The Shape of Happiness: A Family Crumbling Due to the Mother's Infidelity, a Wounded Middle School Daughter, and a Struggling Father Finding a New Form of Happiness. - Episode 28

Thirty minutes later—

A light van, the company car of Super Matsunaga, was parked in front of Shinichi’s house. Inside the living room sat Atsushi, the store manager of Super Matsunaga. He was sitting opposite Shinichi and his family, leaning back arrogantly on the sofa beside Akiko.

Atsushi was wearing a dark olive plaid flannel shirt with denim jeans. Before entering the living room, he had been wearing a navy apron with the Super Matsunaga logo, but he had since removed it.

“Store Manager, I apologize for calling you here,” Akiko said.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. You don’t need to apologize, Takagi (Akiko). But what is this about? Being summoned during work hours is extremely inconvenient.”

“I sincerely apologize for the sudden call. I am Akiko’s husband, Shinichi.”

“Hah… Listen, I came here because Takagi asked me to, but if this turns out to be nothing important, I might have to file a complaint for business interference. Do you understand?”

Atsushi smirked slightly. Beside him, Akiko covered her mouth with her hand, but it was obvious she was grinning. However, Shinichi remained calm.

“Store Manager, I’ll ask you directly. You’re having an affair with my wife, aren’t you?”

“Hah? Of course not. Do you even have proof?”

“Then, please take a look at this.”

Just like before, Shinichi played the dashcam footage on his laptop. Atsushi’s face turned pale.

“Store Manager, this is from when we were returning from a business trip, and I suddenly felt sick, right?” Akiko spoke up, trying to help Atsushi.

“A-Ah, yes, that’s right.”

“Since I collapsed, you had no choice but to take me to a hotel to take care of me, correct?”

“Y-Yeah! That’s right! I remember now! That’s what happened! Shinichi, I’m sorry if you got the wrong idea, but that’s the truth. I would never touch your wife. I’m the store manager, after all.”

Atsushi and Akiko exchanged glances and smiled.

“So, you’re saying nothing happened? You’re absolutely sure?”

“I’m not lying.”

“Be honest with me. If you lie, I will assume you feel no remorse. I’ll ask one more time—are you having an affair with my wife?”

“I told you, I’m not!”

Atsushi’s face turned red as he shouted in anger.

“Hey, stop dragging the store manager into this. You’re causing trouble. If this continues, I won’t be able to work,” Akiko said nonchalantly.

“…I understand.”

Shinichi took his smartphone from his bag and made a call.

“…Hello? Yes, please come in. Thank you.”

After ending the call, he looked at Atsushi and Akiko.

“I’ve invited a guest.”

Click.

Someone entered the house. Their presence approached the living room.

“R-Ryoko…”

It was Ryoko, Atsushi’s wife. Saori, who had been sitting on the sofa, stood up and guided Ryoko to a seat across from Atsushi. Seeing his wife in front of him, Atsushi couldn’t hide his shock. Meanwhile, Akiko looked around, confused. Ryoko remained expressionless.

“Now, with the store manager’s wife here, let’s watch another video.”

Shinichi played a second video from his laptop.

“No way!”

“This is a lie…”

Akiko and Atsushi were speechless. The video, recorded by a private investigator, showed them in a parking lot at a park, engaged in an unmistakable act. The screen clearly displayed their faces, lost in forbidden pleasure.

“I told both of you to be honest. I warned you that if you lied, I would assume you have no remorse.”

Akiko and Atsushi were at a loss for words.

“Tell the truth now. How long has this been going on?”

Neither of them answered.

“How long has it been?”

Shinichi asked again, and Akiko hesitantly opened her mouth.

“This was… the first time…”

Following her lead, Atsushi spoke as well.

“Um… The video from the first hotel really was just me taking care of her… she felt sick…”

Ryoko sighed quietly at Atsushi’s words.

Shinichi took a stack of papers from his bag and spread them out on the coffee table.

“How many times did I tell you to tell the truth?”

“!”

“!”

Printed on the papers were screenshots of chat messages between Akiko and Atsushi from the LIME messaging app. There were also explicit photos—images that could not be described with words.

‘You’re making peace signs while spreading your legs for your affair partner? Are you an idiot!?’

Among the images was the very same photo that Misaki had once seen.

“H-How did you get this—”

“Misaki took the picture back then.”

Akiko’s face twisted in shock.

“B-But I destroyed that phone—”

“Do you know what the cloud is?”

“The… cloud?”

“Misaki’s phone was broken, yes. But the pictures she took were automatically saved to an external server through the internet.”

“………”

Akiko was stunned.

Shinichi then showed another set of printed photos.

“!”

“!”

Akiko and Atsushi turned pale.

The new photos showed explicit acts between the two of them, seemingly taken at various hotels. The images were too explicit to look at directly. Saori, overwhelmed by the sight of her daughter’s disgraceful behavior, covered her mouth and turned away.

“Akiko, do you remember sending photos to Misaki years ago?”

“…Huh?”

“Your phone was also set to automatically save photos and videos to the cloud.”

“Then… how did they end up here?”

“Your cloud storage was shared with Misaki. Do you remember that?”

“!”

Akiko gasped in shock as Shinichi glared at her.

“Alongside happy pictures of Misaki’s smiling face… these disgusting images and videos were saved as well!”

Bang!

Shinichi slammed his hand on the table, making Akiko flinch in fear.

“Your affair has been going on for over a year and a half. The chat messages, the timestamps on the cloud-stored photos and videos—everything is clear. You can’t deny it anymore.”

Akiko’s face turned completely pale.

However, Atsushi, now furious, leaned back on the sofa and shouted.

“So what, huh?! You got a problem with it?! What, do you want money? You poor bastard! Fine, I’ll pay. What do you want? A million? Two million?!”

He grinned wickedly at Shinichi.

Then, he turned to Ryoko—his own wife—