“Thank you... I love it!” I said. I still felt a little bad, but my gratitude outweighed the guilt tenfold.
“We were thinking about getting you rings at first, but they would’ve stood out too much to wear at school, and you just know we would’ve ended up fighting over whose would go on which finger,” said Yuna. “Getting one from each of us would’ve probably been hard for you to deal with too, and we didn’t exactly have the money to—”
“I thought we agreed we’d be keeping all of that to ourselves, Yuna,” Rinka interjected.
“Ah... R-Right, my bad. She just looked so happy, I started blabbing without thinking...”
She was right that getting two rings would’ve been a little hard for me to deal with in the long term...but on the other hand, I had a feeling that I wouldn’t have thought about that at all the moment they gave them to me. I would’ve just been ecstatic.
“So the two of you worked together to pick this out for me...?” I asked.
“Oh, umm... Yes,” said Rinka. “I guess the group gift does raise some questions, huh? I was thinking of getting you something on my own, at first, but I knew that Yuna wouldn’t be happy if I cut in line to give it to you first, and I wouldn’t have wanted her to do it to me either. Then when I decided to talk to her about it, it turned out that she’d been thinking the exact same thing, much to my—”
“Now you’re oversharing, Rinka,” Yuna sighed.
“Oh! Sorry,” said Rinka. She’d scolded Yuna less than a minute ago, only to get scolded right back.
The sheer length and depth of their friendship was on full display again. There was definitely something special there—something truly precious that nobody, me included, could ever intrude on. I’d felt it when I watched them up on the stage too...and the fact that they were using that perfect synchrony to tell me they loved me was far more than I could have ever dreamed of asking for.
“What...?” said Yuna. “Why’re you smirking at us?”
“I was just thinking about how lucky I am, that’s all,” I said.
“Because we could only buy you one present...?” asked Rinka.
“J-Just so you know, we didn’t go in on it together because we were cheaping out on you!” Yuna insisted. “And we’re planning on celebrating one-on-one with you later on too...but, umm, it’ll have to be a celebration that doesn’t cost very much...”
“You’re going off the rails again, Yuna.”
“Ugh...! Like you’re not just as broke as I am right now, Rinka!”
“Wh-What does that have to do with you running your mouth?!”
“H-Hey, come on, you two! Let’s all calm down, okay?!” I said. It took seconds for them to get all prickly with each other out of nowhere!
I tried to play peacekeeper, but the sparks just kept flying until finally...
“Hey, Yotsuba!”
“Yotsuba!”
...both of them wheeled around at the same time to face me!
“I swear I’ll make you happier than Rinka! Just wait!”
“I’ll make you happier than Yuna ever could, I promise!”
They made their declarations like they were reciting lines from a script, in such stunningly perfect harmony that nobody who witnessed it could ever have disputed the fact that they’d earned their Sacrosanct title. I was so overwhelmed, all I could do was nod vigorously. I guess I really am the villainous interloper who stepped in to ruin the Sacrosanct, I thought as I stowed the necklace away in its box, clenched it tightly in my hands, and made a promise to myself.
One way or another, I’ll be doing something even crazier to celebrate both of their birthdays next year!!!
There wasn’t a moment to waste. April 8th and 16th would be here before I knew it, and I had so much allowance to save up and so many preparations to make! And I’d burned through my savings ages ago by spending freely while I hung out with the two of them!
Oh, but wait—even before their birthdays, I have Christmas and Valentine’s Day to think about...! I-Is my allowance going to be up to the task...? Especially considering I’ll have to get birthday presents for Sakura and Aoi, and for Makina, and I guess Koganezaki and Emma too... I have to celebrate my friends too, right...?
“All right—I’ve decided!” I shouted as I shot to my feet!
“Huh?” said Rinka.
“D-Decided what?!” yelped Yuna.
Their fight (if you could even call it a fight, which honestly, you really couldn’t) had been momentarily forgotten. I turned to look at them...and declared my intentions at the top of my lungs!
“I’m gonna get a part-time job!!!”
Silence. Wide-eyed, gaping stares. Expressions that practically screamed, Where on earth did that come from? then quickly faded away, replaced by something more openly apprehensive.
“I’d, umm, really like to say that you should go for it, and that we’ll be cheering you on,” Yuna somewhat uncomfortably began.
“But I don’t really think you’re very suited for that sort of thing,” Rinka said, stepping in to finish the thought.
“Whaaat?!”
That was a really calm, gentle way to completely shut me down! Granted: I can’t actually picture myself doing well at a part-time job either!
“And more importantly, you know that finals are right around the corner, don’t you?” asked Yuna. “Have you been studying? We don’t have midterms in the second semester, but that’s no good reason to let your guard down! It means that finals are weighed more heavily in our final grades, actually!”
“And now we’re jumping straight into a super serious reality check?!”
“There’s also the school marathon to worry about,” noted Rinka. “You really trailed behind the pack last year, and I’m worried it’ll make it hard for you to enjoy the school trip if you repeat that performance this time. It’s right after the marathon, after all.”
“I totally forgot that that hell on earth was even a thing, and now you’re telling me it’s coming up any day now?!”
My moment-of-excitement declaration had already been put on ice. This was no time to think about getting a job! A very unpleasant dose of reality had just come knocking! Seriously, why are high schoolers this busy?! There aren’t enough hours in the day for me to get ready for all this stuff at once! They say that blessings don’t come in pairs, so why do trials get to come in sets of who even knows how many?!
“It’s fine, Yotsuba! I’ll help you study! Your goal this year’s to not fail any of your finals!” said Yuna.
“And I’ll help you get in shape,” Rinka chimed in. “It’ll be hard to build up much stamina in the time between now and the marathon, but we can at least work on controlling your pace and polishing your running form. That should make a huge difference.”
They’re so helpful, their goodwill is blinding me...! Can I really handle preparing for the tests and the marathon at the same time, though...? There’s only one of me to go around, you know...?
“And now that that’s decided, this is no time for us to be fighting!” said Yuna.
“Agreed. It’s our duty as Yotsuba’s girlfriends to make sure she overcomes all the challenges in her path!” said Rinka.
Is it just me...or are they super fired up now?! Weren’t we celebrating my birthday just a minute ago?! And giving the cultural festival a send-off before that...? We’re moving through topics at light speed, here! Can’t we stop and enjoy the moment?! Like, just take it nice and easy for a little...?
“Don’t worry, Yotsuba! I’ll make you the perfect study schedule—you’ll see!”
“And I’ll put together a perfect training regimen!”
“H-Ha ha ha... Yaaay...”
Yup, I’m sure they will. That schedule and that regimen will be as perfect as they come, except for one tiny little problem: I’ll be the one who has to put them into practice...
Flanked by my hypermotivated girlfriends, I finally realized that the end of the cultural festival had not, in fact, marked the finish line for my troubles and tribulations. No, it was just the starting line to a whole new set—a fact that I grimly accepted as I held back the urge to cry.
If only I had a few extra mes to help, maybe I could... Actually, no. On second thought, no number of mes would be able to pull this off!