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 55

To create the “Shape of Happiness” she desired, Misaki was pregnant with the child of Shinichi, her adoptive father. Akiko, Misaki’s birth mother, was shocked but could do nothing but listen. The gondola of the Ferris wheel they were riding was about to reach the ground.

“Do you know why I’m telling you this?”

“…”

Akiko couldn’t answer Misaki’s question.

“It’s to make you understand that there’s no place for you in our family anymore.”

Akiko hung her head.

“And one last thing. From now on, never contact our family again.”

Akiko looked up, her body trembling.

Misaki glared at her, her expression showing she meant every word.

“I won’t forgive anyone who tries to hurt my family or interfere with my plan. Do you understand? Never come near us again!”

Hearing this complete rejection from her own daughter, Akiko couldn’t stop shaking.

“We will build our own ‘Shape of Happiness’! No one will get in our way!”

With a fierce expression, Misaki shouted at the terrified Akiko.

*Clank.*

“Thank you for riding! Please watch your step as you exit!”

The gondola reached the ground, and an attendant opened the door from the outside.

Without hesitation, Misaki stepped out with a blank expression, as if nothing had happened. Akiko, her face pale with despair, followed unsteadily.

The attendant almost reached out to support Akiko, but sensing the strange atmosphere between the two, he hesitated and withdrew his hand.

Misaki walked down the metal stairs with a steady pace, while Akiko stumbled behind her.

“Dad! Mom! Grandma!”

With a joyful smile, Misaki ran toward the three who had been waiting for her. She went straight into Shinichi’s arms, where he held her tightly. They looked less like father and daughter and more like lovers. Saori and Ryoko watched them warmly.

The four—no, five—of them turned and walked toward the park’s exit, now covered in the darkness of night. None of them spared a glance at Akiko.

As she watched the happy family walk away, Akiko couldn’t stop crying.

The shock from Misaki’s words was overwhelming. But that wasn’t the only reason she was crying.

She had finally understood the true weight of her sins.

She had thought of her affair as a personal indulgence, something done in secret for her own satisfaction.

But she was wrong.

She had believed that as long as no one found out, it was as if nothing had happened.

But she was wrong.

Adultery was a cruel act of violence that left wounds on a family that would never heal.

That was what she had thought.

But even that wasn’t the whole truth.

Adultery was—

—murder. A crime that kills the hearts of family and loved ones.

Staring at the four disappearing figures, Akiko couldn’t even find the words to apologize. She fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face.

“I… I am… unforgivable…”

Realizing the enormity of her crime, Akiko’s heart shattered under the crushing weight of guilt and regret.

“…Heh… hehe… hahaha… ahahaha! Ahahahahahaha!”

Even as the four disappeared from sight, Akiko remained kneeling on the asphalt, letting out a high-pitched, crazed laugh.

—

*’Oh? Nagata-san, good work today. Taking a break?’

That day, when she was called a ‘public toilet’ by others, Shinichi had gently reached out to her. He accepted her tainted past and embraced her with kindness and love. He worked tirelessly for their family, and together, they had bought a new home. They had built their ‘Shape of Happiness’ as a family. But—*

*’…Just once… Just this one time, please…’*

What started as a small, fleeting moment of weakness turned into an affair lasting over a year and a half. She had drowned in sin, mistaking lust for love, losing herself completely. She had scorned her husband, abandoned her daughter, and destroyed her own ‘Shape of Happiness.’ She had even planned to have a child with Atsushi, her lover, believing it was true love.

But it wasn’t true love at all—

*’You’re nothing but a filthy “public toilet.”‘*

It was a lie.

Because of her foolish choices, her family was utterly destroyed. Her workplace, the supermarket, had even gone out of business because of her scandal.

In the end, she was burdened with massive debts and—

*’I’m carrying Father’s child.’*

—she had broken and killed the hearts of those around her. Shinichi, Misaki, Saori, Ryoko. Her affair was the reason their lives were ruined.

Even after five long years of atonement, that fact had not changed. No matter how much she paid in compensation, no matter how much she repented, nothing could bring peace to Misaki and the others.

Faced with this harsh reality, Akiko could no longer bear it. Her mind finally broke.

There was nothing to gain from adultery.

Adultery only destroyed everything around it.

No amount of apology could fix it.

No amount of regret could turn back time.

Adultery was murder.

A sin beyond forgiveness.

Akiko’s crazed laughter echoed through the park, now ruled by the darkness of night.

The streetlights illuminated her, as if exposing the unforgiven.

People watched from a distance.

But no one reached out to help.

From far away, the sound of an ambulance siren approached—