Chapter Text
The jackals’ den.
Chisato composes herself before walking in, as always – but she allows herself a small sigh as she takes her seat, brushing her hair aside as the hounds gaze into her with folded hands and earnest smiles.
“Shirasagi-san, good afternoon.”
“Good afternoon,” she parrots. “A short meeting today?”
“Yes – we’re simply discussing your debut single.” An ahem. “Was the song to your liking?”
Chisato stares at the assortment of sheet music in her hand, carefully lined with neat notes in red pencil on the first page or two before slowly fading into total lack of markup. “Yes, well… how do I put this…”
Five pairs of eyes look into her expectantly as she smiles.
“It’s rubbish.”
Blinks. “I’m… I’m sorry?”
“The lyrics are empty, the structure is plain, the chorus is dreary…” She shakes her head. “If people heard this kind of meaningless fluff, they’d assume that Chisato Shirasagi is an insincere, shallow pop star.”
Awkward glances. It’s been a long time since she’s seen them look so testy… it sends little tingles down her bones, she thinks. But it isn’t long before that looming presence returns. “We hired five illustrious industry songwriters. We have a big-name producer attached. We’ve spent weeks fine tuning this piece down to the smallest detail… and you call the whole thing rubbish?”
The mask fits comfortably, for once. Perhaps it’s not a mask at all. “Yes. I cannot find a single virtue in it.”
“Then what do you suggest we do?!” outbursts a previously silent man.
Chisato accepts the indignation with a cool head, leaning forward on the table as she speaks. “Simple. I’ll write it myself.”
The hyenas can’t hide their scoffs. “You? You have no songwriting experience. Are you really sure that’s a good idea?”
“What we have here is clean,” adds another. “Polished. Refined. Just as your work always is. You cannot expect to achieve this level on your own. Do you really want your image to suffer?”
Chisato taps a finger in faux-consideration. “Hmm… you’re right. I can’t imagine anything I write to be as squeaky-clean as this soapy song. However…”
She’s sure the mask is gone right now.
“…It wouldn’t be really be a song of mine, would it?”
The poise and enunciation with which she says it sends the jackals’ brows low. Indecipherable muttering skips across the opposite end of the table, before the head of the pack clears his throat.
“Very well. We’ll consider it.”
“…And that’s when Aya-chan said to herself, ‘Hey, handsome. You come around here often?’”
“I-I did not!”
“Aya-san, I was watching too… you were trying to kabedon your reflection.”
“N-No I wasn’t…”
“It’s okay, Aya-san! Self-love is very important!”
“Oough… Chisato-chaaaan! Help me!”
“It sounds more like you want to help yourself, Aya-chan. You should know that narcissism isn’t becoming of an idol.”
Everybody laughs as Aya slumps over her ice cream bowl in defeat. Chisato takes a spoonful of lemon ice cream covered with strawberries and sprinkles and puts it into her mouth, feeling the sweet and tangy flavor melt across her tongue.
“One day…” Aya mutters. “I’ll… I’ll show you all…”
“Haha, why do you sound like the corny villain from an old cartoon show?” asks Hina.
“She sounds like Oda Nobunaga in my favorite period drama!” says Eve.
Aya’s head thuds against the table. “I’m being bullied.”
Chisato pats her half-reassuringly, half-pityingly on the shoulder. “We only do it out of love, you know.”
“Th-This sounds like abuse…”
Chisato shakes her head. “I’m sorry, Aya-chan. You’re just so fun to tease.”
“Yeah,” says Hina. “Plus Chisato-chan is totally the type to do that kind of thing.”
Chisato laughs. “Oh, you think so?”
“Yeah! You’re always pushing buttons!” says Hina, cackling. “Like when you said that Eve’s an old soul for how much she likes Kurosawa movies, or told Maya her new glasses made her look ten times as smart because they’re thicker than her old ones.”
“It’s true!” Aya professed with both enthusiasm and bitterness. “It’s not just me you do it to!”
“It makes you a very lively person, Chisato-san!” says Eve. “Every conversation we have is full of fun and good humor!”
Chisato isn’t quite sure how to process this. “I didn’t realize that’s how I came across. I apologize if I ever made anyone feel bad.”
“You’re fine,” says Maya. “I don’t think I’ve seen you tease any of us as hard as you tease Kaoru-san.”
A giggle. “Well, that’s certainly true.”
Speaking of… it’s almost time. Oh well – she can spare another minute or two.
She observes Hina pointing and laughing at the ice cream moustache on Aya’s face and snaps a photo before noticing Maya is watching her. “Is something the matter?”
“Hm? Oh, uh, it’s just…” Maya smiles. “You look like you’re doing better, I guess.”
Blink. “Doing better…?”
“S-Sorry, that probably sounded kinda presumptuous.” Maya gulps. “I mean, I and everyone else have been kinda worried about you lately, but… you look good. Have you been sleeping well?”
Chisato thinks for a moment. “Hmm… perhaps that’s part of it. Although I think it’s simply that…” She beams. “…I’m just happy to be around all of you.”
A lull in the conversation strikes right before she says it, causing everyone at the table to hear her words.
“Ch-Chisato-chan…” Aya’s eyes begin welling up with tears. “Th-That makes me so happy to hear!”
“Ahaha, you made Aya-chan cry,” says Hina.
In fairness, that isn’t a hard thing to do.
“I am also happy to be here with everyone!” Eve exclaims. “We are like one wonderful family!”
“I sure never thought I’d end up here, huhehe,” Maya giggles. “But… I’m glad I did.”
Chisato’s smile shines across the table. “…Thank you, everyone.”
They all nod at her encouragingly. She can see her reflection in their eyes: clear, true, unblemished.
With a content sigh, she checks the time. “I would love to stay longer, but… I’m as busy as ever.” She stands up and slings her purse across her shoulder.
“Oh?” asked Hina. “Got a hot date?”
Two paces away, Chisato stops, turns, and winks. “Perhaps.”
The smoothness of her reply leaves Hina’s face in a perfect PogChamp – and Aya envious – for the rest of the night.
It’s vicious. Thoughtless. Barbaric.
“Ch-Chii-chan! Please! I require your assistance! It’s a most dreadful assault!”
And Chisato can’t help but laugh.
“L-Leon! Down boy, down!”
The big, hairy golden retriever pays Kaoru’s words no heed, continuing to lick every orifice of her face with his floppy red tongue. The two wrestle atop Chisato’s couch as she looks on from a nearby lounge chair
“O-Oh, what heavens! The saliva of another has met my lips, and yet it is not the one I desire! Oh, what a fleeting agony!”
Chisato is nearly doubled over in her giggles. “He’s just happy to see you! It’s been so long.”
“I-I appreciate his company just as much as you do, but there are boundaries that are not meant to be crossed!”
Chisato stifles herself as she watches for another minute before releasing her exhilaration in a deep exhale. “Sit, Leon.”
At a single word, the loyal pup listens to his master, sitting with happy pants. Kaoru is slow to sit up, her fingers mournfully caressing the slobbery surface of her cheeks. “Alas, I am felled… oh, stars above, so bright… I see thee at the end of the tunnel…”
Chisato walks over and sits next to her, poking Kaoru playfully in the side. “Yes, a dog’s tongue, truly the most fearsome weapon in all the world.”
“You understand me.” Kaoru gesticulates, her eyes crinkled with sorrow. “My body may now be riddled with all manner of bacteria… is death knocking at yonder door? Alas, only the kiss of a fair maiden can revive me.” She leans in with puckered lips.
Chisato holds a finger before Kaoru’s mouth. “Do you think I want to kiss someone whose face is covered in a fine layer of dog saliva?”
“Ah… fair point.” Kaoru half-bows. “Let the face-washing commence!”
Kaoru speeds off to the bathroom. Shaking her head with an easy grin, Chisato steps towards the kitchen to prepare a snack. She grabs a pear and a knife and begins chopping.
“You have a most illustrious supply of cosmetics, my dear!” Kaoru calls from the bathroom. “Whence did they came?”
“Daiso,” Chisato calls back.
“Truly? I thought you must have been shopping in heaven, they’re so sublime…”
Chisato once again finds herself chuckling at Kaoru’s ridiculousness, when…
A cut.
“Ah…!”
“Chisato?” Kaoru calls. “Why did you cry so sharply?”
“O-Oh, it’s nothing,” says Chisato, sucking on her thumb. “I cut myself by accident, that’s–”
Kaoru’s appearance is instantaneous. She carries a first-aid kit in her hands.
“Where does it hurt? How deep is the cut? Does it require extensive care?”
“I-It’s just a little nick, Kaoru, I’m fi–”
“Come now!” Kaoru takes her by the undamaged hand and brings her over to the couch. “We must see to it at once! We cannot risk a most dreadful infection… oh, I would perish at the thought!”
Chisato can do little but stare nonplussed as Kaoru tenderly disinfects and bandages her paper-thin wound. She looks into her grave, concerned eyes all the while, feeling her heart lighten.
“…It really is you.”
“Hm?”
Chisato’s head falls. “It’s… you, Kao-chan.”
Kaoru smirks. “Was there ever any doubt?”
“Far too much, I’m afraid.” Chisato’s voice is low and tremulous. “I’m… sorry. Even now, when I look at you as you are, I… I feel unsure.”
Kaoru gently shakes her head as she clasps Chisato’s hand in her own. “I understand. Such things take time. Do not strain yourself.”
Chisato nods. “Thank you.”
Kaoru’s hand is warm. Silky smooth. Still wet, from washing her hands. Chisato cannot remember a time where she let anyone touch her like this. She was too concerned with keeping a distance.
“…Kao-chan. Was what you said in the theater true?”
“Of course,” says Kaoru. “Need I say it a thousand times? Because I’ll gladly do so.”
Chisato wants to say that she doesn’t need that, but she isn’t sure. “I guess I’m just… unsure what there even is about myself that wasn’t constructed for somebody else. So I… need to be told of it often.”
Kaoru pulls her closer. “Think nothing of it. I’ll write a hundred thousand poems professing thy brilliance, if that’s what it takes.”
Chisato smirks as she scoots right against her. “At that rate, I’m not sure how many I’ll believe…”
“I see. Well then…” Kaoru holds up a finger. “I suppose I can spare one or two of criticism.”
Chisato scoffs. “You? With your rose-tinted eyes, I doubt you could find a single flaw in me.”
“Oh, I know one.”
Chisato is surprised. “Really?”
Kaoru approximates a glare at her. “Back in the theater, when I called you Juliet, you said you could stand to be a ‘bullheaded adolescent.’”
“What of it?”
“Juliet is no bullheaded adolescent!” Kaoru asserts. “She is a clear-eyed, pure-hearted maiden who pays no attention to silly blood feuds or the meaningless machinations of adults! She rejects the nonsensical role she is assigned to seek her love! And she cares not what society thinks of her!”
Chisato laughs and laughs. “I had no idea you took Romeo & Juliet so seriously.”
“But of course!” Kaoru cries. “After all… those same wondrous qualities of her are what make you so beautiful.”
Chisato flushes as she boops Kaoru on the nose. “See? Even when you attempt to criticize me, you come back around to compliments.”
Kaoru’s outrage turns to humor. “Perhaps that is my weakness… I am too soft; too kind.”
Chisato nestles her head against Kaoru’s chest. “There’s no such thing.”
A tender silence follows. Leon yawns and climbs aboard the sofa next to them, curling up by Chisato’s side. Kaoru takes Chisato’s palm into her own, stroking it in smooth, soft circles. Chisato presses her ear to Kaoru’s breast to listen for the heartbeat – strong, valorous, loving. She can feel Kaoru’s lithe muscles with her delicate fingers, smooth and sturdy and supple and… when did she become so big? Chisato remembered being able to cradle her like an infant in grade school. How much people can change…
…Could she change?
“…Kao-chan.”
“Mm?”
“Do you… have a dream?”
Kaoru nodded. “I professed it to you upon the revue’s stage, did I not?”
Chisato smiled softly. “You did, didn’t you… and yet, I had none.”
Kaoru shakes her head. “I told you… you do. One so grand and resplendent that you cannot even fathom it yet.”
Chisato wants to deny it. But she lets the possibility sink into her. A dream she hasn’t even realized yet…
“The day will come when you tell me of it,” says Kaoru, “and I cannot imagine the sheer awe and reverence I’ll have for your vision when that time comes. But until then… all I pray is that you find it.”
Chisato can’t manage any words. She just snuggles up closer, petting Kaoru across her shoulder.
“…Chii-chan. There’s something I would like to ask you. Something I wasn’t able to ask you before.”
“What is it?”
She can hear the breath entering and exiting Kaoru’s diaphragm. “Would you be my Estelle?”
This question she doesn’t have to consider. She already knows her answer. “Yes. But…”
“But…?”
She smiles – as Chisato Shirasagi, as Chii-chan, and as herself. “Just so long as we change the ending.”