Episode Fifty-Two
And so, Saturday arrived.
It had come.
As I got ready, Ibara asked, “Are you going somewhere, Shigure-san?”
I had no choice but to lie.
“Just out for a bit, with a friend.”
“Hmm.”
Still wearing her pyjamas and a hanten over them, Ibara sniffed boredly.
Truth be told, this girl is rather a homebody.
It’s partly due to her insomnia and being weak during the day, but she basically prefers to stay home on weekends. Left to her own devices, she’d binge-watch Netflix endlessly.
What’s more, she tries to drag me into her lazy days off. She’s like a leech.
But today, honestly, I wanted to relax too. Sadly.
†
Changing trains, I made my way to the designated café.
Opening the door to an alleyway slightly removed from the station entrance, I heard a “meow”.
Indeed.
The meeting place specified was a cat café.
An utterly unexpected choice.
After washing my hands at the entrance and being shown to a table by the staff, a grey cat cautiously approached.
A Russian Blue. Adorable.
“You’re rather cute, aren’t you?”
I tentatively reached out, but it wriggled away, twisting its body like a spring.
“Ah!”
“It got away from you, didn’t it?”
I looked up.
Before I knew it, Haibara-san was standing beside me.
I hadn’t noticed her at all.
Impressive. An even more perfect disguise than Ibara’s.
Hair tied at the nape of her neck. A grey hoodie and jeans. Worn-looking trainers. Glasses.
To an outsider, she looked plain and dowdy, with no trace of her appearance from the other day.
“You shouldn’t chase cats. You wait for them to come to you.”
“Haibara—san”
“Ah, no.”
“Eh?”
“My surname’s rarer, so please use my first name. Just the name. It feels more natural. I reckon it’s fine in this shop.”
“…Is the owner your cousin or something?”
“Eh? No, just a regular since before I debuted.”
Haibara-san, wearing stylish thick-rimmed glasses, tugged at her mask with a finger as she addressed the staff.
“Excuse me, a hot matcha latte, please. What would you like, Amami-san?”
“…Then I’ll have a café au lait.”
The staff member bowed and walked away.
“Tsumire.”
“…T-Tsumire?”
“That’s the Russian Blue’s name. The British Shorthair in the back is Chikuwa. The Bengal on the counter is Satsuma. The Himalayan over there is Oden.”
“Oden?”
“Yes.”
Haibara-san picked up one of the cat teasers attached to the table and flicked the toy at the tip towards the cat, Satsuma’s nose.
Satsuma turned away abruptly and strolled off leisurely.
A splendid act of complete disregard.
“They’re all used to it now, so they won’t play with us anymore.”
“I see…”
“It’s lonely, but there’s nothing to be done.”
Drinks were brought over.
There were no other customers in the shop.
Only the cats watched us, as if testing us.
“So, about the main point…”
“…Right. About that, I think there might have been a bit of a misunderstanding.”
“No, that’s fine now. It’s been resolved.”
“Eh?”
“You showed no sign of anger toward a younger person who took such an insolent attitude with you. Nor did you act submissive. Most importantly, Tsumire approached you without caution. So it’s fine now. Sorry for doubting you.”
Leaving me behind, Haibara-san took a sip of her matcha latte and stuck out her tongue, saying “Ouch!”
It must have been hot. Is she sensitive to heat?
“Um, what do you mean…?”
“I was Ibara’s partner, after all. I know full well Ibara isn’t the sort to be easily fooled. But I still wanted to see for myself.”
“So that means… you were testing me?”
“I’m sorry. I realise that must have been unpleasant. Please allow me to apologise properly.”
Saying this, Haibara-san bowed deeply.
I was still a little confused.
“And threatening to expose my living arrangement with Ibara if I didn’t obey your orders…?”
“Naturally. If such behaviour were to become public knowledge, I’d be the one facing a public backlash. I simply cannot bear that risk.”
Seeing me staring blankly, Haibara-san asked tentatively.
“…Are you shocked?”
Shocked? Well…
“No, I was just thinking, ‘Wow, she really thinks things through for a high schooler.’”
“Eh?”
“How can I put it… it felt very professional.”
“N-no, that’s not true at all.”
Haibara-san looked down, seeming embarrassed.
Her cheeks were tinged with a cherry blossom pink.
I could sort of understand Haibara-san’s feelings.
She probably just wanted to make sure the adult getting close to her friend was trustworthy. To do that, she used her work connections and even resorted to intimidating tactics.
Setting aside whether her methods were right or wrong, she’s far more proactive than I was at her age. Her approach was a bit extreme, I suppose, but ultimately, I’m the one who got the job, so I’m in no position to complain.
Above all, I completely understood her concern for Ibara.
Hearing that a seventeen-year-old friend was spending all her time at a working adult’s house, anyone would be worried.
When I was around her age, I too remember this vague distrust of adults, something I couldn’t quite pin down, always smouldering deep within my chest.
But that’s beside the point.
“You seem like a different person today, Haibara-san, compared to the other day.”
“Oh, that was just an act. Sorry, this is more like my natural self.”
“Acting?”
“Character creation, sort of…”
The idol-like Haibara Hiname I saw in the meeting room.
The scheming, malicious Haibara Hiname I saw in the supply room.
And now, the rational, earnest-looking Haibara Hiname before me.
All of them seem like completely different people.
If all of that is just acting, then that means—
“That’s amazing.”
“Eh?”
“Like a professional actress. Oh, right, you’re an idol. Do you perhaps aspire to be an actress? Wow, that’s cool!”
Upon hearing this, Haibara-san shrank even further, her shoulders hunched.
“…Actress? Well, eventually… no. Why are you complimenting me?”
“Eh? Is that weird?”
“Normally, someone would be shocked and pull away, or angry at being deceived.”
“Is that so?”
“But I’m a different person. The me when I’m doing idol work, and the me now.”
That might be true.
But even so, I don’t feel tricked.
Perhaps it’s something I can say precisely because I’m not a fan of “Idol Haibara Hiname”, but an outsider.
“This is what I’m like normally. The glasses aren’t a disguise either, they’re real prescription ones. I’ve had terrible astigmatism since I was young.”
“Oh, I see. Contacts for the idol performances, then?”
“Yes. I’d love to get LASIK, but I’m just too scared. I mean, they cut your eyes and burn them with a laser!”
The dazzling aura is nowhere to be seen in this Hiname, who looks at me with disbelief, her eyebrows drawn down.
“When I’m performing as an idol, I cast a spell on myself. A sparkling spell to become Cinderella… a kind of self-hypnosis, I suppose.”
”That’s why,” Haibara-san murmured, a faint smile touching her lips.
“Now that the spell’s broken, I’m just plain old Cinderella in plain clothes.”
I don’t think that’s true.
Right now, she feels less like “Haibara-san” and more like “Hiname-chan” – and she’s adorable.
But before I could interject, Hiname-chan continued.
“Right then, back to the main point.”
“Ah, yes.”
I nodded.
Given she’d said she wouldn’t threaten me, perhaps I could have stood up.
But her next words made that impossible.
“I need your cooperation.”
“Cooperation?”
“Yes. Could you arrange for me to meet Ibara?”
Ibara?
Hiname-chan addressed me, who was staring blankly.
“It’s important. It concerns that girl’s future.”