"Dummy Tomori, this one's for you. Dummy Little Taki, this one's yours."
"Eh? Thanks, Little Chiose… wait, how did you know I like coffee?"
Shiina Taki eyed the BOSS Coffee in her hand suspiciously — she didn't recall ever mentioning this to Yoshiiro Chiose.
"Eh? Oh, so Taki likes coffee? I just grabbed something at random."
Yoshiiro Chiose hadn't really thought twice about it — she'd just casually picked up three cans from the vending machine downstairs.
"I remember the vending machine downstairs only stocks this brand of coffee, right?" Tomori said, pressed close against Chiose's arm, carefully absorbing Chiose's energy.
"Oh, right, now I remember — that's true. I used to go to Hane-oka too, after all."
Why couldn't she remember things like that?
Because the dream from that one night had been so vivid that even Taki was having trouble telling it apart from reality.
She took small, contemplative sips of her coffee, savouring the downtime after finishing the cleaning.
While Taki was lost in her thoughts, Tomori had already started carefully attempting to hold Yoshiiro Chiose's hand.
And Yoshiiro Chiose hadn't refused at all.
Today's club activities had more or less wrapped up with the end of the cleaning. Shiina Taki, who'd single-handedly shouldered the bulk of the work, was now resting with her eyes closed.
"Eh? Tomori, you're saying Taki did basically all the work?!"
"Yeah! Taki… she's so amazing!"
Tomori successfully managed to interlace her fingers with Yoshiiro Chiose's, and leaned against Chiose's shoulder as she told her all about Taki's brave and fearless exploits —
It made Taki blush just listening to it.
"Wow, Taki-chan, you're so amazing! So cool~"
"Cough, cough, it was nothing, cough cough cough cough… just small things well within my abilities."
"Even so, that's super impressive! Taki, you're so strong, so cool!"
"Hmph hmph."
Shiina Taki was thoroughly flustered by all the flattery.
She crossed her arms over her chest, the corners of her mouth twitching nonstop.
[Haha, Little Chiose is praising me! She's never praised Tomori like this!]
Tomori rested her head against Chiose's shoulder, her other hand wrapped around Chiose's arm.
She loved the scent on Chiose so much — similar to the one in the Simulation, yet not quite the same.
The sharp tang of alcohol was gone, replaced with the sweet, fragrant aura that belonged only to a beautiful girl.
So nice…
Shiina Taki was secretly thrilled, Takamatsu Tomori was in bliss, and Yoshiiro Chiose — seated between them — was like the patty in the middle of a hamburger.
Everyone had a beautiful future ahead of them.
That was just how things were.
The daytime hours out and about were full of bustling noise; the evenings spent at home were brimming with warmth.
Haizuka Kyoumoto — praise be to you. You are the angel of this mortal world.
Hot soup had always been a staple dish of the Yoshiiro household — but ever since this family had lost its pillar, and the relative who'd taken in the Yoshiiro sisters had skipped town and fled the country, it had been a very long time since any refined soup dish had made its way onto their dinner table.
"Eh? What kind of soup are we having today? I haven't smelled this one before."
Eyes that had lost the ability to focus rolled this way and that, but Haizuka Kyoumoto still couldn't quite work out what kind of soup had been served up in the bowl in front of her.
"Give it a taste — it's a dish I just learned how to make."
"Wowww, it feels like Big Sis has been earning a lot of money lately! She even replaced all the furniture!"
"Pfft, you little small fry."
Sitting in your bowl are ingredients worth more than a day of Big Sis's lifespan, and that dumb little chair under your dumb little bum is worth several days of Big Sis's lifespan.
Why has the house gotten richer? Because Big Sis whaled out with her own life, silly child.
"It's so warm."
Kyoumoto didn't drink the soup right away — instead, she pressed her face down at a safe height and felt the heat rising from it.
"Mm, hot soup really does make you feel warm."
"Big Sis, you really are getting more and more like Mom."
Yeah. More and more like her.
Chiose said nothing, just rose to fetch some rice for Kyoumoto.
Soup was just an appetiser — as a main dish, it wouldn't fill anyone up.
As the piping-hot rice tumbled into the cold rice bowl, Chiose found her thoughts drifting, for no clear reason, to the wooden floorboards of the Ichinose apartment.
Little Soyo, walking across the wooden floorboards of the little Ichinose home — if she'd only been able to eat the steaming-hot home cooking and the steaming-hot soup that Ms. Nagasaki made… just imagining it for a moment was enough to make you agree with what she'd just said.
Unfortunately, neither the Soyo of reality nor the Soyo of the Simulation had ever gotten to experience it while she still went by the surname "Ichinose."
Everything had been missed. Every single thing had been missed.
The soup Chiose had made for herself was a basil-and-garlic egg drop soup; the one in front of Kyoumoto was a tomato-and-carp soup.
This was a kind of soup not even Little Soyo had ever tasted.
"It's so good — scary-good… it feels like I'm drinking the ocean?"
Kyoumoto said this as she brought a spoonful of the red tomato and the soup glistening with carp's transparent oil to her mouth.
"Scary? The ocean? That's the first time I've heard it described like that."
This child can't see anything at all… hm? Or is it precisely because she can't see that she's better at finding special connections between things?
"Mm, Big Sis, you remember how you took me to the seaside a few days ago?"
Kyoumoto took another small spoonful.
"I remember."
"Standing at the seaside, listening to the sound of the waves crashing against the shore — even though I couldn't see what the sea looked like, I always had this feeling of being swallowed up… that feeling made me forget everything; all I could do was listen quietly to the sound of the waves. And drinking the soup gives me this same feeling — it makes me forget everything. It's so good."
So that's what 'scary' meant — becoming a dummy after forgetting all your worries. Truly terrifying.
Chiose drank her basil-and-garlic egg drop soup, and the memories tied to those three found, for a moment, a brief reprieve.
She felt so guilty, couldn't let it go, wanted to apologise — but they wouldn't be able to understand.
In all the world, she alone, Yoshiiro Chiose, bore the memories and the sins of the Simulation. Those things were so heavy.
But while drinking the soup, there'd be a few seconds in which she could forget all her worries.
This soup carried a faint sweetness; the fragrance of basil and garlic deftly stirred the throat, and the soft egg drops slid across the tongue.
It made you want to sigh in wonder.
"My soup's a little scary too."
Chiose narrowed her eyes, and Kyoumoto narrowed hers as well.
This was a dinner everyone enjoyed very much.
…
After dinner, Chiose — her little face flushed pink — went out for a walk by herself.
She really ought to have stayed home and kept Kyoumoto company, but Chiose just hadn't been able to sit still these past few days.
She didn't really know what was going on with herself either — maybe because she'd gone so long without a chance to catch her breath, she just couldn't stay idle anymore.
Once today was over, she'd have only fifteen years, nine months, and twenty-six days left to live.
As she walked, Chiose ended up back at that dock.
Just like with getting to know Takamatsu Tomori, Chiose had experienced this little dock across its different periods. Counting this latest encounter, she'd completed, in her own peculiar way, the full collection of its various stages.
Ding —
A ringtone came from her phone — someone was calling her.
"Hello? Tomori? What's up?"
"It's nothing… it's just, my parents are working the night shift again today, and I'm feeling a little… lonely?"
It sounded like the other end had bottled it up for a long while before finally getting those last few words out.
High-school-era Takamatsu Tomori was unexpectedly bold.
"Want me to keep you company for a bit? I'm out on a walk right now, so I've got the time."
"Where are you walking, Little Chiose?"
"At the docks — why?"
"…"
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