Chapter 64
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 64
Chapter Title: 6.16 Yakuza
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Akane walked.
Without purpose, without destination, she simply walked.
Her situation wasn't much different from yesterday.
Akane, who had lost everything, wandered aimlessly.
The only difference from yesterday was that it wasn't raining.
That wasn't particularly good, either.
If it had rained, at least it could have hidden her tears.
"Haha."
A laugh slipped out at her own plight, which felt like cheap song lyrics.
Pathetic and miserable. Tears came with the laughter.
Ah. There was one other difference.
Yesterday, Akane wandering through the rain had been a virgin, but today, under the clear sky, Akane was no longer one.
Akane laughed again at her even more miserable state.
"Hahaha."
Akane had given up her virginity for today.
To extend her life.
And to reconcile with Yuuki.
She had lost it to Naibusu, whom she hated.
That was the price she paid for this one day.
A day bought with humiliation and pain.
But... this day she had earned that way was the worst day of Akane's life.
It had only confirmed the reality that she could never mend things with Yuuki.
A day utterly devoid of value.
Her virginity had held no value at all.
Akane regretted it.
If she'd known it would be like this, she should have just died quietly.
Without struggling pathetically, she should have died pure.
Then, at least in death, she could have dreamed of reconciling with Yuu.
But regretting it now was pointless.
Everything had unfolded without regard for Akane's will.
Dying, coming back to life, being raped.
All of it should have been her own affairs, yet Akane had no right to choose any of it.
"Haha, ha..."
...What now?
She had walked blindly to get away from Naibusu's house, but she had nowhere to go. She hadn't even thought about what came next.
Her body moved before her mind, unconsciously. Before she knew it, Akane's legs were carrying her toward the place most familiar to her—the direction of the home where she had lived before her death.
...Go back home like this?
Faces of her family floated into her mind.
Mom, Dad, little brother.
What were they doing right now?
Did they miss her?
'Useless when alive, but at least helpful after death.'
She recalled the scene she'd witnessed in that darkness.
She didn't believe all of it was true, but it was undeniable fact that her corpse had ended up in the hands of those scientists.
Dad, selling his daughter's body.
No matter how important money and face were, no matter that it was 'just a corpse,' how could he sell his daughter?
Akane couldn't understand it.
Her legs stopped.
She couldn't go back.
She couldn't return to a home like that.
Then she truly had nowhere to go.
No hope to live for.
No reason to be alive.
Then she had no choice but to die.
But how?
Wait here until her magic ran out?
Or suicide?
She hated pain.
Maybe ask Naibusu to kill her properly?
...She'd already done it once, so he'd have no qualms.
But going back now might mean running into Yuuki again.
Akane didn't want to feel even more miserable.
She'd wait a bit... and go back once it got dark.
Having decided that, Akane wandered the streets meaninglessly when...
"Huh? Isn't that Akane?"
Suddenly, someone who knew her called out.
"...Senpai?"
The face was different from the one in her memories, but the voice was familiar.
It was her senpai from middle school days.
Her name faintly surfaced in Akane's mind.
But Akane didn't say it aloud.
They hadn't been that close, and she didn't want to be.
Gaudy makeup and a sharp perfume scent.
This senpai, delinquent in a different way from Akane, seemed to have grown into her delinquency fully.
"What's wrong? Are you crying?"
"No."
Anyone could see she was crying, but she denied it.
It was Akane's habit of acting tough, honed through constant status battles among girls.
She knew it was pointless in her current state, but it was all pointless anyway.
Resigned, Akane let her body lead her actions.
"What, got dumped?"
"Dumped..."
Was that it?
So this was what being dumped felt like.
Akane unwittingly exposed her weakness to her senpai's words, which pierced straight to her core.
"Everyone goes through it at first. Let's just have some fun and get over it."
"Ah."
Her senpai hooked arms with her familiarly, as if they'd always been like this.
Akane was flustered by the overly casual attitude. At least at the academy, no one treated her this casually.
"Um, senpai, I..."
"No need to refuse. You got nowhere to go anyway, right?"
She had nowhere to go anyway.
Those words stabbed into Akane's chest.
No place to go, no one to accept her.
Akane was alone.
"Let's eat something delicious and have a blast. Shake it off like that."
Her senpai pulled Akane's arm and started walking briskly.
Akane stumbled along, dragged by her.
Akane was initially at a loss with her senpai's attitude but soon gave up.
This might be for the best. Better to follow someone she had no real ties with than owe a half-friend. Even if things soured midway, there'd be no fallout.
"Akane's still in her prime. Sometimes I miss academy days. Classes were boring, but back then I could just eat whatever they gave me without worrying about tomorrow—"
Her senpai chattered away nonstop as she dragged Akane along.
The topics were mostly school memories, ones Akane could relate to, so they talked without strain.
"—That PE teacher still there? Oh, dead? Knew it would happen someday. The way he looked at girls was creepy. Akane, you never had anything weird happen?"
Akane gradually got drawn into her senpai's chatter.
People unconsciously feel affinity when they find common ground with others. For Akane, whose heart was fragile, the effect was especially strong.
It didn't take long for 'strange senpai' to become 'somewhat friendly senpai,' then 'pretty close senpai.'
Akane had been at the top of the academy food chain.
But to her senpai, who dealt with rough adults daily, she was just a naive kid. The wounded Akane was easy prey for her.
"Senpai, where are we going?"
"Where I work."
Rune Town was small. Unless they left town, Akane had probably been everywhere.
But somehow, it felt unfamiliar.
Unseen scenery, unfamiliar atmosphere, strange smells.
Akane belatedly sensed something was wrong.
"—Senpai. Is your job really in a place like this?"
"Told you it is. Kids like you wouldn't know."
Akane stopped dead in her tracks.
Her senpai didn't force her along.
Instead, she turned back with a beaming smile.
"Akane still a virgin?"
"...No."
Akane reflexively answered her provocative tone.
"See?"
Then it doesn't matter, right? her senpai asked in that vein.
Ah, then maybe it didn't.
Akane was convinced by that single phrase.
She had once dreamed of pure love befitting a virgin.
But that pure love's partner had become a woman.
And she herself had been defiled by a man she hated.
A defiled body held no value.
No dreams, no hopes—Akane had nothing.
"You're right."
Now she didn't need to be pulled by the arm.
Akane meekly followed her senpai.
* * *
They passed through narrow back alleys into the basement of a rundown building.
People lived in places like this too.
Akane realized anew how narrow her worldview had been.
Until now, she'd been protected by the fences of family and academy. Falling into a place like this was only natural once she stepped outside them. Akane accepted reality.
"What?"
Inside the basement was another door.
And guarding it like a bouncer was a burly man.
"My friend."
Her senpai answered the man's gruff question lightly. He eyed Akane up and down, then jerked his chin to let them pass.
"Come on. Don't let go."
Her senpai took Akane's hand.
Unlike her flashy appearance, it felt rough and calloused.
They opened the heavy iron door and went inside.
-Clang clang.
-Flutter, rustle.
Akane stepped into a new world.
A casino.
Slot machines, cards, roulette—gambling devices everywhere.
Customers using them, dealers, and women who looked like hostesses dotted the area.
Her senpai navigated through it all with familiarity.
Akane glanced around but obediently followed behind into the depths.
Old cigarette smoke and booze stench.
The basement's slightly unpleasant smell soon grew familiar.
Akane quickly guessed what this place was.
They arrived at another door.
Unlike the crude iron one before, this wooden door was ornately decorated, screaming luxury.
And it was guarded too—by two men.
They eyed the trailing Akane, asking wordlessly what she was.
Her senpai answered.
"Brought a friend."
Was 'friend' some code word among them?
One man opened the door and entered; her senpai followed. Akane, hand in hers, trailed after.
The room looked like a high-end office.
Large desk and chair, plush sofa and table.
But its owner didn't look high-end at all.
"What?"
"Friend."
Yakuza.
The word came to Akane's mind instantly.
A black eyepatch covered the man's right eye.
The left half of his face was tattooed, the ink snaking down his neck. She could easily imagine his body covered in them.
And he was bald.
"A friend?"
The previous men had been rough, but this one was on another level—vicious impression.
Akane tensed under his scowling glare.
She hadn't expected to meet someone straight out of TV dramas. Had she naively followed into a tiger's den? She regretted it too late.
"I'll train her while keeping her with me today. In exchange, you know?"
"Hm."
The tattooed man scanned Akane up and down.
His chilling gaze, like he'd casually committed murders. Akane felt her body freeze like a frog stared down by a snake.
"No problem, right?"
"None."
Even if there was, it wouldn't matter.
That's how it sounded to Akane.
The man lost interest and looked away from her.
"Do whatever."
Thud. He placed a small plastic bag of white powder on the table.
Small enough for a couple candies.
"Heehee."
Her senpai happily pocketed it in her bag.
Akane knew what it meant.
But she couldn't speak up or run. Having come this far, she instinctively knew struggling was futile.
Sold by her parents, abandoned by her friend, sold again by her senpai—she'd ended up here.
Akane despaired once more.
'Trash like you deserves trash like me, right?'
Why did that trash's words surface now?
Because that trash's words fit her perfectly?
Of course. This end suited trash like her.
Akane mocked herself.
What would become of her now?
She tried to worry, but the thought slipped away with her breath.
Thinking was a hassle. Struggling was exhausting.
Let it happen. She wanted to let everything go.
Akane was worn out.
Strength drained from her body.
Resigned, Akane tried to release everything.
Then.
-Hey!
-What the!
Suddenly, commotion outside.
"...What? Why's it so noisy?"
The yakuza muttered, frowning in annoyance.
-There!
-Stop!
Then, bang—the door flew open.
"Akane-nee, Mom says come eat."
A man strode in, saying something ridiculous.
It was Naibusu—the very person Akane had been thinking of moments ago.
Akane gaped foolishly at him, mouth open.
How, why, what. Questions flooded her mind.
But someone here was even more shocked than Akane.
"Y-You're... the 'Mad Dog' KW?!"
The tattooed man—the room's owner—shouted in horror.