Chapter 3 – A Life in Freefall

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On a quiet Sunday night, I was making my usual trip to the convenience store, working up a thirst after another brutal workout. The progress was showing—what used to be a scrawny frame was now lean, muscles starting to take shape. I had my eyes set on a LifeGuard, craving that sickly sweet mix of caffeine and sugar, when I heard a familiar voice call out.

“Hey, Yuuya-kun.”

I turned to see Mahiro's mother, Chihiro-san, standing there under the glow of a streetlamp.

Right, a little context—Chihiro-san was a single mom, just like mine. Maybe that's why they got along so well, bonded by the whole raising-a-kid-alone struggle. But, man… if I didn't know better, I'd never guess she was a mother. She barely looked past her late twenties, a total bombshell. Seriously, how the hell was she single? It really made me wonder—was marriage that hard to make work?

“What's up, Chihiro-san?”

“Well… it's about Mahiro lately…”

S**t.

This was dangerous. If I slipped up, I could end up blacklisted. Then again, I was already below rock-bottom on her list of approved people. At best, I'd like to upgrade my status to at least somewhat acknowledged.

Still, I had made a promise. No selling out. The only thing that should be easily broken was a girl's virginity when she was dying to get rid of it.

“It's not just that she's been dressing flashier lately—she's also been coming home late. I can tell she has a boyfriend, but as a mother, I can't help but worry.”

“Understandable.”

“She reminds me of myself when I was younger…”

Hold up.

Was this about Mahiro, or was she about to dump her own tragic love story on me?

“Wait, were you a gyaru back in high school, Chihiro-san? The kind who'd say stuff like ‘Choberigu~!' and all that?”

“I'm surprised you even know that phrase… I didn't actually use it, but yeah, I had my fair share of youthful fun.”

“That's one way to put it.”

Just like how some people call girls who sleep around ‘free-spirited,' and cheaters get excused under trendy labels like ‘polyamory.'

To be honest, I never understood people like that. They felt like an entirely different species.

“That's why… I just want to do something before she learns the hard way that what matters in a partner is reliability—not what he's packing in his pants.”

“Okay, see, comments like that are hitting me in a weird way, so could you not?”

“Oh, my bad. But seriously, if you let your guard down in high school, it can ruin you. I ended up marrying my high school boyfriend, and he turned out to be a complete loser. To top it off, he cheated on me while I was pregnant. That was the end of that.”

“Damn…”

“But you know, back in high school, I thought he was cool. Then, after graduation, he turned into a worthless piece of s**t.”

“Is it kind of like how a guy you meet at the beach during summer seems way more attractive than he actually is?”

“Exactly! That's it! The kind of thing that makes you want to yell, ‘Give me back my free f**k, you b*****d!'”

“Whoa…”

That was… a lot.

I mean, wasn't that something she willingly agreed to? If she was the type to later claim, “That wasn't consensual sex!” after the fact, then guys were completely screwed.

Well, at least I had a pretty solid idea of why her marriage went up in flames.

“I think Mahiro's taste in men is pretty similar to mine back in the day.”

“And that would be…?”

“A guy who acts a little rebellious, seems strong in a fight, and feels reliable.”

Damn. Mother knew best.

“Isn't that pretty much what all teenage girls go for?”

“Hmm… Yeah, I suppose you're right. I actually wanted her to date a smart, responsible guy. Someone like you, Yuuya-kun.”

“Yeah, well, she told me straight-up she doesn't see me as a guy, so that's a no-go. Haha.”

“Funny. At my age, a boy like you looks incredibly attractive.”

Saw that one coming. Dodged it before she could dig in.

Well, whatever Mahiro was up to, it wasn't hard to guess. Her mom probably didn't want to admit it, but that was just life.

There's an old saying about virgins, right? “There is no path before the rod, but behind it, a path is made.” That's just another way of describing the birth canal.

“She's making her own choices, and as long as she's happy, isn't that all that matters?”

“I suppose, but…”

“I don't really know any details, either. Anyway, I'll be off.”

“Oh, ah… Sorry for stopping you.”

Before I slipped up and said something I shouldn't, it was time to make myself scarce.

Couldn't afford to let anything spill. If I ended up exposing myself in the process, that was a one-way ticket to an indecent exposure charge. And I didn't even have time to throw on a trench coat for plausible deniability.