This unique purity, a quality that seemed not to belong to this noisy, mundane world, was something Rika Kawasaki, who had grown up amid this vast concrete jungle, had never seen in all her eighteen years of life.
Perhaps this perception made her attitude toward Kaoru Hoshitani less harsh than it was toward other men, but it didn’t mean Rika Kawasaki was going to see him in a different light.
After all, in the deeply ingrained system of beliefs that Rika Kawasaki had long held, men as a species were undoubtedly born bearing “Original Sin” and an inerasable “Inherent Depravity.”
They were hypocritical, greedy, easily swayed by desire, and prone to betrayal—this was a creed carved into the depths of her soul.
Kaoru Hoshitani, at best, simply gave her a slightly more favorable instinctive impression—he wasn’t as revolting as the others, that was all.
But in the end, he was still a man at his core—an unchangeable fact.
Yet reality was that, whenever she helped out at the shop, Kaoru Hoshitani’s figure—like an ethereal sprite—would appear within her line of sight, inadvertently and frequently.
Logically, working at the same place, such encounters and glances were unavoidable.
But for some reason, every time Rika Kawasaki looked up in the midst of her busyness, and her gaze met those clear, pure eyes that seemed to reflect one’s heart without a trace of impurity, her heart always gave a slight, involuntary jolt.
Especially after that accidental “misunderstanding” at the Warehouse door, Rika Kawasaki felt even more clearly that it was as if a restless seed had been planted within her.
A hot, indescribable fire would often gather and stir deep in her lower abdomen, in that most vital part of a woman.
That glimpse of his body under the dim, golden light flashed uncontrollably in her mind whenever the night was quiet or she let her thoughts wander, details vivid and impossible to erase.
These uncontrollable physical and psychological reactions in herself made Rika Kawasaki extremely sensitive and highly vigilant.
Her instincts sounded a sharp alarm.
A man who could so easily disrupt her composure and trigger such intense physical reactions simply by existing within her line of sight or through the smallest gestures—he was far too dangerous.
And so, Rika Kawasaki subconsciously wanted Kaoru Hoshitani to stay away from her—further, and even further.
As if, so long as the physical distance was great enough, she could block out the attraction that made her uneasy.
Thus, in the days that followed, her attitude toward him grew not only colder than her previous indifference but even more distant, leaving him barely any chance to talk or approach.
Yet, this stark change in attitude seemed to make the sensitive and thoughtful Kaoru Hoshitani misunderstand something…
One evening, Kaoru Hoshitani arrived at the Kawasaki Family Izakaya.
Before starting his shift, he took a deep breath, as if making up his mind about something, and called Rika Kawasaki—who was about to head to the kitchen—over to the Warehouse door where that awkward incident had once occurred.
The lighting here was still somewhat dim, and it felt as if a trace of that subtle atmosphere from that day still lingered in the air.
Facing her, Kaoru Hoshitani wore an unmistakable expression of nervousness and sincerity. He solemnly bowed, his soft hair swaying gently with the motion.
He lifted his face, gazed at her with those clear, fathomless eyes, and apologized earnestly:
“I’m very sorry, Kawasaki-san. My girlfriend must have caused you quite a bit of trouble before, hasn’t she? Here, I apologize on her behalf.”
So it turned out that, after sharply noticing Rika Kawasaki’s increasingly icy attitude toward him over the past few days, Kaoru Hoshitani, combined with his memory of his girlfriend Aina’s hostile and defensive stares at Kawasaki-san in the shop, mistakenly thought that Kawasaki-san harbored strong resentment over Aina’s inexplicable rudeness and had thus turned her anger onto him.
He had, after all, repeatedly reminded Aina that such behavior was impolite and could very well affect his job.
After working a week, Kaoru Hoshitani was very satisfied with his current job.
After all, the shop’s environment was pleasant, the customers generally well-mannered and rarely troublesome, and the Kawasaki Couple were so friendly and caring toward him.
He absolutely did not want to lose this comfortable and fulfilling job over his girlfriend’s inexplicable jealousy and rudeness.
After much thought, he finally mustered his courage and took the initiative to call Rika Kawasaki aside to apologize, hoping to clear up what he believed to be a “misunderstanding.”
“Ah, I really didn’t mind that at all……”
Rika Kawasaki’s first reaction upon hearing his formal apology was to feel a little baffled—this was not the reason for her indifference and coldness.
But just as she answered reflexively, her gaze was involuntarily drawn, as if by a magnet, to the nearby man’s collar, which, due to his bow, had fallen open and loose.
With just one glance, the sight that suddenly entered her field of view made her breath catch almost imperceptibly.
Skin as white as freshly pressed milk, tinged with a healthy, faint pink, like the most delicate petal of early spring.
The collar’s edge outlined the slender line of his collarbone, and just below, a faintly revealed, smooth, flat chest…
With this fleeting glimpse, Rika Kawasaki felt that the fire she had barely managed to suppress over the past few days was now doused with hot oil—“whoosh”—igniting again, fiercer and hotter than ever, surging through her limbs and even making her fingertips tingle.
[This man… he really is a menace…]
She cursed inwardly, gritting her teeth, trying to arm her suddenly defenseless heart with the most malicious suspicion.
“Really……?”
Kaoru Hoshitani heard her absentminded answer, straightened up, and looked at her with a doubtful expression.
His head tilted slightly, those large, puzzled and innocent eyes blinking as he gazed straight at Rika Kawasaki, as if trying to gauge the truth of her words.
After all, if Kawasaki-san truly didn’t mind the matter, then why did he feel her attitude had only grown colder these past days?
“All right… if there’s nothing else, go get to work.”
As Kaoru Hoshitani stood up straight, his collar settling back into place and the alluring view hidden once more, a fleeting trace of disappointment and longing flashed through Rika Kawasaki’s eyes—so quick she herself didn’t notice.
She forced down the restlessness surging in her chest and, with an even more impatient, almost rude tone, abruptly ended this conversation that had set her heart racing.
Since the Warehouse was deep in a secluded corner of the shop, and the space was already small, the distance between the two of them was compressed to the point where she could almost feel his body warmth and the faint current of his breath.
And right there, Kaoru Hoshitani—his face pure and innocent, as if he knew nothing of the world—stared at her with those moist, doe-like, harmless eyes, a subtle, fresh, and alluring scent emanating from him.
Rika Kawasaki only felt a very dark, fiercely possessive, and aggressive urge suddenly, uncontrollably, sprouting and spreading deep within her heart…
She wanted to drag him into the Warehouse, tear off that obstructive clothing, and see whether beneath that pure skin he harbored the same filthy desires as other men, or if he truly was pure inside and out…
Yet this dangerous thought lasted only an instant before she shuddered, abruptly coming to her senses and ruthlessly pushing that terrifying urge back to the darkest corner of her heart.
Feeling her mouth dry and her throat tight, she could no longer bear the space filled with the clean, seductive scent unique to him.
She quickly turned, her steps a bit stiff, and left the place that had almost made her lose control.