"Little Chiose, is that you? Little Chiose?"
[Is this a dream?]
Yoshiiro Chiose found herself bound to a chair, the surrounding darkness broken only by the swaying of a single small light overhead.
By rough estimate... this looked like a basement.
Only that flickering bulb above cast any light on the room. Someone stood in the shadows, speaking to Chiose.
"Who are you?"
"You don't recognize me? I'm Takamatsu Tomori."
Face half-lost in darkness, Takamatsu Tomori stepped closer to Yoshiiro Chiose, raising a long blade slicked with fresh blood.
Only now did Chiose notice that, at the border between shadow and light, there seemed to be... several other figures lying on the floor.
[As I suspected — this is a dream.]
With that realization, Chiose let go of her worries and shifted herself into the most comfortable position her restraints allowed.
Narrowing her eyes at the figure drawing closer step by step, Chiose spoke — unhurried, unruffled:
"Little Tomori. And just what do you think you're doing?"
"I — I want to keep Little Chiose here. That way Little Chiose won't get hurt..."
"But Little Tomori — you like me, don't you."
Chiose found herself wondering just how long it had been since she'd had a dream this vivid.
"Y-yes... it's precisely because I like Little Chiose..."
"But if you like me, shouldn't you follow my wishes? If you like me — then why are you restraining me? Little Tomori, you'd listen to what I say, wouldn't you? So why aren't you listening now? That makes me sad, you know."
"I... I will listen to you... but I..."
"Little Tomori, my good girl — untie me."
Chiose tilted her head. She could feel that she was about to wake up soon.
The dream was growing stranger by the second — the ropes fell away, and Tomori dissolved like a summer ghost, there and gone in an instant.
Gazing into those pomegranate-red eyes, Chiose gave a playful blink.
"I blaze like the summer sun — and you know you can't do without me."
But if you drift too close without thinking, you might find yourself burned.
Don't let yourself get addicted to me. Because once I'm gone, the world will look gray to you.
...
Beep — beep —
Beep — beep —
Seven in the morning. The alarm Chiose had forgotten to turn off shrieked to life at the worst possible moment.
The noise dragged her out of the dream. She opened her eyes to the familiar walls of the apartment — her fourth simulation, right where she'd left it.
"What a vivid dream," she murmured.
The little Soyo nestled in her arms was already making her displeasure known, butting her head grumpily against Chiose's chest.
She's so adorable. She's so well-behaved. She's already started to depend on me.
She's already started trying to hold on to me.
"No — more accurate to say she's already been caught by me."
Chiose pressed a good-morning kiss to Soyo's little cheek, tucked the blanket snugly around her, and slipped out of the bedroom.
Brush teeth, wash face, make breakfast. By now, had the Nagasakis and Ichinoses already started the divorce proceedings?
A slice of bread clamped between her teeth, Chiose sat cross-legged on the sofa, half-listening to the morning news while turning the matter of the Nagasaki couple over in her mind.
"Speaking of which — I'm supposed to break the news to Little Soyo that her parents are finalizing the divorce today. How exactly am I going to bring that up?"
Actually... did she even need to? She'd already laid the groundwork with Soyo well in advance.
"But those two rotten adults with their rotten intentions — they'll definitely find ways to keep picking at Soyo's wounds even after it's all said and done."
Chiose remembered that in reality, Soyo carried her mother's surname — which meant that after the Ichinose divorce, Soyo had gone with her mother.
So on the road from Ichinose Soyo to Nagasaki Soyo, the girl still had two very important passages left to walk through.
"The first is saying goodbye to her father."
"And the second?"
The System materialized with poise and elegance — and helped herself to the bread right out of Chiose's mouth.
"The second is... what are you doing out here? That's my breakfast."
"I'm here to remind you that you need to pick up the pace."
"There's no rush, my dear golden-eyed little snow-white beauty. Have you ever heard the expression — play the long game, reel in the big fish?"
Chiose snatched the bread back from The System — one bite taken out of it already — and carried on eating without a second thought.
"Mm, I know, but..."
"Hush now, my precious little System. All you need to do is listen to me and follow my lead. The one who gets to sit back and collect dividends can stay quiet and follow orders. There are so many things I still need to try, so many things I still need to learn — your impatience won't change any of that."
The deep wine-red of Chiose's eyes met The System's pure, clear gold. Neither spoke another word — the television filled the silence, cycling through reports of recent tsunamis and earthquakes.
"Fine. You really have changed a great deal, you know. What is it that changed my Little Chiose?"
"You did. You and your meddlesome little hobby of toying with people's fates."
Chiose pointed toward the bedroom.
"My little one is about to wake up — and I don't imagine you want to derail my plans. Introducing a strange, barely-human creature like you to a small child... seems like a good way to traumatize her."
"Farewell. I only came to check on your condition — and it looks like you're doing just fine."
"Farewell — and next time I need you, I hope you show up faster."
The bread was snatched away one final time — and this time, The System vanished along with it, disappearing right through the front door.
Chiose didn't even have a chance to take it back.
"Tch."
Now, that second passage she'd been about to describe... was actually quite simple.
Miss Nagasaki was going to make a great deal of money. Soyo's circumstances were going to change drastically.
When that time came, the child named Nagasaki Soyo would grow lonely. Mm-hmm — Miss Nagasaki would be too busy to be there for her, and the friends around her wouldn't be able to fill the hollow in her heart. Little Miss Soyo would fall into a very empty period.
That was when you moved in. Strike at just the right moment — and the effect would be at its peak.
To make that happen, though, she needed to "set Soyo aside" and let her sit for a while.
Conveniently, they were already close enough now. In a little while, Chiose would quietly pull back — step away from Soyo's daily life — and create the [vacancy] that Soyo would fill all on her own.
Chiose estimated the direction of Miss Nagasaki's future efforts, and Little Soyo's likely academic trajectory.
Perhaps... waiting until Soyo's first year of middle school, and then swooping in to fill that hollow girl to the brim — that would be the ideal timing.
She would check in from time to time during the interim... mm, but not too often.
"Yoshiiro Chiose, you really are rotten to the core."
Yoshiiro Chiose leaned back against the sofa, tilting her head up to stare at the ceiling.
"But without me — Little Soyo's life would be so much worse."
So really, this was a good deed.
"Chiose-mama? Chiose-mama!"
A small, drowsy voice drifted in from the bedroom.
There was a faint tremor in the way she called out — like she was on the verge of tears. A nightmare, probably.
And when a nightmare hit, the first name she called out for was mine.
"I'm coming, my sweet little Soyo."
Yoshiiro Chiose — go give that child your gentleness. Even if the gentleness you offer is intermittent, unable to last, only shining on her in scattered moments.
But do not forget — you are one of the very few who have not yet hurt this child.
Every single person who loves Soyo has wounded her far more deeply than you ever have.
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