The younger officer easily restrains the thrashing Kanako, his grip firm but not rough. Her screams are piercing, a raw sound of a soul being torn apart. It's the sound of truth trying to claw its way out into the open.
"Kanako, stop it!" Kaede's voice cuts through her daughter's hysteria. It's not the voice of a grieving mother anymore; its ce-cold and sharp as shattered glass.
Kanako turns to her, her tear-filled eyes wide with disbelief. "Mom?! They have to know! It's that bastard's fault! He…"
Enough!" Kaede's command is absolute. She pushes herself up from the floor, moving with a pained but deliberate grace. She stands before the older officer, her posture rigid, her face a mask of tragic composure. She ignores Kanako's sobs and Nao's theatrical crying. All her focus is on the man who holds the power to make their private hell public.
The older officer looks at her with a patient, weary sympathy. "Ma'am, if there was any trouble, any bullying... it's important for us to know."
Kaede shakes her head slowly, a single, perfectly timed tear rolling down her cheek. It looks practiced, rehearsed. "No, officer," she says, her voice steady and low. "There was... none of that. Hiroki was... a good boy. He was just struggling with his studies. The pressure from university entrance exams... it was all too much for him." She delivers the lie with a mother's perfected sorrow. "He'd been so withdrawn lately, so sad about his grades. We tried to help him, but... I guess we weren't enough."
Kanako stares at her mother, her mouth agape in horror. "Mom, what are you saying?! That's not true!" She tries to lunge again, but Kaede turns on her, her green eyes flashing with a warning so severe it silences Kanako mid-cry. It's a look that says, If you say one more word, I will disown you right here, right now.
Nao, watching this exchange, quickly catches on. Her fake sobs subside into quiet, believable sniffles. She nods in agreement with Kaede, playing the part of the supportive, grieving girlfriend perfectly. "It's true," she chimes in, her voice soft and mournful. "He was so worried... he never thought he was good enough."
The officers exchange a subtle, knowing glance. They've seen this story a hundred times. The shame, the desire for a simple, clean explanation. There's no evidence of foul play at the scene, just a missing person's report that has now tragically resolved itself. Pushing the issue would only cause more pain for a family already destroyed.
The older officer gives a slow, sad nod. "I see. We are very sorry for your loss. We will need you to come down to the station tomorrow to formally identify the... belongings."
Kaede just nods, her face a stoic mask. "Of course."
The officers give their final condolences and see themselves out. The click of the front door closing is deafening. The official story is now written. Hiroki Mori, the quiet boy who couldn't handle the pressure. A simple, tragic lie.
The moment they're gone, the fragile composure shatters. Kaede slumps against the door, her body trembling. Kanako stares at her, her expression a mixture of betrayal and utter devastation. Nao sits frozen, realizing the depth of the lie she just helped tell. And on the floor, Ayumu begins to stir, her eyes fluttering open to a world that has just been rebuilt on a foundation of secrets.
The silence following the officers' departure lasts for approximately ten seconds. It's a fragile, suffocating quiet, the kind that precedes a detonation.
Then, Kanako shatters it.
"You lied." Her voice is a low, dangerous whisper, a stark contrast to her earlier screams. She pushes herself off the floor, her eyes locked on her mother with an expression of pure, unadulterated hatred. "You looked them right in the eye and you LIED."
"Kanako, not now," Kaede says, her voice weary, holding up a hand as if to ward off a physical blow. "We need to be calm."*
Calm?!" Kanako's voice erupts into a shriek that echoes through the house. "My brother is DEAD because of that monster, and you stood there and told them it was about EXAMS?! How could you? How could you protect him?!"
"I wasn't protecting him!" Kaede fires back, her own voice rising in anger and desperation. "I was protecting us! Do you have any idea what would happen if the police started digging? They would find out everything! The bullying, the... the other things! They would drag our family's name through the mud! Is that what you want? For everyone to know what you did? What we ALL did?!"
The accusation hangs in the air, a poisoned dart. Kanako flinches as if struck. Nao, who was trying to make herself invisible on the couch, freezes, her eyes wide with terror.
"What we did?" Nao whispers, her voice trembling. "I didn't... I mean..."
"Oh, don't even start, Nao!" Kanako spins on her, her fury finding a new target. "You were the worst! You were his girlfriend! You were supposed to love him, and you were spreading your legs for his bully the second he lost one fight! You pathetic little whore!"
That's not true!" Nao shrieks, scrambling off the couch, her face contorted with a mixture of shame and rage. "He was weak! Hiroki was pathetic! What was I supposed to do, stay with a loser who couldn't even protect himself?!"
The confession, ugly and brutal, spills out into the open. Ayumu, who has just pushed herself into a sitting position, stares at Nao in horror. Her gaze darts between Nao, Kanako, and Kaede, the pieces of the nightmare clicking into place.
And you!" Kanako turns back to her mother, her voice cracking with fresh tears. "You! His own mother! He worshipped you, and you were letting that animal... that gaijin... desecrate Dad's memorial? Ruin your wedding ring?! Is that why you lied? To protect your new 'man'?!"
Kaede stumbles back, her face ashen. The deepest, most shameful secrets of her household are being vomited into the open, each one more venomous than the last. She looks at her daughters, at the stranger on her couch, and sees nothing but monsters. And the worst monster of all, the one who started it all, was her own weakness.
"You all... you all disgust me," she chokes out, her voice barely a whisper.
The house is no longer a home. It's a pressure cooker of guilt and hate, and it has just exploded. The family is officially, irrevocably broken, torn apart by the very secrets they tried to bury.