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Haruka couldn’t say she had enjoyed her day at school. It was still incredibly annoying to be called a plagiarist every five minutes, and then have everyone laugh as if it were the funniest joke on earth. Someone tried to put tin tacks on her chair when the teacher called her up to write on the blackboard. Now that everything had reverted to normal, Hanamura was back together with his new girlfriend; Shiratori in the year above, who was a professional model and had a clutch of top college offers. Haruka wondered if Shiratori would have the privilege of being introduced to Hanamura’s mommy this weekend.
She didn’t care, because she had something more important on her mind. Master had allowed her an extra evening off work this week. She stopped by Donbura after work anyway to pick up an order from the café, then she headed over to the offices of Shirokuma Express. Master had told her she could catch Tarou finishing his shift at this time.
Sure enough, Tarou was inside the warehouse rearranging boxes when she arrived. His hair was a little messed up and he had a smudge on the front of his uniform. Haruka approached him, “Tarou!”
“Yes?”
She almost wanted to hug him. She had missed him so much. It didn’t matter how weird he was, or how frustrating he could be, or even that he kept attacking her when he was Don Momotarou. She’d kick his ass if he dumped her into water again, but still, at least she still had the chance to fight alongside him.
“You’re staring at me,” said Tarou. “It looks weird.”
“Right.” Haruka reached into her school bag and produced a box from Donbura, “I brought you some cake.”
“Why?”
She said, honestly, “Because you’re more important to me than you’ll ever know.”
He blinked at her, but then a smile slowly crossed his face, “Thank you, Haruka.”
Tarou remembered her. He knew her name. It had hurt so much when he didn’t, and she resolved to try never to forget that.
Haruka left him to finish work, and called Saruhara, “We’re having dinner,” she said.
“Are we?” said Saruhara.
“Not like that. I’m bringing dinner over to you.”
“I accept food in any form it comes to me,” he said. “Capitalism forces us to fight for our very survival.”
She tried not to laugh. How had she actually missed his pretentious ramblings?
She picked up Korean food for them, and went over to Saruhara’s house. They ate it sitting on the rear terrace together and watching the sunset. Haruka didn’t remember being this happy in a long time. There wasn’t a lot of space in the main room anyway because it was, as usual, littered with teacups and books and clothes and other things Saruhara hadn’t bothered to put away.
“This place is a mess,” said Haruka.
“It’s in its natural, undisturbed condition. I’m grateful just to have a home.”
She said, “Do you ever wish I would come over and clean?”
“No,” he said. “I don’t expect you to do that. You’re my friend, not a cleaning service. Anyway, you would probably break something valuable.”
Well, he was right. She had broken something valuable before. He’d let Marina clean, but then, Marina was actually good at it. No matter who was OniSister, Saruhara hadn’t changed a bit. He wouldn’t do a stroke of work unless you beat him. Who did he really prefer, though? Haruka, who cared deeply for him but didn’t always have a lot of patience; or Marina, whose only flaw seemed to be that she wasn’t too good at enforcing boundaries?
The thought made Haruka a little sad, and she stayed to listen to Saruhara reciting poetry for an hour or so. Even though she didn’t appreciate it in the way he did, Haruka knew she’d made the right choice. Marina was great but, if only one of them could be OniSister, it was going to be Haruka.
She didn’t have Marina’s number in her phone now. Master must have made that a different timeline, or it never happened, or something. She knew what might work. She messaged Marina directly on Instagram, noting with envy that Marina had a blue tick on her account page. Why had Haruka never been allowed one of those?
Hi, Marina. It’s Haruka Kitou. I’m not sure if you remember me? We met at your fan event. I mentioned to you that I’m a manga artist, and you said you’d be happy to go out to coffee sometime. I know how busy you are, but I’d be so grateful if you could make it. I think your story would be a real inspiration for my manga.
Haruka had never been at that event, so Marina wouldn’t remember her. She was banking on Marina being too polite to say no; or that just maybe, some vestige of Marina’s time as OniSister had remained in her mind.
Marina replied a couple of hours later: Hi, Haruka! Yes, I remember. I would be honoured to talk to you. Are you available on Saturday?
Haruka arranged to meet Marina at Donbura, after Haruka’s shift. She hoped that, if Marina did still remember something, being in Donbura might jog her memory. Haruka had reserved a table for them, and they sat drinking tea together. Haruka asked about Marina’s career, both to keep up the ruse of being interested for the purposes of her manga, and because she genuinely cared. She was happy to hear that Marina was doing well and enjoying her photography career again.
“What about you? How is your manga going?" Marina said.
“You probably heard that I was accused of plagiarism … It’s not true, but there’s nothing I can do. I’m working hard to come up with a new manga.”
Marina nodded, “It does seem unfair. It feels like something that could have happened to anyone - even me.”
“No way! Your photos are so good. Everyone would just think the other person was copying you,” Haruka said.
The smile Marina gave in response was so warm and bright. Haruka understood why the guys had loved Marina; and Haruka did, too. They exchanged contact information and agreed to meet again soon. Haruka wanted more female friends who were into artistic pursuits. That was something she didn’t seem to share with most of her classmates, even when she’d been briefly popular at school. Shiratori might be an exception. Haruka was interested in fashion, and she'd like to get to know Shiratori better one day - once everything with Hanamura blew over. Haruka found that she didn't miss him at all, really.
Meeting Marina again hadn’t answered her question, though. Haruka wanted to be OniSister, more than anything, and she was prepared to fight for it. But who did the team really need? Did it make a difference? She’d never even met the puppy or pheasant guys. If one of the others left, she’d never know, and life would just go on without Haruka ever being aware that someone important had walked out of her life forever. Not Tarou, maybe, since he didn’t seem to be on the list - but what if it were Saruhara?
She felt someone’s hand on her shoulder, and turned around to see Master behind her, “Oh … hi,” he said.
“There’s one thing I thought you might like to know,” he said.
“What’s that?”
“The other Donbrothers have earned several more Kibi Points in the last few days since you returned. They earned none at all while Marina Maeda was OniSister.”
“Is that a good thing?” Haruka asked. She desperately didn't want any of the others to leave, but then, it was their choice.
Master smiled; so it must have been a positive, in some way.