The morning sunlight of Sunday filtered through the gaps in the ash-gray curtains, dancing across the mold-speckled ceiling.
As always, the first thing that greeted my eyes was the familiar ceiling of this rundown apartment.
There was no blaring alarm clock, no noisy clamor from the dorms, nor any energetic youthful morning greetings.
Only a heavy, stifling silence that prickled the skin, accompanied by the soft, steady breathing that brushed against the hollow of my neck.
Toga Himiko was sound asleep.
She had curled up like a small cat, head pillowed on my chest, arms wrapped tightly around my waist as if afraid that loosening her grip even slightly would cause me to vanish from this world.
Her messy ash-blonde hair spilled everywhere, tickling my skin with a faint itch.
It was peaceful.
A perfect Sunday morning scene for a young couple in love.
Though perhaps a bit too young, strictly speaking, by current Japanese law…
Satisfied?
Maybe, if one ignored the fact that my wrists were currently bound tightly to the bedframe with a rough, coarse rope.
I didn’t struggle, nor did I bother waking her.
This wasn’t the first time, and I had already grown used to it.
The aching pain running from my spine down to the muscles in my thighs, the bloody bite marks, and the vivid red hickeys scattered across my collarbones and chest were more than enough evidence of a night that had been anything but peaceful.
“Mm…”
Himiko stirred.
Her long eyelashes fluttered before slowly opening.
Those pale golden eyes – clear yet always harboring a hidden madness – met my gaze.
“Good morning, Ryuu-kun~” She smiled.
A sweet, radiant, and innocent smile that would have been almost comical if she hadn’t just reached under the bed, pulled out a bloodstained dagger, and pressed its cold blade against my throat.
“Good morning, Himiko.” I replied in a flat, emotionless tone.
My dead-fish eyes didn’t even blink in front of the chilling blade.
“You were amazing last night,” she giggled, stretching up and licking the rim of my ear, sending an icy shiver down my spine.
“So obedient.
So submissive.
I love how you tremble when you can’t do anything.
But… it’s morning now, and I’m hungry again~”
I already knew what was coming.
Sundays in my life rarely had room for concepts like “rest” or “relaxation.” It was an endless loop of mundane daily life mixed with physical and psychological torture dressed up as “love”.
The mattress sank.
Himiko sat up fully, straddling my hips with her legs spread wide.
She casually peeled off her thin t-shirt and tossed it aside, revealing her perfect curves and satin-smooth white skin, all illuminated by the early morning light in a display of raw hunger.
There was no romantic foreplay.
No sweet whispers or dirty talk to heat things up.
What she gave me was pure, primitive, and twisted domination – accompanied by the rhythmic creaking of the bed, heavy, obscene breathing, and soft moans filling the room thick with the scent of sweat and carnality.
She lowered her face and sank her sharp fangs deep into the hollow of my neck.
“Ugh…” A low groan escaped from the depths of my throat as my brows furrowed slightly.
The metallic smell of blood immediately flooded my nostrils and permeated the entire room.
Along with drinking my blood, Himiko’s fingers began to roam, caress, and claw at every place they touched.
“Making love” with Toga Himiko had never been normal intercourse.
It was more like a sacrificial ritual in which I was pushed to the absolute limit of every sense.
The pain from her bites blended sickeningly with forced waves of pleasure, while my mind was pushed to its breaking point and my stamina drained until I felt like I could pass out at any moment.
All of it created a state I couldn’t break free from, even though I knew full well how utterly toxic this was in every possible sense.
At least… having her drain me like this was a hundred times better than her going out every night with a knife, crazily hunting for some random unfortunate soul to slit open.
I was her anchor.
The container for her twisted, blood-soaked love.
By offering this body, I was keeping a few fewer corpses off the streets.
It wasn’t noble heroism or lofty sacrifice.
It was simply a high-risk, high-reward transaction.
And the worst part was that, with my massive ego, I didn’t even want to admit it to myself… that I had already become thoroughly corrupted.
Unconsciously, my muscles no longer resisted when she tied me up.
Somewhere deep in my mind, a dark corner had even begun to anticipate what she would do to me – growing excited and satisfied when the rope around my neck tightened until I couldn’t breathe, and eagerly awaiting the next time.
A truly disgusting conditioned reflex…
…
When Himiko finished her “breakfast,” my chest was heaving violently, drenched in sweat.
She smiled in satisfaction, licked the blood from the corner of her lips, and untied me.
“Go take a shower.
I’ll make lunch for you,” she said lightly, skipping out of bed, casually throwing on my school uniform shirt, and heading straight to the kitchen.
I lay there for a few more minutes, staring at the vivid red marks the rope had left on my wrists, before dragging my exhausted body to the bathroom.
Standing in front of the mirror, I turned on the cold water and splashed it harshly onto my face to shake off the fatigue.
The face reflected in the mirror was a portrait of utter exhaustion.
Messy black hair falling over a pale forehead.
Pitch-black eyes, devoid of any spark of hope or passion, stared dully back at me.
My body had some muscle definition, but it was gaunt from Himiko draining me every night and “three times a day on weekends.” Around my neck, from the throat down to the collarbones, was a mess of bite marks and rope burns.
How troublesome.
Tomorrow was the U.A.
Sports Festival.
Even though I had officially withdrawn from the competition events, I was still required to sit in the Class 1-A stands to cheer and observe.
More importantly, tomorrow was the day Gentle Criminal would detonate the media bomb about Bakugo.
I needed to be there, looking as normal as possible, to witness the collapse of the hero illusion.
I couldn’t show up at school with a neck full of these sensitive marks.
The kids in Class 1-A, and, or that damn teacher Aizawa, would definitely become suspicious.
I opened the wall cabinet, rummaged around, and took out a thick black leather choker with no patterns.
I had bought it for Himiko before, never imagining I’d end up using it myself in such a pathetic situation.
I tried it on.
The choker fit snugly, completely hiding the rope burns and bite marks.
It matched my black hair, giving off a slightly punk/goth vibe – eccentric, but easily explainable as “personal taste.” Perfect.
Even if it looked completely out of place at school, being rumored as a masochist was far better than being rumored as someone who failed at hanging himself.
“Ryuu-kun!
The tamagoyaki is done~!” Himiko’s cheerful voice rang out from the kitchen.
I dried my face, put on a long-sleeved black t-shirt, and walked out.
The small apartment was filled with the smell of fried eggs, soy sauce, and… the faint scent of cleaning products.
Himiko stood in front of the stove, humming a nameless tune.
She was frying eggs with a non-stick pan, but the way she held the spatula looked exactly like she was gripping a dagger ready to stab someone.
“Turn the heat down.
The eggs are burning,” I said, pulling out a chair at the cramped dining table.
“Hehe, I just can’t be patient,” she replied, bringing over the slightly charred rolled omelet, two bowls of white rice, and miso soup.
We sat close together, eating in the rare, strangely peaceful silence of a Sunday morning.
To any outsider, we would have looked like nothing more than a normal student couple enjoying their weekend.
“Aaah~” Himiko picked up a piece of egg, leaned in close, and brought it right to my mouth.
I opened my mouth listlessly, chewed, and immediately regretted letting her into the kitchen.
“Tasty?” She rested her chin on her hand, golden eyes sparkling with expectation.
“Way too salty.” I gave the most honest assessment.
“How can you still eat your own cooking normally?”
“You really have zero romance in you!” She pouted, stabbing her rice with the fork.
But a second later, her smile bloomed again.
“But I like that honest side of you.
The only time you lie… is when you try to hold back your moans in bed.”
I stayed silent and continued eating to avoid the topic.
No rebuttals, no arguments.
Painful experience had taught me that the more I reacted to Himiko’s sick provocations, the more excited she became.
And if it reached a certain point, she would push me down right on the dining table and we’d go at it until the table legs broke.
Having sex on a table still covered in food was not a pleasant experience, so I refused to make that mistake again even if it killed me.
…
Lunch and the afternoon passed in surprisingly boring household chores.
I gathered the dirty laundry – including our U.A.
uniforms and Himiko’s wrinkled clothes – and tossed them into the washing machine.
While it rumbled away, I grabbed a mop and cleaned up “our” stains from the wooden floor, working my way toward the entrance.
Himiko curled up on the sofa, happily scrolling through my phone reading news about criminals and heroes, occasionally letting out a delighted squeal when she found an article criticizing the police’s incompetence.
“Hey, Ryuu-kun,” Himiko suddenly spoke up, kicking her legs in the air.
“Tomorrow is your school’s Sports Festival, right?
That Izuku guy you always talk about – is he participating?”
My hand holding the mop paused for a moment.
My dull black eyes narrowed slightly.
“Yeah.
He’s in Class 1-A.”
“I’m so curious~” Himiko licked her lips, her eyes blazing with thirst.
“I want to see his blood.
A kind boy who always tries to save others… His blood must be so sweet and warm.
Just like yours, but with a more innocent flavor.”
I turned around and looked straight at her.
My voice remained flat, but it carried a cold threat that only truly sharp people would notice.
“Don’t even think about it.
One person is enough.”
Himiko blinked, then burst into giggles.
She tossed the phone aside and pounced on me from the sofa like a predator.
I dropped the mop and caught her small but toned body.
She wrapped her arms tightly around my neck, nuzzling into my chest with a coquettish yet razor-sharp voice.
“You always defend him.
I’m jealous, you know.
If you want me to behave and stay home tomorrow, you’ll have to pay the price.”
I knew exactly what that meant.
Lunch had ended over two hours ago.
Break time was over.
“Go to the bedroom,” I sighed, my dull eyes gazing out the window where gray clouds were gathering, signaling an afternoon rain.
“No.” Himiko whispered into my ear, her hand sliding down to my waist.
“Right here.”
Doing it right by the entrance was an extremely, extremely bad idea.
Yet in the end, I didn’t resist, even though I didn’t want things to be this way.
Though weak, I could have easily locked her joints, pinned her to the floor, and completely stripped away her ability to act wild.
I had the strength and technique from those hellish Pro Hero training sessions.
But I didn’t.
I surrendered my body.
I let her use the leather belt she had just taken from the rack to bind my hands above my head.
I let her blindfold me with a thick black ribbon.
When my vision was completely taken away, leaving only pitch darkness, all my other senses were forced to awaken.
The rustle of fabric.
Himiko’s ragged breathing.
The cold floor against my bare back.
And then, overwhelming heat and wetness engulfed my mind.
“What are you thinking about, Ryuu-kun?” Her whisper brushed my right ear – bewitching and possessive.
I was thinking about how far gone I had become.
But what escaped my mouth was only a broken moan as she suddenly tightened the belt.
The concept of time gradually blurred as my mind reached its limit of tension.
Pain, pleasure, and the suffocation of being bound, mixed with the anxiety that anyone could walk in and hear what was happening just a few steps away, made everything even more insane.
My body reacted to her stimulation with hateful sensitivity, inadvertently proving that deep down, my instincts had already grown familiar with – and submissive to – this brutality.
For the second time that day, I was drained completely dry, and in an even more shameful way.
When the black ribbon was finally removed from my eyes, the world spun before me.
The living room ceiling shook wildly.
Himiko lay collapsed on my chest, panting, her sweat mixing with mine.
“I love you…” she murmured.
A statement so sincere it sent chills down the spine – especially coming from the mouth of a serial killer.
I simply lay there in silence, my dead-fish eyes staring blankly into space as my arms wrapped around her.
I didn’t reply to her love.
I never had, and I never could.
But my silence and surrender were the worst possible form of consent, because they clearly confirmed that I could no longer turn back.
…
Evening fell over the apartment with its usual heaviness.
The afternoon rain had stopped, leaving the air damp and chilly.
We had a simple dinner of rice balls and pan-fried salmon from the convenience store.
My entire body felt wrecked, every muscle aching as if torn apart.
The third meal of the day.
Which meant the third round was coming.
I sat on the edge of the bed, staring blankly at Himiko as she brushed her hair in front of the mirror.
Her shadow stretched long across the yellowed wall.
At least this keeps innocent people outside safe.
I dragged out that stupid, self-deceptive excuse again to justify my own cowardice.
Truthfully, I didn’t want to stop her.
More accurately… I wanted to merge with her darkness.
Tomorrow, I would go.
Wearing this choker to hide my filthy truth, blending in with the naive students, watching from the stands.
I would watch Iida passionately talk about his ideals, Uraraka striving for her family, and Izuku destroying his own body for a distant dream.
And I would smile as Gentle Criminal’s video spread, watching that bastard’s future being reforged according to proper logic instead of being whitewashed like in the original story.
I just hoped tomorrow would be sunny.
So the final judgment could unfold as brightly as possible.
As for tonight… I would surely sink even deeper into the darkness.