Seduction Game (Art and Soul)

by Candy J. Starr

  “Who isn’t? I can’t even run for the bus. But it’ll be fun. That’s the main thing.”

  I’d said all that but it was different when I turned up at the school. I’d left campus at lunchtime and gone straight there. When I got to the school gates though, I had no idea what to do or where to go. I’d only ever waited at the gates for Shun. The people who sent their kids to this school were all like the Tachibanas. Weird, rich people. My palms sweated and I was tempted to run back to the safety of my painting studio, but I’d promised Shun. He’d been so happy too. I couldn’t let my own insecurities rob him of that.

  “Come on, Audrey. It’ll be character building,” I said to myself.

  A parenty-looking couple walked down the street. I’d follow them. They were definitely going to the sports day. I walked behind them, hoping no one would stop me. Do they let just any random person wander into school sports days? Since no one stopped me, I guessed they did.

  They got to a sports ground at the back of the school. It sure was swanky, but then the whole school was swanky. There were bleachers along one side of the field and most of the parents sat there. I tried to find a spot amongst them but Shun ran over and grabbed me.

  “You came!”

  Poor kid seemed shocked that I’d keep my word.

  “I said I would.”

  He grinned at me. He looked so cute in his sports outfit with the baggy shorts. I wish I had a decent camera so I could’ve taken some photos. I only had my phone and the camera on that was awful. Still, I made him pose for a bunch of selfies with me. Most of the parents had those fancy cameras. Still, a bunch of low quality photos would be better than no photos at all. I’d send them to Shun later.

  “I’ve got to go now,” he said, “but sit on those stands. That’s for the parents in my class.”

  I nodded.

  I climbed to the back of the stand because the front rows were packed. There was an empty row at the top. All the parents turned and stared at me. I didn’t look at them, made no eye contact, but their stares burnt into me.

  When I got settled, I realised I should’ve asked Shun which races he was in. From the back row, it was hard to tell the kids apart. Most of the parents had some kind of program but, even if I had one, I’d not be able to read it.

  Someone kept talking over a megaphone. I couldn’t understand a word of what they said but it seemed like everyone else ignored them too. The races started and I put my hand up to shield my eyes from the sun. I’d picked Shun out, sitting cross-legged on the ground with a bunch of other kids. If I watched out, I’d know when it was his turn.

  Someone sat beside me.

  “What are you doing here?” Junichi said.

  I rolled my eyes but my heart jumped a little. I’d not expected him to turn up. Shun had said nothing about him coming.

  “I came to watch Shun.”

  “Did you ever stop to think that you might embarrass him?”

  “Huh?”

  “You don’t exactly blend into the crowd with that hair. I could see it from the other side of the grounds. It’s bright pink. Do you see anyone else here with bright pink hair?”

  “No, but some of them have really shoddy dye jobs. How much did they pay for those hairstyles? And that dude over there, his toupe is so obvious.”

  “You don’t really get the point, do you?”

  I rolled my eyes at him. “Shun wanted me here. I don’t think he cares.”

  “Well, at least put something on to cover up your arms.”

  I grabbed a cardigan out of my bag even though it was stinking hot. I didn’t agree with Junichi, and I didn’t think Shun gave a single thought to it but the some of the parents kept turning around to stare. I didn’t want to cause trouble for him with his school friends.

  “You could tone down the make up a bit too.”

  I poked my tongue out at him.

  “So, why are you sitting next to me if I’m such an embarrassment, Sunshine?”

  I grinned and he reddened. Normally, Junichi was quick to snap back at me but he keep quiet. He wanted to sit next to me. He just didn’t want to say it. And, to be honest, this sports day had become a lot more interesting.

  “Well… I guess you need someone to tell you how to do things.”

  I punched his arm. “Gee, thanks for that, Sunshine.”

  He rubbed his arm. I’d only just touched him too. Then he got one of those programs out of his bag. Everyone had one but me.

  “Shun’s first race is soon. Don’t yell too loud or say anything inappropriate.”

  Did he have to say stuff like that all the time?

  He got a big bottle of water out of his bag. I’d not thought to bring anything like that with me and it was blazing hot in the sun.

  “Can I have some?”

  “No.”

  I glared at him. “Please?”

  He took a big gulp of water. That water looked so cool and refreshing. He finished and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Something about that stirred me. It was strangely erotic.

  “No. It’s not hygienic for us to drink out of the same bottle. Don’t you have a drink?”

  “Obviously not or I wouldn’t be asking you.”

  “You’re worse than Shun.”

  He put the cap back on the bottle.

  “Come on, Sunshine. Just a little sip. I wouldn’t backwash. Promise.”

  He screwed up his nose. He really wasn’t going to share. He’d sit here and let me die of dehydration instead. Bastard. I’d show him. I lunged for the bottle before he put it in his bag. He tried to thrust it away from me but the outside of the bottle was wet with condensation and slipped out of his hands.

  I held the bottle tight and turned my body from him but he tried to snatch it back off me. His shoulder rubbed against mine and his breath tickled against my hair. If he thought his sexy little manoeuvres would distract me though, he was wrong. I wasn’t going to dry up like a prune.

  I turned and our mouths almost touched. It would be so easy to move just a little and graze my lips against his. So tempting. Instead I turned away. This was far too public.

  I’d almost opened the cap when he did a massive lunge. He jolted my arm just as I removed the cap. Water spurted all over the woman sitting in front of us.

  As she turned, I handed the bottle back to Junichi. She glared at him, outraged.

  I tried not to laugh. Her hair was soaked and water dripped down her back. She didn’t say anything but her face turned red. She kind of spluttered like the words wanted to come out but she was just far too angry to form them.

  Then Junichi gave a small giggle. That got me started. The woman glared at us all the more. That just made us giggle more. Like a couple of stupid kids.

  “Fine then,” he said to me. “Have a drink, if you want one so badly.”

  I took the bottle and had a slug then handed it back to him. I caught his eye and we both laughed again.

  “Settle down now. Shun’s about to run.”

  “Settle down yourself,” I said, nudging him with my arm.

  We both stood up to see Shun better. He headed to the start line.

  “He’s so much smaller than the other kids,” I said.

  “Yes, but he’s fast.”

  “Huh, he told me he was crap at sports.”

  Junichi laughed. “He’d say that so he doesn’t look bad if he loses.”

  The kids were all at the start line now. I bounced on my toes in anticipation of the race.

  Then they started.

  “Shun! Come on, Shun,” I screamed.

  He wasn’t at the front but it wasn’t far behind.

  Beside me, Junichi screamed. And he’d told me not to be too loud. I joined him. Then Shun started moving up to the lead. We both screamed louder. It became Shun and some other kid, neck and neck with a few metres to go.

  “Come on, Shun. Slaughter that little bastard.”

  The woman in front turned again. Oops. I think she understood En
glish. And maybe knew that little bastard.

  As he got near the end ribbon, Shun seemed to fly. He got across the finish line with a clear lead.

  I screamed and jumped. Then, without thinking, I threw my arms around Junichi.

  “We did it.”

  His arms came around me too. Both of us screaming and grinning. Shun would be so proud of himself. I glowed with pride for him. But then my attention turned from Shun to the way Junichi’s body pressed against my breasts. His hands rested on my hips, very close to my butt cheeks and my arms were tight around his neck. Again, our mouths came so close.

  Then he pulled away from me.

  The rest of the races went by in a blur. The ones without Shun weren’t exactly interesting anyway.

  “So, why are you here?” I asked Junichi.

  “He is my brother, you know.”

  “Yeah, but he didn’t even know you were coming.”

  Junichi scratched his nose. He didn’t look at me.

  “When I was a kid, my parents never came to sports day. Instead, they would send one of the staff from their company to take photos. At the end of the day, the staff member would go back to work and I’d be alone while all the other kids went off with their parents.”

  I squeezed his arm. I wasn’t even being sarcastic. It was awful that he had to go through that as a kid.

  “I didn’t want Shun to be alone at the end of the day. When you’re a kid like that, it doesn’t mean much if you win or lose, if you don’t have anyone to share it with.”

  He still looked off into the middle distance. Wow, that was some heartfelt words from Junichi. I think he waited for a wisecrack or some kind of teasing but I didn’t feel like doing that kind of thing.

  “I never even made it that far. Every year there was some reason. No money for running shoes. I didn’t have the right coloured t-shirt. Or we’d have to take along something for afternoon tea and I had nothing to take.”

  I didn’t want to mention that the reason we didn’t have the money was because Dad had pissed it up the wall in most cases. That just made me seem too pathetic.

  “Wow, you really were poor,” Junichi said.

  “Yep, we sure were.” I tucked my hair behind my ear. “But, hey, I hated running and sports anyway. It was a day off school that I could spend drawing.”

  Even though I said that, Junichi knocked his shoulder against mine, in a way that let me know he understood. Even though it was just the slightest movement, it seemed incredibly intimate.

  My heart hammered. I wanted him. I’d only be lying to myself if I said otherwise. My body screamed out for him to touch me. Deal or not, the ache inside me was for Junichi.

  When the races were over, we went looking for Shun. He ran up to us.

  “Audrey. Junichi. Did you see me run?”

  “We sure did.” I grinned at him. “You were amazing.”

  “You sure were. Audrey went nuts, screaming.”

  “So did you.”

  Shun grinned all the more. “Can we get ice cream to celebrate?”

  “We most certainly can,” I told him.

  CHAPTER 12

  “So, we’re going away this weekend,” Mrs Tachibana said.

  “All of us?” Shun asked. He didn’t sound too happy about it.

  “Well, not Audrey and Junichi. They have to study. But you and Yumi will be coming with us.”

  The look she gave me left no doubt about what she expected. Not that anyone noticed but me. Still, it hung in the air. That expectation that I’d fulfil my part of the bargain. I couldn’t help but glance at Junichi. He hadn’t looked up from his food, though.

  “I’m not going,” said Yumi. “It sounds lame.”

  “Well, Junichi and Audrey have to study so they need to have the house to themselves. I don’t want them disturbed.”

  If nothing else, her concern for my academic welfare should’ve rung alarm bells. All she’d done since I arrived was give me things to do that took away from my study time.

  “That’s okay, I can stay with Hana.”

  Mrs Tachibana nodded. Then she actually winked at me in the most horrible way. Seriously, it made my skin crawl. Junichi and I had only just had a civil conversation, it wasn’t like we were about to jump into bed. Wouldn’t he think that was mighty suspicious? Maybe not. He was a guy after all. He’d just think he was so irresistibly charming that I couldn’t keep my hands off him.

  Eww, did I want him to think that? I guess that was the whole point of this deal. Also, I didn’t want to keep my hands off him. But I just didn’t want to feed his shitty ego.

  I could back out now. I could say I’d planned to go away with Ingrid this weekend or something like that. I hadn’t explicitly told them I’d accept the deal but, if I went along with this lust weekend idea it would be as good as saying I accepted it.

  Junichi swept his hair back from his face and kept eating. I guess the fact that he didn’t abhor the idea of a weekend alone with me was a huge step.

  “Maybe Audrey could cook you something nice for dinner on Saturday and you could have a little study party,” she added.

  “Maybe we could order in pizza. That is more what people do when they have ‘study parties’.”

  She gave me a weird look but that quickly turned to a smile. I’d done it. I’d said pizza but we both knew I meant hot sex with Junichi.

  “Pizza it is then. And beer. After all, if you’re working hard, you need some refreshment.”

  That made it even worse, like I had to get Junichi drunk to sleep with me.

  “What do you think, Junichi?” she asked him.

  He just made a non-committal grumble. I had no idea how Junichi felt about me, hot one minute, cold the nextLast night, I’d been playing games with Shun and he’d come in the room and just sat there like a total creeper. After about five minutes of that, I got totally flustered and wasn’t sure how to react, so I’d run to the kitchen to get drinks for Shun and me. When I got back, he’d gone to his room.

  The Tachibanas left early on Saturday morning.

  “Can’t I stay with Audrey?” Shun said. “She’s heaps more fun than a boring weekend away.”

  Mrs Tachibana leant down and smoothed his hair. Shun hated that. He rolled his eyes at me.

  “No, you can’t. We have to go away and let Audrey have fun with Junichi.”

  Eww, could she make things more obvious? I was nervous as hell anyway. I wasn’t sure this whole seduction plan would work. He’d rejected me at the storage space. It didn’t get more obvious than that. And then he’d carried on like nothing had happened.

  “Junichi doesn’t even want to have fun with Audrey. He’s no fun at all. Audrey would prefer to hang out with me.” Shun folded his arms then winked at me.

  He wasn’t far wrong. A weekend of rejection would kill me.

  Junichi hadn’t even appeared to say goodbye to his parents. Yumi had gone to her friend’s place straight from school on Friday.

  The Tachibanas had two giant suitcases just for a two-night stay. What had they even packed? I didn’t have a quarter of that stuff for my entire move to Japan.

  “Shun, help your father load the car.”

  Mr Tachibana and Shun wheeled the giant cases out to the garage. That left Mrs Tachibana and me alone. I wanted to run back to my room but she pulled me close to her.

  “Here, take these. And make sure you use them.”

  She’d pulled a small bag out of her handbag. Condoms? I opened the bag. Yep, a box of condoms. Just when I thought the woman had reached the limits of creepiness, she pushed it even further. I moved away, not wanting to be too close to her. I wanted to bolt upstairs but I couldn’t resist winding her up a bit.

  “Are you sure that’s enough?” I asked.

  Her usual smug smile dropped. Ha, that got her. I really wanted to laugh. It didn’t bother her for long, though. The smug smile came back to her face. It wouldn’t have surprised me if she’d demanded the used ones returned to her as pr
oof.

  When they’d finally left, the house felt empty. I went up to my room and put the condoms in my bedside drawer. Junichi moved around upstairs. Should I go up and knock on his door? Maybe he really did have study to do. Personally, I had nothing much I could do at home. I still had the stupid haiku to write. Maybe I could go up and ask him for help with that. It would mean burying all of my pride but surely I could do that for the greater good.

  I checked myself in the mirror. I wasn’t exactly dressed for seduction. I had random clips in my hair to keep it off my face which made tufts of hair stick up at weird angles. I took them out and teased my hair a bit. I put on some eyeliner and a smear of lip gloss. It was a bit much for that time of morning but it did make me feel a bit better about myself.

  I’d never even been up the stairs to Junichi’s room before. Yumi and Shun didn’t seem to have any resentment that Junichi had it so much better than them with his own space upstairs. I’d definitely be miffed about it if I were them.

  When I got to the top of the stairs, I knocked on the door. My heart bashed around in my chest while I waited for him to respond. I hated myself a little for doing this. Asking for help with an assignment was one of those things I despised in other girls. It was so blerk but I needed an “in” with him and also, I really did need help.

  He didn’t open the door. I couldn’t even hear him walking across the room. I knocked again, louder this time. He still didn’t open the door. Was he doing that on purpose? After all, he knew I was the only one home. That was just plain rude. I’d not heard him leave the house so he had to be in there. In there, listening to me knock and probably laughing at me. Bastard.

  I should take the hint and go away but I’d made the move and I had to follow through. If he rejected me again, that was it. I was out. I’d tell the Tachibanas that their son was unseduceable.

  I knocked loud enough to shake the door then turned the knob and flung the door open. I’d teach him to ignore me. It was only when the door flew open that I thought he might be doing something private in there, like having a wank. Ewww. I did not want to see that.

  Well, okay, maybe a little bit.

  No. I definitely did not want to see that.

  He wasn’t though. He sat at his desk.