The next morning Seamus arrived at the Higashi Corporation early. He wanted to talk to Nakanishi Gentaro, who was just a couple of years older than him, and had shown him how to work the coffee machine, and turned out to interested in English soccer. They’d discussed soccer over beer after work, and Gentaro had astonished him by having heard of, and knowing something of, the Birmingham Legion FC. He supposed Gentaro counted as his best friend in Japan.

Gentaro was hanging up his rain-soaked coat when Seamus arrived. Gentaro looked at him, surprised, then invited him in. So Seamus shut the door behind him and sat in Gentaro’s guest chair. He told Gentaro, speaking in his best Japanese, about the odd visit last night.

Gentaro laughed, loud and enthusiastic. “So did you pick one, or have all three? They do enjoy rolling around male bodies together. Well, Chiaki and Yua do, anyway.”

“What about Asuka?”

“I’ve never had the pleasure, with Asuka. Not sure any of us have. I’d say you’re honoured, there.”

So, Seamus thought, Yua and Chiaki have done this before. And they’ve had Gentaro, who was a good-looking young man with a quick wit. “You don’t have rules against, well, sex with other staff?”

“We have a rule that if a pretty girl wants to fuck you, you’d be a miserable bastard if you didn’t let her.”

“What if you’re senior to her?”

“If she wants you, then you lie down in a bed. You’re equal in bed.”

“Un-n. Well, it was very tempting, but I didn’t have any of them. I wasn’t sure what the rules were.”

Gentaro was scornful. “You turned them away? All of them? You must be made of iron. Also, very stupid. The last Englishman to come and teach Business English didn’t hesitate for a moment.”

“Chiaki tried to suck my cock and undress me.” 

Gentaro shook his head in wonder. “And you stopped her?”

“Well no, I didn’t. Asuka stopped that. She smacked Chiaki’s bottom, then told me to spank her with my wooden spoon. Chiaki was very keen on me doing that. Insisted it had to be on the bare. Actually, Yua wanted to be spanked too.”

“I’ve had both over my knee. Put them over my desk, a few times. They get very …” – Gentaro used the English word – “horny.”

Seamus thought about Yua with her hands on her bottom, her tongue just protruding at him. Many girls in Birmingham , in his experience, had liked to be dominated, so long as they knew they were safe and respected. He said, “They enjoyed that?”

“They’re very happy over a knee. Or showing off by bending over. You’ll find that if you don’t make them, Chiaki and Yua anyway, and some of the others, they’ll provoke you until you do.”

“In front of the others? The men students watching?”

“There’s a storeroom off the classroom. That’s what it’s for, in practice. Oddly, there’s a bed in there. If you want to fuck them afterwards, and they make it clear want to fuck you, you make them wait till the end of the lesson, so you’ve got time and privacy. God, the last Englishman here didn’t even hesitate.”

“Why did he leave, anyway?”

“He married one of his ex-students. Turned out she came with a lot of money, and she wanted to live in London.”

Seamus nodded. That made sense. Gentaro continued, “He had been known to take some of the girls over his knee in front of the others – the male students watching – if they hadn’t done their lessons. Not even sending them to the storeroom. He caned male students too, but he didn’t desire men. I’ve heard he was lusty when he did take a girl in there. He was a popular teacher. I think last night, you were … disappointing. And word will have got around.”

“Kuso,” said Seamus, which means something like ‘bloody hell’.”This is pretty strange.”

“Not really. When the company started running language lesson courses, it took high schools as the model. So corporal punishment – there are other options, and any student can opt out – seemed natural. Corporal punishment is technically illegal in schools now, though in reality it still happens. But in the company, any student who hasn’t opted out has consented. That’s made clear. As for the fucking, well, we’re  not kids. It’s a matter of choice.”

Gentaro said, “What about Asuka? She wanted you to fuck her, or she wouldn’t have come with Chiaki and Yua. But did she hint that she wanted supankingu?”

Seamus wasn’t sure he knew how to assess that. “She brought out my wooden spoon. But I thought she meant I should spank the other two with it. Now you ask, I have to say I don’t know.”

Gentaro smiled. “I hope you enjoy finding out. You will find out, so long as you stop being so very English and do what we do in Sapporo. You lost some reputation last night. But I’m sure you can get it back.”

“Christ on a bike,” said Seamus, very much in English.

“We’d never accuse Buddha, say, of cycling. Or Fujin. You English are rude to your gods. So, would you like to borrow my cane? Chiaki and Yua have seen it, in fact both have felt it, before.”

“Well, I don’t know that I’ll need it.”

“But you do. Not necessarily to use it, though …” Gentaro spread his hands. “But it will do your reputation good if you wait till your students, your fellow employees, arrive, and let them see you carry it into the storeroom. You can buy your own later.”

He opened a cupboard and passed a slim piece of rattan to Seamus. It felt hard, strange in his hand. He wondered if some time he’d get used to using it. He’d spanked Birmingham girls when they asked him too, and he’d found he enjoyed that, but he’d never used a cane.

He thanked Gentaro and left him. His first class was in an hour. But when he reached his office, he saw Asuka there, standing, waiting for him.