Seiji looked around his room.
At first glance, it was the same room, but it felt so different from the boring cage that it had been for years. The place where he had spent so much time being lonely and miserable.
Not anymore!
He straightened the tangled sheets on his bed.
It still smelled faintly of Haruko's perfume. And of sex. Raw, sweaty sex.
I just had sex with the most disciplined woman I know. I,Seiji Hoshino, cracked her discipline.
It was a very satisfying feeling—to know that it wasn't by accident that she gave herself to him. That it was his doing.
Well, the amulet's too.
But Seiji wasn't an innocent bystander.
He was the one who took Haruko right here, on his bed.
I just had sex with my dad's wife!
He felt a sudden rush of excitement.
And I'll make sure she's going to love having sex with me more than with him.
Seiji thought of his father.
Jun was always cold to him. Cold to her.
A man unhappy with everything. Or was that the real reason for his distance? Was he just insensitive? Oblivious?
I really don't get him. He had Yumi, he had me, he had Haruko. He should've been a happy man. What the hell is wrong with him?!
Yes, Seiji's mom left him, but otherwise—otherwise he had everything that a man could possibly wish for.
Seiji heard the familiar sound of the front door closing.
Yumi was back from the stroll.
Seiji turned to the mirror and checked his look. His clothes were straightened. His eyes looked more focused.
Alert. In charge.
One house. Two women.
Two women he was going to encounter face to face next, for the first time since both of them had fully surrendered themselves to him.
He went downstairs.
Yumi was already in the kitchen, baby in her arms. She saw Haruko washing something in the sink. Systematic. Unmoved.
"I'm back," Yumi told Seiji as soon as she saw him.
The baby babbled happily. When she saw Seiji, she reached out to him.
He took the baby girl in his arms.
Naturally. Smoothly. As if he'd been doing it forever.
Yumi watched him, full of tenderness.
There was a big "I love you" in her eyes.
Haruko also looked at Seiji, but with a different expression.
Concern. Insecurity.
Then—
Yumi glanced at Haruko.
Haruko looked back at Yumi.
A single second of eye contact.
Neither spoke.
But Seiji felt he could understand the silent conversation between them.
A competition.
I'm his, and you know it.
Yes. And I'm not backing down.
Seiji still felt calm, standing between them.
A center of gravity.
You're both mine.
"Let me help you," Seiji told Yumi.
"Thanks, Seiji," she murmured.
She followed him upstairs. Haruko stayed where she was, grudgingly watching them disappear.
In Yumi's room, Seiji set the baby down in the crib.
He turned to find Yumi standing close. Too close.
Her eyes were searching his face. Scanning anxiously for signs of change.
Can she sense that something is different between me and Haruko?
"Stepmother seems... better," Yumi said.
She tried to sound casual.
She failed.
"Did something happen?"
Her tone was of someone bracing for an answer that might hurt.
She stood very still, but her hands were jittery.
I shouldn't lie. It's beneath me.
Seiji was now a different person.
But can I tell her the truth? It'll hurt her.
"She and I talked," he said slowly.
Yumi's breath hitched.
"Talked?"
Her fingers curled.
Her nostrils flared just a little.
She wasn't curious. She was jealous.
Very jealous.
"I see..." she murmured. Her eyes dropped to the floor. "I guess she... needed it."
She understood everything. Without me even telling her.
They stood in silence for a few moments.
Then Yumi looked up again. Her eyes were moist.
"Seiji... you'll still come to my room tonight, right?"
Her voice cracked on the last word.
She wasn't asking a question. It was a plea.
Please don't forget me.
Please don't leave me behind.
Seiji looked back at Yumi. How much had changed in just a few days!
There was no longer the tired distant older sister. Yumi was his passionate lover, a woman who needed him and was terrified of losing him.
I won't leave you behind, Yumi.
Seiji pressed a gentle hand to her cheek.
Yumi's eyes fluttered closed. Relief immediately flooded her face.
She sighed and leaned into his palm.
Seiji said nothing.
Inside, he felt he should start doing things differently.
He didn't just want to comfort Yumi.
He wanted to set the rules.