Taki Shiina had discovered that crows are very busy birds.
Just like Chiose.
But the crows' kind of busy wasn't quite the same as Chiose's.
"Busy? That's a funny way to put it, but you're right."
The two of them had slipped into something like the retired life of an old married couple. Once Taki wrapped her arms around Chiose's waist from behind, she never wanted to let go.
They stood quietly at the windowsill, feeding the crows outside.
Calling it feeding was generous. Really, Taki just watched Chiose set a small iron bowl full of food on the windowsill and wait for the crows to come.
A very small crow tumbled down from a tree in a clumsy flutter. It tilted its head, and then it got "busy."
"Pfft, it really is busy. This little guy had a bright idea and dropped its food in the water to eat it soaked, and now that it's mostly done, it's off to bump into the flowerpot on the windowsill..."
"I wonder why it always pushes the pot a little to the left."
Taki said nothing. She just soaked in the warmth of Chiose pressed against her.
That heat woke her up better than any coffee.
[Little Chiose, does this count as raising crows?]
"I don't think so... They just happened to wander into my life, and I feed them since it's no trouble... They can leave whenever they want."
[Then am I a crow you feed, Little Chiose?]
Taki's hands moved in front of Chiose, and Chiose froze for a moment when she understood the question.
"Of course not... You're not allowed to run away! I... I'm going to raise you! For life!"
"What... haha, honestly, raise me?"
After feeding the crows, Taki carried Chiose back to the sofa.
She didn't know what was wrong with her. It was as if she'd been poisoned. She couldn't bear to be apart from Chiose for even a moment.
Only when she was holding her, staring at her... only when she was wrapped in Chiose Noshiro's scent could she calm every unease in her chest.
"What's this? Little Taki won't let me raise her?"
Chiose pinched Taki's cheek between a few fingers.
She had the feeling... that she'd fattened up her Taki.
[I will. But let me raise Little Chiose too, okay?]
Taki Shiina had one wish now: to cook for Chiose, always.
She hadn't even shown off her skills in front of Chiose properly yet.
"Okay~"
Taki toyed with Chiose's small hand and thought:
Chiose Noshiro, why does even your fingertip glow such a pretty color?
Bzzt—
Bzzt—
Bzzt—
Chiose tilted her head and looked, a little puzzled, at Taki, who had set her down at her side and was searching everywhere for a phone.
"Huh?" Taki had assumed it was her own phone ringing, but it wasn't.
[Little Chiose, you have a call. Want me to answer?]
"Mm-hm!"
But...
Taki had a bad feeling.
Who would call someone who had lost her hearing?
An insurance company?
Holding Chiose Noshiro's phone, Taki Shiina walked to the kitchen, meaning to brew another cup of coffee.
"Hello? Who is this?"
"Taki? I..."
The voice on the other end said only three words, but Taki Shiina's face changed in the blink of an eye.
Her dazzling violet eyes were veiled by something called rage.
"Sakiko Togawa? How do you still have the nerve to call?"
"Do you know what you said yesterday? In front of Chiose! In front of Chiose, wearing her hearing aid, you called her defective? Huh?!"
"I... Taki? You..."
Sakiko Togawa was clearly stunned by the torrent of abuse. For a moment she couldn't put a sentence together.
"Call me defective and I won't argue. Say whatever you want about me, I can't even be bothered to curse you out. But you do not get to say that about Little Chiose. Do you know what you said?"
"I would never dare reopen her wounds in front of a girl that kind, not in my whole life. How did you just blurt it out? Something's really wrong with your head, isn't it?"
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry! I... I'm truly so sorry... I don't even know how I..."
"'I' this, 'I' that. You can't not know what you said, can you? You selfish bastard. Why act so perfect at the start?"
"If you wanted to quit, then quit, so why make us wait so long? Was all that waiting just to hear you say you wanted out of the band?"
The fire lodged in Taki's chest had never actually gone out.
If Chiose Noshiro's gentle haven hadn't made her forget, for a while, that Sakiko Togawa deserved to be killed ten thousand times over, Taki Shiina would have gone looking for Sakiko last night to have a proper talk, face to face.
[Too bad for Sakiko Togawa. This time, there won't be a Chiose Noshiro to plead for you.]
Seeing that Taki had fallen silent for the moment, Sakiko Togawa found her opening and asked:
"Is Little Chiose all right now? I..."
"And what standing do you have to care about Chiose Noshiro? What right do you have to care about Chiose Noshiro? I have nothing to say to you. Since you've already left Crychic, please stop disturbing my life with Chiose Noshiro."
"..."
"Okay."
The call was cut off, and only then did Taki Shiina remember to breathe.
She'd cursed so much in one go, and her emotions had run so high that she'd nearly forgotten to breathe.
Taki splashed cold water on her face, and only after she'd worked to settle her mood did she step out of the kitchen.
It was a good thing Chiose wasn't wearing her hearing aid right now. Otherwise, the well-behaved middle-schooler image Taki kept up in front of her would have collapsed.
"Little Taki? Who was that just now?"
Chiose blinked, golden light rippling in her delicate crimson eyes.
[Just an insurance salesman.]
"Huh? How rude of that insurance salesman, interrupting our chat."
[Right? Honestly, they're... the worst!]
All the rage she'd been holding down had tipped entirely onto Sakiko Togawa. Taki Shiina snuggled up with Chiose Noshiro on the sofa again.
Black hair and white hair intertwined. The two of them, held in each other's arms, were a complete family.
A little home where any conflict was snuffed out the moment it showed its head, with no arguments and no coldness.
"What did you want most when you were little, Taki?"
[Me? I wanted to achieve something, to make my parents and my sister proud of me... Well, basically, I wanted to prove myself.]
"Huh? Did it work?"
[Work? That depends on how you define it.]
Greedily pressing closer to Chiose, Taki wished she could knead her right into her own body.
[I met you. I think my life is already a success. If I can make something of myself later, great, and if I can't, I can still enjoy the happiest everyday life.]
"What is that, honestly, you sweet-talker!"
Her slender fingers wove through the ends of Taki's hair. Chiose played with the long strands, winding them around her fingers into ring after ring of hair.
"Taki... Do you know what I wanted to do most when I was little?"
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