Kaoru Hoshitani had almost exhausted every last bit of strength in his body as he half-supported, half-carried his drunken girlfriend, Aina Saiten, struggling up the stairs toward their little home.
At last, with trembling hands, he fished out the key and opened the door.
The warm air inside, infused with the unique scent of their home, rushed out to greet him, letting his taut nerves relax just a little.
He carefully guided his still-muttering girlfriend to the Bed, where she collapsed like a puppet that had lost its strings, limply falling onto their double Bed covered with pale sheets.
The mattress let out a soft groan under the sudden weight.
He stood there for a moment, his chest heaving, taking several breaths before turning to walk into The Bathroom.
Soon, he emerged carrying a basin filled with comfortably warm Hot Water, in which a clean, white towel was soaking.
Sitting on the edge of the Bed, he gently wrung out the towel. The warm, moist cloth brushed over Aina Saiten’s wine-flushed cheeks, neck, and arms, roughly wiping away the thin sweat and scent of alcohol on her skin.
His movements were meticulous but could not conceal his exhaustion. His gaze was somewhat unfocused.
When he was done, he pulled the blanket over her, carefully tucking her in so that only her sleeping face remained exposed.
In her dreams, Aina Saiten smacked her lips unconsciously, turned over, and buried herself deeper into the pillow.
After all, Kaoru Hoshitani truly had no more energy left to deal with a woman who became unusually heavy and completely uncooperative after drinking, let alone tackle the monumental task of giving her a bath.
For now, a simple wipe-down was enough to let her sleep—this was the best he could manage.
Once he’d finished taking care of her and confirmed that his girlfriend was deeply asleep, Kaoru Hoshitani finally felt all the strength he had been forcing himself to hold onto drain away in an instant.
Dragging his body, weary in both flesh and spirit, he slowly, almost inchingly, made his way back into The Bathroom.
He turned on the tap, and warm water gushed into the pristine bathtub, sending up a hazy mist that gradually blurred the mirror.
He stripped off his clothes, which still seemed to carry the lingering odors of the izakaya’s greasy smoke, restroom disinfectant, and… unpleasant memories.
He stepped into the gradually filling tub and sat down slowly.
The warm water enveloped his chilled body, but he felt little warmth.
He wrapped his arms around his drawn-up knees, resting his chin on them.
Curled tightly into a corner of the bathtub like a wounded cub, he seemed to seek out even the slightest sense of security this way.
In truth, after that dreadful incident tonight, Kaoru Hoshitani had remained in a dazed, absent-minded state all the way home, like a machine that had short-circuited from overload.
Only now, alone in this cramped and enclosed space, with nothing but the sound of water and swirling steam around him, did the outside world’s disturbances fade away.
All the feelings and senses he’d been suppressing came flooding up from the depths of his heart, overwhelming him in an instant.
How could he not be afraid?
Protected all his life, never had he experienced such direct and ugly violence and violation.
If things had gone just a little differently, his body—which had never been touched by anyone else—would have been utterly defiled by a strange, disgusting woman.
Even though—thanks to Rika Kawasaki’s timely appearance, like a hero swooping in—he had been saved from the worst possible outcome.
Still, his body… nearly all his private parts had been seen by that Alcoholic Woman, even roughly groped.
The sense of humiliation and filth from that feeling was no less than if he had been truly violated.
Just thinking about it made a wave of nausea surge up his throat, his stomach churning violently.
He suddenly reached out, grabbed the Body Wash, and squeezed a large amount into his palm, then began to scrub his body with desperate force—almost self-torturously—especially the places that had been touched.
His fair, delicate skin quickly broke out in large red marks under such rough treatment, burning painfully. Some areas were even scratched raw by his fingernails.
It was only when the pain grew sharp and real that he seemed to wake from a trance, stopping his movements in defeat, letting the soapy water slide off his body.
He realized that no matter how hard he scrubbed, even if he peeled off a layer of skin, he could not change the fact that what had happened, had happened.
That intangible sense of filth seemed to have seeped into his very perception, impossible to wash away with water.
A deep sense of powerlessness and sorrow gripped him.
Before long, in the steamy, blurred haze of The Bathroom, the muffled, broken sobs of a man doing his utmost to suppress his voice echoed through the mist.
At first, the sound was faint, trapped in his throat.
But soon, the emotional dam collapsed entirely, and his muffled sobs turned into clear, mournful crying, echoing in the small space, mingling with the sound of rushing water, making the loneliness and helplessness all the more apparent.
At that moment, Kaoru Hoshitani, fragile and deeply wounded, needed someone—anyone—to hold him, comfort him, and tell him it was all over, that someone would protect him.
Yet the person who should have fulfilled that role—his closest girlfriend, Aina Saiten—was now dead drunk, sound asleep on the Bed in the Bedroom, completely unaware of the pain, fear, and trauma her boyfriend was enduring, unable to offer any comfort…
After crying in The Bathroom for nearly an hour, until the Hot Water had turned cold and his eyes were swollen like peaches, his voice hoarse, Kaoru Hoshitani finally managed to hold back his tears.
He wrapped himself in a Bath Towel and, physically and emotionally drained, returned to the Bedroom.
Instinctively craving comfort and a sense of safety, he subconsciously wanted to get close to his sleeping girlfriend on the Bed, to hug her from behind and absorb her warmth and familiar scent—perhaps then he could feel a little more at ease, dispelling some of the chill in his heart.
But as he moved closer and pressed his face toward her, he distinctly caught a whiff of alcohol still clinging to Aina Saiten’s breath and hair.
That smell, instead, triggered every awful, terrifying memory of the night in his mind.
Kaoru Hoshitani’s body went rigid, as if pricked by a needle, and he quickly shrank away.
He could no longer bear the associations brought on by that scent.
In the end, he could only distance himself from his girlfriend as much as possible, silently curling up in the far corner of the Bed, wrapping himself tightly in the blanket as though this could build a wall of safety.
He closed his eyes and forced himself to sleep.
But even in the restless sleep that followed, his body would tremble slightly from fear now and then, his brow furrowing as if he still had not escaped the nightmare.
———
Eighty-six days left until your boyfriend Kaoru Hoshitani is stolen away.
———
“How strange, why has Vice Group Leader Yamada taken several days off in a row? Ever since our last Group Dinner, she hasn’t shown up for work.”
“Eh? You don’t know?”
“I heard from the Human Resources Department that Yamada has officially submitted her Resignation Letter. The process is almost complete, apparently.”
“Huh…? Resigning?!”
The colleague who asked the question was clearly shocked, eyes wide.
“So sudden? She never mentioned anything about it before?”
It was lunchtime at the Company. The scent of Bento and a relaxed atmosphere filled the office.
Several colleagues from Aina Saiten’s team had gathered around a table in the break area, chatting about Vice Group Leader Yamada, who had not been seen for days, as they ate their lunch.
Not far away, at her own workstation, Aina Saiten was quietly eating her homemade Bento.
She could clearly hear the conversation, as her colleagues made no effort to lower their voices.
Her hand holding the chopsticks paused slightly, a trace of contemplation flashing in her eyes.
[That Yamada… why is she suddenly leaving too? Could it be she wants to change jobs as well…]