They should have been the two people in the world who knew each other best, yet now they were cautiously getting to know one another all over again.
"Later, the band broke up. I'd always treated the band as my spiritual anchor, but it was destroyed."
Leaning back against the balcony, Soyo discovered for the first time that she could calmly state the fact that the band had broken up.
In the past she might have argued and trotted out some laughable line—something like how the band hadn't broken up, it was just that no one came anymore.
But now Soyo had completely accepted this fact; she even felt... relieved by the band's dissolution.
She no longer needed that kind of loveless [home]. There was every hope she could find the [home] she truly needed.
"Eh? What happened after that? All of that was before Soyo-chan started high school, right?"
Chiose sat right beside Soyo. With no cushion under her and so little clothing on, her bottom felt chilly.
"Yeah. I thought I'd already gotten used to a life like that—being ignored by my bandmates, having them take all the kindness I gave them for granted—but it wasn't until today that I realized I can't stand my old life anymore."
"So it was today's fire that made Soyo completely break down?"
"No, it wasn't the fire at all... I—I actually..."
I actually lied.
"Eh?" Chiose glanced sideways.
Not because of the fire? So then...
"But I really, really feel awful, Chiose—can you understand the feeling in my heart? You probably think you only did some trivial little good deed that doesn't warrant such a big reaction from me, but... what you've done for me has already left me endlessly grateful..."
"You're the only person I've met in my whole life who would ever help me, Little Chiose. If you hadn't... taken me home with you, I would surely have already left this world by now..."
A feeble voice, limp limbs, swimming eyes—that was Soyo's current state.
Yet she felt strangely feverish and exhilarated, caught in a mixed state of being both tired and not tired at once.
The pajamas she wore were Chiose's, the body wash she'd bathed with was Chiose's too, and on top of all that, Chiose was right beside her...
[I can't take it! I'm surrounded by Chiose's scent. It's just like drinking some unusually hot, fiery liquor—I'm about to get drunk.]
"So that's what Soyo's story is, huh. I never imagined your wish would be for me not to drive you away..."
Half of her pretty face buried against her knees, Chiose hugged her legs, a faint light glimmering in her wine-red eyes.
"Yeah... sob... No, I still want to become friends with you."
"You idiot..."
Honestly, so this was what they called [fate]?
Chiose had come to take fate and the like quite in stride now; she always felt that everything she ran into was the arrangement of some great hand of destiny.
Since she could encounter something as absurd as The System, picking up a high school girl squeezed breathless by the pressures of reality was nothing out of the ordinary either.
"Ahh, ahh, you've had it rough, Soyo."
These words weren't spoken only to the Soyo before her—but sadly, only the Soyo before her could hear them.
The rain had washed away the world's dust, letting Tokyo briefly trade for fresh new air. Scattered stars adorned the silk cloth of the sky in little bits and pieces, and behind the two girls stretched the night sky.
That starry sky lay bare, just like the bodies beneath the girls' flimsy nightgowns.
"A farcical first meeting, an emotionally shattered girl, and a lost me, huh? Tonight really has been a busy one."
"I'm so sorry! I've caused you trouble. I... shouldn't have gotten so worked up, but I really was so moved..."
"But why me?"
"Because only Chiose would take me home. You're my..."
Chiose waited for Soyo to go on. Her heart ached.
Though she understood that Soyo and Tomori's high school years hadn't been easy, she'd never imagined they'd been this hard to endure.
The pocket of youth ought to be stuffed with plenty of innocence and dreams—so why did these girls, still just children, have to meet such unchangeable realities?
So this was what they called the great age of girl bands? How terrifying.
Chiose remembered a certain god-tier band she'd run into a few years back: on the day of their very first stage performance, every member flaked out, leaving only the bassist on stage, teary-eyed and quietly sobbing.
From that day on, Chiose—who worked as a ticket seller at the live house—understood that this whole band thing was a terrifying business.
Just look at Soyo now, and Tomori too—weren't they both victims of bands?
"Hm? Why'd you go quiet, Soyo? What happened next?"
When Chiose turned her head, she found that Soyo had long since closed her eyes.
Her whole body leaned against the balcony railing, completely drained of strength. If Chiose hadn't spotted the girl's even breathing, she'd have wanted to scoop her up and sprint her to the hospital.
"Fallen asleep, have you? Ahh, you've had it rough."
This child must have had a hard time these past years.
Though the Simulation's ending was to carry this regret for the rest of her life, the process itself was really about making up for the simulated protagonist's regrets and flaws.
Deprived of a mother's love and companionship, alone for the greater part of her life—Soyo Nagasaki, please rest well for one night.
Lifting Soyo up, she realized the girl was far lighter than she'd imagined, and Chiose caught the fragrance on Soyo's body.
It was a blended scent of Chiose's own smell mingled into Soyo's body fragrance—a one-of-a-kind aroma.
"What an overgrown child you are—even in your teens your emotions are still so unstable. No wonder you, you idiot, are still such a loser even at thirty."
In the guest room, Chiose tucked the blanket over Soyo.
She thought that maybe the adult version of Soyo in the Simulation had also broken down like this one day in high school and fled from home.
Only that Soyo hadn't, in the end, been picked up and taken home by a kind soul.
So what would Soyo have felt, how would she have reacted back then? Would that Soyo have gone on weeping bitterly? She would have, surely. She would have.
"But I swear you won't run into that situation. After making a fuss all night, you little loser have finally gone quiet."
Considering that Soyo might not have eaten anything all day, Chiose couldn't rest just yet.
She used a whole chicken chilled in the fridge to simmer a soup, and also made some vegetable macaroni for Soyo to enjoy when she woke tomorrow.
Finally, Chiose passed by the guest room and, just as she would have with a young Soyo, gave her a gentle peck on the forehead.
"Good night, Soyo. The world will treat you gently."
"At the very least, I'll do everything I can to make your world more comfortable, Soyo."
"Big sis? That little sister you picked up outside has finally stopped crying, huh."
Back in her own room, Chiose found that Kyoumoto still hadn't fallen asleep—instead, wearing a gossipy look, she questioned Chiose in an eager, curious tone.
"That kid is just a child, really. She looks mature on the outside, but that missing childhood is always going to leave a few problems in her heart... Never mind, forget I said that. Anyway, everything's sorted out now."
"Big sis, you've really changed."
Kyoumoto pulled back the covers to welcome Chiose's grand arrival, a trace of... teasing? in her tone.
"Yeah—changed into loving you even more."
"Big sis, so cheesy!"
"It's just that Kyoumoto's such a loser."
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