Chapter 18 - "Welcome to the Trap!"

"You like me because I am so wonderful, but you are so desperately afraid that one day, I will grow to hate you."

- Misaki Nakahara

'''Welcome to the Trap! '''("Torappu ni yōkoso!", トラップにようこそ！) is the eighteenth chapter of the Welcome to the N.H.K manga.

Summary
Misaki Nakahara is on the verge of breaking, frustration building as she cannot make sense of Tatsuhiro Satou's interest with Hitomi Kashiwa. She recalls that Hitomi is a drug addict, and following her suit, she downs a bottle of peppermint mints.

Misaki heads to their apartment to ask Satou on a date, wanting to clear her thoughts from earlier. However, she hits the ground running as she sees Hitomi talking to Satou outside of his apartment. Hitomi simply came over to apologize to Satou about the other day, and wanted to clear the air after giving him a false vibe.

Satou recalls that he hasn't eaten all day, but stops as he realizes that he has no money left for food, and he is (literally) standing atop a pile of debt. Satou distracts himself with Kaoru Yamazaki, recalling that they still have an entire eroge to complete. Yamazaki introduces the idea of making it a dating simulator, as he recently learned that sexual encounters are more intimate when there is a foundation personally. Satou continues to have images of Misaki flash by in his mind, despite all attempts at avoiding it, after he felt she betrayed him.

Misaki interrupts his train of thought, as his phone rings. There is a cutscene of her in fetal position, and her entire room is in debris. Dolls torn apart at the seams, destroyed dressers and shattered glass. She asks to meet up with him in the usual place, the park.

Satou aggressively attempts to cut off connections with Misaki. She creates an intimidating aurora, and tells him that she finally understands what a Hikikomori is. It is someone who only understands things in terms of winners and losers. He encloses himself in ficticious characters that resemble his broken personality. She accuses him of being a coward who puts on a facade of a winner. She tells him that he has become more energetic, but only because he's given up on the idea of ever achieving greatness. Satou repeatedly tries to cut her off, becoming increasingly more agitated, and she asks him why someone as "great" as him has to fear of a cute angel like her. She breaks reality to him, saying that he was drawn to her, but he is hopelessly scared of losing her. With a psychotic demeanor and glassy eyes, she claims that he is only able to handle girls weaker than himself, cutters or drug addicts.

Satou, aggressively grabs her arm, telling her to shut up, but then notices scars on her arm. In her teary-eyed explanation, she explains that she used to live with her father, a physically abusive alcoholic who needed no more than a simple reason to attack her. Scenes of a younger Misaki being brutally abused flash by. Cigarette burns are left on her arm, the same ones that Satou had seen, and she collapses on the ground. To this day, she blames herself for the fact that her mother killed herself, and that her father lost control. Despite everything, she still loved him-- until one day, he was dragged off by the police while she was in school. Supposed friends of her father are seen laughing behind her back, seeing his vast wealth depreciate and Misaki being all that was left among the rubble.