But then something must have struck her, as the motion of her head suddenly stopped.
Then she turned her whole body toward Komachi and swished the hair off her shoulders with the back of her hand.
Uh, your hair isn’t long enough to swish off with your hand… Hey, wait. Is this déjà vu? I was thinking when Isshiki swished her hair a second time, then a third, and put that same hand to her temple. Then she breathed an exasperated sigh with a light shake of her head.
“My, that’s not at all the case, is it? Komachi, if you must imitate me, I would prefer it if you could also imitate my manner of making tea.” Isshiki’s lips were wide in a smile that communicated absolute smugness.
Komachi and I both instantly snerked. Trying to hold back my laughter made a really weird sound.
Komachi failed in the end. “Wee-hee-hee!” But then after some time giggling, she wiped the corners of her eyes and offered her compliments to Isshiki. “That was good, Iroha! That’s so her; it really is!”
Isshiki proudly puffed out her chest. “Heh, right? The key point for Yukino really is the smugness.”
“Don’t call it smugness…” She doesn’t mean it like that.
…I think, but I dunno. That girl sometimes gives you the sense that she’s reeeally enjoying letting you have it. Not that I hate it, really. I’d even say I find it pleasant, so I would like to continue humbly receiving her smugging in the future as well. I’m sure that smugness is part of why these two love her, too…
Meanwhile, said pair were both swishing their hair, jerking their chins away, and smiling smugly for their imitations. Oh, now they’re really enjoying themselves.
Eventually, the impression contest seemed to end with Isshiki’s victory. Komachi applauded her and gave her a big nod as if to say, Some fine work there. “Y’know, impressions really are more on point when they’re malicious. Komachi would expect no less.”
“I’m not being malicious!” Isshiki argued fiercely, smacking the desk.
Komachi stared back at her, cocking her head. “Really?” She was looking at Isshiki with innocence too pure to be genuine. Unconcealable delight flickered deep in her eyes.
“Really! Honestly, what do you take me for…?” Isshiki groaned and narrowed her eyes at Komachi.
But Komachi didn’t seem to care in the least, putting one hand to her cheek as she twisted around coquettishly. “Huhhh?” she drawled in a sickly sweet tone. “But, Irohaaaa, aren’t you aaaalways like that? Personally, I think maaaaybe it could fit you.”
“That right there, that’s a malicious impression. Hey, look, this girl’s sense of ethics is totally broken.” Isshiki turned to me to protest. And yet a single glimpse of that impression, which was supposedly nothing like her, was enough for her to recognize herself in it. She disregarded it as if to say, Feh.
But it seemed that was a satisfying reaction, in Komachi terms, as Komachi was happily tittering eh-heh-heh. Oh, maybe she’s glad Isshiki got her impression? Aw no, what the heck, how precious is that… Now this exchange feels kinda heartwarming…
“Yeah, yeah, the malicious ones really are on the money!” she cheered.
…Or so I thought, but no, she was full of evil intent!
Komachi sighed in satisfaction, like, I got her there!
“I’m telling you, it’s nothing like me…” Isshiki sighed in mixed exasperation and resignation. Then she glanced over at me. “It’s not, right?” she asked.
“Nope,” I answered with confidence. “Not enough cunning. Needs more cunning,” I declared emphatically.
“That defense is not encouraging…” Isshiki’s shoulders drooped in dejection.
Hey, but I was trying to sound really convincing, though…
“And hey, I’m not cunning or manipulative or whatever,” Isshiki said, pouting as she jerked her face away.
“Uh, you’re doing it right now… Wow, unbelievable… Is she doing it unconsciously…?” said Komachi. Her voice was filled with astonishment—even shock.
But I’m forced to say that view is a little shallow.
Clearing my throat with a little hnn, I laid my elbows on the desk in the Gendo pose and spoke in a low voice. “You’ve got it wrong, Komachi.”
Perhaps because my tone was so serious, Komachi and Isshiki both looked at me with a start. Their gazes were both somehow tense and anticipating. With their attention on me, I continued with incredibly weighty, grave importance. “Isshiki is fully aware she’s being manipulative. But that isn’t all she is. While she builds on a foundation of cunning, that’s not the highlight, and there’s a certain kind of defiance to it. She’s like, I know I’m being manipulative, but this is me, okay…” I stopped there, and after a full pause for effect, I finished the monologue. “…It’s what you would call a cunning that isn’t fawning,” I said with a smiling sigh, and a moment of silence fell.
Then Komachi said, sounding totally weirded out, “Whoaaa, he makes a whole speech about it… But it’s not like he’s way off base, so we’ll say it’s fine.” Apparently satisfied, she gave a couple of big nods.
“Right? That’s what’s nice about Isshiki,” I said.
“I get it, I get it. She goes all out being cutesy, which is cool.”
“Exactly.”
Unexpectedly, Komachi and I wound up holding a “Competitive Presentation on What We Like About Iroha Isshiki.”
There’s so many other things, you know! Nice things about Irohasu!
All right, then I wonder what card I should draw next! Her looks go without saying, and mentioning that to her face would be super-embarrassing, too. If I was going to lavish her with praise to make fun of her, I wanted to go more for her inner attributes and spirit. So I guess it’s gotta be that; her unique way of getting close to you is nice. She’ll completely ignore those she’s disinterested in but then come talk to you once she gets used to you, bringing a joy like encountering a wild animal.
I was about to lecture about such matters at length, but I was cut off by a tug on my sleeve.
I looked over to see Isshiki, face downturned and trembling. “U-um… Please stop… That is really embarrassing and I actually totally noway… And, like, it’s not even true…,” she muttered rapidly, cheeks bright red. Then she fanned her face with a palm and sighed. Since her eyes were on the floor the whole time, I got a good view of her pink ears peeking out from her pale hair.
Seeing her get genuinely shy about direct compliments is so precious…, I thought, and I couldn’t help but observe it closely.
It seemed Komachi was the same way. She must have been trying to get a good look at Isshiki’s response, as she was leaning all the way forward to peer at her face.
Isshiki jerked even further away.
“Tee-hee-hee,” Komachi tittered. “No, no, it is true. You’re a wonderful person. No matter how others react, you stick to your own style… It’s not easy to pull something like that. I actually respect it, in a sense. Wow, you really are cool…” Eyes closed, Komachi mocked her with excessive praise and apparent admiration.
“StopitstopitcutitoutOkome—” Isshiki desperately tried to stop her, but even when she grabbed Komachi’s shoulders and shook her back and forth, Komachi showed no signs of relenting.
“You don’t care what people say, even if they hate you! You’re unfazed! You shrug off whatever anyone tells you! It’s cool!” Komachi gushed with glee.
“Uhhh…” Isshiki was horrified and bewildered in equal measure. “I’m not unfazed, though, and I don’t shrug it off.”
But Komachi completely ignored her, thrusting a fist out as she sang further praises out loud. “The strength to not cave to peer pressure! Ignoring rumors and backbiting! Iroha is so great! Mesmerizing, inspiring!”
“Whoa, no, I get hurt like anyone else when people hate me! Rumors and backbiting and stuff like that really get me down.” Isshiki was waving her hands hard in front of her chest as she denied absolutely every compliment.
But Komachi, dreamy and entranced, touched a hand to her chest and closed her eyes so she couldn’t see as she continued, “Komachi has always thought that you’re so cool all the time—being yourself, no matter what other people think…”
“Hold on? Stop characterizing me like that? And don’t lead everyone to think it’s, like, okay to hate me?”
“That’s what Komachi respects about you.”
“Okome, listen to me! I want people to like me. I want to be loved, okay? What is this? Do you hate me?” Isshiki asked sourly.
Komachi cocked her head. But then with utter nonchalance, she answered immediately, “In a sense, I actually fairly seriously kinda like that sort of thing about you.”
She said it so blithely and so equivocally, Isshiki blinked two, three times. But eventually, it seemed she figured out what that meant.
Isshiki snapped her jaw shut and pressed her lips together, and then she started constantly fixing her bangs. “U-uh-huh…,” she mumbled under her breath. “I see…”
Seeing her reaction, Komachi smiled brightly.
And then there was me, watching the two of them like Huh… with an unaffected, dapper, and kind of awkward smile.
But in my heart, I was sobbing from how precious it was. Ohhh my, all aboard the SS KomaIro! Awww, Iroha-chan is normally such a teasing master, but now she’s been bested by Komachi, another teasing master.
Well, this was mostly just Komachi getting carried away teasing, but I don’t think it was all entirely a joke. And she wasn’t necessarily wrong, either. It’s true that the way Isshiki sticks to being herself, however other people react, is cool.
On the other hand, as Isshiki herself said, hearing people saying things had to get her down. But I think what makes Isshiki cool is that even if she mopes, loses heart, and feels uncertain, in the end, she’ll put on her cutest, most charming smile.
Oh no, at this rate, we’ll wind up holding the second “Competitive Presentation on What We Like About Iroha Isshiki.” I’ll win this one for sure…
As I was all fired up and ready for a rematch, Isshiki cleared her throat as if attempting to cover her shyness as she pushed her paper cup forward. “…More, please,” she muttered quietly. The paper cup was already empty.
Considering all she’d said about it being common or humbly domestic or whatever, she had in fact drunk all the tea Komachi had made.
Komachi smiled gladly. “Sure!”
And then, teapot in hand, she gleefully and diligently poured another, and Isshiki expressed her gratitude with a quiet “Thanks.”
Watching this interaction, I was already starting to consider putting together an organizational committee for the third “Competitive Presentation on What We Like About Iroha Isshiki.”