Jogging the mind

The next day, Mimoko got up early in order to go on a jog along the river with Okisato.

"So why'd you call me out?" Okisato asked.

"I wanted to ask about Svetlana-chan," Mimoko frowned.

"Svetlana? Ah, I heard from Iori-chan that she was at the modeling gig you auditioned for, and apparently spooked the crowd."

"'Spooked'? How?"

"Hmm, maybe you weren't affected. Anyway, I'm as clueless as you as to why she's there, though if I had to make a guess, I'd say Tsar Grigori probably wants her to gain influence in the modeling world, for the sake of giving him some soft power there."

"So it really is the tsar behind it all?"

"Wouldn't surprise me. Everything Svetlana does is tied to him. Remember, he did show up almost instantly at the school the moment Kazuya's plan failed. Clearly a sign he knew about the plan from the start."

"But she's clearly into fashion. Tanabe-kun, you've seen her more times then me. When you did, was she always wearing the same style of shoes?"

Okisato thought for a bit before affirming it was true.

"See! It's clearly a sign she's got a will."

"Maybe, but just because she has a will, doesn't mean she has freedom over her actions. All it takes is a victory in a DESPER match and you have the perfect puppet."

"So then Svetlana-chan's trapped..."

"Perhaps."

"Could it also explain why she hates you so much?"

"That I'm unsure of. I feel it's a mix of both as some of her comrades I vanquished weren't exactly the types I could see getting along with her, but there were also some that could have been her close friends. In fact, I believe the one that truly made her snap was one she claimed was her girlfriend."

"You killed her girlfriend!?"

"It was in a DESPER match, and well, yeah, she lost. Since then, Svetlana's always had an unhealthy obsession with me and trying to kill me."

"Hmm, I wonder why," Mimoko growled.

"Sarcasm noted. Look, her girlfriend wasn't exactly someone the average person would feel sorry for, to put it nicely. Woman loved making drugs and making those that lost to her become addicted to them, essentially becoming her customers for life."

"Why would Svetlana-chan fall for such a woman."

"I don't know. Maybe it was natural, maybe it was toxic. Or maybe she was forced to show outward affection for her against her will. We don't know."

Mimoko stopped jogging and stared off at the Arakawa river.

"Inoue-senpai?"

"Nothing. Thanks for the information, Tanabe-kun," Mimoko nodded as she began to jog back towards home.