Terpenoid focuses on the life of Takahashi Yukito; his high school days, role as a father, love life, and sex life all take turns in the spotlight. He’s joined by his son, Haru; his senpai and business partner, Okaken; and his neighbor and lover, Shige to grace the pages with a story filled with lust, love, passion, and tragedy.
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Terpenoid – “The stimulus from meeting him without readying my heart first is too strong…!” Yukito’s face says it all. I love how in awe of Shige he is–he always has this “I need to change my underwear” look on his face; it’s cute. This chapter tells us a bit about Haru’s background, Yukito’s relationship with Okaken, and how he and Shige got together. Little Haru and his snotty nose yelling at Shige and telling him to eat the fried shrimp was hilarious.
UltiMATE – This chapter starts off with them in domestic bliss, but before long, we get “squick” and the heartbreak sets in. But, it doesn’t get any better than Shige. When I initially read this chapter as a oneshot, the ending didn’t seem as sad as it did once I read it and followed it with chapter 3.
Triage – The chapter is called Triage, but you might need to be rushed to the ER before it’s over. Seriously, prepare your heart (and depending on your kink, clean underwear). When Haru asked the same thing Shige did, I just wanted to hold Yukito and tell him it would be OK.
Sweet Tranny – I don’t get the title of this chapter at all; I wanted to say “I don’t think that word means what you think it means” a la Princess Bride. Anyway, this one jumps back a year or so and gives us more of Yukito as the doting dad and his and Okaken’s rather cosmopolitan approach to fidelity.
Apoc. – This takes us back even further and tells us about how Yukito and Okamoto met and then springs us forward to a time not too long before Haru came into the picture.
Claustrophobia – Shiozaki and his senpai, Okamoto, get caught in a tight spot. Okamoto’s not too keen on closed spaces and freaks out. Nothing like a little lovin’ to take a man’s mind off things.
Deprivation – Shio and Okamoto’s story continues. Well, they look considerably younger, but by their attitudes, I’m guessing that this is after the storm. You kind of feel bad for the pathetic Okamoto-senpai.
Since there was no afterword included that may have offered clarification, I’m not sure if the Okaken from the main story is the same Okamoto-senpai in the second story. I’m happier believing that they are different characters, otherwise I’ll be troubled because I’ll have too many questions. There’s no definite connection between the two stories and Oka1 and Oka2 have completely different dispositions. If they are the same person, then I want to know what happened to Shio, if there was a trauma that resulted in Okaken’s phobia, and how he hooked back up with Yukito. And some other things. So, for my sanity, I’ll just believe that it’s a coincidence that the characters look similar and share the same family name.
I liked this one. Okadaya’s penmanship is still a little ehh for my taste, but her stories are great. I hope to read more.
Notes: After I initially posted this, randomwordstogether admitted that she shared some of my confusion and I tried to lay it all out, but I didn’t really get anywhere.
Ceres: Yeah, I got confused by Okaken’s identity, too. Of course I want him and Yuki to both live happily ever after, but the stories’ timelines, even if somewhat hazy, doesn’t seem to indicate that Okaken and Shio ended up together. Maybe Sensei just forgot to take note of the continuity of the chapters since it’s from the present going back.
Me: I tossed the continuity aspects around for a while, but didn’t get anywhere. If it is the same Okamoto, then the time line would look like this:
- Yuki-chan & Okamoto-senpai meet – Okamoto-senpai was in his 2nd year of high school, so unless it was an escalator system, they’re only a year apart.
- Okamoto-senpai and Yuki-chan part – Okamoto-senpai was in his third year of college.
- Okamoto marries some harsh woman and is now a pushover.
- Okamoto and his kouhai Shiozaki have some encounters – During “Claustrophobia” Shio has long hair and looks like he might be 29 and it seems like it’s their first time. But during “Deprivation,” Shio has short hair and looks about 24–Okamoto looks younger as well– but Okamoto acts as if the handjob is the first time they did anything. However, Okamoto was married at that point. Shio had long hair when Okamoto told him about the marriage.
- Haruki dies – Okamoto sees Yuki at or shortly after the funeral. I suppose their work partnership came out of this reunion.
- Yuki gets a call from the police – A year after Haruki died and that’s when he takes custody of Haru.
- A year passes and Haru forms a bond with Shige.
- Six months later, Haru has come out of his shell. It was also around this time that the little girl made a comment about his face being scary. That same night, after Haru went to sleep, Okaken mentioned that his wife was giving birth, so it was fine for him to stay over. That led to Yuki wearing the maid outfit.
- Now we’re up to the Shige timeline and Haru has been with Yuki for two years.
- Yuki and Okaken get it on at work and then that carries over into the car at which point Shige sees them.
- Yuki and Shige get together and Haru catches wind of it. He’s not having it.
- Yuki calls on Okaken for help and Okaken–who, might I add, is not a pushover–mentions that he’s a father of three.
- Yuki and Shige take a break for six months. Their break is terminated during “Triage.” And then it’s happily ever after.
There was a lot going on. Aside from his change in demeanor, one of the things that keep me thinking that Okaken and Okamoto are different characters is that Okamoto’s first name is Yuichi (I think) and it’s possible that Okaken is “Okaken” because his first name is something like Ken, Kenichi, or Kenji. Maybe. Also, there’s the matter of his wife. In the Shio timeline she locks him out of the house, but in the Shige timeline they have kids; I can’t imagine that type of woman tolerating him enough to have sex/kids with him.
Even though I just ran through all of this, I’m still confused.