As soon as he said that, Haruki regretted what he had said. But the words had already left his mouth.
"Saito-san, I'm sorry. Please forgive me!" he jumped out of bed and bowed deeply. "I spoke without thinking, I..."
The mountaineer glared at him with a colorless face.
Haruki didn't know whether out of surprise or fury. But Saito wasn't a man who was easily startled, he guessed. The singer knew he was in trouble.
Saito also stood up and said,
"Hm, then your 'good boy's mask' fell off. That's how you think of me. That I am a misguided man. Who deviated from 'good customs'. A submissive, passive emasculate. An addict. A weakling," Saito spat out the words as if they were wasps.
And Haruki felt them. One by one sting his soul.
