Sex.
It was a broad term referring to the biological, reproductive, as well as physical and emotional aspects associated with intimate human relationships.
From a scientific and medical standpoint, sexual intercourse can indeed alleviate mental pressure and anxiety in the short term.
When a person engages in healthy sexual relations and achieves an orgasm, the brain floods the body with various natural chemical compounds such as endorphins, dopamine, and oxytocin. It is the release of these hormones that makes the mind feel more relaxed and tranquil after engaging in intimacy.
The most famous figure to ever be cured of depression by this activity was Rudeus Greyrat from the Planar World of Mushoku Tensei.
When he fell into a severe depression upon being abandoned by Eris, Rudeus experienced psychological erectile dysfunction.
For Rudeus, this impotence was not merely a physical issue, but a symbol that he had returned to being a "useless piece of trash" just like in his past life. Therefore, when he was finally able to engage in sexual intercourse once again alongside Sylphiette, his impotence was cured.
At another moment, Rudeus fell back into the abyss of depression over the death of his father, Paul, as well as the condition of his mother, who had suffered mental incapacitation. However, after engaging in intimacy with Roxy at the inn, his mental state stabilized once more and he was no longer depressed.
This pattern seemed to keep repeating...
The Eris case: Rudeus depressed → Impotent → Engages in sex with Sylphiette → His depression and impotence are cured.
The Paul case: Rudeus severely depressed → Shuts himself away → Engages in sex with Roxy → His depression is cured and he can rise again.
The context above was just one of many similar cases.
The point is, intimacy can serve as a support system that helps alleviate stress and restores a person's emotional anchor back to the real world.
"..."
Yet at this moment, silence enveloped the living room.
Charlie's frozen, silent stance upon hearing that unexpected request caused Mahiru to misinterpret it. The girl thought that she had just been rejected.
Mahiru slowly hung her head, letting her blonde hair fall to obscure her pale face.
A bitter smile full of self-reproach etched itself onto her trembling lips.
"Of course you wouldn't want to..." she whispered in a hoarse voice filled with self-loathing. "Who would ever want to touch a woman like me? My mother was right... anyone, after finding out about my actual personality which is flawed, rigid, and boring, would definitely never like me again."
"I am just a defective woman whom even her own parents didn't want from the very beginning..."
After uttering those sentences, Mahiru took advantage of the moment while Charlie was still stunned.
With a sudden jerk, she exerted all the remnants of her strength to push Charlie's chest away. The confinement of the man's arms loosened for a brief moment, providing an opening for Mahiru to instantly spring to her feet.
Without looking back again, Mahiru walked quickly in a daze toward the direction of her room.
Within her completely despondent mind, she intended to lock the door from the inside, open the bedroom window, and immediately leap down from the height of the apartment to end everything.
"...!!!"
Even though Charlie could not read the suicide plan inside the girl's head, his premonition screamed loudly that he absolutely must not let Mahiru go to that room alone in a mental condition this chaotic.
SWISH!
Before Mahiru could take another step further, Charlie moved as fast as lightning.
He snatched Mahiru's wrist, gripping it firmly yet carefully so as not to injure her, halting the girl's movement in place.
"Let go! Let me go, Charlie-kun!" Mahiru screamed hysterically, her body thrashing wildly trying to break free from the grip of Charlie's hand.
She turned and stared at him with eyes that had reddened due to her tears bursting forth once again.
"Let me go! This has nothing to do with you anymore!"
"Why do you keep interfering in my business?! I am just a jinx of a child who has no right to live in this world!"
"Let me disappear!"
"..."
Seeing Mahiru who was already completely consumed by hysteria and could no longer think rationally, Charlie realized that any comforting words would be useless at this point. To pull the girl back from the edge of the precipice of destruction, he had to take the most extreme measure.
"In that case, do not blame me for what happens next." Charlie said in a low tone.
Before Mahiru could process or question the meaning of that threatening sentence, Charlie immediately pulled the girl's wrist with one powerful jerk.
Mahiru's body lurched forward, and in an instant, Charlie lunged ahead, pinning the fragile body against the wall, then lowered his head to forcefully kiss Mahiru's lips.
"Mhm—!!!"
Mahiru's eyes instantly widened large in utter shock.
The sudden warm touch invading the blades of her lips caused her mind to go completely blank.
(Why...? Didn't he just reject me earlier? What is this kiss for now?!)
In the middle of the thoughts churning in her head, a dark thought slipped back in.
Mahiru thought that Charlie was doing all this merely out of pity, a form of emotional charity to comfort an worthless woman like herself.
A sense of reluctance and wounded pride caused Mahiru to immediately struggle, turning her face to the side to break visual contact and reject the continuation of the kiss.
However, Charlie did not give her the slightest opening.
Every time Mahiru succeeded in averting her face and tried to end that bond, Charlie would firmly cup her jaw, then lower his head again to claim the girl's ripe lips.
Again, again, and again without giving Mahiru a chance to even catch her breath or hurl a protest.
Mahiru, who initially kept up a fierce resistance, began to feel frustrated.
Her two free hands moved to hit Charlie's chest brutally, trying to create distance. However, her movements were instantly anticipated.
Charlie snatched both of those petite wrists with a single hand, then pressed them firmly against the wall above Mahiru's head, locking her entire physical movement.
In her panic and the remnants of her rebellion, Mahiru, feeling a foreign tongue attempting to force its way into her small mouth, immediately clamped her teeth tightly shut.
*CRUNCH!*
She bit Charlie's tongue with all her might until a thick red liquid with a pungent, metallic aroma instantly burst and filled their oral cavities.
Even though a piercing pain struck his nervous senses and blood began to seep out from the corners of their lips, Charlie adamantly refused to let go.
He still maintained that demanding kiss with an intensity that did not diminish in the slightest, as if he were channeling his entire ego and desire to bind Mahiru's soul so it would not leave.
As the taste of iron from the fresh blood increasingly filled her palate, a new wave of emotion suddenly struck Mahiru's chest.
Seeing Charlie who still remained entirely unmoving even though he had been injured, a deep sense of guilt instantly crept into her heart for having hurt the man who all this time had always protected her.
Her spirit of rebellion collapsed in an instant.
After putting up a weak, symbolic resistance for the last few seconds with the remnants of her strength, Mahiru slowly relaxed all the muscles of her body.
She closed both of her eyes tightly, letting a final pair of tears trickle across her cheeks, before finally choosing to surrender and letting herself dissolve completely into that wet kiss which felt thick and unpleasant due to the aroma of blood.
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