Of course, I had no intention of confusing the two girls, and even if I did, those emotions would be directed toward Haruka through Shigure—the opposite would never happen. Still, regardless of my intentions, Haruka’s feelings were a different matter. Would she be able to simply believe my words without harboring the slightest bit of unease? No, our relationship probably wasn’t strong enough for that yet.
“Well, if you can’t bring yourself to lie, I won’t force you to,” Tomoe followed up. “But at this stage, I think that the truth would be too devastating. I mean, even when a patient needs surgery, you still need to observe their condition first before you come to a decision. Going under the knife requires perfect timing. Everything has a time and place, you catch my drift?”
“Yeah, you’re probably right about that...”
From Haruka’s perspective, ignorance would be bliss. But if we looked at it realistically, it would be tricky to keep it a secret for too long. We were a couple—the most intimate of relationships—so it would be inevitable that she’d find out eventually.
“What do you think I should do, Tomoe?” I asked.
“For now, it’s imperative that you explain the situation to Shigure. Have her avoid you at school. In the meantime, you should develop your relationship with Haruka and start slowly opening up to her. That’s all you can do, really.”
“Develop our relationship? Until what point?”
“At the very least, until you’ve had sex.”
“‘At the very least’?!” I sputtered.
“Even if you get that far, your situation is still dangerous as hell. I know one thing’s for sure, though: no matter what, you need to keep a lid on this until your dad returns in a year. The fact that you’re living alone together makes things pretty rough as-is. It’s a ‘one strike, you’re out’ kinda deal.”
Yeah, he was right. Even if I casted the idea of having s-s-se... se... ahem. Even if I casted the idea of having coitus aside for the time being, I had to wait until my dad came home. Living on our own together versus living with our parents gave off an entirely different impression. I nodded to show I got his point.
My other friend, Takeshi, had been staring at me concernedly for a good while, so I turned to him and asked for his opinion.
“What do you think, Takeshi?”
“May I speak my honest opinion?”
Damn, that’s quite the intense expression. I could feel his sincere, heartfelt concern for me. Man, I had some truly great friends.
“Please,” I said. “Tell me whatever you’re thinking.”
“Understood. Hiromichi, I believe that what you lack... is none other than testosterone!”
Pardon?
“Testosterone is the male hormone that increases muscle mass and gives one a masculine physique,” Takeshi explained with flourish. “Furthermore, testosterone is the source of will-power and decision-making skills, affecting both the mind and body. Thus, low testosterone will cause a man’s self-confidence to dwindle! That is the true culprit behind your indecisiveness! ‘But what is the solution?’ you may ask. You must exercise until you collapse! Increasing muscle mass will serve to increase your testosterone! Muscles are the solution to everything in this world! Now, cast aside your worries, and raise the barbell, young Johnny!”
Yep. Asking Takeshi for dating advice was a mistake, as always.
“But Hiro, those two do look eerily similar, don’t they?” Tomoe asked.
“Yeah, they do. I’m still shocked by that,” I replied.
“Dude, you’re taking this way too lightly. At first, I just thought, ‘Wow, some people really do look alike.’ But when I observed Shigure more closely, I realized she’s pretty much identical to Haruka—right down to the smallest details. This goes way beyond mistaking one person for another. Could the two of them be—”
Just as Tomoe was about to hesitantly broach the topic, someone else cut him off.
“Oh, Hiromichi!” a girl called out, appearing in front of our table.
“Sh-Shigure?!”
“Why are you so surprised?” she asked. “We sit next to each other, don’t we? And you must be Wakabayashi from our class, right?”
“You catch on quick,” Tomoe noted. “I don’t remember introducing myself.”
“Well, you’re pretty famous around here. All the girls in our class were bragging about you. They kept gushing things like, ‘I doubt there are any boys as handsome as him at Shueikan.’ But this is my first time seeing the bodybuilder. Mind if I ask your name?”
“Y-You would like to know my name?!” Takeshi cried, leaping out of his seat. Due to an excess of his beloved “male hormone,” he was even more, uh, enthusiastic around women than I was.
“I am Takeshi Takeda—a junior in regular classes! I-It is a pleasure to meet you!”
“I’m Shigure Satou. I just transferred into the junior AP class. It’s a pleasure to meet you, too,” Shigure replied with a pleasant smile, feigning innocence all the while.
“Hnnng!” Takeshi huffed and puffed through his nose, as if he were a manic bull. Then he turned to our friend and whispered in his ear. “T-Tomoe, this young lady asked for my name. C-Could this mean that she f-fancies me?”
“Could you be any more shameless, you gigantic wad of protein?” Tomoe replied in an exasperated tone.
“Oh, you’re in the middle of lunch,” Shigure said. “Sorry for interrupting.”
“No worries,” Tomoe assured her, pointing at the remaining seat of the four-person table. “Are you having lunch, Shigure? Feel free to sit with us if you’d like.”
I figured he was trying to create an opportunity so we could ask for Shigure’s cooperation. Unfortunately, she shook her head at the invention.
“No thanks,” she replied. “I’m actually looking for someone right now. Speaking of which... Takeda, you’re a junior in the regular class, right? Do you know a girl named Haruka Saikawa?”
“Shigure!”
At that moment, someone loudly called out to her. It was a voice I knew all too well—after all, it belonged to the person I adored.
Don’t tell me...
I wanted to reject the idea instinctively, but it turned out that my assumption had been correct. I turned toward the voice to find my girlfriend—Haruka Saikawa—heaving and covered in sweat.
“Sh-Shigure,” she gasped between heavy breaths. “Is that really you, Shigure?!”
“Big Sis...”
“Shigure! Aaah! Waaaah!” Haruka cried, running over and squeezing the other girl hard enough that I was genuinely worried her head would pop off.
I froze in place, staring at my girlfriend’s bawling figure. To say I was confused would be an understatement—I mean, how did they know each other? But, more importantly, what had Shigure just called Haruka?
She said, “Big Sis.” Those words definitely left her mouth, right?!
“Sorry about that,” Shigure apologized, glancing at me. “You can probably tell just by looking at us, but Big Si—I mean, Haruka and I are twin sisters. We were split up when our parents divorced.”