"What are you doing?"
The scene in the bedroom made the mother's heart sink like lead. Her husband and daughter... although nothing had happened yet, she could tell from the atmosphere and their expressions that they were actually...
The mother was equally stunned. Her brain felt like it exploded, and her ears rang.
"Mom..." Saki's eyes filled with tears, and she was about to explain, but the man beat her to it.
"I'm sorry! Honey, Saki just said she had something to ask me, and I couldn't resist the temptation, so..."
The black-haired girl's eyes widened. What was he saying? Why was he making it sound like she had seduced him on purpose?
"Mom! He tried to rape me! He wanted to do those disgusting things to me! I didn't ask him for anything!" She didn't even want to call him "Dad" anymore.
In Saki's eyes, this man she once loved and respected was now so revolting she wanted to vomit. How could a man who acted like such a beast be called a father? And she never expected him to lie like this!
The man didn't argue with his daughter. He just kept bowing to his wife, repeatedly saying "I'm sorry." The mother's gaze shifted from her husband to her daughter, lingering for a few seconds on Saki's makeup and cosmetics.
"Saki didn't seduce her father? But lately, you've been obsessed with makeup and dressing up. Ever since you started high school, you've become more and more... charming."
Looking at her mother's smiling, "kind" face, the girl stood frozen. "Mom?" What did she mean?
Slap—!
A hand swung toward her face. It didn't connect—the Silver Crest protected her—but the mother was forced back a few steps, her eyes wide. "Saki! You dare to fight back?! If you didn't seduce your father, why did you dress like this?!"
"I didn't..."
"Saki! I don't remember raising such a shameless woman! Seducing your own father—don't you feel disgusted with yourself?!"
"..."
Saki didn't know what to say anymore. She looked at her parents. These two people suddenly felt like complete strangers. She felt a chill throughout her body; even in the heat of summer, she was freezing. Shaking with cold!
She lowered her head, her bangs hiding her eyes. No one could see her expression in the shadows. Saki stopped explaining. She was completely hopeless. Whether it was her father's filthy face or her mother's blind accusations, she was done.
Bang—!!!
Keeping her head down, she violently shoved past her mother and ran out of the room.
"Saki?! Where are you going? Saki!!"
The girl ignored them and sprinted out of the house. The place that once brought her warmth was now filled with nothing but darkness and shadows. It disgusted her; she couldn't stay for another second.
Nor could she ever return. Even with Alex's mark, she didn't want to live under the same roof as that beast of a father. Saki ran through the streets.
She crossed several blocks, having no idea where she was going, only knowing she wanted to be as far from home as possible.
"Alex..."
Though her body was cold, the Silver Crest between her legs remained warm, chasing away the chill. Saki wiped her reddened eyes and whispered his name.
If Alex wasn't there to support her—if his supernatural power wasn't sustaining her body and his warmth wasn't sustaining her soul—Saki felt she would have truly broken. In front of the jerks, the bullies, and the beastly father, she would have shattered.
If she hadn't met Alex, what would have become of her? Saki didn't dare imagine it. She would have surely fallen into utter degradation... but that was a hypothetical that didn't exist. She had met Alex. She had found her salvation.
He was her moonlight, her light of hope.
Holding her phone, Saki felt an urge to cry to Alex about what happened, but she was terrified he would despise her. Her own father wanted to do those beastly things to her... how could she tell him?
If he finds out, will he really not look down on me? She felt Alex wasn't that kind of person, but still—
Having run away from home and decided never to return, Saki was now effectively penniless. She was like a homeless person. If even Alex rejected her... then...
She couldn't bear to think about it. As she hesitated, her stomach gave a loud growl. Hunger set in. She reached into her pockets only to find that, besides her phone, she had very little money. Only enough for one bowl of ramen.
The lonely girl stood in the glow of the sunset, her long shadow stretching out. She clutched the crumpled yen bills as if she had been abandoned by the entire world.
Saki looked back toward her home one last time, closed her blue eyes, and then turned around. She didn't go to eat; she went to the train station.
Perhaps because it was dinner time, the station was quiet. Saki sat on a bench, facing the last rays of light. Her heart gradually calmed down. She suddenly felt that by leaving home—even leaving Osaka and Kyoto—she was undergoing a rebirth, like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon.
She would go to Tokyo to find Alex.
She didn't use her money for food. She used it for a ticket to Tokyo to find the boy she missed so much.
"Perhaps, from the moment I left that house, I said goodbye to my old life. A new life... starts now..."
The girl's brownish-black hair fluttered in the wind. As she stepped onto the train, she looked back at the city with no lingering regret. For all those years, when she thought about it, there was nothing worth staying for.
Everything worth cherishing was in Tokyo.
It was night by the time she got off the train. Saki was empty-handed; besides her phone, she didn't have a single yen left.
She looked up at the colorful, bustling city that never slept. Looking at the traffic and the crowds under the neon lights, the penniless girl watched for a while before taking out her phone.
The next second, a hand reached out from beside her and snatched it away.
"!!!"
She spun around, and a face illuminated by the streetlights came into view. It wasn't one of the hoodlums staring at her, nor a lewd old man. It was a familiar face. A boy.
Saki's mouth fell open.
"Coming all the way to Tokyo without saying a word, not even a phone call to let me know," Alex said, tossing the phone in his hand while keeping his other hand in his pocket. "Did you think I wouldn't be able to track you?"
"Alex... Alex!!"
Saki thought she could be calm, but when she actually saw the boy she loved, she couldn't control her emotions. Excitement, happiness, grief, and gratitude hit her all at once. She lunged at him.
She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, hugging him with all her might.
It was a passionate embrace at a station entrance—like a scene from a romantic drama.
Alex didn't say anything. He patted the girl's back and stroked her soft black hair until Saki proactively offered a passionate tongue kiss. After their long embrace, half an hour had passed.
"Alex..."
"Alright, don't say anything. Let's go home and rest first," Alex said, stroking her cheek. The feel of her soft body and the taste of their kiss made him give her butt a little squeeze. "Then tomorrow, we go back to Kyoto."
"Eh?" The girl's face went pale. "I... I'm not going back."
"What are you thinking? We're just going back to settle the score. Running away like a beaten dog—that won't do. Besides, my woman was mistreated; I can't just let that slide."
"Alex, how... how did you know..."
"Heh," Alex didn't explain. He just flicked her forehead. "Let's go. Time for dinner at home. I can hear your stomach growling from here."
"Mmm..."
Being led by the hand by the person she loved through a strange city, Saki wore a massive smile. Deep down, she felt that her life really had changed.