“Akane? Are you… are you sick? Not feeling well? Why are you lying in bed at this hour?”
Aina Saiten called out softly as she walked toward the Bedroom.
She pushed open the half-closed Bedroom door.
Inside, it was dim, only faint blue shadows from the City lights outside slipping in through the window.
With a “click,” she turned on the overhead light, the warm yellow glow instantly banishing the darkness.
Her eyes immediately landed on the double bed.
Seeing a small, familiar bump in the middle of the quilt, and a few strands of smooth black hair along with half a fluffy crown peeking from the edge of the blanket, Aina Saiten finally let out a small sigh of relief—at least he was home.
But then, an even greater confusion and worry surged up.
At this hour, Kaoru Hoshitani had never lain in bed so early or so quietly before.
He usually spent this time reading or drawing in the Living Room, or waiting for her to come home so they could eat together.
She quickly walked to the bedside and sat down, the mattress dipping slightly under her weight.
She reached out, gently stroking the shoulder-shaped rise under the blanket, her voice even softer now, full of unconcealed concern:
“What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?”
However, after waiting several seconds, the person under the blanket made no response at all, not even the slightest shift or change in breath.
Such abnormal silence made Aina Saiten’s heart skip a beat, a sense of foreboding gripping her.
She hesitated no longer, immediately leaning down, and with urgent but careful hands, she lifted the edge of the Down Quilt covering her boyfriend’s face.
Sure enough, what she saw under the blanket made her heart clench.
Kaoru Hoshitani’s always fair, porcelain-like face was now tinted with an abnormal flush, as if a deep sunset had stained him from within, the color spreading from his cheeks to his ears and neck.
His eyes were tightly shut, long thick lashes like startled butterfly wings, casting a small, uneasy shadow beneath his lids as they trembled faintly and persistently.
His breathing was soft, but seemed faster and more erratic than usual.
Aina Saiten’s heart twisted at once.
She quickly reached out and took the small hand sticking out from under the blanket.
His slender fingers were icy cold, yet his palm was unusually hot—an abnormal heat radiating from it.
“Akane, do you have a fever?”
Her voice was clearly tinged with anxiety,
“Wait here, I’ll get the thermometer!”
She hurriedly got up, almost running to the Living Room, rummaging through the household Medical Kit with flustered, hasty movements.
She took out the old-fashioned Mercury Thermometer, flicking it several times to bring the mercury down, then quickly returned to the bedside.
She gently lifted the corner of the blanket, carefully raising Kaoru Hoshitani’s smooth, slender arm.
His skin felt hot and slick to the touch, the heat unusually high.
She placed the silver tip of the thermometer snugly in his armpit, then helped him press his arm down to hold it in place.
“All set, Akane, don’t move.”
She spoke softly, even though he probably couldn’t hear her at all.
During the five-minute wait, Aina Saiten’s heart hovered in her throat.
She took his other hand, the one not holding the thermometer, feeling the slight tremble of his fingertips.
Looking at his tightly shut eyes, the slight furrow of his brows, the expression of someone desperately enduring some great pain, she naturally thought it was discomfort from a high fever.
Aina Saiten felt as though her heart would break—aching and blaming herself for not noticing his condition sooner.
“Akane, it hurts, doesn’t it? Don’t be afraid, I’m right here.”
She gently rubbed her thumb across his burning hand, murmuring soothing words,
“If your temperature’s really high, we’ll go straight to the hospital. An injection and some medicine, you’ll be better in no time, okay…”
She even started to regret, wondering if her recent work had made her neglect his care.
Time seemed to stretch on endlessly.
Finally, the five minutes crawled by. Aina Saiten held her breath, carefully withdrawing the thermometer from Kaoru Hoshitani’s armpit.
She walked to the brightest spot in the room, squinting as she carefully rotated the slender glass, trying to read the slender silver line.
However, to her complete surprise, the mercury stopped squarely at the normal temperature mark—neither high nor low.
She checked it again, even wondering if she’d looked at it from the wrong angle.
“Huh? 36.8 degrees… That’s normal…”
Aina Saiten frowned in confusion, holding the thermometer up to the light again, muttering to herself,
“Could the thermometer be broken…? But that can’t be…”
She hesitated, unsure if she should try another thermometer or consider other possibilities.
Just then, as she stood with her back to the bed, completely focused on the tiny thermometer in her hand and lost in her doubts, behind her, on the soft bed, Kaoru Hoshitani— whose eyes had seemed tightly shut in sleep— suddenly snapped them open!
Those eyes, usually gentle and clear as a fawn’s, now looked as if molten lava had flooded their glassy depths.
His eyes were bloodshot, the red veins spreading like a spider’s web, and deep in his pupils, a fierce, almost crazed flame burned—a look Aina Saiten had never seen before, lit by raw desire and a desperate struggle.
It was no longer shyness or love, but a light that was wild, hungry, and teetering on the edge of collapse.
“Eh? Akane, why did you suddenly sit up?”
Feeling a pair of hands press her shoulders from behind, their heat and grip strangely intense, Aina Saiten turned in shock.
She saw that Kaoru Hoshitani had somehow already sat up in bed, the Down Quilt slipping to his waist.
He wore only a thin, light-colored pajama top, the collar slightly disheveled.
Under the Bedroom’s ceiling light, the blush on his face looked even more striking.
His gaze fixed straight on her, the emotion inside so complicated that she froze, feeling a hint of unfamiliarity and… an unexplainable sense of unease.
But before she could ask another question, Kaoru Hoshitani’s slender, fair arms—arms she always thought delicate as lotus roots—suddenly unleashed a shocking strength completely at odds with her image of him!
He grabbed her shoulders with both hands, giving her barely any time to react before yanking her down—
“Ah—!”
Aina Saiten let out a short cry, caught off guard as she lost her balance, falling back and landing heavily on the soft mattress, even bouncing slightly.
“Akane?! What are you—? Mmph…”
Her panicked words were cut off as lips burning with heat and quickened breath pressed down, forceful and unstoppable, silencing all her questions and cries…
———
In the past, even when Aina Saiten tried to let the gentle Kaoru Hoshitani take the lead in their intimacy, his limited stamina and passive nature meant he never lasted long.
He would always end up breathless, collapsing into her arms, gazing at her with those wet, fawn-like eyes and a soft, nasal whine: “Aina… I don’t want to move anymore. So tired,” and naturally handing control back to her.
Deep down, Aina Saiten preferred being in charge—she could tend to his feelings while fulfilling her desire to lead.
So, unless Kaoru Hoshitani specifically asked, she rarely insisted he take charge again.
Tonight’s experience, however, turned her understanding upside down.
She never knew, never imagined, that Kaoru Hoshitani could be so… insatiable, demanding her again and again without end.
From beginning to end, he was in complete control, while she moved from surprise to utter passivity.
Honestly, at first, seeing her always-shy, reserved boyfriend display such unusual passion and dominance, Aina Saiten felt not only surprised but also an unexplainable thrill, even a little satisfaction at being so needed.
She matched him, responded, thinking it was just a special, playful night.
But half an hour passed… then a whole hour…
The initial excitement gave way to exhaustion from the relentless pace.
Her waist began to ache, her legs felt weak.
She tried to slow things down, coaxing gently, “Can we do this again tomorrow? Today… I’m a little tired…”
But the usually obedient and attentive Kaoru Hoshitani seemed not to hear, or simply ignored her words.
Eyes flushed, breath hot and heavy, he pressed on stubbornly, even with an obsessive intensity, as if trying to prove or cover up something inside him through this act.
By the time nearly an hour had passed, with her back aching and body almost at its limit, Aina Saiten finally managed, in a rare moment, to “win” a little control back.
Only then did the out-of-control Kaoru Hoshitani pause, gasping for breath.
The wild flame in his eyes seemed to dim slightly from exhaustion, returning to a faint, familiar daze and vulnerability.
“Akane, you…”
Aina Saiten was so tired she could barely speak, her chest heaving.
Her boyfriend’s abnormal, almost uncontrollable behavior tonight had truly scared her.
This wasn’t the Akane she knew.
But during that long hour, Kaoru Hoshitani had repeatedly whispered in her ear, in a half-delirious, broken mumble: “Aina… I love you…” and, “I want a Child… let’s have a Child…” In those scattered words, Aina Saiten found a barely plausible explanation.
She guessed that maybe Akane, having recently quit his job at the Kawasaki Family Izakaya, now spent every day alone at home.
Over time, the loneliness and emptiness built up, and with the anticipation of “Pregnancy Preparation,” both his emotions and body grew anxious and restless, erupting tonight in this extreme way.
After all, she thought, when he was busy working at the Izakaya, his days were occupied, and even though they were intimate at night, he never lost control like this.
Thinking this, Aina Saiten’s worry and compassion for him outweighed her own discomfort and earlier fright.
She gently embraced her boyfriend, who was still breathing hard and whose eyes had grown misty again, softly patting his sweat-damp back.
But the problem remained.
She really couldn’t think of any quick solution to ease his “loneliness.”
She couldn’t just stop working and stay home with him every day, could she? If she did, they would soon lose their income, and this little home would fall apart.
[Maybe…]
A thought floated through Aina Saiten’s tired, muddled mind,
[Should I really have a Child as soon as possible for Akane? If we had a Child, he’d have something to focus on, maybe… maybe he wouldn’t feel so lonely or emotionally unstable…]
But at that very moment, realizing his girlfriend could no longer keep up, Kaoru Hoshitani’s heart was screaming:
[Not enough! This is nowhere near enough!]
Though he’d finally found relief, the flame inside Kaoru Hoshitani’s soul refused to die out, as if dousing it with water only made it burn even fiercer.