Chapter 6: The Cultural
Festival: Day Two!
After all sorts of twists and turns, the first day of the
cultural festival came to a close. Mio's less-than-authorized
intrusion, in the end, wasn't exposed as badly as I'd feared
after all. Her disguise had apparently done its job; nobody
who'd seen her had realized that she was, in fact, Mio
Kuruma. It also helped that Makina got in touch with
everyone who'd been in 2-A's classroom during the Mio
Incident and asked them to keep quiet about it. When all
was said and done, nobody learned about my misdeeds.
Yuna and Rinka did let me know that they wished I'd at
least said something to them, of course, but for some
reason, they didn't press me for more information on how or
why I'd ended up tangled up in a bet revolving around their
performance. In fact, they didn't even bring it up at all!
In short, I ended up with an awful lot to feel relieved
about. I won't be getting expelled after all! Thank goodness!
And then the second day of the festival arrived! Our
class's project was over and done with, and most of the
merch we'd made had already sold out the day before, so
pretty much all of us were free to spend that second day
doing whatever we felt like. That left me, Yotsuba Hazama
(position in class: background loner), with a pressing
dilemma: Should I, or should I not, wear our class's festival
T-shirt today?
"Oh, Yotsuba!" said Rinka. "You wore your uniform today?
Why?"
And I completely guessed wrong!
Per our school's cultural-festival rules, everyone was
supposed to gather up in their classrooms each morning
before things kicked off. I figured the idea was just to make
taking attendance easier? Anyway, I headed straight for my
classroom when I arrived...and stepped inside to find
everyone except me wearing their class T-shirts!
"Wait, you're all wearing them?!" I yelped.
"Well, of course we are!" said Yuna. "I mean, how many
chances do you think we'll get to wear these after the
festival's over?"
"That's...a really good point, yeah," I admitted. When she
put it that way, as soon as the festival was over, that shirt
would be doomed to spend the rest of its days in the pajama
pile. What else would you even wear a class T-shirt for? A
trip to the amusement park? I'd sure never heard of anyone
using them for anything like that. In my defense, though, it
did still feel a little wrong to wear those T-shirts on a day
when our class wouldn't even be doing anything for the
festival!
"Plus, we spent all yesterday in our stage costumes,"
Yuna continued. "We barely got to wear these at all in the
end."
"Very true," said Rinka. "It would feel like a waste not to
wear them, considering our classmates went to the trouble
of making them for us."
"Oh, right..." I said. Does that make this better for me?
I'm really not sure.
"Good morning," a voice rang out.
"Ah!" I exclaimed as Makina stepped into the classroom.
Her arrival wasn't what had me excited, though. No, my
attention was drawn straight to what she was wearing! "You
came in your uniform!"
I'm not alone! I have an ally after all!
"Oh! Good morning, you three," Makina replied as she
stepped over to us. She took a look around the
classroom...then took a final, longer look at me. "I see
everyone wore their T-shirts."
"I know, right? It felt so awkward up till a second ago," I
replied with a beaming smile. Now that I had an outfit in
common with at least one person, I felt much more
comfortable again. Up until she'd shown up, I'd been
completely isolated! It had felt like I was cheering for the
wrong team!
"Why did you wear your uniform today, though?" asked
Yuna.
"To be honest, I was so distracted yesterday that I threw
my T-shirt into the laundry without thinking about it,"
Makina explained. "I'm just glad I'm not the only one."
"That's not quite the same reason why Yotsuba left hers
behind, though," said Rinka.
"Oh, really?"
Ugh... In other words, Makina did know that she was
supposed to show up in her T-shirt today. They should've
just made an announcement or something! Put it in the
official cultural-festival policy: Class T-shirts are to be worn
across all days of the event!
And so, the curtain was raised (on a kinda inauspicious
note) on the second day of the festival.
◇◇◇
"Thanks for waiting, Yotsuba!"
"Aoi! And Sakura too! Did you have trouble finding your
way here?"
"We're not toddlers, Yotsuba. We can walk across town
without getting lost," Sakura said.
"Ha ha, fair enough!"
I met my sisters, both of whom were wearing their middle
school uniforms, out front by the school gate. Outside
visitors were allowed at the cultural festival on its second
day, so they'd stopped by to hang out and see what it was
all about. My class's offering was already over and done
with, of course, so we'd really just be walking around
together and looking at everyone else's.
"You're looking around with your friends in the afternoon,
right?" I asked Aoi.
"Yup!" Aoi replied. "And Sakura's gonna be going around
with hers too."
"My friends and I are here to see the school just as much
as the festival, though. Entrance exams are right around the
corner and all," Sakura added.
Basically no one from our middle school had tried to get
into Eichou High back in my day, but apparently, a
surprising number of students were now taking a shot at it.
It wasn't like the entrance exam had gotten easier or
anything, so why was a bit of a mystery... But in any case, it
was probably a good thing it hadn't been that way back
when I was applying. Going to a high school that none of my
middle school classmates would end up at had sounded
really appealing at the time, and if a bunch of other kids had
signed up for the entrance exam, I probably wouldn't have
followed through with my accidental application and tried
my luck on it.
"You're looking around with Yuna and Rinka this
afternoon, aren't you?" said Aoi.
"Yeah," I replied.
"Sooo, does that mean you went out of your way to make
time for us in the morning?"
"I sure did!"
"Yaaay! You're the best!" Aoi exclaimed, clinging tightly
to my arm.
Yup, yup! She's adorable!
"Well, then, no time to waste! Let's get a move on," Aoi
continued. "Your class already finished up yesterday, right?"
"Yeah, unfortunately," I replied.
"No kidding! I would've done so much to see Yuna, Rinka,
and Maki all up onstage together!"
"Okay, but you know how much trouble there would've
been if they let the public in for that," commented Sakura.
"Okay, then—I wanna go see Koganezaki's class!" Aoi
said as she flipped the festival's pamphlet open and
browsed through its offerings. Astonishingly enough, she'd
picked the very same maid café I'd gone to with Mio the day
before. "Can you imagine her working in a maid café?! It's
so not her style at all, but I'm sure she'll look awesome in
the outfit anyway!"
"I kind of want to see that too, actually," Sakura added.
Aoi and Sakura had met Koganezaki the month before,
when we all got together to model for Mukai's illustration.
Koganezaki had been in a relatively chill sort of mode at
that time, and apparently, the two of them had come out of
the encounter with the impression that she was a really nice
person. Not that they were, like, wrong about that, or
anything! It's just that they didn't know she could also be
really strict and incredibly terrifying from time to time.
"Okay, then! Let's go!"
Buuut, that said, I didn't have any reason to turn them
down. I could've stared at Koganezaki in a maid outfit all
day without getting bored, after all! Plus, I knew that at the
end of the day, she always went easy on her
underclassmen. As long as I had Sakura and Aoi with me, I
wouldn't have to worry about getting the sort of frigid
reception she'd given me the day before!
Heh heh heh! Watch as the genius tactician Yotsuba
Hazama uses her little sisters as human shields! This plan is
a masterstroke! Koganezaki will be laid bare—or rather, laid
out in a maid uniform—before me! Bwa ha ha ha haaa!
◇◇◇
"Whoa... That line is crazy," I said.
"I guess it's not surprising that Koganezaki's class would
draw this sort of crowd," said Sakura.
"It's so popular!" Aoi exclaimed.
We'd arrived at class 2-B's room to find a line extending
all the way out into the hall. The place had seemed pretty
empty the day before, but now it was packed to capacity.
This, I had to assume, was the power of the second day
being open to the public—and, well, also the power of class
B's maid café having really cute, well-put-together uniforms,
I guess.
"What do you think? It sounds like we'd have to wait a
half hour or so to get in," I explained.
"Ugh," Aoi moaned. "It kinda feels like a waste, doesn't
it...?"
"No...let's wait," said Sakura. "We've come this far, and if
we leave now, I'll end up wondering what it would've been
like later."
"Yeah, you're right! I'm in too!" Aoi agreed.
"Okay, then, let's line up!" I said. My sisters were in
control here—I was just along for the ride. Little sisters are
higher up on the chain of command than big sisters, after
all! That was a well-established fact that everyone knew!
"Huh?"
A moment after we got in line, I noticed a very familiar,
brightly colored head of hair bounce briefly into view up
ahead of us. Then, a second later, out from the line
stepped...Emma! Emma was here!
"Ah! Yotsuba!"
"Emma!"
And then we gave each other a big ole hug! And
everyone lived happily ever after...
"Hmm."
Ah! Those stares! They're so frigid, it hurts! N-No, Sakura,
Aoi, it's not what you think! Emma's... Emma's an
exception, okay?! I can't help it!
"And good morning indeed, Sakura and Aoi!" Emma
continued as she looked over to my sisters—while still
hugging me, by the way.
"Good morning. It's nice to see you again, Emma," said
Sakura.
"Emma! Morning!" Aoi added.
I'd known that they knew each other, of course, but I
hadn't expected Emma to remember their names. That's so
impressive! Good girl, good girl!
"Wait..." I said a moment later. "Hold on! You were lined
up too, Emma?!"
"Indeed! I had a great need to see my sister dearest's
figure with my own two eyes!" Emma explained.
"Okay, but are you sure you want to give up your spot?
You were way up ahead of us," I asked. Her spot, of course,
had already been filled in as the line shuffled forward, so it
was a little too late regardless.
"Indeed, it's okay! I sensed all of you, and thought I
wanted to talk," said Emma. "But...am I bothering you,
indeed?"
"No, no, not at all! Right?" I asked.
Sakura and Aoi both nodded immediately.
"If you don't mind, it'd be nice to have an upperclassman
here with us," said Sakura.
"Yeah, yeah!" Aoi excitedly agreed.
Oh, wooow! My little sisters are so sociable! That's so
impressive! Good girls, good girls!
"An upperclassman? You don't have to see me that way,
indeed," said Emma. She'd started fidgeting bashfully, and I
had a feeling that she wasn't used to the idea of being
treated like someone's senior at school.
"But you literally are one for me, so..." Sakura said with a
shrug.
"Sakura's going to be taking the entrance exam for our
school this year! She's doing her best to go here with us," I
explained.
"Indeed?!" Emma gasped.
"Yeah, and me too!" Aoi chimed in. "It's a little sad that I
won't get to go to school with Yotsuba, even if I do make it
in, but at least I'll just barely have a year with you, I'm
pretty sure!"
"Aoi too?! I can hardly wait, indeed!"
None of this was set in stone yet, of course, but my
sisters were both way more capable than I was, and they
also apparently talked with Yuna and Rinka on the phone
pretty often to get help with their studies. I guess it'll be a
year and a half before Aoi gets the chance, though, won't it?
Maybe Emma will have brushed up on her Japanese and
done away with her "indeed" tic by then. She picked up that
habit from Koganezaki back when they were both going to a
rich-girls' school, right? It'd actually be a little sad if she got
over it.
"Me indeed, an upperclassman..." Emma quietly
murmured to herself. It seemed like she was savoring the
feel of the word as it passed through her lips.
"Okay, but what about middle school?" I prompted. "You
must have had underclassmen then, right?"
"Back then...I was all alone, indeed."
"Wha?"
"My dearest sister left, and I still barely knew Japanese,
indeed," Emma said with a smile that didn't strike me as
totally sincere.
Wearing a smile like that was so unlike her, I realized
instantly that I'd asked a question I probably shouldn't have.
Koganezaki...well, she hadn't really told me much of
anything about her time in middle school, but I'd more or
less put the pieces together well enough to realize that
she'd gone through something pretty traumatic. Emma had
stayed at that same school long after Koganezaki left,
looking up to her all the while...and it wasn't hard at all to
imagine how that could have been a pretty unpleasant
environment for her.
"Sorry, Emma," I said. "I shouldn't have pried, huh? My
bad."
"It's okay, indeed!" Emma insisted.
For just a moment I wanted to tell her that I'd been all
alone in middle school too, but I decided against it. It
seemed pretty likely that we'd been totally different types of
loner. "Well, my little sisters are both really good girls," I
said instead. "You can go ahead and act like a big, tough
upperclassman with them, any time you like!"
"I really don't like the idea of agreeing with Yotsuba about
that...but she is right, basically," said Sakura. "Both of us
really like you a lot, Emma."
"Ah, I know! Let's trade contact info! I never found the
right moment before, but this is the perfect chance!"
suggested Aoi.
That's my sisters! Unlike me, you've got social skills to
spare! There's no way in heck I'd ever have the guts and
resolve to talk with a (super ridiculously ultra cute)
upperclassman like that! Boy, do I ever respect that about
you two!
"And why are you smirking in perhaps the most unsettling
manner conceivable?"
"Oh, I was just thinking, is all," I replied. "My personal
angels are getting along with an actual, real-life angel, right
before my eyes, so I was sorta moved, I... Wait, whaaat?!"
"What yourself," said Koganezaki (maid edition), who'd
shown up beside me at some point without me realizing it at
all! In addition to the uniform, she was carrying a sign that
had "Come See What the Fuss Is About! Class 2-B's Maid
Café, Now Open!" written on it. "The line is getting
unwieldy, and I'm here to manage it. It's a far easier job
than serving customers," she continued, though I had to
note that she'd come to a dead stop beside us and wasn't
doing much managing of the line at all. Then again, she just
looked so darn pretty that the other customers in line—and,
for that matter, most of the passersby in the hallway—were
too focused on her to cause any issues.
"Ah! Sister dearest!" Emma exclaimed.
"It's very nice to see you again," said Sakura.
"You look so great in that maid uniform, sister dearest!"
added Aoi. The sister squad had quickly caught on to our
visitor.
"It has been a while, Sakura, and thank you, Aoi. Do not
call me that," Koganezaki replied...in a way that really did
feel nicer than how she usually acted! She really was a big
sister. There was just something about being a big sister
that made people like, well, that.
Emma, incidentally, had let go of me at some point along
the way and now had her arms flung firmly around
Koganezaki. Oh wow, that speed...! Not even I noticed when
she moved!
"I see the two of you are keeping Haza—Yotsuba
company today, then. That's very kind of you," said
Koganezaki.
"Hey! Why are you acting like I'm their pet puppy?!" I
whined.
"I would never intentionally compare you to something
that cute, but in terms of disposition, I have to admit the
comparison does stand."
Mean! She wouldn't even let me keep the cute part of the
metaphor!
Meanwhile, Sakura and Aoi were watching us very closely.
"Umm, excuse me, Koganezaki," said Sakura. "You're
friends with our sister, right?"
"Huh?" I grunted. S-Sakura? Where did that question
come from...? Oh no—don't tell me that Koganezaki acted so
curt with me, she has you questioning whether or not I'm
getting bullied at school?! "S-Sakura! That's, umm, just her
way of showing affection! It's nothing—"
"Yes," Koganezaki cut me off—though not before
hesitating long enough to let me babble out half of an
excuse. "We are indeed friends," she continued. The look on
her face was so inexplicably kind that I was captivated...and
forgot what I'd been planning on saying entirely.
The same, it seemed, was true of my sisters. Aoi and
Sakura were just staring, eyes wide, until finally...
"Oh... Okay."
...tears began to pool in their eyes.
"Well, umm—I know she's not very reliable, I guess, and
can be pretty bad at taking a hint, but, well..." said Sakura.
"But she's really considerate! She's always putting other
people first, even though she's a super awkward crybaby
herself..."
Sakura? Aoi? Are you trying to convince Koganezaki to
stop being friends with me right now?! I mean, yes, I am
kind of a mess in all sorts of ways, but come on!
"But you know," Sakura continued, "she really went
through a lot in elementary and middle school! So..."
"If you don't mind, keep being friends with her from now
on!" Aoi concluded.
I was speechless. Speechless and thoughtless, in the
sense that my train of thought had ground to a screeching
halt. I'd been a loner up until I got into high school, but only
now did I realize that my former friendlessness weighed on
my sisters as much as—no, more than—it did on me. I felt
really guilty for being pathetic enough to make them worry
like that...though at the same time, I felt touched by their
kindness.
I also knew that, really, I should probably have been
scolding them for putting Koganezaki on the spot for no
good reason like this. I glanced over at her...and found her
gazing at my sisters with a shockingly gentle look on her
face. She sighed deeply, apparently reaching some sort of
conclusion, then looked at me.
"You really managed the third option," Koganezaki said.
"What?"
"I once told you that you had three options. You picked
the third...and it seems it turned out well for you."
"Ah," I quietly gasped. The third option. She's talking
about when Sakura and Aoi found out about my two-timing,
right...?
"No need to worry," Koganezaki said as she turned back
to my sisters. "I'll admit that she—that Yotsuba can be
unpredictable and unreliable, in more ways than one...but
I'm well aware of how many people she's helped in spite of
those traits."
"Oh, but just one thing," Sakura added, slightly more
quietly than before. "You're not allowed to love her too
much!"
"Right, that! Keep it nice and restrained!" Aoi whispered
as well.
I knew very well that the "love" they were talking about
wasn't the platonic sort, and Koganezaki quite possibly
knew it on an even more profound level than I did.
"Yes... Of course," Koganezaki said with a smile after an
ever so slight pause. "I'm only interested in faithful people,
regardless."
Rude! What, are you trying to say I'm unfaithful or
something?...is what I really wanted to say, but I held it
back! After all, saying that would've made it look like I
wanted to end up in that sort of relationship with her! N-Not
that Koganezaki wasn't a lovely, appealing person or
anything! It was just that I...er...
Okay, so maybe I'm not faithful, like, at all.
That realization stung a little, but as I watched the four of
them chat away happily, the pain was replaced by an
appreciation for how nice this sort of thing was from time to
time.
◇◇◇
My sisters, Emma, and I finally made it into the maid
café, where we enjoyed our fill of Koganezaki's service. After
that, Emma broke off to stay with Koganezaki while my
sisters and I set off to explore the festival. Sakura and Aoi
were particularly interested in the cultural clubs' displays
and led us to the home-ec club, which had set up a stand
where they sold snacks, and the drama club, which was
putting on a play. Before I knew it, the morning had sped
right on by.
"I've been thinking of joining a club when I get into high
school," Sakura commented.
"That's a great idea! You should!" I said.
"Me too, me too!" said Aoi. "That's why I'm planning on
looking at all the other displays with my friends later!"
"Neither of you ended up joining a club in middle school,
did you?" I noted. A small part of me wondered if, just
maybe, they'd refrained because they didn't want to rub
salt into my middle school wounds...
"It is not anything like what you're thinking," said Sakura.
"You weren't even there anymore when I got into middle
school!" noted Aoi. "I just didn't join a club 'cause I wasn't
interested in any of them."
"O-Oh! Okay!" My thoughts had been written all over my
face yet again, clearly. They'd shut my theory down before I
could even mention it.
"But, you know...the fact that I'm thinking of joining one
now might actually be because of you," Aoi continued.
"You've looked like you're having so much fun ever since
you started high school, after all! Right, Sakura?"
"Yeah," Sakura agreed. "First things first, though—I have
to pass the test!"
The two of them looked elated at the prospect of the
futures they were pursuing. They had them all planned out,
and I was really impressed.
The future, huh...?
I'd tried to think about my future tons of times, but those
attempts had always ended in failure. I was in my second
year of high school. The more proactive kinds in my class
had already started studying for their college entrance
exams, apparently, but here I was, just barely treading
water when it came to preparing for my high school tests.
I really do have to give it some thought, don't I...?
The cultural festival would be over in a flash, and once
the school trip—which was coming up next month—ended
as well, all of us second-years would be in nose-to-thegrindstone exam prep mode. All the more so considering
Eichou High was a prep school! Incredibly unreliable though
I was, I was also my sisters' role model, and I had to set a
good example...or, well, I had to at least put up a show of
doing my best, anyway. I'd be a miserable excuse for a big
sister if I didn't.
"Okay, we should split off now," said Sakura.
"Don't have too much fun this afternoon, Yotsuba!" Aoi
added.
"I know," I said. "You two take care too... I mean, get out
there and have a blast!"
My worries about the future were still lingering in the
back of my mind, but I saw my sisters off with a smile
anyway. I didn't let so much as a hint of gloom infect my
expression. After all, no matter how things turned out for
me, as long as my sisters were happy, healthy, and moving
forward day by day, that was enough to keep me satisfied.
◇◇◇
"Hey! Sorry I'm late!"
"Nah, it's fine!"
"Yuna and I just arrived as well, actually."
I'd split up with my sisters and had just jogged up to Yuna
and Rinka. That's "up" in the vertical sense, since they'd
told me to meet them on the staircase landing by the door
to the rooftop.
"So, we put a lot of thought into how we could make the
most of the festival with you," said Yuna. "Like, should we all
walk around together? Or should we draw up a schedule and
take turns going on dates with you?"
"But when we were walking around ourselves this
morning, it struck us that both of those options would pose
difficulties," said Rinka.
"What do you mean...?" I asked.
"You know—since we're the Sacrosanct?" Yuna said so
plainly and confidently, I could almost hear the dramaticemphasis sound effect in the background. The hand-on-hip
pose she struck didn't help with that. It occurred to me that,
on the whole, the two of them didn't call themselves by
their own nickname all that often. "People were talking to us
all over the place—expecially people who came to see the
performance yesterday... And, I mean, I'm glad we made an
impression and all, but it definitely feels like having you with
us in public right now could attract some not-so-great
attention."
"Attract some not-so-great attention," I presumed, was
code for "make people think, 'Who's that loathsome little
insect clinging to the Sacrosanct and how are we going to
squish her?'"
"Okay, that's a good point," I admitted. "Wait, what about
Makina? How does she play into all that?"
"You haven't heard?" said Rinka. "She's spending the
afternoon looking around with a few of our classmates."
"Oh! Okay."
I hadn't heard. In fact, I hadn't spoken with her at all
since this morning in the classroom...and even then, it had
sort of felt like she was trying to avoid me. She wouldn't
look me in the eye in the weirdest, most deliberate-feeling
sort of way...but then again, that might have just been my
usual negativity coloring my impression.
"So, yeah—going around the festival together's probably
not such a great plan," Yuna continued. "Which, for the
record, I'm not cool with! We finally get together, but can't
make the most of it during our own school festival? Come
on!"
"Right...? But, wait. Does that mean you went out of your
way to meet up with me just to tell me that we can't hang
out after all?"
That's so thoughtful of them! They could've just sent me
a text. It's a shame that we can't look around together,
sure, but I definitely don't want to cause trouble for them,
so—
"No, not at all," Rinka said.
"Huh?"
Rinka shook her head, then brought a hand up to my
cheek.
"If we can't go around the festival with you, then we
won't do it at all."
"What...?"
"In case you haven't noticed, Yotsuba...we're well past
our limit."
"Your limit for wha— Mmph?!"
Just like that—so naturally I hardly even realized what
was happening—Rinka kissed me.
"Ah, hey!" Yuna yelped. "No getting a head start, Rinka!"
"Mmph... Ah... Yotsuba..."
"Get off her already! Come on!"
"Whoa!"
It almost felt like Rinka was trying to straight up inhale
my lips until—with some difficulty—Yuna dragged us apart
again. Wh-What on earth...? And wait, we're at school right
now, aren't we?!
"Seriously, getting too worked up here is just asking to be
caught," Yuna grumbled. "What do you think we borrowed
this for in the first place?"
"Ugh... Sorry. I couldn't help myself," said Rinka.
"You may come across all mature, but you've always
been such a kid deep down, I swear. You've got no restraint
at all!"
"I do too! Just...not when it comes to Yotsuba. She's the
one exception," Rinka sulkily pouted. Pouted with the lips
that had been pressed to mine just seconds before.
"Hold on," I said, "what was that about borrowing
something?"
"Heh heh! That would be this," Yuna said as she proudly
brandished what looked like a perfectly ordinary key. "It's—
drumroll, please—the key to the rooftop!"
"Huh?!"
"I have no clue why that one girl—Koganezaki, I mean—
had it in the first place, but she loaned it to me. She said
that nobody else would be up there during the festival, so
we could get some peace and quiet. I'd never really talked
to her before and I sorta had the idea we wouldn't get
along, but it turns out she might be pretty nice after all."
That reminded me of how Koganezaki had used the
rooftop—or, really, had shown up on the rooftop after Emma
abducted me—the very first time we'd had a proper
conversation. In retrospect, she must have already had the
key back then...though that still left the mystery of why she
had it unsolved.
"Okay, but even if we have the key, that doesn't mean
we're allowed to go out on the rooftop whenever, right...?" I
protested.
"Do you really have any right to say that?" said Yuna.
"You were the one who snuck Mio into school just
yesterday," Rinka pointed out.
"Well, yeah, but..."
"And now Rinka and I are your partners in crime!" Yuna
cheerfully declared as she swung open the door and
stepped outside without the slightest hint of hesitation. A
chilly autumn breeze blew into the landing through the open
doorway.
Oh. Do they think that I'm still worried about getting in
trouble over the whole Mio thing...? This isn't my first time
on the rooftop, though, and I've used the student guidance
room without permission a bunch of times lately. I'm already
dancing on the brink of academic oblivion when it comes to
this sort of thing, so honestly, I'd rather they stayed back
where it was nice and safe instead of getting themselves
involved...
"Ahh, the wind feels so nice!" said Yuna.
"Good thing it's sunny out. Come on, Yotsuba, let's go,"
Rinka said as she took me by the hand.
"S-Sure," I replied.
Rinka pulled me out onto the rooftop. The blue sky
stretched out overhead in its full, vast glory. The whole
space was incredibly open, and while I could still hear the
hustle and bustle of the cultural festival down below, it felt
like we were cut off from the rest of the world...
Kachk!
...Yup. Cut off from the rest of the world.
"You locked it?!"
"We wouldn't want anyone else coming out here, now
would we?" Rinka replied with a casual grin.
Oh. I guess, yeah. It wouldn't be great if anyone caught
us out on the roof without permi—
"Yotsubaaa!"
"Whoa! Yuna?!" I yelped as she flung herself into my
arms with no warning whatsoever. I did manage to catch
her, just barely, and the next thing I knew she was nuzzling
her face into my chest.
"Aaaaaahhh," Yuna practically groaned. "Finally! This is
so relaxing, I swear..."
"U-Umm...?" I grunted.
"You're not gonna complain about this, are you, Miss
Tried-to-Get-a-Head-Start?" asked Yuna.
"Go ahead," Rinka replied after a reluctant pause.
"With pleasure!"
That little exchange of theirs struck me as pretty
suggestive, and the moment they were finished, Yuna tilted
her head upward and pursed her lips.
"Mh!" Yuna grunted.
"Yuna...?"
"Mmmh!" she grunted again, more urgently this time.
I hesitated for just a moment...then gave in to her
coaxing and kissed her.
"Mnhh... Ahhh!" Yuna gasped.
It must have been a little hard for her to breathe in that
pose, and I tried to pull my face away, but her arms were
wrapped very firmly around me and I couldn't move an inch.
"Honestly, Yuna, you can be such a baby. Which...is a
little conflicting to watch, from a childhood friend's
perspective," Rinka said from right behind me.
Wait, when did she get there?!
"Personally, I'd rather be the doter than the dotee," Rinka
added as she wrapped her arms around my waist. I felt the
heat of her breath on my ear a moment later, and no sooner
had I realized what was happening than...
"Hyeek?!"
...her tongue touched my earlobe?! That certainly got a
weird little shriek out of me. It didn't feel bad, to be clear...it
just really, really tickled, basically.
"Hee hee! I can feel you trembling... You're adorable,
Yotsuba," said Rinka.
"Come on, Yotsuba! I'm still here, you know—don't just
focus behind you," urged Yuna. I had been totally caught up
in Rinka's whispered voice, but now Yuna's begging was
vying for an equal share of my attention.
"Gah?!" I yelped—as if things weren't already intense
enough, Rinka's hand crawled up my uniform and onto my
chest! "R-Rinmmph...!"
"Mhh, mmph..."
I'd barely had a moment to be surprised before Yuna
seized my attention again—this time with another kiss,
complete with tongue! Meanwhile, the sounds in my ear
were growing distinctly louder and wetter. Rinka must have
picked up on Yuna's renewed aggression and was going on
the offense herself, licking and even straight up sucking my
earlobe!
Wh-Wh-What is even happening right now?!
The noise of the festival now felt like it was far, far off in
the distance. The sky was blue, the autumn wind that blew
across the rooftop was bracing, and I...was sandwiched
within the most Sacrosanct of spaces.
We're doing this here. Outside. At school. I... I th-think I'm
gonna be sick...
A mixture of embarrassment, anxiety that we'd get
caught, and—more than anything else—pleasure was
setting my body aflame. I let out a quiet moan as my legs
gave way and I crumpled to the rooftop. Yuna wiped her
mouth with the back of her hand as she looked down at me,
her eyes sparkling with the ravenous intent of a true
carnivore. She looked incredibly cool and cute, all at the
same time.
"We had a thought, you see," Rinka said from behind me
as she laid a hand on my shoulder. Her grasp felt comforting
and considerate...but at the same time, it felt like she had a
very firm grip on me that would not let me get away from
her. "Being up onstage was way more fun than I ever
imagined, but the past month and a half of preparations
were also really hard on us. I'm sure you already know that,
right?"
"Y-Yeah," I said. "Of course I do."
"The show was a huge hit!" said Yuna. "The audience
loved it, and everyone in class said we did an awesome job.
You thought so too, didn't you?"
"Y-Yeah... Of course..."
Yuna crouched down, bringing herself eye to eye with me,
and laid her hands on my cheeks. It felt like she was guiding
me toward a very particular conclusion, in the strangest sort
of way. Not a bad way at all—just a strange one.
"And sooo..." said Yuna.
"We thought it would only be fair to ask for a little
reward," Rinka concluded.
"Y-Yeah, you're right! Totally! I think so too!" I said.
"Right? So, go ahead! We're waiting!" said Yuna.
"Huh?" I grunted. It wasn't until she'd very directly urged
me to hand over her reward that it hit me: I didn't have a
reward for her. I hadn't prepared anything at all! "Ah, err,
can I, umm, get back to you on that after I—"
"Nooope! It has to be right now," said Yuna.
"Agreed. We've waited for so long already," added Rinka.
"O-Oh, right. Well, umm... In that case..."
Uhh... How much money did I have in my wallet again...? I
very briefly wondered, but before I had the chance to
actually attempt to buy my way out of trouble, Rinka laid a
hand on my chin, tilted my head to the side, and kissed me.
"Do you understand what we're getting at now?" Rinka
asked as we broke apart again.
"Mhh, aha... R-Rinka... Uh. Huuuh?! Yuna?!"
"Ah! Now that was a funny shout!" Yuna said with a
mischievous snicker as she very nonchalantly lifted the hem
of my shirt. So, uhh, apparently my shock wasn't a sign to
step on the brakes, as far as she was concerned! "Okay,
arms up!"
Long story short: Before I knew it, I'd been stripped to my
skivvies. It felt like my defense stat had plummeted
dramatically, while my anxiety stat skyrocketed!
"Ahhh..." Yuna said as she buried her face in my shirt.
"Now there's that Yotsuba smell!"
"Hey, no fair, Yuna! I want to smell it too!"
Suddenly my uniform was in high demand. The two of
them had both looked a little perturbed when they'd learned
that I'd loaned my uniform to Mio, and I was starting to
suspect that they had, in fact, just been jealous.
"By the way, Yotsuba, I was wondering about this when I
hugged you before—you don't wear an undershirt or
anything to school, do you?" asked Rinka.
"Oh, good point! It's not a big deal for us, since our
uniforms have jackets, but your sailor uniform doesn't have
anything like that. Don't you get cold with just the one layer
on?"
"Huh?" I grunted. "Oh, umm, no, the shirt's made from a
surprisingly heavy fabric. I'd actually probably overheat if I
wore an undershirt... Wait, since you hugged me?! You could
tell just from that?!"
"Well, of course I could," Rinka proudly declared as she
held her head up high and threw her chest out in a way that
made it really conspicuous how much she had me beat in
the size department. The T-shirt she was wearing made
their movements really easy to notice too.
"I could've figured that out if I'd touched her like that
too!" Yuna grumbled.
"Oh, really? You can be surprisingly insensitive about
these things, so I'm not so sure."
"I! Would've! Figured! It! Out! Thank you very much!"
And just like that, they'd gone into competitive mode.
Competing while clustering around my uniform like moths to
a flame!
"I'd know!" said Yuna. "After all, every time I take a bath, I
take a moment to remind myself of exactly how big she
was!"
Wait, you do?!
"Well, obviously. That's the bare minimum, isn't it?"
Is it, though?! Is it really?!
"Well, every time I go to bed, I always visualize exactly
what it'd be like if she was there with me!"
"That's even more obvious! It's below the bare
minimum!"
And that was the point where I decided to stop even
trying to question it all.
I'd gotten a taste of Yuna's and Rinka's nude bodies at
the end of summer vacation, and that sight was vividly
burned into my memory. The image was so clear that even
now, two months later, it still flashed into my mind's eye
without warning from time to time, wrestling my attention
away from whatever I'd been trying to think about. It was
kind of nice to think that the same was true of the two of
them...but the shame was definitely winning out over the
satisfaction, on the whole. After all, my body was not much
to look at compared to theirs, the way I saw it.
"Wait..." I said. "You're not planning on going further than
this here, are you?!"
"Oooh?" said Yuna. "And what if I said yes?"
"But we're at school! The cultural festival's happening
right now, you know?!"
"That's the best part, isn't it?" said Rinka. "While
everyone else is having fun down below, we get to enjoy
ourselves in our own little world."
And now Rinka's sounding like a delinquent! I mean, I do
totally get where she's coming from, but still... "I... I just
don't want the two of you to turn into bad girls because of
me," I said.
"Little late for that, isn't it?" Yuna countered.
"More than a little, considering everything you've done to
seduce us and wrap us around your finger. You've had so
much of an influence on us already, it's way too late to even
think about going back to how we used to be."
"I-It is...?!"
Yuna and Rinka grinned, then each took hold of one of my
arms. It reminded me of a time I'd walked home with the
two of them—of the period when I'd been conceited enough
to think that they hadn't figured out I was two-timing them,
and that I couldn't let them figure it out no matter what
happened. The circumstances now, however, couldn't have
been more different. Everything was out in the open now.
Now, it was so much more earnest.
"I'll say it as many times as I have to," said Yuna. "The
two of us can't live without you anymore, Yotsuba!"
"No matter how much I can smell you and feel your
warmth, I'll start longing for you again the second we part,"
said Rinka.
I felt their class T-shirts rubbing against my skin as they
whispered profoundly sweet, emotion-laden nothings into
my ears. You'd think I'd be freezing without my uniform on,
but their body heat was warm enough that I didn't even
notice the frigid air. That heat had a dizzying sort of power
to it, the same sort—and magnitude—I felt when they kissed
me...and at the same time, I found myself with a keen
appreciation for just how much they'd entrusted themselves
to me, and just how serious they were about me.
"Neither of us are ever going to give up our place as your
girlfriends to anyone," said Yuna. "And if someone tries to
take it from us, we'll fight them with everything we've got!
We're going to put our all into making sure your eyes stay
locked on us, now and forever."
"But that's not to say we want to stifle you," Rinka added.
"We know we're being driven by our own selfish
desires...and we don't want to abandon your own feelings,
or the kindness you've always shown everyone."
Who was the "someone" Yuna thought might try to steal
me away? Who was it Rinka was imagining me showing
kindness to? I was pretty dense, sure, but even I could
figure that out. I realized what it was they were worried
about in an instant.
I had a problem that I desperately needed to address. I'd
been pushing it along down the road ahead of me, and I still
didn't know what the right answer would be. Yuna and Rinka
understood that...and they were telling me that they would
take my hands in theirs and move forward by my side. This
wasn't about them setting themselves up to be at some sort
of advantage—not really. In the end, they were just thinking
about my feelings.
"We want to respect your decision, Yotsuba... Oh, but not
if it means dumping us! That's totally not allowed, okay?!"
said Yuna.
"Agreed. That too is something we'll fight with everything
we have. Even if you try, we'll stick to you like glue and
make sure you regret it... Kidding, of course."
The two of them were perfectly in sync with their not-soveiled threats...and then, a second later, they burst out
laughing in unison. I found myself laughing along with them
before I knew it.
My meeting them really had been a miracle. I took our
school's entrance exam by accident, passed it by luck,
made friends with them through the greatest stroke of
fortune imaginable—and became their girlfriend through the
most incredible miracle there could have been. The idea
that I would dump them really was laughable. I had no
intention of ever, ever letting them go.
"Thanks, Yuna. Thanks, Rinka," I said.
"Hee hee! You're welcome!" said Yuna.
"We aren't finished just yet, though," Rinka added.
"Huh?"
"We still have plenty of time left, and personally, I think
this break has lasted long enough by now," Rinka said with
a grin as she pulled herself closer to me.
Yuna did the same thing on my other side. "Your uniform
still smells a little like her," she said. "Your girlfriends are
very forgiving, but even we get jealous, you know?"
"And that...is why we have to mark you ourselves. With
our scents, and our feelings as well."
The two of them gazed at me with upturned eyes. They
were both just so, so, so, so cute, I couldn't even!
"Okay, then. Make me feel it," I said, accepting them both
with a grin. "I love you, Yuna. I love you, Rinka. I love both of
you so, so much."
I knew that words alone weren't worth much. You could
say anything you wanted to. That was why I had to show
them I meant it through action as well—and that was why I
threw my arms around them. I was dishonest—just the
worst, really. I'd made them worry so many times in ways I
just couldn't justify. I knew that someday, I really might end
up making someone seriously resent me. Still, though, I
wanted to believe that I would do what was best in the end
—not for me, but for Yuna and Rinka, my family, and
everyone else who was important to me. I wanted to believe
that my choices would lead to their happiness.
"Hee hee!" Yuna giggled.
"I love you too!" said Rinka.
"Excuse me! I think you meant 'we,' didn't you?"
"We may both be her girlfriends, but my feelings are
mine and mine alone. I'm not sharing those with you, Yuna."
"Fair enough, actually. Okay, then, Yotsuba—I love love
looove you too!"
In the end we totally disregarded the whole cultural
festival, flirting the day away on the rooftop instead until the
sun began to set. We'd had a lot less time to spend together
since the second semester started, and particularly since
October began, which was probably why all of us—Yuna,
Rinka, and I—felt like we needed to make up for lost
time...but, really, that was just an excuse. The truth was
that I would have taken any excuse to be with them. I would
have wanted to spend time with them just as much even if
we had seen a ton of each other recently. And I knew that,
most likely, that was how it was for everyone who fell in
love.
And that...was why I decided that it was time for me to let
my feelings take the wheel and see where they drove me