Chapter 7: Bubble Bath and “Sono Shion”

Under Seiko’s persuasion, Yamagami Nobuo ultimately agreed to hand over a film company named “Bubble Witch” to Seiko.

Although he didn’t know exactly what Seiko planned to do, Yamagami Nobuo decided to let her try.
Compared to cutting losses on the drug business, a small-budget film company was hardly anything.

“Bubble Witch” sounded very cute, but in reality, the name was derived from “bubble bath,” a common term in Japanese adult entertainment establishments.

In a “bubble bath,” bathing was secondary.
More importantly, beautiful women would provide bathing services to customers, known as “bubble princesses.”
According to different pricing standards, these services were divided into different tiers, the highest of which could be “honban.”

“Honban,” also jargon in the adult entertainment industry, naturally referred to the act of inserting the key into the keyhole.

It’s quite amusing; the earliest name for “bubble baths” in Japan was “Turkish baths.”
Later, when the Turkish people found out, they were baffled, “Why do you call that kind of thing a Turkish bath?! It sounds like it’s a specialty of our Turkey! We Turks only found out about such elaborate bathing methods when we came to Japan!”

So last year, also in 1984, Turkish students organized a large protest, strongly opposing the Japanese naming various frivolous service items “Turkish baths.”

The Turkish government also protested the matter to Japan.
An adult entertainment service had actually become a diplomatic incident!
The Japanese government had to take it seriously and ordered all “Turkish bath” establishments nationwide to change their names.

The Japanese police, who were perhaps regular patrons, launched a major operation, personally supervising the renaming of “Turkish bath” establishments to “bubble baths.”
Given that Japan and Turkey were the main parties involved, the incident felt subtly logical despite its absurdity.

Seiko returned to her bedroom with a pile of documents and videotapes.
In the bedroom, Saori occupied Seiko’s desk, busy with her homework.

“What are you carrying?”
Saori looked up from her homework, seeing Seiko’s appearance, and couldn’t help but ask curiously.

“Heave-ho.”
Clatter…
Seiko dumped all her belongings onto the bed, then stood with her hands on her hips, tilting her head, pondering for a while.

Suddenly, she looked up at Saori and said, “Stay over tonight and give me a hand.”
Saori upon hearing this, nodded slightly, displaying a subtle ‘I understand’ smile, and said, “Alright, my period just ended anyway.”

As she spoke, she gently hooked up the hem of her school uniform skirt with her finger.
Seiko first froze, then a black line appeared on her forehead: “You understand my foot! What are you thinking about all day?”

Saori nudged the pile of documents on the bed with her chin, smiling, “You brought all these things; isn’t it obvious what kind of help you need?”

That pile of documents on top was a photobook, its cover featuring a completely nude young beauty, along with phrases like “big breasts” and “married woman.”

“These are the materials for Bubble Witch Film Company. I plan to first sort out the company’s situation, such as which directors and actors they have…” Seiko roughly explained the situation to Saori.
Saori, after listening, realized, “You plan to use Bubble Witch’s resources to make legitimate films.”

“Something like that.” Seiko nodded.
Does making AVs make money?
Absolutely, it does.

And it’s an evergreen industry with small investments and high returns.
Otherwise, Yakuza organizations, big and small across Japan, wouldn’t have flocked to this industry.
But can making AVs make big money?

No, it cannot.

Take SOD Company, for example.
In later years, SOD became the pinnacle of independent adult film production companies in Japan.

Its scale was second only to S1 Company, which was backed by a large conglomerate and thus had deep pockets.
SOD also had signature IPs like the “Time Stop Series” and “Magic Mirror Series,” but its annual net profit was only 650 million yen, which translates to about 30 million RMB (2014 data).
That wasn’t even enough to cover the loss of one Sony movie.
During the same period, Sony Pictures achieved revenues of 878.7 billion yen and net profits of 58.5 billion yen.
It could only be said that adult film companies had an inherent, unexpandable weakness that prevented them from growing larger and stronger.

In short, if the Yamagami-gumi wanted to make big money in the entertainment industry, they would inevitably need to transform.

So, how exactly should they transform?
Seiko hadn’t decided yet; she planned to first examine what specific resources Bubble Witch had that could be utilized.

Saori was quite interested in this; she had never seen a movie being made and found the idea rather novel.
She sat on the bed and eagerly helped Seiko go through the materials.
As for fixed assets, there was almost nothing to speak of.

Bubble Witch’s office was rented, and its studio was a converted warehouse.
The only thing worth mentioning was their four cameras.
One must know that Yakuza were not very particular about making AVs.

Many Yakuza would buy a home video camera, call their wife, girlfriend, brother… and start shooting AVs.
Bubble Witch had four cameras, and regardless of their quality, that could be considered a professional benchmark in the AV industry.

After fixed assets, came the actors.

“This one’s good, pretty face…”

“This one has a very slender waist.”

“This one’s chest is so big! Must be an E-cup?”

“Her profile says G.”

“Exaggerating, at most an F. Miyazaki’s breasts are bigger than hers, and she’s only an F.”

“…”
The two flipped through the profiles of Bubble Witch’s contracted actresses, making comments and categorizing the actresses into different tiers based on their looks, figures, and work attitudes.

It was unclear whether it was the director’s preference or the current market’s preference.
Bubble Witch’s actresses were predominantly mature women, generally over twenty-five years old.
Most actresses were either married or had been married, and some even had children.
As for their figures, they largely emphasized “ample breasts and full hips.”
Looking through the nude photos, it was like gazing upon a range of undulating mountains.
The three actresses ultimately rated highest for figure, looks, and work attitude all had breasts that were F-cup or larger.

“I feel like Miyazaki lost out,” Seiko sincerely sighed, looking at the three photos.
Miyazaki’s full name was Miyazaki Yū, a classmate Seiko and Saori had known since childhood, and also a friend of theirs.
Among the peers Seiko knew, Miyazaki’s breast development was practically unmatched.

“It’s okay, Miyazaki is still in puberty; there’s room for growth,” Saori said, comforting her while tidying the disarranged files.

“You’re right,” Seiko thought for a moment, nodded, then from the videotapes, she pulled one out, held it up in front of Saori, and wiggled it, “Want to watch it together?”
Saori glanced at the label on the videotape, smiling, “Do we really want to watch it? We haven’t finished our work yet. We haven’t even looked at those directors’ representative works. Are you sure you’ll still have the mind to work after watching this?”
These videotapes were works produced by Bubble Witch, and the one Seiko specifically pulled out was one of the few with a yuri theme.

“It’s fine,” Seiko grinned playfully, “Doing the work after watching is the same, it’s still early anyway.”

“Alright then.” Saori nodded.
Seiko inserted the videotape into the player.
Saori, with practiced coordination, locked the door and turned off the lights.
On the TV, after some interaction, the three female protagonists got down to business…
Outside the TV, Saori felt a small hand quietly reaching into her clothes.
It wasn’t surprising at all.
Saori, with the thought that it was bound to happen, grabbed the misplaced little hand and guided it under her skirt…

“We try it like them?”

“No way, it looks a bit painful.”

“Then I’ll lie underneath…”

“Mm…”

Approximately an hour was wasted.
After their passionate interlude, the two bathed in the tub in Seiko’s room.
Seiko lay in Saori’s embrace, and Saori gently washed Seiko’s hair.
During a summer vacation in middle school, Seiko was watching an 18X yuri anime at home when Saori happened to walk in.
She pointed at the intertwining figures of the two girls on the TV and suggested, “Shall we try it?”
That was their first taste of forbidden fruit.
Since then, they had maintained their relationship.

“It wasn’t that fun,” Seiko commented on the recent experience.

“They had three people; we only have two,” Saori pointed out the main reason.

“Then let’s invite Miyazaki next time.”

“Miyazaki’s been working part-time recently; she probably won’t have time to play with us.”
Seiko let out a small “Tsk” and said nothing more.
After their bath, the two couldn’t be bothered to put on pajamas.
They simply sat on the bed and continued to watch the representative works of Bubble Witch’s directors.
Bubble Witch had two official directors and two assistant directors.
If Seiko were to evaluate them, honestly, their skill was not great.
Whether it was the plot, the visuals, or the portrayals, they could only be described as “watchable,” just a little better than what Yakuza themselves would film.

Until Seiko picked up another tape and inserted it into the player…

“Hmm? It’s not AV?”
Saori was slightly surprised.
This one was indeed not an AV, but a thriller that looked like it had no investment, or more precisely, a splatter film.
Seiko watched for a few minutes and found it surprisingly good.
Although the story was a bit thin, the scenes of spurting blood with every cut, and the pervasive red, were quite impactful.
A good splatter film doesn’t just need endless blood packs; that would only make the audience numb and disgusted.
To make the audience feel tension, excitement, impact, and shock before they feel numb and disgusted actually requires a certain level of directorial skill.
The director of this low-budget thriller must be a professional.
Seiko picked up the videotape’s packaging box and glanced at the label: “A Ryo Ōmori Production.”

“Ryo Ōmori?”
Seiko felt a pang of familiarity.
She then pulled out Bubble Witch’s company personnel chart and saw that he was Bubble Witch’s manager.
Seiko had been mentally prepared for Bubble Witch to be full of incompetent people, but she hadn’t expected to find an actual professional among the dregs.
Seiko looked at the work playing on the TV, then picked up the actress photos she had just sorted, carefully examining them.
Splatter film?
Big-breasted beauties?
A thought suddenly flashed through Seiko’s mind, of a famous Japanese director who was currently still writing poetry—Sion Sono.

“I know!”

“You know what?” Saori asked curiously.

“I know what Bubble Witch should transform into making!”
Seiko tackled Saori onto the bed, hugged her, and kissed her hard.
Their noses touched.
Saori felt Seiko’s excitement, and she hugged Seiko’s waist, her fingers gently tracing the girl’s spine down to her tailbone, smiling, “Another round to celebrate?”

“Okay!”
Seiko agreed without a second thought.
Not wearing pajamas was, after all, meant for the second half.