So who was that man?

So-called malicious thoughts refer to evil intentions, but whether a thought is evil or not does not change based on objective facts.

Only subjective will can alter a malicious thought.

After all, people have different worldviews, and their perspectives on distinguishing good from evil vary. Perhaps someone considers peeking at women bathing as a form of spiritual purification, while another might feel that saving a life interferes with karma and damages one's accumulated merits.

Through such a long period of exploration, Tsukasano Haruno had basically figured out the mechanism of the [Malicious Thoughts List].

Some malicious thoughts that initially seemed difficult to satisfy were actually easy to fulfill once a close relationship was established. Therefore, even for the same matter, the color grade of the malicious thought would change depending on the time, place, and relationship status.

However, the [Malicious Thoughts List] also had loopholes.

Tsukasano Haruno had exploited them more than once.

That was the aspect of "immediacy."

For instance, back then, when his former girlfriend Masami Kato—who possessed such good fortune—saw him, her primary malicious thought was to have him help forge a paternity test certificate. Yet, fulfilling this malicious thought did not require going through the actual process; simply giving a verbal promise was enough.

On the other hand, some malicious thoughts did require a process. For example, when Ruka Hoshino wanted a handbag, a mere verbal promise from him was insufficient; he actually had to buy it and give it to her.

Yet, even this process possessed "immediacy."

For instance, if he went to the Prada store, bought a handbag, immediately handed it to Ruka Hoshino on the spot, claimed the reward after satisfying her malicious thought, and then instantly reneged—snatching back the bag she was holding in her arms with utter joy and returning it immediately—the reward already issued by the Malicious Thoughts List would not be retracted on account of that.

Tsukasano Haruno could theoretically keep milking this loophole indefinitely. After all, Tokyo was full of materialistic women; it would just generate a fair amount of animosity.

After a brief moment of reflection, however, he abandoned the idea.

Ultimately, women were far too emotional creatures.

Someone with a personality like Sayaka Suzumiya was considered relatively normal among truly eccentric women. If he actually ran into someone who, feeling played, came at him with a knife and red eyes, Tsukasano Haruno wouldn't be able to escape even if he had sixteen pairs of eyes. After all, trying to make a living through this method would instantly accumulate a mountain of enemies in a very short span of time.

The community of malicious women was a massive entity.

With Tsukasano Haruno's meager, solitary strength, managing to deal with a tiny fraction of them without being defeated would already be quite an achievement.

The reason he had considered this issue just now was because Tsukasano Haruno realized there happened to be a loophole he could exploit right at this moment. Moreover, if the reward for a purple-tier malicious thought turned out to be money, the amount would be astronomical; even if it were something like physical constitution or personal aura, it would undoubtedly count as a massive profit.

Therefore, harboring the mindset of fulfilling Yuko Shimizu's malicious thought to reap the reward if the opportunity arose, and not forcing it if it didn't, Tsukasano Haruno sat at the edge of the bench and discussed countermeasures with Yuko Shimizu.

Until they were found by Chiharu Fujitani.

When she had made up her mind to get to the bottom of the matter yet could find neither Tsukasano Haruno nor Yuko Shimizu anywhere, Chiharu Fujitani's heart had gradually sunk to the bottom of a lake, especially after walking for nearly twenty minutes before finally discovering the two of them hiding in a secluded corner of the scenic spot having a secret rendezvous.

Perhaps upon seeing the fact that she had already suspected but desperately refused to accept, or perhaps out of the stinging sensation of betrayal, Chiharu Fujitani completely lost her usual amiable demeanor, and her complexion looked terrifyingly bad.

Nothing was more persuasive than witnessing something with one's own eyes. Accompanied by a sense of absurdity and a sharp ache in her heart, a layer of gloom instantly clouded her vision.

"What are the two of you..."

Spoken in that eerie tone, if heard in a dimly lit hallway at night, it would make a chill crawl straight up one's spine.

This single sentence caused Tsukasano Haruno and Yuko Shimizu—who had been sitting together with their backs turned to her—to simultaneously turn their heads and lock eyes with Chiharu Fujitani standing behind the bench.

Perhaps burdened by an overwhelming sense of guilt, and coupled with the fact that even after mental preparation, facing the actual aggrieved party inevitably left one feeling insecure, a look of nervousness and panic fluttered across Yuko Shimizu's pretty face. Though she quickly managed to compose herself, the expression was caught crystal clear by Chiharu Fujitani.

"A-Auntie Chiharu..."

"Yuko, you... why are you crying?"

Just as Chiharu Fujitani could no longer hold back and was about to launch into an interrogation, she caught sight of Yuko Shimizu's tear-rimmed, red eyes.

Yet Yuko Shimizu merely pressed her lips together and remained silent.

She simply lowered her head in silence.

It was as if she had just experienced some heartbreaking, devastating trauma, leaving her both utterly exhausted and sorrowful, completely devoid of any mood to converse with others.

This posture completely bewildered Chiharu Fujitani, who had previously approached with a somewhat aggressive momentum. Unable to figure out what was happening for a moment, she stood frozen in place for a long while.

Before she could speak again, Tsukasano Haruno rose from the wooden bench, walked over to her, and without a word, pulled her aside. As they walked, he leaned close to her ear and lowered his voice, saying, "Auntie Shimizu had some bad luck with people recently, and her mood isn't very good right now. She was just on the phone with that man earlier, talking a lot about nothing in particular. Judging by what I heard, he has no intention of taking responsibility. You'd better not disturb Auntie Shimizu for now."

[Target of Malicious Thought: Chiharu Fujitani]
[Malicious Thoughts List as follows:]
[1: I really want to hold a grandchild in my arms right now (Red)]
[2: I hope that after I head back to Tokyo, the annoying pole by the shop entrance gets knocked down by a wild boar (Blue)]
[3: Yuko and Tsukasa are both acting so strange; they must be hiding something from me. If only I could knock them out and make them tell the truth, then I wouldn't have to guess and exhaust myself to death (Blue)]

Dragging his mother forcibly aside, Tsukasano Haruno concentrated while taking control of the conversational rhythm, and glanced at his mother's malicious thoughts list.

Just as he had anticipated.

Given his mother's attentiveness, combined with Auntie Shimizu's recent abnormal behavior, it was impossible for her not to harbor suspicions.

As for this first malicious thought, however...

Well.

It certainly proved that his mother was a traditional person.

Yet, wasn't she being a bit too impatient?

How was she supposed to have a grandchild right now?

Even if Auntie Shimizu had conceived, she would probably only be at the embryo stage by now, right? Or perhaps not even an embryo yet?

The pale pink light screen slowly faded away. Tsukasano Haruno felt somewhat grounded after reviewing his mother's malicious thought list. He only stopped once he had pulled her about a dozen meters away from Yuko Shimizu. The moment he stood still, his mother's dubious and startled voice reached his ears.

"Bad luck with people... she got scammed?"

Hearing her son's words, this abrupt shift nearly threw Chiharu Fujitani's lower back out of alignment.

Chiharu Fujitani felt a strange sensation in her heart.

According to the implication in her son's words just now, Yuko seemed to have been swindled by some man. But why did it have to be at a time like this, and so coincidentally?

Naturally, she couldn't possibly be fooled by this sudden, one-sided account from her son. After all, based on what she had previously seen with her own eyes and heard with her own ears, all sorts of evidence seemed to prove that her close friend of many years was entangled with her son. It was entirely possible that her son had sensed something and was deliberately trying to deceive her with this story.

However, having just caught sight of Yuko Shimizu's slightly reddened eye rims and tear tracks, she now felt hesitant to launch a direct interrogation, leaving her with no choice but to stare fixedly at her son's face.

"Yeah, just half a month ago. This matter was already going on around the time you asked me to go find Auntie Yuko back then."

"Then how do you know about it?"

"I didn't want to know either, but the crucial point was that right when you asked me to go find Auntie Shimizu, the moment I arrived, she was already drunk. She didn't care about anything else I had to say and just kept telling me to drink. After she got drunk, she ended up spilling everything to me and venting for a long time."

Drowning one's sorrows in alcohol to pour out suppressed troubles to someone else as a way of releasing one's emotions—

That was a completely logical and plausible sequence of events.

Yet Chiharu Fujitani still remained skeptical. She stared intently at Tsukasano Haruno's face, trying to see if his expression would betray any sense of a guilty conscience, but after staring for quite a while, she found nothing out of the ordinary.

No.

Something was very wrong.

Ten parts out of ten, or rather nine parts out of ten, felt completely off.

Even though everything had a reasonable explanation, Chiharu Fujitani still felt that something did not add up. However, for the moment, she could only respond with, "Is it that man from the Financial Services Agency?"

"No, it's someone else."

Tsukasano Haruno replied after shaking his head.

"I see." Chiharu Fujitani nodded ambiguously. On the surface, she appeared to believe his words, but internally she continued probing, "I thought..."

"What did you think?"

Tsukasano Haruno displayed a perfectly measured expression of confusion.

Seeing that his expression did not look feigned, Chiharu Fujitani immediately swallowed back the words she was about to utter. Her previously anxious and churning mind also calmed down. Pressing her lips together slightly with a flicker in her eyes, she said, "No, nothing at all."

"Then... to what extent was Yuko scammed?"

"To the worst extent you can possibly imagine."

"You mean Yuko has already become the mother of several children? And all her money was swindled away too?"

"...Well, it hasn't quite reached that point."

"So she lost her innocence?"

"I suppose so."

Standing silently in place for a moment, she smoothed the hair beside her ear, walked over to Yuko Shimizu—who was sitting on the lakeside bench—and placed a hand on her shoulder to comfort her:

"Yuko... don't be too sad. There are plenty of good men in this world. It's really not worth grieving over a man who deceived you. If you have any painful things on your mind, tell me, Miki, and the others. We've been friends for so many years; we would never laugh at you."

No matter how strange something felt, based on Yuko Shimizu's current suicidal appearance—looking as though she might leap into the lake at any second—Chiharu Fujitani found it difficult to press on with her questioning. Instead, she had no choice but to bite the bullet and offer words of comfort.

Moreover, her son's explanation just now was relatively logical, practically flawless, and perfectly explained why Yuko Shimizu hadn't been in touch with her lately...

Wait?

Not in touch with her?

Thinking of this, Chiharu Fujitani paused. A flood of memories instantly surfaced in her mind: the anomaly of receiving a single phone call the day after that night and then having no further contact; her normal interactions with Yuki Kaneda and Miki Ando; that unfamiliar slip of paper Miki Ando had mentioned just now; the blood-stained bedsheets she had discovered; and that strange, intense reaction when the topic of the hickeys on her son's neck was brought up...

Her previous momentary hesitation upon hearing her son's solemn explanation, combined with the assisting visual of Yuko Shimizu's desolate posture nearby, had almost made her feel that her son's logic was a normal development. But once all these incidents were strung together into a single line, they proved nothing except that Yuko had indeed been recently entangled with some man, and the loopholes in the story were massive!

After all, if it wasn't that man from the Financial Services Agency who had made improper advances and troubled her, then who was this heartless scoundrel who had relations with her and refused to take responsibility?

According to common sense, the more one cared about a person, the greater their emotional fluctuation when something unexpected happened to that person.

So, what kind of person could cause Yuko to experience such emotional agitation?

Without a doubt.

It could only be the man who had left those blood-stained bedsheets behind and the note on the bedside table for Yuko.

Yet she didn't know this man, nor did Miki and Yuki. And Tsukasano Haruno's vague statements just now also failed to point to anything definitive.

So, as the primary and potentially only person aware of the situation before herself, is it possible that her son, having had all these humiliating matters poured out to him by a drunken Yuko, still didn't know that man's name?

Of course that was impossible!

Then why would her son try to conceal it from her?

The answer was equally obvious.

Therefore, that man was...

Her own son!