Looking at his girlfriend—her cheeks flushed red from drinking, a silly smile still hanging at the corners of her lips—Kaoru Hoshitani felt the negative emotions born from lingering fear and grievance gradually ebb away, like the tide washing over a sunlit shore, receding helplessly in the end.
In their place was a kind of helpless tenderness, mixed with affection.
He let out a soft sigh, reached out, and gently brushed aside the few damp strands of hair clinging to her forehead, tucking them behind her ear.
“Aina, really… from now on, you absolutely can’t drink so much again, do you hear me? I’ll let it go this time, but if it happens again, I’ll be really, really mad at you…”
Kaoru Hoshitani’s voice was gentle, carrying a hint of reproach, but even more so, concern.
He bent down, carefully supporting Aina Saiten’s limp body, helping her lean on him and steady herself with his strength.
“Alright, let’s go home now.”
He skillfully draped her weakly dangling arm over his somewhat slender shoulder, his other hand wrapped tightly around her soft waist, taking on most of her weight.
Then, step by step, he painstakingly helped her toward the exit of the izakaya.
Aina Saiten nearly pressed her whole weight onto him, still mumbling unintelligibly under her breath.
At this moment, a slightly old but spotlessly clean sedan sat quietly beneath the dim streetlight outside the izakaya.
The driver’s window was rolled halfway down, revealing Rika Kawasaki’s sharp, somewhat cold profile.
Her gray eyes appeared especially deep in the night, watching the pair as they staggered toward her through the car window.
Speaking of which, this car actually belonged to the Kawasaki Couple, used for their daily commute.
But after Rika Kawasaki came of age, she quickly obtained her driver’s license and sometimes drove this old car for large purchases for the store or to handle distant errands—it was more convenient than riding a scooter.
Kaoru Hoshitani led his girlfriend to the car, freeing a hand with some difficulty to pull open the heavy back door.
He carefully half-lifted, half-supported the nearly limp Aina Saiten into the back seat, laying her flat, and gently arranging her legs to avoid bumping them.
Only then did he slip in himself, quietly closing the car door.
The car’s interior was not spacious, and soon, Aina Saiten’s strong scent of alcohol filled the air.
Meanwhile, Rika Kawasaki, her hands on the steering wheel, didn’t start the car right away. She
slightly adjusted the angle of the rearview mirror, her calm gray eyes watching the pair in the back seat in silence through the small mirror.
Not long after the thoroughly drunk Aina Saiten got in, the gentle sway of the car and the comfort of the seat lulled her back into deep sleep.
She even unconsciously rolled over, pressing her burning cheek against Kaoru Hoshitani’s thinly clad thigh, seeking a more comfortable position.
Sensitive as always, Kaoru Hoshitani seemed to sense the powerful presence of the gaze coming from up front.
He blinked his still slightly watery eyes in discomfort, then looked up, glancing at the rearview mirror reflecting a faint glimmer of light.
Just like that, their eyes met in the mirror—suddenly and unexpectedly.
It was as if an invisible current flashed through the air, carrying an unspeakable awkwardness.
Almost at the same moment, the two of them, as if scalded, hastily and in silent agreement, turned their gazes away with a trace of embarrassment, each looking out the window at the dark night or at some inconsequential corner inside the car.
The atmosphere in the car instantly became delicate and tense.
After all, just ten-odd minutes earlier, in that chaotic and dangerous restroom, their lips had been fiercely and intimately pressed together, exchanging fevered, chaotic breaths.
That unfamiliar, intense sensation, the lingering taste of blood and sweetness between their lips and teeth, even now seemed to haunt their senses, refusing to fade.
[Calm down, Kaoru Hoshitani! Aina’s right here, lying on your lap… What on earth are you thinking! It was just an accident… Yes, just a forced, unavoidable accident, don’t think about it anymore!]
Kaoru Hoshitani forcefully reminded himself in his heart, trying to suppress those images and feelings that threatened to surge up at the worst moment.
He lowered his head, looking at his girlfriend, sleeping soundly on his lap, even snoring softly, and a mix of grievance, lingering fear, and a touch of resentment welled up in his chest, making him feel frustrated and helpless all over again.
He reached out, with a hint of mischief, and quietly pinched a small patch of soft flesh at her waist, giving it a light twist, feeling the warmth and springiness of her skin beneath his fingers.
[It’s all your fault… Who told you to drink so much tonight and sleep like a log! Serves you right… Serves you right that your boyfriend was almost seen by another woman, and… even got kissed…]
He didn’t dare think further, only able to curse inwardly, with a complex and hard-to-name frustration.
Fortunately, the apartment they rented wasn’t far from the Kawasaki Family Izakaya. Just a few quiet streets at night, and they’d be there.
That meant he only had to endure less than ten minutes in this cramped, enclosed space with the woman who had been so intimate with him not long ago before this torturously awkward situation would be over.
This thought let Kaoru Hoshitani breathe a little easier.
The car soon came to a steady stop beneath their apartment building.
Rika Kawasaki was the first to get out, walking around to the back seat and silently opening the car door for Kaoru Hoshitani.
The cool night air rushed in, dispersing some of the alcohol fumes and the subtle tension inside.
“Need me to help you get her upstairs? She looks pretty out of it.”
Rika Kawasaki stood at the open door, her figure casting a long shadow under the streetlight. Her voice was as flat and calm as ever, betraying no emotion, her gray eyes seeming even deeper in the shadows.
But how could Kaoru Hoshitani agree to such a proposal?
He had already resolved, in his heart, to treat what happened between them as an unfortunate accident—something to be sealed away and never mentioned again.
But he definitely wasn’t foolish enough to, at a time like this, when his girlfriend was passed out and completely unaware, let a woman who had just shown him obvious desire and formidable strength, and had acted on those urges, enter the home he shared with his girlfriend.
That would be inviting a wolf into the house.
“No, thank you so much, Miss Kawasaki. I can handle it myself, really.”
Kaoru Hoshitani quickly shook his head, his tone firm yet still polite as he refused.
As he spoke, he struggled to lift the still-sleeping Aina Saiten out of the car, looping her arm back around his neck and steadying her with his own body.
“Today… Today I’ve already troubled you too much, Miss Kawasaki. If you hadn’t shown up in time, I really don’t know… I don’t know what I would have done.”
His expression was utterly sincere, filled with gratitude for having escaped disaster.
After speaking, he bowed deeply toward Rika Kawasaki, supporting his girlfriend with difficulty but showing the utmost respect.
The motion made him a little unsteady, but he expressed his thanks fully.
But as Rika Kawasaki listened to the man’s polite, honorific-laden words, she could feel the sincerity within them—but also the deliberate distance, as clear as a thin layer of ice.
She was no fool; she understood what that meant.
With those deep gray eyes, full of shadows and shifting currents, she looked deeply at Kaoru Hoshitani—who seemed even paler and frailer beneath the streetlight—and the oblivious woman in his arms.
She said nothing more—no urging, no insistence—her throat moving slightly as if she swallowed back words that had nearly escaped her lips.
In the end, she simply turned in silence and sat back in the driver’s seat, closing the door with a “bang,” cutting off the two worlds.
The engine started up again, and the car turned around, its tires hissing softly over the road, soon vanishing into the darkness, swallowed by the night at the end of the street.
Kaoru Hoshitani stood where he was, struggling to hold his girlfriend’s weight, watching until the car carrying Rika Kawasaki and its taillights disappeared from sight.
Only then did he finally release a long, exhausted sigh, filled with fatigue, confusion, and a complicated sense of relief.
After everything that happened today, how could he not see that Miss Kawasaki had developed certain dangerous thoughts and desires toward him—something that went far beyond ordinary colleagues.
And for someone who already had a steady girlfriend he loved deeply, the only right—and responsible—thing to do was to draw a clear line the moment any such feelings surfaced, to cut off any possibility before it could grow.
Even if… it made her unhappy, or left ripples in his own heart.
He had to guard his boundaries—for Aina’s sake, and for his own.
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