Type: Novel Summary
Title: Back Stage!!
Series: Love Stage!!
Author/Circle: Eiki Eiki, Amano Kazuki
Rating: NC-17
Language: English
This time: Rei finds out that, surprise surprise, Mitsudzuka doesn’t have as pure intentions as one might have assumed.
Warning: This chapter deals with material that may be triggering to some (highlight to read: stalking, attempted rape), so please take care when reading!

Chapter 6 (cont.)

“Rei, you wait here for a moment, okay?”

Mitsudzuka leaves Rei to wait in the taxi when they reach his apartment as he steps out to scout around, and when he doesn’t notice anything, he calls back to the cab for Rei to come on. “I’ll make sure you get up to your apartment safely.”

When they reach Rei’s door, though, the mail box is open again, just slightly, and when they draw closer, they can see that someone has left a cup of coffee inside–and it’s still hot, which means it was left here only recently.

A cold chill runs down Rei’s spine–the letters and phone calls are bad enough, but to have such clear evidence that the culprit is nearby is just…

Mitsudzuka once again offers to stay: “Rei, I don’t care what you say, I’m staying with you tonight. I assume you have no objections to this, yes?” Rei can but nod and accept, in light of his current situation.

---

“Sorry it’s so messy…” The two enter and affirm that nothing seems out of place, the door on the lock having held solid while Rei was out. “Please sit wherever you like.”

Rei pulls a can of beer from his fridge and offers one to Mitsudzuka, who opens it to take a long swig as they settle around a low table. “I never would’ve thought I’d have the chance again to sit around having a beer with you like this. To be honest…it was quite a shock, you just up and disappearing like that. I thought I might never get to see you again…”

“Mitsudzuka-san…” Rei starts to feel strange–Mitsudzuka is married, so he’d assumed everything was fine on that front, but the way he’s speaking now…

“I now it may sound rude, but…I’m actually a little grateful for the guy doing all this to you.” There’s a beat of silence, and he stretches out one hand slowly. “…You’re not seeing anyone now you said, right?”

Aah, of course. He had known it would come to this–but he quickly gives in; just once won’t hurt anything. It’s not like it’s their first time after all.

He closes his eyes and feels the heat of Mitsudzuka’s lips as they brush over his own, pressure following to slowly ease him onto his back.

But at that moment, Rei reacts in reflex and shoves Mitsudzuka away. “Rei…?”

“Eh–ah, I mean…I’m sorry.”

“…Did I surprise you, I guess?” He extends his hand again–but this time when it brushes his cheek, Rei knows exactly how it makes him feel: sick.

“I’m sorry…I don’t think I can do this. I feel…really sick right now.”

“Ah I understand! You’re drunk, huh? Wait here–I’ll get you some water!!”

Rei feels relief spread through him at the guy’s understanding.

What’s wrong with him? He’d thought he was fine with this…but it’s strange how his body is completely rejecting Mitsudzuka. He takes the offered water and downs it in one gulp.

“Did you drink too much?”

“I don’t…” think so, he wants to say, as while he usually holds back on the alcohol for work and because he’s been busy lately, there’s no way he’s this weak to a couple of drinks. And he understands quite well that the reason he feels sick has nothing to do with alcohol.

He apologizes again, and after a moment’s awkward silence, Mitsudzuka presses, “…You must really love that guy, huh?”

“Eh? Oh, no I don’t…think that’s it…” And it’s not a lie; he loves Seiya, that much is true, but he’s never had any problems sleeping with Shougo all these years, so it’s unlikely that Seiya’s the reason for this reaction to Mitsudzuka.

But that’s when his vision starts to blur, and he can feel his body sway in place, unable to stop himself from slumping over onto the floor. “What’s…”

“Geez, this would’ve been so much easier if you’d just let me have you.”

“Mitsudzuka-san…?” It takes all his strength to look up at the man.

He’s smiling down at Rei. “You probably don’t know this–but I was seriously in love with you back then.”

Rei freezes at the unexpected confession. He was…in love with Rei? It’s hard to grasp. Sure, the guy had treated him nicely, and Rei had spent more time with him than anyone else, but he’d always had others. He’d sleep with anyone if the mood struck him and had never thought it strange.

“I thought you’d left me. When you disappeared…I was a mess for a really long time. And just when I thought I’d finally gotten over you…there you were, right before me.”

“Mitsudzuka-san…”

“Let’s start over–I’ll make you mine.” With this, he slides over Rei’s hips to settle on top of him.

“You realize…that doing this will never make me yours, right?” He understands he’s been drugged now, but there’s nothing to be done for it.

“I’ll just take lots of dirty pictures of you then. What would happen if people found out about your past now? That guy you’re in love with might even see them…!”

“So you plan to blackmail me?” But he’s not worried so much about himself as the way this will reflect on SenaPro. Even if he were to quit right now, there’d still be a scandal involving him as the former manager of the agency. On top of that–he doesn’t want to even think about quitting the agency. To do so would be tantamount to losing his reason for living.

He’s losing all power in his body, and can no longer fight against Mitsudzuka, who’s grabbed him by the necktie now to hold him steady–and he lets himself fall into a pit of despair, understanding that he’ll have to bear the guy doing what he wants with Rei’s body.

“St…stop this…”

I don’t want this. …Please, help me!

“…Shougo…!”

The moment the name leaves his lips, his front door is slammed open with a loud BANG, and when Rei turns his gaze that way, a man he doesn’t recognize rolls inside to the ground–with Shougo standing behind him.

Rei is at a complete loss for words. Sure, he’d prayed for someone to save him in his mind, but he never would have thought…that Shougo of all people would show up just in the nick of time.

“This little stalker here spilled everything. All about how he was hired by Mitsudzuka-san.”

“Eh, you’re–huh? Shougo…of the Crusherz?!” It seems Mitsudzuka doesn’t even know what he’s being accused of, shocked at the sight of a major celebrity just rushing in.

“Shougo…!”

At hearing his name called, Shougo flashes Rei a quick smile to put him at ease, then glares at Mitsudzuka. “I’ve got everything on video–if you lay another finger on my Rei, you won’t get off easy. I’ll use all the power at my disposal to end you.”

Rei’d initially felt moved by Shougo’s show of strength, but wilts at the all the power at my disposal line–it’s not like the guy has any such power like that!

Still, Mitsudzuka seems suitably quailed by the announcement, shivering in place–and Rei supposes that someone who doesn’t know Shougo might cook up all sorts of ideas about the dark side of the entertainment world and whatnot.

“Rei…the man you love, it’s this guy?”

Rei moves to protest this, to clear up the misconception, but Shougo jumps in first: “You’re damn right! I’m Rei’s lover!” and Rei’s left to shout yeah right! in his mind.

Tossing back a final few choice words, Mitsudzuka scrambles from the room, fleeing the scene along with the stalker Shougo had caught. Shougo makes sure to lock the door tight after they leave before rushing to Rei’s side.

“Are you all right?”

Rei nods. “Yeah, I’m fine… I feel a little weak, but I think that’s just a relaxant he gave me.” He can go to the hospital later if it doesn’t wear off. “But–what’re you doing here?”

Shougo looks concerned here. “Well–you were acting weird on the phone!”

“I was?”

“Whenever you have something you don’t want to say, you always tack on Uhh… to your words!”

“I…do?” He’d never even realized it.

“So I got worried, and came by to make sure you got home okay. Then I saw some weirdo messing around with your mailbox, but when I called out to him, he took off running. I caught up with him, though, and he spilled everything. When I realized you were in trouble, I rushed back.”

“In other words…one of my stalkers got caught by the other, huh?” The guy had to have been in a fit state suddenly getting assaulted by a major celebrity. An idiot, what an absolute idiot. And yet…

“…Thank you, you saved me.” They’re words spoken from his heart; just from a few words spoken over the phone, the guy had immediately understood and made his move to help. Sure, it was probably a little overboard to jump from that to watching Rei walk home, and Rei would typically be annoyed at that action, but this time…it really was for the best.

“You wanna call the police?”

“No.” He shakes his head–he doesn’t want to make this anything more than it is already. Plus… “It was partly my fault anyways. I never realized he was serious about me… I must’ve really hurt him without realizing it. I’m fine with calling it even now.” With Shougo’s arrival, after all, nothing really happened in the end, so he’s fine with leaving it at this.

“But what if he tries something again…?”

“It’s fine–he won’t. He seemed pretty scared of all the power at your disposal,” he chuckles. He’s feeling better and better the more he talks now, and he can feel his worry and fear over Mitsudzuka fading.

“So uh…”

“Hm?”

“Who…was that guy? If you don’t mind telling me…”

“Uhh…” It’s just as Shougo had said–he always makes that sound when he doesn’t want to talk about something, he realizes. “A guy I slept with. …One of them, at least.” He doesn’t want to make a big deal out of this–after all, it hadn’t been anything to Rei at the time it all happened.

“I see…” But hearing this, Shougo falls silent, obviously a bit disappointed in the revelation.

Rei had only told the truth, but seeing this reaction…it makes Rei feel like he’s done something wrong, and he clarifies. “But–it’s not like I was with him because I loved him or anything. Just so you know, Seiya-san was the first person I ever fell in love with.” His attempts to improve the situation by explaining in this way, though, seem to have backfired, and the atmosphere just grows darker between them.

Seeing Shougo down like this, Rei can’t help but laugh bitterly. The first person he ever fell in love with was Seiya, and the person he loves right now is still Seiya. Those feelings haven’t changed.

And yet…

He recalls how he felt when Mitsudzuka kissed him, and stares up at Shougo. “…Hey, Shougo. Kiss me, would you?”

“Huh?” His expression is understandably shocked.

“Kiss me. A deep one.”

Shougo gently lays his hands across Rei’s shoulders, still a bit confused, but then softly presses their lips together. He’s probably hesitating because he doesn’t know why Rei’s asking this. He lays a few more testing kisses across Rei’s lips before deepening it as he’s accustomed to–and Rei responds eagerly.

“…I knew it, I’m fine…”

“Huh?”

As much as he’d hated and been sickened by Mitsudzuka’s kiss, he feels absolutely none of that now. In fact, far from it, he feels…

“Your kisses…they feel amazing.”

“Wha–huh? Wh–what’s wrong with you, Rei?! That guy–he did something to you, didn’t he?”

Rei snorts softly in amusement at Shougo’s reaction. “Don’t say stupid things.” He doesn’t understand it at all–but…he feels good, right. Even though it’s on the heels of such a harrowing experience, one kiss from Shougo and he feels as if he’s forgotten the whole thing.

He sits up and removes his glasses and begins to undo his necktie. “Hey, that guy touching me made me feel sick. Help me get rid of that sensation.” He lets the necktie fall limp to the floor.

“Eh…? Umm…are you sure?”

Shougo’s continued hesitation is starting to push Rei’s buttons. He’s going out of his way to seduce the guy, so why isn’t he playing along? “I’m saying I want to fuck you! Right now.”

“R-RIGHT!” At Rei’s uncharacteristically blunt admission, Shougo jumps right on board and slips into his usual mode of enjoying their time together. He slips a finger under Rei’s chin and begins to undo his shirt buttons. “So…you said he touched you… Where? When I got here, he hadn’t stripped you yet, but–he didn’t do anything weird to you, did he?”

“Yeah, just gave me a kiss that made me want to vomit…”

“Geez…I should’ve gotten here sooner!” He sounds genuinely frustrated with himself and presses another kiss to Rei’s lips, brushing his fingers along Rei’s neck and slipping his fingers beneath the shirt fabric where the buttons have been undone. He massages Rei’s shoulders with broad palms, and while he’d usually be peppering Rei’s skin with kisses by this point, he’s still kissing Rei deeply on the lips–it’s hard to tell if he’s taken Rei’s request to getting rid of the sensation of the kiss to heart, or if he’s really that concerned that Mitsudzuka kissed him in the first place.

Either way, Rei’s quite on board with it. As sickening and deplorable as it was being kissed by Mitsudzuka, now it’s just… Why is it? Before, he’d never had any issues sleeping with multiple partners. If he liked someone enough, he’d sleep with them, simple as that. When did that change…?

Maybe when he fell in love with Seiya?

But as soon as he considers this prospect, he immediately realizes that’s not right either; if it was, he never would’ve been able to sleep with Shougo in the first place. He’d long since been in love with Seiya when they’d first started their relationship, after all.

Then that must mean, the one who changed Rei was…

“Ah!” Shougo slides a hand just in the area above Rei’s hip, massaging him softly–it’s one of his weak points, and he couldn’t keep quiet being touched there now that his lips have been freed.

“Rei…are you thinking about something?” They’re close enough that their lips brush with his words, and he sounds almost like he’s whining with the comment.

A shiver runs up Rei’s back when Shougo takes his bottom lip gently in his teeth. “…If it bothers you so much, then why not try making me focus on something else?”

“You sure about that? You might not be able to go to work tomorrow if I do that…” He’s grinning smugly now, and Rei quickly reins him in.

“Not so fast–you’d better hold yourself back in that respect.”

“Geez, so stingy…” His words are disappointed, but he’s still all grins, massaging Rei’s hip some more. His fingers know all of Rei’s weak points and continue to seek out only those places to make him tremble.

Rei has always assumed that’s why sex with Shougo feels so amazing–because they know each other’s bodies so well, and how best to bring one another pleasure for all the times they’ve slept together. But lately…he’s felt as if there’s some deeper meaning to it all as well. It’s not just a physical relationship like the ones he’s had in the past, it’s something…more.

Shougo calls his name, kisses him, touches him–and with just that, a reason starts to form inside his mind as to why it’s always felt this good being with Shougo. He knows now.

The reason being with Mitsudzuka repulsed him so is surely because of Shougo. Of course, he loves Seiya more than anyone else–that hasn’t changed; in the back of his mind he can still see the little candy that Seiya gave him days before, and how warm it made him feel. His feelings for Seiya shine down on him, lighting his path, like a bright sun.

But he can understand now…that there are feelings for Shougo growing within him, completely different from those he shares for Seiya. Somehow…he’s grown fond of Shougo to a certain extent, without even realizing it. At the very least, it’s enough that he can’t be with anyone else. He can’t tell when it started, but if that weren’t how it was, he wouldn’t have been able to keep up this relationship with Shougo for so long.

He recalls how, on the night that he received the candy from Seiya, the man commented that he looked happy, like he was looking forward to something. While he may have brushed off their agreement as simply rewarding Shougo for his help, he can’t discount that somehow…he’d started to look forward to spending time with Shougo.

Shougo starts to peel off his clothes slowly, and Rei reflects distantly that perhaps that’s how his heart was captured by Shougo: little by little, one layer at a time.

He gently pinches Rei’s nipples, and his shoulders shake, sending a wave of pleasure down to his groin, which hasn’t been touched yet. Shougo brushes a finger over the tip, teasing gently, “You’re leaking pretty seriously here–does it feel that good?” He starts to brush down the shaft, and Rei flinches and trembles with each pass–it’s only a matter of time before he climaxes just from this at this rate. It’s a little humiliating, seeing as Shougo hasn’t even grasped him properly to jerk him off, and ponders if perhaps this has something to do with finally putting a name to what he feels for Shougo.

Is that why he feels so sensitive right now? These thoughts fill his head as he peaks moments later, mind immediately going white.

Shougo has to half-carry him to the bed, as all the power that had finally returned to his limbs has left his body again in the wake of his orgasm, and Shougo asks him to lift his hips where he’s lying flat on his stomach on the bed.

Eager to hurry this along and get Shougo inside of him, Rei lifts up onto his hands and knees and shoves a pillow under his stomach, so that his hips stay raised up as he settles back down. Shougo reaches to the sideboard to retrieve the lotion Rei stores there. It’s torture for Rei, waiting like this–he wants Shougo inside of him, making him feel amazing like always.

He can feel fingers, slick with lubricant, start to brush around his hole–but they don’t go in, and Shougo chuckles from behind, “This part of you’s always honest about what it wants… You want me inside you that badly?”

“Just…ngh, shut up…and fuck me…”

“Yes yes, as you wish~”

His hips shudder as Shougo finally presses a finger inside, brushing against him from within. If he were entirely truthful, Rei’s at the point now where he doesn’t even care if it hurts, he just wants Shougo inside him. Luckily, Shougo seems of the same mind, for he quickly slips in a second finger, and Rei tightens around him.

Shougo expresses concern that Rei seems more sensitive than usual–and that perhaps the drug he was slipped was something dangerous–but Rei’s having none of it, continuing to urge him on. Shougo brushes against his prostate, and Rei stiffens, liquid leaking from his cock despite the fact that he’s only just orgasmed.

“See? You’re definitely more sensitive than usual…”

“Sh…shut up… It’s–fine already… I just want you inside me…”

Shougo quickly pulls his fingers out, spurred on by Rei’s keening whine. “Well when you say it like that, there’s no way I can resist…” He grasps Rei by the hips to steady himself, and Rei feels a warm bluntness press against him as Shougo quickly thrusts inside straight to the hilt. “Shit, you’re tight–squeezing me like that, you really wanted me that badly?”

“Told you…didn’t I…?” Shougo lets out a little squeak of surprise at Rei so easily owning up to something he’d usually shoot down. Rei grunts in disappointment when Shougo pauses his movements at this, but is quickly placated when Shougo starts to quickly thrust in and out, holding tight to Rei’s hips.

Shougo’s cock brushing against his insides with each pass floods his mind with pleasure until he can’t think straight. Shougo thrusts in deeply one final time, spurting his release within Rei, and in the wake of this Rei peaks for the second time that evening. His hips shudder as he feels Shougo withdraw, and he slumps onto the bed, absolutely exhausted from the evening’s activities.

Shougo expresses concern initially, but Rei just nods that he’s fine and rolls onto his back, breaths coming deep and rough. It’s hard to imagine that just by his frame of mind changing with regards to how he views Shougo that the pleasure could be this compounded in sex… He’s pretty blown over himself, but Shougo seems to be concerned that it’s because of the drug.

Still… he’s more than a little pissed at himself for needing something like this to make him see what’s been in front of him all this time. How could he have survived all these years so blind to his own feelings?

“Hn? What’s wrong, Rei?”

Rei blinks slowly up at Shougo, who’s leaning over him to peer down. His body’s filled to the brim with all manner of fatigue and joy, and it’s sapping all his strength.

“What is it?”

“Well just–you were smiling about something…” And it’s only now that he realizes he was indeed smiling at this whole situation. He’s probably always smiled like this, before he even realized it.

“…Shougo.”

The voice which calls his name is soft, nearly unintelligible, but Shougo still turns his head towards Rei as if to ask ‘What?’

“…Seems I apparently actually love you quite a bit.”

“Huh?”

But that’s his limit—he’s so tired, he can’t even tell if it had really been him speaking those words.

“Wh-wh-wh-wh-WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?! Once more! Say it once more, please!”

And with Shougo’s voice ringing in his ears, Rei slips into a deep, comfortable slumber.

He’ll never be able to speak of his feelings to Seiya. So—perhaps, he’ll just keep those feelings hidden inside himself, and instead…spend his days at Shougo’s side.

That doesn’t sound so bad at all, really.

---

Ending notes: This is the end of volume 2, but I can’t find any indication of whether or not this is the end of Back Stage!! There’ve been no new installments in the issues of TresTres since chapter 6 ran, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. However, given that they’ve pretty much fallen into a more or less mutual love relationship now and the timeline has synced back up with Love Stage!! in the present, it wouldn’t surprise me if this is all we get for a while. At any rate, we’ll of course continue translating and summarizing future chapters should they be released!

Of note: the Back Stage short we scanlated here takes place at the end of Volume 2, so after this chapter :) Go back and read with new context now, if you like!

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