Nishino Iroha

This petite, beautiful Mrs. initially came to us with a clouded expression, but now she responds with a bright, radiant smile that lights up everything around her. Yet there remains something at odds with that glimmering, lustrous hair—a Mrs. bearing traces of a difficult past.

Her husband may have simply wanted a wife with the title of 'nursery school teacher'—someone to call his own.

'I have to protect him.'

Her younger husband, somewhat selfish and childlike in his dependence, perhaps never truly loved her.

He insisted on marking her as his possession. Despite her pleas to stop—because her workplace would tease her—he would leave visible hickeys. After they had a child, this escalated. When he wanted matching tattoos, he ignored her fierce resistance. She couldn't refuse, afraid of what he might do to their child. Even now, it binds her heart like chains.

When things didn't go his way, he would rage. The broken glass in the house grew larger. She always cleaned it up. Each time blood flowed from cuts by sharp shards, strangely, tears no longer fell from her eyes. Perhaps her heart had broken.

No matter how much she worked, credit card statements and bills kept arriving. Day and night she labored, hoping to see her family smile again. Yet marital intimacy was where her heart felt coldest. Tears flowed from bitterness and regret, yet her body in its prime would respond regardless. After he left the room, she would wash the soaked bedding herself, weeping. Then something inside her snapped.

She decided to end that harsh life.

・━…‥・‥

'So being close to a man physically actually feels good and makes me happy.'

'I'm not very bright, but when someone tells me "that felt good," I'm truly happy.'

Watching her overcome such painful circumstances with a gentle, soft smile is almost hard to imagine. Each time we see this beautiful Mrs. flushed and smiling, our expectations only grow higher.