Nagasaki Soyo had been in a terrible state lately.
Never mind her own condition — her mother's was even worse, if that were possible.
Something had happened. Work troubles, maybe? Or something else entirely? Soyo couldn't tell.
Last night, her mother had come home. That should have been a happy thing.
But she'd come home in tears — walked straight through the door and locked herself in her room, and by the time Soyo left for school the next morning, that door still hadn't opened.
She had cried like a little girl.
It left Soyo's already-low spirits even lower.
Tsuki no Mori Girls' High School. A little past ten in the morning.
Soyo had barely managed to adapt to the pace of high school, and right now she lay slumped across her desk, completely motionless.
She had no interest in socialising. No energy for conversation. Every time a break rolled around, all she wanted was to bury her face in her arms and feign sleep — anything to keep the world at bay.
It hurt so much.
[You only understand the ache of loneliness once you've known what warmth feels like...]
Why did she have to dream something like that? If she'd never felt love that fierce and all-consuming, she could have gone on tolerating the thin, flavourless reality she'd been living in.
But then she'd met Yoshiiro Chiose — and woken up to find that no such Yoshiiro Chiose existed in the real world. Not one who loved her like that.
Someone — anyone — please come save me.
Who in this world could make her feel warm? Feel happy? No one. Reality was cruel — so cruel she didn't even know who deserved her sincerity anymore.
Because it felt like... once you'd witnessed what real [love] looked like, everything you'd experienced before it was exposed for what it was. Hollow. Shabby. Not worth the name.
Take right now, for instance.
She did actually want to find out where Sakiko Togawa had gone. But Wakaba Mutsumi and Sakiko kept batting the question back and forth between them like a riddle — they were making a game of her. What did they take her for?
A little pet they could treat however they liked?
Not that she, Nagasaki Soyo, had any warmth left for Sakiko. The emotions from the dream had carried over perfectly into reality, and the resentment in her chest kept quietly piling up.
These days, every time Soyo laid eyes on Sakiko Togawa, that scene played itself back — Sakiko, throwing her arms around Chiose. Tch, tch, tch.
"Soyo?"
The light in front of her suddenly dimmed — someone was standing there.
And that familiar voice...
"Mutsumi? What is it?"
Soyo propped herself up, listless, the dark circles beneath her eyes deep and heavy.
"Are you alright, Soyo? You look awful."
"I'm fine, thank you," Soyo said, sighing. She knew what Mutsumi was like — she couldn't blame her for it.
"I planted some cucumbers, Soyo. Want to come see?"
"Sure... okay."
Soyo didn't want to turn her down — not this girl who treated her like a friend.
A question she'd once asked herself surfaced in her mind.
[If Yoshiiro Chiose were here, what would she do?]
If Chiose were faced with a friend's invitation, she would never let that friend's heart go cold.
So she had to do the same — become someone like her. She couldn't let her own friends feel hurt...
"Soyo? Why are you crying?"
Wakaba Mutsumi looked flustered, reaching for a tissue to wipe Soyo's tears — but Soyo stopped her before she could.
"It's nothing. Just... I suddenly realised that some things can never come back."
All I can do now is imitate her — to savour a little more of Chiose's warmth for just a while longer.
If only I hadn't said such harsh things that day. If only, during those weeks when her mother was ill, I'd noticed something was wrong and paid more attention to her —
Everything would have been different. At least there wouldn't be this much regret. Right?
Soyo walked alongside Wakaba Mutsumi. Together they passed through the long corridor, heading toward the garden at Tsuki no Mori.
"Wait!"
Nagasaki Soyo stopped dead in her tracks, her pupils trembling.
She hadn't thought of it until now, but thinking back...
"That white-haired girl I passed on my way home the other day... she looked like..."
Really — a ten-out-of-ten resemblance to Yoshiiro Chiose. Maybe nine-out-of-ten.
Those eyes, always burning with that red light — there was no mistaking them.
"What is it, Soyo?"
"Mutsumi, I think I might..."
I might have a chance to catch her again.
...
"Ugh! It suddenly got really cold."
At the back of the classroom, Yoshiiro Chiose was in the middle of a pleasant between-class chat with Takamatsu Tomori when, out of nowhere, a chill ran up her spine.
"Huh? Little Chiose, are you coming down with something?! Did you catch a chill last night?!"
"Calm down, Mini-Lamp — if anyone's catching a chill, it's more likely you. You came downstairs in your pyjamas last night, remember? Not even any socks."
"That's only because... Little Chiose was being mean last night..."
"Heh heh."
Can we really have gotten this comfortable with each other in just a day or two?
Takamatsu Tomori — you truly are my kindred spirit. Our meeting really was written in the stars.
Taking advantage of the moment Tomori turned her head, Chiose began braiding her hair into little plaits — something she used to do in the first Simulation whenever she was bored... God, the nostalgia.
"Little Chiose! Stop braiding... I'll just have to undo them later."
So much trouble!
"Heh, alright, alright — oh, Taki's asking if we have time after school. She says she wants to hang out with us."
Yoshiiro Chiose held her phone screen up so Tomori could see it.
She'd always felt that Taki and Tomori were both just a little too eager — though perhaps that was simply because they genuinely had no friends.
Chiose filed that thought away quietly, while her face stayed as carefree and easy as ever.
But whatever lay behind their warmth — whatever their reasons — Chiose found she couldn't dislike them.
They were good kids. Genuinely, truly good kids.
After all, they were people she, Yoshiiro Chiose, had personally fine-tuned and come to know across multiple Simulations — their personalities, their temperaments. She knew them through and through.
That was one of the benefits of the Simulation, she supposed. You were never left to stumble into the wrong people.
"Huh? Sure, I don't think I have anything on after school anyway."
Before school had started, Tomori had actually been planning to join a club.
But plans had a way of falling apart. Now Takamatsu Tomori wasn't sure if she'd have time for a club at all.
Joining a club meant less time with Little Chiose. Not joining felt like a bit of a waste.
Hmm... hmm?
"Little Chiose! I — I want to ask you something!"
Takamatsu Tomori clasped her hands together, her voice tight with nerves.
"What's got you so worked up?"
"I... I want to join the Astronomy Club! Little Chiose, you... you..."
Come on, stupid mouth, keep going — why are you choking up now of all times!
Tomori felt her throat go itchy; the last few words simply wouldn't come out.
"Oh? Is this an invitation to join a club together?"
Yoshiiro Chiose smiled, her eyes curving into crescents.
[Little Lamp really is the cutest.]
"Um — yes!"
"Sounds great — clubs are the best part of school, aren't they? Let's go sign up after class. The teacher mentioned yesterday they're recruiting new members!"
"Oh, okay — but what about Taki? Taki said after school she wanted to..."
"Don't worry, I've got a plan."
Chiose gave a cheerful little clap of her hands.
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