Author's note: someone left a comment saying that the story should 'come in the fantasy section' Yes.. Why... Yes! congratulations, you've unlocked the code, this is a (checks notes) fantasy. Not sure what you were expecting? If this kind of stuff happened in real life we wouldn't have to write about it on literotica? Anyway, I'm crazy excited to release this new part for everyone to enjoy, seriously, thanks for all the supportive comments, and as always thanks for reading! XOXOXO.
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Christine consulted her phone for a minute, finding an upscale sushi place that was just a few blocks away, nestled inside an ethnic center. Catherine was surprised when her daughter-in-law held out her phone for her to see and asked: "What do you think?" The truth was Catherine didn't love seafood and wasn't a big fan of Japanese cuisine either, but she couldn't stomach the idea of disappointing Christine so she just nodded quietly. "Great!" The younger woman exclaimed, tossing her phone carelessly back into her purse.
A few minutes later they were being seated by young Asian woman wearing kabuki makeup and a kimono. Catherine had never been in a restaurant quite like it before, the architecture was all dark burnished wood and dim paper lanterns, the booths were claustrophobic due to being almost completely enclosed. And yet the furnishings and accouterments were all of such obvious high-quality that she couldn't help but feel hopeful about the food. There was also a small recessed stage, three women dressed in elaborate costumes softly played beautiful music on instruments Catherine had never seen before.
The atmosphere was something else! Their colorful waitress led them back into one of the more secluded wings, the centerpiece of the room was a well-lit and surprisingly large stone koi pond set into the floor, which was surrounded by a low yet wide limestone wall. It took up so much space inside the room that the only way around it was to follow a narrow tile walkway less than a meter wide. There was an actual fountain at one end that funneled a slender column of water through a golden bamboo tube. Water tinkled musically into the basin, along with ethereal threads of incense smoke hanging in the air, it set quite the mood.
Catherine stared in awe at the beautiful fish swimming in the crystal-clear water, red, orange, yellow, gold, ivory, white, brown and black. It was like looking into an aquatic diorama of swirling autumn leaves. She stood there mesmerized for almost a solid minute before Christine gently nudged her towards the lone unoccupied booth their waitress had led them to.
Catherine had expected her daughter-in-law to sit across from her on its opposite side, but instead she waited for Catherine to sit and then casually slid in beside her. Their waitress didn't give any indication that she found this curious maneuver out of the ordinary, shuffling smoothly past the table and pivoting artfully to face them both she started speaking with a slight accent. "Welcome to Kotori Sushi, this is the Sakana Room, you're very lucky because it's normally fully booked but there was a last minute cancellation. My name is Ai and I'll be happy to serve you this afternoon."
Overcome with excitement, Catherine blurted out a question. "Sakana Room? So there are other amazing rooms like this in the restaurant?" The young woman smiled softly.
"Oh yes." She said laconically. "There are three other rooms: our signature Kotori Room, reservation only, the centerpiece is a giant bird cage populated with many beautiful birds of Japan. Yama Room, featuring a bonsai forested snowy mount Fuji. Machi Room containing a fully illuminated 1/100 scale model of Tokyo city. Each room represents a different cultural touchstone of Japan." Catherine nodded her imagination going wild. She couldn't believe that she'd never bothered to explore her town's upscale restaurants before. All these years, this gem had been waiting to be discovered, and she'd never known...
Catherine was so distracted, staring sidelong at the swimming koi while trying to visualize how the other rooms were composed in her head, she barely registered Christine ordering for them. Her daughter-in-law rattled off an impressive array of items, the older woman's confusion was further compounded by the fact that Christine was speaking fluent Japanese. The waitress's demeanor changed almost instantly, her placid face broke into a beautiful smile and her posture seemed to suggest an elevated level of respect.
The woman bowed, her small hands folded neatly in front of her kimono's obi, then she was gone. Catherine turned towards her daughter-in-law, a curious quirk turning up the corner of her mouth. "I-I had no idea you spoke Japanese." She said mildly in awe. "Gregory never mentioned it." She added quietly.
Christine just chuckled musically. "Oh, yeah, it was one of my required language courses. I mean, it was either that or German." She rolled her eyes. "I don't actually get to use it very often, but I had something of a knack for it so I joined one of the cultural clubs. It was fun, we watched Japanese movies and TV together and then discussed them in Japanese afterwards." Catherine nodded numbly, her daughter-in-law was still so young and yet she'd already learned and experienced so much. It made her feel jealous and also sad that she'd had such a comparatively boring education.
"Aww." Christine crooned. "Don't make a face like that. It's pretty useless actually, I mean it looks good on a rΓ©sumΓ©, but we're a long ways from Japan!" She laughed, and Catherine found herself chuckling along, her unhappy feelings fading. The younger woman cocked her head, an impish smile crossing her lips. "Although." She mused. "Today it looks like we've taken a little detour." She gestured coolly towards the miniature living world outside their cloistered booth. "Maybe we're not so far away after all." Her green eyes sparkled mysteriously.
Catherine glanced back over at the mesmerizing pond with its fantastical assortment of autumnal fish, some drifted or were relatively motionless, others darted in and out of the darkness, flashing and sparkling like submarine fireworks. "I know just what will cheer you up." The younger woman chirped, practically in her ear. "I'll teach you a little Japanese!" Catherine snorted. The idea seemed absurd, but at the same time she felt a warm flush of excitement, mainly because her daughter-in-law was lavishing her with attention and seemed genuinely excited about teaching her.
"One thing I will say for Japan, it's a very culturally enlightened country. I didn't think that at first, but as our little culture club got deeper and deeper into Japanese entertainment it was hard not to appreciate how socially progressive and topically broad it can be. And of course it was only a matter of time before somebody brought an adult video to movie night." She let out a rueful chuckle. "And let me tell you, that was an eye-opener." She laughed. Catherine swallowed, a curious sensation starting low in her belly, perhaps a pang of anxiety, or possibly something else far more insidious.
"I think my vocabulary almost doubled once we started getting into Hentai... That's basically Japanese cartoon porn." She smirked. "Most of it's really bad though, like honestly
horrible
, tentacles, everywhere!" She gave a mock shudder and laughed. Catherine just smiled nervously, uncertain if this conversation was going in a particular direction, or if her daughter-in-law was just messing with her again. "Would not recommend." The younger woman continued. "But a lot of the normal pornography is decent, although the words 'normal' and 'decent' are both very poorly chosen in this instance."
She snorted at her own joke. "But I'm getting off topic, we'll start you off slow and easy Catherine, today I'm going to have you learn just a single word, and I'm going to teach you in a very unusual way. A very
memorable
way. I promise, that by the time we get home tonight you will know this word so intimately that it will be impossible to forget!" She gave Catherine a peculiar smile that was both secretive and solicitous. The older woman's heart skipped a beat and she clenched both her fists tightly underneath the table.
"One thing I absolutely love about Japan is how ultra-modern and technologically advanced it is, even something as essential and mundane as a toilet can have all kinds of bells and whistles that you'd hardly ever find here in the West. It's like Japan is ten or twenty years ahead of us in terms of creature comforts. There's a lot more automation for one thing, and then there's convenience, it's practically a religion. I swear they have a remote control for almost everything." Christine reached into her bag and took out her phone, she unlocked it an opened some kind of app.