...Half an hour ago...
"W-wait a minute, Soyo!"
Faced with the girl who was about to press herself against him, Chihaya Tetsuya hurriedly put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.
"I already know how you feel, but besides physical... are there any other ways I can satisfy you?"
"..."
Soyo thought about it seriously for a good while, then shook her head with great regret.
"At least for me, there aren't. After all, I've been very happy ever since I met you. Aside from being a tiny bit envious of Hoshino Ai and Anon's mischief, I have no other needs."
"Eh..."
Just like that night... Soyo had no intention of accepting any other form of "reward" either.
But it made sense. Given Soyo's family's financial situation, if there was anything she wanted, she would have bought it with her own money long ago. There was no need for him to step in.
As for making promises like "I'll spend more time with you from now on" or "I'll go on a date with you next weekend," those were completely useless for Soyo. After all, even without such promises, she'd be with him for work anyway... just like today.
In other words, faced with Soyo's threat, he had no other alternative ways to satisfy her.
"Give it up, Tetsuya."
Soyo said to the wavering man before her.
"As I said before, to maintain the balance between us, you have to treat us equally. You wouldn't want me to get into a fight with Anon over a 'small matter' like this, would you?"
"Wait, that's a pretty sly way to put it!"
Tetsuya was stunned by this undisguised threat.
"Would you really fight with Anon over something like this?"
"Who knows?"
Soyo gave a very ambiguous and vague response.
"Perhaps I can endure it for a while, but whenever I remember that somewhere I don't know, the person I like is being intimate with someone else, I'm sure I'll feel very sad... And on the day my endurance reaches its limit, I might really come to resent the person who made me feel this way."
"Besides, that person has already made a mistake and been intimate with two girls, yet he won't agree to let me join in... It's only natural that I would feel it's unfair, right?"
Soyo looked into Tetsuya's slightly evasive eyes.
"You're right, Tetsuya, I am threatening you. And what I just said are indeed only possibilities that haven't happened yet. So, what are you going to do? Will you harden your heart and refuse me, or will you accept my condition and maintain the 'peace' between us with your actions?"
"..."
Tetsuya was immediately caught in a dilemma.
He knew very well that what Soyo had just said was merely a ploy to threaten him, words meant to make him unable to refuse her. But even so, he couldn't bring himself to call her bluff on this baseless hypothetical.
Nagasaki Soyo was an insecure girl. The reason she was able to move past the shadow of [CRYCHIC] and become so positive, aside from the new band, was the complex connection between them.
The gratitude for him helping her resolve her inner conflicts, the affection for him as a member of the opposite sex, and the mutual trust born from their working relationship... All these feelings together became her driving force, making her who she was today.
Tetsuya greatly admired this Soyo and had grown accustomed to having her by his side every day. He couldn't bear to see her wear that disappointed and helpless expression he had seen at [RiNG] again, nor did he want to sever this hard-won relationship with her.
Rather than hurting others by rejecting them, Tetsuya preferred to find a way for everyone around him to be happy.
And so, even though the sense of immorality in his heart made him unable to raise his head, he gradually lessened the force of the hand pressed against Soyo's shoulder.
Meanwhile, feeling the resistance gradually decrease, beneath her calm exterior, Soyo's anxious heart finally settled back into place.
This idiot who always sought to make everyone happy was, as expected, unable to refuse her malicious threat.
"Don't worry, this isn't your fault, Tetsuya. Both that night and now... you're just the one passively accepting all of this."
Soyo said.
"And you haven't done anything wrong at all... If I had to say, it's precisely because you're always doing the right thing that we've all become so infatuated with you."
From the moment she first learned of Sakiko's plan, she had already prepared herself to be a sinner alongside everyone else. That was why she had to eliminate the guilt in Tetsuya's heart and make him accept his 'passive' role with peace of mind.
"So, Tetsuya... can you tell me in more detail what Anon and Hoshino Ai did with you that night?"
"N-nothing special..."
The shifting eyes, the hesitant reply, the strange tone—it all made this already flimsy excuse even more suspicious.
"We just... normally slept in the same bed, that's all."
Faced with this lie that was worse than a primary schooler's, Soyo couldn't help but shake her head in pity.
"You really are a terrible liar, Tetsuya. But that's fine. If you won't tell me, then I'll just go ahead and do what I have in mind."
She said, slowly approaching Tetsuya.
Realizing he couldn't bluff his way through this at all, Tetsuya hurriedly said:
"I'll talk, I'll talk, okay?! That night... we really didn't go all the way. I was just held by them under the covers!"
Tetsuya said in a fluster.
"So... if you want to pursue fairness, Soyo, we can just hug for a little bit and that'll be—"
"That won't do."
Soyo immediately cut off Tetsuya's attempt to bluff his way through.
"Since they did those things to you in bed, then I deserve the same treatment!"
With that, Soyo gently took the hand he had pressed against her shoulder and then pulled him into her embrace.
"Let's go to bed, Tetsuya."