Though it started out a little chaotic, by the end of the afternoon everything settled into calm.
"Little Chiose, we'll come hang out with you again next time!"
"Bye, Chiose. The samgyetang was delicious — you've really got the touch."
"Sure! If we're free this weekend let's go out again," Noshiro Chiose said, standing at the top of the stairs and waving goodbye to Takamatsu Tomori and Shiina Taki, who had already gone down.
As she watched the two figures shrink into the distance, the curve at the corners of Chiose's mouth slowly faded.
When she'd learned from The System that everyone's affection for her would run high, that they would grow so close to her, it stirred something strange in her.
Was she really controlling other people's lives now? And it wasn't as if Chiose had set out to do any of it.
"Mm."
Pinching her chin, she turned back inside. There was still plenty she needed to do after dinner.
For instance…
"Soyo? Are you feeling any better? Can I talk with you for a bit?"
Chiose sent Kyoumoto away, and in the dining room now empty but for the two of them, Noshiro Chiose and Nagasaki Soyo — this conjugate mother-and-daughter pair — regarded each other in silence.
"What is it, Little Chiose?"
Soyo kept her voice as steady as she could so nothing would slip. She hadn't so much as glanced at the samgyetang earlier — just the smell of it made her stomach clench… but Little Chiose was so thoughtful; everything she'd prepared was gentle on the stomach.
As the soft food slid down her throat, her whole body — and her soul along with it — was warmed through.
"Have we met somewhere before, Soyo-chan?"
Chiose hadn't put her full trust in The System; she would never entirely stop probing.
Heh. Maybe this was the caution left behind by too many turns as a wicked woman. How awful.
Even so, on the surface Noshiro Chiose remained perfectly serene, and to Soyo that angelic face brought nothing but comfort.
Attitude, after all, is the mask of the heart. A harmless little probe like this wouldn't affect the bond between them.
Chiose only wanted to set her own mind at ease.
"Eh? Have we met? I don't think so."
Soyo denied it on reflex.
[If I told Chiose I was her mother — her daughter — she'd only think I was insane.]
She had merely been dreaming. How could a dream possibly be shared between two people?
Noshiro Chiose taking her in, comforting her — that was only because she was Noshiro Chiose, the most adorable, most kindhearted girl in the whole world.
Nagasaki Soyo found this — using Chiose's nature to worm her way closer — a little… sickening.
She didn't like this version of herself, so full of scheming little thoughts, but there was no other way.
To win the home she longed for, Soyo had no choice but to do it.
"Ehh~ did I remember it wrong? I really thought Soyo was my kindergarten classmate. I remember a friend I had as a kid with long brown hair and blue eyes too… Soyo's eyes are so pretty, they had me captivated in an instant."
Tucked inside that whole speech were two little probes, and Noshiro Chiose quietly withdrew them.
It seemed The System's word was still quite reliable for now; there was no need to keep her nerves wound so tight.
She was being a touch too high-strung.
"If something like that were real, I wouldn't forget it, Little Chiose."
Ah… is that so.
Hearing that, Chiose let it all go.
She didn't want to keep on like this — probing, suspecting.
"Soyo-chan! We've known each other so long now — mm, two whole days! — and it's still kind of awkward, huh."
As she sighed, Chiose let her nerves unwind, and with a smile so sincere Soyo would never forget it for the rest of her life, she struck Soyo's heart head-on.
"Eh? Why bring this up all of a sudden?"
"What I want to say is — Soyo, come be my friend."
"Soyo-chan has sent me so many invitations to be friends, and I've hardly ever brought it up myself. I've been so remiss — so!"
Whatever worries, whatever troubles, whatever calculations — all of it, get lost.
Chiose was worn out by all the probing; suddenly she hated the whole business of it.
Her silver-white hair was bound into a braid, and as Noshiro Chiose gave it a toss, the plait glittered with dazzling white light beneath the spring sunset.
[Let all these words vanish! Whatever your reasons, Nagasaki Soyo, for liking me, for wanting to stay in my home… none of it matters. Just being reunited with you already makes me so happy.]
As long as I can catch hold of you again, that's enough — even if you were snared by the golden rings in my eyes, well, that too is a talent of mine, Noshiro Chiose's talent!
Those golden ring-eyes stood for the glory of Noshiro Chiose fulfilling her duty as a wicked woman time and again. They were a symbol of shameful honor.
They were the mark left behind by her desperate struggle to survive.
"Nagasaki Soyo, my name is Noshiro Chiose, and I want to be your friend for a lifetime — the same lifetime we just promised Tomori and the others. Come on, hand your lifetime over to me."
And you, Nagasaki Soyo…
Since everyone's affection ran high anyway, Noshiro Chiose simply stopped playing a part.
Without restraint, she let her rather heavy feelings pour out.
The truth was, Chiose had wanted to say this to Soyo for so long… every single day after the Simulation ended, Chiose had wanted to swear a lifetime to Soyo.
But she couldn't — she had no rightful cause. Now she could.
Soyo's relationship with Tomori and the others had been mended.
And Soyo now had a bond with her, too.
Thank you to the god of fate for its favor, for delivering Nagasaki Soyo into the home of me, Noshiro Chiose.
Thank you, Ms. Nagasaki — you successfully turned your daughter into a love-starved fool, into a great big loser so easily drawn to wicked women that the moment she lays eyes on one like me she's deceived, her spirit and soul torn clean apart!
"Come on, Soyo, we'll get to stay good friends forever — we'll be the very best of friends. Is this the lifetime you've been hoping for?"
[Promise me, Soyo — don't get tangled up with me. I'm blinding as the summer sun; you know you can't do without me, but if you draw near me blindly you'll likely set yourself ablaze. Don't get addicted to me, or the day you leave me, life will feel drained of all color.]
Once The System had answered her, the feelings for everyone that Noshiro Chiose had been pressing down inside her nearly slipped beyond her control.
She used to start a new Simulation to ease the emotions born of experiences like death and final partings… every time a Simulation ended she felt a genuine sense of death — brief, but no less lethal.
This time Chiose hadn't started another Simulation, so Soyo, having walked right into the line of fire, became the outlet for Chiose's feelings.
"I— is this real? Can we really be friends for a lifetime? It's not some fake lifetime to trick me, is it? I… no one has ever told me they'd be my friend for a lifetime… really… Chiose, you wouldn't be ly—"
Nagasaki Soyo stammered, her mind short-circuiting.
"I wouldn't! Little Soyo!"
Noshiro Chiose had reined in her expression, and her smile carried a faint, inscrutable something that Soyo couldn't read.
It was like the relieved smile of a hunter tearing off its disguise.
"I will never, ever… deceive you. Let's be friends for a lifetime…"
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