"Hey, Ryuichi-kun."
"Yeah?"
It was after school, the day right before the long holiday weekend in May. It was already dark, and night had fallen. Ryuichi and Shizuna, both students, were on their way home from having dinner at the bar they had previously visited together. They were both still in their uniform because they had gone out for some shopping prior.
"Do you have any plans for the holidays?"
"Ah… Nope, not really."
He hadn't made any commitments to anyone as of yet. He had been invited by Makoto and Kaname for various woman-related activities during the holidays, but he turned them down. They were probably going to go to mixers and such, but the current Ryuichi didn't crave a woman's company that badly.
Well no, he actually did have the desire to hold a woman. After all, it was always in a man's instinct to want to spend time with a beautiful woman.
"Shizuna."
"Kya?!"
Placing his hand on her shoulder, he embraced her somewhat tightly. She squealed in surprise, but the moment he embraced her as such, her eyes became noticeably expressive of her fondness for him, and they began to glint in eager anticipation. It was a sign of her infatuation with Ryuichi, and she could not hide her desire to devote herself to him.
"Why would I need plans when I have you this year around? So what do you say? Do you wanna spend the holiday with me?"
"Geez, do you really have to ask questions you already know the answer to?"
She let out a giggle at his obvious question. Her eyes were moist and her cheeks were flushed; every inch of her body was filled to the brim with anticipation for Ryuichi. With her in his embrace, he brought his face up to her neck and sniffed her scent as he continued.
"I want to hear it straight from your mouth."
"Okay… I want to be with you. I want to stay by your side and never let go. I want you to hold me tightly in your embrace with your arms."
She buried her face in his chest, telling him that that was all she could ever ask for. The way she was now, she was completely in love with him, and there was no doubt that she was so obedient she would listen to anything he asked of her. However, the fondness she had for him was undoubtedly a precious feeling that she herself had developed. Of course, Ryuichi had some part to play in this, but it was her own heart that amplified her feelings for him such that they had become as great as they are today.
"Y'know, I've never seen you take off that choker before; do you really like it that much?"
She nodded in response, tracing the tip of her finger on the choker attached to her neck. Not much time had passed since he had given it to her, but still, she basically never took it off. He could even see her occasionally stroking it with her fingers with a delighted expression on her face.
"Yes, very. Of course, I do take it off when I take my baths, but… fufu. I always want to think of myself as being yours, Ryuichi-kun. I always want to be conscious of the fact that I am a woman who is devoted to you, a woman who you'll think is special."
Nobody would've ever expected those kinds of words from a beautiful girl like Shizuna. She'd said that she wanted to feel like she belonged to Ryuichi, that she wanted to be special to him. This stimulated Ryuichi's possessive side, instinctively making him see the woman in front of him as a special luxury only for him.
"Shizuna."
"Mmm."
He put his hand on her chin and raised her face. Her eyes closed, he placed his lips on hers and slipped his tongue in, violating all the way to the recesses of her mouth. With Shizuna's muffled voice fuelling him further, their kiss became more intense as Ryuichi began to desire her even more heatedly.
"…Ryuichi-kun. I want to spend the rest of the night with you."
Their faces parted, and silver threads formed between their lips. Ryuichi had held many women before in his life, but he could keenly feel that Shizuna carried a charm that was truly incomparable.
He held her shoulders, deciding to head to his home since it was closer than hers.
"Let's go to my place."
"Yes. ♪"
Her response was immediate, and her voice sounded very excited. Seeing her blatantly obvious reaction made him laugh. Just as the two of them snuggled against each other, about to make their way to his apartment, fate played a trick on them and another person's voice rang out.
"What…are you doing?"
"Hmm?"
"?"
The voice was one that was familiar to both Ryuichi and Shizuna. They didn't even have to turn around to realize it belonged to Sohei, and Ryuichi chuckled when he saw the anger on Shizuna's face the moment she heard his voice.
Ryuichi turned around to face him, but Shizuna did not follow suit, seemingly not wanting to see his face. Once he turned around, he saw Sohei looking stunned, as if he couldn't believe what his eyes were seeing. He then casually spoke to him as usual.
"You out on a stroll this late at night? Or are ya on your way home?"
"Shut up! Who cares what I'm doing?! I'm asking what you're doing!"
It seemed Sohei was anything but calm…well, of course he would be, but still, Ryuichi couldn't help but shrug his shoulders in exasperation at how noisy he was being this late at night.
"I just got back from my dinner with Shizuna. Right now…"
…I'm going to take her to my apartment, Ryuichi was about to say before he stopped himself. In truth, he didn't think anything of Sohei. He no longer cared about the fact that he was the protagonist; he didn't care that Shizuna was the heroine; and he didn't care that he was the one who stole her away from him. However, if he did tell him those words, it would likely change his relationship with Shizuna… No, forget changing their relationship, his words might even end it.
"Ryuichi-kun. I've already decided to be by your side. It's okay."
"…Alright. I won't hold back then."
If that was what she said, then Ryuichi had nothing more to hide.
"I'm going to take her to my apartment."
"…What?"
"This girl is my woman. If she says she doesn't want to go home and wants to stay with me, then isn't it my duty as a man to do exactly that?"
He had his arms around her shoulders as he spoke. In his mind, he felt like an absolute villain, but in a sense, this too could be said to be just another outcome of love. It was a simple conclusion where Ryuichi won Shizuna over by a string of coincidences, as opposed to Sohei who never took any action of his own.
"That's how it is, Sohei-kun. Come on, Ryuichi-kun; let's get going."
"Right behind you."
She, too, had nothing left to say to him, and as if to say this, she took Ryuichi's arm, back turned to Sohei. Ryuichi also turned his back on him and started to walk away, but Sohei rushed to their side for whatever reason.
"What the hell?! This isn't you, Shizuna! How could you have changed so much without me knowing—"
"Why must you know everything about me?"
"Tch… You! I bet you did something to her! You must be threatening her!"
"…Well, I guess that's how it'd look like to you."
Ryuichi scratched his head in understanding. Sohei had no knowledge of the incident that had brought Ryuichi and Shizuna together in the first place. He didn't know of their interactions after that, and he definitely didn't know that they'd had sexual relations with each other. In other words, from his point of view, it seemed as if his precious childhood friend had somehow been seduced by Ryuichi, who was a well-known delinquent, behind his back.
"Well, I guess it does look like I seduced you. Plus, it isn't entirely wrong, either, so I can't really deny it."
"Fufu, true. But I really do love you from the bottom of my heart, Ryuichi-kun. No matter what anybody else says, that will never change. I won't deny it, and more importantly—"
"Urk…"
Shizuna shot Sohei a strong look. He took a step back, perhaps because he had never seen that expression from her before. She looked straight at him and said:
"I won't let anyone else deny it. These feelings…these feelings of love that I hold for Ryuichi-kun; I will never let anybody deny them."
Shizuna's voice was crystal clear. Sohei was naturally shocked, but on the other hand, Ryuichi couldn't help but think that he was truly a scumbag. Even though she was expressing her feelings for him in such a straightforward manner, he still could not tell if the feelings he held for her was love. He wanted to monopolize her; he wanted to make her his; yet despite all that, he couldn't actually tell if he loved her.
"I wish you were never born."
What's the use of believing in love; all women are just like that filthy mother of yours…, whispered Ryuichi's own voice from deep inside. Of course, Shizuna was not like that. He understood that she was so beautiful, so straightforward, and so wonderful a woman.
"...…"
It wasn't just Shizuna; he had no doubt that Chisa and Sakie were also people that he could lay himself bare to. Still, he couldn't find it in him to take that one step forward.
"…Damn it."
He forcibly convinced himself that worrying about these things wasn't like him, and that he should just continue treating her as he had until now. With that, he hugged Shizuna from behind right in front of Sohei.
"Ryuichi-kun?"
"Hey, you better—"
…back off from her. Sohei was unable to say those last few words.
"Hnng… ♪"
"C'mon, Shizuna, that's enough. Let's get home quickly so we can get to having some more fun again tonight."
He whispered in her ear while simultaneously sinking his fingers into her ample breasts. She didn't reject him in the slightest; in fact, she even looked as if she wanted him to go harder on her. But more importantly, this scene was an exact reenactment of the events that had occurred after they'd exited the club that day.
"N-No way…"
"Yep. The woman who was beside me that time was Shizuna. The woman whom you called promiscuous was actually her."
"…Shizuna?"
She nodded at Sohei's question. Sohei did not say anything after that, and Ryuichi, seeing that their conversation had come to an end, took Shizuna and started to walk away. After walking for some time, he muttered something to her.
"A lot of things are probably going to change now. I mean, he was in love with you, wasn't he?"
"Yes, he did…but it can't be helped. I care about you more than I do for him now. There's no point in worrying about it."
That marked the last time she brought up Sohei's name. She must've had some thoughts on the matter, Ryuichi was sure of it. Still, she followed her feelings and chose to stay by his side.
It was a simple conclusion: she just chose the person for whom she held stronger feelings—that was all.