An Unyielding Heart (1)
Noah was curled into a tight little ball, sobbing her heart out.
"Hic... hngh..."
She had been wound to a pitch of extreme arousal. Coming down from it, what rushed in to take its place was regret.
Chise was drowning in that regret herself.
...I went way too far.
She had spent the entire night "punishing" Noah. For someone who had never experienced anything like that in her life, it had clearly been too much to take.
"Nngh... hic..."
This was the first time Noah had ever wailed like this. It had to have been a good two hours already.
"I'm sorry."
Chise murmured it under her breath.
"That was too much. Hic..."
"...I'm sorry. I got too worked up. From now on I'll be gentler..."
"I don't need that! Waaaaah!"
She's so cute.
She really shouldn't have been thinking it — and yet Noah was just too, too adorable. Even if Chise hadn't gotten the words she'd wanted to hear most, she had succeeded in carving out an experience Noah would never forget. If she just kept moving forward, slowly, Noah would have no choice but to fall into her arms in the end.
Using Noah's sniffling as background music, Chise picked up her smartphone and tapped open the manga she'd been using as recent research material. Written there was this:
How to Train That Woman
It was a rather obscene manga.
There are five stages to a human being accepting death.
Denial.
...I'm not a bitch in heat. This is a physiological response. My body's a girl's, so it can't be helped.
Anger.
Has that Chise bitch lost her mind? She thinks she can do this to me — me, of all people — and walk away unscathed?
Bargaining.
Ahem. It's Chise, so... maybe lending her my body is fine. Y-yeah. Why else would "body" come last in mind, technique, body? Because it's the least important, that's why.
Depression.
...What the hell am I doing.
Whimpering out moans, climaxing, reeling from the shock of her own body, then crying herself to sleep. Mentally, inwardly, physically... she was a complete bitch in heat. No — in Chise's words, a "slut" who felt it from the slightest touch.
No excuse she could scrape together would change the reality that she had engaged in "bitch behavior." She had orgasmed. She had said things like I'm sorry and I won't do it again.
So what did that make her?
Chise's doormat. Nothing more, nothing less.
And so Noah had arrived at the fifth and final stage of death.
Acceptance.
She had seen the end of every emotion, and she was exhausted.
Yeah. Just accept it. That I'm Chise's doormat. From now on I'll just live under her, moaning my way through life.
However, these commonly known five stages of death had a fatal flaw. There was no scientific basis whatsoever, nor had they ever been empirically proven. They were merely the product of hasty research built on biased sampling. Depending on the person, stages could be skipped — or even started in reverse. And there were cases like Noah's, where someone invented a sixth stage.
Minamoto Noah's exclusive sixth stage of death.
Rejection.
"Fuck that. Who the hell decided."
She firmly refused the death of her masculinity!
"Mmngh... Noah?"
Just then, Chise rubbed her eyes and sat up.
"Ugh!"
H-her eyes...!
A blinding light was pouring out of Noah, bright enough to blot out everything in front of her.
Chise couldn't decide whether she ought to like this or not.
"Chise. What are you doing?"
"Ah, yeah. Sorry."
"Do it properly."
"Okay."
Chise smiled awkwardly. She was currently massaging Noah's shoulders. For some reason, Noah had gone right back to normal — acting for all the world like someone who didn't even remember last night.
Reality denial?
Chise blinked. Might as well float it.
"Noah, about last night..."
"...Between friends."
Noah cut her off, glancing back over her shoulder.
"That much is normal, right?"
Then, facing forward again, she added quietly,
"Keep massaging."
"Okay."
Chise pressed firmly into Noah's shoulders.
So soft.
It was like sinking her fingers into liquid slime. Noah was incredibly squishy, as if she didn't even have muscles. It felt wonderful — but Chise's mind was racing.
The "between friends" strategy, huh... Noah?
Brushing it off with a everyone does this much, right? — the so-called Between Friends Strategy!
Fine. I'll play along.
Chise just found her adorable. Besides, Noah's desperate struggle wasn't a bad thing for her, either. She still didn't want to settle for being just friends — but the body had already been crossed. It was only a matter of time. She decided to grant this much mercy. She also felt a little guilty.
"That's right. Between friends... everyone does that much. But you shouldn't go around doing it with just anyone, okay? This is something you only do with a really close friend."
Chise smiled brightly and whispered into Noah's ear.
"Meaning: watch yourself."
"!"
"Hmm? I trust you, Noah-chan."
Chise's eyes curved into crescents. Noah's hands trembled faintly — then stopped just as quickly. She spoke with all the confidence she could muster.
"I have no idea what you're talking about. Don't stick your nose in my business, Chise."
Chise tilted her head, her gaze turning cold. Noah hurried on.
"But since you're begging so earnestly... I'll be careful."
"Okay!"
Chise beamed again and went back to kneading her shoulders.
Rattle!
"Ichinose Yuria, making her entrance!"
Just then Yuria burst into the office, her energy cranked up to eleven. She felt a flicker of suspicion at the sight of Chise massaging Noah's shoulders, but she sat down at the table anyway. She looked twice as arrogant as usual today, so Chise asked,
"Something good happen?"
"Well, it's nothing major, but since Fujiwara-senpai is curious, I'll specially tell you."
"I'm not curious."
Noah said it haughtily.
"Ahem, so the reason I'm in such a good mood today is..."
"I said I'm not curious."
"The reason is..."
"You wanna get hit?"
Yuria's eyes went watery. As she started shrinking into herself, Chise spoke up.
"Noah. That attitude isn't good."
"So what."
Chise put her hands on her hips and issued a warning.
"Tch."
But Noah didn't back down.
"Don't get cocky, Chise. You're just a girl — who do you think you are? You've been putting me through it lately and now you think I'm easy?"
Chise puffed out her cheeks and stuck out her lower lip. But when Noah came at her this stubbornly, there was no going against her. The only time Chise could act up was when Noah was letting her.
Noah looked at the dejected Yuria and thought, Hmph. My authority isn't dead yet.
Feeling a little better, she granted Yuria permission.
"Fine, I'm actually curious. Spit it out."
"The reason I'm in such an excellent mood today is!"
Yuria sprang to her feet as if she'd never been dejected at all.
"My hourly wage went up!"
And she held out a newspaper. Something was splashed across a massive headline. Noah squinted her bleary eyes and read.
"Minimum wage... increase?"
"Heheh. Exactly as you see. The Japanese government has finally started doing its job."
Chise clapped her hands and congratulated her sincerely.
"That's great, Ichinose!"
"Right? Now I can put an egg in my ramen."
Noah's expression soured.
Isn't that way too pitiful...?
Objectively speaking, Yuria was an excellent talent. Good grades, good at physical work. If you set aside her lack of social skills, she was an elite among elites. And she was celebrating a minimum-wage hike?
Noah asked, puzzled.
"Come to think of it, I've never asked. Itchi, what kind of part-time job do you have?"
"A bar... hhk."
Yuria, who'd started to say it naturally, hurriedly clamped a hand over her mouth.
"A bar...?"
"Ichinose...? You're definitely..."
She was fifteen. Yuria hurriedly waved her hands.
"Ahaha, s-senpai, you two have such an innocent side. How could I possibly work at a bar? It was just a light joke."
Noah, who was surprisingly conservative, couldn't just let it go.
"Tell me straight. Itchi, are you working at a bar?"
"I-I told you I'm not!"
Yuria denied it fiercely. The more she did, the thicker the suspicion grew.
"You'd better be honest. If I have Chise look into it, we'll find out anyway."
Yuria glanced at the floor for a moment, then sprang up.
"This has nothing to do with you senpai!"
Noah's eyes turned dangerous.
"You wanna die?"
Chise briefly recalled Yuria's information. Yuria, who'd immigrated from overseas, had one guardian — and that guardian ran a bar in Roppongi.
She's probably just helping out.
Chise pieced it together in an instant, but she couldn't tell Noah. That would make her the creepy fiancée who went around digging up other people's girls' backgrounds. A minus no matter how you looked at it. She quietly slipped away to brew some tea.
"Tell me straight. Are you working part-time at a bar?"
"...I-it's not an illegal establishment."
"That's not what I asked. Itchi. I asked if you work at a bar."
Yuria spoke in a tiny voice.
"...Yes."
Noah sighed. She knew Yuria's circumstances weren't great, but a bar was a bit much. The environment was bad, and it was inefficient. Even without working somewhere like that, with Yuria's abilities there were plenty of jobs that paid more than minimum wage. Yuria just seemed to lack information.
Noah decided to help her, as a senpai.
"Itchi. Want me to introduce you to a good part-time gig?"
"Huh?"
As a cool adult and senpai, Noah decided to open a path for her to stand on her own. Not giving her a fish, but teaching her how to fish.
"There's a high-paying gig. Doesn't even take much time."
"...There is?"
Noah's judgment was spot-on. If she'd offered money, or told her to quit on the spot, it would have gone in one ear and out the other. But Yuria, a born part-time warrior, started taking enormous interest at the words high-paying!
"Yeah."
"Well... I mean, senpai's a conglomerate heir, so it's not weird that you'd know about jobs like that."
Yuria coughed and made a circle with her fingers.
"...What's the hourly wage?"
Chise finished brewing the tea and set it on a tray.
How admirable.
She was inwardly pleased. Noah wasn't the most empathetic person — and yet here she was, stepping up without hesitation for her cute underclassman.
"A hundred thousand yen. The work's simple. It's cleaning."
The smile on Chise's face cracked.
"C-cleaning for a hundred thousand yen a session? Don't lie, senpai. What kind of part-time job is that. You're just trying to force money on me, aren't you? I'm sorry, but."
"I swear on my mom it's not."
"...Huh?"
"The daily rate's high because people avoid it. Most folks won't do it. You need a decent amount of guts. Someone at Itchi's level could handle it no problem."
Noah said it matter-of-factly.
"You're someone I acknowledge, after all."
"...!"
Yuria ducked her head, apparently embarrassed by the praise.
"Hehe."
She even scratched her head, looking pleased!
"Well, I-I mean, that's great for me, but... Fujiwara-senpai? Why are you standing there with that look on your face...?"
Chise was staring at Noah like she'd just seen a ghost.