.  I do well enough from taking a modest cut out of the winnings of my other clients, enough so that I live a fairly comfortable life on the collective winnings I’ve accrued.  Besides…”

“Besides what?” asked a curious Kitsune.

“I figured that you’re owed a lucky break in life anyway,” said Shinji with a smile.  “I know you haven’t had a good win in many years and I like to think that fate is throwing you a life preserver, in a way of looking at things.  With this kind of money, you shouldn’t have to worry about rent payments, food, or other necessities for quite some time.  So I say go ahead and enjoy your winnings.  Live a little and all that.”

The response coming out of Shinji’s mouth had Kitsune opening up her eyes in genuine surprise.  To be fair, she had known the man for a number of years now, but still figured that he would be tempted to keep her lottery money all for himself out of pure greed.  But even now, she was fairly certain that the man wasn’t bullshitting her in his response.  His tone of voice, body language, and overall mood seemed to indicate that he was being fairly genuine in his replies…that there was no subterfuge or anything secretly malicious that would indicate that he was lying deep down.

“And just as a show of good faith,” continued Shinji, “in case you think I might change my mind and secretly keep the money all for myself, I’ll do a little something to prove I’m trustworthy.”  With that, Shinji reached into his pocket and pulled out a rather beautiful silver pocket watch.  He laid the item on Kitsune’s nightstand and then turned his eyes back to her.

“Consider this collateral,” explained Shinji.  “You can hold onto it and I’ll come back for it after I return with your lottery money.  Sound good?”

“Shinji,” said a somewhat shocked Kitsune, “isn’t that yer pa’s watch?”

“Indeed it is,” replied Shinji with a smile.

“That’s one of ya most treasured items…and yer just gonna leave it here with me, just like that?”

“Like I said, think of it as collateral for you to hold onto.  In fact, think of it this way:  The watch is now yours, and in a little bit I’ll come back and buy it off you for 115 million yen.  Deal?”

In all the time she had come to know her bookie, Kitsune had learned that Shinji treasured that pocket watch.  It was a gift to him passed down from his late father, who in turn had gotten it from his father.  The item had basically become something of a family heirloom over time.  To someone like Shinji, that pocket watch was something he couldn’t bring himself to sell unless he absolutely needed the money.

Without really thinking, Kitsune had crossed the threshold and made her way directly to Shinji.  The man was certainly taken aback by the suddenness of the towering amazon coming right at him, given the sound and vibration of her footfalls on her bedroom floor.  What really surprised him though was how everything suddenly went black…given that his head was quickly smooshed in between Kitsune’s massive mammaries as they enveloped his entire face while Kitsune wrapped her arms around him in a big bear hug.

“Thank you, Shinji,” whispered Kitsune as small tears of joy began to form out of the corners of her eyes.  She simply held him in a hug of gratitude as the man appreciated the softness of her breasts pressed firmly against the entire front side of his head from ear to ear.  If Shinji had any objection to Kitsune’s show of gratitude, he certainly wasn’t being vocal about it.  Though admittedly, the lack of oxygen from having such wonderful boobs pressed up against his face would have made verbal complaining rather difficult.

After a good ten seconds or so of the hug, Kitsune finally released her hold on Shinji, in part so that the man could breathe again.  She liked to think that he enjoyed the brief period of “marshmallow hell” that he ended up experiencing in that time, at least if the blush on his cheeks was any indicator.

With that, Shinji ended up finishing the rest of his beer before preparing to take his leave.  As another gesture of goodwill, he promised not to tell anybody about Kitsune’s little - or maybe not so “little” - growth spurt.  Given that he was indeed curious as to just how she ended up sprouting upwards by more than two feet, Shinji did ask a bit before leaving.  Kitsune told him what she knew, and how it was affecting not just her, but all the women currently residing at Hinata House.

“Well, hopefully you’ll have things under control before long,” commented Shinji.  “I’m certain I’d be a little vexed if I had to worry about bumping my head into the ceiling or having to crawl on all fours to go through a doorway.”

“You’re tellin’ me, sugar,” said Kitsune in lockstep agreement.

“Well, I’ll be taking my leave then,” said Shinji.  “Thanks for the drink, Kitsune.  I’ll be back in an hour or so.  Just need to make the proper arrangements and I’ll be back with a duffle bag with your winnings.  In the meantime, make sure nothing happens to that watch, if you could be so kind.”

“I’ll look after it as if it were a newborn baby,” chuckled Kitsune in response.  She picked up the pocket watch, marveling at the intricate craftsmanship on it as well as marveling at how small it appeared in her hand.  The whole watch easily fit in her palm with room to spare.  She could have enclosed her entire fist around it if she so desired.  Just one more little reminder of how everything around her was shrinking in scale relative to her larger body.

“Take care, Shinji,” said Kitsune with a beaming smile on her face, “and thanks again.  Next Christmas, I’ll get ya a bottle of somethin’ special.  Real top shelf stuff, just for you.”

“I’d appreciate that, Miss soon-to-be Multimillionaire,” replied Shinji with his own chuckle as he left the room and soon after the Hinata House dorms.

Once more, Kitsune was alone in her room, though her mood had much improved under the current circumstances.  In a few hours time, she’d have something to give to Keitaro to let him know just how sorry she was for her past bad behavior and how she would make it up to him.  For a scant few minutes, she felt like she was walking on Cloud 9.  She was so bubbly and giddy that she was on the verge of skipping with joy.  But she erred on caution and decided not to, both to avoid making distinctively loud footfalls on the dorm’s floorboards as well as avoid bumping her head into the ceiling if she ended up jumping just a little too high up if she skipped.

Instead, Kitsune simply walked out her bedroom door with the bags of the garbage she had collected, easily hauling both bags with one arm.  After placing the pocket watch in the drawer of her nightstand, Kitsune made her way out the bedroom, remembering to duck this time.