Adaptation is a Slow Process (Veiled_Desire & Baka)

[Veiled_Desire]

Benjamin Wills had two teachers for parents. Knowing that, growing up he thought the biggest embarrassment that may come from this would someday be when his parents became his teachers and he would have to get scolded by them in front of his classmates. Instead, on his 8th birthday he realized that there was a much, much bigger problem. There was a chance they would uproot his life and change everything for a job. Even as they continued to pack the house back then he still didn't believe it. Apparently it was an option to move not only outside of Nebraska, but all the way to a place called Akita Japan. He would learn on the plane that Japan was in Asia, and that the place they were moving to was at the very top of the biggest of the major islands of that country. When he asked if his classmates spoke English they told him that they didn't think so. His parents had gotten jobs in the school system up there to become English teachers and make sure that all of the kids would be able to speak the language.

Moving to Japan had been easy, the houses were built a bit differently but they had all of the same amenities as his house had in America. There were plenty of toys and the weather wasn't too different. Ben had a few weeks during the summer vacation to adjust to Japan, and then he was thrown into the school system. His parents didn't sign him up for any language classes, they just assumed he would pick it up since he was young and surrounded by the language. In the end they were correct, but that didn't make his first few years any easier. Ben was the only foreigner in a class of 30, and he was the only kid with blonde hair and blue eyes. He stood out like a sore thumb, and his classmates were not too interested in getting to know him. In particular, a boy named Nobita Ryuta seemed to particularly take offense at Ben's presence. Ben had no way of knowing that this was most likely because Ryuta feared this new kid coming in and becoming more popular than him, but Ryuta made sure to make fun of Ben's Japanese and his lack of language skills from the very first day.

He was not a standard bully, but Ryuta would try his best to keep his classmates, and in particular a girl named Tomoe Hayashi from getting to know Ben too well. It was frustrating, especially since Ben didn't have a good way to talk back to Ryuta who made fun of his limited vocabulary. The irony of all of this was how the tables would turn as the years passed. By the time Ben, Ryuta and Tomoe graduated elementary school and moved onto junior high school, Ben's Japanese problems had faded away. He had grown while Ryuta had stayed small. Ryuta was your typical nerdy kid, someone who liked to stay to himself more because of his lack of self-confidence than anything else. Ben soon picked up soccer and then basketball, using sports as a way to make friends because vocabulary was not as important in that realm.

In middle school Ben was in a different class than Ryuta and Tomoe, a pair that seemed to grow closer over the years. While Ryuta's star was fading Ben's was only growing. He got his first girlfriend by the end of his first year at middle school. From there his luck with the girls grew exponentially. Being the only foreigner and also great at sports made him quite popular, and he had his choice of girls to pick from. By the time they all went to high school he had dated at least 20 or so girls and the rumor was he had already slept with one. Ryuta on the other hand had begun dating Tomoe...and only Tomoe.

The boys rivalry only grew in high school. Ryuta and Tomoe joined the student council and were part of the morals committee. It was Ryuta's goal to make sure that all students followed the moral code of the school, and he went around...dragging Tomoe with him, trying to enforce every rule imaginable. He was particularly hard on Ben and in turn any girl who Ryuta caught with him. Last month when Ryuta found Ben and Hibiki making out under the stairs he caused enough of a ruckus to have an assembly held on the subject. While it was humiliating to be forced to stand in front of the student body and be lectured by Ryuta and the principle, the experience turned out to be a win for Ben. Nothing helps spread the image of a badboy better than having an old principal state how bad it would be for girls to be corrupted by a 'playboy' like him.

Of course, Ben was no angel in all of this. He had new found popularity and charisma. He had things that Ryuta desired and he knew the best way to make Ryuta suffer was to rub those things in his face. He would never miss an opportunity to brag about his success or to 'accidentally' bump into Ryuta and shove him to the ground, not because he was trying to, but because Ryuta was so much smaller than him. That is what he told himself.

Ben, go beyond this kind of small revenge and he would have his turn for a particularly on point form of revenge soon enough. It was two weeks after that assembly that Ben was heading back from basketball practice. The school had long closed, but having forgotten his book Ben made his way back the empty building and to his classroom on the third floor. There he happened to pass by what seemed like an empty classroom only to have his attention drawn to the sound of a book falling off the desk. Peaking his head inside, Ben saw Ryuta and Tomoe making out on top of....HIS desk. It wasn't the one he normally sat in, but his desk in the science lab. Ben's mouth dropped in indignation, but luckily he had an idea before making his presence known. He quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, snapping a few pictures and heading out to get his bag as if nothing happened.

Part of him thought about messaging Ryuta right away, but then Ben remembered how much Ryuta had tried to keep Tomoe from him, never allowing the pair to really even have a single conversation without him interrupting or pulling her away. That was when when he got home he found the school directory that the students had set up for their school trip. Sure enough, Tomoe had her LINE info on there, and Ben was able to send her a single message that said,

"Tomoe, I have something you need to see. Meet me after school tomorrow in the Science room. Do not tell Ryuta."

 

[Baka]

Tomoe Hayashi had always been an introverted girl, who would much rather stay inside playing with her brothers game concoles and watch anime rather than spend time out with the other girls or play outside with them, despite her kind of usually getting bullied in the school she was mostly left alone aside from few girls of the class who talked to her, and Nobita, who had been her crush ever since the two met at the elementary. There were three contributing factors as to why she managed to survive elementary-school without any trouble. First one was Nobita, the coolest kid in class at the time, who openly talked to her and made sure she wasn't excluded, second one the fact that she was rather meek, didn't stand out and was polite to those who talked to her, but the biggest reason was that there was someone else who took the place of the sore-thumb in the class, a blonde foreigner Benjamin. She herself didn't think much of her at the time. Tomoe was too shy to talk to her, and while feeling bad about the fact that he was treated harshly just because he's Japanese was at the beginner level she didn't want to stick to him either. The awkward nerd didn't want to become ostracized, and she wanted to stay out of any possible problem that could ruin her tranquil school life. Nobita was also constantly making sure that the two wouldn't get a chance to talk with one another, and so she just let him to be.

However over the years she actively started the black-haired girl started to actively dislike and despice Benjamin. He grew in popularity, and after that she started to hear rumors of him being a playboy dating multiple girls within one year, even one month even. These kind of guys who just played with girls without caring for their feelings and treating them like some kind of conquest made her gag, and that combined with what seemed like a stereotypical jock personality of his made her regard him as 'Some disgusting playboy normie', but since they were in different classes in Junior-high she could avoid being in any contact with him easily.

This all changed in high-school, when she and her childhood crush, whom Tomoe had started to date joined in student-council. and morlas commitee. She was now exposed to his immoral activities almost daily, and while Nobita was one chewing him out most of the time she was always behind him, glaring at him like he was some kind of insect, a pest solemnly ruining their school and her day with his existence. When Benjamin was put in front of the whole student-body to be reprimanded of his actions the enjoyment she got witnessing this happen was almost something she couldn't even being to describe with words. "Maybe now that blonde bastard will learn to behave and not play around in school." she thougt to herself at the time while smiling a smug smile.

Despite her having her own moral high-ground she wasn't the purest of the girls either, she sometimes sneaked somewhere secluded to make-out with Nobita, and even engage something more than that, but little did she know that one of these make-out sessions would change the course of her high-school life completely.

Oblivious of the fact that the person she least wanted to see her acting indecent in school had seen her and Nobita making-out on his desk, and even gained some evidence for this the raven-haired young woman was enjoying her evening. Happily playing a new JRPG that had dropped out few days prior while enjoying some energy-drink. Suddenly she hears her LINE-message sound. With a cheerful smile on her face she picks up the phone hoping to see a message from her darling, but soon her face contorts to a sour-expression, she looked at the screen with disgust in her eyes when she saw who had messaged her. She would rather do anything but meet some kind of philander in some class-room after school, and with a pained sigh she replies with one letter.

"k"

---

In the following day she does as Benjamin had asked, sitting on the desk , leaning against her hand while looking bored she waits for him till he walks in the room. Not even bothering to stand up or greet him she looks at him briefly, before shifting her gaze away.

"What do you want? Better be something important or I will be really pissed-off..." Tomoe says with her monotonous voice already trying to take phone out of her pocket clearly showing her disinterest to him and his business he might have with her.

 

[Veiled_Desire]

That one letter response brought a smile to his face. Tomoe had never warmed up to him, and frankly he couldn't remember what he had done to turn her against him to begin with. There probably was an incident, but he knew that she was loyal to Nobita for whatever reason and since the two constantly tormented each other it was only fair that she hold a grudge against him. Her message had been dismissive, as if she truly believed that there was nothing that could get to her and bring her down to the level of 'filth' that she saw him and his sexual partners as.

Ben had planned this day for when he knew that Ryuta would not think of an excuse to come and join them even if Ben had expressly told the man not to come. Ben had a hunch that Ryuta would look over Tomoe's phone so he had been vague in his message. What he figured Tomoe did not know was that every week on this day of the week Ryuta and few other members of the Student Committee would sneak off to try and either spy on some of the girls in the locker room or go to a different school to try and pick up women who didn't know their reputation at the current school.

When he entered the room that he had told Tomoe to be in he saw that she had not invited anyone else to get in their way. The girl did not even bother getting up from her desk and instead spoken to him in a monotone voice that showed she was giving him as little attention as she could possibly afford. He let out his own little laugh at that, "What this isn't you pissed off? Now I am curious to see what the real angry version of you would be like. Who knows, you might actually be interesting then." There was a bit of a barb shot back at her there, mainly to make sure he had her full attention before he walked up to her and continued.

"But don't worry, I came prepared, I mean to me, what I have to show you isn't that important." He gave her a noncommittal shrug before he pulled out his phone and showed her the picture of her and Ryuta. Ben made sure to keep it out of reach of Tomoe, in case she decided to do something bold like snatch it away. "But maybe that is because I have already been publicly shamed for this. You two on the other hand might not like the attention as much as me." He gave her a wicked grin and added in, "Especially because this picture clearly shows you two have no idea what you are doing here."

Ryuta always made snide comments about Ben's skills with the girls at his school. He said that Ben probably was shit in bed but since he was different women put up with it. How Ryuta came to that conclusion was beyond Ben's imagination, but he figured it was just some form of projection. "So, is that important enough, or should I let the Principal decide what he wants to do with this picture?"

 

[Baka]

Nerdy woman kept fiddling with her phone as Ben tried to egg her on, with a little success. She looks at him and gives him a little stink eye before clicking her tongue and going back to her phone. "If you wanted to throw elementary-school provocations at me you could've done that through text instead of wasting my time here..." she says and puts the phone back into her pocket, letting out a pained and frustrated sigh. "If that was all I'll be leaving. Don't contact to me outside of school never again." she says with a cold gaze piercing through the man she had come to despise slowly but surely over the years and starts to walk away.

However she can only take a few steps before her eyes land on the phone that Ben had dug out of his pocket, and once the frilly-haired woman sees the picture being displayed on the screen her eyes widen behind her glasses. A sight of someone showing you a candid photo they snapped of your and your boyfriends intimate moment would do that to anyone, however Tomoe, who was known for being calculating, rational and harsh gained her composure rather fast as one would expect from the woman who had earned the title of 'yuki-onna of the high-school' this time however she was visibly annoyed.

"Despite us doing something that doesn't follow the schools moral conduct it's even greater offense to take the pictures without permission." she replies, however she knows extremely well that the credibility of the moral commitee would plummet if the picture would be leaked anywhere. She hoped to scare him into deleting it, but something was telling her that it would be in vain. If the blonde man did what he said and took the picture to principal all three would be punished, and when taken accord Ben's track record the prospect of yet another tiny punishment wouldn't probably faze him as long as he'd get some kidn of payback on them.

Without waiting him to even reply she let's out another sigh, significantly more annoyed and frustrated one. "So... You want us to leave you alone from now on? Help you clean-up your reputation or what?" she asks scratching her head hard as she spoke with annoyed tone of voice.

 

[Veiled_Desire]

Usually, a person might feel a bit of guilt in blackmailing someone who has technically never personally done them any wrong. Tomoe was not innocent party, but she had never been the main aggressor to make her sins account for what was going to happen. Yet how she treated him now, the cold indifference and the way she basically thought that any time alone with him was a punishment made what he was going to do next all that much easier. Even as her glasses hid some of her expression from him, he could still see her eyes go wide in shock at what he had just shown her on his screen. Yet, Tomoe did not freak out over overact. She instead tried to play it calm, acting as if this bombshell was nothing to be afraid of.

Her hint that his actions were far more reprehensible was a weak attempt to get out of this without any punishment. She clearly ran the mental math through her own head for he did not have to explain why he was not afraid before she let out a sigh and tried her hand at negotiating. "To leave me alone? I think we are well past that Tomoe." He smirked at her, the annoyed tone was something he was looking forward to wiping away and replacing it with a tone and pitch he figured Ryu would never be able to force from her lips.

"No, I actually like my reputation. It helps me out more than you could ever imagine." That was not true, but that is what the guys at his school thought. Sure he probably made out with a few more girls than he would have normally because of his reputation, but it was this reputation that made it so that he would never get a girlfriend until he entered college. "What I was thinking was a bit more...fun." He pulled his phone back, examining the picture before putting his phone away and saying, "I want to do what you were up to in that photo. This time of course, with me and you." That ought to piss her the hell off, but he said, "I was thinking we can make it a little game even." He nodded over to the clock that was hanging up on the wall. It was 5:45 pm by this point and he said, "I get 10 minutes, ten minutes to show you that my reputation isn't just a rumor and an exaggeration. If you can last that long without moaning, or without reaching an orgasm or two, I will delete the photo right here and now." He didn't tell her what would happen if he didn't win, but he figured she would never admit to the possibility of losing this contest, if she accepted that is.

 

[Baka]

Like she has deducted he wouldn't let her or Ryuta off the hook that easily, and once her indirect suggestion was rejected she clicked her tongue, clearly getting more annoyed as she was waiting to hear what the blonde man had in mind for her. It was hard for Tomoe to believe that any sort of bad reputation would help anyone except maybe some yakuza-folks, but after thinking it for a bit she did see why it would "I guess the trope of girls falling for bad-boys has some kind of weight in real life too..." she surmises before Ben continues.

When she hears her ludicrous suggestion at first she just stays quiet from his gall to ask something like this, but after a few seconds she starts to laugh. "Are you serious? You really think this is some kind of eroge where you're the main character and can do whatever you want just because you happen to be good-looking?" she says and can't help but smile, though the slight twitches from the edge of her mouth show that he managed to struck some nerve, and that she was trying to held off from shouting straight to his face. As she was giving Ben a pieceof her mind Tomoe was struggling with the decision. She could just tell Ben to fuck-off and never speak to her again, but that way the picture would get leaked, this combined with the fact that she didn't want to cheat on her boyfriend under any circumstances made her consider just letting the two face the consequences, but on the other note her "plain girl, wallflower who's kind to everyone" reputation would be ruined, and her boyfriend would loose the position he was looking ro get in high-school.

After thinking the offer for a little while she has made her decision. "Fine. We can play your stupid game you lousy pervert. But I want to add a rule too." she says with a serious tone as she walks further back into the class and continues. "You are only allowed to touch my breasts. If you think I will let you go any further than that then you're honestly out of your mind." she continues with her annoyed voice and takes a seat on the desk. "If you're not all talk that should work right?" she gives him a little grin doubting that he can actually manage to do anything to make her let out any sort of voices.

"Time is ticking, so get to it!" she says and slams her palm on her side onto the desk. Clearly just wanting to get this all over with as soon as possible.

 

[Veiled_Desire]

Tomoe has a poker face, yet even he can see the cracks forming at his proposed solution to getting rid of the photo. To her credit, she holds herself together for a few moments before laughing. In response he merely gives her a playful shrug, knowing that if this was anyone els he would have never made the suggestion because it would be too insane to work. "Ah, isn't that good to know that you also think I am good looking, I am sure Ryuta would love to hear that." He knew that Ryuta always talked about Ben's looks. To Ryuta, Ben wasn't special at all, he was just a foreigner in a part of the country without any other foreigners. A rarity, and Ryuta claimed no one would want him if there was even a single other foreigner around. Ben knew that was not the case, but hell, it was still something that erked him every time he heard it.

The two glared daggers at each other for a few moments, each knowing that her insult had not answered the question and she would have to decide her and Ryuta's fate. When she did agree, she imposed her own rule, one that honestly had his eyes going wide. Tomoe's counter now had Ben arching his right eyebrow at her in disbelief. Ten minutes and he can't let his hands go beneath her chest...that would have been hard to accomplish with a girl who wanted to get off. With Tomoe doing her best to resist him, well he had no idea if he could win.

This should be blackmail, he should have all the cards and he should not let her make the rules. But part of him liked the challenge, he liked how assertive she was, and he wanted to win. Some part of him really did want to please Tomoe, so without saying a word he walked up to her and pulled out his phone. He flicked through the app, getting the timer ready as he looked up at her and said, "I like a challenge," he showed her the timer, hitting start as it began to count down from 10 minutes. Ben placed it up on the table before he reached for Tomoe's right hand, taking her by the wrist and spinning her around so that her back crashed up against his and her rear end pressed up against his hips.

With his free hand he reached up, brushing her curly hair out of the way so he could lean in and begin to gently kiss along the center of the right side of her neck. After the second or so kiss his hands moved, allowing both hands to glide down to her hips before he began to slowly work his hands up her sides. "You knowI have alway thought you are quite beautiful yourself." He said, going back to her unintentional compliment to him as he reached her ear and gently nipped at her earlobe. "I just figured if I mentioned that before this point you would punch me in the face." His hands went up to her breasts then, giving them a gentle squeeze as he began to massage them over her bra. He had a limited amount of time but he was not going to act panicked and rush this. He wanted her to think this was somehow all still a part of his plan.

 

[Baka]

His comment of her affirming his good looks gets a stink-eye from Tomoe before she replies. "Don't be so full of yourself. I was just speaking in terms of conventional standards." she says "And even if I saw you as attractive that wouldn't make up for your rotten personality or your playboy-habits." she tries to stab her with her words before weighing down her choices inside of her head, which ultimately lead for her to accept the ludicrous bet Ben suggested for her.

When the blonde man accepts her condition the grin on her face grows larger. Now she was sure of her upcoming victory. Sure of herself she makes the gesture to present her breasts to him, inviting him to do his best. "How about we get started then." she smuggly says before she is yanked out of her seat, and the challenge begun.

She was yanked out of her seat, and due to the surprise she let's out a little yelp before landing her back against the man behind him. The smug smile of a surefire winner, at least in her opinion turns to a angry frown. "Little heads up would be appreciated." she comments as she feels the lips on her neck, making her shudder a bit in her place. She tilts her head back a little bit and tries to glare Ben ready to complain about the stunt he just pulled, but Tomoe then realized that she had only forbidden him to touch anything besides her breast. She hadn't taken accord other sort of stimulation with her condition, and this seems to make the already pissed-off woman even more pissed off. She clicks her tongue and just let's him continue.

As the man probably expected, instead the words of gratitude he receives a lukewarm and dissmissive response "Whatever. Just focus on the bet..." she scoffs and again shudders a bit while resisting the urge to tell him off as she feels him nibbling her earlobe, however she does let a sound resembling a moan despite trying her best just to stay quiet. When she feels his hand planted against her breast and it being massaged under her bra she lets out a muffled moan, and after letting him rub them for a little while she tilts her head back again and speaks to him. "Shouldn't you pick uup the pace? I don't want to hear any excuses when you eventually loose to me you know?" she eggs him on, clearly just waiting for him to loose the wager. "Should I make it more fair for you and give you a hint of my weak spots?" she adds fuel to the fire smiling a smug smile that she wasn't sure the man behind could even see, not even entertaining the thought that all this could backfire on her eventually.