The Dangerous Liaisons Tokyo (8/8)
Jan. 24th, 2015 04:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wendyjolyTitle : The Dangerous Liaisons Tokyo
Author : WendyJoly
Rating : NC-17
Pairing : Various but mainly Sakumoto
Beta : The wonderful![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jtaytt ♥
Genre : Schemes, university and love
Summary : Masaki Aiba enters the prestigious Tokyo U and becomes the stake of a game he totally ignores.
Note : This story is a very freely adapted version of one of my ever favourite book, “Les Liaisons Dangereuses” by Choderlos de Laclos.
CHAPTER 8
“Sensei, tell us everything is alright, please.”
“Do you want to hear the truth or what you wish to hear?”
The two women looked down, knowing what this sentence really implied.
Imouto-sensei had waited his grandson in front of Matsumoto's mansion, convinced that Sho was inside and would come out rapidly. One of her close friends, a teacher at the association, had accepted to be her driver and her eyes. They were talking in an undertone about Sho's delicate situation when theyspotted him walking on the pavement, his face totally haggard.
They took the car and made him climb in without any resistance.
Maki was already waiting for them at the house and after putting him in bed, they called a doctor immediately, panicked to see Sho in such a bad shape.
The man who knew the old woman for years didn't ask anything, going to Sho immediately. When he exited the bedroom his dark gaze was very revealing.
“Did he talk to you?” asked Maki.
“Absolutely not. He's laid on the bed, he doesn't sleep but his gaze is empty. I don't know when the last time he eats is, but I am concerned enough to put him a drip...for the rest...” He stared at the women, visibly wondering if they were ready to hear such a thing, then make them sit. “I think someone raped him. He has marks on his wrists and ankles, not recent ones, it's surely an old habit. He lost blood too, someone forced him. Should I call the police?”
“I...no, please.” murmured Maki. “I think he consented.”
“Oh I see.” The doctor arched an eyebrow, persuaded that the patient was a masochist. “Yet, I can't remain silent about it.”
“So I'll go to the police with him as soon as he will talk. I'll ask you to write a report when the time comes, Doctor.” concluded Maki quietly even if she was boiling interiorly.
“There's no time to lose, Miss. He's very weak and I am still unsure if he will be able to recover. He should be hospitalized.”
“Certainly not! He would give up and die! Please Sensei, he will be fine if you let us take care of him.”
“It's not reasonable.”
“Nothing is reasonable in this story.” cut the grandmother. “But she's right, his suffering is essentially moral. His body will recover when his spirit will.”
“I see...” The doctor gave up, visibly annoyed to be contradicted. “I'll come back in two days. Talk to him, try to reason him...if he still refuse to eat, I'll bring him at hospital by myself. Regardless of what you say.”
“Very well.” Maki nodded and saw him out. She caressed the forearm of the old woman whispering a “everything will be fine” which didn't convince them.
She was terrorized. Even in her worst nightmare she couldn’t have imagine such a dreadful situation. Could she manage to forget her reluctance to be useful? Could she manage to forget the disgust she felt when she visualised Matsumoto tying Sho to his bed? No. If she began to overthink she would run away.
“I'm gonna cook a soup. I'll take the opportunity to visit him.”
“Very well. I'll take a nap if you don't mind.”
“Of course, Ba-chan, you should be exhausted. Do you think I should call his parents?”
“Wait the next visit of the doctor. If he's still in this state, we'll call.”
“Okay...Let's wish we won't have to call them.”
Maki strode to the kitchen and focusing on the soup and to not think about the hurdle to come. When Sho came home, he didn't see her. He didn't see anything or anyone and it had been such an awful moment for the young woman. This broken man had nothing to do with the gentle boy she knew once.
She knocked softly at the door and opened the curtains a bit. He didn't move from the bed, his eyes wide opened on emptiness. Maki sat by his side and smiled.
“I cooked a soup for you, Sho-kun. The one you liked. You have to eat to strengthen.”
She put the spoon to his mouth but he didn't react. Perhaps did he refuse to see her?
“I'll let the stay on this chair and you'll feed yourself. I get it, you need to rest.”
She exited the bedroom, feeling totally lost. She was unable to untangle her feelings. She was terrified by the idea that he was dying because he was so sad, she wanted to shake him out to make him react, but she figured that she hated him in this very moment too. Because of what he did to her, because he fell in love with someone else, because he fell so far in lust that he soiled everything that linked them. He devastated everything. She wanted to run away and forget him for the rest of her life. But it was impossible. Despite everything, he was the pure and wonderful she loved, somewhere, deeply buried under this pain and for that sole reason, she had to draw him out from this melancholy.
She came back late in the afternoon and tried to talk to him once again but in vain. She tried her luck the next morning and afternoon with Sho's grandmother but nothing worked. The doctor would come back the next day and nothing changed...Maki wanted to scream with anger. Each time one of them tried to lay a hand on him he stiffened and curled into a ball...
“I'll try once more.” said Maki, determined as the night was approaching.
“But you tried so many times and nothing worked. We have to accept his hospitalization, Maki-chan. For his own sake. We have to face this. If we insist, he will...no, I don't want to think about it.”
“I'm gonna make him react! I won't leave the bedroom until he talks to me.”
“I wish you good luck, my gentle Maki.”
She smiled cheerfully, keeping the tears she was dying to shed. Yet if she let them flow now, she won't be able to stop, she knew it...
“I'll do my best!”
Of course, she had no plan or agenda. Only the resolution not to flinch in such critical situation.
Sho sat on the bed like the previous times.
“Sho-kun. You didn't eat. If you don't make up your mind now, you'll be hospitalized. In psychiatry. And I won't be able to help you anymore, can you hear me?” No reaction. “The doctors told me some stuff...you have to answer Sho, it's important. He saw marks on your body. Did he...force you?” Why did she have to ask those awful questions wondered Maki. He didn't speak but shook his head negatively. “That's what I thought.” The anger overwhelmed her once again. “You want to die like a dog, very well...for him...very well...you will ease my task eventually. If you're not here anymore I won't have to torture myself with those dreadful questions which kept me awake for days. Should I help you to recover to stay by your side like a perfect girlfriend or turning my back on you because you took my heart and my love only to stomp on them with your lover. Was it fun to think about me when you were together?”
Sho raised the head.
“I...hate you Sho. I hate what you did with him. I hate what you made me become. A cheated woman, bitter, angry. You betrayed me, you lied to me and now you're dying without fighting. You're gonna leave me alone and...and...”
She stopped when she felt Sho's cold hand on hers.
“You regret? So eat! Eat! And fight!” She commanded with determination and handed him the spoon.
He opened the mouth and swallowed the liquid. Maki's heart exploded with relief. He wasn't saved, far from it, but it was a first step.
He swallowed some mouthfuls of soup and Maki accepted enough to leave him alone.
The noise of the plumbing woke her up in the middle of the night. She ran to Sho's bedroom and found it empty.
She pushed cautiously the bathroom door and saw him in the shower, naked and unmoving, blood dripping from his legs, disappearing in the trap. Maki curbed a sob, putting her hand on her mouth and calling him softly but he didn't hear her voice.
She breathed deeply and took off her pyjama, then walked to him. She turned on the warm water and kneeled on the floor to grab the soap. She washed his legs to erase the last traces of blood. When she stood up, he was crying in silent.
“Everything will be fine.” She hugged him, kissing his face, warming his cold body. After the longest minutes of her life she felt his arms squeezing her strongly.
“We have to get out of this shower or we'll freeze.” She murmured, gripping his hand.
She dried him and helped him put on a pyjama and laid down by his side on the bed, like what they used to do when they were younger. She put the head on his torso, rubbing her feet with his to warm them, holding him tight, trying to instil a bit of her combativeness in his wounded heart.
Maki didn't leave him until the day he began to eat for real, annihilating the possibility of hospitalization once for all.
He didn't speak, but several times she caught him watching her with a sweet smile.
Imouto-sensei went back to her students because Maki asked her to, promising she would call each day to give her news. Yet before leaving the house, the old woman took advantage of the absence of Maki to talk to his grandson.
She sat on the armchair facing him and fumbled to find his hand.
“Talk to me Angel, please before I take my leave.” She whispered as a sweet plea.
“I can't...” He answered, his voice hoarse.
“Sho-kun, you have to understand something, you're a victim. This man manipulated you, it's true. You're sad because you lost him but~”
“I'm not.”
“What?”
“It's not that. Leaving me is the best thing he did, even if it destroyed me. I was unable to leave him and I hated myself because of that.”
“So?”
“I...I feel such a disgust for myself. I hurt you and Maki. I disappointed you and betrayed you, I'm the worst...”
“Don't believe that! You hurt the woman you love, true...but it's never too late to fix your mistakes.”
“I think it is.”
“Sho, you're not the boy she loved anymore. You changed, you suffered, you became a man. Maybe it is time to find something positive in this tragedy.”
“How?”
“You left this university you hated. Maybe is it time for you to rebuild from scratch, to make a new start. With her.”
“I don't believe she'll be able to love me now.”
“If she wasn't in love with you, she won't be here.”
Sho smiled sadly, thinking for the first time of his life that his grandmother was a naïve woman. He kneeled at her feet and put the head on her knees for her to caress his hair.
=+=
Since the old woman’s departure, they set a kind of routine.
Maki went back to university to end the semester and Sho spent his days at home, trying to understand what happened to him. He had to admit that Jun made him discovered an entire side of his own personality that he totally ignored. How could he now cohabiting with this stranger he was during 20 years?
Away from the rest of the world, he began to write. Like a stranger who would have observed him from afar, he began to write his story, figuring out that this had been planned for months. He wouldn't have been able to change the course of the events....this perfect trap took him and he wasn't able to struggle. Yet his conscious wasn’t able to prevent the guiltiness from eating him, like the love he had for Jun which consumed him.
Maki, each day, she lived by his side and Sho had the feeling of rediscovering her. She didn't act as if anything happened and Sho was grateful for that. Maki was more aloof but always there, not allowing herself to initiate any intimate gesture since the night she slept in his bed. Everything was destroyed, thought Sho bitterly. She didn't have the joy she always had in the eye when she gazed at him before.
She was so beautiful, thought the man heavy emotion. Why did he never saw her this way before or did she change because of him?
He couldn't ask. Each morning when he exited his bedroom, he was convinced that he will be alone, that she ran away and gave up on him now he felt better. But she was still here, smiling and caring.
She studied properly when she went back from school and bit by bit, Sho managed to sit by her side, in silent, working on his story.
When the night came, they bid each other good night and reached their bedrooms separately.
“I'm gonna stop attending the university.” She said quietly an evening as they were watching the news on TV.
“You're gonna what?!” asked Sho startled.
“I decided to go into a journalism school next year. I want to be journalist, that's what I realized thanks to my internship.”
“In Tokyo?” murmured Sho, his heart beating madly in his chest. Was this the moment of truth? Was she announcing she would leave for Osaka?
“Of course Tokyo. Would you like to live anywhere else?”
His heart stopped for good and he flushed. He shook his head negatively and gasped when she put her temple on his shoulder, whispering a “So why would I leave Tokyo?”
He forgot. Sincerely. He totally forgot how thrilling it was to feel her against him. Her little warm body, her sweet perfume, her appeasing sweetness. Sho closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, feeling all the love he always feel for her coming back violently.
He put his lips on her forehead, surprising her at her turn. She straightened and gazed at him.
“Excuse me, I didn't want...”
Maki cut him and kissed him fiercely, taking his breathe away. When she moved back, her cheeks were red.
“It's been a long time...I wanted to see if it had changed.”
“And?”
“Yeah, it changed.”
“Oh...”
“WE changed, Sho. Nothing will be the same between us. I'm not the young girl you knew anymore and you're not the boy I loved either.”
“I'm sorry Maki, for everything I did to you.”
“I know you are. But you have to stop. We have to draw a line on the people we were if we want to move on. We have to accept the adults we have become.”
At least, she thought. She had the opportunity to tell him what she was dying to tell during these long weeks. She figured out that she still loved him and she finally remembered why she fell for him years ago. But her love was different, more mature, more conscious, and certainly more painful.
“Sho, answer me frankly. Do you still love me?”
“Yes I love you!” He almost shouted and she laughed.
“It's from the bottom of your heart.”
She leaned on him and once again put her lips on his, her gaze met his, slowly, smiling when he moaned in their kiss.
He felt his body reacting too vigorously so he got up hastily.
“I will go to bed.” He said, hiding his state the best he could. He couldn't do that to her...it was unthinkable. They finally began to talk, it wasn't the moment to play the pervert. She certainly believed it already....
He went to bed rapidly, taking a book, yet unable to focus.
Sho put his head on the pillow and stiffened when he heard the bedroom door opening slowly.
He turned his head and saw Maki behind him.
“May I sleep with you?” She asked shyly.
“It's not a good idea...” He murmured, the sight of her gracious body under the thin material was making him lose ground.
“I really want to sleep with you.”
“I won't sleep if you're with me.”
“I didn't intend to sleep either.” She put condoms on the night stand and let fell her night dress to a pool at her feet.
Sho gasped urgently then moved the blanket to make room for his girlfriend. Maki crawled into the bed thrillingly. He took off his T-shirt and took her into his arms. She put her arms around his neck and kissed him tenderly, shyly parting her lips to caress Sho's inferior lips with the tip of her tongue.
“Did you come to torture me?” He asked huskily.
“I came to make love to you.”
He made her roll over and opened her thighs to make her feel his desire.
“Are you sure?” He swayed his hips taking her breath away.
Maki freaked out suddenly but it was only because she was facing the unknown. Yes, she was sure.
She nodded slowly, gazing at him with determination, then she took his mouth and wriggled under him to take off his trunk. “Please.”
Sho moved back and caressed her, marvelling her. He drew the curve of her breast, stroke her erected skin, went down to her lower belly and she opened her thighs for him. She stretched out her arm above her head, arching her back to take his fingers deeper, moaning with pleasure. He stretched her, to prepare her for the intrusion that was placed between her legs.
He reached out for a condom and Maki watched him unfolding the package and rolling it on his erected member. She covered her breast with her crossed arms, suddenly embarrassed by this procedural moment. But Sho smiled to her. With his warm and loving smile.
She opened her arms and putting her hands on his sides, attracting him. He guided his sex inside her tentatively, observing her reactions.
It was the first time for him too and he was startled by his own feelings. By the intensity he felt as he penetrated this woman body, so warm, so soft, and so welcoming. Startled to read in her eyes the gift she was offering to him, this beautiful abandon despite the way she was biting her lips to hide her pain.
He was dying to move to let the orgasm that was already so close to carry him away, relieving him. But he stood still. When she relaxed, he pushed a bit and felt a resistance as he forced softly.
Sho kissed her face with love, apologizing profusely for the pain she felt, stopping his movement when he was entirely inside her. He contracted his stomach to curb his desire but she scratched his back, straightening to kiss him hard, encouraging him to move.
Sho swayed his hips slowly, prolonging this incredible moment the best he could. He leaned on her to suck the tip of her breast, making her screamed with delight. She wrapped her legs around his waist, taking him deeper, faster, setting off their orgasms together.
They kissed again, while catching their breaths, smiling amorously, murmuring sweet words of love into each other's ears.
Sho withdrew, and took off his condom to throw it to the trash bin. Maki admired his naked body in the darkness, her own body totally appeased for the first time, her nose in Sho's pillow.
He came back to bed and she nestled against him.
“Did I hurt you?”
“Yes, but not anymore.”
Sho's heart flinched when he saw the little light burning once again in her eyes.
=+=
As soon as Maki was reassured about Sho's health, she resumed her courses and began to search for the pitiful paparazzi who kept his attack on the people he disliked.
Not a day went without a new target, a new victim. Recently he even revealed names...
As a matter of fact, the young woman had a pretty good idea about his identity, or rather the identity of the club behind those attacks, but she wished for a confrontation. If this person liked to play with this hand hidden, the journalist was used to put her cards face up. Plus, honesty was something this kind of person wasn't prepared for.
After the last course, she reached the part of the university reserved for the clubs and waited patiently, sitting on a chair, the gathering of the young chaste club.
The first girls stared at her, surprised and embarrassed but Maki smiled gently without a word...until the arrival of the President.
Meisa had her usual arrogant look, and she glared at Maki.
“Ma, ma, ma...do we have a new member?”
“Certainly not. Better be dead...” She said in an undertone but loud enough to be heard. “I'm here as journalist for the university paper. I intend to write a report about your activities. By the way, what are doing in your club? Because the only link between you is sex, rather the lack of sex. So except for talking about the ways to forget your frustration, what are you doing?”
“The only way to know is to join our ranks. But I don't think we could accept you.”
“Actually, I was wondering if we had some common points, Meisa-chan...I'm journalist and you, like your sisters, you seem to be pretty interested in the actions of the students of this university.”
“I don't get it.”
“I was wondering who was the famous canary, the person who attacks those who dared to lead the life according their likings.”
“Like your boyfriend for example?” hissed the President, her face adorned with angriness. So she was the one who took the pictures of the library...
“Yes, for example.” smiled Maki dangerously.
“And what led you to this brilliant conclusion?”
“An association of ideas. Moral-young chaste- prudishness- denunciation. You get the concept?”
“Whatever.” cut Meisa. “Even if it's the case, this is the truth.”
“To any price?”
“Truth is gold. You should know as journalist?”
Everything was said, she only needed some proof to make them fall. Maki got up and passed the threshold. She would find something, Meisa was so proud of herself.
“Horikita!” called Meisa. “Did you hear?”
Maki turned around and observed her enemy, who was visibly living the time of her life.
“Didn't you notice Matsumoto's absence on the campus this week? Well, you can be reassured. He's dead, a silly accident, he impaled on a piece of Art...such an idiot. At least he won't steal your precious Sho anymore. He's all yours now. By the way, where is he?”
“Only a monster can rejoice about someone's death. Go to Hell, bitch.”
She resumed her walk and stopping only when out of sight. Matsumoto was dead. Sho was too fragile to hear it for now. Yet she felt sad for this man who died so young. Death won't wash away his mistakes and the way he hurt people around him but maybe he did really love Sho after all...certainly...surely.
She went back to the journal office, sat behind her desk, greeted by her colleagues who waited for her return impatiently. Obviously they learned the news and the death of a student, especially Matsumoto, would be the cover of the next edition.
She opened her laptop, threw into the trash bin the messages of the young chaste club which just arrived when a mail with an attachment attracted her attention. Maki couldn't keep a surprised gasp when she discovered the content. Perhaps this was the solution...
=+=
“Masaki-kun, this is Meisa Kuroki-san, your fiancé.”
Masaki bowed politely at the young woman he barely knew. She wore an expensive traditional kimono and had a serious look he never saw before.
His family like Meisa's were gathered in their mansion for the occasion. The date for the engagement ceremony had been chosen as the day following the graduation day.
Truly said, the young man was experiencing this in a strange state of mind.
Those last days had been Hell for him. His eyes were opened brutally on the truth behind the relationships he had since the first day in school.
He remembered Nino barging into his bedroom with his mother, his proud look as always, lying openly, accusing Jun as if he was a monster. Yet in his head he could hear so clearly his “Jun-kun can be your lover”, “If you like it, it can't be wrong.”, “Jun-kun is the best man on Earth...”... So who was this man facing him calling Matsumoto a pervert?
So when he led him to Matsumoto's bed, he gave him to a pervert? Every little thing he did since the beginning was to hurt people? But to hurt who...since Masaki was now awared that the President didn't give a damn about him.
The fall had been hard....and far more so when Ohno announced to him Matsumoto's death the next day. Like the fact that he was Nino's lover for weeks. A mad jealousy overwhelmed him, making him realized how silly he had been to think he could shared himself between two men. What a waste...
He had to bite his cheek in order not to scream in pain while he looked at this happy family, this young woman bowing with humility, flowers in her hair like a bride. Bunch of hypocrites...
He knew exactly who was this young chaste...he knew everything now. A truth led to another and soon Masaki had to face an impressive void pulling him intensely. No, he had to hang on for himself, for Jun, for Satoshi...
Since that was how the world turns, he would learn. He already began to learn and surprisingly he was talented. Masaki raised the head and dove into his fiancé's gaze, she blushed. What an actress. He smirked seductively, imagining what her twisted mind would be thinking at this very moment.
He looked at her directly and placed his feet between her legs under the table, forcing her to open them and not to reveal what was happening. Meisa coughed, apologizing while Masaki's mother handed her a glass of water to help her to swallow what bothered her.
=+=
Jun was dead.
Nino heard the news at dawn. A laconic message from Ohno at 6AM. To say that the sky fell on his head would be an euphemism.
It was impossible. Unthinkable. Jun couldn't die.
Nino had grabbed his cellphone and had called the potter, his heart beating like a drum in his chest.
“Ohno are you crazy to send me this kind of bullshit?! It's not funny.”
“It's not a joke.”
“I...I don't get it.”
“It is clear enough. You remember our little movie session...when you showed me, by mistake, Matsumoto and Masaki had sex. When you told me where he lived. I went there and punched him. He fell and was impaled on a sculpture, when I drove him at the hospital it was too late, he lost too much blood. He died in my arms, two hours ago.”
“It's impossible. You're wrong.”
“Do you want me to show you the blood on my shirt, on my hands? It's probably the very same blood on your hand.”
“It has nothing to do with me!”
“You made a killer of me, Nino.”
“It was an accident.”
“You can think what you want to ease your bad conscience. The police just heard me.”
“What did you say?”
“The truth. I didn't speak your name though.”
“I don't give a shit about the police! I have nothing to do with Matsumoto. Ohno?”
Ohno had hung up, leaving him facing his angst all alone. He never had the slightest doubt about the legitimacy of his behaviour. Until now. He threw his cellphone on the floor and fell on the floor, his head between his hands, letting the sadness of losing Jun talk, the only man he deeply respected in spite of his great naivety.
If he began to feel remorse he would be crazy very soon. No. What did he always say in this kind of situation?
Yeah...
“It's not my fault.”
“It's not my fault.”
Nothing was his fault, Jun dug his own grave. He made his own choices, he had to face his mistakes. After all, he was the one to ask for war but he was a too weak adversary for this world of violence. Nino knew how much a failure could be lethal. Jun ignored it and once his lust displayed to the world, he lost his life.
Rest in peace.
Nino got up and for a few days, he talked about him with emotion, praying ceremoniously with the rest of the students at the university for the peace of his soul.
Months passed and Nino had resumed his life.
He didn't sleep with Ohno anymore, since the one cold shouldered him and that the cameras disappeared magically. Masaki too turned his back on him, despite the apologies he offered for lying with his mother. He even blamed himself for Matsumoto's death and proposed him to comfort him.
Masaki let him kissed him but refused sex, startling Nino. No one ever refused him and not once. Nino would not have thought that this idiot would be the first. So the President of the students officially turned his back on him and with some mean remarks tried to isolate him from the rest of his comrades. A pitiful revenge which didn't satisfy him totally, especially when he learned that Ohno had been seen exiting his lover's bedroom, both of them with wrinkled clothes and a smile of bliss adorning their faces.
Sakurai has disappeared too and in spite of his effort to find out the truth, Maki told him nothing. She has been charming, like always, but she pretended that she didn't hear from him for ages.
Nino cursed them all and went back to the married women and his chaste lovers. He had to admit that life without Jun and Ohno was tasteless.
His brilliant schemes had no appeal at all since he had no one to share them. Argh...this year had been rich in events, it was time to draw a line on himself and to move on, thought the man while he prepared his speech for the ceremony.
He wore his blue jacket and climbed down to the Great Hall to wait for his parents.
In the amphitheatre he bowed respectfully at the audience who was applauding noisily and walked to the Dean.
He waved at his parents and began to observe the people.
Not far from him, Meisa was sat by Masaki's mother and they were chatting pleasantly. Nino smirked, imagining his head when they would discover the video.
His gaze slid to the first rank and the mixer table. He felt a cold shiver creeping along his spine when he spotted Horikita Maki and close to her, Ohno and Masaki. What where they doing together?! And why was the journalist waving at him? He stood up to walk to her, forgetting his position but the Dean called his name.
“The President of the Students, Ninomiya Kazunari. Ninomiya-kun?”
She moved aside to make a room behind the lectern. He half closed his eyes to avoid a spotlight burning his retina and staggered to the middle of the stage.
He took out his speech, his heart on the verge of explosion, struggling to find the words. Why was he so panicked? He took a deep breath and began.
“A new year is about to end...”
He heard a moan but kept on.
“It was a rich year...”
“So, President of the Young Chaste, show me what you got…” “Keep your skirt, I love the way you look with it…so pure, innocent…” “Perv’” “Ahh Nino...”
Nino saw the faces changing in the amphitheatre. Some spectators yelled with disgust and some exited the place hastily. He turned around slowly and watched on the screen some pieces of his private collection. The young chaste girls, Meisa, Ohno whom the audience could barely guessed but was clearly taking Nino in his bedroom, as well as some mature women here today, in this amphitheatre.
He watched the scene in slow motion. The Dean and the teachers ran to stop the videos while Maki stood up, pretending she didn't know how stopping such a horror. He had to run, now...
Nino climbed down the flight of stairs, the sound of his moan resonating all around and he walked quickly to the exit. People were looking at him with disgust and suddenly they began to shoo him. He searched for his parents but couldn’t find them. In the great Hall it was worst. His kouhais, who are usually running after him, were turning their backs to him with hostility. He ran to his bedroom, locking himself in, trying to understand what happened.
Someone knocked at his door soon and he had to open it for the Dean.
Her face was serious and closed and he knew by instinct what she was about to say.
Opprobrium and social leprosy struck him and he wasn't welcome in this university anymore. The video was probably already on a streaming site as they were talking.
He had a thought about Jun. Did he plan what happened? Did he use Maki and Ohno for his revenge? One thing was for sure, he was surely laughing hard now, wherever he was.
Checkmate. Jun had won.
Nino burst out laugh irrepressibly, losing his mind.
“It's not my fault...” He said to the Dean.
Masaki walked to his mother who was frozen, unable to move from her place.
“Mother, I wanted to introduce Ohno Satoshi, he's the man that I love.”
“Masaki...”
“It's only for the formality. I am not asking you if I'm allowed to be with him, it's because I respect him that I wanted to introduce you. He has the right to be in the light.”
Aiba-san lowered her head, stroking her forehead for a moment. She remained silent for a long time and when she raised the head, her face had changed. Her usual assertiveness and determination disappeared, tears blurred her vision.
“Ohno ...like the famous potter family?”
“Yes Madam.”
She smiled and stood up.
“I'll wait for both of you together at home for tea time. Don't be late.”
Masaki smiled with relief and hugged his lover openly. His mother won't ever change. She didn't lose; she simply took advantage of the situation. Ohno pushed him gently, suddenly embarrassed when Maki tapped his shoulder.
“Thanks Maki-chan.”
“I'm the one to thank you, Ohno-kun. I can't say I feel good for this, perhaps am I as mean as those from the young chaste club after all.”
“Absolutely not. We did the right thing.”
“I'm happy for the both of you.”
“And Sho-kun?” asked Aiba.
“He's fine, he's fine.”
“Good.”
“See you soon.”
“Ja'.”
Maki walked to the exit with a bitter feeling. She was going to be here for the last time but she regretted nothing. Sho was waiting for her at home and she had been accepted in the journalism school, the future was bright.
At the door she heard a “thanks” barely noticeable.
She turned around and saw a man with a black hood hiding his face.
“For what? Who are you?”
He chuckled and went out and Maki forgot him until the moment she saw Sho, leaning on his desk, working. That man couldn't be...
“Okaeri.”
“Tadaima.”
She went to him and pecked on his neck making him laugh. He kept a wrinkle of sadness at the corner of his eyes and sometimes she could see a flash of sadness in his look. But she loved the man he became. This cheerful and sweet man he became. Sometimes she could see the cleverness and the great compassion of his grandmother in him.
“The year is over?”
“Hm.”
“And the ceremony?”
“Boring, like always. Nothing to tell.”
“Do you regret anything?”
“You're waiting for me at home, how could I be nostalgic?”
“You're too good to me.”
“Actually...” She pushed the stack of sheets on the desk to sit on it. “I was thinking about this.”
Sho laughed and grabbed her hips to get her attention, opening her legs in the process, bending towards her lips.
“And?”
“Hm...kiss me again.”
Sho laid her down on the desk and unbuttoned her shorts, tossing it on the floor. He undressed her totally and she was flushed with excitement.
He kissed her flat belly with adoration then spread her tights with a caress, making her moan.
“Wait!” murmured Sho, straightening.
“What are you doing?”
“I'll close the curtains, in case of...”
“In case of what?”
“The other day, a big cat was looking at us.”
Maki laughed, remembering Sho's grimace when he noticed the big ginger cat at the window while she kneeled at his feet. He closed the first thick curtains, turning on a light and walked to the second window.
He stopped short, seeing a man he recognized immediately. The latter smiled and waved at him. Sho returned his smile, appeased.
“What are you doing?”
He closed the curtain rapidly and went back to his wife to be.
“Nothing. He was here again.”
“Who?”
“The cat.”
Sho smirked and brought delicately Maki's foot, kissing her ankle amorously.
Author : WendyJoly
Rating : NC-17
Pairing : Various but mainly Sakumoto
Beta : The wonderful
jtaytt ♥Genre : Schemes, university and love
Summary : Masaki Aiba enters the prestigious Tokyo U and becomes the stake of a game he totally ignores.
Note : This story is a very freely adapted version of one of my ever favourite book, “Les Liaisons Dangereuses” by Choderlos de Laclos.
“Sensei, tell us everything is alright, please.”
“Do you want to hear the truth or what you wish to hear?”
The two women looked down, knowing what this sentence really implied.
Imouto-sensei had waited his grandson in front of Matsumoto's mansion, convinced that Sho was inside and would come out rapidly. One of her close friends, a teacher at the association, had accepted to be her driver and her eyes. They were talking in an undertone about Sho's delicate situation when theyspotted him walking on the pavement, his face totally haggard.
They took the car and made him climb in without any resistance.
Maki was already waiting for them at the house and after putting him in bed, they called a doctor immediately, panicked to see Sho in such a bad shape.
The man who knew the old woman for years didn't ask anything, going to Sho immediately. When he exited the bedroom his dark gaze was very revealing.
“Did he talk to you?” asked Maki.
“Absolutely not. He's laid on the bed, he doesn't sleep but his gaze is empty. I don't know when the last time he eats is, but I am concerned enough to put him a drip...for the rest...” He stared at the women, visibly wondering if they were ready to hear such a thing, then make them sit. “I think someone raped him. He has marks on his wrists and ankles, not recent ones, it's surely an old habit. He lost blood too, someone forced him. Should I call the police?”
“I...no, please.” murmured Maki. “I think he consented.”
“Oh I see.” The doctor arched an eyebrow, persuaded that the patient was a masochist. “Yet, I can't remain silent about it.”
“So I'll go to the police with him as soon as he will talk. I'll ask you to write a report when the time comes, Doctor.” concluded Maki quietly even if she was boiling interiorly.
“There's no time to lose, Miss. He's very weak and I am still unsure if he will be able to recover. He should be hospitalized.”
“Certainly not! He would give up and die! Please Sensei, he will be fine if you let us take care of him.”
“It's not reasonable.”
“Nothing is reasonable in this story.” cut the grandmother. “But she's right, his suffering is essentially moral. His body will recover when his spirit will.”
“I see...” The doctor gave up, visibly annoyed to be contradicted. “I'll come back in two days. Talk to him, try to reason him...if he still refuse to eat, I'll bring him at hospital by myself. Regardless of what you say.”
“Very well.” Maki nodded and saw him out. She caressed the forearm of the old woman whispering a “everything will be fine” which didn't convince them.
She was terrorized. Even in her worst nightmare she couldn’t have imagine such a dreadful situation. Could she manage to forget her reluctance to be useful? Could she manage to forget the disgust she felt when she visualised Matsumoto tying Sho to his bed? No. If she began to overthink she would run away.
“I'm gonna cook a soup. I'll take the opportunity to visit him.”
“Very well. I'll take a nap if you don't mind.”
“Of course, Ba-chan, you should be exhausted. Do you think I should call his parents?”
“Wait the next visit of the doctor. If he's still in this state, we'll call.”
“Okay...Let's wish we won't have to call them.”
Maki strode to the kitchen and focusing on the soup and to not think about the hurdle to come. When Sho came home, he didn't see her. He didn't see anything or anyone and it had been such an awful moment for the young woman. This broken man had nothing to do with the gentle boy she knew once.
She knocked softly at the door and opened the curtains a bit. He didn't move from the bed, his eyes wide opened on emptiness. Maki sat by his side and smiled.
“I cooked a soup for you, Sho-kun. The one you liked. You have to eat to strengthen.”
She put the spoon to his mouth but he didn't react. Perhaps did he refuse to see her?
“I'll let the stay on this chair and you'll feed yourself. I get it, you need to rest.”
She exited the bedroom, feeling totally lost. She was unable to untangle her feelings. She was terrified by the idea that he was dying because he was so sad, she wanted to shake him out to make him react, but she figured that she hated him in this very moment too. Because of what he did to her, because he fell in love with someone else, because he fell so far in lust that he soiled everything that linked them. He devastated everything. She wanted to run away and forget him for the rest of her life. But it was impossible. Despite everything, he was the pure and wonderful she loved, somewhere, deeply buried under this pain and for that sole reason, she had to draw him out from this melancholy.
She came back late in the afternoon and tried to talk to him once again but in vain. She tried her luck the next morning and afternoon with Sho's grandmother but nothing worked. The doctor would come back the next day and nothing changed...Maki wanted to scream with anger. Each time one of them tried to lay a hand on him he stiffened and curled into a ball...
“I'll try once more.” said Maki, determined as the night was approaching.
“But you tried so many times and nothing worked. We have to accept his hospitalization, Maki-chan. For his own sake. We have to face this. If we insist, he will...no, I don't want to think about it.”
“I'm gonna make him react! I won't leave the bedroom until he talks to me.”
“I wish you good luck, my gentle Maki.”
She smiled cheerfully, keeping the tears she was dying to shed. Yet if she let them flow now, she won't be able to stop, she knew it...
“I'll do my best!”
Of course, she had no plan or agenda. Only the resolution not to flinch in such critical situation.
Sho sat on the bed like the previous times.
“Sho-kun. You didn't eat. If you don't make up your mind now, you'll be hospitalized. In psychiatry. And I won't be able to help you anymore, can you hear me?” No reaction. “The doctors told me some stuff...you have to answer Sho, it's important. He saw marks on your body. Did he...force you?” Why did she have to ask those awful questions wondered Maki. He didn't speak but shook his head negatively. “That's what I thought.” The anger overwhelmed her once again. “You want to die like a dog, very well...for him...very well...you will ease my task eventually. If you're not here anymore I won't have to torture myself with those dreadful questions which kept me awake for days. Should I help you to recover to stay by your side like a perfect girlfriend or turning my back on you because you took my heart and my love only to stomp on them with your lover. Was it fun to think about me when you were together?”
Sho raised the head.
“I...hate you Sho. I hate what you did with him. I hate what you made me become. A cheated woman, bitter, angry. You betrayed me, you lied to me and now you're dying without fighting. You're gonna leave me alone and...and...”
She stopped when she felt Sho's cold hand on hers.
“You regret? So eat! Eat! And fight!” She commanded with determination and handed him the spoon.
He opened the mouth and swallowed the liquid. Maki's heart exploded with relief. He wasn't saved, far from it, but it was a first step.
He swallowed some mouthfuls of soup and Maki accepted enough to leave him alone.
The noise of the plumbing woke her up in the middle of the night. She ran to Sho's bedroom and found it empty.
She pushed cautiously the bathroom door and saw him in the shower, naked and unmoving, blood dripping from his legs, disappearing in the trap. Maki curbed a sob, putting her hand on her mouth and calling him softly but he didn't hear her voice.
She breathed deeply and took off her pyjama, then walked to him. She turned on the warm water and kneeled on the floor to grab the soap. She washed his legs to erase the last traces of blood. When she stood up, he was crying in silent.
“Everything will be fine.” She hugged him, kissing his face, warming his cold body. After the longest minutes of her life she felt his arms squeezing her strongly.
“We have to get out of this shower or we'll freeze.” She murmured, gripping his hand.
She dried him and helped him put on a pyjama and laid down by his side on the bed, like what they used to do when they were younger. She put the head on his torso, rubbing her feet with his to warm them, holding him tight, trying to instil a bit of her combativeness in his wounded heart.
Maki didn't leave him until the day he began to eat for real, annihilating the possibility of hospitalization once for all.
He didn't speak, but several times she caught him watching her with a sweet smile.
Imouto-sensei went back to her students because Maki asked her to, promising she would call each day to give her news. Yet before leaving the house, the old woman took advantage of the absence of Maki to talk to his grandson.
She sat on the armchair facing him and fumbled to find his hand.
“Talk to me Angel, please before I take my leave.” She whispered as a sweet plea.
“I can't...” He answered, his voice hoarse.
“Sho-kun, you have to understand something, you're a victim. This man manipulated you, it's true. You're sad because you lost him but~”
“I'm not.”
“What?”
“It's not that. Leaving me is the best thing he did, even if it destroyed me. I was unable to leave him and I hated myself because of that.”
“So?”
“I...I feel such a disgust for myself. I hurt you and Maki. I disappointed you and betrayed you, I'm the worst...”
“Don't believe that! You hurt the woman you love, true...but it's never too late to fix your mistakes.”
“I think it is.”
“Sho, you're not the boy she loved anymore. You changed, you suffered, you became a man. Maybe it is time to find something positive in this tragedy.”
“How?”
“You left this university you hated. Maybe is it time for you to rebuild from scratch, to make a new start. With her.”
“I don't believe she'll be able to love me now.”
“If she wasn't in love with you, she won't be here.”
Sho smiled sadly, thinking for the first time of his life that his grandmother was a naïve woman. He kneeled at her feet and put the head on her knees for her to caress his hair.
=+=
Since the old woman’s departure, they set a kind of routine.
Maki went back to university to end the semester and Sho spent his days at home, trying to understand what happened to him. He had to admit that Jun made him discovered an entire side of his own personality that he totally ignored. How could he now cohabiting with this stranger he was during 20 years?
Away from the rest of the world, he began to write. Like a stranger who would have observed him from afar, he began to write his story, figuring out that this had been planned for months. He wouldn't have been able to change the course of the events....this perfect trap took him and he wasn't able to struggle. Yet his conscious wasn’t able to prevent the guiltiness from eating him, like the love he had for Jun which consumed him.
Maki, each day, she lived by his side and Sho had the feeling of rediscovering her. She didn't act as if anything happened and Sho was grateful for that. Maki was more aloof but always there, not allowing herself to initiate any intimate gesture since the night she slept in his bed. Everything was destroyed, thought Sho bitterly. She didn't have the joy she always had in the eye when she gazed at him before.
She was so beautiful, thought the man heavy emotion. Why did he never saw her this way before or did she change because of him?
He couldn't ask. Each morning when he exited his bedroom, he was convinced that he will be alone, that she ran away and gave up on him now he felt better. But she was still here, smiling and caring.
She studied properly when she went back from school and bit by bit, Sho managed to sit by her side, in silent, working on his story.
When the night came, they bid each other good night and reached their bedrooms separately.
“I'm gonna stop attending the university.” She said quietly an evening as they were watching the news on TV.
“You're gonna what?!” asked Sho startled.
“I decided to go into a journalism school next year. I want to be journalist, that's what I realized thanks to my internship.”
“In Tokyo?” murmured Sho, his heart beating madly in his chest. Was this the moment of truth? Was she announcing she would leave for Osaka?
“Of course Tokyo. Would you like to live anywhere else?”
His heart stopped for good and he flushed. He shook his head negatively and gasped when she put her temple on his shoulder, whispering a “So why would I leave Tokyo?”
He forgot. Sincerely. He totally forgot how thrilling it was to feel her against him. Her little warm body, her sweet perfume, her appeasing sweetness. Sho closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, feeling all the love he always feel for her coming back violently.
He put his lips on her forehead, surprising her at her turn. She straightened and gazed at him.
“Excuse me, I didn't want...”
Maki cut him and kissed him fiercely, taking his breathe away. When she moved back, her cheeks were red.
“It's been a long time...I wanted to see if it had changed.”
“And?”
“Yeah, it changed.”
“Oh...”
“WE changed, Sho. Nothing will be the same between us. I'm not the young girl you knew anymore and you're not the boy I loved either.”
“I'm sorry Maki, for everything I did to you.”
“I know you are. But you have to stop. We have to draw a line on the people we were if we want to move on. We have to accept the adults we have become.”
At least, she thought. She had the opportunity to tell him what she was dying to tell during these long weeks. She figured out that she still loved him and she finally remembered why she fell for him years ago. But her love was different, more mature, more conscious, and certainly more painful.
“Sho, answer me frankly. Do you still love me?”
“Yes I love you!” He almost shouted and she laughed.
“It's from the bottom of your heart.”
She leaned on him and once again put her lips on his, her gaze met his, slowly, smiling when he moaned in their kiss.
He felt his body reacting too vigorously so he got up hastily.
“I will go to bed.” He said, hiding his state the best he could. He couldn't do that to her...it was unthinkable. They finally began to talk, it wasn't the moment to play the pervert. She certainly believed it already....
He went to bed rapidly, taking a book, yet unable to focus.
Sho put his head on the pillow and stiffened when he heard the bedroom door opening slowly.
He turned his head and saw Maki behind him.
“May I sleep with you?” She asked shyly.
“It's not a good idea...” He murmured, the sight of her gracious body under the thin material was making him lose ground.
“I really want to sleep with you.”
“I won't sleep if you're with me.”
“I didn't intend to sleep either.” She put condoms on the night stand and let fell her night dress to a pool at her feet.
Sho gasped urgently then moved the blanket to make room for his girlfriend. Maki crawled into the bed thrillingly. He took off his T-shirt and took her into his arms. She put her arms around his neck and kissed him tenderly, shyly parting her lips to caress Sho's inferior lips with the tip of her tongue.
“Did you come to torture me?” He asked huskily.
“I came to make love to you.”
He made her roll over and opened her thighs to make her feel his desire.
“Are you sure?” He swayed his hips taking her breath away.
Maki freaked out suddenly but it was only because she was facing the unknown. Yes, she was sure.
She nodded slowly, gazing at him with determination, then she took his mouth and wriggled under him to take off his trunk. “Please.”
Sho moved back and caressed her, marvelling her. He drew the curve of her breast, stroke her erected skin, went down to her lower belly and she opened her thighs for him. She stretched out her arm above her head, arching her back to take his fingers deeper, moaning with pleasure. He stretched her, to prepare her for the intrusion that was placed between her legs.
He reached out for a condom and Maki watched him unfolding the package and rolling it on his erected member. She covered her breast with her crossed arms, suddenly embarrassed by this procedural moment. But Sho smiled to her. With his warm and loving smile.
She opened her arms and putting her hands on his sides, attracting him. He guided his sex inside her tentatively, observing her reactions.
It was the first time for him too and he was startled by his own feelings. By the intensity he felt as he penetrated this woman body, so warm, so soft, and so welcoming. Startled to read in her eyes the gift she was offering to him, this beautiful abandon despite the way she was biting her lips to hide her pain.
He was dying to move to let the orgasm that was already so close to carry him away, relieving him. But he stood still. When she relaxed, he pushed a bit and felt a resistance as he forced softly.
Sho kissed her face with love, apologizing profusely for the pain she felt, stopping his movement when he was entirely inside her. He contracted his stomach to curb his desire but she scratched his back, straightening to kiss him hard, encouraging him to move.
Sho swayed his hips slowly, prolonging this incredible moment the best he could. He leaned on her to suck the tip of her breast, making her screamed with delight. She wrapped her legs around his waist, taking him deeper, faster, setting off their orgasms together.
They kissed again, while catching their breaths, smiling amorously, murmuring sweet words of love into each other's ears.
Sho withdrew, and took off his condom to throw it to the trash bin. Maki admired his naked body in the darkness, her own body totally appeased for the first time, her nose in Sho's pillow.
He came back to bed and she nestled against him.
“Did I hurt you?”
“Yes, but not anymore.”
Sho's heart flinched when he saw the little light burning once again in her eyes.
=+=
As soon as Maki was reassured about Sho's health, she resumed her courses and began to search for the pitiful paparazzi who kept his attack on the people he disliked.
Not a day went without a new target, a new victim. Recently he even revealed names...
As a matter of fact, the young woman had a pretty good idea about his identity, or rather the identity of the club behind those attacks, but she wished for a confrontation. If this person liked to play with this hand hidden, the journalist was used to put her cards face up. Plus, honesty was something this kind of person wasn't prepared for.
After the last course, she reached the part of the university reserved for the clubs and waited patiently, sitting on a chair, the gathering of the young chaste club.
The first girls stared at her, surprised and embarrassed but Maki smiled gently without a word...until the arrival of the President.
Meisa had her usual arrogant look, and she glared at Maki.
“Ma, ma, ma...do we have a new member?”
“Certainly not. Better be dead...” She said in an undertone but loud enough to be heard. “I'm here as journalist for the university paper. I intend to write a report about your activities. By the way, what are doing in your club? Because the only link between you is sex, rather the lack of sex. So except for talking about the ways to forget your frustration, what are you doing?”
“The only way to know is to join our ranks. But I don't think we could accept you.”
“Actually, I was wondering if we had some common points, Meisa-chan...I'm journalist and you, like your sisters, you seem to be pretty interested in the actions of the students of this university.”
“I don't get it.”
“I was wondering who was the famous canary, the person who attacks those who dared to lead the life according their likings.”
“Like your boyfriend for example?” hissed the President, her face adorned with angriness. So she was the one who took the pictures of the library...
“Yes, for example.” smiled Maki dangerously.
“And what led you to this brilliant conclusion?”
“An association of ideas. Moral-young chaste- prudishness- denunciation. You get the concept?”
“Whatever.” cut Meisa. “Even if it's the case, this is the truth.”
“To any price?”
“Truth is gold. You should know as journalist?”
Everything was said, she only needed some proof to make them fall. Maki got up and passed the threshold. She would find something, Meisa was so proud of herself.
“Horikita!” called Meisa. “Did you hear?”
Maki turned around and observed her enemy, who was visibly living the time of her life.
“Didn't you notice Matsumoto's absence on the campus this week? Well, you can be reassured. He's dead, a silly accident, he impaled on a piece of Art...such an idiot. At least he won't steal your precious Sho anymore. He's all yours now. By the way, where is he?”
“Only a monster can rejoice about someone's death. Go to Hell, bitch.”
She resumed her walk and stopping only when out of sight. Matsumoto was dead. Sho was too fragile to hear it for now. Yet she felt sad for this man who died so young. Death won't wash away his mistakes and the way he hurt people around him but maybe he did really love Sho after all...certainly...surely.
She went back to the journal office, sat behind her desk, greeted by her colleagues who waited for her return impatiently. Obviously they learned the news and the death of a student, especially Matsumoto, would be the cover of the next edition.
She opened her laptop, threw into the trash bin the messages of the young chaste club which just arrived when a mail with an attachment attracted her attention. Maki couldn't keep a surprised gasp when she discovered the content. Perhaps this was the solution...
=+=
“Masaki-kun, this is Meisa Kuroki-san, your fiancé.”
Masaki bowed politely at the young woman he barely knew. She wore an expensive traditional kimono and had a serious look he never saw before.
His family like Meisa's were gathered in their mansion for the occasion. The date for the engagement ceremony had been chosen as the day following the graduation day.
Truly said, the young man was experiencing this in a strange state of mind.
Those last days had been Hell for him. His eyes were opened brutally on the truth behind the relationships he had since the first day in school.
He remembered Nino barging into his bedroom with his mother, his proud look as always, lying openly, accusing Jun as if he was a monster. Yet in his head he could hear so clearly his “Jun-kun can be your lover”, “If you like it, it can't be wrong.”, “Jun-kun is the best man on Earth...”... So who was this man facing him calling Matsumoto a pervert?
So when he led him to Matsumoto's bed, he gave him to a pervert? Every little thing he did since the beginning was to hurt people? But to hurt who...since Masaki was now awared that the President didn't give a damn about him.
The fall had been hard....and far more so when Ohno announced to him Matsumoto's death the next day. Like the fact that he was Nino's lover for weeks. A mad jealousy overwhelmed him, making him realized how silly he had been to think he could shared himself between two men. What a waste...
He had to bite his cheek in order not to scream in pain while he looked at this happy family, this young woman bowing with humility, flowers in her hair like a bride. Bunch of hypocrites...
He knew exactly who was this young chaste...he knew everything now. A truth led to another and soon Masaki had to face an impressive void pulling him intensely. No, he had to hang on for himself, for Jun, for Satoshi...
Since that was how the world turns, he would learn. He already began to learn and surprisingly he was talented. Masaki raised the head and dove into his fiancé's gaze, she blushed. What an actress. He smirked seductively, imagining what her twisted mind would be thinking at this very moment.
He looked at her directly and placed his feet between her legs under the table, forcing her to open them and not to reveal what was happening. Meisa coughed, apologizing while Masaki's mother handed her a glass of water to help her to swallow what bothered her.
=+=
Jun was dead.
Nino heard the news at dawn. A laconic message from Ohno at 6AM. To say that the sky fell on his head would be an euphemism.
It was impossible. Unthinkable. Jun couldn't die.
Nino had grabbed his cellphone and had called the potter, his heart beating like a drum in his chest.
“Ohno are you crazy to send me this kind of bullshit?! It's not funny.”
“It's not a joke.”
“I...I don't get it.”
“It is clear enough. You remember our little movie session...when you showed me, by mistake, Matsumoto and Masaki had sex. When you told me where he lived. I went there and punched him. He fell and was impaled on a sculpture, when I drove him at the hospital it was too late, he lost too much blood. He died in my arms, two hours ago.”
“It's impossible. You're wrong.”
“Do you want me to show you the blood on my shirt, on my hands? It's probably the very same blood on your hand.”
“It has nothing to do with me!”
“You made a killer of me, Nino.”
“It was an accident.”
“You can think what you want to ease your bad conscience. The police just heard me.”
“What did you say?”
“The truth. I didn't speak your name though.”
“I don't give a shit about the police! I have nothing to do with Matsumoto. Ohno?”
Ohno had hung up, leaving him facing his angst all alone. He never had the slightest doubt about the legitimacy of his behaviour. Until now. He threw his cellphone on the floor and fell on the floor, his head between his hands, letting the sadness of losing Jun talk, the only man he deeply respected in spite of his great naivety.
If he began to feel remorse he would be crazy very soon. No. What did he always say in this kind of situation?
Yeah...
“It's not my fault.”
“It's not my fault.”
Nothing was his fault, Jun dug his own grave. He made his own choices, he had to face his mistakes. After all, he was the one to ask for war but he was a too weak adversary for this world of violence. Nino knew how much a failure could be lethal. Jun ignored it and once his lust displayed to the world, he lost his life.
Rest in peace.
Nino got up and for a few days, he talked about him with emotion, praying ceremoniously with the rest of the students at the university for the peace of his soul.
Months passed and Nino had resumed his life.
He didn't sleep with Ohno anymore, since the one cold shouldered him and that the cameras disappeared magically. Masaki too turned his back on him, despite the apologies he offered for lying with his mother. He even blamed himself for Matsumoto's death and proposed him to comfort him.
Masaki let him kissed him but refused sex, startling Nino. No one ever refused him and not once. Nino would not have thought that this idiot would be the first. So the President of the students officially turned his back on him and with some mean remarks tried to isolate him from the rest of his comrades. A pitiful revenge which didn't satisfy him totally, especially when he learned that Ohno had been seen exiting his lover's bedroom, both of them with wrinkled clothes and a smile of bliss adorning their faces.
Sakurai has disappeared too and in spite of his effort to find out the truth, Maki told him nothing. She has been charming, like always, but she pretended that she didn't hear from him for ages.
Nino cursed them all and went back to the married women and his chaste lovers. He had to admit that life without Jun and Ohno was tasteless.
His brilliant schemes had no appeal at all since he had no one to share them. Argh...this year had been rich in events, it was time to draw a line on himself and to move on, thought the man while he prepared his speech for the ceremony.
He wore his blue jacket and climbed down to the Great Hall to wait for his parents.
In the amphitheatre he bowed respectfully at the audience who was applauding noisily and walked to the Dean.
He waved at his parents and began to observe the people.
Not far from him, Meisa was sat by Masaki's mother and they were chatting pleasantly. Nino smirked, imagining his head when they would discover the video.
His gaze slid to the first rank and the mixer table. He felt a cold shiver creeping along his spine when he spotted Horikita Maki and close to her, Ohno and Masaki. What where they doing together?! And why was the journalist waving at him? He stood up to walk to her, forgetting his position but the Dean called his name.
“The President of the Students, Ninomiya Kazunari. Ninomiya-kun?”
She moved aside to make a room behind the lectern. He half closed his eyes to avoid a spotlight burning his retina and staggered to the middle of the stage.
He took out his speech, his heart on the verge of explosion, struggling to find the words. Why was he so panicked? He took a deep breath and began.
“A new year is about to end...”
He heard a moan but kept on.
“It was a rich year...”
“So, President of the Young Chaste, show me what you got…” “Keep your skirt, I love the way you look with it…so pure, innocent…” “Perv’” “Ahh Nino...”
Nino saw the faces changing in the amphitheatre. Some spectators yelled with disgust and some exited the place hastily. He turned around slowly and watched on the screen some pieces of his private collection. The young chaste girls, Meisa, Ohno whom the audience could barely guessed but was clearly taking Nino in his bedroom, as well as some mature women here today, in this amphitheatre.
He watched the scene in slow motion. The Dean and the teachers ran to stop the videos while Maki stood up, pretending she didn't know how stopping such a horror. He had to run, now...
Nino climbed down the flight of stairs, the sound of his moan resonating all around and he walked quickly to the exit. People were looking at him with disgust and suddenly they began to shoo him. He searched for his parents but couldn’t find them. In the great Hall it was worst. His kouhais, who are usually running after him, were turning their backs to him with hostility. He ran to his bedroom, locking himself in, trying to understand what happened.
Someone knocked at his door soon and he had to open it for the Dean.
Her face was serious and closed and he knew by instinct what she was about to say.
Opprobrium and social leprosy struck him and he wasn't welcome in this university anymore. The video was probably already on a streaming site as they were talking.
He had a thought about Jun. Did he plan what happened? Did he use Maki and Ohno for his revenge? One thing was for sure, he was surely laughing hard now, wherever he was.
Checkmate. Jun had won.
Nino burst out laugh irrepressibly, losing his mind.
“It's not my fault...” He said to the Dean.
Masaki walked to his mother who was frozen, unable to move from her place.
“Mother, I wanted to introduce Ohno Satoshi, he's the man that I love.”
“Masaki...”
“It's only for the formality. I am not asking you if I'm allowed to be with him, it's because I respect him that I wanted to introduce you. He has the right to be in the light.”
Aiba-san lowered her head, stroking her forehead for a moment. She remained silent for a long time and when she raised the head, her face had changed. Her usual assertiveness and determination disappeared, tears blurred her vision.
“Ohno ...like the famous potter family?”
“Yes Madam.”
She smiled and stood up.
“I'll wait for both of you together at home for tea time. Don't be late.”
Masaki smiled with relief and hugged his lover openly. His mother won't ever change. She didn't lose; she simply took advantage of the situation. Ohno pushed him gently, suddenly embarrassed when Maki tapped his shoulder.
“Thanks Maki-chan.”
“I'm the one to thank you, Ohno-kun. I can't say I feel good for this, perhaps am I as mean as those from the young chaste club after all.”
“Absolutely not. We did the right thing.”
“I'm happy for the both of you.”
“And Sho-kun?” asked Aiba.
“He's fine, he's fine.”
“Good.”
“See you soon.”
“Ja'.”
Maki walked to the exit with a bitter feeling. She was going to be here for the last time but she regretted nothing. Sho was waiting for her at home and she had been accepted in the journalism school, the future was bright.
At the door she heard a “thanks” barely noticeable.
She turned around and saw a man with a black hood hiding his face.
“For what? Who are you?”
He chuckled and went out and Maki forgot him until the moment she saw Sho, leaning on his desk, working. That man couldn't be...
“Okaeri.”
“Tadaima.”
She went to him and pecked on his neck making him laugh. He kept a wrinkle of sadness at the corner of his eyes and sometimes she could see a flash of sadness in his look. But she loved the man he became. This cheerful and sweet man he became. Sometimes she could see the cleverness and the great compassion of his grandmother in him.
“The year is over?”
“Hm.”
“And the ceremony?”
“Boring, like always. Nothing to tell.”
“Do you regret anything?”
“You're waiting for me at home, how could I be nostalgic?”
“You're too good to me.”
“Actually...” She pushed the stack of sheets on the desk to sit on it. “I was thinking about this.”
Sho laughed and grabbed her hips to get her attention, opening her legs in the process, bending towards her lips.
“And?”
“Hm...kiss me again.”
Sho laid her down on the desk and unbuttoned her shorts, tossing it on the floor. He undressed her totally and she was flushed with excitement.
He kissed her flat belly with adoration then spread her tights with a caress, making her moan.
“Wait!” murmured Sho, straightening.
“What are you doing?”
“I'll close the curtains, in case of...”
“In case of what?”
“The other day, a big cat was looking at us.”
Maki laughed, remembering Sho's grimace when he noticed the big ginger cat at the window while she kneeled at his feet. He closed the first thick curtains, turning on a light and walked to the second window.
He stopped short, seeing a man he recognized immediately. The latter smiled and waved at him. Sho returned his smile, appeased.
“What are you doing?”
He closed the curtain rapidly and went back to his wife to be.
“Nothing. He was here again.”
“Who?”
“The cat.”
Sho smirked and brought delicately Maki's foot, kissing her ankle amorously.
