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The outskirts of town were quiet filled with creepy abandoned buildings housing gang members and the homeless. For many years, town residents complained about uncompleted buildings to the government in Tokyo. However, nothing happened leaving them as places for vengeful spirits to inhabit.
Ayano however was grateful because it served as the perfect place to slaughter her victims. Looking at the corpse before her, she wiped the blood from her face, grabbed the electric handsaw and dismembered her. She would tie up every limb in garbage bags and dispose of them all over the city as her signature sign. However, she made sure to bury the head for without it, the police won’t recognize the victim.
She was sawing off the left leg when her phone rang. Thinking it was Taro, she quickly turned off the saw, grabbed it with her blood-stained glove and looked at it.
It was her mother.
‘Why would she call me at this time?' she ruefully wondered before answering. “Hello?”
“Ayano?”
“Yes?”
“Have you seen your father? He hasn’t come home yet.”
She scoffed. “Why should I care? I have no father!”
“Don’t act like that! Bad terms or not he’s still your father!”
She turned on the saw and continued working on the leg. “He disowned me on my wedding day.”
“We both know he didn’t mean it," she cried.
Ayano yanked off the leg and placed it aside. “Listen mother, look for him yourself. A man who stops his only child from being happy is no father to me.”
“Ayano!”
Not wanting to hear another word from her, Ayano tapped on the end button and finished her work.
Meanwhile, a brown haired woman sat up in bed, sighed and lit a cigarette.
“Must you smoke?” a male voice asked.
“You seem okay with it during our first night together,” she replied inhaling it deeply. “You must be very brave to invite me to your home with your kids around. Aren’t you afraid your wife will return?"
Taro revealed himself from under the sheets and lay on his back. “Nah. She’s staying at her mother’s place for two days so it’s okay,”
“Are you sure it’s two days?” she battef her eye at him and Taro smiled. “You bad boy."
Her words made him chuckle and he admired her naked body under the moonlight. A great cook, good in bed, great personality...she was perfect. However, there was one problem: her chest size wasn’t big enough to satisfy him. Taro was disappointed because she had such a lovely personality. Unlike someone who was the mother of his kids.
The woman caught him looking at her, gave a seductive grin and handed him the cigarette. Taro took a puff and coughed causing her to giggle.
“You always complain about your wife and I guess this is one of the reasons why you don't get along with each other?" she asked, putting out the cigarette. “She’s quite the mommy’s girl isn’t she?”
At this Taro sighed and looked at the ceiling. “That’s not the only reason. I don’t love her anymore."
“Anymore? It sounds like you had issues before this happened."
Taro nodded.
“But it’s not that bad. She cooks lunch for you, cleans up after you, takes proper care of your children and does what you say. Any man would love a woman like her as a wife."
Hearing this made Taro’s blood boil because he had heard it before. ‘You are a lucky man,’ ‘Your wife may not be beautiful but she is obedient so that’s something,’ 'Women like that are difficult to come by,’ But what made him more angry was the fact that his lover was saying it.
“To be honest I never loved her in the first place,” he muttered loud enough to hear.
His lover was confused. “Then why did you marry her if you didn’t love her?”
“My parents. They basically forced the relationship on me,” he turned to his side to study her reaction. “I dumped her after high school and headed off to college far away from home. I was in my second year when my parents called to tell me the bad news.”
“What was it?”
“My father’s business sank so they had no money to help me finish my education at the college of my choice. I had to leave my friends and my girlfriend to transfer to another college closer to home. That's when she returned to my life.”
“Interesting,” she leaned closer, her breast brushing his arm. “Tell me more."
“I was so busy with my studies and communicating with my girlfriend online not to notice until it was too late. After graduating from college, they told me to marry her but I said no. I didn’t love her and I already had a girlfriend I wanted to introduce to them but they insisted and here I am now."
He shrugged off that last part and studied her reaction, hoping that she wouldn't hate him.
Luckily she didn't. “So they forced you to marry her?”
He nodded and lay on his back, “Whenever I tell them how boring and unambitious she is, my father would always remind me of how she was the ‘ideal’ wife and scold me for being an idiot and what’s awful is my mom would agree with him.”
“Why would she do that?"
“They got a divorce because my mom refused to be a stay-at-home mom and did better than my dad financially. I guess that hurt his pride. Although I would never understand why she agreed with him, my sister was the worst. She saw Ayano as a goddess and said she would ‘never’ forgive me if I didn’t marry her.” He scoffed. “Looking back at it, I should have called their bluff and ran away with my college girlfriend. It broke my heart when I told her the news."
“I see,” she leaned closer and Taro smelled her lavender perfume. “It’s not easy to live with someone you don’t love. Especially when you are forced into it."
Her words made Taro grin and he could feel her soft hand pressed against his solid chest. Finally! Someone who understands the pain he went through. However, he still missed his college girlfriend.
“Why don’t you get a divorce then?” asked his lover.
He had enough of talking. Turning to face her, he propped himself up with his elbow and grinned mischievously.
“What?” she asked not getting an idea.
“I have a riddle for you. I am the first thing you put in your mouth and when you are done you spit it out. What am I?”
She looked at him wide-eyed before giggling. “You naughty boy."
Taro giggled and dragged the sheets over their heads as they wiggled furiously trying to get into the desired position not knowing a pair of prying eyes were watching them.
True to her words, Ayano returned two days later and Taro wasn’t around to welcome her. Leaving the kids alone was normal for them so she wasn’t surprised when she saw Lee the oldest child in the kitchen making breakfast for his siblings.
“Welcome home mom,” he said.
Ignoring the hint of venom in his voice she dropped her bag of ‘tools’ under the sink and inhaled the fresh scent of homemade miso soup. Sitting down at the dining table with the rest of her children, they said thanks and then dived right into the food.
"Goodbye mom," her daughters said as they left the door.
“Goodbye,” she replied in a monotone voice and shut the door. Looking around the house, she sighed at how empty it was.
But she was used to this wasn’t she?
The empty feeling wasn’t foreign to her.
So why did it hurt so much?
She decided to distract herself. Putting on her apron and tying her hair back, she worked diligently dusting and cleaning the place. She thought about how happy Taro would be when he got home to eat his favorite meal.
However, her demeanor changed when she stepped into their bedroom. Upon opening the door, she caught wiff of a foreign smell. This could be mistaken for air cleanser but Ayano knew Taro never bought that after they had their last child. Looking around the room, she spotted a dustbin filled with used condoms and a strand of brown hair on the pillow.
Her suspicions were confirmed. Picking up the strand of hair, she gritted her teeth in fury and looked back at the children's bedroom door.
Later in the day, Taro came home smiling. Using his house key, he opened the front door and was greeted by the smell of cooked beef and someone humming in the kitchen.
His wife was home.
“Welcome home Darling,” Ayano happily said as he walked in.
Taro 'smiled' and dropped his briefcase. “Thank you."
"How was work?" Ayano asked taking the briefcase from him.
“Same old same old,” he replied walking past her.
She gave a side glance at his briefcase and dropped it on the couch. “I made stir-fried noodles with beef. Your favorite.”
“Thank you but I won’t eat dinner tonight,” he replied.
Her face fell when she heard that. “Why?”
“I was drinking with the boys,” he tapped his belly. “I am full."
It was a lie but she clasped her hands together and nodded. “Understood,”
She watched Taro walk upstairs to the bedroom and glance at his briefcase with dagger eyes. When she opened it, she scattered its contents across the floor looking for anything amiss. There was nothing different apart from work documents and information about the insurance of a male client.
‘There is nothing here,’ she muttered letting a stack of papers fall to the floor. ‘This means the witch must be on his phone but…’
“What are you doing?”
Blinking slowly, she turned around and glanced at Taro who stared at her in disbelief. “Who is she?”
“Are you crazy?" He strided towards her and crouched down to gather the papers. “Do you know how long it took me to arrange this stuff?”
“Who is she Taro?” she asked again this time using a hostile voice. “Who is this woman?”
“Ugh what?” He glanced up at her and saw the kitchen knife in her hand. “Seriously?”
Brandishing the kitchen knife in her hand, she gave him her signature look. “Who is this woman? Why was she in our house?”
Taro rolled his eyes, shook his head at her and stood up. “What woman?”
“Taro,”
“Why must you fly into a frenzied rage whenever I am with someone huh?” He pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. “Honestly, what’s wrong with you?”
Taken aback again, Ayano’s face fell and she looked away bashfully. “I…found a strand of hair brown hair in the bedroom and the trash was filled with used condoms so…”
“So you thought I was cheating on you is that it?” he asked.
Embarrassed, Ayano glanced at her feet in shame. Sitting on a chair near the dining room table, he passed his hands over his face and narrowed his eyes to her.
“I guess you don’t love me right?”
Her head snapped up at that. “No that’s not…”
“Put the knife down."
Sensing his anger, Ayano did as she was told and dropped the knife on the table. Tension hung in the air and she stared at him. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes but she pushed them down.
Meanwhile, Taro calculated his next words. “So you think I am cheating on you?"
She nodded.
“My gosh Ayano," he slammed his fist on the table. "This is why I don't like coming home."
“I am sorry."
“Sorry?”
“I just…”
“For your information, I did bring a woman home.”
Those words struck her like a lightning bolt but he wasn’t done. "She was with her boyfriend, though. While they stayed on the couch, I left to get some aspirin for my hangover but when I returned, they were doing it in the bedroom so I slept on the couch. I forgot to change the sheets before I left for work and where were you all this time? At your mother’s house.”
She glanced down once again, trying to hold back tears, but she was unable to do so. As she looked up at him, she searched for any sign of affection in his eyes but found only disgust.
“Great! Now I am the villain,” he sarcastically remarked looking away from her.
“I did nothing wrong Taro.” Placing her hand on her chest, she looked at him through wet eyes. “I only asked that because I was suspicious.”
He chuckled ruefully at that. “Really?”
She nodded.
“Then it’s settled. You don’t love me."
Her heart ached when she heard that. “That’s not true! I love you! I love you from the bottom of my heart!”
“So why are you always suspicious of me huh? Why?” he bellowed.
Something in her slowly cracked and she was trying to control it. Suddenly strong arms wrapped around her and his heartbeat was heard. Realizing what was going on, she calmed down and allowed herself to be encased in his ‘warm’ embrace.
“I’ll just assume it was just a lapse of judgment,” he whispered hugging her tightly. “But I don’t want this to happen again. Understood?”
She sniffed and tried to hug him back but he pulled away and sat back down in the chair.
“And if it makes you feel better, I would like to have dinner with you. Okay?”
Whatever was in Ayano’s mind was replaced with lingering hope. She smiled and ran back to the kitchen. Once she was out of sight, Taro quickly whipped out his phone, sent a quick message to his mistress and deleted her number. As they ate, he engaged Ayano by telling her about the made-up antics in the office and to cement his ‘affection’ he slept with her.
But Ayano couldn’t sleep.
She knew he lied to her.
Despite taking a shower and ‘making love’ on the same bed, the lavender perfume still lingered and she saw the love bites left by his mistress on his neck when he walked in. The signs of infidelity were as clear as daylight, but she couldn't bring herself to think it was his fault.
‘It’s all that woman’s fault,’ she thought gripping tightly to the sheets. ‘She is behind all of this. She is trying to take him away from me.'
She closed her eyes and opened them revealing dilated pupils.
‘I can’t let this happen. I can’t let her take him away from me,' but the pupils immediately returned to their normal size. ‘But I don’t know who she is or what she looks like.'
Stealing his phone would prompt another argument so she slipped out of the bed sheets, tied her towel around her chest, grabbed her wooden flip-flops and snuck out of the bedroom to her sons’ room. However, she felt the draft of cold air when approaching their door and when she opened it, she saw nothing but empty beds, half-opened drawers and an open window.
They were taken away.
ns 15.158.61.20da2
