Kaoru Hoshitani’s gaze was fixed on the phone screen in the woman’s hand, his pupils wide with shock and disbelief, his whole body frozen as if his soul had been sucked away.
On the screen, those clear and glaring images tore apart his pure self-image in the most devastating way.
His long lashes trembled violently, as if trying to fan away those unbearable scenes from his sight.
The cold white light from the entranceway’s ceiling lamp illuminated the phone screen, reflecting shards of broken light into his hollow eyes.
He didn’t understand, couldn’t understand at all.
Why was the man in the photo, with a blurred face, cheeks and lips smeared with Wu Hu, even in such a humiliating situation, still kneeling obediently beneath the woman— and even…
In those eyes that met the camera, there wasn’t the slightest hint of pain, but instead a misty, almost intoxicated gleam?
Was that really him?
The Kaoru Hoshitani who couldn’t even overcome his mild cleanliness obsession in front of Aina Saiten?
Rika Kawasaki admired every inch of collapse on his face, her lips curled in a cruel smile.
Her slender, sun-kissed fingers lightly swiped the cold phone screen, and the next photo jumped into view—
In this image, the man seemed to notice the camera’s presence, and a pale, delicate hand frantically rose to cover the upper half of his face, trying to hide his identity.
Yet, ironically, the rest of his body— his lips, his actions— showed no sign of stopping, still caught up in that servile, pleasing service.
“You know,”
Rika Kawasaki’s voice was low and brimming with malice, like a serpent flicking its tongue. She leaned down, bringing the phone screen so close to Kaoru Hoshitani’s pale face it was almost touching,
“If I take this one… mm, especially this photo where you don’t want your face seen but you’re still working so hard, and show it to your dear girlfriend, how long do you think… it’ll take for her to recognize that this is her clean, innocent, pure-as-paper little boyfriend?”
“No… it’s not like that! It’s not…”
Kaoru Hoshitani’s voice was hoarse and broken, trembling with the urge to cry.
He shook his head desperately, his messy black hair sticking to his sweat-damp forehead.
Back then, under the terror and coercion, his mind had already turned fuzzy, like a lone boat adrift in stormy seas.
All that was left of his memory were a few jumbled, humiliating fragments.
He would never admit it, would never admit that the man in the photos, so… so debased and lost, could be himself!
This dreadful realization was like a blunt knife, sawing again and again at the self-identity he depended on to survive, making him violently doubt just what kind of unfamiliar, frightening instinct might be lurking under his skin.
“That’s right,”
Rika Kawasaki’s gray eyes, as cold and inorganic as glass beads, sharply caught the way his heart was shattering.
She leaned in again, her breath warm and tinged with tobacco washing over his sensitive ear, her voice lowered like the whisper of a demon,
“This is your True Nature, Kaoru Hoshitani. Tear away that pure façade, and this is the man you are. Deep down, you crave to be conquered, to fall… There’s nothing wrong with that, hm? Everyone has to learn to accept the less admirable side of themselves, don’t they?”
Her tone even carried a touch of hypocritical “guidance”,
“Don’t worry, this real and adorable side of you… only I will know about it. I’ll keep it well hidden.”
“My… my True Nature…”
Kaoru Hoshitani’s eyes were unfocused, unconsciously echoing the words as if under a curse, his mind blank.
A single crystalline tear finally slipped from the corner of his reddened eye, trailing a cool line down his bloodless cheek.
“That’s right, just like that. Let me help you… truly recognize your True Nature.”
Looking down at the small man whose mental defenses were on the verge of collapse, a predatory excitement flashed in Rika Kawasaki’s eyes, as if she’d finally seen the delicacy she’d been longing for.
She couldn’t help but extend her tongue, licking her parched lips.
Then she leaned in, and without waiting for any refusal, used her own burning lips to kiss away the salty tear from his cheek.
The act held a twisted tenderness, but in the very next second, her kiss became forceful and overbearing, precisely capturing his lips that trembled with fear, swallowing all the sobs and protests that might escape.
At that very moment, at the company, Aina Saiten was buried in her paperwork, completely unaware of the silent plunder taking place right now at the threshold of the little nest she shared with her lover.
Her beloved Kaoru, was being forcibly robbed of every breath by another woman’s absolute will and power, dragged into endless darkness.
……
Time crawled by in humiliation.
“Ah, worked up a bit of a sweat, I’m getting hungry.”
Rika Kawasaki now lounged lazily on the modest fabric sofa in the living room, her pose so relaxed she seemed like the mistress of the house.
She picked up her phone, her fingertip swiping idly across the screen,
“What to eat… never mind, I’ll just order a pizza. Easy.”
She used one hand to place the order, while her other hand, with the casual possessiveness one might have toward a pet dog, repeatedly stroked the top of Kaoru Hoshitani’s head as he knelt on the carpet before the sofa.
His hair, usually so soft, was now a mess.
“Ah,”
Order placed, Rika Kawasaki expertly opened her phone’s camera, snapping several pictures with a “click” at the man below.
Looking at the photos, where the man, even in these circumstances, reflexively used his arm to shield his delicate, innocent face, she let out a sigh that sounded almost regretful,
“Still won’t face it? Your body is far more honest than your mouth. Why do you insist on wronging yourself, clinging to that laughable so-called chastity?”
Kaoru Hoshitani seemed to have shut off his hearing completely, giving no reaction to her words.
He just mechanically, numbly held his position, his vacant eyes staring at the intricate patterns in the carpet, as if his soul had already departed, leaving only a beautiful puppet’s shell behind.
Rika Kawasaki knew all too well that with this little man’s mental state teetering on the brink of collapse, she could easily break through his final defense and “deal with him on the spot.”
But that wasn’t what she wanted.
She didn’t want a toy ruined beyond repair, a soulless husk that would sleep with any female.
(This should be an IF branch here)
What had attracted her to him from the start was that unspoiled innocence, that clear and fragile aura.
To preserve and savor that to the fullest, she couldn’t be too hasty— couldn’t use brute force to break him entirely and turn him into an empty doll.
Rika Kawasaki’s gray eyes shifted, a calculating glint flashing through them.
She reached out, her grip unyielding, grabbing a handful of Kaoru Hoshitani’s soft black hair and forcing him to raise his face to meet her abyss-like gaze.
“So,”
She spoke, her tone teasing, almost benevolent,
“How about a bet? The rules are simple—if within one week, you never beg me to sleep with you, I’ll let you go and never bother you again. I mean it.”
Hearing “let you go,” “never bother you again,” it was as if a stone had suddenly been dropped into the stagnant pool of Kaoru Hoshitani’s eyes, sending out a faint ripple of hope.
His vacant gaze began to struggle into focus, as if desperately weighing the truth and feasibility of the promise.
But Rika Kawasaki didn’t give him time to think. She quickly continued, her voice dripping with demonic temptation:
“But, if within that week, you are the one who begs me to do it…”
She deliberately paused, watching the faint light in his eyes get snuffed out by fear,
“Then, from now on, you’ll willingly be my man. Well? Fair, isn’t it?”
Listening to this Demon’s Pact, as if it came from the depths of hell, Kaoru Hoshitani felt his heart gripped tight by an icy hand.
He knew, accepting this bet was like bargaining with a tiger—sending himself even deeper into the abyss.
This woman had countless ways to torment him, to force him until he “asked for it” himself.
But…
He looked around, feeling the double shackles on his body and mind, and realized with despair that right now, except for clutching this seemingly lifesaving but truly noose-like “hope,” he had no other choice.
Silence became his only form of passive resistance.
“Not saying anything?”
Rika Kawasaki raised a brow, a knowing, victorious smile appearing on her face,
“I’ll take that as a yes. Good, the bet is sealed. Now… let’s continue, hmm, I’m looking forward to this week…”
Her lips curled upward, and with a forceful hand, she shoved the man’s barely lifted head back down.
Then she stretched her body, draping her arms over the sofa’s back, tilting her head up and closing her eyes, like an Emperor enjoying the ultimate “experience” she herself had created and controlled.
……
“Whew~”
After a long while, Rika Kawasaki let out a satisfied sigh, her chest rising and falling, seemingly content for the moment.
“Ding-dong—!”
Almost at the same time, the crisp and urgent doorbell cut through the weird tension in the room like thunder.
Kaoru Hoshitani, bent over on the floor and wracked with dry heaves from severe discomfort, shuddered at the sudden sound.
His face, already deathly pale, drained of the last trace of color, and he shrank like a startled rabbit, his features ashen.
“Heh, don’t be scared,”
Rika Kawasaki seemed completely at ease. She even chuckled, her tone teasing,
“It’s just the delivery. Good timing, I’m too lazy to move. Here, go answer the door and give the money to the delivery person.”
As she spoke, she turned and pulled a few crumpled bills from her jeans pocket on the floor, shoving them into Kaoru Hoshitani’s cold, trembling hand.
“I… I can’t…”
Kaoru Hoshitani recoiled as if scalded, his voice choked with humiliation as he bit down hard on his lip.
He was stark naked—how could he face a stranger outside? That would be worse than death!
Of course, Rika Kawasaki saw through his greatest fear at a glance.
She wouldn’t let anyone else lay eyes on a body she had already marked as her private property.
She arched her brow, picked up her heavy black Moto Jacket—its scent a mix of leather, grass, and engine oil—and roughly draped it over Kaoru Hoshitani’s thin, shaking shoulders, yanking it tight.
But even though the woman’s jacket was huge on Kaoru’s slender frame and the hem just barely covered half his thighs, it didn’t change the fact that— underneath, he was still completely exposed.
The cold leather lining against his skin sent shivers through him.
“Ding-dong! Ding-dong!”
The delivery person outside, growing impatient, pressed the bell twice more, the sound especially jarring in the silence.
Seeing Kaoru Hoshitani still frozen, face full of fear and resistance, Rika Kawasaki spread her hands and said in a leisurely, uncaring tone,
“Don’t want to go? Fine, we’ll just wait here. If the delivery guy keeps ringing and gets loud enough for the neighbors to notice, well, that’s not my problem. After all, the only one who’ll be embarrassed… isn’t me.”
Hearing such shameless words, Kaoru Hoshitani felt as if doused in ice water, stunned into a daze.
A few seconds later, he suddenly realized the gravity of the situation.
Yes, she was right. She could afford not to care—he couldn’t!
If this escalated, if the neighbors started snooping and gossiping, then all the peace and care he and Aina Saiten had fought for, everything between him and Aina…
It would all be ruined!
At that thought, the terror overwhelmed even his shame.
Kaoru Hoshitani squeezed his eyes shut, his long lashes trembling like dying butterflies.
He took a deep breath, as if steeling himself for execution, then with trembling fingers, gripped the hem of that invader-scented Moto Jacket, pulling it down as far as it would go in a futile attempt to cover himself.
Then, on unsteady legs, he began the slow, torturous walk toward the door that separated his world from the outside, as if heading to the gallows.
Kaoru Hoshitani unlocked the door and cracked it open, hiding his body behind it before poking out just his head.
“Uh… hello, sir, here’s your food…”
The female delivery worker, who’d grown impatient from knocking so long, was taken aback.
When she saw the person answering was such a beautiful man, her eyes filled with amazement, and her tone instantly softened.