As I disconnect from the virtual environment, the feeling of fatigue stays with me. Chi and Miku help me get off the haptic rig and into my bedroom, leaving me to lie down on the bed while they take care of me.

Miku peels my sweat-soaked haptic suit with care, to not irritate further my skin. People like Ume have more expensive suits that are meant to be used when the person does a lot of physical effort throughout the day, which is usually not the case for me.

Next comes the device that has contracted, sucked, and fucked me all day, having made me cum so many times. Chi takes care of it, making sure that the reservoir doesn’t leak any of my personal fluid on me. She also removes the butt plug from my ass, the one responsible for all this tentacle nonsense.

After I’m naked, they bring me to the shower and soap me all over, making sure that I’m clean for my first in-person rendez-vous with Kumiko. They take their time, having me sit on the shower stool while they move around me. Then, they towel me with care, followed by personal grooming and perfume. Finally, they get me into nice clothing, something new that I’ve bought recently. I usually prefer to stay naked when I’m not in the virtual world, easing my activities with my maids.

Once I’m ready, I get to the couch and watch using my glasses some augmented reality videos to help calm my mind. Having Chi beside me also helps, her soothing naked presence reminds me that I’m now at home, not having to fight monsters and furiously fuck all day. We simply cuddle, having had enough activity for the day, at least until my girlfriend arrives. I even snooze a little bit, resting my head on my companion’s shoulder, her warm hands hugging me comfortably. She softly wakes me up twenty minutes later, saying that my visitor will arrive soon.

When Kumiko announces herself, all the nervousness comes back to me. Having decided that we want to see each other as we really are, I leave my glasses in the living room and I tensely head for the door that I have never opened since I’ve moved in. I take a long breath, trying desperately to find the courage to face her, to expose my sub-optimal body to her.

As the door opens, I see for the first time Kumiko, although I feel that she is a different person. What I have in front of me is a less beautiful, less attractive version of her, having imperfections everywhere. Nonetheless, she is Kumiko, her avatar not too different from her real self as mandated by the government.

After a few seconds of silence, I tell her, nervousness changing my voice to a higher pitch, “Come in, Kumiko. Welcome to my home.”

She must also be nervous as her voice also sounds a little bit off, saying, “Thank you for having me.”

“Have you had difficulty on your way here? Have you crossed paths with many on the streets?” I ask her cautiously. Even though I know the building would not allow her to enter the secure section if she was contaminated by the many viruses present in the streets, I need to hear it from her.

“No issues at all, I decided to take a private cab, picking me up at my apartment complex and landing directly here. I didn’t need to go outside, fortunately,” she tells me, a nervous laugh escaping her lips.

I feel much better at her choice, reducing greatly any risks of contamination.

We go to the couch and sit silently, keeping a meter distance. Even though I’ve known her for three years, this new step in our relationship is huge. Even though I’ve passed countless evenings with her, even spent the night with her a few times, we were never in real close proximity until now. Even though we have practiced in virtual many times, even going as far as recreating my apartment to simulate how it would go, it cannot fully prepare to what it is. Even though we are a meter away and I’m not looking at her, I know that she is there, I feel her presence, I anguish at being physically close, I fear touching her for so many reasons.

I also feel disappointment, the understanding that our lives are built around an illusion is growing on me, that the reality is not what it seems. In our virtual life, I can fly, I can visit anywhere on the planet, I can play in imaginary worlds, I can fuck the most beautiful woman every day. In the real world, I’m only a normal guy with a shameful body, fucking machines every day with his small dick. I now resent my choice of asking her to come here, to have children. She must be embarrassed to have been duped by me, expertly playing a lie in the virtual world to attract her in-person to someone who is hideous. What was I thinking?

“I’m not what you were expecting, right?” Kumiko asks me with a choked-up voice.

I hesitate, not wanting to hurt her, but I decide to tell the truth nonetheless, “No. Am I what you were expecting?”

“It’s not fair. Why can’t we use artificial insemination? Why can’t you cum into a little plastic cup and send it to me? Why is the government forcing us to have children the old messy way?” she says with difficulty as her voice breaks up and trails of tears run on her imperfect cheeks.

Even though she isn’t the Kumiko I’ve known for the last three years, my love for her overpowers my disappointment and my fears, making me console her. I get closer and press her face on my shoulder, our first real contact. As she let her emotions submerge her, I move my hands to hug her against me, feeling her real heat for the first time. As she cries at the injustice she believes in, my shirt gets wet, a new sensation that I’ve never felt through my haptic suit.

We both know why the government is forcing people to get physical with each other, to make us more comfortable of doing so. Since the 2020s, social interactions became distant as pandemic after pandemic made us wary of getting infected by deadlier and deadlier viruses. In the end, it was our own demise, stopping all physical interactions, working full-time from home, getting everything delivered. Even workers that were doing physical labor were replaced by robots controlled by the same workers or even artificial intelligence when it was possible. What sealed the great isolation was the fast development of augmented and virtual reality, moving from niche markets like high-end gaming to universally available to everyone, requiring that each person has a kit as part of the officially recognized essential needs. There are tiers of systems, from the basic that everyone has a right to have to the multi-million Yen kits that simulate almost everything.

As the 2020s, 2030s, and 2040s went by, fewer and fewer people knew the old ways of interacting, most of the people still living having only known the virtual world or at least being young enough that it didn’t matter much. One major side effect was the sudden and sharp decline in birth, reducing by 75% newborns in only a few years. Since then, there have been many attempts to get the numbers back up, from tax relief to fostering children from parents. This is how Kumiko and I were raised, in an autonomous nursing complex. Our respective mothers didn’t want to keep us, getting pregnant via in-vitro conception and leaving us to the state to be raised after birth.

Unfortunately, the state-sponsored fostering system didn’t work as expected, having a 25% chance of children growing with mental issues, not having received the nurturing care of real parents. I was one of the lucky ones, having been placed in a complex that dedicates a robot per child, increasing my chance of being raised successfully.

Since the state-sponsored system was demeaned a failure, the government has reverted to the proven methods of having parents raise their children. So far, the birth rate is getting higher and the new citizens it creates have better qualities and work better in society. To boost the program, the government offers many incentives: a rent-free apartment in a nice neighborhood, one high-end robot per person in the household, and a paid salary for the parent that takes care of the children for the first four years of their life, as studies have found that subjecting a younger child to virtual reality would be detrimental for their mental health.

Since Kumiko and I wanted children, we have been discussing it for the last year, weighing how we wanted to do it. It is only recently that I convinced her to go the proper way, raising ourselves what we conceive. We could still do the state-sponsored fostering, but now you have to pay to send your children away, discouraging any parents from using the option. This brings us to tonight, being our first physical meeting and supposed to be our first try at conceiving.

“I know, I know,” I tell her as I pat her head, consoling her the best I can, “We both knew it from the start, that it will be difficult to confront how we really are, but we have to do it this way, for our children and our nation to survive.”

“You’re right as usual, but I still don’t like it,” she says as she raises her head, looking at me with her real eyes. “For me, this isn’t you, you are… Well…” she doesn’t finish.

“I’m not handsome? I’m ugly?” I tell her, knowing how I really look, having referred to myself by those adjectives many times in the past.

“Koike, no. You are not ugly, never say that,” she tells me softly. She leaves my side to come to sit on my legs, getting her body firmly pressed against mine in an embrace. “I just wanted to say that what I see in front of me is not what I’ve seen since I know you, it’s not easy to accept.”

Even though she tries to console me, I’m slightly hurt by her comment. Feeling the rejection, I blurt out, “If I’m not what you expected, maybe we should not see each other physically anymore.”

She lets me go and takes my head in her hands before saying with the softest voice I’ve ever heard her use, “Oh, Koike. Do you despise your body that much? You know I’m not saying this because you are ugly, it’s just that I need to get accustomed with the real you, flaws and all.”

With a pitiful and plaintive voice, I reply, “But I’m not the beautiful guy you felt in love with.”

“Would I kiss you if I didn’t want to be with you?” she tells me before she comes to my mouth and truly kisses me for the first time.

Even though I have a good simulation rig, this kiss feels different, it feels real. From her soft lips, her wet tongue-twisting with mine, and our slightly irregular teeth in the way, I get lost in it, feeling like I never had before, a sense of completeness filling a hole that was in me but unknown.

Our kiss started softly and simply but it transforms into a fury of passion, twisting our tongues in each other mouths, our hands discovering the real feeling of having a person of flesh and blood in front of us. I do not know how long we stay in our embrace, but once we separate, we both know where this is going.

“Do I feel what I think it is?” she asks me, looking down at my crotch.

“I want you, Kumiko. Let’s go to the bedroom,” I tell her with passion, my spirit having been raised from the purgatory it was in.

We go hand in hand to my bed, a light tension building. We start to undress, keeping an eye on the other as we reveal parts of our bodies that were covered. We finish with our panties, moving them down simultaneously. We have our eyes riveted on the other, I look at her dark puffy lips, her gaze down to my small dick.

We eventually move to the bed, Kumiko lying down in missionary, her legs wide open to expose her pussy for my dick, mimicking Ume’s position from earlier. I climb between her, stroking my dick the best I can.

Even though I wanted to be with her a few minutes ago, reality starts to sink in that I will fuck a woman for the first time without any help from my haptic suit or any illusion about my real endowment. As I’m sitting there, I start to panic, feeling my lifeblood being pulled away from me.

Thinking that it will grow back once I’m in her, I try to get my almost flaccid cock inside of Kumiko, but I cannot get it to work, slipping away as I try to force it. As I try and try, my movements start to be desperate, wishing that I could flip a switch in my avatar and have it real hard in the matter of a blink of an eye. Unfortunately, this is reality, where no trickery is possible.

Koike, stop, it doesn’t work. Come beside me, I’ll try to make it hard,” Kumiko says with insistence as she must be frustrated that I cannot get this over with.

With tears almost running down my cheeks, I go beside her, letting her take my dick in her hands, covering it fully so small it is. She starts to stroke me, but to no avail. We look at each other, feeling the disappointment and frustration of each other.

“What do we do now?” I ask her, my voice almost a whisper.

Kumiko looks down as she thinks. We remain silent for a few seconds, lost in our thoughts on what to do. I’m contemplating telling her that we should just not have kids when she gets excited.

She exclaims, “What if we wear our augmented reality glasses? We could see each other as our avatars. Maybe that could help.”

I blink at her, surprised that I haven’t thought of it before. I nod at her quickly and go away in search of a second pair for her. As I look in my supply closet for my reserve pair, Chi comes around with something in her hands.

“Master, I have something that could help you. This pill will make you hard, allowing you to impregnate Kumiko. I cannot give you one each time, but it might help you combat your nervousness. Do you want it?” she tells me with care, kindness in her voice.

“Oh, that exists? Well, maybe I could use it for tonight,” I tell her as I never encountered the need with my haptic rig or my maids.

Chi gives me the pill with a cup of water, I swallow it very quickly, in the hope it will resurrect my erection. Finding my spare glasses, I pick up mine in the living room and go back to my bedroom. I find Kumiko moaning softly, having her hands on her pussy, rubbing it furiously. I stay in the doorway, looking at my girlfriend toying with herself.

“Liking what you see?” she asks me when she realizes I’m back.

“Oh, yes,” I tell her more confidently as I get back on the bed, the pill already having an effect on my mind. As I go to put my glasses on, I continue, “Let’s use them for tonight, but if we want it to work, we will have to be comfortable without.”

As I raise my head after installing the augmented reality system, I find my Kumiko in front of me, the one that I’ve been in love with since I laid eyes on her. She has a wide smile on her face, her glasses showing my avatar over my imperfect body. We stay quiet for a few seconds, enjoying our virtual presence in the real world.

“Yes, although, let’s keep the option to fuck with our avatar on, to spice it up,” she suggests happily.

“Can’t argue with that,” I reply as I go to kiss her avatar but feel her real person on my lips, one hand on my back, her other hand on my cock.

She pushes me back and looks down in surprise, asking, “Wow, is my avatar that sexy?”

I laugh softly as I reach for her breasts, feeling them for the first time “Oh, yes. Although, I was also given a little something to help.”

“Well, don’t mind if I enjoy this a little bit,” she says as she starts to stroke me.

We play with each other, building back our passion. I’m now kissing her breasts, tasting them for the first time even though I’ve licked them many times in the past. I’ve also moved a hand to her pussy, feeling her wetness around my fingers, something that can’t be replicated by my rig. She continues to play with my dick, stroking me harder as I take care of her.

I bring my hand that was in her to my mouth, tasting her pussy for the first time. In the virtual world, she has a vanilla scent and taste for her private part, but here in the real world, I can truly taste her. The flavor that spreads in my mouth is sweet yet bitter at the same time, a unique experience that makes me want to dive down between her legs.

“Do I taste good? We will have to explore everything back, you know?!” she tells me with a large smile, showing how horny she is.

“Let’s start now, I want so much to fuck you, to feel your real pussy around my cock,” I tell her, my heart pumping fast in anticipation, at our real first time.

“Please be gentle,” she tells me, spreading her labia for me.

I raise myself to get a better view, take my cock in hand, and guide it slowly to her awaiting pussy. When they touch, I feel the heat emanating from her and her wetness covering the tip of my erection. I rest there for a few seconds, enjoying this new sensation.

“I’m going in,” I tell her before pushing softly in her, having my glans disappear in her.

I’m in bliss as I push further and further, feeling her tight pussy stretching around me, loving each bump that I go past. When our pelvises meet, I would love to continue in, wanting to feel a never-ending tunnel of flesh, always moving past my cock.

I look up at her face, her eyes are closed and she holds her breath. She opens her eyelids and smiles lovingly, saying, “Koike, you feel so good inside of me. Please, fuck me. I want to see you move in and out of me.”

I start to, pulling and pushing my dick, rubbing our real bodies against each other. To start with, I go slow, taking my time to learn how this works in the real world. Although, I start to pick up speed when I get confident, thrusting with more and more force into Kumiko’s pussy. Moving both hands on her legs, I grip her to help smack our bodies together, making slapping sounds that reverberate on the walls. In no time, we are both moaning and panting, perspiring as we make the physical efforts to fuck.

“You feel so good, Koike. Come here, kiss me,” Kumiko asks, her perfect virtual body moving at the force of my furious fucking.

I move down to kiss her, but in the heat of the moment, my glasses slip from my nose, falling on the side of Kumiko. Instead of the perfect avatar, I see the real her, the one with imperfection. As I continue to fuck her, I do not retrieve my glasses, loving the sight of her real self, of how she reacts to me.

Slowing down, I remove her glasses from her eyes and put them beside mine. She looks at me in surprise, simply asking, “Why?”

Breathing hard, I softly tell her, “Because I love seeing you as we fuck, avatar or not. I love to see your face contort in pleasure as I increase speed,” I say as I move faster against her, “I want to see your eyes illuminate when you look at me. I love feeling the real you around me, I might as well see the real you and love you for who you really are.”

At my kind words, Kumiko gets a hand behind my head and brings me to her, to kiss while I continue to fuck her with passion and love. Our lips stay locked in until we can’t, our breathing too harsh to continue. As we get closer and closer to our release, we groan louder and louder, we touch each other with more insistence, we fuck harder and harder. Our eyes stay locked in, expressing our love for each other.

When we cum, it is for the first time that we really feel each other, that we experience the full range of sensation that real bodies provide. I feel her pussy contract around me, pressing her wetness against my cock. She must feel my dick pulsate as I ejaculate, feeling my cum hit her insides. Our bodies are tightly pressed in an embrace that joins us physically, but that also allows us to communicate our love for each other, a soft caress here, a light kiss there.

As our bodies relax after our real first time together, we separate and lie down on the bed, Kumiko’s head resting on my chest. I stroke her hair, loving the feeling of each strand on my fingers. We do not talk for a few minutes, lost in our mind, digesting many of the firsts we had tonight.

Kumiko eventually asks me, “Is that thing coming down?” poking my cock with a finger.

I laugh softly, having silently asked this question myself, “I don’t know. I assume it will stay like this for some time.”

“Well, if that’s the case, there are other things I would like to try,” she says, having turned her head to look at me.

I continue to laugh as she grins, but I suddenly stop and exhale deeply when she tastes my cock, putting my glans in her mouth. I swear loudly as she continues, having never felt this intense sensation in the past. I look in dismay at the beautiful woman I love suck me, asking myself why people do not do it more, finding so much better to have physical contacts than to have a machine on your dick all day long.

We explore each other many times during the night, sampling a wide variety of sexual positions to see how they feel in reality. It is only in the early hours of the morning that my erection subsides, allowing us time to sleep, firmly pressed, needing to feel each other, not having known the proximity of another human all of our lives.