It's not often the sex life of these women is fingered, but allow this phrase to penetrate the deepest recess of your brain, and dominate all that comes after:
*Matoi Kujo was a virgin.*
*Somewhat by choice.*
And a few Catholics will disagree with that assessment, given Matoi once nearly hit over the fences with a girl in highschool, before the latter's mother had called them back inside from the porch. Compounding this was Matoi's unearthly inability to understand any flirtation she did not initiate. Many a female fan of her's has thought themselves rejected without her having when been aware of it. Were a friend ever to question her seeming incelibacy, Matoi would give over a 3-second glance as she calculated the last time she had any, realize it was years ago, then reply "hm." and let it drop from her mind again.
Regardless of such apathy, and how outwardly alien such behavior is, it is at least respectable, given a world in which so many droll through life and do not know why they do what they do, but merely follow whatever is expected of them because it is expected of them. Matoi knew that it was superior to answer to one's self, and needed to make herself as a superior within her own species. However insignificant a Urasaria presidency is to the universe, it acted as a center in Matoi's, and you already have seen with Mia & the cop how these urges and memories flower upon themselves just as they do in narrative.
She had achieved it. But, with it she had closed herself off to dating another student due to the unethics of it. To do so would betray her speech against nepotism and how Aimee had treated, and however much her principles caused some students to despise her (who constantly were coming to her office, bickering & kissing ass for the better-paying contracts, upset she made no exception), such consistency was her's to erect, upon which she could stand and judge out others, no matter the cost of their glares. Such a principled stance was unlike her father, a minor yakuza who constantly had his own species of social climbers clinging, gnashing at each other below his gaze. He loved this fact, and had mostly gotten away with it until he had seen young Matoi's eyes, and knew that she knew he was a murderer, even while outwardly she never admitted such. Something behind these eyes would eventually surpass him, and perhaps this was why he was revulsed by her.
Now, a short digression before returning to the Japanese investigation. Presenting these events in strictly chronological order can only do so much, and there often is too little space to explore them fully. A few chapters previously, there was this line: "Cowardice, reviled as it may be, keeps stitched many of society's ill-fastened relations."
Why bring it up now? Because there is a Urasaria policy that has not yet been discussed. Students reach 2-star at #50, 3-star at #25, with corresponding salary increases at each rank. There is a 1-week safety period for students who achieve a new rank, after which they may move down in ranking again: if they fall out of their rank, their salary decreases until they re-achieve it.
This is a deeply stupid policy.
Most of the women written of here had no issue keeping their ranks, yes, but there is much competition around the breakthrough points for each new star, and little honor there is surrounding it. What a student cannot achieve by their own talent, some supplement by cheating or flattery, asking for favors; the arrangement leaves students to befriend publicly yet compete bitterly in private, and is convenient for the staff who suggested the policy, absorbing lessons from corporate America in offering union members bribery until they regard their fellows as competition.
Some favors are very benign, of course: such was the one Rin asked of Daishi, to ask Matoi to patrol with her for the day. This was not the first time she had asked this of Daishi, for Rin's bug was one of persistence and striving to keep achieving whatever it was she wanted. Partially she was seen as pushy, a term sexist men often give to ambitious women (particularly in Japan), though there was a ring of truth to it here.
As example, Rin was 13 years old when she had decided she needed to come out to her parents as a lesbian, after Sekisetsu had activated. One wonders why this would be necessary, but there are many parts of the world (some in the US) where the link between Revenants & homosexuality is seen as unproven propaganda. Japan is generally more accepting than many Asian countries, but gay marriage remains unconstitutional, and several politicians have made idiotic statements in recent years on the uselessness of homosexuality biologically, and discrimination remains legal.
So to return to Rin, she thought meticulously over how she would approach this and how she needed to present herself, only for her to finally come out to her parents, and for on her father's face there to be... nothing. He had no smile nor anger, but merely nodded and told her he had expected it. Rin almost resented this answer more than disdain or acceptance, for neither would have stuck to her as stiffly, and it precipitated the next 5 years in which she was set adrift from her father, unable to figure out whether he despised her lesbianism, supported it, or merely expected it. She would bring over girlfriends and tell him who she was dating if asked, yet he did not even perform the cursory vetting parents usually do with their childrens' partners; he took no interest in it so long as she maintained her training.
Perhaps there was something there, in the way a nothing can be something, but she felt unable to dissect it. Her mother excused it by that her father was reserved due to the death of a childhood friend of his to a Revenant years ago, which he had never gotten over, but neither readily talked with her on any more personal subject. They acted essentially as ornaments to the apartment in which they lived, and their indifference set Rin with no mold against or with which to cast her own essence. She sought to recover pieces of others, compress them back in to her own being, and this trait was often mistaken as her being clingy.
She was professional at Ueno, of course, but here with Matoi she enjoyed accidentally bumping into her and apologizing, just so she could feel Matoi against her a little. (To ease your reading, all conversation in this chapter was in Japanese. The traditional convention for denoting such will return when the English-speakers do.)
"…are you alright?"
That Matoi thought she was just clumsy was lost on Rin, but so it goes. Rin nodded as she readjusted her balance, down an urban street. "M-Mmhm. So, you were saying about America's legal immunity?"
"Yes. I was mentioning how I also receive complaints from civilians who claim various students stole from them or the likes." Matoi shrugged. "I usually ignore them, aside from the accusations of violence or harassment."
"But don't you have to report it to someone in the government, at least?"
"No. I don't tell them how to govern and they don't tell me how to handle students. It's very few complaints, regardless -- American civilians know there's no point in it. Most of my duties are in assigning contracts or investigations out to students, assessing them by difficulty, dealing with disputes between individual students and the likes."
"But it must get difficult with, um, 100 students?"
"100 students, yes. But most students are afraid enough of me that they don't allow it to get to the point where I need to be involved. There's… a few troublesome students, but regardless, I haven't needed to meditate any disputes yet."
Rin nodded. "Wow, that does sound a lot different than her. Daishi always makes us eat together to help us become more familiar with each other, and less isolated, and I... I think they were even going to start screening new Ueno students, based on an ethics exam."
"To see if they're decent?"
"Yes, something like that."
Matoi shrugged. "I don't see much difference between a student who acts good because of their nature and a student who acts good because they're afraid of the consequences. Most of the respect I have is due to fear."
Rin paused, understood, then nodded. "Yes, that's a little bit how I thought of it. Um, so, when you're out, who assigns investigations?"
"I have a vice-president: she isn't a member of my squadron, though she used to be Samuel's protege."
"Ah, okay." Still they walked. After some silence, Rin said: "Well, Daishi may have told you that Ueno's vice-president is also female -- Suzu -- even if… I'd like to be in her position, eventually, but I-I still slack on training a little bit too much for that."
To Matoi, irony was no reason for one to deprecate themselves albeit with the attitude of *knowing better*. "I don't think it's helpful to talk about yourself like that. If you're aware you have an issue with slacking, then there's no reason to joke over it: it should be the opposite, something to take seriously."
"Erm, I guess not."
Matoi shrugged. "And I've seen a lot of women downplay themselves like that for men. I don't begrudge them for doing so, but when you're a student, you don't need to assume the same modesty they do. Even if I am a guest."
Rin smiled, and they soon came past a manga cafe. Rin was one of the types who latch on to trite romantic sayings, and loved seeing them etched in wood; in the USA she would have a sign that said *Live Laugh Love*; thus she also loved all types of lesbian romance novels & yuri manga. She stopped and asked Matoi if they could go inside for a few minutes.
Matoi glanced over. She generally felt that this type of fiction was for teenagers: or adults with the minds of one. "It's alright, but I'll stay outside."
A little embarrassed, Rin said: "Erm, okay. I'll come out soon, then."
"Be careful."
As Rin went inside, Matoi noticed a television in the windowsill of another shop, and as Julia had with a pair of black ducks recently, felt drawn to it. She went over to it, where a tennis match was playing. Matoi had played tennis in middle school and was quite good at it, to where she could easily have made a career of it had Kekkonshiki not activated. After all, is there much difference between serving a ball and serving a criminal's skull?
Alright, bad analogy. She watched for a minute, a man came up beside her and started watching. He said: "Ah, it's an Osaka match. I hardly should have bothered walking over."
"You don't like Naomi?" she said.
"I despise her, personally. People says she represents Japan, and yet she was raised and trained her entire life in America. What does that say about our own tennis program?"
"I don't like her much, either. I've watched many of her matches, but she has such a high level of natural dominance she's almost boring to watch."
"Like a Serena, yes."
"Yes. I had a friend in middle-school who thought she should try to emulate either of them, but she had no natural talent: she should have looked at top players who didn't. remember coming over to her home one day and her mother was making her an entire tray of vegan food -- I asked her why, and apparently she had read some article about Osaka's vegan diet. I don't remember if it was true, or not, but regardless, Serena or Osaka are the type of players who could solely eat dirt and still be ranked in the top ten. It isn't useful to learn from a player like that -- they're saved by their natural talent."
"You'll find no argument from me on that. I much prefer somebody like Basilashvili, a Georgian player. Obviously, there's always be a level of natural inclination to those in the upper echelons, but..."
"I haven't watched much recently, though the name is familiar."
"He's incredible. Aggressive, sometimes too much so -- but people are drawn to men like that. I far prefer him over someone like Nishikori, even if he isn't Japanese. Nishikori plays consistently, but always cowardly; he folds whenever he's against a better and allows himself to be forced all over the court. Basilashvili may also lose, but he at least stands headlong against it and makes one root for him.
But I agree, on the point of natural talent. One can't assume that success in one area means all of it, like diet, is optimal. I mean, imagine, perhaps not Osaka, but some other great female player -- I'm not familiar with many -- who has poor game knowledge yet a surplus of proper genetics or coaching. What is to admire there? Greatness requires an element of recognition. It would be as if a great artist, if someone like... Kurosawa, or the writer Murakami, had no understanding of their greatest works. And I've certainly wondered that with Murakami, recently, when he begins to describe breasts in his typical childish manner, with useless paragraphs that add nothing but preen."
"What do you expect from a misogynistic creep?"
He began to say something angrily towards her, then saw her badge. Matoi continued watching the match: "Do you know if Funo still plays?"
"She was disqualified for steroid use a year ago."
"She was?"
"Haha, yes, it was quite a scandal. She lost all of her sponsors, was disqualified from competing for two years, lambasted for being a cheater and such. I found the whole affair ridiculous. I doubt any of what she took was any more potent than her opponents. The public asks for fair play and an even playing field, yet they demand such a high level of players that can only be fulfilled by these illicit substances. They constantly expect more than what is providable.
It's the same type of people you will see if you watch the news here, recently, the youth who demand cheap products yet high salaries. They claim that the modern world is too difficult for them to keep pace with. Ridiculous. Seventy years ago, my father grew up under air-raids and bombers; never was there such a desire to complain. At nearly all levels, it is far better today. Yet, I often wonder what the cause is of this level of unhappiness, disproportionate to objective reality."
"Well, happiness is always partially relative. In America, I won a pay raise recently for students to ¥20,0000 a month. They obviously had survived on less for years, but if it were repealed next year, then they would show the staff by lamp-posts why they shouldn't have done it. It's the same here, I assume, still: they see a decent quality of life now in decline."
He chuckled. "I wouldn't doubt it. I've seen footage of American students: even the women are very aggressive."
Matoi gave him a look of disdain, but continued. "Let me illustrate something. There's a third-year named Kirihara who's persistently a nuisance to myself and to other students. She's made herself a complete pariah, to where I sometimes see new students mock her and dare her to attack them, because they know I'll expel her if she retaliates."
"You allow this?"
"She's used her legal immunity to murder civilians. I would expel her if our staff agreed to it, but they believe she's more useful than not."
"Ah, yes, I've heard of the legal immunity. Hm. Well, she would certainly be executed here. No, allowing that type of mold to fester... Were I in your position, I would set her up in some way, to cause the staff to see they must... well."
"You're suggesting having her falsely accused?"
"Yes. I'm not familiar enough with American customs to know what sort of behavior could have her expelled if killing civilians isn't enough, but-"
He noticed Rin walking up to Matoi.
"Ah, you're with Rin -- I thought perhaps you were with one of your Americans."
"She's with me for the day." said Matoi. (Rin smiled.) "But, the point I was making on Kirihara is however obviously powerful she is compared to a non-host, she's as impotent as a child at Urasaria. She's aware of that decline, and so she lashes out."
"Rin, your friend here has given me much to think about." He nodded to Matoi. "Good speaking with you."
As he walked away, Matoi turned to Rin, who fidgeted a little. "You know him?"
Rin nodded. "Yes, that's Kaoru Sakurai. Erm, he's a politician with Japan First - it's a far-right party. To be honest, I don't like them, but they tend to be very friendly with Ueno students... Daishi tells us to be neutral."
As Matoi glanced down at Rin, Rin seemed to look at her in a way that suggested she was attempting to leech off Matoi's essence. You know how this goes: someone is in the presence of a *better*, however they may deem that moniker, and they start to identify themselves with them, or feel that in an alternate timeline that they would be them. Physical stature has much to do with this, as size naturally places humans into a continuum of other things.
So, Matoi did realize why Rin would have listened in on their conversation, and whether this would prove reciprocal is for later discussion. Whatever Rin had overheard of it, a few seconds of silence to each other seemed sufficient to seal it between them, and off they went as a fall breeze nipped at their motion.