On the first Friday of July, Maoto Shinya sat in the warehouse break room, gripping his smartphone. The fluorescent light buzzed faintly. A corner of the safety-first poster on the wall had curled up. No one else was in the break room. The only sound filtering through the wall was the laughter of his coworkers chatting over their meals. Akari had come again today. She had stood by the back entrance of his part-time job the entire time. In the sweltering heat of three in the afternoon, without even a parasol. While Shinya was operating the forklift, he caught glimpses of her red hair through the gaps in the warehouse shutter. Her amber-and-silver odd eyes were fixed intently on him. This was the third time this week alone. (*Maybe I've reached my limit.*) With trembling fingers, Shinya opened LINE on his phone. He scrolled through his contacts. High school classmates, coworkers from his part-time job. Among them, there was only one name he could rely on. Seio. His one friend, who always listened calmly while attending university. Shinya typed out a short message. "[serious]I need to talk to you about something." The reply came instantly. "[serious]Got it. Where?" "Is the family restaurant in front of the station okay?" "[serious]I'll be there in thirty minutes." Shinya shoved his phone into his pocket and left the break room. His feet felt like lead as he headed toward the back entrance. When he ducked under the shutter, the harsh sunlight stabbed at his eyes. Akari was standing there. The hem of her white dress swayed in the lukewarm breeze. Her long, deep crimson hair sparkled as it reflected the light, almost like a painting. She smiled brightly. "[gentle]Good work today, Manato. Let's go home together." "Sorry, something came up." Akari's smile froze for just a fraction of a second. The light deep in her eyes flickered. But immediately, her gentle smile returned. "[gentle]Oh, okay. I understand. Be careful." Shinya fled toward the station. Akari's gaze remained fixed on his back the whole way. --- The family restaurant on the third floor of Maruto City, the station building, was fairly crowded even on a weekday evening. Shinya sat at a window seat and ordered an iced coffee. He traced the condensation on the glass with his finger, waiting absently. The sky visible through the glass was slightly overcast. It was muggy, and his sweat refused to dry. "Shinya, it's been a while." When he looked up, Seio was standing there. Silver hair in a short, unruly cut. Sharp, jade-green eyes. There was always a furrow between his brows, but now, an even deeper look of concern floated there. Seio sat across from Shinya and ordered an iced tea. "[serious]So, what's this about? It's rare for you to reach out." Shinya held his breath for a moment, then began to speak, haltingly. About Akari. About how, in the month since they'd started living together, she had been gradually changing. "She's come to my part-time job three times this week." Shinya took a sip of his iced coffee. The ice clinked. "That's not all. She took a photo of my shift schedule. She's waiting at the front door five minutes before I get home. I was fifteen minutes late once, and I had sixteen missed calls. She unlocked my phone without permission... went through my call history, my group chats, everything." Seio listened in silence. The hand stirring his iced tea with a straw stopped dead. "[serious]Shinya, that's..." Seio's voice dropped lower. "That's not normal. That's domestic violence." Shinya looked up. Domestic violence. The words echoed inside his head. "But, she's just thinking of me..." "No." Seio said it flatly. "If she were thinking of you, she wouldn't leave sixteen missed calls. She wouldn't snoop through your phone without permission. She wouldn't secretly take photos of your shift schedule. That's not affection. That's control." Shinya hung his head. He knew. He'd known for a long time. But he hadn't wanted to admit it. "[serious]What do you want to do?" "I don't know. I mean, I don't hate Akari... if anything, I'm grateful. That day, when I got kicked out of my house and had nowhere to go, she was the one who helped me." "That's a separate issue." Seio leaned forward over the table. "You should get out right now. Come to my place. I can arrange for you to stay for a while." Shinya fell silent. In his mind, Akari's crying face surfaced. *'If you leave me, I'll...'* He was afraid of what came after those words. "[serious]Let me think about it a bit more. Thanks, Seio." Shinya stood up. Seio seemed about to say something, but in the end, he closed his mouth. Shinya left the family restaurant behind. --- Night. When he returned to the apartment, Akari was sitting on the bed, hugging her knees. The room lights were off. Only the light from the streetlamp filtering through a gap in the curtains faintly illuminated her outline. She was naked. Her white skin stood out in the pale light. Her slender shoulders, the line of her collarbone, her small breasts. Her sakura-colored nipples were slightly stiff from the air conditioner's chill. She stared at him without saying a word. "...What's wrong?" When Shinya spoke, Akari threw what she was holding at him. Shinya's smartphone hit his chest and fell to the floor. The screen was cracked. "[cold]I read it." Akari's voice was colder than he had ever heard it. "I read all of it." Shinya picked up his phone. The screen displayed his LINE conversation with Seio. It was marked as read, as if she had just finished going through it. "[crying]You talked to someone about me?" Akari's voice began to tremble. "You betrayed me!?" "No, that was—" "[crying]He said DV! You think I'm DV!?" Akari grabbed a pillow and hurled it at Shinya. "You're horrible!! Don't you understand how much I treasure you, Manato!?" Large tears spilled from her amber and silver eyes. Snot ran from her nose, her makeup smeared, and still she kept screaming. "I can't live without you, Manato! Why would you tell someone that!? Why would you talk to a guy like him instead of me!?" Shinya couldn't move. "I was just worried. It's not like I started hating you—" "Liar!!" Akari's voice echoed through the supposedly soundproofed room. "What's DV!? What did I ever do!? I've always treasured you!!" Akari threw the pillow, the cushion, anything she could get her hands on. Then she hugged her knees on the bed and burst into loud sobs. She cried like a child, wailing. She kept crying for about thirty minutes. All Shinya could do was stand there, rooted to the spot. All he could do was apologize. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry, Akari." He apologized over and over. And then, suddenly. Akari's crying stopped dead. The room fell silent. Only the low hum of the air conditioner remained. Akari raised her face. Her face was still streaked with tears. Her makeup was ruined, the area around her eyes blackened. And yet, her expression was utterly blank. "[cold]Fine. I get it. It's okay now." Saying that, Akari slowly stood up. Still naked, she stood before Shinya. Her amber-and-silver odd eyes pierced through him. "[cold]But tonight, I'm not letting you go." Akari's hand pushed against Shinya's chest. With more force than he expected, he fell backward. The bed creaked. Akari climbed on top of him. Her body was surprisingly hot. "[whispers]Manato, look only at me. You don't have to think about anything right now." Akari's hands undid his belt and pulled down his pants. From inside his boxers, his already half-hard penis emerged. Wordlessly, Akari grasped it and began to stroke it slowly. "Stop it, Akari—" "[cold]I won't stop." Akari sealed Shinya's mouth with her lips. A deep, almost painful kiss. Her tongue pushed inside, entwining forcefully. He couldn't breathe. When Shinya struggled, Akari pressed down even harder. While kissing him, she adjusted the position of her lower body. Her already dripping wet pussy touched the tip of Shinya's penis. "[cold]I'm putting it in." Akari lowered her hips. With a squelching sound, her hot vagina swallowed Shinya's cock deeply. When it reached all the way inside in one motion, her inner walls tightened with a squeeze. "Ahh...!" A short gasp escaped Akari's lips. Then, silently, she began to move her hips. There was no escape. Akari pressed both hands against Shinya's chest, pinning him down with her weight. Every time her hips slammed down, the bed shook and creaked. "[crying]Manato, Manato, Manato." Akari kept calling his name, mixing sobs with moans. Her tears fell onto Shinya's face. "[crying]You're not going anywhere, right? You're only looking at me, right?" Her questioning voice was desperate. "[crying]I care about you so much more than someone like Seio. Why would you talk to a guy like him? Why am I not enough?" Shinya couldn't answer. Pleasure and guilt mixed together, scrambling his mind. Akari's vagina was hot and slick, and every time he thrust deep, she let out a small cry. That voice melted away Shinya's reason. (*She found out I talked to Seio.*) (*I might not be able to go outside anymore.*) (*But, right now—*) The moment Akari reached her first climax, her body convulsed violently. Trembling, her vagina contracted in tight spasms. "I'm coming... I'm coming...!" Shinya couldn't endure that tightening grip. "Akari, I'm going to—" "[crying]Inside, do it inside...!" With thick pulses, semen was released deep into her vagina. The cloudy white cum filled her cervix, and the excess trickled down her thighs. Even after the ejaculation ended, Akari didn't move. For a while, the two of them stayed like that, holding each other. Their sweat-dampened skin was cooled by the air conditioning. Then, Akari quietly sat up. She picked up Shinya's smartphone. Her profile as she operated the screen was expressionless. "[cold]Now we're safe, right?" She turned the phone screen toward Shinya. Seio's LINE contact had been blocked. Furthermore, the entire chat history had been deleted. "[gentle]Now you can't say anything to that weird person anymore." Saying that, Akari smiled brightly. It was an innocent smile on a face still marked with tears. Shinya couldn't say anything. He could only close his eyes. --- The next morning. White morning light streamed through the gap in the curtains. When Shinya woke up, a pleasant smell was coming from the kitchen. Akari was cheerfully frying eggs. The sound of oil popping in the frying pan. Her back, as she hummed a tune, was so serene it was hard to believe she was the same person as last night. "Ah, good morning, Manato. It'll be ready soon." When Akari turned around, her face was bright and gentle. Shinya picked up his smartphone. He tried to contact Seio, but his finger stopped. The block hadn't been removed yet. (*I can't contact Seio anymore.*) But if he unblocked him, Akari would get angry again. That fear was far greater than his connection to his friend. Shinya let out a small sigh. He put down his phone and sat down for breakfast. The fried egg Akari had made was soft-cooked, the yolk glistening as it oozed.