Antique Shop?BEAR? - Chapter 34
Chapter 34 – Obsessive Ring
Today as well, she finished work on time and made her way back to her parents’ house. When she reached the door, she noticed that the lights were not on.
“Are they both out?”
When she unlocked the door and stepped into the house, their shoes were not at the entrance.
Shopping, perhaps?
Mai wondered and locked the front door before calling out to them.
“I’m home. Are you here?”
Upon turning on the light at the front door, she realized there was a trail of muddy footprints on the floor.
“Huh…?”
“Welcome back.”
Mai tensed up. “Eek…!”
The voice that reverberated from the pitch-black hallway was Haru’s.
“Why…”
Right as she was about to say it, Haru flew out of the corridor and executed a nelson hold on Mai. In the blink of an eye, she was knocked to the floor.
“… Stop it!”
“Shut up! If you resist, I’ll break your arm.”
Haru’s tone of voice was deadly serious. It was a chilling expression, unlike anything she had encountered before. His eyes were absolutely fixed on her, giving her the impression that he was on drugs.
Mai had no alternative but to remain silent and refrain from resisting. Haru sealed Mai’s mouth with duct tape and tied up her hands and feet with plastic cords.
“Let’s go back.”
The question, “Why?” looped through Mai’s mind. She couldn’t conceive of anything like this happening. He lifted her in a princess’s embrace and left the house. Taking the keys to the mini-car in the parking lot out of his pocket, he made Mai lie down in the back seat and he seated himself in the driver’s seat. As the situation slowly dawned on her, she was rapidly becoming uneasy regarding her parents. They were probably not home, but…
Haru was humming a tune that she had never heard before.
When arriving at the apartment, Haru glared at her.
“If you make any noise or resist, I’ll kill you.”
This is strange. This isn’t Haru.
Haru is an upbeat, spirited, well-behaved guy who is annoying but not detestable.
Haru got out of the car by himself and proceeded to unlock the front door. In any case, there was nothing to be done unless she could undo the rope. When he returned, Haru had a blank expression on his face. Never had she seen a face like this.
He lowered Mai to the front door in a princess embrace and locked the door.
“Absolutely no fuss.”
Mai nodded. When Haru removed the duct tape, Mai suppressed herself so as not to react emotionally.
“Y-You didn’t do anything to my mother and father, did you…?”
Haru took a glance at Mai. “Who knows.”
Mai was so disoriented that she almost freaked out.
“Hey, they’re safe, right?”
“No idea.”
“Why are you… doing this…?”
“It’s all your fault!”
Mai jolted and bounced her shoulders.
“I vowed eternal love to you! And you betrayed me like this!”
“I didn’t vow to you…!”
Haru slammed his fist against the wall.
“You must be cheating on me!”
Mai’s eyes were strained. It was beyond all doubt.
“I didn’t do it!”
“Then why the hell?”
“What do you mean why…”
“Put on the ring.”
“What…?”
“Now!”
Haru pulled the ring case out of his pocket and grasped Mai’s hand.
The ring Haru placed on the ring finger of her left hand was too large and flopped off, tumbling to the floor.
“You don’t even know my size,” Mai muttered involuntarily. “Not even knowing my size, don’t you dare propose to me!”
Mai couldn’t restrain herself from yelling at him.
“I am not your housekeeper! Nor am I next to you to satisfy your sexual desires! You have mistaken my affection for yours!”
Haru eyed Mai with a startled expression.
“Don’t propose to me with a secondhand ring!”
“Shut up!”
Haru’s hand shot out to Mai’s neck. His eyes remained focused as he tightened his grip on Mai’s neck without a second thought.
“Ugh…!”
I don’t want to give up… That was the moment I thought that.
Ding dong.
Both of them jolted and stared at the doorway. Haru hastily withdrew his hands from her neck and blocked Mai’s mouth with it.
Ding dong.
“This is the police. I heard your voice, are you there, Nakagawa Haru?”
The sound of pounding on the door resonated throughout the room.
“I am here to inquire about the matter that was reported yesterday. In addition, we received a notice of theft from the owner of a car parked here.”
?????????
Aoi sampled the stew in the kitchen.
“Mmm! Delicious!”
Aoi prepared rice and salad as she set the stew into a deep dish.
“Let’s eat?”
Her husband, Kouki, appeared with a towel wrapped around his neck.
“How is it? Was my stew as appetizing as I hoped it would be?”
“I tasted it and it turned out perfectly.”
The two of them gathered around the table for dinner.
“By the way, one of my coworker’s friends proposed with a secondhand ring.”
“Heh,” Kouki replied disinterestedly.
“She declined him. And then, she broke up with him.”
A variety show was playing on the screen.
“It was a Tiffany ring.”
Kouki abruptly shifted his gaze to Aoi and listened to what she had to say.
“Yesterday, she asked me to help her with the moving, so I drove her home.”
“Watch out.”
“What?”
“If they haven’t properly separated, you can’t simply help her move out of the house without permission because you might be accused of something later.”
“Well, yeah. But I feel sorry for the girl because she had to put up with him for so long.”
“A second-hand Tiffany ring huh? Both the proposal and the wedding ring have to be new. You don’t know the circumstances under which the previous owner parted with it, do you?”
“What’s that?”
“The ring I purchased before was the one that was attached to the ring finger of the victim’s left hand when it was severed. It was a dismemberment murder committed by a stalker.”
“Stop purchasing things like that.”
Kouki almost burst out. “Oi, oi, who knows what kind of person the owner of a secondhand item from any store might have been?”