#91: Impossible / ep.5
“I’m sorry this has come up so suddenly. It was only decided at the last minute, you see.”
“Right.”
Rinko’s vague response was understandable.
After receiving an unexpected message from Sanae, Rinko had come to Hibiya Trading’s headquarters in Shimbashi. According to the instructions, “You can film anywhere in Hibiya headquarters for the entire day.” Kotone, who had been desperately short of ideas for videos for her channel, had readily agreed and was already recording with a selfie stick in hand.
“Hello, everyone! I’m Kurosu Kotone. And today, would you believe it, I’ve been invited to Hibiya Trading, who I’ve had the pleasure of working with for my commercials!”
This was probably where she would add a clapping sound effect. Thinking that, Rinko watched Kotone film her opening while keeping herself safely out of shot.
The Hibiya employees were gathered loosely around Kotone. They kept their distance, as gently as possible, while squealing in hushed voices. And Kotone did not forget to give them some fan service, turning in a circle with the selfie stick still in hand and making eye contact with each of them as she said, “Thank you so much!”
“Her face is so tiny!”
“She’s so tall!”
“She’s so thin!”
Watching them fawn over her made Rinko almost as happy as if they were praising her personally. She was proud of her oshi. Go on, praise her all you like.
Her personality was absolutely dreadful, though.
“This is the guest ID that I was entrusted with by Yanase-san in General Affairs.”
The PR department employee acting as the go-between for Rinko and Sanae handed her the ID. She had a narrow face that gave off an impression of cool intelligence and competence. Rinko still had the habit of instinctively looking for a ring whenever she saw a woman she found attractive.
For the record, she was married.
Best wishes.
“I’m sorry to ask this so soon, but would it be possible for you to appear in Kurosu-san’s video? We were hoping you could show her around.”
“P-please spare me…!”
Despite being a member of the PR department, she refused immediately. But in Rinko’s estimation, among all the Hibiya employees present, she was the one most likely to survive the ordeal of sharing a frame with Kotone.
After all, Kotone was exactly what everyone had just described.
Tiny face.
Tall.
Thin.
If the average person were placed in the same frame as such a monster, they would be forced to confront the cruel reality of their own proportions and want to die. That was why Rinko absolutely never appeared in photographs or videos with Kotone, and had gone all-out with a mask and sunglasses for complete protection.
“Can I do that job?”
The woman who appeared spoke in a honeyed voice that grated on the nerves.
A bewitching woman with conspicuous tear bags and a brilliant red skirt smiled at them. Rinko recognised her.
“I’m Akazawa Kuto from the Secretary Division. How do you do, cute little manager-san?”
The moment she heard that name, Rinko’s guts boiled.
Akazawa Kuto.
This was the woman who had once tried to spread photographs of Mikoto and Shandy’s scandal, pretending they were of Kotone.
Her sworn enemy.
But this was work.
At the very least, with so many people watching, Rinko could not afford to make a scene. Much as she wanted to beat Kuto half to death, she swallowed it down and gave her instructions.
“…Then could you join up with Kurosu-san? I’ll leave the guiding to you, Akazawa-san.”
“Sure~.”
Kuto walked away leisurely, her high heels clicking against the floor.
Rinko exchanged a look with Kotone, who had briefly looked startled, then sent Sanae a message.
“That Akazawa person is dangerous, isn’t she?”
＊
Even as she stared up at the sky, Sanae’s thoughts remained completely stalled.
Hibiya Trading, Hamamatsu Branch. Rooftop.
The sudden appearance of her father-in-law had reduced every line of reasoning she had constructed to nothing.
Sanae was weak against surprises that had no apparent connection to anything that came before them. People who acted suddenly and without reason were formidable opponents.
As far as Sanae knew, there were two such people.
Toko, and her father, Nomura.
“Have you figured anything out, my dear daughter-in-law?”
“Please stop. You’re distracting me.”
“How cold.”
Nomura sat on a bench in the smoking area on the rooftop, looking dejected as he puffed on his cigarette.
It irritated Sanae to no end that while she was deep in thought, the commander of the countermeasures headquarters was sitting there relaxing so casually.
“I hear Toko dislikes cigarettes.”
“I don’t smoke in front of Toko.”
“If I inhale your second-hand smoke and develop lung cancer, Toko will be sad.”
“Hmm. That would be a problem…”
For the sole reason that he did not want to make Toko sad, Nomura stubbed out his cigarette and stretched his arms high above his head.
Then he said, “Right,” gathered himself, and tightened up his previously slack expression.
“Give me your assessment. Who do you suspect of being the werewolf?”
Sanae went through the affiliations and behaviour of everyone at the countermeasures headquarters one by one, narrowing down the candidates who met the conditions.
The first condition was someone other than Sanae who was believed to possess administrator privileges for Secure.
There were forty-seven people at the countermeasures headquarters. However, they did not know who possessed administrator privileges. Sanae had disclosed hers immediately in order to prove her innocence, but under normal circumstances, such information was highly confidential. Almost nobody would voluntarily disclose it.
Then the second condition was the possibility that someone in their midst had been in contact with Cheshire, led by Ashiya Chie.
“Incidentally, when we selected the forty-seven, we thoroughly investigated whether there were any connections. We couldn’t pry into their private lives, of course.”
“From a compliance perspective, that was unavoidable, but…”
No one came to mind who satisfied both conditions.
They simply lacked information.
At present, the only two people Sanae could say with certainty were white were herself and Nomura. Of the remaining forty-five, they did not know who the werewolf was, or even how many werewolves there might be.
“We mustn’t act too hastily. Fortunately, there’s still time before tomorrow’s executive appointments.”
Following Nomura, Sanae sprang lightly to her feet from the bench.
Of course, that did not mean Sanae had no plan of her own.
They had already arrived at Hibiya.
She glanced at the message from Rinko flashing on her smartphone and allowed herself the faintest smile.
“Let’s give them a little shake.”
＊
Following Kotone as she strode through the building with her selfie stick in hand while Kuto continued explaining things, Rinko waited for Sanae’s reply.
Kotone kept filming both for the sake of her channel and for self-defence. As long as she maintained the pretence that she was simply filming a video, Kuto could not afford to make any reckless moves.
For both Rinko and Kotone, Akazawa Kuto was still an enemy.
That was why they kept filming even after passing through the entrance and getting into the lift, even after the lift stopped at Basement Level 2, and even while walking down the bare-concrete corridor.
A whole procession of Hibiya employees followed behind Rinko, apparently there purely to watch the spectacle.
Get back to work.
And just before they stopped at the door at the very end of the Basement Level 2 corridor, Rinko’s phone vibrated.
Sanae’s message read:
“Akazawa Kuto is an ally. Have her explain everything to you.”
The word ally caught Rinko’s attention.
After dispersing the employees who had followed them like a trail of remora and confirming that the onlookers had gradually returned to their workplaces, Kuto tapped her ID against the reader at the end of Basement Level 2.
The heavy door opened slowly with Kuto putting her weight into it. Her heels echoed through the empty storage room as she stepped inside.
The autolock engaged with a solid click.
“This is the Second Emergency Supplies Storage Room. It’s my secret hideout~.”
“Right. Thanks for the tour!”
The three of them were now alone in the sealed room.
Kotone must have been waiting for precisely this moment.
She grabbed Kuto from behind.
As an actress who had appeared in action films before, Kotone’s technique was impressively polished. She had Kuto firmly in a headlock.
“Urgh, g-gh, I can’t breathe…!”
“Ohhh, look who it is. You really pulled a stunt on us back then, didn’t you? So how’re you gonna make it up to us, Akazawa Kuto?”
She even slipped into the role of the thug she had once played.
The blood of a Kotone otaku stirred, and Rinko found herself staring despite herself. But Kuto’s face was literally turning bright red from being strangled.
At this rate, they were going to leave behind video evidence of a crime.
This was bad.
“Wait, Kotone! She’s on our side now!”
“Huh? Why?”
“Sanae-san said so! She told us to hear her out!”
Kotone released her.
Kuto collapsed onto her knees, coughing violently and breathing heavily.
Kotone still looked half unconvinced, but once Rinko briefly explained the situation, she gave an apologetic little laugh.
“I thought I was going to die~…”
“Yeah, sorry, sorry. Let’s call it even, though.”
Even so, Rinko thought she deserved it.
“I was told by Sanae-san to have you explain things to us. All we were told was to come to Hibiya.”
“She really hasn’t got any hands to spare, has she~? That’s unusual for that perfectionist…”
The annoyance at having to explain everything was practically written across Kuto’s face.
Nevertheless, after composing herself, she explained everything she knew.
Apparently, bringing Kotone and Rinko to Hibiya was part of Sanae’s plan concerning Mikoto’s job hunt. Mikoto’s chance of receiving an offer had been sabotaged after the Secretary Division took notice of her, and Sanae had arranged this for her sake.
But the plan was on the verge of failing, so Kotone and Rinko had been called in to reinforce it.
When Kuto finished explaining, Kotone shrugged.
“Right. I understand absolutely nothing!”
“Me neither. All I got was that we might get to see Mikoto-san.”
“Are you two both idiots?”
Kuto spat the words out, though she herself seemed to conclude that perhaps it was only natural.
In truth, Rinko had no idea what was happening either.
Why was the Secretary Division so desperate to prevent one person, Mikoto, from receiving a job offer?
It made no sense.
It was difficult.
So Rinko stopped thinking about it.
Unless something was truly serious, her survival strategy was not to worry, but to forget it cleanly and move on.
“So Sanae-san wants us to help? And if everything goes well, Mikoto-san can get a job at Hibiya?”
“And Sanae-chan can return from Hamamatsu too, to her wife.”
The sudden mention of her hometown made Rinko flinch.
Apparently, Sanae had lost her battle with the Secretary Division and been sent away.
So this plan was for Mikoto, but it was also for Sanae.
Rinko knew better than anyone how unpleasant Hamamatsu could be.
“So this is also material for a video. Sounds like something Sanae-san would think of.”
“Not win-win, but win-win-win.”
“Haha. Sounds like a vibrator.”
She was saying that in her oshi’s voice.
Rinko pinched Kotone’s cheek.
Even so, the situation was beginning to make sense.
There was something in it for Kotone, and if she could help Mikoto and Sanae at the same time, there was no reason for her not to cooperate.
Three-way benefit was the foundation of good business.
“So what are you making Kotone do?”
“I haven’t been told anything. Maybe they expect you to figure it out yourself~?”
“What?”
Kuto giggled and pulled a slim cigarette from her clothes.
Despite the no-smoking notice posted on the wall right in front of them, she lit it without the slightest hesitation.
The overpowering scent of vanilla and smoke reached Rinko’s nose even though she was keeping her distance.
For Rinko, whose sense of smell was exceptionally sharp, cigarettes were a mortal enemy.
“You’re seriously having a smoke now? Cough…! It’s a no-smoking area, isn’t it!? I can’t stand cigarettes! Go over there!”
“This is my hideout~. No signal gets through, nobody comes here, and for some reason, I don’t even leave an entry record when I come in.”
“What kind of place is this…? Cough…”
“Secure. You got an ID card, remember? If you tap it against a Secure terminal, it records exactly who entered where, down to the hour, minute, and second. Everywhere except here, that is~.”
“I see.”
Rinko had worked out that Kuto was a textbook slacker.
She probably came here every day to smoke in peace where nobody could bother her.
Kotone, who had been thinking with a meaningful expression, suddenly spoke.
“Question. How come you can get in here?”
“I dunno~. It was just luck for me too.”
“So you happened to keep tapping your ID around, and found yourself a secret hideout…”
Kotone stood up.
Her suspicious expression had transformed into the radiant smile of a child who had just been given a new toy.
She had almost certainly thought of something terrible.
“No.”
“I haven’t even said anything yet!”
Kotone was the sort of woman who could be rejected in advance and still refuse to give up.
It was precisely because she never gave up that she had risen to the top as an actress.
And it was precisely because she never gave up that she had broken through Rinko’s own rejection.
“I’ve got the video idea!”
With a mischievous laugh that echoed around the underground storage room, Kotone held up the ID card she had been given by Minowa earlier.
“We’ll tap this ID against every door in headquarters and look for secret rooms! Kurosu Kotone’s Hibiya Headquarters Exploration Tour!”
It was an absolutely terrible idea.
Rinko had no idea who would enjoy it.
But she had no choice but to go along with it.
Shirai Rinko was Kurosu Kotone’s manager.
Even as she watched Kotone happily stride out of the storage room, Rinko could not help feeling a little pleased.
“Let’s tap the terminal here too, just in case.”
The instant she said it, Kotone pressed the record button on her smartphone and began explaining the concept of the video.
If she could put on her actress persona instantly, Rinko had to wonder what on earth that awkward little ritual had been for.
“Hmm. Looks like my ID doesn’t work. What about yours, Rinko-san?”
For the sake of experimentation, Rinko tapped the ID hanging around her neck against the Secure terminal.
A red indicator lit up to show that entry was denied. Unlike Kuto’s, the door did not open.
“Mine doesn’t work either.”
“Ahaha. This is kind of fun. We really do feel like an expedition team.”
“Is that so? I’m not really…”
She had forgotten because it felt so natural.
The camera on the smartphone attached to the selfie stick in Kotone’s hand was still recording.
“…Wait a second. You’re not planning to drag me into this, are you…?”
“We’re an expedition team, remember? Come on, Expedition Member Rinko!”
A chill ran down Rinko’s spine.
Appearing in the same frame as her oshi, with her face, height, thinness and every other physical feature being compared against Kotone’s.
A public execution on a global scale.
“N-no, no, no, no! Stop filming right now!”
“Don’t stop the camera!”
“Stoooop!!!”
Laughing like a child, Kotone sprinted down the underground corridor at full speed.
In show business, a moment’s carelessness could cost you everything.
＊
“Ah… um… It’s all right now, Mikoto-san…”
Mikoto poked just her head out of an empty cubicle in the men’s toilet and cautiously looked around.
Ojou-sama Michelle was standing outside, giving her a small wave.
It seemed they had somehow managed to shake off the Secretary Division chief.
Mikoto hurried out of the men’s toilet and looked around.
The only person in the corridor on the fifth floor of headquarters was Michelle.
The lift they had taken earlier was climbing upwards.
“Thank you. You saved me…”
Her knees gave way in relief.
The repeated cycle of tension and release was murder on her heart.
She only wanted to submit a project.
Why did she have to keep going through experiences that made her feel as though her heart might burst?
And on top of that, the plan had failed.
Her ID would not open the door when she tapped it against the terminal, and she had even summoned the enemy.
Even Mikoto, who knew little about security or systems, could understand that much.
Someone was interfering with her plan.
“Did the section chief say anything about why she rushed over? Something about me tapping my ID?”
“Um… no. She didn’t say anything. I don’t think the section chief even knew you were here, Mikoto-san…”
In that case…
Mikoto tapped her ID against the terminal again.
The indicator still glowed red.
The locked door remained closed.
She considered slipping in among employees entering and leaving the Planning Division, but with teleworking so advanced throughout the company, there were hardly any people around.
“…Michelle-san, can I borrow your ID?”
“M-my ID is… a little…”
“Even if it’s a long shot. Please.”
Mikoto pressed Michelle, who was hesitating.
Michelle was the only person she could rely on.
As Michelle backed away, Mikoto followed her and cornered her against the wall.
Michelle looked up at Mikoto with frightened eyes, trembling slightly.
She had probably scared her, but Mikoto did not have time to worry about little things.
“If you lend it to me, then… let’s see…”
This was a negotiation with Michelle.
Mikoto thought about what Michelle might want and remembered that, technically, they were on a date.
In that case, it might be a little early for a first date, but…
“…I’ll kiss you.”
“E-euh…”
Michelle made a sound that was barely a voice and flustered helplessly.
Mikoto, meanwhile, was desperately suppressing her own embarrassment.
She also apologised over and over in her heart to the person she loved most, all while forcing herself to maintain the air of confidence.
It was all for Shandy.
If putting on airs for Shandy meant making one or two women fall for her and cry, then so be it.
With the gentlemanly expression she had honed in Roppongi, she delivered a line that made her own teeth ache.
“…I’ll make you forget all about your eleven lovers.”
“B-but…”
“I gave you time to refuse, yet you’re not running away, are you?”
“M-Mikoto-san has a girlfriend too…”
“That’s precisely why. The more forbidden the love, the hotter it burns.”
Remembering the seductive woman Kotone had been playing earlier, Mikoto blocked Michelle’s feet as she backed her against the wall.
She pinned the hem of Michelle’s flared skirt with her knee and hooked a finger beneath her chin.
What was she doing?
It was nothing but embarrassing.
Even so, she could not afford to back down here.
She was, after all, the sister of an actress.
She would see the performance through.
I’m sorry, Shandy-san.
“…Stay still.”
“Mmm…”
Michelle closed her eyes.
The distance to her lips seemed strangely far.
Mikoto’s heart began pounding despite herself.
This was not love.
It was embarrassment, and fear of how thoroughly she would be humiliated if anyone discovered what she was doing.
There were only the two of them on the floor.
Nobody was watching.
Hardly anyone in the world even knew who Mikoto was.
So it was all right.
She quietly moistened her lips and stole the small, pale-pink lips before her.
“…”
Even after their lips parted, Michelle kept her eyes closed.
Mikoto could not tell whether she was savouring the afterglow or struggling with the conflict that had awakened inside her.
Even so, the fact that Michelle’s arms were wrapped around Mikoto’s waist was proof that she had accepted the kiss rather than rejected it.
“…I’ll borrow your ID, then.”
“W-wait, Mikoto-san…”
“Was that kiss not enough?”
Michelle shook her head frantically and crumpled against the wall.
Mikoto was frightened by the talent she had apparently kept hidden within herself.
If she had not been this sort of person, she would have made men and women alike cry in droves.
“Will you… become my ally, Mikoto-san?”
Hirose Michelle was having a hard time in the Secretary Division.
The only person she could really call an ally was Kuto, and Kuto herself was a completely self-centred person.
Perhaps Michelle had never had anyone who truly saw her for herself, including among her various boyfriends and girlfriends.
Michelle’s face was bright red, and she looked close to tears.
Mikoto held out her hand.
“I’ve been on your side from the beginning.”
Of course, that came with the condition that Michelle would help her.
“…Okay. I’ll cooperate…”
Michelle stood up and held her ID against the Secure terminal.
Beep.
A different sound from before.
The indicator turned green, and the automatic door opened silently.
“One more push…!”
Suppressing her impatience, Mikoto took Michelle with her into the Planning Division.
The Planning Division floor was deserted.
At the very back was a glass-walled room with the blinds drawn, making it impossible to see inside.
That was the Planning Division General Manager’s office.
Meanwhile.
There was someone hiding nearby, secretly watching the entire scene.
Someone who had captured everything that happened on her smartphone, while also hearing every word through a listening device.
“What?! Mikoto-Michelle?! Nobody told me about this, Mikoto-san! That was a total landmine! I can’t accept anything except my fixed ship! Stop it! That’s not fair!”
Yanase Toko.
“…No, but that aggressive vibe was seriously cool, and I kind of want to be on the receiving end myself, but cheating?!”
Right there on the spot, she linked the intercepted audio and made an improvised video.
She watched it over and over, taking feverish breaths one moment and angrily muttering, “That’s not good!” the next.
It was complicated.
She could not forgive herself for being thrilled by it, but when something made her heart race, there was no helping that.
She had stumbled across a scene that provoked an extraordinarily complicated set of emotions.
“Ah, aah! I want someone, anyone, to talk this over with! I want to share these complicated feelings…!”
Toko could not hold herself back.
A woman who admitted, both to herself and everyone else, that she had absolutely no patience whatsoever, Toko immediately sent Sanae:
The Director’s Cut of Mikoto-san’s Cheating Scene.