After what felt like a small eternity, Hozuki Nozomi reluctantly released Kirisu Mafuyu's rosy lips.
Her cheeks were flushed a deep peach.
She was breathing heavily.
With every ragged inhale, the fullness straining against her blouse rose and fell in unsteady rhythm.
On her delicate face, two faint streaks of tears still glistened.
Hozuki Nozomi gently brushed them away with the pad of his thumb, then smoothed a lock of cherry-tinted hair behind her ear.
"Were you scared? Mafuyu, it's alright now."
Kirisu Mafuyu lowered her head shyly, but her watery eyes soon lifted to meet his.
"Nozomi… why did you suddenly come?"
Even as she spoke, she made no move to leave his embrace. Instead, she settled onto his lap, letting his arms close around her.
Hozuki Nozomi stroked her long, cherry-colored hair, soothing her frayed nerves, and explained in a low voice:
"I'm close with Chief Kosaka of the Metropolitan Police Department. He often asks me for help on difficult cases. Through my family's secret jutsu, I can pinpoint a criminal's location in minutes."
"The moment I realized the trail led toward your home, I dropped everything and came."
"Thank god you're safe. If anything had happened to you, I'd have regretted it my whole life."
He looked at her, warmth pooling behind his eyes.
That tender gaze made Kirisu Mafuyu's heart stumble.
Her small hands rested on his shoulders, and almost without thinking, she tightened her arms around his neck.
"Thank you."
"Heh, don't mention it. I've already collected my reward."
His eyes drifted to her slightly swollen lips, glinting with mischief.
Kirisu Mafuyu shot him an annoyed glance, but there wasn't a trace of true displeasure in it.
Her small face flushed, and she nodded almost imperceptibly.
"En," she murmured, quietly conceding that the searing kiss just now had indeed been his reward.
"Alright, Mafuyu Onee-san, can you come with me to the station and give a statement? This scum has been caught, but I don't intend to let him off easy. He needs to receive every ounce of punishment he's earned."
Japan had no death penalty.
But Hozuki Nozomi had ways of making a man suffer worse than dying.
He had already crushed the criminal's third leg beneath his boot and planted a curse-mark deep inside him.
Once the legal system delivered its verdict, he would personally send that filth out of this world.
Kirisu Mafuyu looked at him with soft, trusting eyes, and nodded obediently.
"Okay. I'll go with you."
...
Kosaka Daisuke watched the two of them emerge hand-in-hand and couldn't stop his eyes from rolling.
"Done already? That was fast."
Hozuki Nozomi's face darkened.
"Fast, my ass. I was comforting Mafuyu Onee-san."
Kirisu Mafuyu kept her burning face lowered, silent, her slender hand still clasped in his.
She looked, for all the world, like an obedient young wife.
...
Upon arriving at the precinct, Kosaka Daisuke personally took Kirisu Mafuyu's statement.
Then he woke the suspect and began the interrogation.
The results came quickly.
"The perp's name is Yamada Daigo. He works as a locksmith."
"After illegally opening a client's home once and pocketing the spoils, he grew addicted to the method. Every job, he wore gloves, careful never to leave prints."
"Later, after breaking up with a schoolteacher and accidentally killing her in the argument, he began targeting other female teachers who lived alone — his sick way of retaliating against the world."
Kosaka Daisuke laid out the interrogation results in a slow, measured voice.
A chill crawled down Kirisu Mafuyu's spine.
She had never imagined something like this could ever happen to her.
If Hozuki Nozomi hadn't arrived in time, she might have suffered unspeakable humiliation — and worse still, her life could have ended tonight.
Once the statement was complete, Kosaka Daisuke also asked for a few items bearing the criminal's fingerprints as evidence, then escorted the two of them personally to the door.
...
Back at her apartment.
Kirisu Mafuyu stared at the ransacked living room, her eyes welling again.
Hozuki Nozomi gave her a helpless smile. "I'll help you clean up. And while you're at it, start packing. You're moving today."
Kirisu Mafuyu's heart lurched. "Moving? Where to?"
"Sakurasou. My place, obviously. There's more than enough room — even Miharu can come along."
"You—"
"I don't trust leaving you here! If Uncle Daisuke hadn't asked for my help today, I could've lost you. Stay with me at Sakurasou, and I can actually protect you, Mafuyu. Okay?"
Kirisu Mafuyu turned her face away, unable to bear the tenderness in his gaze.
"I… I'll agree, then."
Though she couldn't yet name the feeling curling inside her chest, having him near made her feel a steadiness she hadn't known in years.
And so Hozuki Nozomi spent half an hour helping her pack her belongings, then negotiated with the landlord and settled the lease termination without a hitch.
Her things were loaded into her compact car, and she drove them the whole way to Sakurasou.
...
After parking near the lot entrance, Hozuki Nozomi called Shiina Mashiro and the others down to help haul everything upstairs.
Shiina Mashiro and Ogiwara Sayu, learning that Mafuyu-Sensei would be moving in, threw themselves eagerly into organizing her new room, their welcome uncomplicated and warm.
Kirisu Mafuyu felt her ears burn, a little mortified at having to face her own students in this position.
Still, once she'd made her decision, she wasn't the sort to renege.
...
That evening, Sakurasou threw a long-overdue welcome party.
Sengoku Chihiro, upon discovering Kirisu Mafuyu was a fellow teacher, immediately dragged her into a drinking match.
It didn't take long before Kirisu Mafuyu's face was flushed crimson, her steps swaying dangerously with every attempt to stand.
Hozuki Nozomi could only sigh.
He had no choice but to carry both of them — one after the other — up to their rooms, tucking each beneath a blanket so they wouldn't catch a chill.
Sengoku Chihiro went first, deposited safely into her futon.
Kirisu Mafuyu came next.
He'd just finished drawing the blanket up over her shoulder when her hand shot out and caught his wrist.
"Nozomi… don't leave. I'm scared."
Kirisu Mafuyu gazed up at him with wet, unfocused eyes, her delicate face wine-flushed, her expression achingly enticing.
Her rosy lips shimmered with an inviting sheen.
Hozuki Nozomi swallowed hard, then leaned down and folded her carefully into his arms, stroking her hair as he murmured, "Don't be afraid, Mafuyu-Sensei. I'm right here."
"You're not allowed to leave… you bad student. Why do you always catch me at my most pathetic?"
"Sorry. Maybe it's just fate."
"It's an ill-fated one… I hate you."
"Hate me? Then I should go?"
"No. You're not allowed to leave."
"You have to protect me. You bullied me, you hugged me, you kissed me — so you have to take responsibility."
Alcohol loosened what shame had shackled, and for the first time, Kirisu Mafuyu let her real feelings spill out of her mouth without an editor.
Her fingers tightened on his arm, and with a tug she pulled him down against her.
Then she draped herself across his chest.
Her hazy eyes traced his features with something between mischief and hunger. "You bad guy… you're so handsome. You're really cool, Nozomi."
Her breath came warm and boozy against his throat, and her thigh — slipping out from beneath the disturbed hem of her dress — slid over his hip in a slow, unconscious drag. The soft weight of her chest pressed flush against him through the thin fabric of her blouse, two full curves flattening and reshaping against his ribs with every uneven breath she took. He could feel the hard little points of her nipples through the cloth, betraying her.
"Mafuyu," he murmured, voice roughening, "you're drunk."
"Mm-hmm." Her lips brushed his jawline, dragging, tasting. "So kiss me anyway."
He caught her chin between two fingers and tilted her face up. Her mouth parted before he'd even closed the distance — a soft, wet "nnh~" slipping past her teeth as his tongue met hers, slow and deep, the taste of sake and something sweeter blooming between them.
Her hand slid down his chest, fumbling, small and warm through his shirt.
"Nozomi… stay. Just tonight."