"You can cook?"
Nagasaki Soyo looked visibly surprised as Tsuzuki Chihiro walked in carrying a bag of fresh groceries, then immediately headed straight for the kitchen.
"Why would you just assume I'm as useless as you?"
"…Given your personality, wouldn't you normally just mooch off someone else?" By now, Soyo was getting used to her "strategist" being less than respectful to her "lord," so she didn't bother nitpicking over the word useless.
"It's not like there's always someone around to treat me."
Chihiro efficiently washed and chopped the vegetables as she explained, "So when no one's feeding me, I have to buy cheap ingredients and cook for myself in my tiny rental apartment."
"Looks like living abroad alone wasn't easy for you."
"Aw, feeling sorry for me? Then how about giving me a raise?"
"Heh. Not happening."
Soyo rolled her eyes and responded to Chihiro's greed by simply turning away.
Dinner didn't take long to prepare. And while Soyo had been harsh with her words earlier, she actually felt a growing sense of appreciation for Chihiro after today's successful performance.
So as she sat at the dining table, watching the girl move around the kitchen, she found herself reminded of how her mother used to cook for her.
So this is what a home feels like…
If their relationship weren't built on a contract and cold, hard cash, Soyo might have actually found herself looking forward to this kind of cohabitation.
"Here's the last dish. But you don't have any rice, so you'll have to eat just the side dishes."
"Ah… that's fine, this is more than enough."
Besides, it wasn't a bad idea to cut down on carbs. She had eaten quite a bit at school today, mostly because she was too worried about whether Chihiro would do her job properly.
"Go on, try it."
"…Not bad."
Soyo was genuinely surprised. Chihiro's cooking wasn't at a five-star restaurant level or anything, but it was more than good enough.
Tch. She can help me do shady stuff and cook for me? Tsuzuki Chihiro is so useful.
"I feel like you're thinking something evil right now."
"Cough." Soyo cleared her throat, awkwardly brushing the thought aside. "So, what's your next move with Anon? Are you planning to meet her tomorrow?"
"Of course not. As 'Soyo,' I don't even have Anon's contact information yet. The only way to find her would be by chance."
"Huh?"
"Besides, this isn't something that should be rushed." Chihiro shot Soyo an unimpressed look. "Anon needs some time to cool off. So does Taki."
Plus, waiting a few days makes things feel less deliberate. In my line of work, rushing things usually backfires.
When a proposal seems like a coincidence, the target is much more likely to let their guard down."
"…You're way too good at this."
Soyo nodded in approval. Truly, deception is best left to the experts.
Chihiro's words also made her realize just how many flaws there had been in her own schemes the first time around.
Looking back, she had been too deliberate—so eager to form the band that everything fell into chaos in the first few days.
She had to spend extra effort just trying to hold the group together.
And because she had been so focused on making things happen, she hadn't taken the time to polish the details—leading to the unexpected disaster of Haruhikage.
Such a painful lesson. If I weren't so good at looking helpless, I probably would've been locked in a basement and 're-educated' by all the people I tricked.
"Oh, right. To avoid any slip-ups later, stop using your current LINE account with them. I'll just tell everyone I switched to a new one."
"…Fine."
After dinner, Soyo took it upon herself to do the dishes. Chihiro wasn't actually her maid, after all.
Besides, she was in a good mood. So good, in fact, that she started humming as she washed.
"Sakiko, Mutsumi… and everyone else…" Soyo looked at her reflection in the plate she was rinsing, her eyes filled with anticipation.
"This time, we'll put the pieces back together."
---
The next day—May 1st.
The change in month didn't bring any sudden shifts in the weather. Some things only changed gradually, beneath the surface.
For Togawa Sakiko, that was exactly the case with her own mindset.
She wasn't thinking about Nagasaki Soyo. There were no new LINE messages from Wakaba Mutsumi. And she certainly wasn't about to go out of her way to ask about them.
Her thoughts were occupied by something else entirely.
Yesterday, during her shift at customer service, she hadn't seen Tsuzuki Chihiro.
Although they had exchanged contact information, one day of absence wasn't enough to warrant messaging her.
Still… work had felt different without her there.
Today, no one stopped her outside the school gates, so she went straight home, changed clothes, and headed for work.
"Chihiro?"
Sakiko's eyes brightened slightly when she saw that Chihiro was already sitting at her usual spot next to her.
They didn't talk much during work hours, but just having someone in the same situation beside her brought a sense of comfort.
"Ah, Sakiko."
Unlike the past few days, Chihiro wasn't disguised as Soyo today. She had left the house bare-faced.
She had spent the morning sleeping in at her rich employer's big-ass mansion and only remembered her moving company job in the afternoon.
Compared to freeloading, the work here was much more exhausting. But she wasn't in any hurry to quit just yet.
Still, after arriving, she casually mentioned to Ms. Oda that she wouldn't be working full-time anymore—only part-time.
Her supervisor didn't seem to mind.
"I had something to do yesterday, so I wasn't here," Chihiro explained. Then, after a moment's thought, she added, "More precisely, I started a new job."
"A new job?"
Sakiko blinked, curiosity piqued. "Then… what about this one?"
"I'll still be coming in, just not every day. My new job is in housekeeping, so whenever my employer needs their place cleaned, I won't be able to make it here."
"I see…"
Chihiro watched the cute girl in front of her and suddenly had a very interesting idea.
"By the way, my new employer 'Nagasaki Soyo' is actually really nice. Pays me 5,000 yen a day and even covers food and housing."
"…Who did you say your employer was?"
---
T/N: i think it was 5,000 yen a day right?