...
Another weekend arrived on schedule.
Haruno Yukinoshita drove toward the suburban villa with a tangle of emotions she couldn't begin to unravel.
Meanwhile, at the Yukinoshita residence.
Her younger sister, Yukino Yukinoshita, watched the car disappear around the corner. Worry flickered through her cool, pale eyes.
She's going out again.
Lately, it feels like she's hiding something.
Yukino had no proof. Only instinct.
She thought about it for a long time, then picked up her phone and called Shizuka Hiratsuka.
Two rings, and then a familiar, bold female voice answered.
"Hello? Yukino? What's going on?"
"...Hiratsuka-sensei."
Yukino took a deep breath, laid out her concerns in detail, and asked: "Do you know what she's been doing recently?"
---
Another weekend.
Haruno entered the villa estate for the second time, her state of mind far more complicated than the first.
Under a maid's guidance, the car rolled to a stop in its usual spot. She drew a long breath, opened the door, and fixed that flawless social smile into place.
It's just honoring a contract. Nothing more. The mantra repeated in her head. A business negotiation. The only difference is the venue moved from a conference room to a bedroom.
She tried to frame it all as a transaction.
But the lingering soreness deep in her body, and the images that ambushed her at three in the morning, vivid flashes of humiliation and maddening pleasure tangled together, never let her forget what had happened the weekend before.
She sighed softly, composed her expression, and walked inside.
In the living room, Seiji Fujiwara sat on the sofa, wearing that faintly amused smile.
"You're here?"
"Mm." Haruno kept her smile steady, gave a slight nod, and spoke in a brisk, businesslike tone. "Per our Promise, I'm here to pay this week's interest. I'll go shower first."
She turned toward the bathroom without breaking stride.
But the instant she passed the sofa, a hand shot out and locked around her wrist.
Her body froze.
She turned. Seiji's dark eyes met hers.
"What's the rush?" He laughed, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her down onto his lap. She landed straddling him, face inches from his.
"Ah..." She tried to stand. His hands locked around her waist and held her there.
"It's been a whole week." His mouth was at her ear. "Did you miss me? Because I missed you."
"Especially the way you looked last weekend."
"Stop. Don't." Her jaw tightened.
He kissed her. Hard, no warning, tongue forcing past her lips before she could close her mouth.
"Mm... no..."
She pushed at his chest. Lasted about three seconds. His tongue found hers and her resistance fell apart. Her body went soft against him, face flushing red.
His hands were already pulling her jacket off, unbuttoning her blouse.
She couldn't fight it.
By the time he finally released her swollen lips, she'd lost track of how long it had been.
Seiji looked down at the woman in his arms: flushed, panting, eyes glazed with arousal. Satisfaction settled across his face.
"All right. Now you can go shower." His voice was unhurried. "Get yourself clean."
"..."
Haruno scrambled off him like a prisoner granted a stay of execution, staggering into the bathroom on unsteady legs.
...
At the same time.
"Yukino, don't worry." Shizuka used the steady, reassuring tone of a responsible adult. "Leave this to me."
She hung up and immediately pulled up Haruno's number.
The phone rang for a long time before someone picked up.
But the voice on the other end wasn't Haruno's. It was a man's. One she knew well. One she despised.
Lazy amusement dripped from every syllable.
"Hello? Shizuka-sensei? What's this, miss me already?"
Her breath caught.
That voice.
"Seiji Fujiwara!" His name came through clenched teeth, her voice shaking. "Why are you answering her phone?! Where's Haruno?! What have you done to her?!"
"Haruno?" A soft laugh, thick with implication. "She's a little... occupied at the moment, Shizuka-sensei."
The suggestion in those words was enough to launch her off the couch.
"You bastard! What did you do to her?!" All pretense of composure shattered. "Where are you?! Tell me right now!"
"Heh..." The laugh on the other end grew warmer, more entertained. "If you want to know that badly, why don't you come see for yourself?"
He gave her an address.
Then the line went dead.
Shizuka stood there trembling with rage, listening to the dial tone.
"Bastard!"
She grabbed her jacket and keys and tore out the door.
...
...
In the bathroom, warm water cascaded from the ceiling, streaming over Haruno's flawless body.
Steam clouded the mirror, softening the reflection of her bewildered, unfocused eyes.
Her thoughts were chaos.
What Seiji had done to her in the living room, the humiliating, trembling pleasure of it, still ricocheted through her limbs.
She could feel it clearly: her body was changing.
Skin growing finer, smoother. Her figure ripening into something more dangerously perfect.
Damn this Snow Woman trait!
The more beautiful I become, the more he enjoys it. The thought made her grind her teeth. This is going to ruin my escape plan.
But she caught her reflection in the mirror. The body staring back was flawless. Even she had to admit that. A flicker of unwanted pride.
"No!"
She shook her head violently, forcing the thought out.
I can't keep going like this. I will not fall.
She steeled herself.
Last week I was unprepared. That's the only reason he dismantled me so completely. This week is different.
She thought of the research she'd done over the past seven days, the hours spent secretly studying everything she could find about the mechanics of sex.
If I can take control and bring him to his peak faster, my own time under his hands gets shorter. If I keep my head clear through the whole thing, the Snow Woman trait's hold on my mind and body slows down.
...
...
Meanwhile, Shizuka Hiratsuka's Aston Martin screamed down the highway.
The engine's roar bled off the worst of her fury, and rational thought crept back in.
That bastard Fujiwara. He's a flirt, sure, and he loves his cruel little jokes. But he wouldn't actually... do anything to Haruno. Would he?
She had a degree of confidence in this assessment. Because nobody understood Haruno Yukinoshita better than she did. A lonely queen sealed beneath thick layers of ice. With the family's crisis bearing down on her, Haruno's walls would only be higher, not lower.
So that bastard was definitely messing with me on purpose!
Shizuka's mind raced through a reconstruction.
Haruno went to see Fujiwara about the company. They were discussing business. I called. Haruno happened to step away. And that insufferable bastard saw my name on the caller ID, and his pathological need to provoke people kicked in. He picked up, said things designed to be misunderstood, and sat back to enjoy the explosion.
Yes. That's exactly what happened.
Her "rigorous" analysis brought her heart rate back to normal almost instantly.
She even felt a twinge of embarrassment at how furious she'd been.
Honestly, getting that worked up over a few of his idiotic jokes? How immature of me.
She resolved that when she found that bastard, she'd put on her sternest teacher act and give him a proper dressing-down.
Of course, after the lecture, if the mood was right, if he offered a sufficiently sincere "apology"... she might be open to a more... adult form of dialogue.
It had been a while, after all.
Hmph. When that time comes, he'd better make it up to me properly in bed.
The thought brought a faint blush to her cheeks. She squeezed her thighs together without thinking.
...
...
While Shizuka's internal monologue raged on, her Aston Martin was already gliding through the gates of the enormous villa estate.
She parked and was reaching for her phone to demand the bastard come outside when a young woman in a crisp maid's uniform appeared at her window, seemingly having been waiting for her.
Shizuka lowered the glass.
"Miss Hiratsuka, I presume?" The maid's voice was sweet, her courtesy carrying a faint mechanical precision.
"That's me."
"Fujiwara-san left instructions." A standardized smile. "Please follow me. He's waiting for you in the living room."
Shizuka felt a small, grudging satisfaction.
Hmph. At least the bastard has that much decency.
She killed the engine, opened her door, and walked toward the entrance.
Following the maid through the corridor, she'd calmed down completely.
That little bastard. A cold snort in her mind. Definitely said those things on the phone just to watch me lose it. Absolutely vile. I'll be giving him a thorough lecture on which jokes are acceptable and which are not.
As for Haruno... she's almost certainly here on legitimate business. A girl with defenses that high can't possibly have been compromised by Fujiwara in this short a time. I was worrying for nothing.
Then, as she reached the main doors, her stride broke.
Because she heard, faintly but unmistakably, sounds that had no place in a "business meeting."
Breathless, intermittent whimpers. Threaded through them, the unmistakable, obscene suggestion of wet skin.
Quiet. But in the excessive silence of the corridor, achingly clear.
Her brow furrowed hard.
My imagination?
Instinctively, she glanced at the maid beside her, her eyes full of question and suspicion.
The maid's expression hadn't changed. The same serene smile. As though she heard nothing at all.
Or perhaps she'd stopped noticing long ago.
...I'm overthinking this. Shizuka told herself.
She felt a flush of shame at her own paranoid thoughts and doubled down on her resolve to make Fujiwara "compensate" her later.
While she was still waging this internal war, the maid reached out and pushed the doors open.
They swung inward.
"Haruno, Sei..." Shizuka looked up, the names already forming on her lips.
And stopped.
No verbal sparring. No business negotiation.
Only the image of what she'd just seen.
On the massive white sofa in the center of the living room, Haruno was straddling Seiji's lap.
Her negligee was shoved down to her waist. Breasts bare, nipples swollen and red from his mouth. Her skirt was hiked up around her hips. Seiji had two fingers inside her pussy, working her slow and deep, his thumb pressing circles on her clit. His other hand gripped her ass, keeping her spread open on his lap.
Haruno's head was tipped back, face flushed dark red, mouth hanging open. The mask she wore every day of her life was gone. What was left was a woman getting fingered on a couch, too far gone to care who saw.
And Seiji sat there looking bored. Relaxed. Like he was checking his phone while his fingers made the most composed woman in Chiba fall apart on his hand.
Shizuka froze.
It was as though a bolt of lightning had struck her from crown to sole and left nothing behind but ash.
Every rational theory she'd constructed on the drive over.
Obliterated by the blunt, naked reality in front of her.
How... is this...
Haruno... she...
Then Haruno broke.
"Seiji-kun... please..." Wet, desperate, begging. She was grinding down on his fingers, hips moving on their own. "Faster... I can't take any more..."
Seiji noticed the figure at the door. His smile sharpened.
He pulled his fingers out of Haruno. She whimpered at the loss. He held his hand up, fingers glistening, and wiped them on her thigh.
"Sure. But make me feel good first."
He unzipped his pants, pulled his cock out, and pointed at the floor between his feet.
Shizuka's stomach dropped.
No. She won't. Haruno is too proud. She would never...
Haruno looked at his cock. One second of hesitation.
Then she slid off his lap, got on her knees between his legs, and took him into her mouth.
Shizuka watched Haruno Yukinoshita, the girl she'd mentored since high school, bobbing her head in a man's lap. Lips wrapped around his cock. Eyes closed. Cheeks hollowing with each suck.
That finished her.
Heartbreak, jealousy, and fury hit her all at once. She couldn't separate them and didn't try.
Heartbreak, because the brilliant, invincible woman she'd watched grow up had fallen this far.
Jealousy, because what Haruno was receiving was the very thing Shizuka herself, ever since that night in Hokkaido, had sworn she didn't want, yet craved in every dream that ambushed her at midnight.
Shizuka stood in the doorway, silent.
She watched for several seconds.
Then she turned, without a word, and walked away.
Her silhouette vanished behind the door.
In the living room, Seiji allowed himself a smile of pure, calculated satisfaction.
Shizuka's retreat didn't surprise him. Not in the least. It was, in every detail, exactly what he'd planned.
Good. Step one, shattering the illusion, complete. The thought was cool and clinical. Now I take my time bringing Shizuka around.
He looked down, refocusing on Haruno.
Her clumsiness and inexperience drew a flicker of displeasure.
Without warning, his hand came down on the back of her head, fingers gripping firm and rough.
"!?"
Haruno's body locked up on instinct.
Humiliation and fury hit her at once.
This bastard...
She wanted to be angry. Wanted to bite down.
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