"Then what about you, Aunt Sayoko? That Sakai Yutaka guy is dead, are you scared or sad?", Hikari asked in return.
Sayoko shook her head again and again, "Of course not. Hikari-kun killed him to help me. How could Auntie be afraid, and there's no way I'd be sad for him."
"But Auntie has a question. I don't know if I should ask it," Sayoko looked at Hikari, her expression a little hesitant.
Hikari waved his hand casually, "It's fine, Auntie, go ahead. As long as it's not something like when I'm getting married or when I'm having kids."
Hearing that, Sayoko smiled first, then her expression suddenly turned serious as she asked, "Hikari-kun, the deaths of Ryusei Haruyoshi and his son earlier… did that have something to do with you too?"
Hikari wasn't surprised that Sayoko had noticed this. He nodded frankly, "Yeah. I killed them too."
"Why?", Sayoko's delicate body trembled slightly, her tone tense as she asked.
"Because they were just like Sakai Yutaka. They also wanted to lay a hand on you, Aunt Sayoko. In fact, they were even worse than Sakai Yutaka. They had built a basement at home earlier, specifically to capture w0men and t0rture them. And you, Aunt Sayoko, were their last target before they died."
"Thinking that they actually had the nerve to set their sights on you, Aunt Sayoko, I really couldn't stand it, so I struck first," Hikari spoke almost completely truthfully.
Hearing this, Sayoko fell silent.
"Aunt Sayoko thinks I went too far? I…", Hikari was just wondering whether Sayoko thought he had been too ruthless and was afraid, and whether he should comfort her—
When Sayoko suddenly hugged him tightly, interrupting him with a choked voice, "How could Auntie think you went too far? Auntie is just worried about you."
"Auntie knows that Hikari-kun did all of this to protect me. How could Auntie blame you?"
"I'm just worried that Hikari-kun might get hurt or have some accident because of this. If that happened, Auntie would never sleep peacefully again for the rest of her life."
"You're still just a high school student, yet you have to do such frightening things. It must be really hard on your heart. All for Auntie… you've really suffered, Hikari-kun. Auntie is sorry to you!"
Thinking about how Hikari was still so young, yet had several lives on his hands just to protect her, Sayoko felt moved, heartbroken, and guilty all at once.
Sensing Sayoko's intense guilt, Hikari reached out and gently patted her smooth back in his arms, softly comforting her, "It's okay. Auntie, don't worry. I've handled everything. Nothing will happen."
Hearing this, Sayoko nodded slightly and said nothing more.
She simply opened her arms and hugged Hikari tightly, resting her head against his chest.
The two of them pressed chest to chest like this, quietly feeling each other's heartbeat, remaining silent for several minutes.
After a few minutes passed, Sayoko suddenly broke free from Hikari's embrace.
After tidying her slightly messy hair, Hikari saw Sayoko lift her head and stare straight at him. Her delicate, gorgeous face was tinged with a faint blush, and in her beautiful eyes there was also something hard to put into words.
Under Hikari's gaze, Sayoko first spoke with deep gratitude, "Hikari-kun, Auntie is truly grateful to you for doing so much for me. Really, very grateful."
"It's nothing, I—", Hikari was just about to speak when he was interrupted by Sayoko.
"Listen to me first," Sayoko placed her index finger against Hikari's lips, then continued, "You've helped Auntie so much. Honestly, even if Auntie worked like an ox or a horse for the rest of this life, I couldn't repay it. Auntie should probably spend the next life thanking you too."
"But…", On Sayoko's face there was a trace of guilt as she lowered her eyes to look at Hikari, "Auntie has one more unreasonable request, and I hope you can agree to it."
"Go ahead," Hikari gently patted her back, indicating that it was fine.
But Sayoko broke free from Hikari's embrace, stood up, then raised her hand to the buttons at the neckline of her nightdress.
"Ever since I became a widow, Auntie has always been alone, very lonely. Even though outsiders think I'm strong and independent, Auntie actually also wants to have someone she can rely on."
"Hikari-kun has already helped Auntie so much. Auntie is actually embarrassed to ask for anything more."
"But when it comes to Hikari-kun, Auntie really can't help herself…"
"Hikari-kun, can you become Auntie's support?"
"Ple-please…"
Buttons loosened, the sash came undone. The silky dress slid to the floor. The beautiful widow knelt on the fallen dress, gently lifting her head, looking at Hikari with pitiful, pleading eyes.
Seeing this tempting scene, especially being stared at by Sayoko's eyes that made one want to cherish and protect her, Hikari's heart jumped, and he was dazed for a moment.
After coming back to his senses, he immediately pulled Sayoko up, "Auntie, please get up first."
"So it really is that Auntie is too old," Hearing that Hikari didn't respond, Sayoko's eyes welled up, two tracks of tears streaming down, thinking she had been silently rejected.
However, the very next moment, the self-pitying her realized that her entire body had been lifted up, then roughly thrown onto the bed.
"Ah? Hikari-kun?", Startled, Sayoko crossed her arms over her chest, her face full of shock.
Hikari, blood already rushing to his head, offered no further explanation and directly pressed himself down.
"I promise you, Aunt Sayoko…"
Hearing Hikari's words, Sayoko's face immediately lit up with joy.
But before she could happily speak, her small mouth was instantly sealed tight.
"I… Mm! Mm! Mm!"
Late at night, on the quiet, deserted north side of Ino Town—
In the tranquil night, soft moonlight filtered through thin gauze curtains, scattering in dappled patterns across a certain room on the second floor of the izakaya.
On this night unknown to anyone, beneath the glow of moonlight and starlight, two figures gradually intertwined and overlapped, merging into one…
———
At the same time, also in the pitch-black night, on the other side of Ino Village, a grand and luxurious mansion was brightly lit, like a dazzling pearl in the darkness.
In the spacious courtyard of the mansion, a middle-aged man stood with his hands clasped behind his back.
More than half of his hair had already turned gray, but his posture was still straight, radiating an imposing air.
He was Yoshizawa Takeo, the head of the Yoshizawa family, the director of the largest clinic in Ino Town, controlling nearly all of the town's medical resources.
Whether in terms of resources and wealth or connections and reputation, Yoshizawa Takeo was undoubtedly a heavyweight figure in this village.
In the entire village, the only ones who could truly overshadow him were just a handful, such as the Jinno family that managed the Ino Shrine.
But at this moment, as he stood there, he seemed to be pondering something, his expression not looking very good.
"Why is there still no news from that useless bunch of punks? Could it be that, just like that Takeo guy, they've all disappeared too?", Yoshizawa Eigen frowned deeply.
A few days ago, he discovered that his son, Yoshizawa Takeo, seemed to have disappeared. He then entrusted the group of punks who usually hung out and played around with him to look for him and investigate his whereabouts.
As a result, starting yesterday, that group of punks never sent him any word again, as if they had evaporated from the face of the earth.
Just like his son, Yoshizawa Takeo, who had suddenly vanished.
Although he didn't really believe this outcome, he had indeed given that group of punks the clue that Yoshizawa Takeo's disappearance was very likely related to Miyuri.
That is to say, those punks might very well have disappeared because they were investigating Miyuri.
"Handling a small nurse, is it really that hard?", Yoshizawa Eigen frowned, cursing Fujimoto Shiki's group of punks for being utterly unreliable.
Miyuri was a nurse at his clinic. They weren't very familiar, but he remembered that she didn't seem to have any background. A few punks should have been more than enough to deal with someone like that.
So he couldn't be sure whether those punks were just being habitually careless and slacking off, or whether the mission had really failed and they had been dealt with.
In any case, the investigation on Miyuri's side had indeed run into quite a setback.
"These riffraff really can't be trusted. Fortunately, I've already found someone else to investigate again."
Yoshizawa Eigen shook his head. Luckily, he had stuck to his usual habit of handling one matter through multiple channels.
Before Fujimoto Shiki's group of punks became unreachable, he had already planned to find more reliable people to investigate, and had also thought through changing the target and direction first.
This time, the target he had his eye on was someone closely connected to Miyuri, and who also had a strong possibility of being involved in his son Yoshizawa Takeo's disappearance.
Even if his son was a good-for-nothing playboy, he was still his son. For his son's sake, he would stop at nothing.
———
On a pitch-black, deserted country road, Natsuki Akito walked alone with a gloomy expression.
He didn't know why, but ever since returning from the shrine festival and the test of courage, the sister-in-law he secretly admired and had a crush on, Miyuri, had been ignoring him completely.
Even when he took the initiative to go up to her, Miyuri would barely say a word to him, not even sparing him a glance.
This made Natsuki Akito, who still harbored many fantasies about Miyuri, feel extremely frustrated.
He had been hoping that Miyuri would take the initiative to break off her engagement with his older brother, Natsuki Kazuto, and then get together with him, her true love. Now it seemed very difficult.
So tonight, Natsuki Akito had originally planned to go to Sayoko's izakaya to drink himself numb.
Sayoko had a very gentle personality, like a caring older sister, even a bit like a mother. Knowing he was troubled inside, she should have comforted him.
But what made Natsuki Akito even more frustrated was that when he arrived at the izakaya, he found that it had already closed early.
Even the second floor lights were off.
Although there were faint, strange sounds coming from upstairs, he called Sayoko several times in a row, but no one answered at all.
After cursing Sayoko's irresponsibility and the izakaya for closing too early a few times in his heart, Natsuki Akito gloomily headed back toward home.
But halfway along the road, a figure suddenly appeared in front of him.
Seeing this tall, powerfully built man in black, Natsuki Akito, already in a bad mood, frowned deeply.
"Hey! What are you doing, blocking the road? Move aside!", Natsuki Akito spoke in a harsh tone.
"Ha… sorry," The man in black smiled apologetically at Natsuki Akito.
Seeing that ingratiating smile, Natsuki Akito was just about to take the opportunity to vent his anger and curse him, but suddenly, a gust of wind struck from behind. A black burlap sack flew over and quickly slipped over his head.
Before Natsuki Akito could struggle, several large, hard fists slammed down on his covered head, beating him until he was dizzy and disoriented.
By the time Natsuki Akito came back to his senses, he realized that his hands and feet were tightly bound.
With his vision completely blocked by the black sack, Natsuki Akito only knew that he was sitting in a car full of people, but had no idea where they were going to take him.
Sensing that something was wrong, Natsuki Akito's body began to tremble in fear under the hood, and he didn't dare speak again.
.
.
.
After about several dozen minutes, when he was taken out of the car and the sack over his head was removed, Natsuki Akito discovered that he had been brought into a spacious courtyard, seemingly inside a very luxurious mansion.
Just as Natsuki Akito was about to look around and see where he was, a voice from ahead suddenly spoke, interrupting his attention.
"Hello, Natsuki Akito."
Along with the unfamiliar man's voice, Natsuki Akito raised his head.
He saw a middle-aged man with an unfamiliar face standing in front of him, about fifty or sixty years old. His back was straight, and his features carried a naturally imposing air, making Natsuki Akito too intimidated to meet his gaze.
"Hello, may I ask who you are," Not daring to ask why he had been tied up and brought here, Natsuki Akito lowered his head and carefully asked.
Yoshizawa Eigen waved his hand indifferently, "Who I am isn't important. I invited you here today mainly because I have a few questions I want to ask you."
"W-what questions? Anything I can say, I'll definitely say it," Feeling that although the middle-aged man before him had a formidable presence, his tone seemed gentle and easy to talk to, Natsuki Akito's voice grew a little louder.
But seeing this, Yoshizawa Eigen suddenly smiled, "We'll talk in a moment. Go ahead and do it."
Yoshizawa Eigen suddenly signaled with his eyes to several burly men in black behind Natsuki Akito.
These men instantly knocked Natsuki Akito to the ground and, without any courtesy, began to beat him up viciously.
"I'll talk, I'll talk! Sir, you ask! Ask whatever you want, I'll tell you everything! I'll tell you everything! Stop hitting me!"
Only after Natsuki Akito was beaten until he was crying and begging did Yoshizawa Eigen signal for them to stop.
Looking at Natsuki Akito kneeling on the ground with a bruised and swollen face, Yoshizawa Eigen felt much more satisfied. He nodded, then asked, "Your name is Natsuki Akito. You have an older brother named Natsuki Kazuto. And your brother has a fiancee named Miyuri, who works at the Yoshizawa Clinic. Is that correct?"
"Yes! Yes! Yes!"
Terrified of being beaten again, Natsuki Akito immediately nodded repeatedly, not daring to slack off in the slightest.
"You've liked Miyuri for a long time, and even after she became your brother Natsuki Kazuto's fiancee, becoming your sister-in-law in name, you still coveted her. Is that right?", Yoshizawa Eigen asked again.
"Ah, that," Faced with a question that could seriously damage his reputation, Natsuki Akito naturally hesitated.
"Hit him," But the standing Yoshizawa Eigen showed no hesitation or patience at all, directly signaling to the men in black behind him again.
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