Shizuka tossed and turned, unable to sleep.
The sounds from next door made her roll back and forth on the tatami mat. Suddenly, Toru's face flashed through her mind, startling her.
She quickly shook her head, trying to forget that shocking thought.
But before she knew it, the image of Toru with his upper body bare in the hot spring not long ago occupied her mind again.
Her intimate life with her husband had already become infrequent.
As she aged, her desires increased, but her husband's stamina was declining.
It was also because her husband's personality was too serious. Even when it came to that kind of thing, it felt more like a routine, lacking the romance between a man and a woman.
Before Heiji was born, the relationship between the two of them had felt as if they were only doing that kind of thing to have a child.
And after Heiji was born, Shizuka did not want to have any more children. Her husband had the same idea, so their interactions as a couple gradually decreased.
Even when she was in her early twenties, during the period when she and her husband were most affectionate, her husband had still been less adventurous in that regard.
At first, Shizuka thought this was her husband's respect for her. She believed her husband was a good man, and she had even been happy about it.
But as time passed, as she grew older, and as she talked with her friends, Shizuka gradually realized that her husband simply lacked romance too much.
He was indeed a good husband and a good father, but he could not satisfy all of Shizuka's desires.
Coupled with the strong side of Shizuka's personality and the reservedness of a proper lady, she felt embarrassed to make certain requests to her serious-minded husband.
The result was that Shizuka was not completely satisfied.
In the bedroom, sometimes men and women should not be too respectful toward each other, because that would diminish the fun.
Most women actually hoped their husbands would be strong. Even the toughest woman was soft inside.
Therefore, women tended to have a submissive side in relationships between men and women.
It was not wrong for a man to respect a woman, but if he respected her in every single aspect, it would only leave the woman unsatisfied and make her feel that the man was boring.
Especially for some women who were overly reserved on the surface, they were even less likely to take the initiative.
Through the wall, Shizuka could still faintly hear Toru and Momiji's voices, hearing Toru's teasing and guidance toward Momiji.
This inexplicably made her put herself in Momiji's place.
She knew such thoughts were wrong, but Shizuka felt that if she only thought about it and did not act on it, it was not against the law.
Since she could not get satisfaction, why couldn't she fantasize?
Just as men liked beautiful and virtuous women, women preferred handsome men, men who could give them a sense of security.
Many women outwardly disliked men, but if they were truly given a handsome man, they would try harder than anyone else to please him.
Shizuka originally thought that Toru and Momiji would stop within two hours at most.
But who knew young people had such good stamina? They actually kept going until past four in the morning.
This made Shizuka finally unable to bear it anymore and forced her to calm herself down in her own way.
The next day, everyone slept in.
It was not until eleven in the morning that everyone woke up.
Shizuka and Hayasaka looked tired, as if they had not slept well.
On the contrary, Momiji was radiant and full of energy, with a satisfied smile on her face. As someone with experience, Shizuka naturally understood what that meant.
"Mrs. Hattori, did you not sleep well last night?"
Although Momiji was very open when she was with Toru, fulfilling his various requests and even taking the initiative to try new things, she was still a bit too naive and had not considered the soundproofing of the inn. Seeing Shizuka's poor complexion, she asked with concern.
Shizuka forced a smile and said, "Perhaps it has been a long time since I stayed away from home, so I'm a little unused to sleeping outside. I'm someone who gets homesick."
Momiji asked with concern, "Then shall we rest a bit more this afternoon?"
Shizuka shook her head. "Let's not delay your plans. Aren't you going to Hakodate this afternoon? That works out perfectly. Heiji is also in Hakodate, and as his mother, I should go check on my son's competition."
Shizuka could only use her son to distract herself now.
After mentioning her son, Shizuka's mood did indeed calm down a lot, and she stopped letting her thoughts run wild.
Toru understood much more than Momiji.
He looked at the thin walls of the Japanese inn, then glanced at Shizuka thoughtfully.
This look, however, made Shizuka feel somewhat guilty, and she averted her gaze, not daring to meet his eyes.
It was because she had finally managed to fall asleep last night, only to dream of Toru.
Men always liked eighteen-year-old girls, so why wouldn't women be moved by young men?
Of course, the premise for all this was that the young man was mature enough and gave them enough of a sense of security. This might be the difference between what men and women wanted from each other.
But clearly, Toru was not only a handsome young man, he was also perhaps the man who gave the strongest sense of security in Japan today.
As for Hayasaka, she would not say that when she could not sleep last night, she opened a certain website and watched many inappropriate videos to ease her frustration.
Oh, and the headphones she wore while watching those videos last night were the latest model Toru had given her.
After lunch, the Ooka family's helicopter took everyone from Asahikawa to Hakodate.
As a famous tourist city in Hokkaido, Hakodate had beautiful winter scenery, and tourists could be seen on the roads from time to time.
Momiji and Hayasaka went to a roadside drink shop to buy drinks for everyone. Toru, wearing a black trench coat, stood on the snowy roadside with one hand in his pocket.
Shizuka, dressed in a kimono and carrying a ladies' handbag, stood beside him. An advertisement was playing on a tall building in front of them.
The advertisement featured five girls wearing lace masks and holding different instruments as a PV played.
The song had a rather eerie gothic style. When the song ended, the band logo of Ave Mujica and the girls' portraits appeared on the big screen.
Shizuka looked at the advertisement on the bustling street and said gently, "There have been many advertisements for this band in Osaka recently as well."
"I heard this band is also related to Toru-kun?"
Using Toru's fame for advertising was something Toru had tacitly approved.
Since Sakiko wanted to perform at Budokan in six months and Tokyo Dome in a year, she had to use all available resources for promotion.
Toru was clearly an advertising target.
Japan's great hero, the Fujiwara heir, and a new band jointly invested in by the mayor of Koto Ward in Tokyo and the Togawa Group. That title alone was enough to pique the interest of countless people.
Toru's gaze fell on the advertisement, and he nodded with a smile. "Yes, this is a project I completed together with the Togawa Group."
"The Togawa Group provided venues and some publicity channels, while I invested several million US dollars."
"That much money is more than enough to form a band, so most of the money was actually spent on publicity."
Toru did not interfere much with the band, leaving it entirely to Sakiko to manage.
However, he had also heard that Sakiko's management was too strict, causing some dissatisfaction.
But because the band project was a major undertaking with a large amount of capital invested, Ave Mujica was like a phoenix about to take flight.
Naturally, all current problems were being covered up. Once the band reached a bottleneck, they would likely erupt immediately.
However, Toru did not want to interfere too much. Besides watching the spectacle, for Sakiko, this band would also be a growth experience.
The young lady of the Togawa family, who would inherit the Togawa Group in the future, could not have a smooth life. To become the head of a large group, she needed sufficiently rich experience.
"A band invested in by Toru-kun? I'm quite interested. It seems I should pay more attention to them in the future."
"Japan likes girl bands now. I should also pay more attention to young people's entertainment, or I'll really get old."
Shizuka touched her cheek. When she spoke of getting old, a trace of fear rose in her heart.
No one wanted to get old, especially beautiful women.
"Being with young people makes one's mindset younger, and one's mindset affects one's physical condition."
"Mrs. Hattori should interact more with young people. There's no harm in that. Deep interaction is even better."
Shizuka always felt that Toru's words had a double meaning.
Interact more with young people? Did Toru count as a young person? Of course he did.
As for how to interact deeply, that depended on interpretation.
Just as Shizuka was about to say something, screams and commotion suddenly erupted from the road ahead.
A teenager on a motorcycle, with an elementary school student riding behind him, was speeding down the road.
Behind the motorcycle, several cars were in pursuit. Even more terrifyingly, several burly men inside those cars were shooting at them.
Shizuka was startled. She immediately recognized the person riding the motorcycle being chased. There was no way she could mistake her own son.
"Heiji?!"
Shizuka exclaimed.
(To be continued.)