“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-so-veiled 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.