WONDERLAND

seventeen. "masked truths."

"Forget about little old me?" A familiar voice says as Mahiru looks up, a smile ready at her lips.

But she sees the edge of steel and cold blade as Rindou sits down on her desk, something cold in her eyes— The familiar gold, Mahiru's gold. The one thing she'd never expected to see in Rindou. Rindou, cheerful Rindou— Who never let anything get the best of her. Who always faced everything with a smile. An unbreakable mask— Oh god. Rindou seems to be burning with a bright toxic flame and just as Mahiru opens her mouth—

"I've waited," Rindou says. "I've waited. And even when you came back, came back with them— I waited. I'm tired of being second best, Mahiru. I'm tired of constantly trying."

Mahiru takes a breath and thumbs the cold glass of the watch. "If I apologized," she says evenly. "Will it change anything?"

Rindou wavers, for a single second. "No," she tells her. "A sorry isn't going to change this. Mahiru, maybe you've never realized but the world doesn't revolve around you!"

"Rindou," she says calmly. "Will you listen to me talk?"

Rindou stands up, chair screeching back. "Cut the bullshit!" she says, heartbreak and rage in her voice. Mahiru remembers herself saying it. And this is different— But at the same time, it is the same. "I know what you did, Mahiru. I know what you're going to do."

"Please, Rindou—"

But without a second word Rindou stalks off and Mahiru's world feels like it's been torn off its axis. I know what you're going to do.

The shares— The Totsuki shares. She already has buyers lining up to buy them. Let them burn, she'd thought when Senzaemon first promised her them. Let them burn.

The ice is spreading through her veins— And too late, she thinks, the fire already being drowned, the lanterns already landing, setting on fire. Drowning as they burn. She grips the table, feeling the smooth surface beneath her palm and her own trembling, pronounced because the table isn't moved by her.

For a second, her eyes are drawn to the liquor cabinet—

No. Mahiru. You're better that.

She sits there for a second, heart pounding before she scrabbles for her phone.

"Hey Eishi," she says, something heavy and cold settling into her. "We should talk."

x

"All in favour?"

"Aye."

"Aye."

"Aye."

"Aye."

"Aye."

"Aye."

"Aye."

"We have a majority."

x

"Your father's going to be there," Eishi says.

Mahiru looks up from her phone, something misty in her eyes. "I know."

"And Yukihira-kun's going to be fine against Rindou," he continues as he does his tie. Mahiru smiles. It's nice to see him self-assured once in a while, but she waits for it either way and—

"Ma-hi-ru!" he exclaims. "Say something, because oh-my-god I'm so anxious that I'm going to die, maybe it would've been better if I did the Shokugeki with Rindou? I mean technically Yukihira made the Shokugeki but I'm sure Rindou still wanted that—"