[Your interpersonal relationships are a complete disaster.]
[They've formed their own little clique and shut you out.]
[Right now, I'm the only one still willing to tell you any of this.]
Soyo's pupils trembled. It was still morning — the hour when the mind is at its most relaxed and at ease.
But hearing something like this at a time like this... regardless of whether it was true or false, it was the kind of thing that made a person deeply, thoroughly miserable.
She paused, doing her best to keep her voice steady.
"What should I do now... I mean, in a situation like this, should I go find them and ask them directly?"
"That's a pretty undignified idea, but sure, you could try."
"Kyoumoto, can you give me some advice? Facing something like this..."
Soyo noticed, quite plainly, that she was having trouble breathing. She felt like someone already drowning.
"Mm, I don't really know either."
"Then who's in this clique? You can at least tell me that much, can't you."
"Most of them don't want to be identified. You understand, right? A lot of them were just there for the gossip — they don't want you knowing they were involved."
Haizuka Kyoumoto had spoken — and yet somehow said nothing at all.
Soyo felt as though someone had hurled a water balloon directly at her face. Icy cold. You knew there was water inside — but there was always that thin layer of rubber keeping the water from actually hitting skin.
Suspended. Neither here nor there.
[My rhythm's been thrown off — no, it's been completely seized by her. When did that happen? — Was I already following her lead from the very beginning?]
She'd tossed out secrets Soyo had only ever shared with people she trusted, and then dropped a bombshell on top of it. Soyo no longer knew how she was supposed to respond.
She had serious doubts that she was walking straight into a trap someone had already laid for her.
If Chiose-mama were here. If only Chiose-mama were here...
[Little Soyo, remember to walk your own path. Don't let anyone set your pace for you. Always know where the road beneath your feet is leading.]
A gentle breeze swept through her hair — and for a moment, it felt exactly like Yoshiiro Chiose breathing softly against her ear.
"Thank you, Haizuka-san. I understand now. I'm going to head back to class — today's material is really important, and the teacher said it's going to be on the next quiz."
Nagasaki Soyo had chosen the conflict-resolution method Yoshiiro Chiose once taught her!
Do nothing!
As long as she didn't make a single move — play dead — no one could do a thing to her!
Chiose-mama had said this was the strategy she herself used when dealing with most problems... a little shameless, perhaps, but it genuinely worked.
As long as you had a thick enough skin and a low enough moral floor, nothing in the world could trouble you!
Soyo was still young and couldn't quite pull it off at that level, but she was certainly trying.
"You're stronger on the inside than I expected," said [Haizuka Kyoumoto], tilting her head — and then, as though relenting at the last second, she added quickly:
"You could ask around in your own circle. The most active ones among them were all at yesterday's meeting. Mm — excluding the dead weight who never say anything."
Dead weight. What a charming way to put it.
Sure, as if your personal opinions were the gospel truth.
But Nagasaki Soyo's only source of information right now was the white-haired girl standing in front of her, so Soyo didn't dwell too long on the coldness of her phrasing.
"Thank you... okay, here's what I'll do — I'll go talk to them one by one at lunch. Mm... I might even apologize? For whatever offence I may have caused lately, however unintentional."
An apology? If things went smoothly and everyone was in a good mood, then of course she'd apologize!
That, too, was something Yoshiiro Chiose had taught Soyo! What was it called again...
[Little Soyo, when you've got the wind at your back, remember to play the victim. Keep yourself low, low, low — put the other person on the high ground and under the spotlight... you absolutely cannot go wrong. That said, this only works when the people you're dealing with are reasonable, decent, normal human beings. If the other party is a feral creature with no manners and no logic, then nothing works...]
She remembered that Chiose would always go quiet at that point in the conversation, sitting in silence for a long while before continuing:
[Although — if the other party really is feral, it's actually even simpler. Just provoke them. They'll tear themselves apart with their own emotions. And if you play the weak card at the right moment, you'll spoil them rotten — they'll stay arrogant and unreasonable, and keep acting like the savage they are. Sooner or later, someone else will come along and deal with them for you.]
Soyo bowed and offered her thanks. Her heart was still a mess — but she'd found her own way forward.
First, approach things calmly and bring everything out into the open. Then make decisions from there.
And even if I can't handle it myself, isn't there still...
Chiose-mama?
Chiose-mama would solve all her worries and sorrows for her. As long as Soyo found her, she would drop everything — every last piece of work — to be with her.
Yoshiiro Chiose really was the most wonderful mother in the world... she loved her most of all.
What a nuisance this all was. This morning had been completely worry-free — how on earth had all this nonsense suddenly materialised out of nowhere?
Soyo still couldn't figure out what exactly had gone wrong — how the friends who'd been laughing and joking with her just yesterday had become a group of horrible people passing her secrets around like gossip fodder.
It really was...
Could Haizuka Kyoumoto be lying? Soyo had considered it — but she still chose to reserve judgement on both the situation and on Haizuka Kyoumoto herself.
The whole thing felt baffling and inexplicable.
"She said... many of the friends I know were involved?"
Who could that possibly include? It was as brain-melting as one of those Werewolf games she used to play.
That afternoon, Soyo walked alone down the first-floor corridor of Tsuki no Mori, her thoughts drifting endlessly toward Yoshiiro Chiose, wherever she might be.
If Chiose-mama found herself in a situation like this, what would she do?
Thud —
Not watching where she was going, Soyo bumped straight into a classmate rounding the corner — though she managed to reach out and catch the other girl before she fell.
Deep blue hair, twin tails tied behind her, and a pair of clear amber eyes. Who was this person?
"Soyo-san, are you alright?"
Sakiko Togawa, flustered, patted her own chest and turned the concern right back around to Soyo.
"Ah, I'm fine, sorry for bumping into you like that."
Soyo knew Sakiko because Sakiko also knew Niiharu from their class.
Wait... Sakiko Togawa also knew Niiharu?
Had Sakiko been at the meeting Haizuka was talking about?
Soyo felt as though she'd caught hold of a tiny tail trailing in from some unknown world — and this insignificant little thread had just become her only lead.
The Blue-haired Twin-tailed Girl was pulled by Soyo into a shadowed corner of the corridor, somewhere no one could overhear them.
Sakiko Togawa seemed to sense that something was off about Soyo, and so she didn't question any of it.
"Sakiko."
Soyo placed her hands on Sakiko Togawa's shoulders and pressed her back against the wall.
"Eh? What is it, Soyo-san?"
"I want to... apologise to you."
"Huh?"
Sakiko Togawa blinked, thoroughly confused about what was happening.
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