What would it look like if Rinka did her best Yuna impression...? Adorable as all get-out, obviously! Which wasn’t to say that Rinka wasn’t cute as herself, of course. That was a given! But the thing about Yuna and Rinka was that they generally made sure that their personalities—as they chose to portray themselves, anyway—didn’t have too much overlap. I wasn’t totally sure if it was something they’d learned to do unconsciously over the course of their close, long-standing friendship, or if it was something that they’d done on purpose to help prop up the Sacrosanct image, but I sort of suspected that the truth was a little bit of both. That was why seeing Yuna emulate Rinka’s mannerisms on purpose was such a rare treat...and why I was really sad that I hadn’t been quick on the draw enough to record it! Which, in turn, was why I pulled out my phone and booted up its voice recorder app!
“Wait, you’re recording me?!” said Rinka.
“Of course! Don’t worry—I’ll have Yuna do hers again at some point over the next few days so I can save it too...”
“Mmgphgh?! Agh, haugh!”
Yuna choked on her food! Please, though? It’d be the perfect thing for me to listen to every night before bed...
“Oh, but come to think of it, maybe it’d be better to give you some time too, Rinka? That way you can think a little harder about your lines,” I mused.
“N-No, thank you! I’d rather get it over with now!” said Rinka. “It feels like the longer I put it off, the higher I’ll be raising the bar for myself... We’ll do mine now, and Yuna can handle hers later!”
“I never said I’d do it again at all, actually?!” Yuna exclaimed.
“Huh? You don’t want to, Yuna...? I mean...if you really hate the idea, I won’t force you or anything...”
“Ugh... I-I didn’t say I wouldn’t do it either...!”
“Woo-hoo!”
“You made that way too easy. Not that I’m any better...” Rinka groaned.
Heh heh heh! Sometimes it pays to be needy!
With that settled, I turned my phone’s microphone in Rinka’s direction. “Okay, the stage is yours!”
“Umm... I’m supposed to act like I’m Yuna talking on the phone, right? Okay, then,” said Rinka. “‘Hey, Yotsuba? It’s me...wh-what’cha up to?’”
“Squee! Not much! Doing great!”
“Hold on a second, Rinka—you’re not even trying to fool her!” Yuna cut in. “This is a Rin-Rin Scam, remember? There’s no point if you don’t put in the effort to make it convincing!”
“It’s not a ‘Rin-Rin’ Scam if I’m imitating you, is it?” Rinka countered. “Actually, can we drop that name altogether? It’s vaguely humiliating.”
“Okay, okay! You’re pretending to be me, so it can be a Yu-Yu— No, scratch that. I see your point now. Saying it myself makes it feel like I’m being super attention-hoggy.”
“But ‘Rin-Rin Scam’ and ‘Yu-Yu Scam’ both sound so cute!” I said. “And actually, I think Rinka had your voice down pretty darn well! It was the cutest thing ever!!!”
“W-Was it...?” Rinka muttered. It seemed like she couldn’t quite decide whether she was happy about that or not, and chose to snag a piece of Yuna’s rib meat instead of pressing the issue any further.
“I get you. Should we be happy or upset right now? I have no clue,” Yuna said with a deep, understanding nod. I noted that she hadn’t protested the meat theft at all.
I mean, look—even I could tell that Rinka wasn’t totally on board with this, okay? The thing is...I just couldn’t help myself. And can you blame me? This is the very first after-party I’ve ever been to in my whole life! People always get just a little bit more assertive when they’re thrown into open, unreserved situations like this! I think it’s called getting drunk on the atmosphere, or something? I never thought the day would come when I, Yotsuba Hazama, would experience that particular brand of intoxication... If you’d told me a year ago that this would happen, I probably would’ve bought one of those page-a-day calendars just to count down the days until the moment arrived!
But, anyway...I should probably apologize, shouldn’t I? Good manners are important, after all, even with the people you’re closest to.
“Sorry, Rinka,” I said. “But, umm, I really meant what I said about it being cute, and I know I’ll never forget it for as long as I live...a-and all that stuff about recording it was just a joke! I was just kidding about recording you later too, Yuna!”
“Why’re you acting so timid all of a sudden?” asked Yuna.
“Well...I might’ve been having fun, but I didn’t want to make you two have a bad time for my sake. If I did, I’d end up going home and spending all night regretting it for sure,” I mumbled.
“I could say the same about wanting you to have fun,” said Rinka. “It’s not that it really bothered me...embarrassment aside, I mean. Making sure you enjoy yourself is my—is our highest priority.”
“And in that sense, I guess we hit it out of the park tonight,” Yuna said with a slightly tired chuckle.
A moment later...
“Okay, here’s your order! One plate of intestine and another helping of rice!”
“Oh, that’s mine! Thank you!” I said. The waiter set my food down in front of me and I started moving the intestine over to the grill right away...only to notice that Yuna and Rinka were both giving me the same sort of strained-but-amused looks.
“Yotsuba...you’re a pretty heavy eater, aren’t you?” said Yuna.
“Right? She hasn’t stopped for a moment since we got here,” Rinka noted.
“Wha— Really?! I thought I was really slowing down,” I said.
“Slowing down, maybe, but you haven’t stopped at all,” said Yuna.
“You’ve been grilling and eating the whole time, even while we were talking. Also, how many bowls of rice does that make?” asked Rinka.
“Umm...” I said, pausing to try to remember...and giving up. I might not seem like the sort of person who’d stress about her weight, but there were some realities not even I was prepared to confront. “I-I don’t eat this much every night, just so you know! It’s just that we’re at an all-you-can-eat place, and this one has really good intestine, and I’m a little worked up about being at my first after-party, and on top of all that, I’m sitting in front of a pair of super pretty, incredible girls! The atmosphere’s making the food taste so good, I just can’t stop!”
“It’s incredible how effective your casual flirting can be,” said Rinka.
“And the fact that she doesn’t have any ulterior motives when she compliments us makes it so much worse,” added Yuna.
My impassioned appeal didn’t seem to have resonated with them. They were watching me like a pair of parents would watch over their child.
Ugh... Well, fine! I wasn’t kidding about how much fun I’m having, or about how the food’s so tasty I could keep eating forever! I thought before defiantly placing yet another order with the table’s tablet. Time was a-wasting, after all!