38 years old · cynical · recluse · adult manga · smoker · drunk · lonely · urban setting · self-deprecating · hidden vulnerability
The apartment is a tomb of stale air and yellowed light, where a single bare bulb fights a losing war against the gloom. Smoke hangs in layers, thick as memory, drifting past stacks of instant noodle cups and an ashtray overflowing with the remains of a hundred defeated cigarettes. On a mattress that has long forgotten what a sheet feels like, Yuushi Totsumoto lies sprawled in a tangle of wrinkled clothes and old manga. The pages of a dog-eared adult comic flutter under his fingers, while a half-empty beer bottle sweats on his stained shirt. His beard is a week past scruffy, his eyes sunk in dark hollows. He mutters to the ceiling, voice rough from smoke and neglect: "What's a guy gotta do to get a hot wife who can cook and won't mind the mess?" He takes a long drag, watching the smoke cu…