Hatujo written by Iwamoto Kaoru and illustrated by Kisaragi Hirotaka
Hatujo written by Iwamoto Kaoru and illustrated by Kisaragi Hirotaka is...hmm...wholly conventional? Not in a bad way, mind you. It's quite entertaining, and I assume totally hits the moe spot for many a fangirl. I rather enjoyed it, and it covered the usual weakness of this kind of novel with a silly but effective plot point. It developed the characters pretty well, actually showing development in the relationship rather than relying on oodles of sex as a shorthand for intimacy and love.
Tachibana Yuuki is a high school math teacher who is, to put it nicely, a loser at life. He's not suited to his profession, painfully introverted, unable to establish rapport or gain any respect from his students, unable to socialize and interact without giving a bad impression with his colleagues and superiors. Things only get worse for him when he's ordered to visit the house of Jinguuji Takao, the most promising student the school's ever had. He's incredibly smart and very athletically gifted, good-looking and charismatic, but totally uninterested in school and thus a bit of a problem. Also, his father is a yazuka boss. During the visit, Yuuki is (surprise surprise) raped by Takao. He's forced into continuing a physical relationship, his ties to Takao only tightened when he finds out Takao's very big secret...
I have to say, the secret kind of came out of nowhere (spoilers in the illustrations, but I hadn't bothered to look at the illustrations before reading the book). But the author manages to use it fairly effectively to put to rest most of the irritating problems this kind of story usually has (besides the ones that come from the story being really cliched).
Sorry, I'm too lazy to go back and reread the book and do a real summary for this one. ^^;
Tachibana Yuuki is an introverted and weak dude. He makes the mistake of trying to discipline some students and gets in over his head. Lucky for him Takao passes by and incidentally saves his butt. Yuuki had only known of Takao by reputation, but he's quite put off by his first impression of Takao--Takao is exactly the kind of person Yuuki particularly doesn't feel comfortable around. So he's even more unhappy about being forced to visit Takao at his home...
And is even more unhappy when he's raped. Takao had actually been with some girl when Yuuki visits him. He ignores Yuuki's attempt to engage him about his absence from school, is drawn to Yuuki's great smell, and assaults him.
Takao and his older brother meet with their yakuza boss father. Their father forbids Takao from going out at night for his own safety.
Takao had wanted to go pick up girls and chafes, but realizes that if he goes to school he very conveniently has someone to fuck. Yuuki, for his part, is shocked to see Takao at school the very next day after the rape. He tries to resist...
And totally fails, fucked well and good at school. He's very traumatized by the rapes and calls in sick for two days. On the second day he gets an unexpected and unwanted visitor--Takao. When Takao tries to force him to have sex again, Yuuki snaps and brandishes (with trembling hands) a kitchen knife. Takao isn't very afraid of Yuuki, telling him to put away the knife before he hurts himself....And gets stabbed accidentally. Yuuki's in a panic, but Takao won't let him call the ambulance. Instead he tries to leave, but Yuuki isn't about to let him walk out and die and make him a murderer...
And gets the shock of his life when Takao turns into a wolf. He runs outside, freaked out and falls unconscious. When he comes to, he reluctantly goes back to his room and sees wolf Takao licking his wounds.
Yuuki falls asleep in his room, wakes up to find Takao human and no longer injured. He learns that Takao's family are werewolves. It is a secret no one can know--it is a given that anyone who finds out is killed. Yuuki of course is freaked out by that little fact, but Takao doesn't threaten to kill him. He just makes Yuuki promise not to tell anyone...
And "ensures" Yuuki's sincerity by demanding sexual favors...
Takao, for his part, does regret that he had driven Yuuki into such a corner as to provoke him into brandishing a weapon. He had been in the throes of his first rut, which was why he had been absent from school for a month. He had been having continual sex with various women. But now that Yuuki knows the big secret, Takao decides he needs to watch Yuuki to make sure he doesn't betray Takao. He goes over to Yuuki's room every day, with the side benefit of being able to fuck Yuuki every day.
Yuuki, on the other hand, is miserable. He's scared of Takao and exhausted by the constant, intense sex (and is trouble by the fact that his body derives great pleasure out of the unwanted sex). He desperately wants to run away, but he realizes that Takao and his family would never let him get away. Instead, he researches wolves (to know his enemy) and makes a small getaway bag in case it gets so bad he just decides to make break for it.
But then Takao accidentally finds his getaway bag. Takao declares Yuuki is "his." He will never allow Yuuki to get away from him. Yuuki had never been wanted by anyone like he is by Takao. Though disturbing, it's novel and rather wondrous to him.
One night Yuuki takes Takao on a drive to an isolated mountain field so that Takao can run free as a wolf as he had done once a long time ago (they can't freely change form to safeguard against discovery). Yuuki can't help but feel sorry for Takao, who can never be at his full potential in anything in order to sort of fit in with the human world. After Takao runs around for a while, he approaches Yuuki. Yuuki is entranced by the beauty of Takao's wolf form. He wants to touch Takao, but knows that wolves have a personal space that one can't violate. But when Takao makes a movement that invites grooming, Yuuki does touch him. He even wraps his arms around Takao and pushes his face into his fur.
In the car, human Takao kisses Yuuki for the first time. After that, Takao becomes very gentle and affectionate. He is touchy-feely with Yuuki, more open and considerate. Their sex is even better, because Takao bothers to make Yuuki feel good (instead of Yuuki's pleasure being a by-product of Takao's). But though they spend their nights together Takao always has to go home before morning. One night, Takao fights going home and declares that he wants to stay with Yuuki till morning. Yuuki the teacher knows he should push Takao to go home, but weakened by the declaration he lets Takao stay. They sleep together till morning, when they again have sex.
That day Yuuki gets a call from Takao's father asking for Yuuki to stop by the house after school. Unfortunately it turns out that Takao's family had suspected Yuuki had discovered Takao's secret and manages to trick Yuuki into admitting it....And so Yuuki is under a death sentence.
Takao, in the meantime, waits for Yuuki to come home. He is horribly irritated and upset when Yuuki doesn't, and is even more horribly upset when he finds out at school the next day that Yuuki had called in sick for at least a week. Had Yuuki betrayed him and run away? He feels like a part of him had been ripped out...He vows to find Yuuki because Yuuki is his. He goes home and packs so that he can search for Yuuki. His older brother, upon seeing the depth of Takao's fixation on Yuuki, tells Takao that he thinks Takao is in love with Yuuki. It's a pretty big bombshell for Takao, because the idea that he could be in love with Yuuki had never occurred to Takao until that point. Takao's older brother tells Takao that Yuuki hadn't run away, but is being held and awaiting his fate for knowing the family secret.
Takao immediately demands to see Yuuki. He says he'll kill Yuuki.
Yuuki, for his part, is oddly calm. He had been taken to a secret location and made to call in sick. He is a bit scared at first, but realizes that he accepts his fate. He figures the thought that he might die was in the back of his mind ever since he had found out Takao's secret. He wishes he could see Takao one last time, because the thought of Takao finding a (female) mate after he is dead made him realize that he's in love with Takao (werewolves search out their lifetime mate once they start rutting, falling madly in love and being devoted to that one mate for life). When he hears footsteps he braces for his death...
But instead he's surprised and ecstatic to see Takao enter his cell. He runs into Takao's arms. Takao asks to be allowed some private time with Yuuki and is granted ten minutes. Yuuki feels like he can die now that he's seen Takao one last time, and tells Takao that he's glad that Takao is the one who will kill him. But instead of killing him, Takao asks Yuuki to run away with him. Yuuki knows that it wouldn't be good for Takao and wants to refuse despite his feelings. He is about to say no but caves in when Takao confesses that he loves Yuuki...And tells Takao that he loves him too.
They manage to escape outside but are cornered on a rooftop. Takao turns into a wolf to keep their pursuers at bay. Takao's brother shows up, turns into a wolf, and opposes Takao. Yuuki is horrified that the brothers are about to fight and decides that he, the cause of the rift in the family, has to be eliminated. He jumps off the roof...Only to be saved by Takao's father in wolf form.
Yuuki is baffled by Takao's father's actions, but is glad that he's alive when he sees Takao again. Takao's father tells Yuuki he had saved him because Takao would leave them and become a loner if he had died. He realized when Takao had actually gone against them to protect Yuuki that Yuuki must be Takao's mate. Because mates had always been of the opposite sex it had never dawned on him (or anyone else) that Yuuki could be Takao's chosen mate. He's willing to believe in Yuuki because Yuuki had been willing to die for Takao, and accepts Yuuki as Takao's mate.
Takao and Yuuki have their first sexual encounter as a declared couple in love and it is good and sweet and shiny and sparkly and many other splendid adjectives. Yuuki moves into Takao's house and I can only guess that they live happily ever after...
The end!
Talk about cliched, no? I laughed at the whole star-crossed lovers will sacrifice everything for each other bit, it's just so overdone. But at the same time, the author had put in a lot of effort to show the two growing closer (even as they didn't quite realize what their feelings were at the time--it took the separation for that) with cute details so it didn't feel so...quite out of the blue. And Takao being in rut "explains" the over-sexing as well as the initial rape. His cluelessness (to his own feelings as well as Yuuki's) can be pinned on his immaturity. While not as well done as Akumu no Wednesday, the author does a decent job of showing how a passionate teen in love can run roughshod over a more quiet older man. Though it wasn't explicitly stated it seems natural to assume that Yuuki's responsive body was perhaps partly due to the whole "chosen mate" thing (instead of Yuuki just being a wanton slut who loves cock like so many ukes who drown in the mind-blowing sex with their rapists). Kind of thin cover, but she just ran with the romance of it all and wrangled a pretty satisfying ending (if you managed to swallow the premise).
On the shallow side, I just like werewolves! I like how the family is terribly afraid of anyone finding out their secret, afraid of being rejected as monsters and treated like beasts. And the nice art goes a looong way to soothe any problems I have with the story (which, admittedly, aren't as numerous or as bad as usual). XDXD