Behind Shion's Graduation: The Banchou Gang Leadership Battle and the Taste of Salt - Just Three Badges and a Sleepless Night

Three badges lay lined up on the desk. Murasaki Shion leaned her weight against the back of her chair and gazed at them for a while. The only light in the room came from the desk lamp, and in the dimness the metal surfaces gave off a dull gleam. They were all the same shape—small badges carved in the form of a manji. (One more month, huh.) Thirty days left until the graduation live. The date had long since been written into her phone's calendar. April 26th. At the Mistrea Dome on Culture Street in Mistrea City. In a hall that held three thousand people, Shion would stand on her final stage. Just thinking about it made something deep in her chest grow quietly heavy. "...Shion's an adult, so she's fine." She said it out loud in the empty room. It was a phrase she'd repeated countless times on stream. On the day she announced her graduation, and on the stream after that, whenever the comment section filled with sorrow and support, Shion had laughed and said exactly that. But now— She picked up one of the badges from the desk. When she traced it with her fingertip, the engraved manji mark caught slightly. When had she made these, again? She couldn't remember. But she did remember making them. Picturing Aqua's and Ayame's faces, grinning to herself the whole time. (Think those two'll be surprised?) They'd be surprised, all right. And then they'd be angry—"You made the proof of the leader's seat without permission?" Especially Aqua, who kept insisting that she was the leader. Shion let out a small laugh. But the laugh faded almost immediately. (What happens to the Manji-gumi after I graduate?) A leadership feud three years running. Aqua called herself the leader, and neither Shion nor Ayame acknowledged it. Shion believed that she, and only she, was worthy of being the true leader—and Ayame probably had no intention of becoming leader herself, but was enjoying the fight for what it was. If she graduated like this, the leader's seat would never be decided. Was that really okay? No. It wasn't. Shion gripped the badge. The cold of the metal bit into her palm. (I wanted to settle it.) The honest thought rose up from the bottom of her chest. A truth she couldn't say on stream. "I'm fine even if I graduate" was a bald-faced lie. Of course she wasn't fine. They'd been doing this together for three whole years. The three of them in the Manji-gumi, goofing off about everything. Something warm moved at her feet. She looked down. Cerberus, a medium-sized dog, was pressing his nose against her leg. A friendly house dog with a black coat. His name was imposing, but inside he was just a spoiled sweetheart. Wagging his tail slowly, he gazed up at Shion with yellow eyes. "What is it, Cerberus?" Cerberus didn't answer. He just rested his chin on Shion's knee and snorted softly. Shion ruffled the dog's head with one hand. The smooth fur slipped between her fingers. Warm. The feel of something alive was strangely comforting. "...You've got it easy. Nothing going on in that head of yours." Cerberus wagged his tail faster. Shion looked at the badges on the desk once more. Three of them. Aqua's, Ayame's, and Shion's. Even after graduation, the Manji-gumi would go on. Even with Shion gone, the leader's seat would stay open. That much, she'd decided. But how to tell those two— She still didn't know. --- The stream ended a little past eleven at night. Shion switched off her streaming equipment and let out a long breath. Today's chat stream had been dominated by graduation talk. From start to finish, the comments had overflowed with people lamenting her graduation and people looking forward to the final live. "Thanks again today, everyone. Shion's an adult, so she's fine even after graduation. Otsuruuun." She aimed a smile at the other side of the screen and ended the stream. In that instant, the room went quiet. The comment text that had been scrolling, the notification sounds—all of it vanished. What remained was the light of the desk lamp, the whir of the computer's cooling fans, and her own breathing. Shion sank deep into the back of her chair and looked up at the ceiling. ("Fine," huh.) The words she'd spoken echoed in her head. She reached for the three badges at the edge of the desk. She grabbed the one closest and squeezed it tight. The corner of the metal dug into her palm, stinging a little. "...Of course I'm not fine." Her voice was trembling. It was so small and frail that it surprised even her. (The Shion on stream is the adult Shion. But the Shion right now is—) The Shion right now was turning back into a child, more and more, the closer graduation came. At night, she got lonely. She wished she'd spent more time with Aqua and Ayame. She wished she'd taken the battle to decide the leader's seat more seriously. "...You biiig idiot." Was she saying it to herself, or to those two? Either was fine. Cerberus came to her feet again and licked her leg. It tickled, and she pulled her foot back without thinking. "Stop that, it tickles." Cerberus didn't stop. If anything, he licked more insistently. Shion gave in, grabbed his collar, and hauled him up onto her lap. Heavy. But warm. "...Do you even know what graduation means?" Cerberus tilted his head. "Right. Of course you don't." Shion wrapped her arms around Cerberus and closed her eyes against his warmth. (Shion has to get stronger.) She was an adult, after all. She was the one who'd decided to graduate, after all. --- Her phone buzzed not long after that. She looked at the screen. A message from Nakiri Ayame. Shion set Cerberus down on the floor and picked up her phone. "Shion, are you awake?" "I'm awake. What is it?" "Before you graduate, I was thinking we should have one last head-to-head match." Shion's fingers stopped. (One last head-to-head match.) Just those words set something stirring deep in her chest. "The game is Othello. Your specialty." Her mouth curved on its own. "You think you can beat Shion? Biiig idiot." Even as she typed the reply, she laughed out loud. Trying to beat Shion at Othello—a hundred years too early. Shion was confident she'd never lose to anyone at Othello. She'd beaten Aqua and Ayame both, over and over. "Fufu, we'll see. I've already talked to Aqua about it." "So Aqua's up for it too?" "Yeah. Let's settle the leader's seat properly." Shion gripped her phone with both hands. The leader's seat. A feud that hadn't been settled in three years. Before she graduated, they'd settle it once and for all. (All right, then. Bring it on.) "I'll take you on. When?" "Next Saturday. The rental space Sanjou in the Akatsuki shopping district. Ten in the morning." Ten in the morning. The moment she saw that time, Shion's smile stiffened slightly. (Ten in the morning...) Shion had a well-known habit of oversleeping. She knew it herself. She'd been nearly two hours late more times than she could count. "Isn't ten in the morning kind of early?" "It's fine. If you get serious, you can wake up, right?" "...Well, yeah." "Then it's settled. I'm looking forward to it." "Got it. Shion's going to be the leader, so you'd better prepare yourself." "Fufu. We'll see about that." When the exchange ended, Shion set her phone on the desk. (Ten in the morning, huh.) Honestly, she wasn't confident. But like Ayame said, if she got serious, she should be able to wake up. Shion was an adult, after all. She told herself that and smiled. But Ayame's aim was a little different from what Shion imagined. --- That same night, somewhere else in Mistrea City. Minato Aqua lay on her bed, phone pressed to her ear, staring up at the ceiling. "...Ayame, are you serious about this?" "I'm serious. We'll use Shion's oversleeping habit." On the other end of the line, Nakiri Ayame's voice rang out quietly. She was usually so gentle, yet at times like this she was unnervingly calm. Aqua had never quite known what to do with that gap. "But if Shion gets serious, she'll wake up on her own. That girl comes through when it counts." "True. So we just have to make sure she doesn't wake up." Aqua sat up. "Make sure she doesn't wake up—" "The night before the match, I'll sneak into Shion's house. And turn off all her alarm clocks." "Huh?" "Then I'll ask Shion's mother. 'Please don't wake Shion tomorrow morning.'" Aqua was speechless. No—she knew Ayame was a schemer. She knew that. But this— "...Isn't that a little underhanded?" "Oh my. This is a contest for the leader's seat, you know? We can't beat Shion otherwise." Ayame's voice was as serene as ever. "But Shion's going to be furious. She'll definitely be furious." "She will. And that's fine. If Shion gets truly angry, she'll give us a real match." Aqua bit her lip. (A real match.) If Shion got serious, Aqua didn't think she could win at Othello. Ayame had to feel the same. And yet Ayame had proposed this contest. "...Ayame, what are you really thinking?" "What do you mean? I just want to settle the leader's seat." "Liar. You don't actually care about the leader's seat, do you." On the other end of the line, Ayame laughed softly. "...You can tell, huh, Aqua." "After three years together, of course I can." "I feel like Shion's hiding something about her graduation. The real reason." Aqua's heart gave a jump. "...Hiding something? What?" "I don't know. But even when you ask her why she's graduating, she just laughs it off. That's the kind of girl she is." That was something Aqua had felt too. Shion hadn't explained the reason for her graduation in detail on stream. She'd just laughed and said "adult circumstances." Aqua had asked her directly, and gotten the same laugh-it-off treatment. "...So you're going to draw out her real feelings through a match?" "Something like that. And besides, if we beat her at her own specialty, Othello, maybe she'll open up a little." "Ayame, you really are a schemer." "Fufu. I get that a lot." Aqua let out a deep breath and flopped back onto the bed. The ceiling swam vaguely above her. (Shion's graduating.) The fact pressed down on her chest now, as if for the first time. "...It's lonely, isn't it." "Yes. That's why I want to have a proper match, one last time." "Okay. I'm in. Let's do your plan." "Thank you, Aqua." The call ended. Aqua laid her phone on her chest and closed her eyes. (Shion, what happens to the Manji-gumi once you're gone?) The leader's seat—she didn't really care about it. But while they were fighting over it, it felt like the three of them were still connected. If that went away, it felt like even her bond with Shion might vanish. That was what scared Aqua. --- Late at night. Shion got into bed, but she couldn't sleep at all. Even with her eyes closed, Ayame's message spun around and around in her head. The Othello match. The leader's seat. The time left until graduation. (That Aqua's been acting weird lately, too.) Staring up at the dark ceiling, that was what she thought. Ever since she'd heard about Shion's graduation announcement, Aqua had been somehow distant. Even on stream, she sometimes missed comments. The usually energetic Aqua. (Is she worried about me?) If so, that made her happy. But the thought of being handled with care stung her chest, just a little. Shion turned over. From the next room came the sound of Cerberus breathing in his sleep. A steady, tiny sound. Normally she never noticed it, but tonight it clung to her ears. (Even after Shion graduates, the Manji-gumi is forever.) She told the two of them so, in her heart. The leader's seat would stay open even once Shion was gone. That was Shion's own way of making a promise. But she still hadn't told those two. When the day of the match came, she'd say it. Once Shion won and claimed the leader's seat, then she'd say it. "The leader of the Manji-gumi is Shion. But even after Shion graduates, this group isn't over." If she sai

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Name: Behind Shion's Graduation: The Banchou Gang Leadership Battle and the Taste of Salt
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