Chapter 212: The First Breakfast

Early morning.

Kaoru Hoshitani woke to a slightly dry breeze.

His eyes flew open, pupils contracting violently in an instant from the shock.

In his field of vision, there was no familiar warm-yellow ceiling light of his Tokyo apartment, but rather an unfamiliar white ceiling marked with old, discolored water stains.

Wh-where… is this?

Kaoru Hoshitani’s mind went briefly blank. With almost no room for thought, his body reacted before his rationality, springing into a panic-driven response—

He fumbled under the pillow like he’d been electrocuted, fingers trembling, desperately trying to find his mobile phone.

He had to confirm whether that demon named “Rika Kawasaki” had called him again with her relentless barrage of calls, or sent some other obscene photograph.

However, he came up empty.

After that brief moment of weightlessness, he suddenly remembered that his old mobile phone had been left behind, forever, in that suffocating abyss of Tokyo.

And in that same second, his stiff fingers brushed against a warm stretch of arm beside him.

Kaoru Hoshitani’s whole body shuddered, and he turned his head rigidly.

Aina Saiten was sleeping peacefully beside him.

She lay on her side, her breathing steady and deep. That chestnut-brown hair, always so meticulously styled, was now slightly tangled across the pillowcase printed with cheap floral patterns.

Around his nose, there was no longer the aggressive, high-end perfume of Rika Kawasaki, but rather the scent of industrial laundry detergent carrying a faint trace of sunshine.

Looking at Aina Saiten’s familiar face, Kaoru Hoshitani’s wildly pounding heart finally seemed to find its landing point, settling heavily back into his chest.

That’s right…

They escaped.

They had fled to Sapporo, Hokkaido, hundreds of miles away from Tokyo.

Rika Kawasaki can’t find us here, and the Legal Department of the Quansheng Group can’t touch Aina Onee-san anymore.

Kaoru Hoshitani let out a long, stale breath, and his back, tense all night long, gradually relaxed.

Through the morning light filtering in through the gap in the slightly yellowed curtains, he quietly watched Aina Saiten’s sleeping face.

In that faint light, he could clearly see the faint dark circles under Aina Saiten’s eyes, her slightly pale lips, and her brows, which remained gently furrowed even in sleep.

It was the exhaustion from days of extreme terror, the crushing weight of being falsely accused and fired, and the desperate flight through the night—a fatigue that had nearly overdrawn her life.

Aina Onee-san… it’s all for me…

Kaoru Hoshitani felt as if something blunt had struck his chest, sending a lingering, dull ache through him.

He carefully lifted the covers, terrified of making the slightest sound, and crept out of bed.

Barefoot on the slightly cool wooden floor, Kaoru Hoshitani left the bedroom.

This was the first morning after the escape.

Looking at this quiet, short-term rental apartment with no trace of life in it, Kaoru Hoshitani felt he had to do something.

Even if it was just a tiny, insignificant thing, he wanted to lighten Aina Saiten’s burden just a little.

He walked into the somewhat narrow, but spotlessly clean, kitchen.

He opened the old single-door fridge. Inside, there was no expensive imported wagyu beef, no custom-ordered sterile eggs, no specific brand of yogurt he used to love.

In the fridge, there were only two bunches of the most ordinary greens, a carton of eggs with a half-price supermarket discount tag, a few bags of frozen dumplings, and a few cups of instant noodles in the corner.

Looking at these unremarkable, cheap ingredients, Kaoru Hoshitani didn’t feel disappointed at all. Instead, his eyes grew slightly hot.

This is great!!

This is what ordinary people’s lives look like. This rough, everyday warmth of human existence made him certain that he was standing on solid ground again.

He rolled up the sleeves of his slightly oversized, basic gray hoodie and took two eggs out of the bag.

With a “click,” he turned on the gas stove.

He cracked the eggs, chopped the vegetables, heated the pan, and poured in the oil.

“Sizzle—”

When the golden egg mixture hit the hot oil and released that toasted aroma, Kaoru Hoshitani watched the white steam rising from the frying pan and felt his broken soul finally piecing itself back together, bit by bit, on this distant northern land.

……

Aina Saiten opened her eyes, somewhat dazed.

An unfamiliar room, an unfamiliar ceiling, and the occasional calls of birds from an unfamiliar street drifting in through the window.

For even a fraction of a second, she felt disoriented, thinking that she and Akane had just taken a short trip to Hokkaido during a weekend getaway.

The fear and flight on the train last night seemed like nothing more than an unreal nightmare.

Until she sat up and saw the small stack of Japanese Yen cash on the bedside table, meant to cover their daily expenses for the time being.

The cruel reality of being framed and fired from her job, and carrying an industry-wide blacklist, washed over her again like ice-cold seawater, jolting her fully awake.

That’s right. I’m already a fugitive who doesn’t even know where tomorrow’s meal money is coming from.

“Aina Onee-san, you’re awake?”

The bedroom door was pushed open gently, and Akane walked in carrying two steaming bowls. He had on an old apron that had come with the apartment, his pale cheeks slightly flushed from the kitchen fumes, and his eyes were bright and shining.

“I just looked at what was in the fridge and made something simple.”

Kaoru Hoshitani set the breakfast on the small dining table in the living room. A simple bowl of vegetable and fried egg soup, plus two heated plum rice balls bought from the convenience store.

Seeing this, a powerful, almost guilty sense of happiness surged up from the bottom of Aina Saiten’s heart.

She walked over, sat down at the dining table, and cupped the warm ceramic bowl in both hands.

“It smells wonderful. Thank you, Akane.”

“Eat up, before it gets cold.” Kaoru Hoshitani sat down across from her, resting his chin on his hands. Those beautiful eyes, finally free of fear, were now full of anticipation, reflecting Aina Saiten’s image in them.

The two of them quietly ate this most ordinary of breakfasts.

For them, it was quite simply the most delicious, most reassuring meal they’d had in weeks.

No suffocating luxury of a high-end restaurant, no phone calls from Rika Kawasaki that could come at any moment, only the sound of their breathing intertwining.

“Um… Aina Onee-san.”

Kaoru Hoshitani swallowed his last bite of rice ball and looked at her a little cautiously. “What should we… do today?”

Aina Saiten set down her chopsticks and wiped her mouth with a tissue. Her surface still maintained that gentle, composed smile:

“Today, I’m going to start by counting up all the cash we have on hand, and then take a walk around the nearby streets to see if there are any temporary jobs that don’t require background checks from big companies.”

At that, Aina Saiten’s tone paused slightly.

On the surface, she seemed calm, but in her mind, that precision calculator she used as an accountant was already spinning at full speed.

The rent is paid for a month, but then there’s water, electricity, gas, food for the two of us…

And the cost of medication for Akane, which he might need at any moment given his severe psychological trauma…

With her current identity carrying a blacklist, getting into any major corporation was absolutely impossible.

All she could do was ask about day-labor jobs at the bottom rung: convenience store night shifts, supermarket cashier, or restaurant kitchen work.

“Look for a job?” Kaoru Hoshitani immediately sat up straight, setting down his chopsticks, and said with some urgency, “Th-then I’ll go too! I can work at a convenience store, or wash dishes at a restaurant! I can’t let you carry all the burden alone…”

“No.”

Aina Saiten’s answer came almost instantly, leaving her mouth the moment Kaoru Hoshitani’s words ended.

The moment she said it, realizing her tone might have been a bit harsh, Aina Saiten immediately softened her voice.

She reached out across the dining table and gently placed her hand over Akane’s, which was slightly cool from washing the dishes.

“The most important thing for Akane right now is to stay home and rest.”

Aina Saiten looked into the boy’s eyes, her gaze filled with unconcealed protectiveness.

“You’ve been having nightmares every single night, and your mental state is terrible! Now that we’ve finally escaped, how could I let you go out and be seen in public right away?”

“Besides, it’s not completely safe out there yet. Your face is too recognizable. What if some stranger takes a picture and posts it online? You absolutely cannot take a job in a crowded place.”

“But…” Kaoru Hoshitani turned his hand over to hold Aina Saiten’s fingers, trying to argue once more. “I can wear a mask. I don’t want to just eat and do nothing at home every day…”

“No buts.” Aina Saiten smiled, but her tone was resolute with no room for negotiation. “Akane is the one I’ll protect with everything I’ve got. Once we’re completely settled, once the heat dies down, we’ll figure something out together, okay?”

Kaoru Hoshitani looked into Aina Saiten’s tired but stubborn eyes. He opened his mouth, but in the end, nothing came out.

He slowly released his grip on Aina Saiten’s hand.

“I understand. I’ll stay home and behave, Aina Onee-san.”

Kaoru Hoshitani lifted a submissive smile and nodded.

But just as he lowered his head to gather the dishes, his gaze inevitably dimmed.

Like a piece of porcelain covered in cracks, he had once again been placed back inside the dustproof case called “protection” by Aina Onee-san, unable to do anything at all.

……

Nine in the morning.

Aina Saiten changed into a low-key, dark-colored trench coat, put on a mask and black-framed glasses, and got ready to head out.

Before leaving, she stood in the foyer, like a mother sending her child off to kindergarten, repeating her instructions to Kaoru Hoshitani without any sign of impatience:

“Don’t open the door for anyone who knocks, no matter what. Just pretend no one’s home, got it?”

“And absolutely don’t contact any of your old classmates or friends. Don’t log into your old social accounts either.”

“No matter what happens, never go out alone. If you get hungry, boil some instant noodles, and I’ll bring you something good when I get back.”

Kaoru Hoshitani stood on the step of the foyer, obediently nodding again and again.

“I’ve got it. Aina Onee-san, please be careful out there too!”

“Mm, I’m off now.”

Aina Saiten leaned in, planted a kiss on Kaoru Hoshitani’s forehead, then turned and pushed open the anti-theft door.

“Click.”

The lock let out a crisp snapping sound.

The footsteps in the corridor gradually faded, until they disappeared entirely.

The smile on Kaoru Hoshitani’s face slowly faded the moment he confirmed Aina Saiten had left.

The morning sunlight spilled across the wooden floor of the living room through the curtain gap, but it couldn’t dispel the silence that had suddenly descended on the air.

The apartment, for the first time, was quiet enough to make one’s heart feel unsettled.

Kaoru Hoshitani stood alone in the foyer, staring at the closed metal door, and suddenly felt a tremendous sense of powerlessness.

He wanted to do something. He desperately wanted to prove that he was useful to Aina Onee-san.

He picked up a rag and wiped down the already spotless coffee table three times. He wanted to do the laundry, but discovered that the clothes from last night had already been washed and hung up by Aina Saiten without a second thought.

He even took out his phone, opened the Line chat with Aina Saiten, and typed “Have a safe trip, good luck with the interview.”

But his finger hovered over the send button for half a minute before he finally, silently, deleted it word by word, afraid that this meaningless show of concern would disturb Aina Saiten, who was out there facing rejection after rejection.

“What else can I do…”

All he could do was wait, trapped in this locked-up room, staring eagerly at the door for Aina Saiten to return with food and the hope of survival.

To take his mind off things, Kaoru Hoshitani decided to clean up the breakfast trash.

He swept together the broken eggshells, the plastic wrappers from the convenience store rice balls, and the tissues used to wipe the table, ready to throw them into the trash can.

However, he froze.

He stared at the intricate, humanly impossible plastered on the wall, and fell into a long silence.

Burnable waste, non-burnable waste, plastic resources, paper resources, bottles and cans, hazardous waste……

Kaoru Hoshitani held the rice ball wrapper with a little bit of seaweed and rice grains stuck to it, his brows furrowed.

“Huh? This outer wrapper is plastic, so does that make it ‘plastic resources’?”

“But it’s clearly got oil stains on it, right? Shouldn’t it be classified as ‘burnable waste’?”

“Hmm… then what about the egg carton?”

The plastic on the egg carton definitely feels harder though…

Just as Kaoru Hoshitani was staring blankly at a rice ball wrapper, feeling like he couldn’t even throw away trash properly in this unfamiliar city—

“Buzz—”

The black, prepaid mobile phone on the coffee table let out a short, sharp vibration.