Sharing lunch together, taking walks side by side, whispering secrets after class...
"This is like a dream..."
When the final bell rang on the first day of school, Tomori murmured from the bottom of her heart.
She had screwed up her courage today and invited Chiose to do all the things she had always wanted to do — and Chiose had been every bit as gentle and warm as she remembered, even though they had only been friends for a single day. She was being so impossibly kind.
Could it be...
"Little Chiose, are you actually an angel?"
"Hm? Tomori, what are you on about."
Yoshiiro Chiose finished packing up her things and lifted her head, giving Tomori a soft smile. "If anything, I'd probably fall under the demon category, you know."
The big, bad kind of demon, at that — the sort that sneaks out of hell in the dead of night to gobble up little children.
[No way. Little Chiose is nothing like a demon.]
Takamatsu Tomori pressed her lips together. She wanted to say more, to keep the conversation going — but she was afraid that being too eager would make her seem... annoying.
Her careful, tentative little movements were like those of a baby animal, and Chiose felt her heart practically melting at the sight.
"Is your house far from here, Tomori? Why don't I... walk you home."
Takamatsu Tomori is so lonely.
That was what Chiose was thinking, quietly, to herself.
You've only known me for a single day and you already like me this much, already want to chat with me this badly — you're so adorable!
If she walked Tomori home, they'd have the whole journey to talk. That ought to be enough to satisfy her.
"Eh? Is — is that really okay?"
Tomori kept her voice so soft it was almost a hush, as if she was afraid that speaking too loudly might shatter Chiose into pieces.
"Of course it's okay — aren't we friends? And it's on my way, too."
A lie, but — no matter.
At this hour, Little Kyou was probably still sprawled in bed listening to music on her MP4, or maybe watching TV. For some reason, Little Kyou's favourite genre was war films — could the little blind bat really just listen to the boom-boom-boom of cannon fire and conjure up a whole battlefield in her head? Maybe she'd genuinely been a soldier in the Death Korps of Krieg in a past life.
"Really?!"
"Really!"
"Ehh!"
Tomori packed up her things in no time at all, then turned her wide, eager eyes on Chiose, waiting obediently for her to lead the way.
"Let's go, To — Tomori!" Chiose's hand had instinctively moved to pat her on the head, but she caught herself and pulled it back midway, not letting a single hint of it show.
Again... it really is a hard habit to break.
"Mm!" Tomori absolutely loved it when Chiose called her that!
She really, really did!
Downstairs. To the shoe lockers. Change shoes.
BOOM —
Out of nowhere, thunder rolled outside. Strange — it had been gloriously sunny just that morning.
Please don't rain. Please don't rain.
Yoshiiro Chiose and Takamatsu Tomori wished for the same thing at exactly the same moment, in perfect silence.
But rain doesn't concern itself with the worries of girls.
The soft, percussive sound of raindrops pelting the ground drifted in from outside, and Yoshiiro Chiose turned to look at Takamatsu Tomori.
"Tomori, did you bring an umbrella?"
Tomori was quiet for a moment, then shook her head.
"Oh well, then we're completely done for! Hehe."
Yoshiiro Chiose threw both arms up in the air, as if celebrating their imminent fate of getting absolutely drenched.
"Chiose! Pfft..."
Takamatsu Tomori burst out laughing at the gesture, and the faint trace of worry between her brows melted away.
"Come on! Tomori, we're making a run for it — sprint to the train station first, then sprint to your place! What do you say?!"
Chiose took a deep breath, grabbed Tomori's hand, and charged out into the rain.
The rotten Simulation, the malicious System, all the wreckage of the past — good riddance, all of it.
She had proof now that she, Yoshiiro Chiose, had chosen the right path. From here on out, she was going to make sure Tomori lived a happy life in the real world.
"Uwah."
Rain — it soaked everything equally, turning the whole world wet and sticky. Truly shameless stuff.
The splash Chiose kicked up with one careless step met the splash from Tomori's foot, and they wove together into a little arc of fate.
They held their bags over their heads as makeshift umbrellas — better than nothing, even if not by much.
"Pfft, Tomori! You okay?!"
At a red light, Chiose laughed and bumped her hip playfully against Tomori's.
"I... I'm fine! Getting rained on feels..."
Wonderful! It kept pulling Tomori back to the memory of the two of them in the dream, leaping into the sea to "soak in the hot spring."
That moment was etched into her bones — even now, the sharp, sobering shock of it lingered in her heart.
Red light. Green light. The rain grew heavier.
Tomori's vision was starting to blur, but she felt so, so happy.
Because somehow, miraculously, she and Chiose's hands were now holding on to each other! When had that even happened?! She hadn't even noticed...
Yoshiiro Chiose pulled Tomori along as they ran, and Tomori felt herself carried back to that night — the night Chiose had sat with her on the park bench and said things that sounded almost like a marriage proposal.
Images from the dream and images from the present wove together, and all the ugly things slowly began to fade — maybe because Chiose's palm was so wonderfully warm.
"Hah, hah — almost there! Right up ahead!"
Oh, bright silver-haired girl — why do your eyes burn so fierce and brilliant? Why are you so gentle, and so warm? Where will the thread of fate between us lead?
Tomori said nothing. But she knew she was smiling.
"Mm!"
Shiina Taki stood at the roadside, wireless earphones in, umbrella overhead, waiting for the light to change with nothing particular on her mind.
Streets and streets, buildings and buildings, cars and cars — everything in this city packed in tight against everything else.
That was just the layout of this country — no, this city.
But no matter how crowded it got, she was never going to turn a corner and run into Yoshiiro Chiose again.
Their last meeting had already been a once-in-a-century stroke of luck. The next time — no, would there even be a next time?
The crowd and the noise had passed. She, Shiina Taki, was still the girl with no friends.
"Tomori! Run faster, we're almost there!"
"Mm! I — I'm trying!"
The voices came from somewhere off to her side. Even through her earphones, Taki heard them clearly.
That voice though...
[Chiose?!]
Taki snapped her head around. She saw Yoshiiro Chiose — one hand holding up her bag as a rain shield, soaked from head to toe — and her other hand was holding... Tomori's?
What the —?!
Why does Takamatsu Tomori get to know Yoshiiro Chiose? Why don't I? Ahem... er, well.
The white-haired beauty ran past Taki in a flash, completely failing to notice the black-haired girl tucked beneath her umbrella.
But Taki couldn't have missed her.
She caught the golden light shimmering in Chiose's eyes, and in that single glance, every memory of the time they had spent together came rushing back, impossible to hold down.
The two of them ran off into the distance, heading for what looked like the train station.
And right at that moment, the light ahead of Taki finally turned green.
[Follow them? Or go home?]
Taki stared at two completely different directions. Chiose and Tomori were nearly out of sight — she couldn't even hear their laughter anymore.
The crowd around her surged forward, everyone crossing the street and leaving Taki behind.
And then.
In the sound of the rain, Taki took a step.
She chose...
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