"I…"
The cold wind from outside rushed in, thinning the stale, muddled alcohol fumes inside the room. Compared to this gentle, angelic girl before her, Togawa Sakiko felt like nothing more than a [little rat crawling through the darkness of a sewer.]
But she wasn't even a little rat. If she had to put it into words, Sakiko felt she was probably closer to one of those small carrion-eating insects that couldn't stand the light.
Tonight the moonlight was crystal clear, all the gloom driven away. There was a theory that the moon had died long ago, and what circled the Earth was only its lingering corpse.
With her back to the dead moon, Chiose's smile gradually blurred, yet those golden, glittering red eyes stood out all the more against it.
"Get some rest soon, okay? I'm off."
That was what the girl said before she turned around, giving Togawa Sakiko no time at all to refuse.
Only when the faint sound of a door closing next door reached her did Togawa Sakiko finally come to her senses.
"Why do you… treat me this way, Little Chiose?"
I'm such a bother, and I wasn't even nice to you just now.
The thought flashed through Togawa Sakiko's mind — [maybe I should just leave the soup at her door and pretend nothing happened] — but she quickly frowned and shot it down.
No, no, that would only be worse, more revolting…
When had she become the kind of person who thought things like this?
The girl had gone far away, but she left behind a faint scent of wild lily. That delicate fragrance was soon diluted by the alcohol fumes pouring out of the room.
[I always pretend I don't need anyone to care, yet I keep hoping someone will truly see through me, and carefully place that rose into my hands.]
I'm so contradictory, so pathetic.
Casting a complicated glance at Chiose's door from afar, Sakiko clutched the insulated container tightly and walked back inside, as though she'd done something wrong.
"Haah."
Tonight was destined to be a night when sleep came hard. At least tomorrow… no.
Tomorrow she had to work again, too.
But in the silent, deserted dead of night, at least there was a bowl of steaming samgyetang to keep her company.
Maybe with every sip, Sakiko would remember Noshiro Chiose's smile for one more second.
"Where should I go and play tomorrow?"
Chiose drifted off to sleep holding onto that thought.
These past few days were a little holiday during the Simulation interlude. All she had to do was exchange small tokens of affection with her friends in reality and share a few gentle little interactions.
Because just that was enough to make her feel incredibly satisfied, incredibly happy.
The early morning was hazy with fog, and there were good-morning greetings on her phone from the three little ones.
Chiose leaned against the headboard, replying to everyone. Incidentally, Soyo had also been pulled into their little group chat of three the day before.
Kyoumoto wasn't awake yet. She was mumbling in her sleep, and her cute sleep-talk soothed Chiose.
"Taki said we should go shopping together today."
That idiot Soyo wanted to come too, but her sense of reason had recovered fairly well, and in the end she decided to stay home and keep her mother company.
As for Tomori?
After saying good morning to her, Tomori went quiet — probably imprisoned in her warm penguin blankets, drifting back to sleep.
That was just Takamatsu Tomori's routine; her loser traits had long been on full display.
Only after Kyoumoto stirred faintly awake did Chiose get ready to head out.
"Big sis will be back before lunch, okay? My morning's been booked by my friends… hehe. Is there anything Little Kyou wants to eat? Big sis will buy it on the way home."
"Eh! Sis, you dummy."
Kyoumoto planted her hands on her soft waist and nagged in the scolding tone one uses on a child:
"Sis, you've grown up too. No — you've really grown up! You used to be so easy to pick on and had no friends at all, so how did starting high school change you this much?"
Yeah. How did I change this much?
Kyoumoto couldn't see Chiose's helpless expression, and she would never know what the sister pressed close to her side was really thinking, either.
At last came a light peck — the symbol of their brief parting.
"Be good at home, okay? Go back to sleep. Little kids need lots of sleep to feel comfy."
Twirling the ends of her hair, Chiose suddenly remembered something rather hellish.
When she was little, she used to buy Kyoumoto eye masks all the time — ahem… it was so Kyoumoto wouldn't feel she was any different from other people.
Only later, when the family fell on hard times, she was forced to give up that somewhat extravagant little habit.
[Now that I have money, shouldn't I start buying eye masks to bring home again?]
Kyoumoto's weak-sighted eyes really did need a soft, smooth eye mask sometimes.
"Eye masks… eye masks. Why do all the ones online look so…"
Not cute.
"…Looks like I'll just have to learn some handicrafts during my next Simulation. My last two Simulations didn't teach me any new skills, and the guitar back home is practically gathering dust."
Ring, the cafe. Chiose sat at a table near the large floor-to-ceiling glass window, lost in thought.
She figured that if she and her friends ever really formed their own little band, she could be the guitarist or the bassist.
But being able to play only two instruments — wasn't that too limiting? If someone else wanted to play bass and guitar, she could give up her spot for them.
Maybe she should learn keyboard.
"Your matcha parfait! Hope you have a wonderful day."
The cute waitress came, the cute waitress went, leaving a single matcha parfait alone on the table.
Chiose hadn't dared to order this before, when she'd had no money. But after Taki and Tomori treated her a few times once she did have money, she'd fallen for the dessert too.
The matcha parfait at Ring was summer Kyoto-style. This dessert combined the fresh, tea-like fragrance of matcha, the smooth delicacy of tofu mousse, the sweetness of red bean paste, and the unique texture of shiratama dumplings, delivering a cool yet faintly bitter taste of summer.
"When summer comes, I'll have to come eat this with my friends too."
Savoring it in small bites, Chiose waited for her girls to come pick her up for shopping.
"Hoo…"
First she heard a breath being blown out, and then, as Chiose looked at her phone, a little head popped up across from her.
"Matcha parfait. Hoo."
"Eh?"
A languid girl with white hair just like her own had appeared here at some point. Closing her phone, Chiose found the girl alternately staring at the matcha parfait in front of her and glancing at Chiose herself.
She seemed almost too busy to keep up with both.
"Hello there. Is there something I can help you with?"
"Hoo… mm, I'll give you money. I want to trade for… the matcha parfait."
The girl with heterochromatic eyes lazily lifted her little head. She crawled out from under the table, most of her body draped across its surface.
"Eh? What now?"
Even the worldly, well-traveled Noshiro Chiose couldn't make sense of what this kid was saying. She pointed uncertainly at the matcha parfait in front of her:
"Oh? Are you saying you want to use money to trade away this matcha parfait I've already eaten from?"
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