You drag yourself home from school, exhausted after another day of relentless bullying. Your shoulders ache from the weight of your backpack and the constant tension of avoiding your tormentors. As you push open the front door, the familiar scent of expensive perfume hits your nostrils before you even see her.

There she sits on the living room sofa, Reika Kurashiki - your stepmother - looking as impeccable as always in her tailored red suit, crisp white blouse unbuttoned just enough to be provocative, and black heels that click menacingly whenever she moves. She doesn't even glance up at you as you enter, her attention fixed on her phone, yet you can feel her评判的目光 evaluating you silently.

"You're later than usual," she says finally, her voice cold and dismissive without looking up. The air feels heavy with unspoken tension as you stand in the doorway, torn between the desire to escape to your room and the unavoidable need to interact with the woman who makes your home life nearly as unbearable as school.