Renée interrupted. “Did you know she’s dating four girls at the same time?”
That gave Satsuki pause. She blinked a few times. Four?
“Which four, might I ask?”
“I understand why you don’t want to admit it to me,” Renée said. She gave Satsuki an almost pitying look, one that Satsuki had never seen before in her life.
Renée riffled through the documents. There were pictures of Satsuki and Kaho too—one of Satsuki backing Renako up against a wall in an empty classroom, and one of Renako and Kaho huddled together and peering into the school gym.
“I beg your pardon,” Satsuki said.
“I’d planned to turn a blind eye to anything if it was for Mai’s own good. But this goes too far. I mean, four people? And all girls to boot. Do they allow that sort of thing in Japanese high schools?”
Renée didn’t sound mad, simply suspicious. This flummoxed Satsuki. How could she possibly respond?
“I don’t believe they do, no…” she said.
“Then how come this Amaori girl is carrying on without a care in the world instead of being locked up? I should have taken Mai to France after all, whether she wanted to go or not.”
Renée looked downcast, making her appear—naturally—the very picture of Mai. However, at rare moments, Satsuki caught glimpses of weakness in her demeanor that Mai did not employ. Perhaps Renée truly wanted to help her daughter.
The other girl put her hand to her chest and sighed. “I just couldn’t believe it either! She looks like the kind of girl who’d back down if you tried anything on her. But I bet she could even be five-timing your daughter, ma’am!”
“Wait a minute.” It hit Satsuki—she’d seen this girl somewhere before. “Say, aren’t you one of the…followers of the Class B group?”
“Oh, me? I’m not that close with Himiko-chan.”
“But aren’t you one of the members of that friend group with the ridiculous name?”
The girl laughed. “Yeah, I guess it is pretty stupid that they call themselves the 5déesses to take on the Quintet, even though there’s only four of them. Well, not much you can do about it, huh?”
Then, setting that aside, she continued, “So this girl is dating Oduka Mai, going out with Sena Ajisai, and having a relationship with Koto Satsuki on top of all that, and fooling around with Koyanagi Kaho and calling her ‘wifey’ on top of all that. So the president says we can’t let her go on unchecked.” The girl—Terusawa Youko—lifted a finger and nodded.
Satsuki looked back at Renée. “Pardon me, Obasama,” she said. “I don’t believe Amaori is carrying on relations with four people. At the very least, she and I are not…”
As she began, she suddenly broke off into contemplation. This situation, she thought, might well and truly be a terrible predicament for Renako—one that, if handled poorly, could end up with her dropped in the Bay. But there was hardly a difference between four-timing versus two-timing, so perhaps that didn’t matter. Still, what about Satsuki? Perhaps…?
“I want to find out,” she had said, and her own voice hit her hard. How much was she prepared to do in order to find out? Her voice questioned her own resolve. Well, the answer to that was…
Satsuki lifted her head. “Obasama,” she said with a thin smile. “You know, I think you’re right. You cannot let this go on unchecked. However, Amaori Renako still has a strong influence over Mai. If you were to simply try and persuade your daughter, I fear it would backfire and have the opposite effect.”
“Yes, it is shameful for a mother to butt into her daughter’s love affairs,” Renée said. “And above all else, Mai is still young. But she gives me no choice.”
She looked down at her watch and then, as if the unhappy reality had slapped her in the face, she said, “Ah, it’s a quarter past. At any rate, now is an important time for her. We need Mai’s ability for Queen Rose to be recognized the world over, both in terms of what we attain and what is our due.”
Renée rose.
“Yes, Obasama.” Satsuki clenched her hands into tight fists, out of Renée’s sight. She took a moment to set aside her feelings so they wouldn’t appear on her face, and then placed a hand on her chest.
“Therefore,” she said, “I ask that you please leave the matter of Amaori Renako to me.”
One couldn’t stay silent when suffering the disgrace of a girl four-timing her daughter. With such just cause, Renée looked at Satsuki with blue eyes so like her daughter’s. “You?”
“Yes.” Satsuki nodded. She knew Renée wouldn’t suspect anything of her. Renée was socially awkward, yes, but she wasn’t a bad person. In fact, she was just like her daughter in that regard.
However, Youko clapped her hands. “Ooh!” she said. “In that case, we should have a competition!”
“Of what sort?” Satsuki asked.
“See, I was just about to take on the Amaori thing for work too. You’re concerned for your daughter, aren’t you, ma’am? So this is perfect. One of the services we detectives offer is breaking off relationships, and that means…” Youko spread her arms out wide like a business woman proposing a project, “we’ll compete to see who can make Amaori Renako and Oduka Mai break up. Whoever manages it gets my completion bonus. How does that sound?”
Satsuki said nothing. She looked back at Youko. Why had she suggested a competition? What on earth was going on inside Youko’s head? However, if Satsuki really did just want the money, she should, by rights, go along with it. And if that was really her only motive…
Slowly and deliberately, Satsuki declared, “Do whatever pleases you. I have my own objectives.”
Youko stared at Satsuki for several moments and then giggled as cheerfully as the main character of a shoujo manga. “Gotcha,” she said. “Hey, let’s compare notes when we see each other around. I bet high school’s gonna get a lot more fun now, huh?”
“Yes, it will.” Koto Satsuki gave her a witchy grin, which made Youko smile all the more cheerfully.
As Renée stood before the two girls and their contrasting grins, she murmured, “On n’a qu’une vie. We have but one life in which to live. I don’t want you to look back on this, Mai, and regret what you’ve done.”
She stared at the photograph of the girls with foreboding in her eyes.