## Chapter 135 – Comfort
After successfully concluding my business (?) with the yakuza, I was heading home in a relaxed mood…
‘Ugh, damn cigarette smell.’
…or so I thought.
I still hadn’t dealt with Momiji’s parents.
Well, it wouldn’t take too long.
[Head to the address here.]
First, I’d drag that man, Momiji’s father (I didn’t feel the need to remember his name), out of the pachinko parlor he frequented. Then, under hypnosis, I’d make him go to the yakuza’s office.
Of course.
[You will regain consciousness just before your organs are removed, but you won’t be able to speak or move. Furthermore, you are not allowed to faint or pass out.]
After force-feeding him the consequences of selling his child like a mountain of rice.
For the record, the money I’d get from selling his organs, minus the fees for the work I requested and my own labor, would go to the people he owed money to.
You might think it’s a waste, but if they tried to contact me later to get their money, it would be a pain.
So, I dealt with Momiji’s father, and as for her mother…
“Hmm, she’s quite pretty.”
I was a little conflicted.
Originally, I was planning to turn her into a drug addict and make her suffer, consumed by cravings.
But looking at her face, I thought I could use her for something else.
Mainly in a sexual way.
Hearing this, you might think I was feeling sympathy for the woman who sold her child.
Of course, I didn’t feel an ounce of sympathy.
How could I sympathize with a woman who said she preferred host clubs to her own daughter?
So, it’s not like the option of turning her into a drug addict was gone.
It’s just that I felt that making her just a drug addict wasn’t enough.
‘If I just make her a drug addict, it’ll be too good for this woman.’
That wouldn’t be punishment.
Hmm, what should I do…?
After a moment of thought, a good idea came to me.
‘She’d be perfect as a hypnosis test subject.’
I could use this woman as a test subject for my hypnosis.
Haven’t I done enough experiments already?
Well, that’s not wrong. I’ve certainly done enough experiments. Just up to the level I consider ethically acceptable.
You might say that experimenting on women by sleeping with them isn’t ethical, but by my standards, it’s relatively ethical.
Of course, I’m still trash. It’s just that I didn’t hurt anyone’s body, so it’s ethical.
Anyway, I was planning to use Momiji’s mother as an unethical hypnosis test subject that I shouldn’t even consider.
For example, making her addicted to semen, or hypnotizing her so she has to masturbate ten times a day to satisfy her urges.
You might say that’s too common, but that’s what people who read too much manga or have mental issues do.
What I’m doing is taking a normal person…
‘Come to think of it, a drug addict isn’t exactly a normal person.’
Well, it doesn’t really matter.
Anyway, I’m going to try inducing a kind of mental illness in a normal person and then removing it, or something like that.
I might get some useful data.
Takuya thought to himself and then made a decision.
‘Yeah, let’s use her as a test subject. As for the results, I can show them to Momiji later.’
I decided to use this wretched woman as a hypnosis test subject.
Having made that decision, Takuya hypnotized Momiji’s mother (who, likewise, wasn’t worth remembering her name).
[Quit your job within this month, and when you do, contact the number written on this paper. Until then, stay home and do nothing.]
Having dealt with Momiji’s mother as well, I was finally done with everything… or so I thought.
There was still one place I had to go.
‘Momiji must still be in her room, right?’
I was talking about the room in my house, or rather, the room where Momiji was holed up.
***
In fact, Momiji had been cooped up in her room for the past few days.
Well, I understood.
She had been abandoned by her parents and dropped into an unfamiliar environment, so it would be stranger if she were just acting normal.
You might say she seemed fine when I rescued her?
That’s because I was there, and she was too overwhelmed. She didn’t have time to think about anything else.
Perhaps, once she arrived in a safe place, the relief and the reality of the situation hit her hard.
The human mind is inherently unstable.
A timid soldier might be fine killing dozens of people in the chaos of battle, but when he returns to the barracks, he might act more exaggerated than usual. Then, one day, a gunshot is heard in the early morning, and that soldier is found dead, or seeing that soldier, some other soldiers might make even bigger decisions.
That’s how unstable the human mind is.
‘Although there are some oddballs who, after seeing that, decide they will definitely return alive.’
Anyway, I knew Momiji’s mind was unstable, so I allowed her to stay cooped up in the house.
It’s said that it’s important to have someone by your side in times like these, but conversely, sometimes you need time alone.
That’s why I decided to give Momiji time to think.
‘Well, actually, I was going to give her mental care first, but she holed up in her room first, so…’
Anyway, I think I’ve given her enough time alone.
You might say it’s too short, but if I gave her any more time, she might become a shut-in.
I don’t have a hobby of raising freeloaders.
Takuya thought to himself and then knocked on the curtained window at the back of the house.
The reason I was knocking on the window was because if I went inside, the mothers might make a fuss again.
-Tap tap.
I knocked on the window for a while.
-Rustle.
The sound of the curtain being drawn came, and Momiji began to appear.
Her face, which I hadn’t seen or heard from in days, was surprisingly fine.
It seemed she had already made up her mind.
Of course, that was separate from the fact that her eyes were a little scary, which made me feel a bit burdened.
While Takuya was thinking that, he heard the sound of Momiji opening the window.
-Slide.
Momiji poked her head out of the opened window.
“Hello, Takuya…”
And she greeted me in her usual timid voice.
Takuya, relieved by Momiji’s greeting, greeted her back.
“Hello, it’s been a while.”
In response to my greeting, Momiji nodded shyly, and we exchanged greetings.
After exchanging greetings for a while, Takuya got to the main point.
Of course, the main point was…
“Momiji, I met both of your parents today.”
“Yeah.”
“They didn’t feel any guilt.”
“…Yeah.”
It was about her parents.
Well, to be precise.
“So… I’m going to do this, is that okay?”
It was about the punishments I was going to inflict on Momiji’s parents.
In response to my words, Momiji answered in a slightly trembling voice.
“Yeah, please do it.”
Her voice was filled with a bit of helplessness, despair, anger, and resentment.
It seemed that Momiji hadn’t given up on the hope of ‘maybe?’ until the very end.
I had been in that situation before, so I could relate to Momiji’s feelings even more.
Momiji quietly trembled for a moment without shedding tears, and she suppressed her feelings.
Takuya looked at Momiji and then opened his mouth.
“Momiji, don’t think too deeply about your parents.”
I don’t know if it would be comforting.
“It’s natural to be angry and resentful. I’m not going to tell you not to have those feelings.”
Comfort wasn’t my specialty, and what happened to Momiji was too difficult and bleak to be resolved with mere words.
“Rather, you can be angry and resentful as much as you want.”
But at least, I didn’t want her to break down here.
“But isn’t it a waste for your future to be ruined because of those people, or for you to not be able to do what you want?”
“Don’t let those people ruin your life. You haven’t even started your life properly yet, isn’t it a waste for your life to be unhappy from the start because of those people?”
I didn’t want Momiji to become someone who only looked at the past, not the future, because of those people.
“I don’t want you to lose the potential you have. I want you to become someone who enjoys a confident and vibrant life.”
I wanted her to become someone who was more confident than anyone else, someone who could look at the faces of her parents who abandoned her with a look of satisfaction.
That’s why I spoke to Momiji sincerely.
“So, lift your head up. There’s nothing more wasteful than keeping such a pretty face down.”
In response to my words, Momiji answered me in a tearful voice.
“…Sniff, yeah, I understand.”
But even as she said that, she didn’t lift her head up.
If I thought about it negatively, it meant she still hadn’t accepted her past self, and if I thought about it positively, it meant she was too embarrassed to show me her crying face.
‘It seems she’s embarrassed to show me her crying face.’
Since I was thinking about it anyway, I decided to think about it positively.
It didn’t cost me anything to think positively.
“Takuya, when you get discharged, let’s definitely play together…”
Momiji was answering like that.
I smiled and replied.
“Of course.”
Having finished everything related to Momiji, I secretly left the house again and headed to the hospital.
No. I was about to head there.
“What is this?”
The moment I entered the alley, which was a shortcut to the hospital, the scenery in front of me suddenly changed completely.
“You rotten brat! Why didn’t you come!!”
It was before I was scolded by an old man with a monocle in his eye.
