Fujiwara Chise's Scheme (4)
Chise looked around with a face lit up like a child's, taking in everything at once.
"Darling, want to rest over there before we go on?"
"Mmmngh. Too fast…"
"Then we'll just go twice."
A couple walking hand in hand. A clerk in a maid outfit hawking a shop. People beyond counting. To Chise, every last scrap of it was foreign.
"Ichinose. Th-that—what is that? That enormous giant cat."
"A part-timer."
"It's a person?!"
"Yes, a person! Have you never seen a mascot costume job before?"
Chise swallowed hard and nodded.
Yuria was thoroughly lost.
"Senpai… why are you acting like you've never set foot in a downtown district?"
"I-it is my first time."
"Excuse me?"
Chise answered, a little glum.
"…Is that really so strange?"
"Of course it's strange! Even if you're rich—don't you go to department stores all the time?"
"That's… I've never gone anywhere past Aoyama."
The farthest her world had ever stretched was that upscale pocket of luxury boutiques and select shops. Beyond it, nothing.
"…You're serious?"
It had been Yuria's idea to go somewhere farther than the usual orbit around school, which was how they had ended up in Akasaka. Chise's range of movement was vanishingly small. Aside from the occasional shopping trip through a packed commercial block, she had only ever been ferried from building to building under heavy guard. A bustling entertainment district like this—the kind of place people actually came to play—was a first.
Yuria looked at her with something like pity. She might not have had friends, but at least she had gotten around. Granted, that was mostly because of part-time jobs.
"The Fujiwara family is strict, huh."
More accurately, Noah is the strict one.
Chise answered with a smile that didn't quite settle.
"Chise, where we goin'?"
Noah, too, was peering around with a piece of candy working in her cheek. The babyish lisp made Chise laugh, awkwardly. She felt, for a fleeting second, like a kidnapper.
"We're heading to the movie theater."
"Movie theater?"
"N-Noah, honestly. You said you wanted to go when I asked you in the clubroom."
Noah tipped her head, then beamed and nodded.
"Yeah!"
Please don't remember this tomorrow…
Chise's heart gave a hard flutter. If Noah remembered any of this in the morning, the scolding would be legendary. But this was the only chance she would ever get to do something like this. She decided she would take the risk.
"All right. Today, I'll escort you properly."
Yuria puffed herself up with a little hmph. She had the distinct sense that a certain image of herself as a loser had taken root, and this was a golden chance to shed it. Being a middle-schooler, she rather enjoyed showing off.
"Which means, before the theater, we have to hit the mandatory stop."
"The mandatory stop…?"
"Heh heh. Fujiwara-senpai, you're surprisingly clueless about this kind of thing. Kind of an airhead, actually."
"Y-yeah."
Chise's eyes sparkled.
Yuria shrugged.
"Claw machines. Ninety percent of humanity, when they go to the movies, absolutely has to win a plushie first."
"Claw machines?"
"Huh? Minamoto-senpai doesn't know what they are either?"
"Ungh! Is it different from pullin' people's heads off?"
Noah said it adorably. The content was anything but.
"……"
"…Could you pretend you didn't hear that?"
"……Yes."
Yuria stopped walking and pointed at a shop.
"That's the place."
Yuria loved claw machines. The movie theater had been a convenient pretext; what she really wanted was for all of them to play together. She was, after all, a terrifyingly skilled claw-machine player, and showing off that skill was part of the point.
"Shall we?"
Inside a cramped little shop barely the size of a studio living room, the machines stood in rows.
"They're so cute…"
Chise gazed, bright-eyed, through the clear glass at a heap of marshmallow plushies. She had never seen anything shaped like them. So these existed too—she kept murmuring in wonder. Then she watched, with great care, the people winning prizes at the neighboring machines.
"…It looks easy?"
"Heh."
Yuria couldn't help a little laugh. It was exactly the same reaction she'd had the first time she walked in here.
"Everyone says that. But this, I'll have you know, is a considerably difficult game."
"Is it?"
"Want to try?"
Chise nodded, looking nervous.
Yuria went and changed some bills, fed them into the slot, and took hold of the pad.
"I'll demonstrate once, first."
"Okay."
Wiiirrr—
Yuria clicked the stick into position and pressed the red button. The claw descended, slow and sure, and closed around a plushie's head.
Yes. Got it.
The claw rose with its prize intact. And then, midway through the transfer, the thing dropped with a limp, pathetic little flop.
"Ahem. Ahem."
Thoroughly embarrassed, Yuria cleared her throat a few times and flicked a glance at Chise, as if that might help.
"You saw that, right? That's how you move the plush closer to the chute."
"But you didn't actually win it."
Chise tipped her head. Yuria bristled.
"You're not supposed to get it on the first try! J-just watch from here."
Failing again would be a blow to her pride, obviously. Yuria moved the pad with a little more care.
Click. Click.
This time for sure…
The claw dropped straight down. And then—
The plushie came up a fraction, then was abandoned in spectacular fashion.
"…!"
Ziiiii—
Noah had plastered herself against the glass as if she meant to crawl inside the machine. Yuria swallowed and started again at once.
On a bad day it takes three tries, so…
It wasn't too late!
Sweating, she worked the controls.
Yes?!
This one felt good. The claw had a proper grip. The plush dangled, swaying toward the chute—and dropped, hopelessly, just short of the opening.
Yuria snuck a look sideways. Noah had gone unmistakably sulky, disappointment written all over her face.
"Th-this machine is weird."
Yuria flailed through an excuse.
"Ahem. Fujiwara-senpai wouldn't know this, but some of these are rigged so you can barely win on purpose. Let's give up on this one and try another—"
"…Marshmallow."
"……"
"I like the marshmallow."
At Noah's murmur, Yuria froze as if she'd been struck by lightning.
Chise blinked and spoke up.
"Ichinose. May I try once?"
"A-ahem. Yes. Be my guest."
Yuria stepped aside, thinking, Fujiwara-senpai has never touched a claw machine in her life. A beginner cannot win. Period.
She herself had burned through nothing but money at first. Getting good had only come from coming back, again and again.
Chise stood awkwardly in front of the machine and worked the controls.
Ziiing—
The claw came down. Yuria and Noah stared at it as if they could bore holes through the glass.
And then—
"Wow, I got it!"
She won it. On the first try.
Th-that's impossible!
"Ah, there are two plays left. Ichinose. May I go again?"
"…Yes."
Yuria had become very humble, very quickly.
Chise operated the machine with the same awkward air as before.
I-it had to be beginner's luck.
She didn't even seem to know the most basic claw-machine wisdom—start from the front. Chise's claw was parked dead in the center.
It descended. Yuria thought, No way this time.
The claw sank slowly between the plushies. The corner of Yuria's mouth started to lift.
A miss. It really was a fluke.
And then—
"I got two! Hehe."
A label hook. The kind of move only a claw-machine grandmaster could pull off. Chise had snagged the tags of two plushies at once and reeled them in.
"Noah wanna try too."
"Okay!"
This time Noah took the machine. She swayed a little on her feet and worked the controls with perfect, sunny innocence.
…I don't even need to watch. Minamoto-senpai is going to be good at this.
Having already lost all face, Yuria felt her cheeks burn scarlet.
Noah nudged the pad with her tiny hands.
Tak.
She punched the button with a crisp little sound, and the claw came down.
In Yuria's mind, Noah was perfection itself. She would be good at everything, which meant the ending was already written: Yuria, alone, would be the one who couldn't win a thing.
And then—
"…?"
The claw pinched empty air.
Yuria was, inwardly, extremely confused. Chise, on the other hand, looked as if she had expected exactly this.
Because…
Noah was a catastrophically hopeless klutz with machines.
Even after failing, Noah kept fussing with the pad. Only after a long beat did she murmur,
"I failed."
Her reaction time is so late!
"I-it's okay, Noah-chan."
Chise tried to soothe her, but—
Noah's eyes went shiny.
"!"
"…!!"
She was about to cry.
"Marshmallow…"
She had really wanted it!
Chise snatched a plush from the prize slot and stuffed it into Noah's arms in one swift motion.
A glow spread over Noah's face. World peace had been preserved. Chise let out a long breath of relief.
Even after they stepped into the theater, Chise kept marveling. Everything was a first. The couples, especially, caught her eye. Some of them were holding hands, talking in that easy, intimate way.
…I'm holding a hand too, though.
She knew it wasn't the same. Two girls holding hands wasn't that strange to begin with.
We probably don't look like a couple. Noah and I are both girls.
A bitter little smile had just touched her mouth when Yuria came back loaded down with popcorn. Chise, who had been sitting, took Noah's hand and stood, and accepted the bucket.
"Minamoto-senpai is caramel, right?"
Chise blinked, a little startled.
"How did you know?"
"…It's common knowledge. Every living person on this earth knows that."
When did Noah get that famous…?
Chise pondered it with genuine gravity.
"Issh tasty."
"Is it good?"
"Ungh."
She's so cute……
Chise and Yuria thought it at the same time. Noah was inhaling popcorn as if it were the best thing she had ever tasted. Yuria planted a hand on her hip and scolded her.
"Eating popcorn before the movie starts is a misdemeanor. If they catch you, you get arrested."
Chise's eyes went wide.
"That's a real thing…?"
It was a joke…! She's so short on common sense it doesn't even land!
Noah kept munching, utterly unbothered, and declared,
"Then I just hit the policeman."
"Please do not hit him!"
"Whyyy? I can't?"
"…Please stop making that innocent face like you genuinely don't understand. It's scary."
"Then I'll kill him!"
"No!"
Chise covered her mouth and laughed under her breath. Yuria stared at her with the eyes of the dead.
Where, exactly, is the punchline in any of that…?
Yuria pushed her hair back and sighed. What was she supposed to do with these two hopelessly naive young ladies.
"Ladies, just follow me and stay close. Do not wander off because you saw something interesting. Especially you, Minamoto-senpai!"
"Ungh?"
"…If someone offers you candy, you do not go with them."
"Why?"
Yuria grabbed Chise with a trembling hand.
"Fujiwara-senpai… what on earth happened with Minamoto-senpai's home education?"
"D-don't misunderstand. I definitely… taught her properly."
Chise's cheeks went pink.
Yuria sincerely considered abandoning them both.
The three of them headed companionably toward Theater 3. The film they were seeing was Blue Mist of Hell. The title was a bit much, but it was a romantic comedy. Chise had recommended it with enthusiasm, and Yuria, who liked a light movie, had agreed. Noah was presently in a state indistinguishable from a protein-based plushie, and thus had no voting rights.
They were about to go in when Noah's steps stopped dead. Chise and Yuria looked at her, puzzled. Noah ducked her head, gave a little shiver, and said, with perfect innocence,
"…I gotta pee."
"Th-that was close. If the movie had already started, we'd have had to let you go a little at a time and just dry it out."
That's how it works…?
Chise was deeply fascinated. So this was how badly people wanted to see a movie. It must be incredibly fun, then.
"The restroom… you wouldn't know where it is. We'll all have to go."
Yuria was worried Noah would get lost. But Noah shook her head hard.
"I can go by myself."
"Don't lie. The second Fujiwara-senpai is out of sight you start tearing up."
"It's true. Noah's goin' alone. Icchi and Chise go in the dark place."
Yuria looked at Chise. Chise smiled and nodded.
"Sometimes she insists on something. You have to respect it, or she gets terribly sulky."
"She's really turned into a little kid… Minamoto-senpai."
It was hard to believe they were the same person. The restroom wasn't far, anyway. However much of a fool she'd become, she wasn't likely to get lost when it was right there.
"It's Theater 3. If you're not sure, you ask one of the big-sister staff, okay?"
"Mmhm."
"Promise."
"…Promise."
Only after a pinky swear was Noah allowed to go to the restroom alone. They watched the pink-haired idiot go with worried eyes. They considered going in first, then decided it was better to wait—if only for the seats.
"……"
The Noah who entered the restroom had a face gone hard as stone. It was nothing like the loose-screwed, vacant grin of a few minutes ago. She stepped into an empty stall, locked the door, and dropped onto the closed lid. Her pale legs filled her vision.
"……Damn it."
No lisp. The pronunciation was clean and sharp. Noah gripped her own thigh hard enough to leave a red mark, then started knocking her forehead against the wall in front of her.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it……!"
Her mind had come back.
At the worst stretch of menstrual pain, Noah lost her reason as a kind of self-defense. Coming out of it felt like waking up the morning after drinking yourself stupid. Her head split. The memories were foggy. And those foggy memories kept shoving their way to the surface!
Which meant Noah was, right now, remembering—in jagged little flashes—everything she had just done.
And those memories were…
The kind of black history you could not kick out of existence no matter how many times you thrashed the blanket.
"……I'm finished."
Noah wanted to die on the spot. She finally understood how Suzuki felt.