How to Date Japanese Idols (The Tenshi Series)

by Cilia Jaspers

  She lowered her hands and opened one eye. “This isn’t a morning blush. I don’t blush in the mornings. What’s there to blush about? This is a freak-occurrence-Gakino-blush.”

  “No, it’s a morning blush,” he rubbed one finger on her cheek and then cupped her face in his palm.

  She closed her eyes to enjoy the sensation.

  “I think that blush is a lucky blush.” Leaning in and putting his forehead against hers, he whispered. “Eloise, I’m really happy right now.”

  They rested like that for a few minutes. Eloise on her back, and Gakino spread out alongside her. Both of them just breathing in and out.

  Gakino Yoh. His body was warm in the mornings. It was easy to trace his presence without looking. She could sense his long torso from the way heat radiated from his skin to hers in the small space between them. The light hair on his legs tickled her skin along her thigh and at her calf. She thought she just might be able to stay like this forever. If the world narrowed down to only this bed, she didn’t think she’d mind.

  After a few moments, he pulled away but he was still close, still warm. Laying on his stomach, he started tracing her face with his finger again. First her lips. Then her nose. He moved over her eyebrows and then toward her eyes, making her close her lids. When he moved to trace her ear, he asked, “Eloise, are you happy?”

  Instead of talking, which she worried would either embarrass her or get her in trouble because she always managed to say the wrong things, she lifted his arm, forcing him onto his side. Then she pulled his arm across her and settled against him. His stomach and his chest moved behind her, as he breathed in and out. His body was warm and pliant against her except for one spot in particular, and she blushed, her breath catching. Her body pushed back against his, moving on instinct, and she blushed more, squeezing her eyes shut and hoping he didn’t notice.

  He pulled her more fully against him, bringing their bodies so closely together they touched everywhere. He rested his head at her shoulder, and she felt him settle in on a long exhale.

  He placed a kiss on her neck and she giggled. He moved his hand, running his fingers down her arms, her side, her hips, up and down, up and down.

  She laughed. “Are you petting me?”

  “Actually, I am fighting the urge to tickle you.”

  Putting on her best teacher voice, she insisted, “It is too early in the morning for shenanigans.” He only laughed, so she threatened, “Don’t you dare ti–”

  Gakino moved quickly, whipping her around and, suddenly, coming to rest above her. His thighs touched her hips where they were braced on either side of her legs and his face was mere inches from her own, somehow still covered with the sheet. Too bright, the white sheet against the sun made it so that she couldn’t see his eyes. She could only see his smile.

  He leaned closer to her, bringing his chest down to rest against her body. They were both panting. “Is that a challenge?” he asked.

  As she opened her mouth to answer, he kissed her deeply, so deeply her breath hitched. Pulling away, he kissed her nose and murmured, “I’ll give you fair warning. In Tenshi, I’m the best at challenge games.” Lifting one hand high enough for her to see it, he wiggled his fingers at her, “El-chan, meet your doom.”

  He moved his hands down her sides and she flinched involuntarily.

  “Don’t!”

  “Squirming and screaming won’t help you. It just makes me more determined.” He repeated the action, this time starting higher up, at her ribcage and near her arms.

  “Stop! Stop!”

  “You are incredibly ticklish. The most ticklish girl I’ve ever met.”

  She narrowed her eyes, “You’ve tickled a lot of girls, then?”

  Lowering his full weight on top of her, he put his body flush against her own. He was heavy, but it felt good. Pushing himself up to kiss her, his body pressed against hers, making her moan. “Another blush,” he whispered, kissing her cheek. He pushed the sheet off their heads. “It’s getting a little hot isn’t it?”

  “Is this your way of avoiding my question?” she whispered.

  His eyes watched hers as his palm moved slowly down her side and then up her stomach to grab her breast. His face grew serious. His eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched. His thumb teased her until she arched against his palm.

  He laughed, moving his hand over her shoulder, and down the sensitive skin of her arm. When he reached her hand, he laced their fingers and brought their clasped hands to his mouth. And bit her thumb.

  “Hey! That hurt!”

  “I have tickled some girls. But it’s just a game, Eloise.”

  “Not when you do it in bed it’s not. Clearly.”

  “Did you know? Tenshi was on a TV show once where, as a punishment, we had to get tickled.”

  “Don’t change the subject. Wait...what?”

  “I’m not changing the subject. The subject is tickles. Well, we had a challenge game to see which of us could stay stoic enough not to smile.”

  “You did this on TV?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Japanese TV is weird.”

  He smiled. “Maybe.” His long fingers traced the edge of her jaw. “Anyway, I lost. Despite my superior skills at challenge games of the silly sort, I am super ticklish, too, just like you. My point is a ticklish person is responsive, sensitive, and can’t hide their feelings well. I am ticklish. Very ticklish. So are you. That is a good thing, right?”

  “Even though you’ve tickled scores of girls before? In bed?”

  “Even so.” Leaning over, he gave her a quick kiss. “What is a score?”

  She laughed. “Don’t ask.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I don’t feel much like an English teacher right now. Besides, if I tell you and you admit to the accuracy of the term, I won’t feel much like being in this bed either.”

  “Let’s see. A deal then? I’ll teach you a word if you teach me. It’s an important word. You really need to know it.”

  “What word?” she asked.

  “You first.”

  “Fine,” she grumbled, too curious to help it. ”A score is twenty, or about twenty.”

  “And you said scores, right? Plural?”

  “Yes. And you agreed. Do you want to retract your earlier statement?”

  “It’s your turn to learn Eloise.”

  “I am not comforted by your redirection here, Gakino.”

  “Repeat after me. Ka-re”

  “Kah-ray,” she said, just to oblige him.

  "Now add the she sound."

  "Kah-ray-she"

  “Speed it up. Say the second syllable really fast. Make the r sound just a switch. And don’t stretch the vowel out. Kah-re. Kah-re,” he repeated, modeling.

  “Kah-re.”

  "Ok, now all together."

  "Kah-ray-she."

  “There it is.” He smiled. “You just learned kareshi. Now you can use it when you talk about me.”

  “What’s it mean? Insensitive jerk who tickles too many woman?” she asked, teasing.

  “Close. Very close. It means boyfriend.”

  At her shocked expression, he started to laugh and she could feel it all down her body. “You should see your face. Your eyes are huge and your mouth literally fell open.” He placed a smacking kiss on her lips. “How could it be that much of a surprise? I’ve been angling you toward this almost since the start?”

  “I’ve been preparing myself for a different eventuality.

  “Well, then, prepare yourself for this, El-Chan,” he teased wiggling his fingers at her. “The tickle battle commences. And your boyfriend is definitely going to win.”

  Pulling the sheet back over them, he went for her ribs, her feet, her arms, watching her face, noticing everything, and making her laugh until it hurt. She laughed more that morning than she had in her entire life, all other laughs combined. And this time her laughs were all pure bliss.

  *

  They decided to eat at Eloise�
��s favorite teppenyaki restaurant, mostly because she was starving and it was close. It wasn’t until they got there that they both remembered it was the place where they’d had their first date. When they walked in, Gakino raised his eyebrow at her, smiled, and thankfully said nothing.

  She’d been so different then. As pleased about Gakino’s interest in her as a cat stuck outside in a rainstorm. Eloise considered all that had changed between them and wondered if all those changes were visible to others. Glancing toward the men behind the grill, she worried that they could see evidence of what had happened between her and Gakino in her expression or in Gakino’s manner. She peeked at Gakino and saw that even he was blushing. Either he was thinking the same things she was or he was fighting laughter and noticing her nervousness.

  She willed herself against all shenanigans and promised her cheeks intense retribution if they betrayed her. She was an adult. So what if these near-strangers suspected what she’d been doing last night...and this morning. She refused to feel embarrassed.

  The day was sunny and it matched her mood, and she was going to enjoy the moment, damn it. Throwing caution and public opinion to the wind, Eloise sat so that her leg touched Gakino’s. Gakino smiled at her approvingly, and as the meal went on he reached out occasionally to brush her elbow or the back of her arm.

  He was thrilled that Eloise had overcome her original nervousness. The discomfort she felt when they entered might have put up a wall between them, but she was anything but reticent. As she cut off a bit of omelet, he tugged on her ponytail, demanding her attention, and she laughed at him, spared him a glance, looked meaningfully at his nearly abandoned food, and then went back to her meal. He ran his hand down the back of her arm. Frankly, he didn’t want to stop touching her, so he’d take what little he could claim in public. Until he could drag her back to bed.

  He’d been thinking about telling her what waited for him in Japan, but he couldn’t find the right time. And the longer it went without being said, the more he thought that everything with Sugiyama and KM Entertainment was his problem and that he needed to sort it out on his own. What could Eloise do about it anyway? The past month was still a mystery to her. She hadn’t asked and he hadn’t volunteered, both of them apparently too happy with where they were now to want to go back to hashing it all out. But should he give her some warning that he might be gone again? There wasn’t really any way to predict what Kishimoto or Sugiyama might have in store for him.

  “Ooh, look at that.” She pointed across the grill to where a large dragonfly fluttered about a drink fridge. Gakino made a noise of appreciation and surprise.

  “I love those things. I used to catch them by the dozen when I was a kid. It looks like he’s here for lunch and frustrated at having to wait too long for one of the guys to bring him his drink.”

  Eloise giggled, low in her throat. The sound reminded him of the morning. He looked up at Eloise to see if she was remembering the same thing and saw, just in time, the dragonfly bump up against her face. She gasped and closed her eyes. He quickly reached over to cup it between his hands.

  “Come on, little friend. You’ve frightened my lady, and I can’t have that.” He spoke happily to the dragonfly as he got up and carried it outside of the restaurant. Tossing the dragonfly into the open air, he returned inside and sat back down next to Eloise. She was rubbing her fingers against her cheek. He rested his hand on her knee and put the other up to her face and gently wiped it with his thumb. “It’s ok. I got him.”

  “He touched my face!” She frowned at him. “He just . . .,” she trailed off. Moving her eyes around and taking in the cooks and the one other patron eating there she started to giggle. “I’m sorry. I just like bugs at a distance. A scientific distance.” She scrubbed her fingers over her cheek roughly. “Ugh.”

  “You are painfully adorable. It hurts sometimes. Right here,” he said, pointing to the place high on his stomach that pulled tight every time Eloise’s showed this side of herself.

  “So. I’m your lady, huh? That sounds gross.” Eloise and her misdirections. She said this harshly, but she smiled at him and a faint pink blush settled into her cheeks.

  “Oh yes. You’re definitely my lady, and I’d fight him again for you. I’d fight a lot for you actually, ” he added, thinking of Sugiyama. But he laughed when she did, keeping things light. Although he meant what he said, he didn’t want to scare her.

  After swiping her cheek again, this time with a napkin, she picked up her chopsticks and said, “Alas, the days of dragon fighting are over. So I think you’re relatively safe.”

  He ignored the obvious segue into talk about KM and said, “You think there aren’t any dragons to slay, huh? I wonder, what would your dad say about me?”

  “The Senator? You and I haven’t talked about him that much, but still , your guess is probably as good as mine, given that you know a lot more about the whole public-persona-personal-responsibility dilemma than I do.”

  “Eloise? Really? He’s your father.”

  “Not in the ways that count, Gakino. We’ve talked about this. American families are different. We don’t do the whole Japanese-household-family thing. Giving me his name adds up to exactly zero. To me. And to him, too, apparently.”

  “You don’t see him often, but he is your dad. You don’t think he’d worry about whether my intentions are honorable–they are by the way–or if I’m good enough for you? Really?”

  “You keep saying really like I’m making this stuff up, like it’s all in my head, but it’s not. It was in the papers. National media coverage. It even got picked up by a few local TV stations. Senator’s Daughter Sets His Career Ablaze. News at Eleven.”

  “It was a long time ago. That boy has grown up. So have you. Your father’s likely changed, too. Can’t you put it all behind you?”

  “I’m trying,” she said. “I’ve put the States and the Senator as far behind me as I can.”

  “Eloise, that’s not what I mean.”

  “Let’s talk about something else, ok?” she said, turning away and facing her nearly empty plate. “You should eat. Your food’s getting cold.”

  “Eloise, someday, I want to meet your father. It’s important to me, and I don’t want to make the guy angry beforehand by surprising him with a headline. Eloise, look at me.”

  She rotated on the stool.

  “Should we tell him now?” he asked, rubbing her knees. “Do you think he’d react badly if he read something about us?”

  She shrugged. “I’m not sure. I haven’t seen the guy since he packed me up eight years ago.” She shook her head and looked down at the ground. “The man never did a menial job in his life–at least not unless cameras were rolling. I’d never seen him unpack a suitcase before, let alone pack one. You should have seen him tossing my things in like an old pro.” Her eyes met his, her lashes wet with unshed tears.

  “You aren’t seventeen anymore, Eloise. And even then, you weren’t the one that did anything wrong. Maybe your father understands that now. Maybe he wants to hear from you. Maybe he’s just too afraid to pick up the phone because he knows how wrong he was.”

  “That’s a whole lot of maybes. Anyway, I don’t want to bore you.”

  “You really are something, Eloise. Of course, I’m not bored by this. If memory serves, the last time we talked about the guy I wasn’t bored. I was pissed.” He was about to suggest that maybe they should call him up to chase down old demons when his phone went off. It was the ringtone he used for Tenshi members. Pulling up his screen to read the text, he wrinkled his brow, confused.

  “What’s up?” Eloise asked, sounding relieved.

  “Saved by the bell,” he muttered, kissing her on the forehead. “I just got a message from Shun.” He handed the phone to Eloise so that she could read it.

  “He wants to meet you this afternoon at the Taipei Arena? Why?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “Should you call him?”

  “No. He won’t tell me
anything else until I get there. He’s the kind of guy who says exactly what he means. If he’d wanted to say more, he would have.”

  “Are you going to go?”

  “Yeah. I have to. If he’s come here, something important’s happening.”

  “Is everything ok? Are you in trouble again?”

  “No. Nothing like that. We’re just busy. It’s probably something to do with the tour. You know, we’re performing in Taipei this time.”

  “Yeah,” she said smiling and rolling her eyes, “I know. I’m a fan, remember.”

  He pulled on her ponytail. “I remember.”

  “If he wants to meet you this afternoon, you probably need to leave now, right?”

  “Yeah.” Twisting on his stool to turn toward her, he leaned in and rested his chin on her shoulder. He circled her left hand with both of his own. Although her hands weren’t small, they were covered by his.

  Looking up at her, he saw that she was glancing at their hands in her lap, too. “Your hands are warm.”

  Their eyes met. “It feels good.” She admitted, smiling shyly.

  “I really, really don’t want to leave,” he whispered.

  “But you’ll be back next week, right? You said your manager was finally giving in on your trips to Taiwan. So, although I am completely and staggeringly wonderful and thus hard to leave behind, the agony of our separation won’t last that long.”

  He smiled at her, his grin getting wider, until he finally laughed. “That’s right. I’ll be back next week.”

  “Don’t push yourself on my account though, ok? I know you’re busy, so if you can’t make it, I’ll understand.”

  “Wouldn’t it be more romantic if you said you couldn’t wait? You should be more demanding. It’d certainly make me feel better. Let’s try this again.” He coughed in an exaggerated way.

  “If I can’t come, won’t you be the least little bit upset?”

  “I’ll be distraught. Utterly ruined. A shadow of my former myself.”

  “Ouch,” he said, rubbing his chest and squinting his eyes as though he was pained. “Sarcasm is a weapon.”

  “Seriously, Gakino. I’ll miss you, but you always come when you can. I know that. My trust is a much bigger deal than how much I’ll miss you anyway. I promise.”