Kaoru Hoshitani trembled all over, like a fledgling that had just escaped an eagle’s claws, still shaken and fearful.
He didn’t know that after breaking free from the clutches of that drunken woman, he now stood on the edge of another, even more unspeakable danger.
His current, relative safety depended entirely on Rika Kawasaki, whose crumbling willpower was barely holding up as she fiercely battled the predator within her heart.
His naive dependence and touch were, to Rika Kawasaki, who was suppressing her primal impulses, like dousing gasoline on a burning fuse.
“Hoo…….”
Rika Kawasaki exhaled heavily, almost squeezing out a searing, repressed breath from deep within her chest, as if trying to force down the wild fire that had risen from her lower abdomen and threatened to burst from her throat.
She closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them again, the surging undercurrents in her gaze were suppressed by a narrow margin.
She dared not look any longer at the tempting sight before her.
Moving with urgency, almost as if fleeing, she quickly helped the man gather up his disheveled navy-blue kimono, tidying it up and wrapping it tightly around his pale body—a body with a fatal attraction for any normal woman—as though that could isolate her from his pure, enticing aura.
Then, almost forcing herself, she stood up immediately, trying to put some distance between them and let the cold air help her regain her composure.
She planned to step out of this suffocatingly cramped cubicle, find a spot with a better signal, and make a call to deal with Yamada, the drunkard still lying on the ground like a pile of mud, face smeared with blood and unconscious.
There were still plenty of troublesome matters to handle afterward.
But who could have imagined, after suffering such a terrifying and traumatic attempted assault, Kaoru Hoshitani was still in a state of high alert and shock, like a bird startled by the twang of a bowstring.
Seeing Rika Kawasaki turn away, his mind went blank; the only thought left was, “She’s leaving,” and he believed she would abandon him alone in this filthy, cold restroom where the nightmare had just occurred.
Overwhelming panic seized him in an instant.
He didn’t think of anything else—almost on instinct, he stumbled forward, throwing his arms tightly around the woman’s firm, resilient waist from behind, pressing his cheek helplessly against her broad back, desperately drawing warmth and strength from her comforting body heat.
With his emotions in complete collapse and almost no rationality left, Kaoru Hoshitani couldn’t spare a thought for whether it was proper to hold tightly to a woman who was not his girlfriend.
He was just a child seeking protection and a sense of security amidst extreme fear, and the powerful presence before him—the one who had just rescued him—was the only lifeline he could grasp in that moment.
Yet, in his innocent dependence and terror, he had no idea that his embrace, instead, was like throwing a bomb into a volcanic eruption for Rika Kawasaki, who was desperately restraining a certain impulse, making his own situation even more dangerous.
His soft body pressed tightly against hers, warmth seeping through the thin layers of fabric. His shallow, tear-choked breaths brushed her spine…….
Feeling that clear, tender, and wonderful sensation from behind, and the full weight of his slightly trembling, slender body, Rika Kawasaki sharply drew in a breath of cold air.
Her muscles instantly tensed like iron, and the wicked fire she’d just barely suppressed surged back even more fiercely, scorching her nerves.
Stiffly, almost like a rusty machine, she forced herself to turn around little by little, her movements slow and full of struggle.
Kaoru Hoshitani, following her lead, wrapped his arms tightly around her waist from the front, his fair fingers clutching at her clothes, refusing to let go, as though that was his only lifeline.
Rika Kawasaki had no choice but to lower her gaze, her thick lashes veiling the tempest raging in her eyes.
She looked at that fuzzy head buried in the front of her kimono, feeling his warm breath seep through the cloth and scorch her skin.
Looking at his shivering, pitiable appearance, like a frightened rabbit, she sensed the final dam named “rationality” in her heart was groaning under the strain, on the verge of collapse.
Morality, restraint, principle…….
In the face of such primal and intense impact, these things became so fragile.
Slowly, she raised a hand. If one looked closely, one would notice even her fingertips and entire palm were trembling uncontrollably, a sign of the fierce battle raging inside her.
Then, this hand—brimming with strength—gently and reverently, yet possessively, lifted the delicate chin of the man in her arms, forcing him to look up.
Kaoru Hoshitani was compelled to raise his head, his eyes still shimmering with unshed tears, pure and helpless like a fawn lost in the forest.
With a touch of confusion, he gazed at the woman’s face, so close—its cold lines now stained with an unusual flush.
He seemed not to understand her gesture, but his arms remained steadfast around her waist, simply looking up at her in dependence.
Until Rika Kawasaki’s burning gaze landed on his parted, glistening pink lips, still moist from crying and nerves.
Those lips were beautifully shaped, enticing in color, like freshly washed cherries, silently inviting.
In that instant, Rika Kawasaki felt the thread of restraint in her mind—wound so tight it could snap—finally break under the combined agony, echoing a clear “snap” that reverberated through her consciousness…….
All reason, concern, and moral restraint crumbled at that moment, swept away by a flood of raw, overwhelming instinct.
【You were the one……. who came to me first……. you were the one who held me first…….】
This thought, like a final disclaimer, flashed through her chaotic mind.
Just as she’d unhesitatingly thrown a hard punch at the drunken assailant’s face earlier, now, overtaken by a different desire, Rika Kawasaki, with an even sharper, more predatory intent, abruptly lowered her head.
Like a hunting hawk, she struck down with precision and irresistible force, fiercely seizing the parted, tempting lips of the man in her arms!
“Mmm…!”
Even as pain lanced through his lips from her fierce, biting Kiss, Kaoru Hoshitani’s foggy mind still hadn’t fully caught up.
Dazed, he passively endured this sudden, aggressive invasion from the woman. His body froze, his mind went blank; he made no move to respond, too shocked and exhausted to even resist.
At that moment, he was being crushed in the woman’s powerful embrace, her arms so tight they nearly broke his ribs, making it hard to breathe.
And yet, strangely, amid this near-suffocating restraint and her overwhelming presence, he felt a twisted, distorted sense of security—
A fleeting illusion of being absolutely controlled and protected by strength, temporarily dispelling the earlier terror.
But soon, Rika Kawasaki’s Kiss—utterly lacking in tenderness, overflowing only with primal domination and possession—left him breathless, on the verge of suffocation.
His brain, starved of oxygen, started buzzing, dark spots creeping at the edge of his vision.
This extreme physical discomfort felt like a splash of cold water, clearing his head a little. In his muddled consciousness, a thought flashed like lightning—
【What… what am I doing? How am I… kissing another woman besides Aina…?】
Realizing the terrible thing happening—far beyond his comprehension—panic and a sense of betrayal instantly flooded him!
Kaoru Hoshitani, frantic, summoned his remaining strength to slap helplessly at Rika Kawasaki’s strong, broad back, whimpering in his throat, pleading for her to let him go and stop this mistake.
Yet, no matter how hard he struck, his strength was nothing to Rika Kawasaki, who at this moment was like an impenetrable wall.
His resistance was like an ant shaking a tree, not moving her at all, only intensifying her predatory drive and quickly draining what little air he had left.
As Kaoru Hoshitani’s brain suffered from lack of oxygen, his consciousness faded, his body weakening and starting to slide down.
At the moment he lost balance, he instinctively clutched at Rika Kawasaki’s clothes even tighter, like a drowning man grabbing his last straw, his fingertips whitening.
Just before darkness swallowed his vision completely, before he passed out from asphyxiation—
As if an eternity had passed, the woman finally, like a satiated predator temporarily releasing her prey, suddenly let go of his lips.
“Ha……. ha……. ha…….”
Like a fish flung back onto shore, Kaoru Hoshitani gasped desperately for air, lungs heaving as he sucked in the fresh air that flooded back in.
The cold air seared his throat and lungs, stinging painfully, yet rekindled the fading fire of consciousness within him…….