CHAPTER 1 VICTIM • BONUS FTE

Who should I hang out with.. ?
I left my room with no one in mind. Maybe I should take a look arou—
“Neeeoooo-o-oooo!”
The lively Emily interrupts my thinking by jumping at me from behind, grabbing my arm and forcing me to turn in circles with her in some kind of messed-up waltz.
“What are you doing, all alone like this?”
She surprised me, but because it’s her… I quickly accept it.
“Well… What about you? Why are you alone?”
I don’t even know where she came from. She’s never on her own for too long, is she?
“Hmmm, Emily’s bored!”
“How does that answer my question..?”
She stops moving in circles and lets go of my arm.
“Let’s hang out together!”
She marks a pause to inhale deeply, and continues in a somewhat calmer voice:
“If you’re okay with it, of course.”
“Sure.”
I force myself to smile, to ensure she doesn’t feel too lonely with her giddy attitude. I was just looking for someone to spend time with, so I have no reason to say no.
“Yay!”
She claps her hands enthusiastically.
“Where do we go?”
“Uuuh, I don’t know…”
Our options are rather limited… Is she really expecting me to come up with something?
“Do you have an idea..?”
“HMMmmmm…”
She turns her head to stare outside for a few seconds, before pointing at the door.
“Let’s go under that cool tree!”
“Oooh… okay.”

We walked out of the dormitory and up to the cherry blossom tree.

She sits underneath it.
“You’re gonna sit with Emily, right?”
“Sure.”
Am I being a bit awkward? I think I may be. I simply didn’t expect someone like… or in general, I just don’t expect someone who fits into the “popular girl” type to choose to hang out with me. It feels off, somehow.
Still, I don’t mind sitting on the ground next to her.
She stares at the flowers above us.
“This is so pretty…”
“Yeah…”
Actually, I don’t know why that feels weird to me. All sorts of people talk to me, as a famous voice actor.
This just feels a little too much like school…
…Though again, why should that bother me?
Emily lets out a relaxed sigh before looking at me again.
“Would you wear that colour? Pink?”
“Oh, uh, yeah, sure.”
I know I get paid to read lines, but I should be able to come up with more dialogue by myself, shouldn’t I..?
I take a look at the flowers myself. They’re a very pale, precious-looking pink.
“I don’t know about this specific shade, though. It’d look too light on me, I think.”
I glance at her. She looks satisfied with my answer.
“That’s what Emily was thinking! Neo would look beautiful in bright colours… no, gorgeous even!”
“Thank you…”
I chuckle. It feels like a true compliment, coming from her.
She nods, and then stretches her arms for a few long seconds.
“I miss… I wish I had more different kinda clothes to use as a base for different outfits. Like, sure, I have a lot of that one outfit… But I’m just not very inspired.”
“Oh? Right… It has to be upsetting to you to be forced to wear the same outfit every day.”
“Well, I don’t have to wear the same thing every day!”
“What..?”
She… does, though, right? Unless… she was thinking about trading clothes with someone else?
That’s not out of the question.
“If I felt like it, I could tear some of the spares I have apart and turn them into a different piece! Or, or, you know, I could even just find ways to arrange these few pieces differently without even having to mess them up.”
She starts to speak extremely quickly, not breaking eye contact with me.
“You know, that’s actually all I did at first! I became a fashionista by using the clothes I already had and arranging them differently to create completely new outfits!”
“Wait, what?”
I laugh nervously…
“Slow down for a sec! First of all… What do you mean by something new... with the exact same clothes?”
I’m not even sure my question makes sense. That was way too much information at once. She nods along, though.
“Well, with what I have right now, I could easily creaaaaatee… hmm… a belt, or a scarf, and also I could just wear my socks different and they’d have a completely different vibe!”
“Oh…”
That makes enough sense.
“But if Emily were inspired, she could come up with even more, and you wouldn’t even understand it!”
She taps the ground enthusiastically with both hands.
“I… believe that.”
I laugh nervously once more.
“Okay, okay… so… you’re used to doing that, then. Why would you limit yourself like this, though? I thought you’d have a ton of different clothes at home.”
“Hm-hm.”
She shakes her head.
“Not back then, no. I wasn’t a fashionista yet, so I couldn’t really ask my dad to suddenly buy me a ton of clothes.”
“Oh… So your dad usually buys your clothes?”
“Hmm?”
With a large smile, she tilts her head, and keeps it in that position.
“…Hmm?”
Is it that she didn’t hear what I said?
“Who?”
“Uhm, uuh, your dad?”
She tilts her head further.
“Hmm? Why would you wanna talk about that person?”
“Huh?”
“Hmm?”
“She’s…
She’s definitely doing this on purpose!”
“You… You brought him up.”
“Whaaat? Weird!”
She pokes her cheek with the tip of her index finger.
“Emily doesn’t even know who you’re talking about.”
“You… don’t know who your dad is.”
As if. I don’t really care either way…
“Who?”
…We can go back to talking about fashion if that’s what she wants.
“Right.”
It’s not a big deal. At least with her, I can’t blame myself for being the weird one.
“So you’re good at repurposing clothes.”
“Yes!”
She sets her head back in a normal position, almost mechanically.
“Do you, uuuh… Enjoy doing that, or are you just used to it?”
“Huuuh? How can you imagine that it’s not fun?”
“Uhm…”
“Look! I can take this dumb mess…”
She shows me my blue overshirt, extending it in front of her face.
“A dumb mess…”
“Sure… Urfgh!”
Rather than choke on my own spit, I look down at my shirt and—sure enough, I’m only wearing my black undershirt.
“When… How did you grab that?!”
As I raise my head, she places something over my shoulders.
“Wh…”
“Aaaand, here you go! Now it’s a beautiful scarf!”
“Seriously..?”
I’m confused.
“But it’s just… You just…”
I tug on it and try to turn it around, but I can’t find any holes, or identify the sleeves. From my point of view, it works perfectly as a scarf.
In the meantime, Emily backs herself up and creates a rectangular shape with her fingers in front of her eyes.
“Aaah, I couldn’t ask for a better model! You look perfect!”
“Ah… Uhm… Thanks.”
Now I just feel dumb, for some reason.
“Oooh, I’m so happy I did this.”
“S-seriously? Don’t you think that’s taking it a little too far?”
She shakes her head and drops her hands to her lap, looking truly moved.
“No, I… Emily couldn’t take it anymore.”
“Ah, right… You were bore-”
“If Emily had to see this stupid ugly shirt one more day, she would have gone nuts!”
“…Huh?”
“You can’t just put on an oversized t-shirt and expect it to work! There’s a way to wear them! Unfitted clothes… are downright criminal!”
She grabs her head between her hands… rather dramatically.
“Neo… Now that you look decent, you need to help me do something.”
“O-okay?”
“Sure… When I’m done crying.”
“First, we’re gonna need, uuuh… Chloroform.”
“What?!”
“You’re taller than me… You’re gonna have to take care of Benjamin. I’ll take care of Akiro.”
“What are y—That’s out of the questio- Wait!”
Emily stands up abruptly and turns around.
“We don’t have a choice! We need to put an end to this nightmare! I’m going to the infirmary… Come up with a plan before I’m back!”
She runs off.
I, uhm…
I think she’s making fun of me?