St. Catherine’s Education System is a huge enterprise. All of the schools from preschool to junior high are coed. It’s only in the high schools that it became segregated. Thus, many didn’t know that St. Catherine’s had an all-girls high school as it was not as famous as its counterpart. One reason being that it was a typical boarding school located in the city proper, whereas the all-boys high school was located at the monastery. Despite this, the girls school was a quality school.
The prevailing thought was that students in high school should be separated by gender thus enforcing sexual propriety among the student body. However, an unforeseen consequence resulted at the boys school. Many of the male students were found to have had sexual relations of one sort or another with each other. When questioned, more than a few claimed they got the idea from a staff member. This caused quite the turmoil among the upper administrators and, for a time, the staff was at a loss as to what to do.
Their response was slow. First to be implemented were extreme and harsh new policies that were claimed to be used for the eradication of the problem within the student body. An analysis of their policies in the light of recent times shows that their policies were purely barbaric, being nothing more than attempts to punish the student body, by torture, without any clear pedagogical objectives in mind; no recourse or due process being available for the students either. It should be noted that the administration’s response in dealing with staff members who were abusing the students was, sadly, much slower.
The effects of the new policy, once fully implemented, were immediate. The reports of sexual activity among the students became practically zero, as well as reports of student-on-student sexual assaults, and, ultimately, sex between students and staff members.
While the administrators celebrated as they felt that this was a victory for the school and the students, what they didn’t realize was that their response sent everything far underground, unintentionally creating a dangerous new dynamic that was cloaked in secrecy.
To the student’s credit, they implemented their own safety measures to protect themselves, such as placing themselves into two distinct classes, the semes and the ukes. By doing so, they were able to segregate their activities, for example, during meals and showers, as well as in many other areas. Unfortunately, the boys were still children and were attempting to adapt to a horrific situation as best they could. There were still a great many problems with this system and not all students participated. Many used this system as an excuse to abuse other students. This system came to be known as “Seme/Uke.”
—Excerpt from Revised Student-Administrated Hierarchies of Private Schools by Julian Smith
Handa was in the room but he was lying on his bed and reading. There was still some time before dinner, so Kato decided to continue with the portrait. He needed to get it done by tomorrow, and he was certain he would have it done this evening. He was quite happy with his work and was only really needing to finish up some shading and other finer touches.
Kato didn’t want to talk with Handa at all, but the frosty atmosphere was almost as bad. A couple of times he had almost started a conversation, not about anything in particular, simply small talk. But every time he was about to open his mouth, Handa would flip a page in his book and the noise would somehow silence Kato, making him reconsider if it was even wise to talk to the guy.
—–
At dinner, he approached his table and saw Murata and the two boys laughing about something. This put him immediately at ease.
“What’s so funny?” Kato asked.
“I was telling them about Nakamura-san’s very first cooking adventure,” Murata said with a smile.
“Oh?”
“Yeah, our first swap he was so nervous. I was sitting on his bed while watching him serve up some food and he tripped and bobbled the bowl as he handed it to me and spilled the bowl all over me.” The two boys started laughing anew along with Murata.
“Oh my god, you never told me that,” Kato said while laughing.
“I had rice in my hair, and everywhere,” Murata said with a grin. “He’s such a klutz. You won’t know it by looking at him though. I had to take my shirt off and borrow one of his. Then help him clean up the bed.”
Ikeda whistled and said, “Nakamura-san’s got moves.”
Murata laughed and said, “I would agree if it weren’t for the fact that he is so clumsy in general.”
“I dunno, Murata-san. That sounds definitely like a ploy to get your shirt off. What else did he get you to take off that night?” Ikeda wore a devilish grin. Kato could swear that Murata blushed ever-so-slightly.
“It was nothing like that. He was a perfect gentleman,” Murata said and Matsuoka snickered. “At least there was plenty of food, and it was good.”
A question popped up in Kato’s mind. “Hey, you guys are on the same wing. Do you still swap at 9?”
“Yeah,” Murata said. “Even though we don’t have to change wings, we still swap at 9. More out of consideration for Nakamura’s roommate, and mine.”
Kato looked at the boys like he was about to ask a question, causing Matsuoka to say, “We live together.”
“Ah,” Kato said.
While they ate, Murata talked about a few other incidents of Nakamura’s clumsiness and all the boys were laughing. Kato was, in part, glad to have Takahashi as his seme, but he still wished he could have had a more fun seme like Nakamura. His experience being an uke seemed so much different than Murata’s. And Matsuoka and Ikeda seemed to be happy together, even if it’s uke/uke, which still didn’t make sense to Kato.
—–
After dinner, Kato waited for showers. He didn’t need one but he thought he would stop in and hang out, see what news the ukes had tonight.
“Kato-san!” the boys greeted as he entered. He was the only one fully clothed as the rest were in boxers or naked and more were following him in.
“Hi, all,” Kato said back with a smile and a wave.
“No shower tonight?” Kikizaki asked.
“No, took one at the Sports Complex after workout,” Kato said.
“Alone?” Nishio asked.
Kato shook his head, “No. I was with my seme.”
“Woo!” The boys started whooping and hollering.
“It wasn’t like that!” Kato lied. It was precisely like that, but he wasn’t going to confess.
“Just don’t get caught,” Higashihara said. “The staff won’t be nice about it if you do.”
Kato looked at Higashihara and worried a little. “Honestly, nothing happened. We’re in the same class and the workout was super strenuous so we showered there.”
“Uh huh,” Kikizaki said with a grin and the boys started laughing again, causing Kato to blush a bit.
“What’d I miss?” Sengoku asked as he came in.
“Kato-san was making out with his seme in the showers at the Sports Complex,” Asano said.
“Oh really? Making shower babies, eh?” Sengoku asked with a smirk.
Kato blushed even deeper and said, “I assure you. It was definitely not like that!” The boys started laughing again and Kato wondered why he had come to the showers.
“Well, staff don’t usually go into the bathrooms or showers, but it’s not unheard of.” Higashihara said. “Just be careful, Kato-san.”
“Hey,” Kato spoke up, attempting to change the subject. “What’s the secret to being a good uke?”
Two different boys simultaneously said, “Seme first.”
Kato looked at them as Higashihara said, “Yup, pretty much first rule of being a uke.”
“How come I’ve never heard that, and I’ve been here a month?” Kato asked.
“You hardly ever talked to any of us ukes until just recently,” Asano said.
“Yeah, and you came to one uke game night but missed all the rest,” Kikizaki said.
“Sorry,” Kato said. “But about seme first, do the semes have rules too?”
“Uke first,” the same two boys replied.
Kato was quite surprised that he had never heard of any of this. He wondered if Murata knows about this, but never mentioned it. Then again, he chided himself. He did tell me to try to think of Ken first.
“Having troubles with Takahashi-san?” Higashihara asked.
“All we do is fight,” Kato said.
“Yup, sounds like you need to follow the first rule,” Sengoku said.
“What’s the second rule?” Kato asked.
“The second rule is: see the first rule,” Asano said with a chuckle, which started a few other boys chuckling.
“Seriously,” Higashihara said with a smile. “There is no book on how to be an uke. But if you follow rule number one, it should help.”
“Or there’s something seriously wrong with your seme. I mean, it’s Takahashi-san after all. Ever thought about getting a different one?” Sengoku asked.
Higashihara glared at Sengoku and said, “Shut up. You’re not helping.”
Kato looked at Sengoku, “Thought about it, yes. But it’s too late now. I want to work it out with him.”
“Good for you, Kato-san,” Kikizaki said. “Stick to your seme.” Some of the other boys nodded and voiced their agreements to that.
“Thanks, fellas,” Kato said.
“Speaking of almost getting caught,” Misaki said. “I was making out with my seme, all hard and stuff, and there was a knock at the door. I had to rush and put my pants back on and grabbed a book off the shelf and put it in front of me to hide my hard-on, and I opened the door to find a page boy asking for the laundry.” The boys started laughing, and Kato right along with.
“The boy sat there staring at me and asked, ‘What’s with the book?’” Misaki said, causing the boys to laugh more.
Kato enjoyed listening to the funny stories. He had a few himself but they were too intimate, and he would rather die than to share them. Still, that tiny feeling inside about wishing he got along better with his own seme ate at him.
Crescent Moon Translations 