After the crepe shop and the fragile truce brokered over shared lewd fantasies, they went home. The energy was different, lighter. Yuna was still grumpy and possessive, Mika was still serene and watchful. But that sharp, cutting edge between them had dulled into something almost like camaraderie. It felt weird.
After the girls finished their bath, the poor Makoto was fucked into oblivion. He now lay snoring on the futon between them.
Yuna was on his left side, one leg thrown over his, her breathing slow and even. But she wasn't asleep. She was watching Mika in the dim moonlight from the window. Mika just lay on her back, staring at the ceiling.
"So." Yuna's whisper cut through the dark. "The whole substitute thing earlier. What the hell was that really about?"
Mika stayed silent, then murmured, "I told you. It was just a fantasy."
"Bullshit." Yuna snorted. "That wasn't just a fantasy. That sounded like your cry for help."
She propped herself up on one elbow. "I know a degenerate when I see one. You don't come up with that level of specific, humiliating detail unless you've thought about it a lot."
Mika turned her head. Their eyes met in the darkness. The serene mask was gone. What was left looked tired, really tired. "You wouldn't understand."
"Try me." Yuna's voice came out softer than she'd expected.
Mika sighed. "You know, my parents always have their expectations. Top of the class, captain of the track team, perfect grades, perfect attendance. I must stay the perfect daughter."
"I've spent my entire life being perfect." The word came out bitter. "Smiling when I'm supposed to smile. Saying what I'm supposed to say. Winning when I'm supposed to win. It's exhausting!"
She looked over at Makoto's sleeping form. "And then I met you. Remember when we first became friends? Second year of high school." Mika continued. "You transferred into my class, this loud, obnoxious gremlin who spent all of lunch break sketching costumes and arguing about anime, character build, and gacha rates."
A small smile touched Yuna's lips. "I remember. Everyone thought I was a weirdo."
"They did. But you didn't care. You were just you, unapologetically. And I was so jealous of that." Mika's voice dropped. "I was Mika-chan, the class president, the star athlete. Always polite, always smiling. And always, always alone."
Mika continued. "Then one day, that girl Rumi and her friends cornered you in the art room. They were making fun of your drawings, calling you a freak."
Yuna stiffened. "I remember that."
"I was supposed to intervene as class president." Mika's voice went flat. "I was supposed to be the perfect, responsible leader. But I just stood there and watched. Because I was a coward."
"And then you looked at them." Mika's voice cracked, "You didn't cry or yell. You just smiled that horrible, sharp little smile of yours and told them that their taste was as basic as their personalities, and that they wouldn't know real art if it bit them on their flat asses."
Yuna let out a small, choked laugh. "I remember that too."
"They were so shocked, they just left," Mika whispered. "And you went right back to drawing like nothing happened. The next day, I asked if you wanted to have lunch with me on the roof."
The memory sat between them, a shared moment.
"You were so different from me." Mika turned back to look at Makoto. "And then I saw him. The day he came to pick you up from school, because you'd spent all your train money on a limited-edition art book."
"He looked so annoyed, but he still bought you takoyaki on the way home. And you two... you're not perfect. You're a mess! You're selfish, you're loud, you're demanding, you cry when you lose a cosplay contest..."
Yuna stiffened. "Hey!"
"...But he still loves you for it." Mika's voice cracked. "He doesn't just tolerate you, he loves you. He loves Yuna, the pathetic, fucked-up Yuna."
When she finally looked at Yuna again, her eyes were shining. "I've never had that. I've never had anyone see the real me, see the manipulative bitch underneath and not run away."
A chill went down Yuna's back. She remembered another incident, a few months after they became friends.
Rumi, still furious about being humiliated, had "accidentally" tripped Mika during a track run. Mika had fallen hard, scraping her knee, but she'd gotten up, smiled her perfect smile, and finished the race in second place.
Yuna had been ready to teach that bitch a lesson. But the next day, Rumi had transferred schools. It was so sudden without any explanation. Her family had moved away, citing a "sudden family issue."
At the time, Yuna had just been glad the bitch was gone. But now...
"So, yes. My fantasy earlier..." Mika's voice dropped to almost nothing. "It was about him. But it was also about you, Yuna. It was just me wanting to be part of something real, something messy and broken and beautiful. Even if I was just a substitute, or if I had to be humiliated for it. At least the feeling would be real."
Yuna was silent for a long time. She stared at Mika, at this perfect, beautiful girl who'd just confessed that all she wanted was to be second best. She saw the cracks, the desperation behind the serene smile. And she saw something familiar: A poor, lonely girl just like her, hiding behind that perfect facade.
"Really... You're an idiot, Mika." Yuna flopped back down onto the futon. But then her hand reached out in the darkness, finding Mika's. Her fingers were warm, and so was her voice. "The second wife has her duties, you know. You have to help me keep the main wife's seat warm. And you have to help me torture our pig."
She squeezed Mika's hand with a pout. "So you're not allowed to be pathetic like that. It's annoying!"
Mika's breath hitched. She squeezed back with a giggle. "Okay, I will accept my... duties, for now. But if you ever hurt him..." Mika's voice turned cold, sharp, and terrifying. "If you ever take him for granted and push him away for real, I'll be there."
The threat was calm and quiet. It was more chilling than any of Yuna's loudest rages, but not less dangerous. "I won't be just a substitute or the second wife anymore. I will take him away, for myself, and you will never get him back!"
Yuna's fingers tightened. "...Deal."
A new alliance had been forged in the dark.