"Chiose can't handle heavy food. She says the greasy feeling makes her want to throw up."
"But… she can't handle bland food either. That kills her appetite even more."
"Huh! Maybe I could try adding more spices? Write it down, write it down."
The kitchen. The last place Taki Shiina ever imagined she'd be occupying long-term.
But life really is bizarre. Not long ago Chiose was the one cooking for her, and now she was cooking for Little Chiose?
"Heh. Life."
She capped her pen, tore off the sticky note, and carefully pressed it onto the fridge, neat and straight, as a reminder not to screw up while cooking.
After all, even in the best-case prediction, she'd have to cook for Chiose for at least half a year.
And that was assuming everything went smoothly.
"It's been ages since I cooked. I didn't think it'd be this tiring…"
Embarrassing to admit, but for the past half year… no, the past year, it had been Chiose Noshiro cooking delicious meals for her.
As a result, Taki's skills had gone rusty and stiff. Terrifying.
"I didn't expect those girls to react so strongly, either. Still, the band's on break lately, so everyone can get some proper rest and get ready for the new term," Taki said, untying her apron and stirring the thick soup in the pot with a ladle.
She'd added a fair amount of seasoning, hoping it might give Chiose some appetite.
Carrying a platter of cut fruit, Taki followed the sound of the piano up to the attic.
"That Little Chiose! She's gone to the piano again!"
I told her! Lie down properly and don't move around! Honestly, this girl…
"She doesn't take care of herself at all! Something's going to happen sooner or later!"
As Chiose's closest… friend! Um… partner… Taki felt it was her duty to make her stop playing.
"Burning herself out and whatever… I still can't really understand it."
…
"Ugh, this is awful. Every Simulation is nothing but suffering."
As a qualified Simulator, what had Chiose Noshiro been through on her Simulation journeys?
Falling from a great height. Heart failure from alcoholism. Stabbed by a random killer. Dying young from some baffling disease after years of high pressure and irregular hours. A fever that wouldn't break. Cancer. Illness. Drowning. Inflammation. Deafness. Depression. Anorexia…
Maybe I'm pushing too hard for the sake of lifespan.
Chiose stretched. At the moment she couldn't bear to imagine food for even a second.
Organ meats and mashed potatoes, for instance. The mere thought of them made her nauseous, made her want to vomit, though there was nothing in her stomach to bring up.
"This is awful… but this is exactly the effect I want."
This time, Chiose didn't plan on dying of illness.
Dying of illness over and over was a bit too monotonous. Only different ways of dying could make her realize how precious life was.
That would give Chiose more drive to keep living, and let her strike without hesitation in every Simulation to come.
"Haah."
Things hadn't improved since the trip back from the hospital.
Anorexia… Chiose felt that even if she hadn't used that trait on herself, the her in the Simulation would have developed it sooner or later.
When Taki was home, she was fine. The moment Taki left, Chiose forgot to eat. Add to that the mental strain of constantly experimenting with all kinds of musical styles, and of performing so often…
"Ehh~"
Something like this really did feel unavoidable.
She couldn't keep any food down in daily life, and now whenever she thought of the foods she used to love, she only thought of their worst side.
Thinking of grilled meat, she thought of greasy juices. Thinking of tripe, she was swallowed by some inexplicable plasticky, rubbery feeling…
Often, only fruit was Chiose's salvation. Its refreshing taste could briefly ease the nausea inside her.
When plain water poured down her throat and swelled into a false sense of fullness, when stomach acid scorched her esophagus during forced vomiting and the pain felt almost like release, Chiose Noshiro tasted a twisted bitterness in the tang of blood.
"Sys, are you sure that once I'm back to normal I'll adapt right away to normal hearing, no anorexia, no feeling of ever having been depressed?"
"Of course, my good girl. Of course."
The System's fingertip traced across the shoulder Chiose had left bare, and finally came to rest at the corner of her lips.
"Gross. Don't touch me."
"I'd advise you to stop talking to yourself, dear. Only you can hear my voice. Yours, though… not necessarily."
The System pointed toward the stairs, and Chiose caught the faint sound of footsteps.
The girl with the purple eyes was coming up.
"Don't worry. I'll cut out the part where you have to adapt to being normal. You've worked hard on this Simulation, so I'll take a smaller cut this time."
"Huh?! Be honest with me. What percentage of the total lifespan gained does the part I actually get per Simulation come to?"
Chiose Noshiro bristled like a startled kitten, outrage written all over her eyes.
Just thinking she'd been earning less than she should felt like being robbed.
"Let me think."
The System, in her mature woman's body, sat on the windowsill, ready to tip backward off the house at any moment.
"Roughly… fifty-fifty? Sometimes, when I'm in a good mood or you've earned plenty, it goes sixty-forty in your favor."
"Fifty-fifty and sixty-forty, huh… You wretch, I'm the one who earned all of it."
"Relax, relax. I love you most. See you!"
The System blew a kiss, fell backward, and vanished from Chiose's sight.
A moment later a little bird with white feathers and golden eyes swept past the windowsill, trailing a string of calls, and Taki Shiina came up the stairs.
[Little Chiose!]
Taki was speaking aloud as she signed. She must have been really worked up.
[You promised to go lie down and rest! Is your body even fixed yet, and you're playing piano! Come on! I'll carry you back.]
"Aw, come on, I love you most. Let me play at home for a little while. Today I want to play without any clothes on. Just let me play for a bit."
A flicker of helplessness crossed Chiose's eyes.
A year of dating Taki, and the most scandalous thing they'd done was… lips touching lips… and then not a single thing more.
It was lucky the script Chiose had designed this time was already settled and mostly carried out. Otherwise she could simply turn around and launch a cuckold move, and Taki would surely carry this regret for the rest of her life.
Hmph. Silly Taki.
[Huh! That's, ] Taki hesitated, just as expected, but the hesitation was quickly replaced by resolve. [No! You'll catch a cold again. Go lie down in bed, now.]
"Honestly, Little Taki has no appreciation for the joys of the piano at all."
[That's because Little Chiose is too… wicked!]
So innocent, my Little Taki.
Chiose hopped down from the piano bench, kissed Taki on the cheek, and skipped off to the bedroom.
"Bleh. Silly Taki, thanks for the hard work cooking! That just now was your reward!"
"Huh?"
Taki blankly touched the side of her face.
"A reward? All it takes is cooking to get a kiss?"
Well, that was great.
She would retreat into the kitchen and take over Chiose's three meals a day!
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