Overworked and overwhelmed, a tired Rimuru desperately wishes he had some way to unwind. Little does he know that his wish is about to be granted, courtesy of Shion and Shuna's meddling leading their master to discover two particular idiosyncrasies he never knew he had.
Dear God Almighty, Lord Rimuru, I feel your pain regarding burnout. Yeesh. You're a lucky, lucky slime, I tell ya - if only I too had two loyal, sensitive friends to get into tickle fights with as a means of stress relief...
I've been researching That Time I Reincarnated As A Slime for a while now as part of my general study material for a massive crossover project I'm resuming work on, and I still feel bad that I only started watching the anime this month since I began reading the manga much earlier. It isn't perfect by any stretch and is in fact getting quite close to guilty pleasure material for me, but I'm still glad my interest in this series is picking back up! The cover illustration for this piece is (a low-res version of) the Patreon reward for this past April, and before I realized that my job was a lot more high-maintenance than I expected (though I still love it, don't get me wrong!), the plan was to write a story involving Rimuru as a ticklee at the same time as when I finished the corresponding illustration, post the pic and the story on Patreon, and publicly release them simultaneously six months later. Too bad life didn't work out that way, but it ultimately gave me more time to think of an idea that really stood out to me, since even though I'd drawn that particular illustration with a story in mind, there were a lot of other things keeping me too occupied during that period to really get a solid idea for it. I'm honestly surprised it took me as long as it did to finally come up with a suitable plot, but actually watching the series helped immensely, and as ludicrously overdue as this story was, I have no regrets about pacing myself here. Better late than never, as they say!
Notably, I'd also read a number of TenSura tickle stories even before I'd started working on the Patreon reward piece proper; all of those fics have very talented authors behind them in my opinion, but while I do like every single one of them, and while there's merits to each and every story with Rimuru himself as a ticklee, the only tickle fic for this series I truly loved ironically had him as a tickler instead (though in fairness, there's a lot of other characters in this series whom I feel also deserve getting wrecked - again, nearly guilty pleasure material!). So when the time came around for me to finally write the story to go with the reward pic, I decided to use the opportunity to write a Lee!Rimuru story that really appealed to me on a deeply personal level. Say it with me, everyone: If you want something done right, do it yourself!
All that being said, of course, reviewing my own critiques of all the Lee!Rimuru stories from other authors, I realized rather early in the outlining for this fic that it actually felt wrong of me to have him just sit there and take it. I thought about having him getting back at Shion and Shuna as the ending to the story but upon realizing that I'd started thirsting for them as well (well, Shion especially lol, though I still wish the anime had given her a hip width to match her bust like the manga does), I decided to dedicate the last full tickle scene to wrecking the two of them together - the price to be paid for underestimating the cutest Demon Lord ever! - and to end off the story with one big, happy tickle fight between all three at once. Looking back, I guess what was missing from the literature pool until now was a story where Rimuru is tickled not as a means of torture like in all the other such fics I've read, but as a way to help him heal, and since I have such a soft spot for that particular brand of kink literature, there was literally no other way to go about it here. The possibility of writing a sequel or two involving some of Rimuru's other friends cheering him up in the same way is a tempting one, but I can't promise being able to follow through with that idea given my current time constraints. Regardless, I couldn't be happier with this story in its own right, and I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I did writing it!
I have also updated the original Patreon reward post that went on to become the cover illustration for this story to finally include an alternate version with dialogue, as it always should've due to the the composition being styled like a manga page, along with adding the layers for the speech bubbles and text in the .PSD file itself. To see the high-definition versions of this pic, including the new dialogue alt, subscribe to my Patreon and then click or tap on the second link below!
Original illustration by SkaeaDaimonion (me!): April 2023 Reward: A Tempest of Laughs
PATREON REWARD FOR APRIL 2023
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime (c) Fuse and Mitz Vah
DeviantArt link: https://www.deviantart.com/skaeadaimonion/art/A-Tempest-of-Laughs-F-M-M-FF-M-M-FF-MFF-978282752
ArchiveOfOurOwn link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/51256114
________________________________________
It’s one thing to get yourself a bunch of honestly overpowered abilities, gain the friendship of almost every monster in the region where you first appeared in, and work your way up to become the most powerful creature in the entire nation. But actually managing said nation? A different matter entirely. Honestly, I’m surprised I was even halfway decent at that, but there you have it.
In a previous life, I was Satoru Mikami, a thirty-seven-year-old salaryman who was literally nothing special. I’d tried dating three times and none of those worked out, so I’d given up on that and honestly everything except being completely ordinary. But all that changed when I was stabbed to death while protecting a work friend from a mugger… and somehow, my dying thoughts were interpreted by a weird voice in my head that led to me becoming a cute little blue blob of goo. In other words, I was reincarnated as a slime… and that was just the start of it.
I’d been through a lot since then, but soon enough, under the new name of Rimuru Tempest, I’d found myself in a much more esteemed position than I could ever imagine, with an entire small country’s worth of friendly monsters at my beck and call… and I’d even snagged some pretty lovely ladies with a loyalty that could literally transcend death itself, while I was at it!
So why, oh why, didn’t I feel like I had it all?
The sun was just starting to descend from its highest point in the sky when I slipped into my office with bags under my eyes and a pretty big headache. It had been a few months since I’d ascended to become a full Demon Lord, in a sequence of events that had been pretty awful, all things considered. And messy. I’d been thinking a lot about how things had changed even more than normal since that ascension, and now that I’d gained such a massive increase in power, I was worried that things would only get even more difficult from here on out.
For now, though… I figured it’d be good to take a nap. Or the closest I could get to that, anyway. I mean, slimes don’t need sleep, but whatever.
Taking my boots off and setting them aside, I only barely made note of how damp their inner linings were as I made my way to my desk and collapsed into my chair. The feeling of moisture upon my skin was definitely more noticeable, though; the Mimic: Human skill, useful as it was, did come with a few downsides, such as having the same inconvenient bodily functions as a proper person. It was also why I had a habit of changing back into my slime form after every meal I had as a human, but the specifics definitely fall under the “too much information” category.
Still… I hadn’t noticed until now, but my feet were actually kinda sweaty.
Time to air ‘em out a little.
Pushing aside some of the papers on my desk, mainly a ton of minor petitions and requests for various little deeds and claims whose outcomes wouldn’t affect the Tempest Federation that much, I put my feet up on the desk, ankles crossed, and leaned back with my hands behind my head, closing one golden eye while training the other upon the ends of my legs. Come to think of it, I hadn’t given my feet a second look until now, partly because I didn’t ever get the chance to and partly because I was more concerned with certain other parts of my anatomy… or an absence thereof. There was nothing I had on me that could be of any use in lovemaking, and literally the only reason I called myself a guy was because I was one before I'd died.
But now that I’d given my feet a closer inspection, I had to admit: they actually looked kinda pretty.
To be fair, the reason I even had a human form at all was because I’d absorbed the body of my late friend, Shizu, all those ages ago. She’d given her life to protect my kingdom just before then, and it had been her dying wish, one I had made sure to honor. Admiring my human body wouldn’t not be at least a little awkward because of that. But I honestly couldn’t help it, not in this case, because my feet, and presumably hers too, were rather attractive, slender in shape but with nicely curved arches and cute, bubble-like toes. I guessed that they were a size nine, though I'd need to measure them with a ruler or something to be sure of that. Oh well, maybe later.
With nothing else to do for the time being — what with Rigurd and Ranga already handling most of the city affairs just fine — I let my eyelids slide shut, not noticing until far too late that I hadn’t had the presence of mind to lock the office door…
“Lord Rimuru?”
It was Shion. The kijin with the two biggest, dreamiest pillows I knew, and my loyal secretary besides. Apparently, she was here to ask me about something, but whatever she was about to say died in her throat as she took one look at me in my current state. My eyes may have been shut, but my magic sense was still active, and I could detect the absolute confusion she was expressing as clear as day.
“I was… uh… never mind. I… I’ll leave you to it…”
She was halfway out the door when she caught the scent of sweat, turning her horned head back around to finally see that I’d propped my feet on the table. The confusion only deepened as she stared at me and what I assumed to be the bottoms of my feet for ten solid, awkward seconds. I dared not to open my eyes lest I give the game away.
“…You know… maybe he isn’t paying attention, but…” Shion blushed a little, much to my surprise. “…I should probably dry them.”
Dry them? Dry what, exactly? The only thing that needed to be dried off was probably my feet—
…oh.
I wasn’t sure what to make of what she was doing, but as she picked up a cloth napkin from elsewhere in the room and moved towards the desk, a weird feeling came over me even as I remained there, my breath regulated as though I was snoring quietly. Never mind that I was secretly observing her every move—
Ack! What the—?!
My thoughts were jolted so much that I almost opened my eyes on instinct. The feeling of cloth brushing against the arch of my right foot was like a bolt of lightning shooting through my leg, and the craziest part was that I had Electricity Resistance! The weird feeling caused something to stir in my lungs for some reason, my breath hitching just slightly and my feet twitching by a mere centimeter or two. But again, I refused to move and give myself away, and that was to my detriment.
The cloth continued rubbing along my foot bottom as Shion wiped it quite dutifully, not noticing the effect it was having on me. Still forcing myself to remain stationary, I was now waging a war more intense than with any Demon Lord, me versus a continuous sensory overload I couldn’t find the right word for at the moment. Perhaps this was the one opposing force I would never be able to bear.
It was when the lavender-haired kijin got to my toes that the sound building up in my lungs started to bubble through. A quiet squeak escaped my lips as my toes curled just a little, causing Shion to pause in perplexed suspicion.
“Could it be…?” she asked herself. “No, it couldn’t. Lord Rimuru is a slime, he isn’t sensitive to touch… unless…”
After a moment, though, she shrugged and continued working, taking the section of the cloth that was still dry to my other foot. It was the longest two minutes of my life… er, slife. Again, her pinching my toes slightly and wiggling them with the fabric between my poor little piggies and her surprisingly dexterous fingers made me squeal a little, giving her pause for a moment. But once she was finished, she set the napkin aside and regarded my “sleeping” figure.
“Okay, done now,” she said to herself, still not suspecting at all that I was hearing every breath she was making. “Guess I should come back later.”
Just as she was about to turn to leave, however, she stopped in her tracks, her expression thoughtful. “But… hmmm. What if…?”
If my eyes could widen, they would’ve. But still I refused to move, not even when she reached forward, hesitating for a moment, and them started experimentally wiggling three of her long, sharp fingernails over the arch of my right foot—
“GYAAHAHAHHHHHH—KRGGHH!”
I couldn’t take it anymore. With a startled laugh, my eyes had flown open and I’d lost my balance upon the chair I was reclining on, causing it to tip over backwards and carry me with it. Now I was lying on my back with the soles of my feet facing the ceiling, little lights dancing in my eyes as I tried to make heads or tails of what had just happened.
“L-Lord Rimuru!” Even after hitting the floor, I could still use my magic sense on Shion, and I knew in an instant that she was blushing hard and trying as hard as she could not to do a dogeza then and there. “Please forgive me, I… I…”
“Hmm?” That was all I could muster, my toes still twitching a but.
“I’ll… see myself out. I’m so sorry…” With that, she turned and left, shutting the door behind her.
“Shion, wait—! Aw, maaaaan ,” I murmured, failing to pick myself up in time before I was left alone in the office once again. And that was that… for the moment.
Well, that was weird, I thought to myself, before deciding to do some paperwork I’d been holding off for a little while to try and take my mind off of things. Even as I started putting pen to paper, however, I already had this odd feeling that I was in for something way more intense in the near future…
As it turned out, finishing all that paperwork didn’t help. At all. In fact, it only made me feel even more emotionally drained, stressed-out, and feeling closer than ever to simply collapsing exhausted onto the floor in a listless, gooey puddle.
After cleaning out the insides of my boots and putting them back on, I decided – having spent the last hour squaring away every single petition and dropping more than two-thirds of them in the rejects pile – to hit the streets of Rimuru City and get some fresh air. I was in my slime form, but there was no juice left in me to bounce along like I normally did, and all I could manage was a slug-like crawl.
Great Sage, I thought bitterly to myself, tell me what happens if I keep working at this pace?
Symptoms of overwork include a range of mental and physical health issues, the expository voice in my head replied coolly. A human working more than eight hours per day is likely to suffer from a high chance of sleep loss, a weakened immune system, anxiety, weight fluctuations, and a poor work-life balance. Continued strain in such a manner can lead to coronary heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, depression, and possible karoshi.
Now you tell me?! I actually had to stop and form a vein-cross-shaped lump in response to that. But a moment later, I sighed in despair and let a bit of the tension out of me, looking for all the world like a dollop of blue ice cream melting on the sidewalk.
I’d heard of the term “karoshi” before. Sudden death due to being overworked, is what it means. Of course, I was a general contractor in my previous life, and I’d always done favors for everyone who asked nicely, so it went without saying that I was a very busy man most of the time. I’d been told more than a few times to take some time to myself, but I’d always replied that I loved to work and couldn’t sit idle for too long, or I’d literally go insane!
Boy, was I dumb. If I hadn’t been stabbed, my sheer workload would’ve probably resulted in me eventually suffering from karoshi and reincarnating as a slime anyway rather than living to a ripe old age as a human. Were all those years of being a crunch-addled gofer for everyone I knew getting to me at last, in this new slife? I couldn’t tell.
One thing I did know, though, was that I could use a pretty elf girl or two to snuggle up to right now.
“Lord Rimuru, there you are!”
Not an elf, alas, but hey, a kijin princess was close enough.
“Oh! Hey, Shuna. What’s up?”
In an instant, I’d been scooped up in the two-horned miko’s arms and held tight against her rather flat chest, the girl hugging me gently. “I’ve been looking all over for you, Lord Rimuru! Shion said you were at your office and acting kinda weird, and I wanted to see you, but I was too busy cooking tonight’s dinner at the time. By the time I finished and went to your office, you were already gone! Seems like you did all the paperwork you said you’d intended to get to, though.”
“Thank you for noticing.” I wasn’t able to take a deep breath in this form, but the sigh I made a few moments later practically rang in Shuna’s ears. “You’re absolutely right about the acting weird bit, ‘cuz man, I’m pooped ! Everything that’s happened lately has left me in such a tizzy, and as the ruler of this nation, I should’ve known there’d be way too much pressure on me to keep it from going under. And that’s not getting into all those documents I’ve had to handle for days now, almost nonstop, like they were coming off an assembly line working twenty-four-seven!” I almost melted right out of her hands, and I swore I’d almost let out a sob.
Shuna hugged me a little tighter. “Oh… I honestly didn’t know that until now. I’m so sorry to hear it.”
“It’s alright. I dunno if I’ve ever said this before, but… Being a ruler is hard , and add to that having become a Demon Lord as well? Guess my cause of death in this world wouldn’t be any other Demon Lord, but being buried under so much work.” I turned my cute gooey face up at her own. “What’s a poor slime to do?”
Shuna paused in thought, and then smiled a bit. “Do you mind if I carry you around for a bit? There’s a place I want to take you. I think you’ll like it.”
Well, it wasn’t like I had a choice on the matter since I was too tired to move anymore. That and being snuggled by Shuna did feel quite nice even if she didn’t have the same pillows that Shion did. “Alrighty, then. Where did you have in mind?”
It took a little while before Shuna reached her destination at the outskirts of the city, but when we got there, I couldn’t help but admire the beauty of the place she’d hinted at. It was a grassy meadow bordering a gently flowing brook, the field abruptly ending right at the edge of the water; my guess was that someone visiting could cool their heels without having to worry about getting disturbed.
“Honestly, if you wanted me to touch some grass, you could’ve just put me in some other meadow closer to home,” I said once she’d sat down cross-legged near the edge of the brook. “What is it about this place that led you to want me to experience it specifically?”
“Well, it really is more beautiful than most of the city, for one,” Shuna replied with a gentle smile. “But it’s also my favorite stream to put my feet in, and I’ve been wondering if you want to do so, too. It’s a very relaxing thing to do when you need to find some relief after a long day.”
Hopping out of her arms, I landed next to her and transformed into my human self, before hesitantly starting to take my boots off. “I guess if you want me to try it, who am I to argue?”
“You are our master, though, Lord Rimuru!” Shuna looked slightly apologetic. “If you don’t want to do it, then—”
“It’s fine. I’d rather not disappoint you after you’ve brought me all the way out here.” With that, I scooted over to the edge of the river, rolled my pants almost up to my knees, and slid my feet into the water.
It really was deliciously cool! The feeling of the current drifting against my skin did feel rather nice as well. I did do a lot of swimming in my slime form — or rather, using water propulsion to skim across the surface — but this experience was a new one for my human self. For one thing, the renewed sense of touch it had given me seemed to be magnified by the way I returned to a numb and amorphous form by default.
“Ahhhhh… You’re right, it does feel good,” I said contentedly.
“Indeed it does. I do visit this place a lot when I need to spend time with myself. Hopefully you can keep it a secret between us, Lord Rimuru?”
I was just about to give my affirmative when I suddenly felt something brushing against the ball of my right foot, small and slippery. With a squeak I hoped Shuna wouldn’t hear, I withdrew my foot from the water. Wiggling my toes and wondering what was going on, I slowly lowered my foot back in, and settled back into relaxation mode.
And then, there it was again! This time, I audibly giggled as I splashed at the water with my left foot, catching the attention of the kijin who was admiring the natural beauty of our surroundings moments earlier.
“What’s the matter, Lord Rimuru?” Shuna asked, curious.
“I-it’s nothing! I’m fine, I just felt a little playful, that’s all!” I chuckled nervously, looking away and trying to hide the flustered look on my face. Great Sage, why did I react like that just now? I thought to myself.
The voice in my head responded as coolly as ever. Answer: Your human body is highly ticklish. Your most sensitive spots are your underarms, just above your hips, and particularly the plantar arches of your feet and the stems of your toes.
My golden eyes widened at the word ticklish. That was the word I’d been missing all this time! I hadn’t realized that this body, despite lacking any means of feeling pain, would still be able to feel light touches — especially those that tickled.
But before I could continue that train of thought, something started lightly pinching at the stem of my right big toe. My eyes widened and my face screwed up a bit as the sensation hit me, and I started twitching and squirming a little in place as I dared not to splash the water again and give myself away!
“Are you enjoying the river, Lord Rimuru?” Shuna asked innocently as she lay stomach-down upon the grass next to me, idly dipping a hand into the current as her wooden geta sandals slid off her lazily kicking feet one by one. “I told you this was a nice place to feel comfortable.”
“Ngggh… Mhmhmhmm, it c-certainly ihihisss!” I squeaked, trying as hard as I could not to lose my cool. Keeping my feet as still as possible was becoming increasingly difficult, since now there were more and more of the gentle pinches to the softest parts of my feet that the Great Sage had mentioned. It was such a funny, squirming feeling that made it almost impossible for me to hold my position. “Eeeheheeek! S-stohohohohahhaa—!!”
“Oh?” Shuna looked curious now, and I couldn’t help but cover my flushed face in embarrassment. She glanced at the river, and then chuckled herself a little. “I see the fish that call this stream home have found a new friend!”
Still trying to hold in my laughter, I managed to peek through my fingers and peer into the water. There were so many little minnows nibbling upon my feet that the surface actually seemed to be rippling slightly from all their movement. More and more were coming in as well, zeroing in on the tender arches and toes of my feet especially! There were quite a lot of them giving some attention to Shuna’s fingers in the water as well, but not as many as the ones devouring my poor tootsies alive!
“N-NyooohohahhahahahhHAHAHAHAHAEEEEHEHEHEE! W-what are they dohohohoing?!” I yelped, trying to scare the minnows off by wiggling my toes and feet a little, but they only seemed to dart away for a moment before returning.
“They have a taste for dead skin, Lord Rimuru,” Shuna replied. “I use them a lot for pedicures myself. It’s really ticklish, especially upon my toes! But it’s very enjoyable and always makes for good results. Do you like it, too?”
Flustered, overwhelmed, and now with every inch of my soft soles feeling more tender than ever, my laughter finally burst through. “YAAHAHHAHAHHA, I-T’S TOHOHORTUHUHUREEE! HEHEHEHHEHAHAHAHHAHA NOOOOHOHOHEEEEEHHEHEHEEEYAAAAHHHAHAH!”
“It does take some getting used to the first time around, but the second time is easier, and then the third!” Shuna sounded genuinely encouraging, trailing her hand in a lazy figure-eight around the water and allowing the fish nibbling on her fingers to follow it. “Lord Rimuru, you really should have these nibblers brought in as a skin-care treatment at the bathhouses — it’d be great for them to have a home in the city.”
“M-MAYBEHEHEHEHEEE?!” I was too beside myself with laughter to respond clearly to that, but… if I had to be honest, I couldn’t really find it in me to protest. Partly because I didn’t want to disappoint Shuna — and you know how she gets when she’s disappointed — and partly because, to my surprise, this… didn’t actually feel too bad. The wriggling bodies and nibbling little lips were not only tickling but also lightly massaging all the pressure points on my feet with surprising precision, as though pinpointing which parts of me needed the most relaxation. I felt like melting back into my slime form at their touch, but in a fit of stubborn pride, I willed myself not to give in altogether.
“YEEEHEHHEEEK! GET THEM OFF OF MEEEHEHEHEEEE!” I squealed, kicking and splashing my feet in a bid to scatter the minnows. Still they persisted, practically surrounding my toes and arches and blanketing them with nibbles and fin-strokes whenever I dipped my feet back in. It was way too much to bear! I didn’t want to let Shuna down by backing out now, but dammit, I couldn’t take this anymore—!
With one final splash, I pulled my feet out of the water and scooted back onto the grass. My feet had been so sensitized by the treatment that even the little blades of green made me squirm in place a bit. Struggling to catch my breath, I only barely noticed Shuna snuggling next to me, until she put her arm around my shoulder.
“Well?” she asked. “How was it?”
“Ehehehehe… W-wow… That was… actually pretty intense,” I admitted. But I smiled a moment later. “It did help, though, a little. I might give it another try sometime, if I can remember where this place is.”
The priestess beamed. “Well, I do know the way here. Just let me know next time you want to visit, okay?”
“So there you are!”
A familiar busty kijin had just arrived at the scene, initially confused as to what had just happened between us. She regarded me and Shuna for one moment, and then her jaw clenched a bit; I swore I could see dark flames pouring off of her.
“And just what are you doing with Lord Rimuru, Princess?” Shion asked, a smile still on her face but one of her eyes twitching a little.
“Oh, it’s nothing you have to worry about!” Shuna replied, sounding a little nervous. “I was teaching our master about a method of relaxation exclusive to this stream. He was… very overwhelmed, you see. You did tell me earlier that he was acting strange…”
Shion regarded us for a moment, and then calmed down a little. “Oh… Yeah, I did. He did seem like he was about to fall asleep in his office when I came in.” She glanced at my bootless legs and added, “But he did seem to react even more oddly when I took it upon myself to dry out his feet…”
“T-that was you!?” I gasped, looking flustered — though not because of the realization that Shion was responsible. I’d known all along, really. But I had a feeling that she was already suspecting the same thing Shuna did.
“I did want to see you, but I didn’t wish to disturb you. Were you about to sleep in the office when I came in?”
I nodded, though it was a bit of a lie (since, again, slimes don’t need sleep, even if the ones running their own governments do need breaks every once in a while). “Yeah, Shuna’s right. I really was tired from so much work lately…”
“That and you becoming a Demon Lord recently, I’m guessing.” Shion sat at my other side, patting me on the shoulder as she toed her own shoes off. “As your secretary, I understand how you feel — there’s a lot of work resting on my own shoulders, too. I’m surprised you thought at first that you were above that kind of problem!”
“And yet here I am, still bone-tired. No matter what kind of life, or slife, I live, it seems like all I do is work, work, work! ” I sighed in dismay. “I should’ve talked to you about it. I’m sorry…”
“It’s okay! Do you want us to help you relax, Lord Rimuru?”
My eyes widened, and I swallowed a little, my cheeks flushing red again. “N-no, it’s okay! I feel better now—”
Shion had moved too quickly for me to draw a bead on her. Next moment, she scooted forward to sit cross-legged next to my feet and put my left ankle in a headlock. “You will relax with our help, Master, and we’re not going to take no for an answer,” she chuckled. “Besides, I haven’t forgotten some of the remarks you’ve made about my cooking lately…”
NoooooOOOOO! I wanted to melt back into my slime form and slither away to hide in embarrassment. She knew. She definitely knew.
“C-can we talk about this?” I asked, my voice a little higher in pitch than usual.
“You had your chance, Lord Rimuru,” Shion replied teasingly as she wiggled her fingers an inch from my sole. “Now… coochie coochie cooooooo~! ”
The feeling of those long, black nails scribbling against my tender arch made me absolutely lose it. “WAAAAAAAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHHA! EEEEEK! NOOOOOHAHAHAHAHAHHA! SHIIOOOHOHOHON! DOHOHON’T! STOHOHOHAHAHAHHAHAPPP!!”
“Don’t stop until you apologize? Gotcha~” Wiggling her fingertips up and down the sole of my foot, she kept up the relentless tickle attack as I kicked my other foot and slapped at the grass helplessly, tears already forming in the corners of my eyes. If she was ferocious in battle, she was even more so when it came to being a tickler — perhaps being a little critical of her cooking might not have been the smartest idea!
“Ooh, looks like fun! Can I join?” Shuna asked cheerfully. Without even waiting for an answer, she scooched over to grasp my right ankle with her left hand and began wiggling all five fingers of her free hand upon the soft sole.
“I’m sure Lord Rimuru could use a little more relaxation.” Shion kept on scribbling her own dark nails over my left arch, smiling deviously. “Go on ahead!”
“NYAAAHHAHHAHAHHA I CAHHAHAHAHAN’T TAKE IHIHIHITTT!” I squealed, writhing in place and lifting my right hand off the grass to try and reach for Shuna to push her away, to no avail. “EEEHEHEHEE NO, GET AWAHAHAHAHAAYYY!”
“You have a very cute laugh, Lord Rimuru, you know that?” the priestess replied, merrily tickling away.
“And it’s one I’m hoping to see more often from now on,” Shion agreed, glancing back to see me flailing desperately and trying in vain to hide the brilliant scarlet upon my cheeks. “If you promise to let us tickle you whenever we want, we won’t tell anyone else, okay?”
The two kijin moved their fingers up to tickle my wiggling toes, their nails darting in between them and slipping under them to get at the bases of the pads. I swore my scream of laughter at that point scared birds a mile away. “AIIIEEEEEEEEEEHEHEHEHEEE! NOOOOHOHOHO FAHAHAHAHAAAIIIRRRR! ” I howled, squeezing my eyes shut as tears poured in earnest down my face. “YAAAAHHHAHAHHAHAHH! NOT THE TOOOHOHOHOOES! NGGGAHAHAHHAH, STOHOHOHAHAHHAHAP! PLEEEHEHEEHHEHEHHEHEEEEASE!!”
The two of them alternated back and forth between my arches and my toes for another five minutes, heedless of my desperate pleas and shrieks of laughter. I’d thought that the time when Shion had dried my soles off at the office had been the most insane and grueling experience in my entire slife, but this two-pronged tickle attack proved me wrong. I was definitely a strong slime, but the two kijin had an iron grip and weren’t letting me get away any time soon.
“Okay, Shuna, let’s see if you can handle both feet at once,” Shion said after who knew how long. “I’ve got other tickle spots on my mind!”
“W-WHAHAHAHAT?!” I squeaked, but Shuna was already giving the affirmative, the two of them putting both of my ankles together so she could wrap her arm around them with my back to me and tickle both of my arches at once with her free hand. Shion, meanwhile, had moved around to sit behind me, and next thing I knew, she’d grabbed one of my wrists and then the other to hold them over my head. Then her fingers readjusted to secure both of my arms with one hand… so she could reach down to tickle my left armpit with the other.
“EEEEEEEEEK! BAAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHA! HEHEHEHEHEHEEEE N-NOT THAAHAHAHHAHAH! I-I’M SORRY I INSULTED YOUR COOKINGGGG! I’M NOT A BAD SLIME, I’M NOT A BAD SLIHIHIHIHIHIME! STOHOHOHAHHAHAAP—!”
But neither of the two were willing to let up. Shuna leaned her head in and started licking at the tops of my toes, flicking her tongue into the spaces between. At the same time, Shion had lifted her foot to wiggle her toes against the right side of my waist, letting my own clothing rub torturously against my skin. I broke down in the span of about a second.
“EEEHEHEHEHEHE UNCLE! UNCLEHEHEHEHEH! YAAHAHAHAHHAA NOOOHOHOHAH! YOU WIN, YOU WIN! YOU CAN TICKLE ME WHENEVER YOU WAHAHAHHAHAHAAANT! BWAHAHAHAHAHHAHA! M-MERCEEEHEHEHEEEEYYYYYY!”
The two kijin burst out laughing heartily, but thankfully, it was a friendly, cheerful laugh, even if it was at my expense by just a little bit.
“Yeah, I think he’s had enough,” Shion said to Shuna. “Maybe we should call it quits?”
“Awww, and here I was really enjoying myself with his cute toes, too. But oh well, maybe next time!” Shuna released her hold on my ankles while Shion let go of my arms. In an instant, I’d popped back into my slime form and collapsed into a jiggling blue puddle of jelly on the grass, still giggling uncontrollably.
“Feel better, Lord Rimuru?” asked Shion.
“Hehehehe… Y-you’ve got a lotta nerve asking me that,” I replied, knowing that if I was still in my human form I’d have found it hard to breathe. “You two are so mean! It certainly wasn’t relaxing at all, and I’m pretty sure you were just messing with me! Shion especially… Sheesh, I’m gonna have to get you back for this one, I just know it.”
“Oh, but we’ve found your secret weakness, and we’re going to take full advantage of it from now on whenever we find you in your human form,” the lavender-haired kijin taunted playfully, poking at me with her fingertip.
“If you don’t want the big bad tickle monsters to catch you, I’d suggest you stay in that cute little slime form of yours,” Shuna added with a nod of agreement. “And what do you plan to do with that, snuggle us ‘til we beg for mercy?”
That last taunt sent a jolt into the very core of my mind. A quick scan of my surroundings with my Magic Sense skill told me that the two lovely ladies had set their footwear aside, and in a mere instant, an idea came to me. Great Sage, are kijin sensitive to touch?
Answer: Ogres, and kijiin by extension, have the same skin as humans do, came the expository reply. They are touch-sensitive in the same places that humans are, which leaves them vulnerable to retaliatory titillation that can leave them temporarily incapacitated.
Ohohohoh, yes~ ! I thought with a devious chuckle. I am going to take full advantage of this information…
“Uh, Lord Rimuru?” Shion asked, now looking a little uneasy. “What was that noise you just made?”
“Oh, nothing,” I said with a mischievous tone. “Just a reminder to myself to practice my STEEL THREAD!”
Within a matter of seconds, I’d tied up first Shion and then Shuna, leaving them both on the grass side by side; their arms were bound over their horned heads, and each had their legs and ankles lashed together. They wriggled supine upon the ground like trapped caterpillars as I returned to where their bare feet were, tossing Shuna’s discarded tabi socks onto her sandals nearby.
“W-what are you going to do, Lord Rimuru?!” their owner asked, her eyes wide.
“Snuggle you two ‘til you beg for mercy, that’s what,” I laughed, perhaps a little more evilly than would be considered proper for the Tempest Federation’s leader. “Iiiiiiiit’s payback time!”
The two of them looked at each other in confusion, but before they could respond, I’d started by rubbing my little gooey body against Shion’s left arch.
“KYAAAAAAAAA!!!” The secretary responded almost instantly, her toes curling and her foot wiggling.
“Snuggle snuggle~” I teased, cuddling up to her foot and matching every movement. “Does that tickle, Shion?”
“EEEHEHEHEHE NYOOHOHOHO, IT DOESN’T!” she cried as she started wiggling in place more vigorously. “OH MY GOODNEHEHEHEHESS!”
“Liar, liar, pants on fire~” I singsonged as I formed two little nubs from my body like arms and started stroking up and down the whole length of her sole, measuring it as well as tickling her. Apparently, it wasn’t just her chest that was big — it seemed like she had a foot size of somewhere in the ballpark of twelve, maybe even thirteen. There was definitely a lot more sole to tickle here than on my feet, and they were just as ticklish as mine, if not even more so.
“BAHAHAHAHAH, OKAY OKAY, IT DOES TICKLEHEHEHEHE!” Shion squeaked, her voice at a higher pitch than normal. She glanced teary-eyed at Shuna, who had a nervous smile on her face — it seemed she knew I was coming for her next.
It wasn’t long before I explored every part of her sole, probing and stroking against the soft skin as I scouted for every ticklish weak point upon it. The whole foot was in fact one big tickle spot, but her pale arch in particular was the most tender part of it by far, and even a mere poke upon it was enough to get her to let out a small scream. Focusing on that, I decided to form multiple smaller tendrils and use two of them to restrain her big and pinky toes, before going to town on the exact center of the arch with all the rest.
“YAAAAAAAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHHAHHA EEEEEK! LORD RIMURUUUHUHUHUUU! HEHEHEHEHEYYAAAHAHAH! C-CUT IT OHOHOHOUT! NOOOOOHAHHAHAHAHHHA! NOT THAT PART, NOT THAT PAHAHAHAHAAART!”
“Shion! H-hang in there!” Shuna yelped, already giggling and curling her toes. “W-what did she do to deserve this, Lord Rimuru?”
“Serves her right for sneaking up on me with tickles not once, but twice, ” I replied in a matter-of-fact tone. “And now to get the other one…”
My body seemed to expand a little as I flowed towards her other foot as well, forming even more tendrils to bind that foot as well. Shion shook her head as though begging for mercy and then threw it back when I gave her none, wiggling my goopy tentacles upon both arches now.
“GAAAAAAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHA! EHHEHEHEHE THAT TICKLES SO MUHUHUHUHUCHHHH! AIIIEEEEEHEHEHHEHEHEE PLEASE PLEASE PLEEEHEHEHEHEEASE, NOT THE ARCHES, I BEG YOHOHOHOHOHOUUU!”
“Not so tough now, are you?” I replied cheekily as I continued wriggling the tendrils upon her most sensitive spots. “I did agree to your deal, but you’ll have to let me tickle you back as well~”
“OKAY OKAY, YOU WIN TOOOOHOHOHOHOHOOO! ENOHOHOHOHOHOUGH! JUST MAKE IT STOHOHOHAHHHAHHAHAHAAP—!”
“Heh, fair enough~” I said with a last poke to both arches. Hopping over to Shuna now, I let her have one last moment to realize just how screwed she was before I started cuddling her own soles as well.
“Mmmmhhmmmmhmhmmhmmm! L-Lord Rimuru, plehhehehheeease~!” the priestess squeaked cutely, curling her toes as she felt my gooey body rubbing against both of her soles at once and measuring them, too. They seemed just a little larger than mine at roughly a size ten or so, and while her soles were not quite as ticklish as Shion’s, I had a feeling from the way her toes were moving that they were even more vulnerable.
“Are you going to apologize to me for the trick you pulled on me, or do I have to do this the hard way?” I chuckled.
“I-It wasn’t a trihihihick! I just wanted you to h-hahahahave fun for once!” Shuna tried to reason, to no avail.
“Well, I’m having fun now, aren’t I?” Before she could react, I’d stretched my body up to start poking and prodding at her wiggling toes. “You know, there’s this game I’ve heard of that I’ve wondered about trying, but I didn’t really have a reason to until now. So, here goes…”
“YIIIIIIIIIEEEEEHHEHEHEHHEHEHEEE! LORD RIMURU, PLEEHEHEHEHEHEHEEEEASE!” Shuna shrieked, her volume increasing as I found out that the pads and webbing of her toes were the most ticklish parts of her.
“This little kijin found me all tuckered out,” I said merrily as I started wiggling both of her big toes with four slimy tendrils, and then moved outward to pick at each other pair in turn. “This little kijin took me to a nice place to chill.”
“WAHAHAHAHAH THE TEASING ONLY MAKES IT WOHOHOHOHOHORSE!” cried Shuna.
“This little kijin thought it’d be a good idea to tickle me because I said I needed to relax… and this little kijin didn’t even ask me first if I was okay with it!” Granted, that was something I didn’t really like about the tickling, even if it was admittedly quite a rush, more than I thought it would be.
“KYAAAHAHAHHAAHHAH I’M SORREEEHEHEHEEE! I DIDN’T KNOW YOU WOULDN’T LIKE IT—”
“And so, this little kijin went…” If I could’ve smirked in this form, I would’ve. As it was, I proceeded to bind all her toes at once with multiple tendrils and began to form many more even smaller feelers from each of them. “…hee, hee, hee, all the way home!”
With that, I proceeded to tickle every inch of her toes — the pads, the stems, the spaces between, even the tops of them for good measure. Her screeching shriek of hysterics was even louder than mine when I’d been tickled on my own toes! She couldn’t even speak clearly anymore, and instead her laughter went silent after that, with only faint squeaking noises audible.
“Damn, Lord Rimuru…” Shion said with a slightly hollow voice even though she was grinning with excitement and a little schadenfreude. “I never realized you could be such a brutal tickler! Though in fairness, a slime certainly would be good at tickling people if it had the right motive, or just wanted to.”
I had to laugh at that one. “I have you to thank for that. I think you might’ve awakened a side of me I never knew I had.”
“Uh… you’re welcome, I guess? I feel like the princess could use a breather, though…” She nodded towards her squirming friend, who was now red-faced and teary-eyed with her mouth open in a silent scream of ticklish agony.
“Alright, I’ll stop… for these parts of you two,” I cooed, before retracting my tentacles and letting Shuna breathe again. She lay there for half a minute before she could regain her composure.
“L-Lord Rimuru…” she whimpered. “I-I’m so sorry, I didn’t know you didn’t want t-to—”
“Pffft, are you kidding? You’re both great, and while I think tickling is unbearable, I’d be fine with you two lovely ladies doing that to me, at least,” I snickered, blushing a little. “Though like I’ve said, I’m not gonna just let you have your fun with me and get away with it!”
Even as the girls reacted in seeming alarm, I bounced over to position myself between the two… right at the level of their armpits. They were both clothed, but the thin fabric would offer no protection.
“NO! Don’t do it, please!” Shuna pleaded, even though I noticed that she was, in fact, smiling… not out of fear, but out of excitement.
“Ohhhh, I should’ve expected thiiihihihihis!” Shion giggled in complaint, though come to think of it, she too seemed to be a little more eager for what was about to happen than she’d seemed when I’d done a number on her big, soft feet.
Heedless of their pleas to leave their underarms alone, I extended two tentacles in opposite directions and started wiggling them into the spaces in question. That got both of them squirming and squealing within moments.
“BWAAAHAHAHHAAHHA GET OUT OF THEHEHEHEHERE!” “KYEEEIIIEEEHEHEHEEEE! EEEEK! NYUUUOOOOHOHOHAHAHHAHAHAHA!!”
“I won’t stop until you apologize for tickling me like that,” came my reply. “Fair’s fair, isn’t it?”
“UWAAAHAHAHHEHEEHHEEEE NEVEHEHEHEHER! GAHAHAHHAHAHA! GET AWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAYYYYY!!” “I’M SOREEHEHEHEHEHEEEE! AIIIEEEEEHEHEHEHEHE! S-STOHOHOHHOOHAHHAHAHAP! YEEEEEEEHEEHEEK, NOT THE PIT, NOT THE PIHIHIHIHITTTTT!!”
It seemed the two had different reactions to being tickled; Shion was more resistant, while Shuna caved in straight away and pleaded for it to stop. Either way, they were both every bit as ticklish as me, as though my tickle spots had been split between them.
More of my tentacles came out to play at that point, and soon they were sliding around the torsos of both women with almost lascivious abandon. This session had been quite informative regarding which tickle spots were their worst: Shion had her underarms, the sides of her bust and her firmly toned stomach, while Shuna had her soft sides and hips as well as the bottoms of her ribs. Targeting those spots specifically led to both kijin laughing too hard to speak clearly, let alone plead for me to stop tickling them.
And as a grand finale…
“Alright, I’ve given your feet a break for long enough,” I teased, growing more and more while sprouting so many tentacles that I might as well be straight out of one of those extremely naughty manga series I’d read about in my past lifetime. “Any last words, you two?”
“I regret nothing!” Shion shot back, panting and grinning.
“A-at least take the time to think this over, Lord Rimuru!” Shuna beseeched in vain.
“Let me think… Nah,” I said with a sound of amusement. And with that and one last evil laugh, my tentacles descended upon all of the most ticklish parts on their bodies. I would swear their screams could be heard from all the way back in the heart of Rimuru City.
“YAAAAAAAAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAHAHHA!” Shion yelled. “NOOOH! NO, G-GET THEM AWAY FROM MEEEEHEHEHEHEHEHHEHEEEEE! NYEEEHEHEHHAHAHAHAHH OHOHOHOHOHOHHH SHHHIIIIHIIHIHIHEHEHEHEHEHEEEEAAAAHAHAHHHHAAH!”
“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHEHEHHEEEEEEEEEK!” Shuna screamed. “OHOHOHOHOHHH! AYYYIIEEEEEEEHEHEHEEEEE! MASTER, PLEEHEHEHHEASE, STAHAHAHAHAAAHHP! O-OH MY GOHOHOHAHHAHAHASH! SOMEONE, H-HEHEHEHEHEEEELLLLP!!!”
I doubted anyone would come to rescue them, since this was a relatively secluded space, but I didn’t intend to hurt them even with the cruel trick they’d pulled on me (spoken affectionately, in hindsight). Still, I didn’t want them to feel truly overwhelmed. So I timed myself to keep at this for only around five minutes or so, though I guess for those two it was five minutes too many. Especially with the fact that I’d shaped my tentacles to resemble brushes, forks, feathers, and other tools I remembered seeing which, come to think of it, looked like they could tickle someone if used properly. Not a single spot on them was spared, and I even poked my appendages under their clothes if I could manage so I could give their skin a truly thorough “cleaning”.
By the time I was done, both kijin were a complete mess, gasping for breath in the least dignified manner possible and half-blinded by tears and their own locks of hair that had fallen over their cute, pretty faces. Even when I undid their silken ties, they didn’t have the energy left in them to move at all, at least for a few long minutes. For a while, the three of us simply lay there on the grass, watching the world go by. It was I who finally broke the silence, though.
“Well, girls? Was it worth it?”
The other two sat up shakily and glanced at one another, before looking back down at me. Then both of them smiled warmly.
“Honestly, I think it was, at least,” Shion replied. “Shuna was right, you do have a cute laugh.”
“What about you, Lord Rimuru?” asked Shuna. “We’re sorry we didn’t get the okay from you beforehand, but we hope we helped you feel better, at least.”
I thought about it for a moment, and then laughed heartily. “Honestly? You did an amazing job helping me. Yeah, it’d be good to ask first next time, but it was such a rush that I’ll forgive you just this once! I do think the tickling I gave you back was punishment enough anyway,” I added with a mischievous wiggle.
“We never realized how ticklish we were either until today, but I guess that means we now have a means of taking out our own stresses that won’t hurt anyone,” said Shion, picking me up and hugging me under her cleavage again. “If you’re willing to be our tickle-toy from now on whenever we need someone to complain to, the reverse will also be true. I guarantee it. I’m sure we’re all curious now as to the true extent of how sensitive we are to tickling, aren’t we?”
“You’re lucky you both are so nice,” I said, before moaning in ecstasy. “A-and so beautiful! Uh, you and Shuna, I mean!”
Shuna’s slightly tense posture slackened a little. “As long as you let us both tickle you silly — both of us, that is — we’d be happy to help you relax whenever you call on us, Lord Rimuru. No matter how much work you have piled on you, we’ll always be here to help.”
If I could smile in this form, I would’ve. “Thank you so much, both of you. Thank you! I really did need to hear that. I guess taking some time off for myself would be good, too, if you’re willing to help me keep things running in the meantime.”
“I thought Rigurd and Ranga were doing that already, but more help is always good,” said Shion. “As your secretary, I’ll do my best, and that’s a promise!”
The three of us basked in the afternoon sunshine for a few more peaceful moments. Then Shuna spoke up:
“I know we should get going soon, but is there… anything you still want to do while we’re here?”
I thought about it for a moment, and then popped back into my human form, boot-less and without my jacket. “If it isn’t too much for you two, I think I’d like to have another go with the cleaner fish, and I’d like for you to join me.”
The river seemed to splash a little; looking over at the water, I swore I could see a good number of the school jumping up from the surface and doing tricks in the air. Were they cheering over my decision? Maybe…
“Oh? So you do like them after all?” Shuna asked in pleasant surprise.
“They did feel quite nice. And if it doesn’t take too much of the time you have, think you two can join me with them, too?”
Both girls gasped a little as they realized what this meant. But then they giggled cheerfully.
“Is that an order, Lord Rimuru?” asked Shion. “Because either way, I’d be happy to! I guess my feet really could use a wash after this, anyhow.”
“And it’s only fair for me to do so, too,” Shuna added. “I hope the three of us can visit this place more often in the future.”
“Took the words right out of my mouth,” I chuckled, before I scooted over again to dip my feet back in the river. The water began to boil with the movement of countless little writhing, nibbling bodies as I started giggling again. “Oh! EEEHEHEHEEK! KYAAHHAHAHHAHAHH! Oh wow, that was quihihIHIHIHIHICK!”
Shion and Shuna were by either side of me a moment later, and they too dipped their feet in the water — and started squeaking and squirming as their soles were likewise swarmed.
“WAAAHHAHHAHH! GAAAHH, WHY DO I HAVE TO HAVE SUCH SENSITIVE ARCHEHEHEHEHEHES?!” Shion yelped happily from my left side, kicking her feet almost instantly but failing to deter the shoal giving them some much-needed T.L.C.
“UWEEEHEHEHEHEEEEEIIII! NOT THE TOES, NOT THE TOOHOHOHHOOOES!” Shuna squealed as well, seated to my right as she too enjoyed the nibbling.
“W-well, what are you wahahahaaiting foohohoHOHOHOHORRR?” I laughed, raising my hands over my head. “Go ahead and get back at meeheheeEEE FOR THIHIHIHISSSS!”
“SAHAHAHAY NO MOHOHOHOHORE!” Shion laughed, before she reached over and started wiggling her fingers into my left armpit and waist.
“RIGHT AWAY, MAHAHAHASTEHEHER!” Shuna likewise dug into the matching parts on my right side.
“GAHAHAHAHHAHHAHH! OH NO, YOU DOHOHOHON’T!” This time, I was ready for them. Moving my arms down and behind the backs of the pair, I groped for their own soft spots and started digging in as soon as I reached Shion’s right underarm and Shuna’s left flank. The giggly play-fight was on!
“AAAAHHHHHHAHAHHHAHH!!!” Shion roared. “OHOHOH, KNOCK IT OHOHOHOFFFF!!!”
“YIIIIIIHIHIHEHEHEHEEE!!!” Shuna whined. “NOT THEHEHEHERE! MERCEEHEHEHEEE!!!”
“TOO MUCH, TOO MUHUHUHUCH!!!” I wailed, tears pouring down my face anew as the tickle fight continued. “I CAHAHAN’T!! GAAAAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHH! NOT THERE, NOT THEHEHEHEHEHEEEERRE! P-PLEEEEEHEHEHHEHEHEHEEEASE!!!”
I guess you could say that we all lived ticklishly ever after, but where’s the fun in that? Besides, I had a feeling that a lot more misadventures were over the horizon, many of which would be far more serious than this one — being the leader of your own federation is hard work, after all. Regardless, there wasn’t any doubt in my mind that I’d look back at this experience quite fondly for ages to come, and I couldn’t wait to see where this extraordinary little discovery of mine would take me in the future. After all, it might’ve been my first time experiencing just how sensitive the human body could be… but it certainly wouldn’t be my last!
No comments:
Post a Comment