#110: Classic / ep.1
“I’m going to save Charlotte Gabriel.”
That was the declaration Mikoto delivered down the phone line to Chesha — Ashiya Chie. Naturally, in terms of ability or wealth, there was no competing with a venture-company president like her.
That said, Mikoto had no intention of backing down. Shandy had told her to trust her. Whatever anyone else might say, those words alone were enough for Mikoto to keep placing her trust in Shandy.
Which meant that “goodbye” had been a lie. Mikoto didn’t know the rules, but this was clearly a Game.
Then she’d simply have to take up the challenge and win.
Because on the other side of it lay her own happiness, and Shandy’s, both.
“Ah, Kurosu Mikoto-kun, is it. If it suits you, I could introduce you to another woman instead—”
“And — thank you.”
“Hm? I’m not aware of having done anything you’d need to thank me for.”
There was something Mikoto needed to say to Chesha, while she had her on the line. Whatever Fumika had reluctantly admitted, the fact remained that there was exactly one person to whom Shandy owed her continued existence.
“For saving the one person fate meant for me, and letting us meet.”
She’d said it. That was all that needed saying to someone who’d once saved her fiancée’s life.
“Are you implying I’m a thing of the past, now?”
“That’s for her to decide.”
“Shal swore she’d spend her life beside me.”
“She swore the same thing to me.”
“Then perhaps you ought to be the one to let go first, and prove the depth of your love. Surely you know the story of the wisdom of Ōoka?”
“If I let go, she’ll be left all alone.”
“She won’t. Not so long as I’m here.”
“Your hand and Shandy-san’s aren’t joined together anymore.”
“Oh?”
“I’m busy, so I’ll be hanging up.”
She ended the call and took a long, deep breath. What came next was already decided. Thanks to the leave Sanae had arranged for her, there was nothing else to worry about for a while.
Managing a smile for Fumika and Iimori, who were watching on with visible concern, Mikoto asked:
“Please tell me. About the place she grew up.”
If it had come to this, she’d bring everything out into the open. Only once everything was laid bare would she face Shandy properly. It was all far too late to matter otherwise. Whatever her past held, it wasn’t going to change anything now.
As Shandy herself had once said — Mikoto would keep her eyes fixed on the present. But she wanted to know the past too, all of it. To step inside, and hold it. And then, she wanted to say something.
“I want to prove that knowing the truth won’t make me hate her.”
She had no intention of confronting Shandy with her past. But living unaware of it, and staying silent while knowing it, were two very different things. Even if Shandy hated the idea of her past being uncovered, so be it.
Mikoto wasn’t anyone’s puppet, after all.
“That’s love for you.”
“That is love.”
Chuckled at by the married couple, Mikoto let her forehead drop against the counter.
Even from outside the front door, the smell of her beloved wife’s homemade curry drifted through.
Coming home, Sanae opened the door to their maisonette to find a blonde woman feeding a caged pet cat, dressed in a long T-shirt and leggings, looking for all the world like she actually lived there.
“Oh, welcome home, Sanae-san.”
“Why exactly are you in my house…?”
“There was nowhere else left for me to run to, I’m afraid it can’t be helped. I’m putting up with the cramped conditions gracefully, so surely there’s no issue?”
Rather than looking remotely apologetic, the blonde woman — Charlotte Gabriel — puffed herself up with an air of superiority, chuckling with obvious satisfaction.
Someone had let this appalling woman into the house. And the culprit, presumably her own wife, was humming to herself while stirring a pot of vegetable-heavy curry.
“Ah, welcome home, Sanae~ Tonight’s Touko-curry night.”
“I have an entire mountain of things I’d like to ask about.”
“After you’ve gargled and washed your hands!”
The household guardian’s word — the stay-at-home wife’s word — was absolute law. Averting her eyes from the (provisional) house guest, smirking with the smug air of someone who’d already worked out the domestic pecking order, Sanae headed for the washroom.
“…So, why exactly is Charlotte in our house?”
Eating curry rice for one extra person more than usual, Sanae asked while forcibly reining in her emotions. It seemed word had already reached Touko regardless, who gently scolded her with “Don’t be so cross about it.”
“Apparently there’s some circumstances and she can’t go back to Kyodo for a while.”
“Yes, I’m a homeless child. If you have any sympathy at all, give me a house.”
“I won’t.”
“Then how about trading it for these vegetables?”
“I’m rather tempted to toss you out along with the vegetables.”
Sanae’s plate had accumulated a small mountain of vegetables that Shandy had picked out and discarded. Once the vegetables disappeared from Touko’s signature curry — meaty chunks of vegetables with no actual meat at all — what remained was really just roux and rice.
“You won’t grow tall if you don’t eat properly, you know?”
“What exactly are you here for…”
“When you’re asking someone a favour, don’t you think a rather more appropriate tone might be in order?”
Somewhere along the way, the roles of questioner and questioned had flipped entirely. No doubt thoroughly enjoying this pointless bickering, Shandy chuckled, narrowing her amber eyes.
“Let’s cut to the chase. What do you want. If you don’t answer, I’m calling the police.”
“Boo.”
Pouting like a toddler in the middle of a tantrum, Shandy produced a form. Written across the cheerful, happiness-pink registration form was her personal information, filled in with meticulous care.
Charlotte Gabriel
24 November, Heisei 7
“Whoa, amazing! Congratulations! Whoaaa, it’s finally happening! I’m so moved…! Wait, you’re the same age as Sanae!”
“So it seems… Ah. I see what this is about.”
“Yes. I’ve no friends, you see.”
There was no name beside hers in the space for Kurosu Mikoto, but that alone was enough to understand what was being asked. She wanted a witness signature.
Even so, they weren’t really on those kinds of terms. Normally, this sort of thing gets filled in by a parent or a sibling. Ask, and her sister-in-law-to-be (Kotone) would probably sign gladly; her partner (Rinko), on the other hand, would flatly refuse.
Actually, thinking about it, if this went through, Shandy and Rinko would technically become sisters-in-law. All Sanae could do was hope this marriage wouldn’t put a crack in the close bond between the Kurosu sisters.
“Hmm…”
Glancing over the form, Sanae let out a low hum.
There was no way this woman would humbly ask for a witness’s signature out of the goodness of her heart. It might well be some illegal document meant to trick her into signing something. She held it up to the light, checking for any hidden tampering. Nothing unusual.
“Being treated as no friend at all, with zero trust to boot, it’s enough to make one weep. Boo-hoo.”
“That’s on you, for your usual conduct.”
Even so, if it really was an ordinary, unremarkable registration form, there’d be no harm signing it. Being treated as a “friend” by Shandy was unsettling, but for Mikoto’s sake, she wasn’t unwilling. She ran a ballpoint pen across the blank witness field.
Yanase Sanae
17 September, Heisei 7
“Even so, revealing personal information you’ve kept so tightly hidden this easily, what exactly brought this on?”
She asked, glancing sideways at Touko, who was cheerfully signing the second witness field with obvious delight. The answer, which had gone unspoken while Touko merely smiled, arrived the instant Touko finished her signature. Perfect timing, as though it had been planned.
“I thought I’d have you put in some effort toward my happiness. That’s what a witness is meant to do, after all, isn’t it?”
Sanae had, for one foolish instant, considered offering a genuine word of congratulations. A witness on such a form has neither obligation nor real responsibility, but being played so neatly still stung.
“Enough of this, already…”
Her usual Kansai dialect nearly slipped out before she caught herself. This wasn’t the time to be dealing with a woman like this. Her head was already full to bursting with work; the last thing she wanted was more to worry about.
Emptying her mind and glaring daggers at Shandy, she found Touko had already spoken up first.
“I’ll put in the effort, I’ll put in the effort! What should I do? Reception at the wedding reception? Or appear in the how-we-met video? I’ll say congratulations!”
“Fufu. A most generous offer, but there happen to be one or two rather sizeable obstacles standing in the way of that dream, I’m afraid.”
“Surely you could sort those out yourself?”
Regaining her composure, Sanae spat it out, but Shandy shook her head. She closed her eyes as though to say it truly wasn’t something she could resolve alone. Unusual.
“…Between a woman who never shows anyone her weaknesses, and a woman who sometimes bares her weakness openly — which do you think would be better liked?”
And then, out of nowhere, that nonsensical question. Those amber eyes, always glittering with self-assured confidence, seemed to waver, just slightly.
“You’ve left out who exactly is meant to be doing the liking.”
“Surely that goes without saying.”
“I’m not perceptive enough to guess. Please be specific with your questions.”
“Sanae?”
Touko chided her. However you looked at it, the other party here was clearly the unreasonable one, and yet somehow Sanae was being cast as the villain instead.
Hesitating, Shandy finally spoke.
“…I’m worried Mikoto won’t like me… if I show her my weaknesses…”
“Excuse me…?”
What was there even to worry about, at this point. Even Sanae, who’d spent far less time with Mikoto than Shandy had, could tell without a moment’s thought. Mikoto was appallingly obvious, and devoted to the point of a lovesick maiden besides.
“Are you an idiot…”
“Calling someone an idiot is itself the idiotic thing to do, isn’t it?”
“Then I can’t answer your question. Since I’m an idiot.”
“…I’m sorry.”
Whether she’d eaten something disagreeable, Shandy was uncharacteristically meek all evening. Perhaps it was the effect of Touko’s curry.
Her usual imperious, high-handed, arrogant air was nowhere to be found. If anything, she looked almost girlish.
“…Pfft.”
Sanae couldn’t help laughing. The level of what she was agonising over was almost impressively low, for someone the same age as her.
“Isn’t it heartless of you to laugh while someone’s genuinely troubled?”
Even her protest carried a flicker of anxiety across her face, which only made it funnier still. Sanae would never have guessed that behind the smug, thickly-painted smile of this haughty woman lay something this childish.
“Fufu, Touko… would you answer for me, please… I’m too amused to say anything myself…”
“Sanae, seriously…”
Even given a light poke, she couldn’t hold back her laughter. Touko answered Shandy, whose cheeks had flushed red as she wore an expression like she’d bitten into something bitter.
“I’m sure Mikoto-san would like any version of Charlotte.”
“…Do you really think so?”
“Yep! Sanae thinks so too, right?”
“Yes, without a doubt… hehehe…”
Even watching from the outside, it was plain as day. Mikoto genuinely had eyes for no one but Shandy — so much so, she remained completely oblivious that a small tug-of-war over her had even broken out inside Hibiya’s own walls.
Watching Shandy blush and glare at her was, all told, thoroughly entertaining.
“Right, if that’s all your business, please go home.”
But that aside, Sanae had a duty to protect the peace of the Yanase household. She couldn’t very well let a suspicious woman and her cat move in and violate their tenancy agreement.
“No thank youuu.”
“Just go home already. Mikoto-san will be worried.”
“Absolutely not.”
Getting nowhere. Just as Sanae, thoroughly fed up, reached for her phone to call the police, Touko stopped her hand and spoke up.
“Won’t you tell us? We want to help however we can!”
“Well, if you insist that strongly, I suppose I’ve no choice.”
Oh no. Touko was completely won over already. Letting her go drinking alone at Antiqua might have been a mistake after all. Bracing herself for another unwelcome pile of extra work, Sanae listened as Shandy spoke.
“Chesha. I have something to tell you about Ashiya Chie.”
Sanae lifted her gaze from the empty curry plate she’d been staring at. Her attention locked entirely on Shandy, eyes narrowed. More precisely, on the person Shandy was about to discuss.
“Why do you know that name?”
Her guard went up instantly. She watched Shandy’s face closely, trying to read her true intent.
“Would you believe me if I called her a former lover?”
“Of course we’d believe you, right, Sanae?”
Quite the opposite. Given she’d just admitted a connection, not being suspicious would be the strange response. Ashiya Chie was a known threat to Hibiya Trading. Anything said by someone who’d once been intimate with a person like that hardly deserved trust.
Though, that depended entirely on the content. For now, Sanae pressed her to continue.
“So, what is it?”
“Regarding the unaccounted-for funds in your company’s Planning Division. It seems the suspicion has fallen on Mikoto.”
She’d never heard anything of the sort. Highly likely a bluff — but the former Planning general manager, Kosugi, who’d fled to St. Helena, lent it an unfortunate ring of plausibility even as a lie.
Filing away the need to verify this later, she pressed further.
“What’s your motive for telling me this?”
“My ordinary, hard-earned happiness is being sabotaged through cowardly means. Using pawns like this one, for instance.”
The business card offered up bore the name Miyashita Kanade. The very same reporter who’d come to interview Mikoto that day Sanae had left work early. It matched the information Iida had already reported — that she was connected to Chesha.
“Even this isn’t enough to earn your trust?”
The pieces of information had lined up. But information alone, without corroboration, wasn’t enough to act on. To begin with, the very fact that the least trustworthy person in the room happened to have intel on Ashiya Chie was suspicious in itself.
“That’s precisely it. I suspect you yourself might be Ashiya Chie’s spy.”
“Touko-san too?”
“I try not to interfere in work matters. Sorry, okay?”
“Ahh. My past conduct really has caught up with me, hasn’t it.”
Shandy leaned back into the sofa, gazing up at the ceiling. Whether genuine disappointment, or simply another act.
“I understand your situation. But there’s a condition attached to letting you stay.”
“I already offered up the vegetables from the curry. That’s not sufficient?”
“Get close to Ashiya Chie, and find out from her own mouth who’s infiltrated Hibiya. I don’t care what method you use.”
“You mean, coax it out of her in bed? That’s practically sexual harassment, you know.”
“You planted this seed yourself, to begin with. Clean up your own mess.”
“My, how naughty.”
“How is that naughty in the slightest…”
Sanae’s will to seriously engage with her was already gone. Untrustworthy and insufferable as ever, Shandy chuckled through what was, ostensibly, a serious conversation.
“I have my own matters to attend to, so, if the mood strikes me. I’ve a long trip out tomorrow, in any case.”
“Shandy-san, shall I pack you a lunch?”
“Without vegetables, if at all possible. I detest vegetables and Ashiya Chie in equal measure.”
“Quite the troublesome ex-girlfriend, aren’t you.”
They laughed together over the exchange.
If Ashiya Chie was really the reason, then it made sense why Shandy couldn’t return to Kyodo. Someone with the means to hire investigators, and who resorted to using a reporter as a spy, had almost certainly already tracked down her residence.
Not wanting to drag Mikoto into the whole mess. That, more than anything, was surely the point.
Sanae decided to withhold judgement for now.
If the matter of the unaccounted-for funds could be verified, black or white would become clear on its own. Beside Charlotte’s name, already signed onto that happily-anticipated registration form — whose name would end up filling that remaining blank space? Kurosu Mikoto’s, or Ashiya Chie’s?
“You’re a lucky woman, having two women fighting over you.”
Shandy answered with a wry smile.
“What I want has only ever been one person, at any given time.”