Naoki held a party in his villa for Saburo's eighteenth birthday, and invited all his dearest gay friends. Among them was Takeshi, a TV scriptwriter, a twenty year-old man, remarkably elegant and likeable and, even though not really beautiful, decidedly attractive. Takeshi had heard Saburo's story from Naoki, and, wanting to know about it in more detail, he asked the boy to tell him about it at length. Saburo didn't have any problem with this, so he told the young man about his parents death until their arrival to Tokyo, about the heavy work-load of his elder brother to support them, about his first misadventure with the bookseller, even though he did blush more than once at this point, and his meeting with Naoki.
Takeshi listened in total fascination. He liked the boy's lucid analysis of the events and of the people. And he also liked the love with which the boy talked about Naoki so that, even if at first Takeshi thought he would have liked to have the boy in his bed, he discarded that thought. Even later, talking with Naoki himself, he became aware that the director was in love with this young lover. Takeshi never liked to interfere with a couple; but he really liked Saburo, so he offered the boy his friendship and Saburo accepted it with great pleasure. In fact he found the man's personality genuinely fascinating.
That evening, when Takeshi was back home, he immediately took notes about the boy's tale on his word processor, thinking that elements of his story could be used in one of his next scripts.
A few weeks after the party for Saburo's birthday, Takeshi was invited to another party at the home of a fashion photographer. This party was really different from the one at Naoki's home. While the director gave a simple, intimate - almost informal - party, to celebrate the birthday of the boy he loved and to introduce him to his best friends, the photographer held a somewhat more eccentric party, inviting his most original, or handsome, or famous friends. In fact there were a painter, a singer, a fashion designer with his latest flame, a really beautiful model, the son of a rich industrialist and even a distant relative of the Emperor. All in attendance were wealthy or sophisticated people. His friend the photographer, as each of the guests arrived, made them change into a yukata, and he'd hired seven very young, beautiful boys to serve the refreshments. All the boys wore just a black happi and fundoshi that made them appear really sexy.
Finally, on that evening the host also had one remarkably beautiful boy, about twenty-four years old who wore only a bright red happi and fundoshi. His assumed self-confidence almost moved Takeshi very much indeed.
"My dear friends, may I introduce you to Kazuya? He is the foremost of the boys from the "King of Boys"... and you know what that means, don't you? Well, he is also one of the most sexually skilled, besides being fabulously beautiful as well. And he is also versatile; he would be able to make everyone of us here very happy. But this splendid boy will be the prize of the person among us who will get the highest score in the party-games that our boys will propose for us. A prize he can take home with him and enjoy for a full twenty-four hours however he likes, completely paid for. The only thing our 'prize' asked me to specify (even if I think it was not really necessary), is that he doesn't like any S-and-M games. Well, my friends, let's start with the games, and may the best man win!"
Kazuya had accepted that booking for the party because the pay was really excellent. He observed all of those men and asked himself who among them would win him for the night, and how would he be treated for the next twenty-four hours.
Takeshi also looked at Kazuya and felt a great sense of sympathy for the young man. To be the prize for a pack of sex-hungry men wasn't a very encouraging perspective. The idea of making another human a 'prize' seemed humiliating to him. To treat him like an object... The boy didn't give him the impression of being one of those corrupted boys who were ready to do anything just to earn money, and yet Kazuya had obviously accepted that night's appearance. What kind of person, then, could he be?
The games began. Takeshi, different from the others who seemed to do their best to win the prize, played for courtesy toward the host. The first game consisted in being blindfolded and then trying to recognize, just touching their genitals, which of the seven boys was Koichi, that is, the boy who had had his fundoshi pulled off by the host at the beginning of the game. Takeshi and another guest won the first three points and, at least for Takeshi, it was only by luck that he picked the correct boy.
The second game was a kind "snake and ladders". On the floor there were forty-nine numbered cushions, and on seven of them one of the boys were sitting. There was also a big die. Whoever arrived at a cushion with one of the boys in his round of the cushions could, until his next turn, caress, touch, or kiss him. Takeshi ended the run third, with one other point.
Takeshi noticed that Kazuya was sitting aside by himself and was looking with a slight smile at the progress of the games.
The third game was a quiz about famous gay persons of the past or in literature. Each boy proposed one question and went to sit on the lap of the first guest answering it correctly, also giving him one point. Takeshi, didn't get any points in this game. He looked somewhat amused at the relative of the Emperor, two of the boys sitting on his lap, with his hands shamelessly busy under the boys' fundoshis...
Also in the fourth game Takeshi again didn't get any points. All the guest were coupled with one of the boys and had to pass them big rings without using their hands. It was a good excuse to brush against the body of the obliging boy. Takeshi and his boy came in fifth.
In the fifth game Takeshi got two points, because he guessed correctly which of the boys, though facing backward from the guests and pantomiming masturbation, was really beating off.
In the sixth game Takeshi got one point, because he came in third. He had to recognize what each of the boy had drunk just kissing them.
In the seventh and final game, Takeshi got three points, and became the winner. He had been able to say, with more precision than the others, the exact measurements of the erect members of the seven boys. In this way, he won Kazuya's company for a day and a night.
So he approached the boy and told him: "It seems you have to come with me. Let's put on our clothes, and then we can go."
"Yes, certainly. I'm happy you won me, sir..."
"Oh, really? And why is that?" the man asked curiously.
Kazuya laughed coyly, then with a low voice, said, "They told me I had to say that..."
Takeshi liked the frank answer and, smiling at him, nodded in understanding. Then they went to dress. Takeshi bade farewell to all the company and they left the party together. They got into Takeshi's car. Takeshi started the engine and, while he took the road, asked Kazuya, "What impressions do you have of being won as a prize?"
"None. To me it's just a job."
"Has it happened to you before?"
"No, this is the first time."
"And it doesn't give you any feeling at all?" Takeshi asked, unbelieving.
"Well, it's not so different from being chosen by a customer at the agency. Even if you hadn't actually chosen me... But possibly you would have preferred one of the other boys..."
"No, not at all. I like you even more. But tell me, why do you do work like this?"
"It's very well-paid."
"But you aren't gay, do you do it only for the money." Takeshi said with the tone of one who has heard these speeches many times over.
"No, I'm gay, and I enjoy it. But this work allows me to earn more, less stressfully, than what I did before. And as I have three younger brothers beside myself to support..."
"Three brothers? What did you say your name is?"
"Kazuya."
"Is that your real name?" the writer, suddenly curious and recalling Saburo's story asked.
"Yes, it is."
"And your brothers - what are their names?"
"Jiro, Saburo and Yukio. Why?"
"Nothing, just talk... Do you feel like telling me your story?"
"No, sorry. I don't like playing the role of the poor boy having a tear jerking story to justify himself or to get pity. If I sell my body, for an hour or a night or even a whole day of sex, it is just what I do for a living. I'm sorry..."
Takeshi liked this proud answer. "You're right, of course, it is I who should apologize. I didn't win your soul, only your body. And it is a very beautiful body, too, by the way."
"Thank you. No, it is not that... I've been rude; sorry. You seem to be a respectable person. It's just that..."
"No, you shouldn't apologise. Listen, is it all right if we don't go to my place? Have you ever eaten in an African restaurant?"
"No, never."
"Do you feel like trying that?"
"As you wish, of course."
"No, listen: let's make an agreement: I don't like the idea that you have to do anything that comes over me for the next twenty-four hours; rather, because you've been paid, I'll take you wherever you want and you can go on your way. I would like to spend twenty four hours with you, of course, but only if you are yourself, not just a prize. Would you tell me what you really like and what you don't? I don't want you to be a robot or a slave," Takeshi said impetuously.
Kazuya looked at him with heightened curiosity, and smiled, "All right, as you wish. Please take me home, then."
"All right." the man said. Kazuya, with a little smile on his lips, showed him the way.
When they were in front of his house, Kazuya said: "I like you. If you wait just a few moments, I'll change my clothes and come back. Then I think I would like to go to that African restaurant with you..."
"What?" Takeshi, caught off balance, asked.
"If you haven't changed your mind, of course," Kazuya added.
"No, I haven't changed my mind!" Takeshi said merrily, "I'll wait for you here with great pleasure. And I think I'm going to pass twenty-four very agreeable hours, with you, too!"
"I feel so, too. Wait; I'll be quick," Kazuya said, running upstairs to change clothes.
He was back in about ten minutes, now wearing less flashy clothes, more subdued, more appropriate for a young man of his age. Takeshi looked at appreciatively.
They went to the African restaurant. While they were eating, Kazuya asked questions of Takeshi, and also answered Takeshi's questions so that, little by little, he had told the man his entire life-story. And Takeshi became aware of two things - that Kazuya was really Saburo's brother, and that the two brothers didn't know about each other's sexuality. He also understood that the two brothers worshipped each other. Of course he said nothing about having met Saburo.
He liked Kazuya very much, and he was glad to have met him. He found him not only really handsome and intelligent, but also a youth of delightful character as well.
"Aren't you sad that you had to interrupt your studies?"
"There was nothing else I could do. It's useless to regret what has been not possible, isn't it? And anyway, my brothers are fully rewarding me for any sacrifice I may have made - they all are very good in their schoolwork. And at home as well. They are growing up well, and I'm very proud of them all."
"Well, in two or three years the second can start to work, right? What is he studying?"
"Economics at Tokyo University."
"Therefore he will be sure get a good job; he will earn a good salary and help you with the other two brothers."
"No. He will have to save his money to marry, and to have his own life. I can't ask him to give that up. I am saving some money, anyway. I don't want, and I cannot continue, to live like this forever. When Yukio is settled, then, maybe, I would like to open a little shop, somewhere."
"Yes, that seems like a good idea. What kind of shop?"
"My dream would be a bookshop, possibly in a small provincial town."
"Why a bookshop? It isn't very reliable."
"But I can read all the books I want for free!"
"Yes, I see."
They spoke for a long while. Kazuya was spontaneous and simple, because he didn't feel as if he was "with a customer". And Takeshi didn't feel like he was "with a boy-san," either. They really enjoyed being together. They left the restaurant and Takeshi proposed him to go to a club in Akasaka to have a drink. This club was mainly attended by men of letters -writers, critics, poets, reporters, or publishers. Takeshi knew most of the customers.
When he introduced Kazuya, one of Takeshi's friends asked: "What is your work, mister Omura?"
"He's a social worker." Takeshi answered readily. Kazuya threw him a short amused glance.
"Ah, very interesting. Do you see children? The elderly?"
"No, people having problems with loneliness or stress, or maladjusted people... His work consists of making them find the taste to enjoy life again," Takeshi said.
"That's really interesting. We need more people like you, mister Omura, in this absurd society. But, being still so young, isn't it a big burden to saddle yourself with such difficult problems?"
"Well, I do my best. Certainly, at times it is somewhat stressful for me. I meet people of all kinds, and it's not always easy to understand what they really need, besides their most obvious needs, of course," Kazuya said.
When they were alone again, Kazuya asked Takeshi, "Why did you say I was a social worker? Wasn't it simpler just to say, 'I don't know', or something like a waiter, or a bartender? Would you have been ashamed to be seen by your friends with a simple bartender?"
"No, not at all. It's just that you, in some ways, really are a kind of social worker. I just spoke the lie that was nearest to the truth."
"I never thought of myself in such a way. You're able to embellish things..."
"Before, you said a very beautiful thing: it is not always easy to understand what they really need, besides sex (which you didn't say, of course). This means that you have asked yourself that, and that for you, your customers are not just people asking for a fuck."
"To come to the agency to pay for a boy, they must have some problems. At least too little self-confidence about being able to attract another person. Possibly they are disheartened, lonely, who knows? Especially for some of the very young customers."
"There are also some sexual maniacs, I imagine."
"No; well very few, anyway. And these are probably the ones who have more problems than all the others. Certainly, it's not I who am able to solve their real problems, unfortunately."
Takeshi was feeling more and more attracted to Kazuya. Not only just physically, even if he liked his body a lot, but for his personality. And Takeshi thought that Kazuya was wasting himself as a boy-san. Life, at times, is very unfair.
"And your brothers? What kind of persons are they?"
"Oh, you'd have to know them! One is better than another. I have a special liking for Yukio, the youngest. He's now seventeen. But all three of them are quite exceptional in their own ways. Jiro is sensible, very serious. Saburo is whimsical and artistic. Now he has a part-time job as a TV actor. Still in secondary roles, but I believe he has the makings of a real actor in time. He's nineteen years old and is near to graduation from high school. I think he's planning to enter a special school for actors. There's a director at the TV studio who seems to have a liking for him. Saburo is a really good boy. Yes, they really are one better than another; I think our father, had he lived, would have been very proud of them all."
"And of you, too, I think."
"Of me? A boy-san? He would be so ashamed of me as to die, poor man!"
"I would not be at all ashamed to have a son just like you."
"You are very kind to say so."
"I like you very much, Kazuya."
"Thank you. I too li..."
"Why did you stop?" Takeshi curious asked.
"Because you might think that those are just the words of a boy-san to his customer."
"But...is it so?"
"No."
"And I believe you. Can't you forget for a day being a boy-san?"
"Yes, forgive me. I really do like you very much, Takeshi."
"Where would you like to go now, Kazuya? It's for you to propose something. Even out-of-town, if you like. I don't feel tired, and tomorrow I am free, so, even if we stay overnight, it would be fine with me."
"Then... there is a fine place I've heard of; it's called Idoya. There are open-air spas from where one can see Mount Fuji, and they're open twenty-four hours. We could go there and relax, and soak in the warm water until the sunrise. How does that seem to you?"
Takeshi agreed enthusiastically. He knew where the spot was, he had been there a couple of times, even if never at night. They left the club and took the motorway out of Tokyo, going up into the hills. Along the way they chatted about several different matters. Takeshi liked to hear what Kazuya thought about different subjects and he was more and more fascinated by Kazuya's personality. It was quite evident that the boy was habituated to think deeply about things and, even if he had firm opinions on some points, he didn't have prejudices about them and was able to evaluate and appreciate a point-of-view different from his own. Takeshi also thought once more that it was a great pity Kazuya had to give up his studies to support his brothers and himself.
They reached the spa. They entered, undressed, washed each other, and then went to plunge into the large hot-water pool among the trees and rocks. The moon shone high in the sky. In the pool there were two other customers, two elderly gentlemen whispering in a corner. Takeshi and Kazuya went to sit near the small hot waterfall.
"If you could have attended the university what would you have liked to study?" Takeshi asked at a certain point.
"Modern Literature, probably."
"Do you like modern stories?"
"Yes. When I can, I read them. But I also like classical literature, especially theatre."
"Classical theatre? Noh? Kabuki?"
"Especially Noh."
"Have you seen many of them?"
"Just some excerpts on TV."
"You never went to a theatre?"
"I don't have the time to. But sooner or later I want very much to go."
While they were chatting, Takeshi looked at Kazuya's body through the clear water of the pool, enjoying his beautiful form.
"You are really beautiful, Kazuya, you have a splendid body."
"Your body is beautiful, too. Do you go to a gym?"
"No, I do some sports and some few exercises when I wake up; that's all. And do you go to a gym?"
"An hour every day before going home from work. The gym is near my job, and it's open twenty-four hours a day."
"Of course, in Tokyo you can find anything even in the deep of night. I didn't imagine there were all- hour gyms. Yes, you have really a very beautiful body." Takeshi repeated, looking at him with obvious pleasure. Kazuya noticed, through the clear water, Takeshi's developing hard on.
Smiling gently he asked: "Do you want me now?"
"It would be difficult not to want you now. You're such a splendid boy, and not just physically. These hours spent with you have been really great, until now. And I really like you in all the ways I could mean by that, too."
"Why don't we ask for a room? After the sunrise we could stay here and enjoy a quiet day. I, too, want you, Takeshi."
"You really desire me?" the man asked pleasurably, quivering at the thought.
"Yes. I think making love with you could be really great. You are a gentle and virile man, just like I really like."
Takeshi was silent, pleased by the compliment, and thought he had been very lucky indeed to have met such a boy. The two elderly men in the opposite corner of the pool were looking away, so Takeshi stretched out his arm and brushed against Kazuya's chest in a light caress. The boy sweetly smiled and moved nearer to him so he could caress the man's side as well.
"I'd like to kiss you. If these two there weren't here..." Kazuya whispered. Now he, too, was aroused. Then he added, "But... do we have to wait here for the sunrise?"
Takeshi understood the hint: "No, we can also enjoy it from one of the rooms just as well. Do you want to go there now?"
"Yes, please..."
They left the pool, their members fiercely erect, without even trying to cover them with their little towels. They dried each other off and dressed in the light yukatas provided by the spa. Takeshi asked for a room and for breakfast at eight 'o clock. They entered the room and found that the futons were already spread. Takeshi pulled off his yukata, pulled off Kazuya's, and they embraced tightly and kissed passionately. The man felt Kazuya's body shudder with pleasure against his own.
"At last..." Kazuya murmured while they glided, still embracing, onto the futon.
"At last?" Takeshi asked with a slightly stupefied smile.
"Yes. I was dying to make love to you. From the time we were in the club, I felt a great desire to touch you."
"And yet you didn't?"
"I didn't know if you desired me as well. I hoped that you did, but you didn't even brush against me, you didn't make me understand if... You didn't choose me, I had just been given you as a prize..."
" But I do like you, so very much."
"Now, I know. It's beautiful to feel desired."
"All your clients desires you, don't they?"
"It's different. They desire my ass, or my cock, or my mouth, some part of my body, in short. I know that you, instead, desire me, Kazuya. Am I wrong?"
"No, you aren't. I'm not interested in just fucking you, I really want to make love with you. Certainly, I'll also enjoy your beautiful body, that's natural. But I would like to get something more than that; can you understand?"
"I do, and it's the same for me," Kazuya said as he kissed the man who was holding him so tight.
Their tongues played with each other, suckling each other, while Takeshi, lying against the boy, gently brushed his groin against Kazuya's groin, erection against erection, enjoying their firm, hot, palpitating turgidity.
Their bodies touched, searched, pressed against each other, quite as if they wanted to merge into one single being. Kazuya liked feeling the sweet weight of that virile body against him. He spread his legs and circled Takeshi's waist with them, while with his arms he embraced the man's back, holding him tightly against himself. He felt that he wanted desperately to belong completely to Takeshi.
The man, perceiving the boy's desire, took his face between his hands and, looking in his eyes, said meaningfully, "I want you!"
"Yes." Kazuya answered with shining eyes.
Takeshi slid down the boy's body to bring his pubes to the right point. Kazuya took his member and guided it between his buttocks while Takeshi started to push his pelvis forward, holding the boy's body between his arms so that his hands grasped the boy's shoulders completely, pulling his body close to him. Kazuya felt the man's glans pointing into his anal flesh-bud, widening it little by little, creeping into it strong and hard, beginning to slip inside him, throbbing inside him. And Kazuya shivered with pleasure.
"Is everything okay?" the man asked thoughtfully, stopping to look at Kazuya expression.
"Oh, yes, certainly. Don't stop, please! I like feeling you inside me," the boy said with a sweet mile full of pleasure.
Takeshi resumed inserting himself into the boy's wonderfully enclosing love-channel. He could feel the hot flesh palpitating around his hard rod as it was welcomed inside. Finally he felt his testicles pressed against Kazuya's firm, round little buttock. Then the man started to slip out slowly and then to plunge again inside the boy with deep, rhythmic moves, each time pressing deeply into him. Kazuya, in turn, began to churn his hips at each thrust, and to squeeze his sphincter tight each time the fleshy rod tried to withdraw itself.
"Oh, that's so great..." Takeshi murmured, excited and panting at the same time while continuing to take the boy's ass that way, and feeling he was reaching seventh heaven. Kazuya took the man's nipples between his fingers and lightly pinched them, and the man said to him, "Oh, Kazuya, you're driving me mad, it's just too beautiful to be believed!"
"I like it very much, too. You're as strong as a stallion in heat; I love how you take me."
Takeshi continued to probe inside him, back and forth, back and forth, in a continuing but not rapid rhythm, almost majestically, strongly, masculinely, until his body began to shudder, at first gently, then more intensely, tensing like a harp-string, while the thrusting movements of Takeshi's cock became more resolute, more rapid, but always under control. Kazuya discovered with mounting pleasure the symptoms of impending orgasm on the man's face. Now, at each thrust Takeshi emitted a low moan of intense joy. Kazuya felt him shuddering with more and more intensity, accelerating, then pushing himself deep inside with all the force he could manage, while pulling against him and emptying himself inside him in a series of orgasmic explosions, moaning with the intensity of his pleasure.
Kazuya made him relax beside him while he caressed his back, and Takeshi, from time to time, still shivered deeply. Their lips searched for each other, met, united, and parted, and they kissed each other with great passion, until Takeshi resumed his normal breathing and his heart beat normally again.
"But now I want to give you pleasure, Kazu..." the man tenderly whispered.
He freed himself from the intimate union with the boy and began to kiss and lick him all over, lingering on the most erogenous points. Now it was the boy's turn to be all a-quiver. Kazuya felt like a lyre whose plectrum was a skilful tongue, which was able to make him vibrate from head to toe, and which was rapidly bringing him to the apex of pleasure. And when Kazuya, tense and shuddering, felt his companion's lips engulfing his own palpitating, hard member, he emitted a low moan, arching his body, and murmuring, almost as a warning, "I'm... I'm near... cumming... I'm cum... ooooh.... ooooh.... oh oooh... ooohhhh!" and lay, inert, unable to move at all with the intensity of the pleasure he had been given.
Takeshi continued to suck with great ardour, making the boy's shaft slide deep inside his throat, and he greedily drank each spurt of the warm liqueur the boy was him.
Lying down, loosely embracing each other, the two were savouring the post-orgasmic relaxation, when Takeshi, nodding his head at the window, said with great emotion, "Look, the sun is rising on the Mount Fuji! Isn't it splendid? Look at its magnificent colours!"
"Yes, it's beautiful, it makes one feel at peace with all of the world."
"Also, being like this with you makes me feel at peace with the world." Takeshi whispered caressing the boy's hollow belly.
Kazuya smiled, barely nodding. He too liked being naked, lying near this man. It was lucky to have been "won" by that wonderful man...
He recalled all the games. While the others, as soon as they could put their hands on one of the boys groped them with scarcely hidden lust, to get the maximum pleasure from them as they could, he noticed that Takeshi, even if caressing them, did so with a kind of tenderness. As, just before, he had made love with him as a human being and not just as a pleasure-boy. It was very rare, and Kazuya, inside his heart, was grateful to the man for that. He rose on one side and gave the man a rapid kiss, on impulse, on his chest, then lay down again, pleasurably confused at that instinctive gesture.
Takeshi turned towards him, putting his leg over the boy's, his arm on the boy's tummy and, smiling to him, said: "I feel so great. Thank you, Kazu."
Kazuya blushed. It didn't happen often that he blushed. But the warmth in the man's words touched him deeply and, at the same time, he felt modesty in his emotion. No, this man wasn't a "client" he thought, satisfied. Even if he would never again meet him, Kazuya was grateful to him for the hours of intense joy that Takeshi was giving him. He would have liked to have a way to show to the man his gratitude but didn't know how he could do it. After all, the man was a famous writer, and he was just a boy-san. Having illusions was useless.
Illusions. No. He couldn't even hope to find a lover as long as he had to be a boy-san, and yet he had to continue to do that work for years. And when he could finally stop it, his youth would be irredeemably lost.
He didn't complain; he didn't make it a problem; it just was, and he accepted it. After all, he thought, he was luckier than many of the other boys doing the same job.