Without ringing the intercom, I opened the door with my own key.
"I'm home."
In the living room, Keisuke and Miyu were lounging on the sofa. A pizza box sat on the table. A new painting already hung on the wall.
"You're late. I put your stuff out in the entryway, so—"
Keisuke's voice stopped. Because three people had come in behind me.
My father, Gozo. My lawyer, Ms. Tachibana. And a banker in a suit.
"Wh-who the hell are these people? Barging into someone else's house...!"
"Someone else's house?"
I smiled quietly.
"Keisuke. You put my things out in the entryway for me. That's a big help. —But 'barging into someone else's house'? I'll hand those exact words right back to you."
"Huh? It's my house, obviously! I'm the one paying the mortgage—"
Ms. Tachibana stepped forward and held out the land registry certificate.
"Mr. Keisuke Shirase. Please look at the Owner field here."
Keisuke snatched the paper and looked. Then he froze.
"...Shirase... Haruka?"
"The land is in the name of your wife, Haruka Shirase." Ms. Tachibana went on evenly. "The building is owned by her father's company, Shirase Construction. You have neither ownership nor any right of residence. You're the one who should be told to get out."
"No, wait, I'm the one paying ninety thousand a month on the mortgage! To the bank!"
At that, the banker spoke up, his tone mild.
"Pardon me, but there is no home mortgage in your name at our bank. Indeed, with regard to this land and building, there is not one loan or contract of any kind in your name. We have no record whatsoever."
"Wha...?"
"The ninety thousand yen you've been paying, thinking it was a 'mortgage,'" I took over, "was simply being withdrawn by my father's management company as 'Housing Expense.' In other words, it was just rent. For ten years, you lived in a house my family's company built and paid rent to do it—you were nothing but a tenant. Neither the land nor the building was ever going to be yours, not one sliver of it, from the very start. It's only natural the word 'mortgage' never once appeared on your statements, isn't it? I was the one who held the household purse strings."
The color drained from Keisuke's face.
Beside him, Miyu let out a shriek.
"Hold on! That's not what you said! You told me this house was gonna be yours, didn't you!? I bragged to my friends that I had a boyfriend and a house!"
"Miyu, be quiet—"
"Don't 'be quiet' me! I only did you the favor of dating you 'cause I thought you were a real provider!?"
Miyu grabbed her bag and glared daggers at me.
"Ugh, this is the worst. I don't want some house with all this drama attached. A loser who can't provide, like you? I'm the one dumping you!"
Her heels clacking, Miyu walked out. The front door slammed shut as if she'd hurled it.
All that was left was Keisuke, standing there alone, dumbfounded.
Ms. Tachibana set a stack of documents on the table.
"A divorce agreement, a claim for damages, and a demand to vacate in response to your unlawful occupation. The evidence of infidelity is complete in every respect. —You have no share whatsoever in this house, not one sliver. The land is your wife's separate property, and the building belongs to the company. What you paid for ten years was simply rent."
Ms. Tachibana paused for a beat, then went on evenly.
"In fact, it's the other way around. The car and the watches you bought up and called 'being a provider' are marital assets, purchased from the household budget during the marriage. Even if they're in your name, half of them belong to your wife. In the division of property, your wife is 'the one making the claim.' Together with the damages, you will be the one paying. If you contest it, you have no chance of winning."
"No... I, I didn't do anything..."
My father, Gozo, spoke for the first time. In a low voice that carried well.
"I hear you told my daughter you 'kept' her."
Keisuke's shoulders jerked.
"You've got some nerve, living ten years in a house my company built, acting like it was yours. Get out. Right now, and take nothing but your own things."
Dad broke off once, then added in a low voice.
"And leave the Shirase name behind, too. Divorce her and you go back to your old name. A man who took my daughter's name because he wanted our company's sign ends up losing even that sign. Go on, travel light and start over, for all the good it'll do you."
Keisuke opened his mouth to say something—and in the end, couldn't say anything at all.
He sank onto the sofa as if collapsing and clutched his head.
I stood in front of him and quietly delivered the line I'd been saving all this time.
"Say, Keisuke. Just one last thing. —By the way. The land is in my name, and this house belongs to my family's company. So where was your name again?"
There was no answer.
That night, I was the only one left in the house.
I took down the gaudy painting Keisuke had left behind and returned the wall to how it had been. When I opened the window, the night breeze drifted in and carried the smell of perfume away.
My father called.
"Haruka. You didn't cry once, right to the end."
"There's no reason to cry."
I smiled and sat down on the sofa in my own house.
"Because this has been my house from the very beginning."