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The sun was beating down, and it was hot just to look at. I drove home, the heat pressing against the car. I turned to the detective in the passenger seat and said, "I don't know what's going to happen to me."
The detective hadn't said a word since we'd left my apartment. Even though he was outside, he probably knew what was going on from the sounds coming from inside. Or maybe he'd read that now wasn't the time to ask anything. If that was the case, I thought he was a thoughtful man.
"I understand how you feel… but if you go too far, you'll end up losing out. Of course, I understand the situation…" he said.
I was the one who would lose out… What I'd done earlier could easily become a police matter. And I knew that if I lost control, it could lead to even worse consequences. If it became a police matter, my company would find out, too. But that was fine. I knew that the law and common sense didn't apply to me. There was no way I could win against them by using common sense as a shield.
"Thank you for your concern, but if we don't do something now, there's no going back," I replied.
I wondered if he was testing me somehow. I wondered if I was qualified to be a husband. If that was the case, maybe I was no longer fit to be a husband. I thought about this as the reality of what was happening now felt unreal. It was all a dream, and when I woke up in the morning, my wife would have made breakfast and said "good morning" as usual. But no matter how hard I tried to wake up from that dream, I couldn't. There was nothing I could do. I didn't know what to do. I had to keep having this awful dream.
No matter how much I tried to think of where I was in my dream, I couldn't find it. I couldn't move forward or go back. If I continued like this, I'd stay in the same dream forever. And there was just one door. I didn't know if light or darkness awaited beyond it. It was the door I'd been avoiding because I was afraid. Should I have opened it sooner? I felt incredibly weak for being afraid of what was on the other side of that invisible door. But if I didn't open that door now, I'd run out of strength right there. I wondered if I was being tested… That was the feeling I had.
The car approached the intersection closest to my house. A car stopped at a red light. When the light turned green, I'd turn left and be home in less than a minute. The detective muttered, "Well, as a detective, I don't know. However, based on my experience of witnessing several such cases, I'll just say one thing: you also need to stay calm."
I knew I had to think calmly. But the emotions welling up from the depths of my heart were what I needed most. I knew my own personality. I had a certain amount of rationality at work. That's what being calm meant. Still, I understood that my rationality could be blown away, and I thought that was fine.
The light turned green, and I started the car. As I got closer and closer to my house, I could feel my heart pounding. The men from the apartment building were terrified. They probably never expected me to come. But now they knew I was coming. I wondered what that man was trying to do with my wife. A man who would sneak into my house with my wife when I, the owner, wasn't there. The more I thought about it, the more my anger grew, and the desire to get home quickly grew.
I could see my house. A van was parked in front of it. There was definitely a man I didn't know in my house. What was he doing in my house, acting like he owned it? I parked my car facing forward in the parking lot.
Then I hurried out. The detective in the passenger seat followed me. This time, it was my house. I opened the front door, but it was locked. I took my key out of my pocket and unlocked it. My hands were shaking, and I couldn't insert the key properly. I realized I was trembling. I unlocked the door and opened it. There were four pairs of shoes I didn't recognize in the entrance hall. Four pairs of men's shoes. Four men? And there was another pair of my wife's shoes. There was no sound from inside. I took off my shoes and opened the living room door.
Cool air, cooled by the air conditioner, wafted out from inside. A man was sitting alone on the sofa. "Hello, sir. Nice to meet you," he said.
He had short hair and wore a suit. He looked at me with a calm gaze. This guy must be the mastermind! If he recognized me as the husband even though he came in alone with the detective, that must mean he knew what I looked like.
I looked around. A man with long hair tied back in a slicked-back bun was sitting on a dining chair, and a well-built man was standing next to him. I noticed what he was holding in his hand—a video camera. Was he filming me with it right now? The man had a grin on his face, as if he was enjoying making fun of the landlord in someone else's home.
"What are you filming?" I shouted, trying to stay calm.
But the man silently started filming in earnest, staring at me through the lens as if taunting me.
"Nice to meet you, gentleman. I'm here to bother you," said the man with short hair who had been sitting on the sofa, standing up to greet me.
How dare he barge into someone else's home without permission? Still, I calmly asked, "Where's my wife?"
"Noriko. She's over there," the man said, pointing to the kitchen.
I saw a figure on the other side of the counter-style partition separating the dining room and the kitchen. This was the kind of partition my wife requested when we built this house—a modern design that allowed you to talk to people in the living room while washing dishes in the kitchen and watch TV. I remembered her saying, "I'll put the food on this counter, and you carry it to the table," when we were building the house.
Then I looked beyond the partition. It was my wife. She looked down, wearing a dress I'd never seen her wear at home. And there was a man standing right behind her. That made four people.
I shouted, looking at my wife, "What are you trying to do?!"
After a moment of silence, my wife spoke up. "I'm sorry."
"Sorry doesn't explain anything! What is this situation? Where do you think we are!" I found myself unable to contain my anger.
The long-haired man said, "Calm down, sir, there are a lot of things going on."
"First of all, explain everything from the beginning!" I demanded.
"I didn't come here to see you today, but I got a phone call earlier saying you'd shown up, so I thought it was about time to call you in," he said.
"Then what are you here for? And you called me? This is my house," I retorted.
"Yes, I know… That's why I wanted to tell you everything today," he replied.
I waited for the man to begin.
"We're an adult video production company, and it's the company Noriko currently works for," he said.
An adult video production company? Did this mean Noriko was an adult video actress? Had my wife been deceiving me this whole time? I didn't know if what the man was saying was true or not. But even though I pretended to be calm on the surface, I couldn't hide the turmoil inside. At the same time, anger welled up inside me. And he called my wife, her husband, "Noriko." At that point, I realized he was making a fool of me too. I'd known this from the number of DVDs he'd sent me up until then, but the way he spoke to me, right in front of her husband, carried on. The man continued talking.
"When I say AV, I don't mean the AV you can find anywhere, and I don't mean uncensored. I mean the kind of AV that is specially distributed so that ordinary people like you can't buy it. A two-hour episode sells for over 100,000 yen, and the price goes up depending on the content. Do you know why AV sells for such a high price? It's because the content makes you want to see it even if you have to pay for it. They make it as a pastime for the rich, the type of people who are willing to spend money on things they want to see even if they have to spend money on them. Being rich is a tough thing; you experience everything money can do. Cars, houses, overseas trips—when you live a life where you do what you want when you want, you want to have the things you can't have. But there aren't that many of them."
"So you try to sleep with any woman you want with money? So you try to do whatever you want with money, even if it's someone else's wife!" I said.
"No. Human desires are frightening things. To use an analogy, if you were just standing there aimlessly in the street and a woman you liked walked in front of you, you'd think, 'I want to sleep with that woman,' right? But even so, rich people are calm and sensible. Their positions are guaranteed, after all. That's why they don't use money to get hold of the woman. They don't take any risks themselves," he explained.
"So, you mean lowly guys like you would mess with a woman a rich guy falls in love with?" I asked.
"No. We wouldn't do anything vulgar like that. It would be an impossible dream for that woman. But you know, they are incredibly greedy for things that can be sold. If they could see adult videos that you can't normally see… That's a business opportunity. Rich guys will pay money if there are adult videos that you can't see anywhere else. That's the kind of company we are. It's something that you definitely don't see in regular adult videos. Well, you'll understand if you've seen it for yourself," he said.
He played around with someone else's wife and mocked her husband. And there was a videotape of it all… So that's what it was.
"Well, I'll keep his name a secret, but a man named S brought her to me. He showed me some photos of Noriko, and I saw that she had the qualities of a masochist. At the time, she was just a helpless wife, but… I decided she was worth raising," he continued.
I couldn't wrap my head around it. Was I just being mocked by a story that didn't seem like it could actually happen?
"Did he do that knowing that she was someone else's wife and the mother of their children?" I asked.
"Of course. Otherwise, she wouldn't have any value. She's valuable because she's a married woman. Because she's a happy married woman with a husband and children," he said.
Because she's a happy married woman… So they were securing their own profits by taking away her happiness. My family was destroyed for the selfish gain of these men. No matter how calm I tried to pretend to be when I listened to these guys' stories, each new one made it harder to stay calm.
"Do you understand what that means? Not only ethically, but also what would happen to you if I were to sue you guys?" I asked.
"Well, well, it seems that a man named S had taken a liking to Noriko from the beginning and had one-sided feelings for her, but for some reason, they also had a physical relationship. Your wife had originally been in a relationship with another man other than you, her husband. So we're not saying anything, but you were the only one who didn't know anything. You have to understand that," he said.
I looked at Noriko. "Is it true?! Is what this man is saying true?!" I shouted.
Noriko kept her head down. I asked her again, pleadingly. "Hey, if it's not true, deny it! It's your own fault!"
Noriko looked at me for a moment, then nodded. Until I heard it from my wife, I still didn't know if it was true or a story made up by the men. And that was the only consolation I could get. But my wife herself confirmed it. My wife was having an affair with another man…
"As S himself has admitted, he had a sexual relationship with her. I don't know how the relationship began, but it wasn't romantic, it was a physical one," the man said.
"Since when?" I asked.
Noriko began to speak. "It was a little before you were transferred…"
"What kind of relationship did you have with him?" I pressed.
"He was a client of my previous company, and he invited me out for drinks, and I couldn't refuse…" she said, choking up, tears streaming down her face.
"You mean you had sex with him because you couldn't refuse? What are you thinking? You just can't refuse, you're weak!" I shouted.
"He said that if I didn't go out for drinks, it would affect business with the company because of me…" she explained.
"Who cares about that! What are you working for? It's for your family!" I said.
"Of course I didn't mean to do anything like that, but if I refused on my way out… I would lose my place at work," she said, tears flowing from her eyes.
The man spoke. "Sir, you shouldn't let Noriko say things like that. Well, to put it simply, from what I heard from him, he invited Noriko out drinking by threatening to suspend trading, and after a few drinks, he started to make advances to her. He's a man, so he has ulterior motives like that, doesn't he? He also saw Noriko as a woman, and apparently he touched her body in the same way he did when he invited her out drinking. Noriko probably couldn't bear the guilt she felt toward her workplace and toward you. But the man used that guilt to his advantage and skillfully forced her into a relationship. He must have told her that if she had a relationship, she'd feel better, that if she had sex with a man just once, all these painful days would end. So she had a relationship. Right, Noriko?"
Noriko looked down in silence, tears streaming down her face.
"But the man didn't stop after just one time. Of course. For a man, once is the same as twice or three times. If he's done it once, he'll do it again. But Noriko seemed to resist. But the fact that they had been together once wouldn't go away. Noriko was pushed further and further into a corner. She had betrayed her husband and her children and done something to the company she worked for that she could not deny. In order to escape her predicament, she put aside her own emotions and allowed the man to hold her. And before she knew it, she began to feel pleasure… Anyone can be taken advantage of if you exploit their weak spot," he said.
"S came to us with photos that had been taken around the time of their relationship. The person who makes the introduction is paid. S probably knew about us through his work and his connections with wealthy people. But S wasn't in it for the pay. It was not that he had grown tired of Noriko, but that he wanted to get more excited from her. He was a foolish man who mistakenly thought he could control Noriko, who was just a body with no heart. From our perspective, the past was not that important. It was all about whether or not she could make money. We could clearly see her potential from Noriko's history. I gave S twice the usual amount of compensation, but in exchange, I made him cut off all ties with Noriko," he explained.
It was hard to believe what the man was saying was true. And yet, as the story progressed, Noriko burst into tears. Could it really be true?
At that moment, the detective who had been listening in the background began speaking. "I'm from an investigation company hired by your husband. I've been listening to what you've just said, and if it's true, then at the very least, you raped Noriko against her will. You know that, but that's a serious crime. Do you understand that?"
The man replied, "Detective, you can sue if you want. But shouldn't you confirm Noriko's wishes before you say anything? Was Noriko raped by us against her will throughout this period?"
The detective responded, "Yes, that's right. Noriko was forced to engage in acts by this man, S, and then you paid to have her. This is also considered prostitution. And after that, she continued to act as an AV actress, regardless of her wishes."
I hadn't shown the detective any of the DVDs up to that point. Still, I was sure he was using the weapon of the law to curb the men's influence. The law didn't work on these guys. Still, I was glad that he was willing to be on my side.
I interrupted the detective and the man's conversation. "Why did it have to be my wife?! You could have just filmed an AV with an AV actress. Even if the man brought her along, why did you target a wife who lives an ordinary life?"
"That's because she's a wife who lives an ordinary life. Noriko is an ordinary housewife who lives an ordinary life, with a happy family, and is a woman who has nothing to do with the underworld of AV and the like. You can tell that just from her appearance. That's why it gets our customers excited. AVs with AV actresses are just low-level people who are degrading themselves. What's fun in watching AVs with women like that? There's a demand for this image of an ordinary wife, someone who wouldn't normally appear in an adult video. You can also learn about her background, and because it's not distributed in the normal way, there's no need to hide anything. You might be upset, but the footage also includes the entire process of sending the DVD to you. Of course, the address is included, too. It's not fabricated; it's simply a recording of the facts. But that's why you can see everything about Noriko. Because it's her true self. She has many fans, and many people want to meet her. People who don't mind spending money," he said.
Was this a complete video? I looked at the camera recording our conversation. "You're not planning on selling what you're filming right now, are you?" I asked.
The man replied, "Of course I am."
The man sitting in the chair at the table, who had been silent until then, suddenly spoke. "Leave it there."
It seemed the man sitting on the sofa fell silent in response. Was the man in the chair some kind of boss?
But I couldn't contain the rising murderous intent. My body started moving on its own. Perhaps anticipating this, the detective held me down with his hands. Their expressions must have clearly changed.
"Please stay calm. What these guys did is a crime. I've recorded everything we've just said. Given the current situation, it's enough to call the police immediately. I've also recorded the license plates of all the cars parked outside," the detective said.
Asking me to stay calm was impossible. But was I really supposed to stay calm? I couldn't tell right from wrong. In fact, it didn't matter to me at all. The detective then began to question the men.
"No matter how many people introduced you, it's a fact that you forced yourself on Noriko. You have no room to argue. Until now, Noriko has probably felt guilty about her husband and been unable to say anything, but now that he knows everything, she will tell you the truth. You should talk to your husband here and now about how to settle things," the detective said.
The man replied to the detective, "Hehe, if you think I'm forcing you, that's fine. But what about Noriko's wishes? The world isn't as pure as you think. You're the only one who doesn't know what situation Noriko is in right now, husband. You want to confirm Noriko's wishes? Well, how do you explain the current situation? She's with us in this house where she lived with her husband and children. And Noriko knows her husband will be there and doesn't refuse. That's the answer. If you don't understand, let me show you."
And the man looked at my wife. Then the man standing behind her started to move. He embraced her from behind and began to fondle her breasts with both hands over her clothes, like a hungry wild beast with meat in front of him. He caressed her breasts as if to check their shape. But my wife didn't resist. She kept her head down the whole time, as if she didn't know I or the detective were there, as if she had erased from her memory the fact that this house was an important place where she and her family lived.
Witnessing this, my mind went blank. I didn't even understand what was so shocking about my wife letting the man do whatever he wanted to her right in front of me and not refusing to do it. The man fondling her lifted her dress, exposing her breasts. I was distraught. The detective had also seen my wife naked.
I must have lost my temper. I approached the man sitting on the sofa and punched him with all my might. The man resisted, but I continued punching him regardless. I was ready to kill him. The man tried to guard his own body, but I kept punching him wherever he wasn't. The detective stepped in to stop me. And it wasn't just the detective. I wondered if the other men were trying to stop me too. I felt myself getting pinned down. When they held my arms down, I kicked the man. I had to hit him as hard as I could…
Then, with me pinned down, the man started punching me. A man with blood coming from his face was hitting me. I could see the detective trying to stop him. I had a reason to hit this man. Why was he hitting me?
"Stop it," I heard the voice of the man sitting in the chair.
I recognized that voice. Everything gradually turned white, and I lost consciousness.
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