Kaito stepped into Mai's bathroom. It was bigger than his kitchen. There was a soaking tub and a separate, glass-enclosed shower. Everything was white marble and brushed steel. He felt out of place in his wrinkled hoodie.
"RIDICULOUS!" Fia's voice echoed in the luxurious bathroom. "He changed the subject! He was so close to the root of the problem! That picture frame was basically a glowing quest item, and you ignored it to... to... put away shampoo!"
"Shut up, Fia," Kaito muttered, placing the expensive bottle on the marble counter. "I'm being a helpful assistant."
"You're being a coward!" she retorted. "Confronting trauma is effort! And you hate effort! You'd rather have her stuck to you forever than have one five-minute hard conversation!"
Kaito froze. Her logic was infuriating. And correct.
If he didn't solve her problem, she'd remain in his "perception radius." She'd stay in his apartment. Sleeping in his bed. Occupying his beanbag chair. Interrupting his peace.
If he solved the problem, she'd go back to normal. She'd stop being invisible. She wouldn't need him anymore. She would leave.
He would get his peace back.
The conclusion was instant and clear. Solving her trauma was, in the long run, the true path of least effort.
"How... troublesome," Kaito sighed. He walked out of the bathroom.
He returned to the kitchen. Mai was still there, exactly where he'd left her, her back turned to him, tense. She was wiping down the counter with a cloth, though it was already spotless. She was clearly avoiding the conversation he'd cut short.
Kaito didn't head for the door. Instead, he went to the opposite counter and leaned against it, crossing his arms.
"So," he said, his flat voice cutting through the silence. "Your mother."
Mai stiffened. She stopped wiping. "I told you, she's my manager."
"And your mother," Kaito insisted. "She's the reason you decided to disappear, isn't she?"
He decided to get straight to the point. No fluff, no emotion. Just logical facts. It was the only way he knew how.
Mai turned slowly, her violet eyes filled with a cold anger. "I warned you at the station. You don't know anything about me." She threw the cloth into the sink. "How dare you? How do you know about her? You're a stalker."
"I'm not a stalker," Kaito said, his voice flat. "I don't need to be. The pattern is obvious. Child star. Controlling stage mom. You were her face, her career, your entire life. You finally got tired of being her doll and decided to take a break."
He shrugged. "The problem is, you don't know how to be anything else. You announced your hiatus, but your mom wouldn't let go. She kept pushing. So your overwhelmed teenage brain decided the only way to really stop, to really be 'normal' and go to school, was to force the world to stop looking at you. And the world obeyed."
Mai stared at him, pale. He had basically described her entire life in thirty seconds.
"You..." she started, her voice trembling. "You think it's easy?"
"I didn't say it was easy," Kaito replied. "I said it was an obvious pattern. And it's a stupid solution. Because now you're stuck. You're not an actress and you're not a student. You're a ghost who eats my scrambled eggs."
"Kaito!" Fia screamed in his head. "This isn't a 'soft confrontation'! This is a 'brutal interrogation'!"
[Affinity (Mai Sakurajima): -5 (Annoyed)]
"So what do you suggest, 'IT Guy'?" Mai spat, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "What's your low-effort solution for my life?"
Kaito met her gaze. "Stop being so 'all or nothing'."
She blinked. "What?"
"You think you have to choose," he explained. "Be 'Actress Mai Sakurajima' 24/7, or be 'Normal Student Mai' 24/7. You tried the second one and failed, because you're not normal. You're both."
He gestured at the luxurious apartment. "You want this. The career. The success. But you also want that," he gestured vaguely in the direction of her school. "Normalcy. Peace."
He sighed. "You don't have to drop out of school to resume your career. And you don't have to fade out of existence just to get a day off."
He pushed off the counter. "You just need... to set boundaries. To tell your mom 'no.' Tell her you'll work, but you'll also go to school. That you're going to have a life. It's troublesome. But it's less troublesome than turning invisible."
Silence filled the kitchen. Mai stared at him, her anger fading, replaced by stunned disbelief. No one had ever talked to her like that. So brutally. So... logically.
He was right. He was incredibly, irritatingly right.
[Affinity (Mai Sakurajima): +10 (Reluctant Respect)] [Affinity (Mai Sakurajima): +15 (Clarity)]
"You," she said, not turning to face him, "are the most irritating person I've ever met."
"And you're probably right," she said, her voice steady. "Running away is more troublesome. I'll go back. But on my terms. I'm going to finish school."
"Cool," Kaito said, yawning. "Good luck with that. Now, I'm really leaving..."
"Kamakura."
"What?" Kaito asked, wearily.
"Kamakura," she repeated. "We're going to Kamakura. Tomorrow."
Kaito looked at her, confused. "Why? I don't get a bonus for socializing."
"It's not socializing, it's... a thank-you," she said quickly, a faint blush rising on her cheeks. "When I go back to work, I won't have time to just... wander around. I want to do something normal before that."
She crossed her arms. "And no, it's not a date. It's a... mandatory assistant outing."
Kaito sighed. More effort. "I have more important things to do. Like, sleep."
"Fujisawa Station, Enoden line. In front of the ticket booth. Tomorrow, 2:30 PM," she said, completely ignoring him. "And don't be late. If you're one minute late, I'm leaving."
"I didn't even agree to go!"
"2:30 PM. Don't be late, Assistant."
She turned and walked back toward the kitchen, the discussion clearly over.
Kaito stood in the genkan for a long second.
"What a troublesome woman," he muttered.
He slipped on his shoes and left the luxury apartment, feeling like he'd just been roped into something far more irritating than just carrying groceries.
[MAIN QUEST UPDATED: The Kamakura Date That Isn't a Date] [Objective: Meet Mai Sakurajima at 2:30 PM.] [Mai Sakurajima Status: Anchored (Stable)] [Current Affinity: +30 (Wary Ally)]
"A DATE! A DATE! A DATE!" Fia was doing a victory dance in his head.
Kaito just pressed the elevator button, wishing he could put his own goddess on mute.
________________________________________
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