{"id":152,"date":"2012-11-29T06:45:00","date_gmt":"2012-11-29T06:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hildred-billings.com\/site\/2012\/11\/29\/first-scene-preview-of-hatsukoi\/"},"modified":"2012-11-29T06:45:00","modified_gmt":"2012-11-29T06:45:00","slug":"first-scene-preview-of-hatsukoi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hildred-billings.com\/site\/2012\/11\/29\/first-scene-preview-of-hatsukoi\/","title":{"rendered":"First Scene Preview of “HATSUKOI.” !!"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/div>\n

With only two days left until the official release date of “HATSUKOI.”, book 2 of the REN’AI RENSAI series, it’s time to release the official preview! First, the blurb!<\/p>\n


<\/p>\n

If society has taught Aiko anything, it\u2019s that one day she will marry a man. Not until she meets Reina, a lesbian with a knack for flirting, does she decide she wants to experience a different kind of sexual liberation \u2013 assuming she can overcome her insecurities and nosy family. As she succumbs more and more to Reina\u2019s charms, however, Aiko wonders if she can really abandon everyone\u2019s expectations. <\/span><\/i><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Reina has met plenty of girls like Aiko before: cute, naive, and ready to screw the status quo. After being burned by countless young women who go on to marry men and forget their lesbian lives, how can Reina trust yet another \u201cgood girl\u201d following her around? Especially when she thinks she may be having those foreign feelings for her best friend instead.<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Time will only tell if Hatsukoi<\/span>, or \u201cfirst love,\u201d has really come to two such different people. Is their relationship genuine or just another footnote amongst flirting, lying, and sneaking around love hotels? <\/span><\/i><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
“HATSUKOI.” is the second published novel, but the first one chronologically, so it can be read either before or after “DAISUKI.” Below is the first scene (about 1700 words) to whet your need for more! ONLY TWO DAYS LEFT! Maybe less? I’ll be uploading it tomorrow!  <\/span><\/div>\n

WARNING<\/b>: Strong language and sexual topics. A certain character (gee, I wonder who) likes to refer to sexual relations in the crudest language possible. <\/i> <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Tokyo; December 10th, 1992<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
            <\/span>Somewhere, Aiko\u2019s favorite song played on a stereo.<\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>Her ears followed the pop-rock sounds to the corner of the room where two girls huddled around a mirror, applying makeup. Aiko turned to her cousin Shizuka and waited for her to proceed with the tour and introductions. It was Aiko\u2019s first time to see the backstage of a music theater, and she didn\u2019t want to embarrass herself or get her cousin in trouble. <\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>She always thought such a scene would be alight with human energy, but the few staff members wandering around yawned behind limp hands. A costumer pushed a rack of colorful sequined dresses across the room and was followed by everyone else, except for the two girls still applying. Aiko recognized their dresses as the same style Shizuka wore.<\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>\u201cAre those your group mates?\u201d she asked.<\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>Shizuka nodded with the same dead energy. \u201cTwo of them, anyway.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>\u201cIs one of them the American?\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
           <\/span>\u201cWell, one of them is American.\u201d Shizuka blinked. \u201cNo, not the one I told you about. The other one is blond.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>\u201cThere are two Americans?\u201d Aiko had heard about one, a pale blonde with a high voice and a sordid reputation, if sarcastic cousins were credible. \u201cHow lucky!\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>\u201cYeah, lucky. They talk in English behind our backs. Well, fight is more like it.\u201d Shizuka took a step further into the light. \u201cCome on, I\u2019ll introduce you to the nicer one.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>Although she sauntered through the room without a worry, Aiko took more care to ensure she didn\u2019t step on a forgotten feather or bump her head against the cords hanging from the ceiling. This place is so amazing. <\/i>Every time she watched a live music show on television, she wondered what the places the talents retreated to offstage were like. Now that she had a cousin in the entertainment industry, it was like Christmas came three weeks early. <\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>\u201cYo!<\/i>\u201d Shizuka called as they approached the duo of bandmates. \u201cIf you two aren\u2019t careful, you\u2019re going to kill our make-up supply and piss off the manager.\u201d <\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>One of the women dropped her eyeliner and craned her head around, revealing Western face framed with bobbed brown hair. \u201cIs there a problem?\u201d Aiko was surprised the foreigner spoke Japanese well. \u201cOr are you jealous we got the new stock before you?\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>\u201cOh, please.\u201d Shizuka smiled. <\/i>\u201cAi-chan<\/i>, this is my fellow forgotten backup singer, Michiko.\u201d She stepped out of the way so Aiko was unexpectedly presented on a bashful platter. \u201cShe\u2019s the other American I just now told you about.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>Michiko also smiled and extended a hand towards Aiko. \u201cHajimemashite<\/i>,\u201d the American greeted. \u201cWhat\u2019s your name?\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>The giddiness over getting to shake hands like a \u201creal\u201d foreigner was enough to make Aiko beam, although her eyes kept pointed to the ground. \u201cHajimemashite<\/i>,\u201d she said, and gripped Michiko\u2019s soft hand. Aiko pulled it away again before her shyness could overcome her. \u201cMy name is Aiko. Aiko Takeuchi.\u201d <\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>\u201cOi!<\/i>\u201d Shizuka smacked the other woman on the shoulder. \u201cDon\u2019t be rude!\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>\u201cEh?\u201d The woman in blue spun around. Vibrant eyes shrouded in thick eyeliner stared at Aiko, dissecting her, judging her. <\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>Aiko didn\u2019t know why another Japanese girl\u2019s face shocked her so much. Maybe it was the eyeliner, or the eyes \u2013 upon reflection later in life, Aiko would gauge it was a combination of those eyes alongside the sleek and long, black hair making her heart still in her chest. This woman looked like a veritable Cleopatra.<\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>She did not, however, talk like an Egyptian ruler.<\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>\u201cMou, <\/i>Shi-chan, <\/i>why\u2019d you bring a little girl in here? We just practiced for three hours and I\u2019m tired.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>\u201cYou\u2019re a dog,\u201d Shizuka bit with a sharp tongue. To Aiko, she said, \u201cThis is Reina. She sings well but is all sorts of gross.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>\u201cYeah, well, fuck you too.\u201d But Reina grinned, and confusion swam in Aiko \u2013 perhaps from the rough and coarse words coming out of such a dainty mouth. Reina\u2019s vocabulary made her sound like the tough boys at Aiko\u2019s old high school. <\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>Shizuka responded with a thump on Reina\u2019s shoulder, and soon the group mates laughed in unison while Aiko stood in perplexity. They must be really close. <\/i>She never took her cousin as somebody to laugh at another woman\u2019s crudeness, but this world she worked in was different from everyday society.<\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>As the laughing died down, Reina pulled out a carton of cigarettes and passed one to Michiko. Shizuka further surprised Aiko by reaching out to take one as well \u2013 since when did she smoke? Did her mother know? Before the lighter in Michiko\u2019s hand sparked to life, the cigarette carton appeared in hand\u2019s reach. <\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>\u201cIi yo.<\/i>\u201d Reina shoved the carton at Aiko again. \u201cAh, let me guess, you don\u2019t smoke.\u201d <\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>Aiko shook her head as Reina leaned back and took a light from Michiko. Soon three plumes of smoke wafted around Aiko\u2019s head and made her swoon; she wasn\u2019t sure if the high was from second-hand smoke or from seeing Reina wrap her tongue and skinny fingers around a cigarette. Men who smoked were disgusting and inconsiderate, but something about a woman crossing her legs and pursing her lips made Aiko double-take. <\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>\u201cFigures.\u201d The smoke lingered around Reina\u2019s face, obscuring her thin eyes. \u201cYou\u2019re a good girl, I bet. You don\u2019t smoke, get drunk, or fuck.\u201d When the smoke cleared Aiko could see Reina\u2019s eyes searing, daring her to respond. <\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>\u201cOh, shut up and leave her alone. Don\u2019t listen to her.\u201d Shizuka took another draft of her cigarette. \u201cThis one never stops thinking about sex.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>\u201cHey, at least I get some.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>\u201cI told you, I\u2019m not interested in women.\u201d <\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>Throughout this small exchange, Michiko kept a curious eye on Aiko and her reactions. Now, upon both the declaration of Reina\u2019s passive thoughts and her assumptions about Shizuka, Michiko studied Aiko\u2019s face as if she had a second nose. <\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>\u201cMaybe she\u2019s not as good as you think she is, Reina-chan<\/i>,\u201d Michiko said. \u201cShe hasn\u2019t flinched once upon hearing the naughty things we\u2019re saying about you.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>\u201cNaughty? Don\u2019t drag me into this.\u201d Shizuka waved her hand, her cigarette smoke bouncing up and down. <\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>When Aiko spoke to defend herself, her voice was a pitiful squeak. \u201cI\u2019m sorry, Michiko-san<\/i>,\u201d and it pained her sensibilities to not call Michiko by her last name, but since she did not know it, she resorted to the more familiar given, \u201cI\u2019m afraid my reactions are not satisfactory to you because I have no idea what you\u2019re talking about. I\u2019m sorry if I sound dense.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>Michiko\u2019s brows rose and Reina laughed. \u201cSee. Told you,\u201d she said in triumph. \u201cShe\u2019s so goody-goody she doesn\u2019t even know a conversation about fucking.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>\u201cNot everybody is as sexually needy as you,\u201d Michiko mumbled between goes at her cigarette. <\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>Aiko blushed. She certainly knew sex!<\/i> How old did they think she was? But that\u2019s not what they had been talking about at all. The conversation was about an implication between Shizuka and Reina. Absurd. Shizuka had a boyfriend.<\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>But then she announced to Aiko in out-loud confidence, \u201cReina is a lesbian.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>Scoffing, Reina stood and threatened her with a roll of the tongue and some brash, masculine words. \u201cHey! Who told you it was okay to just blab that around? Shinjiran.<\/i>\u201d She smashed her cigarette into an ashtray. \u201cI\u2019m gonna get a beer.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>Michiko asked for one as well before Reina stalked off to another room. \u201cDon\u2019t mind her,\u201d she then said to Aiko. \u201cShe\u2019s a rude little lesbian. I\u2019m a much nicer one.\u201d She discarded her cigarette next to Reina\u2019s.<\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>\u201cLe\u2026lesbian?\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>Even Shizuka spun her head towards Aiko at that. \u201cAre you serious? You don\u2019t know what that means?\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>Aiko stiffened. \u201cI know what it means.\u201d She had Western friends; of course <\/i>she knew what a \u201clesbian\u201d was. The word was even in Hollywood movies! But a Japanese woman? A lesbian? It didn\u2019t make sense. \u201cBut isn\u2019t that\u2026weird?\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>\u201cNot if you like fucking women.\u201d <\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>No amount of blinking could make Michiko\u2019s statement clearer. Aiko tried to imagine two Japanese women having sex, and all she could come up with was two naked women bumping into each other and apologizing as if they were on a crowded (nudist) train. She blushed again. \u201cHow would somebody know that?\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>\u201cYou\u2026want to fuck women.\u201d Michiko rolled her eyes as if to say, \u201cJapanese.\u201d Aiko knew that eye-roll well from her foreign-exchange friends. \u201cIt\u2019s not rocket science.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>\u201cMaa<\/i>, don\u2019t listen to her.\u201d Shizuka tugged on Aiko\u2019s arm. \u201cThey\u2019re perverts.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
           <\/span>Before Michiko could open her mouth, Reina reemerged with two beers in her hands. \u201cAre you still educating her about vaginas?\u201d she asked, passing a beer to Michiko.<\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>When their eyes met, Aiko thought she saw a familiar teasing quality, although it unnerved her. What if she thinks I\u2019m some sort of prey now? <\/i>Where did that thought come from? <\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>\u201cOi<\/i>, Little Miss Good Girl.\u201d Reina snapped her fingers to get Aiko\u2019s attention. Her eyes unglazed and she looked into a satisfying smirk on Reina\u2019s face. \u201cHow\u2019d you like it if I fucked your pussy real good?\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>All the blood froze in Aiko\u2019s body as Shizuka smacked Reina on the head and Michiko likewise said some scolding words. The three of them would\u2019ve been amusing to any impartial onlooker, but to Aiko all she could see was Reina\u2019s mischievous smile and hear her naughty words. Do what? To my what? <\/i>She took a step back from the fray of \u201cThat\u2019s my fucking cousin you pervert!\u201d and \u201cReina, you no-good idiot!\u201d and hugged the wall as if nobody could see her there. <\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>\u201cHow\u2019d you like it if I fucked your pussy real good?\u201d <\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>\u201cCome on, Ai-chan<\/i>.\u201d Shizuka appeared, taking Aiko by the arm and hauling her towards the rear exit. \u201cI\u2019ll take you to the train station. I\u2019m sorry I introduced you to that asshole.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>They were outside in the alley before Aiko could look back and see either Michiko or Reina again. A light December drizzle began to fall as Shizuka pointed out the direction to the nearest station and offered Aiko fare to get home. She glanced around as if she were in a dream. <\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>\u201cHow\u2019d you like if I fucked your pussy real good?\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
            <\/span>\u201cDon\u2019t worry about anything.\u201d Aiko shoved the money away and took a step towards the main road. \u201cIt\u2019s fine. Really.\u201d She said some curt goodbyes to her cousin and thanked her for the tour. Before Shizuka could respond, Aiko was halfway down the alleyway, her shoes dunking in the puddles and heart pounding in her chest. <\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
——– <\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
“HATSUKOI.” will be available to purchase at the biggest online ebook retailers by Friday, November 30th!<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With only two days left until the official release date of “HATSUKOI.”, book 2 of the REN’AI RENSAI series, it’s time to release the official preview! First, the blurb! If society has taught Aiko anything, it\u2019s that one day she will marry a man. Not until she meets Reina, a lesbian with a knack for… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[43,78,75,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-excerpt","category-hatsukoi","category-preview","category-renai-rensai"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paRtqI-2s","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hildred-billings.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hildred-billings.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hildred-billings.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hildred-billings.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hildred-billings.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hildred-billings.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hildred-billings.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hildred-billings.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hildred-billings.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}