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deliberately to put a certain distance between them. Ayumi had excellent intuition. At
least half of her easy openness was an act, behind which lurked a soft and sensitive
vulnerability. Aomame knew this to be true. Her own defensiveness had probably
saddened Ayumi, making her feel rejected and distanced. The thought was like a
needle stabbing Aomame in the chest.
And so Ayumi had been murdered. She had probably met a man in the city, had
drinks with him, and gone to the hotel. Then, in the dark, sealed room, their elaborate
sex game had begun. Handcuffs, a gag, a blindfold. Aomame could picture the scene.
The man tightened the sash of his bathrobe around the woman’s neck, and as he
watched her writhe in agony, his excitement mounted until he ejaculated. But the man
tightened the sash with too much force. What was supposed to have ended at the point
of crisis did not end.
Ayumi must have feared that such a thing might happen. She needed intense sexual
activity at regular intervals. Her flesh needed it—and so, perhaps, did her mind. Like
Aomame, she did not want a regular lover. But Ayumi tended to wade in deeper than
Aomame. She preferred wilder, riskier sex, and perhaps, unconsciously, she wanted to
be hurt. Aomame was different. She was more cautious, and she refused to be hurt by
anyone. She would fiercely resist if a man tried such a thing; but Ayumi tended to
respond to a man’s desire, whatever it might be, and she looked forward to finding out
what he would give her in return. It was a dangerous tendency. These sexual partners
of hers were, ultimately, passing strangers. It was impossible to find out what desires
they possessed, what tendencies they were hiding, until the critical moment. Ayumi
herself recognized the danger, of course, which was why she needed a stable partner
like Aomame—someone to put on the brakes and watch over her with care.
In her own way, Aomame, too, needed Ayumi, who possessed abilities that she
herself happened to lack—an open, cheerful personality that put people at ease, a
friendly manner, a natural curiosity, a positive attitude, a talent for interesting
conversation, large breasts that attracted attention. All Aomame had to do was stay
next to Ayumi with a mysterious smile on her face. The men would want to find out
what lay behind that smile. In that sense, Aomame and Ayumi were an ideal team—
an invincible sex machine.
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