Fujiwara Chise's Scheme (3)
Thwip!
Suzuki snatched the taser dart out of the air with her right hand, red eyes blinking.
"……."
Just making contact was enough, though. A jolt ran through her. No worse than static.
"Koko. You okay?"
Noah asked, her cheeks flushed pink.
"……."
Suzuki felt a flicker of déjà vu. On any other day she would have been planted in the floor headfirst. So why was she still standing?
And normally, just looking at Noah was enough to send shivers crawling over her skin. Right now, she felt nothing.
Then she saw Noah's unfocused eyes, and it clicked.
Ah. She's hurting so much today she went full moe.
Which meant she was completely defenseless.
So I asked that tiny oyabun for her used sanitary pad.
Thud!
Guilt hit her all at once. Suzuki's legs gave out. She stared at the floor and muttered.
"I am trash... I am trash... I am trash..."
Chise's voice was ice.
"I'm glad you know."
Yuria stared at the taser, dazed.
Is it broken?
She had shot it clean. So why hadn't it done anything?
"This trash will be taking her leave..."
Looking haggard, Suzuki trudged out of the office. Unwelcome as ever, in more ways than one.
Toddle, toddle.
Noah listed from side to side as she wandered the office. Yuria watched her for a long moment before she asked,
"Minamoto-senpai, what is she doing?"
"...She's probably uncomfortable."
Chise said it while clearing the table. Yuria narrowed her eyes, turning the words over—then the meaning landed, and her face went red.
"Ah. It's still lunchtime?"
"Mm."
Chise hedged, unable to say it outright.
"She's, well... on the heavier side."
"Th-then she needs to change right away!"
"I'd like to, but..."
Chise looked genuinely stuck.
"There are places even I can't touch."
"Excuse me?"
Noah kept a pistol strapped to her left thigh and a knife to her right. Anything near either one was strictly off-limits. Once Yuria heard the explanation, she stared in horror.
"Is she a samurai?!"
"If you're that worried, want to give it a try, Ichinose?"
"I decline."
Yuria turned her face away. She was not ready to die yet.
"Then can't we just tell her to go change herself?"
Chise shook her head as if the idea were hopeless.
"We can't communicate normally. Noah-chan."
"Unngh?"
Chise pointed at her own skirt.
"Want to change?"
"Don't wanna."
"See?"
Chise gave an awkward little laugh. Yuria pressed her fingers to her forehead.
"She's seriously turned into a baby... Then what did you do normally?"
If the flow was that heavy, it could leak. For a girl, that was mortifying beyond words.
Chise made a small, unhappy sound.
"I'd blocked it out because it was so unpleasant, but originally Suzuki-san took the hit."
"Don't."
Yuria said it flatly the instant Chise reached for her phone.
"I don't care what the circumstances are. I cannot leave Minamoto-senpai with someone like that."
Chise stopped with her hand still out.
"Is that so...?"
"She's a pervert! She'd hide them. I know she would!"
Yuria was getting worked up. In her mind, Suzuki had already been filed under worst of the worst: human scum, actual garbage, pedophile, stalker. That neighborhood.
I understand the feeling.
Even Chise, who had known Suzuki for years, had been disgusted a few minutes ago.
But Chise also knew Suzuki lived a life hard enough to twist anyone that way. Minamoto was a brutal place to survive in a woman's body. Ordinary yakuza barely lasted. For someone of Suzuki's rank—a field captain—every single day was another test she had to pass.
When the Minamoto made a mess, the Fujiwara cleaned it up. Chise had handled the aftermath of Suzuki's work more than once. The scenes were always horrific. The first time she saw one, around the age of ten, the trauma put her in bed for a week.
She had hated Suzuki for it, at first. Killing came with being Minamoto; she could accept that much. But did it have to be that cruel?
Then one day it dawned on her. That cruelty was how Suzuki stayed alive inside the Minamoto. She had to finish every job more viciously, more overwhelmingly, than anyone else. Only then would no one question her authority. Only then could she prove herself. And only then could she stand where she stood—at the side of Minamoto Noah, the undisputed heir.
Unlike Chise, who had simply been born into the right family and chosen by Noah, Suzuki had needed to earn her place with proof.
She's just a pitiful person, really.
That did not make the occasional behavior any less skin-crawling. Anyone who repeated that kind of work day after day would come apart.
"Could you try not to hate Suzuki-san too much?"
Yuria's expression iced over on the spot.
"Impossible. Because even while she was collapsed on the floor earlier, she was peeking at Minamoto-senpai's panties."
Irredeemable trash. No question about it. Yuria said it like a verdict.
Chise had not known that part. The light in her eyes went dead and cold.
"I suppose I'll have to file for a restraining order."
After a great deal of trial and error, Chise finally succeeded in getting dummy-mode Noah to change her own pad—and then she sank into thought.
A golden opportunity that may never come again. I have to make my move today.
Noah was beaming, her face bright and freshly comfortable, while Chise opened the lunch boxes she had picked up that morning. A first-rate chef had poured real care into them. The spread was lavish.
"Wow. It's incredible no matter how many times I see it. Do all Saints students eat lunches like this?"
"Mm. I've never looked at anyone else's lunch, so I wouldn't know."
They had prepared one for Yuria as well, per Noah's promise. Yuria opened the lid and her whole face lit up.
Today's meals are covered again!
The same Yuria who used to get by on a single melon bun. Being able to eat her fill these days made her genuinely happy.
"Thank you again today! Time to dig in."
While Yuria demolished her lunch with gusto, Chise's mind was elsewhere.
Anyway. Today I should try the things I normally can't. A date, for instance...
"A movie theater? You trying to get yourself assassinated? Popcorn's the best place there is to hide a gun."
"Hah, a private café? Why the hell would I go somewhere only pussies go."
"Karaoke? Please. An underground box is a bomb waiting to happen. A second-floor one has wide-open window sightlines—perfect for a sniper."
"I'm just lazy, so no, you bitch."
That was the kind of answer she got whenever she worked up the courage to ask. The Fujiwara lived under a constant threat of assassination. Protecting them was the Minamoto's duty, and the Fujiwara were bound to obey whatever the Minamoto decided.
Today was different. If she asked, Noah would probably light up and chirp, Yeah! Okay!
And yet...
If something goes wrong.
Noah was weaker than usual today. She was still Noah, so she could handle a certain level of threat—but she was operating at less than half her usual capacity. The odds were low. A dangerous situation was still possible.
It's too much after all.
"By the way, Minamoto-senpai. She's basically unconscious right now, isn't she?"
"Ah. Yeah."
"She can only respond to attacks aimed directly at her."
"That's right."
"That's dangerous. We should be careful today."
Yuria, of course, knew nothing about assassination threats. What she was actually worrying about was much simpler.
If she falls, she'll cry, right? Better be careful.
"Ahem. Fujiwara-senpai, you can rest easy. I'll protect you."
"Ichinose...?"
"I may not look it, but I'm level 17. I'm confident in my awareness and reaction speed."
I can at least catch her if she trips. She wouldn't hate being caught... right?
That was what Yuria meant. Chise heard something else entirely.
...I had no idea. Ichinose is more capable than I thought. She can calculate sniper points too?
The misunderstanding was already running away with her. On a normal day she would have caught that Yuria meant something completely different. But Noah was leaning against her, and Chise's pulse was doing foolish things. That excellent brain of hers had clocked out. In short, her happiness circuit was running at full power, and she was interpreting everything in whatever way pleased her most.
"Th-that sounds wonderful. I actually wanted to go out. I can't, normally. With Ichinose here, I can relax."
"What? You can't, normally?"
"She won't allow it."
Chise's entire schedule hung on Noah's yes or no. That was all she meant.
They won't even let her do that because she's from a family that rich? That's just cruel.
Yuria heard a completely different story. And so they went on, talking about the same subject and two entirely different ones.
"How can that even be allowed?!" Even for a family that rich.
"But... it's absolute." Noah's word is.
"Not even letting you take a casual walk isn't overprotection. That's abuse!"
"I-is it...? But it also feels kind of nice, being protected."
"What?! That's gaslighting. Textbook gaslighting!"
"But it's not like there's no reason... If I go, I'm a nuisance in all sorts of ways." A shootout might break out.
Yuria looked at her with naked pity. It was too sad. Wasn't this just a caged bird, locked up for the crime of being a conglomerate heiress?
"You wouldn't be a nuisance, senpai. Everyone has the right to be free."
Chise's pupils shook. She looked at the floor and said, very small,
"Freedom. As if someone like me could have that."
"Fujiwara-senpai."
Yuria put her whole heart into it.
"Sometimes you should just go for it."
"G-go for it...?"
"You're so proper it's almost painful, senpai. Sometimes it's frustrating, you know? You should live doing the things you want."
"Then... I'll get scolded..." By Noah.
"So what if you get scolded? It's too much, not letting you do what you want."
"Then......"
Chise swallowed, gathered her courage, and asked.
"......Would you come with me? Ichinose. I-I'll of course make a proper show of gratitude."
Yuria thought about it very seriously.
Does asking someone to go out really require all this...?
Hearing Fujiwara Chise sound that timid was unsettling in its own right. The answer came a beat late, and Chise's face fell.
"Sorry. Asking you to prepare for that is too much." For a shootout. "There could be a real crisis, and here I am." The kind you die in. "Just forget I asked." Forget the bodyguard request.
"Excuse me? Who do you think I am? If I were the type to fold under that kind of pressure, I never would have joined the Public Morals Committee. Leave it to me."
Even with her happiness circuit running wild, this still felt wrong. Chise forced a smile.
"No. This really isn't right. Someone like me, at a movie theater..."
"...A movie theater?"
"F-forget you heard that."
"S-senpai. Did you want to go to the movies?"
Chise nodded.
"...You're not about to tell me you've never been, are you?"
"W-well. She won't allow it."
Chise drew her legs together. Yuria couldn't take it. She shot to her feet.
"You've been getting robbed of half your life!"
"Is it that bad...?"
"Of course it is! Anyone who can't even go to the movies is living an unhappy life! What kind of life have you even been living, senpai?!"
There was a reason she was this worked up. Yuria's days were a loop of school, her part-time job, and home—but she did have one hobby she truly loved.
Watching movies. Alone.
She was deeply satisfied with that little ritual. Lately, with her meals covered, she had been treating herself to it more often. And Chise had never gotten to enjoy something that happy? It was pitiful.
"This won't do. We're going. Right now."
"B-but... movie theaters are dark and enclosed. It's dangerous."
"Hmm... you might have a point."
It would be dark, so Noah might trip. It would be crowded, so bumping into people was inevitable—and earlier she had pointed a gun at Yuria. Doing that in a theater would be a full-scale disaster.
...That was as far as Yuria's thoroughly ordinary imagination went. Then she made her pitch.
"But it'll be fine. Why not try trusting me a little, Fujiwara-senpai? I'm used to working nights, so I can see perfectly well in the dark."
Yuria grinned. To Chise, it sounded like the most reliable thing in the world. She looked like a savior.
"Can you really... protect us?"
"Of course."
"I'm not being a bother?"
"Come on, we're on the same Public Morals Committee, aren't we? I should earn those free meals somehow."
She knew it was selfish. Yuria was a civilian through and through, and even if she was strong, she was still just a middle schooler. Relying on her was cowardly.
Chise was going to accept that cowardice anyway. She wanted, badly, to watch a movie with Noah.
Just this once. I want to be greedy.
She made up her mind.
"I'm counting on you, Ichinose!"
She even bowed her head. Yuria panicked.
So going to the movies requires THIS much?!
To think that Fujiwara-senpai would bow her head to ask for something. What kind of place was the Fujiwara family, anyway? After a round of mental shadowboxing, Yuria declared with conviction,
"Just leave it to me."