“I’m Shigure Satou, and I’m transferring here from Shueikan High in Fukuoka. I might be a little bit behind compared to everyone else, but I look forward to becoming friends with you guys.”
It was right before the start of homeroom. Shigure stood in front of the blackboard and introduced herself to the rest of the advanced placement class.
Incidentally, she still wore Shueikan’s uniform, only the school emblem had been changed to Seiun’s. Since I had bought the standard uniform without much thought, I hadn’t been aware of it, but Seiun—a private school—didn’t have very strict rules about clothing and accessories. So long as the color, emblem, and fabric coverage met a certain standard, we were relatively free to wear whatever we liked.
Apparently, Shigure had altered her old uniform to meet said standards in order to save some money. She’d mentioned yesterday that her previous home had also used an old balanced flue. Since she and her mother used to live alone, they probably hadn’t been very wealthy. I can imagine that’s where she’d picked up all of her incredible household skills and penny-pinching techniques from.
With introductions out of the way, the teacher quickly instructed her to sit next to me. This had nothing to do with the fact that we were stepsiblings—our seating order was done alphabetically. In fact, no one had even mentioned the idea that we might know each other. I wondered if Shigure had spoken to the teacher beforehand.
“Satou, you went to Shueikan? That’s amazing!”
“I can’t believe you decided to come here. Sure, Seiun’s got some cred in the area, but we’re basically soggy, off-brand corn flakes compared to Shueikan.”
“Right? Not even living alone would’ve stopped me from staying at Shueikan.”
During the break between first and second period, our classmates swarmed to Shigure like moths to a flame, barraging her with questions. Even so, no one indicated any suspicion about our relationship. I guess it was like she’d said the day before—Satou was an incredibly common name, so no one was any the wiser. Instead, Shigure’s former school became the main topic of conversation.
Even as a resident of Kanagawa, I knew about Shueikan High—a famous school in Kyushu. Compared to Seiun, a slightly brainy school in the area, Shueikan pretty much existed in a different dimension. Believe me when I say it was considered elite in every sense of the word—I mean, that school was renowned on a national level.
Given this was an AP class, plenty of its students were conscious of academic backgrounds. As a result, they couldn’t contain their curiosity about a school known on a country-wide basis. After a while—during the break after third period, to be precise—the conversation shifted from Shigure’s former school to the girl herself. That was when things took a turn.
“Still, it feels like I’ve seen you around our school before, Shigure,” one of my female classmates mentioned.
“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. I wonder why.”
“There’s a girl in the drama club who looks a lot like her. Could that be it?” another ventured.
“Oh, right! The girl who played that small role in last year’s cultural festival. Her acting might be way over the top, but she’s still pretty cute. Well, that explains the déjà vu.”
Oh, crap.
Shigure’s physical resemblance to Haruka had finally cropped up in the discussion, and she quickly jumped on the topic with a curious gleam in her eyes.
“How interesting,” she said. “I’d love to meet her. Do you know what class she’s in?”
“Nah, I have no idea. Does anyone else know? Uh, no one at all?”
“Not many AP students join a club.”
“And regular classes are in the new building. Outside of friends from middle school, we don’t interact with them much. But talk about uncanny—the more I look at you, the more you two look like the exact same person...”
I overheard the exchange while practically on the edge of my seat.
At this rate, Haruka and Shigure would cross paths sooner rather than later. Seeing as Shigure had been the one to suggest hiding our connection as siblings, I highly doubted that she would let our little secret slip. Still, I couldn’t be absolutely certain. I needed to explain the situation to my girlfriend, stat. I had no intention of hiding anything, but I couldn’t let Haruka find out about our living situation without me around. If that happened, there was no chance in hell would I be able to smooth things over.
But I seriously needed to chill. We’d already agreed to meet up during lunch break, so I had no reason to panic.
Calm down.
All that was left was coming up with a way to break the ice. As I started to rack my brain, a message arrived from Haruka.
“Something urgent came up, so I can’t see you during lunch >< Sorry!”
Absolutely seething in the chat.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a panicked mess at this point, but there wasn’t much I could do about it. Haruka wasn’t the type to flake out on me at the last minute over something trivial—whatever was going on, it must’ve been really important.
With a heavy sigh, I sent her a stamp showing that I understood.
There was no point in worrying myself sick about it, so I shifted the gears in my brain. I’d talk to someone else first.
Fourth period ended, signaling the beginning of lunch break. Once the bell had rung, I shot up out of my seat, practically sprinting toward the furthest desk by the window, where my disgustingly-handsome friend Tomoe Wakabayashi sat. I needed to get there before the usual gaggle of girls formed a barrier around him, repelling losers like me.
“Tomoe, mind joining me for lunch?” I asked.
“Sounds good. Should I call Takeshi, too?”
“Yeah, that would be great.”