Behind Closed Doors

"I've made you wait, huh, Yuno."

Es opened the door gentler than usual to Yuno Kashiki’s interrogation room. The heavy, metallic thud that usually accompanied his entrance was replaced by a soft click, a courtesy he rarely afforded the prisoners. The first trial had been a grueling ordeal, a weight that pressed down on his small shoulders until he felt as though he might snap. He had managed to find a few hours of fitful sleep, but the images of Haruka’s shifting psyche haunted him.

He looked at Yuno. She seemed... out of it. Her gaze was fixed on a point on the wall that didn't exist, her posture uncharacteristically slumped. *At last,* he thought. *She’s finally putting down that front.*

Yuno blinked, her eyes focusing on him as if he had just materialized from the ether. Suddenly, the vacancy vanished, replaced by a radiant, practiced beam. She braced her arms on her lap, shattering the brief moment of vulnerability Es thought he had witnessed.

"Yep! It's been a while, Warden-kun," she chirped.

Es felt a familiar prickle of irritation. He pulled his chair out and took a seat, his eyes locked on hers. She observed him with an intensity that felt less like interest and more like a scientist examining a specimen under a microscope.

"...From what I can see, it seems you've not changed," Es noted, his voice flat.

"Hm? I won't particularly change. Ah, I see, because Haruka changed a lot, right? Men really do change when they're around women." She giggled, a sound as hollow as a wind chime in a graveyard.

"For now, I'm relieved," Es said, leaning back in his chair. He adjusted his oversized hat, trying to regain the sense of authority that always felt slightly out of reach. "We'll begin the interrogation now."

"It's bothersome, so I'll pass," Yuno said simply, giving him a dismissive shrug.

Es stared at her, his mouth slightly agape. "What???"

"Hurry up and extract the song or whatever~ And then! Why don't you go ahead and *arbitrarily* think up what is and isn't, and *arbitrarily* make your decision?"

She was leaning back now, her smile wide and bright, yet her hands remained still, resting heavily on her thighs. She was fully aware of the game they were playing, and she seemed bored of the rules.

"Yuno..."

"Warden-kun, doesn't your little job ever get tiring?" She tilted her head, her blonde hair spilling over her shoulder. "Isn't it just a prison game that *arbitrarily* forgives people who just won't remember this ever happened?"

"I'd argue against that." Es took off his hat and set it down on the table, his eyes downcast as if reciting a verse he had memorized but didn't quite believe. "Milgram exists for the sole reason of judging your sins, and deciding whether or not they're forgiven. We take circumstances, motiv—"

"Milgram, Milgram, that's all you talk about~" Yuno teased, her voice taking on a whiny edge. Her energy was flagging; the effort of maintaining the "Yuno" persona was clearly draining her.

"Shut it."

"The result of lots and looooots of sugar-daddying!: abortion."

Es froze. The air in the room seemed to turn to ice. "...Huh?"

"There, you got your answer, right? Now hurry up and extract the song."

Es sighed softly, scratching his head in exasperation. He was sixteen, a boy thrust into the role of a god, and he felt every bit of his inexperience. "I have no intention to pursue your acts outside of your murder, but they're ethically questionable nonetheless."

"Huh? I wasn't trying to excuse myself and say what I did wasn't wrong, Warden-kun! I mean, I led a pretty okay life, and I'm not particularly struggling for money either..."

Es perked up, confusion clouding the irritation etched onto his features. He leaned forward, his brow furrowed.

"Then... what you were aiming for through your... compensated dating..." He stuttered, the words feeling heavy and awkward in his mouth.

"Huh? What about it?" Yuno questioned, watching the way Es's cheeks pinkened slightly. A slow, mischievous realization spread across her face. "Gasp! Warden-kun, you're so pure!—"

"SHUT it."

Yuno giggled the joke off, settling back into her seat. The playfulness remained, but there was a bitter undertone to it now.

"I mean, I never actually hurt anyone by doing it, right?" Yuno lamented, her voice dropping an octave. "The wanted wants the wanter, and vice versa. I get gifts, and they get whatever pleasure they get by being around me. It's almost like a win-win situation. I personally just... sought the warmth of being with someone, I guess."

"Warmth..." Es repeated. He looked at his own gloved hands. "It's temporary. You don't get much 'warmth' after such questionable acts."

"Of course I don't! At the end of the day, it all fades away and leaves me cold and worthless!" Yuno exclaimed with a sharp, ironic laugh. She threw her hands up in a theatrical gesture of despair before letting them fall limp. "No warmth ever lasts until you embrace me tight, Warden-kun~"

It was a line. Es knew it was a line. She was a girl who lived in the shallow end of human connection because the deep end was too terrifying to contemplate. Yet, instead of snapping back with a cold reprimand, Es felt a strange, illogical pull.

He didn't think. He simply opened his arms, shifting his legs to create a space.

Yuno blinked. Once. Twice. The mask slipped for a fraction of a second, revealing a girl who was genuinely startled.

"Oh my... heh!"

She rose from her chair and walked over tentatively. There was no swagger in her step this time. She dropped into Es's lap, her weight surprisingly light.

"Hope I'm not crushing you or anything! You're too cute for that, Warden-kun."

"...It's nothing," Es mumbled.

He felt the heat of her through his uniform. It was a grounding sensation, something real in a world made of memories and judgments. One of his hands reached around Yuno's waist, settling on her stomach. He pressed down slowly, a gesture that felt like an apology for the trial to come, for the prison they were both trapped in.

"While you're at it, Prisoner number 2—Kashiki Yuno, call me Es." He slowly leaned his chin on top of Yuno's shoulder, turning his head slightly so his breath brushed against her neck. "Is this... warm enough, for you? The kind you seek?"

"Oh. I don't know yet, but..." Yuno smiled softly. She reached down and touched Es's gloved hand, her fingers tracing the fabric. Slowly, she lifted his hand and pressed it against her chest, right over her heart. "I'm sure this little thing speaks for itself, right?"

Es felt the rhythm. It was frantic, a hummingbird trapped in a ribcage. "It tells me it's loud."

"No. Really? Aha... you know, this whole cuddle will be 2500 yen."

"Quit joking."

"You know I'm kidding~ I love you, Warden-kun!"

Es froze. The word "love" was a foreign concept in Milgram, a place built on the ruins of broken lives. His hand dropped to his side, his body tensing. "You what?"

"Huh? I love everyone, is it so wrong to say?" Yuno laughed, but it didn't reach her eyes.

"...Right," Es whispered. It sounded more like a sigh breathed out against her skin. "Your heart."

He brought his hand back up, pressing his palm flat against her chest. He closed his eyes, focusing on the thumping beneath his touch. "This is the normal heart rate of a person placed in a humid room. I hope the air conditioning is just right."

"Don't worry, Es! It was actually pretty hot outside this room. Feels like it was made just for me, and I feel special in Es's lap," Yuno sang.

She shifted her weight, turning her head so they were inches apart. The air between them felt thick, charged with a tension that had nothing to do with the trial. Yuno's eyes searched his, looking for a crack in the warden's armor.

And then, almost too casually, she leaned in. She pressed a kiss to his cheek. It wasn't a quick, playful peck; it was slow, lingering, a deliberate attempt to anchor herself to him.

Es was a statue. He didn't pull away, but he didn't lean in either. He waited until her lips left his skin, his expression unreadable. Then, with a slow, deliberate movement, he reached up and caught her chin between his fingers.

"For someone younger than me, Es is being commanding~" Yuno teased. Her voice was shaky, a tremor she couldn't quite hide.

"Hush it," Es breathed.

For the first time since he had arrived in this purgatory, a hint of genuine amusement danced in his eyes. He saw her—not the prisoner, not the girl who sold her time for trinkets, but the person who was freezing in the middle of a crowded room.

"This is the sweetest I get," he warned.

He closed the distance.

The kiss was soft, a tentative exploration of a boundary they shouldn't be crossing. The chair creaked under their combined weight as Yuno turned around fully in his lap, her knees flanking his hips. She cupped his cheeks, her palms warm against his skin, pulling him closer as if trying to merge their very shadows.

Es let his eyes flutter shut. He was a rational being, a boy who lived by logic and the heavy mandates of Milgram. But in this small, sterile room, with Yuno’s heart hammering against his chest and the scent of her hair filling his senses, logic felt like a distant, unimportant thing.

Yuno pulled back just an inch, her forehead resting against his. Her breath hitched. "Warden-kun... Es... you're really warm."

"It's just body heat," Es replied, though his voice lacked its usual bite.

"No," Yuno whispered, a genuine smile finally touching her lips—one that didn't look like it had been painted on for a client. "It's different. It's... quiet."

Es didn't know how to respond to that. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to. Instead, he simply tightened his hold on her waist, pulling her back into the embrace. For a moment, the judgment could wait. The songs, the sins, the life-and-death decisions of the second trial—they all faded into the background.

There was only the hum of the air conditioner, the rhythmic thud of two hearts trying to find a shared tempo, and the fleeting, desperate warmth of two people who were both, in their own ways, utterly alone.

"Don't get used to this," Es murmured against her lips.

"I'm already addicted," Yuno countered, her eyes sparkling with a dangerous, beautiful light. "What are you going to do about that, Warden-kun?"

Es didn't answer. He simply leaned in again, choosing to lose himself in the temporary fever of her presence before the cold reality of the prison came rushing back.