Worry Counseling (3)
Suzuki was crouched in a corner, trembling.
A new recruit is coming… a new recruit is coming… a new recruit is coming… a new recruit is coming… a new recruit is coming… a new recruit is coming… a new recruit is coming… a new recruit is coming… a new recruit is coming… a new recruit is coming… a new recruit is coming…
Serving as Noah's personal attendant was an immense honor. Among the yakuza of the Minamoto Main Estate, it meant you were the elite of the elite. On top of that, Suzuki had risen to captain younger than anyone else — a staggering promotion. And yet… Unit 0 consisted of Suzuki alone.
Which meant.
Alone at school…! And alone in the organization, too…!
Suzuki wanted to cry.
But even that misery ended today. Noah herself had called to say a new recruit was coming…! In other words, Unit 0 — which Suzuki had assumed would remain a one-woman outfit forever — was getting a subordinate.
A junior… a junior… a junior… I-I might die of happiness.
But it was terrifying!
"What a pathetic captain. Die."
"Eep!"
Or,
"This is the captain of the Minamoto Unit 0? The Minamoto have gone to seed."
"Ghk!"
Or,
"Huh? A yakuza who stutters? What a total piece-of-shit bitch."
"Hhk!"
Something like that could happen, couldn't it?!
It was scary…! It was so scary Suzuki wanted to split her own stomach open.
N-no, Kotone. You can do this. What kind of captain can't even handle her own subordinate?
Suzuki steeled herself and stood.
It's almost time…
With hands that wouldn't stop shaking, she checked her clothes. A cotton blouse tucked into her trousers, a black ribbon tie over it — everything was neat. No matter how many times she checked, though, she couldn't settle. If she lifted her head, she was sure something would look off.
Gritting her teeth, she used the glass door to inspect her hair, making sure she hadn't tied it higher than usual. Fortunately, it was the same ordinary ponytail as always. Only then did she let out a breath of relief — and that was when an unfamiliar pair of feet entered her field of view. She jerked her head up with a start.
A fairly tall, good-looking person. That was Suzuki's first impression of Masaru.
This man.
The place Noah had ordered him to find. Waiting there was a woman who was both familiar and not.
Her name was Suzuki Kotone, I think.
He knew the face. They were in the same class, after all.
Why is she here?
She wasn't in uniform. The whole atmosphere was different, and the short sword at her hip stood out especially.
Don't tell me. Is this her? The person she mentioned.
"A-are you… the n-new recruit…?"
Suzuki couldn't even meet his eyes. Her gaze darted everywhere.
Masaru answered with a face like stone.
"That's right. Are you the woman she spoke of?"
"I-if by 'she' you mean the young boss… y-yes. S-Suzuki Kotone. Captain of Unit 0."
"…Captain of Unit 0?"
"Th-that's correct."
Honestly, she didn't look it. A woman who couldn't even meet his eyes, holding a captaincy in an organization as vast as the Minamoto?
Masaru looked at her and asked,
"Do you know why she sent me here?"
"Ah, p-probably… she s-said it was a, a tour, so… we just n-need to d-d-do my work t-together, I th-think."
She bit her tongue mid-sentence. Blood dripped from her mouth.
Masaru blinked, slowly.
"I see. And what does this 'work' entail?"
"C-cleaning…"
"Cleaning?"
"S-since you're a new recruit… I thought you could h-help with my cleaning…"
Masaru frowned. Cleaning? Come to think of it, he had never heard of a unit called Unit 0 in any organization. A unit that did menial work, then?
That would make sense.
No matter how he looked at her, Suzuki did not appear to be a useful human being. Well — she might at least be decent at cleaning.
She says cleaning, but this is my trial. She probably wants to confirm I won't refuse even the grunt work.
It felt like a test of how far he could set his pride aside. Masaru's answer was that he didn't care in the slightest. From that moment on, the purpose of his life had been to follow Noah and nothing else. He was prepared to endure anything for that.
"Is the cleaning in this building?"
"Th-that's right."
"Then let's go in."
"Um…."
Suzuki twisted herself into knots. Her lips worked, and then she spoke louder than usual.
"I-I'm your senior…! P-please use honorifics…"
"……."
What a pathetic human being.
Masaru revised the purpose of this trial. Noah wasn't testing whether he could set his pride aside. She was testing his patience. That had to be it.
"If you want my respect, show me your skill."
"Eek!"
He hadn't even meant to intimidate her, but Suzuki trembled anyway. Masaru sighed softly and went up into the building first.
Bleeegh—!
Masaru dry-heaved in the alley. He had lost count of how many times. His face was ashen.
Suzuki watched him with a wilted look.
"Are you all right…?"
Masaru dragged in a ragged breath and looked at her with shaking eyes. Urgh. Just picturing that — still steaming — set him heaving all over again.
"I'm fine. I'm fine."
He barely pulled himself together and wiped his mouth. This was not the first time he had watched someone die. In more than one turf war, things had gone wrong and a few people had ended up dead; he had seen it often enough. But this—
The level is different.
His throat bobbed. He understood, viscerally, that everything he had seen before had been child's play.
A real yakuza was something else entirely.
"Haha."
The past suddenly felt so hollow he burst out laughing. He clutched his face and laughed for a long time.
Chairman of the Black Society? Taking over Tokyo? Everything he had been doing was just kids playing pretend.
Did I get too carried away…?
Suzuki's shoulders sagged. It was her first time having a new recruit, and she had been so excited she had taken on extra jobs she didn't even need and dragged him along. She had been lonely for so long. She hadn't wanted to send him home… and now his color was gone and he was falling apart. Working him fifteen hours on the first day had probably been a mistake.
W-what if he reports me to the labor office because I wouldn't let him clock out?
Frightened, Suzuki said,
"Um… if you're going to report me… please do it quickly…"
"Excuse me?"
"I-if you're going anyway, they say juvie's better than regular prison…"
This woman is insane.
The realization hit Masaru all over again.
Then a phone rang. Suzuki answered.
"This is Suzuki."
"I'm nearby."
"Yes. It's finished."
"Understood. I'll head that way."
The stutter was gone. Even the air around her had changed. Masaru, snapping back to himself, watched her with a tight expression.
Suzuki hung up, flicked a glance at Masaru, then stared at the ground, repeating the motion over and over as she spoke.
"Y-you're… dismissed…"
"Did something happen?"
"Th-they said only I should come…"
"…I see."
Masaru bit his lip. This was a trial. Then what score had he earned? If he were Suzuki, what would he give himself?
Nothing good, that was certain. He had clenched his teeth and endured at first — and after that he had done nothing but vomit.
In the end, I…
Masaru had believed he was special. Everyone around him had treated him with wary respect, and people had sworn loyalty without him lifting a finger. From childhood, he had posted superior results on every test thrown at him. They had called him a genius. He had even grown bored of it; honestly, it had all felt cheap.
Compared to this woman, though…
He was just ordinary.
He could not bring himself to stop Suzuki as she walked away.
Changed into her school uniform, Suzuki stepped into the dessert shop.
"You're late, Coco."
She flinched under Noah's scolding — then, little by little, squared her shoulders. Suzuki was an extremely timid, gloomy girl, but in front of Noah, the one person Unit 0's captain was bound to follow, she could at least play the part of a proper yakuza…
A yakuza……
An earthquake went off in Suzuki's pupils. With a look of pure disbelief, she pointed at Noah's head.
"Th-that. Wh-wh-what is that."
"Hah? Getting mouthy for a Coco? Got a problem?"
"N-no, ma'am."
Suzuki bowed in a hurry. Sweat soaked her from head to toe.
Noah had her long hair in pigtails, and that was the problem. In front of Noah, Suzuki could act like a proper yakuza. She didn't stutter. She didn't shrink into that cowed tone. But that was only true of the usual Noah. When Noah looked like this — nothing like her everyday self — the mask wouldn't stay on!
Utterly panicked, Suzuki had no idea where to put her eyes. And there was a stranger here besides. For Suzuki, the situation was indistinguishable from torture.
"M-miss… that, um… c-could you please take it down…? I-it's too much for me…"
Noah tying someone's hair as a service was a once-in-a-century event. Chise had waged an enormous campaign of persuasion to make it happen, and she was not about to sit still and watch it come undone.
"Suzuki-senpai, please sit."
Suzuki had been about to say Miss Fujiwara, then remembered she was supposed to use a different form of address when an outsider was present.
"Fujiwara… th-that's…"
Chise beamed.
"Please sit."
"I-I…"
Noah sighed loud enough to hear.
"Do your legs have to break before you'll sit down, Coco?"
"I-I'll sit..!"
Suzuki dropped into a chair so fast Natsumi was slightly taken aback.
"And this person is…?"
Chise answered while looking at Suzuki with open envy.
"That's Suzuki-senpai from the third year. Cool, right?"
"Ah, yes."
The reply was polite and entirely empty. Suzuki hadn't even been holding her head up properly, and her face was packed with terror. Natsumi could almost see herself looking exactly like that if time simply passed and she became a third-year.
"By the way, Coco."
Noah slung an arm around Suzuki's shoulders.
"You look even more pathetic than usual today. I'm bored — mind if I hit you just once?"
"E-eek."
It was, without a single missing piece, a gyaru picking on a social outcast. That alone was enough to cow Natsumi; she fidgeted with the spoon in her parfait.
Minamoto… is actually kind of mean. She doesn't look like it at all.
Suzuki was on the verge of tears. And hitting her? The mismatch with that face was almost astonishing. And yet…
Th-that might be a little cool.
For Natsumi, whose goal in life was to become a popular girl, that Noah was a wannabe!
"If you freeze up even in front of a first-year like me, isn't that pretty hopeless, Coco? You don't have any friends either, right?"
"Y-yes. I-I'm trash who doesn't have a single friend.."
"Th-that's going too far, senpai."
Yuria looked at Noah, flustered. Noah being mean was nothing new, but today it was a bit much.
"Shouldn't we stop her…?"
She whispered it to Chise, but Chise was already staring at Noah with a vacant face. It was unsettling enough that Yuria called to her carefully.
"Senpai?"
"Ah, hm? What did you say?"
"…Minamoto-senpai. I asked if we shouldn't stop her."
"Why?"
Chise looked genuinely puzzled.
"What? Why? Because…"
Yuria turned frightened eyes on Noah, who was still toying with Suzuki.
"Want to hit karaoke? Or go shopping?"
"Who'd want to go anywhere with the likes of you? Coco's just convenient as a footrest. That's the only reason I'm bringing you."
"Don't get the wrong idea. It's disgusting."
"Anyone can see that's bullying!"
"Ah. So approaching it that way is possible too."
Slurp. Chise had already finished her drink and was sucking air through the straw. She did not seem entirely in her right mind. Yuria was starting to get scared.
"What do you mean, approaching it that way…?"
Chise answered without a shred of hesitation.
"It's a reward, obviously. I'm so jealous… Suzuki. I want Noah to tease me too."
Yuria twitched and scooted a little farther away.
I should run.
She made up her mind. Stay any longer and something dangerous was going to happen to her. Swallowing, she turned to warn Natsumi — that none of this was helpful, that she shouldn't learn from it.
But—
"So cool…!"
Natsumi was already taking notes with sparkling eyes.