Morning comes equally to good people and villains alike.

But the morning that had come to me now was a hellish thing, utterly devoid of mercy.

“...Nngh.”

My head hurt. A dull pain, like my brain was being crushed in a vise.

My throat was dry like a desert and my body felt heavy as lead. A textbook hangover.

“—Master. It’s morning.”

A calm and crystal-clear voice fell from above.

I forced my heavy eyelids open.

Through my blurred vision, a black silhouette emerged.

A maid and security captain wearing sunglasses, Saotome.

“...Saotome, huh. Water...”

“Here you go.”

I took the offered glass and drained it in one go.

As the cold liquid passed down my esophagus and settled in my stomach, my consciousness surfaced a little.

“...What time is it now?”

“It is nine in the morning. Too late for shopping at the market, but an appropriate time for a survival check, I believe.”

A survival check?

Frowning at the ominous phrase, I tried to sit up.

Thud.

I felt a strange weight on my left side.

The blanket was being pulled by something.

No, that’s not it.

Someone was sleeping with my arm as their pillow.

I cautiously shifted my gaze to the left.

“...”

Time stopped.

There was golden hair scattered across the pillow.

Porcelain-white skin. Long lashes.

And a familiar face, breathing softly in blissful sleep.

Sumeragi Reiko.

The president of Sumeragi Foods was sleeping soundly in my bed, clearly not wearing a single thread of clothing.

My gaze slid down to her white shoulder visible through the gap.

There were faint reddish marks blooming there that definitely hadn’t been there last night.

They weren’t bug bites. They were clearly hickeys.

Then I looked at my own body. Bare from the waist up.

A stinging pain ran across my back, like I’d been dug into by fingernails.

“...Hey.”

I let out a dry voice.

“...Did I do it?”

“Depending on how one defines ‘did it,’”

Saotome replied calmly, without changing her expression.

“Last night’s party in the living room continued until two in the morning. After that, the two of you, in a heavily intoxicated state, shouted ‘Let’s have a second round in bed’ and rushed into the bedroom... thereafter, sounds of ‘intense grappling’ were observed until morning.”

“........”

It was over.

Fragments of memory raced through my mind like a revolving lantern.

I definitely drank.

I remember opening the finest vintage wine Reiko brought, snacking on the special ajillo I made and even serving braised pork belly after that.

I also remember Reiko’s body contact getting more intense as the alcohol flowed.

“Hey, Lord Akutsu... you still haven’t heard my wish.”

“Huh? I already made the snacks, didn’t I?”

“That’s not it... deeper... further inside…”

Hot breaths. Arms entwining around me. The sweet scent of perfume and the heat of alcohol.

The sound of reason’s restraints snapping.

And then I…

“...I really screwed up.”

I covered my face with both hands.

She was a client. The head of a corporation.

And after going on about ‘equivalent exchange,’ instead of paying her back by putting my body on the line, it ended up looking like I devoured her instead.

Or was I the one who got devoured? Either way, there was only one truth.

“...I have to take responsibility.”

I groaned.

In a yakuza movie, this would be the part where someone cuts off a finger or commits seppuku.

But all I could do now was somehow deal with the situation with my hangover-ridden head.

“Saotome. Let Reiko keep sleeping.”

“Understood. She also appears to be quite exhausted.”

I felt irritation at the implication hidden in Saotome’s word ‘exhausted,’ but I didn’t have the energy to argue back.

I crawled out of bed and picked up the clothes scattered on the floor.

For now, a shower.

I needed to wash away this rotten disposition and the alcohol with cold water.

Then drink strong coffee, steel myself and talk things through with Reiko.

Yes, that was a man’s way of settling things.

With unsteady steps, I left the bedroom and walked down the hallway leading to the living room.

It was quiet.

The mansion was as silent as the dead.

Karen and Hibiki should be at work.

Yū and Ai probably hadn’t returned yet either.

If I cleaned myself up now, I could avoid the worst-case scenario—

My feet froze in front of the living room door.

The air was different.

The hallway should’ve been normal room temperature, yet from beyond this door alone, it felt like cold air was leaking out like from a refrigerator.

I tilted my head.

From the living room that should’ve been empty, I felt a heavy pressure.

Killing intent? No—something closer to a humid, clinging grudge.

I swallowed hard and placed my hand on the doorknob.

Click.

The door opened.

A guillotine had been prepared there.

““........””

In the center of the wide living room.

Two women were seated regally on the leather sofa.

One was a beautiful woman with flaming red hair.

Tennoji Karen.

She had her arms crossed, cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk’s and was expressing her displeasure with her entire body.

Her gaze passed right through me, glaring at the empty space behind.

The other was a small woman with messy black hair.

Kujō Hibiki.

She sat with her legs crossed, a thick book resting on her knees, yet showed no sign of turning the pages.

The eyes behind her glasses pierced me with absolute-zero coldness.

“...Ah, good morning.”

My voice echoed hollowly.

No one replied.

Karen’s gaze slowly shifted.

The direction she pointed was toward the entrance hall.

There was.

A single unfamiliar pair of shoes.

Pale pink, branded high heels.

They were clearly neither Karen’s nor Hibiki’s.

And on the table.

Three empty wine bottles that hadn’t been cleaned up.

Two half-finished glasses.

The circumstantial evidence was overwhelming.

“...So?”

Karen spoke in a low, crawling voice.

“Which thieving cat snuck in here, Jō?”

“...Jō.”

Hibiki adjusted her glasses with her middle finger.

“That sickly sweet perfume scent clinging to you. Can you explain it logically?”

I stood frozen.

Cold sweat ran down my back.

My hangover headache felt like it multiplied severalfold.

A naked female CEO in the bedroom.

A lover with an asura’s expression and a director wearing an icy smile in the living room.

There was nowhere to run.

I had no choice but to steel myself.

What was about to begin was an ‘interrogation’ more terrifying than any horror movie.