N:  Then comes "Yatteyaru [something I can't translate]" by OUMI Shinano, if I'm separating the name correctly. Tooru is a tough, macho seme-type with a lovely uke lover, who's tormented by memories of having been seduced, when he was younger, by an older friend of the family (I think that's what he is, anyway... no furigana again), Shin-chan (can't find his real name). The torment is not that Tooru was seduced, of course---he loved it---but that he was seduced and *topped* by Shin-chan, horror of horrors. Shin-chan is prettier and femmier, but taller and older, so Tooru is basically a victim of circumstance. Shin-chan eventually pays a visit... so first chance he gets, Tooru ties Shin-chan up, intending to rape him. Shin-chan, of course, is delighted---he thinks it's a lovely romantic "yobai", which I think means "night visit", but I'm not sure. He promptly turns the attempted rape into a mutual seduction, again to Tooru's horror.

J:  Yatteyaru konban- I'll screw you tonight. Tooru was umm yaoi-raped by his cousin Shin-chan on Shin-chan's 20th birthday ('You said you'd do anything I liked') when Tooru was a mere 13. And we assume that he disliked being topped, because to compensate he's made himself the most skilled of semes, as his uke attests. Shin-chan appears inviting him to the birthday party being held for him at home- Tooru's 20 tomorrow but left home at 18 and hasn't been back since. Well, off he goes next day, and at bedtime ties his sleeping cousin up and starts to work on him. Cousin is indeed delighted, but the encounter turns into a test of sexual technique, in Tooru's mind at least. This is what he's been practising for for years, to get Shin-chan crawling on the floor powerless before Tooru's superb ability. Doesn't work. Shin-chan is just so **happy** Tooru's gotten so good for his sake, and then performs the raping uke technique which sends Tooru into ecstasy. Tooru is reduced to dudgeon. What Tooru minded at 13 was the thought of all the guys Shin-chan had slept with in order to get so good- all those guys who weren't him. And Shin-chan assures him he doesn't use any technique- he can turn Tooru on because he's studied Tooru so much he knows all the things he likes. Ahh, love is the best technician after all. Doesn't stop Tooru from trying to find out just where Shin-chan has his little weak spots that will reduce him to jelly, and not being able to find any.

N:  Next is KAZAMATURI Sota's "Reiyaa" (Layer?). Something really angsty and incomprehensible, about a dancer and his beautiful depressed friend who never smiles (until the end of the story). Sorry, but that's all I can figure out.

J:  "Rare", I think. Actually a very nice one. Dancer has injured himself and taken to performing in a hostbar where he shuns the other younger waiter types, and shuns his old partner who turns up regularly begging him to see the doctor who may help him. New host appears, young beautiful blond, without a penny and only the clothes on his back. Club owner (kind of a nice chubby older guy) tells dancer to take the newbie in, since dancer is living in an apartment that belongs to the club. Newbie is quiet and no problem, so dancer stops grousing. Other waiters gossip that newbie was once a salaryman but now has a huge loan to pay off etc etc. Dancer's old partner appears once more, saying he has to go to New York for a bit. 'Fine. Go. And don't come back. You're a success, and I hate the sight of you, knowing I could have been one too except for that accident." Partner pleads with him- 'You still could- so why won't you go see this specialist?" Dancer refuses. 'Why go just to hear him say he can't do anything?"

Off he stalks, and comes upon newbie being hassled by a crowd of thugs. Dancer pulls him out, takes him home, bandages his wounds. 'You should go to the hospital." "Can't. No money. No insurance. I have nothing." Newbie starts crying, finally at the end of his rope. Out comes the story. He was a company employee, took up with a guy, guy made him the guarantor for a huge loan and then took off. The yakuza came to get their money, beat up on him; newbie for shame couldn't tell anyone what had happened. Left work, left home, ran. "All I've been doing is running and I'm so tired." Dancer is suddenly struck by the parallels. "Only running away- Nowhere to go- torturing myself with the thought of my own weakness- I wanted to console that poor man who was myself. I'm the only one who can know how he feels." Follows tender sex, and next morning before newbie awakes dancer makes the call to get the doctor's phone number. Newbie comes out. "I should be getting back home too." Both go off, having found the courage to start over again by their meeting with 'this other me.' And sometime later they bump into each other by accident on the street and exchange smiles. 'And if I ever meet him again, we can start over as strangers.'

N:  Next is a NITTA Youka shortie: "Haru o daiteita," which has the English subtitle of "He hagged hooker." I can't translate the English title, but the Japanese title contains the kanji for "spring" (the season), and "blow" (as in painful).

J:  Painful indeed. The English, I mean. Haru is spring but also has the connotation of the sexual world of brothels and houses of assignation. The 'daku/ daite ita' verb does look a bit like utsu, to strike, but what it means is 'hold, hug.' Ah-- hug. Just a little trouble with the vowels. 'He hugged spring' becomes by extension 'He hugged hooker.' I hope you all followed that?

N:  The story is about two male porn stars, both at the top of their field; there's a bit of preexisting rivalry going on between them. They both get invited to the house of an eccentric, famous porn director, whom they're shocked to discover is a woman. She pitches to them the idea for a video which is sure to be a hit---the two top male porn stars in the industry, screwing... each other. The guys are shaken (one is more freaked out by this than the other), but neither can back down in front of the other---their dicks are literally on the line, here, as well as their professional pride. (Somebody please tell me... what is it with Nitta and male bikini briefs?) There are several surprises at the end of this one.

J:  Which I'm quite happy to tell you about, since hating this series is one of my few pleasures. They're actually invited to meet the author of the hot new best-seller called Haru wo etc etc. which is going to be turned into a film. Author is interviewing actors for the lead role and as part of audition wants our guys to screw. Which they do, with insecure jackass Iwaki (how I do not like that man) physically insisting on being the seme as the sex progresses, and forcing the rather neat Katou to be the uke. Author jerks off while watching but only Katou sees that 'she' has a bulge in her crotch. Screw over, Iwaki, congratulating himself on having 'won', learns he's also won the role in the video. But author is going to play the lead- cause she is a he- and Iwaki will be the uke. Katou goes off laughing.

N: Last in the volume is a tale by "Karuragumi", which is weird---I've seen other works by this artist, and I could have sworn that it was a single woman, not a group. Penname, maybe. Anyhow... a true fantasy tale. Warped yaoi version of Snow White---two princely brothers are secretly in love with and screwing each other. Their Wicked Step-Mother (tm) isn't particularly bothered by this, but she *is* annoyed when she consults her magic mirror in the old "Mirror, Mirror, on the wall" scene, and is told that the younger and prettier of the two brothers (Prince... Eddie. Somehow that just ruins the romantic setting) (J: No no. Eddie is the classic name for a bishounen. Like Bunny. ^_^) ...is more beautiful than she is. So, in true WSM fashion, she casts an evil spell on Eddie... and makes him into a huge, brutish, especially macho seme-type. Which wouldn't be so bad if he didn't still have his kawaii page-boy haircut and affect cutesy uke mannerisms. Anyhow, the older brother (Gerehart? Gearhardt? Whatever) must somehow bring himself to sleep with his brother, who looks like a linebacker, in order to break the spell.

J:  'Big Brother and I.' Actually, the Queen offed the former queen and the king later in order to get her hands on the six beautiful princes. What bugs her is that Gerhardt loves Eddie, not herself. The spell to turn Eddie into a Beast (not only hulking seme, but hulking raping seme) is intended to drive the two apart forever, while the Queen magically takes on bishounen Eddie's form and slips into Gerhardt's bed. But G can tell the difference and goes after his brother. Eddie tries to hide, but Gerhardt insists 'I love you for yourself!' Amusingly, it's not quite as easy as that, because hulking Eddie really does turn Gerhardt off. But he closes his eyes and imagines his sweet little brother and does his duty, and when he opens them Eddie is back to normal. They return to the castle, the evil queen is executed, and they live happily ever after. 'Leaving aside those times when Eddie wants to switch roles...'

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