Teito Renka by Hinase Mizuki

[insaneneko]

I bought and read a bunch of BL novels, most of them being simply okay. I kind of bought a bunch because I was drawn to their illustrations, so I'm not too surprised. I did read two REALLY GOOD books I plan on talking about in detail, but for now I scanned in some pretty pictures from 帝都恋華 (reading is possibly: Teito Renka), written by Hinase Mizuki and illustrated by Jissohji Yukariko.

Set in the Taisho period, Izumi Kanaya, son of a nouveau riche businessman, is to marry into a noble family which needs his father's money to survive. Upset at the arranged marriage he does not want, he gets drunk on the eve of his wedding. Emerging from his balcony, is a tall dark handsome man offers him escape. He (foolishly) takes his hand...and ends up at the man's villa. Kuze Ryouichiro tells Kanaya that he actually wants to take his revenge against Kanaya's father, who had done his family wrong and was also involved in shady practices. Kanaya does not believe Kuze, so he is taken to one of his father's establishments...dressed as a woman. His disappearance before his wedding is big news and people would recognize him if he walked around dressed as normal. He finds at the establishment a hidden half made up of gambling, lewd dancing and prostitution. He is told of how his father had destroyed the Kuze family (and had their noble taken away from them) and even made Kuze's sister into his mistress.

Upon their return Kanaya and Kuze run into Kuze's mother, who had lost her mind after their family's misfortunes. Kuze introduces Kanaya as his betrothed who had come to live at the villa. He then takes his revenge a step further by forcing himself on Kanaya. Kanaya spends his days with Kuze's mother, dressed a woman and pretending to be Kuze's betrothed. He spends his nights being fucked by Kuze.


Needless to say, there is much angsting as he wonders if this is his due (if in fact his father is the bad bad man Kuze says he is), and also thinking about his noble betrothed. During the course of the novel we find out that Kanaya's best friend (and in fact his only friend, because he was not one to buy friends with money and many avoided him as being the son of an upstart) was actually in love with Kanaya's betrothed and had even declared that he almost hates him even though he knows the marriage was arranged by their families. We also find out that Kanaya actually had romantic feelings for his best friend (THE ANGST, IT FLOWS). So there's the idea in his pretty little head that it might be a good thing that he's disappeared because there may be a chance for his best friend to find happiness (because he knows he can't be with his best friend, he at least wants him to be happy...sweet, ain't it?) with the one he loves. There is more sex and the uke getting his body trained to pleasure, more uke wondering what the seme really thinks of him (or does he not think of him at all, even though they have sex EVERY SINGLE NIGHT), more glimpses that the seme is not the cold hard man he seems to be to the uke, more uke having tender mother and daughter-in-law moments with Kuze's mom...

Things come to a head first when Kanaya finds out that his betrothed and his best friend had eloped the night before the wedding, was found and was now separated, forced to stay with their families. They were also suspected of doing something to Kanaya. He asks Kuze if he can go home, but Kuze instead locks him up in his room and has more sex with him (the only logical thing a good seme can do). But after several days, Kuze lets him go. He finds out that Kuze had learned that a) his father hadn't caused Kuze's family's downfall and b) had actually saved Kuze's sister from being sold into prostitution and hadn't turned her into his mistress. He goes home and has the heart to heart with this father that they should have had a long time ago, learns that his father didn't know anything about the shady parts of the establishment that was in his name, but was actually managed by someone else. He tells his father he doesn't want to marry the girl, and manages to also make up with his best friend. All is well, except for that niggling Kuze problem. One night Kuze appears in his room, and apologizes. Kanaya is willing to forgive. More than that, he wants to know what Kuze thinks of him now. But Kuze only leaves him with a kiss.

Kanaya later receives word that Kuze has not been home for several days. He knows that Kuze had been plotting his revenge against the last of the real conspirators who had brought down his family (he had already dealt with two, had snatched Kanaya in the mistaken belief that Kanaya's father was one of them, and had only one more to go). He dashes to the residence of the last conspirators, manages to find Kuze, is almost assaulted but saved by the beaten up Kuze who finds the strength to take down the men, and the two are ultimately rescued. Kuze had even managed to find proof that it was the last conspirator that had done the dastardly deed pinned on his father.

Kanaya watches over Kuze as he heals from his various injuries sustained during his imprisonment. Kanaya again asks Kuze how he feels about him, and this time Kuze draws Kanaya into sex and doesn't reply. When Kanaya wakes up Kuze has left without saying anything to him. Kanaya takes this as Kuze's rejection. He tells himself he must give up on his unrequited love.

Things probably would have ended there, except for the intervention of mother nature. The Great Kanto Earthquake traps Kanaya under the rubble of a collapsed roof. Who else comes to rescue him but Kuze? The disaster has apparently pushed Kuze over the edge (or opened his eyes), and he confesses his love to Kanaya as well.






A tall dark stranger appears in Kanaya's room.



A very embarrassed Kanaya dressed as a woman to visit his father's establishment to see proof of his father's shady business practices.



Kuze doing his bad seme thing to a helpless Kanaya.



I do love how pitiful Kanaya looks in this picture. I have laugh at the flower and the splotch though. What is that splotch? Blood?



Kanaya looking particularly lovely in a kimono.



Kuze giving the worn out Kanaya a gentle kiss before letting him go.



The happy embrace of the lovers united in love.






This made me laugh and laugh and laugh. Kanaya gets his revenge on Kuze for having been forced to do as Kuze pleased by having him dress up as a woman. Kuze's mother sees him and thinks he's his sister having finally come back. Kanaya is surprised by the thought that Kuze's sister looked like Kuze. Kuze, being the dutiful son, pretends to be his sister. Kanaya can't watch. ^___^



The publisher has an excerpt of the novel on their webpage, as well as a short side story basically featuring sex, set early on in Kanaya's stay at Kuze's villa when he swears that his heart and mind will remain his even as his body is taken by Kuze.

This wasn't a particularly good book, but it was entertaining and I really liked the art. Especially the ones with Kanaya cross-dressing (thus most of the illustrations I scanned in were of him dressed as a woman). XD