My Happy Marriage (LN) - Volume 7 - Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5  

What Happiness Is

The sun had been strong enough during the day to make it feel almost hot, yet once night fell, a sudden chill arrived.

Warm and flushed from her bath, Miyo cooled herself in the cold air of the hallway as she walked toward the living room.

The wedding ceremony was over, the banquet had finished…and the physical and mental strain had left her utterly fatigued, from the very top of her head down to the tips of her toes.

Her soak in the hot water of the tub had only made her feel it more acutely.

However, compared to the heavy white kimono, the colorful banquet kimono, and the dress she had worn earlier, she was pleased by how lightweight and easy to move in her nightwear was.

Ever since they had gotten home, though, her mind had been on something other than the events of the day.

“I’ve been holding on to this for you.”

Kouji had handed her a single sealed letter. When she heard whom it was from, her heart had pounded in her chest.

She hadn’t read its contents yet. She hadn’t nearly enough courage to open it on the spot and read it, nor was it the right setting to do so. Consequently, she had simply taken it with her and returned home.

Before heading to the living room, she stopped by her room. Taking the pure white letter that she’d left atop her writing desk in hand, she again headed toward the living room.

“I just finished my bath, Kiyoka.”

Kiyoka was sitting there in his nightwear with his hair down, having already taken his bath for the evening. He was reading a book over a cup of tea. However, his eyes were going back and forth over the same section again and again, and he had stopped turning the pages completely.

“Got it.”

“Um, may I ask you something?”

Miyo held the letter up to her chest and sat down in front of Kiyoka.

“Sure, but…what’s wrong?”

“Well, it’s just, I don’t really have the courage to read this alone.”

“…I get it.”

“Will you sit at my side while I read it?”

This letter was far too significant for her to read alone in her room.

“What is this?”

Accepting the pure white letter, with neither a destination nor an origin address written on it, Miyo had cocked her head, prompting Kouji to quietly tell her:

“It’s from Kaya.”

Her fingertips had trembled. For a brief moment, she couldn’t tell if she was breathing at all.

Now that she thought about it, however, this revelation had been far less impactful than it would have been in the past.

If she’d received this letter back when she had just left the Saimori estate, she likely would’ve been left unable to move at all, as if doused in freezing water.

Those who knew her circumstances—including Kouji, Kiyoka, and Hazuki—were all concerned for Miyo and watched over her with worry.

She couldn’t possibly have read the letter in such a situation. The emotions it would bring up in her were certainly not suitable for a celebratory banquet.

Kouji had worn a look of regret.

He was still engaged to Kaya. While it was uncertain what the future held, they still wrote to each other occasionally.

Her most recent letter to Kouji had contained an attachment meant for Miyo—the message that was now in her hands.

“I don’t mind. I’ll be right here while you read that letter.”

“Thank you.”

Miyo felt relieved when Kiyoka closed his book with his usual sulky expression. She carefully stared once more at the letter she held against her chest.

In all honesty, she found the prospect of reading its contents terrifying.

It could contain terrible words of resentment, all manner of abuse, or potentially, something entirely different instead.

Just imagining it made her hesitate, and her mind went blank.

She took a single deep breath.

Miyo steeled herself, and slowly, little by little, she neatly undid the seal and took out the letter inside. Then she opened it up and ran her eyes over the short lines.

Dispensing with preliminary formalities—Miss Miyo Saimori, congratulations on your marriage.

The first words she saw were unexpectedly sensible, as well as overly formal and distant. However, from the next line on, that pretense completely disappeared.

I will not refer to you by any other surname than Saimori. Just remembering the events of last year makes me furious, despondent, and miserable.

Kaya had spelled out her feelings with flowing and orderly handwriting that was far beyond Miyo’s capabilities.

However, as long as I keep you out of mind, I find my life peaceful and satisfying, filled with a reasonable sense of accomplishment. Sounds nice, doesn’t it? Given you’re engaged to Master Kudou, you must obviously be having a terribly tough time, so I’m positive I’m living several times better than you are right now.

Miyo couldn’t help but let out a chuckle at this.

Kaya had written everything in absolute seriousness, and hadn’t been trying to make Miyo laugh, but it somehow seemed as though there was a merriness to her brushstrokes.

Though Miyo did find it strange that she was able to feel this way.

Kiyoka’s imprisonment had been written about in the papers, so there was a chance that Kaya had heard about it. If she had known that and written that she was living a life several times better, more peaceful, and more satisfying, then Miyo couldn’t raise any objection against her sound argument, and its perfect mix of sarcasm.

Her half sister was still acting as a live-in servant for an infamously strict family.

Miyo never imagined that Kaya would grow to think positively of her new life, despite the circumstances.

Since I was born far cleverer than you were, this servant work isn’t difficult for me in the slightest. So, I would suggest you focus on doing what you can to lead an enriching new life of your own. I pray for your happiness. Yours sincerely.

Just as Miyo started to think that Kaya was going to write out a long sprawl of both words of encouragement and words of scorn, the letter abruptly ended, as though its author was curtly turning up her nose at her.

She flipped the letter over, but there was nothing else written on the back, either.

Miyo released the tension in her body and let out a sigh.

“How was it…? You looked ready to laugh in the middle there.”

“Yes, well,” Miyo briefly replied to Kiyoka’s suspicious questioning, before she put a hand to her cheek and thought for a moment.

“How do I put it?”

When she thought back, a smile spontaneously bloomed across her face.

“That letter was biting, but she seemed to have taken great pleasure in writing it.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Miyo didn’t really understand what she was saying, either, but this was the only way she could express it. While the letter had been filled with sarcasm, she felt almost none of the nastiness and twistedness in it that Kaya had demonstrated before.

The Kaya she was familiar with would have never even sent a congratulatory letter in the first place.

“The letter really made it clear that Kaya’s enjoying her days to the fullest.”

“…That’s surprising. I’d have guessed it would be filled with nothing but whining and complaining.”

“Kaya is honest to her core. Very earnest, too. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have worked so hard to learn how to use arts, just because she has Spirit-Sight.”

It was possible for women to actively work as Gift-users, but they were a minority. Women like Kaoruko, who mingled with the men to fight, were rare.

Even if girls were born with Spirit-Sight or a Gift, they didn’t really need to learn to wield their abilities if they didn’t plan on doing battle. The only thing their families cared about was that they possessed abilities they could pass down to their children.

Unlike Gifts, which were especially influenced by the nature of one’s birth, arts needed to be learned and practiced, or they couldn’t be utilized.

So the fact that Kaya could use arts showed the efforts she had taken to hone them.

Which makes it all the more likely that Kaya dealt with her own pain and hardship, too.

Even if she were on her deathbed, Miyo didn’t know if she would be able to forgive Kaya for what she had done. The wounds she’d suffered at her half sister’s hand were still etched into her chest, and there were times when she would suddenly remember the things Kaya had done to her and feel terrible.

If Miyo ever heard Kaya call out to her in the way she used to, she knew for certain it would shake her, and whenever she saw a young girl who resembled Kaya, Miyo would unconsciously curl into herself.

Although she couldn’t forgive Kaya and might never be able to see her face-to-face again, Miyo had been able to accept her feelings through a letter.

She didn’t know why, but right now, that fact gave her immense solace.

Perhaps it’s because I know…that I’m moving forward myself.

Kaya wasn’t the source of all Miyo’s mistreatment. The years that her father and stepmother had stolen from her would never be returned. Miyo would be lying if she said she never rued the loss or felt angry about it.

Nevertheless, she was moving forward. Because she knew that her old self, who had only yielded to her family’s violence and abuse, was no longer anywhere to be found.

“Kaya was seventeen, right? If she’s taking things seriously, she’s still young enough to do things over,” Kiyoka murmured, looking far off into the distance. Miyo nodded.

“Yes. Even in just a year, people really can change.”

“Because you’ve changed yourself, right?”

“I think you have, too, Kiyoka…,” she replied modestly.

Kiyoka paused for a moment before a chuckle escaped his lips, and he broke into a smile.

“You might be right.”

The precarious light from the electric lamp flickered, and silence filled the living room.

Both of them said no more, and as myriad emotions bubbled up and faded, Miyo slowly put away the letter, trying to conceal her awkward restlessness.

With the outstanding issue of Kaya’s message to her now resolved, her mind drifted in a different direction of its own accord.

“C-can you wait until after we’re married…?”

The thing she had asked of Kiyoka a few days prior came back into her mind.

Until after they were married.

They had been wed. Miyo was Kiyoka’s wife. Which from here meant…

“U-um…! K-Kiyoka!”

When Miyo addressed him, Kiyoka suddenly fixed his eyes on her.

“D-de… Dear.”

It was mortifying. It was normal; it was something that almost all wives called their husbands, so then why? Why did she feel so embarrassed?

She was sure that her face must be so crimson right now that it was unbearable to look at. Her whole body felt hot enough to be on fire.

She timidly opened her eyes. They met Kiyoka’s own, swaying as he stared at her, out of either happiness or surprise.

“Miyo.”

“K-Kiyoka Kudou…?”

“That’s not right, is it?”

The inside of her burning head, like the ingredients in a boiling pot, softly began to melt away. Her senses dulled, as though she were dreaming and had left her own body.

Her mind faltering, she stared at Kiyoka.

“M-my love?”

“Oh yes, that’s good, too. But there’s something I like even more than that.”

Miyo knew what exactly he was looking for.

Kiyoka slowly brought his hand around Miyo’s back like he had that night. She was now sitting face-to-face with him, a hair’s breadth away.

“D-darling…”

Right as she gave the correct reply, his handsome face closed in.

A soft, sweet sensation fell on her lips. Her consciousness and her senses all grew dim and faint, as though she were intoxicated, yet the feeling alone came through vividly.

Miyo closed her eyes at the kiss, longer and deeper than any other before it.

How much time did they spend like that? Long enough that their lips seemed reluctant when they finally parted.

“…You didn’t hate that, did you?”

“…No.”

It was no use—Miyo had no idea what sort of expression was on her face.

Her strength gradually faded from her body, like sugary syrup heating up and melting away. Still, she didn’t feel any desire to fight it.

Kiyoka stood up, lifting her gently in his arms.

“Darling…?”

“Let’s take this somewhere else.”

It was difficult for her contemplate the meaning of his words. Miyo simply wrapped her arms around Kiyoka’s neck and clung tight.

The light went out.

Their first night of marriage. Time spent in sweet bliss, enveloped in faint darkness and the glow of the hazy spring moon.

In the blink of an eye, the whole city transitioned into the tender verdure of spring.

The green leaves now stood out far more prominently on their former blossoms, which the cherry trees had eagerly scattered, and the rays of the sun had started shining a bit stronger.

A few days had passed since their wedding.

Kiyoka’s military work had grown extremely busy, with his time away from the house becoming awfully long.

The day after the ceremony had been busy; Miyo and Kiyoka had visited the Kudou estate to pay their respects once more, then gone to the Usuba’s to thank them for acting as Miyo’s family in place of the Saimoris.

However, once all that was settled, Kiyoka grew so busy that he barely had time to sleep, swamped with work related to the mission he’d slipped away from on the day of the ceremony.

So despite being newly wed, Miyo spent her days in the house alone or with Yurie, tending to the daily chores just the same as always.

“Spending time like this… It makes me remember last year when I was taken back to the Saimori estate,” Miyo murmured as she walked with Yurie toward the capital with a parasol open behind her.

“Miyo. I mean Mistress. Please, don’t make me remember that time. It put such a strain on my poor heart. You’ll shorten what little life I have left.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. That wasn’t my intention at all.”

Miyo smiled awkwardly and apologized to Yurie, who was still looking wide-eyed and slightly angered.

Miyo was carrying a multitiered food box wrapped up in a cloth. Yurie had one as well.

The two women were on their way to deliver a homemade pick-me-up meal to Kiyoka, whose health they were worried about because he’d been staying out until late and leaving at sunrise, only ever coming home to sleep.

Around this time last year, they had both gone on a walk to visit the station much like they were now.

Kiyoka had given Miyo a protective charm, but that day, she had accidentally forgotten it at home, and an awful situation had developed as a result. Ever since then, Miyo had taken extra care to bring the charm with her whenever she went out.

It was in the purse around her wrist at that very moment.

She wasn’t sure what sort of mechanism was at work, but the charm with her now felt quite a bit heavier than the charm she’d had a year prior. It must have been an expression of Kiyoka’s concern for her that each new protective charm she received felt profoundly heavier than the last.

Given the recent curse she had been afflicted with, it seemed like it would grow even heavier before long. Incidentally, when she had been cursed, the purse containing her protective charm had been in another room, so it hadn’t been able to protect her.

“Still, time truly does fly. It seems like just yesterday when you first came to our door, Miss Miyo.”

“…It feels a bit strange to me. Both long, yet like no time at all.”

As it occurred to her that a year had already come and gone, she thought back on the chaotic and tumultuous days that had passed.

Though it had been a far shorter stretch of time than her years of stagnation in the Saimori home, when she recalled everything that had happened since her engagement to Kiyoka, it seemed so bewildering and hectic that she felt fortunate to have weathered it all in one piece.

Yurie’s bright smile peeked out from underneath the shade of her parasol.

“You’ve become such a splendid wife, Miss Miyo.”

Yurie’s evaluation of Miyo was as high as ever. A year on, Miyo was able to calmly accept her compliment.

“Thank you very much. But I’ve still got a lot to learn. It’s only been a few days since the wedding.”

“Come now. You don’t need to be so modest. Anyone can tell just by looking at the two of you—you and the young master make a wonderful couple.”

As they conversed, they came a few streets away from the center of town. The density of pedestrians on the street increased, and the surrounding area grew livelier.

The dazzling city never failed to awe her.

Heading down the familiar road, they went straight for the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit station.

When they arrived, the guard at the front of the gate appeared to remember Miyo and readily let them pass through without a word.

“Oh, Miyo…er, Mrs. Kudou.”

Just as they had passed through the gate, a voice suddenly called to her. She didn’t need to look to know who it belonged to.

She saw Kouji waving slightly, having just emerged from the station entrance.

Miyo quickened her pace and came up right beside Kouji, catching her breath.

“Hello, Kouji. Are you here for work?”

“Yup. I return to the old capital tomorrow, but there’s a bunch of stuff to help out with here. Why are you here, Miyo…er, Mrs. Kudou.”

It was her first time seeing Kouji since the banquet on the day of the ceremony. As she had thought back then, she couldn’t help but find Kouji’s new way of addressing her amusing.

“Tee-hee.”

“D-don’t laugh. I still can’t get it to come out right away. I mean, I shouldn’t be referring to another man’s wife so casually.”

“Thank you for being so considerate.”

“No, honestly, I think it’s more about self-preservation than anything. I’m worried about what Kiyoka would say if I was overly familiar with you.”

Kouji paused there and then looked down at the box in Miyo’s arms.

“Bringing some refreshments to Kiyoka?”

“Yes. I know that he can have a delicious meal in the cafeteria, but I thought he could help himself to these when he was feeling a bit hungry.”

“Kiyoka is a lucky man to have you go to such lengths for him like that.”

Kouji squinted a bit, his eyes faintly tinged with shadow, yet at the same time, concealing a strong resolve that hadn’t been there before.

“Kouji…”

“Oh, don’t worry. I didn’t mean anything by it. I’m living out each day with a real strong sense of satisfaction. I can really feel myself getting stronger every day, and while I’ve had plenty of tough times, I’m glad I joined the Second Unit,” he said before opening the station entrance with a smile and urging Miyo along. “You should hurry and give that to the commander.”

Thanking Kouji, Miyo stepped inside the station with Yurie.

She had a perfect knowledge of the station, having spent every day there herself for a period of time, and she started by searching for someone who could call Kiyoka to see her, greeting the unit members she knew with a bow as she went.

“Oh, Miyo.”

Godou had come over to see her.

He had looked a bit dispirited the other day, despite his flippancy, but today, he was back to his usual self.

Miyo bowed politely and greeted him.

“Hello. Thank you for your wishes the other day.”

“Hello. And of course, you’re very welcome. What’s brought you here?”

“I wanted to come bring Kiyoka a pick-me-up of sorts.”

When she told him her reason for visiting, for a moment, his expression took on a slight note of awkwardness.

“Ahh… The commander’s, um, seeing a guest? Or rather, interrogating someone… But I think he should finish up soon.”

“In that case, I’ll leave the food for him here. Could you hand it to him afterward?”

She didn’t need to hand Kiyoka the boxes herself. Though her husband was busy, he was still coming home every night and making sure they got to see each other.

She knew that he was doing just fine, so as long as he got her gift, that was plenty.

“Still, though.” Godou frowned when he heard Miyo’s response, crossing his arms.

“The commander will be awfully disappointed to hear you came all this way without being able to see him. Oh, I’ll put these over here for now, okay?”

Godou plucked the cloth-wrapped food boxes out from Miyo and Yurie’s hands, and after placing them on a nearby table, he turned around.

“Well, I’ll go check how the commander’s doing. If it looks like he’ll finish up soon, could you wait a bit?”

It happened right after Miyo watched Godou run off.

Her ears caught the sound of a woman raising her voice, although it was somewhat muffled; perhaps it was coming from inside a nearby room.

She couldn’t really tell what the context was, but based on the words she could make out—“Why?” and “How could you say that?”—it sounded like someone was being reproached.

Just then, the door to one of the rooms burst open.

“I’m sorry. I’ll be taking my leave for today, thank you,” a kimono-clad woman declared, her voice choking with tears, and exited out the open reception room door. Miyo called out to the woman in surprise upon realizing she recognized her.

“…Kimio?”

Kimio appeared to notice Miyo herself and turned her eyes, red from crying, in her direction.

“Miss Saimori…”

Murmuring, Kimio walked past Godou, who’d halted in the middle of the hallway, and ran over to Miyo.

“Miss Saimori—oh, except it would be Mrs. Kudou, wouldn’t it? Congratulations on your wedding.”

“Thank you very much, Kimio.”

Miyo was stunned to see Kimio talk to her like normal despite the traces of tears still on her cheeks.

Then Miyo remembered a fact that, up until that very moment, she had shoved into a corner of her mind, too preoccupied with the wedding.

That’s right, Kimio put a curse on me.

Although the hex was weak and never amounted to anything serious, Miyo had been cursed by this woman all the same. She unconsciously braced herself and gulped.

“Hey, do you mind if we talk a bit? I want to hear about your wedding.”

“But.”

Kimio looked pitiful, her brow sagging and her nose and eyes pink.

Miyo didn’t know what had happened, but it made her want to answer Kimio’s request.

She was dealing with a powerless woman, and despite the matter of the curse, Kimio was also a former classmate. Deciding it was probably all right, Miyo took her eyes off her…and in that brief moment—

Kimio produced a small, sharp piece of glittering metal out from the sleeve of her kimono.

“Huh? Kimi—”

“I’m sorry.”

Her voice was indifferent, completely emotionless. Kimio aimed the item in her hands at Miyo’s chest without any hesitation.

“Miss Miyo!”

Standing nearby, Yurie was the first one to shout. Next—

“Stop!”

Godou’s angry scream echoed through the hallway.

Everything that happened next seemed to unfold very slowly. Miyo realized that the item in Kimio’s grip was a foldable dagger, but also that she couldn’t move away in time, and that she had no way to stop Kimio.

“Miyo!!”

She heard Kiyoka’s voice. He flew out of the same reception room that Kimio had left, his face red with rage. But the swing of Kimio’s dagger was faster, of course.

“Ah…”

Miyo could only watch as the tip of the dagger sank into her breast.

She didn’t feel any pain. However, the sudden, slightly backward momentum tied up her feet, and she collapsed on the floor.

“You little—!”

Godou reached Kimio ahead of Kiyoka and pulled her down, bloodcurdling and murderous ire radiating from every inch of his body as he restricted her movement.

“Eeeek!”

As Kimio let out a short shriek and was pinned to the floor, the dagger fell with a soft clang. Its blade was free of blood.

Sensing the abnormal situation, unit members flooded the station corridor one after the other, and in the blink of an eye, commotion began to spread.

“Miyo, Miyo! Are you all right?”

Rushing over with a frantic look in his eyes, Kiyoka lifted Miyo up in his arms. She touched her chest in confusion.

Nothing happened?

There wasn’t a single scratch on her upper body, and even her kimono was undamaged. Naturally, she didn’t feel any pain, and she cocked her head, baffled by what was going on.

“I’m fine. I just fell over…but how?”

“You’re carrying your charm, aren’t you?”

As Kiyoka said this with a deep and profound sigh of relief, everything clicked for Miyo.

This protective charm, which Kiyoka had improved and strengthened over and over, was different from the one a year prior. Now it responded not only to threats from grotesqueries, Gifts, and arts, but also to attacks from regular people.

Thanks to this, catastrophe had been averted.

She would have been seriously wounded if she’d actually been stabbed. If the dagger had struck the wrong place, she might have even died on the spot.

Her terrible heart palpitations wouldn’t stop. When she imagined what would have happened if she had forgotten the protective charm, as she had before, a chill rushed down her spine.

“Why?!”

Kimio’s sharp scream pierced everyone’s ears.

“Why, why, why…? Why are you the only one who gets to be protected, who gets to be happy…?!”

Kimio was crying. She wailed as she turned into a mess, tears streaming from her eyes and her hair becoming unkempt.

“It’s not fair, Miss Saimori, not fair at all! Why am I always treated so coldly, never shown any love, and never protected by anyone? I mean, even that curse! I had no idea that it would turn out like that. I—I didn’t know anything about it! Why am I being blamed for everything?!”

“Kimio…”

“Wh-what was I supposed to do? I didn’t decide to be married into that family. Even then, I worked so hard for my husband and mother-in-law. Yet despite that, everyone’s cold to me, and no one shows me any kindness!”

Bewildered, Miyo held her tongue.

On the day of the cooking class, Miyo had sensed that Kimio wasn’t very happy.

However, Miyo couldn’t possibly have done anything for her, as Kimio was merely a former classmate, and not one she was particularly close to, either, whom she was seeing again for the first time in a long while.

Even now, Miyo didn’t have the slightest idea what she could say to her.

As she sat with her gaze wandering aimlessly, Kiyoka, still holding her in his arms, cast a cold, contemptuous glare at Kimio.

“…And I believe I told you that I would put in word with the proper authorities to have them help you. You can’t ignore that and then claim no one’s there to protect you, now can you?”

After Kiyoka spat out those words in disgust, Godou let out a rough sigh as he constrained Kimio.

“At the very least, we’ve been lending you a hand after the spirit disturbance, so you haven’t been ‘treated coldly’ at all. Your persecution complex is out of control. Though I understand why you might feel so desperate.”

“No, no, but—”

“I don’t want to hear it. That little stunt of yours was attempted murder. Just because you’ve been hurt yourself, that doesn’t mean you have the right to turn around and harm someone else.”

Kimio’s face warped and wrinkled at Godou’s words. An intense wail reverberated through the hallway.

Everyone who had witnessed the scene wore a grim, sour look, seeming a bit uncomfortable.

Miyo’s heart ached to see her old classmate cry and shout.

The next thing she knew, Miyo was getting down on her knees and rubbing Kimio’s back.

“Kimio. I was really very happy to get the chance to talk with you during that cooking class.”

Anything Miyo could say to try to encourage or soothe her would likely just make Kimio feel worse and stoke her anger. There was only one thing Miyo could say to her.

“Let’s both participate in another class together. That, and I’d like…to talk a lot more with you.”

Miyo didn’t know if she had properly expressed herself to Kimio, who crouched down on the floor, lay flat, and cried.

However, unless Miyo had simply been seeing things, she thought she saw Kimio nod her head ever so slightly.

“You really aren’t hurt at all, right? Um, that charm’s power is flawless, but I just want to make sure.”

“Kiyoka, you worry too much. I really don’t have a single scratch on me.”

While Kimio was hauled off, and the people in the station went back to their normal routines, Kiyoka remained at Miyo’s side, worrying over her endlessly.

No matter how many times she answered that she was fine, his grip around her shoulders never weakened.

Yurie had been so shocked by the events that transpired that they’d needed to sit her down in a nearby chair to rest.

Kiyoka furrowed his brow, looking almost tearful, and cast his eyes down.

“…I thought I would die.”

“Um, what…?”

Miyo was the one who thought she might die.

As Miyo wondered what her husband was saying, the question practically on her face, Kiyoka gently touched her cheek with his fingertip, as if handling something fragile.

“In that moment, when I thought about what would happen when you died, I imagined what would happen to me afterward…and I concluded that I probably wouldn’t live much longer after that.”

“Wh-what in the world are you saying?”

Miyo’s eyes widened.

She was finally settling down from having almost been killed, and yet now she found herself flustered for a different reason entirely.

Kiyoka dying was absolutely preposterous. Of course, she wasn’t planning on dying any time soon, either, but if he dared to try following after her, her spirit would be overcome with sadness and irritation.

Above all else, she knew she could never bear the fact that she might cause Kiyoka to devalue his life.

“It’s a relatively obvious conclusion. Anyone other than you would probably agree.”

“Y-you can’t do that, okay? If I saw you do anything of the sort, I’d haunt your dreams…and, um, chide you every night.”

“If you showed up in my dreams every night, then maybe I’d be able to live a little longer.”

“I-I’m not joking here; I mean it.”

Seeing Miyo speak so emphatically, Kiyoka finally cracked a smile.

Miyo thought she saw the color returning to his blanched cheeks. Her complexion was probably in a similar state, too. She’d been scared to death.

“I’m glad that you’re all right.”

“…I’m sorry for worrying you.”

“No, all that matters is you’re safe,” Kiyoka said, plopping a hand down on top of Miyo’s head, before at last, he removed the other hand from her shoulder, with which he’d been holding her close.

“Let’s call for Yurie. I’ll show you to the entrance. I can’t escort you back to the house, but—”

“It’s okay. This charm will protect me.”

As Miyo broke into a smile, Kiyoka’s eyes softened as well.

After accompanying Kimio as she was taken away and making sure she was handed over to the police, Godou returned to the station.

There, he happened to catch a glimpse of his superior, Kiyoka, accompanying his wife to the gate.

Even from a distance, the looks on their faces were peaceful and brimming with happiness, like flowers in bloom. It didn’t seem like anyone could hope to interfere with them.

The commander really has changed.

This metamorphosis certainly wasn’t an unpleasant one, even for Godou, and it made him feel a bit jealous, too.

Before Kiyoka had met Miyo, that handsome face of his had always betrayed a heartlessness, and there had been a harsh and stern air about him.

Nagaba showed almost no interest in Kimio, treating her with cold indifference.

If Kiyoka had never met Miyo, and he had taken some other arbitrarily selected woman as his wife instead, he would have likely turned out to be the same type of husband himself.

Godou could scarcely believe how Kiyoka’s face had thawed and gentled.

Everything about him—his eyes squinted in affection, the upturned corners of his lips, the affection in his voice—spoke volumes about how much he loved his wife,

“Gaaah… I’m happy, sure, but it still makes me feel a bit empty…”

If only Godou could someday find such a well-matched partner for himself. Despite this hope, though, it was clear that things wouldn’t go so smoothly.

More importantly, though…

If that thing is going to cause trouble, then there’s no way marriage is on the table for me until I do something about it.

The Earth Spider. The cruel grotesquerie that could shape-shift into the bodies of multiple people, use them each for different purposes, and perform acts of evil, was tormenting others once again.

“I can’t cause trouble for the commander when he just got hitched. I have to act carefully.”

Godou’s thoughts turned to his father’s killer.

For a time, he had resented Kiyoka for not saving his father. However, after learning that Kiyoka carried his own profound feelings of remorse and regret, Godou realized it was pointless to blame him.

This time, I’ll end it for good, by my own hand.

Godou couldn’t ignore the black haze festering in his breast. He clenched his uniform, pressing down right above his heart.

Gazing from a distance at Kiyoka while enveloped in a soft, cheerful air, Godou curled the corners of his lips in a smirk.