[Note before reading: This chapter is a follow-up related to Horikita Suzune from Karuizawa Kei's first simulation. It is meant to explain Kitagawa Ryo's motives and methods in this simulation.]
Kitagawa Ryo hadn't planned to turn on the lights in the living room. He only meant to use his phone's flashlight to find his shoes and quietly return to his room.
"You're back."
A voice suddenly rose from the darkness, along with the sound of calm breathing growing closer.
Ryo instinctively tried to dodge, but the other party moved even faster. Warm breath touched his neck, and two arms wrapped around his waist.
"You've been gone for three days and twelve hours."
He heard Horikita Suzune's whisper. She stood on tiptoe, her nose gently brushing his chin, a sensation that reminded him of a cat he once raised.
It wasn't until she accepted the old engagement in front of his parents that Ryo finally realized her obsession and affection. Back then, he had simply wanted her to stay longer in Tokyo for his own purposes.
He'd assumed Suzune was just a child with a twisted admiration for her brother, Horikita Manabu. At the time, Ryo only had eyes for Karuizawa Kei and hadn't considered the consequences.
γγ α π ρα δ' ηη — Misplaced vows bring misfortune.
A random Delphic oracle surfaced in his mind.
"Was it Shiina?"
Suzune pressed her nose against his jaw and sniffed. "I smell her scent."
But her tone held no jealousy—more of a sigh.
"Now it's mine."
She kissed him, forcefully and wild, unbroken and untamed.
Taming.
Ryo remembered how he had once likened Suzune to the fox that hadn't yet met the Little Prince. Back then, he had simply taken on Horikita Manabu's request and thought befriending this lonely girl wouldn't hurt.
He had expected her to stay tame forever.
He opened his eyes slightly, locking gazes with her violet-red pupils. In them, he saw unease and urgency, and even he felt guilty.
"I wasn't with her. I was on a business trip. You're imagining things."
He stroked her face, from trembling lashes to her lips.
"I'm back."
He hoped that would be enough to calm her.
But it wasn't.
Her hair was still damp from a shower. As they hugged, Ryo noticed her subtle, growing touches—hesitant but daring. It was as if countless invisible hands were testing his limits, waiting for any hint of permission.
He caught her hand firmly.
"No. I don't want this."
Ryo flipped the light switch. The warm light instantly dissolved the intimate atmosphere.
A wedding photo hung at the center of the living room wall. Ryo averted his eyes.
He still couldn't forgive her betrayal.
They had agreed to call off the engagement. But she turned the tables.
Now, on paper, they were husband and wife.
Ryo entered his room and lay down. As his breath steadied, he heard a knock.
The door wasn't even closed.
He turned toward the slightly ajar door. After a few knocks, silence followed. It seemed neither wanted to be the first to act.
Eventually, Ryo gave in. Wearing slippers, he opened the door.
"Is there something you need? If not, I'm going to sleep."
Suzune stood there blinking, looking obedient. Ryo knew it was an act, but he couldn't be harsh. He had no romantic feelings for her, but there was friendship.
"Going to take a bath," she said seriously.
Maybe she was just like a fox, trying to leave her scent on him. To her, another woman's scent was an invasion.
She touched his face gently, asking silently with her eyes.
Then she tiptoed and kissed him again. It was light, playful, almost ticklish—like she was scratching the surface of his heart.
It flipped their roles. Ryo suddenly felt like the one being tamed.
Next thing he knew, he was backed into a corner.
Suzune seemed quietly elated. Her skin was getting warmer.
"If you keep this up, I'm leaving."
He threatened.
He had definitely spoiled her.
She had mimicked her brother's way of living, distant from all. But back then, at least she was stable.
Now, though she had escaped Manabu's shadow, she hadn't really changed.
She had simply replaced Manabu with Ryo.
And gone even further.
Unlike Manabu, Ryo had been by her side from age 14 to 26.
They had witnessed each other's golden years.
But he had never loved her romantically.
A strange world.
His first love was Kei. Now he was dating Shiina Hiyori. Yet he was married to Suzune.
He had left right after the wedding, expecting she'd initiate divorce.
But she never did.
In fact, he barely spent any time at home.
She had simply replaced one god with another.
Suzune had always followed programs: input, execution, no questions asked.
"You should live your own life," he muttered.
"Why follow someone else? Don't you want to live for yourself?"
"Not at all."
She answered bluntly.
"Don't you have your own will? First it was your brother, now it's me?"
He ran a frustrated hand through his hair.
"You did this," she said. "What am I supposed to do?"
"As a child, everyone praised me when I got closer to my brother. They criticized me when he left me behind."
Her voice was calm, detached.
"So I chased him. But I always knew I couldn't catch up. Like Sisyphus doomed to fail."
"Then you told me living alone was wrong. That people need each other, like turtles flipping each other back upright."
"So I believed I needed someone. Even one person. Like the fox and the little prince. After bonding, they become each other's only one."
"But you're not really my 'only.'"
"I just did what you told me."
Ryo realized his mistake. He had shattered her illusion of Manabu but failed to help her find her own path.
She placed him on that now-empty pedestal.
She couldn't move forward without direction.
"You told me to walk my own path. But how?"
"How can a child raised in darkness know what the sun looks like?"
Ryo listened in silence.
Her life had twisted her.
She had never been treated as her own person.
Now free from Manabu, she simply replaced the target.
Ryo could only point out the error—he had no better path to offer.
Words meant nothing.
No one had ever told her what she could do.
What did she even like?
Did she have dreams?
She had cooking skills, but only to live alone.
She led Class D only to match her brother's legacy.
Her soul felt hollow.
Seeing his dazed expression, Suzune leaned in and whispered, "None of it matters."
She hated trouble, avoided people, liked clarity and direction.
It was late. Even the air felt tight, squeezing them together.
She hugged him.
Like a real wife holding her husband.
As if to make up for the embrace they missed on their wedding night.
Then she began to cry like a child.
Tears of frustration, sadness, and longing overwhelmed Ryo.
He held her tightly, patting her back like a child.
He rubbed his cheek against hers.
"I'm here."
Their heartbeats gradually aligned.
All stray thoughts disappeared in the warmth.
[Carnivore Type (Blue): In relationships, you crave physical closeness and tend to indulge deeply.]
For the first time, Ryo lowered his head willingly.
It felt like a plea.
He hugged Suzune's waist tightly.
They fell onto the bed together.
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Until the very end, Kitagawa Ryo still couldn't tell whether he had tamed Horikita Suzune, or if in the end, she had tamed him.
But he didn't like this conclusion, because he didn't like this version of Horikita Suzune.
If given another chance, he would handle his relationship with her more properly.
He would help Horikita Suzune find her own path.
Her true path.
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