As soon as Tsuzuki Chihiro stepped into Soyo's apartment, she felt a sense of familiarity—like coming home.
It wasn't that she had anything against her grandmother's place, but she felt that only in Soyo's house did she have absolute confidence.
If she couldn't handle her grandmother, did that mean she couldn't even deal with a mere Nagasaki Soyo?
"Chihiro? You're finally back! Let me tell you—ow~"
Hearing the door open, Nagasaki Soyo, who had been eagerly waiting to discuss strategy with her strategist, rushed to the entrance in her slippers.
Then, in a poorly timed turn, she lost her balance and almost faceplanted—only to be caught just in time by Tsuzuki Chihiro.
"Why is my lord performing such a grand gesture? Are you planning to abdicate and hand over the throne to your humble servant?"
"..." Soyo was speechless for a moment but didn't waste time arguing with Chihiro, who rarely spoke seriously. "Anyway, let me tell you—wait, where'd you get all this stuff?"
She blinked at the two large bags on the floor.
"Hmm… someone gave them to me. Soyo, are you hungry? Want to eat something first?"
"Soba noodles… tempura… Chihiro, who did you scam for all this?"
"Can you not make it sound so ugly?" Chihiro rolled her eyes, then glanced at the dining table. "Uh… you cooked?"
"Don't tell me you already ate before coming back?"
"I did."
"Then why didn't you tell me beforehand?" Soyo frowned, clearly displeased.
"Forgot. My bad."
Originally, if Chihiro hadn't run into her grandmother and Raana, she would've been home much earlier.
But the unexpected turn of events that afternoon had completely thrown her off—her disguise had been exposed, and she had learned truths she never even suspected.
As for the missed calls? Naturally, she had put her phone on silent while visiting the graves with her grandmother to avoid the risk of exposing her identity.
"Still… why do I feel like you're turning into a little wife waiting for her husband to come home for dinner?"
"…"
At Chihiro's remark, Soyo's face instantly darkened. Her gaze turned cold—so much so that she looked less like a little wife and more like a young widow overnight.
"Alright, alright. I'll play along and eat a little, okay?"
Chihiro glanced at the table, where a set of utensils had already been placed for her. The thoughtfulness touched her a little.
She had to admit, after getting used to living in this patron's house, going back to the unstable life she had before felt far less appealing.
After stuffing some ingredients into Soyo's large double-door fridge, she reheated some tempura shrimp and sat across from Soyo with a plate full of classic Japanese snacks.
"Taki didn't notice anything unusual, did she?"
"Her?"
Hearing Chihiro bring up business, Soyo finally stopped giving her that cold stare. "I don't think she noticed anything strange. But… Taki herself is the biggest anomaly.
"By the way, Chihiro, do you happen to have any colleagues or a long-lost twin sister in Tokyo?"
"Colleagues? Wow, do you seriously think I'm some elite member of a fraud syndicate?" Chihiro rolled her eyes. "And I only have one sister, and she's not a twin. Just my sister, Raana."
"Then that's weird… I feel like Taki has been acting so strange lately. She's not as short-tempered as she used to be."
"Isn't that a good thing?"
Chihiro popped a shrimp into her mouth, answering casually.
"…But if she doesn't lose her temper, no one in the band will be able to handle the pressure. If this continues and they actually stick together as a band for life, what's going to happen to Sakiko and Mutsumi?"
"Cough, cough…"
Chihiro nearly choked, hastily covering up her reaction.
She honestly hadn't expected Soyo to take her nonsense so seriously.
Now, Soyo was actually scheming to sabotage the band, seemingly wanting their first live performance to fall apart completely.
But Chihiro couldn't contradict her directly—after all, she was the one who had said all that nonsense in the first place. This whole bad idea had been her suggestion.
Her goal had been to deceive Soyo, to make her think that she wasn't actually trying to help Anon and Raana enjoy themselves in the band, but was instead following along with Soyo's plan.
"So, what else did you do today? Spill it."
"Honestly, not much." Nagasaki Soyo smirked, looking quite pleased with herself. "I don't know what's up with Taki, but she agreed to my idea—she said the band is performing this week."
"And they're preparing two songs. One is A Glimpse Into Blue Skies, and the other… doesn't even exist yet."
Nagasaki Soyo felt like a genius.
Even though Taki had uncharacteristically apologized to the pink-haired girl today, and the usual drama of Anon running away and getting dragged back by Tomori didn't happen, the fact remained—Taki had already made a big statement.
She would definitely start putting pressure on herself soon.
However…
Soyo was also a little worried that she had gone too far. If the pressure became too much, things might spiral out of control.
"Chihiro… do you think we might've overdone it?"
No, no, no— YOU overdid it.
Chihiro internally ranted.
In the eyes of the kids in the band, she was a completely upstanding citizen.
She had never even considered playing dirty the way Soyo had today.
But for Soyo's sake, Chihiro simply shook her head, smiled, and reassured her. "Relax. I guarantee it'll be fine."
"You sure? If Tomori can't handle the pressure… maybe we should just forget about the second song?"
"I mean, my real goal is just to make sure Haruhikage doesn't get performed. Right now, everyone's too busy practicing A Glimpse Into Blue Skies to focus on anything else."
"It'll be fine. Trust me. Have I ever screwed you over?"
"…That's true."
Nagasaki Soyo relaxed a bit. Yeah, Tsuzuki Chihiro could be annoyingly sharp-tongued, but had she ever let her down?
Every single time, Chihiro had been there to clean up her messes—even when she had completely botched things. Now, even Sakiko had reconnected with her.
And that was all thanks to Chihiro.
"By the way, starting tomorrow, I won't be staying here anymore."
The meal was going fine until Chihiro suddenly dropped a bombshell.
Soyo nearly lost her grip on her chopsticks.
"Where are you staying, then?"
"A friend's place. Not that you need to know… Anyway, it's decided. Tomorrow, I'll take your place at school. Everything goes according to plan."
"…O-Okay."
For some reason, Nagasaki Soyo suddenly had a bad feeling.
Like, in the near future, Tsuzuki Chihiro might disappear from her house forever.