Summary: one-sided Karen/Aoki; she loves him but cannot have him, and yet he is still hers.

Society's Lens

Karen had never been truly embarrassed by her job. It was a natural thing for her to do after her Fundamentalist mother told her she was the devil, so there was no shame from her Christian roots. Besides, it was a way to make a living and survive until the end of the world.

When Aoki Seiichirou had walked in to interview her for one of his authors, she had been pleasantly surprised when he not only treated her as a person, but had done his best to not only make her feel comfortable (despite her state of undress) and to also keep his distance so that she had some sense of personal space.

It had been novel, being treated as a person rather than an object, so it was really no wonder that she warmed up to him so quickly. She didn't see the children-for really, the others were so young-all that often, so her closest bond was with Aoki-san. Finding out that he was married hadn't been a true surprise, although it was certainly a disappointment; he was such a good man, possibly the best that she knew.

And so she would do her best to see that he would be able to return to his wife and daughter, even if it meant her own life. At least if she died someone would cry for her, a hostess who had never had someone like that before.