Thou Shalt Not Suffer a Shaman to Live (7)
"Wasn't it a bit sudden, calling her out like that?"
"In this case, it isn't an imposition. It's a kindness."
At Hitomi's worried words, Han Seoyeon answered with a shrug. She hadn't forced anything in the first place. All she had done was let slip that Komori Sae—Bansei Marin—would be here with them.
"This is someone who has even taken time off for a VTuber concert. Give her a chance that goes beyond seeing the real thing, a chance to talk at length, and there is no possibility she would let it pass."
Fans were that sort of creature. Even Hitomi could only manage a wry smile.
"Then we'll wait until she arrives..."
"Hwah?!"
Mid-sentence, Han Seoyeon snapped her mouth shut, caught Hitomi by the wrist, and pulled. Hitomi folded into her arms as if she had collapsed there, and before she could look up at her lover and ask why, Seoyeon kissed her forehead. Even as she gently stroked Hitomi's hair, her eyes were aimed somewhere else.
Hitomi followed that gaze and found a man backing away, his expression awkward. He had been staring their way with a strange look in which embarrassment and fear sat side by side; now he said something to another man, apparently a friend, and left.
"A pickup?"
"Yes. It would seem so."
Only then did Seoyeon let her go. Hitomi rubbed the spot on her forehead where Seoyeon's lips had touched and smiled, a little shy.
"Thank you for looking out for me. Still, it's rare, isn't it."
"Oh? Is it? With a face like Ninomae-chan's, I would have thought it happened all the time."
Bansei murmured it as if the very idea were odd. Someone who looked like that, rarely hit on? Even she, at her age, still had the occasional person approach her.
"Ah, I meant it's rare when I'm with Shion. Just having her nearby is enough that almost nobody comes over to hit on me."
Seoyeon scattered something very like killing intent in every direction simply by standing still, and her presence alone had a way of becoming a totem that warded off the average pickup. This time, perhaps the man had decided that with two more beauties besides Hitomi, the fear was worth overcoming. Or he had judged that a Japanese woman fond enough of Korea to travel all this way would be easy to sweet-talk. Or he was simply that numb to killing intent. Whichever it was, Seoyeon had judged that a plain signal of already spoken for would send him packing at once, and she had been right.
"That aside, you two..."
What actually startled Han Seoyeon was what Bansei and Guroyuki did. The instant they saw her move, they pressed together and linked arms. It wasn't as blatant as what Han Seoyeon had done, but anyone who had just watched Seoyeon and Hitomi's closeness and then glanced their way could easily have mistaken the pair for the same sort of couple. Call it the instinct of people with broadcasting careers—their improvisation was impressive.
"Though I do wonder if simply showing the ring would have been enough."
"...Ah."
Guroyuki's follow-up left Seoyeon pressing a hand to her forehead.
"Ah, n-no? I was happy! It—it absolutely wasn't useless?"
"There really is no one but Hitomi."
"Ehehe."
In a flurry she drew the consoling Hitomi back into her arms from behind, going so far as to set the tip of her nose against the crown of her head and nuzzle. Then she lifted her face and whipped around.
Her eyes met those of a woman who had been watching them—an odd ensemble, a red plaid button-down and cargo pants. The woman flinched when Seoyeon's gaze landed, but unlike the man a moment ago, she had almost certainly not come to hit on anyone. Han Seoyeon knew that face to begin with, and Hitomi, following the turn of her head, recognized her as well.
"...The hell? How did you even spot me?"
"I caught a scent I'd smelled before."
"Wow. This person is genuinely weird."
The woman—Yu Hyena—let out a hollow laugh at Seoyeon's answer and came over with a fist held out. From Han Seoyeon's perspective, she had only told the truth. It was neither a joke nor anything else.
And so, with Yu Hyena's fist left hanging in the air, a long silence drew out. It wasn't a greeting, so what in the world was she trying to do? Curious by now, Han Seoyeon simply kept watching.
"Ah, hello! I-it's been a while, Yu-san!"
"Yes. Have you been well, Mary-san?"
Unable to bear Yu Hyena's expression growing more awkward by the second, Hitomi hurriedly met her fist and greeted her. Only then did Yu Hyena's face loosen a little, and she smiled.
"...Ah. So that was a kind of greeting. My apologies."
"You seriously just stood there because you didn't know? And here I thought I was the only one who figured we were close."
"Anyway... this is Yu Hyena-san, whom I called to be our guide."
Han Seoyeon ignored the complaint and indicated her with an open palm.
"I'm Bansei Marin. Please take care of us."
"Guroyuki Sui. Likewise."
"Ah, um, I'm Yu Hyena. I'll be serving as your guide, however inadequately!"
The women traded introductions. And of course, the way her expression shifted—subtly different from when she had faced Hitomi—was something no one present missed.
"A-and Komori Sae-chan is my oshi!"
"Oh my."
"Ah, but I like Tachibana Rin-san too. Saerin isn't my favorite ship, but in its own way..."
"Saerin? The order's backwards."
"Huh? Ah, th-that's..."
"Guroyuki-san. I'll grant that she has excellent impact when you hit her, but please don't tease her too much. She's a complete internet Lu Bu. Step outside the range she's already simulated in her head, and she breaks."
Yu Hyena raised a middle finger at Han Seoyeon for the roundabout roast. Han Seoyeon, of course, answered with a middle finger of her own.
"Mmm..."
Hitomi was staring straight at them. At the faint sound that slipped out of her, Han Seoyeon studied her face.
"Is something the matter?"
"No. I just don't think I've ever seen this side of Shion."
It was rare to see Seoyeon curse so openly. Aside from Hitomi, she was someone who observed the proprieties as a rule. That loosened somewhat with Anathema's VTubers, and with Hitomi in particular she could be remarkably unreserved—but this was ease in a different direction. An attitude like she was dealing with an old, bad friend. It could not help but catch Hitomi's interest.
"I'm sorry. Did I make you jealous?"
"Mmm, no. More than that, I'm happier to have seen a new side of Shion."
"Then I'm glad."
So saying, Han Seoyeon kissed Hitomi's cheek. That alone was enough to melt the corners of Hitomi's mouth into a helpless, silly smile.
"See! SisMary really is official! You denied it that hard, so what the hell is this?!"
Someone at their side had shouted it, eyes gone wide, but Han Seoyeon decided she would simply ignore it.
"And what's with that ring. You went and laid hands on your oshi after all? Not even ashamed, as a fan?"
"Could you settle on one? Either you support SisMary, or you don't."
"On stream, they'd call that bobi."
At Yu Hyena declaring it so brazenly, she couldn't help a hollow laugh after all.
"You're fine saying that with your oshi right in front of you?"
"It's fine. There's no way Sae-chan knows a vulgar word like bobi!"
"It didn't occur to you that I would translate it, did it?"
"Huh?"
Her face went pale in an instant. Han Seoyeon, of course, had no intention of showing Yu Hyena any mercy.
"The Korean just now was a proud declaration of the doctrine that a VTuber ought to rub her genitals on stream."
"...Oh my. That's a little, well... indecent."
"No—she's twisting it! Twisting it, for real!"
Bansei quietly set a palm against her reddened cheek.
"Well. Just as Shion-san said."
"Ahaha... It's a bit graphic, but it's a joking sort of phrase, isn't it? I don't think Yu-san meant any harassment by it."
It hadn't really been a question of mercy in the first place. When it came to Hitomi and Guroyuki, they were experts whose vocabulary itself was first-rate. They never brought such things up on stream, but from time to time they lurked in Korean communities, and there was no way they would fail to understand an expression of merely this level.
"No, that's—what I mean is..."
Perhaps thinking she had ruined her image from the very first meeting, Yu Hyena's gaze darted this way and that. In truth, though, Bansei was not the type to care much about language of this degree.
Set beside the genuine articles I saw back in my active days, this much is practically cute...
She had even inferred that it was probably nothing more than a somewhat aggressive way online communities referred to yuri. Taken as the ordinary blunder of carelessly using, out loud, internet slang that ought never to be spoken in real life, it was a common enough mishap. From the reactions on the other side alone, she could tell there had been no great malice. Even so, it hadn't been good conduct, and so Bansei decided she would not go out of her way to comfort her. Let her smart a little this time, and she would be far more careful afterward.
Whether she had guessed that intention or not, Guroyuki drew close and whispered—laughing. Or so Bansei chose to believe.
"Bansei-chan's secretly a little mean, you know."
"Oh my. Whatever are you saying?"
"So that's how you're playing it. Well, fine by me. —Anyway, we'll be in your care today, Guide-san."
"Ah, yes! I'll give it my all!"
Guroyuki held out a hand and shook with Yu Hyena. At least where attitude was concerned, this was not someone to worry about. It was obvious she would work hard to overturn an evaluation that had gone negative from the very start.
"Well then, first of all..."
"Ah. I'm sorry. I need to take a call."
A couple of dry coughs. Yu Hyena, having pulled herself together and just about to begin the tour, was cut off by the ringtone sounding from Han Seoyeon's pocket. Seoyeon offered the group a light apology, then drew out her phone and checked the screen. The name was the one she had expected. Stopped at the very moment she had been trying to build a mood, Yu Hyena's expression went a little sullen... but unfortunately for her, this was not a call one could ignore.
"...Shion, that's not your usual ringtone."
"Well. Yes. So it is."
Hitomi, too, had realized this was no ordinary call. The music was different from the default, and so she understood it belonged to a contact Seoyeon had set apart. And at this particular time, if something counted as important business, there could be only one such matter. Hitomi knew what lay behind it, so she asked nothing more and let Han Seoyeon go.
Having put a little distance between herself and the others, Han Seoyeon set her back to the wall of a nearby building and brought the phone to her ear.
"This is Margarita."
"Judas has kissed the prophet."
One sentence. With that, the call was over.
"...That's happy news."
Even so, Han Seoyeon could manage a small smile. The operation had prized security so highly until now, and she understood perfectly well what it meant that the result was being delivered over an ordinary civilian line. Having murmured those words where no one would hear them, she opened a web portal.
Headlines in Japanese. Among them, not a single report of a disaster. It seemed she could now enjoy her sightseeing in Korea with an easy heart.
Toward Hitomi, who would be fretting just the same, Han Seoyeon traced a V in the air with her fingers.
Kan'in Tomoe had been captured alive.