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ML Chapter 36

Helpless

Chapter 36 – Helpless

Chapter 6, Part 3

Novel Title: 融愛~Melt Down~ (Melted Love ~Melt Down~)

Author:風結子 沙野 (Fuyuko Sano)

Illustrator:雅良 水名瀬 (Masara Minase)

Translator: K (@kin0monogatari)

Protagonists: 葉越海理 (Yougoshi Kairi -MC), 葉越翼久 (Yougoshi Tasuku -ML)

*Please read at Novels Space.space, the original site of translation. TQ*

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⚠️TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter contains mentions of drugs abuse. Readers’ discretion is advised.

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The home search that laid bare their lives gave Kairi a sense of outrage, sorrow, and humiliation for the life he had built together with his younger brother. 

The photo album full of memories, the model kits they had made together as children, were treated like garbage. And the bed where they had shared intimacy was searched through and through. Even the body piercing kit and the tube of lubricant used during sex were exposed.

Their minds and home were thrown into complete disarray. And his one special person was taken away. Tasuku must be enduring an interrogation full of yelling and threats right about now. Even though Tasuku is suffering, Kairi can’t protect him. Filled with helplessness and frustration, his body won’t stop trembling.

There must be something, anything, that he can do…

Kairi digs his nails into the back of his hand hard enough to tear the skin, desperately trying to sharpen his senses. But even the pain he feels will soon fade away, drifting off.

His consciousness scatters. The timeline becomes a jumbled mess. Amidst the chaos, a single memory is unearthed from the deeper layers, as vivid as if it happened just yesterday.

Tasuku and Kairi were leaning out of the window of their shabby apartment, looking down at the street. He remembered the scent of the rusted iron railing that they were gripping. There was a stinging sensation in the palms of their hands.

Parked on the shoulder of the road in front of the apartment is a white station wagon. It seemed like the last of the belongings had been loaded. The hatch door swung shut with a bang. From up above, they could see a balding middle-aged man beckoning to a thin young woman bundled in a down jacket. An older woman, presumably the man’s wife, was also urging the young woman towards the car.

They were the woman next door and her parents who had come to pick her up.

The snow that fell the previous week was still compacted along the edges of the poorly lit road.

The terrifying incident that nearly broke Tasuku was still fresh in Kairi’s mind. Tasuku had been plagued by nightmares ever since, utterly tormented.

So Kairi couldn’t help but feel relieved that the woman responsible was leaving.

As the woman was guided to the station wagon by her parents, she looked up at the sky. Her face, with its inverted triangle shape, made her eyes look unnaturally large. Those eyes flicked over to meet Tasuku’s. It caused Tasuku to flinch.

She narrowed her eyes slightly, gazing at Tasuku with an expression of longing. A tear rolled down her unnaturally white cheek.

…Perhaps she truly did love the angelic-looking 9-year-old boy next door.

Tasuku bravely met the gaze of the woman who had terrified him so much. It was as if it was his duty.

After the station wagon disappeared from view, Tasuku asked with his eyes downcast, “Nii-san, can she quit the bad drugs?”

As Kairi closed the cold glass window, he replied, “It’s tough to quit. But I heard there are facilities that can help. They said she might be able to get into one of those places.”

“Huh? If I do drugs, I’ll get sent there? I got an injection the other day too…”

Tasuku looked very anxious.

Kairi spoke a bit meanly, to ensure Tasuku never gets involved with illegal drugs again, “If you do it again, they might take you away. Then you won’t be able to live with your Nii-san anymore.”

“Uuu…”

Tasuku started crying and sniffling profusely, to Kairi’s surprise.

Kairi wiped Tasuku’s soft, marshmallow-like cheeks with a tissue, helping him blow his nose.

“I hate drugs…”

Hiccupping, Tasuku clung to Kairi.

“I’ll never do it again. I want to stay with you, forever…”

――I have to save Tasuku. For the sake of us to always be together.

Spurred on by the image of his crying young brother in his memories, Kairi stands up in the darkened room.

He quickly gets ready and leaves the house, heading to ‘Blossom’. He wants to meet the owner, learn about the progress of the investigation, and gather information. Maybe Youhei, who called Tasuku and told him to run, can also help.

But just ten minutes after leaving home, Kairi’s shoulders slump dejectedly.

The black mirrored doors of ‘Blossom’ on the basement level had a ‘Temporarily Closed’ sign hanging on the doorknob, and were locked.

Kairi tried calling the ‘Blossom’ landline number saved in his phone, but only the answering machine responded.

Kairi has no way of contacting Tasuku’s host club friends.

Returning home, Kairi searched the ransacked apartment. He looked for any contact information for other hosts, but realised that kind of thing would have been confiscated by the police. Since Tasuku was suspected not only of drug possession but also drug dealing, there was no way any address lists would have been left behind.

Kairi went back to ‘Blossom’. He asks the hostesses and staff of the other establishments in the same building if they knew how to contact the ‘Blossom’ hosts, but all he got was “I don’t know” – either truthful or not. Knowing the police had raided ‘Blossom’, they likely didn’t want to get involved.

That night, for the first time, Kairi spent the night in Kabukicho.

***

“So? Which gang were you getting the drugs from? Or was it the Chinese mafia? You’ve gotta have them stashed somewhere other than just your host club locker, right? Where is it?”

The same questions, repeated endlessly.

The core of his head sways with the sensation of time looping.

“Just spill it already and make it easy on yourself.”

A thuggish-looking detective glares at him from across the desk, his chubby fingers tapping on the surface.

“I’m telling you, I don’t sell drugs. I haven’t even gone to work at ‘Blossom’ in a month and a half.”

The tapping fingers pause.

“Hey there, pretty-boy host’s big bro.”

Belying the cat-like tone, the detective in his late 40s slams his thick palm on the desktop as he stands up. He grabs Kairi’s hair viciously, shaking his head side to side.

Kairi’s vision blurs, his consciousness nearly slipping away.

“Didn’t you cause a ruckus at the batting cages the other day too? Got dragged in by us? You think you’re hot stuff ’cause the ladies fawn over you, but you’re nothing but gum stuck to the bottom of someone’s shoe. You’re trash that clings to people and causes trouble.”

He knows that he must not take the bait. It’ll just drain his strength and spirit.

As soon as he was brought in, the voluntary accompaniment was switched to an arrest. He’ll be interrogated for 48 hours. If he’s not released by then, he’ll be sent to the prosecutor.

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*Translator’s Note: I’m really angry at the way the detectives are interrogating him! -K

*GLOSSARY: 

  • Onii-san / Onii-chan / Nii-san / Nii-chan / Aniki = (Big/Elder) Brother

☝🏻I’ll be using these throughout my translation.

Next update: 2025.01.31

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