The Intimacy Institution
Chapter 1

Aoba Seragaki held the invitation in his hand as he sat in his car.

"The Intimacy Institution – For sexually challenged, experimenting or interested beautiful people".

'What a silly name for an "institution"' Aoba thought to himself.

He wasn't really sure why he had said yes to go to that kind of place. It's not like a real college, you don't get real subjects like math and language, but, as far as he had researched, it was all about discovering yourself and feeling confident about your own sexuality. Not like he'd ever had problems with that in the past, but it was also a place to learn how to have a good time with a partner, how relationships last longer, and finally, how to score. Aoba was a bit interested in the latter, since he hadn't been on a date with a girl in years.

He'd heard the place was pretty good for a, let's be honest, sex school. His good friend, whom he'd known since he was little, Koujaku, went there, and had been there for a year already. He had no problems with the ladies, though, and it was probably to learn some new moves to impress girls. Aoba didn't say much to it; he could do as he pleased.

He put the paper back into the envelope and put it back into his bag and exited the car. The wind blew silently leaves of all colors around the giant building: a grand château from the 1800th century fenced by a brick wall with black, stylish poles on the top for the look. The building itself looked old school and beautiful, with towers, sections of halls and tall windows. It was obviously a bit more modern inside. Exactly how much, was Aoba finding out soon enough.

He walked up to the giant double door; it seemed it was the original one. He opened it up carefully, afraid that he maybe should be there, but he clenched his bag with the envelope tighter and entered the building.

The first thing he noticed inside was a beautiful chandelier with crystals hanging from the ceiling about two stories above his head. Then he took a look around and was astonished: it was a giant hall with a mild color for the marble floor and half of the walls, topped off with clean white walls. Pillars of light wood stood around the huge staircase of marble and bronze in the middle of the room. It looked sophisticated and well considered, because it made him feel like he was in a royal castle somewhere in the country side. He saw archways to both sides of him, almost everywhere, and he wondered where all those might led to. And more importantly: where was he supposed to go from here?

"Ahh, Aoba-san, welcome to my humble establishment," a reassuring voice said behind him. He turned around and saw the owner, Tatsou Toue, stand there, supported by a cane and monocle. He offered his hand out and Aoba politely shook it.

"Hello, nice to meet you. It's a beautiful place you've got here, Toue-sensei," Aoba said and smiled to him. Toue was happy that his lifework was being noticed, and nodded.

"Thank you. I spent a lot of money renovating this place. It was a nice little project, but I hope to do much bigger things in the future, than running this little institution," Aoba noticed a hint of disgust in his voice when he said the last part, but thought he shouldn't comment on it. Toue collected himself and said with a joyful voice: "So, let's go to my office so we can have a little talk before you get to settle in," He led Aoba up the stairs and to the right.

They stepped into a nice little office, bronze with dark wood. It was as sophisticated as the hall, but in a different way. Toue gestured toward a chair in front of his desk before sitting himself down by it. Aoba bowed slightly and sat down.

"So you like my place here, that's always a good thing," Toue began. "You might be wondering why you were sent an invitation to this place, hmm? Most other people here have paid a respectable amount of money to be able to be here, but I personally arranged for you to come here without paying up a single yen. Do you have any idea why?" he then asked. Aoba was caught a bit off guard by the question, but he saved it.

"My guess is publicity? If I am here, people will hear about your place and come running here," he answered. Truth be told, he had wondered a lot to why HE was selected and why, but it actually seemed logical enough now when he said it aloud. And he was a relatively wide known guy after all.

"That is correct, my friend. You see, we had a little bit of trouble filling up the spaces this year, so a little bit of advertisement wouldn't hurt at all," Toue said with a smile. Aoba got the idea and promised he would recommend the place to everyone who might be interested.

"Now, you do know that the kind of education here isn't normal. We don't teach school things, rather things about romance, relationships and trust. I'm sure you already know that by now?" Toue asked. Aoba nodded.

"And we have a strict policy, rule if you like, that 'no' always means no. Anything you're unwilling to do is totally fine, and you will not be judged. However, the more you practice the, ahem, teachings, the more you've already learned. And besides, the attendants here are all perfectly fine in looks and behavior, so should a more… intimate subject come up, it shouldn't be a problem, am I right?" he said in a weird tone. Aoba nodded again. He'd read all of this on his coil as soon as he got the invitation. He needed to know what he was getting into.

"I don't think I would mind, so that's fine," he just said.

"Great we're on the same page, Aoba-san. Now, about your route…" Toue began.

"It's okay," Aoba said. "I already got the papers from the secretary. I'll be on the heterosexual route along with the 14 other males, in room 23. I got it under control, Sir," he said confidently.

"Yes about that, Aoba-san, there has been a slight necessary change in the plans…" Toue said, but was then interrupted by a knock on the door.

"I'm very sorry, Aoba-san. Come in," he called. In the door stood a secretary in all purple clothes and brown hair. She looked to be around 40 years of age.

"I'm very sorry for interrupting, but Sei-san…" she was quickly interrupted, because Toue stood right up.

"I'll be right there, Yoshie-san. Please take care of our guest here in the meantime. I'm awfully sorry, Aoba-san, but I must go now. I hope you understand," he said apologizing. Aoba shook it off and gave him a reassuring smile. Toue exited the room, and Yoshie smiled at Aoba.

"He will be back again by tonight I think, but I see you've already got what you need," she said in a friendly tone, and Aoba nodded. The woman signaled for him to follow her, and he did. Aoba told Yoshie, that he was going to room 23, and she gladly led him there.

This place was huge. It was supposed to hold over 170 people, even though, as far as he'd checked, there only were 154, with him included. These people were all put into groups called routes based on their sexuality, so for example homosexual men didn't have to learn about how to pick up women.

There were 30 on the straight route, where he was placed. 15 men and 15 women. It was a good system, also so, if needed, all could find a partner.

Then there were 30 women on the lesbian route and 30 on the gay route, then a mix of 15 women and 15 men again on the bisexual route, again, so everybody could team up.

And lastly there was the asexual/pan/trans route with 30 people as well. Aoba wondered why it was even needed, but then again he didn't know much about asexual or transsexuals, so he kept his mouth shut.

There were also 4 people who didn't belong anywhere, maybe they had a hard time trying to figure out which to choose, but as far as Aoba knew, they were only gonna cooperate in very few of the routines. Besides, he only needed to focus on his own route.

In his mind, Aoba noted the path from the great hall to his new room. Up the stairs, to the right, then left at the end of the hall, and then look for room 23, one of the rear ones.

He bowed to Yoshie when he stood outside his door, and she hummed joyfully as she walked back to the secretary. He sat down the bag he had around his shoulder to reach for the key Yoshie gave to him before. He put it in the lock and unlocked the door. Then he opened it.

"WAAHH!" a female voice was loudly heard as a young woman screamed and fumbled around her. She lay on top of a man in a bed by the window of the giant room, and was only wearing her underwear. The man sat up quickly to see why she was making such noise, and looked towards the door while his girlfriend tried to find something to cover herself with.

Aoba stood hypnotized, and didn't know how to react. The man in the bed widened his eyes, and was about to yell, when Aoba recognized his reddish brown hair and white tattoos.

"Mizuki?" he asked and the man's face calmed. He then started to laugh in that laughter Aoba knew so well. Aoba scratched his neck while he smiled an awkward smile. He was then pushed backwards by the woman from before, slim, a bit pale and with long blue hair.

"GET OOOUUUUTT!" she yelled at the top of her lungs and smashed the door while Mizuki still laughed his butt off.

Aoba stood outside of the door and had no idea what just happened. What were they doing in his room? He had to find out what was going on. But strange how he knew the person who lived there. He giggled to himself as he walked back to Yoshie's office. At the funny scenario, at the way the girl reacted, at Mizuki's laughter. Maybe it was just a misunderstanding, and Mizuki had the wrong room. No matter what, he was getting to the bottom of it.