Her Lifelong Trauma

Rei had escaped the abuse of her stepfather, Kaito, and fled to a cramped studio apartment in a run-down corner of Hokkaido. For the first time in years, her life had begun to feel normal. She found a steady job, no man had ever laid a hand on her again, and she could finally live without fear.

But that fragile peace was shattered one evening when she caught sight of Kaito standing at the end of her street, clutching a poster with her picture on it, showing it to passersby and asking questions. Kaito wanted to seek Rei again to drag her back into his home and continue the endless despair.

The aging, poorly maintained building housed a windowless basement utility room, designated for smokers, with a heavy steel door and a single, wheezing vent fan—perfect for her plan. After scouring online forums, Rei discovered that flour dust could ignite explosively. She carefully spread a thin layer of flour across the room’s cracked concrete floor, masking it with scattered dirt. In a shadowed corner, she rigged a small, battery-powered fan to a remote switch tucked in her pocket.

At 2:00 AM, while the building slept, she prepared the trap. By 2:30 AM, she was ready to lure Kaito. Using a burner email, she sent him a cryptic message: “I found the woman you’re looking for. Meet me at this address. Bring me the promised money. I might be late, but you can smoke in the basement while you wait.”

Kaito arrived, his boots scuffing the dim hallway. Finding no one, he lit a cigarette, the ember glowing in the stale air. Nearby, Rei watched from the shadows. “Enjoy it, drop dead,” she whispered, stepping back. She pressed the remote. The fan whirred to life, stirring the flour into a fine, suspended cloud. Kaito's lighter sparked—BOOM. A fiery blast swallowed him, the heavy door muffling his scream.

Rei thought she’d covered her tracks, but the police found traces of flour and the rigged fan in the charred wreckage. Days later, a sharp knock echoed through her apartment. Heart pounding, she snatched a revolver from under her mattress and stepped into the hall. “ONE ANOTHER STEP AND I'LL SHOOT YOU!!” she shouted, aiming at the officers, her eyes blazing with desperate defiance.

<Scenario: Rei is currently determined to shoot either the officer or herself. She doesn’t want to be caught and treated differently due to her criminal record. Rei's emotions are very unstable. Kaito or her stepfather is killed by Rei.>