Jun'ai Honnou by Kuibira Harumo (illustrated by Takanaga Hinako)

[insaneneko]

Jun’ai Honnou (Love of Instinct) by Kuibira Harumo is one of those (many) random books that catch my eye with a pretty cover, in this case with art by Takanaga Hinako. I read the blurb, decided it sounded amusing, and bought it. Luckily it turned out to be one of the decent ones. It has two qualities that a lot of the audience for BL seems to adore (judging from the sheer quantity of works published with those particular qualities), but can personally irritate me. First, complete and total misunderstanding coupled with a main character with a penchant for coming to completely off the base conclusions and just wallowing in all the emotions that conclusion wrings out. That alone can be very tiring and annoying, because it’s easy to just want to shake the character and yell at him to just talk with someone, ANYONE, who can straighten him out…preferably the other guy who is the cause of his angst. How to make the situation even "better?" Make him tsundere, with emphasis on the "tsun" (Actually,the "dere" only really manifests in…more tsun…^^;)! But amazingly the book didn’t drive me batty and managed to entertain me for the most part. The ending cinched it for me, making me laugh out loud. I can’t say it’s a good book, but…I’d read it again. (Okay, I confess, the art helps. A lot. But I know from experience that even fabulous art can’t save total crap. It can just make things a bit more palatable…)

Nose Tatsuya is a graduate student in psychology at a university near Nagoya. He finds out, to his dismay, that the eminent visiting Harvard researcher his (also eminent if eccentric) advisor is excited about is none other than his former high school classmate, Kouketsu Natsuki. Not only does he suffer a continual inferiority complex towards the brilliant Natsuki which manifests as eternal contrariness and prickliness, but he can't quite figure out his relationship to Natsuki. They had slept together in high school the night before Natsuki had transferred to America, and since then have had a on again off again relationship he can only characterize as a "sex friendship" for the last eight years. We basically get to follow Tatsuya around as he dwells on everything and comes up with theories and hypothesis, all very wrong. Of course he finds out just how wrong he is at the end. XD




Tatsuya is conscientious, probably anal, smart, a bit prickly...basically nothing like the person his pretty looks would imply. He had tried and failed to catch up to the brilliant Natsuki in high school, always a distant second in test scores. Just as he finally thought he had managed to narrow the gap between them when Natsuki had asked him (out of the blue) to have sex (being told "I want you" kind of undid him), he finds out the very next day that Natsuki had gone off to America because schools in Japan sucked (or so Natsuki claimed). He continues to feel the gulf between them each time they meet again and continue the sex, left behind in the wake of Natsuki's meteoric rise in their field (amusing how they both ended up in sort of the same general field) while confused by Natsuki's unique personality. Natsuki was never one to care about what others thought or did, he kind of marched to his own drummer. Tatsuya comes to believe that Natsuki didn't really think much about their encounters, that he engaged in sex with Tatsuya because Tatsuya was around and convenient. During the course of the novel Tatsuya tells himself a lot of things about his own feelings, and he buries the fact that he continues the strange relationship with someone he perceives as a slightly callous bastard because he can then feel closer to him because it just makes him seem pretty damn pathetic...But ends up realizing that he's actually in love with Natsuki, which only makes him feel even more pathetic...





Natsuki is very happy to see Tatsuya, but Tatsuya certainly isn't. It's been a year and a half since they last saw each other. Tatsuya is violent both physically and verbally, while Natsuki laughs it all off. Tatsuya's advisor Yushima (also an odd one) finds their friendship quite amusing and interesting and an intriguing sample to study...




Natsuki finds Tatsuya grumbling at Nana, the chimpanzee studied by his advisor (and others, presumably). Yushima adores Nana, but Nana finds Yushima detestable and is actually attached to Tatsuya. Natsuki tries to initiate a kiss, but Tatsuya smacks him for doing something like that in front of Nana. He eventually allows Natsuki to kiss him, but covers Nana's eyes. After a bit more violence on the part of Tatsuya (Natsuki remarks that Tatsuya seems to get more violent every year...) as well as some bitching (why bother showing your face after all this time? Like I even want to see you anyhow, blah blah blah), Natsuki asks to come over to his house and they kiss some more...




On the way to Tatsuya's place, Natsuki gets Tatsuya to stop to look at the blooming cherry blossoms. They meet up with an old classmate. Natsuki finds out that the day after they first had sex Tatsuya had gone to his class, found out that he had transferred, and had yelled "He fucked and ran!" (yarinige) The classmate figures Tatsuya actually meant to say "He quit while ahead!" (kachinige) When they part ways with the old classmate, Natsuki asks what Tatsuya had meant by those words. Tatsuya, irritated and mortified at the memories of high school the conversation brought to mind, brushes him off. He can't believe Tatsuya can be so insensitive...




Long flashback to their first time back in high school. At first Natsuki had said "Let me fuck you," but when Tatsuya protests he changes his words to "I want you." Tatsuya loses his will to protest and fight back at those words and their implication. Natsuki just wasn't that interested in other people, but he was straightforwardly wanting something from Tatsuya. Tatsuya had always felt like he was chasing Natsuki's back, while Natsuki kept moving forward, never looking back or around. Through sex he felt very close to Natsuki. Though he hadn't ever wanted to be fucked like a girl, he couldn't help but feel that it all worked out...

(Until the next day when he found out Natsuki had moved to America...)




Yushima tells Tatsuya that he's been invited to another university as a visiting researcher. Tatsuya reminds Yushima that he's supposed to advise on Tatsuya's thesis. Natsuki volunteers to be Tatsuya's advisor in Yushima's absence, which Yushima happily agrees to. Tatsuya is of course not happy, and kind of angsts about how he's in love with a cold-hearted bastard who just wants the easy lay...




Afterwards, Natsuki drags Tatsuya to a hotel room and, well, they have sex.




More Tatsuya angsting about the hopeless and pathetic situation he's in, but he gets a bit of comfort from Nana.




Tatsuya, just overflowing with angst, doesn't want Natsuki to get any whiff of it, so decides to get a bit more active to prevent himself from blurting anything out. Natsuki is very surprised as Tatsuya is always very passive during sex, but notes that Tatsuya isn't very good at being blowjobs (once again demonstrating his insensitivity). He's totally turned on by Tatsuya's initiative...




Tatsuya is overwhelmed by his feelings and reaches up to touch Natsuki's hair as they continue on with the sex. He's never touched Natsuki so gently before as he usually just smacks Natsuki. Natsuki is even more surprised at the gentle touch, and is very happy. He asks Tatsuya to touch his hair again, remarking that it's much better than Tatsuya's crappy blowjob.

Afterwards, Natsuki asks Tatsuya what is up with him. Tatsuya's so gentle and sweet, he's not himself at all. Tatsuya can't tell Natsuki he's figured out he's in love with him, and gets up to leave when Natsuki tries to initiate another round. They are interrupted by a call that Nana's escaped...




Major search effort ensues. Tatsuya had been the last person to touch Nana's cage, and throughout the search he blames himself. Luckily Nana is found pretty quickly, unharmed. They also figure out that it hadn't been Tatsuya's carelessness, but Yushima's. It seems that Nana had pickpocketed the spare key to her cage from Yushima when he had forcefully embraced her goodbye before leaving. Natsuki holds Tatsuya, which lets Tatsuya hide his tearful face...




In Natsuki's car, Natsuki questions why the always insanely careful Tatsuya had immediately thought Nana's escape was due to his carelessness. He figures something has to be up with Tatsuya, and bugs him to 'fess up. Tatsuya is at his limit, and lets slip that he doesn't want to tell Natsuki in particular his troubles. He then refers a minor matter of misunderstanding (one of those situations with rumors about girlfriends/fiancees/etc and coincidental sightings and incorrectly drawn conclusions). Natsuki stops the car to pursue Tatsuya's weird statements. Tatsuya refers to their relationship as an inextricable but undesirable relationship, which brings Natsuki up short. He had thought they were a couple! He figured the proud Tatsuya would have never let him fuck him if he hadn't been in love with him.

Tatsuya is astonished to find out that not only did Natsuki think they had been going out this whole time (as opposed to just being "sex friends"), Natsuki had actually gone into psychology to figure Tatsuya out. He never knew what Tatsuya was thinking, and couldn't even really figure out what felt good to Tatsuya during sex (thanks to Tatsuya's passivity). He had gone missing for huge chunks of time because the only things Tatsuya ever "asked" him to do was to leave him alone. He knew that if he was around he wouldn't be able to leave Tatsuya alone so he stayed away instead.

They are both exasperated at each other and at the situation (what the hell was the last eight years then?). Tatsuya steadfastly denies being in love with Natsuki, but Natsuki is used to Tatsuya's contrary nature. Natsuki figures Tatsuya's untruthful mouth is good for other things, and kisses him. They have sex in the narrow confines of the car over Tatsuya's protests.

Natsuki keeps trying to get Tatsuya to admit with words his feelings, but fails. He chalks it up to Tatsuya being Tatsuya and embarrassment. Tatsuya is internally happy, but also senses that he will never be able to prevail against Natsuki.

Er...and they live happily ever after? If happily ever after allows for lots and lots of smacking and grousing, that is. XD




bonus pretty sketch at the end!


A side-note: I wondered why I enjoyed this novel even though something like Koisuru Bougun (The tyrant who fall in love), which also has a majorly tsundere main character, irritated me to no end. I think it comes down to the strength of a novel versus a manga. The reader gets to see a lot more of the inner workings of the character in a novel, which while can be a major downfall if the characterization ends up annoying and tiresome, allows for more room for sympathy/empathy. While I mocked and was exasperated by Tatsuya's endless self-deceptions and retarded wheel churning, I also felt a bit sorry for him. It became pretty damn obvious after a while that he's just that kind of guy, with a stick up his ass who can't really let go. I don't know if I would've been as patient if all I saw was him smacking Natsuki around and being bitchy.

Comments

[flyby311.livejournal.com]

*dies* Eight years of... God, this is one of those things where I just want to smack the couple and tell them, "JUST SAY YOU LIKE EACH OTHER FOR GODS SAKE." and so on. Dunno, just read all of scanlated Goong last night, and I spent most of my time bitching about how this could be so much easier if they all just sort of get hit by a truck and confess their everlasting love and devotion at their death beds. Or something. ^^;

[insaneneko.livejournal.com]

These kinds of situations are always so contrived, but if done right I enjoy reading the angst the character suffers because he is so stoopid. XD;

[flyby311.livejournal.com]

I enjoy reading the angst... but up to a point. After that point I just get frustrated and end up wanting to kill the characters. Haha. XD;