17 Chapter 16 - Retaliation

Kosuke could never shake the feeling after all.

No matter how he'd denied it to himself, the visions continued to haunt him as he observed his wife and father interact, slowly recognizing that although they superficially seemed fine, the two occasionally acted in a way that clearly went over the line of propriety.

Yes, he couldn't deny it anymore.

His wife was undeniably fucking his father.

And, if he was honest, there was no mathematical way the baby Yui was carrying was his. The dates of conception simply didn't add up and Yui had been remarkably disinterested in sex with him since his initial accident.

Yes, he had been well and truly cuckolded by his own father.

And the realization filled him with despair…and then rage.

After throwing up and crying in an alley behind a bar the day he came to terms with what he knew to be true, Kosuke had felt his heart harden as it became filled with hatred and anger for his progenitor and his wife.

Even now, his father was likely fucking Yui behind his back while he was working. He'd insisted, after all, to stick around while Yui was reaching the final stages of her pregnancy. Hell, he'd insisted since all the way back when her pregnancy was even announced! And before then, when he'd gotten into that fateful accident.

But Kosuke wasn't the type to express his rage violently. He'd always prided himself on being in control of himself and reading the room – a true master of Omote-ura, as Japanese people were supposed to be.

So when he'd gone home that evening, all smiles, neither Yui nor his father suspected anything. They still welcomed him with those smiles that Kosuke could only interpret as taunting as they pretended he was still welcome in his own house while they deceived him.

But Kosuke refused to let them see him hurt. He refused to give them the satisfaction of victory either.

That night, as Yui pretended to be a good wife and his father pretended to be a concerned grandparent-to-be, Kosuke began plotting his revenge, vowing to make sure they would never get to enjoy the result of their betrayal.

"So, son, how's it feel?"

Kosuke looked over at his father as the two made their way back home in his car.

"Hmm?"

His father scoffed at him. "What do you mean, hmm? You're about to be a father, son! How's it feel?"

I wouldn't know. It's not my kid.

The vicious thought threatened to burst through his reduced self-control, but he managed to clamp down with the little sobriety he still had left. He and his father had gone out for drinks in ostensible celebration of Kosuke's impending fatherhood, and he'd made sure to drink "too much" to drive, allowing his father to take the wheel despite his own advanced state of drinking. Fortunately for him, though, he'd had a lifetime of drinking experience to give him higher tolerance than his son, so they were going to make it back safe and sound.

"Doesn't feel real," Kosuke eventually answered, deliberately slurring his words more than would be necessary.

His father laughed. "You're not the only father to think so!" he said between chuckles. "When your mother told me we were having you, I was pretty sure I'd been transported into an alternate reality!"

One where fucking your daughter-in-law behind your son's back is okay, you fucking asshole?

"Mom would probably have loved being a grandmother," Kosuke said after sighing deeply as he leaned against the window and watched the road ahead.

"She would," his father confirmed with a sad nod. "Shame she's not here to see it."

She would've fucking neutered you for what you've done.

He eyed the road ahead and restrained a knowing smirk. He knew what was coming up – he'd programmed his father's GPS to make sure of it. He counted down in his head.

Fifteen.

"If I had a daughter, I'd call her Ayumi, like mom," Kosuke said longingly. "A good woman."

Nine.

"What're you on about, son?" his father asked with a tolerant laugh. "You're about to have a daughter any day now! Ayumi's a good name, though."

Five.

"Can't name this baby that," Kosuke said groggily, slowly rising up to lean against the headrest.

Three.

"Why's that?"

Two.

"'Cause she's my sister."

Kosuke's father barely had a chance to react to his words, his head suddenly snapping to look at him with wide, horrified eyes, when Kosuke – finally acting as sober as he actually was – lashed out, grabbed the wheel, and pulled up with all his might, forcing the car to the right and into the opposing lane.

Normally, one might've assumed Kosuke was looking to get them both into a vehicular crash, but at the time of night they were returning home, he'd known the odds of that were slim to none. Thus, he'd improvised.

Instead of relying on the probability of traffic, he'd scouted out several routes home over the week and hit a gold mine when he'd noticed big, concrete lane dividers set up around a roadway repair site. At this time of night, most people wouldn't use the roadway, so the odds of it being deserted were good. Moreover, he'd read on Twitter that the damaged lane had been sealed off already for the protection of drivers, but that work wouldn't happen until next week.

And so Kosuke had planned and plotted and timed everything to the second.

And now, the result was that their car was barreling towards the concrete barrier at such an angle that his father's side would get the brunt of the impact. And, just to make sure the hit took, he'd deliberately shorted out the airbag circuit after doing some anonymous Google searches at an internet café.

The result was predictable.

When Kosuke came to after a brief, painful blackout, he recognized he was no longer in the car, but rather outside, on the asphalt, looking up at a blurry light as some sort of chaos was raging around him. He could feel a source of heat coming from nearby and, when he tried to move his head to figure out what was happening, felt someone hold his head steady.

"Easy! Easy! You've just been in an accident, buddy!"

Kosuke could dimly hear the voice of someone in the background shouting "He's awake!" before his vision cleared up a little and he could now make out the blurry image of what seemed like a paramedic.

"Wha…" he moaned.

"It's okay. You're going to be alright. The airbag and seatbelt managed to soften the blow."

For a moment, Kosuke panicked. Had his plot failed? If his airbag had deployed, had his father's as well? If he was alive, he could tell everyone what Kosuke had done!

"Hey, hey, breathe slowly!" the paramedic urged him as he felt himself starting to hyperventilate. "It's going to be alright!"

"M…My father…"

The paramedic didn't answer him and Kosuke's swimming vision didn't help. However, the blurry overhead light turned off and he heard the paramedic sigh.

"He's alive, but barely," he said sadly. "He's already been rushed to the hospital. Don't worry. He's in safe hands."

No…NO! That was the opposite of what he wanted! He wanted the bastard to die so that he could go out knowing his son had carried out his revenge and Yui could feel the devastation of losing her man just as their baby was about to be born!

Damnit!

Still, Kosuke restrained himself, though he was unable to restrain angry tears. Fortunately for him, though, the paramedics seemed to believe he was crying for his father's poor health rather than because he wished his father was dead. So, they kept encouraging him to have hope and such all the way to the hospital, which only served to make him feel worse.

There, he was rushed to a doctor for a full check-up to make sure he hadn't suffered any internal injuries the paramedics might've missed, but as the EMTs had told him, the airbag and seatbelt had effectively saved his life and kept the damage to him minimal.

Still, they insisted on keeping him overnight for observation, and that was when Yui finally made her appearance, rushing into his room in a desperate panic just as the doctor was finishing explaining his condition back at him.

"Ko-kun!" she cried out in relief and despair, her pregnant belly wobbling slightly from the exertion. She grasped his left hand as if desperate to confirm he was, in fact, still alive. "You're alright!"

How.

How could she just stand there and pretend she gave a fuck after sleeping with his father and carrying his child?

Omote-ura. Omote-ura, he reminded himself.

He shot her a tired, pained smile. It wasn't hard to pretend – he felt both of those things.

"Fortunately," he told her softly before nodding at the doctor standing there in polite silence. "They say my airbag and seatbelt kept me safe this time around."

It had been a car accident that had sent me to the hospital the first time around, after all.

"Oh, thank god!" she cried out in relief before looking over at the doctors. "He's fine, right?!"

"He is," the doctor confirmed with a brief bow. "I am Dr. Nakamura, miss. I will be your husband's attending physician for the duration of his brief stay here with us."

"How brief?" she asked quickly.

"Just overnight for the moment," Dr. Nakamura informed her. "To be frank, we'd release him right now given his minimal, superficial injuries, but we just want to be sure."

As Yui nodded and bowed to the doctor, Kosuke did the same in gratitude. "Thank you, doctor."

"You're very welcome," Dr. Nakamura answered before sighing and pushing up his glasses. "Unfortunately, I do have some unpleasant news."

Kosuke felt his heart rate spike. This had to be about his father!

"W-What about, doctor?" Yui asked nervously for him.

"It's about Mr. Matsuo's father."

Kosuke swallowed nervously as he felt Yui's grip tighten. "What about him?"

"He's still in surgery," Dr. Nakamura said before adjusting his clipboard under his arm. "But I have to be honest – it doesn't look good. The damage to his body has been particularly severe. For some reason, the airbag in the car failed to trigger properly, so its mitigating effects were diminished."

Kosuke restrained a yelp as Yui's grip reached painful levels. "…what's the prognosis?"

"I don't want to make any promises or definitive predictions," Dr. Nakamura warned before sighing. "But based on his condition upon entering this hospital, it is likely we will have to amputate his left leg due to a severe crush injury, and the damage to his brainstem is also particularly alarming. Though we can't be certain at this moment, we estimate he will likely be paralyzed to some extent depending on the scope of the injury the surgical team finds."

Kosuke wasn't sure yet whether to celebrate or curse because none of this really mattered until he was sure his father wouldn't be able to squeal about the true circumstances of the accident!

"I…do have to mention, however, that we found elevated blood alcohol levels in both of you," the doctor continued, shifting slightly. "Your father's was more elevated than yours, too."

As Yui's head snapped over to look at him accusingly, Kosuke reminded himself to keep up the charade for now. He dipped his head in pretend shame and, after getting Yui to let go of his hand, entwined them on his lap.

"We…went out for drinks to celebrate my child's imminent birth," he said contritely. "I got pretty drunk, though, so I told him to drive…I didn't realize he was that badly off."

"I see," the doctor replied before nodding. "I will, as per hospital policy, have to report this to the authorities, unfortunately. Driving under the influence is a crime, after all."

Yui practically jumped to her feet to plead with the doctor on this point – to show leniency and to avoid notifying the proper authorities, but Kosuke provided only token assistance, largely agreeing with her and making no real effort to convince the doctor to see things their way.

Thus, predictably, he left the room without any commitment to them, leaving Yui in a sobbing state by his bed as Kosuke relished in her pain.

He made, of course, token gestures of comfort towards her, insisting everything would be alright and that maybe the police wouldn't be so harsh on his father. He knew that was unlikely, though, as the penalty for driving under the influence was harsh – up to 3 years in prison! And with a hefty fine, too! – and Kosuke was determined to see it executed as far as the law would allow if his father truly did survive the crash.

For now, though, he just whispered sweet words of comfort to his wife, enjoying the knowledge that she had no idea that, once he was done with his father, she would be next.

"Here you go, pops!" Kosuke said with a smile as he fed his seemingly vegetative father some puréed apple compote.

He had to restrain the cruel smile that threatened to break through as his father swallowed the food with some gentle massaging to his throat.

His father hated apples.

Not that he was able to tell anyone that. Or anything at all, really – because, as the doctors eventually told him after weeks of testing, his father had gone into what was known as locked-in syndrome. The damage to his brainstem had been so severe that, although he was now aware and conscious of the world around him, he was functionally little better than a vegetable with some small eye movements.

Given his condition, then, the courts had ruled that while his father was guilty of driving under the influence, he could not serve his prison sentence and had it suspended while remanding him to Kosuke's custody. He was, however, still fined ¥500,000 – which Kosuke made sure to pay out of his father's savings. His father's savings also went to nominally take care of him given that Kosuke, as his sole living relative, now had full executorial powers over his estate.

"No Yui today either, pops," Kosuke said with a satisfied smile as he sat face-to-face with his disabled progenitor. "Not that she'd be interested in you anymore after losing anything that remotely made you a man!"

He grinned in sadistic pleasure as his father's eyes twitched and they gazed into him.

"Did you really think I would let that slide, pops?" Kosuke asked lightly, one hand stirring the apple compote with the spoon. "That I would really forgive that kind of betrayal?"

His father was dying to say something – he could see it in his eyes – but Kosuke had constantly made excuses as to why he couldn't acquire the technology needed to help his father communicate. Either it was too expensive, or they needed to save up for the baby, or this, or that…

In short, Kosuke had made damn sure his father would never be able to tell a soul what had happened that night.

"You know, mom would've skinned you alive for what you did," he added, picking up a bit of compote with his fingers and flicking it at his father's unresponsive face. "Putting your hands on your daughter-in-law? Cuckolding your own son? Getting my wife pregnant? You're lucky she's dead, pops, because if you think I'm overreacting, she would've gone further!"

He sighed as he smiled and watched the compote drip down his father's face. "And Yui…oh, man. Mom would've probably killed her outright! Well, no, not really. She definitely would've slapped her, though. And certainly kicked her out of the house and forced her to sign the divorce papers!"

He leaned in towards his father, bringing his face up close to his disabled father's. "That bitch thinks she got away with it," he told him. "But she's wrong. Little Aya may have been born, but both you and Yui are about to lose her forever."

He saw his father's eyes widen and breath quicken and smirked as he leaned back, satisfied with the mental torture he was putting his progenitor through.

And it was true – while Yui recovered at the hospital with Aya and he was here at home with his father, Kosuke had begun to finalize preparations for Phase 2 of his plan – the deepest and harshest cut he would ever inflict on his wife. To that end, he'd already called up a few people and made the proper arrangements, and now all that he needed to do was wait.

When the hammer dropped, Yui's expression was everything he could've hoped for.

"You…you want a divorce?"

Kosuke nodded seriously as his lawyer sat in the nearby chair looking grim and professional.

"To be specific," his lawyer cut in, "Mr. Matsuo is filing for divorce with the family court and suing for sole custody of his sister."

It took a moment before Yui's head snapped over to him, eyes wide with horror and shock, as the shoe finally dropped.

"His…sister?!"

Kosuke stayed silent – as his lawyer had instructed – as his counsel produced a folder from his briefcase.

"We have here paternity test results obtained at Mr. Matsuo's discretion," the lawyer informed her promptly, laying it down on the table between them. "They clearly show that Mr. Matsuo's relation to your daughter is not paternal but filial. To be more precise, that she is his half-sister."

"That…that's not true!" Yui all but screamed as she shot to her feet, her yell causing Aya in the nearby room to begin crying out. "Ko-kun, that's a lie!"

Kosuke looked over at his lawyer, who rose an eyebrow at her. "Is it, Ms. Yamada? Can you prove that your daughter is, in fact, Mr. Matsuo's legitimate daughter?"

In a flash, Yui reached over and grasped Kosuke's hands on the table, leaning over with a desperate look in her eyes. "Please, Ko-kun! Believe me! Aya is your daughter! I swear it! I never cheated on you with anyone!"

"Such assertions are rather pointless, Ms. Yamada, as we have recovered evidence that you did, in fact, engage in an illicit affair with Mr. Matsuo's father," Kosuke's lawyer countered, retrieving another folder and placing it on the table. "While most of it is, admittedly, circumstantial, the paternity test alone confirms it beyond a shadow of a doubt."

Yui stared at the lawyer, then at Kosuke, in a raging panic that felt more delicious to him than any climax he'd ever enjoyed during sex with her. The look of utter terror on her face as she recognized that every avenue of escape was being cut off by his attorney was something he only wished he'd caught on video to memorialize forever.

"I…I…"

"Given the torrid circumstances of this affair, and the fact that it was discovered after my client's father's accident, whereupon my client was forced to care for him, we will also be suing for damages from yourself and the remainder of your partner's estate."

Which, after weeks of caring for him, had dwindled quite fast given the cost of the necessary medications and trips to the hospital. Combined with the fact that Yui herself had never actually opened her own bank account after their marriage – rather unwisely, to boot – this meant that Yui was facing a future of financial ruin.

And, just to make sure Yui never got a moment to breathe, Kosuke nodded at his attorney, who brought out the final big guns.

"We have also secured a court order for you to vacate the premises, given that this house is in my client's name, and an injunction that, for now, temporarily grants my client full custody over his half-sister until the court makes its final ruling."

"W-What?! On what grounds?!"

"That your poor moral character and impending lack of financial assets or home make you an unfit mother."

Yui could only stare in horror as Kosuke's lawyer tore her life to shreds with legal document after legal document. By the time he was done, she was practically catatonic as she stared at all the folders and files before her on the table.

"My client has given you one hour to remove yourself from the premises, following which court officers will be mandated to forcibly evict you."

Kosuke stared Yui down as the lawyer finished his part in this drama and, together, they watched as Kosuke's soon-to-be ex-wife quietly and tearfully processed what was happening to her.

After a few minutes of staring, though, the lawyer excused himself and Kosuke thanked him for his services before returning to the kitchen, where Yui remained staring at the documents.

In hindsight, he was glad he'd chosen to put his father in his room for the duration of this meeting. That way, Yui would be completely cornered, mentally, and would have nothing to inspire her to fight back.

After watching her for a few seconds, though, Kosuke went to his half-sister's room and, smiling took her in his arms and soothed her into ceasing her cries. Once she had, he carried her back out to the kitchen, softly bouncing her in his secure grip, admiring her cute little face.

It was horrible of him to admit it, but part of him, initially, had thought to induce a miscarriage in Yui once he'd become set in his desire for revenge. He knew that losing her first child would be devastating to her, after all. However, as he'd thought it through, he'd recognized that the child was blameless for her parents being gigantic assholes – and as much as he hated her parents, he loved the idea of a baby sister.

So he'd let Aya be born. He'd cooed over her in a way that Yui had insisted showed he would make a great dad, even though he'd never seen her as anything more than his sister. He'd even secured some vacation to help care for Aya and Yui had gushed over how dedicated he was as a parent – never realizing that he'd done it partially to gain the needed evidence that he was just as much a caregiver for Aya as she was for the courts.

With a self-satisfied smile, then, he took Aya out with him into the kitchen again, smirking at his still catatonic wife.

"You only have fifty minutes left, you know."

His voice seemed to stun Yui awake, finally, and she whirled in her seat to look at him, freezing at the sight of him holding Aya.

"K-Ko-kun…"

"Aya was kinda mad at how loud you were being," he said glibly as he continued to bounce his sister in his arms. "I have to admit, my little sister has some powerful lungs!"

"K-Ko-kun, please!"

Kosuke smiled as he cocked his head to the side. "Please, what?"

"She…she's my daughter…!"

"Yes, she is," he agreed stroking her face with a finger lovingly. "And my sister."

He stood there, stroking her tiny cheeks with his finger, prompting a few gurgles, before his shell-shocked wife for a few seconds before raising his gaze back to meet Yui's.

"She could've been our daughter," he told her flatly. "Proof of our mutual love."

He glanced over at his father's room. "But then you had to spread your legs to that thing like a common whore."

He paused for a moment before smirking at her. "Actually, I take it back – comparing you to a whore disrespects them. Because at least they just do it to get paid."

Yui flinched at every invective he shot at her. "Y-You were…"

"Hos-pi-ta-li-zed," Kosuke provided, practically singing every syllable. "And in a coma, to boot. Such a loving and loyal wife – finding solace in her father-in-law's embrace while her husband is fighting for his life in a hospital bed!"

He walked up to her and glared down fiercely. "A cockroach has a better sense of loyalty than you do, Yui. And that's why I want you out of my life, and out of Aya's. There's nothing garbage like you could possibly provide or teach her of any worth."

He checked his watch. "And you have forty minutes to get out of my house before the court officer outside throws you out."

With that said, Kosuke walked away from Yui with Aya in his arms, headed into his room to lay her back down in her crib and watch over her like the protective big brother he aspired to be. He needed only to look at her, squirming in her crib, to know he would fight the world for her. Despite her unfortunate parentage, he vowed to raise her to be a better person than either of her progenitors – and in so doing, shame them both for the subpar parents they were.

Of course, it helped that, all the while he spent time by Aya's crib, he was regaled to the sobs of his soon-to-be ex-wife and the sound of her packing urgently to leave before she was unceremoniously tossed out.

Yes…today had been a good day.

"Your mother asked to see you."

"Ugh, pass."

Kosuke smiled as his baby sister, now sixteen, spread jelly on her toast as they enjoyed their usual breakfast together. Ever since his divorce sixteen years ago, Aya had grown up in his house as he had intended, having minimal if any contact with either of her actual parents – the courts having decided that Kosuke's case was more than valid with regards to the parental fitness of either his father or Yui.

He still relished the utter look of devastation on her face as the family court had handed down the ruling.

Ever since then, Yui had contacted him several times, practically begging to let her be a part of her daughter's life. To no avail, as Kosuke's attorney had done his job beautifully with regards to custodial rights, predicating Yui's access to Aya on Yui proving financial stability, domestic stability, and proof that she had attended a rather humiliating seminar on proper morals and behavior for adults.

While the last one had been completed, much to Yui's shame and humiliation, the first two were proving to be difficult for her to prove. The divorce settlement had functionally ruined her and, when Kosuke's father passed away due to a heart attack once he heard from his own son what he'd done to Yui and him with regards to Aya, Yui was left with none of his estate because most of it was used to settle outstanding debts and the rest went to Kosuke and Aya as his children.

Kosuke had never wanted to kiss another man as much as when his attorney handed him the court ruling granting him his father's remaining estate.

Since then, Yui had apparently struggled to find home or work. Her parents did let her return home briefly before the shame of their daughter's scandal forced them to ask her to leave while their attention diverted towards being apologetic towards Kosuke and showering their other children with attention and support. Without parental assistance, Yui had no choice but to opt for part time work and lower-income housing, which effectively disqualified her from visitation or contact rights unless Kosuke desired otherwise.

And he always made a big show of asking Aya, whom he'd brought up to understand that her mother was a cheating slut who wanted to use her as a way to get out of her impoverished status.

"We have parent-teachers meetings coming up, though," Aya informed him between bites of her toast. "Should I tell the teach you're coming again this time?"

Kosuke smiled as he flipped the page on his newspaper. "Of course. Anything for my baby sis."

He glanced over the top of his newspaper to see her smiling to herself, giving him a pleased and satisfied feeling that, in Aya's heart at least, he was the only real parental figure she cared for despite being his little sister.

"By the by, are you still seeing that coworker?" she asked as she switched to drinking her juice. He lowered his newspaper to look at her askance.

"Yukiko?" Kosuke asked.

"She's the one in finance, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then, yeah."

Kosuke chuckled. "I am, yeah. Why?"

Aya smirked at him. "Third date, right?" she asked lightly, waggling her eyebrows. "Need me to vacate the premises for the night? Maybe get soundproof headphones?"

Kosuke snorted in amusement. "Aya, if and when I do decide to get down with the no-pants-dance with my date, rest assured I will give you proper prior notice."

"Please do – I'm not keen on hearing my brother get busy!"

Kosuke chuckled again before leaning on the table and waggling his own eyebrows at her. "And you? Anyone caught your eye at school?"

She blew out air and shot him an utterly disinterested look. "Nah," she admitted. "I have to admit, some of the girls in my class are pretty cute, but nothing pinging on the gaydar yet."

Kosuke smiled comfortingly at her, patting her hand. "Give it time, Aya. Just make sure you know who they are when they come."

Aya nodded firmly at him, recognizing the implicit warning. "I will. And ditto regarding that Yukiko chick. Need me to stalk her around? See what she's really like?"

Kosuke laughed. "No need!" he told her between chuckles. "But I appreciate the thought."

This was it, Kosuke realized. This exact sort of family environment is what he'd once craved to have with Yui – a lighthearted meal around the kitchen table where everyone mutually respected and loved each other. A scene of peace and stability.

No cheating wives, no asshole fathers, no raging hatred…just peace and love and respect and stability.

And now, finally, he had it.

…Revenge had helped, too, he supposed.