Chapter 23: Excuses

That was when the elevator doors slid shut, Rina felt her heart get sealed away with them.

Only two people stood in the cramped elevator car.

Mirrors lined three sides, casting countless overlapping reflections of the pair, and every single reflection reminded her… you’ve been caught, you can’t run.

Rina curled into the corner of the elevator, her back pressed against the icy mirror wall, barely daring to breathe.

Her eyes were locked onto the kidnapper before her, her brain replaying the highlight reel of her life at triple speed.

Hisaki stood less than a step away.

She wasn’t scolding her, wasn’t glaring at her, wasn’t showing any hint of the “you’re finished” expression she’d imagined.

Hisaki just stood there, one hand holding the sun hat, the other hanging naturally at her side, with that faint smile on her face that Rina had seen for seven days and, at this moment, found especially infuriating.

No words.

Just a smile.

Rina’s mouth moved before her brain caught up.

“Um, so, kidnapper.”

Hisaki tilted her head slightly, signaling she was listening.

“I wasn’t trying to run away.”

As Rina said this, her eyes stayed fixed on Hisaki, her face straining to maintain a “my conscience is clear” expression.

“I just… got tired from playing! Yeah, tired from playing! I wanted to find a place to rest!” Rina nodded vigorously, trying to boost her credibility through the frequency of her nods.

“Really! I was planning to rest up and then come back to find you! See, I even found a hotel and was about to check in when you showed up! That means we’re totally in sync!”

Hisaki just kept smiling.

Rina stared at that smile and felt every word she’d fabricated crumbling to dust in the air.

This excuse was too stupid.

So stupid even she didn’t believe it herself.

Riding the roller coaster five times and then claiming she was “tired from playing” so she needed to “rest alone at a hotel”?

Throwing her phone in the trash because she was “tired from playing”?

And specifically waiting until Hisaki went to the restroom to leave the park?

Who would believe that?!

But what she hated most was this behavior of just smiling without saying anything.

If she scolded her, yelled at her, or even pinned her against the wall and said “you’re finished,” at least she’d know what the other person was thinking.

But the kidnapper didn’t. She just smiled.

That smile was like frosted glass—you knew something was behind it, but you couldn’t make out what it was no matter how hard you tried.

Anger?

Disappointment?

No idea.

Hisaki reached into her bag.

Rina’s body tensed on reflex.

Then Hisaki pulled something out of the bag.

Her phone.

“Shiro, you’re so careless with your things.”

Hisaki held the phone out to Rina.

“You left your phone in the trash can. Here you go, be more careful next time.”

Rina stared at the hand holding her phone, feeling a chill shoot from the soles of her feet straight up to the crown of her head.

She knew.

Of course she knew the phone wasn’t “left” in the trash—it was “thrown” in the trash.

But she said “left.”

She was helping you cover up your lie, letting you know yours had been seen through, but she wouldn’t call it out. She’d play along.

Rina’s fingers trembled slightly as she took the phone.

“Th… thank you.”

The kidnapper wasn’t angry?

No, that wasn’t right.

Not being angry was scarier than being angry.

Anger had a limit—once the fire burned out, it was gone.

But not being angry meant the emotions were being pushed somewhere else, stored away, folded into something smaller, denser, and far more dangerous.

Why did that “be more careful next time” feel ten thousand times more terrifying than “you’re finished”?

“Ding.”

The elevator doors opened.

Hisaki reached out and naturally took Shiro’s hand.

“Let’s go, Shiro.”

“Didn’t Shiro want to rest?”

Hisaki turned her head, looking down at Shiro, who was frantically trying to figure out how to explain her escape attempt.

“I’ll rest with you.”

Rina’s steps faltered for a beat.

Hisaki stopped in front of the hotel room door.

One hand held Rina’s, the other pulled the room card from her pocket.

Then Hisaki bent down.

Before Rina could process what she was doing, Hisaki’s arm slipped under her armpit, her other hand supporting the bend of her knees—a familiar angle, familiar pressure, familiar sensation of being lifted… she was being carried again.

This time Rina didn’t squirm, didn’t curse…

Hisaki carried her into the room.

The door closed automatically behind them…

Hisaki gently set Shiro down on the bed.

Then Hisaki leaned forward, both hands pressing into the mattress on either side of Rina’s body, her weight slowly lowering.

Her shadow fell over Rina, drawing closer and closer.

Rina was trapped beneath her, her back sinking into the mattress, unable to even roll over.

Hisaki extended her right hand, the tip of her index finger landing on Rina’s shoulder.

Sliding down, inch by inch.

Stopping at the edge of her camisole strap.

“Don’t… don’t do this.”

Rina’s voice softened involuntarily.

All that cocky brat arrogance, those self-righteous comebacks, those “hmphs” and “hahs” and “you perverted kidnapper”… all of it vanished.

Crushed under guilt.

She had just tried to escape, just been caught red-handed, just fabricated a pathetic excuse she didn’t even believe herself.

In this state, it was hard for her to act so boldly as usual.

Hisaki’s finger stopped, but didn’t pull back.

Those dark red eyes looked down at Shiro from above.

“Shiro.”

Her voice was as gentle as always.

“Have I been treating you badly?”

Rina opened her mouth.

“Why do you want to leave me so badly?”

There was no reproach in Hisaki’s voice, no anger.

She was genuinely asking, genuinely wanting to know the answer.

Rina’s brain went into overdrive.

She couldn’t mention the system.

But how was she supposed to explain “I have to run away from you or else I’ll be sent back to a hospital bed and live out the rest of my life”?

No matter how she framed it, it sounded like “I’m being threatened by something invisible, so I have to run.”

Wait.

Something invisible.

Someone threatening her.

A lightning bolt struck through Rina’s mind.

Yes. Someone was threatening her.

Package the “system” as a “person behind the scenes”—a real person threatening her.

That way, she wasn’t “choosing to leave Hisaki” but “being coerced into doing so.”

She’d transform from an “ungrateful runaway” into a “threatened victim.”

Rina took a deep breath.

“Someone… someone is threatening me.”

The smile vanished from Hisaki’s face.

“Who?”

“What did they do to Shiro?”

Rina felt her heartbeat skip.

She looked at the kidnapper’s face at this moment… in all the time she’d known this kidnapper, this was the first time she’d seen an expression other than “gentleness” and “smiling.”

She was used to Hisaki’s endless tolerance and indulgence, used to the indulgence and affection in those dark red eyes, used to the composure that never wavered no matter how much she cursed or caused a scene.

But all of that was gone now, replaced by something unfamiliar that made her scalp tingle with cold.

But the problem now was… how to explain?

Saying that a yandere had locked her up, and then she ran away, and the reason for running was an invisible, untouchable “system” forcing her to?

That was too surreal. No story could patch that hole.

Rina’s gaze began to drift.

Hisaki’s eyelid twitched slightly.

“They’re using some method to force me.”

Rina stammered, organizing her words while her brain raced at maximum speed.

“If I don’t leave you, something terrible will happen. The specifics are too complicated to explain right now, but the bottom line is someone’s forcing me to do this—otherwise why would I run? Do I look like I’ve got nothing better to do?”

She spat out the last few words in one breath.

The room fell silent.