Vol 6 Chapter 11 (2/2)

“Hey now—using your legs wasn’t fair.”

“Shut up; that’s your opinion.” If he didn’t resort to such tactics, after all, he’d never be able to compete with Kiris.h.i.+ma, so it was kind of unavoidable. It seemed it was high time the guy learned that he was sorely mistaken if he thought he would get his way every time they came to blows like this.

“Well, I’m afraid I must inform you that if you think you’ve turned the tables now…you’re quite wrong.”

“Huh? Uwah—!”

Kiris.h.i.+ma grabbed the ankle nearest to him and gave a great tug, causing Yokozawa to b.u.mp his head on the arm rest once more.

“Hey, your toenails are getting kinda long.”

“I—I was just thinking I needed to trim them. Anyway—lemme go!”

“All right then, I’ll cut them for you.”

Yokozawa froze at the unexpected suggestion. “It’s fine! I can do it myself!” He would never have imagined things would work out like this; Kiris.h.i.+ma just grinned down at him, in high spirits—as if he’d just had the greatest idea—in stark contrast to the panicking Yokozawa.

“This sure takes me back! I used to trim Hiyo’s for her all the time.”

“Don’t get carried away! Hey!”

Kiris.h.i.+ma pulled out the box under the coffee table for storing small items and rifled through it until he found the nail clippers, all the while keeping a tight grip on Yokozawa’s ankle. “Now now, settle down. What if my hand should slip?”

“H-hey don’t say scary s.h.i.+t like that…” Kiris.h.i.+ma’s words were clearly a veiled threat; even if the blade wasn’t exposed, nail clippers were still a bladed object.

“Don’t worry; I’m confident in my skills,” he boasted, full of confidence, but Yokozawa felt only apprehension.

“…Wait a minute, aren’t you stupidly awkward?!” Letting a guy who couldn’t even properly peel an apple to cut one’s toenails was justbegging for trouble.

“Being awkward or not doesn’t matter when you’re just tr.i.m.m.i.n.g someone’s nails.”

“The h.e.l.l it doesn’t!” There was a world of difference between the soft nails of a child and the hardened ones of an adult. This was definitely not going to be as easy as Kiris.h.i.+ma thought it would.

“So you don’t trust your lover? This is the sort of thing that can bring about discord in a relations.h.i.+p, you know…”

“…Whatever, have it your way.” He couldn’t see himself succeeding in changing Kiris.h.i.+ma’s mind now, and rather than having finally prepared himself, it was more like the urge to surrender had sapped all his strength. The worst that could happen was that his nail would be cut to the quick.

However, he couldn’t bring himself to actually watch the deed being done, so he settled his head back on the arm of the sofa and turned his gaze up to the ceiling.

“There’s a good boy.”

“………” He’d lost the will to fight back now, though, and just relaxed in defeat, exhausted. Soft click…click… snipping sounds filtered into his ears, but given that he wasn’t in pain (yet, at least), he supposed things weren’t going too horribly.

The last time he’d had someone trim his nails for him had been when he was a child—and the worry and embarra.s.sing discomfort blended together, leaving him feeling quite conflicted. “Just…hurry it up already.”

“Don’t rush me. Is there any particular length you prefer?”

“Not really. So long as they’re not in my way.”

No, what bothered him was how—despite the fact that he was just clipping Yokozawa’s nails—the way Kiris.h.i.+ma was touching him was so…indecent. He was only holding his toes in position, but it was so embarra.s.sing it was almost unbearable. Plus, he couldn’t afford to thoughtlessly move his foot, and he desperately wanted to avoid Kiris.h.i.+ma learning of yet another weak spot on his body.

“Hey, how big are your feet? Are you bigger than me?”

“Twenty-seven.”

“Then I’ve got you beat by a half-centimeter.”

“I’ve got high arches and a wide sole.” He’d never had any issues with sneakers, but finding leather shoes to fit his feet had always been a trial. Even if the length fit him, the width might be too tight, or the opposite.

“I see… Now that you mention it, you do look bulkier than me.”

“…Don’t touch me like that.” Kiris.h.i.+ma had brushed his fingers gently over the sole, as if testing the thickness.

“Sorry—did it tickle?”

“You’re not sorry.” His words might have been ones of apology, but he had a broad grin on his features, which left Yokozawa with a very bad feeling. “Anyway—you’re done now, right?” On lifting his head, he checked to see that all ten toes had been cleanly clipped down, so he sought release from Kiris.h.i.+ma’s grip.

But Kiris.h.i.+ma remained firm. “No way; I haven’t filed them yet.”

“Huh? I’m not a chick. You don’t have to do that.” He couldn’t bear being stuck in this kind of position for much longer. He never did such annoying things as that usually, and while he did take care of his fingernails—being a salesman and all—he’d never been all that concerned with the state of his toes.

“If I just leave them like this, though, a nail might get caught on your sock.”

“That’s never happened even once before.” He always left them as they were after clipping and had never suffered from doing so. People invested in caring for their nails were free to do as they would, but he had no intention of filing them smooth himself.

“But it might happen. And I’ve told you I’ll do it for you, so don’t be shy.”

“I’m not being shy.”

“Come on.” His tone was gentle, but he still kept his grip firm about Yokozawa’s ankle. Despite what protests might come, he clearly had no intention of letting go, enjoying himself at Yokozawa’s expense.

He began to file away at the freshly trimmed toes with the emory board on the back of the clippers. Yokozawa simply watched warily, with Kiris.h.i.+ma looking like he might start humming any moment now; what was he playing at?

“……!” Kiris.h.i.+ma released a puff of air over Yokozawa’s foot to blow away any shavings left behind by the filing, and while the sensation of his nails being filed down had been uncomfortable enough, the feeling of warm breath over the sensitive skin of his foot was unbearably itchy.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” He was done for if Kiris.h.i.+ma thought he was reacting to his touch even the slightest, so he grit his teeth quietly and steeled himself—though his focus was shot now.

“Hey…is this maybe a sweet spot for you?”

“Like h.e.l.l.”

“Really, now?” He slipped a finger between Yokozawa’s toes, rubbing the sensitive skin there, and Yokozawa reacted with a jerk

“Stop it—don’t mess around with other people’s bodies!” But it was too late now.

“Looks like I found someone’s weak point~ I never would’ve pegged you to have ticklish feet.” Kiris.h.i.+ma was positively br.i.m.m.i.n.g with glee now, and Yokozawa grit his teeth in defeat, realizing he couldn’t refute the accusation. He’d completely forgotten he was ticklish there. But tickling feet was a childish game—not something grown men ought to be playing at.

“Try anything funny and I’ll kick your a.s.s.”

“By ‘funny’, would you mean…something like this?” He leaned down to press his lips gently to the jutting ankle bone, and Yokozawa inhaled softly—if he said yes, then things would only escalate from here, but even if he denied it, Kiris.h.i.+ma would likely not stop at this point. As he groped for a response, though, Kiris.h.i.+ma gave a sharp tug on his foot, pulling his head from where it rested against the arm of the sofa and sending him toppling over.

“What the—h.e.l.l are you doing?!”

“Well if I don’t spring things on you, then you won’t be a good boy and let me pin you, right?” Kiris.h.i.+ma had his hands braced on either side of Yokozawa’s head, blocking out the light from the ceiling above and casting his entire field of vision into shadow.

“What about my nails?” The nail clippers were sitting on the coffee table now, and Yokozawa bit back the urge to complain Who was the one who made up some c.o.c.k and bull reason just so he’d have an excuse to fondle my feet?

“That’s hardly important now.”

“That’s certainly not what you were saying earlier!” He could only gape in shock at the selfish whimsy with which Kiris.h.i.+ma was carrying on. It was impossible to be angry given how unabashedly ridiculous the guy was behaving.

“I’m taking into account the mood.”

“No, you’re getting carried away!”

“Aww, you’re too kind.”

“That wasn’t a compliment.” This witty repartee Kiris.h.i.+ma liked to engage in was utterly exhausting; Kiris.h.i.+ma was probably enjoying the whole thing, so all it amounted to was a futile battle on Yokozawa’s part.

“Come on, things were just starting to get good… Show me a little love, will ya?”

“What part of this looks good…?” He’d been pinned down against his will—that certainly didn’t sound like things were ‘getting good’ to Yokozawa.

“Well you’re not really as p.i.s.sed off as you’d like me to believe, right?”

“What’s that supposed to…”

“You know fully well your scary expressions won’t work on me—not with the way your cheeks flush at the drop of a hat at times like this.”

“—!!” At Kiris.h.i.+ma’s comment, Yokozawa swiftly brought a hand up to s.h.i.+eld his face from sight—though at this point, he would’ve rather just scratched out Kiris.h.i.+ma’s eyes entirely.

“And what exactly are you hoping to accomplish, hiding your head like that?”

“……!” Kiris.h.i.+ma slipped a hand up the cuff of the shorts Yokozawa was wearing, kneading his thigh suggestively, and Yokozawa grit his teeth at the sensation akin to being ticklish once again rearing its head. “Are you…having fun groping my hard legs?”

“Of course I am. Doesn’t it feel good?”

“No comment.”

“That’s always your fall-back response when things aren’t going your way. Though I don’t suppose I mind all that much, since I interpret it as I like.”

“Ngh, don’t…get so full of yourself…”

“It’s just the two of us; I’m all but expected to be a little giddy,” he whispered gruffly, pressing his lips just below Yokozawa’s ear, and a trembling shudder rushed down his spine.

“…Let’s at least change locations. I don’t want to do it here,” he allowed, finally giving in. If he couldn’t get Kiris.h.i.+ma to stop, he at least wanted to move to the bedroom. This was s.p.a.ce he shared with Hiyori in their day-to-day lives—and he didn’t want to do thissort of thing there.

“What, it’s too embarra.s.sing if we don’t do it in a proper bed?”

“Yeah, sure, that’s it.” The reason wasn’t important—or so he thought, responding easily to Kiris.h.i.+ma’s question. But the expression Kiris.h.i.+ma fixed him with in return said he wasn’t satisfied with that reasoning at all. “…What’s with that face?”

“It’s no fun if you’re not being fussy and embarra.s.sed.”

Yokozawa fixed him with an expression of utter shock that Kiris.h.i.+ma could admit something like that with a straight face. “You…are a real pain in the a.s.s, you know that?” Any time he expressed his discomfort, the guy always told him not to be so shy—and yet now, when he was accepting things easily, he was ordered to be embarra.s.sed? There was just no winning when you humored a man as inconsistent in his words and actions as Kiris.h.i.+ma.

“Yeah, I think so too.”

“Don’t say that with a straight face!” Yokozawa snapped in a sharp retort, and Kiris.h.i.+ma let out a loud bark of laughter.

“But don’t you think you’re partly to blame as well, for going so easy on such an annoying guy as me?”

“Don’t try to push the blame on me!”

“Aww, you’re cute when you’re angry~”

“—!!” He was at a loss for how to deal with someone like Kiris.h.i.+ma, always ready with some witty comeback. But maybe it was times just like this, when he couldn’t bring himself to really blow up at the guy, that he was exactly as Kiris.h.i.+ma described: far too easy on him. He finally gave up any further protests, exhausted.

“Nngh…”

It always seemed like, no matter how much he fought it, things always went Kiris.h.i.+ma’s way in the end—and after much goading and coaxing, here he was, straddling Kiris.h.i.+ma’s hips. “Hnngh…” He held his breath against the mounting pressure of something being forced into his body. Perhaps the reason it was still so hard going, after all this time and so many joinings, was because this wasn’t exactly a natural act in the first place.

The fact that they were cresting that hurdle in an effort to achieve physical pleasure, though, just went to show what l.u.s.ty creatures humans were.

“……!”

“We changed locations, just as requested, so let me hear that sweet voice.”

Kiris.h.i.+ma gave his straining thighs a playful slap, and Yokozawa fixed him with an exhausted glare. The way he spoke all high-and-mighty grated horribly, and he struggled to recall just when Kiris.h.i.+ma had found himself in a position where he had the right to make requests.

“I’m…the one who…finally gave in here.”

“What’re you talking about? I compromised for you. Well whatever; I guess we’ll just call that a difference of opinion.” He spoke as if he’d just concluded the matter one-sidedly.

“Why…do you always act so d.a.m.n self-important…?”

“Can’t help it; it’s just my nature.”

“So contrary…”

“Hey, you gave up, right?; or else you wouldn’t let me f.u.c.k you after all that song and dance.”

“Wha…?!”

“So why don’t we stifle the conversation for now?”

“Huh?!” He opened his mouth to deliver a thorough tongue las.h.i.+ng to the irritatingly leering Kiris.h.i.+ma—when a sharp thrust pulled a moan from his throat instead. He’d completely forgotten the position he was in; sure, he might have been the one looking down on Kiris.h.i.+ma physically, but Kiris.h.i.+ma was most a.s.suredly the one in control of the situation.

How on earth had he let himself fall in love with such an irritatingman?

People liked to go on about the ‘weakness of love’, and he did sometimes wonder if he’d made the right decision, but it was too late to turn back now.

“For the time being, focus on the task at hand.”

“Ah—ah! Nn…!” Kiris.h.i.+ma began to thrust into him from below, and he lost all faculties of speech as the pleasure shuddering up and down his spine paralyzed his limbs. He was out of breath, exhausted now, and Kiris.h.i.+ma took him by the hips and began to lift and lower him in swift succession. The stimulation seemed to wring from him a moan he would never have believed came from his own throat.

“Don’t clench up so tight.”

“Not…my fault…” He could hardly be expected to retain control over his body in such a situation. Spangles of pleasure shot up his spine with each punching thrust, but the sounds filtering from his lips couldn’t form coherent responses.

“Hey, that’s your body there.”

“Nngh…aah…!” Kiris.h.i.+ma used the abdominal muscles he’d worked so hard to cultivate and increased the intensity of his upward thrusts, gripping Yokozawa by the hips to keep him from fleeing and pounding relentlessly up into his body.

He could only hold on and ride out the wave of punching thrusts, the generously applied lubricant contributing to the obscene squelching sounds echoing around the room.

“Try doing a little more work yourself; surely you’re not giving upalready, right?”

“…Your funeral,” he growled, fixing Kiris.h.i.+ma with a glare as he goaded Yokozawa on, and promptly collected himself, pulling his exhausted, pleasure-wracked body back into line, and began his counterattack.

As the week started, Yokozawa found himself with fewer and fewer opportunities to interact directly with Kiris.h.i.+ma, until several days had pa.s.sed without them speaking face to face at all. They texted and e-mailed, sure, but they hadn’t actually spoken in days.

Hiyori was spending the week with her grandparents, or on some evenings, Kiris.h.i.+ma’s mother came to spend the night at their place, apparently. As such, Yokozawa couldn’t exactly pop in like usual, so he hadn’t been able to see Hiyori or Sorata of late either.

However, this was hardly unusual; even Kiris.h.i.+ma, who made every effort to leave work on time each day, was swamped with work at the end of every month’s cycle. With the upcoming fair to worry about on top of everything, Yokozawa hadn’t a moment to breathe either.

“…Huh?”

He struggled to grasp what his boss had just told him—but the cogs in his mind had ground to a halt. He’d been called into his superior’s office under pretense of needing to ‘chat’.

Ignoring Yokozawa’s gaping confusion, the man continued: “This is all still under the table, you understand—nothing’s quite set in stone yet, but we’re confident you’re the man for the job. We’d like you to put those skills you’ve honed working in the Comics Division to better use elsewhere. So, that being the case, you should probably prepare yourself.”

“I…see…”

“Though of course, nothing’s going to be happening until at least after this fair’s over, so you shouldn’t worry too much over it for the foreseeable future. Just focus on what’s on your plate for now.”

“…Yes, sir…” he responded dully, leaving the office in a daze.

His mind was utterly blank—this had come completely out of left field. Pathetically enough, he still hadn’t quite managed to wrap his head around what had just happened.

As his boss put it, they were thinking of changing up the division he was a.s.signed to; he’d be moved from Comics, where he worked now, to the Literature division. Even if it wasn’t set in stone just yet, the fact that they’d brought up the suggestion to him meant it was fairly close to being settled now.

And it wasn’t exactly a strange idea; quite the opposite, in fact—it was stranger still that he’d only ever worked in Comics since joining the company.

“Literature, huh…”

He wasn’t complaining about the position he’d be filling, by any means. It was only…he’d been involved in Comics for so long, so he couldn’t shake the feeling that it’d be tough saying goodbye to the job.

There was nothing to think about; he only had one option. As an employee working for a company, he had no choice but to comply with its policies. He wouldn’t always have the luxury of doing exactly the work he wanted to be doing. His salary was earned by doing his job as an employee of this company, so if Human Resources decided that he ought to be working somewhere else, he had a duty to do as ordered. Even if it wasn’t a decision he was happy with.

On the bright side, at least he wasn’t being transferred out of Sales altogether; as he saw it, Sales and Marketing were his calling. He could never have cut it in the Editing or Graphics divisions, which required some measure of creative talent, nor did he think himself fit doing deskwork in the production departments. A job that called for some legwork was definitely the best fit for someone who really threw himself into his work, like Yokozawa.

“Oh, welcome back, Yokozawa-san! What did the boss want?”

Yokozawa froze for a moment at Henmi’s innocent question. “Huh? Oh, uh—just wanted to know how the fair preparations are going.” They’d discussed the fair, after all, so it wasn’t lie—but it was probably best not to bring up the prospect of changing divisions with Henmi until things were settled.

“Just one more month until it starts! I’m getting dizzy from all the work that’s left to be done, though. It’s hard enough putting together a normal fair, but this time around we’re involving everyone!” Genres typically held their own fairs separately at the end of the year, but this year, the entire company of Marukawa Shoten was cooperating to put together a fair—as dictated by the company president, intent on tearing down the divisions between genres. He wanted readers to be exposed to genres they might never have experienced before and had several ideas on how to go about such a grand endeavor.

However, while most idle onlookers might see the fair as a fun, flashy ‘festival’, for Yokozawa—responsible for putting the whole thing together—it was a source of much trial and tribulation.

“I suppose; though, while I wasn’t sure we’d be able to pull it off initially, it seems to be coming together nicely. Gotta start putting my weight into getting Za Kan off the ground soon, though.” Along with the winter fair coming up, plans were already in the works for a separate promotion of back issues of Za Kan and its upcoming movie release. That, combined with the fact that a new volume would be released just before the movie came out, meant the campaign would be a showy one indeed.

This would be a great opportunity to take advantage of the movie’s release to increase comic sales; they’d slap a new cover on older volumes, run related promotions in the new volume and magazine, and dominate corners of cooperating shops. And it would be impossible to succeed with this plan without the aid of the editing department. Now that they’d secured agreements to cooperate from several bookstore chains, they were planning on going country-wide with the promotion—and production of posters and panels for the campaign was already underway.

“Oh yes! There’s that as well, isn’t there! They’re in the final phase of review for the movie now, aren’t they? I’m excited to see it in theaters!”

“They’ll have the advance premiere soon.”

“Are you going to see it?”

“If I can find the time, yeah.”

“That’s great! I sure would like to go, too…”

“Well lucky for you, I was told to invite some others from Sales, so pa.s.s the word around to anyone else who’d like to check it out.”

“Awesome! I’m really excited now!”

“Seems they’d like to hear some unbiased thoughts, so be sure to get a good look.”

“I’ll keep both eyes peeled as if I were a real film critic ready to write a scathing review! Oh, that reminds me—whatever happened with the plans for that promotion involving the new packaging and volume releases?”

“Nothing’s set in stone yet; everyone’s got their hands full prepping for the movie release. Though I’d really like to at least get some rough idea of their plans…”

The Publis.h.i.+ng and Animation divisions were completely separate, which meant their Sales representatives were separate as well. Media mix involved cooperative involvement of multiple forms of media—which required working with divisions they’d never met before in order to get work done. That was easier said than done, of course, but the payoff was substantial.

“Shall I put together a few proposals myself? The target audience is readers of the original canon, correct? I don’t expect they’ll stray too far from there.”

“Yeah, you’re right; scrounge something up if you have the time. We can’t let this opportunity to boost sales slip by.”

“I’ll do my best!” Henmi returned brightly, br.i.m.m.i.n.g with confidence and energy. He’d been something of an airhead (albeit a motivated one) when he’d first joined the company, but by now, Henmi was quite reliable, and Yokozawa reflected that he didn’t really have much left to teach the guy.

“You’ve been in pretty high spirits lately; something good happen?” Reflecting back now, Henmi had seemed to be in a suspiciously good mood all week. He was always great at lifting spirits, but lately he’d been practically walking on suns.h.i.+ne.

“Oh, you noticed??” His eyes sparkled, and Yokozawa found himself walking right into his trap; he apparently was more than eager to discuss his personal life.

“Not so much noticed as…well, it was pretty obvious…” Yokozawa was starting to regret even asking; he should’ve just kept his big mouth shut.

“Actually…I got myself a girlfriend! I met her through a mutual friend, but she’s just wonderful! We get along, we love the same authors—”

“All right, I’ve had enough of hearing you sing her praises already,” he cut off, stopping Henmi before he got going on what would likely be a never-ending tangent.

Henmi dropped the subject with a pout. “Aww, you could at least hear me out a little…”

“Yeah yeah, some other time.” They couldn’t waste time on long conversations at the office; the workplace was exactly that: a place for doing work.

For a moment, Kiris.h.i.+ma’s face popped into his mind; a pang shot through his chest when he considered all of the ridiculous stunts the guy had pulled thus far, but at least it hadn’t started to affect his job performance. As he saw it, though, the office was a place where one ought to avoid such extravagant displays, and he always made every effort to resist Kiris.h.i.+ma’s advances; it wasn’t like he gave involuntarily.

He then immediately realized, here, how desperately he was trying to excuse his actions, which only served to depress him even further.

“All right—but you definitely have to listen the next time we go out drinking!”

“Why on earth do you want to gab about her that much?”

“I dunno—I guess I just want others to share in my happiness?”

“Then h.e.l.l no,” he returned, immediately withdrawing his previous offer of drinks. Having just secured a girlfriend, Henmi seemed to be all but sprouting flowers from the top of his head.

“Ah, so mean!! You’re the one who asked, Yokozawa-san!”

“I never said I wanted to listen to you drone on and on about your girlfriend.” He’d asked what had Henmi in high spirits, sure, b