Chapter 9: Hero and Heroine

Hero and Heroine

A pounding headache grips me—I’m completely hungover.

That night when that sc🬀🬀🬀ag assaulted me, I drank even more than this, but I was too distraught to even feel a hangover.

That’s how deep the shock ran, how profoundly my heart had been shattered.

“Ugh… My head hurts like hell.”

When I unexpectedly ran into him in the hallway at work, my voice slipped out, tinged with a rare note of vulnerability.

I hadn’t thought I’d see him here, so the words escaped before I could stop them.

Maybe, deep down, I just wanted to drown out those awful memories.

I had told him honestly—that I was happy he called me cute and that he hadn’t tried to force me into a hotel.

And just being able to say that out loud made me feel even lighter, somehow.

I’ve already told him one massive lie—so at the very least, I want to be honest about everything else.

The lie I carry is unbearable. I don’t have the courage to tell anyone. Even now, I still dream of a world where none of it ever happened.

We came to the zoo on a date, yet he’s been staring at the monkey enclosure this whole time.

Do you really like monkeys that much? But… you don’t look like you’re enjoying yourself.

His reply is simple, “Not really. I was just thinking… humans and monkeys aren’t so different.”

I remember learning that humans and monkeys are biologically close, but still… humans have evolved. They’re completely different.

Monkeys can’t speak. They can’t read. They can’t make fire.

And yet, look at them—huddled together, grooming one another with such peace. Monkeys seek harmony, but humans… humans wage war. They’re violent.

That sc🬀🬀🬀ag who hurt me—he’s worse than a monkey. He’s a loathsome, filthy beast.

Ugh… just remembering it makes my chest tighten. I might cry.

But I can’t. I can’t cry. Not in front of him. We’re on a date. We came to the zoo. I should be having fun.

Ah… now that I think about it, I cried here once before.

The memory hits me out of nowhere—tears, in this very place.

I had come here with my family as a child. The zoo should have been fun, yet I ended up sobbing.

My father and mother must have been so startled when I suddenly burst into tears.

“I actually came here once as a child with my family. I remember crying my eyes out when a lion roared at me.”

“Heeh, so you had a cute phase too.”

…Huh?! What’s that supposed to mean?

You called me cute before, but now you’re just teasing me.

“Haha, sorry. Miyuki, rather than cute, you’ve become beautiful now.”

…Eh? Me? Beautiful? That has to be a joke.

There’s no way that could be true.

These days, every time I look in the mirror, I sigh.

But when he says it like this, standing right in front of me, the words almost sound believable.

My fingers twitch, reaching for something unseen—yearning for proof of his words. It embarrasses me, and the feeling is unbearable.

My hands reach for warmth, seeking him, drifting through empty space.

Ah—my heart’s about to jump.

My body, my thoughts, everything feels weightless, like they’re slipping away.

Ah… he took my hand. Not just that—he entwined his fingers with mine.

Firmly. Tightly. As if binding us together. As if refusing to let go. As if he never would.

“Don’t let go of me.”

I can’t stop the voice inside me—it overflows, spilling out.

I pretended to be in love, deliberately tempting him, so maybe the lines between truth and deception blurred along the way.

He looks at Grandma so gently—surely, he must be a good person.

I want someone to save me. My heart keeps insisting that he is that person.

Grandma is here, but the only one who can truly protect me from that beast… is him.

His hand, holding mine, feels so large. It makes me happy. Is it okay for me to rely on him? God, please tell me the right answer.

“So right now, I trust that this cage won’t break—just like that, huh?”

If I could just lock myself inside some kind of cage, would that mean I wouldn’t have to break?

“But if that trust is broken… we’d be attacked and end up in a terrible situation, wouldn’t we?”

Ah… but I will trust. No matter what, I will keep trusting.

If trusting means I won’t be attacked and hurt again, then it’s such a simple thing.

In fact, I’m already beginning to trust, even now.

“That’s right. When that happens, our only choice is to dodge the attack and lock ourselves inside a cage instead.”

Hm… step into the cage, together?

Entering it side by side.

Becoming one.

“Fufu. So instead of the lion being locked up, we’d be the ones caging ourselves?”

Two people, both about to be toyed with, helping each other—fighting back against that vile beast.

“Even if the cage has a few cracks, it’s still more reliable than having no protection at all.”

Yes, I suppose so. I may be breaking apart, just a little—but if I fight alongside you, that has to be better than having nothing at all.

As a child, I used to watch heroes on TV. I dreamed that one day, just like them, someone would appear out of nowhere to defeat the bad kids who bullied me whenever my parents weren’t around.

But in the end, no hero ever came for me.

And yet—at the moment of my greatest crisis, someone appeared from the most unexpected place.

You protected me from that sc🬀🬀🬀ag. You held me gently, like I was the heroine of some story.

If that’s how it is, then maybe… you and I can be happy together.

If you’re the hero and I’m the heroine, then of course—we’re meant to be.