"It looks like your injury is a bit more serious than it seems."
Nagasaki Soyo crouched beside the bed, carefully dabbing iodine onto the wounds of the girl lying before her with a cotton swab.
Looking closely, Chihiro's skin was actually even fairer than Soyo had imagined—like a freshly peeled egg. But that also made it fragile.
She hadn't paid much attention earlier. Plus, she had still been angry, so she hadn't even bothered to check how bad the wounds really were.
It wasn't until she, on a rare whim of kindness, decided to help this little troublemaker treat her injuries that she realized the wounds weren't as minor as she had assumed.
"You wiped off the blood?"
"Otherwise, if I came back with my whole leg covered in blood, wouldn't you think I was just trying to act pitiful?"
"...I'm not that unreasonable. And it was just a meal. If you didn't come back, I could've just had dinner with my mom instead."
"Mm."
Hearing that muffled response, Nagasaki Soyo looked up in confusion. But what she saw was the red-haired girl staring out the window at the moon, lost in thought.
"Why don't you go home? Even if you don't care about what your sister, Raana, thinks, wouldn't your parents be worried about you?"
"...Probably."
"Then—"
"Stop asking. You talk too much. Do you really enjoy prying into other people's family affairs? I haven't been all nosy about your family, have I?"
"You—?"
Suddenly being snapped at, Soyo felt a bit wronged. But after seeing the strange emotion on the girl's face, she fell silent.
Maybe… she had asked something she shouldn't have.
"Don't do this again. Carelessly wiping a wound like that makes it easy for dirt to get in and cause an infection. Something that wasn't even that serious could get worse just because of you. Not to mention, you have a huge chunk of skin peeled up here."
"Luckily, this probably won't leave a scar. Otherwise, you'd just have to cry over it—"
"Hiss—!"
"Ah, sorry. I didn't mean to."
"Then can you wipe that smug look off your face?" Tsuzuki Chihiro rolled her eyes but didn't press the issue.
"So, tell me—what were you doing today? I was at home waiting for you, you know."
"Nothing much… just ran into Nina."
"Nina?"
Having finished applying the iodine, Soyo grabbed some bandages. Since Chihiro would be wearing tights to cover the wound, she needed to make sure the injured skin wouldn't rub against her clothes directly.
"You haven't forgotten who she is, have you? You cheater."
"C-Cheater?"
The word made Nagasaki Soyo tense up, momentarily panicking that this girl—whose intelligence was on par with hers—had somehow figured out her greatest secret: her regression.
But after thinking it through, she realized Chihiro wasn't talking about that.
"What else? If you hadn't gotten lucky and found out Nina was my fake name, you'd probably still be at school complaining with all those adorable students, 'ANON-sensei, don't leave~' or something."
"Did you forget that Anon's name in romaji is literally 'anon'?"
"Now that you mention it… But seriously, how do you know so much about people you don't even interact with?"
"Uh… well… I just do, okay? Don't worry about it!"
"So scary… Is this the legendary Nagasaki family intelligence network? Big shot, have mercy on this humble commoner~"
Seeing that Chihiro wasn't going to press the issue and was instead joking around to cover for her unwillingness to explain, Soyo let out a breath of relief. She was even a little grateful.
Such a considerate Chihiro was, unfortunately, a rare sight.
Most of the time, Chihiro was just plain annoying—so much so that Soyo constantly had the urge to grab a switch and smack her.
—Smack!
"Hey, why did you suddenly hit me?"
"Ahem… no reason." Soyo's face turned a little red. How could she admit she just wanted to test how it felt? "So, you went to Nina's house for dinner?"
"Yeah. I lied to her before, and she's a good kid… I felt really guilty about it."
"Her personality is actually a lot like how I used to be—only thinking about herself, rejecting people who try to get close. But this time, a certain girl in a JK uniform deliberately invited me over, making sure Nina wouldn't end up as the most isolated one."
"To put it simply… I was just there to be her wingman."
"Then why didn't you tell me in advance?"
"I thought I could handle both sides. I didn't want to tell you and make you worry I'd bail on you."
"And yet, you did bail."
"…Yeah. Guess I'm not as capable as I thought. Seems like I can't grant everyone's wishes after all."
But still—she wanted to try.
Tsuzuki Chihiro gazed out the window, thinking of the people she had met in Tokyo these past few days. Anon, Raana… and everyone else who had somehow gotten tangled up with her again.
She never believed Soyo's obsession was the right way to live.
And yet, somehow… wasn't she the same?
Wasn't she just as stubborn, maybe even greedier than Soyo—by several times over?
In this game of real and fake Soyos, she wanted everyone to get a happy ending.
As for herself… as long as she could return home peacefully when it was all over, that would be enough.
A band? That was never something meant for her.
"Don't think that just because you said all that, I'm going to take back what I said earlier. I know you meant well, but I'm worried that your misplaced kindness will ruin my plans."
"Let me say this again—I don't hate Anon and Raana. I just don't think people like them should be involved with CRYCHIC at all."
"You understand that, right?"
"Yeah, yeah. You're rich, whatever you say goes."
"Hmph. Glad you know your place."
Soyo patted the bed, but as she reached the doorway, she added, "Since you're injured today, I won't rush you to move rooms tonight. You can do it tomorrow."
"Oh, right—looks like I don't have any extra tights in my closet… Ugh, seeing as you don't plan on going downstairs like that, I'll go buy some myself."
"Soyo, you're such a good person~"
"Good my ass… Seriously, why does it feel like I'm the one serving you, when I was supposed to be punishing you?!"
"Then help me up… Even if this leg is crippled, I'll still make sure to serve Lady Soyo tonight, dressing her for bed—pain is nothing! Tsuzuki Chihiro, you got this—"
"Enough, enough. Quit the act."
Rolling her eyes, Nagasaki Soyo walked out and shut the door behind her.
She gathered the laundry from the balcony, threw on a random outfit, and left the house.
As she walked toward the nearest women's clothing store, her thoughts drifted back to the red-haired girl lying on the bed, looking strangely fragile.
It had only been a few minutes, but that silent, unreadable gaze had unsettled her.
If Raana comes over tomorrow, should I take the chance to ask her?
But… wouldn't that be a little rude?
Torn, the girl stepped out of the elevator and glanced at the dazzling lights of the street ahead.
She couldn't help but murmur to herself—
"Tsuzuki Chihiro… just how many more secrets are you hiding?"