"…"
No sound came through from the other end of the line for a long, long time.
Takamatsu Tomori's silence was starting to make Chiose herself feel a little afraid.
"Tomori? Tomori! What's wrong? Why aren't you saying anything?"
"Quick…"
Then suddenly, a trembling voice came through.
"Quick what? Say it properly."
Yoshiiro Chiose was leaning against a wooden post on the dock, letting the sea breeze blow comfortably against her.
Hm? Wait — sea breezes blow during the day. At night it's supposed to be the land breeze.
Yoshiiro Chiose carried on, comfortably letting the land breeze blow over her, quietly waiting for Takamatsu Tomori to speak.
What's gotten into this kid? She hasn't made a single sound for ages.
"Quick… quick, come down to my building! Little Chiose! I feel like there's someone outside my front door. I'm so scared…"
Takamatsu Tomori's voice was shaking, coming out in broken pieces, with a sob caught in her throat.
"Huh? What?! Should I call the police first?!"
This time, it was Yoshiiro Chiose's turn to panic.
Without stopping to think, she took off running in the direction of Tomori's home — every trace of her earlier ease vanishing in an instant, her mind going completely blank.
"No, don't… you! You hurry over here!"
Has Takamatsu Tomori actually started crying?!
Huh?!
"Are the doors and windows locked? Turn off the lights inside first — the lights, I mean the actual lamps, not you! Quick, find somewhere safe and hidden and hide for now. I'll be right—"
Beep, beep, beep —
Before Yoshiiro Chiose could finish, Takamatsu Tomori had hung up the call from her end.
"What's going on?! Eh?!"
Chiose ground her teeth.
Hurryhurryhurry — she was almost beside herself with panic.
The strides her legs were taking surprised even Chiose; her lungs felt as if they were burning faster and faster, and she felt the bite of cold air rushing into her throat —
How did this come up out of nowhere?! Alcohol Lamp didn't mention anything about this!
Didn't mention it… does that mean it's actually nothing serious, then?
But this is a world I personally intervened in — Tomori's life included. No. There's no way. There absolutely won't be a problem!
"Tomori! You'd better stay safe for me! If anything happens to you—"
Then I, Yoshiiro Chiose, am going to be carrying lifelong regret in reality, dammit!
Chiose was experiencing running this fast for the very first time, and the sensation was not the slightest bit wonderful.
The truth was that there was no one at her door at all — she wasn't in any danger whatsoever… Takamatsu Tomori had lied.
She had, for the moment, lost the ability to speak; her phone had fallen to the floor, but she didn't have the strength to bend down and pick it up.
Half-hunched, she leaned against the wall, the tears beginning to spill down uncontrollably.
"I remember… I remember now…"
When Chiose had said she was at the dock, it had made Takamatsu Tomori recall every last bit of the pain from the dream.
Right now, she was sobbing as desperately as if she were the Alcohol Lamp who had just lost Alcohol Chiose.
"The dock… the dock… ahh…"
She clutched her head, the unease and the bitterness inside her seeming to put down roots and sprout. They wound through the depths of Takamatsu Tomori's mind, stabbing again and again at her fragile nerves.
Night, the harbour, alone…
All of them. All the elements are all here!
"Hngh…"
Even after catching a tiny bit of breath, Tomori still couldn't stop crying. She picked the phone up, and only then realised the call had already been cut off.
How did I even come up with a lie like that just now… that was awful — I didn't scare Little Chiose, did I?
Even though lying to someone was shameful, in those split-seconds just now she hadn't been able to come up with any better way to get Chiose away from the harbour.
Her chest felt tight, and the top of her head felt like a string of tiny explosions was going off in it… it was so awful.
"Little Chiose, don't blame me for lying to you… and don't blame me for making you worry… I was just too scared."
The first time I lost you was because of a tiny mistake of my own — that's the kind of thing I, Takamatsu Tomori, can avoid by being more careful.
The second time I lost you… was because of human-caused disaster — and that's the kind of thing I can't solve from my own end.
So all I can do is keep steering Chiose away from unsafe places — but isn't a version of me like that incredibly selfish?
I'm so disgusting, so disgusting… and on top of that I lied — all because of my own nightmares? But I'm really so scared. I'm… genuinely terrified.
The terror at the airport that day, and the grief at the funeral — no one had ever helped Takamatsu Tomori shoulder any of it.
She had borne it all alone, walking — burdened with every last drop of her negative emotion — through countless places where she and Little Chiose had once shared thousands upon thousands of beautiful memories.
All of those wonderful things had turned into blades that wounded her, stabbing again and again at the rare bits of fresh flesh she'd only just managed to grow back, scraping them raw…
So afraid of losing her. Truly so afraid.
Especially now, when Takamatsu Tomori had been given Yoshiiro Chiose a third time… three times. If she lost Yoshiiro Chiose in reality this time too…
"Ahh…"
Just imagining the possibility of Chiose being taken out by a random murderer in reality made Tomori's brain stem tremble.
Bang, bang, bang — there came a hammering on the door from outside.
"Tomori? Tomori! I've had a look around outside, there's no one out here, hurry up and open the door…! Tomori? Are you okay? Say something! Tomori!"
Unexpectedly… the voice on the other side of the door sounded even more frantic than Tomori was.
"Little Chiose! I… I can't get up — wait a sec!"
Tomori wanted to shout it out, but her limbs were stiff as beer bottles. She braced herself against the windowsill to push herself up, then shuffled along the wall toward the front door.
The wall seemed infinitely long; Takamatsu Tomori felt as if reaching the end of it was an impossibly distant prospect.
"I… I'm coming! Little Chiose!"
When Tomori's hand finally made contact with the doorknob, the icy feel of it under her fingers was what made her realise she'd cried a whole lot of tears.
"Tomori! Are you okay?!"
The instant the door swung open, Chiose pulled Takamatsu Tomori into her arms, then carefully kicked the door shut behind her with one foot.
"I… I can't breathe!"
The tears, the snot — all of it was caught up in the soft warmth pressed against Yoshiiro Chiose's chest.
The fragrance that came from a girl's tender heart made Takamatsu Tomori instantly forget every last one of her worries.
[Such… such a happy feeling.]
"You didn't get scared, did you? Honestly! You! No, no — I'm going to order online… I'll buy you a home-defence baseball bat… and one of those telescoping barriers you can stand by the door, and… ah, why aren't you saying anything!"
"Little Chiose."
When Chiose lowered her head and looked into Takamatsu Tomori's eyes, she felt an unparalleled shock.
Those pomegranate-red eyes held a tangle of complex emotions, but they didn't look chaotic in the slightest — rather, they were strikingly clear and uncomplicated.
What a brilliant pair of eyes.
Chiose could even see her own eyes reflected within them.
Amber, mirroring a deep crimson shot through with gold, with golden ring-like shapes flickering in and out of view — four of them, in fact.
"I hate you."
That was how Takamatsu Tomori opened.
"Eh? Don't hate me, please…"
"No. Hate… lasts longer than love! So I'm going to hate you… Little Chiose…"
"Little Chiose… you… are my… only friend now… Little Chiose…. I… I'm so scared."
Teardrops fell from the corners of the girl's eyes; Chiose tenderly wiped them away — only for her own tears to drop down onto Tomori's face.
"Eh? What is Tomori so afraid of…"
"That my only friend… will leave me…"
"Little Chiose… truly… I really have… nothing left to lose…"
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💖 Gift for Everyone: Once we hit 50 Powerstones, I'll release +1 bonus chapter to warm your hearts.
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