Chapter 6 – A Place for the Heart
I used to despise Amane Rindo.
Born as the only daughter of the Nanase Conglomerate, I… Mayumi Nanase, was born a winner. Since I was little, I could get anything I wanted just by saying “I want this” or “I want that.” I lacked for nothing, was blessed with looks—golden hair, beautifully refined features, and translucent white skin like snow, making me look like an exquisitely crafted doll. I couldn’t be satisfied unless I was number one in everything; be it academics or sports, I continued to take the top spot in every field I was involved in and stood out. I let everyone around me know that I was shining, that I was special, and it felt comfortable to have gazes of envy directed at me… Yes, until she appeared.
That person was Amane Rindo. The person of my destiny, whom I met when I entered middle school.
Amane Rindo was a girl who, like me, naturally embodied the ideal of excellence in both academics and sports, though her grades were always just one step behind mine. However, despite me being superior in everything, the eyes of those around us were directed at Amane Rindo.
Amane Rindo did not have looks as special as mine. She had black hair styled in a short bob, neutral and beautiful features, and a slightly low, gentle voice. She treated everyone kindly without discrimination and would say incredibly thoughtful things just when someone needed them most. Even though I didn’t feel anything special about her appearance, her presence was like… like a prince. I was… violently jealous.
My entourage gradually drifted away from me, while the rabble captivated by Amane Rindo increased in inverse proportion. Piling frustration, anger with nowhere to go… The chance to overturn those days came just before winter set in.
“——That concludes it. The schedule for this year’s ski camp is as follows, so please do not forget your preparations.”
At the middle school I attended, it was customary for first-years to go on a ski camp for about a week. When I heard Amane Rindo tell people she was a beginner at skiing, I thought this was my chance. I naturally had experience with skiing, so I thought this was the perfect opportunity to show off that I could do anything better than her, that I was superior. If they saw the contrast between my elegant form and Amane Rindo’s clumsy form, the surrounding gazes would naturally turn toward me. Thinking that, I decided to participate.
On the day of the event, I was convinced that the heavens were on my side. Amane Rindo and I were in the same group.
“Alright then, please split up according to your groups. Experienced skiers, please help the beginners along with the instructors of each group, okay?”
Since there were no experienced skiers in this group other than me, I naturally was in the position of having to teach various things. I did it reluctantly, you know? But being thought incapable of teaching would also rub me the wrong way, so I taught them. First how to stop, how to fall safely when falling is inevitable, then how to slide, and various other techniques here and there…
“——Wow, thanks to Mayumi-sama teaching me, I’ve gotten able to ski properly!”
“O-Oh my, is that so.”
My teaching must have been too good. While I was teaching her, Amane Rindo had become able to ski skillfully before I knew it. She became able to ski down the beginner course without issue, and after the lunch break, she easily conquered the intermediate course as well… Before I knew it, near the end of the day, the surrounding eyes were once again turned toward Amane Rindo, and people were leaving me again…!! In that moment, the fire of my competitive spirit was lit.
“I can ski on the advanced course too! Just watch!”
“B-But the teacher said the advanced course is forbidden…”
“They said we aren’t allowed to go there, Mayumi-sama!”
“It’s dangerous!”
“Silence! I shall show you that I can do it!”
This was my mistake. This was everything—this was the beginning of the greatest blunder of my life.
“……O-Oh my? The wind has picked up.”
As I proceeded toward the advanced course, the wind suddenly grew stronger. However, thinking this was temporary, I began to ski down the advanced course.
The start of the run was fine. I brilliantly jumped over the bumps meant for jumping a few times, easily descending the course that would be difficult for intermediates… descending… and then——suddenly, my vision turned completely white.
“……Th-This is troubling. I cannot see if I am skiing properly from above like this.”
At this time, I hadn’t even dreamed of it. That the nets supposed to be strung up to prevent people from going off the advanced course had come loose due to another guest’s accident. And that I had actually wandered into a place completely different from the course…
“……Where…… is this…? Ah!!”
No matter how much I skied, I didn’t arrive where I should have. To make matters worse, I hadn’t realized my skis were damaged from the jump earlier, and finally, they broke, causing me to fall. In this moment, having lost my means of movement and confirmation of my current location, I finally realized I was stranded on a snowy mountain.
And the moment I realized that… terror. The force of the wind and snow only increased, the sideways snow turned into a blizzard, and I was left alone on the snowy mountain.
“……S-Someone, is anyone there!! Ouch…!?
No matter how much I called or shouted, my voice wouldn’t reach anyone; it only disappeared into the blizzard. And due to bad luck during the fall earlier, I seemed to have hit my right leg against a rock buried in the snow, and it wouldn’t move as I wanted. In this situation, I prepared myself for death.
“——A voice from over here… Ah!! Found you, Mayumi-sama!!”
However, it had reached. My voice… That hateful prince came for me. Unfortunately, she didn’t bring a white horse, but instead, a prince turned completely white with snow came to find me.
“The wind got strong and I couldn’t see! I chased after you; I saw you ski this way last, so I thought maybe… Ah, your leg, you can’t move it?”
“Sh-Shut up…! Move——kyaah!!”
“Don’t force it, you’re definitely injured… It’s bad to stay here like this, so come on, hold on to me!”
“Someone like you…!”
It was humiliating. I felt looked down upon by Amane Rindo, the person I wanted to look down on the most. Even so, I didn’t want to die. I endured it, thinking it was better than being unable to move here. Thinking I could get down this way, that if I let this hateful prince take me to the bottom I would be saved, I looked around…
“There should be something like a hut ahead… I could see it when it was clear…”
Everything was white. White, just white. Because the terrain had changed due to the rapid snowfall, we didn’t even know which way was down, and the cold snow just buried the scenery. The only thing we could rely on was Amane Rindo’s vague memory. I despaired again that the situation hadn’t changed at all.
“Ah…! Found it, there it is! Surely, someone… should be there…”
However, as if to smash that despair, we found it—a small wooden building. A hut so tattered I didn’t know if I could even call it a building.
“……This looks like a storage shed for the ski resort.”
It was indeed a storage shed for the ski resort. It was completely unmanaged; the door had come off and was gone, snow was blowing inside slightly, and it was dark with no electricity. And above all… filthy. A space with zero cleanliness, where dusty materials were just piled up messily, making me not want to stay even for a second.
“Let’s wait here for rescue to come.”
“N-No, it is dirty… Ouch…”
“It’s impossible to go anywhere else with that leg. Please show me your leg. I play sports where injuries are common, so I have at least knowledge of first aid.”
“……”
I hated it. Everything. I hated everything so much I wanted to scream and run away. I skied on the advanced course to show off to everyone, yet I got stranded in a disgraceful manner, exposed my disgraceful state to the person I wanted to see it least, and now first aid for an injury too…? It was unbearable pain.
Despite that, the girl named Amane Rindo ignored my feelings and proceeded with the first aid… It was frustrating, but due to exhaustion, pain, shame, and fear, I couldn’t muster the will to resist.
“You hit the weak part of the ski wear right on, and you twisted your ankle too… The swelling in the ankle is worse; it might be broken. It’ll hurt if we leave it like this, so let’s fix it in place for now.”
“Fix… it…? How will you do that…”
“There was curing tape on the shelf, so I’ll use it with something that looks like a splint to fix it.”
“N-No, it’s dirty, that’s…… Ouuuuuch…!!??”
Ignoring my words, Amane Rindo wrapped tape around my ankle to fix it. It hurt, it was miserable, it was cold, it was dirty, I hated everything already…!! Finally, I couldn’t hold it in anymore…!!
“——Thinking you’ve become a real prince just by saving me!? I don’t like you!! I hate you, I hate you so much!! Standing out more than me, everyone saying ‘Amane-san, Amane-san’!! Even though I’m, I’m superior!!”
The feelings that had piled up exploded. I vomited out everything I had been thinking daily, hurling the worst words at my savior. I unleashed every bit of emotion I had.
“Because you’re too perfect, no one can get close to you. If the masses are stars, Mayumi-sama is like the sun. Unique, absolute. Ah, even if we think we want to shine like that, we can’t even reach your feet. That’s why… everyone compromises with me, who seems approachable. I am your compromise.”
And yet, Amane Rindo replied calmly. In that moment, something significant inside me broke messily, overflowed, and couldn’t be stopped.
“——Ah… Aaaaaaaahhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!!!! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!!!!!!!”
Like a small child, I truly bawled my eyes out. The memory of Amane Rindo holding me and stroking my head at that time is so vivid… I still can’t forget it. I don’t know how long I cried after that, or how long we stayed like that. Before I knew it, I had tired myself out crying and stopped… Suddenly, I started to feel a chill, and a dull pain ran through my leg.
“Mayumi-sama.”
“I don’t need ‘sama’. Mayumi is fine.”
“Then, Mayumi-san. Aren’t you cold? It’s dirty, but better than nothing. Let’s find something and put it over you.”
“……If you say I should.”
“Please call me Amane too.”
“Amane, san… do as you like…”
Perhaps sensing my state, she looked for usable things inside the hut and pulled them out. Tattered scraps of cloth, a dusty thin blanket that had been covering some machine, pieces of netting—she gathered everything possible, and dusted them off as cleanly as… possible.
“It’s tough for two people, so let’s do this.”
“Eh, ah, wait…!”
“This should be warmer.”
And then Amane-san hugged me from behind and wrapped us in the blanket. She even put the ski wear she was wearing over me. Saying my ski wear would get dirty.
“……I hope rescue comes.”
“Yes, indeed…”
Because of what happened earlier, it was so embarrassing that at first, the conversation didn’t continue at all… But Amane-san constantly brought up topics, and thanks to that, before I knew it, I started talking about myself too…
“——I have lived until now thinking I was a special existence.”
“Mayumi-san is a special person.”
“No, nothing was special. In the end, when alone on a snowy mountain, I was just a tiny human who couldn’t do anything…”
Weak faces I would absolutely never show anyone normally, embarrassing stories I had never told anyone—many… so many… Before I knew it, I stopped caring about the dirtiness of the hut. The time that felt long and painful passed in the blink of an eye, and I became so absorbed in talking with Amane-san that I even forgot the pain in my leg.
“……Why couldn’t I have opened up to Amane-san sooner, I wonder.”
“Let’s think of it the other way? Be glad we could open up today.”
“Right, that is true… Hey? Can I call you… A-chan…?”
“Ah, you’re getting that close that fast? Sure, then maybe I’ll call you Mayumi~.”
Because I was so absorbed in Amane-san, in A-chan… I didn’t notice. That the roof of the hut was failing to withstand the snow accumulating from this blizzard. I didn’t notice… the creaking sounds, or that the ceiling was beginning to collapse.
“Yes, that is fine… Oh my? Just now, something from above——”
“Mayumi!! Get down——”
That was the last conversation between me and A-chan. After that, nothing. I don’t remember anything…
The first one to wake up was me. After that, the blizzard stopped and the search party was dispatched immediately. Betting on the possibility we took refuge in the hut closest to our last sighting, they rushed over, rescued us from inside the hut crushed by snow, and transported us to the hospital.
“——Rindo Amane-san has still not regained consciousness.”
“……She will be okay, right?”
“We do not know, regarding this…”
A-chan hit her head hard on the timber from the collapsed ceiling and was unconscious. Combined with hypothermia, her condition was critical, and she hadn’t woken up even once since I woke up until today… Even though I come to visit every day like this, she is still sleeping…
“I will come again…”
Even though a month has already passed.
“Yes… If anything changes, we will contact you immediately.”
Seen off by the doctor, I leave A-chan’s hospital room. A-chan’s parents told me, “We are truly glad our daughter could be of use protecting the daughter of the Nanase Conglomerate.” Yes, I know that isn’t their true feeling. Of course not. How could they possibly say to me that they’re glad I’m saved when their own daughter is in this state? Surely, surely they hate me from the bottom of their hearts. It wouldn’t be strange if I were killed.
“……”
It felt like a large, very large hole had opened in my heart. Just when I thought I had made a friend for the first time in my life, I lost her in that instant. Emptiness. A void, as if something precious had fallen completely out of my heart.
In her parents’ hearts, a hole many times, tens of times, hundreds of times larger must be open. With what face am I coming to visit? Selfish. I am endlessly, endlessly, endlessly selfish————
“Ma, Mayumi-ojousama!!”
——Suddenly, just as I left the hospital, the doctor from earlier stuck his head out the window and shouted my name loudly. I remember hurriedly turning around to look at the doctor’s face, and seeing a smile there.
“She, she regained consciousness!!”
“I, I am coming right now!!”
A-chan had suddenly woken up. I think the time it took to return to A-chan’s room back then was the longest, most frustrating time of my life. Desperately enduring my irritation at the elevator that wouldn’t come down, I finally reached A-chan’s room and… there was A-chan. A-chan woke up… and looked at me…
“Ah……. Mayumi……? It’s Mayumi.”
She called my name. Just that filled my chest… and I almost started crying——
“——You, you forgot our faces, but you remember Mayumi-ojousama…?”
“Amane? Can you really, really not remember Mom and Dad?”
“I’m, sor… y… Excu, se… m, me… B-But, really, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…! Hah…! Hah…!? Hie, hie…!”
The situation reversed to shock. And then, despair.
“Hyperventilation! Amane-ojousama, please calm down… It’s okay… She seems confused right now, so please let her rest…”
“……A-Ah.”
“Yes, yes… you’re right…”
A-chan didn’t remember anyone except me… Not even her parents……… It was my fault. Because of someone like me, the Amane Rindo that lived until now was killed………
After that, A-chan’s parents visited a few times, but after many complications, they eventually disappeared. I took in the remaining A-chan, and we decided to attend a different middle school together.
“A-chan, you didn’t join the volleyball club?”
“Eh… Ah… Yeah… Um, I thought maybe… I’m not suited for it… I like moving my body, though…”
“Is, that so… Did you remember anything about your parents?”
“Ue…? Nuh-uh, nothing about those people at all. About Mayumi, ehehe… I remember we’re friends… Being by your side calms me down~.”
“Is, that right. I also feel calm when I am with you, A-chan! That’s right, it is still a ways off, but you said Rokumeiji Private Academy would be good for high school!”
“Ye, ah! The same place as Mayumi, is good…!”
“That academy’s dorms are far, so you should commute from a place I will prepare. Let’s learn to do things on your own little by little there, okay?”
“Yeah, got it…!”
——That day, I killed the prince named Amane Rindo. This is the one and only irreversible, massive blunder of my life.
“H-Hey.”
“What is it?”
“……Will you stay friends, forever?”
“Of course, of course! Absolutely, absolutely!”
“Ehe, then treat me well from now on too, okay…?”
“Yes, very well!”
The prince Amane Rindo died, and she became the dark, shy, and gloomy A-chan. Memories of people other than me, even memories of her parents, never returned, and in the end, her parents said ‘This isn’t our daughter’ and threw her away. Since this happened because of me, naturally, they told me to take full responsibility. The moment I paid a large sum of consolation money to A-chan’s parents and promised to take in Amane Rindo——they disappeared. According to an informant, they are now living a leisurely life of luxury overseas.
A-chan has only me now. I have to be strong. I have to support her… The current Nanase Conglomerate is in a very difficult state; at this rate, I can’t support Amane Rindo… A-chan. I have to change it.
“……I will show you that I can support you. Forever.”
“H-Hm…? Did you say, something…?”
“No! I look forward to entering high school in two years!”
From this day on, I decided to seriously intervene in the management of the Nanase Conglomerate. I began to challenge everything with more seriousness than ever before. Seeking help from others if necessary, borrowing the wisdom of experts far above me, and——along with entering high school, the Nanase Conglomerate grew to go beyond reconstruction and leap to the top……… To protect A-chan, to atone for my sins…
It was a certain day, a while after entering high school. The life of being chased by busy days had gradually settled down, and I was finally able to make time to spend leisurely with A-chan.
“Ojousama, excuse me. These documents——Ah!”
“……What is this?”
“I-I-I-I apologize!!”
“I am asking what this is.”
A person who came all the way with paper media to explain products for future development had mixed something like a game flyer into the documents. The catchphrase written on that flyer was “Free adventure in another world, for you.” Freedom, freedom huh… If I could really obtain it, I’d want it~, was all I thought; I wasn’t very interested at that time.
“It, It’s an online game called Meltis Online being released next week…”
“You look at various other things too, don’t you? Explain this game to me so it sounds interesting. Think of me as a fellow employee.”
“……Yes! Umm~… This game is, in a word, amazing! What’s amazing is, right! It’s a VR Dive game, and an open-world game! You can go everywhere you can see, play freely without being bound by choices, and explore a vast and enormous other world! And the feedback to the five senses, which was difficult to reproduce in conventional online games, has been adjusted so you can enjoy the other world with your whole body! Traveling is good, fighting is good, eating around is good; you can freely choose from countless options, customize equipment, furniture, various items, and enjoy adventure in your own style!!”
When I heard this presentation, I thought this guy should join that game company and work in sales. I felt he was far more suited to introducing games than the health-related medical equipment in the documents he brought. So we talked about transferring him to Regalis Soft, a game enterprise under the Nanase Conglomerate umbrella.
“You, don’t you want to transfer to Regalis Soft?”
“Eh!? I-Is that, really okay!?”
“If you have no complaints, I’ll make it happen. You seem more suited to making games than making medical equipment.”
“Thank you very much!! Please, let me do it!!”
“Noisyy… I get it, so for now, just leave these documents…”
At this time, my interest in Meltis Online had completely sparked. Frustratingly, it means that employee’s presentation was effective. Thinking I’d try playing it with A-chan, I looked up how to play and——was astonished. Play access rights, 6-month wait!! Is it that popular of a game!? While I was inwardly surprised, I also felt frustrated that our company didn’t own the company that created such a popular game. Then somehow, I wanted to play it no matter what.
At this rate, my adventure with A-chan will have to wait half a year. But if I use my authority, surely we can play as soon as tomorrow. However, a big problem… This required a VR Dive Machine. It’s quite a high-class item, so A-chan naturally doesn’t have one. Now, how should I give her a VR Dive Machine? I worried that if I just said “Here’s a present~” and gave her something worth at least several hundred thousand yen, she’d be put off. After agonizing over it, I asked the man in front of me for ideas.
“Hey, can I ask one thing before that? If you can give me a good idea, I’ll push through the talk from earlier.”
“Y-Yes!”
“Is there any way to gift a VR Dive Machine to a friend? It can’t be a present from me. She absolutely won’t accept it. I’ll use any means.”
“……Like, rigging a lottery, or making it so she won something in a sweepstakes…”
“That’s so clichéd… No, wait? Right… I see… that works. Alright, transfer approved!”
“Eh? Ah, thank you very much!!”
I remembered A-chan loved Goth-Loli and Lolita fashion. She bought magazines from GOTHIC & LOLITA, so I came up with the operation to make it look like she won a sweepstakes from that magazine. Fortunately, GOTHIC & LOLITA is under the Nanase Conglomerate umbrella. I had their designer make a limited edition item with a design A-chan would likely want, casually instigated her by saying, “Oh my, there is an application form for a sweepstakes this time~” to make her apply, and once A-chan accessed it, we identified her and——She won the First Prize Dive Machine—!! I thought it would be good to go with something like that.
Estimating it would take roughly two months, if I got used to the game first, I could play with A-chan who started later without making her feel inconvenienced… Perfect, perfect. It was the moment I was convinced this was the only way! Since then, dreaming of playing the game with A-chan every day, working hours became so much fun! If it is difficult to regain the lost past, I just have to build a fun future from now on. For the driving force of my life, I do my best every day. Amane Rindo, aka A-chan, is the entire reason for living for me, Mayumi Nanase!
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