The store where my father ordered the jackets from is a fancy boutique.

It's hard to believe my father would shop at a store like this on his own.

...I could tell right away that Rina-san took him here.

I handed over his receipt to the cashier. A short time later, the store manager came out wearing a perplexed look.

"Ryuugu-sama, I'm very sorry,

but it seems like the truck carrying your jackets is stuck in traffic...

It should be here soon, though..."

He said that the driver called a while ago, told him he just got off the highway, and would be here in about an hour.

I didn't need to know all the details, but he explained them to me anyway.

I asked him if I should come back tomorrow.

He insisted that I should wait because the truck would be coming shortly, and he urged me to take a seat on their sofa.

...But I didn't really feel comfortable waiting there, so I told him I'd be back soon and left the store.

I wondered if there are any fast-food restaurants nearby.

I might have to go all the way back to the station.

I looked around, and found a coffee house.

The glass on the door was black, so I couldn't see inside.

...But, there was a poster saying the price for a cup of tea is lower than normal for women on weekdays.

...I'd just be going to get a cup of tea to kill some time. It should be okay.

But still, I hesitated to go inside before opening the door.

Her first impression of the coffee house was the smell of cigarettes.

It's normal for coffee houses to be filled with cigarette smoke. It's like a requirement.

...But Rena still regretted her decision.

While she was thinking about leaving, the proprietor spoke to her brusquely and showed her to a table. Rena gave up on the idea of leaving and sat down.

The atmosphere in the shop was far from a clean, normal coffee house where you would go to simply enjoy coffee and cigarettes. It was more like a place where vulgar people would hang around.

Rena didn't feel comfortable at all. But, what bothered her most was the laughter of a man and a woman sitting together in the very back of the shop.

Her table was behind a planter, so depending on how one looked at it, one could say she was in the spot most protected from their laughter.

...But Rena looked as though she wanted to leave as soon as she finished her tea.

The bell hanging from the entrance door rang, letting her know a customer just came in.

...It was a little surprising for her that a coffee shop like this could draw in so many customers.

Rena peeked at the newcomers from behind the planter.

There were two of them.

...They looked like vulgar men, the kind of people you didn't want to get involved with the instant you saw them.

The proprietor tried to show them to a table, but they ignored him and walked towards the back.

They walked up to the couple who had been laughing loudly, and greeted them with a bow.

"Hey!

Ya finally made it.

Siddown."

The couple stopped laughing, and the man told the newcomers to sit down in a threatening tone of voice.

As instructed, the two of them took a seat.

"So?

What happened?"

"We're very sorry. We tried to..."

"Cut it, dipshit.

Just hand it over."

The two of them looked at each other before they each took an envelope out of their pockets and put it on the table.

The man roughly grabbed the two envelopes and tore one of them open.

Inside, there were many wrinkled 10,000 yen bills bound into a bundle with a rubber band.

He opened the other one to make sure it also had cash in it and then threw it to the woman.

"Count 'em."

"Hey, don't order me around!

This is originally my money, you know?"

"Shaddup!!

Just count 'em..."

The man yelled at the woman. She licked her thumb, looking annoyed, and started counting the cash expertly.

The two newcomers hung their heads while she counted.

Lighting a cigarette, the man waited for her to finish counting.

"............"

"Good. It's all here."

The woman said that after flicking through the last bill.

The newcomers looked relieved.

The man, however, didn't look satisfied as he stared at the bundle of the bills the woman was holding.

"...Ritsuko,

how much is there?"

"What? I told you it's all here."

"I'm askin' ya, how much is that?!"

"I told you. All the money I lent them!"

"No, idjit!!

I'm askin' ya if they paid ya the interest!!"

The man and Ritsuko yelled at each other.

Even though they were making all that noise, the other customers acted like they didn't hear anything.

"Hey, boys.

There's only two mill in here.

What's goin' on?"

The two of them were trying to find some excuses to make.

...It seemed like this behavior had touched the man's nerves, as he started looking furious.

"The fuck is this?!

I asked ya, what's goin' on?! Ya'd better start talkin'!!"

His angry voice echoed through the shop.

He hit the table hard, and dropped a glass on the floor. The noise thickened the tension in the atmosphere.

"W-W-We are very sorry!!"

"Bein' sorry doesn't give her the interest, does it?

I don't mind callin' the police to solve our problem, you know?"

"P-Please don't...!"

The two newcomers must have been in an extremely vulnerable position.

They bowed so deeply that their foreheads almost touched the table.

"I called y'all here because I thought you wouldn't want me to involve the police.

But then, you act like you don't fuckin' care. Hmm?!"

"We're sorry... We're very sorry...!"

While you could pity them, the newcomers looked as vulgar as the man threatening them, making it hard to decide whether you should feel sorry for them or not.

After a while, Ritsuko opened her mouth as if to offer them help.

"Tecchan,

don't be so mean to them.

I'm sorry. My guy gets mad easily when money's involved."

"You don't have to add the money part!!

I'm getting ticked because they're bitchin' at'cha."

"Jeez, saying those stupid things won't get you anything.

......Mmmmm...!"

The man pulled Ritsuko roughly into his arms, and frantically kissed her lips without caring about the other customers.

Their kiss wasn't like the lovely ones that normal couples would share. It looked obscene instead.

...He let her lips go to take a breath, kissed them again, and repeated that for a while.

After a while, he finally got bored of kissing and let her go.

"He gets really mad when it comes to me, too.

...He's impossible."

"So what?

This woman's like a part of my body.

Puttin' dirt on her means puttin' dirt on me.

Whoever tries to do that is in for a bloodbath."

"Do you remember the guy with the comb-over?

I forgot what you did to that guy after you took him outside."

"Dwa ha ha ha ha!!

I remember him!

He challenged me, wantin' to take it outside!!

He said he did karate, so I got a li'l excited to see what he had and I punched him in the stomach, but then he just kneeled down on the ground!

I was disappointed, so I took off his pants and underwear, and made him clean the public toilets with them.

See? I'm helpin' society!!

I deserve an award for that one."

"I can't believe you made him do that!

You're so gross sometimes.

Kyahahahahaha...!"

They started laughing loudly like they were doing earlier.

Their laughter obviously intimidated their companions.

"Listen, you two.

Tecchan is actually in a very good mood today.

Usually, he'd start yelling, 'this isn't enough money!' and you'd be thrown into the Ouji River naked by now."

"W-We truly apologize for the inconvenience..."

"Well,

ya forgot about the interest, but ya did put together all the rest of the money in time. I'm impressed.

So, I'll be nice and take that into consideration, you know?"

"Anyway,

his interest rate is a little high,

but it's only five if you pay it today. If you wait even a day longer, it'll be doubled.

And if it's doubled, I don't think you'll be able to pay it no matter what you do.

So, I'm going to make you a deal.

...Tecchan, would you give us a minute?"

"Tch.

...Sure, I guess it's okay."

The man left the table with a grin and headed for the bathroom.

...He was far too amenable to that request, as if they'd planned for him to leave the table at that moment.

Ritsuko made sure he was in the bathroom, then took some papers out of her bag and spread them on the table.

"You're young.

You don't want to ruin your life because of an outlaw like him, do you?

So, I recommend you pay all the interest today.

If you do, you can cut your ties with him."

"...We... We understand that, but......

but, we can't get 500,000 yen just like that..."

"I understand. I bet you tried really hard to collect that two million yen.

I understand there's no one who'd help you out with another 500,000."

"..........................."

They must've done their very best to collect even the money they brought today.

So... it must be impossible for them to collect even a dime from anybody now.

...They hung their heads and told her that.

"However,

take a look. I made this for you."

".....................Ah..."

The guys looked at the paper on the table and muttered under their breaths.

"You don't need collateral or a joint guarantor for this, so the interest rate is a bit high.

But with this, you can take out a loan of 500,000 yen right away.

...Even this interest rate is a lot better than Tecchan's. What do you think?"

It would be easy for anyone to guess what Ritsuko was trying to force them to do.

"If you show him this with your signature on it, I'm sure he'll let you off.

...It's your choice, though.

If you need a pen, you can use mine. Here."

They read the small print on the documents and were stunned by the outrageous interest rate.

Ritsuko didn't force them to do anything.

She just looked out the window and smoked her cigarette.

After a while, the man returned from the bathroom.

"Hey, did ya come to an agreement?"

They looked at him, steeled themselves, and took the pen...

"They're going to borrow money to pay your interest.

It's only 500,000 yen, so they can pay their debts soon if they work really hard."

"That's great. I'm impressed.

Men get tougher when they have somethin' burdenin' them!"

They must have planned this from the very beginning.

The man and Ritsuko got what they wanted, and grinned at each other.

There were many things to fill out on the documents, and it was taking them a long time.

The man and Ritsuko, already knowing that, started talking amongst themselves.

"Ritsuko, how's yer husband in Hinamizawa doin'?"

"What?

He's not my husband."

"What's goin' on with him?

I heard he has a lot of money.

How much do ya think you can squeeze out of 'im?"

"Well, you'll be so surprised!

I heard his ex-wife gave him a settlement when they divorced, right?

But... I just found out that she gave him a lot!"

"How much is 'a lot'?"

"He has about fifty million yen in the bank.

He's a big spender."

"Wow!

That's real big!!

So, how much do ya think ya can squeeze out of 'im...?"

"He has a big crush on me.

He buys me anything I want. Anything!

He's not cheap like you.

I might get serious about him."

"I don't think so.

Yer body won't be satisfied with anyone but me!"

"Mm!

Mmmm...!!

...Stop it. Not here!"

"So, what's the plan?"

"I'm thinking about telling him I need some money to get rid of my ex-boyfriend."

"How much are ya gonna ask him for?"

"......*whisper*"

"Gwa ha ha ha ha ha!!

Yer a scary woman!!

Lemme know if ya need an actor for yer play.

I'll be yer scary ex-boyfriend."

".........Umm...

...Excuse me.

...We finished."

"Great!

Then let's bring it over to the loan company.

Ritsuko, take care of the check, would ya?"

The man pat them on their shoulders, and then walked to the door.

...Another person was just about to enter, and they nearly ran into each other.

The man probably wouldn't make way for the person, considering his personality.

......But, when he noticed who that person was, he stepped aside.

The person looked as vulgar as all the other men.

...He was wearing a black suit with sunglasses on.

He wasn't that big, but his stern look was very intimidating.

It was clear at a glance that he was a gangster, and a professional one at that.

The man who was behaving badly earlier looked a little nervous in front of him.

As Ritsuko finished paying the check, she noticed the man in the suit.

"Oh... General Manager...?

G-Good morning, sir."

".................."

The man in the suit said nothing. He just raised his chin as if saying "fuck off".

Ritsuko and the others bowed to him and left the shop in a hurry.

The proprietor noticed the man in the suit, also greeting him with a bow.

...Who could he have been?

He appeared sedate compared to the other men, but he must be dangerous, because he made even them step aside.

...Everybody in the shop thought the same thing and tried not to look at him.

The man in the suit looked around and found the menu on the wall.

The proprietor walked up to him hesitantly...

"......Hey, waiter."

"Y

-Yes.

Is...

anything bothering you, sir...?"

"...Do you have this...

seasonal dessert...

s...

sw...

sweet something or other today?"

"Huh?

Oh... Ahahahahaha.

No, actually, we aren't running that today, but...

well, if you insisted, then we could make it specially for you..."

"...If you're not selling it, you're not selling it.

I'll come back some other day."

"Hey, Kasai!

He said he'd make it for you!

Take his offer! We came all the way here!"

The girl seemed to be the only one who couldn't read the heavy atmosphere in the shop, and she came in laughing cheerfully. It was...

Mion Sonozaki's twin sister,

Shion.

Shion pushed Kasai into the store while he hesitated.

She looked at a girl who was sitting down and stopped in her tracks.

"Huh?

Oh, it's you! Hello!

Rena-san!

How are you doing?"

"......Eh?

Oh......... Shii-chan...?"

"I'm surprised to see you here.

Huh?

Are you here by yourself?

You waiting for someone?

Is it my sis?

Or, maybe, could it be Kei-chan~?"

"Ah... Shii-chan.

...Who is this...?"

"Hm?

Are you talking about Kasai here?

He's like my bodyguard.

He'll protect me when my life is in danger, won't you?"

"...I'll give my life for your sake, if that's what you want me to do."

"Wow...

Kasai, if you were twenty years younger, I might have fallen for you!

He looks scary, but he's a very funny guy.

This is Rena Ryuugu-san.

She's Sis's friend."

"...My name is Kasai.

Nice to meet you."

"Umm

.........K

-Kasai-san.

Do you know the people who just walked past you?"

Kasai nodded,

indicating that he was familiar with them.

"Who are they?

I've never seen them before."

"...The man is Teppei Houjou.

A skunk of a human being."

Shion seemed to know who he was once she heard the name "Houjou".

"......And the woman...?"

"...Rina Mamiya.

I believe that's her business name.

Her real name is Ritsuko Mamiya, I think. She's a hostess at Flower Road."

"Kasai-san,

do you know what he is to her?

They looked like a couple to me."

"Houjou is Rina's pimp.

They're very, very bad people, so you should never get involved with them."

"How bad are they?"

Rena pressed him for the answer, and Kasai seemed to back down a little from that pressure.

"...It's more courteous to stay out of a woman's private affairs."

"How bad are they?"

"......Please don't ask."

"How bad are they?"

Rena kept asking the same question until she got an answer.

Shion sensed how desperate Rena was, and cut into the conversation.

"Kasai,

why don't you just tell her?

I don't think she's asking out of curiosity.

Am I right, Rena-san?"

"....................."

"........................"

There was tension developing between Rena and Kasai.

Shion seemed to be the only one who couldn't read the mood.

Kasai finally opened his mouth.

"They're both skunks, really.

I've heard that they make a living by gambling and blackmailing people.

I've also heard that they set up badger games."

"What's a badger game?"

"Ahahaha. Well, a badger game is like a...

marriage fraud?

The woman finds a catch, a man who has money, and begins a relationship with him. Then, her boyfriend shows up and catches them in the act, blames the guy for stealing his girlfriend, then blackmails him for money."

"...First, the woman makes him buy expensive stuff for her, and then she and her boyfriend take all of his money.

...There's a rumor that she's got herself a big catch recently."

"Wow...

Whoever that is, I'm so sorry for him.

Well, the guy had some fun with her too.

I guess he gets what he deserves."

"...That's a little harsh, Shion-san.

A man sometimes falls for a woman very easily."

"Oh, really?

I wonder whom you fell for.

Waiter, bring the dessert to us, please.

...Wait

.........

Where did she go?"

"She just took her leave."

Rena was already gone. The door, which had just closed, looked as if it was the only thing that knew where she went...

When I got home, the door was locked.

I used my key to get in, and I found a note in the living room.

"Something's come up, so I have to go. I'm going to eat out tonight" is what the note said.

This wasn't the first time he'd done something like this.

Each time, he only told me he had to go to Okinomiya for something.

But I knew the real reason, because I heard him talking on the phone once.

Rina-san must have had some free time between jobs and asked him out to have dinner together.

I heaved a sigh, looked at the new living room I hated, and went to my room.

I thought back over what I just heard at the coffee house.

...I tried to rationalize the meaning of her actions there. Maybe she had to pretend to be a bad person because she was being threatened by the man.

But, even after the man she called "Tecchan" left the table, she continued to threaten the guys and pushed them into signing the loan contract immediately.

...If she was threatened to play along with the man, she wouldn't have done that.

If she was pretending to be a bad person, she could've shown a little bit of mercy or sympathy when he left her alone with them.

It's like holding water in a bowl you made with your hands.

No matter how sturdy you made the bowl, water would leak from your fingers.

Mercy and sympathy leak out from you.

But, nothing, not even a drop of water, leaked from Rina-san.

Her hands weren't even moist. They were all dried up.

There was no water that could leak through those hands.

Rina-san was threatening those guys as much as the man was.

Neither was leading the other along.

They were doing it together.

...That was it.

Rina-san is

...a 'bad person'.

My brain cells accepted the idea with applause.

...After all, I always hated Rina-san.

I just couldn't accept the feeling because my father liked her.

But... at that moment, I could finally accept it...

She's a 'bad person', just like my mother.

She's an existence that will ruin everything and destroy my father's happiness just by being with him.

But I wonder if my father would understand that Rina-san is a bad person if I told him so.

My father likes her so much that he would jump over a cliff if she asked him to.

He thinks everything she does or says is great, and he interprets everything about her in a positive way.

He protects her and praises her without her asking him to.

...I'm not a kid anymore.

I understand how a woman can tame a man.

It's different from love. Love is about trying to build a relationship.

Taming is just a way of satisfying the lust to dominate. She's just trying to make him into her slave.

Women can deceive men... even my father...

...They can use dirty methods to ensnare men like they're following a manual.

It's the weak point all men are born with.

Even with a strong will, they can't resist it.

That's why we hate those women who exploit that weak point to deceive men.

That's why I couldn't bring myself to like Rina-san.

For the sake of argument, let's assume I acknowledged an unreciprocated love like that.

...But that would only be as long as it was love.

...If it wasn't love... if it was just a method to threaten and squeeze money out of him,

I would never forgive her...

I remember their conversation at the coffee house.

......Rina-san said that my father is a big spender.

In fact, I think he spends more money without hesitation than before he met Rina-san.

I was happy that he started to regain an interest in going out into the world again...... but now I don't know whether I should be happy or not.

He controls the money of the Ryuugu family overall. But since I do the grocery shopping, he often gives me his bankbook so that I can withdraw money.

Because of that, I know where he keeps his bankbook, his personal seal, and other important stuff.

They're in one of his drawers, which he usually locks.

...I know where he hides the key, and I know the combination of the cash box inside the drawer.

He might be coming back soon, so I felt a little nervous.

...But I had to make sure...

I opened the cash box, which had some bankbooks, personal seals, stamps, and unused postcards.

I removed everything from the cash box to get at the bankbooks. Then, I found something new.

...On the bottom of the box, there was a bundle of new 10,000 yen bills.

Its thickness wasn't something I could ignore.

There was also a paper wrapper that looked like it had been bundling the bills.

The wrapper had a stamp that said it was a bundle of a million yen.

He usually kept some cash at home because it was troublesome to go to the bank every time he needed money.

But, it was usually around 100,000 to 200,000 yen at most.

He's never kept such a big amount of money at home before, because he knows it's unsafe.

...The extraordinary amount of 10,000 yen bills was abnormally intimidating.

I tried to open the bankbook, but my fingers got numb all of a sudden.

A part of me was trying to deny the things I heard at the coffee house.

...It wasn't because I wanted to defend my father, or even Rina-san.

...It was because I didn't want to believe my father was the "husband in Hinamizawa" the blackmailers were talking about...

I opened the bankbook.

The last time I saw it was about two or three months ago. It shows countless withdrawals since that day.

I probably wouldn't normally understand what those numbers meant.

...But I felt in that moment as if the ten different digits were speaking to me.

They were... a series of cruel digits.

It starts with some understandable expenses that I assume represent dinners or something.

...But then, the amount of money starts to become nice round numbers, like a five or a ten.

I can tell by looking at the dates he withdrew money that he wanted to have a certain amount of cash on hand when he went out with Rina-san.

Among those expenses, a big number appeared all of a sudden.

...It was too much money to spend on a date. Hundreds of thousands of yen.

......I looked at the date of the withdrawal, and I traced it back in my memory.

......I remembered...

Around that time

...Rina-san was talking about moving into a new apartment.

I know the market rate of rental apartments in Okinomiya.

...You need to put down two safety deposits, and two payments of key money in order to rent an apartment.

...That amount of withdrawal sounded reasonable now.

......He paid the whole down payment for her new apartment.

After that, big numbers appeared one after another. I could tell they were for congratulatory gifts for her new apartment or something.

The numbers got bigger and bigger.

It looked like at first he was withdrawing only the amount of money needed, but then, he started withdrawing big amounts all at once because he knew he was going to use it someday anyway.

...The change meant only one thing.

He lost his sense of the value of money.

The balance kept going down, and I started feeling anxious about what's going to happen if he continued spending money like that. But then, I saw a deposit of a big amount of money into the account.

...Where did that money come from?

There was only one thing I could think of.

...I opened the other bankbook.

It was easy, like a puzzle for kids.

It was like playing with an easy jigsaw puzzle that comes with huge pieces that you don't even have to put together to see what the whole picture looks like.

...My father was using money from his time deposits.

In other words, the settlement my mother paid my father when she divorced him.

...To him, it's cursed money.

I'd understand if he wanted to use it to get a new love.

But... that was just an excuse to use the money from his time deposits.

Money is money.

Even though it's his divorce alimony, it's still important money for our future.

Even though it's cursed money to him, that doesn't mean he can waste it.

Big expenses start appearing one after another.

There are many expenses, upwards of 6 digits.

For some reason, I could immediately tell they were for buying electric appliances and furniture.

He must've been buying everything she asked him to.

...If, from the beginning, Rina-san was only seeing to check if he could end up being a big catch,

she must've been trying to find how much money she could squeeze out of him.

And... my father bought her anything she wanted, no matter how expensive it was. So, she probably thinks of him as the perfect catch now.

The numbers in the bankbook told me so.

The simple numbers and dates on the bankbook had started talking to me.

Around the time he started withdrawing big amounts of money, Rina-san started coming to the house more often, and she also started spending the night.

...To Rina-san, my father was at first just a guy who spends big money,

but around that time, she landed her big catch.

My father used to refer to her as "my friend in Okinomiya" at first. But he started referring to her as "Rina-san" around that time.

This is partially his fault...

But he was betrayed by his beloved wife, and he was feeling hurt and down for a long time.

...It's also partially my fault.

That's why I didn't want to blame him.

And... he's not that good-looking, either.

There's no way he's immune to women.

He must have not been able to resist an attractive lady who aggressively approached him when he was feeling down.

He's crazy about Rina-san, and he can see nothing other than her.

I can't blame him, because Rina-san trained him to be that way.

I put the bankbooks and the other things back into the cash box.

...This cash box is just like my father's heart.

Rina-san is eating up the contents...!

...What should I do?

Think, Rena Ryuugu.

Should I tell him about Rina-san's scheme?

...No, that probably wouldn't do anything.

The whole point of taming an animal is that it won't run away from its owner even when the door is wide open.

...My father probably won't leave his cage even if I opened the door.

Should I confront Rina-san about her plot when he's with her?

...The results would be the same.

Rina-san would run behind his back.

He'd probably try to protect her.

If she pressed her breasts against his back, he'd protect her no matter what.

...I couldn't make this a problem between me and him.

First of all, I was trying to get rid of Rina-san for his sake.

If we got mad at each other, it would give the advantage to Rina-san.

It would be like I was putting myself into her trap.

Then... that meant

I couldn't make him do anything.

If I couldn't make him break up with Rina-san, I'd have to talk to Rina-san directly.

...So, instead of making my father fight

...I'd have to fight in his place.

But, how?

...That guy, Kasai-san, who was with Shii-chan today, seemed to know the man Rina-san was with.

I wonder if I can somehow meet him again.

He looked scary, but I was introduced to him as a friend of Mii-chan.

...Mii-chan has a lot of power around here.

There's no way he would treat me badly...

I wondered if he could tell Rina-san and the man to back off from my father...

That'd help me a lot...

But I didn't know how I could meet him again.

...I could ask Mii-chan for help, but I don't want her to know about my situation...

This is a problem of the Ryuugu family.

This is nobody's business but mine.

Yeah, this is a battle that I'd have to fight alone.

I regretted my parents' divorce.

...I wept about the tragedy I could've prevented if I had tried.

......I wasn't going to weep this time.

I wasn't going to let the chance slip away.

This time... I would fight for my happiness.