“No! I will keep working, and you have no right to interfere.” Akiko responded just as firmly, then turned away and walked faster toward her room.Akiko didn’t want to argue any further. She didn’t want praise for all her hard work, but she certainly didn’t want to hear any more scolding. Akiko wanted to decide her own life going forward."Kiko-chan!” Kenji shouted. Akiko’s reply had clearly been too bold.“Come home earlier, or...” Because Akiko was already out of sight, Kenji didn't finish his sentence.He didn’t follow her, but he was still annoyed when he heard the loud clatter of a cup hitting the wooden table afterward. Kenji grunted and picked up his phone, dialing Ryu.“What’s going on? Since when do you call me from your cell phone at home?” Ryu answered, surprised. He knew very well that Kenji usually used the landline to call him when he was at home.“It’s broken,” Kenji replied curtly. There was no way he was going to mention that the telephone had been floating in the poo
Akiko jolted awake, wiping her wet face. The water was quite full. Almost her entire body was drenched, from her uniform to her underwear.The pounding of her heart and the throbbing pain in her head accompanied Akiko's attempt to understand what had happened—bullying."Hey!" Akiko shouted when she heard footsteps outside the bathroom stall, and she moved to open the door to see who had just poured the dirty, cold water. But as she reached for the door handle and turned it, Akiko immediately sensed something was wrong, and her body felt even colder. Something blocked the door, so it wouldn't open."HEY!" Akiko pounded on the door and screamed in panic."Who are you? Why are you doing this?" Akiko shouted, then kneeled down, looking through the slightly open gap at the bottom of the stall.Akiko only saw a glimpse of women's shoes running toward the door, turning off the lights and closing it with a slam. Akiko found herself trapped inside, drenched, trembling, and enveloped in total
Akiko's consciousness was very faint. She could hear voices around her but couldn't open her heavy eyelids. Her eyes remained closed, but her eyeballs seemed to move underneath them."So far, I only see the possibility of exhaustion and dehydration.""Are you sure there's nothing else?"Akiko didn't recognize the first voice, but the one that responded was unmistakable—Kenji."If you wish, I can conduct further tests, and...""Nnnn... o..." Akiko forced her eyes and tongue to move. Her vision was a bit blurry, but she eventually recognized where she was and who was standing beside her.Kenji looked down at her, while the doctor who had been talking to him earlier approached and checked Akiko's vital signs. The doctor swung a small flashlight in front of Akiko's eyes to assess her level of consciousness."Nakamura-san? Can you hear me?" The doctor called Akiko, gently tapping her shoulder. Akiko nodded, and her eyes opened fully."Ah, thank goodness." The female doctor smiled, then tur
"I can manage on my own." Akiko refused Kenji's outstretched hand, which was meant to help her out of the car. She had touched that hand dozens of times before—once—but that didn't mean she wanted to touch it again now.Akiko could no longer imagine how that hand once stroked her head, or how it gently comforted her when her head throbbed with pain. Indeed, that hand forced her to kiss him. Akiko didn’t want that hand to touch her again.Kenji clenched his hand, not pursuing the matter further, and walked ahead into the house.As she slowly followed behind him, Akiko glanced at Kenji's back. She suddenly felt regret. Her earlier avoidance was too harsh. Kenji had stayed with her all night at the hospital. At least he showed up. That was more than Kaito, who hadn’t appeared at all, even by this morning.Akiko didn’t know if Kaito hadn’t shown up because Kaede had forbidden him or for some other reason, but Kaito’s absence while she was in the hospital made Akiko even more disappointe
“You can’t kill him!” Ryu repeated it for the fifteenth time. Now he was practically begging.Ryu had known from the beginning that convincing Kenji to spare the person who had hurt Akiko wouldn’t be easy, but it was far tougher than he had anticipated. Kenji’s expression hadn’t changed; he still hadn’t accepted Ryu’s suggestion.“She’s just a regular employee, not part of Kuryugumi. She’s an ordinary person, so let me deal with the punishment.”“Why should it be that way?” Kenji hissed.“Because that’s how normal people live. When I dealt with Shingi Fusaya, you promised not to interfere. So, don’t kill her. She’s guilty, but killing her is excessive.” Ryu didn’t want to bring up that agreement, but it was the only way. Persuading Kenji was a risky task, like taming a tiger.“CK!” Kenji clicked his tongue, glancing at his watch and realizing that he had been gone longer than planned. The lengthy argument with Ryu had taken up more time than he intended.“Okay, but you’d better make s
Akiko hurried along, not because she was late or overslept, but because she wanted to get to the floor where her office was as soon as possible. Akiko wanted to meet Kyoko as quickly as possible. This was the day.After waiting two days—Kenji hadn’t allowed her to go to work yesterday, and Akiko had peacefully complied—this was the moment when Akiko would demand accountability.Her body wasn’t seriously injured, but the mental damage was significant. It wasn’t just the fear; the disappointment also counted as a consequence.Akiko was relieved when she saw that only Kyoko was in the room. She always arrived the earliest. Akiko wanted to talk to Kyoko before anyone else arrived.“Oh… I thought you’d continue to feel special and take vacations whenever you liked.” Once again, Kyoko greeted Akiko with sarcasm. Akiko, who initially wanted to ask more calmly, quickly lost her patience.“I wasn’t on vacation; I was sick because of what you did!” Akiko put down her bag, then turned to glare a
“But… but… Kyoko is the one who...”“Kyoko Fujita? What about her? She wasn’t involved in the incident at all,” Sato interrupted Akiko.“But she was the one who...” Akiko's words trailed off—not because someone interrupted her, but because she lost her words halfway through. She still found it challenging to believe what Sato was saying, but at the same time, it was clear Sato wouldn’t accuse without a reason.“Take a look. I think this will make things clearer.”Akiko looked up as Sato turned the laptop in front of him toward the three of them. Mori leaned in a bit, pushing his glasses up to see more clearly. But Akiko’s vision was fine, so she could see without any problem.The laptop, which was playing CCTV footage of the room where Akiko worked, sped up several times faster than normal. Akiko saw herself walking to the bathroom after talking to Riko. It showed Riko leaving the office, but then the room went dark as the lights turned off."You won't see anything after that because
Kyoko, who was surprised for the second time, looked agape. "Huh? What?""I want to apologize for accusing you carelessly," Akiko said again while bowing, which naturally drew the attention of the other employees.Hiro and Misa glanced over, their necks craning with curiosity."Follow me! You're just disturbing everyone else!" Kyoko grumbled, standing up and walking towards the pantry, uncomfortable with the attention."All I've heard from your mouth so far is nonsense that sounds like a magic spell," Kyoko muttered once they reached the pantry."Explain it properly, so I don't feel like a fool when you speak." Kyoko sat down, dipping her tea and waiting.But now, Akiko felt like a tangled piece of tape. Even though she had experienced it herself, Akiko was only able to process everything when she tried to explain it to Kyoko. The frustration that had previously pressed down on her has now poured out. Akiko slumped into the chair in front of Kyoko and buried her face on the table."W
“Himawari! Natsu!”A ten-year-old boy let out a loud shout when he discovered two other children hiding behind the bushes beneath the tree.“Kenzo—big brother!”Natsu was startled to see Kenzo suddenly appear. He pulled the girl, Himawari, beside him to stand, intending to run away, but Kenzo stopped him.“No! You’re making Okaa-san worried. You have to go back.” Kenzo grabbed Natsu's arm.“But Himawari is scared. She doesn’t want to go to school,” Natsu pointed at Himawari, who was now sobbing.“Hima-chan.” Kenzo knelt down and gently stroked Himawari's head, which was bowed down.“School isn’t scary. You’ll meet many new people and make new friends,” Kenzo coaxed softly until Himawari looked up to meet Kenzo's gaze.“But… but… I want to be with Natsu. I don’t want to go to school…”
“This place isn’t bad.” Kenji didn’t outright refuse, but his reluctance was evident.“Indeed, I will make sure this place will never be bad for those children. However, Kenzo stands apart from these children. They are kids who truly have no family and are forced to live here. Kenzo has me. I am his family. I am the only family Kenzo has."Akiko didn’t want to acknowledge this while remembering Kenzo's mother’s actions, but Kenzo was still the child of her mother’s younger sibling—her family. No one else was her blood relative as of now.“I can’t forget that fact and pretend Kenzo is someone else. It will haunt me in my sleep,” Akiko urged again.Kenji fiddled with the car keys beneath him while staring at the back of Kenzo's head, who was now trying to draw something with crayons on a new piece of paper.“I know you hate his mother—I do too. But you don’t hav
“I still don’t want to do this,” Kenji grumbled.“I know, but I’m sure you also know that this is the right thing to do,” Akiko replied, looking at her husband, who was now unbuckling his seatbelt. Although they arrived two minutes earlier, neither of them got out of the car.The decision they—Akiko—made was indeed a significant one. Akiko needed to calm herself. Kenji had left the choice to her, but he was still going through it with a heavy heart.“Come on, let’s go.” Akiko finally opened the door and stepped out.Children playing in the yard rushed over when they spotted her.“Tanaka-san! What did you bring today? Candy? A storybook?”A chorus of voices greeted Akiko. She often visited the orphanage with gifts, so the children expected her to bring something.“I brought something in the car for you, but it’s a secret. You can…”
“I don’t want to sleep with you.” Ryu repeated the question in disbelief because it seemed too absurd. He shook his head while rubbing his face.“I think your ability to draw conclusions isn’t very sharp right now,” Ryu said.“No!” Kyoko was obviously offended. Although it wasn't a direct insult, Ryu had implied that Kyoko was stupid.“Don’t be angry; I understand. I would be disappointed if your mind was entirely calm at the moment.” Ryu smiled with satisfaction.“I’m calm!” Kyoko retorted.“You just asked about my desire to sleep with you. I think that’s quite a disturbance that’s keeping you from being calm.” Ryu left his suitcase and approached Kyoko, who suddenly panicked and stepped back.“Don’t deny it. You won’t succeed in making me think otherwise.” Ryu chuckled softly at her panic.“I don&
“Don’t open it now. You’ll get wet.” Ryu raised the hood of Kyoko's raincoat just in time as a large amount of water splashed toward where they were sitting. It was as if someone had poured a giant bucket of water on them.The orca whale show they were watching involved jumping out of the water. Of course, when they fell back, they splashed a lot of water toward the audience.Ryu clapped like everyone else, appreciating the hard work of the giant mammals, but Kyoko didn’t clap at all—not even when the show ended.“Didn’t you like it?” Ryu inquired as they exited, discarding their soaked raincoats.Ryu grabbed a small towel handed out by the staff, then used it to dry Kyoko’s hair and neck. Although Ryu had covered her hoodie just in time, some parts of Kyoko’s hair and neck were still wet.“You don’t like aquariums. I’ll note all of that.” After waiting for a
"I want to go home."Kyoko suddenly spoke up just as Akiko finished applying pink lipstick to her lips.“Huh? Why? Did you forget something?” Akiko straightened up, confused, as she glanced at the kimono Kyoko would be wearing.Kyoko's kimono was simpler, with only a hair ornament as an accessory. It wasn’t as elaborate as the one Akiko had worn when she got married in Utoro.Ryu had planned for their wedding to be similar to Akiko’s, but they had compromised for a more modest ceremony at the city hall. Ryu knew Kyoko's feelings about temple buildings, so he wouldn't dare force anything. Besides, the reception would still happen; just the ceremony would be different.Nobody objected to the decision. Everyone agreed as long as the wedding took place, including Akiko. Even though her expensive kimono was a bit much for a city hall wedding, she was still happily helping Kyoko.“Everything's ready. I just need to pu
“You must be crazy!” Kyoko stood up and paced back and forth in the living room, trying to recall if there was any sign that Ryu wasn’t serious.But everything was serious. Ryu had even sent her a photo of the kimono he would wear on their wedding day. When Kyoko saw the photo, she thought Ryu was insane, as discussing kimono patterns would escalate their deception.In the end, Kyoko made her choice, wanting to end the pointless discussion. But it turned out that the discussion was important.“Are you just going to sit there?!” Kyoko yelled angrily, glaring at Ryu, who was calmly sipping beer and munching on peanuts he had brought earlier.“What do you want me to do?” Ryu frowned.“Cancel everything! Call them all! Cancel it!” Kyoko sat back down next to Ryu and then attacked him, reaching for his waist.“Hey, wait! Don’t get aggressive all of a sudden,” Ryu was, of cour
Ryu shook his head, while effortlessly unlocking Kyoko's apartment door once more by simply inputting her birthday—the day after tomorrow.He had repeatedly reminded Kyoko to change the password, which was extremely easy to guess. Not just once—like when he first broke in to find the listening device—but several times since.Now, Kyoko no longer lives in Tokyo. Since becoming actively involved in Kuryugumi and assisting Kenji and Ryu, Kyoko had relocated to Osaka, where she now primarily worked.However, Kyoko hadn't been working regularly since visiting her parents, and no one was pressuring her to do so either. Kenji didn’t give any orders, leaving everything up to Ryu.The apartment’s security was truly weak, especially since there was still no sound, despite Ryu walking into the room for several moments. It was evident that Kyoko had fallen asleep due to the late hour. Ryu had come straight to the apartment after returnin
Akiko adjusted herself in front of the mirror, gazing at the new kimono she would wear the day after tomorrow.The kimono was custom-made for her, so naturally, it fit perfectly. But Akiko wanted to see if the color matched her expectations. And indeed, everything was perfect. It fit her body beautifully and didn't feel heavy or hot, which was crucial considering it was still summer.The modern kimono, with a white base, was adorned with pink cherry blossoms. Akiko had even prepared hair accessories filled with cherry blossom designs to complete the look.She wasn’t wearing the hairpiece yet, but when she tried placing it on her head, the pink color matched perfectly with her black hair. Everything was set. She had also prepared clothes for Natsu and Kenji.BANG!Akiko flinched and dropped the hair accessory she was holding. The loud noise from the sliding door startled her.Luckily, Natsu was in the next room, so he wouldn’t be