Will you be the one who gives the roses back to me?
In the very end, Chiose said nothing at all. She only held Sakiko carefully, so close that Sakiko felt she was about to be folded right into Chiose's body.
Even the sharpest tongue goes soft at a moment like this.
"Little Chiose, I'm sorry."
"Eh? What exactly is Sakiko apologizing to me for?"
"I— I don't know... I'm going home. I'm sleepy."
It was too dark to make out Sakiko's expression, but Chiose was a hundred percent certain the girl was blushing.
Losers like her are all the same.
Taki was like that, Tomori was like that, and even Soyo was still no different. At the end of the day they were children who hadn't grown up yet, and handling them was almost too easy.
What? You're asking how to handle adults?
In certain ways adults are even easier to handle. Take Nagasaki-nee, for instance.
Everyone has a weak spot. Noshiro Chiose's profession was finding other people's weak spots, breaking them one at a time, and landing critical hits.
"Let me walk you back. I'd worry otherwise."
"But," Sakiko's voice was as thin as a mosquito's whine, "but isn't my house only a few meters away..."
"It is! But you're Togawa Sakiko, so I just want to walk you home."
"Little Chiose, you've suddenly gotten so smarmy..."
She didn't dislike it, though.
"Is that so, is that so."
Chiose tossed the words off without a care. From the instant her relationship with Sakiko had been patched up again, her attention had already moved on to other things.
[Should I run a Simulation tonight? My hands are starting to itch.]
The Simulation was exhausting, but everyday life in the real world supplied Chiose with plenty of mental fuel.
"Then— see you tomorrow morning. Don't oversleep... or I'll go on ahead to school by myself."
That was what the girl in the school uniform said to the girl in loungewear as they parted.
"Is that so."
Chiose gave no real answer, only lobbed the question lightly back.
"It is! Good night."
"Good night. Sweet dreams."
I hope you really can fall asleep, Miss Togawa Sakiko, who has no friends left at all.
"Little Chiose, you were gone forever. And how come you didn't bring the pot and bowl back?"
Soyo and Kyoumoto had been watching the movie for over twenty minutes already, all the way to the part where Queen goes on their world tour.
In the meantime, Soyo had taken over Chiose's role, murmuring explanations of the plot to Kyoumoto at the important moments.
Granted, a movie about music often needs no subtitles at all. You only have to quiet down and listen.
But the translation work was still necessary.
"Oh, the neighbor next door felt embarrassed that she hadn't washed them clean enough for me, so we agreed I'd go get them tomorrow instead. She talked with me a little about things at her school."
"Eh? The girl next door is a high schooler too?"
"She is. Quite the coincidence, isn't it? Even though she looks like a middle schooler."
Chiose slipped the small lie in without leaving a trace, her manner so perfectly unbothered that she sank back into the mood of the movie the moment she sat down.
They finished the film, washed up, and got ready for bed.
"The romance in that movie was really tragic, wasn't it. Freddie lost his precious girlfriend, and then he could never find her again," Chiose said before sleep, with some feeling.
At present she was pinned in place like the patty in a hamburger.
Using "I'm scared to sleep alone" as her excuse, Soyo had wormed her way into the spot on Chiose's left, and the none-too-large bed had turned crowded and stuffy.
"That's because he never treasured her to begin with... Ah, it's such a shame. If the two of them had treasured each other a little more, maybe they could have had a happy life together."
Soyo buried her cheek in Chiose's hair, breathing in the pleasant scent.
[Little Chiose is such a good person. She actually agreed to sleep next to me... I love being looked after like this.]
This was the life Nagasaki Soyo was meant to be living. Those days of silent treatment, unanswered messages, being blocked and shut out — she never wanted them back!
"Then are big sister and the older big sister that kind of relationship from the movie too?"
"Pfft. Why does a kid ask so many questions?"
Soyo stopped talking. Kyoumoto still let a stray giggle escape now and then. Noshiro Chiose hummed softly and put the whole thing out of her mind.
Tonight she was running a Simulation! Time to field-test the ideas she'd been collecting these past few days and see what the final returns looked like.
She called The System silently. The world settled into stillness, and Chiose's consciousness was drawn back before the System panel she knew so well.
[This System will provide assistance prior to the Simulation. Assistance as follows]
[Please select your family background]
[Daughter of a Zaibatsu: fifty years]
[Daughter of the Upper Class: twenty years]
[Daughter of the Middle Class: ten years]
[Daughter of the Lower Class: one year]
[Daughter of a Vagrant: zero years]
[Birth Mystery Box: two months]
Two months. Not willing to cut the price even a little? System, you profiteering loser.
"I'll keep gambling. There's no way I start out as a vagrant every single time. That doesn't match the probabilities."
Please, let it be one of the top few this time. Then she'd make an absolute killing.
Daughter of a Zaibatsu and the like — she didn't even dare dream of it.
[Please select your talent (The System has been upgraded. From now on, four randomly refreshed talents will be offered for selection each time)]
"So it got an update? Let's have a look."
[Coerced Omen: Once per month. Activating this trait randomly generates one disaster, which will bring misfortune upon the host or the target. Lifespan cost: minus one month]
[Humble Devouring: Once per day. Allows one viewing of a target's inner voice, obtaining their real-time state for ease of striking. Lifespan cost: one month]
[Unbridled Might: Once per day. Causes one character in the Simulation to lose emotional control, though the loss of control will not be severe — for example, shifting from calm to slightly agitated. Lifespan cost: two days]
[Manifest Calamity: Once per lifetime. When the host's physical condition becomes unstable, the host may activate this trait at will, granting Coerced Omen a temporary upgrade. The upgraded Coerced Omen is guaranteed to inflict critical damage upon the host or the target. Lifespan cost: minus two months]
"!!!"
An unprecedented gleam radiated from those crimson pupils. Noshiro Chiose swore this was the first time she had ever seen The System show a rare flicker of conscience.
Coerced Omen paired with Manifest Calamity meant she could manufacture incidents without any human hand involved. Very convenient.
Humble Devouring would sharpen her ability to gather information.
Unbridled Might? Even better. Making someone carry this regret for the rest of her life only gets interesting when emotions spin out of control and set something in motion.
She loved options like these, the ones that handed her lifespan instead of taking it — especially when they were such a huge help to her Simulation.
"I'll take all of them!"
Taking all of them still left her far in the black. A deal with returns like that was almost too good.
[Please confirm once more that your selected assistance is: Birth Mystery Box, Coerced Omen, Humble Devouring, Unbridled Might, Manifest Calamity?]
Confirmed!
[Then the Simulation begins]
[Welcome back, Noshiro Chiose]
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