Toshi waited for a punch to the face that never came.
"Do you love her?"
Toshi opened one eye to see a very sad looking Kingo in front of him. Like his heart had been ripped out. No. Like this was the second time his heart had been torn from his chest. Kingo repeated himself, "Do you love her?" Toshi turned to look at the ground, "Honestly? I don't know. I think I love her, but we have so many problems. I'm from a family of cops, she's from a family of drug smugglers and pimps. An Aunt of hers murdered my sister here and there is a lot of bad blood between our two families." Toshi slowly made a fist, "She doesn't want to be-" As he spoke, Kingo joined in, speaking the exact same words in unison.
"What they are turning her into."
They looked at each other. Kingo spoke with passion, "They were arranging a marriage for her. They were going to marry her into the Kodo family. In our world, she was just livestock to be married off for the benefit of her family." He made a fist, "But that bitch Gen wanted to be the one to marry into the Kodo family. So she took out the hit on Naora." He suddenly grabbed Toshi's shoulder, "What's Gen doing? Please tell me Naora is safe."
Toshi just nodded, "They... are having a contest to see who will be the next head of the family here. Gen and Naora were competing who could sell the most drugs. I..." He paused, "There's differences between our two worlds. This world lags behind ours. I noticed some ways to make investments and I made a bunch of money." He looked at the ground, "A lot of money. I thought I might be able to buy Naora's freedom, but..." He shook his head, "It came in handy. It saved Naora's life. She could claim that she 'earned' it if I said I was 'hers'." Haruo squinted, "What do you mean by, 'hers'?"
Toshi turned to Haruo, "I had to claim to be her fuck toy. So my money was her money and it counted towards her totals." Kingo asked, "Did Naora win?" Toshi turned back, "It was declared a tie. They are in the middle of a second contest now. They are competing now by managing two different soaplands. The one who runs it best, gets to be the next the head of the house and the loser gets..." His voice trailed off. Kingo nodded in understanding, "I... take it you don't approve." Toshi gave Kingo a double take, "You'd want a lover who's a pimp?"
"Yes."
Toshi blinked, "What?" Kingo nodded, "I'd love her, no matter what. Whatever she is, what ever she turns out to be, I'd love her just the way she is and I would never, ever ask her to change." He put a hand over his heart, "I know this isn't the same Naora, but that doesn't change how I feel. How this feels like a second chance." He slowly closed his eyes and lowered his head, "But you are the one who saved her. She owes you her life and part of loving someone is knowing that you want what is best for them." He shook his head slowly, "I am so... grateful you saved her life. I am. If..." He opened his eyes to look up at Toshi, "If she is happy with you, if she is in love with you, if you can keep her safe and alive... Good."
Kingo slowly clenched his fist over his heart, "But I'm not not just going to walk away. I'm telling you, I want to show her who I am then let her choose. If you are telling me you only THINK you love her, well, I KNOW I love her. I can't just walk away. " Toshi stared at Kingo through his whole speech, then turned to look at the ground. He stared at the ground for a long time before speaking, "I love her." He then looked up, "But I don't know if we can be together." He turned back to the ground, "There is so much arrayed against us. I don't know if I could compromise myself." He nodded slowly, "You are right. I am asking her to change. I think it's a change that is best for her, but I am still asking her to change for me."
Haruo, listening this whole time, finally spoke up, "Holy Keanu Christ, this girl must be amazing for you both to love her this much." They both looked up and smiled, "Yeah." Toshi turned to Kingo, "No cheating." Kingo blinked, "Huh?" Toshi held up a finger, "Don't lie to her, ever. Don't lie about me. Don't be deceptive. You want to fight to win her heart, fine. I get it. In many ways, you are a better choice because you are willing to live in her world, and I want her to live in mine." He tapped Kingo on the chest, "Don't win her heart by cheating. If you win it fair and square, fine." He let his hand drop, "I won't cheat either."
Haruo interjected, "But don't tell anyone about where we are REALLY from." Kingo blinked, "Wait. Why not?" Haruo frowned, "We're already under medical scrutiny. FOUR known cased of... whatever happened to us. What if they come to think it's contagious? What if they think we're insane? Or a danger to ourselves or others?" He shook his head, "Like it or not, we all have to be as... 'normal'... whatever normal IS... as POSSIBLE. We already have too much of a profile. If we draw any more attention, we ALL could wind up in a laboratory." He shook his head, "If either of you start blabbing... Sorry, but I don't want to wind up in a rubber room... or vivisected."
Toshi thought about it, "You have a good point." He looked at Kingo, "We all have to keep this quiet, at least until we all agree not to." Kingo though as well then nodded, "Agreed. I really want to explain everything to Naora, but... yeah." He offered a hand to Toshi, "I mean this. May the best man win." Toshi took it and shook it once, "Agreed. Whatever is best for her." Haruo shook his head in disbelief, "I've never seen anything like this." Toshi looked at Haruo, "What?" Harou snorted at pointed at the two before him, "You two. Two men in a world full of horny women, fighting over the same woman, and being so utterly polite about it because SHE is what matters." He gestured to the park entrance, "There are millions of women out there begging to be with you! As much sex as you can stand and you are fighting over ONE woman?"
Toshi looked at Haruo with pity, "You've never been in love, have you?" Haruo frowned, "I was. But she's stuck in another universe and I'm moving on." He abruptly stood up, "Look. I wanted to talk about a bunch of stuff, but we're stuck dealing with all your drama." He took a deep breath, "Sorry. I know this is important to you, but it feels like I'm stuck in an Otome game."
Toshi froze at those words. Kingo echoed those words himself, "Otome game..." He tilted his head, "What if that's what's going on?" Haruo looked at Kingo, "What?" Kingo looked up, "Oh, C'mon. You've read those Isekai stories! What if that's what's happening?" Haruo rubbed his forehead, "Fucked if I know." He looked at his phone, "It is getting late. I got to go." He looked at the other two, "I'll talk to her, see about a time we can all meet, and next time..." He rolled his eyes, "Can we leave the personal drama at home?"
Kingo and Toshi looked at each other, "I think we can do that." The both nodded and got up as well. Kingo checked his phone, "Yeah. I need to get the car home." He looked at Toshi, "Thank you, for keeping her alive. I feel like an ass trying to take her from you, but..." Toshi nodded, "But.... just remember she isn't the same Naora. If you ARE in love, make sure you aren't in love with who she WAS, not who she IS." Kingo nodded, "Yeah, but I got to try." He shrugged, "Anyways. Glad to meet you both. Feels good knowing I'm not alone." Toshi nodded, "Same here. We'll figure something out."
Harou smirked, "Because as men we swear."
Toshi and Kingo both laughed, "As men we swear." They all nodded. Haruo let out a long breath, "You know... Feels good. Knowing we have a purpose, you know? Like... You know?" Kingo nodded, "Yeah. I know." Toshi smiled, "I think that's the best part." They both looked at him, "What is?"
"Finally finding someone who gets it."
Yea. I don't understand their love perspective, f*ckin hell I'm still under the impression of marriage is equal to legal slavery
For which one?
Been with the same woman for... 30 years now. Give or take. Round up. Married for... 22? If you were to look at it objectively, I would have to say, from a strictly materialistic/transactional viewpoint, I came out the loser. She is older than me. She certain wasn't as rich. Neither of us could have known that she had a genetic disease that would turn her lungs into scar tissue. If you want more details you can skip to the final chapter of the quonset manager. Be warned, you will learn far more than is comfortable.
The situation becomes "slavery" when the wrong people get married. Don't focus on marrying the one you love. Marry the one who loves you. This advice applies to the one who loves you as well. If they make sure you love them, and you make sure they love you, rather than chasing after every whim of your heart, I promise you, it will work out.
Yes, it sounds cynical and mercenary, but I'm talking about making sure the person you are with cares about YOU. If they do the same, it works out. If you only worry about catching the one you love, then you are opening yourself to exploitation.
It is the brutal truth that feminism hates women. The movement has done more to destroy women's ability to experience love than anything else. It has made women fear men, see men as nothing more than a dildo attached to a wallet, and told women that ultimately men think about women the same way. Normal men, sane men, love women. We do. It's why feminists get away with so much. We want to save women, and protect them, and save them, even from themselves.
Then their moms divorce their dads and tell them it was dad's fault when, maybe it was, maybe it wasn't, but 80% of all divorces are started by women. Women then are taught to just give up when the going gets tough and they cycle through a series of temporary relationships because they go after the cute rich guys and don't focus on the boring, dependable guys who will be there for the next 50 years.
Not all women, mind you, but every woman who has a child in a broken home makes another broken child. We are making more children who don't know how to have a healthy relationship, not less. There are whole neighborhoods that are Man Wastelands. Single moms raising children with not an adult male to be seen. School pretend boys are just defective girls and think everything is going to be okay. That this situation is sustainable.
Well, eventually the center cannot hold. Eventually the system breaks because sooner or later, you get what is happening now. Men just say, "f*ck it." and drop out entirely. And you think, "Oh. Only the loser men are dropping out." No. It's the stable men. The dependable men. The ones you WANT to raise a child. They look at the way a marriage is viewed in the courts and say, "Wow. That's slavery."
While feminism screams at women that they are the ones being enslaved.
Tell me. Who can you make a joke about without getting fired? A co-worker who is a woman, or a man? I've had co-workers openly mock the size of my penis. Why? No reason. She just started saying I had a small penis and everyone thought it was funny. Now, I didn't give a crap. I'm used to this sh*t and I know that particular co-worker was an idiot who get herself yeeted in no time. And she did. But it doesn't change the fact I can't complain about it.
But I know of a co-worker who said, "That client is fixated on co-worker X because she has big boobs."
And he got fired for sexual harassment.
The situation between men and women in western society is not sustainable. So I understand your opinion that it is slavery. However, it is also a grand and wonderful thing. I wouldn't change a single second of my life for fear if I did, I might not have had her in my life. All the pain and joy has been worth it. That's just how it is. However, as a male, I can only caution you, that while marriage is great, you are taking a huge risk. Be careful.
Talk to your parents and get them to approve before you think about getting serious. If she has a problem with you vetting your relationship with your parents, then DUMP HER. She's toxic trash that only wants to get your hooked so she can take you for half. If she is so afraid of her background and history she doesn't think she can gain your parents approval, then chances are, you shouldn't date her.
So what is marriage? I know I got lucky. I got one of the good ones. These days? Holy crap. When I see this stuff on line, when I do research, when I see what women put on TicTok, dear god. How can you humiliate yourselves like that? Don't you have any friends who tell you not to publically humiliate yourself like that? Then I realize, their friends are doing the same thing. A self-destructive conga-line right down a path of suffering and misery because a small percentage of the population loves exploiting innocence.
That's really what it is. The desire of perverts to justify their own bad choices by convincing everyone else to follow them down the same hedonistic path. And I am nobody to really preach. I did some wild things in my youth, but I wised up and stopped that crap after a few years. No, having no limits, no restraint, and no shame, just leads to misery.
If you want to be happy, you need self-esteem. You want that? Learn how to defer gratification for a better tomorrow. The pride you get for learning how to work hard today to enjoy tomorrow is what allows a person to look in the mirror and say, "I admire that guy." Having a moral code, telling the truth, not lying to people, not cheating people, being a "good person", even when being evil would be easier and more fun... HAVING BOUNDARIES... This is what allows a person to have pride in themselves. It is what gives you self-esteem.
These crazy girls on TicTok that I watch so I can come up with ideas for this book... Dear god.
The only self-esteem they have is from the opinion of others. If others don't tell them they are good, then they aren't. I can't imagine allowing one shred of my self-esteem to be dependent on the opinion of others, but... Well...
It is the flaw in women. Don't get me wrong. Men have flaws as well. We believe we are all the MC. We are all the protagonist. We believe we're the one who will win and everyone else will fall. For women, it's narcissism. For men, delusions of grandeur. Everyone has perks, everyone has flaws, everyone has strengths, everyone has weaknesses.
The trick is, not to get caught up being better than anyone else, just be better than who you were yesterday.
But as for relationships... I fear we no longer teach children how to find a good partner, because most of us would be hypocrites. For that reason, most of us stumble into dating blind and because there are no more rules, nobody knows what to expect. The safest choice becomes simply not to play.
And that is how societies die.
My only advice is, ask for help. From your parents, from older people who have had successful relationships, and be willing to be humbled, because chances are you have been doing it wrong, and it can hurt to find out you have been a complete moron. The trick is to accept, you have always BEEN a complete moron, you are only just now figuring it out.
Knowing you are a moron or not doesn't change the fact that you are. So it is better to learn you are a moron and accept it, than to deny it and be unable to change.
We're all flawed beings. Accept this and move on. For if you cannot accept your flaws and failings, you will forever be shackled by self-imposed invisible chains.
@TheEldritchGod well... you just described my views on adulthood lovel life, I'm not exactly a women hater but It's triggering me since I've come from a broken family (go figure) with multiple ex-dads and unknown siblings.
Saw my friends dad's, uncles, my uncles went into hellish conclusion and you get me. A cynical bastard with trust issues to people IRL.
Got to the point it affected my academics and my mom isn't a firm believer of the word... quote and quote. "depression."
@TheEldritchGod thanks for the advice though, I appreciate it.
@IsekaI_Boi Well, you can;t work on a project like this without research and the more you research, the worse things seem. However, I have a feeling we're seeing things sway the other way. It's like a repeat of the 70's.
@TheEldritchGod I agree with most of this. Except you should marry your best friend. I think that is enough said.
I myself have been with the same woman for slightly more than eight years, married for nearly four of them.
She has her own more recent issues (brain damage) which requires a lot of patience, and calm explanation, and repetition.
She constantly worries I will leave her because of her issues, and fails to see that I am still here. It drives me a bit insane at times, but I get to see her smile, hear her laugh, comfort her when she hurts... and that somehow makes it all more than worth it.
@Cheetachaser - Wife has LAM. Lungs turning into scar tissue. She's got maybe 60% capacity left, but with treatments she's stable, however, we had a period like what you just described awhile ago. I'll tell you what I told her, and you can see if it applies to you, and maybe it'll help her understand.
I'm a man. You're not. We aren't the same. Get over it.
In ever culture in the world there is generally a rite of passage for a boy to become a man. It can be anything, really. Sitting in a sweat lodge, killing a bear, drinking 21 shots, whatever, it all comes down to the same thing: How much suffering can you endure?
Because, in the end, being a man is about putting up with shit. Grinding out a living. Standing there in the rain. Staying awake by her bed. In the end, 90% of the problems a man has to deal with is simply a matter of just putting up with bullsh*t until you either win by attrition, or the problem dies down. It's how we're built.
The reason why is, because every man, if he admits it or not, does not see himself as a human being. Women are human beings. You are human, just for existing. We're human doings. If we're not doing something, what good are we? Yes, that might sound horrible to you, but not to us. We love being valued for our accomplishments. It is how we judge ourselves and measure our worth. There is almost no limit to the amount of pain and anguish we will put up with, just for something as simple as a thank you.
Yes, everyone has a breaking point. I'll let you know when I am close. What I need you to do is accept it when I tell you. I plan ahead. I husband my strength and carefully doll it out to make sure I have enough reserves to get through the NEXT disaster, and there is ALWAYS a next disaster. Sometimes I don't explain. Sometimes I'm not clear. Sometimes I'm running on fumes and I just need to get to the next point in the plan and I can take a break. Sometimes I cut it close, because I have weighed the risks and determined them acceptable for the gains.
If I'm short with you, it's not because I'm upset with you, but because I have pushed things to my absolute breaking point and something has to give. I might seem indestructible, but I'm not. I do know my limits. I also know what I want. I know what's important to me. That would be you. I ain't going anywhere. What I need from you to to stop testing me. I need you to accept I do have a plan and I have already thought this out. I need you to stop thinking of being "noble" and letting me go so I can "be Happy". Stop thinking that I think like you.
I don't.
I ain't going anywhere. I don't want to go anywhere. I'm happy right here, for how long it takes, for how long we have, I'm going to be right here, doing what I got to do to share my life with you. So if you want to pay me back, here's what you do.
Stop insulting me and let it go.
@TheEldritchGod It would work, if I could still talk to her like that...
She has some minor cognitive issues, she isn't child like, except in comprehension.
I could probably get the idea across, and that is what I have been explaining to her, slowly, in bits, and she is getting it, very slowly.
She isn't insulting, so much as worried I will leave and wanting me to go at the same time: Selflessly. I think she is beginning to understand, but it is an ongoing process.
She also has very weak emotional control... Which doesn't help as I have to coddle her a bit.
She used to be a very collected individual, but now she can have... Minor outbursts, usually on the depressive or self-hatred spectrum... which I believe comes from her own understanding of the situation...
They are getting better, but it is a process.
My deepest sympathies to both you and your spouse.
The definition of a man, is, to me best defined in a very old poem I read during research into history during college and which was roughly translated as: "I am the shield against the spear. I am the flame against the dark. I am the wall against the beasts. I stand not because I am invulnerable, but because I must to defend those within, whom I protect, within this the heart of me."
According to my ancestors, courage and heroism are synonymous, and the definition is not 'being brave enough' or 'believing in victory' but 'standing regardless for what is right. Despite whether or not one can win'. Live without regret, regardless of the burden.
@TheEldritchGod I have been reading you for a while. This opinion you posted resonates so much with me. I have a similar experience with my spouse, and how I am witnessing this gender war that has been unraveling for a while. I found it surprising that you think similarly to how I feel about it as well.
@WadeRoh - Patterns emerge for a reason.