Fujiwara Chise's Scheme (7)
A full hour passed before the two girls finally emerged from the alley.
Chise led the way. Noah followed with her head bowed, clinging to Chise's hand.
Something still lingered on her tongue, a foreign sensation that refused to fade. Whether it was the aftertaste of candy or something else entirely, a sweetness remained.
A couple's relationship, as a rule, tended to pick up speed after the first kiss. That scrap of common knowledge drifted through Noah's mind, and with it a question.
Just how far was Chise planning to take this?
"Want to get something to eat?"
"Mm."
There was no focus in Noah's eyes.
"What sounds good?"
"…Whatever you want, Chise."
"My, listen to you. All those pretty words. I suppose the lesson really did take."
Chise said it with a leisurely smile.
Noah's face was steeped in melancholy.
Giving up is easier.
For the past hour, in a deserted alley, Noah had been subjected to what Chise called a "lesson." Once she'd realized there was no way out, she'd simply given up.
If she used her strength, the act would be blown. If she refused, she dreaded what waited for her back at the dorm. When Chise decided to do something, she did it.
Tomorrow… I'll go back to being myself.
Except—what was herself, again?
She had the uneasy feeling she was about to forget.
"Ah, this place looks good. It's crowded, too."
"Yeah. It does."
It was a restaurant with the air of a café. In truth, it had been on their date itinerary since that morning.
The place was a famous date spot. Inside, the seating was arranged in private rooms so that couples wouldn't be disturbed—which meant, among other things, that a pair could get up to all sorts of secret little acts if they so desired.
Noah, who had not had the faintest idea, figured it out the moment they stepped in and let out a hollow laugh.
I'm going to get raped.
She rubbed her eyes, hoping this was a dream. Unfortunately, it was reality.
"What are you going to order, Noah?"
"……Whatever you're having."
"Hm? But Noah can't eat Noah."
"……"
"Hehe. I'm kidding."
Chise ran her tongue along her lips.
Noah clutched the hem of her dress and muttered, the picture of tragic resignation.
"I just have to strip and climb onto the table, right?"
"A-absolutely not…! If anyone overheard that, they'd get the wrong idea. I would never do something so shameless!"
But kissing in an alley was fine…?
Noah was genuinely curious.
"I'll ring for service, then…?"
"…Mm."
Chise pressed the bell.
A moment later the curtain parted and a server stepped in.
"Let me take your ordeeer!"
"?"
The employee who bustled in with an order pad froze on the spot.
Noah and Chise froze too. Because it was Yuria.
"S-senpai?"
"Ichinose?"
Yuria blinked at the unexpected encounter.
"What are you doing here, Ichinose…?"
"I-I'm a part-time warrior, after all."
"Y-you really don't get a moment's rest, do you. That's impressive."
Chise laughed awkwardly—exactly like someone who'd been caught on the verge of committing a crime.
Noah stared at Yuria with shining eyes.
A savior. She has to be a savior.
"Itchi, I missed you!"
Noah lunged with desperate energy and seized Yuria's sleeve.
Yuria flinched, then looked down at the adorable creature clinging to her.
"M-Minamoto-senpai is still in moe mode, I see."
Chise's expression iced over for a beat. Then she smiled brightly.
"Mm. She seems quite unwell today, too."
"Anyway, let me take your order first. Minamoto-senpai, please sit still. That's what a good senpai does, right?"
She's treating me like an idiot too?
A crease formed between Noah's brows. But that didn't change the fact that Yuria was her only savior. Even Chise wouldn't try anything in front of her.
"Ungh."
Noah sat down obediently.
Chise placed their order in a gentle, unhurried voice. Yuria checked items off the pad, then snuck a glance at Noah.
……She's cute.
Especially today. A gauzy blouse paired with a black skirt—she looked unbearably lovely. And instead of her usual sharp air, there was something almost wanton about her, the kind of look that made you want to fold her up and tuck her in your pocket.
Yuria's reality, however, was merciless. She was in no position to spend her weekends living like a lady of leisure.
"The food should be out shortly. I'll get back to work. Have a lovely day, senpai."
Yuria bowed politely and turned to leave the room. But—
A desperate grab.
Noah snatched the hem of Yuria's clothes in a rush, clinging as if to a last fraying straw.
"I-I want to eat with Itchi."
"……Haa. Minamoto-senpai."
Yuria raised a stern finger and launched into a lecture.
"I have to work. I don't have time to sit around eating with you. Understood? If you understand, please let go."
"No!"
Noah burrowed into Yuria's arms and held on tight, refusing to release her.
Yuria was at a loss.
"Why are you being so clingy today?"
"Itchi eat too."
"I told you, I can't…… hup."
Noah's eyes welled.
She had deployed the cheat code.
A girl's tears.
It was human nature: man or woman, young or old, almost no one could stand firm against a young girl crying.
Yuria flailed.
"A-all right. All right, so please don't cry."
She looked to Chise in helpless appeal. Chise was gulping down her water. It felt distinctly like she was being stolen from.
So that's how you're going to play it, Noah.
Chise settled her heart. Noah was acting right now. Yesterday's opportunity had been rare enough, but a chance like today's was worth its weight in gold.
If she handled this clumsily, she could ruin everything. Better to take a step back here.
"Ichinose. What's your hourly wage?"
"……A thousand yen. Why?"
"Could I buy about an hour of your time?"
"Haa, senpai. Trying to solve everything with money isn't a good look."
"Ten thousand yen."
"What exactly do you take me for? That's offensive. This is a matter of trust."
"A hundred thousand yen. I'll speak to the manager separately."
Yuria glared at Chise, her face twisting.
Then she sat.
…Right down beside Chise.
A hundred thousand yen was far too large a sum for Yuria to refuse on pride alone.
"…Shall I pour you some water?"
Yuria said, reaching for the bell.
"Fwaah. That was delicious."
Ichinose set down her spoon with a look of pure happiness.
"Were you that hungry…?"
Yuria's face went red. She may have gotten a little too absorbed in eating.
"Ahem. I hadn't had a chance to eat. Lunch rush, you know."
In truth, the restaurant provided a meal allowance. Staff could order off the menu or step out to eat elsewhere; they were given about an hour on rotation.
Yuria usually skipped it without a second thought. Skip the meal, and you pocketed a free thousand yen. Water would do for food.
She had no desire to share that fact. It was too pathetic.
Still, today she was full, and that made her happy.
"But senpai, you two actually eat at places like this?"
Yuria sounded genuinely surprised. Chise dabbed her mouth with a napkin.
"Is that strange?"
"…It's just unexpected. I figured you'd eat at some fancy restaurant, or at home. You said you'd never even been to a movie theater."
Yuria's guess was exactly right. Even when they dined out, they usually reserved an entire restaurant.
Chise gave a bitter little smile.
"Mm. Today's a rare opportunity, so I'm making use of it. …I thought it might be all right to be this greedy, at least."
Yuria bristled.
"Just how oppressed are you on a normal day, that you'd call this greedy?"
The fine hairs on Noah's arms stood up.
Oppressed? That's a bit much.
There were perfectly reasonable reasons for all of it.
Terrorists had them under twenty-four-hour watch; they couldn't just wander around. This time, too—things had gone quiet after the Yamaguchi-gumi, but if they hadn't, Noah would have stopped this outing by any means necessary.
……Though her conscience did twinge a little.
Noah poked at her curry.
"It's not… oppression. I understand it."
Right. You have to understand it.
That went without saying. Noah nodded inwardly.
"In the end, it's for my sake. I think I ought to go along with it."
"Haa. What's for whose sake—I really wouldn't know. I just know I don't want to end up a hothouse flower like Fujiwara-senpai."
"…Hm?"
"A hothouse flower. A pretty plant locked in a greenhouse. The one doing the raising thinks they're providing the perfect temperature, the perfect environment… but what meaning is there in living like that?"
Every now and then Yuria said something that cut straight to the heart. Ninety percent of the time it was self-important noise you could safely ignore—but today the words had a bite, as if she were speaking from her own experience.
"All you do is slowly die inside that greenhouse. I, for one—senpai might think I'm pitiable, but…… I live quite contentedly, thank you very much."
Chise answered without hesitation.
"I don't think you're pitiable. There's not a person alive who has the right to look down on someone who works as hard as you do, Ichinose."
A little color rose in Yuria's cheeks.
"Ahem, ahem. Good that you know. Anyway, hang in there, Fujiwara-senpai. If you're going to be oppressed, you might as well rebel."
"……I am rebelling, quite diligently. I'm just not sure it's reaching anyone."
Chise glanced at Noah. Noah kept eating, pretending to have no thoughts at all.
Inside, she was a mess.
…Isn't that rebellion a little too strong?
Yuria wanted to be a slightly cooler underclassman. She continued, a touch puffed up.
"Fujiwara-senpai is far too selfless."
"…I'm really not."
"Being selfless toward the people around you still counts as being selfless. My grandfather always said that anyone who's selfless toward everybody is a con artist."
That grandfather's a wise man.
Noah agreed completely.
"What I'm trying to say is, it's all right to be a little selfish. If people never do what they actually want, it makes them sick in the heart."
Thoughts crossed and recrossed in Noah's mind.
Maybe the reason Chise had kissed her so relentlessly yesterday and today, while she was weakened, was partly her own fault.
Maybe it had been a way to bleed off the stress of being held down.
It was, after all, a surefire way to seize the upper hand over a Noah who couldn't fight back.
This reminds me of Daechi-dong.
A famous story, the kind they even made dramas about.
Kids so crushed by academic pressure that they shoplifted from convenience stores, and the adults, knowing full well, looked the other way. If they didn't let them blow off steam somehow, the children would snap.
Maybe Chise was something like that.
……Then do I have to play the same role?
Noah thought it over carefully.
Yesterday and today, Chise's only transgression had been kissing.
Was that really so terrible?
If the genders had been different, it would have been a problem. If Chise had been a man, frankly, Noah would have killed her.
But she was a girl. And Noah still believed, even now, that her own gender identity was male.
Spending a few hours kissing a pretty girl was the sort of thing you'd like, if anything—not the sort of thing you'd hate.
Put that way, it fell within a range she could more or less accept. Her mind was the convenience store owner. This vulgar body of hers was the store itself.
……Right. This is a transgression. Chise grew up under my thumb from the time she was little.
Anything Chise had wanted to do that Noah had deemed trivial, she'd forbidden outright.
The movie theater, for instance.
Walking at dawn, for instance.
Eating at an ordinary restaurant, for instance.
Chise had begged for all of them, and Noah had refused—on the grounds that they weren't worth doing. And yet the first thing Chise had done with her temporary freedom was go to a movie theater, and the next was eat at an ordinary restaurant.
People valued different things. Noah had done it all in her previous life, so it felt like nothing to her. To Chise, it was an unknown world she had never once been allowed to touch.
……Why do I keep looking more and more like garbage the longer I think about this?
No, no, that was backwards.
Objectively speaking, Kiss-fiend Chise—who had forced herself on someone too weak to resist—was the one in the wrong.
Whatever.
This time, she would treat it as her own fault.
Just occasionally… very occasionally.
She would let Chise blow off steam. And she would look the other way.
"Itchi. Thank you."
"Huh? For what?"
"For eating with Noah."
Noah grinned, wide and silly.
The fog in her eyes cleared, and her gaze came back into focus.
She had decided to bury it.
"Good morning."
"…Mm. A-already Sunday, huh. How much of my memory even blanked out, hehe."
Chise, however, did not appear to share that plan.
"About two days, Noah."
"…I see…… nnh."
Chise licked Noah's throat.
Then she covered her mouth and smiled, slow and seductive.
"……"
Noah broke out in a cold sweat and pretended not to notice.
"…I didn't do anything weird yesterday, did I?"
"Mm. You just whined a little. That was all."
Noah sagged with relief at Chise's answer. With that, she could return to an ordinary daily life.
……Probably.
"N-not there."
Chise's hand, which had been sliding down Noah's stomach toward her underwear, was caught and stopped.
Chise looked disappointed.
"I can't?"
"…Mm."
Chise clicked her tongue softly. Noah asked, eyes uneasy.
"……Nothing really happened yesterday, right?"
Please. Please.
Perhaps the prayer got through.
Chise decided to bury it.
"Mm. Of course not. Oh—let's go buy a scarf today. Those marks would be better off covered."
Scattered red stains dotted Noah's neck.
Chise stroked them with loving fingers.
Thank… goodness. She didn't catch the act.
With vacant pupils, Noah believed it.
It had been a perfect performance.