"Aren't you afraid she might actually say yes?"
"Not even a little."
After drinking her fill, Yoshiiro Chiose chose not to stay over at Tomori's place. Instead, she made her way back to the little apartment she'd barely set foot in these past few weeks.
The System — wearing the form of a poised, mature young woman — stood beside her. Cool and composed on the outside, nothing like a human being; more like a celestial maiden who had tumbled down from the heavens.
Systems really are something else, aren't they?
No wonder so many protagonists on Hedgehog Cat end up proposing to their System.
"And you're not afraid I might refuse you either?"
"Not at all."
"Why not."
"Because — I can already guess that you have performance metrics to hit, right? Otherwise you wouldn't have been in such a rush during that very first simulation… heh, and if the lifespan I'm earning really only concerns me — if it's purely for my own benefit and completely useless to you —"
Chiose paused deliberately, straining to observe the System's reaction. But that perfectly expressionless face gave her nothing to work with.
"If it were useless to you, I can't for the life of me imagine why you'd be more anxious about this than I am. What, are you some kind of selfless saint?"
If the System really were that sort of saintly do-gooder, there'd be no need to make Chiose run simulations in the first place, would there?
A true saint would just hand you the lifespan outright — not assign you tasks, not make you work and struggle for it.
"It seems the long simulations have given you ample time to think."
"They have. It'd be a waste not to make good use of all that time."
Might as well pick up extra knowledge inside the simulations, sharpen more skills — that way, real-world her could earn enough money to support herself and her little sister.
"So then — why aren't you afraid that Tomori might say yes? Because from everything we've discussed, the most critical step in your plan hinges on Tomori refusing to go to America with you."
A flicker of puzzlement crossed the System's flawless features.
"Because no one on this earth understands Takamatsu Tomori better than I do."
Chiose pointed toward the moon — its light unchanging, ancient, and oddly reassuring.
"It's just like the moon. If there were no life on the lunar surface, every single person on Earth could tell an alien: 'We are the species that knows the moon best in all the universe.' Of course they could — humanity has lived under the moon's light since the beginning of time. And that's exactly how it is with me."
"I have lived through Takamatsu Tomori's entire life — except for her adolescent years. But I know her childhood and her adulthood, and I have heard Tomori speak of her own past with my own ears."
"So even though I'm not Takamatsu Tomori herself, and I'm not her parents — the experience of being by her side, day after day and night after night, gives me more confidence than anyone else to say: I am the person who understands Takamatsu Tomori best."
Chiose reached out and took the System's hand, offering her most signature gentle smile.
Sure enough — even a System could be warmed by the tenderness performed by this sort of wicked woman! Just look at how that oblivious thing's whole demeanor had shifted!
"In short — I know Tomori's character. Whatever stage of her life it is, I'm confident I can read her. And so…"
"So you designed this ending specifically for your little alcohol lamp?"
"Yes… yes, I did."
"And you don't feel reluctant to let her go now? The same way you were reluctant before, when it was mini-Tomori?"
"Of course I'm reluctant. But… what else can I do?"
It's not like I can just stay in this simulation with her for the rest of my life… what would happen to the real me, outside of it?
A simulation is only a simulation. Don't make it real.
Cruel as it was — it was inevitable.
The wind swept through the alley and lifted the tips of Yoshiiro Chiose's hair. She gazed out at the city skyline in the distance — windows blazing with light, the whole skyline thrumming with life, like a paradise built from neon and concrete.
"Toko, as you once said yourself — simulated characters can't feel pain. So we shouldn't worry too much about them, should we."
When it was over, she would cry for them. She would carry everything from the simulation in her heart. She could dig their graves with tears streaming down her face, for all it mattered — Yoshiiro Chiose had one year left to live.
Nothing mattered more than surviving. Especially now that she was no longer alone.
"You know what — forget it. You're just a System. What would you know."
The way Chiose looked right now, you'd never guess she'd just put away a whole case of beer. Maybe tonight's evening breeze was particularly good at clearing a person's head.
"I really want some bulgogi rice right now. Ugh…"
...
Inside Takamatsu Tomori's rental apartment — a quiet, lonely night that belonged to Tomori alone.
"I really want some bulgogi rice right now. Ugh…"
Chiose's bulgogi rice. God, she wanted another bowl so badly.
Every time in the past, after the two of them had drinks at Ring II and stumbled home, there'd always be a bowl of Chiose's bulgogi rice waiting for her.
The flavors of the dressing and the grilled meat had satisfied Tomori's taste buds again and again.
But tonight was different. Tonight there was no bulgogi rice — and no Chiose either, not coming home with her to shower and sleep.
She had already gotten a little used to the two of them sharing their days like this.
Takamatsu Tomori ran her hand over the empty space beside her in the bed, feeling strangely hollow and lost.
"This feeling is so… unfamiliar."
"I hope I haven't upset Chiose… if only I'd known sooner, I would have…"
[Tomori, I want you to make your own choice — a choice that comes from your own heart, not one guided by someone else.]
Chiose's voice echoed in Tomori's ears, drawing her thoughts out longer and longer, before finally snipping them all clean away, like a pair of scissors.
So conflicted. So miserable.
Caught in her hesitation, Takamatsu Tomori dialed her mother's number. Unsurprisingly, no one picked up.
"It's so late — Mother must have already fallen asleep."
Good. Mother had worked so hard her whole life. She deserved the rest.
What kind of hopeless daughter was she, running to her mother the moment things got difficult.
Just like a little kid.
"What am I even supposed to do — I want so badly to go with Chiose, but at the same time I feel like…"
[Drink up! Tomori! Once you hit the Happiness Spiral, everything gets better!]
Another hallucination. Chiose's voice seemed etched into Tomori's very bones.
"But that's not wrong, actually… I'll drink, then. Make my choice after I sleep it off."
Chiose had said she could guide Tomori into the Happiness Spiral herself, as a substitute for alcohol — but Chiose wasn't here right now, so Tomori would just have to settle for the real thing.
She fished the vodka out of her coat pocket. Chiose had left it for her.
The room was dim. The only thing piercing the darkness was the steady, rhythmic sound of Ishi's breathing. Takamatsu Tomori walked barefoot across the handmade pebble path on the balcony, each uneven stone pressing into her soles.
[Drink up, Tomori. Drink up.]
Tomori could still hear Chiose's voice — but she knew, better than anyone, that it wasn't a hallucination at all. It was simply her own mind imagining what Chiose would say if she were here.
When you got down to it, wasn't this just another form of running away? Takamatsu Tomori.
Why are you always like this.
____
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