...And that was basically all there was to say about it. Nope! Nothing weird (in the sense of things that most people would consider to be cheating) happened between us whatsoever! I reaffirmed to myself.
Yuna and Rinka, meanwhile, just looked at me.
“Why are those stares so frigid?!” I wailed. I really, actually didn’t even do anything weird this time! All I told them was the plain and simple truth: I met up with her to get my uniform back! No funny business whatsoever!
“Well...whatever,” Yuna sighed. “There’s no point worrying about you cheating—we’d never run out of reasons to keep questioning it, after all.”
“I really wasn’t, though!”
“We know, we know. You wouldn’t do anything like that intentionally,” said Rinka. “We can’t, however, rule out the possibility that you did something accidentally.”
“Wait, so you believe me, but you’re still doubting me anyway?!”
Just how little faith do they have in me? I wondered...but on the other hand, I did recognize that I’d earned that skepticism. After all, who even knew how many times I’d bragged about my adorable little sisters in casual conversation before all that stuff happened. Not to mention that all it’d taken was a reunion with a childhood friend to send things in that sort of direction all over again...
That said, it really does bear repeating that up until this year, I’d been very high up in the running for the title of “the world’s least popular loner”! That had been my whole life! The fact that—disregarding Yuna, Rinka, and Makina for a second—I’d been blessed with friends in the form of Koganezaki, Emma, Mukai, Akksy, and Mio since I got into high school was nothing short of a miracle! Questioning whether they might have romantically inclined ulterior motives for getting close to me would be super rude to all of them!
I mean, sure, Koganezaki had gone out of her way to ask if the Mio Kuruma incident had ended decently even though it had basically nothing to do with the Sacrosanct, and sure, I’d promised Emma that we could hang out again sometime next week, and sure, the “good work” message Mukai had sent me after the festival included an invitation to have an after-party for just the two of us at some point, and sure, Akksy had recommended a few of her favorite anime for me to watch, and sure, Mio had invited me to come see her concert...but that was just them being friendly, that’s all!
“Eh, it’s fine,” said Yuna. “Cheat all you want—we’ll drag you back to us in the end every time, no matter what it takes.”
“Whahuh?!”
“At the end of the day, we’re your formal and official girlfriends, after all,” said Rinka.
“S-So cool...!”
They were both just so dang confident—and maybe a little embarrassed, considering the slight flush creeping across their cheeks...which was super cute! I really had to wonder how I could be dating a pair of adorably cool girls like them. Maybe all of this really was just a dream? This would be the fifth time I’d questioned that this week alone...
“Honestly, I’m more concerned about how you’ll definitely get scammed by someone someday, at this rate,” said Yuna.
“Definitely?! Not ‘might’?!”
“Yeah, not much question left at this point,” Yuna very bluntly confirmed.
Rinka, busy chewing a piece of meat, nodded as well. Cute!
I mean...if they’re both sure about it, then maybe they have a point...?
“Okay, but a scam...? What would that even look like?” I asked.
“Imagine, like... Ahem! ‘Hello, Yotsuba? It’s me,’” Yuna said, clearing her throat before pitching her voice down ever so slightly and speaking in a sort of theatrical tone.
Wait—that voice...!
“Are you...doing an impression of me?” asked Rinka.
“That’s right—it’s the Rin-Rin Scam!”
Oh! Like those scams where people call up old folks and pretend to be their grandchildren, only she pretends to be Rinka instead! And the name’s probably, like, a play on “Rinka” and “ring-ring,” or something! But seriously, what sort of actual monster would impersonate Rinka just to scam someone (read: me) out of their—
“‘Yotsuba...I ate too much at a yakiniku place and can’t cover the bill. Could you wire me some money to bail me out?’”
“Sure! Right away!”
Rinka gave me a look. “Yotsuba?” she sighed.
“Ah?!” I yelped. I said yes! I didn’t even hesitate! And I only snapped out of it when Rinka sighed at me...b-but these were super extenuating circumstances! “I couldn’t help it! Yuna was being so cute, I just couldn’t resist!”
“Wait, I sold you on it? Not the act?” said Yuna.
“I mean, you nailed her mannerisms...but no matter how good of an impression it was, there’s just no way I’d ever mix up your voice with Rinka’s,” I said.
I was sure of that because this wasn’t the first time I’d considered it. Rinka had borrowed Yuna’s phone to call me once, and I’d known it was her instantly, even though my phone had claimed that the call was from Yuna. I couldn’t remember precisely when it had happened, but the point is, I’d given some real thought in the past to how well I could tell their voices apart.
“But you doing an impression of Rinka is just the cutest thing ever, especially when I get to see it in person! Like, how you were trying so hard to mimic her tone of voice, or how you were focusing so hard on her vocal mannerisms that you ended up scrunching up your brow in the funniest way, or how you didn’t even realize that your shoulders were all clenched and stiff!”
“Wha...?! Wait, was I really doing all that?!” Yuna exclaimed. If that hadn’t been enough to tell me that she hadn’t realized it at all, the blush that flashed across her face certainly would have. I couldn’t help but grin—not that it was anything to be embarrassed over—and apparently that just made it worse than ever for her. Her response: lashing out by swiping a piece of skirt steak that Rinka had been carefully cooking, right off the grill!
“Hey!” shouted Rinka.
“I-I’m not blushing! I’m just flushed because I’m so hungry, that’s all!”
Wow, that was a terrible excuse! Yuna’s never that bad at thinking on her feet!
It was over in a flash. Before Rinka could stop her, Yuna had practically inhaled the piece of meat. She’d been prioritizing talking over eating for quite a while, and apparently she hadn’t been totally making up the part about being hungry—the next thing I knew, she was filling the grill with rib meat again!
“Honestly... Not that I really mind, I guess,” grumbled Rinka.
“Ha ha ha...” I awkwardly chuckled. “Oh, right—hey, Rinka?”
“Hmm? Yes?”
“You should try doing an impression of Yuna too!”
“Wha—?!” Rinka said in a strangled half gasp, dropping the towelette she’d been wiping her hands on. She definitely hadn’t seen that request coming. “Wait, but—why?!”
“I just wanna see it! I’m curious!”
“She’s got a point, actually,” said Yuna. “I did you, so fair’s fair, right?”
“Nobody asked you to mimic me!” Rinka snapped back.