"Ngh…"
How could… things turn out like this…
Chiose really did believe what Soyo had said.
It wasn't because she was simply gullible—it was that the sorrow in Soyo's voice was far too real, sounding nothing at all like a lie.
Combined with the way the other girl looked right now—like some kind of vagrant—ah, how had things come to this?
Sigh…
Mournful tears fell silently. Chiose herself didn't understand why, upon seeing Soyo—someone who had once been her family—fall into such a state, she felt the urge to cry.
If only [Three Submissions] were still here, then she wouldn't be lost in so many stray thoughts.
"Auntie… is she doing okay now?"
Chiose kept her guard up, wary of slipping and revealing something hard to explain, so she deliberately left off the surname before "Auntie."
"She's fine… nothing serious."
The moment Soyo finished speaking, she regretted it.
Since they were strangers, there was no such thing as a topic to talk about.
She'd ended the subject of her mother too soon, and precisely because of that, a long silence spread out between the two of them.
[This situation really is a total disaster….]
Having regained a bit of her sanity, Soyo Nagasaki deeply regretted not bringing an umbrella, not putting on a little makeup, and not taking a shower before heading out—
[Showing up at Chiose's home in such a wretched state, her first impression of me has definitely hit rock bottom, hasn't it?]
And besides… Chiose didn't seem to have agreed to let her stay yet, either.
So bad, so bad—Soyo Nagasaki, don't tell me you've gone and messed things up again.
Unconsciously sitting up from the sofa, Soyo Nagasaki no longer wanted to make small talk.
[I want to stay here, but my brain can't come up with any better idea.]
With a "flop," she dropped straight to her knees, clinging tightly to Chiose's fair, soft, smooth thighs.
"Please! I really have nowhere else to go—I'm begging you, let me stay here! As long as you let me stay, I'll do anything! I…"
"? I never said you couldn't stay! Y-you, you—hurry up and get up, don't kneel like that, the floor's cold."
"I…"
"What on earth is all this about? Miss Nagasaki, please calm down—why don't you go take a hot bath first? I've already got pajamas and a bath towel ready for you."
Nagasaki?
"There's no need for us to be so formal… really… I…"
Soyo truly hated that distancing form of address, especially coming from Chiose's mouth: "Call me Soyo. I personally really dislike being called by my surname, so please, Miss Chiose, just call me by my given name!"
"Eh? Sure, okay."
Sorrow was fleeting, especially after being startled by Soyo's sudden collapse to her knees.
Chiose silently wiped away her tears.
She'd actually found it a little strange all along—by conventional logic, when friends first meet, addressing each other by surname is the best choice.
Unless they were very close, or the type to get friendly fast, normally only in very rare cases would people call each other by their given names.
Yet whether it was Tomori, Taki, or Soyo, they all emphasized to Chiose that she absolutely must not call them by their surnames.
As if doing so would pierce their very hearts.
[Am I… falling behind the times?]
Watching Soyo limp toward the bathroom, Chiose absentmindedly shook her head.
It probably had something to do with the fact that she didn't have many friends to begin with, so she wasn't clear on modern ways of making friends.
"Sigh… Soyo."
…
"Sigh… Chiose."
Soyo leaned back against the glass bathroom door, her heart belatedly beginning to pound violently.
She'd succeeded!
She really had succeeded!
She, Soyo Nagasaki, had successfully gotten close to Noshiro Chiose in the real world!
Right now she reigned over Chiose's bathroom with the proud posture of a victor!
"Next I need to find out which school Little Chiose attends… if possible, I'd really love to tell Mom about transferring schools."
After a full day of being cut off, her rationality had finally more or less recovered. Fiddling with her smartphone, which hadn't gotten water-damaged, Soyo discovered…
[No one's really been trying to reach me? Oh, there's one—it's Mutsumi.]
Mutsumi had sent a single question mark. She was probably curious why Soyo hadn't come to school.
Soyo replied simply with [It's nothing], and at the same time sent a message to her mother:
[I'll be studying at my bestie's place these next few days, so don't panic if you come home and can't find me. Mom, you work so hard—if you can, please come home and rest more often. I miss you.]
Although she really wanted to go see her mother right now, Soyo knew her mom had so much work that she might not have time to come home.
All she could do as a daughter was to care for her as much as possible.
Setting her phone casually on the washstand, Soyo peeled off the bath towel wrapped around her body—and only then realized that the underwear beneath it had been taken off, too.
"Chiose! So… so bold…"
Steam spread as the showerhead turned on, and amid the warmth Soyo gradually relaxed her taut nerves.
She'd been picked up and taken home by Chiose.
It was the genuine, real-deal Chiose—her looks, her personality, even her aura were all exactly the same.
She'd come home. As long as Chiose was there, that place was her home.
Soyo's cheeks and the tips of her ears grew more and more flushed—whether from embarrassment or from overly hot bathwater, who could say.
And that's how it was.
"And that's how it was! So I brought her home with me!"
"But that girl said her name was Soyo, right? The same name Sis cried out in her dreams… so she really is a little sister you've been keeping on the side, isn't she? Boo-hoo-hoo… how could you! Sis, you're so mean!"
Little Kyoumoto pounded at Chiose's chest with her tender little fists, and Chiose, laughing apologetically, could only stroke the back of her head to soothe her.
"No, no, that's not it—Sis loves you the most, you know. Soyo is Soyo, and Kyoumoto is Kyoumoto. You're my one and only little sister, Kyoumoto."
Chiose deployed the power of wordplay! And she successfully led Haizuka Kyoumoto around in circles.
Blinking her unfocused eyes, she gazed up at Chiose with a bewildered look.
"Eh?"
And then she let out a puzzled little sound, adorable as a small animal.
"She's really just Sis's friend."
Soyo Nagasaki seemed really… fragile right now? It looked like the whole house-being-burned-down thing really had dealt her an incomparable blow.
Knock, knock—
The open door was rapped lightly, and when Chiose turned her head, she saw Soyo, fresh out of the bath and still giving off steam.
Her long brown hair hung down naturally, and that pretty, bloodless face was heartbreaking just to look at, paired with those one-of-a-kind blue eyes—
Soyo Nagasaki, you look positively soft, sweet, and delectable.
"Sorry to bother you, Chiose—I wanted to know where I'll be sleeping tonight? Ah, I really will pay rent! I still have a little savings on me…"
"Oh, right, you have savings…"
"Then why don't you go rent a place of your own?"
Chiose tilted her head, sensing that there was something off about this Soyo standing before her.
[Could it be that there was a lie mixed into what she told me just now?]
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