quiet talk #7: Blushing Wolf / ep.1
Immediately after Mikoto and the others overcame the trap the Secretarial Division had laid at Hotel Maverick -the dance party—
What awaited Mikoto and the others after they had been told the whole story of Akazawa, Kosugi, and the fate of the Secretarial Division was a minivan taxi Kotone had arranged. Rinko was already sitting in the back seat, looking distinctly awkward, when Mikoto and Shandy were bundled inside. Before Mikoto could ask what was going on, Sanae and Toko were squeezed into the vehicle as well, leaving her completely bewildered. Sanae was dressed as a bunny girl and looked thoroughly displeased, while Toko, dressed as a nurse, wore a pleasant smile throughout.
That made five passengers, excluding the driver. Kotone climbed into the front passenger seat and gave the driver their destination.
“For now, Minato Mirai. I’ll give you directions from there.”
“Why are we going all the way to Yokohama?”
“After-party!”
Everyone in the car except Rinko, who had been told in advance, cried out at once.
Minato Mirai, Yokohama. A mid-level floor of a tower block.
Six people’s belongings were lined up along the corridor just inside the entrance.
According to Kotone, the venue for the after-party was her own flat, presumably for the practical reason that she was a celebrity. It was Shandy’s first time crossing the threshold, and her eyes lit up with the entrepreneurial spirit of someone who had just found a high-value customer. The Yanase wife-wife duo, dragged along in the course of events, reacted noisily to every little thing, including the casually displayed Academy Award trophies.
Mikoto and Rinko, meanwhile, had already visited several times. They changed out of their formalwear and settled onto the sofa. There apparently weren’t enough glasses for six people, so their welcome drinks were simply water poured into plastic picnic cups. The water server, having fulfilled its purpose, burbled away with a gobogobo.
“Right, we’ve only got water, but cheers anyway! Good work tonight!”
“Cheers!”
The people seated around the U-shaped sofa clinked their cups together. The spacious living room was part of a roomy three-bedroom flat, and even with six people inside, there was space to spare.
While everyone else sat with varying degrees of restraint, Mikoto had sunk into the sofa as though she were at home, or perhaps her parents’ house. Toko called out brightly to her.
“So! Have Kurosu-san and Charlotte-san made up?”
“Don’t ask so bluntly, Toko. That’s rude.”
“Yeah, I was wondering too. So? How’d it go?”
Sanae and Toko had been in practically full cosplay earlier, but they had changed back into their ordinary clothes as well. Kotone continued the conversation while removing the bra from beneath her off-the-shoulder top. She was at home, and accustomed to baring herself in front of people for filming, so perhaps she had no particular qualms about exposing herself half-naked. Rinko was the only one who looked away.
“Ah, well…”
Remembering everything that had happened during the Waltz of the Flowers, Mikoto faltered. She couldn’t very well admit that, in the course of making up, she had gone so far as to secure something approaching an engagement. It was far too embarrassing.
Perhaps sensing her hesitation, Shandy, sitting beside her, wrapped her arms around Mikoto. Warmth seeped through the thin long-sleeved T-shirt she was wearing in place of a dress, borrowed from Kotone.
“Not only did we make up, we’ve become even closer. Haven’t we, Mikoto?”
Everyone besides the two of them reacted with a cry of astonishment, even the normally expressionless Sanae. Before Mikoto could admonish Shandy, Kotone and Toko were already grinning from ear to ear.
“She was so cool, you know? She held me and said, ‘in sickness and in health~’.”
“That’s basically a proposal! When’s the wedding!? And what about the gift money!?”
“Oh-ho? Nice one, you bloody prince.”
“I’m neither bloody nor a prince.”
“Heheh. I win. So, Rinko-san, are you jealous?”
Without saying a word, Rinko pinched both of Shandy’s cheeks.
“Fhyufhyufhyu~. Fhenfhen, it doesn’t hurt at all~.”
“All right, all right. That’s enough.”
Mikoto stopped Shandy from deliberately provoking Rinko for her own amusement and watched Rinko’s expression. She looked sulky, but not as though she were about to lose her temper and storm out. Perhaps she had enough sense to behave herself with other people around.
The wall clock caught Mikoto’s eye. It was ten o’clock. Sanae noticed the time as well and rose from the sofa.
“Sorry, but we can’t stay too long, so we should probably head off here.”
“Oh, come on, stay the night! You two are staying, right, Sis?”
Judging by what they had said, the Yanase household was about thirty minutes away in Musashi-Kosugi. Even Rinko, who lived the furthest away in Kitasenju, still had plenty of time before the last train.
“Well, I don’t mind.”
“Yes. Rinko-san, what about you?”
“…I’m going home.”
The moment Rinko stood, Kotone promptly dragged her back down. Rinko ended up sprawled across Kotone, who was sitting on the sofa.
“Nope. Rinko-chan isn’t going home.”
Under Kotone’s gaze, Rinko let out an incomprehensible squeal and writhed in agony. Toko, who had been carefully observing the spectacle, answered with an equally incomprehensible shriek of her own.
“Kotoriin!”
The situation was descending rapidly into chaos.
“Then we’ll take you up on the offer too! Sanae’s off tomorrow, anyway!”
“Haa… Very well. We’ll impose on you, then.”
“Right! Then, Sis, go to the convenience store. I want Coke and crisps. Consommé flavour! And Shandy Sis, tell me all about the proposal. In excruciating detail.”
“Of course. Happily. I’ll need the ingredients for a Shandy Gaff… I’ll send you the rest on LINE later.”
Faced with her tyrannical little sister, Mikoto no longer even had the energy to resist. She had, in fact, gone and done exactly what they said about marriage being a matter of momentum. She was too embarrassed at the prospect of having Shandy endlessly recount the story, so Mikoto simply left the living room in the clothes she stood in.
＊
“Sorry, making you go shopping… I mean, dragging you into Kotone’s plans. And you too, Sanae-san.”
“It’s fine! I just don’t want to breathe the same air as Charlotte! I’m fine. We’re best friends!”
“I’m not entirely sure how that makes you ‘fine’, but don’t worry about me.”
In the end, the shopping party and the romance-talk party had split evenly into three and three. Since Mikoto had visited often enough to know the place like the back of her hand, she headed for the convenience store nearby.
She was kept busy putting things into and taking them back out of the shopping basket as orders came flooding in over LINE, interspersed with messages saying, “I just ordered that through Uber, so we don’t need it.”
Rinko picked up a can of peach-flavoured Horoyoi, presumably for herself, and murmured nostalgically.
“Having drinks at home… It’s been ages. Makes me think of when we were students.”
“Before exams and things. We’d all gather at the house of whoever had the past papers.”
“Exactly! Then we’d start drinking instead of studying!”
“Eh… Aren’t you supposed to study before an exam? And what do you mean, past papers…?”
Sanae looked genuinely astonished as she watched the other two hit it off. Perhaps that was the inevitable result of a life devoted entirely to seriousness. Mikoto could easily picture Sanae getting through her exams without relying on past papers.
“Sanae-san…”
“You didn’t have any friends, did you…?”
“I had everything I needed with Toko.”
Sanae sounded faintly sulky, but she had already found the one and only someone for the rest of her life. The ring sparkling on Sanae’s left ring finger made Mikoto envious.
Apparently Rinko felt the same.
“Lucky… I want someone to tell me how much they love me like that too…”
“There are times when I find it rather irritating. She interrupts me while I’m on the phone, for instance.”
“That all sounds like bragging to me…”
Rinko’s shoulders slumped.
“What sort of person is your type, Shirai-san?”
“…Mm.”
Sanae had stepped into a minefield without the slightest idea it was there. Rinko lowered her eyes and pointed at Mikoto.
“Thanks, Rinko-san.”
“Yeah. Sorry… I haven’t gotten over it yet.”
Mikoto knew that feelings held for two whole years weren’t something one simply got over overnight. Perhaps Sanae had finally grasped the situation from their exchange of looks and expressions; she gave Mikoto an apologetic glance and an oddly earnest attempt at consolation.
“…Would Kurosu-san ever cling to you all over the way Toko does?”
“I wanted that to happen… but she’s already spoken for. I thought I could treat her better than that woman, though…”
“If you’re going to switch, now would be the time.”
“Please don’t tease me.”
Mikoto stopped Sanae’s unsettling grin and went back to shopping for the group.
Beer, canned chūhai, sake. Mikoto wasn’t particularly good with alcohol, so these were things she rarely had anything to do with. Ever since becoming a working adult, she had hardly ever drunk outside of work-related occasions. She still kept in touch with the friends she had been close to at university, but they were scattered all over the country, and they only managed to meet once or twice a year.
Mikoto wondered what had changed that.
“Oh. They’ve got a white-peach and yellow-peach mixed gummy.”
“I tried those new ones. Not bad. Though they can’t beat Kajyu Gummy.”
“Right? Kajyu Gummy is still the best! And there are so many flavours!”
She had never imagined that she would become close enough to Rinko and Sanae to go shopping with them in ordinary clothes, on their own time, like ordinary friends. Toko was in there too, presumably in the middle of some romance talk right now.
What had brought all of them together and kept them connected?
As Mikoto followed that thought, one woman’s face rose in her mind.
“…This is fun.”
The words slipped from her lips of their own accord, warming her chest.
The job she had once thought was the worst thing imaginable was going smoothly now, despite her having little to show for it, and somehow she had found herself on a fast track to promotion. None of that was solely down to Mikoto herself. It was because of the people around her who had supported her, and above all, the person who had fussed over her more than anyone.
“Kurosu-san, what’s left?”
“Oh, right. Let’s see… Ingredients for a Shandy Gaff, vodka, gin, and some assorted juice.”
“You know the type. People who get all excited and play bartender when they have drinks at home. Don’t they realise it actually makes them look less cool?”
“I feel as though you and Shirai-san would become very good friends.”
“Yeah! Operation Defeat Charlotte!”
“That’s right!”
Mikoto pretended not to notice the flames blazing in the eyes of the two women and paid for the shopping.
With heavy plastic bags full mostly of alcohol and juice hanging from her hands, she walked through Minato Mirai at night.
“…Ah, sorry. I forgot the pudding they asked for. I’ll just run back.”
“We’ll wait here.”
“Please do.”
Mikoto and Rinko waited together while Sanae jogged back towards the convenience store.
It was still chilly, late March. An amber-coloured moon hung in the perfectly clear night sky, while waves lapped against the seawall with a gentle chapu-chapu, spraying foam into the air.
The moment they were alone, Rinko moved closer.
Her perfume had already almost faded, leaving only the scent of the sea to tickle Mikoto’s nose.
“…I really did love you.”
Mikoto knew all too painfully that those words were Rinko’s true feelings.
She could not return those special feelings. Affection from someone she did not love tasted far too bitter to Mikoto.
“I’m glad you feel that way about me.”
“You really are that devoted, aren’t you? I actually agonised over the whole harem thing, you know? I even thought I wouldn’t mind if you were seeing two people.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Ugh… Don’t apologise so much! You’re going to make me cry again…”
As had been revealed during Mikoto’s dance with Rinko, what Rinko had suffered through must have been tremendous. After agonising over whether to sever their relationship cleanly or continue as they had, the choice she had made was a compromise that left both Mikoto and Rinko hurting.
Every time they met and exchanged words, they were bound tighter by the memory of who had rejected whom, and by the chain of “from now on, we’re best friends.”
“…But I was happy when you said you wanted to be best friends. I’ve always fallen for girls who didn’t feel the same way about me. And I’m terrible at holding things in, so I confess… and it ends badly.”
“You told me that before.”
“Yeah… I’m a little confused. Every time I’ve fallen in love, I’ve ended up losing a friend. I’ve never experienced staying friends with someone while still loving them romantically.”
After a brief pause, Rinko continued.
“So if I ever confess to you again, I want you to reject me without mercy. But I still want you to be my friend. Is that selfish?”
Mikoto’s heart hurt.
Having decided to shoulder Rinko’s feelings, she had no room to choose otherwise. If she wanted to remain her best friend, she couldn’t reject the painful things Rinko might say.
“Of course. I’ll reject you as many times as it takes.”
Rinko threw her arms around Mikoto.
She was soft and warm, almost hot against her body. For an instant, Kotone’s earlier words flashed through Mikoto’s mind before she forced them away.
Mikoto did not put her arms around Rinko’s back.
“I love you, Mikoto-san.”
“Thank you.”
She deflected Rinko’s affection with gratitude.
The fact that she couldn’t, or didn’t want to, say “I’m sorry” was one of Mikoto’s gentler, weaker qualities. Rejecting someone from a distance with the substitute “thank you” still pricked painfully at her heart.
“…How much are best friends allowed to do?”
“What do you mean?”
Rinko squeezed her tightly.
“Is hugging someone something best friends do?”
“I think hugs are fine. I mean, we’re doing it now.”
“…Even in front of her?”
“That depends on Shandy-san.”
“Then what about holding hands?”
“That’s fine.”
“What about interlocking fingers?”
“…Wait. I think that’s where things start getting questionable.”
“Right? I thought so too!”
Rinko abruptly pulled away and began pondering the dividing line between friendship and romance, groaning thoughtfully to herself.
That ambiguous distance between “more than friends, less than lovers” was surprisingly difficult to pin down.
“What about going somewhere together, just the two of us?”
“That’s just normal friendship, isn’t it?”
“Even if I think it’s a date?”
“To me, it’s just going out with a friend.”
“Hmm…”
Rinko grumbled, slightly displeased, and continued sorting through the boundaries.
There was something amusing about it, and Mikoto found herself smiling.
“Okay, then. Suppose we each buy a crêpe and share them. What if I bite into yours while you’re eating it?”
“If I get some of yours too.”
“But then it’d be an indirect kiss.”
“We’re not children.”
“I care about it!”
“I don’t.”
Rinko’s eyes widened as though she had just had a revelation, and she continued her classification.
“Then… what about a kiss?”
There was a faintly mischievous glint in her expression, betraying the fact that she was plotting something she knew she shouldn’t.
Mikoto answered immediately.
“No.”
“What if it’s somewhere other than the lips? The back of your hand, your cheek, your forehead…”
“I told you, I’ve never had anyone do that to me, so I don’t know.”
“Then we’ll test it. Starting with your hand.”
Rinko bent down and kissed the hand Mikoto had occupied with shopping bags. Her soft lips brushed the back of Mikoto’s hand, making it slightly ticklish.
“…Well?”
“Well, I don’t exactly hate it…”
“Then your cheek next.”
This time, Rinko’s lips lightly touched her cheek.
The moment Rinko’s face drew close, Mikoto realised that some instinctive wariness had risen inside her. She became uneasy whenever someone entered her personal space.
Shandy’s face flashed through her mind.
“Maybe the cheek is a no…”
“What about your forehead?”
“No. Probably not. Besides, you just want to kiss me, don’t you?”
“Ahaha. You caught me.”
Rinko gave an apologetic smile and breathed out warmly.
Mikoto had rejected her, but Rinko still seemed determined to continue the exercise. She pushed further.
“…What about sleeping together?”
“I said no.”
“Just sleeping! Sharing a bed!”
“What kind of situation would that even be…?”
“If we went camping, we’d sleep in the same tent, right!?”
Mikoto almost accepted that as reasonable, but even then, she had a feeling there was a problem somewhere.
“Well… I suppose that would be fine…”
“Then if! If, just hypothetically, at that time we—”
“If you’re going to think about things like that, we’re not going camping.”
“Sorry! Yeah, you’re right!? Okay, um, um…”
Rinko was in a panic.
For Rinko, and for Mikoto too, this was their first attempt at sorting out the boundary between best friends and lovers.
Mikoto couldn’t become Rinko’s lover, not after the promise she had made to Shandy. But she had promised Rinko that she would remain her best friend.
If this exercise would help with that, then Mikoto wanted to cooperate.
She wanted to help her.
“What if there was consent!?”
“No, no. You can work that one out just by thinking about it normally…”
“I’m asking because I don’t understand what ‘normally’ is!”
The moment Mikoto decided she wanted to help, Rinko had already overstepped.
Precisely because she had so little experience with what was normal, they needed to establish the boundaries properly.
For Rinko’s sake.
“There will be no consent. Only Shandy-san.”
“What if she says it’s okay?”
“She wouldn’t say that… Though it scares me that I can’t say that with absolute certainty. Even if she did allow it, I still couldn’t do it with you.”
“What if we just hugged?”
“I said a hug as a greeting was fine.”
“What about massages? Shoulders, or feet?”
“You’ve already massaged my shoulders occasionally, haven’t you?”
“Then what about your whole body? I’m really good at oil massages!”
“…As long as it’s not the sort that makes me feel strange.”
“What sort is ‘strange’!? What kind of feelings would you have, Mikoto-san!?”
“Th-that’s why…”
Mikoto was the one getting embarrassed now.
This was beginning to feel less like establishing boundaries and more like being interrogated about her preferences.
“…More importantly, do you really want to do all that with me?”
“I do! I want to see that beautiful face of yours melt!”
“Ugh.”
The sheer force of the confession elicited a strange noise from Mikoto.
She shook her head violently, as though she could scatter the blood rushing to her face.
“…Best friends don’t do things like that.”
“Right. Best friends don’t do things like that. Got it…”
Seeing Rinko looking so dejected, Mikoto wondered whether she had really understood.
Still, Mikoto decided to trust her.
If Rinko pressed too far, Mikoto would have no choice but to reject her. If something happened that truly couldn’t be helped, that would be a separate matter.
“…Thank you, Mikoto-san. I think I’ve sorted out my feelings now.”
“You’re sure?”
“It still feels frustrating right now, but… I’d hate it even more if we stopped being best friends.”
Having said that, Rinko smiled brightly.
“I love you! As my best friend!”
Those were words Rinko had probably heard countless times before.
A declaration of love as a friend, the parting words that had destroyed not only romance but friendship too.
A curse of ruin.
But surely those words were different now.
Mikoto and Rinko’s relationship would continue.
So perhaps, someday, the pain in Mikoto’s chest would heal.
She believed that was far better than losing Rinko altogether.
“Me too. As your best friend.”
“…Well, well. Look at you two living your youth. Twenty-seven-year-old children, are we?”
A pair of damp, scrutinising eyes peered at them from behind.
Sanae’s lips were twisted into an eerie smile.
Mikoto hurriedly found herself forced to defend them.
“W-we’re allowed to act like children once in a while!”
“I see. Then please make sure you don’t get caught when you’re up to no good, Kurosu-san.”
“We’re not doing anything!”
“Shall we head back?”
Sanae took Mikoto by the hand, and the three of them started walking back towards Kotone’s flat.
Despite the chilly night, Mikoto’s body felt strangely hot.
It wasn’t because of the boundary-sorting exercise Rinko had subjected her to.
It was because she had once again realised something about herself:
There was only one person she wanted to love.
Shandy.
＊
At the entrance to Kotone’s building, Mikoto entered the flat number and waited for the lock to release.
They passed through the automatic doors and headed up to the seventeenth floor.
As expected, there was no name on the plaque for Room 1709.
Then again, almost none of the residents on the floor bothered putting up nameplates.
The only person eccentric enough to do so was the occupant of Room 1708 next door to Kotone, someone named Saikawa.
“I bought everything!”
Mikoto took off her shoes at the entrance. And that was when she noticed something strange.
There was an extra pair of shoes.
“Welcome back, Sis. Anyway, let’s get started. Time for a game!”
“What?”
Kotone ushered them into the living room.
The three people from earlier were there, along with one other person.
A woman Mikoto had never seen before.
She was extremely slender, with long, glossy, pale-black hair. She was so thin that at first glance, Mikoto could have mistaken her for little more than skin and bones.
“Let me introduce you, Mikoto. This is Saikawa Hifumi-san, Kotone-san’s neighbour. Apparently she’s a junior at the same agency and a singer-songwriter.”
Saikawa Hifumi.
Profession: singer-songwriter.
Unfortunately, Mikoto had never heard the name before.
Was she a musician popular among younger people?
Their eyes met, and Mikoto gave her a small bow.
Perhaps the introductions were already considered complete, because Hifumi began pointing to each of the three women and saying their names in turn.
After pointing at Sanae with a slender, pale finger like a whitefish fillet, she continued.
“…You’re Mikoto-san…?”
“Er, yes. That’s me. Thank you for being my sister’s friend. I’m Kurosu Mikoto.”
“…………And Rinko…san…”
“That’s right. Why?”
Hifumi had an exceptionally quiet air about her.
If Mikoto hadn’t been told she was a musician, she might have mistaken her for a writer, or perhaps some sort of literary-minded girl.
That was how strongly Mikoto sensed something hidden inside her: emotion, fixation, obsession.
“I see…”
After a long pause, Hifumi smiled in a voice so faint it was almost inaudible.
“…You look delicious.”
A chill ran down Mikoto’s spine.
Behind the long fringe covering most of her eyes, Hifumi’s gaze could not be read.
“That woman’s after you. Be careful.”
Rinko’s whisper sank straight into Mikoto’s stomach.
Rinko had far more experience than Mikoto, and perhaps she could recognise the atmosphere surrounding a woman who hunted other women.
Mikoto glanced towards Shandy.
Her amber eyes were an unwavering full moon.
As usual, Mikoto couldn’t read what she was truly thinking, but she couldn’t help feeling that Shandy might be planning to test something.
For the moment, Mikoto sat down beside Shandy and deliberately slipped an arm around her back.
Without the warmth of Shandy leaning into her, or the scent of oranges, Mikoto doubted she would have been able to shake off her wariness.
Wanting to change the subject, Mikoto asked Kotone:
“So what exactly is this ‘game’?”
“Well, that would be…”
Kotone drew out the suspense.
Instead, Shandy, who had an arm around Mikoto’s shoulders, smiled.
“Hehe.”
And then—
“Grrr.”
She bit Mikoto on the neck, right on the throat.
It was only a playful nip, but Mikoto’s nerves were already on edge because of Hifumi, and her entire spine froze.
“Aww, Sis is dead. Shandy Sis is a wolf, after all. You have to be careful~.”
“I’d personally prefer a lion.”
“What does that mean…?”
Before Mikoto could make sense of it, Hifumi began laying six cards out on the table.
The illustrated cards were:
Two 《Villagers》.
A 《Seer》.
A 《Hunter》.
A 《Madman》.
And the final card—
《Werewolf》.
“Tonight’s game is 《Werewolf》.”
“Let’s enjoy ourselves, Mikoto.”
――And so began a six-player game of Werewolf, with Saikawa Hifumi as their GM.