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Tomoe Wakabayashi and Takeshi Takeda were both friends of mine from middle school.
Takeshi was a junior who attended regular classes, and he was also my former partner in the forever alone club. Standing at 175cm, his bulging muscles were visible even beneath his uniform. As the ace of the weightlifting club, he preferred chugging down protein shakes to having three square meals a day. According to the guy himself, he’d started working out to attract girls. Unfortunately, his innate geekiness had led to disaster. After becoming obsessed with weight training, he’d drastically deviated from his original goal, crossing the line from “shredded” into “The Holk’s Japanese cousin.” It should probably go without saying that girls actively avoided him.
Similar to me, Tomoe Wakabayashi was a junior in AP. He had the tall, slender build of a model, and was also incredibly thoughtful—he’d bleach his hair just enough to avoid getting on our nerves. He also had the best grades in our class. That, combined with his immaculate features, refined style, and thoughtful diligence, made him irresistible to women. You could drop him off in the middle of some podunk nowhere, and girls would still find a way to flock to him in 10 minutes flat, like moths to a ridiculously handsome flame.
I might have felt jealous of Aizawa, our class’s braggadocious player, but I had nothing but respect for Tomoe. After all, he never distinguished between men and women, between the popular crowd and losers; he seemed to have fun with everyone. Plus, he strove to make the time he spent with others enjoyable. I could never emulate the sincere, selfless way he acted with absolutely everyone. If a guy like him wasn’t adored, there would be some sort of problem with the world itself. For that reason, I couldn’t bring myself to be envious of the guy.
Though I did have other friends, I spent most of my time with these two. Back in middle school—and, hell, even now—they would frequently crash at my place, and we’d take advantage of my dad being away for work to stay up until the crack of dawn.
Due to how close we were, they would find out about Shigure eventually. That’s why I’d invited them to lunch. We chose a secluded spot outside, next to the cafeteria, and I promptly spilled my guts about everything that had occurred since I’d arrived home yesterday.
“That’s rough, buddy,” Tomoe responded after hearing the whole story. He looked up at the clear blue sky—a reminder of summer’s imminent approach—and continued, “Hiro, what the hell did you do in your past life?”
“That’s what I’d like to know,” I lamented. “As the real victim of this whole mess, all I can do is curse my ancestors. I do plan on settling things one way or another, though. Hey, at least there’s a silver lining—they may look identical, but their personalities are worlds apart. Since they’re so different, I’m sure I’ll end up forgetting about everything else sooner or later.”
“Unlike Haruka, there’s definitely more to her than meets the eye,” Tomoe noted.
“You’ve barely interacted with her, and you can already tell?”
“Being hounded by all those questions must have been exhausting, but from her expression, you’d think she was having the time of her life. Not only was she super friendly, but she also had perfect control of her face. That’s someone you have to watch out for.”
Tomoe was a great judge of character. Unlike me, he hadn’t fallen for her act.
“Shigure wants to keep our sibling relationship a secret while she gets used to her new environment,” I explained. “But since you guys are always coming over to my place, I couldn’t exactly keep the cat in the bag for long. That’s why I called you here today—I’d appreciate it if you guys could keep this under wraps.”
“No worries, I understand the situation. If this got out, the dudes around here would definitely start using it as fap material.”
“D-Do you have to use that phrase?”
“How else do you want me to say it? Something to add to the spank bank? Material to beat their meat to? Oh, speaking of meat—your side dishes look delicious!”
“Stop turning everything into a dick joke!” I protested, quickly stuffing a piece of fried meat into his mouth to shut him up.
“You’re just really bad with dirty jokes,” he laughed, still savoring the meaty morsel. His expression quickly grew serious, though. “By the way, do you plan on telling Haruka about this?”
Honestly, not many people had actually realized we were dating yet. It’s not like we were hiding it or anything, but due to our slow progress, no one had picked up on it yet. I mean, we’d just held hands for the first time yesterday. These two were an exception, though. I often turned to them for help, and they lent an ear when I gushed about Haruka and offered advice when I expressed my worries. It was precisely because he knew about our relationship that Tomoe was worried about me.
“Well,” I said, preparing to give the answer I’d thought up last night, “I’d feel horrible if I kept quiet about it. Couples shouldn’t hide things from each other, after all.”
“If I were you, I wouldn’t tell her,” Tomoe jumped in, quickly and sternly rejecting my idea.
“Wh-Why? I mean, she won’t exactly be jumping for joy at the idea that I live with her spitting image, but wouldn’t keeping it a secret be even worse? Plus, I’m not exactly doing anything worth feeling guilty about, so there’s no reason to hide the truth.”
“The only person who’d feel better about explaining everything would be you, though, Hiro,” he replied simply.
Huh?
“What do you mean by that?” I asked.
“Haruka’s a great girl. I’m sure if you talk to her about it, she’ll understand that you’re not in the wrong here. But enduring something and not worrying about it are two entirely different things. Just think about it—her doppelganger is living with her boyfriend while she’s home alone. She won’t be able to handle that.”
“But we’re siblings through our parents’ marriage. I wouldn’t do anything to my little—”
“She’s only been your little sister since yesterday. Do you seriously expect Haruka to say, ‘Oh, you won’t do anything with her? Whew, that’s a relief!’ Plus, I imagine you got pretty worked up during your first night together. You can’t expect me to believe otherwise.”
“You’re not wrong, but—”
“You and Haruka only just held hands yesterday. A romance that’s built on nothing but pain won’t last.”
“Hrm...”
I reflected on Tomoe’s words and realized he was at least partially right—I had been too fixated on proving my innocence, and I hadn’t considered Haruka’s feelings at all. If I told my girlfriend about Shigure, I would be freed from the guilt of hiding something. But once she knew the truth, how would Haruka feel?