"There's a guest at my place today."
On the walk home from school, Chiose and the other two strolled shoulder to shoulder. She had no idea how Shiina Taki pulled it off, but every time she and Tomori stepped out of the school gate after class, they'd find Shiina Taki already there, having waited a good while.
This idiot couldn't possibly be cutting class just to wait for them, could she? That would be loser behavior taken to a whole new level.
"Eh? We won't be intruding, will we?"
"Let me think… probably not. My guest's a bit shy—chances are she'll be holed up in her room sleeping."
Even so, Nagasaki Soyo was acting seriously off, and it planted a strange suspicion in Noshiro Chiose's mind.
Soyo was starved for affection, sure—but being this starved didn't quite hold up, did it?
But…
[The evidence is still too thin—it can't support my theory.]
Chiose twirled her own strands of hair to amuse herself, and when that wasn't enough she moved on to twirling Tomori's, leaving the poor little victim too frightened to make a peep.
"Chiose, what's your little sister like? Since it's our first time visiting, shouldn't we bring her a little gift?"
Shiina Taki cared about the little details. Barring surprises, Chiose's little sister would play an important part in her relationship with Chiose.
That was Chiose's little sister, after all!
If she could become friends with the girl… as long as she'd put in a few good words, wouldn't Taki's own score in Noshiro Chiose's eyes just keep climbing?
"A gift? No need for anything like that. You're only coming over to hang out for a bit—why are you two so tense?"
Noshiro Chiose held Taki's hand with her left, while her right kept stroking Tomo-Tomo's little head. She had her hands more than full.
The Friday walk home was clearly livelier than usual, girls in twos and threes holding hands as they headed home together.
So a setup like Chiose's—one on each arm—hardly stood out in the crowd.
This, too, was one facet of the great girl-band era!
Up the slope, a left turn, a wait at the red light, straight on for a stretch—past the little apartment from the second Simulation, past the old house from the fourth Simulation—and they'd arrived at Chiose's current home.
"Phew…"
Sure, Soyo was at her place, and sure, Soyo already knew Taki and Tomori too—but Chiose wasn't the least bit worried anything would go wrong!
After all, a straight body casts no crooked shadow. As long as she, Noshiro Chiose, kept everything within the bounds of her own predictions, nothing could shake her.
Conveniently, these losers' old band was a thorn in their hearts as well, so if she could seize this chance to ease the friction, all the better.
They surely still cared deeply about the band.
Chiose smiled as she told her two little tagalongs stories about playing around the neighborhood as a kid—though she'd long since lost track of how many of those tales came from times when Tomori had been her little sister, or when Soyo had been her daughter.
So many near-identical memories were jumbled together that, unless Chiose sorted through them carefully, she couldn't tell them apart.
"Oh, oh—so what happened next? What became of that toy bear?"
On the stairs, Taki's question caught Chiose off guard.
But Taki only asked because, a few minutes earlier, Chiose had told the story of how Soyo's mom had washed the little teddy bear for her.
"What happened next? I've forgotten—maybe it's still sitting around the house somewhere."
She hoped that when Soyo's mom hugged her daughter's teddy bear to sleep, she wouldn't soak the pillowcase with tears. That would be far too mortifying.
She swung the door open in one smooth motion. Behind her, Taki was chatting with Tomori about everyday things at school.
Though most of the time it was Taki quizzing Noshiro Chiose about what she'd been up to at school.
"Little Kyou! I'm home!"
The instant the door opened, a little white-haired dango burrowed into Chiose's arms. But before Chiose could get a word out, Kyoumoto, looking a little flustered, beat her to it:
"Sis! That little sister you lured home yesterday—she fainted!"
"Huh?" No one was more baffled than Taki.
Chiose's heart lurched. She shoved the door all the way open, and the sight that met her eyes was Nagasaki Soyo slumped over the dining table, foaming at the mouth?
"Huh?"
How on earth had things turned out like this?
Here's how it happened.
When Nagasaki Soyo woke once more, the time had already crept past two in the afternoon.
Her body was no longer stiff, though it was weak and aching all over. Her mind was a fog that wouldn't turn over, but at least the memories she treasured had come through undamaged. The little bed was soft, and the sunlight pouring in through the window wasn't harsh.
How nice.
"The little sister my sis is keeping from outside? You're awake!"
The little girl's timid call drifted through the crack in the door. Soyo smoothed out her clothes, doing all she could not to leave a bad impression in front of Chiose's little sister.
Though… the wretched sight of her on her knees yesterday had surely already been seen loud and clear.
But this kind of effort was still worth it—just in case, right? Just in case she really could flip the image around.
"I'm awake now. You're Little Kyoumoto, aren't you? Good afternoon."
The radiance of motherhood began to blaze out in every direction. She, Nagasaki Soyo, had been a mother for six years, after all—er, ahem, a few months—so getting a little girl to not dislike her should be simple enough.
"Um, um, mnh."
The little white-haired dango squirmed shyly, too bashful to speak to a stranger, and the sight was cute enough to melt Soyo's heart.
"Is there something you need help with? I'll do whatever I can to help Kyoumoto."
Kyoumoto… Haizuka Kyoumoto. That given name and that surname were both uncannily close to so many people from the dream.
Was she really never going to escape the shadows of [Noshiro] and [Haizuka] for the rest of her life?
"Nothing! It's just that Sis said once you—the little sister she brought home from outside—woke up, I was supposed to call you over to eat! Mnh-mnh, you're not allowed to steal Sis from me! I'm the little sister she loves best!"
With that, Haizuka Kyoumoto scampered off.
Those last few lines seemed to be something Kyoumoto had screwed up her courage to say. The phrasing was meant to sound commanding—but coming from a little white-haired loli, it just came off as thoroughly adorable.
"Pfft—okay, okay, I won't steal her from you. I'll tidy myself up and come eat."
Soyo was in wonderful spirits. Adorable Chiose, adorable Kyoumoto, a cozy little home—if only she could live here for the rest of her life.
[What a shame I still have an idiot of a mother to look after… Last night I didn't even wish her goodnight the way I always do.]
Feet tucked into the same little bunny slippers from the dream, Soyo felt countless shards of memory come rushing at her.
She hoped she wouldn't run into anything else tied to the dream today—otherwise she really was going to snap.
"Chiose's little sister may have bad eyesight, but she runs away surprisingly fast."
When Soyo reached the dining table, she found the food already reheated, so mysterious there beneath its opaque cover.
"What could Little Chiose have made for me?"
Nagasaki Soyo's stomach let out a pitiful whimper, and without much hesitation she lifted the mysterious veil over the food.
"Huh? This is… samgyetang?!"
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