Ruined… the thing she cherished most…
Aina Onee-san!
“Onee-san… used her authority in the President’s Office to forcibly break into the Financial Department’s internal accounting system.”
Ayase Chika’s voice trembled more and more violently, as if every word was draining her strength, “She fabricated a large batch of fake fund flow records, and attached several huge bad debts to Senpai’s internal network operation account.”
“Wh-What…?!”
Hoshitani Kaoru’s eyes flew wide open, and his breath completely stopped in that instant.
“That’s ‘Position Embezzlement’…”
Ayase Chika looked at him with utter despair on her face and spat out that cold, cruel legal term,
“The amount involved is terrifying! Onee-san has already had the Legal Department prepare the indictment. Once that document is submitted to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, Senpai will face at least ten years in prison! Her life… her future… everything will be completely destroyed!”
Boom—!!
If the physical torment he had endured in Osaka before was hell, then at this moment, Hoshitani Kaoru felt as though even his soul had been cast into a bottomless abyss.
Ten years in prison?
Aina Onee-san… that Onee-san who had worked so hard since childhood, who was so excellent, who barely managed to get into Toh-Dai and barely found a good job… was going to be sent to prison?!
And the one who caused all of this… was him?!
It’s me…
I ruined her…
If I hadn’t resisted Rika Kawasaki yesterday…
If I had obediently groveled to her like a dog…
Aina Onee-san wouldn’t have run into something like this…
Hoshitani Kaoru’s legs gave out, and with a “thud,” he collapsed to his knees right in front of the coffee table.
His vision was instantly blurred by tears of despair, and a crushing wave of guilt swallowed him whole like a tsunami.
He shook his head frantically like a broken doll, tears hammering against the cold floor.
“No… no… how could this happen…”
He grabbed at his hair, letting out a hoarse, dying-animal cry from deep in his throat.
“It’s my fault… Miss Chika, please tell me, what do I have to do to save her?! I’ll go beg Kawasaki Rika! I’ll go beg her right now! As long as she’s willing to let Aina Onee-san go, she can make me do anything! Even killing me is fine!!”
Watching the boy kneel on the floor, broken and wailing, Ayase Chika, sitting on the living room sofa, let a sliver of extremely cold, delighted light flash through the depths of her eyes.
Perfect!
How could an idiot like Onee-san, who only knew how to force others with violence, ever understand the highest realm of hunting?
True hunting meant making the victim willingly walk into the cage for the sake of so-called “love” and “responsibility” — and even be grateful to the one who locked the cage.
That twisted pleasure lingered in Ayase Chika’s hollow gray eyes for only a moment before being completely concealed by her flawless disguise.
The next second, Ayase Chika slid off the sofa as well.
She knelt in front of Hoshitani Kaoru, tears welling in her eyes, and grabbed his ice-cold hands.
“It’s useless! If you go to her now, you’ll only play right into her hands!”
Ayase Chika gripped his hands tightly, her voice filled with an unrefusable “comrade’s” conviction, “Don’t you know Onee-san’s personality by now? Once Senpai goes to prison, you’ll lose all your support, and you’ll become her completely personal toy! Do you want Senpai to suffer for you in prison for the rest of her life?!”
“Then what do I do… what the hell do I do?!”
Hoshitani Kaoru desperately gripped Ayase Chika’s hands back, as if grasping the very last lifeline in the world.
“Listen to me, Mr. Hoshitani.”
Ayase Chika took a deep breath, as if making some enormous resolution.
Her tears slid down her delicate cheeks, but her tone became unusually rushed and resolute,
“We’re friends, right? You told me you considered me a friend. I… I can’t just stand by and watch Onee-san destroy you both like this.”
Hoshitani Kaoru stared at her blankly.
Friend…
In this world where the power of the zaibatsu pressed down so heavily that it was hard to breathe, this girl before him — who was also a young miss of the Kawasaki family — was actually crying and saying “we’re friends” for his sake.
“This morning, while the President’s Office was empty… I secretly took Onee-san’s personal seal and the highest-privilege internal network key.”
Ayase Chika lowered her voice, “I hacked into the system and… forcibly destroyed that portion of the forged evidence and log records pointing to Senpai.”
“Wh-What?”
Hoshitani Kaoru’s mind was rocked again.
He stared at the fragile girl before him in disbelief, “Are you insane, Miss Chika?! If Rika Kawasaki or your mother finds out, you’ll…”
“I might be thrown out of the house, or even retaliated against by Onee-san.”
Ayase Chika gave a bitter smile, a smile tinged with heartbreaking, tragic beauty.
She lowered her eyes, tears still clinging to her long lashes, “But I don’t care!! I’ve always hated Onee-san’s bullying ways, treating people like toys. Besides… Mr. Hoshitani is a very kind, very gentle person. You don’t deserve any of this.”
At that moment, Hoshitani Kaoru’s emotional defenses collapsed completely, utterly, entirely.
He looked at this girl who had risked betraying her own biological sister and defying the immense danger of zaibatsu family punishment just to steal the official seal for them, and an indescribable wave of gratitude and profound guilt surged up within him.
Miss Chika… she went this far for us…
She could have just stayed out of it, she could have stayed her lofty young miss…
But for someone as worthless as me, she put herself in such danger?!
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry… thank you, Miss Chika…”
Hoshitani Kaoru couldn’t even form a complete sentence through his tears, bowing to Ayase Chika over and over again.
He even wished he could kowtow to this “great benefactor” before him.
He had no idea that all of this was nothing more than a precise, vicious psychological deception.
There was never any rampage from Rika Kawasaki, nor any indictment from the Legal Department.
From beginning to end, the one who had set up the trap against Aina on the internal network system was Ayase Chika herself; and the one now playing the savior was also Ayase Chika herself.
She hadn’t used a single shred of violence. With just a few crocodile tears and a perfectly timed “we’re friends,” she had flawlessly transformed Hoshitani Kaoru’s fear of Rika Kawasaki into absolute trust in and dependence on her.
Watching Hoshitani Kaoru’s tearful gratitude toward her, Ayase Chika reached out her hand.
“Don’t cry, Mr. Hoshitani.”
Her voice became gentle, as if soothing a frightened kitten.
She leaned in slightly closer to Hoshitani Kaoru.
A cool, refreshing scent of jasmine wafted to the tip of his nose.
It was completely different from Rika Kawasaki’s aggressive, heavy perfume. It was clean, pure, and even carried a hint of innocent schoolgirl naivety.
Ayase Chika’s pale, slender hand reached naturally toward the collar of Hoshitani Kaoru’s shirt.
Because of his earlier breakdown and struggling, the collar of his thick, out-of-season white shirt had been pulled loose without him noticing.
Those tightly buttoned buttons were now somewhat slack.
“The weather is so hot… why are you wearing such thick clothes at home?”