82: A Secret Conversation with Miyano Shiho
To be honest, Kurumi had no absolute confidence that she could successfully save Miyano Akemi.
She had already offended far too many people within the Organization.
Although Vermouth and the boss had her back, allowing Kurumi to fear most threats,
Rum, the Organization's second-in-command, had always regarded her as a thorn in his side and constantly sought opportunities to get rid of her.
That man, even more mysterious than Vermouth, had been at odds with her ever since she had ruined several of his businesses that manufactured those things to harm people over the past few years.
All those people sent to assassinate her had come from him as well.
Miyano Akemi's position within the Organization was awkward.
First, her boyfriend was a traitor to the Organization.
Second, she wanted to take her little sister, Miyano Shiho—the Organization's cash cow—and leave.
With just those two points alone, the fact that Miyano Akemi had survived until now was nothing short of miraculous luck.
So, Kurumi had spent quite some time agonizing over how to secretly preserve Miyano Akemi's life.
Even though Kurumi had never shown it in front of others.
Miyano Shiho looked at Kurumi, her heart caught in a fierce internal struggle.
It was not as if she had never suspected that Kurumi might have been specifically sent by the Organization to test her by saying these things. The question was whether she should trust her.
Sitting on the bed, Miyano Shiho ultimately chose to trust her, because this concerned her last remaining family member, and she did not want her sister to die because of it.
Because she no longer had the right to choose.
"Listen, the Organization won't make a move against your sister for the time being." After explaining that she was currently responsible for contacting and monitoring her sister, Kurumi said with a serious expression, "But I don't know how much longer I can stall them, so we need to prepare for the worst."
As she spoke, Kurumi raised one finger. "First, for the time being, keep pretending you know nothing about this. Continue doing whatever you should be doing."
Miyano Shiho nodded.
"Second, given my position, I can't save your sister directly. So in this plan, your sister has to die."
The moment Kurumi said her sister had to die, Miyano Shiho could no longer sit still.
"What did you say?" She widened her eyes and stared at Kurumi in disbelief.
Suddenly being shouted at, Kurumi looked at Miyano Shiho speechlessly. "Hey, can you calm down? Could you at least let me finish?"
"Uh..." Miyano Shiho froze for a moment, then sat back down.
She knew she had been too agitated just now and had failed to catch the hidden meaning in Kurumi's words.
"You mean... have my sister fake her death? Then use that to escape the Organization's surveillance?"
Was this what it meant to be a high-IQ talent?
Seeing Miyano Shiho grasp the key point so quickly, Kurumi smiled in satisfaction. "That's right. Ever since Gin informed me that I would be responsible for your sister's case, I knew they wanted me to kill her personally."
Kurumi did not believe the Organization would kindly assign her a task she was best at.
From the moment she learned about this, Kurumi knew they wanted Miyano Akemi dead. At the same time, they wanted to get leverage over Kurumi.
Kurumi could guess that this was the Organization's plan.
If Kurumi developed some emotional attachment while she was in contact with Miyano Akemi, then regardless of whether the latter's mission succeeded or failed, they would order Kurumi to personally execute Miyano Akemi.
If Kurumi killed Miyano Akemi without hesitation, they could loudly publicize that Kurumi had killed Miyano Shiho's sister and Akai Shuichi's girlfriend, drawing hatred toward her.
But if Kurumi refused to act or hesitated even slightly, Rum would immediately slap the label of "trying to betray the Organization" on her and make a huge issue out of it.
In short, Rum, the Organization's second-in-command, had prepared a massive, pitch-black scapegoat for Kurumi, the person who had wrecked his operations.
Kurumi told Miyano Shiho about her thoughts and suspicions.
"I didn't expect things to be so difficult for you inside the Organization too~" Miyano Shiho's expression turned somewhat grim.
All she had ever seen from Kurumi were dazzling accomplishments. She had never imagined that beneath that brilliant splendor lay deep, boundless darkness.
If Kurumi killed her sister, she would definitely hate her. That was certain.
But she was ultimately only one person, unlike Akai Shuichi. Behind him stood the American FBI.
If he truly came to resent Kurumi because of this, then with the vast resources of the FBI at his disposal, dealing with Kurumi would be far too easy for him.
"What a clever way to kill with a borrowed knife." This matter deepened Miyano Shiho's hatred for the Organization even further.
"Ah... I'm definitely going to offend Akai Shuichi." After all, I'm going to steal his girlfriend. Kurumi concealed her truest thoughts and said, "But in my eyes, the threat he poses is only that much. At most, he'll be a little troublesome." At that point, Kurumi looked at Miyano Shiho with sincere eyes.
"But you're different."
Miyano Shiho's heart skipped a beat.
She could not understand when she had become so important in Kurumi's heart.
Could that rumor in the Organization be true? Miyano Shiho suddenly recalled a shocking rumor that circulated through the Organization like an urban legend.
You know Bloody Mary, right? Something's wrong with her! She likes women, especially women who have boyfriends! Whenever she steals someone else's girlfriend, she sends that woman's original boyfriend a very "intimate" photo of the two of them! Then she enjoys the man's angry, despairing expression.
Thinking of that rumor, Miyano Shiho guessed that this was why Kurumi cared so much about her feelings.
Because she liked her sister and did not want this misunderstanding to make her, the younger sister, hate her.
Yet beneath her shock, Miyano Shiho also felt a faint sense of anticipation.
Toward Akai Shuichi, who had used her sister and then abandoned her, hiding away in America to survive alone, Miyano Shiho felt nothing but hatred.
Although Kurumi was a girl, she was at least willing to put herself in danger to save her sister.
That resolve alone put her far, far above Akai Shuichi.
"How do you need me to cooperate?" Miyano Shiho asked.
She had prepared herself for anything.
"You only need to pretend you know nothing. After I 'kill' your sister, the Organization will definitely tell you about it themselves. When that happens, hate me however you need to hate me."
83: Is This Driver's License Real or Fake? Fake. Real? Real!
"Is this reliable?" Miyano Shiho felt that Kurumi seemed somewhat lacking in confidence when she spoke.
Naturally, Kurumi would not show any weakness.
She flashed a confident, unfathomable smile. "Of course. At worst, I'll completely fall out with the Organization. It's not a big deal!"
As a Stand user, Kurumi knew perfectly well just how many absurdly powerful Stands her system contained.
If her plan failed, she could simply exchange for Killer Queen and use that pink kitty's third bomb, Bites the Dust, to rewind time and find a perfect solution to the predicament through repeated failures.
Or...
She could use her teacher's alternate account—Kishibe Rohan's Heaven's Door—to forcibly alter other people's memories and turn them from enemies into servants loyal only to her.
Thinking about how many trump cards she still had, Kurumi felt more and more that she was truly invincible!
This is the greatest high ever!
The excitement in her heart was practically bursting out of her body. Kurumi even wanted to poke her temple with her index finger and say a famous line.
But considering her image, Kurumi forcibly suppressed that excitement.
After leaving the research institute where Miyano Shiho was staying, Kurumi returned home and spent a few peaceful days.
One afternoon, after finishing lunch, Kurumi suddenly thought of something.
"Sister Narumi, I want to go buy some clothes this afternoon. Do you want to come too?"
She used her hand to lift the weight on her chest. Recently, Kurumi had felt as if her bras were squeezing her chest too tightly.
That uncomfortable feeling made Kurumi decide to buy some underwear better suited to her current size.
And while she was at it, she would buy Narumi some clothes too.
"Me?" Aso Narumi, who was clearing away the dishes, thought for a moment.
She realized that ever since coming to Tokyo, she truly had not bought any new clothes.
Whenever she had nothing to do, she usually stayed quietly at home and did not really want to go out.
"Sure, but there aren't many days left in winter. We probably don't need to buy too many winter clothes, right?" Looking at the calendar hanging on the wall, the frugal Narumi felt they could buy fewer clothes.
Hearing Narumi's words, Kurumi truly had no idea how to explain that time in this world was not normal at all.
Although each day still passed from Monday through Sunday as usual, that only applied to the days of the week, not the months.
Perhaps after one week passed, the next day would suddenly be the next month.
But when you woke up and looked at the newspapers or television, you would be shocked to discover, "Damn, why is it the start of the month again?"
Then, you would continue living from the first day of that month and wait for Schrödinger's next month.
It might come, or it might not.
However, Kurumi had noticed that no one in this world, whether Vermouth and the others or ordinary people, found anything strange about this abnormal phenomenon.
It was as though the world had been designed that way from the beginning.
It counted only days, not months or years.
In the end, Kurumi did not mention it to Narumi.
"It's nothing. I still have some money on my card anyway. Buying a few clothes is no problem."
Seeing that the purple sweater Narumi was wearing had already begun to pill, Kurumi decided to buy her some clothes as a gift.
"Sister Narumi, wait for me a moment. I'll go find my bankbook." Without giving Narumi a chance to object, Kurumi stood from her chair and headed straight back to the bedroom.
Looking at Kurumi's back, how could Narumi not know what Kurumi was thinking?
Over these days of living together, Narumi had realized that Kurumi was actually an easy-to-understand and very gentle girl.
She could recklessly step into life-threatening danger for her "friends," and she would also choose violence when criminals harmed innocent people.
Narumi thought that if Kurumi's actions and mentality were described through American superhero comics, Kurumi was definitely not a righteous, beloved hero.
Rather, she was best described as an antihero who lived in darkness yet still held hope for the light in her heart.
Thinking of everything Kurumi had done for her, Narumi felt her nose sting.
"Honestly... that's why I like you..."
After efficiently clearing away the dishes and placing them in the kitchen, Aso Narumi prepared to dress up nicely and happily go shopping with Kurumi.
More than ten minutes later, the beautifully dressed pair left the house.
Sitting in Kurumi's car, Aso Narumi looked at Kurumi fastening her seat belt in the driver's seat when a question suddenly occurred to her.
"Kurumi, you're only sixteen this year... Is it really okay for you to drive?"
Narumi knew that in Japan, one needed to be eighteen to get a driver's license.
And Kurumi was only sixteen. If someone so obviously underage dared to drive on the road and encountered a police inspection or a traffic accident, then combined with Kurumi's shady identity, would that not be walking right into a trap?
Thinking of that, Narumi became somewhat worried.
In response, Kurumi took out a driver's license from the sun visor above her head and handed it to Narumi. "Don't worry, I have a license."
"A license?"
Taking the driver's license, Narumi looked at Kurumi's information on it.
It clearly listed the holder as Tokisaki Kurumi, and the age was eighteen—just old enough to be an adult.
Even the photo was of Kurumi herself.
"Is it real?"
"Fake."
"Then is it really okay to have a fake driver's license?"
"Totally!"
Before you continue