Seeing that his wife didn't answer—only wore that shy, downcast expression—Natsuo still couldn't guess what was running through her head.
A flash of excitement lit his face. He spoke to her almost humbly. "Him, alright? We've been searching forever, and he's the best fit right now. I asked around the building too—he mostly lives alone, parents nowhere in sight, only seventeen or eighteen, full of stamina, easy on the eyes. He'll definitely satisfy you."
Hina's face drained from bright red to pale. She bit her lip hard and shook her head. "Natsuo, I don't want to do something like this. Don't force me. Shō-kun is a kind boy, and I don't want to hurt him."
Natsuo's expression shifted. "Hina-chan, you promised me."
Hina's gaze grew tangled. "I can't just seduce him. I still have some pride left."
Natsuo's face twisted through one mood after another. Then he dropped to his knees and begged. "Hina-chan, please go find him. This is the only thing I can give you. I don't want to waste your whole life. I'm a eunuch—I've never even touched you. There's no real marriage between us. You don't owe me any guilt."
Hina's lips trembled, but no sound came out. Her face crumpled with sorrow.
Watching her, Natsuo sighed inwardly. "Hina-chan, if Shō-kun isn't to your taste, then we can talk to my boss. Or my buddy Kengo Tanabe would be fine too. They're all people close to me."
Her expression snapped, eyes locking onto Natsuo's. He met her stare calmly.
She wrestled with herself for a long while, then nodded blankly, voice paper-thin. "I understand. I'll go find Shō-kun. Now get out."
Hearing her finally agree, Natsuo nearly leapt up like a Shounen protagonist hitting a power-up, but he didn't dare provoke her now and got to his feet quickly. "Alright, alright, I'm leaving. Hina-chan, go get ready. I'll find a chance later to bring you over to Shō-kun's place."
Catching the misery still hanging on her face, Natsuo gave an awkward smile and ducked back into his own room.
…
After he was gone, Hina collapsed weakly onto the sofa. Just imagining seducing a student nearly ten years younger sent waves of shame and humiliation crashing across her face.
At that moment, Yūto Shō had no idea any of this was happening. Though Hina and Natsuo's behavior had been odd, once he was home he put it out of his mind and just threw together a meal.
Eating alone, Yūto Shō felt a sudden tug of loneliness. It'd be nice if someone could sit across from him—someone who could help him cook, wash the dishes, all of that.
Sato Ruri came to mind. Earlier that day she'd bolted on him like she was running from a Titan attack, clearly not taking him seriously. The girl needed a proper lesson.
But there was no inviting Sato Ruri over at night. At that age, girls with both grades and looks got grilled by their parents the second they tried to step out after dark. If she panicked and spilled, it'd be a mess.
With that in mind, Yūto Shō picked up his phone to message Sato Ruri.
"Tomorrow's the weekend. I don't feel like cooking. Come over and help me out."
Sato Ruri: "???"
She fired off a whole string of question marks.
Yūto Shō glanced at the screen and chose not to reply.
The girl couldn't keep playing dumb and kept hammering messages.
"I'm busy tomorrow, I already made plans with friends. I can't bail on them."
"I really don't have time!"
"Reply when you see this!"
"???"
"If love's gonna come, let it come," Yūto Shō sent her, then blocked her outright. That kind of PUA-tier mind game move? Pretty scummy. Perfect.
On the other end, Sato Ruri saw his reply and her eyebrows twitched. She drew a long breath to swallow her temper and kept typing, but the second she hit send she got the rejection notice.
Sato Ruri froze, and it took a beat before she clocked that she'd been blocked.
"Don't be mad. Don't be mad. Fine, since he blocked me, I'll just pretend I didn't see anything and go out with my friends tomorrow."
Even as she chanted it at herself, Sato Ruri ground her teeth, slammed her phone down, and dropped onto the side of the bed in a huff.
After a moment, she muttered, "I'll count to three. If he unblocks me, I'll forgive him this once."
After three slow breaths, she picked up her phone again and sent Yūto Shō a message—smiley emoji and all.
"This user is not accepting your messages."
Sato Ruri's face faltered. She dug up Yūto Shō's phone number and called him directly. As the class study rep, she had every classmate's contact on hand.
The call connected after a few rings. Sato Ruri exhaled in relief and rushed her words out. "If you promise not to bully me, I'll promise to come to your place tomorrow and help you cook."
Listening to the girl's flustered innocence through the receiver, Yūto Shō found it almost too cute, so he agreed easily. "I promise I won't bully you."
"Swear it. Liars get a thousand needles down the throat." She made him take the schoolyard oath, the kind kids in every anime ending pull on their best friends.
"I swear, if I'm lying, may a thousand needles go down my throat." Yūto Shō recited the vow with mock solemnity, and the second he finished, the line cut to a busy tone. He blinked at the phone, but before he could process it, the doorbell rang. He got up and walked over to answer.
…
He pulled the door open and found Natsuo and Hina standing in the hallway. Both clutched plastic bags. Both looked vaguely sheepish.
Natsuo spoke first. "Shō-kun, our water heater's busted, can't shower at our place. Mind if we borrow yours for a bit?"
Yūto Shō blinked, then smiled. "Of course, Natsuo-nii, Hina-nee, come in, come in."
He warmly waved them inside and asked, "Natsuo-nii, Hina-nee, who's washing first?"
Natsuo nodded. "Yeah, Hina-chan will go first, I'll go after."
Hina shot him a complicated look, then turned and walked straight to the bathroom. A moment later, the rush of water came drifting through the door.
Just then, Natsuo slapped his forehead and turned to Yūto Shō with an apologetic face. "Shō-kun, I just remembered I've got something urgent back at the office. When Hina-chan's done washing up, can you let her know for me? I've got to run."
Without waiting for a response, he was already out the door and gone. Yūto Shō's expression went strange—deliberately delivering his beloved wife to another man's home for a shower? What kind of move was that even supposed to be?
Could this guy actually be one of those cuckold husbands straight out of a doujin?
Glancing toward the bathroom, Yūto Shō smiled, slow and amused. He wanted to see whether what he was being handed was a sugar-coated trap or a live grenade—Trojan Horse style.
…
After a long stretch, the water finally cut off, but Hina still hadn't come out.
Yūto Shō walked closer to the door and called gently. "Hina-nee, Natsuo-nii said he had something to do back at the office. He asked me to pass that along."
Hina's voice came back through the wood, a little tight with nerves. "Shō-kun… I forgot to bring my clothes in with me. Did Natsuo leave them out there? They were in a black plastic bag."
Yūto Shō shook his head. "No—he left in such a hurry he forgot to set anything down."
"How could this happen…" Her tone climbed toward panic.
Yūto Shō was just about to ask if she wanted him to fetch her something when a brand-new route popped open in his head. He looked closely, and his eyes turned strange.
"As a scumbag, you've always been the one treating others as prey—but this time, someone has set their sights on you. You've decided to flip the table on them."
"Route 1: A woman is naked in your bathroom, her clothes soaked through and unwearable. You hatch a plan and falsely claim a classmate has just shown up, urging her to slip out fast and hide in your bedroom. But the sly version of you spills water across the floor first, hoping she'll take a fall right in front of you."
"Route 2: A naked woman is locked up in your bathroom. Wickedness blooms—you cook up a plan, decide to coax her into opening the door by claiming you're handing over clothes, then barge in to humiliate her, film the whole shameful video, and send it straight to her husband."