That detestable, yellow-haired woman—while he knelt before her in humiliation, forced to endure those unbearable touches—had actually, in his confusion and weakness, secretly snapped a whole slew of photos with her phone from cruel, devastating angles, enough to utterly destroy him.
She had sneered and threatened him: if he dared to tell anyone what happened today, especially Aina Saiten, or if he so much as thought about calling the police, she would immediately spread those photos everywhere, ruining his name, making sure he would never be able to lift his head again.
Already drowning in shame and pain, unable to face his girlfriend’s pure, caring eyes, Kaoru Hoshitani was confronted once more by Aina’s heartfelt care: she had gone out of her way to buy a bouquet of sunflowers—symbols of sunlight and loyalty, his favorite—to cheer him up.
Against such kindness, the dam holding back his repressed emotions finally burst.
He was overwhelmed with grief.
He could not understand: why did Destiny always toy with him like this? Why did such terrible things keep happening to him, over and over again?
All he had hoped for was to live a simple, warm life with the woman he loved, facing life’s storms together.
Yet that plain, honest Dream was completely shattered by Rika Kawasaki, who used the dirtiest of methods to destroy it.
As Kaoru Hoshitani was held tightly in his girlfriend’s embrace, silently shedding tears of despair, he suddenly felt a sharp, tangible gaze lock onto his spine—so piercing and possessive that his hair stood on end, as if he were a small animal cornered by a predator.
He didn’t even need to turn to know whose gaze it was—who else but Rika Kawasaki, who had just humiliated him so wantonly in the Warehouse?
Driven by fierce resentment, he suddenly lifted his head from Aina’s embrace and turned around, glaring with eyes full of tears—once clear, now bloodshot—at a spot not far away, his look full of bitter hatred.
Sure enough, the yellow-haired woman was leaning lazily against the corridor wall between the front and back rooms, arms folded across her chest, a disgustingly triumphant smirk on her lips as she watched him crying so helplessly.
[ I hate you! I hate you! You’ll never make me give in! Never! ]
Kaoru Hoshitani screamed these words in his heart, pouring all his anger and unwillingness into that glare.
And Rika Kawasaki seemed to read all his hatred, clear as day, in those stubborn, tear-filled eyes.
The mocking smile on her lips instantly tightened into a straight, cold line, and her gaze darkened, flickering with displeasure and an even deeper urge for control.
Aina Saiten, still holding her boyfriend close, also noticed the yellow-haired woman by the wall, her brazen stare.
Though she didn’t know exactly what had happened, a woman’s instinct made her immediately wary.
She unconsciously hugged Kaoru even tighter, half-shielding him behind her in a protective posture, then lifted her chin, arching an eyebrow in the yellow-haired woman’s direction—a clear warning, staking her claim: this man was hers.
But she would never know that, in Rika Kawasaki’s eyes, Aina’s gesture of protection and declaration was nothing but a colossal joke.
Because just a dozen minutes ago, the boyfriend in her arms—who looked so pure and in need of protection—had knelt in humiliation beneath another woman, forced to please the very woman he hated most, just to cling to his last shred of so-called “Virginity.”
Aina Saiten had no reason to linger in this uncomfortable Kawasaki Family Izakaya with her boyfriend.
She sharply sensed Kaoru’s deep unease, and besides, tonight was meant to be their private time together—precious and short, not to be ruined by such inexplicable interruptions.
Kaoru Hoshitani let his girlfriend hold him tightly around the waist, as if drawing a thread of fragile security from it.
In silence, he gathered his personal items from the Employee Locker, footsteps unsteady, and without looking back, almost fled from the place that had given him nothing but endless nightmares.
The moment he stepped out the door and felt the cool Night air outside, he made a firm decision in his heart:
Tomorrow morning, no matter what, he would call the kindly Mr. Kawasaki and tell him that he would never return.
He would never again let himself share a space with that Crime, not even for a second; the thought alone was unbearable torment.
———
“Kaoru, are you really alright? What… what on earth happened?”
When the two finally returned to their small but cozy Apartment, Aina Saiten looked at her boyfriend’s endlessly tear-stained face and vacant, unfocused eyes, and the uneasy feeling in her heart grew stronger.
She helped him sit on the living room sofa, squatting before him and gazing up at him, her face full of worry.
Even if he was touched by the sunflowers she gave him, he shouldn’t have cried for so long, nor been this despondent.
This was clearly far beyond a normal emotional response.
However, Kaoru Hoshitani simply did not have the courage or ability to answer her question.
That dreadful threat gripped his throat like iron shackles.
Once home, free from the outside world, the shameful scenes from the Warehouse surged back into his mind like a tidal wave, along with an overwhelming sense of filth.
Staggering, he dashed straight into The Bathroom without a word, slamming and locking the door tight behind him.
Aina Saiten, startled and worried, quickly followed.
Just as her fingers touched the cold bathroom door, she heard the sudden, forceful sound of the shower blasting inside, the water so loud and intense it seemed almost violent.
[ Looks like Kaoru really did mind what I said about his body smelling before… He’s so clean, it must have really bothered him. ]
Standing outside, Aina listened to the water, sighing helplessly and with a twinge of heartache.
[ Sigh, I really need to be more careful with my words from now on, I can’t keep making these careless mistakes… ]
She assumed Kaoru was in a rush to clean himself because of something she had said, and, half-amused, half-exasperated, shook her head.
Then she turned and went to the kitchen, tied on an apron, and began to prepare a few simple, tasty dishes for a late-night snack—after all, it would be a shame if their romantic evening was spoiled by hunger.
But behind that tightly closed bathroom door, things were nothing like what Aina Saiten imagined.