Righteousness, Truth, and Holiness (5)
One whole wall was given over to mirrors, and the room announced itself at once as a dance studio.
When Han Seoyeon led Ninomae inside, three people were sitting huddled together.
"Oh, it's Shion-chan."
"Shion-san. It's been a while."
"It's been a while, Chiyo-san. Guroyuki-san."
Senjoji Chiyo and Guroyuki Sui, first of all. Those two she had more or less expected. Chiyo had only just told Ninomae the news of Han Seoyeon's virtual debut, and as for Guroyuki, there would have been no reason for Marbas to be at the company if she were not.
The third person, she had not anticipated. Not because they had no business being here, but simply because she had lacked the information.
"And... you would be Bansei Marin-san?"
"Oh? So this is Sister-san? It's my first time seeing you in person."
Her first impression of Bansei Marin was that the woman carried a rather peculiar air. The looks themselves were young. Study the face closely and parts of it even read as girlish—the sort of appearance that made one tilt one's head and wonder whether she had cleared her late twenties, and only if one were being generous. And yet, for all of that, the impression she gave as a whole was thoroughly mature. Perhaps it was the slight upward tilt of her eyes, which lent her a seductive cast.
Of course, that atmosphere was likely the one closer to her true age. Among the VTubers belonging to Anathema, Bansei was the oldest, and the only one in her thirties.
She really is an anomaly. Seeing her in person, I understand.
What Ninomae had described—looking far younger than her years, and yet somehow grown-up—made sense now. The woman before her was unmistakably one through whose veins ran the blood of a bewitching spirit, and that she had once been an idol was equally easy to accept. In whatever age she had been born, she possessed the talent to have flourished as a dancer.
Even at a first meeting, she had known the woman for Bansei Marin thanks to that air. Even without it, the conclusion would have been obvious enough: among Anathema's VTubers, there was only one Han Seoyeon had never yet met face to face. As for how the other side had recognized Seoyeon, that too was surely the atmosphere.
If Bansei, descendant of a fox that led people astray, gave off a lush and alluring air, then this one was a body already severe in its looks, wound thick besides with a baleful presence—the residue of having slaughtered every kind of anomaly and beast. Eyewitness accounts mentioned now and then on stream ran about seventy percent to a single verdict, she looks terrifying, and that said all that needed saying.
"Anyway, is it true Sister's debuting with the third generation? Chiyo-chan said so."
"It is not a VTuber debut."
"Aah, what a shame. I heard it from my sister and got my hopes up that Shion-chan might be joining as a junior."
"On an ordinary work schedule, it is impossible."
"Yeah— thinking about it, that does track."
Chiyo grumbled a little, but she seemed to accept it one way or another. Being an Apostle, there was nothing to be done about it, she must have figured.
"Still, this means we can collab with Shion-san now! That alone makes me really happy."
"But Sister-san doesn't have a channel. Then it isn't a collab stream. It's just a guest spot, isn't it?"
"Ah... hehe. Now that I think about it, maybe so."
Ninomae laughed, a little abashed, and quietly leaned her head against Han Seoyeon's chest. An unconscious habit, slipping out the way it always did.
"Oh my..."
"Hitomi-chan acting spoiled is way too cute. What do I do, senpai?"
"Ninomae-chan being cute is a constant. An axiom, if you like. I figure we treat it the way we always do."
"Wh-what are you people even saying?!"
Whether the person on the receiving end took it so calmly was another matter entirely. At a tone that might as well have been teasing, color rose in Ninomae's face, and she tried to pull away from Han Seoyeon again. Han Seoyeon did not allow it. She drew Ninomae's head in with one arm.
"Our Ninomae-san is rather exceptionally cute, yes."
"No— why do you look so smug about it, Shion-san?!"
"...I see. Because she is someone precious, perhaps."
Having the person you love praised was, of course, a joy. She could not very well say that, so Han Seoyeon papered over it instead. Even that much had already been direct enough.
"Hitomi-chan's gone and put on a complete bitch-in-heat face..."
"Wh-who are you calling a bitch in heat?!"
"Ah, senpai, help!"
The moment Ninomae barked at her, Chiyo giggled and slid neatly behind Guroyuki's back.
"...And my due respect, as your senior?"
"Ehh, what's the matter? I've always gone around with a heart full of respect for you."
"Sure you have."
With Chiyo's arms wrapped around her waist from behind, Guroyuki let out a deep sigh.
"Ah. Is it because you were sweating just now? You smell nice... urk."
"Get off."
Chiyo had pressed her nose to that back and started sniffing, and was seized by the scruff of the neck for it.
"Ahaha... are you mad, senpai?"
"Not particularly."
The gaze she turned down on Chiyo, peeled off by force, was as expressionless as ever, and yet it somehow felt cold. Chiyo offered an awkward smile and tried to read her mood.
"Well, personally, I think she's just embarrassed in the ordinary way."
Catching the look Chiyo shot her—the one that said she was in trouble—Bansei smiled lightly. To her eye, Guroyuki's reaction was not real anger so much as simple embarrassment at the remark about sweat and how she smelled.
"She herself said she wasn't particularly angry, didn't she?"
"No, Marin-chan? As a general rule, 'I'm not mad' is not a statement you're supposed to trust."
"Enough. Anyway, Ninomae-chan's back, so let's get a little more practice in."
Ninomae Hitomi—Mary Tepes—was a vampire queen.
And so her choreography was, on the whole, sharp and powerful. Mary was someone who usually did nothing but soak up affection as the cute one, only occasionally showing a charismatic side, and the last live stage had been exactly that sort of case. A few songs tailored to her usual image existed as well, of course.
Senjoji Chiyo—Serena Razania—was the witch in charge of sex appeal.
And so her choreography fell under what one would call sexy dance, most of it favoring a soft feeling over powerful movement. The routines had surely taken her baseline stamina into account. At the last live she had chosen several plaintive songs, and there had been no small number of parts with virtually no choreography at all.
Guroyuki Sui—Tachibana Rin—was a lofty serpent god of an older age.
And so her choreography was composed to feel elegant, even where it ran a little slow. Many of her original songs were antique in atmosphere by concept, and she often performed dances arranged from traditional forms.
And Bansei Marin—Komori Sae—was a little devil dwelling in a girl's body.
"...How should I put this."
Bouncy, dainty music rang through the practice room. She sprang up with her legs tucked, toddled about in quick little steps, and jabbed her hips cheerfully left and right in time with the beat. Most of the movements were quite large, and yet, setting stamina aside, the difficulty itself was very easy—light, cute motions for which "kiddie rhythm dance" suited better than "choreography."
The final pose had her leaning forward and setting both hands, shaped into Vs, atop her head like a rabbit. From start to finish it seemed built around the question of how to look even cuter, and in its own way it was a highly polished routine.
"I know this may be rude to say, but... the dissonance is no joke."
"...Right?"
The one who had danced it, however, was a woman in her thirties with a thoroughly mature figure.
No. Had it been the sort of sight one could laugh off as simply not suiting her, that would have been one thing...
"She's pretty erotic too, Marin-chan is."
Han Seoyeon offered Chiyo's words no reply at all. The silence, it went without saying, contained no denial.
Whether it came from the bewitching aura born of that bloodline, or simply from her inherent atmosphere and her considerably "grown-up" body, she could not say for certain—but it was unmistakably so. Because of it, the gap between the cuteness of the movements themselves and Bansei as a person was considerable.
She abruptly recalled a remark from an internet friend, a working game developer whose oshi was Sae. A sexy-bodied auntie shamelessly doing kawaii moves—that's what gets you going. You get it? Vulgar phrasing aside, it was not as if she failed to understand the feeling entirely. Had they been drawing this very picture in their head?
"Ninomae-san?"
She had been thinking as much when Ninomae, seated beside her, suddenly leaned in.
"Just now, Shion-san, your eyes were strangely lecherous."
"Th-they were?"
"Actually, that part itself is fine. Bansei-san's body being erotic is a fact!"
"Ninomae-chan? What are you suddenly saying too?!"
"But changing your oshi is absolutely not allowed. You know that, right?"
At the words that followed, Han Seoyeon let out a short laugh. She had been wondering why on earth Ninomae was acting like this, and it turned out to be jealousy—far too cute.
"Yes. Of course."
"I've been streaming for over a year now, after all. I won't say you can't watch other people's channels. If you take someone else's side, that's fine too. But!"
But, she said, and Ninomae met her eyes with a gaze that was still entirely serious.
"I don't want it unless I'm your oshi. For the other servants, perhaps, but when it comes to you, Shion-san, it has to be me."
"That will not happen. If, by some impossible chance, the Son of Man Himself were to return and debut as a VTuber, I might give it a little thought."
The Son of Man: Jesus Christ. In short, she was nailing down that it would absolutely never happen.
"Really?"
"Really."
"...Hehe."
A moment later Ninomae broke into a bright, bashful smile and hugged Seoyeon. Han Seoyeon smiled as well.
"Nn— other people are watching...!"
"...Ah."
She had reflexively kissed the nape of Ninomae's neck, the way she always did, only to realize there were eyes on them and glance around.
"Uh, Guroyuki-chan? Why are you suddenly covering your eyes..."
"Marin-chan is a baby. You mustn't look at something that indecent."
"No, I'm a good ten years older than you, Guroyuki-chan? And besides, a peck on the neck hardly counts as indecent— augh?! Please don't press?!"
"Marin-chan is a baby."
"I get it, I said I get it! So stop, my eyes, my eyeballs...!"
After taking in the commotion, she met Ninomae's eyes again.
"...No one's looking. Shall we do it once more?"
"There is no way that's okay?!"
"It's fine, Hitomi-chan! I'll cover my eyes too!"
"No, Chiyo-san, I can see you looking between your fingers! At least put some effort into pretending!"
"Then I'll turn around."
"Oh. If it's that, then it's fi— it is not fine! The mirror! There is a mirror! And besides, if everyone knows we're doing it, it doesn't become okay just because you can't see!"
Having fired off objection after objection, Ninomae panted, breath rough. Han Seoyeon watched her in silence, then spoke quietly.
"...Shall we?"
"We are not!"
Of course Ninomae shouted again at that outrageous remark. But soon she glanced around and whispered in a tiny voice.
"I-I'm not saying never, for the rest of our lives. Only right now, of course."
Han Seoyeon said nothing.
"You know that, don't you? It isn't— it absolutely isn't that I don't want to do it with you, Shion-san... mmph."
In the end, Han Seoyeon could endure no longer, and stole her lips.
...And of course, immediately afterward, she was scolded something fierce.