It was nothing more than a simple exchange of names, a simple exchange of hellos. The encounter between Yoshiiro Chiose and Shiina Taki was brief and uneventful — once she'd helped Taki back to her feet, Chiose left without a backward glance.
All she left behind was a packet of wet wipes and a retreating silhouette Taki knew she would never forget.
"It really was her. It really was Chiose."
Taki's murmur drifted upward, heard only by the drifting clouds and the sun overhead.
And that was that.
"Haizuka Kyoumoto, Takamatsu Tomori, Shiina Taki, Sakiko Togawa…"
Medical chart in hand, walking the road home, Yoshiiro Chiose turned those names over in her mind — again and again, the people and events of these past few days.
She'd only just finished the simulation, so perhaps her earlier self had been running on a kind of residual stress response. She felt considerably calmer now.
Taking careful stock of it all…
"Struck down out of nowhere by a serious illness, and then The System swoops in like a gift from the heavens — shining and perfectly timed. First simulation, it nudged me along, guided me. Second simulation, it handed me ideas and assistance. Third simulation, it cooperated with me wholeheartedly, until I genuinely fell into that state of… scheming, plotting, trying to control the script…"
It really had been a flawless process of corruption.
Reasonable justifications, uninterrupted support every step of the way.
"It would be hard for almost anyone not to fall, honestly. After all, when your life is nearly at its end, it's not just the physical pain that becomes unbearable — the anguish and the unwillingness inside only pile more weight onto your shoulders."
So every single thing that had happened to her, every single person she had come to know — all of it had been pushing her toward that ending. The ending where she became a bad woman.
Only her conscience, only some kernel of true understanding, had continued to waver and linger at the edge of her last line — a small, guttering light in all that darkness, keeping her company.
But what good was any of that, really.
"It's just like how I ran into Shiina Taki just now, and yet I still couldn't say a single word of what was in my heart… as the simulations go on, so many things are going to become more and more beyond my reach."
Better to enjoy all of it than to exhaust herself fighting.
A simulation was only a simulation!
Her lifespan would grow, her personal abilities would strengthen, the financial pressure would ease, and her little sister's illness would eventually be resolved too.
"Stop stressing over a game! Hah…"
The ending she would ultimately reach — it was going to be a good one. She was sure of it.
Chiose pushed open the front door and tightened her fingers around the remaining money in her pocket.
"Let's go! Xiǎo Jīng! I'm taking you on a trip!"
"We're… rich now!"
Haizuka Kyoumoto was lounging on the sofa, listening to the radio.
"Huh?"
...
In three years, this was the first time Yoshiiro Chiose had ever had this much money to her name.
She took Kyoumoto to the harbor she had once visited with Tomori, and then brought her to the beach where she had once hiked with Taki.
It was a spontaneous little holiday — though for Kyoumoto, it probably didn't feel any different from any other day. Every day was like a holiday for Xiǎo Jīng. That was exactly the kind of life Chiose wanted for her little sister.
"Is Xiǎo Jīng having fun?"
Taking her little blind girl out into the world — this was the only way to let her feel like a perfectly ordinary human being.
She didn't want a poor, fragile little girl to have to be reminded, every hour of every day, just how different she was. Treating her as if she were endlessly, painfully special… that would be too cruel.
"It feels amazing!"
Even if she couldn't see a single thing!
Kyoumoto was wearing a cute white dress, matching Chiose's like a sisters' set. She kept her arms looped around her big sister's, quietly listening, letting her ears catch every beautiful sound around her.
"Compared to yesterday's harbor, what's different about today's beach?"
"The difference is huge!" Kyoumoto gestured toward the direction of the sun. "Yesterday at the harbor, I could hear the sound of the sun making bubbles… but today on the beach, all I can hear is the sound of Sis breathing, calm and steady!"
The sound of the sun making bubbles?
The imagination of a child really was something else.
"Does Xiǎo Jīng like basking in the sun? Sis will take you out more often from now on, okay?"
Chiose's smile was gentle and understated — the corners of her lips barely lifted, and yet somehow that alone was enough to make anyone around her feel an absolute, overwhelming tenderness.
What a shame that Kyoumoto couldn't see it.
"Is that okay? Sis is probably going to be really busy…"
"I will be busy, yes. But the only reason to be busy is so I can spend more time with you. If I let being busy become an excuse to neglect the people I care about — then what's the point of being busy at all?"
A person lives — and the reason for living is that adorable little sister of theirs! Little sisters are truly the greatest thing in the world!
Yoshiiro Chiose had given herself a two-to-three day break between simulations to let her mind recover, and her little sister was the cure for everything that ailed her.
They had been out for nearly three days now. With less than a week left before the new school term began, it was time to head home soon.
Life had finally filled with warmth and noise. The cold, hollow silence that had once belonged to a gravely ill girl raising her little sister alone — after losing both parents — was long gone now.
On a beach that rarely saw another soul, leaning back against a palm tree on a beach mat, Chiose summoned The System's panel for the first time in many days.
Come on then! Right now — this way, when the simulation wraps up, she'd still have the beach sun and Xiǎo Jīng curled up in her arms to come back to!
The System's loading chime ended quickly. Before the panel appeared, The System — silent for so long — slowly spoke:
[Welcome back, my indolent and unqualified Host. I hope this time you will produce a far more perfect work… do not disappoint me — or yourself.]
[This System will provide assistance prior to the simulation. The assistance is as follows:]
[Please select your background.]
[Daughter of a Zaibatsu: Fifty years.]
[Daughter of the Upper Class: Twenty years.]
[Daughter of the Middle Class: Ten years.]
[Daughter of the Lower Class: One year.]
[Daughter of a Wanderer: Zero years.]
[Birth Mystery Box: Two months.]
The price had gone up again?
It seemed even The System had noticed it was making too little by selling at one month before. What a cunning little friend.
"Select the Birth Mystery Box."
[Please select your Talent. (Three talents are randomly generated per selection.)]
[Arsenal: Each time you experience a major event, you will gain one Arsenal Mark. (Arsenal cap: three.) Lifespan cost: one year.]
[Three Submissions: You will lose a portion of your humanity and become detached from the mundane world. This may prove to be a rather curious experience. Lifespan cost: six months.]
[Vanquish Wu: Awakening skill — you may discard one Arsenal Mark to summon one random event. Lifespan cost: one year.]
Yoshiiro Chiose blinked.
Picking [Arsenal] and pairing it with [Vanquish Wu] would undoubtedly give her far more control — but the combined lifespan cost was too steep; she couldn't afford to play that way.
[Three Submissions], on the other hand, was a different matter entirely.
If she chose this talent… might it help Yoshiiro Chiose become a better bad woman? Stripped of mundane anxieties — that might actually be a good thing.
"I choose Three Submissions — let me get as far from this world's petty troubles as possible!"
[Please confirm your selected assists: Birth Mystery Box — Three Submissions.]
Confirmed!
In the last moments before her consciousness faded, Yoshiiro Chiose found herself wondering…
What exactly did a bad woman look like, once her [humanity] and her connection to the [mundane world] had been taken away?
And who would be the subject of the next simulation?
Would it be Tomori again?
Or perhaps Shiina Taki?
Not that it mattered much now…
Just thinking about opening her eyes to see her little sister waiting for her — Chiose felt a warmth rise up from somewhere deep inside, genuine and unforced.
And that was that.
____
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