"I..."
Soyo's pupils trembled violently.
[What do I do?! What do I do?!]
To fabricate a single lie, you needed countless lies to patch it up one after another—Soyo had known from the very start that a moment like this would come.
She just hadn't expected it to arrive so soon!
Facing the two sisters in their pajamas, Soyo Nagasaki drew in a deep breath.
Let her wits seize the high ground once again! She seemed to have hit upon a countermeasure.
[Noshiro Chiose, this is where you fall short—I possess an information advantage you can't even imagine! With this much intel on hand, I know your personality almost inside and out, so—!]
The corners of Soyo's mouth curved up ever so slightly, but she let no one catch it.
A sudden thud rang out—Soyo had... dropped to her knees once again!
"Wait, Soyo, what are you doing?"
Chiose wanted to step forward and stop her, but it was already too late; when Soyo lifted her head again, Chiose found that her face was streaked with tears.
"I'm sorry! I... I want someone to be with me so badly. Even before the house burned down, my mother hadn't come home in ages. I need someone to keep me company—please, I'm begging you, don't send me away! I'll really do anything!"
"My parents are divorced, and I've never had a single friend... You're the only person in the whole world who held an umbrella over me in the rain, took me home, and heated water so I could bathe... Please, let me be your friend—I swear I'll satisfy your every need, I really don't have any friends left..."
Such pitiful words—though laced with a handful of lies, the vast majority were truly Soyo's heartfelt confessions, straight from the depths of her soul.
"Huh? I..."
A long, emotion-laden monologue battered against Chiose's reason.
Her heart sank, skipping several beats in a row.
[This kid really is... how can she be this starved for love?]
She was nothing more than a kindhearted person who'd given her the tiniest sliver of sunshine—and that was enough to work her up this much?
Just now, she'd practically bared her whole soul, as if she'd wanted to simply hand over the family's bank cards outright.
This kid was acting like... like something was wrong in her head; there was really no need to thank and beg me so grandly.
[It seems the Soyo of reality has truly had a terrible time of it.]
Chiose tried to help Soyo up, but at that moment Soyo resisted her with every last ounce of strength in her body.
"I won't get up... boo-hoo, not unless you agree to my request."
Oh, my dear elder sister Soyo Nagasaki, please don't be like this!
"What request? Honestly... fine, I'll agree. Is that not enough?"
"I..." Soyo's eyes suddenly lit up. She swiftly seized Chiose's wrist and said, "Be my friend for a lifetime!"
"That's so sudden—you may be pitiful, but I..."
"Please!" Seeing that Chiose had only softened yet her heart still couldn't quite be reached, Soyo prepared to spin a few more little lies.
"Today I was actually planning to... end my own life. If you hadn't saved me, I..."
"What? End your own life?"
Chiose was genuinely panicking now.
[No, no, how on earth could you have thoughts like that?]
Seeing that she couldn't get Soyo to stand, she knelt down right beside her as well.
"Don't think that way... We're friends! Mm! Friends... so don't end your life, okay? Think about happy things... uh."
In this kid's life... there didn't seem to be anything happy at all.
The floor was icy cold, and Chiose's back and forehead were beaded with cold sweat.
What Soyo meant was... if she hadn't gone out to buy fruit today, she would have done herself in?
[Are you kidding me?! The script clearly wasn't written this way.]
Wait...
Hadn't The System said before that anything was possible?
The Simulation she'd lived through was merely the single most likely of thousands upon thousands of futures; in the real world, countless factors could give rise to all sorts of unexpected accidents.
Such as...
The Soyo standing before her.
Chiose first got to her feet to tuck her little sister back under the covers, then grabbed Soyo and dragged her outside.
"First... come out with me. Let's go outside and talk it over properly."
"Hm? Mm!"
Tears—they never tell anyone just what kind of feelings they hold within.
It was precisely for this reason that Soyo could weep without any restraint, never fearing that Chiose might spot a flaw.
The teardrops slipped secretly between her lips and teeth; the bitterness and sweetness within made even Soyo herself shiver.
She realized she was almost there! As long as... as long as she communicated well with Chiose, they could surely become friends, couldn't they?
And so Soyo was carefully drawn out onto the balcony by Chiose.
Compared to the terrace at her own home, the balcony of the Noshiro residence was pitifully small, yet Soyo didn't feel cramped in the least—on the contrary, she rather liked the atmosphere here.
It carried a certain feeling of childhood...
"Phew... Soyo! You really are a handful."
Noshiro Chiose let out a sigh, but Soyo knew it wasn't out of disdain for her.
"Now let's talk this out properly, all right? You must have a lot you want to tell me, don't you?" Chiose felt as though she'd been carried back to those days spent simulating being Soyo's mother.
She had eased little Soyo's worries and troubles just like this back then.
Honestly, how had the Soyo of the real world—the one without her in it—turned out like this?
She even wanted to take her own life? How could you bring yourself to say something like that right in front of your mother?!
"I..."
The moonlight was gentle; there was no wind tonight, and beyond the house lay scattered specks of lamplight.
Even the rain had stopped.
Soyo's lips quivered a few times. She'd conjured up plenty of sob stories, and she knew that as long as she kept pouring out her woes, she'd surely move the girl before her.
But the surge in her heart fizzled out the instant it reached her lips.
[Maybe... I shouldn't have lied... I'm starting to regret it a little.]
[Let me just lay out my story honestly. I hope...]
She hoped she might get to hear Chiose's story too.
Could they really bare their hearts to each other after only a few hours' acquaintance? Wouldn't that make her look terribly starved for love?
Should she hold back a little, or...
[No!]
Facing Chiose's curious and concerned gaze, Soyo immediately snapped to what she had to do.
[Having come this far, my only way forward is to keep pressing onward!]
[In order to... obtain Chiose, I have to cast aside these ridiculous notions of mine!]
"I... attend Tsuki no Mori. You must know that school, right... But I haven't been studying there since kindergarten."
Soyo Nagasaki clasped her hands together before her chest; though teardrops still clung to her lovely face, her emotions had grown far calmer.
"It all begins with my parents' divorce..."
"Eh?"
Chiose obligingly let out a sound of surprise; she was now beginning to cross-check the details.
[Where exactly did things go wrong to make Soyo kick up a scene like this today?]
Not going home on a rainy night, wandering around aimlessly with thoughts of death in her heart.
This kid must have suffered some kind of shock.
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