The Idol Hero
"You... are...?"
"We met once at the park, remember?"
U Haru tried to answer, then froze as the realization hit her that her body wouldn't move an inch—and her expression hardened.
Not just restrained. Completely, utterly naked!
"Wh-what on earth...?"
Confusion flooded her.
Why was she in a place like this?
Why was she naked?
And why was he here?
Memories from just before she'd drifted off to sleep flickered faintly through her mind. Meeting this man, returning home clutching that fluttering feeling in her chest... and then a stretch of memory that ended, unnaturally, mid-stream. As if the film had simply snapped.
If ever a phrase deserved that description, this was it.
It didn't take her long to connect the man before her eyes to her current situation.
After all, the moment he showed himself, he made it clear he wasn't entirely uninvolved.
It was shocking, too.
Why...? The question refused to leave her head.
How could that pure, harmless-looking young man from that world...
A faintly rising sense of betrayal sent a chill through her skull.
Her quickening breath settled back into calm.
This was the emotional control of an A-rank idol hero—forged through every kind of desperate struggle during her active years.
Having swiftly recovered her composure, U Haru's gaze swept the space around her.
'Where on earth am I...?'
A room filled with garishly colored things—objects whose purpose she refused even to imagine.
Here, there, everywhere she looked...
Her eyes landed on nothing but devices and instruments designed to toy with women and defile their dignity.
U Haru understood instinctively.
What was going to be done to her here.
What was about to crash into her life.
The man, who had been watching her with a warm, easy smile, spoke again.
"My methods were a little rough, but it's good to see you again like this, U Haru."
"...Untie me."
"I'm sorry?"
"I said, untie me."
She opened the conversation first.
Looking into his eyes... he was neither a bloodthirsty psychopath nor a madman incapable of rational dialogue.
U Haru was skilled at making exactly that kind of judgment.
So she threw out a reasonable demand first, as an opening move.
Depending on how he reacted, she could adjust her strategy from there.
But...
"Ah, I don't think I can do that."
"...I see."
The refusal she'd expected.
U Haru didn't push back immediately.
If anything, she was calmer now than a moment ago.
"Then may I ask you one question?"
"What is it?"
"Why did you bring me here?"
"......"
"Money? Or do you have some grudge against the Association?"
She didn't rush him for an answer.
She simply watched his face in silence, observing what kind of expression he wore.
"Or perhaps... is there something you want from me?"
"......"
No answer.
But that was fine.
The mere fact that he was listening at all was proof that he belonged to a category of person you could talk to.
Which meant... he was someone she might eventually persuade, or negotiate with.
U Haru offered a faint smile and spoke.
"Then tell me."
"......"
"If it's something I can do, I'll cooperate as much as I can."
Her voice remained gentle and composed.
Composed enough that no one would believe she'd been kidnapped.
"So there's really no need to go this far."
Even as she said it, U Haru slyly surveyed her surroundings, careful that he wouldn't notice.
Secret observation, possible only thanks to her naturally slitted eyes!
Was there a way out?
Was this man truly alone?
Was anyone else watching her?
The exits. The walls. The ceiling. Even what material the restraints binding her were made of.
His claim, back when they first met—that he was a rookie in the Eternal Association's recruitment division—was almost certainly a lie.
And yet he'd known things.
Information that no one outside the organization could possibly have learned.
It was because she believed that that she had trusted him—because she'd been able to trust him.
And the foundation of that trust had just collapsed beneath her.
Which left two broad possibilities.
Either this man really was Association personnel.
Or he was a criminal who had obtained the Association's information through some means.
So much time had passed since her retirement.
Who knew how the Association had changed in the meantime?
She didn't even know who held what positions now.
That was precisely why she had no choice but to be careful.
The man, who had been listening to U Haru with placid patience, said—
"Alright. First, let's prepare... for an honest conversation, shall we?"
"...?"
He picked up one of the tools displayed beside him.
What he took from the wall rack was... a small, cute, egg-shaped pink rotor.
She wasn't naive enough not to know where—and for what—such a thing was used.
Her face went briefly white, then flushed crimson again.
"Pre-preparation...? You mean...?"
"Yes. It's an excellent conversational aid."
He wound a special tape around it—the kind that wouldn't come loose even if it got wet—and fixed the rotor directly above her clitoris.
"Ngh—?!"
The moment the cold rotor touched her sensitive spot, a moan spilled from U Haru's lips as her whole body jolted.
And then...
Click—the sound of a button being pressed on the remote control.
Vrrrrrr—
"Hyaaaang—♥?!!"
The vibration was set to weak—of strong, medium, and weak, a mere level one.
Even so, U Haru reacted intensely, straining with all her might to squeeze her legs together against the restraint frame.
Vrrr—
"Hngh...♥ Mmh...♥! St-stop it... stop...♥!"
At U Haru's voice, he simply smiled and savored her moans without doing anything at all.
The rotor buzzed relentlessly against her clitoris, steadily planting seeds of shallow pleasure, and U Haru shook her head furiously, as if to deny the unfamiliar sensation.
"Th-this is... hngh—♥! You call this preparing for a conversation... ngh...♥!"
Her heavy breasts rose and fell with her ragged breathing, her nipples stiffening erect in response to the strange warmth blooming from below.
Between her legs, laid completely bare by the restraints.
Her pristine pussy twitched and shuddered, glistening with her own juices entirely against her will.
A woman's body, after all, is more than capable of betraying its owner.
'This can't... be happening... this... this...!'
As U Haru struggled to deny it, his voice seeped into her ear.
"Let me introduce myself first. From now on, U Haru... I'm the man who will own everything about you. Rim. Just one syllable, for convenience's sake."
That breezy remark set a fire in U Haru's chest.
Her slightly parted lips snapped shut at the pleasant pleasure the vibrating rotor delivered, and a murderous frost gathered in her trembling eyes.
Even during her years as a hero, painful and despairing situations had come with the territory.
But even then... U Haru had never once let go of her resolve.
Her pride as Lovebell. Her honor.
And now this man was telling her he would strip even that away.
From her—when that was all she had left.
"Don't... you dare... laugh...! Own me? No one... has the right to own another person... hyuk...♥?!"
Her words crumbled at the edges.
Because the rotor's vibration was growing sharper against her clitoris by the second.
Watching her moan, he still wore that unreadable smile as he spoke.
"Is that really true?"
"Nngh...♥!"
"You were... unquestionably a remarkable hero, U Haru. Anyone who looked into that incident would nod their head and shower you with praise."
He shifted to her side and gently toyed with the nipple that jutted proudly upward with his fingertip.
"Hngh...♥?! D-don't touch—!!"
Ignoring her shout, he continued with what he wanted to say.
"I know Lovebell very well."
"You didn't retire by choice, did you?"
"......!"
When the secret she'd never wanted anyone to know was laid bare, U Haru's slitted eyes trembled faintly, the whites showing beneath.
How on earth did he know information that no outsider could ever access?
"Someone pushed you out, and they took away the thing you loved most."
Took it away.
The chilling words pierced her chest, and her barely visible eyes wavered without mercy.
Because what he had just said...
was strikingly similar to the answer she herself had arrived at, after years of carrying the question inside her.
U Haru was robbed.
Of her life, her livelihood, everything.
By the agency and the Association she had trusted and relied on most.
"That's why even now, you're still looking at the person you used to be."
"...Stop."
For the first time, she cut him off.
But he didn't stop.
If anything, he paused the rotor that had been interrupting their conversation, and leaned in to whisper at her ear.
"It's all right. You don't have to deny it."
"......"
"There's no one here but you and me, U Haru."
He moved squarely in front of her body, meeting her wavering eyes head-on.
And read the emotions dwelling within them.
Wariness... anger... bewilderment... surprise... and, curled up and hiding somewhere far deeper than all of those...
Fear.
"Every night, you go home alone, don't you?"
"......"
"Wandering around aimlessly, not doing anything in particular."
"......"
"Drifting from place to place like a walking corpse..."
"......"
"And when you get home, you can't even bring yourself to turn on the lights. So you sit alone and lonely in a dark, damp room like a funeral parlor... and when sleep won't come, you pull out that tiny little window in your hand and stare into it..."
"......!!"
For the first time, an inexplicable emotion—fear—began to seep into U Haru's mind, which until now had been coldly analyzing her situation.