Chapter 8

“How could you?” Oshiro asked as you walked into the bedroom. She had her elbows propped up on her knees and her face in her hands.

“Hey, that’s my line,” you droned at her as you walked over to the nightstand and dropped your engagement ring into its top drawer. There it would remain until it was time for your escape.

“You know Minoru. You know what she does to a person. Why would you want to subject someone else to that?”

“Because misery loves company, and I am miserable.” You said with a shrug. “You didn’t honestly believe her when she promised you I was the last one, did you? I mean, she promised she would never hurt me and I’m still sporting bruises from my last punishment.”

You changed into your pajamas as you talked. You weren’t shy about being naked in front of them. Not anymore, anyway. They used humiliation tactics against you a lot in the beginning, but now you were numb to them. So they resorted back to violence for punishments.

You never quite got used to the feeling of eyes on you, however, clinging to all the wrong places. You shivered as you felt her raking her gaze over your bare body, pretended it was from the temperature difference. You didn’t rush to get dressed again. That would be a show of weakness.

“Then again, she didn’t lay a hand on me, did she,” you asked without really asking. “She ordered you to do it. And you did it. Silly me.” Then you finished putting on your pajamas and flung yourself onto the mattress. You kicked her until she stood up. Dogs shouldn’t be up on the bed.

“I’m sorry.”

“If you really were sorry, you wouldn’t keep doing it.”

“My dad-“

“‘My daaad! Wah wah waaah!'” You wailed, sticking your lower lip out and performing a crybaby gesture. Then your hands and your expression dropped. “Your dad’s dead, Oshiro. The sooner you realize that, the sooner we’ll both be out of Minoru’s control.”

She said nothing, just snarled, showing off all her ground teeth.

“But look who I’m talking to. You’ve waited ten years and you’ll wait another ten. You’ve already accepted your place as Minoru’s bitch. And, let’s face it, you’re not particularly smart and you’re not a particularly hard worker. You were always gonna end up at her feet.”

“Sacrifices must be made,” she told you, stone-faced and pitiless.

“Those who say so usually mean they should be made by others. What have you ever sacrificed?” Nothing, you thought to yourself.

The two of you stared each other down for a long time. Finally, she turned on her heels and stormed out of the bedroom. As she walked out, Minoru walked in.

“What was all that about?” She asked as she started to get dressed for bed as well. You shrugged unhelpfully and retrieved the bottle of scotch you kept stashed under your side of the bed for bedtime. She looked on in disapproval as you proceeded to drink right from the bottle, not even bothering to pour it in the empty glass sitting on the nightstand.

…

The next morning, you walked into the kitchen to find Minoru designing a housing advertisement flier on her expensive laptop. She noticed you looking over her shoulder and smiled. “I thought, since we have the extra rooms, this might be the best way of finding you a playmate,” she explained.

“Don’t bother,” you told her around your mouthful of cereal. “I already have the perfect girl in mind.” If Satou could be described in a word, perfect would be it.

You took note of how Minoru tensed. That couldn’t be good. She wasn’t the jealous type, but she still didn’t like you looking at other people. You were quick to soothe her, even though you really didn’t like kissing up to her.

You wrapped your arms around her neck from behind, leaned over her shoulder to kiss her on the cheek. She stiffened at first before melting into the embrace. You were very rarely so sweet to her anymore.

“You’ll love her. She’s needy,” you whispered in her ear.

She turned her face toward you so your lips skated across her cheek and demanded, “Another.”

Your eye twitched at her order, but you complied, pressing your lips to hers in a chaste kiss. She seemed to be satisfied if her smile was anything to go by. “Okay, sweetness, why don’t you invite them over for dinner?”