Chapter 1: Love Rivals and Irises (1)

Translator Note: From the top-left, clockwise, the characters as pictured are Tatsuki, Kotarou, and Shin.

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The main TV show that he worked on aired Mondays through Fridays, but it wasn’t unusual to come into work on the weekends for one thing or another. There was almost always someone in the staff room, and a lot of times after he finished his work, he would stay to talk, watch a DVD, or eat—kind of like hanging out after school with classmates.

That day Shin was chatting with someone he had worked with when another co-worker came up to them holding a small A5-sized¹ booklet and asked, “Hey, hey, have you seen this?” It was a monthly magazine and newsletter that Asahi TV would put out for their employees. It was only distributed to full employees at the network, but most people never really read it and would leave it laying out somewhere. That was how outsourced staff like Shin and the others could read it. Anyway, it wasn’t like company secrets were published in it. It consisted mainly of congratulation and condolence announcements, HR news, and company golf tournament results—in short, it was no different from a school newspaper. Very few people took an interest in it, but apparently there was something different about this particular issue.

“Look here, look here.”

The booklet was opened to a page that said, We’ve added new members to the team. Shin did wonder to himself, New employees in October? But depending on the year, the network would hire a handful of people in the fall to help supplement their teams. There were photos and profiles for one man and two women printed on the page, and the co-worker pointed at the photo of the man.

“He’s supposed to work with us at The News starting Monday. That’s what someone from HR told me.”

“Hnn.”

“Let me see.” People gathered around to look at the picture.

“Kids sure look like models these days,” Shin commented, and people laughed at him.

“What are you saying, Nacchan? He’s like the same age as you.”

“Huh? Really? …Oh, so he is.”

The birth year was written under the name Megumi Kotarou. He was 27 this year. The man was handsome enough that someone commented, “So he’s a regular employee and not an announcer, huh?” Maybe it was because of the stiff-looking portrait, but he looked kind of stubborn and headstrong with his lips drawn shut, and his stoic bearing made him seem like a samurai. Not that Shin knew what a real samurai was like.

People started egging on the women.

“He should be easier to reel than an announcer. Why don’t you try asking him out?”

“Uhhh, you think he’d be okay with a girl who hasn’t bathed in three days?”

“You think he’d be okay with a girl who has 50 pairs of underwear from the convenience store because there’s no time to do the laundry?”

“Uh, anyhow, remember to bathe first.”

“I’ve been stuck in editing hell, okay?”

According to his profile, Megumi Kotarou had graduated from college in the U.S. and had been working there.

“So he has international experience.”

“What is someone like that coming here for?”

“He’ll probably start as an AD.”

“What~? Really? …It’ll be weird though…”

It was a sentiment that everyone probably agreed with. Especially with his status as a network employee, the prestigious academic background, and higher than expected age. Plus he had worked for some kind of trading company prior to this, so he probably had no experience in the TV industry. Even if someone was a little dumb, they could be an AD if they were young, reasonable, and had a lot of grit. Honestly speaking, it was better if they were a little hotheaded. More so if they were stubborn and headstrong.

“He looks like the ambitious type.”

“Since he lived in the U.S., you think he probably likes house parties?”

“Or when he snaps, he reverts to English?”

“Like all, ‘Why, Japanese people!?’”²

“Uh, ya think it too, ya know.”

“He looks like the type to dash off a lawsuit or something after seeing this black, exploitative industry.”

“Huh, is it really that bad? Yeah, the hours are all over the place, an’ it’s long, an’ the wages are low, an’ ya need a bit o’ stamina, but that’s all it is though?”

“Nacchan, wake up and smell the coffee…”

“Well, he’s a network employee. He won’t be driven as hard as us.”

After they had some fun with the gossip, they went out for a quick dinner together. When everyone said their goodbyes, Shin headed over to Tatsuki’s apartment, even though he knew that Tatsuki wouldn’t be there. Shin was the one who had helped him get tickets to a live comedy show tonight when Tatsuki had said that his old friends from school wanted to go to one. Shin let himself into the apartment with his spare key and pulled out his laptop to do some work on the coffee table.

He sent emails for interview requests and researched potential locations for upcoming shoots, and before long it was almost midnight. He wondered why administrative work seemed to suck up more of his time than any of his other duties. Shin cracked a yawn and stretched his arms over his head for a moment, and then he saw a LINE message from Tatsuki that said, I’ll be back soon. Depending on his mood, there were times when Tatsuki would stop by one more place for drinks before heading home, so Shin didn’t take the message too seriously.

Time for a break.

Shin helped himself to a can of beer from the refrigerator and watched some TV while he drank by himself, but then he started getting sleepy. He wanted to stay up and wait for Tatsuki to get back, but his eyelashes turned into weights that seemed to drag his eyelids down. Ah, crap. Maybe just a little, he reasoned with himself as he closed his laptop. He put his head down on the coffee table and closed his eyes.

“Nacchan.”

Tatsuki was calling him.

“Welcome back. Ya have fun?”

“Yeah, but it’s more fun with you, Nacchan.”

“Ya just sayin’ that.”

“But it’s true.”

Shin wasn’t as annoyed as he let off, and he giggled.

What the? That tickles. 

Like physically. Something was tickling the back of his neck. The sensation felt like a feather brushing against him as it grew stronger and stronger, and the soft, floaty feeling turned into more of an ache and a tingle of excitement. The ache was faint, like something slightly visible yet slightly hidden behind a thin curtain, and an indescribable frustration whispered through his entire body.

Something brushed behind his ear, and the chill woke him in an instant. The first things he felt were a heat draped over his back, covering him in warmth, and a pressure pinning his body, making it hard to breathe. Shin lifted his head from the table, and it looked like there were two mounds bulging underneath his T-shirt. There was no way he could have suddenly grown breasts.

“…Nnn?”

“Oh, are you awake?”

Shin couldn’t really grasp the current situation of his surroundings, but he heard Tatsuki’s voice from behind him.

“Huh?”

Shin turned his head, but Tatsuki was too close to him, and he could only see the bridge of his nose. Then he finally realized that Tatsuki was holding him in an embrace. He also realized that Tatsuki’s hands were underneath his shirt touching bare skin.

“…Whatta ya think ya doin’?”

“Well, you were asleep, Nacchan, when I got back.”

“Okay.”

“I touched and poked you, but you wouldn’t wake up.”

“An’ then?”

“And then, well, this happened.”

Tatsuki ran his hands up the sides of Shin’s body and over his ribs, and Shin shivered at his touch.

“Ah—”

Shin wanted to bend back and let the sensations escape upwards, but Tatsuki held him tight and he couldn’t move. The bubbles of stimulation underneath his skin had nowhere to go, and they settled somewhere around his belly.

“…Even though you were asleep, you responded really nicely for me.”

Tatsuki nudged the back of Shin’s ear with his nose and pressed a kiss there. That was probably what had woken him up.

“Hey… ngh.”

“You were moaning quietly, ‘Nn, nnnh,’ and hitching your breath… It turned me on.”

“Ya molester!”

“Don’t worry, I won’t do it to anyone else.”

“Ya better not! Anyway, what’s with ya? Are ya drunk?”

Shin ignored the fevered touch of his palms and the scent of sweetness mixed in with his whispered breaths.

“Yeah, I’m fine, I’m fine. I have no problem getting it up.”

“Uh, that ain’t what I’m talkin’ about.” Shin started squirming and complained, “Anyway, let go.”

“Nacchan.” Tatsuki nibbled on an ear and searched for his nipples with both hands. Shin could feel his temperature suddenly spiking.

“Ahh… ngh.”

His nipples were perked up far harder than he had realized, and Shin felt Tatsuki kneading them with his fingers. His body had long been awake before his mind, and it was as honestly delighted as Tatsuki had said.

“No…”

Shin could feel Tatsuki’s heartbeat against his back, and it made his own pulse race faster. It was pounding. Tatsuki’s short nails repeatedly flicked the little buds, and a cry rose from his chest to his throat, and Shin couldn’t hold back his voice.

“Ah, ahhh.”

“Nacchan, get on your knees.”

Shin laid there with his arms resting on the coffee table as Tatsuki pulled his hips up, but then Tatsuki moved his hand from Shin’s stomach down to his belt buckle.

“What? No…”

Shin stilled the hand without thinking, and it felt like the tips of Tatsuki’s fingers were filled with the racing of his pulse. Shin wondered if his own fingers were the same.

“What’s wrong?” Tatsuki asked, his other hand pushing up Shin’s T-shirt to expose his back.

“I-I… dun wanna… do it here…”

“Why not? We’re not outside, in a car, or at the office though?”

“No way, I can’t!”

Dun give such crazy, extreme examples.

“I’m too much o’ a beginner, okay…”

They had only started dating for about two weeks. Not only could they still count the number of times that they had sex, but Shin had no sexual experience with anyone except with Tatsuki.

“Yeah.”

Tatsuki traced a finger down the length of Shin’s spine and tickled the area where it met his hips, sending a quiet heat to his legs.

“That’s why you should learn all the different ways that will make you feel good.”

“No, I said—”

It was hard to call his resistance “firm,” and Tatsuki slipped past his hand to undo his belt buckle and jeans, pulling them with his underwear down to his knees. The fabric caught on his cock that was standing at half-mast, and Shin buried his face in his arms in complete embarrassment.

“Ah…!”

A hand reached between his legs, grabbed his cock, and started pulling him off.

“Nnh, ah, ahhh.”

Shin immediately passed the point where he needed to come in order to get relief. Tatsuki’s thumb and index finger formed a ring around his cock, the pressure exquisite, as he pumped him back and forth. The veins of his cock swelled, and every time Tatsuki approached the narrowed part of the head, Shin’s hips shook and he arched his back in pleasure.

“No, aaaah… ngh.”

The soft pad of a finger rubbed back and forth against the sensitive underside, and Shin’s knees almost buckled. He desperately clung to the coffee table to keep himself up. Tatsuki’s scheming fingers gradually grew wetter and slick, a clear fluid seeping out as he rubbed the little slit at the tip. The pre-come smeared and coated his movements, the noises absolutely obscene, and Shin turned limp and boneless, all because of the assault to his ears and his cock.

“Ahh… I can’t… Noo…”

“Nacchan.”

Maybe he still wasn’t used to it yet, because when Shin heard Tatsuki’s voice laden with heat and desire, he wanted to cover up his ears. It was so different from how Tatsuki normally sounded that he couldn’t stand it a second longer. The labels innocent and naive didn’t apply to Tatsuki, but he had such an honest cheerfulness and exuberance about him that this Tatsuki, shroud in an ambience of night, seemed like a wholly different man. It frightened him, and he wanted to ask, Who are ya? I dun know who ya are. It frightened him, but at the same time he wanted Tatsuki so much that it hurt. Shin wanted Tatsuki to show him more of the faces he never showed to people, more his voice. This contradictory lust only grew stronger. Just the thought that maybe Tatsuki burned with the same heat as he did, that he wanted Shin for himself—Shin felt as though his heart would burn itself up.

“…You’re responding here too. Can you tell?”

Tatsuki pressed a finger to the pucker at the back.

“It’s been impatient every time I rubbed you in the front.”

“No— Ya lyin’, no, I’m not…”

Shin could feel himself taking little breaths there, like it was a separate organism, but he didn’t want to admit it.

“Really? …Here.”

“Aaah…!”

Tatsuki pressed a lube-smeared finger to his hole, and it happily accepted the moisture inside him.

“It’s so hot and filthy…”

“It’s cold, ya dumb nut… ngh.”

“But that’s not the only thing it is, right?”

“Aaahh…”

A slicked-up finger entered him at a place that normally would not open from the outside. The pressure turned into a moan that escaped from his throat. Shin tightened up on the invader in reflex, but its short, slippery strokes hijacked his body, and soon he melted, soft and pliant, as if he had fallen under hypnosis.

“Noo, aahh.”

His inner walls clenched up, moistening little by little, the finger moving fitfully inside him, enticing. Maybe Tatsuki heard his body complain somewhere deep inside that it wasn’t enough, because he thrust his finger deeper, twisting and spreading him open, the noises wet and lewd.

“No, I can’t, ngh…!”

The finger turned inside of him in the opposite direction, scraping against the heat source hidden underneath his belly.

“No, noo… Aaah, ah—…”

His hole squeezed up tight, and like pulling a trigger, he came. Tatsuki continued to play with the little spot, and it swelled and ached like a bug bite that wouldn’t heal. Shin clung to the coffee table and writhed at the stimulation. He would rather hold Tatsuki than this hard, inanimate object, but it would likely set off even more of Shin’s carnal instincts.

“Noo… Ah, aaahh…”

“Nacchan, can I put it in?”

“No, not yet. I can’t.”

The aftershocks of his orgasm were still too much for his senses, and he asked for some respite because he didn’t think he could take the extra stimulation, but Tatsuki sucked kisses to his back and groped a pert, little nipple all while his finger was still inside him—Shin couldn’t take the over-sensitization and his knees almost collapsed.

“Ahh! No, I said I can’t yet…”

“Hnn, okay.”

Shin wasn’t sure how much Tatsuki had actually understood him, because he pulled out his fingers without any consideration—in others words, he made Shin squirm with arousal—and then he pressed his cock right above the wet, little hole.

“Huh?”

“I’ll wait until you’re ready, Nacchan, so tell me when it’s okay. I don’t think I can stay still while I’m waiting though.”

“Ahh…”

Tatsuki dragged his cock up the crack and over the tailbone. Shin was painfully aware of how big and hard Tatsuki was through the thin stretch of skin. It felt completely different from his other parts, and it glided eagerly against him, the veins wrapped around it fat and distinct, and it was almost scary. It rubbed up against Shin’s bare skin, amplifying its arousal.

“…You’re so smooth here. It feels good.”

Even Tatsuki’s voice had in it a sense of a live animal—blood hot and pounding. The tip of his cock had swelled even bigger, smearing fluid against him. As soon as he had said it, the smoothness had disappeared, but Tatsuki didn’t seem to mind it, rubbing harder against Shin as his breathing grew ragged.

“Ah— I feel like I can come just like this…”

The pre-come slid down the curve of Shin’s body to reach a little, ruddy place. His hole twitched, needy, trying to swallow it up, the movement fanning the flames inside his belly, and Shin yelled without thinking, “No, dun!”

“Hmm?”

Come inside me, not on my skin.

“I-It’s okay now… So ya can do it…”

The end of his plea trailed off to near silence, but Tatsuki seemed to have received the message.

“Nacchan, give me your hand.”

Tatsuki grabbed an arm and guided it behind Shin’s back. His fingertips touched Tatsuki’s arousal.

Ahh, it’s so hard and stiff.

It made Shin happy.

“I’m going to put it in. Let me see your face.”

“Ahh—”

Shin twisted his body to gaze at Tatsuki over his shoulder as he accepted him inside. Tatsuki’s gaze glowed with lust and impatience, piercing him, and Shin shivered, enthralled, wondering how he looked to Tatsuki.

“Aaah… Ahh, ah…”

The position and the activity should have been hard on his body, but the desire melted deep inside him mixed with the desire from the cock driving into him, deepening it with a brand-new hue. Even though Shin knew that it was only a small part, just the tip, the moment when Tatsuki started pushing into him, he felt like he had already taken all of Tatsuki inside his body. If Tatsuki felt just as aroused, pushing his way into all of Shin, it would be wonderful. He called out “Nacchan” so sweetly that Shin thought that maybe he was. It was enough that Tatsuki gave him this dream that he wanted with his heart.

“Nnnhh, ah, no, noo.”

His walls, slick with artificial lubricant, promptly sucked down on Tatsuki. It felt so good that Shin almost hallucinated that it was an organ designed just to do this. It let go just to suck him harder again, shamefully indecent in its need for more.

“Ahh, aaah…”

“Nacchan, which do you like better? When I’m thrusting in or pulling out?”

“Are ya dumb…?”

“I feel like your voice sounds a little different, so I just wondered.”

“I-I dun know…”

“Anyway, I like both.”

Was Tatsuki referring to Shin’s voice or to his own pleasure? The savage desire felt just as good shoving into his hole as it did when it reached as far as it could go and ground into him before pulling back out. But Shin felt most aroused when he could taste Tatsuki hot and desperate from the sex they had together—when he felt Tatsuki growing bigger inside him or when Tatsuki shuddered just before he came. Shin had nothing to compare to, because Tatsuki was his first, but it was different for Tatsuki.

Does my body feel good for ya? Will ya want to do this with me again?

“No, ahh, ngh, Minagawa…”

Part of him didn’t ask because he was too embarrassed to, but Shin knew that Tatsuki would laugh and answer, “Of course.” But despite that, Shin would have the same thoughts over and over again. There was a simple sentiment that drove the question, Do you love me?

Minagawa, I love ya so much.

“Nhh… Just a little deeper…”

“—Ah!”

Tatsuki grabbed Shin’s other arm by the elbow and hauled him back, and Shin felt like he was suspended in the air above the coffee table. He kneeled there swaying, taking Tatsuki’s thrusts, unable to escape this position, and his voice shot up an octave.

“Noo, this is… scary.”

“It’s okay, just relax. I won’t let go of you.”

But when Shin relaxed, pleasure assaulted him until it was all he could feel. Chills climbed up his spine, then came back down timed to the rhythm, transforming into a blood flow that collected in his cock. Shin arched his head backwards, his back following the same curve of Tatsuki’s cock dug deep inside his tight, pliant channel. His senses refused to return to him—he couldn’t feel any pain from the fingers digging into his arms.

“No— I can’t, I’m ’bout to… ngh.”

“Yeah, me too. Just a little more.”

The obscene sounds between them picked up pace until no pauses or breaks could be heard. It was all dirty and filthy things that completely occupied his ears—the wet echoes, his own moaning, and Tatsuki’s heavy breathing. The sounds penetrated the depths of his body, vibrating all of his insides, making him twitch, the hidden resonance compelling the tip of his cock, already leaking, to spurt his seed, heavier and thicker.

“Ah, aaah, ahh…!”

Shin’s arousal focused on just a single point that he needed to reach and clenched down tight with Tatsuki inside of him. Flecks of gold flickered behind his eyelids—maybe they were afterimages of the irises he saw when Tatsuki gazed at him the moment they connected together.

“Nnh… Yes, you feel so good, Nacchan…”

“Nnn…”

Tatsuki held Shin tightly until his body, filled with heated release, finally cooled down.

“Oh, by the way, a new employee is supposed ta be comin’ tomorrow. Well, it’s today now.”

Shin had recovered, and lying in bed, he gave Tatsuki the news he had heard earlier.

“What? To our show?”

“Yeah.”

“Hmm, so a mid-career hire? I was outside on assignment the day they went around and introduced themselves. I don’t even know the name or face. Are they a woman?”

“A guy. Same age as us.”

“Seriously? There’s an open spot on our rec baseball team. Think he can play?”

His interest was entirely on the level of a grade schooler.

“I dunno… I’m tryin’ to remember his name, but I forgot it.”

“Well, we’ll meet him at the office anyway. Oh, right, thanks for the tickets for tonight’s show. It was really great. My friends loved it too and wanted to thank you for it.”

“It’s fine, it’s nothin’.”

“It should be fun. Come and drink with us. Are you free next Saturday? Yeah? All right, I’ll let them know~”

Tatsuki somehow made plans for them both.

“What…?”

“Don’t worry, they’ll all really nice~”

“I didna think that they wouldna be, but if they’re all as loud as ya, it’ll be exhaustin’.”

“I don’t know, they all say that being with me is loud and exhausting though.”

“Hmm, maybe it’s okay then.”

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean!?”

“No idea… Oh, right, I just remembered the guy’s name. The new hire. It’s Megumi. Megumi-kun.”

Shin was nice enough to tell him, but Tatsuki had already closed his eyes. What a nice and happy life—enjoying a night out, coming home to attack him in his sleep, doing whatever he pleased with him, and falling asleep afterwards. But Shin thought his own life had become a lot more fun since getting involved with Tatsuki.

“See ya tomorrow… Good night.”

And let’s do our best at work.

Shin pressed a kiss to Tatsuki’s bangs covering his forehead. There was no sign of Tatsuki opening his eyes, but he fumbled around to pull Shin into his arms. “Ya crushin’ me,” Shin grumbled into Tatsuki’s chest with a smile.

—–Translated by daydrop. Please read on the original site at daydrop.nowaki.net.

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1. A5 size – 14.8 cm x 21.0 cm, or approximately 5.5”x8”.
2. You can imagine the expression like this: ლ(´Д`ლ)

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