---
We left the busy station in the evening and arrived at the hotel lobby a few hundred meters away. Guests were waiting for appointments at the restaurant, others leisurely sipping coffee, and all sorts of people were going about their daily lives. My wife, the detective, and I walked through the space.
"I'd like you to wait here," I said to the detective.
I knew this was probably beyond the scope of a detective's work, but he followed me, knowing that, and he was the only person I could trust at the moment. The detective nodded and began walking toward the sofa in the lobby. I headed toward the elevator, my wife following without saying a word.
The elevator arrived, and we got on. There were no other passengers. It was just my wife and me in the elevator. I pressed the button for the 11th floor. One step outside the hotel, and it was the usual daily life of office workers and young people on their way home. I was alone, walking through something extraordinary. Even now, I sometimes felt like I was dreaming. But as we continued to move higher and higher in the elevator, alone, the extraordinary felt even more significant. This was my reality now.
The elevator reached the 11th floor, and the doors opened. I walked down the bright, solemn hallway. 1101… 1102… I approached the room where the men were. For some reason, the anger I had felt a moment ago subsided, and I found myself extraordinarily calm. My weakness, lack of confidence, and not knowing what to do about the reality of what was happening now meant that I could only give in to my anger.
I've found what I need to do now. No, I don't know if it's the right thing to do. But at least I'm sure my instincts are driving me. Maybe I'm avoiding thinking about the cause, and that's okay. There may be no solution. But I do have motivation to untangle each tangled thread. And that's believing in the past. The past I spent with my wife and children is real, and it's something irreplaceable and precious. It's because I believe that that I'm acting this way. No logical thinking necessary—just what my instincts tell me. And follow those emotions. My children, and my wife…
I stopped in front of the door to room 1105 and pressed the intercom. I couldn't hear a thing from inside. Suddenly, the door opened.
"Oh, hello there," said the short-haired man from before.
"Come in," he said, and went inside.
My wife and I entered the room and walked in the direction the man was heading. It must have been a suite. The room was so large that it was hard to see the whole picture after just a short walk, and it seemed to have many different rooms. Going straight through the door, we came to a large room with a large window overlooking the night view outside. There was a kitchen, a refrigerator, and even a fireplace.
A man was standing by a glass table in front of the fireplace. It was the long-haired man who had come to our house earlier. He was probably the same man who had called earlier. I wondered what my wife's expression was as she stood there.
"Sir, I'm sorry about earlier. He's not a bad guy, but he's only here for a short time… I told him, so please be lenient," the short-haired man said, looking at me, seemingly unhappy with what I was saying.
"We came to talk," I said, looking into the long-haired man's eyes.
"Yes, we have something to talk about as well. Please sit down," he replied, extending his hand to the sofa next to the glass table.
My wife and I sat on the sofa. The long-haired man sat on the sofa opposite.
"I want you to cut off all ties with my wife from now on. That's all I've come to tell you," I said.
The long-haired man listened, looking me straight in the eye. We remained like this for about five seconds before he spoke. "That's actually what we're talking about. It's about your wife's future. Well, if things get to this point, your husband won't be able to continue as he was before. I want you to get a divorce. We also need to discuss alimony and the remaining tuition fees for your children."
A divorce? "Why should you guys have to decide something like that? I'm telling you to end your relationship with her," I said.
After a moment of silence, the long-haired man spoke. "What are your plans with your wife, husband? We… want to raise your wife as a woman. Of course, she will have a more luxurious lifestyle than before, and we have no intention of making her suffer. I want her to earn money from now on and then live the life she wants."
My wife's face was a mixture of confusion, anxiety, impatience, and many other expressions. Was this man trying to provoke me?
"I have no intention of getting a divorce," I said firmly.
The conversation was disjointed, as if he wasn't listening to what I was saying. He spoke as if my wife was now their slave.
"You don't want a divorce? Is that what you want, husband?" he asked.
"Yes," I replied.
"You've also watched the DVD, haven't you? Are you okay with that?" he continued.
Tears began to form in my wife's eyes. I replied, "I'm talking about the future."
I wondered if what I said was an answer different from what she had imagined. The confident man, who hadn't taken his eyes off me once, looked down a little, looked me in the eye again, and said, "I see… I understand."
I understand. This man was speaking as if my wife's wishes were completely irrelevant. I had no intention of getting her approval. I only spoke because I knew we couldn't move forward without discussing this. Still, I continued to speak, still reluctant.
"We don't mind. But I don't think we can think about the future without knowing what kind of woman Noriko has become. I'm saying this for your own good," the man said as he stood up and walked to the back of the room.
"Sir, come over here for a moment," he said.
The man headed toward the door at the back of the large room. I wondered if he was planning to lure me out or do something to me. He turned around and, with a slight laugh, said, "Don't worry. I'm not going to lay a hand on you or anything. There's something I need to show you."
What was he supposed to show me? I stood up and followed him. My wife was still sitting on the sofa.
"Oh, come over here, Mrs.," he said.
Was he really calling her "Mrs."? My wife followed. The man stopped in front of the door, waiting for my wife and me to arrive. After four or five seconds, we all stopped in front of the door, and the man put his hand on the doorknob and slowly opened it.
The room was bright, and it seemed there were several people there. The man went inside, followed by my wife and me. Then I heard a voice—a woman's voice. It sounded like a moan from an adult video. If nothing else, I would have thought it was just the sound of an adult video coming from the TV. But in this space with these men, this voice could only mean one thing. Still, the man went inside.
A naked woman was bound with rope all over her body on a pure white bed, straddling a man. Her hands were tied behind her back, and her breasts were also tied up, protruding forward, tensed in agony. I wondered if she even noticed us coming in. She looked down, her hair disheveled, her face barely visible. She continued to thrust her hips as if nothing had happened. She was so absorbed in her work that she couldn't see anything else.
"This woman is someone's wife, just like your wife. A normal wife with a husband. Even though she feels disgusted by the idea of this relationship continuing, she keeps coming to us. Do you know why? Her body has become like that. Of course, she doesn't contact us on her own. We just contact her periodically and call her. By the way, this man below is one of our shareholders," the man explained.
The moment the man began to speak, the bound woman seemed to notice us. She seemed more upset than surprised, desperately turning her face away. The shareholder began thrusting his hips vigorously, as if enjoying it. Even in this unusual situation, the woman didn't try to escape but instead let the man grab her waist and do whatever he wanted.
"And now, your wife and this wife are in the same situation," the man continued. "Are you still willing to go on with your wife? We're fine with that. But please be prepared for your husband to be hurt again. We're also prepared to take responsibility for our actions."
The woman's moans grew more intense. She was in the same space as the man and the situation, the same atmosphere, and I found it hard to comprehend it. The shareholder had the woman lying on her back, grabbed her waist, and was forcing his own hips against hers. They were like male and female. It was hard to believe they were the same person. Like oil and water, they were in the same room, yet the tense and cryptic atmospheres remained separate and unmixed.
As the man finished speaking, I heard the sobbing of my wife nearby. "I've had enough… I'm so dirty… I can't take it anymore… I can't take it," she said, sobbing. Was she regretting the past, or was she projecting herself onto the scene before her eyes? There was no way I could have looked at what she had done up until now objectively.
"Stop it. Stop putting yourself down," I said.
I felt angry at my wife, who had become so weak and could only see herself as something tainted. I was trying to save her. So I took her and left the room. There was no way we could talk in that room any longer. Watching that scene, I felt like something inside her was breaking.
The long-haired man followed me out of the room. "I wanted you to be prepared," he said to me.
A resolution? A resolution between me and my wife?
The man continued, "There are many parts you can't understand just by watching the DVD, many parts you don't know. Perhaps the side of Noriko you see is only a small part, and the Noriko we're with might be the real Noriko. Noriko herself might not even realize it. No one knows what's right and what's wrong."
His words sounded cold.
"You're the one who led her down the wrong path, aren't you?" I asked.
The man remained silent for a few seconds without averting his eyes from mine, then began to speak. "I don't think it's wrong. And why am I saying this? I just wanted you to be prepared. If that's not the case, then I'm willing to take Noriko in. I don't know what happened to the women I've let go until now. I'm not going after them. But I know how far Noriko has fallen. That's why I'm saying this."
How far she had fallen… I felt it absurd to say such things. I felt like I was seeing the way these people lived their lives, just an extension of playing around. And even though I was remaining calm, I began to wonder if this was really okay.
---