Episode 36: Attachment and Possessiveness
Honoka’s hand grips my shoulder hard, through the fabric of my uniform.
Enough force that it hurts.
“…You said you didn’t go anywhere, on your day off, right?”
Low, trembling.
But the words pierce straight through, without a trace of doubt in them.
“You said you didn’t go. I believed you, Yuna.”
The hand on my shoulder tightens further.
But more than the pain, it’s the look on Honoka’s face in front of me that steals my breath.
“So why… why did you go to an aquarium?”
— My heart lurched hard.
“Why, with her?”
Honoka’s gaze shifts toward the edge of my bed.
There: the small penguin plushie.
The one I bought at the aquarium, with Shiori.
— Ah.
The moment I follow her gaze, the air freezes.
“…That.”
Her clenched fingers tremble, just slightly.
“…You bought a matching one, with her?”
A voice caught somewhere between anger and grief, wavering.
But in the next instant—
“…Yuna, why…?”
Everything she’d been holding back comes pouring out all at once, tumbling over itself.
“Why did you lie? Why were you with someone who wasn’t me? Why do you have something matching with her? I’m right here, aren’t I?”
Her face closes in.
No room left to escape.
“I kept enduring it, kept thinking about nothing but you, this whole time…”
“I was so lonely this whole time, and you looked so happy with her…”
“Aren’t I the only one who’s supposed to have you?”
Ragged breath. A trembling voice.
Honoka’s fingers grip the collar of my uniform.
And then — her lips close the last distance between us.
“I knew it… you were planning to throw me away… to trade me for her…”
Her voice bleeds out low and pained.
Not certainty, not a question — just words spilling out exactly as she feels them.
“That’s not it, I never meant—”
I don’t get to finish.
“Can’t. Can’t-can’t-can’t-can’t-can’t-can’t-can’t-can’t-can’t-can’t-can’t-can’t-can’t…!!”
Honoka’s voice fills the room, blotting out the air in an instant.
The hand on my shoulder shakes; the fabric of my uniform is crushed in her grip.
“I can’t. There’s no way you’d throw me away, no way…! I could never allow that…!”
Her voice is trembling, and yet her eyes cling to me like something desperate, refusing to let go.
Her gaze is more frightening than her words.
“I don’t want anyone taking you from me — you’re mine, only mine—!”
The next moment — my breath stops.
— My mouth is sealed shut.
Hard, fierce, deep.
As if she’s trying to confirm the very fact of my existence, Honoka’s lips press against mine.
There’s no room to breathe.
A kiss that feels almost like madness, dominating me down to the back of my throat.
It isn’t only about taking.
This is something meant to carve everything into me—
“…Yuna is mine… only mine… always…!”
The moment our lips part, Honoka murmurs it low, breath ragged.
Her hands catch hold of me again.
As if to say: I won’t let you go, not this time.