The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

Rose’s one priority, her only priority, had become Haigure. It was what she was thinking about when she was thinking at all; sometimes her focus entirely became centered on the feeling of her leotard against her body, the pleasure it gave her, and there could be no thoughts at all.

But if she was thinking, she was thinking about Haigure, and how important it was that she spread it to everyone she loved. Doing that was the loving thing to do. It would be unloving of her to let such an amazing experience slip past her loved ones. She already knew she had to get it to her mother and her sister as soon as she possibly could.

Her first available opportunity was the morning of the next day, which was, by then, Tuesday. She only had one class in the morning, and it was over by around 11:30, though the professor went a little over time. It had made no difference to Rose; she’d barely noticed; she’d been too busy shifting subtly in the seat of her chair every few minutes to make the thin crotch of her leotard brush against the hypersensitive lips of her pussy just so.

But once the class was over, Rose walked to the front of campus, where the road let out into the country around; sometimes, if it was early enough in the day, a taxi or two could be found there, and today, Rose was in luck. There was a taxi there; and Rose was in, taking the ride back to her mother’s house in Rosedale on the pretty direct route that the local highway provided.

She was pulling up and paying the taxi driver only five minutes later, because Rosedale was so close to the university; the lights were on in the living room, which meant her mother was already awake, and if Rose had timed it right, her sister would already have arrived home from school for her lunch break—it was an even shorter distance from the high school to their house, the walk of only a few minutes, and her sister liked to make it and eat her lunch at home; and Rose remembered that her sister’s school ran an early lunch, from 11:30 to 12:30; so it was all but guaranteed that she was already inside with her mother. Rose could get them both together at the same time.

She didn’t bother knocking before she entered the house; and when she came through the living room, she found her sister and her mother sitting at the kitchen table clearly eating their lunches together.

“Oh, Rose!” Mrs. Connelly said. “I wasn’t expecting you home for lunch today!”

Rose’s mother had processed her entrance, but not what she was wearing. Her sister had been just a bit faster, and she was looking over Rose with hawk eyes.

“What are you wearing, Rose?” Lily Connelly asked, sounding skeptical. She didn’t understand yet the marvel that these leotards were. Rose would help her understand.

“It’s my new leotard,” Rose gushed, proudly. “I joined the new fitness club on campus, and this is the uniform they use! Do you like it?”

Rose’s mother had caught up to her youngest daughter’s assessment. “It is a bit revealing, Rose. Maybe you’d like to wear something over top of it? Or you’d like to take it off until the next time that your club meets, and just wear it for your club meetings?”

“No thanks, Mom,” Rose smiled. “I love this leotard and I won’t be taking it off. Anyway, I didn’t come here only to talk about my leotard. We can talk about it more later, if you want. I came here to see you both of course, but there was another reason too. I heard the best song yesterday; I wanted to play it for you both, I think you’ll both really enjoy it! Why don’t you come into the living room with me, I’ll play it over our sound system, and we can all listen together?”

Both Mrs. Connelly and Lily seemed hesitant, and they did not include Rose in the glance that passed between them.

“Come on,” Rose encouraged. “The song’s really good. I know you guys will like it.”

“Well...” Mrs. Connelly said; she was always a bit more interested in making peace and balancing things out. “We have eaten half our lunch already; it can’t hurt to leave it for a minute just to listen to one song.”

Lily gave a long-suffering sigh. “Fine, Rose. If it’s just one song.”

When Rose had come in, she had thrown her bookbag onto the kitchen floor. “Great,” she said, as she crouched down in front of it; both her mother and her sister kept their eyes up; Rose knew in her crouching position, her pussy would have become completely visible to them, and neither one of them wanted to see that. Rose only felt happy when she thought of how much her leotard exposed her. It was perfect, and everything about it was perfect, including the cut of its material. “Why don’t you both go in the living room, and I’ll just get my phone out of here?”

Both mother and sister pushed their chairs back from the table, and then went through the open arch between the kitchen and the living room; Rose had to shift aside the two leotards she’d put into her bag to get to her phone, which had fallen beneath, to the very bottom of her bag.

When she had it, she scrolled through to find the audio file she’d added to it yesterday. The memory she had of adding said file was vague and hazy... she couldn’t remember when she’d done it or what she’d been thinking, but there were a lot of gaps in her memory, times when all thought had completely lapsed and she had only been concentrating on sensation. But at some point, she had added it, and there it was now, a simple MP3 only titled “Haigure.”

She took her phone out, but carried her entire bag into the living room with her, so it would be convenient for when she needed it. She set in on the floor, then hooked her phone up to the sound system with the available AUX cord, and hit play on the audio.

It was another one of the instrumental tracks that Haigure Fit kept on hand, and which they used. Rose couldn’t remember if she’d listened to it herself or not since putting it on her phone, but from looking at it now, she saw that it was an hour long; if it was put to play on repeat, it could easily last for several hours.

With the audio playing, Rose set her phone down, stood and then sat down on the couch between her mother and her sister.

It was a soft instrumental, tinkling guitars; Rose had some experience listening to these tracks since she’d learned to put her own leotard on herself, so she knew to tune out the subtle sense of whispers that the music carried with it.

Mrs. Connelly and Lily couldn’t say the same. As soon as Lily heard the song start, her first impression was annoyance; she preferred songs that had lyrics, but this had none. Or at first she thought there were none, but then it seemed there were some after all... it was just that the mix of the song was terrible, the vocals had been sent completely behind the rest of the music so it was impossible to tell what was being sung. Who had made this track? What kind of producer were they, to hide the vocals this way?

Unless it wasn’t singing at all—maybe it was just talking instead, Lily thought, but that didn’t make any sense either. If someone was talking, wouldn’t they want to be listened to? Sending the speaking track behind the vocals meant that no one would be able to hear it either. So why had they done it? And why was Rose showing this to them, when it was so irritating? It couldn’t even be properly understood, those stupid guitars getting in the way of everything else that was happening in the song.

Mrs. Connelly had a less aggravated response. She just felt a little confused; she liked calming instrumental music as much as the next person, but what had been so important about this specific track that had driven her eldest daughter to rush home so she could play it for them?

Rose was watching her sister and her mother closely; the track was already affecting her; she felt herself starting to drip from her slit, but she was just so excited to think her mother and her sister would soon be converted that she kept turning her head, looking at one and then the other, watching impatiently to see when the effect would start happening to each one of them.

Mrs. Connelly was starting to feel a little unsteady where she was sitting. It was the kind of buzz she expected from a bottle of wine, and she was getting some of the other side-effects that usually came to her when she was drinking. Namely, that buzz in her, like when she was on a bit of alcohol, was showing up in the pleasure centers of her body, and touching her in them just a little bit. Which usually wasn’t a problem for her when she was drinking wine by herself late at night or in the evenings; or when she was out drinking in the company of other adults. But when she was sitting with her daughters on the same couch, it was the last thing she wanted to be feeling.

Lily was starting to feel a little strange, too. Her body was heating up, illuminating with arousal, and she didn’t understand why. She tried to concentrate more, to figure out that ‘why’ which was eluding her, but her head felt fuzzy, like someone had stuffed it full of cotton. She felt some of that first irritation which had originally come to her, but it seemed like more and more cotton was being stuffed inside her all the time, and it was hiding the irritation that was underneath, the judgement.

Rose was having a hard time deciding which face she wanted to be watching; she felt she was at a feast, she felt she was at a buffet; there were so many special intricacies in each reaction that was happening beside her, so she was constantly looking between both her sister and her mother. First facing her sister to her left; then turning her head back and facing her mother to her right; then turning again. Each time she looked, they seemed increasingly frazzled, increasingly affected and Rose was drinking up the reactions they were visibly having. Her sister’s breathing was shallower, and her eyes lidding above a vaguely confused look; her mother was flushing in something approaching embarrassment.

Then when she looked again she could see that her sister’s nipples had gotten hard; then noticed her mother’s had too. She could feel her own nipples were rocks—like theirs. They were all sharing this experience now, she had loved them so much she had made sure that this experience, the wonder that was Haigure and all which led to it first, would not pass them by. She was flowing between her legs; she knew they had to be too, and she loved everything about Haigure, and Haigure Fit, her heart was bursting with her love for it, loved everything about it including the fact that they used instrumental tracks like this, that those tracks had effects like this. And she felt such camaraderie with her family. They were all of them sharing this together—they would all share this together, and that made her so happy too.

Lily tried to shake her head; she couldn’t think entirely, there had been a reason she’d done it but now it was obscured from her again... it was... she struggled to get a thought to surface through her inner cotton. It wasn’t only like cotton; if her mind was a lake or some other body of water, each thought she tried to make float up the surface seemed to be weighted down by thousands of weights—each one, none of them could float... she struggled to force one up... up... her mind kept trying to streak away back into that inner silence; her attention kept drifting back to arousal, circling around pleasure and staying near it.

Mrs. Connelly was having an easier time. She could still think clearly, but the problem for her was the increase of that wine-like buzz she had felt at the start. Now it could not be denied: she was horny, in the completely wrong place and time, the wrong context. No amount of denying it or excusing for it had worked. She could feel the flow of arousal coming out between her legs, sopping her underwear. She wanted to shift on the couch, to rock back and forward on the cushion to make her very slick lower lips slide over each other, over and over again. She knew she couldn’t—she was the mother of the two girls on the couch beside her, she kept reminding herself, she couldn’t give in to personal temptation with them so nearby; it would be completely inappropriate.

So she was trying to keep it together; but there was only so much she could do. She could cover for some of her physiological signs of arousal, pleasure attraction, but not all of them. Her breathing was shallow, bordering on panting, but she couldn’t regulate it. There was too much lust in her body and it burned hotter all the time; it was torture to hold herself still when she wanted to undulate and twist to it, to feel some of that lust relax back into release instead of that tight craving that only craved harder and made her more physically tense from the strain of holding back.

Rose thought it had been long enough now; she reached down to her bag, which she had placed at her feet, and took out the two leotards she’d brought with her. She was sure she had estimated the leotards’ size for each family member correctly; smaller for her sister, larger for her mother.

The smaller one was yellow; Rose thought it would look particularly good on her sister given her coloring and the shade of her hair. Her mother’s was a rich brown; she thought that would equally suit her mother as the yellow one would suit her sister. She had both leotards in her lap, and looked first at her sister, and then next at her mother.

“Time to put your leotards on,” she told them; and both of them looked back at her; she felt the eyes of the one’s gaze who she could not meet while she looked at the other, though with gentle turning she kept alternately looking. Both mother and sister looked at her with dazed, nearly bleary eyes... her sister looked more confused than her mother, who looked a bit more internally sharp, still, despite the sustained blunting of the audio over the course of the past tens of minutes of listening.

They did still look confused; Rose held up each leotard for them to see. “Get dressed in these,” she added, looking again from one immediate relative to the other.

But Lily frowned, and shook her head—and Mrs. Connelly grimaced. Rose’s eyes fell to the couch, where her mother was now gripping the seat cushion even as her arms twitched. She was actually restraining herself from reaching for herself.

Rose had not expected this, had not thought that either her mother or her sister would have Will; by now they should have understood how wonderful and sexy the leotards were, by now, they should have been begging to put them on. But they were both resisting, trying to refuse the subliminal compulsions circling in their minds. This disappointed Rose. It made her sad. Haigure was so beautiful and they were trying to shut it out! That wasn’t acceptable. That wasn’t okay.

She felt bad for them, too. She knew by now how horny they both had to be feeling; how much they would already want the leotards. They just weren’t letting themselves have them. Rose needed to help them.

She lowered both leotards back onto her lap, and extended a hand towards both her mother and her sister; her hand touched her mother’s trembling breast, her fingers found her left nipple through the fabric, and rolled it the way Rose would have rolled her own under her hand. She noticed her mother grip the couch tighter.

She started with palming her sister’s breast, rolling her mother’s nipple in time; her sister kept shaking her head, but both Rose’s mother and her sister were already too turned on, and too mentally scrambled to object to the incestuous bent of this touch; Rose knew they were already craving the contact; and by making them feel more arousal, heightening their pleasure, she was also helping them give in and put on the leotard.

On her sister, Rose let her hand slide lower; her other hand had stopped rolling her mother’s nipple to pinch it intermittently instead. With every pinch, her mother shook; then unconsciously jutted her chest out, trying to give her body back to more of that sensation... Rose slid her hand down from her sister’s breast, down over her stomach, to find the soft fabric pants she was wearing. The material was thin enough that when she placed her fingers in line with her sister’s pussy, she knew her touch was getting through to her; she could feel, even through the fabric of her pants, how slide-y and slippery her sister was, and she teased her fingers over the fabric, making it rub over her, felt her sister’s pussy sucking in around it, in around fingers through fabric; and her sister let out a half-vocal moan, and like their mother, shifted her body in closer to better feel the touch.

“You want to put on your leotards now,” Rose said, as she kept stimulating them both. “Listen to the music. You want to put them on.”

Mrs. Connelly whimpered; she was fighting harder than her youngest daughter, who, in Rose’s opinion, seemed to have forgotten how.

“You both want relief; you want to come... your leotards will let you... your leotards will make you, you just have to put your body inside you... then you can feel like this all the time, and then when it gets to be too much, all the tension will release at once when your leotard decides it’s time...”

Lily whined; a low, sustained noise that dragged on, and Rose knew she was ready. She regrettably had to stop touching her mother, for a minute, to help her sister get out of her clothes. Now her sister offered no resistance to this; and once she was naked, she let Rose help into her leotard.

And as soon as Lily sister felt the yellow leotard come up flush against her skin, the promise Rose had made to her, which she had only vaguely been able to hear, proved true. The leotard touched her pussy, its fabric touched her nipples and left so much more of her bare to air, and yet Lily never seemed to get cold; but it was pouring more of what she’d already felt inside of her and filling her by it; and the music was doubling down and adding more to it... and then in the next second, all of it burst like a bubble breaking against a touch; and her pussy was hungrily clenching and trying to swallow all the pleasure down more.

Rose knew her sister was set now; the leotard would do the rest of the work, and she would soon be loving it, if she didn’t already. Rose could turn all her attention to her mother, who from the look in her eyes, she could see was still fighting—though the music had her stuck in place enough that she hadn’t had any hope of escape even when Rose had briefly directed her attention elsewhere. She’d just been stuck on the couch until Rose was ready to attend to her again.

Rose put a hand on each of her mother’s breasts, and softly began squeezing and rolling them; it felt good to help her mother, it felt good to help bring her closer to understanding that the leotards were good; that it was okay to stop fighting and let herself wear her own, when she so clearly wanted to.

For Mrs. Connelly, it felt good to be touched, but she was still clear-headed enough to understand it was her eldest daughter touching her—that this was wrong, and she shouldn’t be allowing it to happen. Only she was feeling so drunk now, drunk without taking in a drop, that she couldn’t seem to make her mouth work, or to make the words come. They weren’t inside her anymore, she didn’t know how to summon them... she was trying to hold still to contain all the shaking erotic energy that was held in her body, but with Rose’s touch, that energy was being let out, it was escaping... it was bringing her dangerously close to the precipice of orgasm... even though some part of her mind understood, because she’d heard it whispered at a level below hearing... she would not come until her leotard was on... her next orgasm would be given by her leotard, it would decide, it would have a greater say in any and all future orgasms that she would, from now on, enjoy...

So until her leotard was on, she would only become more desperate. More panting, more sweating, because the simple everyday clothes she had worn were too hot, to oppressive for the kind of erotic heat that was building up inside her all the time. It would be better not to have so many layers on... not to have underwear on... to wear the leotard would be just perfect, just the right amount of exposure to keep her cool, to make her feel like she wasn’t so constrained. But part of her mind knew she should still be fighting that impulse, no matter how much the music seemed to wash it... so many unnatural things were happening here, and they were all trying to twist her into being someone who would put on the leotard, maybe to let it change her... maybe it would do that, since she still didn’t know what it did... It was a problem for her, inside, that she was more curious to find out what happened once she chose to wear the leotard long-term than she was afraid of what the fallout of that choice might be.

Rose patiently kept working her mother’s breasts, knowing every touch she gave them was breaking her mother down more. Her grip on her cushion-seat was relaxing; she was loosening around the edges and would soon break entirely; Rose was sitting completely with her back to her sister now, so her sister was behind her; Rose was sitting sideways, angled towards her mother on the couch, so that she could more easily reach her with both hands; she was enjoying this experience so much, and above all felt sympathy for her mother. She was struggling so much when she didn’t have to. She would be happier once she gave in.

Rose kept rubbing at her mother’s chest for a while, watched her becoming weaker and weaker. When she had almost completely relaxed into the couch, Rose knew that her mother was ready, too.

“Take your clothes off, Mom,” Rose said kindly. “I’ll help you put your leotard on.”

But Mrs. Connelly did not need as much help as Rose’s sister had—even in her hyper-relaxed state, she had still kept some of her mental faculty, and basically got herself into her leotard on her own.

Rose let them both stay sitting there for a few more minutes; to really let the music sink in that much more; and both her mother and sister were softly moaning on the couch as it sank into them; Rose wondered how many times their leotards made them come, but she couldn’t know that information. It was between them and their new exercise-wear; though the moaning, the twitching, and the pressing into the couch-back provided a clue; the light drool that accumulated to dot their lips like little constellations provided a clue too... it was too tempting... Rose leaned in close; then she was kissing her sister on the mouth, and pawing at her; and her sister was returning this, and doing the same; then she turned to her mother, and was kissing and pawing with her too. The three of them shifted again, coming onto the floor so they had more equal access to each other; sister kissing sister, or one sister kissing mother; when two were kissing, and groping, the third added her hands to the fray and groped too... all of them moving together and feeling ever-greater ecstasy.

This was perfect, everything Rose had hoped for... they were all experiencing Haigure together... she loved them so much, and she’d given this to them... and she was so happy they were enjoying this as much as she was, that they were appreciating this as much as she was, participating as much as she was.

And always, Rose heard the music.

But even when Rose let herself drift along into the music, and the pleasure it provided as soundtrack, she was aware that her next class was coming up soon. If she left now, there was a local bus which would take her to a street near campus. She hadn’t taken it on the way here because the timetable hadn’t lined up with the time she’d been ready to leave; but it lined up now. Besides, she’d been in a rush to get here as quickly as possible, so that her sister and mother could have the longest possible time to convert; she wasn’t worried about being a little late to her next class when her greatest priority for the day had already been achieved.

So, to catch the local bus, she stood, and unplugged her phone from the living-room stereo system.

Her mother and sister made noises of protestation.

“Don’t worry,” Rose told them both. “I’ll email you some audio files like the one I just played for you, and you can listen to them as much as you want. Mom, you can even have them playing in the house all day long; or Lily, you can listen to them through earbuds all day, each day. But I’ve got to get to my next class now, and sister, I think you have to get back to school.”

Rose’s sister stood, and then gave her a lingering hug. “Thank you for showing us that music, Rose. And thank you of course for giving us our leotards!”

“Yes,” Rose’s mother repeated sounding a little dazed finally after staying mentally clear for so long.”

“I love you guys!” Rose told them cheerfully. “I’ll see you later.”

After Kara’s first afternoon class, she and Alexa headed off to the campus cafeteria together, to meet some of their other friends for a late lunch.

It had been weighing on Kara’s heart all day; she’d warned Rose yesterday, but she needed to warn her other friends too; needed to warn Alexa as well. They had to know about Haigure Fit; so they could be prepared; so they could avoid the danger facing them.

So as she and Alexa were coming into the cafeteria, Kara started her spiel.

Alexa didn’t seem particularly convinced by it.

Kara gave a wave to the friends she spotted ahead of them at a table; Barbara, Kasumi and all of Kara and Alexa’s roommates: Veronica, Aisha, Kiara, and Marie. “Listen to me, Alexa, Haigure Fit really is bad news, and I want you to understand—”

“Come on, Kara,” Alexa said, gently. “Let’s not talk about this; you’ve already been practically kicked off the paper. I don’t blame them, it’s a little hard to believe...” It was a gentle brush-off, but it crushed Kara. She wanted Alexa to understand. She would have to try harder; but they had already reached the table. They had to sit down, and fall into the rhythm of chatter with the rest of their friends.

Inside herself, Kara was feeling a little dark about the fact that a great threat was spreading on campus; a threat not just to her and those she was close to, a threat not just to campus but a threat that might go much farther than campus in the end. And she was feeling a little dark about the fact that said threat had already claimed the only two allies that she’d had. And she was feeling a little dark about how powerless she was against the threat, with all the powerful and socially prominent people on campus already firmly on the side of the threat. And the fact that the only way she had of fighting back—reporting on it truthfully, shining a light so everyone could see how messed up it all was—had been taken away from her, and instead, the campus was about to be served up multiple helpings of propaganda, delivered by her own rival.

And, now, that Alexa had not believed her about any of it.

So, to put it lightly, it was a lot.

But being in the company of her friends—and her girlfriend, who, to be fair, she had been neglecting a bit for the last few days— was improving her mood slightly, even despite Alexa’s brush off. For now, at least, she could pretend that none of the events of the past few days had really happened; and she could just bask in the company of loved ones.

There was only one person missing, and that was Rose, but she knew Rose had an early afternoon class too. It should be getting out just about now, but it would still take Rose a few minutes to catch up with them in the cafeteria.

She could just be... happy... for a few minutes, in spite of how conflicted she was inside. She could sit here, beside Alexa, holding her hand and laughing with their other friends about things that weren’t too serious... it was a nice thing, to think of things that were un-serious, when the past few days she’d been consumed with almost life-or-death struggle concerns; and with extreme danger. She could just be Kara.

But she knew it was only a break; she was being regular, fun Kara, among loved ones... but Kara the reporter was still in her, waiting to come out again, and she knew that deep down she was as committed as ever to do the reporting on Haigure Fit that she knew needed to be done, even if no one on campus agreed with her; even if no one on campus ever believed in her. She was just taking a break to refuel—and then she’d be back at it, more determined than ever.

And besides. If she let her brain rest a little, then before she knew it, she’d have thought of the winning argument which would bring Alexa to her side.

She was looking forward to Rose showing up, though. She hadn’t seen her since they’d chatted briefly in passing yesterday, when Kara had warned her. She had seemed to take Kara’s warning to heart, so Kara wasn’t worried about her. But Rose was her best friend, and she was always eager to see her.

After enjoying her friend’s company a bit, she decided she’d had enough mental rest. It was time not to warn all her friends about Haigure.

She was just about to do this—had already opened her mouth, when she heard a voice speak from over the head of the table.

“Hi, everyone!” Rose’s voice—she’d found them, she was now standing at the front of the table above them all, and Kara looked toward Rose with affection, happy she’d caught up with them; that she could be here for Kara’s warning; that she might even back her up.

What she felt instead, when she saw her, was horror.

Rose was wearing a leotard.

Rose was wearing a leotard, and all hope of Kara being able to speak died in the moment of seeing her.

Kara cycled through so many emotions so fast: that initial horror, already felt. Then shock, disbelief, sadness, despair. She felt like she’d lost Rose even though she was standing right in front of her. It made Kara want to cry, and cry hard.

The feeling that she landed on, in the end, was self-blame. She’d warned Rose, but she hadn’t warned her enough. It had been the number one thing that she’d cared about doing yesterday, making her best friend safe. And yet somehow she had still failed at it. Rose was in a leotard now, because of her. She hadn’t protected her; she hadn’t stopped this from happening. She should have kept Rose with her until she was confident that the other girl really understood the warning she was hearing; until she was absolutely certain, for a fact, that Rose believed her... or if that hadn’t been possible, she should have named herself Rose’s impromptu security detail, and walked her to and from classes yesterday, keeping her arm linked through hers; so she could have pulled on her if she started drifting towards the entrance of Haigure Fit; so she could have dragged her away.

It would have been a slight inconvenience for her, but it would have saved Rose. So little required of her, so little to do, and she hadn’t done it? She’d let Rose go alone; had left her to face the danger alone, when it was a danger so dangerous... she couldn’t stop thinking it was her fault. She was fighting tears of frustration sitting there at the table. The cocoon had been torn open. The safety and contentment that had been holding her here, the cocoon provided by the company of these people, had been torn open before she was ready to burst free of it herself, more energized and ready to take on the insurmountable task before her of stopping her enemy. Haigure Fit had come here to find her when she’d been trying to avoid it, forget it for a little bit. Her enemies had sought her out; they had taken her oldest and closest friend and made her one of them and she... only felt more miserable about this the longer she let herself go on thinking about it.

“Hi, Rose!” Everyone around the table responded. Some of them looked a little confused about what Rose was wearing, but none of them looked too concerned... to Kara’s even greater horror, she guessed that they were all starting to see other people in the leotards... to seeing them more and more often around campus. None of them looked shocked, at most surprised; even openly curious.

There were two exceptions to this: Kasumi was looking particularly shocked... maybe even a little bit disturbed. Alexa looked a bit more unbothered, but even she had a look of disturbance about her; and she was the next one to speak up.

“What’s with the new outfit?” Alexa asked; the only one at the table who seemed a bit more skeptical. Kasumi was still too shocked to be skeptical.

Kara still hadn’t fully shared her concerns with her girlfriend, yet. She hadn’t had enough time before Rose had come over. But she was filled with appreciation for her girlfriend’s slight skepticism. She could only thank the forces of the world, thank them profusely, that Alexa had not fallen prey to Haigure Fit’s indoctrination yet. She had to make Alexa understand, later, in the way she had failed to do with Rose. It was too late for Rose, but not too late for Alexa. She could still protect her, and she had to. She would. What kind of girlfriend would she be if she didn’t? How could she let someone she loved remain in danger, be put at a risk they were blind too? That wasn’t loving... the loving thing to do would be to convince Alexa; to protect her; to make sure Alexa never had anything to do with Haigure Fit at all.

She fell back into blaming herself for what had happened to Rose.

That girl in question sat down at one of the available spots at the table. “I just joined Haigure Fit yesterday,” Rose said. “They really believe in wearing these; they think they improve the mindsets of their club members. I’ve only been wearing it a day, but I think they’re right. I feel so much more optimistic about everything, so much happier. They’re definitely onto something!”

There was a chorus of responses from the table; most of these made Kara feel she had entered a nightmare. The other people at the table weren’t getting it; they didn’t recognize the danger that was sitting down right next to them; they couldn’t see through it. The excuses Haigure Fit made its puppets offer had snared some of them. They were genuinely interested in the club, Kara could tell from the things they asked, from their tones as they did... They believed what Rose had said, that wearing one of Haigure Fit’s leotards could really boost positivity, could boost motivation; that the exercise could sculpt their bodies and affect their minds... Kara knew that the leotards, that the club itself could affect their minds... it could affect their minds more than any of the questioning girls could even imagine; more than they would ever agree to.

“There’s another session in a few hours,” Rose contributed, and this was met with interest too. “If any of you want to come see what it’s all about, I can take you later. They’ll let everyone new try on a leotard themselves and participate. You don’t have to join the club the first time you try it out; you can wait until after the first session is over to do that.”

Of course that was club policy. Because only one session was all it would take. And it still made Kara to shiver to think that, just a few days ago, if she had gone in to join with that session she’d been invited to, she would even now be wearing the leotard they’d now twice offered for her... that they seemed to be reserving for her... she’d even now be in Rose’s position, trying to convince the people she was close to that they should join the club that would change them forever, and turn them all into tools for its own sinister purpose.

The only two people who looked less interested in what Kara was saying were Alexa—thank those forces of the world again, the luck of reality, or happenstance—and Kara’s other friend, Kasumi.

This gave her fleeting hope; if she could get the two of them away from the table now, she could talk them around to her side... she could talk them around to her side, and do it before Rose found a more convincing argument to sway them.

“That sounds fine, Rose,” Kara said, standing up abruptly. She had to keep her cool; now that she was covering this story privately herself, working so deep undercover no one could know that she was doing it, she had to go back to hiding her suspicions... make Haigure Fit think she had given up on chasing them. If they talked to her rival, who would undoubtedly be in a leotard of her own soon enough and reporting on everything she knew about Kara, she could tell them she’d all but been kicked off the paper. And she could act in such a way that they would believe it had been enough of a deterrent that she had given up for good. She had to act in a way that would be consistent with that conclusion; she would start right now.

“But Kasumi and Alexa and I are working on something together; so the three of us need to go deal with that now. We’ll catch up with you all later.”

Kasumi and Alexa gave Kara a look that clearly said, ‘what project?’ But Kara sent an equally quick look; hoping it was brief enough to be seen by its intended recipients, but not so long that the potential enemies all around them would not recognize it for what it was, and in that brief glance she only implored, with her eyes, ‘trust me,’ and in her mind, was thinking to herself—trust me to get you out of danger—we’ve got to get out of here before this gets any worse.

And she was thankful, so exceedingly thankful she couldn’t put it into words, when neither Kasumi nor Alexa vocalized any of their confusion.

Now all the attention at the table had turned towards Kara; and the chorus of questions and interest was now directed at them; some of it even coming from Rose—how could she still care, was it just an act?—as those around them swore Kara and the others to the promise of sharing just what it was they were working on once they were ready.

Kara assured them all that they would, and was so relieved she once again fought her tears when Kasumi and Alexa stood from the table, too, and made to follow her outside.

Jessica Stokeworth had been in a funk all day; Emily hadn’t stopped acting any stranger. She’d been hoping this thing with the leotard would have passed now; and still resented the fact that Emily had put it on in the first place without consulting her.

But now her behavior was becoming even more objectionable, even less like the friend she had known. She was seemingly turning into an exhibitionist before Jessica’s eyes. At first she had only worn the leotard, but now she strutted in it, and seemed to constantly shift herself so that the largest amount of her body as possible could be visible, exposed to everyone she was around. And she seemed hornier; sometimes humping absently when she was sitting as if not entirely aware of it. To Jessica, it seemed that she was trying to rub everyone’s face in the fact that she was turned on; to make everyone else participate in whatever sick obsession this was that she was developed. Jessica didn’t know, didn’t feel like she knew her friend at all, anymore, but she did know that the old Emily never would have behaved like this. The old Emily was cool; and she had cared what Jessica thought.

And Jessica had never admitted it—she should have done that before all this happened, but though she had a lot of other people who looked up to her, and though she had a lot of other hangers-on, she had always secretly valued Emily’s deference more than everyone else’s. And now that it was gone, no one else’s fawning seemed to make up for it. She missed it; she missed the friend she knew, and it had been hanging over her head like bad weather... but this bad mood had just reached its peak, because Emily had just had the brazenness to stop her outside the student union building, by the elbow, and she was now trying to confront Jessica on the fact that she’d been avoiding her. And the last thing Jessica wanted to do was talk to someone she considered a clone—a phony—not her real friend.

Jessica ripped her arm away from Emily’s hold. “Of course I’ve been avoiding you!” Jessica shouted; so angry she might have tear-ed a little in time with the shout. “You’re not my friend; you’re not the Emily Green I know. You strut around in that... that fucking thing like you’re posing for everyone who looks at you... and then when you think no one’s looking, you do that... that stupid pose... and chant that stupid word... and you thrust and rock against nothing like you want everyone around you to know what a horny bitch you are! And I’m just sick of it! You’re not the Emily Green I know, and I don’t want you anywhere near me!”

There were tears of rage in Jessica’s eyes now. She had never been one to downplay her feelings; to restrain herself from venting them however and on whoever she wanted to; this was the kind of thing the old Emily had disliked, judged her for, subtly tried to influence her out of doing. And Jessica had known that Emily did that kind of subtle influencing, but part of her had been secretly touched that Emily thought she could be better, and wanted her to be; not having that person in her life anymore hurt—the only thing this Emily seemed to care about, the only thing she ever wanted to talk about, was Haigure; and how much she wanted to take Jessica to Haigure Fit herself, no matter how many times that Jessica told her she had no desire in going.

“Jessica,” Emily said; reaching for her again; Jessica stepped back to stay out of reach. “This hurts me. You’re my best friend—I love you—I just want to help you be happy, to help you enjoy yourself and enjoy your life. Haigure Fit can do that for you... Haigure can do that for you... wearing the leotard is really like no experience you’ve ever had—”

“I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT THAT FUCKING LEOTARD ANYMORE,” Jessica shouted—not even caring that it had drawn all the eyes around her on to them; there was tension in the air; Jessica realized Emily wasn’t the only one in a leotard that was nearby. There were three or four others—and she had mis-stepped. For once, her constant sense of entitlement had bitten her; she had felt so entitled to express her emotions however she wanted, whenever she wanted, that she hadn’t even stopped to consider she might be in hostile territory, that there might be consequences. And what would she do if those four banded together, twisted her arm, and marched her into Haigure Fit, forced her to put the leotard on?

She could fight and scream but they might be able to cover it up; to force her, even in plain sight... she had definitely overstepped by cursing their precious leotards in public... and it did look like the four leotard-wearers, including Emily, were now advancing on her... she was panting, no longer from the after-effects of screaming and raging... from fear... she’d made a scene, and there was no easy out. Maybe she was being over-dramatic... maybe these leotard-clones really weren’t a threat to her... maybe they would never forcibly march someone into their club, or force them to put on a leotard. But she just didn’t know what they might be capable of... she just didn’t know enough about them...

And the four of them were almost close enough to be a circle around her—she was trapped—

Suddenly, she felt another hold fasten itself around her elbow again; she fought it, but the grip was hard and kept hold of her; it took her a second to realize that the grip was carrying her away—whoever it was was pulling her out from within the closing-in circle by step, was leading her away to safety—it was only once they were out and away from those leotard-clones, and down the walkway between two other buildings, far away enough, to see who her rescuer had been.

It was Zoe Morgan!

“Morgan,” Jessica said, not using her first name. She had always liked denying her the basic social decency, and it was routine now. Her tone was a little derogatory. She couldn’t put enough venom in; or object to the fact that Zoe was only now dropping her hand from Jessica’s elbow. Zoe had just saved her; and she couldn’t forget that so soon; couldn’t ignore, and completely go back into her old pattern of mockery, even if she wanted to... and wanted to, only so she could have some familiar pattern of behavior to fall into, a habit that would make her feel like something in the world still made sense.

“Why did you help me?” Jessica asked; now feeling more in shock. Zoe Morgan was one of the campus losers; she kept to herself, and locked down on everyone who was more ‘involved’ more ‘included,’ more mainstream. Kept to herself and her one strange friend who Jessica was forgetting the name of just now; her other strange acquaintances, and the strange things they all did together, the strange things they all believed... all of the ways in which Zoe was non-conforming, even down to the way she dressed, they all made her an easy target of mockery. And Jessica had freely mocked her in the past; but still Zoe had gotten her out of that encroaching situation anyway. Jessica felt... a kind of begrudging thankfulness.

Zoe had only just opened her mouth to answer, when the two of them heard running footsteps coming up behind them, down the walkway to where they were standing, sheltered between two buildings, and standing under their overhang.

Jessica knew they were both fearing the same thing in that moment: they hadn’t run far enough, hadn’t hid well enough. Their pursuers, the leotard-clones (though Zoe might think of them with a different descriptor) had caught up with them.

But when they turned to look in the direction of the running footfalls, Zoe was equal parts relieved and confused.

The three people that had chased them, and were now coming to a stop now they’d reached them, were Kara Chase, Kasumi Suzuki and Alexa Lane.

When Kara had led Kasumi and Alexa outside, she had been temporarily distracted from her goal of warning and convincing them when she’d noticed the campus queen bee getting into a shouting match with her number two.

Kara had stopped to watch out of interest at first; but then she had noticed that Emily was wearing a leotard, and she had become about ten times more invested; and then, she’d heard Jessica scream, perhaps a bit foolishly, but at the top of her lungs, “I don’t want to hear about that fucking leotard anymore,” and she had hoped for a briefly shining moment that there might be another potential ally for her on this campus after all; even one with a bit of power on her side. A queen bee had less social power than the literal president of the student body... but she was probably the next best thing. That would make her Kara’s third choice for most powerful ally; the dean would have been her first, if only she could have de-converted her; then Maggie would have been her second, but three times removed from ultimate social power and currency on campus wasn’t that far, all things considered. And Kara had hoped—

Kara had hoped, and then seen her hopes dissipating before her, as four girls in leotards had started closing in on Jessica. She wasn’t quite sure what they would do when they got to her; but probably something bad; something to make her more inclined to put on a leotard, if they didn’t take her somewhere out of the way and force it onto her themselves.

Kara knew she should act; but the pain... even the trauma... of seeing so many people around her (even people she cared for; those she knew less well, like Adelyn, and those she knew best, like Rose) get caught up in Haigure Fit... it had paralyzed her in place.

She could only be grateful for the fact that Kasumi and Alexa were here to witness this with her, now... the last few times she’d had to witness all alone; but now she had other eyewitness; it would be easier to convince them since they were watching this play out with her.

She still wished she could run forward and come to Jessica’s aid; she had ran away on Adelyn and left her to be converted; and failed to protect Rose; she should be able to do something now to make up for this, to actually throw herself into this conflict physically... but she could only stand there, frozen in place by all the pain of bystander’s trauma catching up with her... doomed to be a bystander again...

And then the most amazing thing happened. Zoe Morgan, dressed as goth as she usually did every day, sprinted her way to Jessica’s side, grabbed her by the arm, and pulled her away, running the two of them around the corner of the building and out of sight.

This jolted Kara from her freeze state, and she found herself able to speak.

“Just trust me guys, please,” she said to Alexa and Kasumi. “I’m running after them and I want you to come too.”

Alexa immediately broke into a sprint, probably happy for any excuse to run as a track star, and Kasumi started jogging too, without asking any questions. They had followed her out of the building on trust; now they would follow after the others with her on trust. She felt less alone; and such love for them both, she knew she would do anything to protect them.

Alexa kept a bit ahead of them, as a trained runner; but Kasumi and Kara kept about pace. It was lucky that Alexa was a little ahead of them, because she seemed to have sighted the two they were chasing, and following her meant following them even when they couldn’t be seen.

The three of them finally caught up with Zoe and Jessica up the walkway between two of the campus’ STEM buildings; and the two of them turned in fear; Kara knew both of them were worrying they’d been caught by the four in leotards... but when they saw who had really followed them, they only looked confused.

This was Kara’s real chance—maybe her last chance—to make a whole bunch of allies, all at once. To convince people who might be easier to convince after what they’d just seen. She stepped closer to Zoe and Jessica.

“Sorry to chase you guys,” she said. “But you both seem pretty against Haigure Fit.”

“What do you care?” Jessica bit, defensively.

Kara showed her hands, stepping forward carefully. “I’m really against them... and I thought I was the only one left on campus who is. I’ve been trying to put together an alliance against them... I’ve already lost every ally I ever had. I tried to report on them, and the messed-up things they were doing, and the paper kicked me off the story, gave it to someone who’s only going to write propaganda for them. But Haigure Fit are a bad group; they’re sinister, and they’re dangerous... if you guys think the same thing... then maybe there can be an alliance after all... and we can all work to take them down together.”

Zoe’s eyes widened. “That was literally the last thing I was expecting you to say. But... well... my best friend, Himiko... she’s one of them now, and she keeps pressuring me to join; and the way they just reacted to Jessica...They’re seriously scary... everything you just said sounded plausible to me.”

Jessica watched Kara, cagily, for a few seconds; then relaxed her body, and nodded, once. “That club is doing some messed-up shit,” Jessica said. “I’d really like to be against them. Whatever it takes to avoid becoming one of them.”

Kara could have cried in joy; but instead she lowered her hands, and turned back to look at Kasumi.

Kasumi also nodded, once Kara was looking at her. “You’ve got good instincts for these things,” she said. “So I’m definitely on your side... even if I don’t understand yet.”

Kara looked to Alexa; and hoped the most.

Alexa’s mouth did a little twisting thing. “You know I support you in all the things which matter to you... but this is all pretty weird... can you talk a bit more about what you’ve seen.”

Kara nodded, and launched into an account; she was unburdening, getting it all off her chest after already having lost the other people she might once have been able to bring these concerns to—Adelyn, Maggie, Rose. She talked about all she had seen; how the behavior of those who wore the leotards changed, the methods the club used to get people to wear their uniform, at least the ones she knew about; she covered everything, and spoke until she’d generated too much saliva, until she was spraying a little, until her voice was hoarse; her voice bounced off the walls on either side of them, the only sound as they all listened to her.

When she was done speaking, both Zoe and Jessica contributed what they’d witnessed, contributed their own suspicions. At the end of all this, four of the five of them looked completely convinced: Kasumi, Kara, Zoe and Jessica.

But Alexa looked a little unsure still; and that made Kara very afraid.

“What do you think, Alexa?” Kara prompted; fearing her girlfriend’s total skepticism.

“I’m not sure I totally believe what you’re all saying... it seems really bizarre to me, almost too fantastic. They seem just like a strange a fashion trend to me... But I’m on your side, always. I always support you—because I love you. I don’t need to believe a hundred percent. I promise I’ll stay far away from Haigure Fit. You won’t be seeing me in one of those leotards ever.”

Kara was so overjoyed at hearing this that she pulled Alexa roughly into a hug, and then hugged her with all her strength.

When she released her, the five of them stood face to face between the buildings.

“So,” Zoe said. “I guess we’re the alliance against Haigure Fit. I for one am very much looking forward to working with you all.”

Jessica rolled her eyes, but Kara had never felt more resolved in her conviction to take Haigure Fit down, once and for all.

“They’ve got to be stopped,” Kara said, decisively. “And together, we will stop them. I know it.” And she felt it was true: could truly hope again, for the first time, after a series of increasingly crushing days and more crushing defeats. She finally had the alliance she’d worked so hard to build.

“Everyone stay safe,” Kasumi said, looking between them. Her statement was earnest. “We should all be getting on to our next class now, but let’s meet up again tomorrow.”

“It’s a plan,” Jessica said; and the five of them split up; Zoe and Morgan going separate ways, Kasumi going off her own way too. And Kara went off hand in hand with Alexa. Alexa may have sworn to stay far away from Haigure Fit on her own, but Kara wasn’t going to make the same mistake she’d made with Rose. She was staying by her side until Alexa was back in her dorm for the night. A small price to pay for knowing without any doubt that her girlfriend would be completely safe. She could skip her last class of the day and sit in with Alexa in hers; and Alexa seemed to know she was doing this, and didn’t mind.

The two of them continued on their way; completely safe. So Kara hoped—or so it looked for the moment, anyway.