Fujiwara Chise's Scheme (5)

Locked in the bathroom, the pink-haired girl tore at her hair.

Ugyaaaaargh.

Sixteen years. A full sixteen years.

That was how long she had stood guard over her gender identity. She had been born a girl, but she could say with pride that she had never once behaved like one. Even when outside pressure forced her to yield, it was only for a moment. The purity of who she was had held.

And today… all of it had gone up in smoke.

Why… why do girls have to get periods?

What good was effort?

One period and you turned into a bitch.

No. This is a setup. This is unfair.

Today was a special case. It was not like this every time. The collapse only burst out like this—almost a defense mechanism—on the days the pain was truly vicious. Even if she lost her mind, by the next morning the whole memory would go soft and blurry.

But maybe because she had snapped awake in the middle of it?

…She remembered everything. Vividly.

…O-okay. First rule. Nobody can find out I'm lucid.

Everything was a phenomenon. It only became real if it could be observed. In other words, as long as the people around her simply thought, She was hurting then, she could go back to normal.

Y-yeah. Act like usual. Tomorrow I'll pretend I came back to myself, and I'll swear I don't remember a single thing.

Noah started hypnotizing herself.

This is a nightmare. A nightmare I can only escape by acting.

She just had to play cute for one day. Then the last sixteen years would not become a lie.

"Hahh."

After a long, deep breath, Noah opened the bathroom ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠door.

"Okay, Noah-chan. Once the movie starts, you have to be quiet."

"Okay."

"No whining for candy, either. Can you hold out just a little?"

Noah was leaning against Chise's shoulder.

Just today. Just get through today.

She kept reciting the self-hypnosis under her breath.

"Don't wanna."

"You want a scolding?"

"Noah wants candy."

The lisp was adorable, but she genuinely wanted candy. The only upside of this idiot mode was being able to demand cake and sweets without restraint. Noah, currently under crushing stress, was craving something sweet.

What she was failing to notice was how Chise and Yuria were treating her in this state.

"Haa, is Minamoto-senpai whining again?"

"Yeah… what should I do?"

"She's cute, but… honestly, she's kind of a handful."

"…!"

Noah's face went scarlet.

That damn Icchi. After everything I've done for her.

Just as the shame peaked, Chise pressed a marshmallow plush into Noah's arms.

"If you hold this, you should be able to sit still."

Am I a baby…?

But all Noah could say was:

"Ungh!"

And the movie began.

To Noah it was a perfectly ordinary romance. The genre she hated most in the world. Especially in this life, as a girl, she did not want to watch it. It felt like staring at a painted cake she could never eat, and it soured her mood.

The male lead, apparently in heat, seized the heroine's wrist and dragged her into a house. Noah watched with a look that had gone completely cold.

So Chise likes this kind of thing.

It was definitely a genre she would never have allowed on a normal day. Which meant she had waited until Noah was weak and then, like a little weasel, hauled her here. Noah still did not like it.

Does she want to date someone?

She was a high school girl. It would not have been strange. She never showed it, but Noah had never been inside her head, so there was no way to know.

Of course, if Chise ever brought some punk around and called him her boyfriend, Noah fully intended to put a bullet in him. She had known Chise since they were tiny. The girl was practically a daughter to her.

She had been so cute, once. Lately, though, Noah could tell she kept trying to climb up over her. Puberty, maybe, or some kind of affection starvation. The skinship had spiked. Constant head-pats. Arms around the waist.

Noah's stance had been not to refuse, exactly. If Chise had been a boy, she would have cut the hands off. But Chise was a girl, and a pretty one. And since Noah's core was still a man's, she had never felt much resistance.

…Honestly, she even enjoyed it sometimes.

Still. The second I go soft, she pulls a stunt this bold. Starting tomorrow, I tighten the leash.

Today she would pretend to take it. Tomorrow there would be no mercy. She had loosened the reins a little, and look what happened—the girl started climbing. Bad habits. Effective immediately, no more touching the hair. That, at least, might cool her temper.

Snorting through her nose at the thought, she watched the movie.

The male lead who had dragged the heroine home threw her onto the bed. Maybe because it was a Japanese film, every reaction was overcooked.

God, the acting is terrible.

She cracked open a soda and sipped it with half-lidded eyes. A glance at Chise showed her eyes sparkling. Ichinose was the same.

Why do girls like this stuff? I genuinely don't get it.

Still—she was bored. Which meant her mind was definitely not a girl's. A little of her confidence came back.

…Why does that name sound familiar?

Noah blinked. Onscreen, Shimiken hurriedly unbuckled his belt. And then he dropped his pants.

W-wait. Is this rated R?

Noah seriously considered covering Chise's eyes. Fortunately, she did not have to.

CRACK!

A woman smashed through the wall and clocked Shimiken across the skull. The corner of Noah's mouth twitched. What the hell was this continuity?

And then the woman climbed on top of Sakura and started panting. Sakura, her top half-stripped so that her bra showed, flushed red.

Hana gazed down at Sakura with a languid, greasy line. Noah's eyes were already dead and cold.

What even was this rootless movie.

There's no way anyone finds this garbage entertaining.

Thinking that, she looked over at Chise, who was surely bored out of her mind.

…She's immersed in it?!

Chise's lips were slightly parted, her expression gone vacant. It was the look she only wore when she was concentrating.

Noah could not believe it. How was anyone getting absorbed in this third-rate trash?

I-is this even allowed onscreen?

Adult Noah could already see exactly where the next shot was going. They were first-year high schoolers. Were they supposed to be watching a scene like this?

The two of them kissed. A spectacular, deep kiss. Noah stared at the screen with unsteady eyes. It was extremely explicit. The sound, the visuals—everything was designed to hit a nerve.

And then the next scene……

A baby was born!

Sakura was in a hospital, holding a newborn.

A bright, cheerful voice brought the film to a close. Noah stared at the screen the way she usually stared at Suzuki. Her fingers toyed with her pistol.

…Should I go kill the director first?

"Noah… N-Noah, what do you think?"

"…Huh?"

Chise took both of Noah's hands. They had already been sitting close. Now she came closer still.

"That girls can… kiss each other, too."

Noah was lost.

Why was she asking that?

Was it a review of the movie?

…Or did she want to kiss her?

I-I'm going to lose my mind.

That was not the important part right now. The answer that mattered was not her own. It had to be the answer of idiot Minamoto Noah. She could not get caught.

Noah ran her brain at full capacity.

If she were still an idiot, what would she say here? Fundamentally she turned into a baby. But that only meant her cognitive function. The knowledge she already had did not vanish. So…

"Noah isn't a dummy."

She puffed out her lower lip and hugged the marshmallow plush tighter.

"A kiss is something you do with a boy you love."

"…!"

Chise's expression went visibly hard.

W-was that the wrong answer?

Noah was confused. Still wearing that frozen look, Chise tipped Noah's chin up.

"Oh. Is that so?"

She murmured it in a voice gone cold. Their faces drew closer and closer—

"Pfft. Ah, I was dying trying not to laugh. Senpai, please go ahe—"

From Yuria's angle, Noah and Chise looked one breath away from kissing. Her face went pale. She stood up from her seat.

"P-please finish. I'll just… I-I'll be going."

And then she bolted. Noah trembled and reached after Yuria's retreating back.

"Noah-chan."

"Hic."

The hiccup startled her back into the act. She put a finger to her lips and tilted her head.

"Uuung?"

"Let's go home too."

"…Okay."

Noah's face was swimming as they left the theater. Chise said nothing, only held her hand and walked. The pace was so fast Noah was half being dragged.

"Ch-Chise. A little slower."

Chise stopped at last, looked back, and beamed.

"Sorry."

She stroked Noah's hair as if to soothe her, then said,

"I'm in a bit of a hurry."

Noah was uneasy. Chise had never been like this.

What is wrong with her…!

It was maddening. On a normal day she would have grabbed her and demanded an explanation. In this state, she could not. No matter the situation, she absolutely, absolutely could not let anyone discover she was lucid right now.

They reached the dorm. Noah spent the whole time watching Chise's face.

"Chise…?"

"I wasn't going to do something like this."

Chise muttered it with a dark look. Noah still had no idea how to react.

"Ah."

Chise shoved her down onto the bed and climbed on top of her.

Exactly like the lead in the movie they had just watched.

"It's your fault, Noah. You dared to say a kiss is something you can only do with a man. That makes me anxious."

Chise caught Noah's wrists and pressed them down. Her eyes were fierce. Reason had left her face.

"So I won't feel sorry for doing this to a weakened Noah. Because—you made the first mistake."

"Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch…ise?"

Wh-what, why is she doing this.

There was no strength in her wrists at all. What had come back was her mind. The strength had not.

"Why are you doing this…? N-Noah is scared."

Chise looked down at her for a long time. Then, with a warm expression, she said,

"Ah. This is an education, to correct Noah-chan's mistaken ideas."

"Education…?"

Noah had never seen Chise like this. She could only be bewildered.

"Mm. You said a kiss is only something you do with a man, right? I'm going to teach you that's not true."

"……"

Noah flinched and twisted. Chise tipped her head with a dreamy little smile.

"Besides, all of Noah's firsts are going to be mine anyway. That's fine, right?"

"…!"

Chise kissed her. Noah twisted on instinct. Chise drove a knee between Noah's thighs. The lightest press, and Noah's body jerked.

It felt like a warning. Struggle more and I'll do worse.

Noah's pupils shook violently as her teeth parted. Chise's tongue came in without hesitation.

"Mmh—nn."

Their tongues tangled. Noah tried to push her off, but she had never once been on the receiving end of this, and she did not know—that struggling only gave the other person more.

Chise devoured her as if pouring out everything she had been holding back. She kissed her again and again.

"Haa, haa."

A thin thread of saliva stretched between them. Chise panted and straightened her back, looking down at Noah beneath her.

There were tears standing faintly in Noah's eyes, and that… filled something in Chise's chest to the brim.

The will to conquer.

That was probably what it was. The will to conquer.

……I did it.

A sliver of sanity returned. Only then did Chise understand what she had done.

She had forced a kiss on a weakened Noah.

The thing she had never allowed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠herself, because of the guilt.

And how it felt……

…It feels good. What do I do… I shouldn't be like this.

It was good. Better than she had imagined. The guilt was there. But the satisfaction of having finally taken what she wanted was so much larger.

That day, Chise kissed Noah again and again.

Noah curled up under the blanket.

It was not the shock of what Chise had done that was crushing her. It was something else.

Her lower belly kept prickling, cold and electric.

…I've fallen. I've been corrupted into a female.

The last three hours.

Noah had been kissed. Literally—she had taken it. If anyone was going to do the kissing, it should have been her. Instead she had been the one it was done to. By her childhood friend of ten years. By the child she had grown up with.

…I'm a cheap little bitch.

A period. Some people said it killed your libido. Some people said it spiked. Noah was the latter. Her body ran sensitive.

And in that state, Chise had kissed her for three hours. Chise had not only kissed her. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠As if working off every scrap of desire she had been storing up, she had touched her chest as well.

The result.

Her panties were wet.

Noah felt that dampness and curled herself even smaller. Tears stung her eyes.

I'm a girl who got kissed and soaked through for it… I can't go back…

For the first time, Noah truly understood that she was a woman.