Watashi no Midarana Kugutsu

By day, in the bright bustle of the office, they are the dreaded senior colleague—ice-cold, exacting, and utterly untouchable. Yet the instant the workday ends and the front door clicks shut, that same person becomes someone else entirely: tender, doting, and impossibly sweet. Two contradictory faces of one individual—and only the narrator is permitted to see both. Caught between these opposing versions of their lover, the narrator cannot help but wonder: which one is real? Is the warmth waiting at home genuine, or is the cold efficiency of the workplace the honest self? Lurking beneath it all is something far darker—a secret, warped fixation that must never come to light. Like invisible strings threaded through a marionette, longing and concealment wind tighter and tighter until it becomes impossible to tell who is truly pulling whom. Marking the striking debut of author Itsuki Tsutsui, this 59-page one-shot offers an intoxicating glimpse into a relationship built on hidden truths, where affection and obsession blur into something as irresistible as it is dangerous.