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Unable to sleep, and not knowing what to do, I lay on my back, staring at the messy ceiling. It was clear my wife was in such a state of shock she didn't even have the strength to move. Cheating was no longer on the table. It wasn't that she hated me or that she didn't have feelings for our children. It was just that my wife, a normal housewife, had been changed by the will of two complete strangers, and now these men were using her as they pleased. It didn't seem like romance; it just seemed like they were playing with my wife. It was as if they were enjoying her background as someone else's wife and mother.
I tried to think about it calmly. Rather than being calm, perhaps I was just physically and mentally exhausted. Unlike the DVDs I'd watched, my wife was delivering a message to me, lacking the objectivity of the ones I'd seen. What kind of husband would say such things to his wife? The more I thought about it, the more confused I became, and I felt the urge to stop thinking. What could I do to see my wife? …Hmm? I remembered the DVD I'd seen yesterday, and a question came to mind. Amidst my confused state, this question surfaced. I just had to see my wife. I tried calling but couldn't get through. To meet my wife… She hadn't even been to work since she disappeared. …I had no choice but to pull on one thread that occurred to me.
The next day, I finished work mid-morning and headed to my wife's company. My subordinates might not trust me if I kept taking paid leave. But that didn't matter. I arrived at my wife's company in the evening and rang the intercom. I introduced myself and asked for Akasaka.
"Is Akasaka here?" I asked.
Akasaka answered a little later. "It's been a while…" she said, coming out of the office. She began to speak. "Um, your wife's been taking time off lately. What's wrong?"
"Yeah, she's been feeling a bit unwell. Anyway, can you make some time for me after work?" I asked.
"Yes, I'm off work in 30 minutes, so if that's okay," she replied.
So I arranged to meet Akasaka at a nearby coffee shop. I could have told Akasaka about her disappearance there and then. But it was too serious a topic to discuss lightly. There was just one thing I wanted to tell Akasaka. If Akasaka knew something about my wife, that was the only ray of hope.
After Akasaka finished work, I went into the coffee shop where we were supposed to meet. I sat down, ordered a coffee, sipped it, and spoke. "Akasaka-san, I'll be honest with you, my wife hasn't come home yet."
Akasaka replied, looking surprised. "What do you mean, she hasn't come home?"
"I don't know either, I have no idea. But I do know for sure that my wife hasn't come home for the past two weeks. After leaving a message saying she wouldn't be coming home," I said.
"You mean she said she wouldn't be coming home? Surely she's with the man she's having an affair with?" Akasaka asked.
"So I don't even know that. I want to find her, but she's not answering her calls, and we have no clues. I've asked the police and a detective agency, but they don't have any clues, so it looks like they can't find her…" I explained.
"How are the police searching for her?" she asked.
"I don't know. But they're certainly not actively looking for her. And the detective agency seems to have reached their limit… So I thought you might know something, Akasaka-san, so I told you everything," I said.
"What? When I say I know, I only know what your wife told me… I haven't heard the name of the man she's having an affair with, or where they're meeting… Oh, it's not certain that she's with the man she's having an affair with, right? I'm sorry…" Akasaka said.
"It's okay, I'm sure that's the possibility. Which is why I wanted to hear from you, Akasaka-san, since you've heard her story," I replied.
"Yes, of course I'll tell you everything I know. But there's only so much I know…" she said.
"Do any of your colleagues other than you know anything?" I asked.
"I don't know… but I don't think she's told anyone else about it. We were on good terms," Akasaka answered.
"I see. So, do you know anything about this person? Where they went, how often they contacted each other, anything is fine," I pressed.
"Place? …All they talked about was whether they were dating or had similar romantic tastes, and I didn't ask too much about the details because I thought it was something I shouldn't ask, so I'm sorry," she said.
"It doesn't have to be the place, like how you met, or anything. At the moment, the only thing I can think of is the detective agency I've hired, and even then the fees I have to pay them are just piling up, and I'm getting anxious because nothing is progressing, so I thought I'd try to figure it out this way," I explained.
"Did the detective agency have any information that could lead to their location?" Akasaka asked.
"There's nothing. There's no evidence of her cheating or anything like that, so it looks like we'll just have to search blindly, which is why it's costing us extra money," I said.
"I see. I can't remember right away, but if I remember anything that might be a clue, I'll contact you. But I never imagined she'd disappeared. I never imagined that someone who was with me until just the other day would disappear…" Akasaka said, her face looking shocked.
That was a natural reaction to being informed that a colleague you'd worked with until recently had suddenly disappeared. But with an unreliable detective agency and no one to rely on but Akasaka, all I could do was get this woman to remember something.
"Yes, please. The detective agency is actually planning to terminate the case at the end of this week. It's not that they're terminating the case, but rather that they're at their wit's end with a weekly contract and no clues. They said it would be best if I resubmitted the case once I've found some clues," I said.
"So, the only option left is to turn to the police," Akasaka replied.
"That's how it goes," I said.
I gained nothing from my conversation with Akasaka. Still, I knew more about Noriko than the detective agency or the police. I just wanted to know, anything at all.
That night, I lay on the sofa in my room at my new workplace. All I could do was wait. I dreaded the passage of time. I told my wife's company that she was hospitalized. I only told them she had a minor illness and that I'd contact them again. I told my children that she was going on a long business trip for about two weeks. It was so sudden, they were surely suspicious. I wondered if I'd called her. I didn't know where my family would start to fall apart. Everything seemed to be falling apart.
Just then, the intercom rang. Could it be my wife? I'd made a mistake and come all the way here. Feeling both frustration and joy coursing through my body, I opened the door.
"It's in the mail," the delivery guy said, handing me an envelope.
As I accepted it, I could feel my heart pounding. I thanked the delivery guy and sat on the sofa in my room, looking at the envelope. There was no sender listed, and it was light. The contents seemed to be paper. It was only yesterday that I received that anonymous delivery containing the DVD. It was obvious that it was the same person who sent it. I opened the letter and took out the contents.
This time, the writing was not handwritten but appeared to have been generated on a computer. It took courage to read what it said. I took a deep breath and read the letter.
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**Letter:**
Hello, I am Noriko's owner. I won't reveal my name. Did you watch the DVD yesterday? If you did, you'll understand, but we intend to consider Noriko our woman. Noriko agreed, and we have decided that she will live for me as one of my many possessions. Noriko herself wishes this and is happy to dedicate the rest of her life to us. Noriko seems to treasure the memories of meeting you and starting a family. She still cries when she talks about you. However, from now on, as my woman, my possession, she will have children and live separate lives.
We are not interested in legal matters such as marriage. If you wish to continue your marriage, that is fine. However, please understand that this is a procedural matter, and Noriko's future lies with us. This may not be easy to understand from an ordinary perspective. In this regard, as a token of our sympathy, we would like to inform you of our thoughts regarding the path Noriko should follow. For the next year, as our property, she will be marked with the owner's markings in the places designated by the owner, and she will abandon her own will and learn to live as a complete slave, providing entertainment for the owner's stakeholders. That's all I have in mind for the next year.
As you can see, it will be difficult to continue living the way we have been. We would like to inform you that we will take on and manage all aspects of Noriko's life. However, we sincerely hope that you and we can accept reality and move on to new lives.
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…How could something as simple as living an ordinary life have turned out this way? Or was the life I thought was ordinary just an illusion, and now its true nature was beginning to emerge? My confidence was crumbling away. I no longer knew what I truly valued or even the meaning of my life up until now. We met, fell in love, got married, started a family, and lived a life I could call happy. But I was suddenly told that it was all over.
It wasn't a pronouncement, just a man's arbitrary thoughts. I didn't even bother to process them in my head; I simply waited to see if the emotions I was supposed to be feeling were welling up inside me. That weekend, I returned to my home in Fukuoka, where my wife was not present. My children were living normally, as if nothing had happened.
My daughter was cooking, and I realized once again that everything was running smoothly even without me. I couldn't even find the motivation to do what I needed to do. I felt as if my emotions were messed up. If there were emotions welling up from deep within me, from my true self, when would they emerge? Emotions that would recognize what was important, what I wanted to protect, and what I needed to do.
Then, one Sunday night, a week later, a phone call set everything in motion. The emotions I'd been unable to understand welled up inside me. I knew how irreversible my belief that optimism would lead to better things, and my personality that had avoided hatred, had been. I knew for a fact that I had been wearing armor, building up confidence through work experience. But that armor was gone. All that remained was a single emotion, born of my instincts. I found the means to do the one thing that needed to be done.
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