Chapter 58: Mai-san's Art of Winning!
Little Kaede threw off the blanket and crawled out of her cocoon.
She rolled onto her back and sprawled across the bed, cheeks puffed up as she sulked at the ceiling.
She'd been hoping to hear more about her future.
Better yet, she wanted to hear whether Saku actually had some way to save her.
Instead, he'd barely started talking about the subject before abruptly stopping.
'What happens next?'
'Come on, what happens next?!'
She wanted to know!
After spending a while raging helplessly at absolutely no one, Little Kaede finally had no choice but to accept that Saku wasn't continuing.
She had always known about Azusagawa Kaede, the girl who had existed before her.
She also knew how her parents felt and understood what Sakuta had deliberately kept hidden.
Little Kaede knew perfectly well that, in everyone else's eyes, she was never supposed to exist.
Her parents looked at her, but what they saw wasn't her.
The doctors looked at her and saw only a symptom that needed treatment.
Only Azusagawa Sakuta treated her as his real little sister.
Yet she also understood how much her existence tormented him.
As long as Little Kaede remained, Sakuta's original sister couldn't return.
And just as Saku had said, this illness would eventually improve.
Recently, Little Kaede had begun feeling it herself.
Her control over this body was slowly weakening.
Somewhere deep inside, another consciousness seemed to be awakening.
She resisted it.
But the more desperately she resisted, the clearer that presence became.
Little Kaede didn't dare tell Sakuta.
She was afraid he'd be heartbroken.
And somewhere even deeper, she was afraid he might react like their parents and secretly welcome what was happening.
Originally, she'd already decided to accept it peacefully.
She would simply disappear quietly and let Azusagawa Kaede, the daughter everyone loved, come back.
Then Saku's inner voice had suddenly started talking about her.
That alone planted a seed inside Little Kaede's heart.
If she had even the slightest chance of continuing to exist...
How could she possibly be willing to disappear?
"You jerk."
Little Kaede stared at the dark ceiling.
"You'd better keep your promise."
"You have to come find me, okay?"
Her voice softened.
"I want to live."
"I want to keep living with Onii-chan."
She turned her head toward the bedside cabinet.
Her secret was hidden inside.
If she opened it, she would find the wish list that belonged only to Little Kaede.
"Maybe I should add 'meet that pervy big brother' to the list too."
A tiny smile appeared on her face.
"I hope that one comes true."
...
After dinner, Futaba didn't stay any longer.
Mai had dragged her here in the first place simply to satisfy their curiosity.
Now Futaba had not only accomplished that goal, she'd also learned something about her own future.
She understood the warning about the doppelganger perfectly well.
If she couldn't genuinely change herself, then that possible future might still happen.
Which meant she needed to start changing now.
"I'll take you home."
Mai picked up her things.
"I wouldn't feel comfortable letting you go back alone."
Since Mai had brought Futaba here, naturally she intended to make sure she got home safely.
Especially at night.
A girl like Futaba traveling alone on crowded trains or subways could easily encounter a groper.
Unfortunately, Japan's reputation in that particular area wasn't exactly reassuring.
Besides, Mai hadn't brought her here by train in the first place.
She'd ridden over on an electric scooter.
Making Futaba take public transportation back alone after that would've felt inconsiderate.
And traveling alone after dark carried risks of its own.
"You really don't have to."
Futaba looked awkward.
"Going there and back will waste a lot of your time."
She wasn't accustomed to people treating her this thoughtfully.
"Don't say that."
Mai waved the concern away.
"It's the obvious thing to do."
"Once I buy a car, getting around will be much easier."
She wasn't joking.
Mai was genuinely considering it.
Her circumstances were different now.
For one thing, she had far more reasons to travel privately than before.
Having her own car would make moving around much more convenient, and whenever she didn't need it, Saku could use it too.
More importantly, Mai was becoming independent from her old agency structure and setting up her own personal studio.
Having a dedicated vehicle would be useful professionally as well.
Futaba had nothing useful to contribute to that topic.
Their financial situations were simply too different.
Her family had a van, but that belonged to her father.
The idea of personally choosing and buying a proper car still felt completely foreign to Futaba.
"Then I'll be troubling you, Sakurajima-senpai."
"It's no trouble at all."
Mai unlocked the electric scooter parked in the yard, opened the compartment beneath the seat, and took out two helmets.
"Here."
She handed one to Futaba, then pushed the scooter through the gate and climbed on.
"Get on."
"And hold on properly. Don't fall off."
Having already ridden with Mai once, Futaba didn't hesitate this time.
She climbed onto the back seat and wrapped her arms around Mai's waist.
Because a certain part of her body was so prominently endowed, even though she tried to keep some distance, she couldn't help but lean most of her weight against Mai's back.
This scale was truly a gift from heaven.
Mai, who had already seen and even felt them once before, now had different thoughts as she experienced it again.
Before Saku had complained about it, Mai hadn't given much thought to this aspect. But now, things were different.
After all, she now knew a little bit about Saku's preferences.
Or rather, she finally understood that for most boys, bigger is better, and bigger is justice.
And clearly, Futaba Rio was the one who embodied the biggest and most righteous justice.
The scooter started with a quiet hum.
Under the glow of the streetlights, the two girls slowly disappeared down the road away from Saku's house.
"Futaba..."
Mai paused.
"Actually, I'll just call you Rio."
"What Saku-kun said during dinner... what do you think about it?"
Mai had suffered from Adolescence Syndrome herself.
She genuinely didn't want someone else to go through the same kind of experience.
And after spending some time with Rio, she'd decided this underclassman was actually rather likable.
Someone she could probably become friends with.
So Mai couldn't resist asking.
"I want to change."
Rio answered after a short silence.
"But I don't know how."
According to Saku, her future rational self had essentially thrown all those suppressed needs onto her emotional counterpart.
And unfortunately, that matched Rio's current problem rather well.
She simply had no idea what she was supposed to do.
Saku hadn't explained exactly how far her opposite self would go either, which left her without even a future example to copy.
Without an answer sheet, Rio couldn't immediately invent one for herself.
"Then start with your appearance."
Mai spoke after considering it.
"Saku-kun was right about one thing."
"You're already very pretty. You really don't have any reason to feel inferior."
"...Then let's start by changing your appearance. Saku-kun is right—you're very pretty and you have a great figure. There's no reason to feel inferior."
"So start there."
"Little by little, let out the emotions you've kept bottled up instead of suppressing everything."
Mai's understanding of Adolescence Syndrome was limited.
Even so, she'd always felt that the condition was inseparable from psychological problems.
Perhaps finding these people a psychologist would actually be more effective.
Of course, Mai only entertained that idea privately.
When supernatural phenomena were involved, she wasn't foolish enough to casually tell outsiders.
She had no idea how other countries would handle something like this, but she didn't trust powerful institutions to react calmly if they discovered genuinely supernatural people.
History had already given her more than enough reasons to distrust what governments could justify when research and national interests became involved.
"I don't know how to dress up."
Rio's answer was painfully sincere.
She wore clothing that hid almost everything, never used makeup, and practically lived in her lab coat.
Asking someone like that to suddenly reinvent her appearance was asking quite a lot.
Rio had probably never even opened a fashion magazine.
"You don't know how."
Mai smiled.
"But I do."
She sounded almost delighted by the realization.
"Leave that part to me."
Faced with Rio's helplessness, Mai generously extended a hand.
Partly because she genuinely wanted to help.
And partly because she absolutely wasn't giving Saku the opportunity to do it instead.
A hero saving the girl?
Not while Mai was around.
This was what you called a win-win.
Mai won once by helping Rio.
And then she won again by keeping Saku out of it.
…