Vol 1 Chapter 2 (2/2)

“Right? I knew you’d like him!”

“Oh you know me so well, Dear!”

Rei stood there in silent confusion, glancing back and forth in shock between the grinning couple. He was certainly glad that Nagisa seemed eager to welcome him into their home now, yes, but…just…

’Are…all celebrities like this…? Seiya’s suggestion that I be his a.s.sistant came out the blue as well, so maybe…’

They just seemed so flighty, or to at least have a very different set of values from Rei, and while this att.i.tude was much better than finding them cruel-hearted, when Rei realized that he’d be working with people like this every day from now on…a whisper of worry began to bubble up.

“Ooh, but don’t you think he might be more useful headlining for the agency?”

“True enough—how about it, Rei-kun?”

“Eh?” Rei’s head tilted in confusion, not really grasping what was being asked.

“I’d initially thought about hiring you as an a.s.sistant—but perhaps you might like to be one of our agency’s stars, instead?”

“I—wha—?!”

A star? Rei hesitated, never having expected to be offered such an opportunity, and quickly shook his head. “A—a star, that’s just—out of the question! Please let me be your a.s.sistant!”

“You heard the man.”

“Eeh…? Aww, boo. Although—it certainly will be nice to come home after a long day of work and find a pretty face waiting for me!” Nagisa’s lips had pursed into a disappointed frown for a moment, before quickly breaking into a grin as she found the silver lining to the matter. Rei, though, had no idea of how to respond to the concept of ‘being nice’ just by being there—and as he offered a nervous smile in return, a clatter from behind their group caught his attention.

He turned in place—and found a small child, perhaps in his early years of elementary school, peeking out from around a corner.

“Oh, there you are, Izumi! Come over here, I’ll introduce you.” Seiya held out a hand, noticing the boy, who finally came toddling out. “This is Sagara Rei-kun; he’ll be living with us starting today. Rei-kun, this is my son, Izumi.”

Rei felt a silent thrill of surprise rush through him. The child was so adorable, Rei had been certain he’d been Seiya’s daughter, not his son. As to be expected of the offspring of Seiya and Nagisa! He was a beautiful child, with doll-like features. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Izumi-san.” He held out his hand in welcome to the Izumi, who continued to fidget while slowly drawing near.

After a few moments raking his curious gaze over Rei, he flushed deeply and silently extended a hand to Rei.

’He’s a really shy little kid…’ Careful not to startle, Rei gently gripped the hand, finding it a bit sweaty with the high body heat of a child.

“Izumi’s 8 years old, a third-year in elementary school. His older brother’s studying abroad at the moment, so he’s a little lonely. I hope you won’t mind keeping him company?”

“Not at all, I’d love to.” He nodded to demonstrate his understanding of Seiya’s request. He’d never played with children before, so truthfully, he was a bit concerned on that end, but he could hardly confess as such. For the time being, he’d just borrow a few books on rearing children from the library—after all, he’d vowed to give his everything for Seiya…

And so, his life in the Sena household began.

“Hey, Rei?”

Rei glanced up from the text he’d been perusing at Izumi’s voice. It was a Sat.u.r.day afternoon, and Izumi had been scribbling at the table in the living room, enjoying his day off from school, while Rei watched over him and did a bit of studying.

It had already been two months since he’d started living with the Senas, and Izumi had taken to Rei so keenly that it made his initial fidgety shyness seem like a farce, spending most of his days off now with Rei.

The Senas had a housemaid who dropped by every day, taking care of the cooking and cleaning and was.h.i.+ng, and the office side of the house had proper staff taking care of the business there, so Rei had few responsibilities. Nagisa had her own manager, and Seiya was largely involved in producing these days, so he spent most of his time in the recording studio of the house’s bas.e.m.e.nt, putting together songs.

Rei’s responsibilities therefore largely involved manning the phones when the office staff were out and occasionally accompanying Seiya when he went on errands and getting his license from driving school. And, of course, watching Izumi.

“Lookie, lookie!!” He held up his drawing for Rei to see.

Rei didn’t think himself possessed of any particular talent for the arts…but he never could seem to grasp what it was Izumi had drawn. It wasn’t that it was too abstract for him, it was more…well, it was rude to think of this given that Izumi seemed to enjoy drawing so much—but it looked like something he’d drawn with his non-dominant hand, a really truly awful drawing.

But there was no way he would ever say as such. “It’s magnificent; I particularly like the colors.” He tried to decipher what the boy had drawn—probably not an animal, so a person? He chuckled softly at the thought, and Izumi returned to his sketching in high spirits from the praise.

Rei turned back to the accounting text he had in his hands and dropped his eyes to the page, determined to drill into his mindsomething that might help him prove useful to Seiya. It was that thought that drove him to fill his free time with studies.

He couldn’t help but think that he was just taking advantage of Seiya’s good graces right now. But if he put his nose to the grindstone and studied hard and got his license, then he would one day be able todo something for Seiya.

“Studying, are we?”

Rei glanced up in surprise when a voice called out to him. “…Ah, Seiya-san. Are you on break?”

“Oh—not quite, I just had something to give you.” Rei stood to put on some tea or coffee for the man, but Seiya held out a hand to stop him.

“…For me?” He c.o.c.ked his head slightly in confusion.

“Yup. Here you are.” He held out a large envelope.

“This is…”

“A pamphlet—for a correspondence college.”

“Eh—?!” College? Rei’s eyes goggled—and he noticed now the seal of a university printed on the envelope. But…why would Seiya give him something like this…?

“I’ve seen how eager you are with your studies, so I thought maybe this way you’d be able to work and go to school at the same time…?” Seiya offered to Rei, who stood stiff with shock, unable to take it all in.

He had a point; with correspondence courses, he could probably get in a decent education while still working as he was now. After all, he already had a book open in his lap this very moment while he was watching Izumi.

“B—but, the tuition…”

“Well naturally, I’ll have you work it off!” he responded with a bright smile.

“……!!” Rei felt tears well up within, so happy was he. ’This man gives me anything and everything I could possibly desire… He really is like an angel…’ Even telling Rei he’d have to work off the tuition had made him happy. He probably understood that if he’d offered to fund Rei’s education for free, Rei would have flat-out refused. And indeed, Rei was sure that if Seiya had said that, he would have felt he had no right to receive such charity.

If Rei had had a father…maybe this is what it would have felt like. He could only imagine, but if he’d had someone like Seiya for a father, he was sure he would have been happy.

“I’ll study as best I can!”

“Excellent! But don’t overwork yourself, okay?”

“Of course!” As he nodded emphatically, Seiya favored him with another brilliant smile.

“Hey hey~” Izumi tugged on Rei’s sleeve, having slipped down from his chair while Rei had been overwhelmed with grat.i.tude. Perhaps he’d been a bit lonely at being abandoned.

“What’s the matter, Izumi-san?” Rei squatted slightly to peer into Izumi’s face—something he’d read about in a book on raising children, back when he’d first arrived. Seeing as he hadn’t known the first thing about looking after children, he’d thought it best to do a bit of light reading on the subject. Izumi had turned out to be quite a bit more introverted than most children, so there were times when he slipped up in trying to force Izumi outside as advised in the books, but given how taken Izumi was with him, he figured he must be doing something right.

“What’s a college?”

“It’s a type of school.”

“School…? Are you goin’ to school, Rei?”

His expression darkened with worry, and Seiya gently patted him on the head. “No, he’s not going anywhere. This house is going to be Rei’s school.”

At this, Izumi turned his gaze to his father. “The house? Then he’s gonna stay here all the time?”

“Indeed.” He gave a smiling nod in response to Izumi’s question, and Izumi instantly brightened into a wide grin.

“Thank goodness!”

Seeing their interaction Rei recalled here that Izumi’s older brother was currently studying abroad; perhaps Izumi had feared that Rei would leave like his brother had.

“You must really love Rei, Izumi.”

“Yup!” Izumi gave a smart nod, and Seiya reached out and patted him again on the head, glancing over at Rei.

“…Thank you, Rei.”

“…Huh?” Rei’s eyes widened in shock at the unexpected offer of grat.i.tude. It was one thing for him to thank Seiya—but he could think of nothing he’d done himself to merit the opposite.

At Rei’s confusion, Seiya smiled gently. “For keeping Izumi company.”

“Eh? But that’s just part of—I mean, it’s only natural.” He’d been about to say it was merely part of the job, but then wondered if it was right to say such a thing in front of Izumi.

“Yeah. Thanks, though.” And saying this, he reached forward and casually patted Rei on the head as well—and while it was the same thing he’d done to Izumi only moments before, Rei felt a shudder ripple through him as his cheeks flushed with heat. Perhaps because he could never recall having his head rubbed before?

Rather than feeling irritated at being treated like a child…he more immediately felt pride and joy at being praised.

“Well then, I suppose I’ll get back to work now.”

“O—of course, please don’t push yourself too hard!” He stood with Izumi and watched Seiya leave the living room before turning his gaze once more to the envelope still sitting on the table. “…All right then…!” And with a rising urge to study even harder now, he formed a fist with his right hand.

In this manner, Rei’s days continued to pa.s.s, consisting of light office work, watching Izumi, and studying. The only major change now was that, since acquiring his driver’s license, he now had more opportunities to drive Seiya around town—moments that where the most enjoyable for Rei.

“So, what next?” Seiya had just finished singing a song requested by Rei and offered to continue, inviting a wry smile from Rei.

“We’re very nearly to the studio now; won’t you be tired, singing nonstop like this?”

“It’s fine! I’m not belting it out or anything here.” Ever since Rei had mentioned that he loved hearing Seiya sing, the man had started serenading him in the car whenever they went out. Rei loved moments like these, where he got to monopolize Seiya’s singing voice. His heart always felt warm and light when they were together, and the feeling was multiplied several times over in moments such as this.

These songs that helped him back to his feet…Seiya’s voice, which had saved him. Every time he heard Seiya sing, he felt his feelings for Seiya grow all the stronger in time to his awe and adoration. And not just feelings that one usually felt towards a savior, but something closer to the love one felt for a parent.

But then…it happened. It was an evening in June, some six months or so after Rei had come to live with the Sena family.

Izumi had professed being scared of monsters, and so Rei had offered that evening to stay with him until he fell asleep. Apparently ghost stories had been gaining popularity among his cla.s.smates, and Izumi had happened to hear one of them. Rei had sat at his bedside, intending to simply wait for Izumi to fall asleep, but seeing how poor Izumi had trembled fiercely the moment he turned out the lights, begging, “Sleep with me, Rei?”, he’d slipped into bed with the boy himself.

Perhaps that had been where he’d made his mistake—for before he realized it, he had slipped off to sleep as well. He’d woken again as Izumi wiggled about in his sleep, and upon remembering where he was, he sat up in Izumi’s bed.

“I wonder what time it is…” He glanced to the bedside, where an alarm clock decorated to look like some character or another sat, giving off a faint green glow that lit its face to display the time: 2 in the morning. It seemed he’d taken a rather long nap indeed.

He huffed a soft sigh before slipping out of the bed, careful not to wake Izumi, and then quietly crept out of the room.

But as he wandered down the s.p.a.cious hallway, headed for the stairs to lead up to his bedroom on the third floor, he heard a sound coming from the other end of the hall—and drew to a stop, curious. What could be going on in the middle of the night?

He took a few more steps closer—before he realized where the sound was coming from: Seiya and Nagisa’s bedroom. “……!”

His heart did a furious somersault in his chest, and he felt a flush wash over himself from head to toe. Panicking, he quickly turned on his heel and made a break for the stairs, taking care not to make a sound. Once he reached his room, he dove onto the bed and buried himself in the sheets, covering up. And even though he knew he shouldn’t still be able to hear anything anymore, he slapped his hands over his ears.

But this only served to make the sounds he’d heard moments before echo all the more loudly inside his mind.

He urged himself to stop thinking about it, but it was no use—quite the contrary, he couldn’t help imagining, picturing what was going on in that bedroom right at this very moment.

Seiya and Nagisa were a married couple; it was hardly out of the ordinary for them to do such things, and the fact that he was eventhinking this much about it just proved how low and vulgar he was—it made him want to weep. To top it all off, no matter how hard he tried to scrub it from his memory, he couldn’t help the images of Seiya that rose to fill his mind, unbidden.

He wondered—did Seiya wear an expression no one else ever saw when he had Nagisa pinned beneath him? Something beyond that usual gentle, angelic smile he offered everyone else…?

“Stop thinking about it…!” he hissed in reprimand, but this failed to chase away the images in his mind…

Rei didn’t get much sleep that night.

The next morning came.

“Good morning, Rei-kun,” Seiya called as Rei wandered into the living room carrying the breakfast he’d helped the housekeeper prepare to the dining room table, and Rei’s shoulders twitched in surprise.

“…Good morning,” he managed to reply, but he couldn’t bring himself to face Seiya head-on, his mind still replaying his fanciful imaginings of Seiya from the night before. It felt like if their eyes met, Seiya would see right through him and be devastated with disappointment in him.

And yet…

“Rei-kun? You’re not looking so good…are you feeling all right?” Seiya drew closer to the dining table, calling out to Rei suddenly and lifting a hand to his head, as if to take his temperature.

Rei froze stiff as a board at the unexpected brush of flesh, eyes going wide with shock.

“Hmm, doesn’t feel like you have a fever…” As he mumbled to himself, though, Seiya’s breath brushed over Rei’s cheek—and that was it.

“…!!” He felt the blood in his veins begin to boil, and his heart was pounding a thudding tattoo in his chest, setting his entire body to s.h.i.+vering.

‘…Oh no…’

“I—I’m sorry, I’m not feeling well. I’ll be resting in my room today!” And with that, he fled the living room, confining himself within the walls of his own room and flinging himself onto his bed, just as he’d done the night before. “Why…?!”

His heart wouldn’t stop its pounding, and his whole body felt so hot. He wanted to weep. “I can’t do this… This is wrong…!” And yet all the same, his hand crept down to his groin, unsnapping the b.u.t.tons to his pants and sliding down the zipper.

“Ah…” Somewhere along the way, he’d already started to stiffen. “You’ve gotta be kidding me…!” He couldn’t believe himself. It had been nothing more than a brush of breath over his cheek—for that to make him like this was just… And to make matters worse, it was overSeiya, the man he revered beyond anyone else. The man he wanted to be happy more than anyone else. That beautiful, angelic man.

And here he’d gone and imagined that person in all manner of s.e.xual situations, feeling these sorts of dirty desires for him…it was sacrilege!

Yet all the same, his body rebuffed the desires of his heart as his hand slipped under the hem of his underwear. “Haa-ah…”

Seiya’s hand against his forehead…his breath along Rei’s cheek… It was hardly the first time Rei had experienced either, but the moment they overlapped with the image of Seiya he had in his mind, an almost violent pleasure began to bloom.

“No…no….!” he whimpered softly, but he couldn’t stop his hand from groping between his legs. It felt amazing, better than any s.e.xual experience he’d yet had. “Why…why is this…”

His squeezed softly at his shaft, already glistening with prec.u.m, and began to ma.s.sage the hard length up and down. In the back of his mind rose images of those strangely-colored eyes and the sound of that lovely voice calling his name. “Aah—nn…nngh…!”

He climaxed in short order, but with his release came fat, wet tears dripping from his eyes. “‘m…so…rry, Seiya-san…so sorry…”

It was here that he finally realized…that he loved Seiya. And not love in the sense of a son towards a father—but romantic, s.e.xual love. “How did this…why…?”

He had no clue when he’d started to see Seiya that way, but…maybe it had been from the moment he’d heard the man sing. Maybe all this time, he’d just been trying to convince himself it was love for a father from a child.

‘…I didn’t want to realize it…’

After all, Seiya already had Nagisa, and more so, Rei was a man.

But the biggest problem now…was that if Seiya ever found out how Rei felt about him—Rei would no longer be able to live here together with him.

“No…I don’t want that. I want to be by his side forever…!” He didn’tcare if Seiya didn’t love him in a romantic sense; he just wanted to beneeded, to help Seiya. He wanted to pour his whole heart into making Seiya happy. Even if it was wrong to feel the things he did for Seiya, the vow he’d made that day he’d stepped through the door had beentrue.

“I…will keep this secret, at all costs.” If that was what it took for him to stay by Seiya’s side, then so be it, and vowing to tamp down for the rest of his life these feelings he’d only just begun to recognize, he slipped off the bed to wash the hands he’d dirtied with his pa.s.sion.

Two months pa.s.sed, and then one August day, Rei found himself at the airport, bidding, “Well, I’m off now!”

Except he wasn’t the one boarding a plane; he’d only come here to see off Seiya, Nagisa, and Izumi, who were using their summer vacation time to head to f.u.kuoka to visit Nagisa’s family and do some grave tending. Rei had been invited along as well, initially, but he’d instead promised to watch over the house and stayed behind alone. With the housekeeper for SenaPro also taking her summer vacation now, the house would be otherwise unoccupied.

Ever since that day, Rei had worked to keep a calm, relaxed exterior while consoling himself with thoughts of Seiya when he found himself alone at night. His desire to stay by Seiya’s side for always hadn’t changed—but having to hide his feelings for the man was starting to take an emotional toll. It helped nothing that this was something he couldn’t even discuss with the one person he trusted more than anyone else.

As such, when the opportunity presented itself for him to be alone for a while, he leapt, thinking that it might not be such a bad thing, spending some quality time with himself.

“Have a nice flight; do take care.” He waved the trio off in the departure lobby before exiting the building and heading back to the Sena home in the car alone.

Stepping into the quiet, empty genkan and locking the door behind him, Rei felt as if a great weight had finally been lifted from his shoulders. “Guess it’s good to let the air out of the tires now and then huh…” With these words, he soothed the guilty knot lodged in his chest and headed for the living room.

It was empty—which wasn’t abnormal; about this time on most weekdays when Seiya and Nagisa were working and Izumi was at school, Rei often found himself alone here. So it shouldn’t have feelt strange, and yet…

“…Something…feels kind of ‘off’…” Thinking about how no one would be back for a long while made the s.p.a.ce feel…so empty. But Rei had spent 18 years with that sense of loneliness before he ccame here. It was the past 8 months which had been out of the ordinary, when he stopped to think about it.

“Maybe Seiya-san felt the same way…” His easy approval of Rei’s suggestion that he stay behind may have been founded on the belief that if this was what Rei truly wanted, then he should have it. He’d taken into consideration the fact that Rei had been alone all this time and understood that he needed some time to himself now and then.

This was Seiya, so that was a more than logical explanation; Seiya always had a knack for giving Rei just what he wanted. Though unfortunately…he couldn’t give Rei the one thing he desired more than anything else…

Rei gave a wry smile at these thoughts. Even so far away from Seiya, his thoughts never seemed to leave the man. After all, the very reason he was here, alive right now, was all thanks to Seiya, so it was only natural.

But he finally had some time to himself, so he ought to take it easy and not worry about anything—so he headed to the kitchen to make himself an iced coffee.

“Wow, the weather’s great today…” The report had said that the next three days would be full of bright, summery weather. If he’d still been stuck in the air conditioner-less apartment he’d lived in last year, the he would no doubt have been cursing the forecast, but now that he was inside a cool, air-conditioned home, he had no particular plans to head outside.

Glancing up at the sunny, bright blue skies above, the words that came to mind made him sound like a proper housewife: a perfect day to do some laundry! Though honestly, he didn’t have much to wash himself.

“Oh yeah…!” Seiya and the others would be back the next day, so maybe he ought to lay out everyone’s futons to air in the sun. Yes, that wasn’t a bad idea at all! The housekeeper was an older woman, and the veranda for airing out futons was on the third floor; as such, Rei generally was the one to offer his help in carrying the futons up to air in the sun, so he understood how to go about the business.

He first laid out his own futon, since his room was on the same floor as the veranda, and then proceeded to Seiya and Nagisa’s bedroom. Given that he knew no one was around, he didn’t knock, merely walking straight in. But as he approached the beds, just as he always did, he suddenly came to an abrupt stop—and his heart skipped a beat.

“………”

He’d seen these beds dozens of times while coming into this room to clean or hang out the futons. But today…

“There’s no one around…so just a little bit surely won’t hurt…right?” he murmured to himself, and then took a flying leap onto Seiya’s bed, his heartbeat rising as he did so. He lay facedown on the comforter and inhaled deeply, taking in the fresh scent of laundry detergent and a faint whiff of Seiya’s own personal scent. He knew this was a badidea, but he couldn’t help giving a sharp sniff to inhale it.

“Smells like Seiya-san…” At these words, a thrilling shudder ran through his lower body, and after a moment’s hesitation, he let his hand slide down between his legs.

He felt well and truly like a pervert now, but in these past two months, the notion that using thoughts of Seiya to satisfy himself was wrong, was taboo, had begun to fade.

He slipped his fingers under the hem of his pants and took himself in hand—then closed his eyes and began to leisurely stroke himself, keeping all his focus on the scent of Seiya.

“Aahn…Seiya-san…Seiya-san…!” He lost complete control at finally uttering the name he never allowed himself to voice, even when pleasuring himself in the privacy of his own room. Slicking his fingers with the prec.u.m now glistening at the tip, he began to probe further behind himself, and despite thinking himself deplorable, he could bear it no more, and curling himself into a ball, he pressed a finger inside. “Hhaa…ahn…nna…”

Irritated that he couldn’t reach very deep by his own ministrations, he soothed himself by working his fingers both in front and behind. However—

“Se…ya-sa…”

Just as he was about to climax—

“Ooh, that looks like fun~”

Rei’s eyes flared wide at the voice calling out to him all of a sudden. “Wh—who are…?!” He quickly sat up, glancing over to where the voice had come from—the entrance to the room—where a boy stood.

“Huh? You mean you haven’t heard about me?” He c.o.c.ked his head in confusion.

“Ah…”

“Well I’ve definitely heard all about you from my dad…” Even before he heard the word dad, though, Rei realized instantly from the fact that he had Seiya’s eyes and similar appearance…that this was the eldest Sena son, currently studying abroad.

Sena Shougo, age 16—three years Rei’s junior.

“…Shougo…-san…?” The moment realization settled in, though, all of the blood fled his face, and he scrambled to hide his lower half with a small towel. Not that it helped anything, as it was glaringly obvious what he’d just been doing.

“Huh? You look awfully pale…you okay?”

“Wh…why are you…” Nerves had sapped his throat dry, leaving his voice sounding raspy. He hadn’t heard a word from the Senas about their eldest coming home to visit.

“Hmm? Oh—you mean why am I here? Weeeell, y’see, I’m on summer vacation right now, so I thought it might be fun to come home for a visit!” He drew closer to the bed with a light step, grinning broadly.

Rei struggled to figure out what he was supposed to do now, keeping a close eye on Shougo. All he could think about was that Shougo hadseen him, had found out about the feelings Rei had for Seiya—and with a mind so full of such panicked thoughts, he had no freedom to consider anything else.

“So you’re my dad’s new a.s.sistant, huh? You love my dad?”

“……” Rei’s fingers clenched tighter around the towel in his lap at hearing his feelings so casually voiced.

“…Though, heh, I guess you wouldn’t be doing this kinda thing if you didn’t, huh!” He nodded to himself, as if concurring with his own logic, but his expression betrayed not an ounce of ill feeling—in fact, his smiling face seemed to suggest he was enjoying this, which only served to stir up Rei’s confusion even further.

Wouldn’t most people be more upset at finding their father’s malea.s.sistant jerking himself off in said father’s bedroom while home alone? And yet here Shougo stood, just grinning happily as he settled himself casually on

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