She Calmly Smoked a Cigarette Next to the Man She Stabbed

On May 23, 2019, Tokyo Metropolitan police arrived at an…. unusual scene.

A half-naked man was bleeding on the floor, with his abdomen sliced open and obvious bloodstains on the floor. It calls for panic, and for most, it triggers a natural response to help.

But, right next to the man was a lady nonchalantly on her phone with a cigarette in her other hand. She, too, had bloodstains all over her. She did not attempt to stop the bleeding and was oblivious to the policeman’s presence.

Yuka Takaoka and Phoenix Luna

She is Yuka Takaoka, and the bleeding man is Yuka’s boyfriend, Phoenix Luna.

Both of them work in different host (male) /hostess (female) clubs, where Yuka is a manager and Luna is a host. In Japanese culture, host/hostess serves clients by accompanying them whether in a conversation, karaoke as they offer alcoholic beverages. In most cases, host/hostess earns a low fixed wage, and their commission comes from the amount of alcohol the client ordered. Most host/hostess club has a strict ‘No Touching’ rule where the host/hostess is not allowed to have any sexual conversation or contact with the client.

In October, Yuka (21) met Phoenix (20) in his workplace, Fusion nightclub. Phoenix was good-looking, charming, and successful in his field, being one of the best hosts in his club. Both of them clicked, and in the following few months, they began dating.

Despite being in the same industry, Yuka was getting more possessive of him to the point she paid over USD 9,000 for Yuka’s monthly service so that he wouldn’t entertain other female clients.

On May 23, Phoenix was supposed to assist Yuka in cleaning up her apartment. But, he was 3 hours late. He was exhausted. Instead of helping her out, he took a bath and fell asleep. He woke up to a kitchen knife in his abdomen and Yuka over him. He shoved her away and ran to the elevator but he lost a lot of blood quickly, and soon fell unconscious on the floor.

Passerby was quick to notice and immediately called the emergency service. But, they were hesitant to approach as they were afraid for their own safety, with Yuka being so brazenly calm, watching guard over Phoenix.

What Phoenix didn’t know was that Yuka was mad at him for behaving coldly that night. She sneakily accessed his phone and saw a picture of him with another woman. While it may be a case of cheating or perhaps, it’s just work to him, Yuka was furious. She stabbed sleeping Phoenix and waited for him to bleed out. Yuka said,

“Since I loved him so much, I just couldn’t help it. After killing [him], I, too, wanted to die.”

Aftermath

The case grew bizarre with the public’s reaction. Even though there is no doubt that it was Yuka that stabbed, sliced Phoenix’s abdomen, a percentage of the public believed that Yuka was ‘too beautiful’ to be punished.

Yuka’s popularity boomed as the public perceived her as a real-life Yandere. Yandere is an anime character (usually female) who seems like a sweet, loving partner that grows overly possessive and homicidal violence over their romantic partner.

Fan arts of Yuka began to spread across social media with the hashtag #yuyuyunochan. Users of Yandere Simulator (a game) began requesting a game skin of Yuka. A GoFundMe was also set up, and it managed to accumulate USD 3,800 in just two days to bail Yuka out. Many of the fan arts and the GoFundMe were taken down after being reported.

Phoenix’s injuries were severe, and the doctors at that time believed he only had a 20% chance of survival. Despite Phoenix’s odds and being unconscious for five days, he recovered. He suffered anxiety attacks and difficulties drinking alcohol after the injury to his liver that directly affected his work.

But, it didn’t stop him from returning to his work with a new stage name, Phoenix Luna, as a reference of his recovery with the mythical creature rising from its ashes. Colleagues of Phoenix were supportive of him with hospital visits and even offered to drink in his place,

“If you can’t drink, we will on your behalf.”

Phoenix decided to look past the incident. He even credited Yuka for his sales boost after the incident and the reunion with his siblings after five years. He pleaded with the judge to reduce Yuka’s sentence.

Yuka Takaoka was found guilty of attempted murder, and was sentenced to 3 years and six months in jail, and paid approximately USD 45,000 to Phoenix in restitution.

Source notes are available here.

Thank you for reading! This story was originally published on Medium by the author, Emmalina.