Chapter 69: 69. Innocence Won’t Last Long If They Can Hear Me Go Wild In Bed

Haruka set the cup down properly again and looked at her hands for a moment. "That’s sad," she said. "Not what she did, but the reason she did it."

"Yes," Mike said. "It is."

She was silent long enough for the atmosphere to shift. When she finally spoke, her tone had changed slightly—still direct, but with a more cautious undertone.

"Ren and I," she said. "We’ve been together three years."

"And the distance is already—" She stopped. "I talk to him every day."

"We call. We message. But there are entire hours of my life that he doesn’t know about. Whole days." She turned her gaze toward the window. "And I don’t want to become someone he stops seeing just because he believes he already knows me."

"You won’t," Mike said.

"You don’t know that," she said.

"No," he agreed. "But you’re the kind of person who would notice if it was happening."

"You’d say something."

"What if he’s the one who stops noticing?" she said. "What if I say things and he just—"

She made a small gesture. "Gets used to me... In the way that makes someone invisible."

"Then you say it louder," Mike said. "And if that doesn’t work, you say it directly."

"You’re good at being direct."

"I’m practicing direct," she said. "It doesn’t come naturally."

"It’s coming more naturally than you think," Mike said. "You just had a full conversation in someone else’s language about the psychology of a married woman’s loneliness before eight in the morning."

She blinked. Then she looked slightly surprised at herself. "I did," she said. "That’s—" She seemed to find this mildly impressive in a way she hadn’t expected. "Okay."

"Ren’s not going to stop seeing you," Mike said. "I’ve spoken to him once on a phone screen, and I can already tell he’s paying attention."

"He just wanted to make sure you had a good neighbor."

"He wanted to make sure I had someone keeping an eye out," she said.

"Same thing," Mike said.

She thought about that. "I hope you’re right," she said. "About the part where I don’t become invisible."

"I am," Mike said. "But don’t take my word for it."

"Call him tonight. Tell him something true about today that you’d normally leave out because it seems too small."

She looked at him. "Like what?"

"Like the fact that you borrowed coffee from your neighbor this morning," Mike said. "Or that you’re contemplating how to avoid fading away in your own life."

"These small things are actually significant."

She was quiet for a moment. Then, softly, "You’re better at this than you look like you’d be."

"At what?" Mike said.

"Knowing what people need to hear," she said. "I thought you were just skilled at knowing what you wanted people to hear. But those are different things."

Mike looked at her.

She picked up her bag. "I’m going to call him tonight," she said. "And I’m going to tell him about the coffee."

"Good," Mike said.

"I’m not going to tell him about the television program, though," she said. "I won’t mention how perverted and scary my neighbor is, but I still feel safe with him."

"That’s fine," Mike said. "Some things can stay small."

’Thank god she’s this fucking stupid...’ Mike thought. ’I don’t know if it’s stupid or her being innocent, but a cheating wife is something fucked up, hahaha!’

’But eh... I’ll let that slide because breaking her is going to be the most satisfying part soon.’

She almost smiled, and this time it made it all the way out—brief and real. She moved toward the door, then stopped. "Oh, there’s still something I wanted to ask."

"Go ahead," Mike said.

"Last night," she said. "When I knocked on the wall twice."

She looked at him directly. "Did you hear it?"

A pause.

"Yes," Mike said.

She held his gaze. "Okay," she said. "I just wanted to know if the system failed or if it was ignored."

"It was ignored," Mike said. "I’m not going to lie about that because I’m busy."

"It is that good, huh...?" Haruka smiled bitterly. "Ren is always trying to dodge it when it comes to that."

’Wait... what did she say...?’ Mike thought, feeling somehow weird about this situation by judging from her expression and words. ’Did her boyfriend not fulfill her desire before she came here?!"

’Or... she’s still a fucking virgin like Madison?!’

"A-Ahh! Sorry! Forget I said that." Haruka laughed while scratching her head. "S-something came to my mind about Ren, so yeah... I start to speak nonsense like that."

Mike raised an eyebrow. She’d gone from one thing to another too fast for him.

"It’s okay," he said, trying to keep things light, "but now I’m interested to know what you were really thinking."

"It’s alright...!"

"I-I swear I don’t mean anything weird..." She glanced at him for a moment, her expression complicated—no longer conveying the forgiveness she had shown earlier, but rather a mix of emotions running alongside it.

Then she nodded once. "A-anyway...!"

"At least you said it," she said. "Most people would say they didn’t hear it."

"I heard it," Mike said. "I’m sorry that I ignored it."

"I know," she said. "I believe you."

She opened the door. "That’s the other thing I figured out in the first week."

"When you say you mean something, you mean it."

"Most of the time," Mike said.

"Most of the time," she agreed. "And, forget to say something we usually do." 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

"Good morning, Mike."

"It’s kinda late to say that because it feels awk—Yeah, okay."

"Good morning, Haruka."

"Let’s go to campus now before we’re late!" She smiled and went into the hallway.

"Alright, alright." He followed, pulling the door behind him.

On the stairs she said, without turning around, "Next time I knock twice, please stop."

"Yes," Mike said.

"Not slow down," she said. "But stop."

"Yes," Mike said. ’Slow down...? Hahaha! She really knows the details bit by bit.’

"Good." She reached the ground floor. "Also, I managed to finish the three hundred words."

"They were actually good, and your advice worked."

"Say the truth and cut everything out, explaining why you thought to say it," Mike said.

"Yes," she said. "It made the paper very short."

"But good and effective," Mike said. "As long as you didn’t try to get a good score on it."

"Nope... I’m sure it’s going to be a perfect score~!"

"I can almost say it was a masterpiece," she smiled smugly.

She pushed open the lobby door. "I’m going to need more of your advice—at a reasonable hour and in a space that has been respected."

"Deal," Mike said.

The morning outside was the cool, clear kind. They walked toward the transit stop at a comfortable pace that they had developed without discussing it, while Haruka talked about the nine o’clock seminar and her expectations based on the reading she had managed to complete before her evening became complicated.

Mike listened and asked the occasional question and found, as he usually did, that this was the easiest part of any day.

[DESIRE LEVEL: HARUKA KANATA — 38/100]

Seven points from one morning conversation, conducted over borrowed coffee, by someone who had been awake most of the night and was still precise about every word. Mike noted the number and tucked it away.

The transit stop appeared at the end of the block.

"Mike," Haruka said.

"Yeah."

"The television excuse," she said. "If Ren ever asks again."

"What kind of program should I say it was?"

Mike looked at her.

She was looking straight ahead at the transit stop, completely serious.

"A nature documentary," Mike said. "Something with animals that love to breed."

She considered this. "That works," she said. "Very specific, easy to remember, difficult to question."

"Exactly," Mike said.

"Good," she said. "I’m filing that away."

The transit pulled in.