He fixed his clothing while trying to pretend his skin was not as hot as it was.
“…Excuse me.”
He made his way to the room she had mentioned.
It was a lot like a counseling room. Since she had called it “the big boss’s room”, it must have been used by the Kurosaki father.
Mutsuki was good at tidying up rooms since it was little different from what he normally did at the apartment. He put away the items that had been left out and did some simple cleaning.
Of course, given the location, the “items that had been left out” were far from normal. For example, when cleaning the room used by that name named Ookura, there had been a sheet with a fresh red stain on it. That had put him in a gloomy mood.
But this looked like the room had only been used for a meal. Two wine glasses and a beer can were left out, so he only had to carry them to the appropriate location for glasses and trash. …The beer was the brand Micha liked. That had him feeling a little lonely as he walked back out of the room.
“!”
Katsue Subaru walked by at just that moment.
She must not have noticed him because she kept walking without reacting.
Part of him wanted to call out to her and part of him could not bring himself to do so. He was confused and conflicted.
Was she on his side or not? He still did not know.
He would normally have trusted her and asked for help, but Lucia had told him to hide his presence there and wait for Ange and the others to rescue him. Which was he supposed to choose?
In shy and indecisive Mutsuki’s moment of hesitation, the woman moved out of view.
He had no idea if he had done the right thing or not.
“I’m back…”
Once his work was complete, Mutsuki returned to Shuntarou’s room as instructed.
“I will have her ready by tomorrow.”
The trainer named Shibaki happened to be leaving at the same time.
Shuntarou had just received some kind of report and he pulled out his beloved tablet while grinning.
“Check out this girl. Her name is Haramiya Koishi. She’s one of our new products and I’ve decided to try her out for myself. Hee hee hee. She’s so cute.”
“Is…that so?”
“As a former boy, this should excite you. How about we make it a threesome? I’d love to have both your cute asses lined up in front of me and you want to see what it’s like having a girl in the mix, don’t you?”
“N-no thanks.”
The thought of being one of the girls in a threesome briefly sent his heart racing, but he told himself the idea did not at all appeal to him and looked away.
He wanted nothing to do with a situation where a human being was referred to as a “product”.
“You don’t like her? Then who do you like? Is there an actress or idol you have a thing for? We control 90% of the top-rated idols in their teens or twenties, so I can get you pretty much anyone you ask for.”
“I-it isn’t about that.”
Anything he said was twisted in the most vulgar way. His breathing grew heavy as he grew even more painfully aware of how abnormal this man was.
“I’m just kidding.” Shuntarou shrugged. “You’re so pure. Do you still find it hard to believe? As long as it’s logically possible, humans have no problem doing anything no matter how immoral.”
“…”
That reminded him that this man’s abnormality was normal in this place.
He was unsure what to say.
He recalled what he had seen on his first day here.
Mutsuki did not watch much TV, but even he had recognized those idols. One he had thought was cute after seeing her online had been eating the ass of a politician he had seen on the news a lot despite not watching it all that often.
It had been shocking, but Riselle had explained that it was not that unusual here. He had learned just how true that was after seeing similar things so many times over the following three days.
This abnormal place was the reality of the Japan he lived in.
“Do you think all this is wrong?”
“…”
“You are right. It is wrong. But we want to do it because it is wrong. That is known as the Caligula Effect. As soon as humanity creates its rules, there is already a desire to break those rules. That is our instinct as animals.”
“But…wanting to do it and actually doing it are two different things.”
“Again, you are right. Human trafficking, prostitution, and using those things to build connections. None of that is the right thing to do. But…”
“Ah.”
“That is why it feels so good and why we want to do it. That is human nature.”
Mutsuki looked uncertainly down and could not respond to the words of that man who proudly announced he was doing the wrong thing. The man easily pulled him close and held him to his chest. The newly-developed sweet and tingling ache in his chest prevented him from saying anything.
“You feel the same, don’t you? You were born a boy, but here you are enjoying mind-blowing orgasms in a female body. Do you think that is the right thing to do?”
“Uh…”
Mutsuki had no response for that. He knew just how indecent he was being. He could tell how seriously he adored this man during sex, so there was nothing he could say.
He had nearly let a dog enter him earlier. That was a truly forbidden pleasure, yet that thought was enough to dangerously shake his heart.
The more wrong he knew it was, the more he wanted to do it. And the better it felt when he did it.
He was old enough to know about the darkness inside people.
He would have refused to admit any of this before April, but…
“Heh heh. So very pure.” The look on the man’s face changed when he saw the boy fall silent. “This is a good thing. Humans cannot do that. They search for excuses when things get inconvenient and they refuse to face the fundamental solutions. I personally believe that is what we call Original Sin.”
“Huh?”
“I like you. Fujita Mutsuki-kun was it? Miss A seemed to like you quite a bit and I can see why. …Heh heh heh. It makes me want to fuck your male body too so I can truly make you mine.”
The man smiled happily.
This was not just the twisted side of the man. Shuntarou seemed to like Mutsuki for something other than his body.
Although Mutsuki had no idea what it was the man liked about him.
More importantly, the man had used a term that caught Mutsuki’s attention.
“Original…Sin?”
“Hm? You don’t know about that despite being Adam? Your past life ate the forbidden fruit and all of humanity must suffer to atone for that Original Sin.”
“Adam…and Eve.”
The boy connected this to the story he had looked up in the library quite a while back, but that only confused him further.
His puzzled look must have been cute because Shuntarou’s usual dirty grin grew to a coughing laugh. That may have been what his true laughter sounded like.
“Yes, geh heh heh. The forbidden things are what we most want to do.”
“…?”
“How much do you know about Adam? How much do you know about the Serpent’s Eye and why you are a target?”
Mutsuki was unsure what to say when he was asked something so basic without warning.
But the hand on his chest withdrew, so he took a deep breath and calmed down.
“Th-the Serpent’s Eye can be used to…essentially brainwash people. It could be used as a horrible weapon, so we can’t let anyone have it.”
“Ha ha. You think that’s the answer? That explanation is only meant to keep you from asking further questions. You really are pure if you were satisfied with that.”
“No, um, I know there are other reasons, but…”
“Was it the angels who told you that? Yeah, they wouldn’t really care if the human race was wiped out.”
“…”
If the human race was wiped out?
There was no way Micha or Ange wanted that, but he still gulped because he had seen several times how inhuman they were.