Chapter 208 – 208. Aiko (1)

Takuya was about to say something to Aiko, who was grabbing him, but stopped.

And that was because.

“Haa… Thank goodness. It’s really you, Takuya!”

Her expression was so dark, it looked like she was about to die.

It was incomparable to how she looked before arriving at the hotel.

Takuya watched Aiko, who was looking around like someone with a mental disorder, for a moment, then had her sit down.

It wasn’t like anyone was going to come here anyway.

Aiko, who was sitting across from him in the corner, had an anxious expression.

Like she had committed some kind of crime.

“…..”
“…..”

Thanks to that, a very awkward atmosphere flowed between the two of them.

It was a strange relationship where it would have been stranger if it hadn’t been awkward.

After a while of being in this awkward, silent state.

“What brings you here? You’re not someone who should be here.”

Takuya broke the awkward silence first.

At Takuya’s question, Aiko hesitated for a moment, fidgeting with her hands, then lowered her head and said.

“I, I came to get drugs…”

With that one word, Takuya understood the meaning of what she had said.

“Wait, are you saying you came here to get drugs?”

At Takuya’s words, Aiko nodded her head with difficulty.

At that, Takuya was so angry that a vein popped out on his forehead.

No. So she was trying to do drugs while pregnant? Is this woman out of her mind?!

And Aiko, who had raised her head, saw Takuya’s face and said with a startled expression.

“Ah, I haven’t done it even once yet!”
“Then why would someone like you come to a place like this to look for drugs?”

At Takuya’s words, Aiko, who had been hesitant, covered her face and said.

“…..I needed a place to run away to.”
“A place to run away to?”
“My husband always calls me a whore, a slut, even a good-for-nothing bitch who can’t even be a mother. He doesn’t even just say it when we’re alone. He makes those kinds of remarks even when other people are around, and the people who are sucking up to him tell me to do better while they’re sucking up to my husband, and those wives blame me for making their husbands’ lives hard, and my daughter doesn’t listen to me either…”

Listening to the string of stories coming from her mouth, Takuya couldn’t help but look at her with pity.

But this was something he really couldn’t help but ask.

“Wait. Your husband changed that much?”

It wasn’t like Takuya hadn’t thought this might happen. But this was a bit much.

At most, he thought she would get some nagging from her husband and some resentful looks from her child. He didn’t expect it to be this bad.

At Takuya’s words, Aiko continued.

“At first, it was just small complaints, but as I started coming home late after going to various places for the work my father-in-law gave me, the intensity got worse over time.”

At Aiko’s words, Takuya got a rough idea of what was going on.

So, it seemed like her husband was acting like this because he thought she was meeting with him under the guise of the work her father-in-law had given her.

‘It’s kind of reasonable… but I was just working for business.’

It was absurd from the listener’s point of view.

Anyway, after hearing Aiko’s situation, he nodded in understanding and said.

“So why are you looking for drugs?”
“Well, that’s…”

Aiko hesitated for a moment, then finally revealed the reason she was looking for drugs.

“So, you were offered drugs? By a friend.”

At his words, Aiko quietly nodded.

“Hah─”

What should he say about this? He couldn’t tell her to be more selective with her friends. No, she needed to be more selective.

“And you were actually going to do it after being offered?”
“I’ve been getting offered it steadily, but after all of this happened, I was tempted…”

At those words, he sighed deeply, but at the same time, he thought it was understandable.

Gaslighting and drugs were more effective when someone was mentally cornered.

But regardless of that, he had to say something.

“Even so, you shouldn’t do drugs while pregnant, no. You shouldn’t do drugs at all.”

For the record, this was from experience.

He had seen quite a few people who had become crippled from excessive drug use even after the war had ended.

‘Most of them ended up in mental hospitals.’

From Takuya’s perspective, who remembered that, he didn’t want her to do drugs.

In the first place, he had tried it a few times himself, but he didn’t feel it was good.

It was just a way to escape reality.

Anyway, after giving her this advice, Takuya was about to leave with Aiko.

“…It’s because of you.”

That was until Aiko suddenly started blaming someone else, and that someone was him.

“What do you mean…”

Just as Takuya was about to say something at Aiko’s sudden words, Aiko said in an angry voice.

“I didn’t want to be like this either, my goal was just to be a woman who supported her husband, I wasn’t supposed to be someone who was ignored by her husband like this! It’s because you provoked my husband?! Huh?! You take responsibility! Take responsibility for my ruined life!!!”

Her words were blaming him, but they weren’t really blaming him.

To be precise, she was venting the frustration and stress she couldn’t release on her husband on him.

At her appearance, Takuya sighed again and said.

“Haa… Then what do you want me to do? Should I brainwash your husband or something? It’s possible, but don’t expect him to be the same as before.”
“What?”
“I’ll take responsibility. Just as you want.”

At his words, she flinched.

“Really…?”
“I don’t lie about things like this. But I can’t guarantee that he’ll be the same husband as before.”

It seemed like she hadn’t really thought he would actually take responsibility.

He asked her again.

“So, do you really want your husband to go back to how he was?”
“…..”

At his question, she remained silent for a long time.

She seemed to be having a lot of worries.

Well, it was something to worry about.

After a while of this silence.

She shook her head and said.

“Even if my husband went back to how he was, I don’t think I could live with him anymore.”

Her eyes were filled with tears, as if they were about to burst.

‘It seems like she’s seen it all.’

If she was refusing to have the person she had met as a lover returned to that state, then how low had he shown her?

Takuya was a little intrigued, but he decided to put that curiosity aside for now.

“Then what do you want?”
“….Get me a divorce.”
“A divorce?”
“Yeah.”

A divorce.

Well, if it wasn’t about returning to the original state, then this was the right thing to do.

Takuya nodded at her request.

It was a bit annoying, but he could just hypnotize her and tell Old Man Yuzuke.

“It’s difficult right now, but I’ll make sure it happens by the beginning of next year. Oh, and I’ll give you enough assets to live off of for the rest of your life. As for the child in your belly… euthanasia is out of the question, so if you want, leave it to my family. I’ll make sure they adopt it.”

At Takuya’s confident answer, Aiko said with a surprised expression.

“Really, is that possible?”
“What’s so difficult about that?”

With that, Takuya got up from his seat.

He had heard too much tiring talk for someone who had just come to see a crazy party for the upper class.

‘It was something that was bothering me a little, so I guess it’s a good thing.’

That was the end of it.

Aiko would either get a divorce and spend her money freely, or she would live happily with her child.

Wasn’t he being too irresponsible?

What could he do when there was nothing more he could do? He couldn’t exactly hit Old Man Ero, who was the root of all this.

Anyway, after hearing this story, Takuya was about to end the conversation.

“…Wait a minute!”
“What, do you have anything else to say?”

That was until she suddenly grabbed him.

Takuya looked at Aiko, who was holding his arm.

At his action, Aiko paused for a moment, then said to him.

“Have sex with me one more time.”

At her words, he was flustered.

Wait. Have sex with her? Was that right?

Even though Takuya reacted like someone who had heard something completely unimaginable, she continued.

“I don’t want to end this with just me suffering.”

That was what she said. She wanted to get revenge on her husband, who had caused her pain, one last time.

To be precise, she was saying that she wanted to show him the expression of her happily being with someone else after the divorce.

At her words, he gave her advice with an uncharacteristically serious expression.

“It would be better for both of you to end this on good terms.”

At Takuya’s words, Aiko shook her head and said.

“It’s too late for that.”

What did her words mean?

Takuya couldn’t easily understand her feelings.

But it wasn’t like he didn’t understand at all.

‘She’s broken.’

She was broken. Whether it was because of the abuse she had suffered from her beloved husband, or simply because of revenge, Takuya couldn’t understand.

“Alright. Then follow me.”

At Takuya’s words, Nozomi nodded.

And so, Takuya unexpectedly ended up in a second round.