Challenge Eleven
After a long while, we are going to get back on track and try our hands at some writing again, yes? XD
Take a peek at the image prompts, based around Primary and Secondary colours:
( Images from Deviantart )
Take a peek at the image prompts, based around Primary and Secondary colours:
( Images from Deviantart )
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When Shin invites Yankumi to his apartment, mostly it's because there are times when he just doesn't want to be surrounded by all those other faces that linger in her home. He doesn't need Yankumi's grandfather nodding sagely and handing down the wisdom of his years, and he certainly doesn't need the sniggers and trip-ups of Tetsu and Minoru. (Shin figures they must at least be good at their jobs because of the life they live, and the fact that between them they haven't lost a finger yet - a tradition he learnt about directly from Yankumi. The two of them just don't seem to understand how to handle general communication.)
There's really nothing more to it than that; Yankumi has a way of making Shin open up his mouth and admit to things he wouldn't usually, express emotions he mostly pretends he doesn't have. The last thing he needs when that happens is other witnesses.
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"So where are you going to take me? A restaurant?" the Momoyuri girl asks, and her smile is a cross between sweet, and predatory. Uchi's grin shows too much teeth, and his friends know he is in danger.
"Uh, I can't afford something like that," he admits, shoving his hands into his pockets hard as if to prove how deep he would have to dig to find any money. "And I couldn't bring you to eat a meal at my place, my mum would probably be home."
The girl stays polite, but it's rather obvious she wants to laugh in Uchi's face. He makes his way back to the group, rejection written all over his slumped shoulders and hanging head.
"I'm so jealous of you, man!" Minami says, taking the attention off of Uchi by turning to Shin. He is smiling when he punches Shin lightly on the arm. "You can invite girls back to your place any time you like - no parents!"
"Typical that the only one of us with the freedom is the one that doesn't care about it," Noda says. Shin is about to shrug his non-commital agreement, until he really stops to think about it. And then he can't stop thinking about it, and can't agree with Noda's assessment anymore.
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Inviting Yankumi back to his place now is an epic event; he has discovered that his palms start to sweat, and so now he always asks with his hands in his pockets, which makes him look decidely shifty. He also can't quite meet Yankumi's eye when he says it - "my apartment", or "you coming round?" - because the emphasis on his own space feels so intimate in his own mind. When he looks at his friends he is sure he isn't supposed to care this much, but then he reminds himself that none of his friends have made much progress at all with any girls, ever, and he feels a bit better.
Yankumi herself hasn't changed, and she definitely doesn't notice anything odd about Shin. He could come into class cartwheeling and she'd probably just ask if he'd seen people doing it in a circus on TV. He's simultaneously thankful, and angry at that part of her. She should notice, mostly because then it would be out of his hands and with the knowledge Yankumi would have to make some sort of decision either way.
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"Don't you think," Shin says, picking at the carpet while Yankumi finishes off her instant ramen, "it's kind of weird how you're always here?"
He's irritated because here they are again, sitting like ladies at a tea-party, all formalities. It's all his fault, and being angry at himself is the quickest way for sure for him to say something he could come to regret. Yankumi could point out that although she invites herself over often, these days it's always Shin issuing an invitation. She could get pissed at him for being so rude, because being a teenage boy can't excuse away that behaviour all the time.
"I don't," she replies with her mouth full.
"But you're my teacher," Shin says, "I'm your student!"
"I don't honestly think of it that way, when I'm here," Kumiko says. She looks at Shin and her eyes narrow as though she is perceiving a feeling in the air. She places her empty cup down carefully. "We're friends too, right?"
Shin for once, is lost for words, wanting to say "yes" and "no" at the same time, or neither, because they're both true and both lies all at once. He doesn't know what he and Yankumi really are, or exactly what he wants to be - boyfriend and girlfriend sounds so stupid under the circumstances. Not knowing how to explain this, and knowing Yankumi well enough to know that she would probably misunderstand his words anyway, a courage takes over him and he leans over the table between them to kiss Yankumi full on the mouth.
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There is time enough for Yankumi to pull away before their lips even meet; her reactions are quick and clever - if the fights she gets into are evidence enough, and Shin knows she could just have easily moved back and stopped him in the time it took to happen. That she didn't builds his confidence.
"So, right now?" he asks with a bravado he doesn't actually feel.
"We're still friends," Kumiko says firmly, "but if I stop to think about this-"
"Don't."
Shin's face is calm. The single word not quite pleading, but not at all demanding. And Kumiko realises that Shin has never actually asked anything of her, until now, this. He told her he didn't trust adults, but never asked her to prove herself to him, she did that of her own free will. He got into trouble for his friends as well as because of his own actions, and never asked for her help. She simply wanted to give it to him.
And now that he is here, asking with eyes full of nothing but naked hope and fear, she wants nothing more than to grant his request.
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Shin is working on instinct, not trusting his mind not to freeze up if he really stops to think about this; he's seen Yankumi in some strange and awkward situations, but never with flushed cheeks and her shirt halfway pushed up her body, her hands on his skin and her smile soft, but her eyes lusty. There is no need to think about it, any of it. She is his teacher, she is older than him but several years, she is (very arguably) more mature, and experienced.
-Is she? Suddenly Shin has to wonder. Is Yankumi a virgin; is this her first time too? What would be better for him - that one of them knows what they're doing, or that he gets to be her first? Does it actually matter if he is her first, as long as it is better than anyone else she has ever been with? Can he actually kid himself he is capable of that?
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I was talking to aliaspiral about something similiar during my last Gokusen rewatch. Considering her family's lifestyle--and the fact that manga!Yankumi, at least, rescues hostesses from overly hands-on clients--she has to have a pretty good idea of the mechanics of sex.
I want to see a story where a good chunk of Yankumi's education regarding sex comes from the local working girls--girls she was *totally* friendly with, even though her men were a bit horrified at having ojou hang around with the wrong sort of girls.
I will try again!
Yay! Looking forward to the end results.
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