Skirt no Naka wa Kedamono Deshita. – Episode 4 (EN)

Shizuka tries to set a rule: if this is a game, Ryou should keep his hands off her. She can almost say it clearly. Ryou’s answer is not a joke. His face goes serious and he tells her it is not play. Then, without letting her hide behind confusion, he says it straight: he likes her. He loves her.

She does not know what to do with that word. Liking a man was never part of her plan. Liking this man, who first approached her as a woman and took her while she was drunk, feels even less possible. While she is still turning it over alone, a group of pushy guys closes in. The street that should have been ordinary becomes another place she cannot handle.

Ryou’s confession does not arrive in a soft setting. It arrives in the middle of her fear of men, her anger at being used, and the sudden proof that other men are still a threat. “I love you, Shizuka” is both a comfort and a trap. She wanted him to stop treating her like a toy. He answered by telling her she is the thing he is serious about.