"Over here. Mom and Dad are out on night shift right now."
It was midnight, and Ozu was helping me sneak into his family's apartment. Well, to be honest, it sounds like a bigger deal than it was. I just checked with him over LIME that his parents were out, and now we were being as quiet as possible so that Iroha wouldn't hear us.
"This is Iroha's room."
"Got it. Thanks, Ozu. Are you sure you should be letting your sister see a guy so late at night, though?"
"I couldn't give two hoots about what she does. Don't take me for one of those creepy older-brother types. I just wanna know what your kids are gonna look like."
"There are apps for that kinda thing already. Why don't you get yourself a real hobby?"
"I've been trying to for years... Anyway, good luck." And with that, Ozu disappeared into his own room. I knocked on Iroha's door. Best to start off simple.
I waited, but there was no response.
"Hey, Iroha! You're awake, right? Come out here. I wanna talk." Silence.
I knocked again. And again. And again, and again, and again, and again... "There's no way you're asleep this early! I know you're awake! Come
on!"
"Fine! I'm awake! Whaddya want this late at night?!"
Finally.
"I wanna talk about what happened at the studio. Could you open the
door?"
"What? You broke in to lecture me?"
"I'm not here to lecture you. I'm here to apologize."
"Why? I wasn't mad or anything. You have it backwards, I'm the one who messed up the recording."
"Well, I...I guess I was a little mad. I blamed you for it instead of realizing my own failings. That's why I'm here to apologize now."
"You don't hafta apologize. I don't wanna see you now either, so please leave."
"I don't care how you feel. Just listen to me."
"N-O! You're gonna try and get me to act differently around you or something, right? I already know you fancy yourself a smooth talker! So I ain't opening this door!"
"Do it, or I'm kicking it down!"
"Yeah right! This ain't a movie! Scram, Karate Kid!"
"You think I can't?"
"You think you can?! Go ahead and try then! I'll be laughing when you
fail!"
"Don't regret this."
"Huh?"
I mean, she did just tell me to try, right?
I ignored Iroha's uneasy silence, stepped back from the door, and took a
deep breath to prepare myself.
Focus...
I stared at the lock under the metallic doorknob with every last drop of concentration I had.
"These Japanese companies sure are kind, huh? Thanks, fellas." "What the heck are you talking about?"
"Construction companies have a lot of freedom these days. In the
materials they use, their methods, where they're careful, and where they cut corners. All they need to worry about otherwise is keeping to the basic building regulation standards."
"Uh, since when did this become a builder's meeting?!"
"A lot of stuff nowadays is built with health and safety in mind. You know 'just in case,' even if the risk is low, and even if it's not legally required."
My eyes flew open, and I delivered a perfect-form kick to the lock on Iroha's door. The kick I used was a staple of Nippon Kempo, a simple yet effective martial art. I learned a thing or two about it by watching and copying videos on the internet.
The door crashed open more easily than I was expecting. Iroha's face appeared behind it, white as a sheet.
"Doors inside apartments are pretty easy to open with a bit of force or trickery. It's not just in manga that you can kick 'em open, y'know."
Iroha was sitting there in her pajamas and holding onto a pillow that I think was supposed to be some kind of cute mascot. I got to my knees in front of her and placed down a roll of notes on the floor to pay for the broken door. I then slammed my forehead into the ground.
"You're not getting away from me anymore, Iroha. You're gonna sit here and listen to every word I say."
I then began my apology.
***
"Fine. But you didn't hafta kick my door in!"
"Hey, at least I announced myself before doing it, Iroha."
"Hello? That's pretty lofty talk coming from someone who's supposed to
be apologizing!"
"Doesn't mean I'm about to let you get away with being a hypocrite.
That's just how I roll."
"Well maybe you should stop rolling..." Iroha sighed and sat down on her
bed.
The scene was like this: there was the stunning high schooler, looking
down at me from on high, and me, the average Joe, bowing in front of her on the floor. Sounds kinky, right?
It wasn't though. I was apologizing, not submitting myself to her. This was a negotiation. I was here to persuade her to work in the best interests of the 05th Floor Alliance and the path I believed in.
"First, I should catch you up. I just came back from rejecting Mashiro."
"O-Ooooh? Hmm... Why did ya do that? You probably just missed your one and only chance to get laid."
"I was always going to refuse her. I've never really put much thought into romance, but at the very least, I've never seen Mashiro in that way. I guess I was happy that she confessed, though. Even if I didn't realize it at first."
"Happy, huh? I get that, though. Mashiro-senpai is pretty cute."
"Yeah. That's why I let things go on as they were without having a chance
to reject her. I was probably enjoying it deep down. Never thought I'd see the day when such basic pleasures would sway me, but there you go. Even though I promised I would dedicate everything I had to the Alliance, I still got sidetracked. That's why you got mad, right?"
Iroha didn't respond. The look on her face was pretty serious, almost as if she was in honor-student mode. I wondered whether my words were truly resonating with her or not. Not that it mattered. I just had to keep talking.
"I decided long ago that I wasn't going to bother with 'making the most of my teenage years,' or getting caught up in romance. So please, give me another chance. As producer, I'll do anything for you, and anything for the Alliance! Iroha..." I looked up.
Then, I got to my feet and approached her.
"Huh?"
I wrapped my arms around the back of Iroha's delicate neck. I then placed
her headphones around it.
"So please don't feel like you need to lie to me. Be honest if there's
something bothering you."
These headphones were the symbol of her voice-acting activities. Her
long hair fluffed out over them. She only wore them in my room, when she was in full-on "Annoy Aki" mode. When she wore them, she didn't have to worry about what other people thought, or restrain herself. She could be as loud, annoying, and selectively naive as she wanted.
Iroha let out a long sigh. And then... She grinned.
"You kinda got it, Senpai. Kinda." "Kinda?"
"Sure, I was kinda confused when it looked like you were focusin' on other stuff instead of the Alliance. But that's not something that'd really make me mad, 'cause I'm pretty chill about that sorta thing. Unlike you. I'm just your regular high school girl, y'know?" Iroha shifted backwards on the bed and brought her knees up to her chest. She looked away and added under her breath, "And that means...I get jealous."
Jealous? Iroha got jealous? She was always so cheerful, though. What did she have to be jealous about?
"The only people you hang out with are from the Alliance, and even then, Ozuma's the only one you really call a friend. You hold everyone else at
arm's length. The only time you really take us seriously is when it has to do with work."
"Well... Yeah, that's because I promised. I—"
"You said you'd find the best path for the Alliance to succeed, and then set us on it. You also said that we shouldn't expect anything else from you." That was the promise I made to the 05th Floor Alliance right at the very
start. No, "promise" was too grand a word. It was a guarantee. A guarantee I gave them, because I was afraid of hurting them. If they expected any compassion from me, they were bound to be disappointed; high hopes breed deep lows. I only valued efficiency.
Back in elementary school, I was criticized by the others when I said we shouldn't pass to the one kid who was bad at soccer. Just like back then, my way of life had the potential to hurt people. And, just like with all things, the more you get your hopes up, the more the betrayal hurts. That was why I decided not to get any closer than was necessary to the Alliance members.
If I lost the ability to make efficient decisions, I was endangering the Alliance's future. Likewise if my decisions ended up hurting somebody beyond healing. My job was to keep everything in perfect balance. The moment I messed up, everything could come crashing down like a house of cards. It was such a delicate balance, that I had to be ruthless. The Alliance weren't my friends; they were more like a loosely-banded gang of pirates that I needed to take care of and bring to safety.
And yet...
"You were getting close to Mashiro-senpai, who isn't an Alliance member. You took her confession seriously, even though it had nothing to do with our game. You always said it was necessary to keep others at a distance, but apparently that didn't apply to her. It kinda rubbed me the wrong way, to be honest."
"Well, the whole thing with Mashiro is complicated. I know she's not in the Alliance, but she requires the same amount of care. If I can't do a good job as her fake boyfriend, our dream is finished."
"That's not all though, right?"
Right. I knew I was treating her with kid gloves, which is why I went to sort out her confession the moment I realized. I nearly forgot what my original goal in all of this was.
"I'm sorry. I know it's not really your fault. I mean, she practically threw
herself at you. I know there wasn't an easy way out of it for you." "Iroha..."
Iroha's pout fell into a frustrated frown, and she shook her head as if to clear it. "That's why I was jealous! It wasn't fair how you were taking her seriously even though she wasn't in the Alliance. That's why I messed up at the recording. I wanted to know how you'd react if I stopped taking it seriously! I'm sorry!"
Iroha bounced up on the bed before plastering her forehead onto the mattress. I could tell that she had just unloaded everything from her chest in one fell swoop.
"You were jealous, huh? That's...kind of a surprise, to be honest."
Jealousy was usually the sort of thing you'd expect from a girl whose crush was about to go out with someone else. But Iroha was a hundred percent herself with me. And since she devoted herself to getting on my nerves, I never thought she'd ever have any romantic interest in me.
If there was one thing I learned from the whole thing with Mashiro, it was that I didn't understand girls as well as I thought I did.
Did this mean Iroha liked me?
The tiny thought cropped up in a corner of my mind, and for the first time, I was prepared to give it some credence. If that was the case, I owed Iroha a response too, just like I did Mashiro.
There were all sorts of things I could say. It wasn't the right time. I wasn't interested in romance right now. All I cared about was being your director. I had to say something.
"Let me just get something straight. That jealousy...it's got nothing to do with any sort of...romantic feelings towards me, right?"
I scratched my cheek awkwardly, not able to look at her directly. Asking her straight-out like this was difficult. Iroha was right about one thing at least: I had no experience whatsoever with girls.
Iroha raised her head and looked at my face evenly. What was going through her head right now? Her large, cat-like eyes seemed to pierce right through me to the very depths of my soul. I caught her gaze, and the silence continued.
You know, I never noticed before because I was too distracted by her shenanigans, but looking at her head-on like this I noticed how long her eyelashes were, that her face was actually quite pretty, and...
Wait, what am I thinking? Am I stupid? Who cares what she looks like?! This totally isn't the time! Besides, I don't care about this kinda stuff, remember? Remember?!
"Pfft..."
"Huh?"
While I was in the middle of departing that terrible train of thought, Iroha
yanked me out with a single, tiny sound.
The next moment, she burst out laughing.
"I didn't think you could say something so adorable, Senpai!" she gasped
between laughs.
Iroha was holding her stomach and rolling around the bed, laughing like
an absolute madman. In one hand, she held her phone.
"Wh-What... Don't tell me... Why're you holding your phone?!"
Iroha tapped the screen.
"Let me just get something straight. That jealousy...it's got nothing to
do with any sort of...romantic feelings towards me, right?"
"Seriously?! You were worried I was jealous because I'm in love with
you?! Does it keep ya up at night? Are you sure you're not the one in love?!" "I...I'm not! I thought, if that was why, that I should straighten things out,
so I asked just in—"
"Let me just get something straight. That jealousy...it's got nothing to do with any sort of...romantic feelings towards me, right?"
"Stop it! Gaaaaah!"
It was unbearable. My voice had a deep, serious tone to it, and the cringe was enough to make me want to rip my own skin off.
"You know jealousy doesn't have to be romantic, right? You can be just as jealous when your best friend gets a new buddy. Not even just that! You can be jealous of your teachers, your parents, anyone! I guess you wouldn't get it though, since you don't have any friends! Sorry, didn't mean to hit a nerve!"
Iroha slapped my back repeatedly, while every time she opened her mouth, she pressed just the right buttons in exactly the wrong order. This was Iroha at her most annoying. It was like she'd been saving all of this up the whole time she was in honor-student mode.
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"L-Look, I was trying to be serious!"
"Yeah, but I bet you're regrettin' it now, huh?! I can't believe you asked me outright like that!"
"Stop laughing! Or at least keep your voice down!"
"No can do! I've never seen ya get so flustered, so I'm not lettin' up now!"
"You know what's gonna happen if you let anyone else hear that recording, right?"
"No, I don't! What? You gonna have to punish me like in some porn video?"
"No way, dumbass! Who in the world would even wanna touch—"
"Let me just get something straight. That jealousy...it's got nothing to do with any sort of...romantic feelings towards me, right?"
"Aaaaah! S-Stop it! Stop playing it whenever you can't think of a comeback!"
"Man, I think this could keep me entertained for at least a month!" Iroha chortled.
"Goddammit!"
"Well, since I've got this, I guess I'll forgive you for all the stuff that's gone on recently. Damn, never in a million years did I think I'd get my hands on something like this. Maybe I'll act out more often!" Iroha prodded my cheek repeatedly, laughing with glee.
And here I was thinking she was depressed or something. I should've known better than to think she could possibly have feelings for me.
Maybe this was for the best, though. If she came out with a confession, I'd just have to reject her like I rejected Mashiro. At least this way, it was easier to return my focus to the Alliance.
But wait. What if Iroha did like me, and she was just pretending not to so that things were easier for—
Nah. She wasn't the type to plan ahead like that.
"Congratulations, Shinji, you got the old Iroha back! That's what you wanted, right? You didn't just come here to ask me that embarrassing question of yours, right?" Iroha grinned.
"No, I didn't. How d'you know?"
"'Cause I know you! I mean, it's the dead of night, and you even kicked my door in! This was about more than gettin' me to behave in the recording
booth again, right? I mean, it'd make sense, since you're all about efficiency."
"Yep, you got it in one."
Getting Iroha back to her old self wasn't my only objective here. As I reminded myself today, the only thing I cared about—the only thing I acted for—was the Alliance. That was why I rejected Makigai Namako-sensei's fluffy scripts, why I agreed to help Sumire with the drama club, why I was so intent on fixing all of the Alliance's problems. Responding to Mashiro's confession and fixing Iroha's foul mood were just the beginning.
I had a plan right now that would solve every last one of our problems in one fell swoop. That was why I came here.
"Iroha. I need to talk to you—to the whole Alliance—about something very important..."
***
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